"Oh she was always the hag, green hag to be specific. Nasty things. Probably just using us to deal with those nasty fey."
Giz wanders over to check on the fallen,
"Alas, poor dwarf, we hardly knew thee."
Jaghal let the bear go, since it could run more than him. And, of course, he worried about the problem at hand, more specifically the body on the ground, that only now he could see since there were no vines in the way. From afar he casts Stabilize, and then approaches to check on the dwarf, if there's any chance he could be saved.
"I leave you for a couple days and you manage to get in trouble, hun?"
As Jaghal looks over the body of the dwarf lying on the ground, it quickly becomes obvious to him that the man was quickly overcome by his wounds, the jagged tear across his throat almost immediately fatal. The magics to return life to the fallen dwarf were still much beyond his own considerable skill, even with his own status as a minor deity well established.
As the party looks on, the gnome desperately searching for any signs of life in the prone form, the danger of their situation still looms over them all. In a strange place, likely some pocket dimension between worlds, holding unknown terrors that still lurk between them and their goal, the cache of weapons that the druid back in town spoke of.
"Better to die among friends, at least." There is indeed a bright side to that. Aside from seeing a dead body Jaghal has no idea about what else is to be known about this place. "So, have you really been here for just some dozen minutes? I wasn't sure creepy ball was telling me the true..."
Sasha sighs heavily. She had seen death before, of course, but never that of a close friend.
"Let's be done with this place. The more we tarry, the more lives we put at risk."
Who besides me is wounded and what healing resources do we possess?
Jaghal raises his hand at the mention of healing resources. "Me, me, choose me!!" He looks around to see who is hurt, but there's too much to analyze quickly, better to soothe some wounds than access the situation later.
"Gather around fellows! Energy Wave!" The usual radiance burst to all directions, closing wounds and returning some life force to those who are not in the proper shape. Then he approaches Johan, and puts a hand on his shoulder, releasing more energy to heal him fully.
"Do you mind if I connect all of us guys? I've been practicing!"
Corentin stands back a bit near Sasha to allow Johan a moment to grieve. After saying a silent prayer for fallen companions he adjusts the straps of his gear and says, "We should see what lies beyond the doorway the bear came through. Whatever else might be there is surely aware that something is going on in here."
About that time the flow of healing energy from the eccentric gnome flows over him, closing many of his wounds.
"It's good to see you once again Jaghal. How did you find us?"
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Kneeling over Martok's body Johan closes the dwarf's eyes and arranges his hands to hold his weapons over his chest. We will leave him here in this room for now. But I will come back for him if I am able.
As the healing washes over Johan he stands a little taller. His eyes are still moist but it is obvious that he is done grieving, at least for now. My thanks Jaghal. It is indeed good to have you back. Weapons readied he regards the first of the unopened doors.
"It's good to see you once again Jaghal. How did you find us?"
Jaghal is happy to have found them, and glad to be able to tell his tale. "Well, it's a long story! You are aware I knew where we were coming, right? In any case, I just needed to get here, and that's when things got weird."
"Remember those wolves we fought at the watch post? So, one of them was not quite dead. The beast was suffering and... you know... I don't like to see it like that, agonizing. Anyway, I went to finish it off. Yes, yes, I know I should have followed you into the tower right away, but it would just be a matter of seconds, right?" He watches the others, looking for understanding eyes, if any.
"So there I was, on top of the beast, ready to take it out of its misery..." He raises his spear, ready to deliver the merciful blow at the imaginary wolf below him "...but, well, it was just a wolf, right? It was just doing what it was taught... I know I shouldn't but I decided to heal it instead. Whoooa then things got interesting!"
"All of a sudden the large wolf opened its eyes, and stood up, throwing me over it... Yes, I forgot I was on top of it when the healing took place. Anyway, it suddenly sprinted away from the watch tower and into the marshes, running for its life while I was riding it! Yes, when I say riding you can read struggling to remain on top of it and too scared to let go since we were running pretty fast."
"I was just waited for it to stop but it took the beast a long time to do it, and when it finally halted, I was in the middle of - wait for it - and Orc village!" He pauses, too excited to continue the tale while they figure out where to go.
"Oh, any door is fine by me."
"You've done a good thing, Jaghal," Sasha says. "As you have noted, the wolf is not inherently evil. They do what they must to survive."
Preparing for the worst, the party readies itself behind Szacha as he pulls the heavy doors open. The chamber beyond is packed with crates, burlap sacks, and gardening tools, which were obviously used to tend to the flora planted within the Vault. The majority of the tools are rusted with age, but the organic matter seems strangely preserved. Sorting through the various goods the party finds thirteen goodberries which seem to be magically enhanced to last indefinitely, and a dozen seeds of rare plants and herbs which could be worth as much as 50gp each if sold to the right buyer.
Finding nothing else amiss in the storage room, the party moves to the other northern door, which the bear burst through earlier. An ornate staircase descends to a small platform. Several giant lily pads sway gently in the chamber’s air currents, each floating at a different height. Below the lily pads, a sheer drop fades into darkness, where a droning buzz reverberates off the chamber’s walls. At the other end of the chamber, a second platform and staircase lead out of the room.
"I like wolves." He smiles to Sasha and Galor.
"Yes sir!" Jaghal gets threatening with his mighty killer-spear at the ready when Szacha summons them to act, but as they open the doors there is a little disappointment in persona. Then came the lily pads, and well, that seemed weird enough.
"Don't tell me we have to walk on those to get to the other side..." He Lights a pebble and lets it fall into the darkness below, to see if there was a bottom to the chamber. "Hmmm..."
"How did the bear do it?!" wonders Szacha, scratching his head.
Jaghal moves up to the edge, looking down into the darkness below. He drops a pebble magically enhanced with light into the unknown and watches until the light vanishes from sight.
A moment later a distinct splurt can be heard as the stone hits something soft and moist below.
"Uhm..." Sasha hesitates, her fear of heights overcoming her. She stays clear of the edge. "I don't guess there's another way?" she says hopefully.
"Actually, there might be! Hey!" He suddenly looks behind him to see something, but continues shortly after. "I learned a couple of tricks from the orcs... after they tried to eat me, that is... I can make you levitate! But of course, you will not actually fly, but it may help us get there. I might even go myself, since I definitely won't feel comfortable tumbling on those pads in my light-like-a-rock armor."
If no one is against it he's going to levitate to touch the ceiling and from there walk towards the other exit.
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Jaghal, if you are floating you cannot test the path for the rest of us. Johan will tie a rope under his arms around his torso and hand the end to Szacha and Corentin. I'll do this. he says, preparing to jump to the first pad. Just spool out enough rope as I move to not jerk me backwards. he finishes with a smile.
Jaghal is deeply disappointed for not being useful in the situation, but he guesses it made sense. "Flying gnome next time, then."
"The longshanks never let us do anything fun..."
Sasha remains quiet, biting her lip. Galor won't make it across, and there's no way that I'm going to make it. She watches breathlessly as Johan tries to cross.
Johan impressively leaps from one giant pad to the next, effortlessly making each jump look trivial. As he hits the first pad, a swarm of flies and midges fills the air, making it difficult to see through them but causing no direct harm. His second leap brings forward another swarm of the insects, the annoying flies buzzing loudly in his ears. The ranger looks back to the group for a moment before raising his hand, motioning the rest forward after seeing nothing more challenging or dangerous to deal with other than the bothersome midges.
From nearby, a slight wind stirs through the midge cloud as Johan prepares the next jump. Turning and seeing only more of the flies he takes a single stride before a massive force crushes into him and tightens around his midsection. Instantly, the form of a massive dragonfly appears out of thin air, its over-sized mandibles latched tightly across the ranger's chest and pinning him in place.
The massive dragonfly, Johan tight in its clutches, closes its mandibles tightly against the ranger and begins a slow flight to the north, away from the group of warm blooded creatures invading its territory.
Corentin looks with understanding at Sasha. "Let's just see if we can get a line secured to start and then we'll figure things out. he says quietly before taking hold of the rope Johan offers.
Pleased to see the rangers success Corentin is shocked when the great flying insect appears and attacks. With the rope's slack quickly disappearing he prepares to hold fast.
Sasha readies her staff-sling and lets fly a sling stone.
From this distance Jaghal could not do much to help either. He knew from the start he should be the one to go there, specially because in that situation he would not have problems with the fall. Anyway, the little gnome resisted the urge to rage, since it wouldn't help. Actually, there was not much he could do now, so he aimed his crossbow to get a lucky shot when Johan and the monster went separate ways.
As the giant dragonfly cruises off to then north of the room, Johan firmly in its grasp, the rope snaps taught and Corentin strains against the creature, digging his heels into the floor and spending his reserves to keep the ranger close. A second snap of the rope holds the ranger fast, and the creature seems to be held in place for the time being. Sasha lets loose a sling stone, which smacks into the creature firmly but seems to cause no apparent harm. Jaghal holds his crossbow steady, waiting for the right moment to strike.
Gizsmith uses silent image to conjure up a giant bird (large sized, warbler perhaps) and sets it to dive at the dragonfly.
The gnome, nearly out of spells and struggling to find a way to help with the massive insect that he couldn't quite put his finger on, weaves his fingers in a quick series of motions, and draws upon his arcane heritage. Overhead a large shape appears in the room, and all eyes fall upon a spectacular looking specimen. Hovering silently overhead, the flying monstrosity peers down at the insect below, as if ready to enjoy a quick meal.
Corentin continues to strain against the giant insect, hoping to keep the creature from fleeing with his friend. The battle seems a stalemate for moments that draw on like hours until the creature looks up and it suddenly realizes the danger of its current position and situation, playing tug of war for a meal with an opponent who seems to be able to at least match its own strength. The creature's mandibles violently twitch and there is a sickening tearing sound. To everyone's horror, Johan is torn asunder in a gout of blood. His top half, still secured to the trusty rope, swings back towards the group like some twisted children's toy, while his lower half plummets towards the unseen ground below.....
The insect shifts its position, ready to dive below the lily pads and into the safety of the darkness below.
"Johan! Nooooo!" Sasha screams, seeing the ranger torn in half.
With tears of rage in her eyes, she sends another stone towards the dragonfly.
Giz's self-satisfied smile at his own cleverness dissolves into shock and horror, as he watches his companion torn asunder. "No, no, no. That wasn't supposed to happen. What is this vault of horrors that we've stumbled into?"
Tears spilling over, he manages enough concentration to keep his illusion active, but does little else.
Maybe he had been caught in some kinda of sick illusion zone when he was wandering around the swamp. It could have been a nasty one, since the situation seemed great at first, but then turned bitter on him. After all, a guy that was following the group died before he could do anything. Then Johan got cut in half by a monstrosity in an absolutely dangerous room where he was also useless. He was looking right at his now deceased companion when that happened, so he could not turn his eyes away. He even forgot to shoot his bolt, terrified by that visage. If that was not enough he even felt the deadly wound course through his own spine, probably the result of being linked with him at times.
And he was completely at a loss with words, barely noticing Sasha's and Gizsmith's words.