>>5676016As you begin your hasty retreat, you are alarmed by two discoveries…
>6First: whatever senses these deep-dwellers possess, their master is troubled neither by brightness nor by darkness. You fail to <Dazzle> the damnable thing, and it sees through your magical darkness as easily as you navigate the natural equivalent with your Darkvision.
>1Second: it is FAST. You would expect such a titanic and ungainly thing to stumble along with lethargy to match its weight and rigid construct. Instead, it lurches forward and DIVES, swimming after you like some great sea-beast—swimming, in fact, through earth and stone as easily as such creatures might navigate water! As your allies ahead struggle to climb through narrow caverns and cervices, and to haul themselves up and out of these dark grotto into cracks in the stone which might—MIGHT—offer escape through tunnels unknown, your captor is able to effortlessly expand the same tunnels to afford it unimpeded access to the lot of you. It bats you aside with a great limb as easily as swatting a fly, and you hit the wall hard…
>2/5 HP While the geological goliath bypasses you to set upon your companions and prevent their egress as well. Your head ring with the hard impact, and you think you felt one of your horns chip and break at the tip. Your already-aching chest and arm are further injured, and your dragon-like wings crumple and bend awkwardly as you spread them, requiring a few beats to fully unfurl.
You hear Ekaterine scream. She’s awake, then, and still alive… But you cannot be sure for how long either will remain true, at this rate. You cannot see your friends through the living wall which is your enemy’s back. What you CAN see are several of the boulder-monsters rolling after their massive master , to join its hunt.
Gods Below and Beyond, coming here is beginning to feel like a mistake...
What will you do?
>Fire a <Moonbeam>—you are far from the surface, and unsure of the phase of the moon, but the explosive power might stun or at least distract the goliath!>Use the <Voice of the Metatron> and attempt to command these rock-monsters to halt, and leave you be><Jump> into the fray and strike with your new khopesh—maybe its magical properties will prove useful here?>You could try freeing it in place with the <Ring of Elemental Command>… Maybe that could slow it down long enough for you and your retinue to escape?>Write-in 