"As you said before, maybe some magic explosion happened and affected a lot of things including this guy" Slobad pets the giant squirrel
"What makes you sure this is a guy? So..." Arrahska grins, "Who wants to check? She should have a name after all.", continuing to scratch the giant rodent's ears and neck the mermaid begins examining the ruins.
"I nominate Slobad for the job. After all it seems he, or she, seems to have taken to him." Zero begins to walk off towards the ruins. "I'll scout a little ahead to see if there are anymore surprises lurking around."
Zero moves ahead trying to keep himself hidden as he goes.
The magic hearabouts is as chaotic and disturbed as everywhere else, it is clear this entire world has been damaged somehow.
Zero's exploration turns up no immediate threats, likely the giant squirrel having claimed this territory drove off most other beasts. The ruins on this side of the field appear incredibly ancient, covered in vines with sweet smelling flowers. Many things have decayed to dust entirely. On the other side of the field, where the sun beats down with extreme force the buildings seem much newer but it is one of the few buildings with half on either side that tells the strangest tale. The side within the field is clearly new but the side in the greenery has aged considerably. A table within, half crumbled to dust where the field bisected it.
After looking around he sneaks back to the others pondering what could have caused the strange sight.
"It looks like our new friend here has been keeping the other beasts from venturing in here. It appears to be safe for now if not very unusual.
Patting the squirrel on the head she nods to Zero, "Did you see any water or natural food by chance?"
Looking around the immediate area herself, she seems comfortable using the area for a shelter for now, tying Leaf's lead to a rock nearby.
"I imagine there is still plenty of light left, did we want to continue exploring or set up a camp?"
"I don't know how to distinguish a squirrel sex" Slobad scratches his head and shrugs,
Slobad walks around the ruins looking at the building
"I agree with Selen, we can still move on straight in one direction, if we don't find anything we can get back here and use it as a shelter...at least is secure form other beasts"
"Skippy it is!" Arrahska cheerfully proclaims their new companion's name, before focusing back on the task at hand "We can stow the stuff that might be weighing us down in one of these buildings and then move on to exploring. As for water I think we can get some from the nearby stream, although I would want to check if it is safe first."
Selen blinks at looks at Leaf, her pack horse.
"If you're weighed down, Leaf would be happy to take some of your equipment."
The horse huffs, almost as if it understood its predicament.
"No i didn't see any food or water upahead. We can try to go back to the first creature to scavenge what we can. I for one would like to try to collect more poison from it." Zero looks at his small collection of poison as he says the last part. "Also there is bound to be a form of fresh water around here or else our buddy here and those other creatures wouldn't be living around here."
"I'm ok with my equipment, how about we go and bring the body of the beast closer so Zero can extract his poison and Skippy can have his meal then keep moving?" Slobad ask as he looks around for the giant squirrel nest.
You find the evidence of the squirrels nest within the building it emerged. There is a dark staircase down into a basement or cellar that shows evidence of it's frequent passage. You cannot make out what is at the bottom of the stairs but it is deep and the mortar is crumbling. The stairs themselves are in poor shape and look to be difficult to descend.
It is easy enough to retrieve the rest of the remains. The fangs still drips venom and it may be recoverable.
"Well, I don't really have much beside my spear and my clothes. Maybe we should explore these ruins further. It might give us some hints as to what happened to the people who lived here." Arrahska looks at the staircase "This looks precarious, but I know a spell that should allow us to get down safely."
Nodding to Arrahska, "I agree with Arrahska, this staircase could lead to answers, or even better, a safe place to make a base for the time being. We don't know yet what night might bring in this world."
Flicking her wrist, three orbs of light appear around her as she grins, "Lets explore!"
Zero begins trying to extract the venom.
And with practiced skill and ease he expertly harvests it.
The venom is potent and dangerous but Zero's steady hands make the best of it, barely spilling a drop.
"Are we going down the stairs? Use your magic to fix them because I don't want to get squashed by a bunch of rocks" Slobad complains as he looks down the stairs.
Blinks at Slobad and looks to Arrahska, "Is he talking to you or me? Because I don't believe I can fix any stairs."
"Sorry, I talked to Arrahska, she said she could take us down there"
As you poke about the staircase Skippy comes over and watches curiously. As you determine what to do he squeezes into the hole and makes his way down, his claws tearing up even more of the stone. It appears this staircase was built into a natural tunnel to make it easier to navigate.
"What I had in mind was not a spell to hold the stone together but to let anyone glide down safely should the stairs give way below them. But if Skippy uses it regularly, it should be stable enough to hold any one of us.", Arraska slides forward and tries the stairs. Not having the anatomy for which stairs are designed she has some problems at first but begins making her way downstairs. "When I say it, you guys follow one by one."
Slobad waits until Arrahska calls them to go down carefully,
"I hate small places" he complains.
Zero follows close behind.
Selen will take up the rear, spear ready.
Going down proves difficult but not dangerous, though the climb back up does appear daunting. The crumbling masonry gave way frequently though the tunnel itself showed no instability. Many places the stairs were gone entirely, leaving just a steep smooth cave floor. As you descend you catch the scent of water. As you reach the bottom the light illuminates a small underground lake, the water seeping from the far east cave wall and a babbling stream exiting through a small cave on the southern wall. The squirrel is curled up on a nest made of stolen twigs straw and blankets and watches you curciously. As you stand on the sandy western bank of the lake yonotice the cave is better lit than expected, a luminicient fungus coats the roof and provides a soft light.
Arrahska invokes words of power, holding on to the magical energy she calls up the stairs. "I got down okay, looks like this is skippy's nest. You can come now, one by one, just to be sure."
Slobad goes down carefully, watching his step,
"We found our source of water, lucky." Slobad smiles happily.
Slobad gets close to the water and looks at skippy,
"It's safe to drink this water?" He ask skippy as if the giant squirrel could understand him.
Zero comes down after Slobad and after looking around speaks.
"This seems to be a safe enough place to make our camp at. Though I wonder where that leads to?" He points to the small cave as he walks towards it.
The squirrel tilts it's head but doesn't appear to understand the query.
There is very little of the exit cave above water and it is difficult to determine how deep it is with the water inside.
When Selen finishes making her way down Arrahska simply releases the spell on herself and then slithers over to the cave. "Looks like I should check this out. I hope you don't mind me swimming in our potential water source."
She gets down on her hands and slowly slips into the water, savoring every moment of the water surrounding her from her face along her body and tail up to the tip of her fin. After a few moments of looking around under water and just enjoying the tough of it, her head breaks the surface again "It's been too long... I will see where the cave goes."
Selen looks around the cavern curiously and remarks on its beauty before Arrahska slips into the water.
She watches as Arrahska disappears under water. When she returns to the surface, she says, "Please be careful. I also imagine it might be dark down there, do you have a light source of some kind?"
"I can see in the dark actually, but some light might help, if you have something that stays lit under water." There is an expression of joy on Arrahska's face that none of you have ever really seen from her before.
The water is cool but not too cold. As you approach the tunnel you can see it is very dark. It seems large enough for a medium sized creature though you are unsure if an air breather would be able to make it far. You can see further in there is at least one place where you would be hard pressed to squeeze through.
"Enjoying yourself Arrahska?" Slobad laughs, gets closer to the water and dips his hand in it,
"With some repairs, we could use this place, there's water, roof and skippy guarding this place... How about we start mapping from here?" he asks.
Zero nods at Slobads suggestion.
"Seems like a good place for it though we should do something about the cave. It may allow more other creatures to sneak in througt if it leads out some where."
From the surface even with light you can't see down the passage more than 30 feet and it drops below the surface of the water. Looking about you see not much in the way of supplies down here. The staircase itself was mostly crumbled as you came down and will not be easy to traverse, and will likely get worse with use to the point of uselessness. Off to one side you do notice an odd set of copper tubes that lead into the lake.
"I will see about where it goes. But maybe we should also examine those tubes" Arrahska dives back down, splashing her tail fin and disappearing beneath the surface. She follows the copper tubes under water.
Slobad will follow the tubes from outside to see if the go anywhere or they just go into the wall,
"Maybe they were using this to pull out the water?" Slobad knocks on the tubes to see if they are hollow.
The tubes go straight up through holes drilled in the rock and are certainly hollow. As Arrahksa follows them down to the middle of the pool she finds they end in a sort of mesh basket, suspended just above te very bottom, she can feel water being pulled into them.
Arrahska breaks the surface once again: "The pipes pull water from the bottom of the lake. They are still running, it appears. Maybe that means someone else is around."
"We can check the direction in which they go, follow that direction above ground and see where it goes."
"Sounds like a good plan. And if we do find anyone we should focus on observing first. No telling what any locals would be like."
Selen nods, "Sounds like a plan. I do not remember seeing a great deal left that would have something like these pipes though..."
"Leave unnecesary gear so we can travel light and fast, we should get back when is dark and camp here."
"Yes traveling light will help us. I will also go on ahead to scout before hand. Stealth is my expertise."
Arrahska pulls herself out of the water and balances on her tail again. "Alright, let's see where it goes."
What remains of the stairs is a fairly difficult climb with the masonry crumbling making for uneasy footing and the angle of the natural cave being too steep and smooth to simply stroll out.
Arrahska manages to pull herself up the crumbling stone with some difficulty. Once at the top she looks around to find the pipes.
Slobad climbs the stairs easily, once up there he throws his rope down, so the others can help themselves with it.