I Got cookies... I got cookies... Not just any cookies...
As the party returns to the room with Roldare, Brezik is humming his little tune...
Hey Roldare I Got cookies... you want one they're my ma's specialty.
Brezik holds one out to the cocoon of a man...
Roldare doesn't respond as he seems to be living in a dark place inside his mind at the moment.
Qina picked up the wand, examining it. She twirled it over and over again while wondering how could they even afford this? She picked up the note and stood there reading it. It wasn't a long note, but by the time she finished it, she was sitting on the floor with tears rolling down her cheeks. It was several minutes before she could even put the note down. She followed along behind the others, never saying a word.
Qina fell to her knees and started to cry again. "I'm...I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. I'm so sorry."
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Allister's time with his much more wise and intelligent friends has begun to rub off on him, though he still has a long way to go. His adventure in the crypt has been the most challenging of his young life, and he is physically and emotionally exhausted.
"Qina, you have the heart of a golden dragon. My heart agrees with you, we should rush into the darkness and find that poor girl, but if we go on this weak we could get in trouble or killed. Then his sister would have no hope."
After that outpouring of wisdom and thought, that sounded more like Gad'larr than himself, Allister is now mentally exhausted, too.
In the room he continues to admire his new sword. "Brezik, what are these ripples in the blade? They are very pretty."
Placing his hand on Qina'a shoulder, Gad kneels in front of her.
No offense taken my...Allister is right...you have the heart of a dragon-mother protecting her young. Please forgive my
comments if they offended you my little dragon. I merely wish to...make sure we all come out of this in one piece.
Rest is needed. If you do not wish to rest, then do not. I cannot make you rest. But for now I will take my rest when I can
get it, and try my best to watch over you all when I cannot.
With that Gad will head to Roldare's room to check on him and wait.
Once everyone is inside, he will sit and put his back to the room's closed door and try to take the first watch for as
long as he can stay awake. He will then wake whomever wants to take it next.
Qina nods and follows along quietly. She pulls out her rations and cooking supplies and solemnly begins to prepare their meal. She goes through the motions without a smile on her face, her head looking down almost the whole time. Once the stew is ready, she sits down in a corner, but fails to fall asleep.
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Allister devours his share of Qina's stew and eats a trail ration for desert, then drinks heavily from his waterskin.
All dented, scratched, spattered with blood and mud, his half-plate has seen better days but never known such glory. Allister asks for help removing it - some of the straps are in places he cannot reach.
His ankle is swollen twice its size and blue-green as a tornado storm cloud. He straightens out the injured leg and leans his back against the wall then falls asleep much faster than he expected to.
After resting to recuperate and doing your "morning" rituals you all head back to the chambers with the stairs leading up. You quickly discover it is just a way to get from one side of the crypt to the other and make your way back to the room with the skeletons. Searching through the bones once again to ensure their demise you discover a small tarnished silver necklace resting on a breastbone .
You head down the stairs towards the moaning and the sounds of dripping water. At the bottom of the stairs is a circular chamber with three passageways leading from it. In the center is a small stone pedestal. The sound of dripping water can be heard coming from the eastern passageway, while the stench of rot emanates from the west. The floor bears an inscription spiraling out from the pillar and written in Common. It reads: “To the south you might take your ease, to rest and reflect on Kassen’s deeds. To the east lies the wheel, to open the gate. To the west is the resting place of Kassen, hero of the Fangwood.”
Looking down the east passage reveals that it starts heading further down into the ground and that water is collecting in the corridor. To the west there is a faint stench of rot that continues to grow as you head in that direction, but you stop before heading too far down that direction.
Belathorian rises early, as best as anyone can tell down here, and takes a knee
My lady, forgive me if this is not the appointed hour, I have no idea what the time is. Give me the blessings I need this day, that I might balance the world and ensure all are ushered to where they are headed.
Standing, Belathorian turns to the others as they wake
"I feel stronger today, I am still week from the attention of that shadow apparition, but I feel closer to my godess, she has given me much."
After a hasty trail ration breakfast, Belathorian is eager to move off.
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At the pillar Belathorian wastes no time in offering an opinion
"If the wheel opens the gate, then we have to go East first right? I have had all the rest I need for now."
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Allister wakes to find his ankle still swollen and sore, but more green than black and blue as it was before he fell asleep.
He sits up and begins to sharpen his old greatsword with the whetstone, running it down both edges of the blade. Once the edge is repaired he leans it up against the wall in the corner of the room. 'May this blade find a new owner and serve them well.' He then takes Brightfang in his lap and runs the whetstone over its edges which are so smooth they need no sharpening. He then begins the process of donning his armor.
Once the group has made their way to the lower level, he waits and hopes someone will read the engravings aloud.
While they wait he wrinkles his nose at the foul smell that fills the crypt, but is not sure of the source. "This place is darker than anything I've ever seen."
If nobody has yet re-cast their light spell, Allister will hold his everburning torch in his left hand, his gauntleted right hand clenched into a fist.
"Wait...do any of you hear that wet-sounding echo to the east? The dripping sounds are masking it. I do not know if I am in a
hurry to see what is making that noise. Vivian, what do you think? Which way?"
Qina slowly picks up the pots and goes about putting everything away without speaking a word. She repacks her gear once everyone has eaten and sits back down and silently reads her note again. Holding it close to her heart, she closes her eyes and tries hard not to fall asleep.
Her sleep is anything but restful. Tossing and turning until finally awaking in a fright, she stifles a scream instinctively. She looks around, sweat pouring off of her face, eyes wide as if she'd seen a ghost. She pants heavily and grabs her spear, holding it tightly. She does not sleep again.
In the morning, she quietly follows along, apparently distracted by her own thoughts. Her eyes barely leave the floor.
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Vivian is quite quiet the rest of the 'evening' after the notes. She accepts the warm food with a soft "Thank you" and then keeps to herself. After people begin to awake she can be seen on one knee, head down, with her arms folded and resting on the top of her shield that is standing on its edge. The previous day has brought something new into her, taught her things only experience can bring.
Down in the second level, Vivian listens to the others. "We'll have to go East eventually, won't we? It'll either be nothing or the reason we're here, so why not face it strong and head on?"
"Basic logic that makes sense Captain Vivian. Let's try east then. That could be a good sign for you to Allister?
We are moving towards the rising sun."
Seeing Qina's hagard appearance and lack of sleep, Gad'larr will try and keep close to her in order to make sure she knows
she is safe despite the short rest.
"Strong spine, little dragon. We either control our feelings or we let them control us. Something I have learned the hard
way. If it helps, I swear I will keep you safe today as long as I breathe."
Placing his hand on her diminutive shoulder for a reassuring second, Gad points East.
"Let us go and face our destiny together."
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Allister nods in agreement with Vivian. He is feeling bold and strong after his rest, their successes from yesterday still on his mind. "I follow your lead, Vivian."
He smiles at Gad's suggestion, the thought giving him warm and pleasant thoughts. "The sun, I almost forgot about it down here in the darkness. Lighrbringer Naabi would say I hold it in my heart."
The passage to the east splits in two directions, the water getting progressively deeper as you move along. It maxes out at around 2 feet in height just before a swollen and rotting door to the north. The split to the south leads to a larger open room.
Brezik drops low and creeps up to the door in the north corridor.
As he approaches the door he checks to see if their are any traps in the hallway.
Assuming he has detected no traps he puts his ear to the door to see what he can hear...
After all of this he checks to see if the door is locked.
Brezik does not see any evidence of traps or locks on the door, but it is stuck because the wood has swollen.
Putting his shoulder to it the door flies off its hinges and into a room that is filled with water, probably as deep as the outside corridor. The chamber is in an advanced state of decay, with a gaping hole in the ceiling admitting a constant trickle of water. The three stone sarcophagi in this room are almost completely covered in a thick carpet of moss and fungus. Before you is an enormous and angry looking frog.
The frog leaps to attack!
Brezik surprised by how easy it was to get the door open looks up at the frogs in the room. He's had been expecting a foe but frogs weren't high on his list of expected enemies. realizing he has just a moment before battle is joined he grabs a throwing hammer with his off hand and sidearm tosses it at the frog which he has the clearest shot on.
Hey Qina! Do you know how to cook frog legs.
Qina jumped at Gad's touch. Startled back to reality, she simply nodded. She was grateful for her companions, and that they had fared better than Roldare's. Still, her concern was growing. Spending the night in a crypt. Surrounded by the dead. Nightmares. She recited the words in the note to herself, but she could not agree with them. She was struggling to find her courage this day, but so far it had escaped her.
She heard the commotion from up ahead and called out "frog legs? Why? What's going on?"
CMD 14
Brezik's hammer hits home on the large green frog standing on the platform, crushing its ribs some.
Allister hears the word frog and perks up like an excited child. "Hey, did you say there are frogs in there? I love frogs!" He puts his hands on Belathorian's shoulders and tries to peek around him for a glimpse of the animal.
Belathorian steps up beside Brezik as he realises the creatures are not peaceful, he swings his scythe
But the water is hampering his swing and the from deftly dodges
The blue frog Bel was attacking bites back at him, but teeth click together on nothing anywhere close to Bel.
The red frog swims closer and the green frog shoots its tongue out at Brezik, latching on. The sticky tongue pulls Brezik closer to the frog
Brezik pulls and releases another throwing hammer at the frog that has a hold of him.
But as Brezik goes to throw the hammer the hammer brushes the sticky frog tongue and sticks for a second. Brezik panics and heaves to pull the hammer free. He manages to pull the light hammer free but loses hold of it sending it into the furthest corner of the room. Watching his hammer fly across the room he despondently pulls a third throwin hammer wondering if his next attack will be from the inside of a giant frog.
Unable to stand idly while his friends are possibly hurting, Gad'larr gives Qina a hard look.
"The water's too deep! Stay here and guard our back for now!"
Moving into the room and seeing Brezik's predicament, he slashes at the frog's tongue that holds him.
Qina nodded and sighed as Gad moved away.
Swinging again against the unusually aggressive frog...
Belathorian curses and mutters a missive to Pharasma, waiting for the inevitable counter strike
The frogs seem to be focused very much on eating. The blue frog attempts to take another bite out of Belathorian, the red attempts to catch Gad with its sticky tongue, and the green pulls on Brezik hoping he gets closer to its mouth.
The blue frog successfully bites and grabs a hold of Belathorian. Gad and Brezik both avoid the frogs attacks, but the green frog was pulling so hard on Brezik that its tongue detached from him and it hit itself in the head, flopping it onto its back.
The frog lets out a terrible croak as its blood starts staining the waters, but it refuses to let go of Belathorian.
"Uh, no thanks Allister. You go ahead. I'm fine back here." She moves up to peer around the corner and surveys the scene. She aims her finger at the frog, speaks the incantation, and fires an icy ray of frost.
Brezik seeing the prone frog decides to deal with it and jumps off the sarcophagus dropping his light hammer so that he can do a two handed down stroke with his Warhammer.
Moving 5 feet up to the Red Frog, Gad'larr strikes with his sword aiming between the creatures bulbous eyes!
"Heee-Yah!"