Regaining his balance, Snorri pays attention to Torvi's ballad. The tale of ancient deeds, of promised glory inflames his blood, and the axe clashes against the monster with a wordless battle-shout.
Remember: Raging song: +2 STR/CON, +1 Will Save, -1 AC, Cannot use CHA, DEX, or INT based skills (except Acrobatics, Fly, Intimidate, and Ride), or any ability that requires patience or concentration.
Torvi's slides a bit further and swings again at the blinded creature...
Bludgeon
... the ancient form of her weapon again slamming into the beast.
Can someone slide Torvi another 5', so she can flank the beast please?
Even as Snorri's axe cuts deeply between mineral outcroppings and Torvi's weapon cracks bone and chips stones, the troll's cuts close and bones rebuild themselves. You are certainly damaging the blinded and frustrated creature, but its wounds are closing not quite as quickly as you can make them.
Since the troll is now blinded, Glenda rushes past Snorri and brings her warhammer to bear against the troll.
"Dasur, we need some way to stop its healing!"
Through frothy lips, and with a face covered with the gory ichor of their opponent, Torvi let’s out a blood curdling scream, ”Aieeeeeee!”
Round 3
Dasur watches from the sidelines as their warriors hack away at the rock troll with much greater efficiency than their previous activity, butchering. He is momentarily distracted as he rationalizes why the two skills are two transferable, using Torvi's wild, gore-covered, berserker singing as the prime example. Who had ever seen a berserker butcher? The cuts would be far too unpredictable, unsuitable for evenly cooking on a flame.
The wizard is snapped out of his pondering by Glenda, who requests his services. "Ah. Erebos, were the Drow successful in breeding out all vulnerabilities in rock trolls? In terms of energy selection I am currently limited to fire and acid, though I have some theories on manipulating elemental spells to non-normal energies. In any case; obviously fire will not suffice, so I will try acid."
His exposition complete, Dasur taps the ground with his staff and flicks his wrist upwards while horizontally extending his thumb with his free hand. The ground beneath the rock troll begins venting acidic vapors, forming a deadly cloud.
You are wasting both of our time with this. Missing and having to constantly listen to Regnir berate her with no real escape is wearing on Nalnear. Normally able to ignore the music that pulls at the primal part of her mind Nalnear has no urge to ignore that anymore. Letting the fury take over her tired mind in the hope that it overshadows the dead mans nagging.
"No, Dasur. The troll is susceptible to acid damage. In battle, we would shield them from such damage with magic, but of course these feral ones have no drowish allies."
The troll belows, screaming in Giantish, "Stop hurting me, stupid dwarfs! Give me meats and go way."
As his vision returns, the troll focuses his anger on Snorri. His attacks grind against the metal of Snorri's armor, but even his tough crystalline teeth and claws cannot penetrate the exceptional armor.
Round 4, Go Dwarves!
Remember: Raging song: +2 STR/CON, +1 Will Save, -1 AC, Cannot use CHA, DEX, or INT based skills (except Acrobatics, Fly, Intimidate, and Ride), or any ability that requires patience or concentration.
Not having been directed otherwise, Torvi keeps wailing on the troll
Bludgeon
Crit confirm...
Bludgeon
... She smashes the creature for all she is worth!
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Snorri punctuates his own swing with a roaring "I! Don't! Speak! Your! Language!"
A moment before attacking, he reaches out with his senses to his foe, seeking whether it's merely feral or actively nefarious.
Round 4
With the effectiveness of the last attack evident, Dasur effortlessly makes the same gesture as before to summon another acid cloud directly underneath the troll.
He then cups his hands around his mouth to yell at Snorri. "The troll called us stupid and asked us to stop hurting it! It also demands we give it all the meat and go away! I believe it's trying to parley?!" The wizard is pleased to provide such tactically important information to Snorri, who would surely utilize it to great effect.
The two sided assault from Torvi and Snorri quickly cut and smash the troll into pieces. The wounds attempt to heal themselves, but everywhere that the acidic fog touches rots away. The massive creature sways and topples as Snorri takes his legs out from under him and he comes down like a small tumbling boulder.
Erebos joins in your celebration.
"Excellent work, dwarves. It seems that you may have the skills necessary to take Vothys, even if you have to do it one troll at a time."
Iverna is less ebullient. "Excellent work. Let's finish our work before we attract something else. And then we rest. And then we move on toward the lakeshore."
About 2 more days will get you to the lake. Of course, you don't yet have a plan to get across it.
Torvi comes out of her daze as the creature falls. Covered in gristle and muck, she is a sight. ”When we hit the lake, I call dibs on the bar of soap. We did remember to bring a bar, right?”
Dasur approaches the rock troll as it goes through its death throes, examining the curious effects of acid on its regernative tissue. However the smell is highly unpleasant, and there doesn't seem much to glean, so he instead returns to his studies in the back of the wagon while the butchering commences.
Look on the Current Upper Azathyr Map, if you can. It is hard to see because it is almost the same color as the water. We think it is there because they had visions of the island back with the mushroom people. Supposedly, there is a way down on the island.
Glenda pauses and steps back from the troll corpse before the acidic fumes can cause her to cough. She takes stock of her fellows to see if anyone needs aid.
Panting, Snorri checks that the foe is indeed dead before resting against a trunk. "Nice fight, everyone. We could make some soap, I think it comes from animal fat and we have a lot of it. And may I suggest we make camp further towards the lake? If the stench of blood attracted this one, it may attract somebody else."
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The continued discussion on cleanliness causes Dasur to chime in from the back of the wagon, not even looking up from his spellbook. "I can magically administer any cleaning or equipment repair at your leisure. However, the processes are slow and require my concentration."
The wizard flips a page, still droning. "If a line forms I will assign you a number and call it as my services become available so as to reduce your time spent waiting."
Sucking in a breath and closing her eyes at Regnir voice comes back, Feel better after your little temper tantrum? Yes, I had a few blessed moments of respite from you.
Glancing over at Torvie, "Did you really not bring any soap?"
Hauling supplies and making camp are uneventful except for getting people cleaned up. It is about two more days of travel before the fields of fungus open up before you to reveal a body of water that shimmers with a violet light in your darkvision. The water is mostly still, with only small waves lapping at the shore. The shoreline stretches north and south as far as you can see, and even your slightly extended darkvision can't see very far across the water.
Iverna stares at the water.
"Well, I'll be eaten by a purple worm! There is a lake in middle of the Fungal Jungle. So, what do we do now? Walk around the edge until we find a boat? Growing up in Fasturvalt we mostly made things out of stone. Stone doesn't make good boats."
”Perhaps if we cut the rocks very thin?”
Dasur climbs over a mound of raw, magically de-contaminated meat to get out of the wagon, walking to the edge of the water. "Fascinating. If the legends are true, this is the outline where the Titan fell. I wonder if this water is potable? What kind of creatures live in fungus-infused Titan-waters? In any case, we must be wary. Water and Stone may seem indifferent to each other, but over many centuries Water wears away Stone. A slow war Water wages."
The wizard leans on his staff, pondering. "I have spells that can prevent drowning, but none that can assist us in crossing the lake. We must rely on the innate ingenuity breathed into us by the Forge Father."
He considers the obstacles they currently face. "I believe there is a more pressing issue. We do not know where the island is at in the lake. So even if we construct a watercraft how do we know which way to paddle? How many times would we hit the opposite shoreline before finding the island? I believe we should circumnavigate the lake. There must be gnomish ruins at its shores, pointing the way to the island. The deep gnomes are practical peoples. They would have constructed a ferry or bridge at the shortest distance between the shore and the island, which we can either use as a reference or a means of transportation."
"Perhaps if we circumnavigate the lake, we might spot something," suggests Glenda. "Or we can try to make small floating boats, just big enough to hold a small amount of tinder and a fire, and see if we can spot them bumping into anything in the distance after pushing them into the lake."
"Why are we building fires on the boats? For propulsion?"
"Visibility. Darkvision only lets us see about sixty feet."
"This would be an excellent time for the zombified Pale Hunters." says Erebos. "I am aware of a spell that could allow us to breathe water, transforming our flesh to allow it to absorb oxygen like an amphibian. I do not know the spell, but I'm sure Dasur and I could create the spell given some time. With that, we could walk across the bottom of the lake, assuming it is reasonably hard."
"But if the water is still then the boat will stop moving before we want it to."
"That's why I summon a water elemental to pull it along a ways."
Snorri gazes at the lake, flashbacks of the vision still playing in his head while suggestions are traded back and forth.
"We can do all of these things, perhaps. Walk along the shoreline, northwards, in search of old docks, from when the island was inhabited - I doubt they'll have serviceable boats, but tools and maps will help. While we head there, we can float the mushroom caps whenever we make camp. And in the meanwhile, Dasur and Erebos can work out the spell."
I don't know whether I'd prefer a rickety raft or walking underwater with whichever predator is around...
”Perhaps if we used a very long rope and stretched it across the lake, and used the mushroom caps like a ferry?”
"That largely depends on how wide the lake is. I fear it's beyond any rope."
”So? Then we tie multiple ropes together!”
Eyes widen at Glenda, "I had not considered that."
Summoned elementals sound like a much better idea than traveling under the waters with the help of a drow. Clinching her jaw and glaring at the ground. I hate you. Why because you are coming around to my style of thinking? Just hate you
Sighing and looking back at Glenda, "Are you able to talk with the elemental? Cause we could just send it across the lake and ask how far the island is."
"Let's camp here for one sleep at least. Maybe something about the lake will reveal itself. Who knew there were such immense bodies of water?"says Iverna, staring at the water with suspicion.
Erebos replies, "This is nothing. Below, there are vaults that contain entire seas. The drow sail night ships upon them, and there are all manner of aquatic races that dwell in them."
Dasur does not take long to agree with Erebos to stay the night by the shore, and begins to make camp preparations. Which means he summons an Unseen Servant so it can start making camp preparations.
Sitting on top of a particularly firm piece of fungus, the wizard begins to pull out his various light-focusing instruments for tonight's experiments. "Are you referring to the Aboleth's Lung spell, Erebos? Ancient magic, that. I would not be surprised if there are Aboleth in this very lake, though they would likely prefer the vault-seas you mentioned."
"Certainly, Dasur. You could call it that. The Drow call it Tsathogga's Skin, but we have a proclivity for naming things after demon lords. Aboleth's skin is certainly appropriate. I have never heard any tales of aboleth in the Jungle, but they are long planners, so perhaps they could be lying in wait."
The drow pops a series of puffy white fungi caps he calls candycaps. They have the taste and consistency of marshmallows.
Four more days of travel along the shore of the lake brings you to a point when the shoreline finally turns to the east. The northern shore of the lake is swampier than the western shore. At what may well be the northernmost point, a strange pale obelisk juts from the soft wet ground. It is perhaps an irregular 10 feet wide and 50 feet tall. From the edge of your darkvision (120 feet) you can't make out if it has any writing or inscriptions on it.
A square that is part of a deep bog has roughly 4 feet of standing water. It costs Medium or larger creatures 4 squares of movement to move into a square with a deep bog, or characters can swim if they wish. Small or smaller creatures must swim to move through a deep bog. Tumbling is impossible in a deep bog.
The water in a deep bog provides cover for Medium or larger creatures. Smaller creatures gain improved cover (+8 bonus to AC, +4 bonus on Reflex saves). Medium or larger creatures can crouch as a move action to gain this improved cover. Creatures with this improved cover take a –10 penalty on attacks against creatures that aren’t underwater.
Deep bog squares are usually clustered together and surrounded by an irregular ring of shallow bog squares.
Both shallow and deep bogs increase the DC of Stealth checks by 2.
”One doesn’t place such a marker in the middle of nowhere for no reason. It had better not just give us the distance back to that damn gnome town though.”
"Ugh. Let's stay close, this spot would be perfect for an ambush by... some sort of murderous eel? I have no idea what might inhabit this bog, and I'm not too keen on finding out."
Keeping the axe ready, Snorri takes a step towards the obelisk before stepping in his tracks. "I don't suppose Ancestor Regnir could save us the trip?"
Glenda shakes her head in response to the question about the elemental. "I did not expect the lake to be this broad. An elemental will only remain here for a short time. But, it seems we've found something worth checking, so the question may be moot."
"Umm, I do not know how far Regnir can go from me. It feels strange the harder he goes from me." Stop whining and let me out. Frowning but continuing, "He says he is happy to try and help."
Taking a moment to focus and let Regnir out of her mind. Slowly a pale blue and grey colored Regnir appears next to her.
Lifting his head and glaring at Nalnera before turning his glare to Snorri. Starting to walk towards the obelisk without saying anything. Simply expecting Nalnera to follow.
With a small sigh, "Be back soon." she starts following the wraith giving him about a thirty foot lead.
The distant obelisk fills Dasur's voice with an edge of rare excitement. "Ah! Stone, in its infinite patience, has stood here for centuries to guide our way on this day."
As Nalnera begins to enter the bog, Dasur can be heard muttering to himself. Not unusual, at least not until Nalnera suddenly winks out of existence. "The invisibility will last for approxiately three minutes or until you perform some kind of hostile action, Nalnera. Use it wisely and do not put yourself in excess danger. Though given the amount of water and mud about, your footsteps may still be visible to the discerning eye." The wizard calls out, leaning on his staff and watching Regnir make his way towards the stone.
Twisting around and staring at Dasur, even though he cannot see her or the smile, she mumbles, "Will do."
Regnir and Nalnera move slowly toward the obelisk. Regnir sees strange runes carved into, but also somehow crawling over, the yellowed protrusion. Something tickles Regnir's memory, echoing into Nalnera's head. Regnir can't read the carvings, though something about them seems familiar, like a memory from childhood that has run away.
Nalnera sees the runes as well, though from a distance she can hardly make anything out of them.
Grey changes to a void like black leaving dark ichor behind him and the pale blue shifts to a warm orange color. Growling and continuing until he is right next to the obelisk and his orange colored hand reaches out to touch it. Maybe tracing the rune will clear his mind.
As Regnir touches the obelisk, he feels a strange tingle. The obelisk feels nothing like Regnir would expect. It is warm, and feels not like stone so much as like porous but dense bone. The runes swirl under Regnir's touch and the tips of his fingers swirl with red. Regnir's ectoplasmic form gives way to fingers of flesh and blood, and for the first time, the spectre feels almost the need to take a breath.
Nearby, Nalnera hears a ripple move through the muck, and a mud covered humanoid form lurches from the mud. Thick ooze drips from the form. The ooze is so thick Nalnera can't even tell if it might have been a human, orc, or elf, but it is too large to have been a gnome or even a dwarf.
Cursing under his breath, Snorri sprints towards his cousin, readying his axe.