|
Suddenly, the Minotaur stops his sniffing and looks directly towards where the party is trying to hide. It lets out a spine-tingling roar of unbridled anger as it finally spots the group.
Wisely assessing that a Minotaur is beyond her charges’ capabilities, Janira screams, “Sticky wicket! There’s little chance we can stand against the Minotaur. Take this bag,” she continues, pulling off her backpack, “and head deeper into the caves. Finish your mission. I’ll lead it away from the caves, lose it in the forest, and join you as soon as I can. Now go! GO!” She heaves her backpack into the cave, casts a spell, draws her whip, and darts off toward the Minotaur before turning to lure it away from the party and into the forest, cracking her whip as she runs…
The Minotaur hesitates initially, but roars as Janira cracks her whip and runs swiftly away...the beast ignores the rest of the party and starts to jog after the halfing, who has a hefty lead. Janira stops briefly at the tree line, glancing back in your direction, and yelling, "GO!"
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Bah!" Lovissa growls. "Blasted orders!"
She rushes out from the underbrush and dashes into the cave, grumbling the whole time. "I'd rather meet it head on in battle! Running away... Bah! The dishonour!"
Lovissa scoops up Janira's bag and carries it into the cave with her. She looks around, making sure we're not walking into a trap...
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Rykaar heeds Janira's orders and dashes into the cave, wondering as he flees the beast if the little halfing has a snowball chance in hell of evading the minotaur...
What a brave woman... she sacrificed herself for us, he ponders these thoughts as he gathers his bearings inside the cave, having difficulty expressing his anguish about the situation.
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Todd frowned as Janira ran away from them. He followed after Lovissa, pulling his rapier in case there were some creatures in the cave that didn't agree with them. "M-minotaurs are scary, I-I hope she'll be. Okay." The Grippli stated quietly, glad that he was someone who could see easily in the dark.
"D-do you want me to c-check it out?" Todd asked, fiddling with his rapier some more.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Pointing at Janira casts Message
Under his breath as he moves to the cave entrance
May Desna grant you luck and open paths. Will also mark our route through the caves.
Entering the cave with quarterstaff ready Cerryl peers around and checks the ceiling thinking to himself no one really looks above them most of the time
|
|
Grey also reluctantly follows orders and joins the rest of the group into the caves, silently wondering how he'd match up with the Minotaur...
As you enter the entrance, you instantly notice the caves' walls are patterned with blue-green luminescent fungi that provide dim light. The tunnel's width varies between 7' and 10' in both width and height. The caves are damp, with water dripping from stalactites and the distant rushing of underground streams creating an eerie backdrop. A sense of gloom envelops the party; a mix of worry over Janira's fate and the uncertainty as you face the unknown together...
The party comes to a small chamber after a couple hundred feet, where you stop to catch your breath and consider your next steps; the first of which Rykaar takes care of by providing light...
Grey, eyeing the backpack, says, "Since Janira gave us her backpack, best we look through it as it may be essential to our survival..."
As you go over the contents of Janira's backpack, you find the following:
A potion of barkskin, potions of cure light wounds (2), a potion of feather stepping, a potion of vanishing, a scroll of entangle, a scroll of gust of wind, a scroll of identify, a scroll of mage armor (CL 6), a scroll of obscuring mist, a wand of burning hands (CL 3rd, 4 charges), a wand of cure light wounds (CL 3rd, 8 charges), an acid flask, alchemist’s fire flasks (2), a holy water vial, a smokestick, tanglefoot bags (2), and a thunderstone.
The tunnel continues on northward from the small chamber...
|
UlSkadi continues a vigil behind them keeping an eye out on the off chance the Minotaur returns before their fearless leader.
perhaps we ought to keep those in trust she motions towards the scattered pack contents, on the off chance we are not in need of them and she will be when she returns? of course nothing stopping us if need demands we dig in...
she adds with a mercenary glint in her eye.
|
|
Grey takes a long look back towards the way they came "Enough hiding" he growls to himself as his dark hair grows and thickens into fur and his fingers grow long ending in claws.
From Janira's bag Grey takes a single tanglefoot bag, a potion of cure light wounds, and then tosses the wand of burning hands towards Rei and Cerrly. "Just in case"
After stowing his shield, Grey retrieves a bear-trap and sets it up behind them. "Case it follows us." And then borrowing the chalk he draws three dots in a triangle on the cave wall before the hidden trap. "An agent told me it was a pathfinder cant for danger, case she follows us." 'I hope Janira traded stories with the same pathfinders as me.' he thinks to my self.
|
|
Pulling himself out of the feeling of gloom, and in a half-hearted attempt to cheer everyone up says, "Desna smiles! Janira is a tough litte bird; she is a fully trained Pathfinder and has many tricks up her sleeve! I sure do NOT want to be that dumb minotaur!" chuckling he continues after a pause.
"Listen she told us to finish the mission and that is what I plan on doing... We will honor her orders and use her gear if we need it to accomplish the mission. If we do not need it we can return it once she catches up with us and shares how she outsmarted the beast."
With that he takes the wand of cure light wounds, and heads off boldly rowards the northern tunnel searching carefully as he proceeds.
Then to the fearless Todd, "Please Todd scout ahead for traps, but stay within a few yards from us. I will be just a few feet behind you."
|
|
The intrepid group of young Pathfinders press on through the tunnels with Todd scouting the way...
The narrow 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.
This hole is not natural; it's a man-made pit trap.
The pit appears to be about a year old.
|
|
Takes the scrolls of Mage Armor and Obscuring Mist, along with an Alchemist's fire flask
Todd here. In case you run into something while scouting
passes the potion of vanishing to Todd and passes the wand of burning hands to Rei
Really would prefer to keep my distance so think you would be better suited to carry this and have 1 instance of this spell memorized. Guess I should start sketching the cave as we go to keep track.
Pulls out his journal sketches the cave they have explored so far.
Rei and Grey can either of you see without the light?
|
|
Hmm. This was made by someone who did not want visitors.
makes a brief note in the journal next to about the pit
Casts dancing lights at the bottom of the pit moving them to back and forth to illuminate everything while looking for any indication of additional danger along with who possibly created the pit.
|
|
Not noticing anything out of the ordinary, Todd strolls forward. Climbing down one side and out of the other would be no problem. "I-I'm gunna s-scout ahead while -you get over," the Grippli states. He would begin climbing.
While he is down in the pit, Todd will take the bundle of cloth and toss it up to those up above to look at before moving along up the other side.
|
|
Todd easily, and quickly, manages the climb down and then back up to the other side. The bundle he tossed up to the rest of a party is a cloak...
Lovissa makes an impressive leap across the pit, clearing it with room to spare...
As the others take a look at the cloak, Todd and Lovissa look around on the other side...Lovissa soon notices a long 3' wide plank that seems to have been purposely placed in a crevasse along the tunnel wall about 20' from the pit...
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Grey inspects the pit "The pits been here a while. Year or more, and not natural. Someone made this."
Reaching to his belt Grey feels the shape and contours of his holy symbol through the thin leather pouch "Father give us light so that I may see your work." There is a brief feeling of unease, as if unseen eyes were watching from the dark, and dark symbols briefly surround the belt pouch and Grey's hand before his lucerne hammer begins to glow like a torch.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Noticing the plank, Lovissa moves forward to grab it. She brings it back to the pit and calls out to Grey.
"Grab your end," she tells him, as she lays the plank across the pit like a narrow bridge. With Grey's help she gets it positioned properly.
She waits near her end of the plank to make sure it doesn't slip out of place.
|
|
The tunnels continue on in a winding and weaving pattern, 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 here are different in style from the petroglyphs found elsewhere in the caves.
You know that Janira would be both interested and fascinated with the carvings and inscription…you also think that they’re worth further study and should be recorded in your journal…
|
|
"I-I should be able to scout," Todd claimed as he looked through the room. "I-if I-I run into trouble, I-I have the potion."
Todd pulled out the potion of vanishing from his pack and kept it in hand.
Afterwards, he would find the best, most shadowy spot and begin his scouting, taking it slow as he goes deeper into the cavern.
|
|
Rykaar follows the lead of his companions and studies the intricate carvings with great curiosity. His lack of formal training in the history of the area, nor education in religious orthodoxy means he quickly gets bored and resorts to helping others by illuminating a specific areas with his magical light so that details can be reviewed better.
max 10
If he notices any reference to the Planes of Existence beyond Golarion, he will try and follow those carvings:
|
|
There are only four carvings that can be made out and your combined skills have proven more than equal to the task. The four carvings you deciphered each represent one of the 12 guises portrayed in Aroden’s fables. They are:
The Artist is depicted painting murals on the walls of impressive buildings, associated with Aroden having painted the city of Absalom with beautiful colors so that it might awe all who visited.
The Scholar is depicted writing on a piece of parchment and then reading from it to passersby, just as Aroden was said to smile on those who recorded history and other knowledge to share it with others.
The Soldier is depicted bearing a lantern through the streets of a city, following the dead god’s prophecy that the vigilant shall carry light to the darkest corners of the world to banish the shadows.
The Craftsman is depicted creating shoes, pots, jewelry, and other moveable goods, referencing Aroden’s delight at seeing his people express their ingenuity in creating new products from raw materials.
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.
|
|
While you finish up documenting your findings, Todd sneaks ahead to scout out the cavern to the south. As he exits through the wide southern tunnel lit with blue torches, he sees a huge chamber and no signs of danger. He excitedly calls the rest of the party to join him…
The soft light of the surrounding fungus mixes with the flickering glow of the nearby torches to reveal a grand chamber. A large pool of water along the chamber’s southern edge reflects the blue and green radiance to illuminate the massive stalactites that cling to the ceiling overhead. Two other tunnels branch off from this area, leading to the east and west.
Rising up from the pool is a column of rock with steeply sloped sides and a flat top, as if someone had sawn off the top of a massive stalagmite. A miniature city carved from this same stone occupies nearly the entire surface. Tiny trinkets such as ancient coins, polished semiprecious stones, and ornately braided loops of string are scattered throughout the diorama, and pale cave frogs clamber atop it. The smooth cavern floor is covered in gravel and pebbles along the edge of the pool, and several foot-long centipedes prowl among the gravel in their search for prey.
|
|
"Foolish Aroden, Soldiers carrying lanterns. Light exposes them, makes them weak." Grey mutters to himself as he puts his notes away.
Following Todd and Lovissa, Grey enters the next chamber and immediately starts inspecting the blue torches. He checks out the blue flame and them attempts to pull one loose. Blue flame?
Glancing over at the miniature city, "Lovissa, you ever seen the like of that before?".