Trigger whinnys loudly and rears back, trying to stomp a beetle with her feet.
Libri hacks at the fire beetle but misses and Trigger lands a hoof that squashes one of the beetles!
The second beetle attacks Chezwezl!
The third goes after Libri!
Taran grunts and swings again, happy to be doing something that doesn't involve blasted water.
"I wnoder what makes them glow like that?" Cezwezl says as his stabs at another beetle with his lance.
He presses his knees and grabs Trigger's mane as she rears to stomp another beetle.
Taran takes out another beetle but his companions are less lucky!
And Libri finishes off the beetle!
There doesn't appear to be anything of interest left in this entrance chamber.
"Good job, uh, Libri." Taran seems uncertain of the proper way to address Libri, and settles on its name.
Well, it looks like a woman. But I'm pretty sure it ain't got the right equipment. Does it?. Taran shakes the impolite thought out of his.
"Well, what do you say friends? Left around this bend seems as good a direction as any."
Chezwezl beams at his companions while patting Trigger on the neck. "Good job lads and...lass." Leaning over to the pony's ear, he murmurs. "You too girl, you crushed that bug real good!"
Looking around the chamber, he shrugs. "Sounds like a good way to go!"
Taran sloshes some of the water out of his head and realizes that there is, in fact, only one way forward. Without much fanfare he set out, happy to head into the dry caves.
Taran leads the party forward. 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 another. A dead half-oc sprawls on the ground near the cave's eastern entrance.
A female half-orc, stripped of all useful belongings, lies in this chamber. She is clearly dead from several serious wounds.
"Tsk... Parda. A troubled lass. Looks like she was stabbed to death. Daggers. I wonder if this was by those critters we were warned about in here. Shadow-folk or gremlins."
Taran calls out loudly in Undercommon and Common.
"Hey, we don't mean to be trespassing on your property, folks. We are just looking for our friends."
He looks at the others. "What? It's worth a shot to try and go 'bout things peaceably."
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Libri nods her approval (and releif) as the group chooses the earthen trail and avoids the water to the north, and she steps into pace behind Taran. Upon seeing the dead half-orc, Libri stops to look over the body for a moment.
"I've read plenty about injuries and diseases, but perhaps I should leave the examination to those who have experience." Libri steps back to allow the cleric a chance to examine the body.
Chezwezl shakes his head and sighs. "Poor girl."
Looking forward, he asks. "Should we just move her to the side and try to return her body when we finish?"
Leaving the unfortunate local brawler behind, the party moves further into the cave network.
A dark cavern opens up ahead, its twenty-foot-high ceiling thick with stalactites. A rocky shore overlooks a placid pool and stream, fed by a trickle of water leaking from a narrow fissure to the north. A small garden of toadstools and dark mold grows along the banks.
A frog-like creature with glowing white eyes with webbed feet and claws sits in the room, letting out what sounds like a low growl as you enter the room. It wears the tatters of a leather hood on its head.
"Blasted blindheim! Watch yourselves, it can blind you!" Chezwezl says as he guides Trigger to the northeast and fires his pistol at the creature!
Taran, heeding the advice of his Gnomish companion closes his eyes and runs blindly up to the creature and swings as best he can. His hammer swings at nothing but air...
The echoes of Chezwezl's blast reverberate from the cavern walls as the bullet sinks into the blindheim's flesh! Taran keeps his eyes closed but that seems to have affected his aim.
4 dmg
Jorac and Libri have no luck in their attacks!
The frog creature turns its gaze upon Chezwezl!
4 dmg
Not heeding his own advice, Chezwezl manages to avert his gaze enough to avoid blindness.
Mef pulls the trigger on his second barrel, trying to shot around his companions, then loads an alchemical cartridge into the pistol.
Jorac's acid burns into the blindheim but Chezwezl's bullet hits nothing but stone.
7 dmg
Taran swings again and nearly smashes his own feet in his clumsiness. Deep dwarves just aren't used to fighting blind
Libri and Taran are having trouble keep their eyes closed but such a tactic causes them to miss their target!
The blindheim turns its gaze upon Jorac this time!
7 dmg
Taran fumbles around again, hoping to make contact, but his attack is once again dubious in it efficacy.
Taran once again stumbles about with his eyes closed.
7 dmg
Chezwezl spurs Trigger foward and moves to the east before turning his pony and attacking the creature with his lance.
Chezwezel and Libri take down the blindheim!
A cursory search of the shallow pool reveals a man's body, mostly eaten. Little remains to identify the body. A belt pouch on the body's hip is still intact and contains 42 gp, a silver unholy symbol of Zyphus worth 25 gp, and two water-tight potions of cure light wounds.
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Jorac fumbles to a nearby rock where he sits down. "I'm afraid my eyes failed me, friends. I hope this ailment will heal in time, but we can't be sure of that. Do you wish to scout ahead while I'm staying here? "
-Posted with Wayfinder
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"No," Libri states flatly as she looks over to the wizard. "I see that two rational options exist: we will stay together as a group and move forward, guiding and protecting you, or we will stay together as a group and remain here until your vision returns to you." Libri's eyes fall upon the man's body in the shallow pool. "This place is not safe for any one of us to venture on our own."
Hmph. Lets have a look at that. Excuse me. Taran strolls up and rather brusquely pulls up Jorac's eyelids and stares inside.
Chezwezl watches as Taran examines Jorac, not knowing of anything he can do to help. "What's the verdict? Will his sight return?"
Taran determines that Jorac's loss of sight is not permanent and the party is able to wait out his blindness before moving on.
Following the shallow creek to the west, the party finds to the south a stony bank rising up from the water. Thick carpets of green and gray mold and fungus grow on the bank, particularly around a trio of three-foot-high, foul-smelling mounds.
The molds seem to be growing out of the bodies of three ill-fated halflings. However, what at first seemed to a carpet of fungi and mushrooms suddenly stirs to life , surging forward with a reek of decay!
Two of the slime molds slam into Taran!
A third slams into Libri!
"Ach, my mother used to make me eat this stuff when I was a young one!"
Mef stabs at the nearest mold with his lance.
"What in the blazes are these slimy things!"
Jorac hits one of the molds with acid, burning away a small bit of it! Taran then slices into the first one while Chezwezl stabs at the middle one!
#1: 9 dmg
#2: 6 dmg
#3: 3 dmg
Libri takes another one down! The remaining mold makes a feeble attempt to hit Taran!
It then flops over.
It seems the dead halflings have already been looted.