Bob's massive hammer comes down like a meteor on the vermin, exploding its carapace and turning its insides into a small, yellow-brownish slime on the forest floor. If the party hadn't seen it a moment ago they would never think that smear was once a creature.
As the last foe dies, Grennex and Ving strain their eyes into the woods, but the sound has faded now. The crashing has ceased and whatever, if anything, had made that sound is now long gone.
"That was a good battle Pathfinders, congratulations on your first victory. Is anyone hurt?" She looks over the group and gives an approving smile when she sees everyone is unscathed. "Well done. Come on, it's getting late and if we don't reach the cave by night we may miss the Gillmen. We need to hurry."
The group continues their march as the overgrowth and brush becomes more and more dense. It's not too long before their pace is beginning to become considerably slowed by the trees.
Thankfully, Archibald and Ving are able to find shortcuts through some of the foliage and save the group valuable travel time.
The dense forest opens to a wide clearing at the base of a sheer cliff. Thick vines cover the surface of the cliff stretching 30 feet overhead. “Here! The cave entrance is behind those vines,” Janira says with a broad smile as she walks to the cliff’s face. She pulls back several layers of vegetation to reveal a narrow crack in the cliff’s surface. “This is where I saw the gillmen enter.” As she motions toward the aperture, the surrounding woods once again come alive with the sound of small animals fleeing some unseen danger and a large creature crashing through the undergrowth. The halfling worriedly remarks, “Quick, take cover before whatever it is spots us!” As if she’d summoned the creature with her words, a massive horned monstrosity emerges from the trees. Standing eight feet tall on a pair of cloven hooves and wielding a tremendous axe, the bull-headed creature roars with unbridled anger when it spots the group. Wisely assessing that a minotaur is beyond her charges’ capabilities, Janira screams, “A minotaur! There’s little chance we can stand against it. Take this bag,” she continues, pulling off her backpack, “and head deeper into the caves. Finish your mission. I’ll lead it away from the caves, lose it in the forest, and join you as soon as I can. Now go! GO!” She heaves her backpack into the cave, casts a spell, and darts off toward the minotaur before turning to lure it away.
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I might just love that woman. Come on gents there may be riddle loving cave creatures below, I must meet them. Archibald steps towards the cave entrance and then takes a step back. On second thought, maybe someone with more muscly arms than myself should go first, you know, in case the creatures below are more thirsty for battle than poetry. As Archibald attempts to step away from the cave, his feet catch the ledge and he tumbles down the hole.
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Al'tair takes the offered bag from Janira as he runs past her in the other direction. "Good luck, lass! We'll leave a fire burning for you."On reaching the cave he stands holding the ivy aside for his more melee oriented companions.
His fingers move in an arcane gesture and a pair of floating, glowing orbs spring to life ten feet within the cave entrance.
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Altair's lights dance around the group, providing a small bit of light as Bob leads them down the tunnel.
The cave system stretches down beneath the foothills of the Kortos mounts, and the party is greeted by a narrow tunnel no more than 5 feet wide, just wide enough for them to travel through in single file. The walls of cave are patterned with blue-green luminescent fungi that cast the cavern with dim light and create small lines of light across the walls like a map. Overhead stalactites drip with water, the quiet drops just barely heard echoing up and down the corridor.
The narrow tunnel twists and turns for several hundred feet before slowly opening to a wider passage. From wall to wall a large hole spans the cavern’s width and stretches ten feet across down the tunnel. A glance down into the pit reveals it's about 20 feet deep, with corners rounded out to prevent any would-be escapers from bracing against any corners. This was clearly a trap at one point, though it seems to have been abandoned and left to simply be a large hole to deter intruders. On the floor of the pit a bundle of cloth lies in a heap.
This pit was created artificially.
This pit hasn't been serviced in years.
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Al'tair sends one of his glowing orbs across to the other side of the pit to allow the group some better light to see by. "I don't think I've got any tricks up my sleeve for this one." he announces in an annoyed tone. He crosses his arms and considers the pit. After a time he closes his eyes in concentration, extending his senses to scan for things unseen.
Almost as an afterthought he glances over at Daratas and asks, "Think you could float across with a rope?"
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Daratas gazes across the pit, scanning for footholds or perhaps a hidden ladder."If it is not a naturally occurring obstruction, one would assume there had to be an easy way for those meant to cross. Unless these gillmen or whomever created it could fly." Daratas muses aloud, but his mind begins to wander. 'If only I was strong enough, I could fly myself across.'
He listens Al'tairs suggestion, nodding his head. "Getting the rope across isn't the problem. We need someone to tie it off or hold it tight. If you want to save time trying to climb down and back up, I could push someone that distance if I charged up. Would any of you like to give it a try?"
I'll assume you're doing the full 3 rounds of Detect Magic.
Round 1: You detect magic.
Round 2: You detect a single faint magic aura.
Round 3: The magical aura is coming from the cloth currently floating into Archibald's hands. You aren't able to discern what school of magic the aura is. You can't discern its effects (but can try again tomorrow).
The cloth floats up slowly into Archibald's hand. It's clearly old, likely a remnant of an adventurer long past. When you unravel it you find that it's a cloak with flecks of silver and steel sewed in amidst the fabrics.
You don't feel any different, but that doesn't mean it's not magic. You can attempting a Spellcraft check to identify it, if you are trained in Spellcraft.
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With a faint look of alarm Al'tair reaches out to try and stop Archibald only to wince as the other man dons the cloak. "My friend, you may want to be more careful about what you pick up. That cloak is very much magical. I'm not sure what it does.. but that's even more alarming." His attention is drawn away from the pit for the moment, though he does give a nod at the suggestion of just climbing through.
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Grennex listens while the team argues for a bit, he tosses his backpack and shield across the gap to lighten his load. "We have spent to much time here, we need to get this done so we can check on Janira."
With that he rushes forward and leaps...
....barely making it across, he skids to a stop near his gear.
Normally you'd need skill checks but with a rope and a wall to brace against the DC is only 5. According to Climb Rules, if you fail by 4 or less there's no penalty, you just don't make progress.
So essentially, as long as you roll between 1 and 20 you're fine. This wouldn't be the case for Grennex, as he has a negative Climb modifier and could theoretically roll 0 but he's already cleared the course so to speak.
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Looking on with delight as his allies make the leap across, Daratas inches to edge. When he is satisfied with the line up, he takes several strides backwards before running forward and leaping into the air. 'Gods of air be with me'
His left foot slips halfway through the charge, tripping him up. He tries to stop, but his forward momentum is too great to overcome.
"Look out below!" he exclaims.
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Al'tair watches everyone else make their leaps with a faint look of amusement. Nothing for it but to jump, I guess. He thinks as he lines up as well. He runs, leaps, and...
Completely biffs his final step to tumble straight down into the pit. With a yelp and a flailing of arms and legs he lands directly atop Daratas, sending them both to the floor.
Daratas and Altair both fail to clear the pit, tumbling 20 feet down onto the stone floor.
Altair: 3 Non-lethal, 4 Lethal
Daratas: 1 Non-lethal, 1 Lethal
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Grennex grunts as the companions tumble into the pit, That easily could have been me, he muses. "While your down there be sure to search for the rest of the owner of that cloak." He starts to walk away from the pit, but turns back around, "Oh, also are you guys ok?" he says almost as an afterthought.
He looks across to Bob, "When you come over, use your rope to hoist them up if they are seriously injured." He moves back to his gear and straightens his pack before putting it back on.
"Uh, Ving? Was it?' he says hesitantly to the Kenku, "Would you care to scout ahead so we are not surprised by anything?"
When you search the bag, you find its contents neatly organized and labelled, with vials labeled and wands marked with their remaining charges. As you sift through the contents you find the following:
A Potion of Barkskin
2 Potions of Cure Light Wounds
A Potion of Featherstep
A Potion of Vanish
A Scroll of Entangle
A Scroll of Gust of Wind
A Scroll of Identify
A Scroll of Mage Armor
A Scroll of Obscuring Mist
A Wand of Burning Hands (4 Charges)
A Wand of Cure Light Wounds (8 Charges)
A Vial of Acid
2 Vials of Alchemist Fire
A Vial of Holy Water
A Vial of Antitoxin
A Smokestick
2 Tanglefoot Bags
A Thunderstone
2 Sunrods
There's nothing unusual about what's left in the pit.
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Al'tair searches through the bag, looking clearly impressed. "The girl came prepared, I'll give her that." He pulls the wand of cure light wounds from the bag and pokes himself with it.
He sighs in relief as the magical healing washes over him. He gives the wand a nod of approval and tucks it into his belt. Then he grabs the scroll of identify and tosses it up to Archibald. "That should work on that cloak."
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Daratas stands up carefully, and checks himself over. A soft hop, and he seems to be fine. He peaks into the pack of goodies as he comes up to Al'tair. A head of nod of approval, and he continues towards the rope.
Daratas climbs his way up top.
"Do you think we should leave the rope, and mark a trail for our companion to follow us?"
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Al'tair nods his approval along with Daratas before they both scurry up to rope to join the team. "Without anything to tie it to there's no real way we could do it. Best to hurry on and make sure our quest isn't in vain." He responds and shoulders the bag. Looking off down the tunnel he squares his shoulders. "Onwards, marry troupe!"
After some concentration, the secrets of the magic reveal themselves to Archibald. It was a Cloak of Resistance, one of minor strength .
The tunnels continue on, leading deeper beneath the Kortos Mounts until they eventually open into a large cavern. What must have once been beautifully carved reliefs and inscriptions decorate the walls, their features dulled and softened to the point that it is hard to distinguish what each once depicted. A wide tunnel exits the cavern on its far side, and blue-burning torches line the passageway’s walls.
There seems to be 12 major murals carved into the walls, but only 4 are clear enough to follow.