"Considering what is going on above, I would not be so quick to dismiss those 'rumors'," Ehren chides, glancing aside at Horgrus with barely concealed disdain, "Now that I think about it, what makes you think your manor is intact, let alone safe?"
Horgus Gwerm looks smug. "I've spent a fortune on fortifying my home. My first home was in the Egede Hinterlands. I don't make the same mistake twice."
Aravashnial perks up. "We are of the same mind, druid. Also, there are no demon lords with bats as their holy symbols. Not even the Vampire Queen." He says, matter-of-factly.
"So cultists were camping down here? I'd think there'd be more though if they were involved in invading the city..." she said, wondering aloud.
She briefly considered mentioning to Horgus that the crusades had undoubtedly spent more on protecting the wardstone, and it was probably gone now, but the thought struck her as needlessly depressing. "No sense obsessing about what's already happened, we need to focus on staying alive."
Ehren ignores Horgrus' boast for the most part - after seeing the Storm King first hand, he was not convinced that anywhere was truly safe from the demons.
"At any rate, the crusaders that headed to the Kite might have had some success. The wardstone is still intact... for the time being. Its power has diminished, but there is still hope."
Ary sighs, as the two bicker. Or rather, as Horgus bickers towards Aravashnial. "Are your defenses prepared with singular people in mind... or hordes of demons? Would they reactivate after things were inside? I'd hate to find out that your fortress has been turned into their fortress. As for cultists... there's no way of knowing. Cultists would make sense in the grand scheme of things. How else did they make it into the city without anyone spotting them?
Ary shifted her weight from side to side, uncomfortably as she spoke. "As for what a cultist looks like or where they'd work, there's no point in worrying about that. Any one of us could be a cultist, a demon, or possessed, as far as I know, and the last thing I'm going to base that off of is what someone looks like."
"And...how would you know that, exactly?" Aravashnial asks Ehren, incredulous.
Horgus ignores Ary, seemingly firm in his belief that his home is safe.
"I'm wondering that as well," she says shortly after Aravashnial. "If it's true that's the first good news we've had," she said, trying to be hopeful about Ehren's revelation rather than skeptical.
"Huh, well it probably means something to someone. Let's hang on to it just in case." She shrugs. "And whether it's cultists, demons, or just a weird old hermit, they're gone now. We can worry about who exactly they are if and when we meet them."
She looks over at the quiet druid with a raised eyebrow. "Well, that's good to hear. If it's true. Maybe the demons will get driven back by the time we find our way out of here." She shakes her head. "If only we're ever that lucky," she adds to herself.
"I'm sorry, Aravashnial - that's devastating. Perhaps with time, you could learn not to have to rely on your spellbook - I've heard of techniques..." Markus trails off... he couldn't imagine losing access to his magic. That would be too much, for what would he be, without it?
"Magic is like another emotion for me - it doesn't feel like fear or anger or joy, it's something entirely different." explains Markus, holding out his hand and rotating it. "When I cast a spell, the feeling of magic envelops me. I usually don't have to worry about casting the wrong spell, but I used to - It used to be too indistinct."
Markus perks up at news of the Wardstone. "If the wardstone is still active, that's all the more motivation for us to escape these caves - if Kenabres truly fell, we'd definitely want to flee, but...there might actually be something for us to do up there."
Anevia grins wide.
"Well, of course the wardstone is safe, my Irabeth was there protecting it!" She says optimistically. She limps over to Ary, leaning on her crutch. "The brooch is pretty. You should wear it!"
Ehren hesitates momentarily, clearly of the mind that he has said too much already. His order had its secrets, but he needed not delve too deeply into the specifics. Loathe to be the center of attention, he tries his best to provide a succinct explanation.
"I can sense the power of the standing stones through the ley lines. Such is the technique, the tradition passed down by my people."
He falls silent for a moment, glancing around uncomfortably. Feeling that he was perhaps a little too vague, he elaborates slightly. "Perhaps it is only because I am so close to it, though. If the stone were not already wounded..."
Ary looked from the broach to Anevia, smiling slowly. "Well... honestly, I shouldn't. Not without knowing what it means. Maybe it doesn't have anything to do with any of the Demon Lords... but symbolically, I'm covered." she motions to her shield, which bears Iomedae's symbol. "But... as for the coloration, it more reminds me of Valaria. It'd go well with her gear." she holds it back, offering it to Valaria over her shoulder. "Or, you know, you could wear it if you like." she offers her a reassuring smile.
She looks over to Ehren as he explained. "So... is it like with the demons? You just don't feel right near it..?" she asked, her tone suddenly guarded.
"Well, that's pretty handy," Valaria says, not really getting it. Magic had never been her forte, not matter how hard she tried. "If the wardstone is intact, then Kenabres can survive this. We just need to get out of here and do what we can." She looks around the room at the group. "I doubt we're going to find much more here. Maybe we should get a move on again. I doubt we're going to get much done standing around in these caves. Afterall, Anevia needs to find her wife, Horgus needs to get back to his fancy house, and Aravashnial... sorry, I don't really know where you're going once we're out of here. But I'm sure it's important too."
She looks over at Ary. "It's pretty nice," she admits. "And the color would match with my outfit..." She looks down at her purple shirt and golden scarf, seeing how the broach reflects their look. After a moment, she takes the piece and attaches it to her scarf, making it look like a cloak pin. "Well, what do you think?
"I agree, lets get moving. If Kenabres can pull through this, then we need to be up there as soon as we can to help," Li'an says without hesitation.
"Without a doubt that brooch fell from the same tree," Li'an says with a smile. "I think it's quite fetching!"
"Thanks sweetie," Valaria says with a giggle as she adjusts the jewelry. "Always nice to get a compliment from a pretty woman."
"Now then, do we keep heading this way, or do we see if the other passage back there has any surprises in store for us?"
"After a fashion," Ehren replies to Ary, nodding stiffly, "But with the stone it is more... empathetic. Right when the attack started, the stone felt as though it were in pain..." His voice trails off, the memory still a harrowing one. Never had he felt anything quite like it. Well, except once. He abruptly changes the subject, eyeing the passage beyond the campsite.
"But yes, we should get going. The sooner we find our way to the surface, the sooner we will know what to do."
Anevia shoves Li'an around playfully. "D'awww! You two are the cutest!" She grins at Valaria approvingly before hobbling back over to Aravashnial. "Alright elfy, let's stop moping and go."
Aravashnial does not say anything more, seemingly deep in thought after Ehren's words.
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Ary nods to Ehren, her attention more focused on him. "I... don't really know what to say about any of that." and lets it go, along with him. The truth was, she was a little lost in all of this, and how he impacted things just made things skew a little more.
"It definitely matches, Butterfly." she nods, and then looks back to Li'an, as she said sweety, then back to Valaria. She'd been kidding about the girlfriend thing... but hey. She had absolutely nothing against the pairing. Plus, that meant there'd be plenty of time for teasing.
"If people were camping here, then that means that there's probably a way out. If Hrut can follow the tracks, we'll know which way they last went."
Edit: She moved over to assist him.
"Maybe we should go back and check the first room of the next passage, then make a decision based on that," Valaria suggests. "If someone came through here, maybe we'll find where they went. Or maybe there will be a sign of what path goes where. Can't hurt to explore every angle."
Ehren moves to kneel beside Ary, assisting in the search for tracks.
"I think we should stay with one path unless absolutely necessary," he says as he eyes the ground.
Getting up from examining the camp sites and the refuse,
"That sounds fine to me lets get moving. Markus if you could keep that light spell on my shield that would be most helpful and appreciated. Li'an and Val up front, we can follow a bit behind for easy and quick assistance. Now we know if we see the cockroaches again how they fight which helps, and we are becoming more familiar with each others fighting styles also."
Li'an and Valaria take point. A mere forty feet down the opposite tunnel, the tunnels come to a fork once more.
Li'an caught Ary's glance at Valaria and then herself and felt her cheeks start to flush. "Lets get moving then..." she said quickly, avoiding eye contact with Ary. "I'll never hear the end of it from her, Lleuad..." she thought to herself.
"The left tunnel seems to be heading upwards," she said as she crouched to examine the tunnel floors. "The right is headed down. It's subtle, but it's probably worth following the upward path."
Ehren nods, deferring to Li'an's judgment - though he could not really tell the difference.
Valaria shoots Ary a grin and quickly follows behind Li'an, keeping her eyes peeled. "Looks like the next chamber is about forty feet ahead. Let's take it slow."
Valaria squints and nods. "I see it too. We're trying to get up to the surface, so upward path is probably better." She moves carefully toward the upward path and glances down the tunnel, looking for anything strange.
"Actually, that reminds me, I want to try something out," she says as she moves forward alongside Valaria. Li'an reaches into her pouch and digs out the small silvery scale and begins to concentrate for a moment.
After a few seconds her skin begins to darken, taking on an ashen grey tone as she seems to grow slightly taller and more muscular. Li'an's pupils melt away, leaving a solid white eyes behind. She stops for a moment and blinks, staring off into the distance. "That's a very strange sensation," she says quietly, staring off into the darkness. "Apparently I can use this scale to see in the dark like you and Markus. I can't do it for too terribly long, but it might come in handy down here." Satisfied, she turns back to Valaria, "Ok, lets continue."
"Wow, that's kind of cool," Valaria says quietly. "Useful too." She finds the sudden change in appearance a little surprising, but it doesn't bother her. "I like the new muscle tone, but your old eyes were prettier."
Back some thirty feet behind, "Did she just get taller?" Ary asked quietly. "I think she just got taller. Must be a trick of the light."
"How did you meet Irabeth, anyway?" Ary asked, trying to keep the mood up, walking quietly for hours in a cave was going to be beyond tedious, if she didn't try to liven it up a little.
Li'an and Valaria enter a small chamber. Several mounds of rock lie in heaps in this cavern, recently fallen from the walls and ceiling. Now and then, bits of dust settle from cracks in the stone above.
Initiative Order
1. Ehren
2. Snake 1
3. Li'an
4. Horgus Gwerm
5. Aravashnial
6. Anevia Tirablade
7. Snake 2
8. Valaria
9. Ary
10. Hrut
11. Markus
Surprise Round!
Li'an and Valaria notice a pair of snakes hidden partially in the rubble! Unfortunately for them, the snake next to Valaria reacts faster than the pair...
With surprising agility, Valaria sidesteps the snake's lunge.
Li'an is up.
Keeping an eye out for the tracks and what direction they may be going as we travel.
"I wonder where these lead to, being down here within a day must be more then a coincidence..."
Li'an barely has a chance to react before the first snake lunges at Valaria. Seeing it missed, she moves quickly around behind it, hoping to get a lucky strike from behind while it's recovering from its miss. As she closes, she whistles to the group, trying to let them know they've found trouble.
Valaria is up.
Valaria screams in shock and narrowly avoids the snake's snapping mouth. Acting on reflex, she swings back with one of her knives.
She grins as the blade cuts across the snake's body.
Round 1
Ehren is up
Hearing Valaria's shout, Ehren hurries toward the battle.
The snake recoils, bleeding. It waits for an opening, before lunging at Valaria again, sinking its teeth into her leg. Valaria feels light-headed, but endures its venom. Li'an lunges at the snake, but misses.
Li'an: Attack(Hit/Damage): 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 4 + 2 = 111d6 + 1 + 1d6 ⇒ (2) + 1 + (3) = 6
Horgus stands where is he is, uncertain.
"What is going on?!" Aravashnial calls out.
Anevia is already up and away, limping her way down the narrow tunnel. "Oh shit, giant snakes!" she calls back down the tunnel.
The other snake slithers down towards the two women.
Valaria is up.
Valaria bites back another yelp as the snake's fangs sink into her leg, then gives a low pained growl as she feels the venom momentarily burn through her body. She counter-attacks with both knives.
With finesse, Valaria counters the snake with a precise strike.
Ary is up.
"Go go go." Ary urges everyone on. "AND I EXPECT AN ANSWER!" she calls out to Anevia as she disappears. This time, she's holding up the rear.
Hrut rushes to the aid of his allies!
The snake darts at Hrut as he passes by, but he smashes right into his steel shield.
Markus is up.
Markus, who is guiding Aravashnial, turns to him and says, "I can't do anything here without foolishly risking my hide. I need you to summon an elemental, fire or earth, whichever language you speak, and command it to attack the giant snakes up ahead. If you don't speak Terran or Ignan, try a hyena - but I don't know how reliable non-intelligent creatures will be."
Round 2
Ehren is up.
"Don't let them bite you," Ehren warns everyone, all obviousness behind the statement aside, "They're very venomous."
Keeping his distance from the snakes, the druid extends a finger, pointing it at the one between Hrut and Valaria. With a little willpower, he draws power from the earth beneath his feet, channeling it into his fingertip. The effect conjures a projectile of organic acid, which immediately fires out at his target.
The acid smacks the snake in the face, erupting its skin into hideous blisters. It hisses angrily.
The other snake strikes again at Valaria, who dodges it.
Li'an takes another swing at the snake, but the snake's writhing and quick strikes at Valaria throw off her aim.
"What??? Where???" Horgus, asks, alarmed. He skitters up towards the middle of the group, wanting as many people between him and the dark, foreboding tunnels as possible.
Aravashnial shakes his head.
"Don't think of summoned beings as unintelligent. They can discern friend from foe,"he informs him.
He allows Markus to guide him forward for awhile, then stops to concentrate. A small creature springs up next to one of the vipers, like a tiny, living bonfire. It reaches out towards the snake, searing its flesh.
Markus is up