(Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 4)

[Oldmansour]

>Do we smell anything that might be poisonous from the wound?
>Since we have our new friend out now, give the pinned spider a solid stab as well.

[DracoOmega]

>Do we smell anything that might be poisonous from the wound?
>Since we have our new friend out now, give the pinned spider a solid stab as well.

>Nothing distinct above the scent of blood and ichor. Although... you think you may be feeling a slight searing pain spreading slowly through the wound.
>You shift around and stab the pinned spider with your knife. This strike does make it all the way through to the floor, eliciting a similar reaction from this spider as its partner's.
>The third spider closes another few feet while a fourth rounds the corner after it. You think this accounts for all the ones you've actually visually confirmed so far.

[Oldmansour]

>Searing pain like the acid that hit us before?
>Do we know how to identify if a bite if poisonous or venomous? If so, do we know how to go about fixing the problem, if only temporarily?
>What's our fort save bonus?
>Withdraw knife from victim, sheathe it, then place both hands upon trident.
>If we can retreive our kunai before the closest spider is on us, do so.

[DracoOmega]

>Searing pain like the acid that hit us before?
>Do we know how to identify if a bite if poisonous or venomous? If so, do we know how to go about fixing the problem, if only temporarily?
>What's our fort save bonus?
>Withdraw knife from victim, sheathe it, then place both hands upon trident.
>If we can retreive our kunai before the closest spider is on us, do so.

>No, the sensation is definitely different than that. It is subtler, but somehow... deeper, almost like you were standing too close to a flame that was on the inside of your shoulder.
>You have some familiarity with poisonous fauna and could probably detect a few poisons by scent, but are far from extensively versed on the subject. Given that most mundane spiders are poisonous on their own physical scale, you suppose it shouldn't surprise you if these are too. Short of an antivenom, you don't know what you could do about it at this point.
>Youkai get a +3 racial bonus. Try your best not to roll a 1, now.
>You pull your knife free of the spider, then resheath the ichor-coated blade.
>Then you dash towards your fallen kunai and scoop it back up again before the next spider closes into leaping distance. Somewhat curiously, it also stops about 10 feet away from you. The fourth spider is quickly catching up to it.

[Oldmansour]

>

>Short of an antivenom, you don't know what you could do about it at this point.

>What about bleeding the wound? Do we know enough to know if that would work?
>Listen again for any nearby spiders other than those two.

[DracoOmega]

>What about bleeding the wound? Do we know enough to know if that would work?
>Listen again for any nearby spiders other than those two.

>Contrary to common belief, this doesn't actually do much once the poison has already spread into the blood, unfortunately.
>You think there's at least one other spider making its way down this tunnel, although it's a fair ways back yet. Further than that, you can't tell distinctly.

[Oldmansour]

>Have we ever been poisoned before?
>In general, how resistant are youkai to poisons?
>Press the torch against the webbing in the tunnel again, this time to do more damage to it. See if THAT provokes a reaction.

[DracoOmega]

>Have we ever been poisoned before?
>In general, how resistant are youkai to poisons?
>Press the torch against the webbing in the tunnel again, this time to do more damage to it. See if THAT provokes a reaction.

>Yes, once. It's something of an embarrassing memory, looking back. It was during the time you were paired with Marisa. You'd gone to Welmark to retrieve some stolen property from group of small-time robbers. The two of you traced them to a cabin outside of town, and Marisa set you on watch while she went in to clean things up. You were supposed to make sure no one sneaked the back way while she was raiding the place. ...unfortunately, a banded arbor snake took objection to you hiding in its bush. It was distinctly unpleasant experience, and to make matters worse, your presence turned out to be entirely superfluous in the end.
>As a general rule, youkai are more resistant to a broad range of physical ailments than human; this includes poison. The level of resistance does vary some from youkai to youkai. You've never had the misfortune to test yourself against anything truly nasty, but you were told you got off fairly light with the aforementioned snake. Not that it felt much like that at the time...
>You press the torch back against the webbing, close enough to start withering the strands again. The spider closest to you holds its ground, while the other falls into place beside it, forming up similar to the last pair.

>The sensation in your shoulder grows more distinct. Yeah, you don't think there's any mistaking it for pain radiating from the bite itself at this point; it feels too dissimilar.

[Oldmansour]

>Dash forward a couple feet, draw a kunai... then stop.
>If those two start moving, draw a bead on whichever one is closer before throwing a kunai at it, and be ready to intercept the other one with Pitchy.

[DracoOmega]

>Dash forward a couple feet, draw a kunai... then stop.
>If those two start moving, draw a bead on whichever one is closer before throwing a kunai at it, and be ready to intercept the other one with Pitchy.

>You dash towards the spiders, kunai in hand. Their reaction is a near exact repetition of the last pair. As soon as rush them, they bolt and scurry across the walls towards you.
>This time you wait a moment more before striking, lining up a sure-fire shot. As the right spider pulls just a little ahead of the other, you let the kunai fly. It covers the few feet between you in a moment and drives into the spider's head. Even before it tumbles off the wall, you round on the other spider, interposing your pitchfork along its vector of attack. Rather than leap into the tines, the spider scrambles further up the wall towards the ceiling.

[Oldmansour]

>Wallmaster, you ain't. That ain't gonna fly here.

>Follow it's movement, watch its legs to see where it's going, then strike!

[DracoOmega]

>Wallmaster, you ain't. That ain't gonna fly here.

>Follow it's movement, watch its legs to see where it's going, then strike!

>Ah, but that would provide a convenient way out, would it not?

>You follow the spider as it rounds onto the ceiling and seemingly tries to move past your side. You shift the pitchfork around after it, angling it to block off a likely path of escape and then drive it home, skewering the spider against the rock before it can leap away.
>That... felt more awkward than it should have.

[Oldmansour]

>We're going numb in that arm, aren't we.
>Withdraw Pitchy, retreive kunai, and see what the last spider coming is.
>Afterthought: If we have time enough before it comes within visual range, use the torch to melt off more of the webbing before it arrives.

[DracoOmega]

>We're going numb in that arm, aren't we.
>Withdraw Pitchy, retreive kunai, and see what the last spider coming is.
>Afterthought: If we have time enough before it comes within visual range, use the torch to melt off more of the webbing before it arrives.

>Not numb, certainly. The pain from the wound is still quite evident, but... your shoulder feels stiff, moreso than you think you can attribute to just the injury alone.
>You pull the pitchfork free, letting the spider tumble to the ground and add its body to the pile of mangled and twitching spiders now surrounding you. Then you go and retrieve your kunai from its companion's head. The spider makes another thin squawk as the weapon comes lose, ichor gushing from the wound. The sound trails off almost as soon as it starts, though one limb keeps moving reflexively.
>The last spider you can distinctly hear approaching your position is still a few more moments away, so you decide to take this time to burn away more of the webbing. As the strands shrivel and fall apart, you start to get a better glimpse at what lies beyond them. There seems to be a small chamber on the other side of the tunnel; you can't see it very clearly yet, but you think there are signs of more webbing from within.

>You see a set of distinctive angular legs emerge from around the corner, and can't help but grimace.

[Oldmansour]

>Do those legs look like the ones the spitter had?

[DracoOmega]

>Do those legs look like the ones the spitter had?

>They do indeed.

[Hello Purvis]

>Which arm is injured? Our throwing one?

[Oldmansour]

>Oh, goody...
>Can he hear any of the sounds we heard the last one make?
>Draw a kunai, and move closer carefully. When that things's head comes around the corner, fill it full of kunai.
>How much room do we have to either side of us? In terms of dodging incoming acid splashes. Be prepared to take advantage of any available space if it comes around spitting.

[DracoOmega]

>Which arm is injured? Our throwing one?

>The spider bite was on your left shoulder. While you have thrown with both hands, as convenient, at different points of this expedition, your right is your dominant one.

>Oh, goody...
>Can he hear any of the sounds we heard the last one make?
>Draw a kunai, and move closer carefully. When that things's head comes around the corner, fill it full of kunai.
>How much room do we have to either side of us? In terms of dodging incoming acid splashes. Be prepared to take advantage of any available space if it comes around spitting.

>Yeah, this just keeps getting better....
>You haven't heard it make any noises aside from the sound of its feet skittering across the rock.
>You take kunai in hand and start to creep closer. The rest of the spitter predictably follows its forelimbs into view and a moment later you see its head poke around the corner. Unfortunately, its large limbs provide significant cover for the tiny head when in profile, especially at this distance. Do you still want to take the shot?
>The tunnel is no more than 4 feet wide. Even if you flattened yourself against the wall, you're not sure you'd miss an acid volley fired down the middle.

[Oldmansour]

>Not yet.
>Think back to the last one we fought. About how long did it take between acid-sound and acid-shot?
>How much distance is there between us now?

[DracoOmega]

>Not yet.
>Think back to the last one we fought. About how long did it take between acid-sound and acid-shot?
>How much distance is there between us now?

>You hold your fire for the moment.
>You're reasonably certain the sound was the acid being fired. There might perhaps be a moment's notice between it and the volley flying free.
>About 20 feet.

[Oldmansour]

At this point, I hope somebody has an idea. I've only got one, and I'm not exactly sold on it.

>If we flattened ourselves against a wall before it fired, so that it basically fired along the wall at us, would we have enough room to dodge it then? If we had basically the whole width of the tunnel to maneuver with?

[DracoOmega]

>If we flattened ourselves against a wall before it fired, so that it basically fired along the wall at us, would we have enough room to dodge it then? If we had basically the whole width of the tunnel to maneuver with?

>Judging by the size of the globs the first one fired, you think this plan could work, assuming it aimed directly at you.

[Hello Purvis]

Another plan may be lobbing the corpse of a small spider at it. This idea being to stun it long enough that we can reach it and deal with it before it can fire.

[Oldmansour]

That might work.
Alternately, we could use a corpse as an improvised shield, although I admit I'm not sure if they're big enough to serve that purpose completely.

[Oldmansour]

>Furthur judging from the earlier acid blasts, would one of the corpses at our feet be wide enough to provide sufficient cover against one blast?
>Now that we have a grasp for how heavy these little ones are, how effective would we be if we were to throw one as a projectile?

[DracoOmega]

>Furthur judging from the earlier acid blasts, would one of the corpses at our feet be wide enough to provide sufficient cover against one blast?
>Now that we have a grasp for how heavy these little ones are, how effective would we be if we were to throw one as a projectile?

>Their bodies could probably catch a fair chunk of the blast if it hit them dead-center, but a significant portion of the spiders' overall footprint comes from their legs, which are far too thin to count as a shield against anything. Basically, while you expect you could block the worst of it this way, there's a good chance you wouldn't be able to block all of it.
>While you could throw one a moderate distance, you think it would make about as effective a projectile as a small dog; perhaps enough to surprise someone, but not enough to do any harm.

[Oldmansour]

>From what we remember about the acid's velocity, if we were within 10-15 feet of the spitter, and it fired at us, would we have enough response time, and accuracy, to throw the spider at the acid and intercept it in midair?

[DracoOmega]

>From what we remember about the acid's velocity, if we were within 10-15 feet of the spitter, and it fired at us, would we have enough response time, and accuracy, to throw the spider at the acid and intercept it in midair?

>The acid volleys traveled very quickly, but a spider is a relatively large object to hit it with. You're reasonably certain you could make the two things connect with each other. Unfortunately, spiders also don't make very aerodynamic projectiles and it would be hard to control which part of the spider hits the stream, and more importantly, at what angle. A poor shot could easily end up deflecting very little, or simply splatter it in all directions instead.

[Oldmansour]

>What if we used two spiders at once as a shield from the acid? Would that provide total cover? Or at least cover from everything except a tiny drop or two, we've proven that a couple drops doesn't do that much damage.