Good hear. Cindy spends a lot of time and a lot of fuss with the drow prisoners, making sure they can not escape. She has no pity for these creatures and keeps then subdued and unconscious as much as possible. She does this efficiently and takes no pleasure in the blows despite the fact that theses were the ones that sacrificed their prisoners. When they are all our she will ask the others Perhaps the cleric is too dangerous to let live?
"I do not know if this cleric is 'too dangerous' or not, but according to the drow we interrogated, that is their leader. Are we in a position of judge, jury, and executioner, for her torturing those soldiers? We have captured them and subdued them, I would gather they died in our fight with them, then have to kill one ore more of them now."
"Take what measures you feel appropriate to prevent her escape or spell casting, but I will not agree to killing our prisoners in this condition." Cormick explains.
Cormick will ready the lizards with what tack is available, keep them under control with the rods they have acquired.
I have prepared a sending spell. I could send a message to the proper autorities or stay in contact with Aerin.
As for the prisonners, I will say to keep in chains the soldiers and wizards and keep uncounscious the cleric until the Autorities tell us what to do with them.
It's one question I could ask later with my sending spell.
Excellent Issa. If what this crow archer says is even remotely true we need to report it as soon as we can do so. Report the facts of the coming attack and if you have words left ask about the prisoners and new orders for us.
If minds are changed and some dirty work needs to be done, you all know I will not hesitate if asked. That said, I would rather keep only the cleric subdued and force the other drow to carry her out, so that we are not slowed down too much.
Hezrog wishes he hadn't left town without some manacles...
The rest of the group makes their way out of the caverns with the drow in tow, the priestess unconscious.
Cormick trails a little behind with the lizards. The creatures are of a disagreeable temperament, but follow his prodding.
It seems from what you can see the scout leapt across the chasm and likely made his way father into the mountains up the opposing cliff. Without a secure means of climbing the cliff though further tracking on your own part does not seem feasible.
"Hezrog, just make sure they are tied up well with rope. Re tie them if you need to."
Ropes: The DC of your Escape Artist check is equal to the binder's Combat Maneuver Bonus +20.
Aerin can take a running jump and can make a 25 ft jump in order to reach the other side of the chasm
The DC for escaping my rope bindings is a 32 for now.
Shifting forms with a spell Aerin is able to cross the chasm and search the area. She soon spots a man, clad like the other scouts, in a small nook between rocks farther up the cliff.
He is sitting with elbows on his knees holding his head in his hands.
Aerin will calmly approach the man and will explain to him that she is part of a search and rescue team sent by the captain of the Aketla forces.
She will tell him that her group was able to save one of the prisoners and that the group of dark elf that have been responsible have been taken prisoners.
She will invite him to follow her outside
"I'd love to join you, but I twisted my foot when I made the leap across the chasm. I can't make it back the way I came."
Here let me help you she offers her shoulder and will carry him as she glides back down across the Chasm
With Aerin's help the scout is safely returned to the northern side of the chasm. Limping, he makes his way down the cave to join the group outside.
Cindy will check the scout's wounds, look him over with Detect Magic, and if everything seems normal she will heal the man. If they are bad enough she will use Hex Vulnerability to be able to use the Healing Hex multiple times on him.
Now that your wounds are closed I have an assignment for you. I think you will be able to understand the importance of this assignment more than most. I want you to keep watch on our prisoners. It would not do to have even one of them get away.
After she has delivered the scout aerin will return in order go scout the passage from wich the drow came
Athar thanks Cindy for the healing. "I will certainly keep an eye on them - and execute them if they try to escape."
Not much time remains on the alter self spell, and the pit to the underdark is not conducive to the winged form. Working downward while there is still some time remaining, the sides of the pit are jagged, closing in narrowly at places. If there were a means of preventing rocks and debris from falling further it would be a good place to close the gap.
At 100' down, and the bottom not yet in sight the alter self spell nears its end.
Aerin will take her time and study the area in order to see if closing the gap (almost permanently preventing those without heavy magic to open it again) can be done here.
While she has no Kn of Engineering to really look for a weak point she does have knowledge about dungeoneering and of Alchemy
Issa asked his comrade if the message he want to send to the captain was right.
I propose this, I could only send 25 words : Find Drow Scouts. Capture Them. Invading Force Comming. One Thousand Strong. Less than A day. Try to Slow-down them. Two Soldiers Alive. What Next.
Issa happily catch-up with Innulamane once outside.
"May I suggest a slight change in your message?" Cormick asks.
"Try this... 'Found, interrogated Drow scouts... Invasion imminent... Exaggerated strength arrival... one thousand within day... Will impede advance... Two soldiers alive... Advise.'"
Cormick thinks about this words, counting them out as the mutters them quietly before he continues, "This allows us 5 more words for your message."
I like that. Do we need to say something like "Advise your superiors immediately"? Surely the man knows to do that.
Thank you Cormick, your advice is wise. May be the captain is not aware of the way it works ? We could add "twenty-five words answer".
What do you think ?
Done right, possibly the entire tunnel could collapse - depending on how much is loose earth and rocks as opposed to solid stone at the point of an explosion. The walls of the tunnel itself are stone though, so without a means to peer or move through them to see how thick they are or where breaks in the stone occur you are unable to determine a good point.
Aerin drops another 100' down before coming to a more stable flooring. The cavern splits into 7 different passages. A brief exploration down six of them shows narrow and winding paths. A humanoid could pass further through them, but would have some tight spots. An army could pass through them one at a time, though bringing a large volume of supplies through would prove very time consuming.
The seventh is a wide passage running west. The hard rock floor provides no clues of passage from drow or other creatures. While the upper caves have been dry, down here the air is damp and the walls slightly moist.
"Brilliant, Issa."
Governor Alding responds to the message spell, "Sending Captain Ceyz. Drow more critical then Gumlat. Rallying more forces, will take two-three days. Hold pass if possible. Keep me apprised."
Aerin will head for the cavern and look around for tracks
Cindy arms and armors Athar from the gear they have found and asks if he needs anything else. If he would prefer a great axe she will offer him her own axe.
Aerin moves farther into the cavern, it widens out several hundred feet later into a vast cavern, an underground lake on the north.
Dozens of lights flicker on and off across the surface of the lake at varying distances. The cavern itself continues to run westward along the shoreline and only a little distance in Aerin can see that additional large passages branch off to the south.
Athar thanks Cindy for the equipment, "I'm not much with an axe, but a bow in my hands... lost mine when I leapt that chasm."
I have no bow to offer you Athar. But until we can get you one you shall carry my crossbow. She loans him her Masterwork Light crossbow and 50 cold iron bolts for it.
As Aerin continues her explorations, a message is dispatched to Captain Ceyz
The return message is that he is mobilizing and they should arrive sometime late evening.
What now ? asked Issa after Innulamane came back from his mission.
After Aerin returns or is retrieved, whichever the case, Cormick looks for places to block the chute.
Combined Effort per round of Small Earth Elementals
Round 1 (Casting A): 2
Round 2 (Casting B): 5
Round 3 (Casting C): 7
Round 4 (Casting D): 10
Round 5 (Casting E): 12
Round 6 (Casting F): 13
Round 7 (Casting G): 15
Round 8: 13
Round 9: 10
Round 10: 8
Round 11: 5
Round 12: 3
Round 13: 2
Each Small Earth Elemental has Kn Dungeoneering +1, 16 Str and power attack.
After Aerin returns or is retrieved, whichever the case, Cormick looks for places to block the chute.
Based on Aerin's report, it is unclear if blocking the chute itself will work - much of the debris would simply fall to the bottom. You can still make the attempt if you wish, and it would certainly delay any advance up the chute from below.
Right now we can't really do what we have planned. At the botom of a 100 ft drop there is a tunnel that breach out to a cavern with a lake. That lake cavern has 7 tunnels. Only one is large enough for an army to use. And guess what it is guarded by a Destrachan who are cunning hunters, and can cause a sonic explosion of sorts dealing heaving damage, or stunning those in the blast. Or at least i am thinking it is guarding this area as there is really nothing to hunt. So my suggesting is to kill that creature now so that i can keep on exploring forward. she says
Aerin, my vote would be to try to block the chute. We have the ability to summon forth a small horde of elementals and can at least attempt that. If that fails we could hunt the Destrachan but I think it might also attack the drow so it might be better to leave it. And while I salute your bravery I would prefer a plan that utilizes our the groups abilities that only your own.
I am not sure we can be blocking the chute effectively, we are missing a crucial knowledge . that of engineering. I am sure in the releive army they have all that. But it ,ot here for the moment. i am not sure that creature would be hunting the drow. and even if it did it would be killed by a scouting party like the one we fought. All i am trying to find is just a better way to close the passage to the underground. Hopefully for ever.
Tomorrow I could ask Horus to provide me a way to shape stone, but as I have no engineering knowledge, my spell could be useless.
If one of you can cast an alarm spell it could be usefull for us.
Sorry to not be able to contribute more, but my option are scarse.
Coremick and I are ready to summon the elementals. Lead us to the narrow shaft.
Sorry, collapsing tunnels and sending messages are not skills of mine. Maybe I can try to very carefully (take 20) look for tracks to make sure there's not an alternate way up.
Using ropes to provide support Cindy, Cormick and Aerin descend partway down the shaft to find the narrowest point.
Using the elementals a large volume of earth and rock drop down the chute, with several larger boulders getting stuck in narrower parts. Dislodging them would likely be possible, but doing so from beneath them... would not be wise to attempt.
While that work is being done Hezrog goes looking for other alternate paths in the immediate nearby areas.
Exploring farther down the middle passage you are able to catch the occasional footprint, most likely the drow. The passage twists and turns, but generally leads west. In a slightly larger cavern you find several dead cave fishers, large bites taken out of the creatures. From here you can hear the faint persistent noise of rushing water.