Dibbs shuffles forwards with the indifference of his patron crackling along his fingers. An indelicate touch seeks to surge his vitals back into the fray...
CSW:
Weakened, and with his head hurting from expending so much magic, Dingus draws on his rare reserves to keep pummeling the creature with magic.
Vapor Viper (Drawn from 2nd level slot)
Dingus calls upon his dwindling resources to send another round of missiles. This time however, the arcane bolts fizzle as they hit the mudman without leaving a mark. Jim dances through the ankle deep sludge though and jabs deep just as Kaul bursts back out with a bellow. Dibbets trudges through the mud, but has a hard time pushing through the muck with his gimp leg. He barely reaches Kaul, but can't lay a finger on Kaul before the clumpy clod clobbers him again.
It pound the stout thug sending him reeling sideways.
The Taldan continues to dance around the creature, trying to maintain the flank, while stabbing it again.
Round 5
As Jim plays sticker-the-mud a mauled and mucky Kaul lines up to plough a furrow in their sludgey foe:
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Having spent a goodly time slogging through the mud, Dibbets delivers the touch of Gozreh.
While Dingus attempts to figure out why his spell went wrong, the more direct approach of hacking and stabbing finishes the thing off. It collapses with a slosh that splatters muck over all in range. Dibbets delivers his special touch to a somewhat battered and bruised Kaul.
"Here's hoping it was guarding something worthwhile, hey?" While Dibbets delivers indifference, Jim looks around the area.
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Grunting an affirmation, Dibbs moves to where the mudman fell and kicks at the muck in a desultory manner. "Aye... best be somethin feckin 'ere worth tha trouble like." as he makes for the altar he adds "Eh Kauly - check out them coffins eh?"
Dingus looks at his hands like there is something wrong with them.
Knowledge: Arcana (+2 if spellcraft)
"I don't understand. Vapor Vipers never miss their mark".
The stone lids of the sarcophagi prove exceptionally heavy though whatever made the big muddy claw prints on them didn't seem to have any trouble.
[dice=STR check]1d20 + 2
Dingus gently places his hands on the lid, and begins to lift.
If necessary he will use the anchoring rod to help hold it open.
Kaul puts his back into it and doesn't achieve much until Jim joins in and between the two of them, the heavy slab slides off the tomb. Meanwhile, Dingus opens the twin with but a touch.
One crypt holds a disarticulated skeleton with bones that have been pretty much placed in the right position. It was probably male, you think, due to the bits of beard remaining on the dried flesh stretched over the skull. A pile of gold and silver coins lies at the foot and a golden key on a chain between skull and rib cage.
The other corpse is quite different. The skeleton is still complete though less flesh remains. A few scraps of long hair hint at a woman and the tattered remains of pirate finery hint that this was Captain Zara "Storm-eyes" Dahoath. No sword is found as that is likely in Jim's possession now, but there is a thick black leather belt stamped with the repeating image of a whale along its length and a diamond in its steel buckle that has withstood the ravages of time and tide. A gray bag remains at her side and along with it a sealed bone tube about a foot long.
Kaul eyes the crypts with baleful expectancy;
"Reckon we go tamperin' they'll come shuffling out at us?"
The brute belays any action afore the more magically bent in the group have something to offer...
"Nei mate, I reckons theys well dead like. Dingus - ye got any clue on tha belt an bone tube?"
Dingus easily identifies the harness as a Belt of Strength +2. The bone tube looks to be a scroll case which isn't magical, but the gray bag is in fact, a gray bag of tricks.
"All we need's a finger bone from the Captain, there. Say, didn't Lanteri say that Storm-Eyes was a man?" He peers at the key on the other skeleton. "Wonder if that opens anything interesting?"
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"Interesting. That bag there is kind of fun. I've heard you can reach in and pull small animals out. Not a fancy hat or anything, but might be of use to someone".
Dingus pulls out the scroll tube and investigates it. If it opens he does so to see what's inside. Then he searches the inside of the coffin for any secret compartments.
The Taldan eyes the tracks around the room with a frown. "We might want to finish up here soon, hey? I don't fancy another fight if there's nothing in it for us."
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Dingus finds that the end of the tube unscrews and contains a piece of parchment with a map on it. He then takes his time investigating the insides of the tombs despite Jim's nervousness.
The map shows a tower marked with an eye symbol on a small island north of an chain of islands.
Further inspection of the skeleton with the key's sarcophagus does indeed find a small keyhole concealed with plaster in the bottom of the tomb.
Kaul grins at the swag;
"Hur. She gets the bone we take the rest, eh Jimmer hur-hur..."
The brute starts to scrape up the coin at the foot of the beardy bones.
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"Aha! Look what I have found! Do you think this is safe to open Kaul"?
Not really paying much attention to the answer, Dingus asks for the key to try in the newly uncovered keyhole.
If the key is handed over, Dingus will attempt to use "Mage Hand" (Since Snakes don't have hands) to open the lock.
If the key is handed over, Dingus will attempt to use "Mage Hand" (Since Snakes don't have hands) to open the lock.
After Dingus fumbles around a few minutes with mage hand, Kaul just grabs the key and opens the secret compartment hidden in the Abadarian crypt. Inside are a small cache of gems.
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Dibbs squints at the map "I reckons we be keepin this an tha rest frae tha dear ol' Cap'n eh? - nei reason tae feckin hand over all o' tha goodness."
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Jim nods. "We did the fighting, and got what we came for--we can give her the finger, and keep the rest for ourselves."
Jim notices a little red crab claw in the corner of the map as well.
The Taldan whistles slowly as he looks over the map. "You know, I think this is what Lanteri is really after. Redclaw? As in the treasure we're supposed to be looking for?"
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Dingus reaches into the bag to see what can pull forth. Then turns at Jim's question.
"I don't like her. I still think we should just take the ship, and the treasure for ourselves.
Dingus idly reaches into the bag and pulls a fat rat out of the bag. The sky seen through the fallen wall beyond the altar has grows a bit dimmer as evening settles over the island.
Dingus tosses the squirming rat to Richard, then tucks the bag into his belt. I wonder if the rat disappears after you eat it?
"Looks like it's getting dark. We'd better find some place to stay... or do we want to head back now"?
Kaul leers at Dingus' suggestion;
"Hur... Reckon Dingus has the right o' it. We take the treasure. We take the map. We take the ship... Who'll stand against us out'o those sorry swabs?"
The thug casts his beady eyes over the rest of the swag;
"Belt. An' gems. Who wants what? Jimmer ye looking tae get more muscle on that frame mate?"
Dibbs mulls over the words and potential acts "Aye mateys... lets make it back tae tha dinghy iffin we can an talk roun tha boys there. Then a bit o' kip an come at tha mistress fresh like. Reckons we try tae get her alone iffin we ken too like."
Surprisingly, only Dingus has kept dry and mostly muck free as the crew make their way out of the temple to the God of Civilization which has now fallen back into vine draped wildness. While rinsing off, Dibbets notices that his kilt seems stained a mucky brown rather than the normal blues and greens even after multiple rinsings.
The full moon is rising over the sea to the east even as the sun disappears beyond the forested highlands. It occurs to you that returning now will entail passing again through the apeman haunted jungle on an overgrown trace of a trail in the dark.
Jim shakes his head. "You take it, Kaul. I just got this fine piece of steel--" He pats the hilt of Storm Eyes' rapier. "--so I'm feeling all generous-like."
Kaul eyes Jim's rapier then taps his own axe's handle with a grin;
"Hur... Reckon these sum us up good and proper Jimmer. One's a beautiful weapon o' finesse and precision... an' then there's yer rapier! Hur-hur-hur..."
The thug's hacking laugh echoes through the foreboding jungle as he straps on the whale embossed belt.
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Survival Aid #1:
Survival Aid #2:
Dingus walks second from the back, humming to himself, and hoping that nothing happens to cause him to have to use magic, as he feels drained.
"Perhaps we should wait till morning before staging our coup"?
Jim leads the way confidently over the wooden bridge and into the jungle. The ascending light of the full moon is quickly quashed by the heavy vegetation and Dibbets and Dingus are required to call up their respective magical lights: musket mounted wisp and hanbo-glo stick. Kaul looks a bit apprehensive about the occasional chittering in the tall trees and now and then the croaking of the frogs sounds something like the mad dead thing that seems to yet lurk in the foggy corners of his mind.
After about an hour though, it becomes apparent to all that they are off the old trail and can't find the rope bridge. Oddly, Dibbets' little light fades away and he can't rekindle it though Dingus' glowstick is unaffected. Not helping the halfling is the feeling of dis-ease afflicting the oracle since the crew left the temple.
The situation only gets worse when booming calls of the apemen are heard not far away in the dark and threatening jungle.
As the group traipse further in the exotic jungle, Kaul looks to alternative routes;
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The brute lumbers to his ailing wee mate, creases of concern playing across his scarred brow;
"You alright Dibbs? Looking a wee bit green around the gills matey..."
Gritting his teeth and sweating o'erheavy for the conditions Dibbs scowls at Kaul's words "I'll survive... jus need some spray 'cross the bow like."
On the topic of the diminished lights, the halfling calls his protective winds to gird his form in something akin to being enrobed and portends "Now this ain't good like... blades out an ready lads. Feckin ape feckers could feckin try tae feck us... we gots be ready tae rodger tha feckers back harder."