"Whatever you do, get me out of here quick! I'm running out of food, and scorpions keep crawling out of these holes!"
Ceer looks at Corvus..."Ummm, maybe we can get you a shield in the next set of ruins that we visit. I think we need to break through the shield."
"I can try cutting through the shield... but it might take a while," Rheed comments, "how much room is there down there, is there enough distance for us to safely break our way through?"
"Oh, I'm plenty far down, don't worry about me... doesn't somebody have an axe? Don't tell me there's not a dwarf amongst you!"
Ceer looks at Corvus..."Ummm, maybe we can get you a shield in the next set of ruins that we visit. I think we need to break through the shield."
Corvus laughs. It's a deep, throaty affair. "I never did care much for cast-offs anyways."
"Don't tell me there's not a dwarf amongst you!"
"There is now, master Dardin, but he seems to have been trapped in some sort of pit."
"Can you chop through it with your axe, Rheed?"
"Can you chop through it with your axe, Rheed?"
Corvus rummages in her backpack and pulls out a handaxe with a gleaming edge.
"I can help if need be."
"Join in any time," Rheed says to Corvus, pulling out his own axe and swinging it down at the wooden shield.
Corvus and Rheed stoop down and take turns hacking at the shield with their axes. It doesn't take long before they have sufficiently destroyed the shield so as to be able to see what lies beneath. Clearly some sort of pit trap was sprung in the middle of the floor. The pit drops about ten feet, and a dirty and more-than-likely smelly dwarf sits at the bottom, leaning against the wall. He looks up at you, squinting even in the dim light, and you can see that he appears very sickly. He is feebly raising his arm to shield his head from the wooden splinters. After a few more chops, the shield is entirely destroyed.
"Hang on Dardin...we are going to through a rope down to you."
Ceer looks around at his comrades...."I hope somebody has a rope..."
Rheed retrieves a coil of silken rope from his pack and calls down to the dwarf, "are you well enough to tie this around yourself? Or should I come down there myself?"
"Always keep some rope for emergencies, my friend," Mo'butu says, getting into his backpack and pulling out a cord of hemp rope. "This should do the trick," unfurling a length and testing it to be sur eit would hold the expected-to-be-stocky dwarf.
"I should be able to... just toss it down." The dwarf manages to tie a decent knot around his waist and, with the help of those above, climbs (and mostly is pulled) out of the hole. He collapses onto the ground, breathing heavily, and you can see that he has clearly suffered: his skin is clammy and he appears sickly in color. His hands are covered with many tiny puncture wounds.
Ceer pulls out his waterskin and gives it to Dardin..."Here, drink some water."
Rheed looks over to Mo'butu with a concerned expression, "He mentioned scorpions, can you help him with the poison? I have some antitoxin."
Dardin gladly accepts Ceer's waterskin. "Ahh, thank you Ceer," he says after taking a long swig, "I take back what I said about you being lazy."
Ku'ada cast Detect Magic, to see if Dardin is under any sort of spell.
"Speaking of lazy...you must have let your guard down to let a halfling get the best of you like that." Ceer says as he nods towards the pit.
He glances at Rheed and Mo'butu as they prepare to treat the dwarf. "So how did you end up here?" he asks the dwarf.
"We want the whole story too. We aren't here just for you." he says as his eyes catch Rheed's for a moment. "Blood has already been shed on this mission."
"Yes," Rheed agrees with Ceer grimly as he retrieves a vial of antitoxin and hands it to Mo'butu, "I...We are also looking for Tameka Hite, we where ambushed by those damned Ape-men and I lost track of her in the confusion."
The druid examines the dwarf closely to see if he can determine exactly what ails him, waiting to administer the antitoxin.
Heal
.
.
.
.
.
Dardin drinks a bit more water to clear his throat and explains his story: "Well, a few weeks ago Kaeviel approached me with an exciting new mission. He had an official commission from the Venture Captain and everything, though now I expect it was a fake. We were asked to come to these ruins to find a red stone... you may have heard of it, though I could never keep the name straight. The Nishti'moo or some such elven nonsense. Supposed to be real hot stuff, if you take my meaning, and apparently no one had managed to pull it from the ruins yet, but now we knew how to get in. Kaeviel had a map of some kind which he claimed was discovered in some other ruins and would allow us to bypass the traps here. Well, it worked, and we went and found the stone all right- got it from a big nasty bugger, too, I expect it's still crawling around in there- but when we were leaving, I paused to rest- can't remember ever having been so tired- and he tripped a trap right out from under me! Then he sealed it up with the shield. I called out for a while but I knew he wasn't coming back. Then the scorpions started to show up, and there was quite a bit of noise from above at one point, I thought a big mean 'ol beastie was trying to come in and eat me. But I think something scared it off..." He pauses to take another swig of water, and, glancing deeper into the temple, says, "I'm assuming you haven't seen Kaeviel recently and thought him to be lost here as well. I'm not sure where he is, but when we were leaving, he seemed angry about having to drop our bags in order to escape quickly. We didn't exactly kill the monster guarding the gem, you see. My guess is that he left something important behind."
"Wow, that's some story Dardin." Ceer says.
"So how long have you been in this pit? How long ago did the beastie try to get at you?"
"Can you describe the beast that you took the stone from? Do you think that Kaeviel went back into the ruins to retrieve his bags?"
"Hrmm... I've quite lost track of time down there. I remember that something tried to get in several days ago, perhaps five? I must have been down there nearly two weeks, maybe more. Thank the Gods we Pathfinders always carry emergency rations... but I surely wouldn't have lasted another day if you hadn't come along. I ran out of food some time ago, and this poisoned has weakened me. As for the creature in the temple, it's some sort of huge armored scorpion. I'm not sure it's actually alive, maybe a construct of some sort. It was in pretty bad shape when we got there, but it's still dangerous. I don't think Kaeviel returned... he may be a good sneak, but he's also a coward and a weakling!"
"Is it like Kaeviel to betray you like this? Did you know him well before he approached you about this expedition?" Rheed asks, "Might he be under some influence from the stone?"
"Kaeviel and I have worked together once before on another quite successful ruin-delve, though it was in a different part of the Mwangi Expanse. I would not have thought him one to betray a fellow Pathfinder, and he's never showed any signs of being particularly greedy or susceptible to bribes. As for whether he was influenced by the powers of the stone... I wouldn't know anything about such matters. It just seemed like a big red gem with a crack in it to me, though. As far as I'm concerned his behavior was a complete surprise... damned unpredictable halflings!"
"Well Dardin, it looks like the only thing that is going to heal you properly is rest. Those scorpions did quite a number on you. We need to get you back to safe hands," says the druid.
"I agree," Rheed says at Mo'butu's comment, "We should get you back to Malgri's camp as soon as possible... Kaeviel already has a considerable lead on us, so I doubt the time it takes to get you back to safety will change that much."
"How far away did you drop your bags?" He asks, "Do you think it would be possible to reach them without alerting the guardian construct to our presence?"
"There's a series of mostly empty rooms ahead, they must've been looted ages ago. In the room with the old fountain we found a secret stairway which led to some sort of huge chapel where the stone was kept. That's where the creature lurks and that's where we left our bags, somewhere along the right wall I think. It might be possible sneak in, if you're a better sneak than I..."
"Well, we are more than a day from Malgri's camp, so taking him back now would cost us two days."
"What about using one or two of the scrolls that we got at Malgri's camp? We could use them now to restore some of his strength while we investigate the chapel."
"I can hold out a bit longer if I rest here or a bit further inside the temple... the poison seems to have stopped getting worse. As long as I don't run into any more scorpions I should be fine."
"You can stay here until we eliminate that creature, but I'd feel better if you gained a little strength first, like Ceer said," affirmed Mo'butu, looking in his backpack to find the scrolls they procured from the camp. Finding the correct one, he read the mystic writings, and the dwarf glowed blue for a split second, as some of his sapped strength was returned to him.
"I feel much better already... thank you kindly, sir."
"I guess we press on." Corvus switches to her two-handed sword. "If we're past the point of notknowing what might leap out at us, I think it best to switch to maximumising the damage I can inflict."
"Is there anything else you can tell us about the creature. How huge is 'huge.'"
"Oh, I'd say it was almost twenty feet long if you counted the tail. Must've weighed several thousand pounds. It could easily grab you, or me, all the way 'round with its claws..."
"Did you happen to notice if it wielded a weapon of any sort? Or was it just teeth and claws or something like that?"
Listening to Ceer, Corvus mutters audibly, "I know I'm a 'rush in and hit things kind of girl' but even I sense we'll need some sort of plan if it's that big and can attack from more than one source."
Listening to the conversation, Mo'butu pulls out the wand they had bought at the camp. "If we are facing that large a monster, we need to get you at top shape," he tells Corvus, who is still obviously injured from the earlier fight. He uses the wand twice on the warrior, healing her a bit more.
After healing the barbarian, Mo'butu pulls his club that he carried around for emergency purposes. "Here,' he says, handing the weapon to Dardin, "in case something else finds you before we do."
Dardin nods graciously and accepts the club. "It had two claws and a stinger, and once I think it even shot a ray of fire out of its tail. You'll want to watch out for that!"
Content to stand back and allow his allies to sort out Dardin, Ku'ada thinks upon Dardin's words.
"Alright." Rheed says, straightening, "If we're agreed, then let's go take a look at this secret staircase."
"Agreed....same marching order I assume."
Ceer falls in beside Ku'ada.
"Hold up a second. Let's think of this like Corvus suggested...can Dardin give us a map of the room? Maybe there is more than one entrance, so we might get a round or two of surprise in? Also, if there is an entrance it cannot fit through, maybe we could use that as our retreat position if necessary."
"All the halls are big enough for the creature to fit through, but it didn't pursue us back up the stairs out of the chamber we found it in. It was quite a large room, perhaps 30 feet wide and 100 or so long, with several pillars and a raised platform at the end. Kaeviel had to speak some incantation written on his "map" in order to summon the stone, and it also summoned that creature. He tried to use another incantation to command the creature, but it must not have worked. I don't remember seeing any other entrances to the chamber, and I spent a fair bit of time looking while Kaeviel was figuring out the incantation."