1. Auehda, Derlin
2. Slimes
3. Yvell, Bran, Ibuki, Valtyra
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Derlin had been leaning on his sword listening to the discussion, ignoring any insults.
Mother Serenrae forgive their words, word's are wind and I am a man of thoughtful action. Guide us, give us strength, let us...
Derlin seems lost in thought or perhaps silent prayer as the mounds shamble in their direction. Catching a whiff of decay he snaps back to the here and now and leaps into action.
"Hmmm. I wonder." Val muses to herself taking the holy symbol.
"What are these things? I'm tired of these weird things in this cave!." She exclaims, moving to the closest slim swinging her mace.
Hoping to be somewhere near the back line, Bran moves to a location that he...hopes is between whatever is assaulting the group and rear line. He pulls up his shield and says, "If someone can at least direct me a little, I can at least provide some sort of wall for the rear."
Yvell presses his shield on Bran's side " It is this way "
"I am on it." Burnt One runs forward into the water. They cough, sputter a bit, and then breathe a gout of flame onto the shambling mushroom monsters.
Derlin crashes into the water and cleaves one of the slimes in half. As he cuts it open, a burst of gas escapes the mound, and the smell of garbage mixed with trees fills his nostrils.
Auehda breathes flame at the fungus mounds and blackens the flora growing atop them. It seems to do nothing to slow their movement. The stench of smoke and rotten mold fills the cave.
The two slimes jiggle adjacent to Derlin, stretch their bodies upward and swing like tiny twisters at the bloodrager.
The blobs hit Derlin but the blows glance of his armor, staining it with bits of mold and small fungi.
Valtyra smacks one of the ooze's with her mace. It shrinks below the water and stops moving.
Yvell moves up with His shield in hand and draws his warhammer Shouting to Bran [b]" Follow the sound of my voice Bran! Strike what his in front Of me "[b] Making it fairly obvious what pathe he took swing down upon the sacks of refuse with fury.
Bran moves clumsily around, trying listen for Yvell and the oozes, and makes a swing in the general vicinity of what he hopes is not an ally.
Yvell and Bran approache the final slime. The half elf swings with his warhammer as he sloshes in the water, his foot slipping on the slickness of the stones at the last moment. Bran, on the other hand, strikes the creature with his shield, pointing useless eyes in the direction of the slime. The small ooze splits into jelly fragments as it sails in the air.
Yvell smirks satisfied the creature was gone and pats Bran on the shoulder " A fine job, you muscle memory is fine enough that it made up for your lack of sight. You ended it's life. Let us eat and recover from the travel here for the moment, then head on after everything's settled I'll keep Watch. And yes, we are fine you great ape, good thing we noticed them ahead of time, instead of while we were distracted. "
Yvell will sigh pulling out trails ration and looking wary the entire time
"Stupid cave. Let's find the towns folk and get out of here..." Val says. She looks over her companions and adds "Anyone hurt?"
" Quite a few of us have an injury or another I would say, if you could apply an effect to multiple persons for lesser effort, this would b the time to do so, I was simply bitten a few times. "
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Derlin flashes a charming smile at the elf, "Apes are fierce fighters and the alpha's amongst them protect the rest of the pack. My friend, I'm appreciative of the compliment.", unabashed, the exotic missionary places a firm hand on the paladin's shoulder as an expression of respect and solidarity to a battle-brother.
He takes out some dried jerky and takes a place by Bran the Blind-Fighter and offers him some food. "Well fought Bran, well fought. I've never seen such poise and precision with a shield strike - let alone from someone who couldn't see. A blow for the ages my friend!" Derlin offers.
His appreciation for his allies prowess in combat is genuine. He smiles and speaks quietly with everyone, offering food from his own rations to all. In response to Val, he examines the puncture wound he took fighting the beetles earlier.
"I've taken a little scratch myself, I'll be okay I think. Yvell's word's make sense, I knew some priests in the Qadiran temple of Serenrae where my second life began that could channel small waves of healing energy. If we've all got a scratch or two and you have that gift it may not hurt to use that and conserve more powerful magics for more...dire circumstances."
"Well I suppose then." Val says with a sarcastic sigh.
She then smiles at Yvell, "Feel better?"
Yvell places a fist at Derlin's chest and nods " As long s they are lead towards the danger, wild Animals can be great assets and devastators of your enemies. Unlike Apes, we are not as primal and strength is not everything, force must be directed and managed. " The burst of healing covering some of his wounds yet more remained.
The somewhat easy smile catching Yvell off-guard from the woman. His face twitches as he made an awkward respond to her smile. Due mainly to her force of personality, which seemed a bit stronger than even his own. " *cough clearing up throat* W-Well, it is not the best I have experienced, but it shall do for now; The fact you have such an ability will be beneficial to the group as a whole, Tell me how much do you believe you have in your reserves? "
Yvell unstrapping the shield, placing it upon his back and holstering his hammer as the relaxed somewhat.
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"Many thanks Lady Brightsong, you are a gifted healer indeed!" Derlin says as the wave of energy pulses through him.
Pulling a small whetstone from his pack his slowly tends to the blade of his falchion. His genuine smile while working an edge leads you to believe the blade means a great deal to the broad shouldered man.
He takes his time with each meticulous scrrrrrrape, scrrrrrrape.
HP 13/13
5/9 Bloodrages remain
2/3 Destined Strikes remain
+1 damage on his next Falchion hit
"Thank you Valtyra." Burnt One wades further into the water to start dragging the other bodies back.
After resting for some time and tying up bodies at the cave entrance, you proceed South of the Frog's lair, and find yourselves in another 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.
A gray woman is crouched behind a crate, her skin seems to camouflage with the wood, making her nearly invisible. Something is held behind her back, and her eyes which constantly stare at you, are cold and piercing.
"A rock!" Burnt One shows the others a small agate, then puts that and the other items in their backpack for safekeeping.
Burnt One stares at the artwork. "Pretty," they whisper.
Then, tearing their gaze away, they spot a small silver coin-like object with blackened lines across its surface. They spot another, and another, and run around the room retrieving them. "What are these?" they ask, showing them to Ibuki.
Val smiles at Yvell again, "Oh your just too cute." She moves to turn away then adds with a wink, "And trust me I have plenty of reserves."
Val holds up the unholy symbol that they found. "This is a symbol of Zyphus a god of accidental death and tragedy. He is usually just worshiped by small cults. I wonder what its doing here."
She then helps move boxes.
Yvell watches the rest intently directing Derlin around once Burnt One seemed to find more bodies and assuredly, treasure. His senses are sharp as ever noting the disks far before Auehda picked them up.
In an almost nonchalant manner Yvell suddenly addresses what to the rest of the group seems to be no one in particular. " Hrmph, Why don't you come out from behind that crate and join the rest of us young Lady? I'm sure you can see mean no harm. Unless, you mean US harm? " His arms folded and an air of confidence in his voice as his eyes clearly zero in on a crate.
Burnt One stares at the walls. "Paintings . . . alive?"
Val Looks between Yvell and the crate raising an eye brow. So there is something there.
"Come on out we wont hurt you" She says softly to whoever is hiding behind the crate.
The woman stands up and her hairless skin becomes gray. Small straps of leather and pouches cover little of her body. She is holding a short sword in her hand.
"If you mean us no harm, then come with me. Our leader wishes to speak with you.
She tries to move past you, carefully, eyes always watching, down the Southeast corridor.
The room has two other passages besides the one you entered, one to the Southwest, and the other to the Southeast.
Burnt One jumps when the woman moves, but nods. "Burnt One means no harm."
Yvell grunts and nods not careless but wanting to seem, domineering. " Fine we shall talk to your leader, rather this than fighting for no point. Im sure the Sarenite Worshipper gawking at us would enjoy that. I ask that you wait a moment as I gather up our supplies and lead Bran along "
He gives Derlin the okay to calm himself but be wary.
"Yes, I go with grey lady." Burnt One follows the warrior. "Who is grey lady by the way?"
Yvell however does seem confused about one thing, " Now tell me, you say your leader wished to speak to us, so that would assume you have seen our group previously or worse, you have been spying this whole time? "
A small raise of the brow as he sticks relatively close to the woman detecting Evil
"Are you with steal-sell guy and halflings? Or Parda?"
"She wishes to speak with anyone that enters this place. Anyone that is not a threat to our people."
The gray woman looks at Auehda and shakes her head. "I do not know what you mean, orc."
Yvell searches his mind for anything that might have been similar to what this woman came to be, considering an evil aura dd not come from her, she was no horrible evil or divine worshiper of such.
In a calm and less abrasive voice he tells the Gray woman what Auehda meant
" The HALF-orc means the one further back with the stab wounds similar to your blade and the man eaten by what I assume was your pet.. who is alive for the most part. The Burnt One wondered if you were affiliated with either. Now you say your leader is another woman like you? With your skills and that mindset, she must be quite intelligent and strong. I assume those who WOULD cause a threat you would... defend yourselves. correct? "
"We protect ourselves from invaders, yes. The strong ones though, we let pass and keep ourselves hidden. Sef will decide what we shall do next."
The ceiling of this vast chamber 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.
The woman stops in the center of the village.
"Three of you may come with me to meet our leader. The rest of you, stay here."
She waits for your decision. Her eyes bounce from her blade to your weapons and to seemingly random points in the cavern.
Skulks, the information flashing to the surface after the interaction with the female. A strange race, but nothing outside of that deemed them overall dangerous compared to any other race. The cavern was spacious, but the accommodations for their 'village' seemed paltry at best.
However, her eye movement alerted Yvell and his own followed her tells, if the people could disappear then there could be an untold number of them around. He wanted to know their number about, for as 'kind' as she seemed, it could always turn sour and numbers key in determining strength.
Then came the choice of who to go and who to remain. Regardless of the numbers there would be clear ramifications for splitting their forces, but in a case where you MUST do so, it was best to have somewhat equal forces. It went without saying he would advance as this was a diplomatic mission one place he excelled though he was loath to do so at times. There also being a position of tactical choice. He was a trained in martial warfare as well.
Valtrya was healthy and showed aptitude for such an opportunity, It also helped that she was a Sarenite and could.. smooth over any mistake in his speech. She was one with healing properties as well, thereby being a great support should a fight happen.
Derlin to his knowledge has shown a destructive force most likely able to take a few creatures if need be. Outside of that however he seemed dim-witted and inattentive. He needed Direction.
This however made up for the fact Bran was still somewhat impaired, though far from fang-less as he shown before. The two of them together would form a strong frontline somewhat covering for each other.
Then came the hapless half-orc known as Auehda, The Burnt One. having the ability to heal and throw fire, while also exhibiting a keen sight, though lower in mindset to Derlin it seemed. Auehda could provide support from the back and keep the from being surprised.
Lastly it came down to Ibuki, who seemed knowledgeable of other facts and exhibited arcane ability, valuable during negotiations but quite easy to subdue on his own.
Three will be chosen
" Alright, We'll play it on your terms as it is your home. I assume Sef will be pleased and understand. Valtyra, Ibuki and I will meet with Sef. The rest will stay behind for now until we can come to an agreement and retrieve the rest of you. Derlin, time to prove you are as Alpha as you states. Are there any objection to this? "
Yvell looked at the Skulk woman noting her reaction to his statement and situation as a whole, considering she looked around frequently.
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Derlin offers no objection, simply nods. His face contorted in deep thought...
Mother Serenrae, guide them in their endeavors. I can tell this elf cares for me little, he thinks me a simple brute. He knows nothing of the burdens of destiny. I was born for this, and he knows me not...
Yes Derlin, forgive his slights. I am with you always. Feel my warmth child of rage.
Despite the coolness in the cavern, beads of sweat cover the big warrior-missionary's skin and a look of brief ecstasy crosses his face.
"Worry not paladin, Serenrae is with us. I will watch and protect. Call for me and we will come running, if needed."
There are three skulks hiding in different places of the village. They are all crouched and holding weapons behind their backs. Each one is camouflaged to the wood, stone or metal behind them.
You feel that the gray woman is confident but still on her guard. She is slightly less wary now that you are in their village.
The gray woman leads you to a back room about thirty feet away to another cavern.
This cramped cave is filled with metal junk covering almost every inch of ground. The precarious pile rises up in a heap-like hut to the northwest.
Staring at the pile, you see several pieces of weapons, armor and other assorted items, including a masterwork buckler, a masterwork sap, potions, masterwork thieves’ tools, scrolls and pouches of gold.
There, another gray woman is standing.
”You’ve done a good job, Luepel. I am Sef, leader of the skulks.” Her eyes are cold, and her words are direct. She glides a dagger along the blade of her short sword.
”I will make a deal with you. If you handle the gremlins that live to the north of our cave, we will allow you free passage through this village. We will treat you with indifference, so long as you do not harm our people.”
As you wait for the others to return, your vision is drawn to the East to a strange metal wall.
A smooth wall of dark gray metal bisects the cavern here, its expanse pitted and scorched but quite solid looking. A strange, circular opening pierces the wall five feet off the ground, allowing access to some sort of hallway on the other side.
Val moves in front of her companions. "Hello Sef, I'm Valtyra Brightsong. If we can do something to aid your people we will try but what are these gremlins your talking about?"
"We were told you like to speak with those that pass through, would you have spoken with Khonnir Baine by chance?"
Auehda's eyes are drawn to the hole, but they manage to stay put. For now. [b]"Will Yvell fix the torch?"[b] they ask Derlin.