Belladonna rejoins the group alongside Jeva and Lucky. She scrunches her lips to the side of her mouth in a frown like that of a disapproving parent. She crosses her arms and says "You could of just ran you know... it would be really hard to save children if you two got hurt from fighting ghost things."
"Tell him that." Caine said jerking a thumb in Boote's direction. "I only stayed because he did."
I'll broker no apology. Though, I admit, in the future I hope that I am better prepared. With these abominations dispatched, these woods are now a safer place, for everyone. Hurry now, let's get back to finding the missing children.
Now that the rush of combating ghostly apparitions is over, the heroes regroup and quickly locate the kobold's trail once more. A few more hours of travel and you all quickly realize your destination as the crumbling walls of the dwarven cathedral appear as you all break out from the treeline with the backdrop of the mountain looming ominously.
"Of course." Caine said bitterly. "We found tracks last time we were here. We never came back to check the lower levels, and we got rid of everything living here that might have kept the Kobolds in check."
"This is our fault."
Ruhk shrugs a little.
"Maybe...but do you really think we could have done things differently?
Besides, we don't know that the kobolds didn't have an understanding with the warg, or had some other way to leave.
They are diggers, there could be hundreds of little tunnels they can use."
Putting a hand on Caines shoulder, Ruhk gives him a grin.
"Besides, if you have time to feel guilty, then you have time to DO something about it, my friend."
"We even saw a Kobold while we were here last time. Ruhk is right though. We can't really afford to feel guilty.
So how do we approach this? Are we attempting stealth or are we just walking straight in there? I assume any sort of Diplomacy is off the table."
Caine's face steels at Ruhk's words. "Right." he grunted. "Lets finish what we started."
"I'm worried about them taking hostages. I think hitting them hard and fast is our best bet. Tough to do since we don't know the layout and kobolds tend to lay traps."
"Maybe we do this as a stealth mission, careful and quiet as much as possible, taking them out while they're unawares. If things go sideways and they get an alarm off, then we just barrel though as hard as we can until we find the kids."
"How about Bella, me and Ruhk up front moving quiet, Zirren and Boote about 30 feet back watching our tail. If an alarm goes up and we have to cut the stealth, we can gather back together again."
"That sounds good." Zirren said, then he turned to look at Jeva. "Jeva, this is potentially going to get very dangerous from this point onward. Do you still want to come with us? Or would you prefer to wait out here?"
"Out here." Caine said, making the decision for her. "We can't risk bringing a child into the lair of a bunch of monsters. Let's check where the big spider was. That place was pretty secure. It would be a good place for her to hole up until we are done."
right, that's a good plan, yes, good plan
Ruhk follows behind Bella, Bethany at the ready.
As Bella seems to be scanning for traps, he instead focuses more on looking for tracks, forewarned is forearmed after all.
Zirren shrugged at the plan. If I'm hanging back this time then Caine won't have to do anything.
"I remember there was a number of opening on the north east side among the rubble ways. It may be better to try and go around rather than through the front gate if you're trying to stealth our way in."
As he and Art stayed back with Jeva while the others moved forward, he looked to his companion.
"Something bothering you, Art? You seem distracted. I know you were planning on leaving soon. Is it that you're still worried about your brother?"
My brother is an idiot. Whatever happened to him he probably deserved. Hmph, he and that girlfriend of his, always looking for trouble.
I, um, forgive me Zirren. It's not like me to speak without thinking. It's as if I've lost something. A feeling like I am seeing things differently now. I haven't felt the same ever since that encounter with those ghosts.
"They touched you, Boote. It can make you crazy. That's what those things do." Caine said gently. "Focus on the job. Don't let your mind wander. If you're still spinning negative things around in your head after a good night's rest we can talk about it. For now, cut yourself some slack and assume anything bad you're thinking is being made worse by those ghosts."
Zirren grimaced a little. He had not been touched by the Allips, but Art had.
"I think I understand. Those spirits were driven to death in madness and became restless. There is a high likelihood of them causing the deaths of those they encounter by having their victims meet a similar fate. You were fortunate enough to have resisted their touch as much as you did.
You should be able to fully recover in a few days."
Bella scouts forward to the tower where the party found the dead spider and ultimately found the beautiful crossbow that Caine currently wielded. They find it just as it was left the other day, a good place to hole up a young girl in a potentially hostile area.
"Ok Jeva, You'll be safe in here.
But just to be sure, I'm leaving you with some supplies and a second escape-route."
Handing Jeva a few trail rations, Ruhk also sacrifices his cloak and makes it into a rudimentary backpack/Sling that she can use to carry things in.
He also leaves her with some of the perishable food for flavour.
Finally, up top he secures a knotted rope, so that if she has to, she can toss it over the side of the tower and climb down to escape if she has to.
"I can stay with her, you know. I'm sure you're way better at fighting kobolds than I am."
"What if we run into a locked door?" Caine said. "They're all dwarven. Sturdy. I don't know if we could bust them down."
"Also, Kobolds make tunnels. You and Art are the only ones who'd fit in them. I'm sure he'd be willing to go in alone, but then there'd be no one to save his ass when he decides to do something suicidal."
"And we don't know how long we'll be down there, it could be a day, or even more.
Best not to split up at this point."
Zirren interjected quickly to what Ruhk said. "But that seems unlikely at best. If we need to rest then we should retreat back up here. I don't like the idea of being where our enemies know the area Besides, we need to rescue the kids fast."
"We'll need to be thorough when we're hunting the area. We should probably check on those rooms we missed last time, just to be sure."
"I understand. Jeva, I'ma come right back for you okay?"
Jeva looks nervously at the skeletal remains of the dwarf, but nods meekly. When Bella offers to remain with the young girl, she smiles hopefully, but even when faced with the prospect of being left alone she doesn't look frightened... Disappointed perhaps, but not frightened. "I'll be fine, Bella. Been on my own in The Woods for months now, I'm not scared of a few kobolds... although I think they've learned to be scared of me." She offers a strange smile with that comment. "Go now and save those kids! I've got the rope in case I need it." She waves and pushes the trapdoor shut behind you all.
Belladonna leads the excursion into the ruined halls once more, a few light cantrips illuminating the emptiness. The remaining hallway to the south stops in a hard, stone wall and the lights show one closed door to the east and an open doorway to the west immediately across from each other. Which way do you want to go first?
"Brave girl isn't she?
When we are done with this, we should make sure she ends up somewhere nice.
Hmmm...maybe she could become an apprentice to someone?"
"Should we check the closed door first? Who knows what can be hidden behind it eh?"
Caine kept his mouth shut and let Bella work. Whatever direction she chose, he'd back her.
"Well we have to be thorough," Zirren said from the back. "I can't imagine they'd have them separated but I can't be sure either way."
Enough light filters through the collapsed wall to illuminate (Dim Light) the room to the west as Belladonna spends a few moments allowing her eyes to adjust to the low-light conditions...
The double doors leading into this chamber are shattered and broken, one of them lying on the floor. The room beyond is in an equal state of disrepair. What was once a library is now a shattered mess with one corner being completely collapsed and dominated by a wide pool of stagnant water. Thick fungus grows on most of the books that still remain on the shelves lining the walls.
It might be difficult to find any trace of the children in all this rubble
Nathaniel looks around the ruin, and gets a great idea. He leans his weapon against his shoulder and cups his hands around his mouth, takes a deep breath and...
"They've been captured by Kobolds, Art. It will be obvious when we find them. They'll be in cages, probably near some kind of kitchen." Caine said grimly while he scanned the old library.
"Zirren, if you want to check the books, you got as long as it takes for us to check the other door for locks and traps."
Zirren blinks as he realizes what Art's about to do and reaches a hand out to his shoulder. Even as Caine talked him down, Zirren reassured his companion.
"Wait, Art. Caine's right. Whatever happened here happened a long time ago. I saw the collapse and rubble when we first arrived. Perhaps they're in one of the other rooms."
He then turned to Caine and looked dubiously around at the pile of books. "I doubt there'll be anything of value after so long, but it couldn't hurt to take a look."
Belladonna whispers "I remember hearing things under the floor when we were here last. Maybe they're in a basement or tunnel system?"
She keeps her giant sword at the ready with both hands, just in case Kobolds can teleport. They probably can't... right?
During Caine's sweep of the room, he detects a minor magical aura on top of one of the bookshelves; however, all the shelves and books are covered with a thick fungus...
"Something magical. There." he pointed to the top of a bookshelf.
"I don't know much about fungus. Is this stuff dangerous?"
"Good question. Fungus can be tricky, after all, we came here the first time because of a fungus.
And no, I mean fungus, that's what caused the sickness in the first place right?"
"It's hard to say what exactly caused the plague to hit."
"But if that theory is correct, then perhaps it would behoove us to keep an eye out for any more of those iron-bloom mushrooms."
Zirren is not quite able to determine the nature of the fungus.
We don't see this kind of fungus back home, but maybe it is similar to ones I've seen before
Artegal recognizes the particular fungus as a kind of mold often referred to a Ghost Mold that is fairly prevalent throughout much of Golarion, but it can also be quite dangerous. The body of the mold is delicate and when disturbed, can release a large cloud of spores. If the spores are breathed in, they can cause damage to the lungs and cause strange shadows and flittering movement in the corners of the affected person's eyesight, hence the name Ghost Mold... Appropriate measures can be taken to avoid exposure such as covering the mouth and nose with a protective cloth; however, the spores tend to cling to fibrous surfaces such as clothing, paper, etc.
A closer inspection indicates it does not appear that the mold has reached the top of the shelves; however, to physically reach the item in question, one would need to take great care not to disturb the fungus.
Um, uh, okay, I think, yes. Zirren, watch how you pull that item down with your magic. I think this is a variety of mold that can be hazardous, if you disturb it and breathe in the spores. I sort of remember it having a temporary, but not pleasant affect.
"Huh. Glad I asked." Caine said looking relieved.
Zirren nodded, comprehending the danger presented by the mold. "Alright then, slowly and gently it will be."
Ruhk grins at Caine.
"See? I told you, Fungi are evil!
Look, it's watching you right now..." He adds with a fake ominous tone.
"Now mushrooms on the other hand...
Good eating, and some of them gives you the most bizarre dreams."