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Khardum slaps Jalak on the back. "Go! She's an experienced Pathfinder. She knows what she's doing."
He stomps towards the crevice a little reluctantly himself, but keeps his mouth shut about his own misgivings. "You're completing the mission, not running. You can't complete the mission if you're in a minotaur's belly."
As you run into the caves, you see the minotaur chasing after Janira through the trees, fighting its way through the dense undergrowth. Soon the cacophony of the chase fades and the sounds of the forest slowly return to normal.
potion of feather
potion of vanish
scroll of entangle
scroll of gust of wind
scroll of identify
scroll of mage armor (CL 6)
scroll of obscuring mist
wand of burning hands (CL 3rd, 4 charges)
wand of cure light wounds (CL 3rd, 8 charges)
acid
alchemist’s fire (2)
holy water
smokestick,
tanglefoot bag
thunderstone
antitoxin,
sunrods (2)
The crevasse leads further inward into darkness.
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"I've had venison smoked, baked, charred, pickled, salted, raw and slightly rancid. When it's all you've got...
As the minotaur jumps out of the bushes, Toivo brings his hands together as if to create another mass of plant matter. Before he actually can, though, Janira acts and pushes him towards the caves. If she's going to play at gallantries her loss.
He shouts after her, "You better not die!" ...you know the way home. Then with a shrug, he turns and wanders further into the cave.
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Khardum skims the contents of the pack. "I could use that potion of tree bark in case we run into any more minotaurs. I can use that wand of healing when we need to, too. I can't throw worth a cloudy, crack quartz, though, so the alchemical things are definitely better in someone else's hands."
After the division of tools, he heads down tunnel, not bothered by the lack of light.
This tunnel stretches deep below the foothills of the Kortos Mounts. It varies in width and height, forcing you to progress in single file. The caves are damp, and water dripping from stalactites and the distant rushing of underground streams creates an eerie backdrop as you explore. The caves’ walls are patterned with blue-green luminescent fungi that provide dim light. Petroglyphs—most depicting marine animals or spiral shapes—periodically decorate the tunnels’ walls, becoming increasingly frequent as you venture deeper.
The narrow tunnel twists and turns for several hundred feet before slowly opening to a wider passage. A large hole spans the cave’s width and stretches ten feet down the path. At the bottom of the pit lies a small bundle of cloth.
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Sunnendel begins taking notes and drawing likenesses of the the petroglyphs commenting or chuckling occasionally about the abnormal limb size to body size ratio.
"Well clearly not the most artistic." "But they have something going there." Sunnendel stops asst the edge of the pit looking down.
"Deep subject."
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Toivo continues down the tunnels, but stops when he encounters the first petroglyphs. He looks at them hopefully for a few moments but gives a sigh as he realizes they have nothing to do with the first world. He looks around at the rest of the group and, assured that someone is taking notes, promptly proceeds to ignore them.
Getting to the pit, he stares at it and gives a sigh.
"Well, someone doesn't want people here. Hasn't for a while from the looks of it. Any idea on how to get across?"
_______
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"While you all look in your packs," Khardum states, "I'll just slip out of this armor."
The ruddy dwarf begins to unfasten buckles holding his armored plates in position and gently sets them on the floor. He gathers the pieces and straps them together before affixing them to his pack.
He then traverses the cave wall to the other side of the pit.
"If you found any rope by the time I get my armor back on, let me know."
Khardum scuttles over to the far side of the pit.
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Sunnendel climbs down into the pit. "Anyone have a guess as to what the cloth might be?" he inspects the cloth and then grabs and holds it up for the others to view
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Toivo gives the other dwarf a hard look and grumbles out, "Got twine and string, no rope." He then tosses his pack to the other side of the pit and jumps down into it. Planning on rolling when he lands, Toivo mistimes it and lands a little too hard. He gives a grunt as the wind is knocked from him but he is soon standing up right dusting himself off.
As he passes the Halfling and his cloth, Toivo takes one look at it and says, "Don't know, and don't really care. Leave it or take it, let's get moving." He then proceeds to half-heartedly wave Sunnendel to the other side of the pit.
Toivo tries to climb up the far side of the pit, and fails to get more than a few feet off the floor before falling back down. He tries one more time and easily scrambles up the wall.
_____
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Shrugging his shoulders Sunnendel goes over to the other side of the pit, secures the butt if cloth in his pack and begins to climb up the side getting now where. He tries again and scrambles up onto the other ledge without an issue.
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Jalak peers at the hole hoping to gain some insight into its nature, but quickly concludes its a hole.
As the other start climbing or even attempting to jump the pit Jalak raises a skeptical eyebrow.
"When I was a kid, my brother use to always climb a rather large tree near the house. He would always beg me to come climb the tree with him and like many things my brother asked of me I eventually conceded. And that is how I broke my first bone." Jalak says unconsciously grabbing his left arm.
He than shrugs and slowly lowers himself over the edge and immediately slips.
The bundle of cloth turns out to be a half cloak with an intricately stitched hem .
Sunnendel and Toivo reach the far side of the pit after a few false starts, and Jalak slips and falls inelegantly into it.
Around the tunnel's next corner, Khardum finds a large, sturdy plank .
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Standing on the edge of the far side of the pit Sunnendel says "Yup." "Broken bones and necks." "Never good." "You finding anything Khardum?""
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The wolf trots happily across the plank, pausing to look down at Jalak with curiosity.
With everybody safely across the pit, you venture on. The tunnels continue, leading deeper beneath the Kortos Mounts until they eventually open into a large cavern. What must have once been beautifully carved reliefs and inscriptions have since weathered heavily, their features dulled and softened to the point that it is hard to distinguish what each once depicted. A wide tunnel exits the cavern on its far side, and blue-burning torches line the passageway’s walls.
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"You know this looks familiar to me." "Now where have I seen this before?" "Hmm..."
"Oh bother." "I am having trouble remembering things today." "Heh everyday rather."
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Jalak makes up for his less than stellar performance up until now, and he gleans all there is to know about the reliefs.
Only four of the carvings can be at all deciphered, but Jalak realizes that they are four of Aroden's (the dead god of mankind) twelve guises; the Artist, the Fisherman, the Scholar and the Thief.
The Artist is depicted painting murals on the walls of impressive buildings, associated with Aroden having painted the city of Absalom with beautiful colors so that it might awe all who visited.
The Fisherman is depicted hauling in an enormous catch of small fish to take back to Absalom, illustrating Aroden’s declaration that a great host of creatures could accomplish a great task, whether that be taming the wilds or feeding a nation.
The Scholar is depicted writing on a piece of parchment and then reading from it to passersby, just as Aroden was said to smile on those who recorded history and other knowledge to share it with others.
Finally, the Thief is depicted stealing a gem from a shop while whispering a prayer, an allusion to a passage saying that larceny—though illegal—is a form of praise, for anything worth stealing is also worthy of praise for its craftsmanship.
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Sunnendel perks up at three mention of the fish. "Weren't we just taking about fish?" "I think I have some pieces left." the halfling digs aroind in his pack and with a "Aha!!!" he shows the group a half eaten small smoked fish. "I don't remember when I pout you in there." "Any one want some?" Sunnendel finishes by pulling off a small piece and nibbles at it.
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As Jalak finalizes his notes, he realizes that the guises depicted here differ subtly from those he usually reads about when studying the known version of the History and Future of Humanity, suggesting that these might represent an earlier version of the work.
Moving through the passage, you see the soft light of the surrounding fungus mixing with the flickering glow of the nearby torches revealing a grand chamber. A large pool of water along the chamber’s southern edge reflects the blue and green radiance to illuminate the massive stalactites that cling to the ceiling overhead. Two other tunnels branch off from this area, leading to the east and west.
Rising up from the pool is a column of rock with steeply sloped sides and a flat top, as if someone had sawn off the top of a massive stalagmite. A miniature city carved from this same stone occupies nearly the entire surface. Tiny trinkets such as ancient coins, polished semiprecious stones, and ornately braided loops of string are scattered throughout the diorama, and pale cave frogs clamber atop it. The smooth cavern floor is covered in gravel and pebbles along the edge of the pool, and several foot-long centipedes prowl among the gravel in their search for prey.
Kneeling in the water is a lone figure, seemingly a human man if it weren't for the gills on his neck.