Mordrin drops his pick and moves toward Goldwill. As he shifts past the mayor, he lays a hand on the man's shoulder and infuses him with divine inspiration. "I believe the beating things to a pulp work is your department, Goldwill."
Ziggit had been keeping quiet to let the group act as they normally would as much as possible, and to hopefully show he wouldn't be a nuisance.
He knew of Owlbears and hopefully would get an opportunity here to prove his Prowess against the beasts.
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Light continues picking. "they've got this..."
Ziggit's strike from his crooked spear lands a good 5 inches into the Owlbears neck. Though the Owlbear does not fall.
Goldwill steps up to the Owlbear that is attacking Kael and takes a half hearted swing at the beast.
Goldwill's stike connects to the back of the beasts neck and it collapses to the floor, breathing heavily.
The other Owlbear charges Tassadar.
Tassadars spell greets the owlbear during its charge. The sudden colors disorients the beast and it struggles to move forward.
With one Owlbear dispatched, Ziggit turned his attention to ridding the group of the second.
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Kael moved towards the owlbear's mate swiftly and with purpose. Adjusting his speed such that he whirled to the side of it Ninja-to trained on it's blindspot.
once another of his group had engaged the beast, Kael would strike, primed to do so once again if the beast was foolish enough to assault him.
Encouraged by his crew's success dealing with the first owlbear, Mordrin moves toward the second creature. As he steps next to the towering, feathery beast, he raises his staff and brings it crashing down on its shoulders.
Goldwill steps up the remaining owlbear and gives it a sad kick.
The combined efforts of the group and the rhythm of Light's pick against the wall make quick work of the beast and it falls dead to the floor after Goldwill's kick connects with the side of its head with a resounding "CRUNCH!"
Kael looks to the group and nods at their well placed efforts.
" Great job, now it seems all the pieces are at our disposal. Though I suppose the daemon needed simply one of these beasts. We may be able to fetch a price for the skin of the other. Now simply the amount of silver is all that is needed and no doubt the Daemon is monitoring our progress. I shall stand guard once more so that we can retrieve this ore and finish this game once and for all. "
It takes a long time, 4 to 5 hours with three people picking the wall, but your are able to surmise that you have the 20lbs of silver. Albeit mixed in with rock. The pile that is made is roughly 40lbs. Sweat dripping from your forms, you begin to realize that its not just that your hot. The cave has actually gotten warmer... a lot warmer. Hot humid air is now pouring from where you came out in the main cavern.
Mordrin wipes the sweat from his brow, somewhat from the hard labor of mining for the first time in his life, but also due to the strange rise in temperature and humidity he is sensing inside the cave.
"Now that's odd," he says, turning to look back up the tunnel toward the entrance. "It's usually much cooler underground is it not, Goldwill? Is this some strange phenomena unique to this cave system?"
Goldwill takes a moment to pull a rag from his beltpouch and wipe his face. "No, this cave has always been cool, the water in the other section saw to that."
As the heat began to rise from it normalcy at an increased rate (As Kael notably realized). The elven man nonchalantly pulled a flask from his hip and the uncomfortable sensation was all but gone. When people began to be even more affect or spoke of the heat, he realized something was amiss.
" As Goodwill says, the presences of water without the sun's rays and no volcanic activity coupled with the small amount of precipitation and elevation of these mines would mean colder to possible freezing temperatures if anything. Heat would increase from lack of oxygen however. My guess is that Malik's ritual may very well be creating this phenomenon. "
Ziggit shrugs, "Where'n I'm from, this kind o' heat ain't nuthin' to concern ya'self about."
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Light reaches into her bag as the temperature begins to rise and pulls from it a flask that she refreshes herself with. "it isn't that bad down here I'd say, I just don't want to remain here longer than necessary."
" It does not make it any less strange. I suppose we place the ore in this cart and carry it to where we need it be. "
Kael held the straight blade in a reverse-grip as he points back towards where they met Malik.
" And one of the carcasses... "
The cart is broken. Two of the wheels on one side have been snapped. Though if you could fix it, it could even hold the unconscious body of the owlbear and you could move the ore and it together.
Mordrin takes a look at the cart as Kael suggests they use it to transport their wares to the ritual. He sighs, then splits himself without a word, and Green and Black begin working on Mending the wheels. As they work, Green pipes us for a moment, "Quicker to have two people working on it, eh?" Black simply nods and grunts in agreement.
Minutes go by as Mordrin splits and begins mending the wheels of the mine cart. Loading everything inside including the unconscious owlbear. The part begin to push the cart along the tracks. It does take a good deal of effort, but the party moves the cart none the less.
As the party begins making their way to the middle of the mine. A low thrumming noise begins t tickle your ears. Following the sound, you end up at the end of the tracks. There is a drop off into a large body of water, or there was water. Now, slick muddy walls coat a extremely steep decline. A reddish blue light seeps from a opening just left of the group down at the base of this cavity.
It is roughly 40ft to the muddy floor. And the opening appears to be 10ft tall by 5 feet wide.
Kael seems hesitant,
" This steep incline likely will take the entirety of the cache we have gotten quickly, but if possible I would like the strongest members to ease it down instead. I was not wrong that Malik's ritual caused the heat to rise. Now we need to see what comes of it. "
Kael inspected the area to best determine a safe~ish route down with least cause for injury.
Light smirks silently to herself for a moment before adding, "I picked up some spelunking gear before we left town earlier,... might help "
Green nods at Light's suggestion. "Yes, that might help. Perhaps we could anchor the rope up here and use it to lower the cart into the...pit. Looks like that might be our best way down."
With the combination of Kael's engineering knowhow and Light's keen eye sight. You are generally satisfied by the route you have chosen and the pulley system you have connected to the cart. The body of the unconscious owlbear overflows the cart and sways as you move it into position. Knowing if it topples out there is a very low chance you can pull it free from the mucky surface.
Everyone... make a strength check!
Kael wasnt too strong, he was quite aware of that, but instead tried to leverage his body more or less.
Even with the correct preparations by Light and Kael. The cart careens off course after Goldwill, Ziggit, Kael and Lights grip fail to hold it steady. It tips over on its side causing the owlbear and the silver ore to fall onto the muddy slope. The ore sinks slightly in the muck. While the owlbear slides face first and eventually stops, half of its body sunken in the mud.
" I suppose it won't matter if the Body is Clean or not. There are cantrips for the latter. At least it is down the slope. "
Kael goes about the task of placing things back in the cart so they could get the package to where it needs to be.
As the group slips and slides to the bottom of the slope, Green and Black stand up and wipe the mud off of themselves, though Green does take a moment to examine the quality of the soil for supporting plant life.
Once they have themselves cleaned up a bit, they help Kael get the rest of the silver and the owl bear back in the cart. Black speaks up as Kael makes his observation, "Yeah, I doubt a bit of mud'll mess up some big fancy demonic ritual. Now, where are we headed next?"
" I would guess we follow the heat.. Seems the most.. obvious. "