Gaius ignores the bodies as he contemplates the view from the entrance.
"Quite a place this, you can see for miles. I'm surprised the Jarl's men didn't station a guard here once we told them about this cave."
Tuboo, Magnus' weasel, comes bounding back towards the group. He stands upright, chittering, and then bounds back whence he came, stopping and looking back, as if seeing if the party is following.
"Magnus, your long rat wants something.
Perception >
Survival >
Magnus will move quietly back to his allies. "There are some big glowing bug things back that direction. I'm going to try and scare them out. You guys stand out of the way, but at the ready. " With that, Magnus turns back to the bugs and unleashes a magical bang behind the creatures using ghost sound. He hopes that the loud noise will be enough to move them from their current position.
Jinjer shares what she thinks with her companions:
The corpses condition is odd for something eaten by a scavenging animal. It's almost as if they'd been dismembered by cutting instruments rather than bitten and pulled apart. In a muddy section of the cave floor you also find odd tracks. You figure they were made by something dog sized, but with at least six legs and oddly clawed feet.
"What do you think could have done that? And why?"
Magnus uses his magical abilities to create a loud boom. As he anticipated, the four beetles come scampering out from the tunnel, into the room with the party. They react to the group's intrusion violently.
Initiative Order:
Tarrana
Jinjer
Brodgar
Gaius
Fire Beetles
Magnus
Stilgar
Having her bow ready, Jinjer aims and fires at the lead beetle (U71).
As if waking from a dream Tarrana casts a spell and goes back to musing over the formations of the cave ceiling.
"Ai!"
Gaius moves away from the bugs slipping behind Stilgar and lightly touching his axe.
Round 1:
Tarrana blesses the group, instilling them with her boosting wave of energy.
Jinjer releases an arrow, skewering one of the beetles as it approaches. The thing gives a keening sound and writhes, grasping at the arrow in its death throes.
Brodgar advances on the insects, swinging his axe at one as he closes with it. The blade is turned by the creature's carapace.
Gaius reaches out and touches Stilgar's hammer, which begins to glow softly blue, with small arcs of electricity running along its head.
The beetles move on Brodgar. The one he struck at stands still a moment, as the glowing spots on its back brighten, then suddenly release a bright burst of light. Brodgar gives a cry as he takes the full brunt of the attack, which leaves his vision muddled by bright spots swimming in his eyes.
The other two snap at him with their mandibles, but neither is able to pierce his armor.
The sound of scuttling limbs and a rising glow from the northwest passage alert you to the approach of more visitors.
Stilgar advances towards the beetles () and brings his lightning-wreathed hammer down on the one before him.
Attack:
Damage:
Magnus casts Vanish and moves as quickly as he can past the bugs, back toward where the statue is. "Follow me" He says, pointing.
End Round 1:
Stilgar moves up and crushes one of the beetles beneath his hammer, the oozing innards scorched by arcs of electricity.
Magnus casts a spell and promptly disappears. A few seconds later his voice comes from elsewhere saying "Follow me," but the group isn't sure exactly where he's at when he says it.
Run action toward the statue, moving my dancing lights with me, and forming the four light balls into a pointing arrow.
Walking over to Stilgar she taps him on the shoulder. Did you hear Magnus? I heard him beckon but do not see.
Move to Q74
Cast Guidance on Stilgar
Jinjer steps out where she can see past Stilgar and fires on the beetle attacking Brodgar.
Attack >
Damage >
I'll NPC Brodgar for the time being. Gaius? Any action this round?
Gaius steps away fron Stilgar. Drawing his sling the half-elf sends a bullet towards the beetle Jinjer wounded.
The bullet carrens off the exoskeleton and flies down the corridor nearly clipping the still invisible Magnus.
Round 2:
Tarrana moves to Stilgar's side, providing some divine guidance against his foe with a mere touch and a word.
Jinjer's arrow does not strike home, but shears across the top of the bug's shell leaving a deep furrow that oozes ichor.
Brodgar, attempting to blink away the spots, takes another swing. Hitting the groove Jinjer made, he splits the thing nearly in two.
Gaius' errant shot riochets into the cavern wall with a loud thud.
The remaining beetle from the northeast tunnel bites Brodgar, but is thwarted by the dwarf's armor. Meanwhile, four more beetles scurry into the cavern from the northwest.
Stilgar moves up to stand with Brodgar and swings at his remaining attacker, but only lands an ineffectual glancing blow.
Magnus' lights make an arrow and proceed to float down the northeast tunnel away from the combat.
At Tarrana's touch, Stilgar wills her spell to enhance his fighting ability.
"Unorthodox as always," he says, seeing Magnus' arrow. As the first group of beetles' numbers dwindle, Stilgar turns his attention to the second.
Stepping to the closest beetle, Stilgar takes another swing of his hammer.
Attack:
Damage:
Jinjer draws another arrow, aims at one of the new arrivals, and fires!
Attack:
Damage:
Round 3
Gaius removes a small ceramic vial from a belt pouch and stepping forwards hurls it at the approaching beetles.
Tarrana casts a spell and throws her hands towards the oncoming beetles, engulfing three of them in fire. Two beetles char, rolling onto their backs and writhing, but the third manages to avoid the brunt of the flames.
Jinjer's shot skips off a beetle carapace.
Brodgar swings again, his attack nearly decapitating the last beetle on his front.
Gaius lobs an acid flask, which breaks on his target's shell, the acid causing it to pit and smoke, burning holes to the bug's innards. Between the acid and the fire, that one is done for. The remaining one recoils from the caustic liquid as it is splashed.
The remaining beetle from the northeast, the acid and fire combination convincing it to seek food elsewhere.
With the beetles dispatched, the rest of the group can make its way after Magnus.
" Hmm... Tarrana? " Magnus shouts down the hallway. "Would be be a dear and ignite this statue for me, I didn't prepare the right spells today. "
Looking over the bas relief, you note the area on the face where you managed to remove the lime deposits that have covered the statue to the point of obscurity. The half face that peers back at you sports strange sunburst carvings in the eyes.
"...Aim for the face"
"Hmmm? Oh. Sure I suppose. Though it might not appreciate it."
Joining Magnus and Tarrana at the statue, Stilgar winces at the sight of the latter torching the statue.
"'Forgefather,' eh?" he murmurs tentatively, taking a closer look at the statue.
Perception:
Knowledge (religion):
Tarrana blasts the statue, blackening the stone a bit but not accomplishing much else.
Stilgar's perusal shows that the starburst pattern in the left eye shows deeper cuts than the other, as if something could be inserted into it.
Without seeing the rest of the statue beneath the lime deposits, Stilgar still isn't completely sure this is a statue of Baal. However, the basin built below it is suggestive of a smith tempering metal after forging it.
"Hmm... " Magnus ponders ponderously for a moment, then casts light on the small ring that came inside the puzzlebox. He then reaches up on his tiptoes and sees if the ring fits into the eye socket.
With a little assistance from Brodgar and Stilgar's shoulders, Magnus is able to reach the face of the statue. He presses the pattern on the ring into the eye. There is a brief click and then a cracking sound as the lime deposits begin to break. The section of wall containing the bas relief slides back a few inches and then swings open, revealing a dark space beyond.
"Disembodied sensors first, my ladies. " Magnus says before wistfully moving dancing lights through the opening and sending senses to follow. "So, what happened with those bugs, anyways? "
"The ones that weren't smashed or burnt went elsewhere. They won't be bothering us again," Stilgar says, as he peers into the darkness beyond. As he waits for Magnus' sensors to do their work, he looks to the statue once more, checking to see if any of the lime cracked enough to outright remove.
Jinjer steps up to the opening and peers inside...
Perception:
The mineral deposits have cracked and partially fallen away around the border of the door, revealing what looks like a border of stylized flames set around its edge. That would be appropriate for a representation of Baal.
Beyond the door lies a room, carved and even unlike the caverns behind you. The room appears circular, or at least curved, as the walls stretch away and the far side is lost in darkness. Time and possibly great movements in the earth have cracked the ceiling here, and the echo of water drops and the trickle of rivulets down the walls. The room smells of damp and rot. There are mounds of some type of material along the walls, some sprouting mushrooms.
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"Hmmmmmmm, Baal keeping the piles of manure from sight? How symbolic."
Gaius chuckles as he covers his nose. Trying vainly to block the stale and fetid air.
"Nothing has moved in here for a long time. Should be safe enough but let me take a look first anyway."
Gaius carefully checks the entry and door for triggers and then Kneeling in the door way gathers a bit of dust and blows it from his palm into the room. To the others the dust simply hangs in the air a moment but to Gaius the tiny motes of dust swoop and dance through the newly disturbed air. Where esoteric forces are strong the natural play of air and earth are disturbed and these disturbances can be seen.
A few moments later Gaius enters the room. He moves forwards, cautiously scanning for out of place flagstones/tiles or patters in the dust that can tell of long waiting traps.