The gillman accepts your offer graciously. He bows his head and it is clear that he is take aback by your offering. He looks a little confused by Jeffrey's words, "I understand not the loss of it in a pit? It most certainly is not cheap and I accept your gift humbly."
He then turns to Isobel, clearly feeling more comfortable speaking to her for some reason. "I am honored to meet you. I am Uori, and I have come to these caves as a pilgrim to listen to the waves. If you come in peace you are welcome. I, like the many gillmen who have made this pilgrimage before, see the pure waters of this spring as a sacred sign. This cave is holy to us. The message of the waves can only be understood by one willing to listen. You're more than welcome to meditate here with me. Maybe brine and salt will bring you the wisdom you seek? Have you come for this reason as well? Who are you?"
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Isobel remains in the water up to her knees with the gillman.
"I am Isobel," she responds with a smile. "I am a fey creature. I have a great love of water, though usually without the salt. But the beauty of this place is indisputable. It makes me happy to be here," she adds. [b]"I will stay with you for a short while, though we have other things we have to finish today, so it will not be long that I can stay."
She smiles again at the gillman, which speaks volumes about her happiness in the water.
She closes her eyes and mediates peacefully for a while. When she is done, she stands, kisses the gillman on the cheek, and leaves the water without another word.
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Newis continues to sleep at the edge of the water, laying on top of his shield, singing as he snored between verses.
Far away, a minotaur chase, to possibly something tragic.
In the cave, a miniature town, glowing faint with magic.
The warrior smiles and gives away, the magical cloak we found.
As the Skald snores and slips off his shield, and in the lake he drowned.
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i'll smack Jeffrey's hand, Maybe a good idea not to fish from the sacred pool?
I'll meditate and see if i feel a stronger connection to besmara here. take a few things off by the side of the pool (pouches and things i don't want to get wet ), and then kinda float on my back in the pool fully dressed.
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...aaah i guess we should get back to work. okay.
Sparrow stands up, splashing as little as he can as he goes back to shore.
With your leave mister... what was your name again? we don't mean to disturb you, but we do want to explore these tunnels a bit while we wait for our guide to come back. Is there anything dangerous that you typically warn gillmen to avoid while they're here communing?
The gillman smiles pleasantly when Isobel comes to meditate with him, closing his eyes for a moment. But when Jeffrey starts splashing around to catch a fish his eyes shoot open. When Jeffrey pulls out a nice sized silver and white fish the gillmans eyes narrow as a frown comes over his face. Sparrow quickly knocks Jeffrey's hand causing the fish to drop from his grasp down into the pull where it promptly swims away.
"By all means, you may engage in your own prayers, but please do not defile the waters. The waters are sacred to us. "
Sparrow comes to the pool and joins in the meditation, though the gillman is now eying Jeffrey suspiciously. When Isobel and Sparrow have both completed their meditation and are preparing to leave the gillman speaks once more.
"We hold no reverence for human gods, though we have noticed the remnants of their worship here." He points to the miniature city filled with various trinkets.
"Follows of Aroden, the dead god of humanity used to frequent here for prayer. We do feel some of the remains of his worship here, but this place has now been overrun by other creatures. Our god speaks to us though the sacred waters. I have made the journey here to listen to them, despite the possibility of danger." He motions to the pool where he's standing.
Looking back towards the carvings on the walls he says, "Are the rest of you here to pray to the dead human god? If you would like, perhaps I can be of some assistance in deciphering the ancient rituals?"
Turning toward Sparrow Uori nods. "My name is Uori, it your tongue it would roughly translate to follower of the path. As to your question about dangers, they are still prevalent."
Nodding to the east he says, "Many lost gillman have ventured down that path never to return. I would take caution and prepare to face the undead in that direction."
Nodding to the west he says, "Danger also lurks that way, but I have not traveled to know what it is."
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"Uori, I would like to hear about the ancient rituals for my report. We also encountered a minotaur outside. It has a strong humanoid body with the head of a bull. Do you know anything about that? We intend to clear the area of danger. Is there any aid you can lend?"
To the rest of the party Nym says "Do we want to face the undead or the unknown first? The holy water will probably help with the undead."
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At the offer of danger, Newis snaps awake and jumps up on top of his shield. "Ah! I see you're all ready for some GLORY in BATTLE! I vote we clear out the direction where the other gillman have gone, maybe there are a few still alive that need help." He snatches up his shield and starts brushing it off, polishing it with his sleeve as he starts walking towards the "bad" direction.
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As Newis begins to walk off the gillman speaks to Nym and shakes his head. "I know of the bull creature, but I avoid it at all costs. I do not prefer to engage in hostile actions while on my sojourn. I will share what I know with you, elf."
Uori makes his way out of the water towards the everburning torches. Once he is there he asks which drawings you have been able to decipher so far. Nym points out that you have figured out the Farmer, Fisherman, Hunter and Shepherd. Uori closes his eyes and thinks for a moment as he tries to recall the exact rituals for these four.
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 Hunter is depicted slaying a giant Serpentine creature and then parading a trophy through the city streets — a sign to all humanity that the wilds are safe to inhabit once the monsters are slain.
The Shepherd is depicted herding animals out of a crowded city to the pastures beyond, just as Aroden blessed leaders with the foresight to direct people to the tasks and places that best suit them.
Uori points to the one known as the Fisherman and sighs as if ashamed. "Yes, of course. This one I know." He looks back to Jeffrey and points, a look of guilt overcoming his face. "Perhaps this one was wiser than I had given you credit for, my apologies in not understanding what your true intentions were with the fish. I did not mean to interrupt you when you were trying to complete your ritual to your God. If you wish to catch another and give it as a sacrifice to your dead God I would be honored to watch."
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Jeffrey's about to follow after Newis, but decides to stick with Uori a bit longer. "Okay, let me try again."
He moves over to the pool, and tries to catch a fish again.
A fish passes just in front of Jeffrey's feet, like before, and once again Jeffrey manages to catch it. Jeffrey then places the fish in the miniature city, and waits for something to happen.
After something may or may not have happened, Jeffrey will take the fish again and release it in the water.
When Jeffrey places the fish in the city, something does happen. The air above the city begins to sparkle with a glittery blue and white light for several seconds. With a flash the same blue and white light begins to glitter over each person in the cave. The sparkling lights fall over each of you and fade away a few seconds later and are gone.
The gillman bows his head graciously towards Jeffrey as he walks back towards the water. "While I may understand the motives of man, I do understand that this is a special moment for you. It was my pleasure to share in this moment with you." The gillman returns to his place in the water, resuming his observance.
Deliyah's further inspection of the model reveals a few pieces of useful information:
She takes note that there is a section of model that is likely a field, but it has not been furrowed yet.
Peering in the dark corners of the city she notices there are several frogs that appear to have taken up residence.
Also while examining the pool around the model she does notice a centipede that is occasionally circling the model.
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Pondering whether the magic could be something residual in the stone, and less deific, Sparrow wades slowly out to the miniature town, staring at the untilled field in the sculpture. He pokes the field, rubs the ground. scratching it with four fingernails to see if the soil moves or if pantomiming tilling the field activates some residual magic, while keeping an eye out not to be bitten by a centipede.
You see a centipede Deliya ? how big are we talking? unusually sized? or household variety? Ahh, the Hunter probably needs to be honored by slaying the centipede and parading it around, the Shepherd by herding the frogs out of the city. Deliyah would you like to be the Hunter?
Coming to that conclusion like its a puzzle, Sparrow will take out his rapier and shoo the frogs out of the city, and then attempt to skewer the centipede if Deliyah declines. after he tries tilling the field.
The frog does appear to be quite real. It croaks and squirms further away from Deliyah after she pokes one of the slimy and squishy creatures.
Since Sparrow is off towards the east with Newis he didn't see the centipede which appears to be hunting in and around the pool. As he comes closer to begin his furrowing he does notice the centipede as it circles back around the perimeter. It is a giant centipede and quite hard to miss, but it is constantly crawling into holes in the cavern floor to hide from sight which is why it was not visible earlier.
Continuing on to the model Sparrow uses his fingers to move the soil on the field. Once he completes the fourth the familiar twinkling of light once again begins to sparkle overhead of each party member. This time the lights are fuchsia in color and hang in the air for several seconds before dissipating.
Continuing one Sparrow sticks his blade into the city where the frogs are and forces them out. The frogs immediately begin to hop away and leap off the city down into the water. Once again the falling twinkles of crimson color dance through the cavern as they fall over the party.
Sparrow successfully stabs the centipede with his rapier, but he doesn't kill it. The centipede lurches toward him and attempts to bite it with its disgusting pinchers but fails to grab a hold.
Jeffrey misses, Sparrow misses and then the centipede misses Sparrow. There's a whole lot of missing going on the west side.
Spending time studying the creature seems to be the smart move. Deliyah pierces the creature with her blade and manages to dispatch it. The centipede lays on the ground motionless.
The gilman watches all of the rituals in silence, never making any moves to stop you. When the brief discussion erupts between Deliyah and Isobel, he watches with curiosity. when you move off to the east he returns to his place at the water in silence.
You travel down the tunnel for several minutes. During this time the cave’s damp air becomes increasingly stale. As you continue down through this tunnel, and as you approach this area, the stench of decay grows increasingly evident. The passage turns to the east and opens into a small cavern littered with bits of broken glass, rotting pieces of paper, and other unusable detritus. The body of a male dhampir lies facedown toward the back of the cavern.
Nym detects magic coming from the body laying face down in the room.
Bill takes note that there are several piles of bones that are laying around this cavern in addition to the bloody body in the center.