With the troglodytes gone Ember looks about the room, already chanting again, blue glowing motes circling her arm as she searches for targets. Finishing her spell she sends her missiles arcing out. One for each of the stirges and one for the deep gnome.
Seeing Shoo struggling to stabilise Rosco Ember rushes to the fallen rogues side to help.
" Don't let that man get away! "
Sir Adrian moves after the snifrbevlin.
Adrian ends his blindness at the end of his turn, which means that the deep gnome took a disengage action to flee.
Adrian took chase and hit the Svirfneblin, killing him in a single blow.
The stirges go after whoever is nearby, which is Shoo and Ragnar.
Each Stirge larches on to its target, and starts sucking their blood. Ragnar takes 9/2=4 piercing damage (accounting for rage resistance), and Shoo takes 4 piercing damage.
One Success, One Fail.
Ragnar charges after the human acolyte, and the Stirge stay attached to him as he runs.
Initiative Order:
Svirfneblin 19 (dead)
Adrian 16
Troglodytes 16 (dead, dead)
Stirges 16 (dead, -0 HP, -0 HP)
Badger 13 (dead)
Rosco 12 (unconscious)
Ragnar 10
Clyde 9 <-- we are here
Human Acolyte 8 (-3 HP)
Skyreaver 7
Ember 6
Shoo 6
When Clyde sees the cultist duck away and run, a slight smirk crosses his lips.
It's a race you want, eh?
He breaks into a sprint, passing by the cultist with ease, and spins his body around, heel kicking up a spray of dirt as he skids backwards to a stop. He props the great sword's blade over his shoulder and smiles at the cultist moving towards him, taunting him to dare come closer.
-Ouch! G#&!+&n overgrown mosquitoes...
Clyde runs around (you can't get past him in the hallway because he's blocking it).
The acolyte casts Earth Tremor, anyone within 10' of him (I think just Ragnar, but maybe also Clyde) must make a DC 12 Dex Save or take bludgeoning damage and fall prone. He then tries to run away (Ragnar gets an Opportunity Attack if you're not prone).
Skyreaver bats a Stirge with her club, spraying bits of creature and goblets of blood and it rips off of Shoo.
Ember casts magic missile, killing the final Stirge and hitting the acolyte twice, dealing 8 force damage.
Shoo casts Guidance on himself.
Ragnar is umneffected by the tremors in the earth, and his sword cleaves down the acolyte's back as he tries to run away.
You can recover 100 gp worth of various coins from the cultists' pouches.
You claim the seed of fel earth and find their way out of the living caverns via the tunnel dug by the cultists.
Climbing out through the tunnel dug by the cultists, you escape the strange living caverns and finally see the light of day. You bare an odd glowing brain-like crystal that pulses with life. What do you do with it?
1) give it to the girl Elisande
2) give it to your employer Leleanor
3) give it to a faction
4) sell it
5) keep it
6) destroy it
Ember would probably like to spend a few minutes analysing the stone but as a default would agree with Skyreaver as long as it's not super dangerous.
Clyde sheathes his great sword and walks back to recover his dropped daggers. Brushing them off a bit before strapping them back on his belt, he says "Leleanor paid us to find a gold vein, correct? It's unfortunate that we haven't found one, but I don't think handing her some artifact that a crazy cultist was trying to run off with is very wise. I agree with Ember. We should make sure it's not dangerous before we decide anything. It could also prove useful in finding out more about what is going on down here. Not sure a simple business woman would get much use out of it other than pawning it off for a few coins. Then who knows who's hands it may wind up in."
Clyde gets a good look at the room and stretches a bit.
This rock is shiny too, maybe this is the one the girl wants.
"I agree with the young one, Leleanor sent us after a gold vein, not this, unless she knew there was no gold vein to find, in which case, f+*# her. I know someone who might be interested in this."
"Whoa, calm down there big boy." Clyde places a hand on Ragnar's upper back, almost uncomfortably out of reach. "Ember's checking it out for us. Who's the person you know that's interested, if I may ask?"
Through a combination of personal experience, Ember's study, and research throughout the days and weeks that follow, you discover the following:
The whispers of the seed of fel earth are ever-present. Any living creature with an Intelligence of 3 or higher that begins its turn within 30 feet of the seed must attempt a DC 10 Wisdom saving throw.
Creatures that have telepathy, the elemental type, or speak Primordial make this saving throw with disadvantage. Those that fail must roll 1d6 and consult the chart below:
1: Earth Lover. You are overwhelmed by a love of solid stone. You immediately move towards the nearest large rock and express your newfound affection by embracing it.
2: Solid Hysteria. You fall to your knees and cry out about the crushing despair of The Mountain of Doom (Ogrémoch). You see only your inevitable death under his pulverizing enormity. You grant advantage to attack rolls against you until the beginning of your next turn.
3: Stone Legs. Your legs have turned to stone, or at least you think they have! Your speed becomes zero until the end of your turn.
4: Rockspeaker. A flood of Terran words fill your mind and you have no choice but to scream them out for the course of your turn. This prevents you from hiding or casting spells with a verbal component.
5: Mental Erosion. You feel yourself slipping away but hold on for a few more seconds. Act normally this round but next round roll 2d6 and use the lowest number to determine what happens.
6: Insane Inspiration. You are flooded with the enduring and relentless power of Ogrémoch. You gain 5 temporary hit points and make saving throws with advantage until the beginning of your next turn.
Even as you take this away from. The "mine", you still feel the effects (all PCs feel at least one of these as you leave the area with the seed).
A few hours after leaving the living caverns, the madness effects fade, though the seed still glows.
The seed of fel earth is a piece of Ogrémoch, the Prince of Evil Earth. Prizing this powerful shard of earth, the grey dwarves hid it away beneath the Oubliette. Over the centuries, the seed has corrupted the complex, giving the tunnels a semblance of life with the shard at its brain. The Cult of the Black Earth is who you fought, as they sought the seed to give to the Evil Elemental Prince of Earth.
5/6 votes to give the seed to Leleanor.
1/6 votes to give the seed to Elisande.
Ragnar stares at Clyde until he removes his hand before answering him.
"There was a girl I met just outside the village before we met with Leleanor to come here. She said some strange things about the belly of the earth being angry, and warned me against going down. I ignored her for the most part, until we came upon a literal belly in the earth. As far as I know, she's the only one that seems to have any idea of what's going on down here. She ran off before I could ask her why she wants this, but I wanna find out."
He crosses his arms, manacle chains clink as he does.
"The way I see it, Leleanor either lied to us, or was just as unaware of the situation as we were until we stumbled into the pit. Either way, she sent us after gold, and I see no reason to give her this."
After finding out out that the crystal is a piece of Ogrémoch, Ragnar speaks up again.
"My vote is either see what the girl wants with it, or destroy it. No way we should give it Leleanor. If the girl proves to be some evil servant of Ogrémoch, we kill her like we killed the cultists, then destroy the shard."
" After inspecting the stone, I have to say I agree with Ragnar. I'd like to meet this little girl and ask her a few questions. "
-Well, judging by the story and the looks, this seems evil enough to not go around giving it to anyone.- Shoo is usually cheerful and light, but this time he seems quite serious. -I personally don't trust that little girl you say, but certainly won't hurt to have a talk with her.
After thinking about it for some seconds, he adds:
-In any case, we can always take it to a temple.
"The spirits of this place are filled with a maddening rage and sorrow. I think that we should bury it here, and then destroy the entrances to this place. Even adventurers should not go digging into a deep enough hole, but we should dig until the spirits cannot sense it's presence."
You see a waif of a girl picking at the mud with a knife. Her dress is torn and covered in dirt and blood. Her bone thin legs end in uncovered feet. A mud-covered, black furred goat with white eyes sits in a puddle near her. She sees you, offers you a wide yellow smile and waves.
Greetings Outside! Wut ist you doing? Did you hear the grounds? It screamed when eyes poke at it! The girl smiles and stabs into the dirt with her knife. But nose more! I think its no more live.
Seeing Ragnar, she says, Wut ist yous? Did you stays out of ist, or did yous feed ist?
Goat says he want shiny rock. You find shiny rock, he want you bring it to me. Not sure why I want rock, but goat always right. Did yous bring me shiny rock?
-Uh... we are quite... uh... interested, you know... who's that goat of yours you always talk about? And what is so important about this thing?
Seeing Ragnar, she says, Wut ist yous? Did you stays out of ist, or did yous feed ist?
Ragnar ponders on that a moment.
"I guess neither, we went down, but I wouldn't say we fed it." he says."Why does the goat want the shiny stone, what will he or you do if you have it?"
The girl smiles, her yellow teeth shining brightly in the afternoon sun, He's my goat! He's can't see, but he's a nice goat and my friend.
To Ragnar she says, Eyes dunno. He's just wans me to hav ist. Did you get it? Can eyes hav ist?
Shoo whispers to his companions.
-Ummm... somehow, they don't seem evil nor wicked, but the contrary... if we decided to leave the artifact with them, I don't think it would be the worst decision of all. Though I'd still take it for an inspection, honestly...
This girl seems a bit moronic, no?
This girl seems a bit moronic, no?
Ragnar glares at Adrian. "Easy for the educated and blessed to say."
He walks over to Ember, () and gently takes the shard. "If she is as moronic as you say, then there is no fear giving this to her." He walks to the girl and gives her the shard.
" This is very odd... Do the spirits have anything to say on this matter? " Ember asks Skyreaver as she hands the shard to Ragnar.
" Maybe we can check on you later, just to make sure everything is going well. Where do you live little one? "
"While the goat does not behave in the ways of a normal goat, I do not believe it's intentions to be malicious."
Answering Ember, she says with a smile, Eyes live wherever eyes likes.
Elisande looks at the seed with wide eyes and then stares at the goat who nods. She thanks you and she picks up the seed which causes the glow (and the evilness embued in it) to fade. Looking sad, she pitches the now dull-grey crystal into the nearest ditch and is quickly distracted by a cat which she chases as it runs away.
The goat follows at a leisurely pace.
/applause.
Thank you. Looking forward for the next one.