"Jars and bottles, maybe I should take a look at those? Would someone be so kind as to watch over Jeva while I take a quick-see?" Assuming Simon can defer child watching duties for a few minutes, he'll take his time investigating the bottles and jars that haven't been destroyed by the shelf's collapse.
Kast watches the child while Simon herbalizes.
"Sooo...do you know Tommy 'Wets the Bed' Coddington?" Kast asks the child.
If not, Kast will tell the tale of Brave Tommy Coddington and how he escaped the evil orphanage where he was subject to the harsh and unrelenting teasing from a mean halforc to be a blessed servant of Shelyn.
Know History
Soldiers babysit.
"We should hurry. The campsite was a few days old and there's no telling how far the Kobolds took the children."
Priorities people!
As soon as the rest of the party seems willing to leave, Dorial will guide them back to the campsite to begin tracking the Kobolds/children.
First the fey and now kobolds? This town doesn't do a particularly good job of preserving its young.
Othoe throws one final prestidigitation on Chrystosm to clean up the last of the bile from his lips (and uses a little on himself to 'brighten up') and follows Dorial to the other campsite.
"A few days old? Can you still track them?" Othoe will, out of habit more than anything, cast detect magic on the campsite looking for anything that might have gotten stomped into the ground by mistake.
Dorial gives Othoe a little smile, "Of course. They were carrying the children so their tracks are deeper than normal."
"Easily in daylight. At night it's more difficult."
Nimeon waits for the others, his body tensed to move quickly after the tracks.
Kast is ready to continue the search and picks himself up and rubs his twisted left leg.
"I stand ready."
Simon easily identifies 2 vials of universal solvent and three potions of resist energy: fire.
Jeva, surprisingly, swears she can move by the afternoon.
"I-it's ok. I think I can find my way back to Falcon's Hollow by myself. Y-you have good children to go save." Her eyes cut to the bottles in Simon's hands and squeezes her eyes closed, trying to block out the guilt.
Othoe eyes Jeva carefully. Sure she's no longer a were-creature, he shrugs.
"OK then. Be careful out there. It's cold and there are many nasty beasts out tonight." He continues on with the others happily.
One less thing to worry about! I'm sure she'll be fine. Now where are those kobolds?
"Sweetie, you go straight home at first morning light, ok?" Simon shows concern, thinking of the trouble they had crossing the icy river, "Do you know a safe place to cross the icy river? We had trouble with that ourselves."
Kast watches the girl walk away, still wrestling with letting her go alone against the party's haste in finding the missing children.
Soldiers choose.
Kast is ready to go.
The girl nods, "I'll be ok. I.... I liked them, the camping kids. I didn't eat them." Slowly the girl moves off back the other way, leaving the companions to head back out.
Daylight still remains as they head back to the tracks and start following the way of the kobolds toward the looming presence that is Droskar's crag. The river again blocks their path, but it is narrower here, and someone has left a primitive bridge made of twine and tree branches. The sun sinks slowly behind the mountain, leaving the companions to either cross in the twilight or wait for morning.
"Best to wait on this side I think. We've the advantage of range and can minimize the numbers if we're attacked. I'd also like better light to examine it by, no telling if it'll hold our weight."
Kast nods at Nimeon and looks around.
"Camp here? If you say so, tracker." Kast begins to build camp. He will, of course, take his turn at watch.
"Say, Dorial...how much further do you think before he hit the ruins? Is it possible to make it by noon tomorrow?"
Dorial gazes out over the narrow river. "If y'all want to break camp, I could go do some recon."
Simon joins the camp preparation, taking care to set up a good spot for Chrystosm. "Sorry about the harshness of that brew, I'm not sure there is much I can do to heal the hurt of that potion, a good night's rest may be the only thing to heal that. Still, better than sprouting claws and backhair at every full moon." Simon's knees shake for a moment and he subconsciously takes a step back from Chrystosm, "You, you do think it worked, that potion, don't you?"
Othoe helps make camp with the others and also does his turn at watch.
All this rough living, I thought I'd be past that once I came into some money. Ah well. I'll never get these scrolls penned in this environment!
Still warm, he things kind thoughts of Brickasnurd for the Endure Elements spell. He listens to the others chat as he drifts off to a fitful sleep cleaning his nails.
In the morning he prepares his spells, casts Endure Elements, and helps with the morning meal.
He looks at the rickety bridge in the daylight, "OK, so what's the plan? Should I go across first with the rope and tie it to something stout?"
Kast rises early for his morning ritual as well, getting packed and ready to move on.
"Let's do the rope thing, eh?"
Kast will repeat the same process for last river, hoping this isn't a thing and they can get to the children without much more incident.
Simon joins the camp preparation, taking care to set up a good spot for Chrystosm. "Sorry about the harshness of that brew, I'm not sure there is much I can do to heal the hurt of that potion, a good night's rest may be the only thing to heal that. Still, better than sprouting claws and backhair at every full moon." Simon's knees shake for a moment and he subconsciously takes a step back from Chrystosm, "You, you do think it worked, that potion, don't you?"
"Err..."
You tell me - you're the herbalist!
"Well, I haven]'t sprouted backh - that is to say, I haven't sprouted any more backhair, so I suppose it has."
Chrystosm slides out of his sleeping bag, already dressed, and wanders over to the bridge.
"Let me have a look!"
"Looks fine to me!"
Though the bridge does look precarious, the group is able to pass it one at a time with little trouble. Beyond the bulk of Drosker's Crag rises ever closer. Nimeon and Dorial find several scales along the way, and at least two footprints that can only be small human mixed amongst the reptilian. Towards mid-day, they find yet another stop, in front of a craggy hole in the side of the hill.
Othoe looks at the hole.
Too bad I don't have fireball... or cloudkill. That would work too. he hesitates, Of course there are the children, but some accidental deaths would be acceptable I guess.
"Careful, that could be a kobold's lair or an ogre's outhouse. Othoe, Nimeon, give it a sniff, does the hole smell bad?" Rather than check for himself, Simon will await his companion's assessments.
Kast casts light on his bardiche and prepares to enter.
"So we think the children might be in there?" Kast holds his light into the hole, grasping the end of the Iron Quill. "Lets check it out."
When others are ready, Kast enters.
"I will defer to you, Simon, on how an ogre's backside smells. But in this case the tracks lead to it. If I remember correctly of my time hunting them before, we should be wary of traps."
Othoe peers into the darkness and lines up behind Kast. "The children must be in there. It's where the trail leads, right? Let's go."
Othoe takes out his pristine dagger and prepares to enter the hole.
"If they're in there, we should hurry but be cautious. Their eyesight is much better than ours in the dark."
"Can anyone see in the dark, or does anyone have a handy spell?", asks Chrystosm.
"If not, I'll go first with a lantern, but they'll see me coming a mile off"
Kast is happy to follow Chrysto and carry the light for him.
"After you. I will follow and guard your back. Push on as much as you need to."
"I can't see a thing in the dark, I bet the kiddies can't either, the poor children must be so afraid!" worries Simon, his own knees shaking.
"Don't worry Simon, we're here to save them."
Nimeon will sheathe his bow and draw his sword.
"Here goes!"
Chrystosm, holding the lantern in his one hand and a dagger in the other, wriggles through the hole, pulling himself forward with his knees and elbows.
The primitive tunnel cuts through the foot hills, angling upward and down as the ease of the rock might permit. In places, there is even room for everyone to stand and walk as the gods intended, though often it is back to knees and elbows for the largest of the group.
Even to those without the least bit of dwarven sense (all of you), it is clear this is inferior work, and often a hasty motion forward has saved the last of the group from an impromptu burial along the way. Eventually, faint light shines up head; the end is near!
Escaping from the tunnel empties the group in a small clearing. Ahead, a lumbering ruin leers, the light of the setting sun glaring through broken windows.
Having approached from an unfamiliar side, it takes a moment, but soon even the least of the band recognizes the old monastery ruins ahead.
Othoe looks chagrined at the state of his gear after traversing the tunnel system and takes a moment to prestidigitate the dirt and grime away. He's fastidiously polishing his nails when he realizes the others too may wish a quick cleaning before proceeding.
He whispers, "Does anyone else require cleanliness before we proceed?"
It is only then that he notices anything at all.
Continuing his whisper he says, "The tracks lead into the monastery."
"We could have gone around? That was just a tunnel?! Awh..." Kast says while dusting the dirt and crap from his legs, arms, and armor. "Maybe we should collapse that tunnel...or something. Anyone know how?"
"What we need is a team of Lastwall siege engineers. They would collapse this in a heartbeat, I'm sure," Kast mentions wistfully.
"But we'll have to come back to this later...right now, we have a monastery to re-siege."
Kast marches on the monastery, the Iron Quill deployed and held in front of him.
"Kast, stop. That tunnel was almost the death of us, and I don't think it had any intentional traps. Besides, it felt like it took us weeks to get through it, I wouldn't be surprised if the dark fey had put some kind of time trap around this whole place. Who knows how long the other way would've taken."
The normally taciturn paladin takes a breath, having spent almost a month of words in a single utterance.
"Point is, no sense rushing in there. We've taken so long already, let's make sure the way is safe."
"Good eyes, Othoe, the tracks definitely lead to the monastery."
'No need to rush'!? NO NEED TO RUSH!? We're here now.
Kast gives Nimeon a look, but stops moving, wondering if the half-elf has a plan other than not proceeding.
Oh, we're proceeding carefully...I guess that works.
Kast takes up a guarding position, making sure nothing eats Nimeon while he searches.
Disheveled and covered in dirt, Simon peers back at the tunnel following Kasts comments on the structure. "I'm not so sure that thing is still intact, it started collapsing behind us a few times, you could probably throw a thunderstone in either entrance and be done with it."
Looking ahead to the monastery, Simon tries to remember what he can of the place. "Forgive me, my friends, but my memories of this place are a bit hazy, I was in a different...uh...frame of... mind when we were last here" Glancing at his pack, Simon has a brief, quiet argument with what appears to be the cauldron before Llwynally pokes her nose out from his cloak and gives a short growl at the cauldron. "Ha, see Colin, even Llwynally agrees, you've been outvoted!" A smile breaking his dirt streaked face, Simon adjusts his pack and stands attentively as Nimeon lays down the plan.
Nothing eats Nimeon while he searches.
The monastery remains much as it was left a few months ago, save for the obvious passage of some few kobolds. Scales in tones of orange, red and rust occasionally dot the way. A small shoe is found in the Worg's former lair next to the first somewhat new thing. The rubble that had once blocked the stairs below has been cleared, somewhat. Much like the tunnel, it is quite suitable for small creatures, but medium sized folk may feel squeezed.
Chrystosm gazes forlornly at the tunnel and sucks his stomach in anticipatorially .
"Oh, well. Good job I didn't have that second helping of stew..."
Dorial emerges from the tunnel as she shakes the dirt from her hair.
Ah, nature.
She looks up at the familiar ruins, "Well, I wasn't expecting to see those so soon."
She follows the others inside to find the recently excavated stairs. "I could scout ahead if you all prefer."
Kast stands back and makes way for the lady, uhm...I mean, Dorial.
"Are you sure you want to do that? It's dangerous...and the space is quite small," Kast asks with concern. "I can't protect you if you're too far ahead of us."
"I think we should go in as a group. I don't like someone wandering off alone to possibly be captured - or worse!"
Othoe prepares to go into the tunnel in our standard marching order if everyone else agrees. Otherwise he waits impatiently for Dorial to return.
Past the cave in, the stairs open up to a ten by ten foot landing, with another set of stairs, also ten feet wide, leading further down. The plink of hammers on stone, accompanied by the soft bark of voices filters up from below.
The stairway opens into a large rectangular chamber. The stone walls of this area are covered with intricate carvings of dwarves toiling in mines or smithies. In the center of the chamber stands the bottom half of a broken obsidian obelisk. Crude picks, hammers, and other tools lie scattered around the chamber.
Across the room, by the western doorway, two gray kobolds struggle with a large piece of shiny black stone apparently recovered from the obelisk. 4 others, their scales in hues of reds and rusts, stand guard.