While continuing to stay in his defensive posture, Vladimir strikes at the zombie again.
I continue to strike at the enemy in front of me, however if it has dropped already (which I doubt) then I will take a step towards Vlad's foe and assist him with killing that one.
Vladimir's guarded swing misses... the zombie does not come within the tighter strike range of his defensive stance.
Jaestra hacks off one arm of the zombie, then finishes him with a slash to its side. The zombie crumples then bursts into another cloud of dust... some of which settles on Jaestra.
Once I have taken down my foe, I will step towards the remaining foe.
His eyes wide as he realises his clear and present danger, Hrafen urges Archibald to back away from the undead.
He then tosses another trio of force bolts at the zombie closest to him.
The arcane bolts tear holes through the masked zombie's torso. A second later, it crumples and bursts at the entrance... and all over Vorik.
Voriks coughs loudly as the dust fills his lungs. Spitting out the foul grit, he scans the area to see if there are any more of the undead rising to attack.
The zombie backhands Vladimir, but swings wide again.
You see no foes remaining other than the one in melee with Vlad and Jaestra.
"Step back!"
Vladimir slashes at the zombie before stepping back as requested.
I too slash at the lurching figure and then take a step back.
But I miss as I step back a few seconds too early and places the enemy out of my attack range.
As if it were a conventional swordfight, Vladimir delivers a jabbing wrist-flick cut to the zombie's brow before stepping back. Once Jaestra steps back as well, Hrafen's arcane bolts pfft into its chest. It explodes a split second later with those who were in melee clear from the cloud of dust.
Hrafen looks at the clouds of gradually settling dust with open confusion on his face.
"Those weren't normal zombies, right? I don't remember anything about them exploding like that..."
He waits for the dust to settle, before conducting a careful search of the cavern.
I nod to Hrafen as it takes out the final zombie, "I really should learn some Magick, it looks to be extremely useful. Why was I cursed without any chance to learn it?" I see Hrafen and call out quickly, "Watch out for the mushrooms, they look very ... dangerous. Maybe they are what caused the creatures explode like that?"
Hearing Jaestra's comment about the mushrooms and remembering the spore-like nature of the dust from the exploding zombies, the swordsman says, "You very well may on to something there, Jaestra." as he takes a closer look at the mushrooms, being careful not to touch the fungus. After a few moments of study, Vladimir stands shaking his head.
"I have no idea what sort of fungus this is. If we could safely harvest one of these mushrooms, we might be able to take it to Jhod or Bokken for identification, if you would like."
"Only if it is safe to do so though. WE wouldn't want to infect everyone with the spores."
Spilling out of the satchel - dropped by the first zombie to rise, are several handfuls of small gold nuggets. In on far corner are several mining tools... though it looks like a small-time operation amount of supplies.
Seeing the glittering nuggets fall out of out the satchel, I turn to Vlad, "Could you shine that light over here on the wall please? It would seem that they were either mining here for gold or here taking shelter from bad whether. If they were mining, then that could be a great resource for income."
"Income for whom, us or Brevoy?" Vladimir asks with mischief in his eye, while walking over with his still lighted shield.
"Brevoy of course, however probably not in a direct way. If we were to make use of this resource, then we could get ourselves better equipment which means we would be able to complete our charter safer and quicker, therefore benefiting Brevoy." I smile back at Vlad with a cheeky, yet serious grin, "Wouldn't you agree Vlad?"
"That would seem to be agreeable arrangement for all concerned parties."
You do see faint ribbons of glinting metal... Most of the little cave is picked clean, but you spot fat veins low on the wall near the collapse... it looks like there is more to be mined.
Continuing on from his previous comment, "Now that we have that established, we just have to get the rest of it out of the cave wall." Vladimir says gesturing to the remaining ribbons of golden ore.
I nod at Vlad, "I see it too, would any of you happen to know anything about mining? We have the tools here already and the location. Maybe we could get some of the people at Oleg's to help us? We have already found a farm hold for some of them. We will need to assist them with repairing that too ... this will take a long time."
"Worthwhile things usually do, and often involve a lot of hard work, as well..." Hrafen says, with obvious regret in his voice.
Vorik shakes his head. "Not much of a miner myself. But once they get the metal out of the ground, I could be of use." He says with a smile.
"But first, we need to figure out what created these creatures." Pointing to the mushrooms, he says "If those are the cause, I'd suggest using oil and fire to burn them out. Until they are clear, I wouldn't want anyone working down here."
I look to Vorik and nod, "A good idea." I look from Vorik, to the others and back at Vorik again, "Does anyone have any oil and means to light it? If not could either of you with Magick ignite them without the oil?"
Hrafen shrugs apologetically.
"I am afraid that I do not have any oil, or a way to set things on fire, but if we wanted to take a day or two, I could acid-etch the entire place..."
"I've only a couple of flasks of oil." Vorik glances around the cavern taking in all of the mushrooms. "Judging by the size of the infestation, we'll need much more, maybe a barrel. It's looks like another trip from Oleg's."
He turns and smiles at Hrafen, "A good reason to head back sooner rather than later, eh Hrafen?"
Hrafen glances innocently in Vorik's direction, carefully keeping a neutral expression on his face.
"Why, yes! I agree, we should get this infestation dealt with, as soon as possible..."
I look around, "In that case I suggest we continue on our current path, marking this location on our map and once back at Olegs, get some torches and more oil or see if Master Vormenghast can acquire the correct sort of acid and in the quantity. Then we should come back and clear it out, maybe bringing the farmers to see if they like the farm we found them at the same time?"
"Sounds like a reasonable course of action." the swordsman says to Jaestra's suggestion.
Turning his attention to Vorik, "It might be best if you wait for at least one of us to climb out of here and lower a secured rope, in order to make your exit a bit simpler."
I take one last look around the cave and grab onto the rope that Vorik used to lower himself down and begin to climb up, out of the cave.
Once out of the cave I look around and if it is all clear from danger I call down, "It's safe to come up."
Vorik laughs at Vlad's suggestion and nods in agreement. "Aye, I'm not much of a climber in this tin suit." He says while giving his armor couple of slaps with his hand.
"I'll follow the rest of you out so I won't cause any harm except to myself if I tumble back."
With a little time, you make all make it out safely. Although it takes a little strength from Vorik, he finds it a little easier to control his speed going up.
You lost a little time here obviously, but you only have a few hours of exploration remaining to complete the area. You have about four hours of light left in the day.
We use that time to explore the area some more and once we have about half an hour left, we then set up camp for the night and sleep in the usual shifts.
Everyone okay with that?
It is a windy night. The clouds race across the moonlit sky, and their shadows do the same across the low hills and plains which surround your camp.
Morning comes without incident.
There is a swath of footprints just 250 feet from where you camped last night... no one noticed the tracks last evening when you set up camp...
While packing up his gear, something draws Vladimir's attention away from the camp. Taking a closer look, he notices a swath of footprints about 250 feet away from the party's camp site.
In hopes of being more certain, he calls over the more experienced tracker,"Jaestra, do you mind coming over here for a moment? Looks as if others were by here recently."
I also notice the prints but when Vlad asks me to have a look I get down to the ground to have a better look.
Smallish unshod humanoids. Ten to twelve. The prints go from Northwest to Southeast.. One set of prints came within 100 feet of your camp, but the others took a slight detour around.
Jaestra and Vladimir spend a little time investigating the tracks.
There are two types of tracks. Jaestra is able to ID the mite tracks, and Vladimir quickly recognizes kobold tracks as well. The majority of the tracks are kobold tracks (as are those leading closer to your camp).
Kobolds are not known to ally themselves with mites.. or any fey to your knowledge.
Vorik wakes rested and refreshed after another fairly peaceful night's rest. While going through his morning routine, he spots the same tracks that Vlad and Jaestra have noticed.
"Another of our four legged visitors or something a bit more worrisome?" He asks of his two companions as they take a closer look at the tracks.
"Hmmm...kobold tracks and mite tracks." Vladimir says pondering the scene.
"Kobolds do not typically ally themselves with much of anything that is not draconic in nature, let alone mites...or any other fey for that matter. Given that the kobold tracks greatly outnumber the mite tracks, I suppose the mites could be prisoners." the swordsman says, wandering back toward camp.
"I suppose that could be worth looking into, particularly in light of the kobold notice on the bounty board back at Oleg's."
I look up to Vorik, "Vlad is correct, although I am a little concerned. The tracks that the Mites have left are unexpectedly ordered, which is very rare for the evil little critters. This either says that they are being held prisoner by the Kobolds or they have a chieftain that is smarter and more organised than your average Mite. I must admit I am hoping that they are being held prisoner."