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"Be well, Lore Defender. We will do as you say and see you again before long."
The Silver Warden strides into the cave.
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Ill try an Acid Splash.
The minotaur stares straight at Blood Eagle for a moment and then makes the choice to follow the vaguely more annoying Lore Defender. Quickly, the sounds of trampled undergrowth fade further into the forest and are soon gone.
The group makes their way through the vine-covered entrance and into the darkness within. Once inside the mouth of the cave, it opens up into an expansive cavern that twists and turns into the belly of the mountain.
The narrow tunnel twists and turns for several hundred feet before slowly opening to a wider passage. A large hole spans the cave’s width and stretches ten feet down the path. At the bottom of the 20' deep pit lies a small bundle of cloth.
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Silver Warden activates the Sunrod and ties it to his right forearm.
He hands a rope to one of the other vigilantes and then climbs down the pit to retrieve the cloth.
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The Wasp takes the potion of vanish and feather step, the acid, an alch. fire, holy water and a smokestick. He looks ridiculous carrying it all around, so he puts it back in the sack.
"How about I just carry the sack, and you call out what you need when you need it?"
He will try on the pair of eyeglasses, though.
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The Wasp takes the potion of vanish and feather step, the acid, an alch. fire, holy water and a smokestick. He looks ridiculous carrying it all around, so he puts it back in the sack.
"How about I just carry the sack, and you call out what you need when you need it?"
He will try on the pair of eyeglasses, though.
Putting on the eyeglasses, The Wasp appears to be yet another mild-mannered citizen of Absalom.
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The Wasp takes the potion of vanish and feather step, the acid, an alch. fire, holy water and a smokestick. He looks ridiculous carrying it all around, so he puts it back in the sack.
"How about I just carry the sack, and you call out what you need when you need it?"
He will try on the pair of eyeglasses, though.
He will try on the pair of eyeglasses, though.
I'll crack one of the sunrods and begin to cautiously head into the cave, looking back at Lord Defenders glorious battle and feeling like a smuck as we scurry into our little hole.
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"Does anyone have an idea of how to secure a rope on the other side of this pit?"
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Approximately 30 feet beyond the pit and out of sight around a corner is a long, 3-foot-wide wooden plank that rests against the cave’s wall.
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 have since weathered heavily, 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.
Fisherman
Craftsman
Thief
Merchant
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Petraglyphs on the walls show the 12 guises of Aroden which are meant to illustrate his hopes for humanity. They are starting to crumble in places and several are completely illegible at this point. You can make out some of the shapes which show:
The Merchant is depicted weighing and trading coins of different sizes, a reference to the holy text’s proverb that peace brings trade and prosperity to all people.
Petraglyphs on the walls show the 12 guises of Aroden which are meant to illustrate his hopes for humanity. They are starting to crumble in places and several are completely illegible at this point. You can make out some of the shapes which show:
The Craftsman is depicted creating shoes, pots, jewelry, and other moveable goods, referencing Aroden’s delight at seeing his people express their ingenuity in creating new products from raw materials.
The Merchant is depicted weighing and trading coins of different sizes, a reference to the holy text’s proverb that peace brings trade and prosperity to all people.
Petraglyphs on the walls show the 12 guises of Aroden which are meant to illustrate his hopes for humanity. They are starting to crumble in places and several are completely illegible at this point. You can make out some of the shapes which show:
The Craftsman is depicted creating shoes, pots, jewelry, and other moveable goods, referencing Aroden’s delight at seeing his people express their ingenuity in creating new products from raw materials.
The Merchant is depicted weighing and trading coins of different sizes, a reference to the holy text’s proverb that peace brings trade and prosperity to all people.
The Thief is depicted stealing a gem from a shop while whispering a prayer, an allusion to a passage saying that larceny—though illegal—is a form of praise, for anything worth stealing is also worthy of praise for its craftsmanship.
Petraglyphs on the walls show the 12 guises of Aroden which are meant to illustrate his hopes for humanity. They are starting to crumble in places and several are completely illegible at this point. You can make out some of the shapes which show:
The Thief is depicted stealing a gem from a shop while whispering a prayer, an allusion to a passage saying that larceny—though illegal—is a form of praise, for anything worth stealing is also worthy of praise for its craftsmanship.
Petraglyphs on the walls show the 12 guises of Aroden which are meant to illustrate his hopes for humanity. They are starting to crumble in places and several are completely illegible at this point. You can make out some of the shapes which show:
The Fisherman is depicted hauling in an enormous catch of small fish to take back to Absalom, illustrating Aroden’s declaration that a great host of creatures could accomplish a great task, whether that be taming the wilds or feeding a nation.
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The gillman moves to stretch and glimpses two severe looking men lurking over his shoulder. He startles and quickly swims backward to the far wall. His eyes are wide and he is poised like a caster of some variety ready to use a spell.
Those of you not scaring the life out of a man of the waves notice the small city and this section of the cavern in more detail.
The soft light of the surrounding fungus mixes with the flickering glow of the nearby torches to reveal a grand chamber. A large pool of water along the chamber’s southern edge reflects the blue and green radiance to illuminate the massive stalactites that cling to the ceiling overhead. Two other tunnels branch off from this area, leading to the east and west.
Rising up from the pool is a column of rock with steeply sloped sides and a flat top, as if someone had sawn off the top of a massive stalagmite. A miniature city carved from this same stone occupies nearly the entire surface. Tiny trinkets such as ancient coins, polished semiprecious stones, and ornately braided loops of string are scattered throughout the diorama, and pale cave frogs clamber atop it. The smooth cavern floor is covered in gravel and pebbles along the edge of the pool, and several foot-long centipedes prowl among the gravel in their search for prey.
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Silver Warden shakes his head. He addresses the figure. "Be you friend or foe?"
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After watching each of your faces intently as you speak, the annoyed gillman has had enough of this. He jumps up and stands atop the water as if it were solid as stone. He does not appear to want to talk to you and makes simple a shooing motion for all of you to go away.
Meanwhile, back in the Halls of Justice east tunnel Blood Eagle cackles gleefully as he sprints along. The fairly straight tunnel takes a hard left turn at the end.
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Union puts his sword down.
You have a way with water. Might you be a gillman? We are members of the pathfinder society, sent here to discover what secrets this cave has. Judging by the reliefs we found on the walls on the way in, it has a great significance indeed. Might you help us understand it better? I apologize for our... bursting in earlier.
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The gillman asks in the voice of someone who has never heard speech, "Are you explorers and pillagers? Or just lost circus performers?" The intent staring he's been doing at your faces while each of you speaks plus the manner of his voice lead you to believe he's probably deaf. That and he doesn't seem to have a high regard for you thus far.