Nest

Bosco touched ground, his feet sinking a bit into the soft surface. He looked down, finding that he was standing on what looked and felt like black leather. Of course, that was ridiculous, which made the situation even stranger. The halfling looked around, taking advantage of his infravision to scan the darkness since he knew that Belphanior, who was following him shortly, preferred bright lights despite his elven heritage. There were no heat-signatures here, though, only a strange expanse of floor directly ahead.

It resembled a mesh or thick ropes, its "squares" about two feet wide.

Each of these spaces was actually a hole in the floor, within which rested a large, leathery egg-shaped object. The squares must not have been too deep, for the upper half or so of each egg rose above floor level. Bosco headed over to the nearest of the ovoids, examining it with his magical ring of x-ray vision. However, even that magical vision couldn't quite penetrate the thing; he was able to make out a vague spidery form, but its exact nature escaped him. The halfling shook his head, frowning to himself.

A scraping sound behind him caused him to whirl in place, but it was only Belphanior, emerging from the vertical shaft and landing on the floor. The elf held a light-stone, within a metal tube that was capped on one end. This caused the light to focus into a beam, and it allowed Belphanior to see the weird objects in this chamber.

Belphanior: What in the hell...?
Bosco: Eggs, it looks like.
Belphanior: What could be inside them...and are they ready to hatch?
Bosco: They're just eggs...how much trouble could they be?
Belphanior: How big is this place?
Bosco: Don't know. Maybe we should check it out.

Just then, the rope attached to Bosco was tugged, thrice. Bosco returned the signal, letting those above know that all was well.

Belphanior: (moving along the edge of the chamber, sword drawn)
Bosco: (hears a "squish"-like sound, and turns) Huh?

One of the eggs, the one closest to the halfling, was opening! Its top had split open along two seams, breaking into four petals that peeled themselves away, leaving the top of the egg opened.



Bosco: Gee... (he stands on his tip-toes, peering over the lip of the object)

The halfling concentrated, his x-ray vision piercing the slime within the exposed egg's center. He didn't like what he saw, but before he had time to back away...there was a sudden, single, violent motion!

Belphanior: (hears a choked scream, and turns) Bosco!

The elf dashed over to his companion's side, and witnessed a horrifying sight: something had attached itself to the halfling's face! It resembled a large, white spider, but its eight thin "legs" were more like jointed bones. It also had a long, multi-segmented tail that had to be at least three feet long. It was hard to tell because the tail was coiled around Bosco's throat, several times. Worse, the thing's main body completely covered the halfling's face, its legs wrapping around the sides of his face. They were pressed tightly against Bosco's skin, and the entire thing - whatever it was - throbbed and pulsed, its tail tightening and loosening a small bit with each motion.

A quick look at the opened egg was enough to make Belphanior realize what must have happened.

Belphanior: Fuck...

The elf's dark blade detected no soul - like the previous monster, this one apparently had no sentience at all. As he puzzled over this, he heard a slight slurping sound behind him. Whirling in place, he spotted a second egg, slowly opening at the top.

Belphanior: Uh-uh... (he sheaths his sword and quickly finds a certain magical wand)

Just as a single thin, pale digit crept over the lip of the second egg, the elf cut loose with his wand. A stream of pure flame leapt from the item, jetting across the egg, bathing it in searing fire. The thing ignited instantly, and burned quite fiercely.

It wasn't enough for Belphanior; with a cry of half-anger, half-fear, he turned his wand on the other eggs in the chamber. They all went up in flames, and the area was filled with acrid smoke. Coughing, the elf gave two sharp tugs on Bosco's rope - the signal to pull him up instantly. Whoever was manning the other end was on top of things, for the halfling's body instantly rose into the shaft, pulled by the rope around his waist.

Belphanior stayed behind for a few extra moments, making sure that everything he could see was ablaze before he too tugged on his rope. Even as he rose into the shaft, he kept his wand trained beneath him...just in case.