Keaton and Efude move as it seems to wish them to.
the moth darks along, back towards the pit, his glow dissapearing down the corridor.
The group follow it down the path.
the moth seems to be missing, at first- until little wing tips can be seen poking out of the sludge.
Keaton looks confused to not see the moth as they turn the corner until his eyes go wide as they spot the moth dunked in the sludge. "I, uh... He's doing that on purpose, right? He could've walked over it... I mean, he had to have moved the board to get in there..."
the moth's tentacle slaps on the walls of the pit, then the other, before it drags itself out, scattering bits of green sludge everywhere, as it oulls itself out, something in it's teeth. It spits out a badge covered in green sludge.
Keaton stays well back as the unsavory mess scatters over the floor.
"Is, uh, this something any of you recognize?"
He'll cast detect magic on it after using mage hand to shake off some of the gunk, ignoring the residual magic aura of the goop.
"it's a badge!" La'Vassa seems proud of this declaration
Keaton pats Jo on the back. "Good, thanks Jo. But we need to know from what organization the badge is from, more importantly."
Religion
Arcana
once the green goop is shaken off, it's labeled "marithent" for a name, and is labaled "PA" above it, with "LR" below it. It's white and specked, besides that. It's a metal badge, non magical.
"PA" stands for "protean alchemical", one of the few organized protean institutes, and one of the even fewer that accept humanoids, they are Known for the creation of quite a few potent, but unstable, potions. A lot of thier operations are kept secret, and are usually conducted in remote areas of the world.
The "LR" under the name stands for "lead researcher" meaning the holder of this badge holds high regard, and the highest regard a humanoid can hold in PA.
Charlie has a badge just like this one on his wall, save that it has "Xanthal-sal-pilith" written where the name is.
La'vassa examines the badge "oh! You be working with proteans! You is smart alchemist yes."
the moth glances to jo' Vassa, and nods vigorously.
"Oh, so do you work with these proteans?"
the moth nods harder, wings flittering a bit.
"And they know this happened to you and left you here like this?"
the moth shakes it's head. Then kinda nods it's head. And just shakes itself, frustrated with the inadequacy of either answer.
"Either way, we're representatives of the sovereign city of Elrith, and we're here to maintain its safety. Does this group pose danger to the government or people of Elrith?"
the moth just stares, neglecting to answer.
Keaton sighs, having been afraid of that answer.
"Thank you for your honesty. We need to see if we can find someone in charge here to speak to. That isn't you, is it?"
He isn't being sarcastic. If they weren't a danger, it would've been better to say so. Not lying about it meant he must've understood that they were at least hazardous if not asked to leave.
the moth tilts it's head from side to side. He tries to retrieve the badge with a tentacle.
Keaton directs it back to him with Mage Hand.
"We need to be going. Thank you for your help, and we'll be back to help you as soon as possible.
La'Vassa frowns, the badge was shiny.
the moth shakes it's head, and flaps over the hole, heaving down the corridors, giving a "follow me" motion with a tentacle.
Ellen had just noted what the badge said and left it at that, also noting what the others say for future use.
Keaton silently directs them back into their marching order as they follow the moth, carefully watching to see if he went down the path that ended in the small army of void worms.
the moth does indeed head right for that room, silent as usual.
Keaton uses his staff to tap the moth on the back, whispering vehemently. "There's just an army of void worms in there. They don't even speak common. We need to talk with whoever the leader here is."
the moth shakes it's head, and tries to head forward anyway.
Keaton sighs and has everyone continue following. He really hopes there's a good reason for going this way.
the moth walks up to the room, and the proteans soon all swarm towards it. Itncalnly holds up the badge wrapped in tentacle, and the proteans look at it, before one by one returning to thier meals. The moth getsures to the nearby hall in a "go on" fasion.
La`Vassa follows confidentiality
The crew takes the direction and heads into the next room, no weapons in hand.
La'Vassa's weapons are her hands! And mouth!
No weapons we weren't born with.
as the crew starts progressing, they hear some dripping sounds, along with the occasional splat.
as Ellen follows she put her glaive on her back again.
the wall nesrby is the same as before- hollow. There's another opening on the other side, leading away from the slapping noise.
"the walls are hollow here to"
Ellen informs the group.
"We're trying to stay on good terms, so we shouldn't go busting walls out yet. We'll either ask or check on the way out depending on how things go."
They continue down the last unexplored path.
as the last room sprawls out ahead of room is filled with green, glowing puddles. Moving, green glowing puddles.
La'Vassa walks over to a puddle "oooooooooh"
Keaton
Efude (will edit in bonus and roll)
"Are you sure you need to see?" is the simple response Dredger gives, already standing quite a few feet away. "We could always grab a bag or two of gold and spread them out in front of you, but if we're already working to fix this..."
"Well, I mean, we can take some, but I don't thing any of us are equipped to pack up much of that gold. Let's just go, Antony, we can come back for this money later."