As the group makes to leave, Weybe lays his hands on Calvin and Tobar.
You make your way back out of the caves, avoiding any other dangerous encounters. You are able to climb back up out of the well and find yourselves on the safety of the surface once more.
10 gp.
Working with some of the other colonists, Gideon is able to drag a large slab of stone to cover up the well. He seeks out Luetin to ask the blacksmith about metal collars.
"Ya want some neck guards, eh? Yeah, I can forge a couple for ya if you've got some coin."
Calvin gladly forks over 10 gp to get his own collar.
Gideon giddily gives his gold for a guard!
Luetin hammers out some reinforced leather gorgets, handing them over to Calvin and Gideon by the end of the day. You rest and recover from your harrowing battles in the cavern, waking up the next morning feeling refreshed.
Once we have returned to camp and have secured the lid of the well, Weyve uses his last Lay On Hands on Tobar.
---------------
The next day, Weyve asks around the settlement for a polished steel hand mirror for purchase.
Tobar attaches his new gorget with some delicacy, as he still bears ugly bruises from his close brush with the choker.
"Thanks for th' thought, Weyve," he says to the gillman. "I'll be right as rain in a few days."
"I'm ready to go back to the cave when you guys are."
The weaver Eskelda Teredin happens to have an extra mirror that Weyve is able to purchase from her.
Eamon Caranth approaches you before you leave. "You still look a bit banged up from yesterday. Here, let me give you some of Erastil's blessings." The half-elf clasps his holy symbol and channels positive energy. "Now, go get 'em!"
You climb back down into the well and head back into the caves. Retracing your steps, you find the chokers' bodies lying where you left them. In the cave where the adult chokers attacked you, you find a burlap sack stashed in a nook in the wall. The sack contains a porcelain tea set, haphazardly thrown into the sack such that three of the teacups now have broken handles. There is also a steel flask full of whiskey etched with an elaborate "R," a silver mirror with a rose motif worth 150 gp, a set of dice in a wooden cup capped with leather, two vials of defoliant, four star candle fireworks, a thunderstone, a magic belt, and a wadded-up magic cloak.
Weyve takes the steel hand mirror and breathes on the top. It begins to glow with a bluish light. Then he holds the mirror up and lets go; it floats lazily on the air as if it is a piece of cork in the sea.
"I can float this mirror through any narrow doorways we find. Then I can turn it left and right, like so, so we can see around the corners. So next time, if there's something lurking just inside a doorway, we can see that it is there."
"Mind you, this will also give us away. But since none of us can see in the dark, our torchlight would do that anyway."
-----
Once back in the tunnels, Weyve looks through the materials in the sack.
Weyve is able to identify the cloak as a shield cloak, but the belt remains unidentified.
"Let me have a look at the belt..." Gideon offers after Weyve is unable to identify it.
Gideon is likewise unable to identify the belt at this time.
Calvin sighs and holds out his hand. "Well, gimme the belt. I'll try it on." he says. [b]"It seems that 'test subject' is my role in this group."[/]b he gives a light-hearted chuckle.
The thin cloth belt has a silver buckle in the shape of four interlocking rings. Calvin fastens it around his waist, but no obvious effects are immediately apparent.
Weyve looks around in the room to see if there is anything else of interest.
"So where to now?"
"Well...let's just leave the belt put away for now. I'm a little nervous about trying to figure out what it does while we're busy cleaning out a choker den." Gideon responds.
For his part, the archaeologist will vote for heading toward C.
"Along the next hall. It's a good sign that the bodies are still here, means less likely that there's something else down here," says Tobar.
Calvin shrugs. "Fair now. I'll take point." he says.
A section of the northern wall in this spacious cavern has been hollowed out and veins of various crystals exposed, which refract any light cast upon their surface. Small piles of rock are heaped on the ground nearby, where the earth has been carefully chiseled away to expose the potentially precious stones.
"Looks like they were trying to just get at precious stones and crystals here, not actually mine out the whole area. You can see the marks in the rock here and there." he says, pointing with his glowing longsword.
"What do chokers do with precious stones? It's not like they can walk into town and say 'hey, we have some pretty rocks, wanna trade?'. They just roll into town and choke everyone to death," quips Tobar.
"Maybe they like shinies? Or someone else was digging down here." Calvin offers.
"Perhaps the colonists were digging here and then the chokers moved in? They might have inadvertently connected these chokers to a choker den somewhere else."
"I suppose it doesn't matter unless we want to become miners ourselves. Shall we see what is in the other branch of the original passage?"
Just past a small cave-in on the western wall, the tunnel opens into a rounded cavern with rough and irregular walls. Occasional piles of fallen rock litter the passage, but not to the degree that navigating it is impossible. A fair number of bones litter the cave floor here.
As Weyve floats the glowing mirror in front of the group a ways, inky darkness suddenly envelops it, extinguishing the glow and leaving you unable to see. You hear a flapping noise in the darkness...
Calvin feels leathery, hook-lined tentacles scraping at him. Several dig into his flesh as whatever they belong to grabs a hold and starts to squeeze!
In the light from Weyve's everburning torch, you can see two small creatures assaulting Calvin. They look like hideous octopuses, their thin, hook-lined tentacles connected by a fleshy web.
"Hideous Octopi! Look out!"
Weyve begins to concentrate, calling a creature from beyond...
"Actually," he mutters, "I've seen octopi before. I don't think those are octopi."
"Darkmantles! As handsy as the stupid chokers!" Gideon says to the others as he moves forward with his machete in hand to slash at the closest creature to him.
Calvin shouts his dismay and swipes at one of the bat-touchy-feely octopi with his longsword . But his surprise at the sudden strange creatures throws off his aim.
"What is it with tentacle monsters on this island? I'm sensing a theme, and I don't like it," says Tobar as he reloads and fires.
As Weyve starts to summon an ally, the rest of you attack the darkmantles. None of you manage to land a good hit. Fortunately, neither do they, their tentacles scraping harmlessly against armor and shields.
Tobar reloads and fires again.
Calvin tries thrusting with his sword.
With so little room to maneuver, Gideon does the only thing he presently feels he can and drops his machete to the ground, bringing his shortbow to bear and firing it at the remaining darkmantle.
"Sssskkkkrrrreeeeee!"
A silver eagle appears in midair and with a screech it tears into one of the darkmantles.
Weyve concentrates, and places his fingers to his temples. He mouths some words, but nothing seems to come out. Instead, a sound can be heard from behind the darkmantles, like the howl of a wolf!
{Awoooooooo!}
Weyve's summoned eagle tears into one of the darkmantles, wounding it, though the strange beast doesn't seem to be evil--just hungry. The oracle creates an illusory howl, but it doesn't appear to distract the creatures.
Calvin thrusts his sword into the wounded darkmantle, tearing through leathery flesh. Blood flies and the thing drops to the floor.
Tobar manages to shoot the remaining monster with a crossbow bolt, but Gideon's arrow goes wide.
With a smaller target present, the darkmantle turns to try to grab the eagle. It batters the bird but doesn't manage to get a grip.
One more shot, Tobar thinks, just one more...
...The oracle creates an illusory howl, but it doesn't appear to distract the creatures.
Weyve holds his shield out and pushes past the others, stopping beside the darkmantle.
"Over here, freak!"
The eagle breaks off and flies to one side of the darkmantle, pecking at it with its beak.
Gideon twists a bit, trying to get an arrow into the remaining darkmantle.