Cordwin will cast a Cure Serious Wounds on Trox.
Trox stretches as the wounds close up.
"Much better, these little wounds will heal. Lets move on."
Most of the ogres are armed with greatclubs or simple clubs (in the case of the ones with tower shields). All are dressed in hide armor; the dangerous one's armor is in much better shape than anyone else's, and their ogre hook is particularly well-crafted.
The fort is silent for the moment, with no indication that anyone inside heard the fighting... at least for the moment.
"Nasty work collecting arrows. Your pet seems to handle it well though."
Trox turns and simply watches the fort for activity.
The last ogre falls and Druamin lets his spell fade. He walks up to both Trox and Erond. "Hey. That worked out pretty well, right? I think you both got some extra damage from the extra sharp weapons. We might have to do that again in the future. What do you think?"
"Making the blade cut deeper like that is a good tool. A sword that can do that all the time seems to be what I need." He looks at the adamantine magic sword "At the rate we seem to kill things maybe I can afford to get this swords power increased later."
The Black Arrows join the rest of the party, and Vale whistles as he looks over the carnage. "You're pretty dangerous. Still going to go in under the waterfall?"
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Erond will also talk to Jakardos when he has the chance, "I know that bow is important to you, so I will ask you once and accept whatever answer you give me. May I borrow it? I will use it for our shared quest and to protect your friends. Moreover, you know I will give it back as I have done it once already. I will give the weapon an honourable hunt in Erastil's name."
Trox picks up the ogre hook the leader was using.
"Nice weapon even if too big. Magic?"
Skarn will cast detect magic and identify which, if any, of the objects are magic.
The leader's ogre hook and hide armor both radiate magic. By comparison with other items in the party's possession, Skarn deduces that they're both likely to be +1.
"I wonder if anyone will buy a weapon that is too big could be good gold though. Maybe some barbarian or something, I will drop it when we fight."
Unless stopped he will lumber around with the large magic weapon when not in combat.
Erond, you get the idea that in his earlier melancholy Jakardros might have been willing to loan you the bow before he found out that Shalelu was in the area. The proximity of his stepdaughter has...not cheered him, as such, but it's definitely given him a reason to live (at least until he has a chance to see her again).
Without anyone apparently noticing them, the party plus allies crosses in front of the fort to the pond and waterfall at its west end. What once might have been a crystal-clear mountain lake has become an abattoir. Partially butchered and mutilated bodies--some human, some horse, some giant eagle--lie sprawled along the shore or partly immersed. A waterfall plummets from the cliffs to the west into the pool; the flow of water from the falls keeps much of the water clean save for near the shores, where the dead lie thick. The stench is unbelievable despite the chill of the water preserving some of the corpses from decay, and the buzzing of flies almost drowns out the roar of the falls. Jakardros points a little ways up the falls. "There's a cave entrance back there. It's a short and easy climb." Once on the other side of the curtain of water, the entrance is easy to see.
Skarn takes 10 and climbs inside...
"Unplesant" Trox heads towards the cave entrance confident that he can make the climb despite his heavy armor. He will wait until the others are ready and then he would make the climb first in case there is an attack waiting.
The floor of the cave is dotted with puddles and would be slick but for a walkway of soggy planks that leads from the waterfall entrance to a narrow passage that angles up from the north end of the cave. Patches of pale moss and fungus grow in sheets on the walls.
After slipping, Cordwin will go up more slowly.
[Dice=Climb]1d20-4
After slipping, Cordwin will go up more slowly.
Skarn will send a rope down the falls for Cordwin.
Cordwin will gladly take the rope and climb up.
Druamin passes the waterfall quickly but then when on the inside he leans forward to let his head get fully soaked by the water. He flips his head up and shakes it flinging water everywhere. "Never pass up a free shower, you know?"
He grins wide then turns to examine the rest of the case. "I guess we're going that way." He points to the narrow passage heading north. "Kobu and I'll say in the back here to make sure nothing sneaks up on us."
The three rangers easily scramble up the wet slope and look around. "There's an armory through that tunnel, if it hasn't been found. From there, we could go down to a secret door into the dungeon under the fort, or the tunnel continues over a ravine to another secret door into the main part of the fort."
"There are--or were--a lot of shocker lizards down below."
"Hmmm, yes, so you mentioned. We'll try and avoid those, I hope."
"I am guessing the danger of the lizards is in the name. I should carry a wooden shield as well."
He mumbles to himself while taking point and beginning a slow advance.
Trox emerges from the cramped tunnel into a small chamber with two other tunnels leaving it. He immediately sees three small lizards, and they see him.
Round 1:
Initiative order
Druamin/Kubo
Cordwin
Rangers
Skarn
Trox
Lizards
Erond
Before Trox can advance, Jakardros makes some clicking noises with his tongue and slowly steps into the chamber, holding a hand out to the lizards. They make little popping sounds seemingly in reply, and will skitter out of the room through the narrow tunnel to the east, which Trox can see slopes downward.
"Well done Ranger, perhaps you should take the lead, in case we see more of those things?"
Trox doesn't worry about the light as she can see well enough to see the lizards run off.
"Handy that. Stay up near the front I guess."
"Ha. That's one way to take care of those guys."
the rangers all need light.[/ooc]
The floor, walls, and ceiling of this cool, damp cave are coated from floor to ceiling in soft, dark gray fungus. Several crates are stacked in a nook to the northwest. Jakardros points at them. "Weapons storage. Let's see what's left." He opens the crates, one after another.
They mostly contain mundane weapons--six each longswords, daggers, shortswords, and longbows, along with six quivers of twenty arrows each. There are also a half-dozen arrows wrapped up by themselves.
While the others look at the weapons Trox keeps watch down the pathways. After a minute or so he simply says.
"Grab what you need and lets move. No reason to drag this out."
"What's with the special arrows? Any giant bane ones in there?"
One of the rangers recalls that the six separately-wrapped arrows are shocking burst ammunition.
Moving forward, Trox comes to a cavern with a deep ravine stretching across it, splitting the chamber in half. Geodes and veins of glittering minerals shimmer along the walls of the chasm; Trox can see that the bottom is about fifty feet down, and there seems to be a small heap of something organic there. A ten-foot-wide wooden bridge spans the gulf.