Finding the spellbook, Drakra looks to the others.
Any of you wiggly fingered types need a book of spells?
Suddenly recalling that the group consists primarily of human like meat shields, Drakra sighs.
Guess not.
He then turns to the elf.
Found a spellbook. Nobody else here is smart enough to read it. Any chance you can use it? Suddenly he has an epiphany and realizes that the elf is blind.
Oh, wait, sorry, forgot the demon got your eyes.
He then glances about the room with and exasperated look on his face.
Can anyone make use of the crazy dwarf's spellbook?
Selindra casts her head about, eyes open but milky white as she tries to see and cannot. Drakra's song only starts to infuriate her, but she quickly closes in on herself, and hugs herself to the wall, her blade in hand. She tries to make herself as small as possible. That mage..., did he..., am I...? Blind? Will I ever be able to see again? How can I hold a blade, and fight, if I cannot see?
Selindra seems on the verge of panic, as she slumps up against the wall.
Godwin crouches and places a comforting hand on Selindra's shoulder. I do not know what the dwarf did, but I think the effects will wear off soon.
Almost like after images after a bright light, Selindra's vision starts to clear to the point that she only sees spots now, instead of being completely blind. After a short period, even that clears to the point that she can see normally.
After making sure Selindra is okay Godwin will say. There's only one way out of here and all that's left of the crazy one are these trinkets. We should get back in marching order and make our way up and hopefully out.
Selindra slowly rubs out her eyes, looking up at Godwin shivering a bit and nods. Inheritor's heart, How do you fight if you can't see? Not to mention I woke up on the ground. I've never felt so..., helpless. Lady's blade what should I do...?
She stands slowly to her feet, gathering her blade and sheathing it, then her torch and shield and takes up her position near the front again, trying not to look at anyone as she does so.
Drakra walks over and pats Selindra on the back:
Don't worry m'lady. We have all woken up sprawled on the ground behind some strange pub with a welt on the side of our heads before, haven't we.
Selindra looks at the gnome rather shocked. "No, no we have not. Perhaps you have. That is not something that I know nor is it something I ever wish to know."
Drakra smiles knowingly:
That's ok. We all have out secrets.
Not everyone has your secrets Drakra Godwin says as the group starts following the tunnel.
Ali cursed as the dwarf wizard made his escape. He fell in line with the companions as they explored the tunnel, his beacon lighting the way.
The tunnel leads what you suspect is North, in a very steep incline. The walls are filled with nooks and crannies, with pitons set in many locations. All in all it continues about 60 feet and the various handholds act as a ladder for ease of climbing.
After reaching the top of this shaft, the tunnel levels out and you follow it for about another 1/2 hour. The tunnel opens into a large cavern, about seventy feet across. Cylindrical rock formations along the walls arch up to
make a dome like chamber, but the walls and floor are riddled with cracks. At the center of the cave, a stone tower that may once have reached the fifty-foot- high ceiling has collapsed onto its side.
You hear what sounds to be slow digging, and movement of rocks coming from the rubble of the tower.
Selindra looks about, listening. She examines the tower for a minute then calls out when she hears the sounds of digging.
"Hello! Is anyone in there?
She makes her way over to the rocks to try and see where the noise is coming from exactly, and to see if she can help in any way.
Unable to stop the dwarf, and having no cure for Selindra's blindness, Flynn trudged along at the rear of the group.
A fine lot of help I've been. Need to do better Flynn my boy !
Drakra follow the others, and incessant string of questions about the other people's backgrounds, where they are from, who their best friend at age six was, whether they prefer their food rare or well done, how often they go swimming and whether they prefer skinny dipping, and a whole retinue of other questions.
When they get to the large cavern, he cringes as the paladin shouts out.
Does she not understand stealth? What do they teach those walking metal people in religious school?
He then moves up to Selindra and quietly speaks to her:
You do realize that sometimes being quiet has its benefits. I can sneak around and see who, or what, is up there, before we announce out presence to someone, or something, we might not want to meet.
Godwin bends down to clap Drakra on his shoulders Some of us are not built for stealth. Drakra. But we are well equipped to be your distraction.
Godwin goes up to see if he can see something as well
Drakra begins to make his way around the outside of the cavern, keeping to the shadows, to see if his gnomish eyes can discern what is making the noise.
Stealth:
Perception:
Hearing Drakra admonish Selindra to be quiet. Flynn stands as still as possible attempting to be silent.
As Drakra sneaks off, two figures come around some of the rubble, and set themselves in a defensive posture, but neither seems to be aggressive. The female figure is hunchbacked and her face so covered by tumors that it would seem impossible to make out her features beneath them. The other is a tall, thin creature with a face that melds the features of an attractive
elven man, a goat, and a lizardfolk. His oversized fingers end in dull,
spadelike talons.
He looks at the group, and in a wary tone asks, in a raspy
voice, speaking in strangely accented but quite,eloquent Common "Who are you, what are you doing here? If your intentions are ill, we ask you to move on and leave us in peace. If they are good, then perhaps you can help. As you can see, misfortune has befallen us"
He indicates the rubble behind them, and from his vantage, Drakra can see that another figure lies caught beneath some rubble. It looks like most of the rubble, except for a large rock that looms over the figure has been cleared away.
If you do not wish us ill then we wish you none. We fell from the surface when Kenabres was attacked. What troubles have befallen you? Do you live in this place?
Drakra carefully makes his way back to the others and quietly speaks:
There is another one of . . . whatever they are. It appears to be stuck beneath a large rock behind the rubble.
"Maybe we should help? It could be they know a way out."
Drakra is confused as to why the big folk he is traveling with might want to help these oddly deformed . . . creatures. But, if they think it might provide a way out, the gnome is not going to stop them.
Anevia seems taken aback by the appearance of the creatures, but her features soften and she lays a hand on Ali's shoulder, "Please, we should help them."
Horgus just gives them a look of utter disgust and tries to stay away from them.
Aravashinal asks Anevia for a description and gasps a bit when he gets one. He then smiles and asks the one that spoke, "Where do you come from? How long have your people been in these caves?"
The leader of this group holds out a hand beckoning you around the corner, "Our friend Crel was trapped beneath the tower when the ground trembled. We've tried to get him out, but the large rock hampers our progress."
Indeed when you look, you see that there is another creature trapped behind a rockfall, pinned in a very small space. Quite clearly the rock was too heavy for these two to lift, and they've been trying to dig their comrade out, but have reached a precarious point.
Godwin hurries to the rock and crouches next to the creature, careful not to disturb the work the others had already done. We will aid you as we can. Does anyone know about earthworks so we can get him out? Perhaps we could hold the rock up and then use the levitate scale to lift him out?
Knowledge(engineering and dungeoneering):
Knowledge(history, local and nature):
When Drakra gets a better look at the stone, he holds up a hand.
Be careful. That looks rather unstable to say the least. You should probably try to lift it, otherwise it might roll over and crush your . . . friend?
Selindra looks on as she listens to the others. She takes a moment to collect her thoughts before speaking. "If that is the case Godwin, can't we just use it to lift the rock up, and then dig him out? Elsewise, it might just be a wiser course to try and move that big heavy one."
Hrm, Drakra. If you don't think the levitation spell will help then we will just use our own strength. Either way the rest of us should heave the boulder off this man and his friends can pull him out.
Godwin carefully positions himself in a spot where he can use both his hands to heft the rock up.
Drakra shakes his head.
I didn't say anything about levitating a boulder. Could you do that? I was saying that more digging might be foolish since it appears the boulder will slip and crush the . . . man. While that might make for a cool story, I doubt the guy under the rock would appreciate the result.
If we do not know how the levitation scale will affect our attempts to rescue the man then we should rely on the strength of our arms to life the boulder
Strength(assist - maybe?):
- Although nowhere near strong enough to really help, Drakra shouts encouragement and tries to direct people as best he can to make sure the boulder gets moved in the correct manner.
Godwin heaves taking the main burden of the rock.
The rock heaves to the side, and the other person scrambles out of the hole, rushing over to his companions. After a hurried investigation to make sure that their friend is mostly unscathed. The one that spoke earlier addresses you again.
"Thank you for your help. I am Lann, my friends are Dyra, and Crel. We are sentinels of Neatholm, but as you can see, the recent tremors toppled not only the tower, but our tunnel back. If you would care to join us, we can lead you through one of the alternate tunnels. I am sure that Chief Sull will know a way back to the surface. Without his help, it may take you quite some time to find a way back on your own."
Horgus looks at everyone, "Look at them. We shouldn't trust them. They'll be taking us to our doom."
I think our recent experiences should show that none of us should judge each other on first impressions Godwin says to Horgus.
To the natives he says We would be grateful for any help Lann. We are lost here. Forgive me but I do not know what Neatholm is.
Selindra looks to Horgus then to the strange people before the group then back. "Peace be upon you all. These are trying times on us all, from the highest of station to the very lowest. All of us have been cast out of our homes and places, even these ones before us. We all have a common enemy in the archdemon that attacked the city, and we all owe it to the Great Silver, the defender of the city to work together. I hear your concern, Master Horgus. And I'll admit, in another time or place I might have shared your skepticism. But we are all now allies against those that beset our city and people. We must have faith enough to set aside our misgivings for one another, and forge ahead, so that we may overcome this trial."
Selindra lets out a deep breath after her speech, realizing the empassioned plea that she gave, her face flushing and slightly shrinking back into her armor a bit.
Drakra mutters to himself:
We should have just left the annoyance behind to wander these dark passages by himself.
Moving forward to help, Flynn is happily surprised to see Drakra and Selendra so easily help Godwin.
" I, for one, would be happy to accept Chief Sull' s help. If he is willing to give it. I am sure we could help him in return somehow...."
Flynn says as he moves forward, frowning at Drakra and Horgus.
Lann nods courteously, "For the kindness you have shown us, we will gladly lead you to the home of we Mongrels."[b] Lann motions for you to follow him through another series of tunnels.
As the group forms up to follow, Aravashinal talks to Lann, [b]"Amazing! So pitlings do indeed exist. You simply must tell me about how the pitlings have survived for so long." The series of questions continues, and Lann politely answers them all, but you do notice that he seems to clench his jaw whenever Aravashinal mentions 'pitlings' and the sheer amount of questions is wearing Lann down.
Noticing Lann's reaction, having elicited the same reaction from many before, Drakra hops up and taps Aravashinal on the hip.
'Scuse me. But, I do believe that the insulting is my job. This fine chap may have spent his life living beneath the ground, but I do not think that he considers himself a "pitling".
Drakra then turns to Lann.
Is there something that you all call yourselves? I heard "Mongrel", but that would not seem like the name I would choose. For ones such as yourselves, I am sure that someone must have come up with a more creative name.
Drakra begins to thing and toss out names.
Undermen. No, to boring. Darkfolk. No, sounds like those black elves. Hmmm. What about the Sunburn Freedom Fighters League. Then you could refer to yourselves as the SFFL or Suffel. Yeh, the Suffel, that has a nice ring to it.
Drakra looks up at Lamm to see whether he agrees.
"We are called Mongrelmen, a name we chose ourselves. We are the mongrels that you see, each of us marked in some way with a mix of things. You will see when you reach Neatholm. Come, we will show you."
You walk about 25 minutes and come to an open chasm. All three of the mongrelmen look out in distress until Lann looks back at you.
"This is the way home, but the natural bridge that spans the gap is gone." Indeed a quick look shows the rubble of the bridge at the bottom of the chasm, 30 feet below. "There is a way across further on, but it is a tricky climb at the best of times. With the injuries your friends have, I fear trying to go across there would prove daunting at best."
Godwin considers this I do not know if it is wise to split up. Is it possible for Chief Sull to meet us here? If not then perhaps Anevia, Averishal, and Horgus should remain here while we go meet with him?
Godwin turns the question over to the three he mentioned. Is this acceptable to you? Hopefully it will not take us much time to learn of a way back to the surface
Darker looks up at Godwin and then to Lann.
Could we just use rope to lower the injured members of the party? Then someone can climb up the other side and we can pull them up. Might take some time, but it will get us across.
Lann nods, "It would take more time, but you wouldn't leave anyone behind."
Our scale of levitate would come in handy here as well. Godwin nods. I agree with Drakra's plan. It is a good one.
Selindra nods to them both. "With everything going on down here, it does not seem wise to leave anyone behind. If need be, I can go down first, so that we can have someone to lower everyone to. And also make sure it is clear down there."
Ali nodded, "Good. Time is precious but people are more so."
Ali then set his shield aside and prepared to do part of the heavy lifting.