Bitha extinguishes her torch, happy that the group now had light all over. "The wound feels fine. It just got me a little bit. If I feel anything different, I will let you know, healer. Are we ready to continue further?"
Perception
With the torch no longer needed, Alyna readies her shield again.
This part of the caverns was hard rock. Moisture from both the spring behind them, and seepage from the roof, made the cavern cold and damp. The place looked like nothing less than the maw of some great beast. Stalagmites rose from the ground, in some places meeting the stalactites piercing down from the roof. It was an eerie location for those not used to delving the depths.
Norm could find no tracks here, the ground itself too hard to leave prints, and nothing growing on the ground to be marked. However, this was the only way forward, and since the other groups seemed to have come this way, it was a sure bet they should go on.
After the ladies had all climbed the cliff, they assembled into a serviceable battle order and moved forwards. The going was cramped, but luckily the cave only extended for 40 feet or so.
As they got to the end, Britha stopped them. The light from the red glands and Lilly shone down upon the body of a half orc woman as it lay on the cavern floor. The coolness of the cavern seemed to have prevented too much decay, for only the hint of foetid flesh lay in the air around the woman. She was face down, her back covered in dry blood and a number of puncture wounds driven through her leather armour and clothing.
As the party prepared to check her corpse, a sudden movement from ahead caused Norm to look up. His instincts warned him to scream a warning, but it was too late. He had just caught sight of some strange frog like creature clinging to the wall ahead, its body pressed into one of the natural crevices and folds of the cave wall. The creature was maybe 15 feet from where Britha stood, and suddenly its eyes flared in a light greater than that of the sun.
As the light emitting from the creature's eyes wash over Alyna, the nanites in her body surged in defense causing intricate patterns of lines on her body and face--as well as her eyes--emanate a bright blue glow. This surge managed to protect her from the blinding light of the creature, albeit almost barely so.
Fearing the creature may do so again and knowing her nanites would not be able to aid her again that day, she quickly pulls her smoked goggles down over her eyes to hopefully protect herself from any further attacks.
Norm
Fort
"Augh, my eyes," Bitha exclaims, as she closes her eyes just in the nick of time. She pulls her swore and readies to swing it at the frog, when it approaches within her range.
Attack
Damage
The serpentine creature hisses and recoils, blinded by the flare. Confused, it rears up and screeches loudly. Zlota, just barely able to withstand the flash herself (Must be to far... she thinks to herself) prepares to attack the frog like thing.
** spoiler omitted **
Norm
Round 1
The frog like creature squealed in agony as Norm's first shot flew into its soft hide. There was a wet smack of led striking flesh, then luminescent blood arced from the beast. It was an amazing feat of marksmanship given the situation.
Unlike most animals though, this creature didn't immediately flee at the pain. Instead, it launched itself forwards, eyes blazing as it closed in with Bitha. Its jaws opened wide, amphibious teeth glistening with its mucous.
Unlike the beetles earlier, this creature's bite was serious. Its mouth clasped on Bitha's thigh, tearing from side to side like a rabid dog. AS the teeth tore through her armour, it met flesh and a great pool of blood spread across her clothing and sprayed through the air.
Bitha yelled in anger and swung her great weapon around in retaliation. The blade sliced into the beasts hide, gashing it terribly across the back and thighs. The thing let go as it again hissed in pain.
In the midst of the party, Ksila writhed in pain as its sensory nodes were overloaded by the pain. The eidolon was out of the fight at this point. The others scrambled to assist. Unfortunately the tight confines of the cavern made it impossible for them to reach the beast as it fought Bitha.
Norm fired again, but his companions obscured his view of the fight, giving cover to the creature unintentionally. The shot only just went wide, but it was still a miss.
Knowledge arcana or knowledge dungeoneering (DC 12)
Realizing what creature it is, Zlota instead reaches and retrieves a dagger, throwing it at the thing.
Upon seeing the frog-like creature bite into her companion's leg, Alyna's mind calculates the best course of action.
Closing her eyes and clutching at her holy symbol, she utters a prayer to her Goddess in Androffan. "Jainkosa Brìgh, egoztea me boterea nire lagun sendatu eta uko nire etsai," she whispers, as her holy symbol begins to glow.
As her Goddess answers her prayer, her hair gently rises into the air and her circuitry-tattoos emanate a soft glow. Suddenly, a wave of positive energy emanates from her and washes over those around her, yet ignoring the frog-like creature entirely.
Standard Action:
Bitha had felt the warm healing power of magic before. The tribe's medicine woman had the ability to heal sort of like that, so she was not alarmed when the magic washed over her. Before she could thank the healer however...
The pain of her wound triggered the darker side of her mind however, and she howled, letting her emotions take the better of her, swinging madly with all her power.
Attack
Damage
Possible crit
Damage
Round 2
The creature was enraged at its own pain, seemingly driven to more frenzy than ever and trying to kill those responsible.
It lashed out at Britha with its full ferocity, unleashing tooth and claw at the big woman as it fought to its last breath.
Again its mouth tore into the barbarian, drawing blood and ruining what healing Alyna had been able to do.
In response, Britha went into a blood rage, swinging her weapon down into the creature and severing its head in an arc of luminescent blood. The body of the thing dropped to the ground, twitching in the last moments of its life, even as the blinding light from its eyes faded to nothing.
"Hodl on a second," Bitha demands, as she catches her breath after the battle. "I've never seen a creature like that before! Sharpest teeth I've ever ran across.". Before moving on, the warrior pulls out one of the frog's teeth, and places it in her pack, intent on remembering the difficulty of the encounter.
She uses her sword and splits the stomach of the monster. "This big, and with teeth like this, there is no telling how many explorers it has finished. We need to look for evidence," she grunts as she gets to the grisly business of exploring the guts.
Sorry, my last update mysteriously came from one of my aliases. Must have bumped a tab by mistake using my iPad.
Norm turned the body of the half orc over even as Bitha sliced the Blindheim open. The marksman's face registered shock then sadness as he saw what was left of the woman's face.
This was the remains of one Parda Garr, a well liked young lass from town. She was feisty and strong, but was quick to help when needed. Norm hadn't realised she was one of the explorers to enter this place, and to find her body here rocked him a little. He knew she hadn't gone in the tunnels with either of Khonnir's groups, so she must have gotten tangled up with the group the Guild had sent in. What a truly sad fate for the woman.
In front of him, Bitha exclaimed in triumph as she held up the hand of a human. She had found it partially digested in the beasts intestines. Given that Parda's corpse had both of its hand's still attached, this one must have belonged to someone else. It seemed that the groups that had entered may not have survived. The people of Torch had been holding out hope for days now, but within minutes of entering the caves, the worst fears were proving to be true.
The large barbarian turned the hand around to see if she could tell anything from it, but apart from it being human, nothing else could be discerned.
"Do we need to try to come up with a way to get these remains back to town? My people believe in the importance of a proper burial ceremony. Helps the spirit on in its journey forward. If we find another accessible exit, we need to see these out."
Thinking more clues about what the frog thing's diet consisted of might be in its lair, Bitha heads forward to the left.
"Mistress Bitha, please wait before proceeding. Please allow me to tend to your wounds."
Alyna approaches the injured barbarian and places her hands on the injured leg.
"Dohatsua brìgh , sendatu bere zauriak warrior noble honek," she whispered to her Goddess in prayer. A warm, soothing energy poured forth from her hands and into the wound, magically healing it.
When she was finished, she stood and inspected the half-orc's body.
Alyna informed the others of the nature of the half-orc's wounds.
"A terrible fate indeed," she stated, "and it would appear as if she was trying to escape. We should remain on our guard, as this expedition has proven quite deadly already. I hope we do not encounter any additional trouble, as my healing capabilities are down down to 66.67%."
"Master Norman, did you know this female?" she asked the gunslinger. "As she has already perished, she may have some supplies that may be of use to us--that is if you do not object, Master Norman."
Zlota looks at the hand and raises an eyebrow. "A most fortuitous turn of events in taking down the creature. I'm rather... fond of my own extremities." She looks around, noting the small passageway to the right.
"Sir Norm, the passage over there appears rather tight. Might I suggest that I head in first a short ways. My magic allows me to see very well in the dark recesses, and hopefully I go unseen and unheard to any more unique beasts that may be lurking ahead."
Zlota nods at Norm. "I'm sorry for your loss. We'll see to it they get the proper rights once we find the others."
"Thank you for the healing, Alyna. Also, a personal question...my eyes might have been playing tricks on me, but did you glow for a few seconds during that battle? The bright light might have just been fooling me, but I thought I saw something."
"That... was the power of my Goddess flowing through me. As she is the Goddess of Invention, it often manifests as glowing intricate lines on
my body," she answers, hoping her explanation will suffice.
"Well I don't know much about Brigh, but the healing has been appreciated. I guess she's doing a good job with you!
Alyna and Norm stood on overwatch while the other women moved ahead to scout.
Britha strode confidently into the larger beach chamber. Above her head, stalagtites descended in prolific density, causing her to duck occasionally. The beast must have climbed around the walls or the roof because the only tracks on the beach were the ones the barbarian girl was leaving behind. As she approached the water, she found the source of the human hand. The chewed up remains of a man in leather armour lay partially submerged, the body beginning to decay and bloat. It was impposible to identify who he was, since the head and most of the upper body was missing, chewed up and presumably swallowed by the Blindheim. His lower body and some of his abdomen remained though. She could see a pouch and some flasks still attatched to the belt, and his leather pants were mostly intact as well, except for the left leg where a huge chuck of flesh and leather had been torn free.
Britha looked down at her own pants and freshly healed leg. She was pretty sure she knew what had caused that to the man.
As she looked around a little further, she noted the stream flowed back towards the area they had presumably come in from. It was beyond what the light from the torches could show her though.
****
Zlota left her blind eidolon whimpering with the rest of the group. It's eyes were badly damaged, but even now she got the sense they would recover, given enough time.
The young android moved cautiously along the tunnel, using the uneven walls and stalagmits to move with stealth. She followed the tunnel, allowing her natural dark vision to guide her where the others needed light to show the way. About 50 feet along, she came to a 4 way junction. To her right, the tunnel widened slightly but was filled with large piles of rubbish. Much of it looked strange, like metalic boxes, wires and other bits of debris. The wall here is decorated with strange drawings, marked in limestone and mud. They were strange shaped, and she'd need to get a closer look to see the detail.
Ahead the passage continued on in its narrow path. She could tell the tunnel eventuall opened into a bigger cave, but its details where hidden from her. It seemed as if the floor dropped away in that area.
Finally, she looked along the left passage. It sloped up slightly, and was partially choked with rubbish as well. No where near as badly filled as the right hand passage though. The passage there curved to the left, and disapeared from view after only 15 feer or so.
No one choice seemed better than the other.
Bitha retrieved what was left of the corpse as well as the pouch and vials. "Another explorer's remains. That frog thing was a menace. There's no telling how many people it might have eaten," she nods, sadly.
Feeling that the group shouldn't split up too much, Alyna decided to follow the route that Zlota did. As she reached the junction the pile of debris to her right caught her attention and the prospect of finding something valuable or technological drove her to inspect the rubble as she waited for the others to catch up.
Zlota turns and notices Alyna approaching. She motions for them to remain as quiet as possible as they try to take in as much as possible.
Not finding much more than what was stated, She lightly taps Alyna's shoulder and motions for her to follow her back to the rest.
Once back She looks to Bitha and Norm. "Up the path is a division into three more 'halls'. One has debris in it, one goes into a cavern and the third I could barely see into so filled with rubbish as it was and it turned out of sight. I say we move towards the large cavern, unless Alyna would like more time looking at the debris in the one hall."
"Just point me in the direction. Large cavern sounds as good as any.". Once cnsensus was reached, Bitha led the way ahead.
Perception
Zlota turns towards Bitha and nods. "Two so far for the cavern. But are you certain you are fine for moving forward? I know Alyna healed you, but I do not wish for you to be injured any further."
"I desire to investigate the pile of refuse more thoroughly, but I can do so at a later time. I must try to remember to put the needs of others before my own desires," Alyna states.
"Master Norman, I feel that it would be more beneficial to the group for me to change the focus of light from your musket to my shield," she says, preparing to recast her light spell on her shield.
Once completed, she notifies the other that she ready to move out with the rest of the group, her glowing shield ready held in her left hand, her light hammer in her right.
Alyna can't tell much more about the refuse than Zlota saw earlier. Something seemed to have disturbed part of it recently though, as if a creature had been moving around in the pile or rummaging through it at some stage. What ever it had been, there was no sign of it now though.
The marks across the way turned out to be drawings and representations of creatures. Some where bulky, with legs like spiders. Given the groups earlier run in with the robot in town, it wasn't hard to work out what those drawings represented. The other drawings were strange, stick like figures with multiple sets of arms and odd shaped heads. They looked like no creature this group had seen before.
The pushed on through the crossroad, cautiously moving past the two side passages. Bitha took her customary place in the front, followed by Alyna and her glowing shield. Zlota and Ksilis came next. The eidolon was still blind, and was leaning heavily on is mistress in order to know where to go. Its condition had effectively halved the movement the party could travel, without causing the creature more distress than it was already in.
Last was the strangely quiet Norm. The marksman hadn't said much since finding Parda's body. Perhaps her death had shaken him more than he first let on.
The passage was only wide enough for one abreast until they reached the cavern. Here it allowed Bitha and Alyna to stand shoulder to shoulder on a small ledge standing 10 feet above the floor of the cavern beyond. The temperature here had dropped noticeably as they stepped onto the ledge and the light from Alyna's spell relflected from glistening sheets of rhyme frost on the walls and ceiling of the cavern.
Below them, they could see the floor covered in a brown dust, while across from where they stood, another tunnel left the lower floor. A humanoid body lay slumped against the wall, near the exit.
Zlota pats Ksila softly as they travel, trying to keep the poor thing calm. As they get into the cavern, she looks around and at the far end. "Well, this makes things a little more difficult. Can anyone figure out a way across?"
Alyna examines the ledge and the floor below it.
"We could try to scale down to the floor below, or we could see if there was anything in the pile of refuse that I could hammer into the ground to act as a spike, providing a stable hold for our rope. We may need to come back this way, and leaving something here to facilitate our exit would be the logical and prudent course of action," she states.
Examining the floor below, she can't quite make out what the brown dust is. It almost looks like rust to her.
"Lady Bitha, do you know what this brown dust is? It doesn't seem to be rust, although it certainly appears to be similar."
Know. Nature
"I agree. Getting back out of here might be a bit of a problem. I don't see any way around just climbing down there, and seeing what's happening. That body clearly shows something's amiss, but we have to retrieve it, and get it back for a proper burial.".
If there was no objection, she climbed down, and started looking around.
Zlota waits at the top to see if anything is amiss with Bitha climbing down. If not, she'll follow in short order. If there is, she will do her best to try and retrieve her.
With her skills in engineering, Alyna finds at least one place where she can wedge a piton into the cavern wall and tie off a rope.
Using that to aid her, Bitha begins her descent. The air temperature drops dramatically almost the moment she lowers her full body weight over the side of the ledge. The icy chill is so strong and so localised that she can feel the heat sucking from her body almost immediately.
The biting cold almost swept the barbarian woman's vision from her, it was that intense. She could feel her body feeling weary with fatigue.
"Whoa, pull me back up," the barbarian yells, while trying to climb back herself. "Bone chilling cold, as soon as I made it that far," she describes wi her teeth chattering the whole time. "My people come form a cold land, but I've never felt unnatural chill like that before."