"Apologies. All I really saw was the bow pointed at us, and that half-orc's body in my mind's eye."
"Not orc," the creature says. "Though there are orcs wandering around farther in. Ratfolk too. You wanted to see my leader?"
"Orcs? Ratfolk? Could he have seen Khonnir come in too? Was there a different group from town that already tried to enter here before us?"
"Is this your doing?"
Oliver asks Ruza.
"Yes please. Take us to your leader. We only want to talk, no attack," Myst replies as he softly puts a hand on the creature's shoulder to reassure him.
"Stow your weapons, guys. It appears we are to be guests here, and we must be polite to our hosts."
Ruza smiles at Oliver, "I simply don't know what you mean."
Oilver, still confused on the matter, decides to drop it. Ruza seemed trustworthy enough, and if she said she didn't know, she probably didn't know.
Rogar's just going to look thoroughly confused for a minute then head along with the others.
So how many of you are down here? How long have you been here?
"There were a dozen of us to start, but battles with surface dwellers have reduced us to only 5. Our original leader brought us up here to expand our domain, but she was killed and now we have no way to return. Follow me, and be quick."
As you guys leave the room of ruined debris, Mystiel sees a pouch hiding amongst the rubble. A quick examination finds ten small disks with a shimmering surface that seems to emit a low level of light, noticeable, but not bright enough to see by. There are also 91gp, 7sp, and 5cp.
The man brings you to a ledge and climbs down into a tunnel covered in brown dust.
The tunnel seems safe to you guys. You follow Luepel in and immediately begin to feel as if your body heat is being leeched from you.
Luepel runs through the tunnel, not caring about stirring up the dust into the air. You have to hurry to keep up with him, but half way through, Rogar and Irgot collapse from the cold.
Rogar is at 7/11hp. Irgot is at 7/9hp.
To make matters worse, you find a human unconscious or dead in the tunnel. He still wears a chain shirt and appears to have been part of one of the town's expeditions.
Keldor will call out harshly.
"Grab someone and MOVE...quickly! Out of the tunnel now!"
Keldor will grab Irgot and carry/drag him to safety as fast as he can.
"Oliver! Heal them if you can once its safe enough. Mystiel or Ruza, one of you start a fire or light a torch or something for some heat!"
If nobody grabbed the strange 'body' that was left behind, I will go back for it after I heal my Eidolon.
"Running is not my strong suit!"
Oliver hoofs it as fast as he can, knowing that if he falls here treating the others will be the least of his worries.
Lacking any talent in fire-starting, Myst grabs the strange body and starts carrying it through the passage, huffing as he goes along.
"Was not expecting to experience so much cold in these parts...'
Luepel grabs Rogar and you all manage to reach the exit.
With suspicion in his voice, Keldor looks at Mystiel.
"Doctor! Ask your new friend why he did not warn us of the tunnel and its effects!"
Keldor will then look around sharply, expecting some sort of ambush or further threat to present itself from the dark beyond the tunnel exit.
Ruza holds her lantern as she follows everyone out of the cold embrace. she takes off the top of the lantern, hoping that that might help with some heat. "Sorry, don't know how much I can do."
"I told you to move fast," says Luepel. "I guess not everyone can handle the cold." Three more of the grey people come out of shoddy shelters in this large cavern.
"Three of you come with me," Luepel continues. "Only three. The other three wait here with your fallen."
Ruza stands up, "I will go and try to figure out what's going on. Mystie, stay here and see what you can do for him."
With Gauntlet's glowing eyes flashing in the dark, Keldor speak out.
"I'll go as well."
Ruza smiles, "Thank you Keldor. Rodger, would you like to come along?"
"Hmm...given how our initial encounter went, I think it would be a good idea for me to go. I suggest Rodger stay here, if that's ok with him" Myst replies.
"Fine with me."
Ruza sees that two of her team is down. "Say, Luepel, do you or your people have any healin magics that could help our friends?"
"We have no magic, and you could treat your own normally better than we could." He says this very sorly and you get the suspicion that there's an underlying history.
Waving Gauntlet's massive hand as if trying to clear the air, Keldor pushed ahead.
"Fine. Please lead us to your tribe's representatives Luepel."
Looking over his metal shoulder, Keldor looked at Oliver.
"See what you can do for them Oliver."
Oliver, panting heavily from the unexpected run, nods as the others encourage him to get to work.
Oliver feels out, the familiar warm sensation of his power filling his body, and then he releases it in a small wave affecting all who are near him, most importantly the two incapacitated.
With a small spurt of energy to revive them, he asks if either would like additional healing.
Ruza looks at her team and back at him. "From my experiences with humans, elves and many other races is that they are all the same and can be treated as a whole. Vampires, and those inflicted by the undead strain, would be harder to cure."
Uh. Wha'appened?
Rogar stand unsteadily and checks himself over.
I don't feel badly hurt, think ah'll be a'right. He lets out a loud yawn. Mighty tired though. And is it me or is it bleddy cold in 'ere?
Luepel takes you past the small village to a chamber filled with old scrap and junk. Sitting among the refuse is a woman of the same grey skinned race as your guide. She turns toward you and you see malice in her large, black eyes. Dressed only in a loincloth and shirt for protection, she has several belts and pouches to carry her short sword, daggers, and vials of alchemists fire.
Luepel says, "more surface dwellers, Sef. This group wanted to talk to you."
"Are there more?" Sef asks.
"Three more. The others are watching them."
"All right. Stay here. Keep your bow out." Sef turns to you. "Why are you here, and what do you want from us."
Oliver ponders for a bit, then decides to release another channel energy.
"That should do it."
Keldor looks at his compatriots and tries to summarize as best he can the current situation.
"Please understand ma'am, that we are exploring these caves for an important reason:
There are things that have happened out on the surface that caused some of our people to
come down here to investigate. They have not returned and we are now here looking for those
who are lost. If there is any way we could convince you to help us on this effort, we
would be willing to offer something in return possibly. Within reason of course."
Keldor gestures back at the cave of huts behind them.
"It does seem your tribe is down on its luck at the moment."
Ruza looks around at the "junk" to see if they would view it as thus.
She will walk up Sef and do a low bow. "Greetins madam, I am Ruza Furskin of the traveling people. As my companion said, we are on a search and rescue mission to find those who went before is and return. And as Keldor suggested, we could help set up some sort of communication or trade with the top world.
"I care not for trade with the surface world. We no longer have the numbers to ensure our survival. If you could help us to return to the darklands, we will give you information and the equipment we found on the top sides we killed.
Keldor shrugs and holds out his hands in a gesture of resignation.
"I am not sure how we can help you return to the darklands...
unless you already have an idea how we can help you in that regard?"
"That is fair, and we will render what assistance we can. What prevents you from returning to the darklands?"
"We came out of the hole by our camp. That pit is a direct link to the darklands. Our first leader had a spell that let us fly up here, but he was killed in our last Battle with surface dwellers. To make matters worse, a rival tribe made up of gremlins has been stealing what supplies we have. Getting rid of them would be appreciated.
With a sound of utter disgust, which is amplified by the Eidolon's head, one word rolls out that says it all.
"GREMLINS..."
Shaking his head, Keldor continues.
"I do not have the magic you could use, or even a rope with me to help you return to the darklands down the pit.
Getting rid of gremlins however, would be...possible."
"Given enough time and resources I could possibly construct a rope and pulley for the pit. Possibly, I'd have to see it."
Oliver inspects the man someone grabbed from the tunnel. He checks to see if he/she's alive, and if not, see's what he has on him.
The man is most definitely dead. He is pale and deathly cold, but not frozen and rust colored fibers cover his skin like veins. You can only assume that he was done in by the freezing tunnel because he was not killed by any obvious means.
Ruza pulls out a rope, "It's not that long, but how deep is the home that you came from? Are these goblins willing to talk?