Kithian follows ready to slash.
The impetious wizard can't quite control himself, and so he sets of in pursuit of the necromancer as well.
Cam does indeed finally put the final zombie to rest while the others do their best to maneuver through the thick unnatural fog.
An unfortunately slow investigation of the chamber does eventually reveal a hidden door in a bookcase not quite closed from its use. Cam can confirm it is untrapped but opening the door reveals an dark passage that seems to lead "elsewhere" with little to suggest how far the passage goes. In fact after ten feet or so an impenetrable inky blackness is all that you can see.
"That darkness is magical, if it does not fade within the next minute or so it will be permanent to hide something...quite probably very nasty."
Cam is bringing up the rear, so it's up to the others.
"There might be another way out of here." Getting an idea, Rullis swings his backpack off and unties his silk rope before resecuring his backpack. He ties one end around his waist and tosses the other end back. "Hold this. Pull me back if things seem to go wrong."
He cautiously moves in, his spear serving as a blind man's cane.
Kithian shuffles from foot to foot then touches himself in a pleasing manner.
Moment of Clarity.
Cure Light Wounds:
Kerrec nods to the cleric as the paladin cinches the rope around his hands to ensure that Rullis doesn't "go anywhere" in the darkness.
Casting forward the cleric steps a few feet forward then immediately shifts back on his feet as he feels himself about to reel forward "down". A few quick seconds of probing with feet and hands Rullis able to determine that there is indeed some sort of drop off that does not seem to be stairs.
Also catching the cleric's attention is a sconce located on the wall right where the unseen precipice begins. Rullis can feel that there is a metal rod of some kind within the sconce that is cool to the touch but otherwise free of any physical blemishes that the cleric can determine without "looking" at it.
"Whoa! There's a drop off here." Squatting down, it probes down into the hole with his spear and reaches outward to see if he can feel the other side. Then standing back up, he investigates the metal rod, drawing it out and moving back into the light.
The spear touches nothing across though the scraping of metal on metal is clear "within" the gap.
As Rullis brings the rod "back into the light" the hall becomes black for all of you. A few moments of shifting around makes it clear that the rod itself is generating the darkness effect, and it is not temporary.
"Rullis, I think the darkness is following you. How did you do that?"
"I'm not doing anything." Then it hits him, "Wait, I just picked up this rod, I bet it is doing it. Who has that box we found at Thistletop? The one this ring was found in." He points at his ring, but of course no one is able to see him do so.
"Box? Oh! The one with the sand? I have a different idea - put the rod on the floor. Can you roll it toward my voice?"
As long as his voice appears to be away from the pit, he'll walk slowly towards Cam and hand it to him.q
"Oh, OK, I've got it. Now to try my idea - something like this could be useful, I think..." He will stow the rod in his bag to "shield" the darkness just as if he was trying to hide a magic torch.
"Hmmm, I will also find it of interest. I only hope you will not be too disappointed if it turns out to merely be the focus for a spell as opposed to a crafted item.
Be that as it may, if it works we can hurry after our fleeing foe."
Cam is on the right track and stuffing it in his sack does squelch the effect.
A long passage is dimly lit by your own lights and indeed Rullis risked a fall into a 15 foot deep pit complete with large metal spikes. The passage continues another thirty feet or so and turns to the west.
"Last line of defence? Or first..."
"Hmmm, I will also find it of interest. I only hope you will not be too disappointed if it turns out to merely be the focus for a spell as opposed to a crafted item.
Be that as it may, if it works we can hurry after our fleeing foe."
"I don't know what you just said, but I will share. I am thinking an instant gloom or shadow could be useful, is all."
"That's great, but we still have a necromancer to catch." He proceeds to find a way across the trap and to continue down the passageway on the other side.
The pit is clearly "manufactured". So there is a hewn lip on both sides. The passage is narrow in a certain sense but a solid jump would get you across as long as you were relatively unencumbered. Slipping would be a problem, the spike are tall and sharp.
Rullis tosses his backpack across before getting a slight running start and leaping over the pit.
He gets over easily. As he picks back up his backpack, he looks back and says, "You guys coming?"
Kithian grains and shoulders his weapon and noces forward.
"Ahem...I do not think I would like to fail this. And I have never been one for jumping..."
Acrobat:
"Perhaps you and Kerrec can return to the tiefling brothers and Habe and find out if they can think of any potential exits. You might be able to head him off outside while we pursue."
Lining up to get a good run, the bard follows Rullis and Kithian.
While Kithian And Rullis clear the gap with ease Cam lands harder on his feet than he expects and feels his heels rocking slightly into the pit. Luckily his momentum is enough to carry him forward to saftey.
Kerrec shakes his head at the pit and nods at Cam with the recommendation to head around to the Tieflings. Reggie whines at the edge of the pit, clearly not enthused about jumping or being left behind.
"Whew! That was a bit closer than I expected! Kithian, call Reggie over - he should clear this easily, right? And his nose should help us find the necromancer, I would think."
"I...I hate to leave you, but I do not feel like risking that jump. I believe I shall also head back for now.
I do not have much magic left in either case.
Go on! Hop to it! Do not let him escape."
Handel Animal:
Reggie whines at the barbarian as Kithian orders him over the pit. Despite this though the mastiff clears the pit easily, barking a bit in elation at being back with his master.
Kerrec claps a hand on the wizard's shoulder and gestures that they should head the other way while the rest of the group turns back to the tunnel and starts their pursuit of the necromancer.
Vidar and the paladin are able to easily make their way back to the common room where Habe is still unconscious. The other tiefling is awake but in no shape to move while the eldest of the two looks with a questioning glance at the arrival of only two of the party.
Meanwhile in the tunnel the group moves forward another 30 feet before coming to a fork in the tunnel. Left seems to go on at a downward grade for as far as torch light will allow you to see while the right seems to grade ever so slightly up leading to a passage that appears to be made of stone tiles and slabs a much more elaborate set of construction techniques than the rest of the tunnel
"I'm no tracker... Does Reggie smell him?"
"Heck if I know, I don't speak dog."
"We should probably go up in case he is trying to escape and maybe meet back up with the others." Rullis looks down at the mutt, waiting to see what it smells.
20 was for Reggie's tracking.
Kithian "says" he "don't speak dog" but his actions put that to lie as the oracle guides the mastiff to search for a sent. REggir quickly perks up and snuffles about.
A few seconds pass and he barks to the rougher left side corridor.
Pressing on at the confidence of the dog Rullis, Kithian and Camillo follow the passage in dim light for a good 200 feet before coming to a set of rough steps hewn from the rock and mud of the area with wooden planks mounted on top. The steps lead up about ten feet to a trap door.
Looking at Kerrec and Vidar the tiefling shakes his head as he points to Habe, A fever is starting, I don't know why. Any ideas? The paladin looks over at Vidar, I can try to heal him but perhaps we should bind him so he doesn't escape if he awakens?
"Oh...of course! He may have become infected with ghoul fever himself.
Yes, let us do both, let us bind him as a precaution and THEN heal him lest it turns out to be as I fear."
"Here, let me have a look for nasty surprises."
The bard slips past the others and searches the door by magic light.
Kerrec and Vidar work together to bind Habe. The paladin looks the doctor over and lays hands upon him and though the man should easily awaken from the healing, he does not. Habe's color does imporve as does his feverishness, but he cannot be awakened. Well this does not bode well Kerrec murmurs to himself.
Cam approaches the trapdoor and looks about. He notices a push bar and a mechanism for locking the door from above (which is unlocked) but otherwise notes no other devices or markings of interest.
"If I were going to try a last-ditch attack or a trap, it would be now. If not on the door, perhaps just on the other side."
He readies himself to shove the door open and looks over his shoulder, "Ready?"
"Ready!" Rullis replies, then quietly begins chanting to himself.
Kithian grins and pets Reggie's head before nodding at Camillo.
Camillo sets his shoulder against the door, hoping to open it suddenly enough to surprise whatever might be on the other side.
Camillo presses his shoulder firmly against the trapdoor and pushes. The door swings open with little fanfare and the bard steadies himself on the stairs with only a half a breath of reprieve before the corridor and stairs erupt with thick black tentacles that lash out at the group.
Cam's nimbleness and Kithian's sheer strength allow them to fight off the tentacles attempts to bind them up in their obviously powerful grasp. Rullis is not so lucky as a well concealed tentacle slips up the cleric's leg and wraps itself around his knee and pulls viciously in an attempt to bring him to the ground. The blow is significant and Rullis can obviously take little of such aggressive abuse if it continues.
Meanwhile upstairs Kerrec looks over the doctor and looks on at Vidar, I know his body is well enough that he should be awake. There is no presence of fever but I cannot say for certain that he is not afflicted with some ailment. He is bound, do we risk taking him with us?
"As I am worried about the potential effect he might have on others, I say we should wait a little longer and try to puzzle out what exactly is affecting him lest it contaminate the village."