Kaziya rolls her eyes at the group's protestations.
"It's water. Each of our bodies is composed almost entirely of it. Getting a little extra on the outside is hardly a disaster."
She turns to leave the house without acknowledging their host. "I will be waiting outside. When the rest of you are ready to go see the priest so that he may adequately magick us for the task at hand, let's be off."
"Aye, but just because we can't complain don't mean we won't.
I guess we best be off to this priest if we're gunna be heading down t' them caves.
Thanks again for yer 'elp miss."
Rogar gives a short bow and heads for the door.
Emelie sees you out. Finding the temple to Brigh isn't hard. Rhea had spotted it earlier. You are greeted by a man in well worn smithing clothes. The only sign of his priesthood is the symbol of Brightbeard worn around his neck. "I've been wondering when you would get around to seeing me," Joram says.
Rhea give Joram the customary kiss on the cheek. Forgive the delay, Gear-master Joram. But we are here now! Yet we cannot stay long. We've been asked to mount an expedition into the tunnels below Torch through the newly discovered water-caves. But. I can't swim. And Ruza here hates water almost as much as me. And I'm worried Rogar here might sink under the heavy weight of his muscles and armor. Can you bestow Brigh's blessing on us? It would be a lot easier trip if we could breath water for a few hours.
Joram responds in kind. "Of course. I was told to expect you, so I all ready have the water breathing spell ready. And I have an extending rod to lengthen the duration. All together, you'll have just under 5 hours to do your exploring and get back to the surface with the spell intact.
I expect that should be more'n enough. Thank yeh kindly for your help.
Aside from giving thanks, Rogar's been standing around looking at the temple. He's not a worshipper of Brigh, but he likes what he sees.
And may I say, this is a fascinatin' temple yeh've got here.
Upon entering the temple, Kaziya briefly lowers her head and covertly gestures a prayer to Brigh with her right hand. This is not something she intends for others to notice.
Rhea smiles. Everyone seems comfortable in the Temple. This will be a place of rest for us on our adventures, friends.
Myst removes his hat and bows briefly before the shrine in a gesture of thanks for the blessing of water-breathing. Returning his hat to his head, he turns to the rest of the group.
"Well then, shall we head to the caves?"
upon entering the church, Ruza looks around, not paying attention to her companions. This is the first time she's been inside of something so... big.
startled a little by Mystiel, she nods. "Yes, lets go get wet." she says with noticeable displeasure.
Joram takes you to the Weeping Pond himself. More like a small lake, the Weeping Pond is the end point of a river that comes down from the hills around Torch. The pool is covered with a rainbow sheen of some kind and smells awful. Joram informs you that the water is not safe for drinking until it's been filtered through Crowfeather Palace, a type of building that purifies water. Joram and the clergy of Brigh worked closely with Khonnir Baine to design it. "I'll be casting water breathing on you, but still try to keep your mouths closed while you're under."
Myst sighs deeply at the thought of having to wade through all that muck. He pulls off his duster, vest, shirt and hat and stuffs them into his backpack before handing it to Joram, Leaving only his boots, trousers, sling and a pouch of bullets with him.
"Could you hang on to this for me, Joram? I'll come back to collect them when we're done here."
Ruza looks down at her silken armor... Not happy, not in the least.... she walks up to the priest and gets the spell cast on her then jumps into the water... which almost automatically messes with her disguise, causing anyone who looks at her a slight pause and another chance to try and figure out that Ruza isn't human.
Kaziya stoically accepts the spell, makes a curt nod of thanks to Joram, and simply walks straight into the lake.
Myst sighs deeply at the thought of having to wade through all that muck. He pulls off his duster, vest, shirt and hat and stuffs them into his backpack before handing it to Joram, Leaving only his boots, trousers, sling and a pouch of bullets with him.
"Could you hang on to this for me, Joram? I'll come back to collect them when we're done here."
Myst begins to remove his long-sleeved shirt, then suddenlystops himself. Handing the rest of his pack to Joram, he asks the cleric to wait for a moment whilst he withdraws from the rest of the party.
When he returns, you see that he has torn off his left sleeve and used it to bind his right arm to his chest.
"Old injury, right arm doesn't cope well with water," he mutters by way of explanation.
Does that arm still hurt, dear? Come now, let us have a look at it. We have several healers here and you shouldn't go swimming with a bum arm... once again, Rhea reaches for Myst's bicept...
"Don't worry about," Myst replies as he pulls away.
"Just need to keep it dry as much as I can. Or in this case, dry it as soon as I can once we get to the caves. I can still sling just fine with my left hand, so don't worry about it," he says with finality and steps towards Joram to receive the water-breathing blessing.
Ruza notices that the Doctor's arm is not regular, but she is glad that no-one spotted her disguise.
You can notice that Ruza isn't human and the water is pushing her skin onto her body at weird angles, as if she was really hairy and a tail is moving the water around but, the tail can't really be seen.
Rogar looks a bit puzzled and stares for a bit at Myst's arm, but can't figure out what's wrong. He shakes his head and mutters Humans, pah. under his breath.
Well. Best get this over with. Rogar takes the blessing and thanks Joram. I'll keep me mouth shut. Sure I've drunk worse a'fore, but no' this early in the day.
Rogar looks apologetically at Grymm. You'd best wait here boy. Don't think you'd take t' water. He leads Grymm over to some nearby vegetation/rubbish, and the goat happily starts eating. He then goes to stand by the water, closes his eyes, and jumps in.
After Joram casts his spell, the five of your enter the pool. The underwater entrance is big enough for only one of you to go through at a time. The tunnel extends into Black Hill all sunlight is quickly cut off. Only Rogar, Mystiel, and Kaziya are able to see. Rhea and Ruza are left to grope there way through the underwater tunnel. Luckily, the passage elevates above the water so that you are merely wading through a shallow river. However, the shimmering surface and terrible smell of the water outside are here as well, only worse since there is little ventilation.
Rhea and Ruza: The two of you are forced to walk in darkness. There are no natural light sources here in the caves. All you hear is the sloshing of feet through the underwater river. All you smell is the foul stench of the polluted water. The metallic taste hangs in the air, unavoidable. You feel the gentle nudges of the other party members as they work to keep you from walking smack into rocks. At some point to the right you, you see four large spots of bright yellow light appear, followed closely by a kind of clicking sound. The light begins to move.
All Rhea can tell is that there is some kind of dull torch like light.
Based on the shadows cast by the light, the light itself is coming from some kind of insect.
Rogar, Kaziya, and Ruza are all overwhelmed by the foul air contaminating this cave. They begin retching into the water beneath them. Ruza is unfortunately unable to see to direct the vomit away from the people around her. The three of them are sickened for the next minute.
Kaziya is up. Then the beetles. Then everyone.
Myst quickly jumps out of the water to evade the vomit of his companions. He anxiously begins to unwrap his right arm, but has barely begun when he spots the beetles advancing.
Being preoccupied, he is unable to act before they strike.
Once Ruza is up, she will use her Kitsune magic to summon 4 balls of light, that circle around her in a 10 foot circle. The lights are different shades of colors, one is Blue, one is Red, one is Yellow and one is white.
Kaziya, gagging and grimacing in disgust, unslings her shortbow, knocks an arrow, and fires at the nearest beetle.
"Lovely. Ten minutes in, and already this is the worst place I've ever been. And I grew up in the Mana Wastes," she gripes to no one in particular.
The first beetle attacks Rogar.
The second beetle attacks Kaziya.
The third beetle attacks Ruza.
Rogar manages to duck under the beetle flying toward him. Kaziya and Ruza are not to lucky. Kaziya mostly dodges and just gets cut by a pincer, but the third beetle bites into Ruza.
Rogar simultaneously draws his hammer and wipes the larger chunks of his regurgitated breakfast out of his beard.
You'll, eurgh, regret tha' He weakly says to the beetle that went for him before swinging his hammer down towards it's body.
Rogar's hammer glances weakly off the beetle's armor-like carapace.
Rhea unclips her artificer's hammer from her belt, now that she can see in Ruza's light. Well, I guess we shouldn't be surprised that there are dangerous things in these tunnels! for
Rhea caves in the skull of the beetle attacking Ruza.
Huzaaah!
Myst curses as he fishes his sling out from his pocket, takes a moment to check that the bullet is still nestled within, then whips it around in an arc and fires at Kaziya's assailant.
Myst's sling stone penetrates the beetles carapace and kills it.
Kaziya moves towards the beetle Rogar is engaged with, moving into flanking if she can.
She angrily rakes at the beetle with one of her clawed hands.
Kaziya tears one of the legs off the last beetle. It's still standing though.
Once Ruza is up, she will use her Kitsune magic to summon 4 balls of light, that circle around her in a 10 foot circle. The lights are different shades of colors, one is Blue, one is Red, one is Yellow and one is white.
Spurred on by hunger, the beetle attacks Kaziya.
Kaziya is easily able to dodge.
Go ahead everyone.
Rogar steps back to bring his hammer into play against the remaining beetle , then has another attempt at flattening it.
Get bac' yeh filthy blighter!
Rhea winces as Rogar spatters beetle-juice onto her face. Yuck, that's really gross, man!
Rogar crushes the beetle, splattering it's insides across the cave walls. It's legs twitch a bit after the impact, but it soon lays perfectly, dead. Now that the initial excitement is over, you can clearly see the beetle do emit some sort of flameless light. It continues to glow even after the creature's are deceased.
Ruza looks at the illuminated gunk and shakes her head. "Some of us need light... But I'm not going to touch that with a stick."
"Oh, don't be ridiculous. You can't see in the dark, and I hazard a guess that your sparkly little lights won't last forever," Kaziya chides Ruza. She takes a close look at the dead beetle in front of her, prodding it with one of her claws. She then dips a claw into it's innards, taking a close look at the glowing goop on her finger. "Fascinating"
"Rogar? Could I trouble you to stash one of these creatures in your pack? I'd love to study this substance they are full of."
Pah, yeh've known me five minutes and I'm your pack mule already! Rogar says jovially, slipping off his pack and opening it for Kaziya. Jes' don't get any o' that goop on me sandwiches.
Rogar washes the taste of vomit out of his mouth with some ale and offers it around to everyone else.
'spose we should see where yonder tunnel goes He says, pointing in the direction the beetles came from as he shrugs his pack back on. Any objections to me takin' the lead?
Ruza smiles, "No problem at all, as long as you dip your Hammer into this bug goo to light the way."
How are you guys going to proceed? Are you going to follow the river around the bend or climb up the ledge to where the stalagmites are?
Rhea gladly accepts a small gulp from the ale horn. Ahhhh. Dwarves make the best beer...Lead on!
Whilst the rest of the group discusses illumination, Myst fusses about with his right arm for a moment before joining the group.
"I'll pass on the beer, but thank you. I'm not too keen on climbing a ledge when I don't know what might be waiting for me at the top... Shall we first see where the bend in the stream takes us?"
Ruza looks at the cliff and then slowly looks at the water again.
She lets out a big sigh. "I don't know if i can get up the cliff without assistance." she looked at Dr. Mystiel as she said "I think moving around the bend might be the best option."
Ah've got ropes and the like in me bag, but someone would have to get up there first. He takes a look at the ledge. I can give it a go, but I'd prob'ly have t' take off me armour, and I don't much like them odds.
followin' the stream it is then!