Gylwinth moves up and readies his spear to strike. The creature snarls, and suddenly its eyes flare with blinding radiance, illuminating the cave like the noonday sun!
The shaman squints but is still able to see the beast rushing towards him. He drives his braced spear into its side, gravely wounding it. It howls in pain but keeps coming, dodging his follow-up strike and biting his arm with its razor-sharp teeth!
"Into the maelstrom of battle once again," Fireday says as they find the blindheim and he squeezes behind Kaska to engage it.
Viv seems bemused by the creature, and does not hesitate to let fly with another sling bullet from her hand.
(+1 if within 30', -4 if firing into melee)
(+1 if within 30')
Kaska looks away when she realizes what the creatures' eyes do. She finds its shadow on the floor and uses it as a proxy for the creature's location moving to get close to where it meets feet. She the swings low with hew falx, as if she's reaping wheat.
Fireday lashes out with his sword, Iomedae's favor strengthening his sword-arm.
;
;
Viv blasts the creature, hurling a sling bullet into its chest. Coen conjures a meteor, but the beast dodges out of the way.
Kaska and Fireday both attack, but neither one manages to hit. Gylwinth closes his eyes and draws his mace, but his swing connects only with air.
The froglike monster continues to focus its ire on Gylwinth. Unable to see to dodge its attacks, the shaman takes two claws to his chest.
Kaska continues to use the same tactics to fight the creature, with no better results than before.
Fireday, shift around behind it! It can't look everywhere at once!
Gritting his teeth Coen continues to attempt to rain rocks on the square where the creature is located.
"Got it, Kaska!" Fireday says, shuffling around the creature, making sure he's not looking directly at it.
Viv holds her position for a moment, as she doesn't have a very good shot lined up, then she moves past Coen and tries to get past Kaska without getting hit by the frog-thing.
The monster bites Viv as she tries to move past, sharp teeth tearing through armor and flesh.
After taking the hit, Viv tries to blast the creature, but her attack goes wide.
The monster is too slow to dodge Coen's second meteor, and it smashes it on the side of the head. It reels, dazed and badly wounded.
Kaska accidentally meets the thing's gaze, the blazing light blinding her. She lashes out, but her falx slices only empty air.
Fireday steps around to flank, but it whirls its head to keep track of him, and his sight too is overwhelmed by the light. Despite this, he slashes out with his sword, managing to connect! The sword tears through flesh and bone, and hot blood sprays onto the android warpriest. The light in the frog creature's eyes dims and fades as it slumps to the ground, defeated.
"Ow," Viv mumbles at the slight scratch. "I don't know what that was, but I expect any place like this we'll find all kinds of weird things."
"GAAH, MY EYES!" Fireday exclaims as he lands the killing blow. He stumbles back and lands on his butt.
"Did we slay it? I cannot see."
Viv moves to help Fireday back to his feet. "It seems to be deceased," she says. "Let's wait and see if everyone's sight returns. If not, we'll have to make our way back and go to the temple of Brigh for treatment."
"Thank you, Viv."
As you wait, even a cursory examination of the pool in this chamber reveals a man's body, mostly eaten. Little remains to identify the body and its armor and clothing are ruined, but a belt pouch on its hip is still intact. It contains a few coins, two water-tight potions, and silver unholy symbol depicting a pick made from a human skull, rib, and femur.
Coen only needs to refresh his light spell once before Kaska's and Fireday's vision returns.
When the strange symbol is described, Fireday strokes his chin.
"I have never heard of a god with a symbol like this. But then I have not studied the gods as long as human priests do. My knowledge is mostly of Iomedae's faith, as well as those of other local gods here in Numeria: Brigh, Desna, Erastil, et cetera. I do know, however that a god who would use bones in their iconography is most likely NOT benevolent."
He breathes a sigh of relief as his sight recovers, though he glowers when he can see the symbol in full detail.
"We should melt it down once the flame is restored, that the silver may be put to better use."
"Not a great start. You would think the caves would be more empty if so many groups came this way. It doesn't exactly bode well... I don't think that thing is alone. Branding and clothes means it's either social and wandered off by itself or intelligent and that means either friends or owners."
Coen looks over the cuts on Gylwinth from arm's length and grimaces before offering his waterskin.
"That looks ugly, want some water or something? I don't have a bandage, but we should cover that up with something before you go in the water again."
When the eye beams blind Kaska, she lowers the tip of her blade to the ground to take it out of the mix. She backs up so her back is against the wall and waits. When her vision finally returns, things don't look so good.
"Another body. Yes, it isn't a good sign for us that even the entrance is so far from clear."
Kaska does her best to bandage Gwlwinth's injuries, but they will take time to heal. Certainly more time that the magic letting them breathe water will last.
"Does anyone have an idea how much longer we will be able to breathe underwater? With injuries already, we will have to think crefuly about how far we can go before allowing some time for the injured to heal. That will require much more time than the magic will last."
Viv checks the potions, uncorking the stoppers and sniffing at them.
The scent and color of the potions are familiar to Viv. She is certain that both are potions of cure light wounds.
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Viv says, "Honey and lavender. I'm pretty sure these are healing potions." She re-affixes the stoppers and hands the potions to Gylwinth.
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Once you are recovered from the fight, you prepare to move on. You first check out the watery passage to the north. A shallow creek runs through the middle of this cavern, while to the south a stony bank rises up from the water. Thick carpets of green and gray mold and fungus grow on the bank, particularly around a trio of three-foot-high, foul-smelling mounds.
The mounds grow over the bodies of three halflings, all that is left of the ill-fated first expedition to the caves. The bodies seem to have already been looted, though a careful search does uncover a single agate hidden in one of the halfling's vests.
After examining the bodies, you head south from the room where you fought the frog-monster. The tunnel runs for about 60 feet before emerging into a damp cave. A collection of crates, boxes, rubble, and scavenged metal lies heaped in the northwest section of this damp cave. Several strange chalk drawings of twisted, spiny plants, a strange three-legged creature, and emaciated four-armed humanoids mark the walls. You recognize the three-legged figure as a robot like the one you rescued Val Baine from.
Tunnels exit the cave to the southwest and southeast. Frigid air wafts from the former passage.
"The halflings must be one of the 'other' groups mentioned," says Viv.
"Yes, nothing about this place seems promising at all" agrees Kaska.
"Which way do you prefer?" she asks the group, ready to scout ahead in the direction they select.
"Maybe southwest, find out why the air is so cold? I can go with you," says Viv.
Gylwinth doesn't spot anything among the boxes save for a few ruined bits of technological devices--nothing recognizable or all that useful, just a few strange tangles of wires and unusually crafted fragments.
The temperature drops noticeably in the passageway, and a rime of white frost lines the walls and floor leading into the cavern beyond. You're on a ten-foot-high ledge overlooking the cave. You'll have to climb down to get to the next chamber.
What seems to be a light layer of brown dust carpets the cave floor beyond—a body of some sort sits slumped against the eastern wall.
Upon seeing the mold, Fireday strokes his chin, and closes his eyes for a moment. He opens them again with a bright green flash that flows from his eyes through his circuitry marks, causing them to briefly shine though his bandages as his mind zips through possibilities of what survival hazards might be found in ruins such as these.
"No good. Even with my nanites powering my mind I cannot figure out what this mold might be."
While the others catch up, Kaska looks the cave over carefully, trying to figure out what she sees can tell her. Although Fireday's flashing is unnerving to say the least, Kaska doesn't allow to to disturb her so much she can't think.
After a few moments she tells the others "the brown dust is a kind of mold that sucks up, feeds on, heat. It is the source of the cold here. We should not bring anything warm near it because it will grow as it feeds. It could be starved with cold, that would kill it. But we have nothing cold."
Fireday nods.
"Thank you, Kaska. It is good we have one as worldly as you to guide us. We should avoid this mold until we find something capable of killing it, then."
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Leaving the mold-strewn cave alone for the time being, you head down the southeast passage instead. It opens into a vast chamber, the ceiling of which rises nearly thirty feet overhead. A five-foot-wide ledge runs along the western wall, sloping down to the cave floor ten feet below. Four ramshackle huts made of what appear to be strips of metal, hides, and some sort of fibrous plant matter sit in the cave, while to the south yawns a dark pit.
As you are looking around, the wall seems to ripple as a humanoid steps away from it. Her smooth skin changes color from that of the stone to a dull gray.
"Invaders from above," she calls. "We tire of your intrusions. We have killed several of your kind, and you have returned to favor. But I come to you now with an offer. Two of you may accompany me and speak with my chieftain to negotiate a peaceful accord. Refuse, and we will be forced to attack you."
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Fireday steps further into the open and raises his hands in an non-threatening pose.
"We offer an apology: we were unaware any were still alive in this place. Please, tell us your name and that of your people, and we will do the same. I am Fireday of Castle Urion, Sword-Knight and Priest of Iomedae, the goddess of justice and honor," he calls out to the stranger. He turns to the others after this.
"Whom shall we send? I fully admit I am not the best negotiator...in fact I suspect none of us fully expected that would be necessary here. Which of us has the best ways with words?"
"My name is Leupel," the woman responds to Fireday. "You surface-dwellers refer to our kind as 'skulks.' That is a good a name as any for us."
She shifts back and forth on her feet in an agitated manner as she waits for you to decide.
Coen steps forward and casually bows in her direction.
[/bold] "Well Leupel, I'm game to talk to your leader. Any opportunity to cut down on the number of people hurt down here would be ideal."[/b]