Closely examining the pile of gems, as well as the rough floor and ceiling, Kari does not notice any traps.
Kari sorted through the pile of gems, and evaluated how easy it would be to carry them all out.
"There is something coming from over here." Urram says, still crouching and facing a different direction to Kari. "Some sort of light..."
Kari looked over to see what Urram was talking about. She got up and moved over for a closer inspection.
Kari and Urram seem to be seeing different things, as the southern wall of the cavern does not seem to be shedding light as far as Kari can tell, but Urrum distinctly sees the light.
Kari looked in vain to see the glow. "Where's the light you're talking about, Urram? I can't see it."
Fenna still stands beside the pile of stones, really to shovel them into a sack. The only thing stopping her is the distraction of Urram's insistence on a light.
"Yeah, I don't see any light either."
From the wall itself, a spike springs forth, striking out at Fenna. Another spike juts forth, swinging at Kari like a jagged mace. Loud screeching, like high-pitched grinding of stone grinding against stone, echoes across the cave.
The spike shot at Fena strikes her armor, and gets stuck, dealing no damage. Kari takes a stick to her shoulder.
As the spike springs from the wall, the illusion fades before your eyes. Two
crystaline creatures bristle.
Round 1
Kari <- UP NEXT
Fenna <- UP NEXT
Urram <- UP NEXT
Crystal crabs
[url=https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1qRvaE8wKBhWkL6jc2gMeiyMmKaBS2UvsT00ziGk2OLE/edit?usp=sharing]Map link[/dice]
"Argh — some sort of crystalline creature lying in ambush!", Kari cried. She stepped back and shot a blast of water at the one that had attacked her.
Fenna looks down at the spike stuck in her clothing, and visually follows the its line of travel back to its source.
"Kari, back away from them!"
She hurries toward the two creatures, inserting herself between Kari and the one nearest her and strikes at it.
Urram, devoid of many other options, jabs forward with his spear, striking a crack in the crystalline creatures hide.
Kari blasts with her water wave, but the creature stands against it. Fenna steps forward, striking hard at the creature. Urram steps forward with his spear, striking, but the thrust deals less damage than he hoped for. The thick shells seem to turn away Fenna's slashes and Urram's thrusts.
Pink
Orange
The crabs blink out of sight, and you hear them clatter on the north side of the cavern, blocking your escape.
These Crysmals are from the Plane of Earth. They seem to be speaking a language like Aquaun, but for earth creatures.
Round 2
Kari <- UP NEXT
Fenna <- UP NEXT
Urram <- UP NEXT
Pink Crab (6 damage)
Orange Crab (5 damage)
Kari moved up and blasted one of the crabs again, crying, "What are these bizzarre creatures?"
When the crystal scorpions disappear, Fenna looks around and sees them now behind her. She turns about and joins Kari, choosing to draw the light mace stuck into her belt rather than her machete this time.
Looking them over more carefully, Fenna draw a few conclusions. "They look like crysmals to me, so not from our world, extraplanar. Since they're from the earth plane, they're probably crystal through and through, it's not just a shell. Better to break them since they won't be cut like flesh."
"They're probably not unintelligent, and if that's right, speak a planar language. Terran I guess? That's all I've got. Maybe they're upset about the gems? But their ambush was very unfriendly. Any thoughts on what to do now anyone?"
Urram moves up and attempts to stab the creature with his spear.
Kari unleashes a fierce wave at the one of the creatures, sending it clattering against the cave walls. Fenna advances, drawing her mace. Urram’s strike is true, but the crab-like creature’s carapace protects it from harm.
The crysmal scuttles forward to attack Urram...
but Urram easily keeps the extraplanar crab at bay with his spear.
Round 3
Kari <- UP NEXT
Fenna <- UP NEXT
Urram <- UP NEXT
Pink Crab (dead)
Orange Crab (5 damage)
Fenna advances on the critter before it can pop away to a new location and lands a blow on it with her mace.
Fenna smashes the creature back into the world from whence it came!
Re-examining the wall near the gems, you notice the digging on the wall seems to match the stingers of the crysmals.
"It's too bad we couldn't have communicated with them," Kari commented.She healed herself and Fenna, and then helped gather up the gems.
"Thank you." Urram offers to Fenna when she dispatches the creature, despite all his practise, close combat is still not his preferred arena.
He moves over to the wall to start examining the gems and which ones can be most easily extracted.
Precious stones worth are scattered innocuously over the ground and in a small pile next to the northern wall. The type of gem varies, and while the stones aren’t magical, you can tell that many of them would be useful in the crafting of ioun stones.
All collected, Urram would put their value at 1,200 gold pieces.
Little of the cave is left unexplored, and the path to the north appeared to be an exit.
"Let's check out the rest of the passages," Kari suggested. She went back to the cavern where they had fought the chokers, and explored the southern passage.
"We must collect these before we leave." Urram says, following Kari. "There is considerable value here. They would help the colony have things to trade other cultures."
"Yeah, but we weren't given any options but to immediately defend ourselves. I wonder if they were defending the pile of gems, or if the gems were bait for us? They hid themselves with an illusion. Why not just hide the gems?"
Fenna helps collect the stones, then follows Kari.
The walls of this cave are slick with moisture, and the smell of rotted meat fills the air. The dead end of this cave appears to be the den of the choker family from the larger room before it.
Stashed in a nook in the wall here Kari discovers a burlap sack filled with random knick-knacks. The sack contains a porcelain tea set, haphazardly thrown into the sack such that three of the teacups now have broken handles. There is also a steel flask, empty and smelling of whiskey etched with an elaborate “R,” a silver mirror with a rose motif, a set of dice in a wooden cup capped with leather, two vials of a brown liquid, four thick tubes of hard paper, a small yellow pebble, a belt, and a wadded-up cloak.
"Ugh!", Kari exclaimed, holding a cloth over nose. She looked around for hidden treasures, then recited a prayer and scanned for magic auras.
Urram coughs and begins waving one hand through the air. Slowly, all too slowly, the smell begins to fade away.
"What have you found Kari?"
Fenna helps Urram Prestidigitate the odor. Since Kari is keen about getting to stuff in the sack, Fenna stays back away from the worst of the smelliness.
Kari digs through the smelly room, producing a sack of treasures near the entrance. Of the items, only the cloak and belt radiate magic, but Kari is unsure of the nature of their magics.
Urram too examines the items for magic.
Urram is unsure of the magics on the belt, but recognizes the enhancement on the cloak. (link)
"I wonder what this does?", Kari wondered as she examined the belt.
As the stink subsides, Fenna wanders on in closer to have a look as well.
[ooc]Fenna could get occasional use from the cloak. It's not uncommon for her to have only one weapon out. She could try it and see if it gets much use. If not we could sell it I guess?[/b]
Kari got up and said to Fenna and Urram, "If I recall, there is another area that we haven't explored. The passageway forked a while back; let's go back and check the other way."
Urram makes a reasonably graceful motion, which seems to be his equivalent of a bow. "Lead on fair lady." He passes the cloak to Fenna as she goes.
Just past a small cave-in on the western wall, the tunnel opens into a rounded cavern with rough and irregular walls. Occasional piles of fallen rock litter the passage, but not to the degree that navigating it is impossible. A fair number of bones litter the cave floor here.
Kari advanced cautiously into the cave and looked around. "Where there's lots of bones, there's likely a predator!", she cautioned Fenna and Urram.
"Could it be the chokers?" Urram asks, a few paces behind.
Fenna stuffs the cloak away in her pack. There's no way it's going on her until the stench has been well washed or prestidigitated away.
"Hopefully the chokers..."
Kari leads the way down the passage, and upon finding the bones, leads a thorough search. Coming to a dead end, Kari and Fenna look up just in time to spot a trio of bizarre black creatures hanging from the ceiling!
Surprise Round
Fenna <- UP NEXT
Darkmantles
Kari
Round 1
Fenna
Urram
Darkmantles
Kari
"Above! Trouble!" Fenna barks out to Kari and Urram in case they haven't looked up. She draws her gladius, but opts to take her dagger in her left hand. They look like groper squeezers to her.
Ready for the assault Fenna studies the bizarre fleshy monsters as they drop from the ceiling, but can't yet get a swing at them.
Flapping down from the ceiling, a creature positions itself directly above each of you.
Surprise Round
Kari <- UP NEXT
Round 1
Urram <- UP NEXT
Fenna <- UP NEXT
Darkmantles
Kari
Kari shot a water blast at the strange creature descending towards her. "Aagh!"
AoO
As Kari calls forth the power of water, and as she releases the blast, the darkmantle strikes back...
but it cannot land a blow. The blast of water floods the creatures maw, sending it to the ground.
Round 1
Urram <- UP NEXT
Fenna <- UP NEXT
Darkmantles
Kari
Urram lashes out with his spear, trying to keep the creatures at bay with the point of the weapon.