Wiping the sweat from his brow, Khaz knelt down to inspect the wounded mongrel man.
After treating the wounds as best he could, he said "We are honored by your offer. Let us go to your village. How many o' ye are there, an' how long have ye lot been down here?"
Firinn nods and tries not to wince as he straightens the feathers which had been pushed out of place by all the rubble hauling. "Some rest and shelter would be wlecome. We've travelled a long way in the dark. What happened here? I assume a tower like this didn't just collapse randomly?"
"Something must have happened on the surface, we know not what though." Lann says while turning to move further into the underground.
"We were there. I'm not completely sure what happened either. I think the city fell."
Carson would do what little he can to move rocks and such, he's a very skinny nerd. He would help the now untrapped person stand up out of the rubble once he's free and treated.
"A rest would be most appreciated. Just a few questions maybe you could answer while we walk. I have many, but right now, the most important are:
Do you know anything about a dwarf raising dangerous darkmantles in an adjacent cavern to here? As we had a slight altercation with him which may have been a misunderstanding.
Do you know any way to the surface near the city? And
What should we expect when we arrive where you're taking us? A camp, another city?"
"It is a small village, we don't have much but we can offer some place to rest." Lann tells you before leading you down a dark tunnel.
Lann and his two companions visibly slump at the sight of the chasm, they know that they will not be able to cross it with Crel in the condition that he is. The Chasm is 10' across, 70' wide and 30' deep.
Khaz looked at the chasm with concern clearly written on his face. "Is there no way around this? If not, we are going to have to try and make a bridge."
DC 15 climb check to go down and up
"If one of us gets across, we could use a rope and the levitating platform idea from earlier to get the rest across. I'm pretty sure I can jump across this, just to get someone over on the other side . . .."
"...I'm guessing that wasn't there before today..." Lorena whispers, looking worried. As they begin to figure out ways to get across the chasm, she begins digging in her pack. "I've got some rope in here somewhere...got it." She offers it to whoever wants to use it, though she makes sure to make it known that she expects it back once they're through.
"It wasn't no, the ground has been shifting lots lately" Lann hisses, "We need to get Crel home to have him looked after." Lan looks over the edge.
DC 10 acrobatics with a running jump, you can do this but you will need people to move out of the way.
2 DC 15 climb checks
Looking at the chasm, Khaz shook his head. ”I’m not built for this. Any volunteers on climbing up and down to attach the rope?”
"No, seriously. I'm pretty sure I can just jump this."
”Gods bless ye...”
”Bah. If none will do it, I’ll give it a go. Just let me take this armor off first an’ put it in me pack.” Khaz proceeded to take the rope, tie it to a rock, and then climbed down while chanting a prayer.
There. Thanks for the rope. Now, toss me the second.” Once he had it he climbed up the other side.
And proceeded to tie it securely as well. Then, out of breath, he started putting his armor on.
”That’s the best I can do. All of ye come over and help the wounded as ye go. I advise usin’ the scale if needs must.”
Once the dwarf has done all the work, Lorena climbs across, ignoring the wounded as best she can (though she still begrudgingly helps if asked to).
If we're going to have the injured try to go down and back up, Terry will pull out his own rope, tie a bowline in it, lower the two injured people down one at a time (hopefully with help) before gathering his things together and jumping to the other side.
Once on the other side, he will lower the bowline end of the rope and get those on the other side to help him pull the injured up out of the crevice.
Between the group you manage to get the injured across and Horgus. This takes up about an hour of time as Crel is very injured and Aravashnial is a bit resistant to this whole process at first.
The next tunnel is about 1400' long (18 minutes) of winding and often oddly slopped inclines. Lann slows down a bit more, whispering in is dry voice.
"The tunnel a head we do not use often, bad creature in there. Spore-cougher"
Lann is refering too a This is scary
"Spore cougher? I have no idea what that means. Should we tie cloth over our faces?"
Dungeon
Nature
Carson is almost less than useless getting over the gap, having no spell for the situation and even less upper body strength.
He does however know about critters.
Sounds like a Basidirond. Mobile plant. Attacks living things to drain their blood. Not evil, just hungry and stupid. Like an animal, but with hallucinogenic and burrowing spores. We should avoid it, yes. However, with our luck, the only path will be through it.
Firinn has stayed quiet during the rather convoluted process of crossing the ravine but now speaks up. "Terry and I can go and take a look, everyone else go around if you can. I'll send Rionnag back to you if we need help!"
Assuming no-one opposes his plan, Firinn sneaks forwards, being as quiet as he can.
The tunnel opens into a circular cavern, roughly forty feet in
diameter. Thick sheets of fungus grow in the cave, and several
tunnels branch off. All of these save one in the north wall lead
downward; the northern one leads upward. What appear to be
two dead bodies lie on the ground in the middle of the cave,
next to a strange heap of ropy green fungus.
Not having heard anything for or against covering his nose and mouth, Terry takes the time to wrap a shirt or something about his lower face, planning to avoid breathing in any burrowing spores. Then he sets his pack down next to the group. "Lighter load will help me stay quieter."
He follows Firinn.
"Hallucinogenic and burrowing spores? I'd stay as far away from that as possible." Lorena stays put, leaning on her spear, while the scouts go on ahead.
"Looks like someone did our work for us..." Firinn whispers. Just as a precaution he nocks an arrow and shoots into the ropey fungus pile.
The arrow hits with a Thud but nothing in the room moves, the silence and darkness remains ever present
"Would be nice. Is that how things have gone for us so far today?
He didn't say how big this mobile plant would be. Doesn't help me figure out if I want to get closer . . .. Also, I know WE want to go up,
but do we know which way these other guys live?"
"There is a Basidirond in these tunnels below the city? Fascinating It would be an interesting plant to study." Aravashnial says to no one or everyone since he doesn't look at anyone anymore while talking.
”Aravashnial, it sounds quite dangerous. If we are to fight it, yer magic will be essential. Can ye help us if we come to blows with the beast?”
"I can yes, I have some summons that would help us fight this creature quickly and effectively." Aravashnial smiles at being asked for his help
I'll stay with you and see what I can do to help you with that. It gets slow when hit with cold, so if you have any icy assistants, they'd be optimal.
Khaz smiled as he trudged along, feeling much more confident in their chances now. Between Aravashnial and Carson, they’d hopefully have enough arcane power to survive an encounter with the beast. He really wasn’t looking forward to charging a creature that apparently fought with spores or grappling vines.
”Aye. We can send the summons in first. Make them take the brunt of its attack. Then we hack it down to size.”
Seeing the creature dead Firinn slips back down the tunnel and reports the good news to the rest of the group. "The creature is dead - it seems to have taken two crusaders with it, but their loss is our gain. We should search their bodies for anything else of use."
Once again leaving the slower members Firinn returns to the battlefield to follow his own suggestion - dragging the corpses away from the plant monster before searching them thoroughly.
As Firinn gets closer he can see the Sign of Iomadae upon the tabard of both the dead men. Their weapons lie close by them, 2 Glaives upon the hands of each is a spiked gauntlet. Firinn finds a scroll on one of the men and a potion on the other, between the two of them there is change adding up to 129 gp. Their armor looks well made as well, one of the men is gripping what looks like the head of a brass bull with rubies set into the eyes.
This is an Unholy Symbol of Baphomet
Cure light wounds
Cause Fear
Master work Chain mail[/ooc]
[spoiler=Asking the Mongrels]
Lann tells you that they have seen men like this before, lately their presence has increased and they are aligned with a different tribe of Mongrelmen, the "bad" tribe
"Keep your heads on swivels. I'm not convinced that pile of tendrils was the plant thingie. I would love to be wrong."
Terry keeps watching the branched tunnels for any movement or approach.
These were no crusaders, at least not for the right cause. That's a symbol of the evil deity Baphomet. The potion is healing and the scroll is for striking fear. Have you all seen these before or a dwarf raising Darkmantles in the cavern we came from to find you?
He nods along as they explain about the first part.
That might mean trouble later. And I'm afraid that is not the full plant beast. It should have bell flower caps on it. Everyone be on the lookout. We should hurry out of here.
"OTHER tribe? How many people live down here?"
”It is good to know that the righteous did not fall. But the mere fact that they are here, under our city. Makes ye wonder how long they’ve been here and what role they had to play in today’s tragedy.”
"They are evil?" Aniva sounds shocked. "In a city like this? Does Irabeth know about these people?"
"Baphoment you say?" Aravashnial almost smiles. "I had a theory about him and his cultist, I have heard rumors that they operate like this. Enter a city, take it down from the inside bit by bit, then something big comes and causes the city to not exist anymore." Aravashnial looks proud of his assessment.
Lorena stays silent as the group discuss their revelations. Strange figures, not unlike herself, living under the city of crusaders, some working to undermine it from within...it almost reminds her of herself, driven by some unknown amulet with a voice to fight against them.
In any case, the wizard seems to think that the plant creature they'd been planning for isn't here yet. "Yes, let's get out of here."
"So, THAT way looks promising for us, but which way is home for you guys?" He points at the tunnel which heads up as he speaks.
"The up passage as well." Lann tells you before heading that way.
The tunnel winds on for another 1100', taking you about 15 minutes to travel. This tunnel leads in to a circular 20' round cavern, on the far side of the cavern are 4 other misshapen. Lann motions for the group to stay here and he proceeds forward with leaving the woman and Crel behind. After about 5 minutes or so Lann comes back over.
"Welcome to Neathholm, the Chief will meet with you at his home and I will take Crel to the healer." Lann helps the woman move Crel into the village, 2 of the guards follow behind the group as you proceed into the village.
There isn't a causeway in the book but to me it makes sense on this side of the lake
You are free to wander around, I just want to see what people want to do
"Horgus. This might be our best chance of reaching the surface. I need you to stay silent here." He paused for a moment. He really wanted to lie. It would really be useful here to stroke the man's ego, to make him feel important. But the thought of the waves of sickness that would wash over him made him pause. He cursed his curse.
"I...would like for you to watch the exit. Try not to be seen, and make sure the way out of here is clear. Can you do that?"
While he did not expect their hosts to turn on them, he also needed a task that would keep Horgus busy. At least now he wasn't lying...
Hearing Khaz attempting to pacify Horgus, Firinn steps in to help. "That is wise my friend. Lord Horgus has sharp eyes and in lakes like this there are often strange creatures, both aquatic and flying. We will need many eyes to make sure we are not startled, and I fear for Avarashnial if he is caught by surprise."