"Really? Even though they're not torches? Thanks!"
Saoirse shakes her head as she moves slightly ahead of the camp to keep an eye out while others search the abandoned camp. "Hopefully the Mongrelmen will not come back to claim their camp. Either way, we should keep moving. The sooner we reach the surface, the better."
"And if they return, hopefully they will not mind our pilfering of their supplies, meager as they are."
On a whim, Lucius will dismiss his dancing lights (since everyone is in a small area with two light sources anyway), and cast detect magic.
<<Prince of Darkness, Lord of Magic, reveal to me your gifts.>>
He'll concentrate as necessary: he knows the dragon's scales are magical, so he'll expect weaker auras from the other people in the group. If he finds magic anywhere else, he'll attempt to determine the school.
"Mongrelmen have a typically short and violent life span. I would not be surprised if the did indeed take offense to our looting...if they came back here."
"Pshaw, a few sub-humans wouldn't be anything to be afraid of."
"That's why you always hear of them referred to as a "pack"...Worm."
This room is devoid of much else. The path continues to the east and forks with one path continuing east and one path heading south.
Lucius will wander toward the source of the aura he senses As he starts to leave the lighted area, he'll beckon for someone to follow him. "I sense magic, this way."
Nebbin follows at Lucius' gesture.
"Is it ... bad magic?"
"Healing magic."
"I think."
"Oh, that's good, right? Maybe we can fix Aravashnial's eyes or Anevia's leg!"
"Perhaps. It could be a cache of healing potions that fell from Kenabres when we did, but it could also be another moleperson camp, but inhabited by someone who has magicks."
Lucius will try to pull it down with a mage hand before risking anyone's neck climbing for it.
The pack comes floating down to you Lucius.
A high quality, one could say a masterwork, backpack that contains 10 days of trail rations, a flint and steel, a set of caltrops, two flasks of oil, a bundle of 12 arrows, a potion of cure light wounds, and a potion of lesser restoration.
Lucius looks inside the bag. When he finds the potion vials, he inspects them with detect magic.
"Doesn't look like anything for blindness or broken bones, but good to have nonetheless, Nebbin. Hopefully it will serve us better than whoever dropped it down that fissure."
At this point, Lucius will move the rejoin the larger group in the northern cavern before they all move on.
"Some good news. I've found another day or two of food for us, a couple healing potions, and a few other sundries that might come in handy."
He lays out some supplies from an elaborate leather pack on the cavern floor:
- A flint and steel
- A bag of caltrops
- Two flasks of oil
- A bundle of 12 arrows
"It must have been some crusader's bag, who traveled in a unit, or there should be a lamp to go with that oil. Also, still no more water than we already had."
He also shows some trail rations inside the bag, but rather than passing them out he starts to consolidate his other pack inside the new one.
He, very briefly, displays two potion vials before tucking them into his belt pouch.
"Well done Lucius... I wonder who left this here."
Aero will examine the pack for clues.
"It was at the bottom of a long fissure. I assumed it got down here the same way we did."
Saoirse turns from looking down the long dark corridor she was keeping an eye on at Lucius' mention of healing magic. "Careful, we don't need to split up."
Moving to join Lucius and Nebbin, Saoirse motions for the rest of the group to follow, not wanting to become separated. However, the trek turns out short and Saoirse shakes her head after examining the markings on the pack. "There are thousands of crusaders here, each with their own symbols. We'd have to turn the pack over to a registry to even try to identify it."
Turning to Lucius, "You're probably right. Seems like crusader markings. Does anybody else recognize it?"
Aero will hold up the bag so that everybody can see.
Ravana helps her charges catch up, coming up on the tail end of the conversation. "Water is not a problem as long as I live. I am able to summon a virtually infinite amount once we find receptacles for it. I can also purify any food we come across, so while maggot may not look tasty, it will keep us alive."
Looking down at Anevia's leg, she says, "Healing potions will not unbreak this leg and I have already used a healing spell on you once. While I do have more magics available, you are stable and will be better once we can rest. It is best if I save my spells for emergencies. It is good that it was your leg that broke and not an arm."
Standing, she says to the group, "We have nothing to fear if we stay calm, stay together and behave carefully. One of our number has stepped forward and shown that he can make good decisions. I personally plan to continue to listen to Lucius until he gets the wrong one of us killed."
Coming over to Lucius, Ravana speaks loud enough for all to hear, "Try to talk before you fight if we run into mongrel men. I may have some sway with them and can possibly talk them down. Mongrel men are the butt end of every joke and strike out mostly from fear. We will just have to make them fear us more, while keeping them alive to provide aid.
Most things, be they creature or object, can be made useful if we are smart enough to do so. I dislike breaking useful things as we may need them later. It should go without saying that the opposite is also true. If one of you is worried about being breakable, the only protection is to become useful."
Ravana seems neither threatening or angry, but simply stating facts. She doesn't seem an evil sort, but rather a bit callous.
Nebbin swallows nervously.
I hope she thinks me carrying this light is helpful...
He looks around to see if anyone else is scared about getting broken.
Looking back towards the way forward, Saoirse keeps her voice low but even. "If the Mongrelmen are truly the butt end of every joke, then it is all the more important that we try to talk rather than fight them. Whatever they may be now, they are descendants of the first crusaders and we need not make them fearful of us unless there is no other way. They may still help us yet, for Iomedae says that the help you give is a blessing to itself, and will be returned in full."
Turning herself to look through the darkness towards the path forward, Saoirse motions with her shield, "If there is nothing else, we should keep moving forward, we still have a way out to find."
As Aero gets moving he speaks to Saoirse as he walks.
"I'm glad I'm not the only one around here who understands the mongrelmen's plight and doesn't think of them as merely monsters."
Lucius is pleased that he is being acknowledged as a leader, even if he mostly took change so that Gwerm couldn't. Leadership is in his destiny: he might as well get used to it.
He puts on his most charming smile, "Worry not, Ravanna. I carry a mace, but it is largely ornamental. I am ill-prepared for violence. For now, I quite happy to talk, rather than fight. I like to think I'm rather good at it."
He puts on his most charming smile, "Worry not, Ravanna. I carry a mace, but it is largely ornamental. I am ill-prepared for violence. For now, I quite happy to talk, rather than fight. I like to think I'm rather good at it."
Ravana nods. "Talking certainly has its place and if you do it well, that is good. I do not consider the mongrelmen to be monsters but simply creatures that have wandered far from what they once were. Make no mistake however, many of them are warped in spirit as well as body. I do not expect them to respond to logic any more than a bear, or a wolf, but that does not make them any less useful...or dangerous."
Ravana helps Anevia to her feet, and hands Aravashnial his cane. She is clearly ready to move on.
Anevia nods her thanks to Ravana. "Thank you, you have a good heart. My spouse would love to meet you. When this is all over there will have to be a dinner." She winces slightly when she mentions this and a look of worry crosses her face briefly.
"Hmph. Surprised you haven't robbed them of their love by now."
Anevia pales at this comment and turns away from Gwerm.
You catch the sound of a shifting rock drifting from the east.
"Yes, when this is all over."
At the sound of settling earth, Lucius will start to head east, recasting his dancing lights. "For now, we should go."
Aero will peer and that direction and perk his ears as best as possible to see if he can hear or see anything more.
Nebbin also listens to see if any noise is repeated.
Lucius will keep moving forward, accompanied by his dancing lights.
"Oh! I just remembered! It could be a viper! My foreman told me they like to squirm into the darkness under the rocks. You have to watch for rocks that move suddenly when there's no one working nearby because it could just be one of those vipers with a nasty bite!"
Nebbin stays clear of where he thought he heard the noise.
"Well as long as we watch our step in keep our lights up we should be fine."
Nebbin's warning alerts Lucius just in time to see the viper amidst the rubble by the walls. It looks angry and hungry.
Unfortunately, the snake had "sniffed" Lucius presence before he noticed. The snake hisses and whips forward with its fangs out towards Lucius.
Scoring a blazing line of pain along Lucius's leg. Suddenly, Lucius starts to feel a bit lightheaded and woozy.
Son of a bastard... That hurt. Lucius splays a hand toward the snake, shouting in Infernal. <<Die in Hellfire!>>
Lucius will then try to back away from the snake, hand dropping to the hilt of his mace.
"Get back," Nebbin shouts, voice verging on panicked. "Those things can kill you! I saw someone keel over and die a few hours after one bit him! Just give it room and it should slither away."
He clutches his lighted hammer as if it were a shield he could use to protect himself and backs up a few paces.
The snake coils up and bites again at the Chelaxian. The fangs sink in leaving bleeding holes in Lucius' arm.
On his next turn, he'll draw his mace and fish out his dragon scale , activating the shield . At the same time, he'll shout for someone to kill or otherwise deal with the snake .
Nebbin looks around, hoping someone will take care of the snake if they can't just let it go past them.
Aero will call upon fortune's favor, and move up to the snake and stab at it with his rapier.
Aero's rapier digs deeply into the snake and it hisses in angry pain.
1d2
Not knowing what is going on around the corner, Ravana calls out, "What is going on up there? Nebin, have the mongrelmen found us?"
Ravana looks around for danger in our part of the tunnel, waiting to hear what is happening.
"We got a nasty looking viper over here."
Nebbin looks around, hoping someone will do something.
"Get away from it! It's more scared of you than you are of it!"