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"Pretty sure he just dropped his weapon and what valuables he might have would BE the weapon? I mean, that had to have cost a fair bit of coin to make, given the amount of material alone..."
Feza's tone is a bit bemused, probably by the idea of a minotaur just carrying around a sack of coins 'for convenience'. Then she gets a bit sidetracked by the idea of a whole tribe of them laughing at humanoid antics.
Janira listens to suggestions from the recruits, then speaks to the now defeated creature in a tongue it can understand.
"We accept your surrender. Leave your valuables here, and carry on with your life - but not in our path."
The minotaur says nothing. Merely glances at the axe on the ground, reaches into the crudely crafted container on his back, and takes out 3 oversized spears. It throws them on the pile with the axe. Then -slowly- turns around and walks away - keeping one hand on the wound in his side.
Janira drops her facade of ruthlessness and hyperventilates for a brief moment. You could swear you saw her eyes water for a brief moment. She uses the wand in her hand to get Kaa back on his feet. She has to do so several times:
After Kaa is conscious, she addresses the recruits: "Well now; we survived that. Somehow. What an exciting first mission! We almost died out here. Please listen to me next time. It wouldn't be able to catch up."
She takes a moment, then continues:
"In any case - you go into the cave now and find out what you can. I will stay here and start making a report on the event. Please document the cave to the best of your ability. Is anyone else injured? Or are there any other questions?"
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Feza will watch the minotaur limp away warily.
"Please trust the judgement of your fellow nascent Pathfinders in the future. Sure, it was rough. But working together we overcame the situation, rather than risking the sacrifice of the most knowledgeable person in the group. Better the certainty that none of us die than we risk failure because one of us went off alone without the group."
The inquisitor's tone is only slightly chiding as she moves over and gives Janira a pat on the shoulder.
"Explore, report, cooperate. We're all on the same page now, I suspect."
With that said, she heads towards the cave, pointedly glancing at Janira's backpack thrown from earlier but not saying anything.
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As the minotaur is tossing the spears down, Ophelia says "And my dagger" and gestures to her thrown dagger sticking out of the minotaur's hide, and waits for Janira to translate and/or the minotaur to see what she's pointing at and give back her dagger.
After the creature leaves, she retrieves both that dagger and the one that she threw past the minotaur in the heat of combat. She takes a minute to wipe off her bloody daggers and re-arrange her dagger placement so the sharpest will be used first. Silently, she follows the rest of the group into the cave, a dagger in each hand.
"Well, we are all alive, and the minotaur is retreating. I guess we could call it a victory.", Janira remarks.
The halfling bard looks at the group and then at the cave entrance again.
"But you should really go now. It's getting late. Chop-chop!"
She finds a comfortable tree near the cave entrance to sit on, and takes out her journal and inkpen. Time to write some reports.
The rest of the group scuffles into the gillmen caves and picks up Janira's backpack. The tunnel twists and turns for several hundred feet before slowly opening to a wider passage. A large hole spans the cave’s width and stretches ten feet down the path. At the bottom of the pit lies a small bundle of cloth.
It is apparent to you, that the hole in the ground is not natural.
And it is at least a year old.
In any case, the group will have to navigate around the hole.
potion of barkskin, potion of cure light wounds, potion of feather step, scroll of entangle, scroll of gust of wind, scroll of identify, scroll of mage armor (CL 6), scroll of obscuring mist, wand of burning hands (CL 3rd, 4 charges), acid, alchemist’s fire (2), holy water, smokestick, thunderstone
The walls of the hole seem carefully treated, so that creatures that fall in have a rather hard time getting out.
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Ophelia ties her grappling hook around something stable at this end of the pit, and tosses the rope down into the pit. She takes 10 to go down into the pit.
"I'll check to see what this is down in the pit", she indicates the bundle of cloth. "Senma, lower a rope down, so I can climb up the other end."
Feza tosses a rope to Senma without greater effort. Kaa, on the other hand - makes a running start, but slips on a lose stone just before the jump. Instead of jumping over, he disappears underneath the floor level.
Kaa tries to grab the other side of the pit, but fails to do so. He falls into the hole and bruises his ankle, but it doesn't seem very serious.
So - what does Ophelia find at the bottom? Kaa, laying prone on the damp ground, slightly angry at his luck today.
Eldak, true to his avian heritage, leaps and glides gracefully across the pit.
Senma and Eldak lower the other rope into the pit to help their companions get across.
The cloth itself won't help you understand anything about the hole, but - upon further investigation, Kaa and Ophelia notice that despite the dirt and moisture in the hole, the cloth itself is in surprisingly good condition. Almost seems wearable.
With the help of the ropes and your friends, both Ophelia and Kaa manage to climb out without bigger issues.
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The tengu inquisitor scandal-monger squints at the robe as she feels it out, sniffing the thing as her feathers ruffle a bit, then thrusts it towards Kaa.
"It'll bolster defenses a little bit against non-martial sorts of things, like magic, environmental effects, etc, etc. I think Scales here should wear it, he--no offense, Kaa, dear--has been having a rough time of it."
The tunnels continue on, leading deeper beneath the Kortos Mounts until they eventually open into a large cavern. What must have once been beautifully carved reliefs and inscriptions have since weathered heavily, their features dulled and softened to the point that it is hard to distinguish what each once depicted. A wide tunnel exits the cavern on its far side, and blue-burning torches line the passageway’s walls. The carvings on the wall in this area are mostly weathered, but some of them seem in a rather good condition.
Everyone who has Kn History, Kn Religion can roll to identify the glyphs. Aternatively, you can roll Appraise, Linguistics, or Perception. One of these from each of you, please.
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The Calistrian attempts to see if there are any scandalous positions in the interesting drawings, or if they are plain boring texts. After all, all things ultimately boil down to two things... lust and revenge... and someone who tries to tell a person otherwise is really trying to sell that they aren't pursuing one or the other...
Eldak, Senma, and Kaa all realise what you are looking at. After studying the glyphs and writings for a few minutes, you realise that you are reading inscriptions from The History and Future of Humanity, the holy text of Aroden. There are 12 sections of the text on the wall, although 8 of them are now deteriorated to a point when they are no longer usable. The remaining 4 are all deciphered by the group.
The carvings focus on parables that feature Aroden’s 12 guises, meant to illustrate his hopes for humanity. You recognise the farmer, the hunter, the merchant, and the thief.
You also identify that the sections of the holy text depicted are slightly different than those that appear in the known version of the History and Future of Humanity, suggesting that these might represent an earlier version of the work.
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Eldak listens to Senma and attempts to lighten her mood.
Do no dishearten yourself Senma. You never know what we might see. I have heard stories of the Underdark being so vast that some of the caves have their own weather systems, wind, rain. Some even have what appeared to be a sun glowing at the top of an immense cave, hollow, cavity.
While others make notes and discuss various topics on caves and the world below, Ophelia is silently looking towards south. She notices another passage illuminated by the torches that caught her attention in the first place.