Lyla's voice comes through the earpieces.
"Lyla here, at this point we may need rest if not magical help. Hal took a nasty wound from a mushroom creature that's eaten away a chunk of his arm. Not sure if going on today would be a good idea. How are you all doing? Any sign of the worker?"
The ogre's death was a bad one. It tried to get out of the pit but really only succeeded in popping up long enough to get hit in the face again by Cad and knocked unconscious. Then it burned to death as teh ground slowly went back to normal and the pit vanished. Then it was just a sad looking giant bleeding from the head an d smoldering beneath a pile of soggy mattresses.
When Cadeyrn was certain the ogre was truly dealth with he doused the body and matresses by creating water. Cadeyrn then turned to Bladud,
"Bladud, you hadn't found any trace of the spider on this end anymore, am I right?" Cadeyrn paused for a moment and then spoke to the group as a whole, "Maybe we can try the path the other team used and continue where they currently cannot? Are you all still feeling up for crushing that spider and saving the worker?"
"Nis, is there any magic in there? Those gloves and boots look special. I agree with Lyla. After we secure and loot the room, we should call it a day." Dvalin offers.
As the ogre dies, the fatigue and physical toll of the leeches is obvious. "I could take up the trail, but I'm no'in a shape to keep fighting. Unless we have some powerful restoratives, I'll need a few days to catch up. You think they have any healing magics they can use back at base camp?"
The exhausted surveyors trudged their way back to the staging area.
Fala took one look at them and said "Clear the lift! Surveyors coming up!"
She gave them a nod as they waited for the crates to be cleared from the platform.
Dvalin is not leaving without that ogre looted. Personal pride and accomplishment.
As he waits for Nis to check the ogre's gear for anything expensive magical, Bladud speaks back through the communicating device to Lyla. "No sign of the worker or spider. We think he's your ways a bit. And we're doing much the same ... a bit tore up. We'll be takin' a'rest once Nis here finishes some hocus pocus."
All the ogre had on it was a smelly pouch full of odds and ends. Some were valuable but most weren't.
The broken carving looks like an old holy symbol of the imperial god Pluto. When whole the symbol would look like a simple depiction of a chalice with an orb in it.
As the ragged quartet looked over their meager find, they boarded the lift and made their way to the surface.
It was getting on in the afternoon, the shadows were beginning to lengthen. The thick trees on the edge of the hillock clearing the ruin was built into were lacing patches of darkness around like some god had spilled an ink pot.
The workers had build an impressive platform, like a raft with a hole in the center, right over where the cave in had happened where they had tumbled down into the spiders lair. Down below much of the webs had been burned away. Their staging point was nearly complete.
To the north, at the base of the hill, the Foreman's voice echoed.
"Heave! Again! , you motherless monkeys! We've almost got it!"
As Bladud and his crew wait to be lifted up to base camp, he looks over at Crew Chief Fala. "Anythin' we need'ta do while topside? Check ins or debriefs before we can hit the'hay?"
If not Bladud tiredly pulls himself directly towards the spot they had been directed mere hours before. Hours that seemed like it could have been days for all the excitement they'd seen since. When he finds the tent raised for him and his fellow highlander, he barely takes the time to drop his longspear and pack before he falls down onto his cot.
Still in full combat gear and boots, the highlander is snoring in no time.
After all the ogre’s items were gathered, Nisfeollyn cast a detect magic spell and studied the pieces one by one. ”This pendant has Abjuration magic. Nothing else is magical. The boots and gloves are simply thick leather.”
On the surface, Nisfeollyn walked tall, as if wearing fine robes and not the rags remaining from his near death experience with the gelatinous cube.
”Foreman Bal, is there a tent for bathing? Also, are there any spare clothes? I would even wear pants,” he said with a slight shudder.
The foreman is a little busy to answer Nisfeollyn's question. The group moves to the edge of the hill and looks over to see the foreman leading a team of workers who have some kind of elaborate rope harness set up with block and tackle. About ten men are hauling for all their worth.
Suddenly they all fall backwards as whatever they were pulling on gives way with a crack, followed by the sound of many twigs being broken one after another.
The forman scrambled to his feet and rushed over to the edge of the hill, disappearing for a moment beneath an undercut.
"We got it! It's op-" his words were cut off by a startled bellow. He staggered back, one hand clamped over a bleeding puncture in his chest.
"F#&~! "
Cadeyrn rushed over to the workers to figure out what was going on.
Daydreams of a soft pillow and welcome sleep are all kinds of burst with the foreman's yell, and Bladud rushes toward the yell of 'spider!'
"Right!" he grunts through the fatigue, "Payback!"
Dvalin leaves his backpack and pick at the camp to get to heavy load and hustles over to the accident.
________________^
The dwarf lines up a shot and pulls the level of his crossbow.
________________^
Yes, I looked there first. Where's the spider? The player failed his Perception check.
Nisfeollyn issued a string of Arcadian curse words as the elf restrung his bow and drew an arrow. Aiming, he exhaled to relax. The taught sound of the string was a final, delayed exclamation to his frustration.
Cadeyrn dropped his backpack and rushed forward, once more drawing upon his inner reserves.
Metal bubbles up from his hands and solidified in the shape of a cold-iron lucerne hammer.
"We run around all day trying to find it and then it pops up looking for us!"
Nisfeollyn hears Bal’s scream and points to the sky. As he hurries towards Bal, short bow held hip high in front, he draws an arrow with about a quarter of the full tension needed to fire.
Wuntholor sees Nisfeollyn’s finger pointing to the sky and jumps from his shoulder. He beats his wings, lifting above Nisfeollyn. His black eyes scan the area for a spider as he caws, hoping it scares the creature away.
Wuntholor took flight above the hill, but saw nothing dangerous.
Nisfeollyn on the other hand, rushed down the hill towards the Foreman and saw that the work crew had found another entrance to the ruin!
The ground had obviously fallen down over some kind of door, burying it over time. They had excavated the earth and just now managed to force the door open.
Nisfeollyn's keen elf eyes could see into the gloom down the ancient doorway. It was full of criss-crossing spider webs. In the dark of the hole a cluster of reddish eyes gleamed.
"Great Trickster, bless my weapon with strength to kill some vermin!"
Nisfeollyn calls out, ”A new entrance! The spider returns!” He plants his feet, pulls back on his bowstring, and fires at the spider, knowing that the webs may ruin his shot.
Initiative
Group A
Nisfeollyn
Hal
Cad
Spider!
Group B
Dvalin
Lyla
Torgan
Dorian
Bladud
NPCs
Nisfeollyn's hasty shot disapeared into the darkness. The spider retreated as well, its eyes vanishing from the elf's sight.
Bladud continues to huff and puff his way towards the danger.