Micheo watches warily, seeing conflicting visions dance just outside the edge of his vision. It is most distracting.
The small iron pot bounces, loudly, off a divot in the cavern floor. "Scamp" recoils at the harsh sound, but its antennae begin to twitch as the iron pot rolls across the stone floor. Realizing what the item is, the creature perks up.
Scamp bounds and pounces upon the pot, touching its antennae to the black metal surface. Before your eyes, the iron container begins to corrode and crumble as though it was a sand castle succumbing to a wave. Scamp laps up the powdered metal, wagging its oblong tail and trilling happily.
"Perhaps we should take this opportunity to bypass 'Scamp'.", Micheo urges.
'Way ahead of you.' Dugan has already begun edging around 'Scamp', hands in a defensive position in case the creature decides it's still hungry.
So too went Ulark, glad to have gotten past the creature unharmed.
Scamp is too caught up in his meal to notice your departure or follow you, at least for now. You press onward through the wider cavern passages until your path ends at an abrupt drop. Water cascades from a fissure in the ceiling and plunges down a roughly ten foot wide shaft. It descends about forty feet below, and by the light of Inconnu's glowing shield you can see the water pooling in another shallow cave chamber below.
Micheo peers forward, attempting to see if any shapes of creatures or other foes lurk hidden by the water.
Inconnu likewise stays alert for threats... though his mind is more on traps. Their encounter with the kobolds keeps him mindful of such dangers even here.
'Looks like we'll have to climb.' Dugan says, stating the obvious. He drops to a knee and begins rummaging in his pack. After a moment he retrieves a hempen rope and begins looking for something to tie it to.
The water below ripples as the cascade pours into it. Through the chop, you can see that it is shallow - even Dugan would only be up to his waist - and shows no signs of terrible beasts. A few tiny, colorful toads scurry across the water's surface, spooked by the sudden light from above.
As best he can tell, Inconnu discerns neither constructed traps nor natural hazards along the shaft. However, he notices an outflow of water to one side of the pool, suggesting it is descending down another crevice.
Dugan finds a sturdy promontory of rock, sticking out like a broken bone from the precipice's edge, that would easily hold the weight of several climbers upon a secured rope.
Dugan deftly secures his rope and begins to climb down into the chamber below.
Inconnu draws a javelin to cover Dugan as he descends... once the dwarf is safely below he puts his weapons and shield away before descending the rope.
Once down below he draws his sword and shield.
Micheo waits until the others have reached the top of the rope before seizing it.
Joanne only makes it a few yards down before her feet slide out from under her, owing to the water-slicked sides of the cavern shaft. The slip rips the rope from her hands, but her wings spare her from a painful, wet fall. She floats a short distance before she regains a hold upon the rope and makes her way, slowly and cautiously, the rest of the way down. This is the only hiccup as the party descends the rest of the way into the watery chamber below.
At the bottom of the waterfall, you stand in an oblong cavern some twenty feet in diameter. The pool that spans its width and breadth is only two feet at its deepest. About a dozen tiny toads have fled to the far edge of the cavern, frightened by your splashing arrival. Rather than being green or brown, though, they are vibrant hues of purple and pink.
From here, two new routes present themselves. On one side of the cavern, a narrow tunnel presses onward, carved by the flow of water from untold ages. The air wafting from that direction is very warm and humid. On the opposite side, erosion has caused a large portion of the cavern wall to collapse - revealing a wider cavern below. The light of Inconnu's shield reveals the crumbling remnants of dwarven statues and columns another fifty to sixty feet down the chasm.
'Seems more likely something's living downstream. Through the collapse is more interesting. Living first?'
"Agreed, Dugan. The ruins can wait."
"I'm used to traveling and seeing different things but once you scratch the surface you come across a lot more dwarven ruins... it makes sense and I shouldn't be surprised I suppose. But they can wait."
The watery tunnel is quite narrow, forcing most of you to hunch over and keep your heads down - and poor Joanne practically has to crouch and shuffle forward. Fortunately, only a shallow rivulet from the pool runs down this passage. Nevertheless, as you continue, you find the rough stone walls growing slicker with algae and moss.
The tunnel suddenly widens into a cavern, although only about half the size of the one at the foot of the waterfall you left behind. Most of this chamber is dominated by an underground river, flowing out of crevices on your left and crossing the bubble-shaped cavern before vanishing again into the stony fissures on the right. The current is not dangerously swift, but it flows quickly enough to convince you that falling in would be an unpleasant situation. The rivulet running along your tunnel empties into this perpendicular stream.
On the far side of the chamber, across the stream, a wider tunnel mouth yawns open. The air flowing forth is even warmer and more humid.
Dugan begins walking toward the wider mouth. 'Only one way to go.'
Inconnu puts his hand infront of Dugan. "Wait. There's faces in the water!" He moves his shield to illuminate them.
Micheo readies his rapier and looks where Inconnu shines light.
Inconnu lowers his shield, and the magic light illuminates the underground stream, momentarily revealing the three pale faces hiding just below the surface. You only have a moment to observe them, finding them to look like gray-skinned children lurking within the water. Once they realize they have been discovered, they swiftly swim for cover.
Nevertheless, you suspect they are still watching you warily from their hiding spots beneath ledges under the surface.
'They don't seem to be spoiling for a fight. I don't think the guards wants us to slaughter everything down here. They did ask us to spare that bug, Scamp.'
Micheo relaxes somewhat.
"There seems no need for aggression against them. Let us press on and not start a fight."
One by one, each member of the party takes a brief but adequate running start and leaps across the stream to the other side of the cavern. No one tumbles into the water, although Joanne and Dugan's feet slide a little on the slick ground.
Just as you're about to proceed down the next tunnel, you hear a sudden splash in the water behind you. This is followed by a high-pitched, feminine voice crying out to you in concern.
You turn to find one of the gray children leaning out of the water, her webbed hands propping her up upon the stream's rocky edge. Her tangled hair is a sickly green, and you can now see that her skin is covered in soft scales like a fish. She looks at you in a mix of fear and confusion, worried over both whether you can understand her and if you might attack her yet.
Another such creature pops out of the water and chastises her kin in the same, unfamiliar language. She then turns to the party and speaks in a gentle tone.
"Looks like trouble is further down the path gentlemen."
'We're down here looking for trouble, right?'
Micheo sheathes his rapier and raises his hands, palms facing the water creatures so they can see there are no weapons concealed there.
He tries speaking in common, then celestial.
"We mean you no harm. Can you understand me?"
The first one recoils and slinks back into the water as Micheo approaches, sitting submerged up to her eyes. The other one tilts her head but then offers a shake of her head and a shrug, indicating that she understands neither Common Taldane nor Celestial.
Inconnu put's his blade away. "They've been kicked out of their grotto by some hideous beast. I'm going to try and get a few more details."
"I have had dealings with fey creatures. Can you describe this creature and any abilities it might have? Was it intelligent or a mindless brute?"
Seeing that Inconnu's efforts are more likely to beae fruit, Micheo steps back.
"I am for slaying this beast."
The one watery, child-like creature that remains unafraid of the party shows clear signs of understanding Inconnu. However, she shows some difficulty describing the beast.
The fey creature pauses and slumps slightly, obviously stressed or sickened. However, she rights herself and continues speaking. As she speaks, she also points in the direction that the underground stream flows from.
From the fey's description, you suspect that the beast in question is a bogwid.
Aberrant beasts of ancient origin, bogwids are loathsome, skulking predators that inhabit the gloomy swamps and damp subterranean places of the world. Looking like a bloated, eight-limbed, greenish-black mix of frog and tentacled beast, this asexual creature is most notorious for the larvae it carries on its back.
"Let me explain this to the others."
"A monstrous frog of fantastical sinister countenance... nightmare frog might be more apt translation, Sylvan is tricky at times. A mucous coated mouth and moves using arms, no tentacles. Oozing boils and warts about it."
"They have pet toads, they think that attracted it as a food source, that and the warmth of the area. They want our help."
He considers the description for a moment. "I think it's a bogwid, they're aberrant beasts of ancient origin. Loathsome, skulking predators that inhabit the gloomy swamps and damp subterranean places of the world. Looking like a bloated, eight-limbed, greenish-black mix of frong and tentacled east. It caries it's larvae on it's back. I think this is a worthwhile task for us to undertake one way or the other."
'Let's get to it then.' Dugan waves to the small wet creature and turns to find the strange frog-beast.
The tunnel walls grow damper, and the air becomes heavy with warm moisture. A vile odor wafts forth, carried upon the humid cavern air. Glowing green moss grows in thick clumps along the wet, rough stone as the passage widens, leading to the underground grotto ahead.
Micheo feels the tell-tale signs of imminent battle. His tongue and eyes are in struggle with the forces afflicting him.
Ulark strides forward into the cavern grotto, awash in the greenish glow of the phosphorescent fungus on the walls and ceiling. His boots tromp through the shallow water abutting the actual pool, and he draws his bow. He aims through the pale ivy and ferns that seem to thrive in the heated waters and looses his shot, but the arrow only grazes the beast's thick, oily hide.
The hideous creature stops grasping at the colorful toads desperately struggling to stay out of reach of its tentacles, and the monster swims through the water towards Ulark with a hissing snarl. Both the creature's revolting appearance and stench fall upon Ulark, but the logger's stomach remains steadfast against such foulness.
Dugan begins hustling around the edge of the cavern, drawing Glintaxe.
Inconnu casts's grease on the ground at the creatures feet before moving in a little closer to it.
The foul creature keeps itself stable upon its tentacles, and it resists Inconnu's grease. Joanne, after hustling into position before, rushes forward and leaps towards the creature, delivering a jumping kick. Although the revolting odor strikes her terribly, it does not skew her aim, and she lands a strong kick in the side of the creature's face.
Ulark takes one surging step forward, drawing his magic axe and raising it high in the air, and with a growl he brings it down. He buries the axehead square in the center of the bogwid's face, right between its eyes. If the aberration has a skull, it has been badly riven.
Hissing and howling in pain, the beast lashes out at Ulark with its thick tentacles.
However, the logger pulls his battleaxe free and narrowly manages to deflect the swings.
Dugan hurls himself forward with a roar, bringing Glintaxe in an overhead swing.
Coming around to the present and casting off visions for now, Micheo charges at the beast, rapier ahead of him!
Inconnu, with a rocky pillar and Ulark between him and the aberration, begins an inspiring performance to urge his allies onward. Meanwhile, he draws his sword as he hops into the water to circle around the bogwid. The revolting aura of stench and hideousness surrounding the creature, though, leaves the bard feeling weak.
With Inconnu's encouragement, Ulark and Micheo score a pair of sturdy blows upon the bogwid. The foul creature shudders with a rasping gasp and collapses, sliding back into the steaming water of the grotto. The disgusting larvae on its back continue to wriggle across its broad, warty back, but they pose no danger.
"Gods above and below we need to burn this things corpse... I'm not sure if it's enough to prove Ulark's character but surely we can find something that isn't so foul."
"Agreed, Inconnu. But it was still a worthy deed for all of us. Please inform the locals when you get the chance."
Micheo then move to begin hauling the monstrous corpse from the waters, less affected by the heat than others might be.