imp

Ander steps between Gullian and the others, shield high and sword low. “Right. The captives walk out. You don’t.”

Ander Vale misses Captain Gullian

Ander’s boot sinks in the black grease as he lunges. Gullian folds bonelessly beneath the sword; the blade rings against the iron threshold. The captain springs upright behind his leveled spear. “Murderers before Her Murkiness!” The grotto stirs. Five more broad heads rise from the pool, and something vast shifts in the dark beyond them. A slow, amused voice rolls across the water: “Oh, Gullian. Let them try.” Anyone wading in the grease moves at half speed. There is no running, charging, or fighting withdrawal in it. The grease will burn.

Brea keeps her boots clear of the black grease, draws on Gullian, and waits for Ander’s shield to dip. “Vale. Low.” She looses.

Brea Thornwick misses Captain Gullian

Ander drops behind his shield. Brea’s arrow skims over him—and Gullian jerks sideways. The shaft vanishes into the grease.

Captain Gullian misses Ander Vale

“Take him breathing!” Gullian drives his spear at Ander’s knee. The point glances from the fighter’s shield.

gloop guard 1 hits Ander Vale for 3

something takes 1 from Ander Vale.

A guard explodes from the grease five feet away. Its whole weight drives a short sword through Ander’s mail for 4 damage, dragging him deeper into the muck.

gloop guard 10 misses Ander Vale

A second guard hops for Ander’s sword arm. He twists, and it belly-flops past him in a sheet of black grease.

gloop guard 2 misses Brea Thornwick

A spear spins out of the pool at Brea. It cracks against the iron door beside her head.

gloop guard 3 hits Mira Ashdown for 2

Another spear comes low through the doorway. Its head cuts Mira’s thigh for 2 damage. The guard who threw it sinks at once, watching her rather than Ander.

gloop guard 4 misses Brea Thornwick

A third guard flings its spear at Brea. She turns her shoulder; the weapon sails into the passage behind her.

A guard cuts through the grease to the left of the doorway and stops ten feet out, crouched to spring at anyone who enters.

Another guard mirrors it on the right, leaving Ander between two waiting arcs of spears.

A third swimmer vanishes under the black surface. It rises directly before Mira, ten feet from the threshold, with only its eyes and spearhead showing.

A fourth guard swims behind the others and closes the gaps. The water before the north doors becomes a shallow crescent of spearpoints.

The last distant guard slips beneath the pool and disappears. A wake races toward the doorway, but no head breaks the surface.

Mira Ashdown misses Sootmurk

Mira steps behind Oskar, touches flame to the prepared wick, and throws the flask at Sootmurk. It misses. “Too far right,” she says, with the precision of someone recording an error she intends to survive.

Mira snaps her dagger toward the vast shape beyond the spear line. It skips once across Sootmurk’s greasy hide and disappears into the pool. The dragon’s laugh is low and pleased.

Oskar steps into the grease beside Ander, probing the bottom once with the hammer haft before planting his shield. “Bad plan.” He swings for the guard crowding Ander.

Oskar Fenn hits gloop guard 1 for 1

Correction: Mira threw her burning oil flask, not her dagger. It misses Sootmurk and smashes open on the pool behind the spear line. Flame runs across the black grease with a deep, rushing *whump*. The entire surface catches. The pool will burn for three rounds. Anything in the grease takes 1d6 fire damage at the start of its turn. Ander and every creature in the pool are exposed. The dry threshold remains clear—for now. Sootmurk stops laughing.

Oskar wades into the burning grease beside Ander. His hammer clips the guard’s jaw for 1 damage and drives it back. The gloops shriek as the fire races around them, but Gullian bellows louder. They hold their line—for the moment. Oskar will take fire damage if he is still in the pool at the start of his next turn.

something takes 6 from Sootmurk.

Six points of fire race over Sootmurk’s oil-black body. Her twelve legs hammer against stone as she tears herself from the pool and climbs the eastern tiers, trailing sheets of burning grease. “You have made me ugly.” She turns broadside to the room, then rears. Her throat swells. The air above the flames shimmers, and the smell changes from smoke to hot rancid fat. Her jaws point straight at the north doors and the water before them. Sootmurk is preparing to breathe through that line on her next turn. Anyone who spends round 2 moving can clear the cone. Anyone who remains there will be caught.

something takes 1 from Ander Vale.

Round 2. Fire crawls over Ander’s greaves for 1 damage. He has 7/12 hp. Ander’s turn. Sootmurk’s breath is aimed at his position; moving this round will clear the cone.

Flame races up Ander’s mail. He turns west and forces his way through the burning grease, spending the round moving out of Sootmurk’s line and onto dry stone if he can reach it. “Out of the pool! West side! Move!”

Ander shoulders through the flames at half speed and hauls himself onto the western seating. The stone there is slick but clear of the burning pool. He is out of Sootmurk’s cone.

Brea sees Sootmurk’s throat swell and slings the bow. “Mira. West. Now.” She spends the round moving west, keeping to dry stone where she can, and clears the breath line.

Brea slings the bow and runs west along the dry threshold, then scrambles onto the tiers below Ander. She clears the breath line without entering the fire.

something takes 1 from Captain Gullian.

Captain Gullian misses Oskar Fenn

Flame sears Gullian for 1 damage. He lunges through it at Oskar, spear scraping uselessly across the fighter’s plate. “Hold him in the line!”

something takes 1 from gloop guard 1.

gloop guard 1 hits Oskar Fenn for 4

The flames bite the wounded guard for 1 damage. It throws itself against Oskar and drives its short sword through a gap below his shield for 4 damage. Oskar has 10/14 hp.

something takes 5 from gloop guard 10.

Five points of flame swallow the smallest guard. It sinks without a sound. The others see it vanish. Gullian’s shouting no longer matters. The gloop line breaks. With the burning pool cutting off their usual escape, they scramble for the nearest dry tiers instead of fighting.

something takes 2 from gloop guard 2.

A guard takes 2 fire damage, vaults past Oskar, and scrambles through the north doors into the passage.