Walking along Phineast notices an opening fifteen feet up (gonna need to climb up to reach it) along the cavern wall. The path also continues forward.
Kurgu replies:
"I will stay close behind you then."
At the opening:
"I will try to reach it."
Kurgu leaves his hammer on the ground, and starts climbing.
The water has made the cliffside wet and slippery and Kurgu makes no progress.
"Damn. Unless someone else wants to try it, we should move onwards."
"Well I have a grappling hook that might make things easier." Falv pulls out his grappling hook and ties it to the end of his rope, then tosses up to the edge a couple of times until it catches something.
"There we go, i'll head up last."
I'll give that to you.
You hook the rope and Kurgu uses it to climb up. Several stalactites and stalagmites nearly make the passage impassable but there are opening here and there that would allow a person to squeeze trough.
Kurge can see light coming from the other side so it does open somewhere else.
Kurgu will gratefully accept Falvastar's aid, clamber up and along, and carefully poke his head towards the opening to get a look before he moves all the way through.
Because of the way the stalactites and stalagmites are placed it's impossible to see what on the other side of the 20 foot long passage without moving further into it.
Moving carefully he proceeds a little further into the spikes and he sees what appears to be a female form trapped in between a stalactite and a stalagmite. Upon closer investigation she appears to be a half-orc and she has been dead for a while.
You can do know local if you have it.
Kurgu is unsure of who the half-orc is. He moves closer to examine the body.
With a bundle of furs strapped to her front of her body, she walks outside and spreads her wings, jumping into the air and flaps her wings to become airborne. She gains height to be soon above the forest and flies directly towards Torch.
After a few hours she arrives at Torch, flying over the town perimeter waving and exchanging greetings with the watchman as she flies directly to the town leatherworker. The watchmen of Torch have become accustom to her flying furs and meat, though was not the case in the beginning when she first arrived at torch walking with Rikus through the gates.
Bartering for good coin took a little longer than usual as news of another search party was preparing to go under to see what happened to the torch. Once she had her coin for furs, she queried to where the new search party was heading so she could catch up.
She took to the sky heading directly to the cave entrance, surveying the area for any signs of the search party.
As she approaches the cave entrance she spots plenty foot steps on the beach sand and the partially submerged cave entrance.
Without landing she glides over the foot steps looking for where the party of adventurers have gone ahead.
Spotting them at a higher ledge she flaps her wings to gain altitude to land on the ledge edge, speaking softly, Are you the search party investigating the cause of why torch went out?
Examining the body Kurgu can tell that someone has already stripped her of all her valuables. The cause of deaths seems to be half a dozen puncture wounds all over her body from something small and sharp.
Up ahead Kurgu can see that there is a large open chamber on the other side of the forest of intertwined stone spikes.
Falv looks up at the flying addition to their party. "Yup that's us. Doesn't seem like you need the rope, so why don't you catch up with Kurgu at the front while the rest of us clamber up this cliff."
Falv will wait for the others to climb up then head up himself.
Once he clambers up, he'll collect his rope and grappling hook and store it back in his bag.
As she lends a helping hand to the dwarf coming onto the ledge, speaking softwaly, Excellent. I was sent by the local druid circle to find out why the torch went out. The druids have witnessed the devastation the debris of star fall to many surrounding areas, and never liked these blights on the land. A sudden change usually does not promise of good favour, thus the druids are concerned of another spoiling of the land might be occurring, and if so needs to be contained.
By the way, I known as Galnikatix, or simply Gal, here in Torch. Belong to the local druid circle, defender of nature.
Once everyone is up on the ledge, she makes her way through the stalactites and stalagmites.
Kurgu takes note of the condition of the half-orc, says a silent prayer for her spirit, and continues onwards. He climbs to the mouth of the large chamber and cautiously looks out.
Phineas looks at the dead body for any further clues.
You recall that Parda was a popular brawler in town, and that she was one of those who traveled with several thugs into the caverns hoping to relight the torch for the reward. Almost everyone in Torch called her a friend, and many felt that her falling in with the thugs was going to be her end...turns out, they were right.
Kurgu leading the way makes it into the next chamber.
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.
Seeing the plant markings on the wall, she takes a closer look at them.
Hearing of fourth expedition startled her, What happened to the previous ones?
She also surveys the cave trying to see any dangers.
"I didn't even recognise Parda, her body was in such a bad state. Keep watchful, or there will be need for a fifth expedition. The others disappeared as far as I know."
He stares at the drawings for a time, trying to work out what the creatures are, or if there are any hints about where they are from.
He then looks around for danger, his retrieved hammer in hand.
"Khonnir was part of a group that returned with a robot, but they disappeared when they returned here to continue exploring."
"Rest in peace, Parda," Phineas says to the corpse. He notes the location of the body in his notebook for later recovery of the body for a proper burial.
He keeps a watchful eye, something did this to Parda. She was a tough person, so whatever did this would definitely prove to be a challenge.
You check the area when there is a rattle and something runs away. You can hear the footsteps for a moment but you don't see anything there.
It's running down the south-east passage but you quickly loose track of it
Kurgu listens carefully.
Hearing a rattle as he walks into the chamber with Parda's body, Fal checks around and sees something dart off down the passage.
Falvastar is able to notice a dark skinned female humanoid. She is bald and almost entirely naked except for a few straps were she has several daggers tucked away. Her skin seems to shift to match her surrounding making her nearly invisible.
Falv sees her and then looks directly at her. "Well you are naturally well hidden. How do you do miss." He says in common.
The woman doesn't seems to notice and just keeps running.
Kurgu tenses, then asks Falv:
"Who was there? Where did they go?"
"Some kind of humanoid female with color changing skin. Barely noticed her as she ran off." He points down the passage she ran down. "She ran off that way, so I say we follow and see what we can find."
Hearing the dwarf speak of strange small humanoid, she turns away from the drawings and and approaches the dwarf readying her scythe. She stares down the passage to see if she spot the creature.
"Agreed. We follow."
You follow the woman into the next chamber.
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.
As a note there are no light sources here. I am assuming the group brought some torches or something. For those who cant see in the dark.
Kurgu speaks:
"Who dwells here? We seek those who came here before!"
In answer to his question a dart comes at Kurgo from the darkness and stick him in the neck.
Kurgu immediately starts to feel numb and drowsy and attempts to shake of the effect of the poison. Make a fort save dc 16 of fall unconscious.
Roll init if you win post your action.
Make a perception to stop the opponents. The one who attacked gets -20 cause you saw were the dart came from.
Will make a map and upload it later today.
The one at the very bottom is the sniper.
Kurgu almost stays upright but then crashes to the ground, clutching his neck.
She managers only to see the one who shot the human. Realising they could be easily ambushed she invokes her bear aspect.
She moves towards the seen darter, moving along the ledge around the hut to come next to the darter, ready to swing the scythe.
Falv steps up to Kurgu's unconcious form and tries to see what knocked him out.
"Off course the big guy gets dropped right off the bat." He says as he examines the dart sticking out of Kurgu's neck.
using one of my points of inspiration as well. ...well I shouldn't have, but meh, I did get it.
Phineas notices very quickly the other assailants. "Guys, that one's not alone!" He points at the friends of the others.
Looks like they won init.
The sniper reload and shoots at Falvasar
The rest stay hidden for now.
Your go.
They are skulks
Skulks are a race of cowardly and lazy humanoids that live on the fringes of society -usually underground, stealing what they need and doing what they must—even committing casual murder—to survive. Their unabashed cowardice is perhaps their most widely known trait, but skulks don't see themselves as particularly craven. Instead, they view their dishonorable behaviors as the most expedient method of survival. They hate most other humanoids, viewing them as lazy and foolish, and think nothing of sneaking into a home, killing all the residents, and burglarizing what they can carry off without getting caught.
Skulks travel in small groups, rarely forming tribes of more than 16, for in larger groups bickering quickly leads to violent infighting. Murder between skulks is not uncommon, but they understand safety in numbers, and most frown upon treason within a group that is already relatively small, punishing traitors with a quick death.
Phineas draws his short sword and approaches the one to the north or at least where he last saw it, readying a strike.
The snipers dart bounces harmlessly off of Falv's armor. Realizing that Kurg is poisoned he will move down to the sniper as he can't help him now. He draws his axe as he goes.