Unlike Esmerelda's reading of light vs dark spells, by my reading when two equal level light/dark spells meet, their overlap is as if neither is present (i.e. ambient conditions apply) however since it doesn't actually dispel darkness, ordinary and lesser magic light sources still do not work in the AOE of the darkness. That means an ordinary ioun torch (continual flame, level 2 or 3, depending on arcane or divine creator) is sufficient to shine in darkness (level 1) and will at least neutralize deeper darkness (level 3) if made by a divine source.
The chances of finding a heightened one normally, are slim to none. You'd have to commission on at the Bank. Getting a divine-made one randomly is a 50-50 thing. Not sure if the maker can be readily identified. Spellcraft DC 20? Knowledge (arcana/religion) DC 20?
187.5 gp removed from inventory. Current HP: 12/18.
There's always something I keep intending for Pagrip to buy when he has the opportunity and I always forget. Of course, at the moment, I can't remember what that is. Sigh.
Pagrip goes with Ten and Esmerelda on the shopping trip, but lets them handle all the negotiations.
Back in the caves, he follows after Esmerelda. "Hopefully, they're dead giant mosquitoes," he says.
The giant parasites, on examination, are indeed dead. The room otherwise appears macabre but quiet. It's not clear what the intentions were, but some form of experimentation of some sort took place here.
Other than the one they came though, two tunnels invite the four to continue.
"... by connecting... and then... yes, wait, no that wouldn't work... unless- Oh, er, um. Yes, Darkbane. That's exactly what I was thinking." Ten responded.
Sorry for delay. We had a massive flood rain, my flat was under water for a while (well, an inch or so of water).
Ten leads the way and it doesn't take long for the tunnel walls to expand into a room, the majority of which contains a nasty-looking stretch of mud - a partially collapsed sinkhole - kept damp by rivulets of water seeping from the walls. A patch of solid ground extends into the mud to form an island, on which is heaped a reeking pile of body parts. To the north, a rickety wheelbarrow sits on its side against the wall.
A squat creature wallows near the middle - familiar to some as they thought such a creature, an otyugh, before. Currently its feeding on the remains, a somewhat contented "mmmf aaammf foood aaah" behind audible. For the moment it doesn't appear that the creature has noticed the four approaching.
"And what if it is?" Caulder shrugs. "It's the circle of life. That thing is doing what the City wants it to do, which is consume waste materials and prevent the spread of diseases from rotting flesh -- not to mention preventing the bodies it feeds on from being raised as undead or stitched together into flesh golems. There's no crime here. Shoanti-boy was dead when he got here. I wouldn't object to tracking down his killers, but I'll not interfere with City infrastructure that is currently functioning as intended." He nods at the otyugh. "Which that is."
As an aside, Caulder would be aware of the possibility of unsanctioned otyughs. Or legal otyughs that have been abducted for nefarious purposes. Not that either of these necessarily apply in this situation; but you never know. :)
Eh, it's eating dead things. If it were eating murder victims to hide evidence, that would be something else entirely; probably what Gaedran Lamm used that darn crocodile for. But this thing is in a cemetery eating things that were already dead when they got here. This isn't a crime investigation; it's a diplomatic placate-the-unreasonable-old-man-before-he-mobilizes-his-followers-to-cause -problems-for-the-government mission. Caulder's not going to attack what appears to be a City worker, albeit an unconventional one, to make a whiny old Shoanti happy.
Of course, it may just be that Rolth, dread necromancer, known to be involved in this case and urgently suspected of foul deeds and murder most uhm foul, agrees with Caulder's sentiments on the merits of proper sanitation. :)
Pagrip shrugs. "Fair point. Perhaps we can lure it away temporarily, maybe distract it with some other food and give us a few moments to see if the body we're looking for is there. Maybe one of those derro bodies would do the trick."
"Mm, ought to work," Caulder nods. "Fresh meat is better than rotten, right? Then again, we are talking about an otyugh. Hey, Darkbane," he grins. "We already know they like you. Show a little leg, along with a dead dwarf."
"We could throw some stirges against the far wall. The ones that fed should splat open loudly enough to distract the otyugh. That might be easier than trying to lure it around with dead derro- or Darkbane's leg." Ten adds to the conversation.
All worthy suggestions; let me know when you've settled on a course of action. I had actually prepared the updated map, but forgotten to upload it! d'uh!
"Stirges sound good, too," Pagrip says. "Lots of blood to attract it with." If there are no objections from anyone else, he'll grab a couple of dead stirges.
"Just not the ones that fed on me. I don't want that otyugh getting a taste for me," Ten warns, "Right, let me go find a few good specimens to fling around."
When Pagrip tosses in the plump stirges, the otyugh finally takes notice of them. "Feeeshh, ummf, blaaad - " a tentacle somewhat lazily wraps around on of the dead parasites and deposits it in the mouth of the sewer creature. An unpleasant series of cracking and crunching sounds emerge, with an unnecessary red spray, followed by a bit of a bloody drool. "Feeeeesh- woo is joo?" A tentacle vaguely swings towards Pagrip and Ten (just safely out of reach), "joo is smelll udder."
"Oh, yes, I suppose otyughs can smell if somebody likes dairy milk," Ten ponders aloud. "Hello, um, friend... my mother always told me to bring a gift when visiting a friend. See, we're friends, right?" Ten asks as he tosses another stirge towards the otyugh.
Oblivious to the otyugh's heartfelt needs and deep psychological motivations, Caulder sidles up to Ten and suggests, "Ask it if it'll let us take a look at the rest of its ... food ... before it finishes."
Casting a sidelong glance at Caulder, Ten continues: Yes, yes. We can bring some more food, if you could first allow us a moment to rest in your lovely home."
"Soooo ... it's going to let us have a look around?" Caulder asks dubiously, taking a cautious step closer to the otyugh. "'Little blue': that's the derro, right? You think it'd want to eat them, or will it be offended we killed its friends?"
"Let's not test the Derro theory, Caulder," Ten whispers back.
"Thank you for the invite... Oh, how rude of me, we haven't exchanged names yet. My name is Ten and these are my, um, friends, I suppose: Caulder, Esmerelda, and Pagrip. And what should we call you?" Ten responds to the otyugh, taking a step into the den in the process. Ten glances around, looking for evidence of fresh Shaonti corpses.
Ten spots a likely looking lower torso. Just hips and some mangled legs, but decorated in bold Shoanti tattoos. "Dey caall me 'Steyawey'" the otyugh hazards.
"A pleasure to meet you, Steyawey," Ten replies politely. Then pointing to the mangled torso: "Oh! Those tattoos look interesting. Do you mind if we take a closer look?"
"Ask if we can trade it something for it. There must be something an otyugh wants, right? That's only half a body; we can offer it two whole derro -- fresh ones at that."
"Don't worry, I won't be eating any of that. That would be very rude of me, as a guest," Ten promises Steyawey, "We just want to have a closer look. Right, Caulder, Darkbane? Just a look."
The otyugh is indeed rather amiable, allowing Ten and whoever else wishes to dig in the body parts a closer look. The lower half of a distinctly Shoanti youth are definitely part of the pile - but there's no evidence of any other parts.
"Does it look ... gnawed? Or is it a clean cut? Did the otyugh eat the top half, or has the necromancer taken the rest of it and thrown the leftovers here?"
"Looks like a saw was used," Caulder points out with some relief. "The rest of him might be down here someplace; at least it's not in the otyugh. Find out what it'll take for this half a Shoanti."
"Am I the only one finding this a little bit... distasteful? All right Ten, ask to trade two blues for a half cut of Shoanti." Esme suggests as she resigns herself to the meat trade.
"Steyawey, what do you think of the little blues? If we bring you two blues, would you let us borrow this?" Ten asks, pointing to the half-a-Shaonti. "I think that makes a good trade."
