Absent any objections, Dilwyn refreshes his light spell on his bracelet and then leads the way back to the unpleasantly deep water, and from there back around to the strange gelatinous curtain. Now that their other avenues of exploration have all dead-ended without any sign of the missing people they have to actually figure this out.
"Everyone stand back, I have an idea," he suggests as he pulls out the magical dagger. Putting his left hand up to shield his face, he uses the dagger in his right hand to try slicing into the barrier.
Kit stands ready in case anything bad emerges from the green curtain.
"That seems rash and ill advised," considers Iskender as he backs away from the action as rapidly as he can.
While everyone else, moves back to the turn in the corridor, Dilwyn, blocking his eyes, pushes the dagger into the gelatinous mass, up to the handle, but only the dagger touches the mass, not his hand. It appears that it is perhaps one-half inch thick and the dagger blade goes thru it without resistance or any thing apparantely happening to the mass, the dagger or Dilwyn.
Hilde approaches Dilwyn, shakes her head, and tries to move him back.
Hmmm...Interesting. What if you tried to 'cut' the curtain, Dilwyn? Kit asks with his axe still at the ready.
"I'm not sure if that result is better or worse than what I was hoping for."
"I'm not sure either," Dilwyn shrugs at Iskender. He gives Kit a nod, then realizes that Hilde is trying to jostle him away from the barrier.
"Do you have a better idea?" he asks with a raised eyebrow, waiting for her response before letting himself be moved away.
She shakes her head.
Dilwyn shrugs. "Well, then, we gotta do something with it, and I'd much rather try slicing it open than just stepping through it. It didn't do anything nasty when it was stabbed, so hopefully that won't change."
Holding his breath and shielding his face once more, he stabs it back into the goo, only this time he tries moving it along a path to cut a section out of it big enough to pass through and sees what happens.
"Good luck!"
Hilde shakes her head again, smiles and uses her greatsword to try and open a path as Dilwyn wants.
Seeing what Hilde's actual plan is, and that hers is much bigger than his, Dilwyn instead acquiesces and backs a bit away to give her the space to use her massive sword to cut.
Dilwyn puts the dagger back into gelatinous wall, and as he starts to cut, Hilde interrupts him and gestures with her greatsword. As Dilwyn backs off, Hilde uses her sword to slice a hole in the wall. However as the sword slides thru, the gelatinous material closes back over the cut and the wall is still intact.
Zaladrel shrugs, Maybe one of us should try to run through it? I could try? The elf looks more than ready to be convinced to try something else...
You want to run through that? Kit says skeptically. Perhaps either I or Hide run through it as we don't know what's on the other side. Whoever does do it should have some rope tied about them in case they need to get pulled back through. Kit says as he ponders the curtain.
Iskender quickly forms a fist with his left hand, with his thumb extended out, which he brings up to touch his forehead. As he does this his voice rings out, "not it." After completing the seemingly effortless and well practiced maneuver, Iskender looks around expectantly at the others.
Hilde takes a blanket from her backpack, covers herself with it, and jump to the other side of the gelatinous wall, unless restrained by the others.
Dilwyn would likely have volunteered as well. Before he has a chance to say anything, though, Hilde (quite unsurprisingly) jumps into being the first one to take action.
"Hilde can you hear us?" he calls. "How was it, and what's on the other side?" He puts his dagger back away in favor of his staff once more, and prepares to rush in afterward if he doesn't get a response in a few seconds.
Kit shakes his head amused. I said rope, not a blanket! He also prepares to follow if no response.
"At times I suspect some of you came on this endeavor to find the end of the world, because you were hoping to die early, and painfully. You are not entirely stable?"
Zaladrel languidly looks at the bard and merely nods slowly.
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See no other way thru, Hilde covers herself with a blanket and charges thru green gelatinous wall. The gelatinous goo, surrounds her as she enters the wall, but she easily pushes thru, and ends up on the other side of the wall.
The room that she is in now, has a thick layer of crusty, pale-orange slime that covers the floor of this room, and the air is filled with an odor of rotting vegetation and tar. The luminescent-green barrier seals off the water-filled hallway to the east, and another, drier passage leads west.
"I'm fine, I see nothing here."
She moves "stealthily" to check the place, and see if there is something interesting.
"I don't come seeking death," Dilwyn reminds Iskender. "I'm just here to try to help solve a crisis and see the sky. But if you asked those who knew me, they'd probably agree that I'm not the most stable of people. I'm pretty sure it's not normal to wander off from home to be alone with the sky."
Hearing that Hilde has made it through just fine, Dilwyn will follow suit by covering himself as much as he can with his own blanket, then take a deep breath and plow through the barrier. She's proven a more than capable adventurer so far, but it never hurts to have someone there to watch your back.
As Dilwyn 'disappears' behind the curtain, Kit shrugs and says to Zal and Iskender, I guess we should join them. He likewise will wrap his blanket around and walk through.
Iskender dives through the hole Kit made before it has a chance to close up!
Everyone follows Hilde thru the gelatinous wall to the room on the other side. You all felt a bit itchy for a moment, as the small black specks in the wall seemed attracted to your exposed skin, but suffer no ill effects. Even Iskender who tried to dive thru, found himself going thru the gelatinous wall.
Hilde smiles at the others, nodding, especially at Dilwyn, and then moves ahead.
Ah! It felt like for a moment that time I dozed off in a poison ivy patch one night. Hopefully we don't have to come back this way. Kit dutifully follows Hilde, after all she was crazy enough to jump through the curtain in the first place.
Kit breathes a sigh of relief as Hilde heads to the dry passage as his toes still were not dry from their previous trek through a wet one.
"Kit, next time can you make more of a ripple for me? I got bushed by that stuff as I tried to sneak through with you."
Dilwyn idly scratches at a bit of his exposed skin as he shakes out, then folds up and stows his blanket in his pack. Then he follows behind Hilde, keeping his light-affected bracelet high to shine a light on their path.
Zal frowns as he considers his trip through the portal but shrugs off worry for now. As Hilde moves to the dry passage Zal nods in thanks at the chance to not have to trudge through a watery passage...at least not yet.
Moving north thru the dry corridor, you come to a room. This large room includes an open area to the south next to a raised dais and a passageway leading east. Further north, the floor drops away into a wide pit along the back wall. Between the open area and the pit, several strands of a thick, glue-like substance stretch from floor-to-ceiling and wall-to-wall, creating a maze of ropes to navigate.
You also see a pallid humanoid creature is wrapped in wispy strips of skin, with bits of detritus and a sour stink clinging to it.
It notices you, and prepares to attack.
(Picture of Foe)
"Kit, next time can you make more of a ripple for me? I got bushed by that stuff as I tried to sneak through with you."
Kit pats his empty stomach. Sorry about that, trail rations don't seem to filling!
You smell as bad as you look Kit says as he rushes forth and chops the creature with his axe.
At this point on instinct, Zal moves forward a few feet and throws up the aura of luck to aid those allies that will move to close with the creature.
As always, I will start a song for +1/+1
Hilde waits for Iskender song to start, and after that charges the creature, screaming, letting all her rage fill her and her attack.
As she charges ahead the others see her changing, showing feline characteristics in her face and hands, as truly disturbing sight.
Zaladrel begins his luck aura to help fight this monster. Hilde hesitates a moment, while Kit moves up and hits the creature with his axe, but not doing quite as much damage as he thought he would. Iskender begins a bardic song, also helping the teams fighting capability. Hilde, now makes her move and charges the creature doing massive damage to the creature, but not quite killing it.
With two targets to choose from, the creature attacks the one that hurt it the most, and one of its slam attacks hits Hilde, causing a bruise.
Hey! That's no way to treat a lady! Kit says as he brings his axe to bear again.
Hilde's weapon gets struck in the creature, but with a savage scream she pulls it out and let it fall again and again, with abandon.
Round 1, Initiative Count 4
Not wanting to get in the way of the melee going on between the creature and their two heavy hitters, he instead maneuvers a bit to throw an arc of electricity at it.
Iskender is content to watch the rampant carnage before him.
Like the bard, Zaladrel keeps close to his allies but otherwise watches and does not act...
Dilwyn uses his power to cast a lightning arc at the creature and it falls to the floor dead. Kit and Hilde make sure it stays down and dead.
Searching the room, including the back area, you find Rexel, the apothecary, from Holvers Ferry bound and barely conscious beneath a mound of strands.
Rexel relates his story to you, "That was Onessa Jerreth, of the village. She attacked me in my home, but I made sure the children scattered so they should be fine. She knocked me unconscious, and I awoke here several hours ago and was then visited by a strange, semi-transparent ooze which spoke to me telepathically. It explained I should be honored to be the first among my kind to undergo assimilation and transformation into a willing servant for its masters."
He looks sorely hurt, and has no equipment on him. "I can follow, but all my potions and extracts are at my shop. What do you wish me to do?" he concludes.