Aiuda checks her weapons (but doesn't draw any just yet) and sneaks up the stairs, beckoning the others to follow her.
(+23 in underground environment to notice traps, potential cave-ins and dangerous flora)
Sven followed Aiuda one step behind, bow in hand but no arrow engaged.
Grûkh follows Aiuda's lead, doing his best to remain silent.
Aiuda and Sven sneak up the stairs to see two towering humanoid shaped creatures with vertically aligned mouths and arms that split at the elbows into twin clawed hands. As they creep to the top, they can hear what sounds like a third creature to the northwest. As Grukh follows, the two creatures tense and look toward the stairs!
Seeing the strange creature and having no clue about what they were except that their intentions were not good, Sven decided to attack.
Whitestripe, Attack ! he commanded.
Calling the Nature's forces, he changed his appearence in a more bull and felin way then casted a spell to enhanced his bow.
"Gugs!"
"They'll fall to any blade, dirk or bludgeon. By Groetus, be doomed!" the oread calls out, judging them mercilessly.
Then he steps forward in a protective manner and prays Groetus for good luck against the aberrations.
Bill swoops forward slightly and sees the massive creatures.
"Ah yes, Grukh. A fine specimen of Gugs." Bill states.
Bill, being more of the control type, sits back and watches. I wonder what magical implement I may utilize to best aid my associates...
Familiar with the nastiness that can live in caves, caverns, and underground lairs, Aiuda tears the bow from her back
Confident in her ability to hurt the foul thing, Aiuda continues to fire off arrows at the nearest beast.
Aiuda then whips her gray-colored cloak around herself and throws her body against the rock wall, trying to blend in with her surroundings.
Following Aiuda, Sven target the same monster than the elf.
Whitestripe moved to the nearest creature alive and attacked it.
Rrrooarrr !
Sven features begins to morph as he casts a spell on his bow, then bellows and order to his cat!
Aiuda fires her bow, striking the gug!
The eastern gug takes a step forward and swings at Aiuda!
The gug's awesome blow knocks Aiuda back into Sven, injuring both!
The other gugs moves closer, looking for an opening to attack!
Bill knows that gugs, as seen by Aiuda, are able to deal awesome blows and when attacking with their four arms, are able to rend with their claws. He also knows that, due to their "double-jointedness", these large creatures are able to squeeze into relatively small passages!
Grukh calls down judgement on the gugs, then casts a prayer spell on his party!
Aidua regains her footing, takes a step back and fires many arrows at the gug that smashed her! Two arrows hit their mark, wounding the gug heavily!
Sven fires one arrow, finishing off the eastern gug, then follows up, putting two arrows in the gug straight ahead!
Whitestrip then moves forward, dodging a blow from the gug, and bites into it, but the creature proves too large to be pulled down!
"Good show, chaps. It seems that they do not harm you as much as you do them. I believe a minor bit of assistance is all that is required." the wizard states, sipping from his magical teacup.
Bill will casually wave his hand, unleashing three screaming bolts of arcane energy at the gug ahead of him.
Bill casts a spell, pelting the northern gug with missiles of force!
The northern gug attacks Whitestripe!
The western gug attacks Grukh and Sven, wounding Sven slightly, but tearing into Grukh!
Whitestripe dodged all the Gug's attacks and fight back !
Grûkh, rended by both of the Gug's claws, groans in anger and retaliates by swinging at the aberration with the intent to trip it.
Sven took a step back and attacked the Gug that his friend bite and clawed.
Bill conjures more gouts of primal energy to blast away at the gug in his line of sight. These creatures are tougher than I originally expected, however we should handle them easily. I will have to retune my spellbook for this group, it seems.
Aiuda fires her bow!
Deadly Aim, Rapid Shot, Precise Shot, Fav Enemy +5, Point Blank, Bane
With a growl, Whitestripe tears into the gug, nearly bringing it down!
Angered by his wounds, Grukh trips the gug, then beats it down with his flail!
Sven then fires his bow, ending the northern gug!
Bill pelts the prone gug with missiles!
Aiuda fires many arrows at theprone gug, ending its life!
Searching the area, you find these crammed living quarters served as sleeping units for the miners who worked the Karggat Mine. Now, the beds are in shambles, having been all but eaten by the resident coal moths and rot grubs. It appears the gugs were ransacking the area, but found nothing. Someone finds something the gugs missed; near one of the crumbling bunks lies one such forgotten treasure—a fully intact necklace of fireballs (type VII).
Cursing the gugs for being so savage and himself for not being ready enough for the fight, Grûkhs first heals his own wounds with his wand.
"I must get ready to face other challenges. Hold on a second."
He then empowers himself with heroism, using his rod to extend the duration of the spell, then stoneskin and see invisibility.
"Good thinking, Master Oread. Speaking of thinking, next time would like me to throw you into battle. You should be able to bring about the end of the world much faster that way." the wizard states as he sips his tea.
"Bloody hell, the ratio of Earl Grey to Orange Pecoe is off by two milligrams." Bill pours the tea out before conjuring more into his cup. "Ahh... much better. Anyone care for a cuppa?"
Grûkh politely declines the wizard's offer for tea. "Sorry, we'd better hurry up now that magical wards are in place. What do you mean by "throwing me into battle". Are you being literal?"
"Yes, quite. I have perfected a technique to physically move someone through the air to reach a target that they may not have been able to reach before. It should let you bring more destruction upon the world, specifically our enemies." the wizard states drawing arc and lines on the ground to illustrate his point with the tip of his quarterstaff.
"In his infinite wisdom, Groetus had me fall from the moon to announce his imminent arrival. I fear no throwing, and I shall gladly try it, friend Bill." declares the oread boldly before he ventures to the next counter-clockwise passage.
Grukh leads the party to the northwest. After about fifty feet, the tunnel splits again. One passage leading west, and one passage leading north.
The oreads continues North.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Passing by the side tunnel, Grukh leads the party north. The tunnel stretches north, then turns east. Following the tunnle east for a few hundred feet, it splits once again, leading north, east, and south.
Sven used his wand to heal himself then as Grûkh casted spell to enhance his senses, he casted devensive spell on him and his friend Whitestripe.
Once the tunnel splited again, he looked for tips of passage
Searching the area, Sven finds tracks of gugs, and very old tracks on the miners. There is no particular direction among the tracks.
Grûkh leads the party and hugs the right wall.
Aiuda puts her bow away to keep her hands free and follows right behind Grukh.
Bill is quite happy to let Grukh lead the way. "Did a few stints in the Society, the Golden League, etc. Found out that they are full of over-cautious ninnies. Quite chuffed to have some people with a sense of urgency and boldness in our group. This freelancing might be more my speed."
Following the right wall, Grukh leads the party aling the right wall. You note the passage eventually loops back to where you had started, but there are at least two passages branching off to the east. and one to Grukh's immediate west.
Again, Sven looked around to see if any tracks from creatures.
Searching the floor of the mine for tracks, Sven once again notes the old tracks of dwarven boots, as well some gug tracks.
"We need to kill these gugs off." Aiuda whispers. "Then we can find that dwarf."
Ha ! That's about time. said Sven when finding the dwarf's tracks.
I think that's a clue, isn't ?
Grukh leads the party into a small chamber to the west. This sparsely decorated living area is furnished with a sturdy bed, a rickety desk and wardrobe, and a three-foot-tall iron safe in the western corner.
"A safe. I wonder if it still contains riches, or maybe clues as to the miners' whereabouts. Can anyone open it?"
"I can try to unlock it." Aiuda moves over and tries to open the safe.
Before you tried I think it will be safer to look around if it's not trap.
Said Sven who began to look around using his magic
"Safety first and all of that jazz, good chaps." Bill states with a hint of amusement, like he just made a joke that only he understood.
He casually watches Aiuda try to open the safe.
Aiuda begins to lick at the lock, but luckily, she is held off by Sven, whose intuition is correct, as he spots a trap.
Aiuda is able to carefully disable the trap, that would have released poisonous fumes into the room. Once she tries to unlock the safe, she finds that when she fails, the trap is reset!
"This might be a bit beyond my skill. Let's come back to it later. For now, let's finish off those gugs."
Grûkh nods and walks south towards some stairs.