At Dennis' words, Efin glanced around-
-and made a much closer observation of the area. What she could see of it, anyway. Maaaaaaaybe she should've picked some other spells today, but oh well!
The nobleman looks sourly at Kaval.
"Well isn't that wonderful. A squire in training. What other inept guards will we be saddled with next? Perhaps there are some schoolchildren we can count on."
He continues on more or less addressing the group.
"I am Horgus Gwerm. I need to get back to the surface. If you can safely escort me there I will offer each of you 1000 gold sovereigns as a reward. Yes, it is that much of an emergency for me."
"Always happy to gain some coin sir. We'll get moving out and try to find a way up. I suppose I can take point unless someone else feels they would be better at it. "
Shimmer also glances around at Dennis's urging.
She takes a look to down the cavern as she adds her own thoughts. "If you shall take point I can provide guard to the rear. With demons above it is possible one may attempt to attack us from such a direction."
"And I... will stay in the middle." Efin said prudently, happy to have other people between her and any slavering demons. "Here, lemme help." she added to Argus, moving over to help the injured man along. They could probably make slightly better time that way - but she had exactly no intention of leaving anyone behind for any reason.
"Sounds good to me. I'll stay up near Dennis so nothing can get past us to the injured folks. Kel's helping Aravashnial, and Efin's giving Argus a hand, and Horgus is quite capable himself of course. Looks like we're all set. Here Horgus, why don't you hold onto this rock, so you can see easier." Kaval says, as he holds out the stone with light cast on it.
Since there is general agreement, Dennis will lead the way out of the cavern once everyone is ready. He will be holding his ever burning torch in one hand and his rapier in the other.
Bottom is fine. Dennis leads in that way.
Looks like
front
Dennis -Kaval
Efin
civilians
Shimmer- Kel
That way we maintain the proper squishy sandwich.
Dennis has an everburning torch in his left hand.
With Shimmers channel (it was needed) Argus sighs with relief.
"Thank you, that helps a lot." He says as he discards his crutch.
"Here, take these, you can use them better than I can right now."
Turning to Kel he says, "Let me guide Aravashnial, that will free you up."
He hands you two alchemist's fires and three smokesticks.
You make your way around the spider and into the Northern tunnel after a little ways it broadens slightly and you see a smaller cavern that appears to have once served as a campsite or temporary lair. A torn bedroll lies next to the cold remains of a fire. A pile of bones, broken equipment, and rubble lies just past the campsite.
Give it a looksee.
Dennis will poke around in the wreckage of the camp looking for useful stuff.
Kaval begins to search the camp carefully and calls back to the group, "Looks like someone used to use this place as a camp site, but probably hasn't been here in a while, since the fire is cold. Maybe the spider got him?"
There were a couple of Giant cockroaches, but they die of fright when they see you :) (now that we had the "practice" combat, I won't waste game time with such obviously frivolous fights).
A thorough search of the room turns up a torn bedroll, three candle stubs (each can burn for 30 minutes), a bent fishhook, 10 feet of badly frayed hemp rope, and a copper brooch depicting a bat perched on a mushroom— both of the bat’s eyes are tiny amethysts. This brooch is worth 250 gp.
"Huh, interesting. I thought bats usually hung from ceilings." Efin said, observing the amulet. "Gimme, like, ten minutes and I'll have this bedroll in good enough shape to use as a bag for whatever we find." Besides, if something was in a group bag, it was easier to remember that nobody owned it. If there were no objections, she'd be casting Mending and gathering all of the items together before handing them to whoever felt like carrying them.
"Don't see that we're in a rush, go ahead. We need to make use of what we find. "
after a moment's work, the bedroll, fishhook, and rope are in good condition.
"OK, let's keep moving. "
Is there a way to continue out of here or do we have to double back?
You are at the X.
"Forward, I guess." Efin said, gesturing for the tougher people to lead the way.
"Alright." Kel said to Argus. "I'll be right behind you both."
Dennis will keep leading to the east.
"Forward, I guess." Efin said, gesturing for the tougher people to lead the way.
"While Efin is fixing up this broken stuff, why don't I have a little look around, and determine the best way to go? Wouldn't want nasty surprises sneaking up behind us, if we can avoid it." Kaval goes about 20 feet down each of the three unexplored hallways to get a feeling for what's ahead.
Efin stayed back from the frog as he explored, not wanting to get too close in case something nasty popped out. Most of her spells had a somewhat limited range, after all...
Kaval, you see it goes back to the cavern you started in. However, stone ledge juts out at a right angle on the south wall of this cavern, fourteen feet off the ground. The leather strap of a backpack hangs from the edge of the ledge, while above, a narrow fissure yawns up into the dark.
"Guys, there's a backpack back there, hanging from a ledge. Looks like it might have fallen down during the collapse. I can't see onto the ledge though, so there might be something up there and I wanted to let you guys know before I climb up to get the bag. I hope it has something tasty inside." After updating the others, Kaval scurries off to the south to recover the backpack.
Kaval tries to scale the wall, but makes no progress.
Hah! Success! Kaval makes up to the ledge and finds a backpack. The pack itself is a masterwork backpack that contains 10 days of trail rations, a flint and steel, a set of caltrops, two flasks of oil, a bundle of 12 arrows, and two potions.
"Hey guys, the bag I found had some food and supplies, plus two magic potions!". As he rejoins the group, the small grippli offers the items he found to anyone that would like to use them.
Efin peeked over as Kaval brought the potions in, curious to see what they might be used for. It was doubtful that any of them could be used to fix a broken leg, but the more supplies they had, the easier it would be for all of them to get clear of these caverns. Uuuuuunless there were no exits, of course... ahahaha... but no, seriously, Desna was a traveler and would almost certainly show her some way through.
The first potion is a potion of cure light wounds. You failed to identify the other one.
"Good work checking that out. That stuff will do us a lot of good. "
After traveling the winding route about 1,900 feet (at a speed of 15 feet through the rough cavern passages, this takes about 25 minutes to navigate), your group reach the tunnel’s end at a junction. To the north, a 5-foot wide opening in the wall leads into a cave filled with soft but nasty-looking green light—the tunnel itself continues South beyond this toward darkness.
Dennis will take a look into the weird room without going inside.
"Anyone know what the weird light comes from?"
A single sizable 20-foot-tall building remains in the center of this 30-foot-high cave, a bunker-like structure with no windows and walls of worked stone blocks. A 10-foot-long carving of a hammer decorates the building’s facade. The ruins of collapsed outbuildings stand to either side. The glow emanates from various lichen on the walls of the cavern.
"A building under ground? Doesn't that seem a bit strange to you guys? Still, if the path ahead starts to branch a lot and we can't make it to the surface in a day, it may be worth using this building as a place to rest. Let's check to make sure there's nothing nasty waiting inside for us."
Dennis, Efin, and Kel recognize this seems to be a shrine to Torag.
"Yeah, that certainly makes me curious. " and he will look around the building for an entrance.
"You guys go in first." Efin said, not wanting to run inside and be met by a gaggle of demons (emphasis on 'gag' - seriously, their smell) or some such. She could always support them from behind if need be.