Nomen Infernale XVI: But I Will Add to your Yoke

The touch of Brother Theo on Asbjørn once more carries the most generous gift of Lamos with it. The barbarians discuss a way to box in the giant solifuges and exterminate them one by one rather than having to face several at once.

Kegho opens the door and the nearest solifuge skitters toward them. Theo calls divine light upon its eyes hoping to blind and confuse it but it is not particularly perturbed by the light. Nuru and Alex fire ranged weapons as it squeezes its way over the burnt husk of the solifuge they’d killed earlier, but both projectiles missed. The solifuge strikes out, but meets only Asbjørn’s shield. Riven looses Gwen—an arrow she has complicated feelings about, but ultimately believes is causing disharmony in her quiver with constant gossip—at the Solifuge, but misses. She feels somewhat betrayed, but not entirely surprised. Stupid Gwen. Teleptyon sends forth a blast of Ar and strikes the solifuge. It is too mentally simple to realize what fearsome cosmic powers it is dealing with and continues pressing its attack. Kegho misses his next swing of the axe, Skullcleaver. Elissa searches for a place to thrust her spear, but cannot find a way past the muscled buttocks and thighs of the barbarians manspreading in the doorway. “Typical,” she sighs and begins gaming out a way to get past without interrupting their attacks, but hangs back for the moment.

The other two solifuges begin following the commotion out of the chamber to the west and move into the hallways.

Alex and Riven fire at the first solifuge; Alex hits and Riven misses. Asbjorn and Kegho both strike true doing considerable damage to the creature and in its weakened state an unusually potent burst of Ar causes the solifuge to explode like a ripe melon, spattering the barbarians with its ichor.

The second solifuge chitters just around the corner from the short hallway to the door in which the barbarians stand. Asbjørn breaks his defensive stance to attack around the corner, but the solifuge’s pedalap whips out and wraps around the massive barbarian. He realizes that the surface of it has suckers that have attached to his skin like thousands of tiny burs tangled in an animal’s mane. He struggles but it rips at his flesh. It begins pulling him toward its toothy maw. Nuru shoots at the beast attempting to devour his employer and strikes it. Theo charms the beast and while it develops a positive opinion of the priest, it is still intent on its Rhenish meal. Teleptyon launches another blast of Ar. Alex and Riven move forward for better shots, but both miss. Riven fishes Simon, her best wetwork specialist, out of her quiver and sends him sailing into the eye of the solifuge. The eye ruptures; Simon has lived his best life. Alex misses again. Kegho attacks and does great damage to the solifuge’s appendage, allowing Asbjørn to wriggle loose with only some damage to his skin. He grudgingly hoped the priest’s gods would be generous in repairing.

The charmed solifuge, no longer assured of a meal, becomes very friendly toward Theo. He hopes to trap it in the room from which they had just come rather than killing another of Bira’s creatures, but has difficulty navigating it with all of the bodies crammed into the room. As it trucks toward Theo he yells at everyone to clear the hall and grant it passage, but the crush of bodies causes chaos. With much coordinated running and the tenuous strands of Theo’s charm over such an alien mind fraying, he manages to swap places with the creature and close the door behind him. It makes plaintive clicking sounds at being separated from Theo , but he breathes a sigh of relief. Kegho and Alex have entered the chambers that the solifuge had been guarding and have found items including a set of prayer beads, gems, coins and a few copper Bol of the Shayrid Empire. Alex is briefly distracted by Ma'abar glyphs on the floor, but Kegho encourages him to collect the glittering collectibles assembled by the solifuges and continue on. The last of the solifuges comes charging out of the south and Asbjørn hears it first and steels himself for the encounter.Teletpyon catches on quickly and launches yet another bolt of Ar. Elissa moves to watch their rear where and guard the door behind which Theo had trapped another enemy, but the door does not even rattle. Nuru and Asbjørn defend against the charing solifuge. Kegho shoots over them with a longbow, hitting the thing in its eye. Asbjørn delivers a mighty blow. Alex fires at its other eye. Kegho strikes it as does Nuru. Theo brings down the Hammer of Ator, but it misses. Riven also strikes it with an arrow. Finally Asbjorn beheads it. They are at least momentarily safe from the solifuges of Tel Jumrah.

Alex finishes collecting what was on the floor of the room and Riven helps him search for traps around the door.