Rivet joins the conversation with Roy and Midioto. "Ah, I was discussing this with Luca the other day. The most immediate matter to need removal is the lingering smoke; divinely conjured mists should do. Besides that a careful search for eggs would ensure that we are not inconvenienced by the return of the smaller creatures. A simple barricade will hopefully stop the larger."
Earlier, Rivet volunteers to see the Maelstrom. Midioto's eccentricities seem to be unrelated, and Rivet is curious.
(+3=31) in the unlikely event that a trap is involved. Darkvision 60'.
minutes.
Lwazi observes the 'experiment' with concern. Sometime later in the day he casually asks, "How is your arm, Midioto?"
"I'm getting paid to mine the island, not that crazy place. I'm fine staying in the slightly less insane parts."
Roy regards the cavern, nodding as he sees what sort of things are inside.
"What's this green stuff? Is that the healing goop?"
Rivet joins the conversation with Roy and Midioto. "Ah, I was discussing this with Luca the other day. The most immediate matter to need removal is the lingering smoke; divinely conjured mists should do. Besides that a careful search for eggs would ensure that we are not inconvenienced by the return of the smaller creatures. A simple barricade will hopefully stop the larger."
Earlier, Rivet volunteers to see the Maelstrom. Midioto's eccentricities seem to be unrelated, and Rivet is curious.
** spoiler omitted **
WOW! What a trip! Hey guys, I think I am making progress! Without a doubt I am still an outsider and unwanted in the Maelstrom, I think they/it/something views me as something kind of like a virus or foreign object. However, I think they are starting to warm up to me due to my repeated forays into it. Also, I have now been able to confirm that there are, in fact creatures that live within the Maelstrom itself! Its habitable! Combined with my previous experience where I am pretty sure I felt something, or someone who is incredibly powerful "out there" and I think that the Maelstrom might be a place we can go to, like exploring the bottom of the ocean or such.
Midioto stops dead, a thought so massive in its revelation has just struck him.
Ummm. Guys? Now that I think of it, I don't actually know HOW I can survive in the Maelstrom... Obviously its different, but I also think it should be completely antithesis to normal, carbon-based life. Heck, I don't think I even had to BREATHE out there... There's a possibility that time works differently out there, or maybe even not at all, and the periods of stasis that happen after each "jump" are a result of the differing realities correcting themselves...
Well now I know what I need to do experiment with for next time!!!
And Rivet!!! TELL ME! What did you experience???
Lwazi observes the 'experiment' with concern. Sometime later in the day he casually asks, "How is your arm, Midioto?"
Midioto recoils protectively for a moment as Lwazi asks. He thinks about it a moment then relaxes and shows him his arm. The arm itself looks normal and uninjured/uninhibited but the fingers do twitch and spasm a bit on their own.
Well, I don't think I can call him stable. It. but I also don't think its going to start mutating or changing on his own any time soon. I can feel elemental power flowing through it, and I figure that he should resonate with such magics, but I have not yet had the opportunity to do tests. However, I have lost a lot of fine motor control from him. It. It appears that the nerves may be damaged or tangled somehow.I'll be keeping an eye on it for now, but I don't think we can really do anything about him for the time being.
He quickly retracts it and hides it behind his robes.
"Less than you seem to imply, Midioto. Swirling colours and a sense of something hostile; I suspect that continuing these experiments may lead to someone encountering a hostile being while alone and in a difficult environment." He sighs. "Not that I expect that to stop you, but do take defensive precautions if you can?"
Lwazi narrows his eyes. "Midioto, why are you calling your arm a he? I think that is quite enough exposing yourself to the Maelstrom. We need you to get us home alive, not to become part of the Maelstrom yourself."
"Gin my friend, do you suppose you can move your laboratory with relative ease? I would help of course."
Lwazi narrows his eyes. "Midioto, why are you calling your arm a he? I think that is quite enough exposing yourself to the Maelstrom. We need you to get us home alive, not to become part of the Maelstrom yourself."
It was just a slip of the tongue. Midioto responds irritably. Its not the arm. Its this Dam sun. I cant sleep at night, or whenever. Heh. Still using Old-World terminology. But anyways, I cant sleep! The constant brightness is wearing me down, making me distracted and irritable. I cant sleep. And. I. Cant. Think. Straight...
As for the Maelstrom, I agree. Kinda. And also not. We are ALL exposed to the Maelstrom, I am realizing that it is all around us. Its in the earth, the plants, the sky. Heck its even in the very air we are breathing, and that worries me. This arm, he lifts up his left hand, woke me up a bit and I realized just how easily all of you guys could be affected. I NEED to figure out how to get us out of here, and soon. To do that, I need to be able to navigate the Maelstrom to get us back home. At the moment, studying the Maelstrom is the only thing I CAN do right now, at least until I can think of something else.But I agree. No point killing myself in the process so I should slow it down and take it cautiously. However, I do need to keep going, I have got to get you guys back...
Midioto sighs a deep, weary sigh. Lwazi you get a rare view of how stressed and tired Midioto actually is and how much this is all weighing down on him before he perks back up and returns to his normal, excitable self.
BUT! In the meantime, I will continue to push forward with energetic optimism! And scientific curiosity! Cant forget that. Gotta stay positive.
And maybe this Spider Cave will be better and darker and I can rest there.
Lwazi nods warily, concern evident in his gaze. "Let us hope so," he says, simply. "And I will continue to search for ways for us to stretch our supplies safely. Which means we must explore further."
With the effort of the group, everyone manages to pack up the camp and relocate everything over to the cave and start unloading things there. Inside people work together to set up a temporary holding spot for all of the equipment and supplies and put them in a place where they won't get lost or damaged. It is a temporary effort as soon the rest of the caves will be explored and excavated to suit their needs but for now, it their immediate needs that are being addressed. A safe place and a solid door for their hole in the ground. Luxuries such as shelving, 4-post beds and permanent lighting will come later >_>
After a few hours, Midioto calls everyone together to take a break and discuss what their next big step is going to be.
Right guys. Good work getting everything over here and what we have managed to achieve so far. Rivet, I like what you did to set up a temporary trap over the front door. And Roy? I am impressed with your finesse with that pickaxe. Didn't know that was possible.
RIGHT! Someone brought up a good point, and that is that our food supplies are limited and we are going to need to find some way to restock them. Honestly, I am really hesitant on eating anything from here, as proven from that last apple I ate, but we might not have any choice. So I suggest we go out into the forest and see what we can scavenge up that might be edible. Whatever we find, we will debate later on whether we should eat it, or if its safe. But for now, we should at least see what we can find.
Any disagreements? No? Ok, great! Lets get this show on the road.
Oh! If anyone sees anything of interest while we are out there, let me know. We are still getting paid to explore this place so don't forget that!
After another hour or so of preparation, the group meets up at the front of the cave, and checks their belongings.
Right. Roy? Rivet? Care to show us what you have got in place for our front door? And with that done, everyone set? OK! Onwards, towards the forest!
Once outside the Cave, Midioto will once again set up some of his powers for the journey, Casting Inertial Armor and Defy Gravity
the group heads out into the forest, and it seems more... alive, today. it isn't long until the base disspears behind them, and the forest seems to twist. there are what seem to be mundane animals everywhere, rabbits, mice, foxes, birds, squirrels. it sounds, and almost feels, like a regular forest. the trees above are mostly lacking fruit, but now and then there are fruit above- common, normal fruit, save that many different fruits tend to grow on one tree. the leaves fall from time to time, fading to brown and dying, leaving the ground covered in a layer of autumn leaves.
ahead, there's a black tree with purple leaves, upon which rests a black and a white fruit, both peach-like aside from the tendrils wrapped around them.
Lwazi examines some of the normal-looking fruit, not quite trusting it to be edible.
He eyes the black tree with open mistrust, trying to guess at whether or not it's even safe to pick some fruit.
Bareth makes sure to check the fruit for Magic
"would anyone like a bit of traveling music?
-it's probably safe.
the tree doesn't seem like it can move or use any sort of magic- it's only notable features are it's coloring and the fruits on the tree.
you're not sure it's safe, parse, but it defiantly doesn't seem to be an active danger.
(once you've decided on the type of mundane food(S) you want to gather, let me know and make a survival check.)
Bareth makes sure to check the fruit for Magic
"would anyone like a bit of traveling music?
Bareth relates the relative danger with regard to what he can see after a moment, remembering that most humaniod races can't naturally see the color Octarine
Lwazi shakes his head at Bareth's question. "Quiet is better. I will hunt, but we should not be too far separated. I will keep you in sight."
Then he slips into the forest, all but vanishing between the trees, once again in his element.
He moves through the forest on silent paws, and with two arrows soon has a brace of rabbits, which he brings back to the group.
"I will clean these, then we should pick some of the fruits. They seem safe enough... though those," he nods at the black and white fruits, "Are the exception. I do not think the tree itself can threaten us, but I would not trust those fruit."
He sets to work on the rabbits, and once done, climbs some of the fruit trees and picks a selection of ripe fruits.
Lwazi shakes his head at Bareth's question. "Quiet is better. I will hunt, but we should not be too far separated. I will keep you in sight."
Then he slips into the forest, all but vanishing between the trees, once again in his element.
[dice=Survival]1d20+11
He moves through the forest on silent paws, and with two arrows soon has a brace of rabbits, which he brings back to the group.
"I will clean these, then we should pick some of the fruits. They seem safe enough... though those," he nods at the black and white fruits, "Are the exception. I do not think the tree itself can threaten us, but I would not trust those fruit."
He sets to work on the rabbits, and once done, climbs some of the fruit trees and picks a selection of ripe fruits.
Once there's some sort of barricade and deterant set up for the front of the cave, Roy leaves some of his things behind, keeping his Any-Tool and divining rod on him as well as the pickaxe strapped to his back, and the sheathed dagger that came with his pack on his belt and a couple things from his pack. Can we stop calling it The Spider Cave? Hopefully there's no more spiders in there of any size. We can just call it home base for now.
While the group is looking for food and things, Roy uses the divining rod to search for any metal deposits nearby.
He's not hunted moving prey before, so he helps harvest fruit instead. He summons a Cutlass made of glowing green force energy to cut the fruit down, including some of the magical variety, stowing them in a pouch. Just because we can't eat them, doesn't mean they won't be useful for other things. If they're magic, we can probably get potions out of them. I think?
"do you know how to make potions?"
The quiet guy does. And they said everything else we've found here can go into potions, so I figured these could too.
"Does the name Spider Cave bug you? I arach-kid of course, spiders aren't bugs. Home base is acceptable for now. Still, I accept the challenge of this bounty. I'll make something edible out of our findings, mark my words."
Bringing a small crystal rod to bear Rivet checks the cave for hidden passages. Just in case.
Later, around the fruit trees, "Gin has been ever more withdrawn. I fear there may be something about this place which troubles the mind." He avoids looking at Midioto while saying this, rather obviously.
Lwazi eyes the two strange fruits Roy cut down suspiciously. "Can any of you tell what they are?" he asks the rest of the group.
Hey guys! Watch this!
Midioto disappears in a moment, reappearing on top of an owl a few dozen feet away, and in the next moment there is chaos as feathers, limbs, blood and screeches explode in a giant tangle as limbs go flying everywhere.
Finally subduing the frantic bird, Midioto brings it back to the group.
pant. pant. Heh. I bet these animals have never seen a move quite like that before! They are pretty docile, I would have figured that the giant raptors and such would make them wary. I'll have to write that down.
And then turning to Roy
Good job collecting those fruits. I am curious to see what value they may have back in the cave.
Rivet speaks up again. "Most impressive." he says politely. "It seems we have supplies now with the promise of more, and study which must be undertaken at our base. Shall we return? Midioto, you may need to borrow a skill from Gin if the elf cannot be persuaded to act."
Lwazi frowns at Midioto. "Owls are scarecely good for eating. There was no need to kill it."
"Things may change here before we can return," Lwazi points out to Rivet. "Perhaps we should look further while this bounty exists."
What? You mean we can't eat owls? Well dang. I was pretty, pretty sure that we could. You can cook chickens after all... Oh well, I'ma try to cook it anyways. See what.. Midioto looks at the owl for a moment, Ugly, rock-faced birds of ugly taste like... Shouldn't have done that, there goes my appetite. :(
Midioto makes a disgusted face then packs the bird into his pack and continues on.
I believe we should absolutely continue on! We have not actually found much of anything so far, and we have not gotten particularly far. We did get some food, so that is a huge relief, but we still have "lots of sunlight" left to burn. Midioto seems rather annoyed by his own comment but continues on non-the-less. I figure we should continue on, but first, let me get my bearings.
With that, Midioto s directly up into the sky, and does a few times repeatedly until he is well above the tree canopy.
Once up there, he takes his bearings, and casts Know Direction and Location, then looks around and takes stock of the surrounding landscape and any notable features.
in the surrounding forest, there's quite a bit to see. What seems to be a metal chamber, built into a hill. The maze, mostly shrouded in mist. The cave. , the source of the river that runs through the forest, coming from seemingly nowhere. And a shadowy mass that seems to be floating around where the old base was.
"I agree with continuing on, and once we return I will look at any potential potion ingredients we may find."
"There may be no profit in it, but I should like to see what has taken an interest in our last camp" says Rivet, looking nervously at the shadowy mass, "although..."
"Roulette, is there any chance you might know what brings those shadows?"
"I would say we avoid that darkness," Lwazi states. "Perhaps the metal chamber? That suggets habitation, which well may mean someone who has discovered more of this place's secrets than we yet have."
Midioto returns down to the earth and then explains what he sees to the group.
Great view up there. From what I could see, there seems to be some sort of metal chamber or structure bit into the hill over there. I would be quite intruged with that, it indicates intelligent design, same with the maze, which is that way. And shrouded in mist. There is also the river, over there, and its source is not far from here, but something seems off about it, it might be fed from underground? Finally, it seems something shadowy has claimed our old base, and that is worrying.
Midioto indicates each direction in turn.
So? Where would we like to go? Rivet? You think the old base? Lwazi? The metal structure? I would agree with that, I say the metal structure. The rest of you?
Then, exasperated, ge turns to Luca, Sigh. Translation?
Roy seems concerned that there's something inspecting their previous habitation as well as somewhat pleased that the metal searching rod actually lead them to something.
I don't mean to be paranoid, but it's saved me once before, so I'm gonna risk saying that shadow thing might be worth dealing with. It wouldn't be too hard for it to track us back to the new base from the old one, whether that's to attack us or mess with our supplies.
the elemental looks to rivit.
Lwazi frowns. "I am not so eager to face shadows. I do not think we are well prepared to face them. At the same time, it is true that we might be better off facing them in the open rather than in an unexpected night attack. But if they are commanded by one more powerful, perhaps it is best to avoid them rather than provoke him by destroying them."
If it doesn't make it back to whatever the citadel is, it can't report that we're here at all. There's all kinds of creatures here they could think caught it first. But if we get it now, we can put off having to deal with something that probably has an army for a while longer. I want to know what's in that bunker, but I feel like this isn't a good idea to let go.
"Ah. Well, if they are the undead creatures I am aware of then hopefully others may be able to blast them from existence, as I have little defence against such. I suppose we should take a look at least."
Rivet translates back and forth to ensure that Roulette and the party are aware of what each other has said.
Roulette pauses, then says
"perhaps that would be best. It's a rough situation, either way."
Well I should have little trouble with undead creatures. From my studies I have concluded that they should be easier to hit, and my elemental damage will harm them just the same... Havn't actually FACED one yet tho...
...Plus I can get you out of a tough spot Rivet, if you end up in one. Midioto winks at Rivet, then s out of existance, swapping places with Rivet.
Rivet is now on the other side of the party and slightly disorientated.
Haha! But fun aside, ya. We could check out whats checking out what we left behind when we checked out of there. Just to see if there is anything worth seeing that we could see... Ya'see?
"I don't know much about Shadows, but if they do what I think they do, we'll be outnumbered and easily snuck up on at any time, even if the 'sun' does 'set'. We haven't found much at all in what may be three days or so, and this will be the third fight, and the second we've sought out. I say we go for it!" And with that Luca trudges back to the camp.
'the group begins to approach the camp...
Lwazi will, of course, scout ahead.
He slips through the forest on silent, padded feet, stopping to observe the camp as best he can once he reaches the edge of the trees. If needed, he will then continue forwards, using the tall grass to hide his approach as he tries to make out just what is happening in their former campsite.
the shadows, roughly 5 of them and a aura of darkness they seem to drag along with them, are milling about, seeming to inspect things. They float about dispite the "sunlight" with no issues. None of them make a sound.
the shadows remain unaware of lawazi, and seem to group together. They occasionally make jestures with handlike appendages, as if they were talking.
Lwazi carefully makes his way back to the others and reports.
"There are only five shadows," he states, clearly relieved by this discovery. "They do seem to be inspecting our former camp, and they have some sort of darkness they bring with them to shield them from the light."
Does everyone have something that can cut through those? My weapons are made of light, kind of. I think they might work?
"Ah, yes. I can disrupt their patterns. One at a time. Defence is my greater worry. They definitely are the undead kind of shadow?" Rivet asks. "Though I suppose that cloak of darkness rather implies so."