As Sigurd lights up the cave in a flash of light, everyone gapes in awe at a brilliant shining and shimmer along the walls. Those with darkvision couldn't see it, but now it is evident to all. Veins and tendrils of a certain previous metal spread throughout the walls.
That's right, thems gold in these here hills!
Now that the cave is lit, the party is able to walk forward to meet Ike.
Ike paused for a moment as the others approached, before his eyes went wide at the veins of beautiful ores along the walls. It was... gorgeous! Enchanting! Oh, right, he needed to inform the others what he found!
"Be careful, everyone! This place might be inhabited. I saw a larger cave ahead, and nearly stepped on a switch. This might be someone's home... but I didn't want to mess with it. I'm not good with traps..."
With Sigurd's light shining about them, the party can see more clearly. You spend a good time just peering about, taking in the cave. Contrary to Ike's original assessment, it doesn't look like a manmade maze, but a natural cave. The walls are smooth, not hewn. There is a coolness and a dampness about you, and the only noise you hear is cheep of bats and water dripping.
The light shows that the path to the right ends in a dead-end. Strange. Rai disables the trap there; had Ike stepped on it, arrows would have shot out of the wall at him.
+1 for determining surprise
Sigurd starts walking through the passage to the north, but sharp-eyed Ike, expecting more traps, grabs him by the shirt and points. Something on the ground in front of you! Rai examines it and concludes that nothing can disable this... he throws a large rock ahead and it collapses a covered pit! The pit is 10 feet wide, and 20 feet down! It was covered by thin poles covered with animal skins and gravel. The first person through would have discovered this quickly!
To continue, you need to cross a 10 foot pit.
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Sigurd looks at the other side of the pit and his mouth goes a little dry. He's not afraid...per se...it's just that he's never been the most acrobatic of warriors. Usually, in his homeland, warriors only worry about their battle prowess (and maybe their drinking prowess). He's not so good at jumping over gaps.
"Um...does anyone have any ideas as to how we're going to cross this? Are we supposed to jump?"
Brokk'r looks around the area for anything they might use to cross the pit.
Arlen confidently proclaims
"With a little magic, I'm sure we can surmount this obstacle with little difficulty!"
He casts guidance on whomever wants it then on himself and takes a running start to leap across the pit.
Ike paused and stared at the pit, looking into it and trying to see if anything was down there. With his darkness piercing eyes, he hopefully wouldn't have much trouble seeing the bottom!
Looking up and across the way, he paused and considered a minute, before clapping his hefty claws. "Oh! I bet there might be something to help get across on the other side! Like, an emergency plank or something!" Taking a few steps back and flexing his (useless) wings, Ike took a running leap to try and cross the pit, his wings flapping to give him some sort of lift-off in the process!
Rai will use rope and climb down to the other side then pitons and climb up and then piton the rope low and high on both sides folded four times making a rope bridge across the pit.
You peer down into the pit! It looks like solid rock, 20 feet down... flat. No spikes, so that is good!
Brokk'r looks about. He does find a nugget of gold on the ground, which he can appraise if he would like. But nothing useful for pit crossing! He will have to use what the group is carrying.
Ike is able to leap across and lands on the other side without issues.
Arlen gives it his bet shot too....
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Diceros sets Pygmy to guard at the cave entrance. He doesn't think rhinos and caves really work well together.
Then Diceros mostly hangs in the back while the others are exploring. Caves aren't exactly his favorite things either. If he wanted to be a dungeoneer he would have signed up for a different adventure!
Still, once the trap is clear, Diceros does go into the dead end on the right and examine it for hidden features.
And when he comes to the pit, he casts guidance on himself and anyone else waiting in Arlen's line, and takes a running jump!
Diceros does not see anything at the dead end. It really seems like a dead end! It is hard to imagine a world in which this could be true.
Diceros has no problem launching over the pit. If fact, he clears it by a good 10 feet.
Arlen prepares his gangly limbs, wiggles his nose a few times, and launches himself toward the other side of the pit!
His old limbs propel him rather ably and he stumbles a little bit then smooths his outfit on the other side. He nods at Rasputin in his jacket pocket.
"Thanks for the tips!"
Suspicious of this supposed dead-end, Arlen looks around for any secret passages, small holes, or anything of the sort.
The dead end was on the other side of the pit. Arlen examines it carefully, wondering why anyone in their right mind would put a trap at a dead end. He carefully and methodically checks every stone. An hour later, he concludes that this really and truly is a dead end.
Brokk'r gives a disgruntled sort of snort, then backs up for a running start and leaps...
...barely making it over the pit.
"Let's go, elf!" he calls back to Rai.
Rai mixes an elixir and drinks it and then swiftly climbs down to the bottom using the wall. At the bottom he will search for anything of value. Then he will climb up to the group.
Rai finds two more gold nuggets on the pit bottom. Appraise to learn their worth.
Ike had to admit, he was getting a little excited! There was someone here! Maybe they'd be willing to talk with them and trade them some of these pockets of gold for something! Or help them out!
Forging ahead, Ike kept a look out for trouble... but couldn't quite restrain the spring in his step.
Indeed Ike walks with a spring in his step! And thus, when he walks right into the long tripwire stretching across corridor, he is able to catch himself and not fall over!
"Hee hee hee!" Giggling in the darkness turns to manical laughter as a gremlin leaps out of the shadows at Ike. He is a tiny little thing, and has to stand right next to Ike to get an attack off. The little sword barely nicks Ike, but it does go into a sensitive location, dealing 7 damage total. Others giggle in the darkness, and you know there are more out there.
To learn 1 piece of information, free action check: Knowledge: nature, DC: 11. (It will be revealed next time GM posts and it will be assumed all players are told.Higher rolls give more information.)
ROUND 1
Diceros/Pyg
Sigurd
Arlen
Ike
gremlins
Rai
Brokk'r
Go if you are bold!
Note: Tripwire: You can cross it with an acrobactics DC 5 as a part of a move action. You can also cross with a five foot step, no check. If you forget to do these things during your turn, you will trip and end your turn!
Having taken a gremlin apart, Arlen is fairly knowledgable about how the small creatures work.
In the dimly lit cave, he has trouble determining much about this particular creature but he draws a few conclusions which he then shares with his comrades. Additionally, he throws fortune on Diceros and begins laughing right back at the small creatures.
"Heee heee hee! Oh so very funny, you think?"
Jinkin gremlins are smaller that the Nublub gremlins you fought previously, and particularly like to set traps for unwary adventurers....
The gremlins dance backwards, unwilling to close on you with you standing and aware of their presence.
Sigurd and Diceros get an attack of opportunity as they go backward! They miss!
ROUND 1
ROUND 1 Cont.
gremlins
Ike
Rai
Brokk'r
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ROUND 2
Diceros/Pyg
Sigurd
Arlen
Go if you are bold!
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Diceros does not want to aggressively approach them unless they seem outright hostile. He knows the party are the invaders here in this cave, and he's becoming tired of feeling like raiding troops in this land.
Plus, he doesn't quite trust that there aren't more traps around here.
He puts himself in a ready position. If any nublubs come within reach of him, he'll attack. Otherwise, he will hold position and see what happens.
Rai will use his 20 minutes if climb from monkey fish going up the ceiling and chucking a bomb at the Gremlins
Arlen moves forward a little bit and throws fortune onto Sigurd, for whatever comes next, and laughs madly at the small gremlins.
Brokk'r moves up next to Ike.
Rai runs over to the wall and scales it. Hanging from the ceiling, he throws the bomb upside-down at the nearest gremlin. The gremlin is slightly out of his natural range, and he barely manages to hit it.
The ice grenade freezes on contact, and the little gremlin turns to an icicle before falling over and shattering.
IKE and SIGURD can yet go.
The gremlins can sense that you are hanging back; hesitant in your actions. With a nod, they all dance about for a few seconds, and disappear in miniature flashes of light.
They have all gone; or disappeared.
Is the battle still going on? Hard to say!
ROUND 2 Cont.
gremlins
Ike go twice
Rai
Brokk'r
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ROUND 3
Diceros/Pyg
Sigurd go twice
Arlen
Go if you are bold!
Arlen looks around carefully, trying to figure out what happened with the strange creatures. "Brokk'r, what do your keen eyes think?"
Rai will climb past the trap and disables it from the wall while saying keep and eye out
Rai disconnects the tripwire from the wall.
Arlen... just thinks that the room is very, very dark.
As Sigurd moves forward, he sings his song, which dramatically goes up several octaves as the ground gives beneath him and he is dropped into a 10-ft deep pit!
The gremlins are still nowhere to be seen.
Ike blinked as the gremlins suddenly emerged and attacked! Why!? Why was everyone so hostile in these parts!? But... they were in the midst of the gremlin home, weren't they? It was a misunderstanding! And fey could be reasoned with!
...right?
Willing to let the attack go without much trouble, Ike put his guard up, but started to speak to them... but it wasn't in common. It was Sylvan! He recalled his master muttering these "fairy words" as he worked. Maybe... just maybe...
As he continued to speak, guard at the ready, he moved further into the darkness after the gremlins, wanting to get them in his line of sight. If he could just get them to listen...!
As Ike moves forward, he too is pitched head over oozey heels into a 10 ft pit!
You hear giggles from the darkness... perhaps from the walls?
"Hee hee hee!"
As Diceros moves around the wall, he sees several covered pits that no one has fallen into yet!
Also at the east end of the room, there is skeleton... it lies propped against the wall... but you will need to get closer to uncover more details.
Diceros also makes out several tiny holes in the wall... It is likely the gremlins retreated into them.
Arlen follows behind Diceros and examines the skeleton, trying to determine if there is anything mechanical or magical attached to the skeleton.
Using his climb speed and the rope Rai will recover his friends and quickly search the pits for anything of value.
Rai gives Ike and Sigurd a rope and a boost, helping them out of the pits and preventing them from becoming anymore embarrassed then they already are.
Arlen examines the skeleton. It is old... very old. Surely the only reason it isn't dust is the cool windless cave slowly down decomposition. However, the clothing has long since worn away and any weapons have perhaps been picked up by scavengers, or maybe the gremlins.
However, Arlen's sharp elven eyes find something that the gremlins must have missed. Two things, in fact. A ring, half buried with the finger bones, and... a small jade statue. It looks like a finger.
Both radiate extremely powerful magic.
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Diceros looks on with interest as Arlen finds the magical items on the skeleton. Magic continues to fascinate the half-elf. He doesn't understand how druidic language and magic came to him a few short months ago, and he views it all with wonder.
But, he'll have to leave it up to Arlen or someone else to figure out how it works. He can't make any sense of it yet.
What he can make sense of is gold. If magic fascinates him, collecting and counting money speaks to him. Not the money itself, but keeping a proper inventory and using ledgers to track the parties discoveries is something he takes a weird pleasure in. If shepherding doesn't work out, Diceros might try to become an accountant.
He searches the room for any other gold nuggets, and then asks,
"So, can I get a recap of everything we've discovered in this cave? Who has a nugget or two? Do we see anything else we can capture now? I imagine this cave is going to be vital for any civilization that gets built in this area!"
we do not have to fight here, we can just back out and flood the cave by creating water Rai climbs to the other side of the pits and looks carefully for more traps.
Rai takes a look around; no more traps, at least from what he can see.
Diceros picks up another three gold nuggets from the ground. Most of the gold is still in the walls, and who knows how far back it goes? Coming back with a mining crew at some point could certainly prove lucrative!
Arlen lays a hand on his own head with a slight glow and peers carefully at the ring and the statue without touching either.
Arlen considers the pair carefully, recalling reams upon reams of magical knowledge he squirreled away during his long life as a librarian. Looking at the statue in particular, he states gravely
"I'm fairly confident this is one of those statues that wretched fey woman was talking about..."
The finger statue is emanates magical power. Arlen can feel wisps of the First World about it as he holds it in his hands. However, what exactly it does is remains a mystery. You might want to hold onto it; or find the strange fey woman and sell it... that is an option of course...
The ring, however, while quite magical, does not have the same level of power as the statue. Arlen feels like he understands it. Called a Ring of Laughing, the wearer can activate it once a day as a swift action and the ring will cackle and extend active hexes, leaving the wearer free to use their move action as normal.