Sandovar follows, slowly and carefully, aware that any mistake now would only serve to prove Umina's remarks correct.
As you swim downward towards the cavern mouth the light grows dimmer and dimmer, and by the time you enter the cave it disappears completely. You manage to feel your way along the tunnel until you begin to see a light coming towards you as you swim.
You surface in a small cavern, warm red bioluminesence coming from several points in the cave. A small rocky beach emerges to your right, a small ledge leading up into the cave further, while a small river of lakewater continues to flow through a smaller opening just big enough you could walk through just without stooping.
The chemical smell of the water is enough to make your eyes water, but you seem to be suffering no effects from the slightly toxic lake.
Umina exits the water, and appraises her surroundings.
"I don't like this. I'll climb up the ledge and see what's there."
Umina seemed to have the searching well in hand, so Harumi simply cast Detect Magic to look around the area. It interacted in odd ways with technology, but could be surprisingly useful for finding, say, people radiating magical signatures. It didn't really cost her anything, and the chance it would help meant it was worth trying.
"By the way, I can create as much fresh water as we need, in case anyone gets thirsty." she said. Assuming the spell currently affecting them didn't repel it away, of course... yay, magic!
Galaeta pulls herself out of the water and begins to wring it out of her hair. She wrinkles her nose as the smell burns a little, then begins checking her circuitry for any significant flaws. Finding nothing of concern , she smiles and offers a hand to the others attempting to climb out of the lake. The brooch on her necklace glows with a soft, white light.
"Well," she says, "that wasn't so bad. A little acidic, but we're alive."
Umina interrupts her surveillance to glance at Galaeta.
"I suppose it could be worse. Though I hope my armour is not affected."
She then turns to look at Harumi.
"Useful skill, that. Some sort of magic, comrade?", she says, her last word sounding almost forced.
The tian woman made her way up to her friend, very glad her companions had magical lights about, she had a few magic light sticks herself, though the magic in hers wore off and cost money to replace.
If your armor has any problems when we are done here I will take a look at it friend Umina. Shall we continue deeper in? we are one a timing yes?
She spoke adjusting her things as well and doing her best to make sure her hair was back and out of the way.
What is this smell? Is it something from the caves, or is it something the city has put in the water?
Sandovar tried to wring as much of the stinking water out of his travelling robes as possible.
"Indeed it is." Harumi said, smiling at Umina. "It's also saved my life in the past, so I'm quite fond of it. Besides, some technology doesn't like water very much - while I hate to hurt it, perhaps it will prove useful if we really need to disable something."
Galaeta clears her throat a little and says "The water from the Weeping Lake isn't what most people would consider clear. I actually have worked in the water purification system in town, helping by magically clearing debris and other such things from the water. It then goes through several more filters, is brought to a boil and then, finally, the head cleric removes disease and impurities from the water. I don't know quite what causes it, but it seems safe enough after all that. It should be obvious that I don't recommend drinking the water straight from the lake."
Once Umina scrambles over the ledge she can see down the narrow passageway leading deeper into the caves. A collection of stalactites and stalagmites choke this low-ceilinged cavern, making it difficult to squeeze between them. Matching stalactites close in from the five-foot-high ceiling, giving the impression of a maw of needlelike teeth bearing down on one a nother. A dead half-orc sprawls on the ground near the cave's eastern entrance.
Just as she reaches the ledge the rest of you begin to hear a clicking noise, at first quietly but gradually growing in volume until it is near deafening. The glow in the cave gradually grows brighter from the fissures in the rock, until three beetles the size of dogs emerge from the rocks. They chitter threateningly until They rush straight for the closest party members.
Harumi blinked as the beetled appeared, the split in time she followed not doing much this time around - perhaps it thought she wasn't going to need the help. With that, she simply stepped back to observe how things were doing - and provide a bit of healing if necessary.
Umina draws her hammer from her thigh.
She calls to the others, "I'll try my best to hold them back, comrades!"
She waits until the nearest beetle closes with her, then attacks!
She smirked for just a moment, beetles, large as they were, shoulb be no challenge to one trained by samurai. She follows deftly behind her larger friend sliding in at an angle to provide support to her friend while slashing at the beetle attacking her.
Galaeta draws her quarterstaff and then moves up to corner a beetle .
She smirked for just a moment, beetles, large as they were, shoulb be no challenge to one trained by samurai. She follows deftly behind her larger friend sliding in at an angle to provide support to her friend while slashing at the beetle attacking her.
Hitomi's slash carves a beetle in twain, its glowing guts spilling out across the cavern floor and into the nearby river. The other two beetles chitter angrily, one going after Galaeta and the other attacking Umina.
The two beetles clabber at their targets, ineffectually chewing on their targets with their mandibles.
Sandovar was startled at first - the stink, the darkness, the unknown surroundings, the horrible creatures - but snaps out of the shock after a few moments. Too long!, he thinks if the others hadn't been there to draw the beetles' attention...
Seeing how ineffectual the beetles' attacks are, he decided against magically enhancing his crossbow and went with loading his light crossbow and firing a shot a the beetle attacking Galaeta.
The bolt seemed to glance off the beetle's hard shell without doing much of anything. Giving an angry bark, Sandovar proceded to load another bolt and trying his luck again...
Galaeta braces herself against the beetle's pincers before being surprised that it misses completely. Fighting anxiously , she attempts to knock her quarterstaff against its hard shell.
Umina gets a look at the beetle that Hitomi killed, a smile breaking out on her face.
"Good work, friend Hitomi!"
And then another beetle moves to her, mandibles gnashing on her armour ineffectually.
"Gah! You will not have me, vile thing! Spawn of the League, I will end you!"
Umina tries attacking with her hammer again.
Working in concert with her hard swinging friend the tian woman deftly took a lunging step forward trying to skewer the beetle at the end of her naginata.
Harumi watched as the attacks didn't seem to be working very well on the beetles - but then, most people trained to fight other people instead of smaller vermin, so perhaps that was to be expected. With that, she focused her divine energies, then cast out a noise, making it sound like something that might eat beetles like them. Perhaps this would startle them enough to help the others get a free hit in. "That was me." she called a moment later, just to be sure none of her companions were fooled.
Staying somewhat behind Sandovar tried again to shoot the creature attacking Galaeta.
What are these things? Are they really sent by the League? he yelled, venting his frustration with his poor performance when he saw his last bolt missing his mark by a wide margin.
Sandovar's crossbow bolt nicks the beetle, while Hitomi's naginata brings the creature down. The final beetle hears Harumi's spell and looks around for a moment, slightly panicked.
The beetle full-out panics, scurrying away as fast as it's legs can carry it towards it's hiding place among the crevices in the rocks.
Galaeta smiles, and then looks around the cave, avoiding the beetle in the crevices. She pays particular attention to the floor of the cave and any tracks available.
Umina looks at Sandovar, and then remembers her battle cry. "Sorry, comrade. Was the heat of the moment."
She then turns to see Galaeta surveying the floor. She strides up to her fellow Kellid, saying "Let me help. Two pairs of eyes are better than one."
Harumi looked faintly amused as the beetle ran away from the noise. Animals could be surprisingly easy to deal with as long as you understood their motivations and had a sense of what they'd be afraid of. With no hesitation, she joined the others in looking through the caverns and trying to spot anything that might be important.
"By the way, we might want to mark the route to the exit in case we need to leave in a hurry..." she added in a casual, off-hand remark.
"I do not have anything to mark the route with, unless we want to use the blood of the beetles we killed, Galaeta remarks.
I could try to make marking in the rock with my naginata, though i would be loath to put that much stress on the blade.... perhaps it might be an easier path than most.
She began keeping a wary eye on where the beetle had original scurried off to.
I dont think those beetles were what caused the missing to go missing, we should keep our guards up. She added ready to continue on.
Harumi whispered under her breath, casting Mage Hand, then simply pulled it over, grabbed it with her real hand, and began testing it on the wall by pushing in and dragging the rock along. This should be enough to make some kind of marking - and all they really needed was for it to be obvious enough that a mark had been made. "Let's see..."
It is obvious to those looking that several groups have passed through this cavern. All but one group climbed the ledge into the stalactite-covered cavern, while the last went north following the river of lakewater.
Harumi's spell is enough to make a visible marking along the rock wall, a small indentation in the stone.
Umina gets up from the floor, her efforts having helped to uncover multiple tracks.
She looks at the others, "I think we should continue into the caverns. The other groups obviously thought it a more productive trail."
She glances in the same direction as Hitomi, "Though admittedly more dangerous. We should remain on guard, comrades."
"I'm curious about why one group went a different direction." Harumi said quietly. "Can anybody tell whether the different group went first, last, or somewhere between?" A talented tracker might be able to do so... though it was also possible that such information could be gleaned. It might be important, though, and she wanted to find out the answer if at all possible.
Perhaps it was a simple like the went for water or the like, maybe chasing a beetle? She said taking care to keep glancing about. She certainly had no skill in trailcraft, ...or cavecraft as the case might be.
Those who used survival are able to tell that the set of footprints leading away from the others are neither the oldest nor the newest in the cave. The footprints are sized for either halflings or children, although it's doubtful that children came this way.
Harumi frowned a bit as she heard the report, but nodded. "...I believe we should follow that trail." she said, indicating the sole separate path. "Most people forget about the halflings, but they've actually done quite well for themselves. If they're the ones who made these tracks, then they probably noticed something nobody else had... and they're certainly not the type to wander into danger if they can avoid it."
Galaeta nods in approval. "At the very least, we should first check and make sure no one's in trouble that way." She twirls her quarterstaff a little and makes a mark in the ground. "We can always come back here if that path is blocked, after all"
Umina stares at the ground for a moment, deep in thought. Then she looks up at the others and speaks.
"All right, comrades, I will follow you down the river path. Galaeta should lead, so we can follow the tracks."
Sandovar nodded, to nobody in particular. He didn't really care either way, as long as progress of some kind was made. He expected to find Master Baine somewhere deep in this structure, so choosing the correct entrance did not seem to matter that much.
Very well - lead on, he prompted.