Unable to see what's going on from his vantage point, "Gilfroy, have they finished off the oversized vermin yet?! What is happening?! Malan hasn't fallen again, has he?"
"No, and no," Gilfroy replies, slapping Tevyn with another guidance spell.
Despite the magical boosts on his aim, Tevyn shot still goes wild. Gilfroy renews the magical guidance. Meanwhile, Malan is also unable to stab the spider.
Next Up: Corinna (subject to readied action), Giant Spider, Tevyn, Gilfroy, Malan, Blue Rajah (subject to delayed action).
Melon steps next to Malan to keep the line of fire clear for Tevyn; then boots the oversized critter between the mandibles.
Melon's boot connects with the spider, which shudders angrily in response.
The spider tries to retaliate by taking a bite out of Melon's foot, but she steps away too quickly for it. The spider slips back onto its web .
Next Up: Gilfroy, Malan, Blue Rajah (subject to delayed action), Melon, Corinna (subject to readied action), Giant Spider.
"A man can't shoot effectively when there's always someone in the way!" Tevyn mutters and reluctantly releases his bow, drawing his longsword as he moves toward the spider.
Once within reach, he inexpertly swipes at the spider with his sword.
Melon reflexively crouches lower as Tevyn's blade swooshes above her. Despite having to hold back on her gag reflex, she still manages a weak grin, "My hero..."
Malan continues his dance and tries to finish off the spider.
Rapier: arcane pool (+1), bless, sickened, flank,
to hit damage
Gilfroy moves in after Tevyn, giving him more guidance.
Tevyn moves up and swings at the spider, but his sword gets caught in the webs. Gilfroy follows along behind the ranger, his hand seemingly almost attached to Tevyn's behind.
Malan stabs the spider, his rapier sinking deep. Dark goo drips from the sword as he removes it. The spider dangles in the web, only moving feebly.
Melon grins at Malan, "We're not half-bad at the front, even if we both feel sick to the core and shaky in the limbs."
Tevyn unceremoniously finishes the spider off with a quick cut of his blade. Wiping his blade clean he sheathes it and returns for his bow.
"The rest of you can come in now," he says softly.
"Are you sure?" Corinna calls back nervously, still watching the lit corridor. "Is there a way out in there? We don't want to be trapped."
"There's no exit that I can see." Tevyn says. "But that just ensures that there's no way for anything to sneak up on you from behind."
As Tevyn gives the all clear, Rajah moves in to examine the carnage. "Well done. Well done. You all managed quite well." Turning to Tevyn, "Now, I believe you, my good woodsman, gestured for us to move in the other direction of this cavern before we decided to traverse in this one." Then to them all, "Should we not alter our course to the one Tevyn suggested intially? Who knows where this one might lead us."
Corinna holds her position and her spell until the rest of the group decides which way to go, harboring an irrational fear that all sorts of monsters are hovering just outside the radius of her lights, waiting to creep in.
"Certainly. I am nothing if not flexible." Malan heads to the other tunnel. He waits until everyone is ready before continuing on.
As Malan immediately heads back, Rajah turns to the others, "Well, if there is one thing to be said about Malan, it's that he does not hesitate a split second once he's decided upon his course. Quite the go-getter, isn't he?" Rajah asks, seemingly more of a statement than a question. He then makes his way back as well.
Gilfroy glances about this little cavern for a moment, seeing if there's any evidence that goblins ever came in here (goblin skeleton would be ideal proof).
Perception:
Tevyn also takes a closer look around, especially examining the floor for tracks.
Tevyn finds no sign of anything passing through this cavern recently, other than the spiders, insects, and a few small lizards. Peering around the southeast corner (and with some light from Malan), he sees that the a passage extends to the south, curving to the southwest.
Tevyn nods to himself and turns back to the others. "The tracks you're following go along that other passage. There's no sign that they came here."
The group returns to Corinna and then continues down the main passage. Around the corner, you see a a stream of water that comes out of the wall to the north and soon crosses the passage. The water does not seem particularly deep (although it's murky and impossible to see the bottom of), so it's probably possible to wade across. However, the ground here is wet and slick as well as quite smooth. If it's similar under the water, then it might be quite slippery.
A check from Tevyn finds that it's clear the skeletons dragging their object entered this way, but the damp of the cavern has obscured their further progress. There's no indication that they left again, though, so they must have gone straight across the stream.
Corinna submerges her dancing lights into the water, to see if they can see the bottom -- or anything waiting beneath the surface to grab them.
Although it's still not possible to actually see the bottom, the light from the dancing lights does easily penetrate to the surface, so you can easily tell how far they go before they can go no further. The depth of the stream varies, but goes no deeper than 3 feet.
Corinna looks down at her robes and mentally calculates how much leg she'd have to show to keep them out of the water. Quickly coming to the conclusion that she couldn't do that in mixed company -- or with Melon about, for that matter -- she sighs and pre-casts prestidigitation for use on the other side.
You wade into the water. The bottom is indeed slippery, and there are moments its difficult to stay upright.
There's a ledge at the bend of the corridor. It too is slippery, but it can provide a brief respite from the slimy water before crossing into the next section. When Malan reaches the next shore, he notices another passage branching off to the west. To the south, at the extent of his low-light vision, he can see a large cavern opens up. Tevyn and Gilfroy can also make out the cavern, but it's beyond the edge of the humans' vision.
Corinna winces as she wades into the cold water, but she places her feet carefully and is pleasantly surprised to find she makes it across upright. Once everyone is across, she summons her dancing lights around the corner and tries to perform a modest leech-inspection as she uses prestidigitation to remove any grime left behind by the murky water.
Tevyn moves carefully into the water with his bow carefully held up in both hands, expertly finding firm footing.
On the far side, he kneels to examine the cave floor once more.
Melon wades across with practiced sure-footedness. She's quick to spot an entrance near the wall to her right. "I think we could've saved ourselves the trouble - looks like the spider is over that way," she points.
Gilfroy hands his pack to Rajah, then, taking a deep breath, he casts guidance and wades into the water, letting the current sweep him south.
Swim:
Rajah, ever so confident, steps in and moves across without worry.
"This isn't so ba...whoaaaa!" *gurgle, gurgle* Rajah's feet come flying out from under him as he falls under.
Immediately popping back up, he coughs up what little water he managed to swallow. "Oh dear, oh dear. Sorry, Gilfroy. I'm afraid your things are slightly wet." He pulls the backpack off and tilts it at an angle, so as to where only the water escapes. Putting the pack back on, he looks to Gilfroy and smiles sheepishly, shrugging.
"That's okay. It's just a steel mirror, lamp, and oil," Gilfroy says once they get together outside the cavern. He accepts his pack back.
Whispering to Melon, he adds, "I just figured the extra unbalanced weight would send him under for sure."
Malan moves through the water cautiously. Like Tevyn, he carries his bow above the water. Once Malan makes it to dry land, he takes up a guard position until everyone is ready to continue. "I'll make sure about that spider cavern, then we can go on."
Melon winks at Gilfroy, their sign for a mental high-five.
Malan moves through the water cautiously. Like Tevyn, he carries his bow above the water. Once Malan makes it to dry land, he takes up a guard position until everyone is ready to continue. "I'll make sure about that spider cavern, then we can go on."
Malan heads up the side passage and confirms that it does, indeed, connect with the spider cavern. It would have been dryer route to take. However, he also discovers another branch off this passage heading west, then south.
Rajah removes himself from the water and pushes his wet hair back from his face in an attempt to make it look a little less disheveled. As Malan moves to double check the spider cavern, Rajah spends his time squeezing out his wet clothes as best as possible. "Well, that was refreshing," he says with a smile.
After a while waiting on Malan, "Well Malan? Have you found anything else of interest? Or are we to continue on?"
"Which way did they go?" Corinna whispers to Tevyn as he examines the cave floor.
Tevyn moves carefully into the water with his bow carefully held up in both hands, expertly finding firm footing.On the far side, he kneels to examine the cave floor once more.
1d20 + 9 = 23
Tevyn moves carefully into the water with his bow carefully held up in both hands, expertly finding firm footing.On the far side, he kneels to examine the cave floor once more.
1d20 + 9 = 23
Tevyn has to move away from the stream a bit before the ground become dry enough to notice anything. Even here, the floor is still quite smooth, so it doesn't show passage well. However, he does find a few scratches in the stone that indicate a heavy object was dragged through here and straight towards the large cavern that opens to the south. As he moves forward a bit, confirming the direction of the scratches, he catches sight of what seems to be a skeletal figure lying on the ground to the south at the edge of his vision. The figure is not moving.
Content that there are no enemies approaching from the tunnel, Malan returns to the front of the group. Once the skeleton is pointed out to him, he cautiously moves toward it.
Gilfroy gives Malan a guidance tap as the elf passes by to examine the skeleton.
Tevyn points down the passage where the skeleton is lying. "They went that way," he says softly. "Be careful; Skeletons can rise at any time, or so I've heard."
He readies his bow with a blunted arrow, just in case.
Malan returns to the front of the group, and you move forward slowly. As you get closer to the large cavern at the south, another skeleton comes into view. And then another. As Malan enters the big cavern, he can see a total of seven skeletons lying about, all of them unmoving.
"Watch yourself, Malan," Tevyn warns quietly. "There's another skeleton in the water near you." He turns his bow toward that one.
"This is the part where they make you jump," Corinna whispers nervously to Gilfroy. "The teaching assistants who handle the necromancy labs love to do it to first-years, making them walk into a room full of skeletons and wonder when they're all going to move. A lot of soiled robes to be prestidigitated after the first lab. And necromancers claim not to be evil...."
Gilfroy's eyes light up. "That sounds like fun!" he whispers excitedly, "but I don't think Malan's going to wet himself."