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Valghaz quietly eyed the orc and tiefling duo. They were a strange couple, to be sure. But he thought that they were a good one. If they survived this the orc in particular would be a good father. It was truly upsetting how these bandits were so perfidious that they would even kidnap a young couple. Truly a sign of these lesser times. In the days of the ancestors such crimes surely would not happen!
Valghaz quietly eyed the orc and tiefling duo. They were a strange couple, to be sure. But he thought that they were a good one. If they survived this the orc in particular would be a good father. It was truly upsetting how these bandits were so perfidious that they would even kidnap a young couple. Truly a sign of these lesser times. In the days of the ancestors such crimes surely would not happen!
Penance, despite the circumstances, laughs quietly. ”I-I don’t think...” She pauses. ”Yes, yes that must be it...such a c-cowardly band...” A small smile on her face, she relaxes into Aric’s arms, her head coming to rest on the half-orc’s chest. ”...thank you Sir Aric...”
Conner eyes the militaristic approach to their transport, gauging any weaknesses in the enemy.
Mistra snorts to herself on hearing Aric's explanation, but isn't going to disabuse him of the notion. She's fine with the idea of a Tiefling companion, and throws a wink at Penance when she looks towards Mistra.
Mistra is not entirely sure what's going on between Penance and Aric, and does have some reservations that the pair might be playing a long game to con the rest of the group; but everyone has secrets, and she won't let a little paranoid musing affect her companions. At least, not until there is reason to. After all, maybe Aric really is just that self-absorbed! She chuckles, glad to find a bit of humor in the day.
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"You're gonna have to give me a second, my arm's startin' to fall asleep," Aric grunts as he hefts Penance up and over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "Give me about a half-hour of this and then you can go back to where you were or you can walk if you want."
The rain began at the end of the march yesterday just as you started to set up camp. Throughout the march the bandits moved with very little chatter their focus set on wherever this factory was located and keeping a sharp eye on the six of you.
True to her word, the leader of the bandits, whose name was Ianeria as overheard by Aladair's keen ears, had given no more details about the factory. She all but avoided all of you although she did come close enough to look upon Penance still being carried by Aric.
With a couple quick orders from Ianeria the bandits nailed down several stakes and poles upon which they placed a leather tarp overhead to keep out the rain. Cold rations and a few blankets were handed out to you that night compliments of Ianeria, yet you were forbidden to have a fire. The night came and went albeit a little damp and chilly and by morning you quickly broke your fast and were led off once again.
The second day of travel was no different than the previous day. Worse perhaps because you were forced to march in the falling rain that made the conditions slower to traverse through. In the evening you were allowed to light a fire for part of the night to dry your wet clothing but a couple of hours before Prime your fire was doused out leaving you to huddle close to keep warm this time around.
It is the third day of traveling and a couple of hours before Non the rain finally lets up and Ianeria calls for the group to halt. Accompanied by several other bandits she approaches you all.
"We are here." she announces and then points to the left where you watch as several of her bandits move away some bushes. Behind the bushes you see a cave entrance blocked by a wooden palisade. "Time to pay off your debt. I am a person of my word. You might feel otherwise given the circumstances, but this is a very legitimate business."
"Deep inside are nests of spiders and from those spiders we collect raw silk. Your job is simple protect the silk farmers from the spiders long enough to gather several bales of silk. Two things you should know no more than four spiders are to be killed. Any more and you might as well stay in there cause we will throw you back in and let the spider's have their revenge. Second, if any of my people do not come back then consider your lives forfeit as well. Those are the terms. You have two hours to get prepared." she turns to one of the women with her, "Hayla get the others ready to go." The woman named Hayla nods and dashes off. Turning back to your group "Any questions that actually matter?"
”Are they as poisonous as y-...” Still smoldering with rage he bit his tongue. ”Are they poisonous? And how big are they?” Either way I can heal two men of their wounds and can stop the dying from passing. So that’ll be my job.”
After the days of travel, Penance still dresses in the great cloak, though now you all notice she is much more willing to look at you directly while speaking, as she does with the bandit leader. ”D-Do they fear the f-flame you d-d-denied us...?” Her voice is quiet and meek, but the anger behind it is clear. ”F-Fire bends to m-my will, so I m-must know if I-I should procure s-some...”
Aye, I have a question. Mistra glowers at Ianeria. Will you give us our armor and weapons back now?
Mistra is not sure how this is supposed to play out. It seems a fools task to protect a bunch of farmers without harming the things you are protecting them from. She does not see a way out of this, except possibly if they can be stealthy enough to not draw the spiders attention in the first place...
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"Yes dwarf the spiders are poisonous. Hayla can tell you more this is her operation. But I am happy to know it was smart to keep you alive after all even if your tongue is a little forthright."
Hearing Penance for the first time Ianeria moves closer to the tiefling. "So you do speak? I had thought that whoever raised you might have cut out your forked tongue, but my you are beautiful. Was your mother the temptress or your father the seducer?" Ianeria pauses "And also a bender of fire? They must have thought to hang you upon learning this. To answer your question some of the spiders seem to fear fire others do not. If you are to use fire in there if you damage any of the product with your magic I will personally string you up and bleed you slowly."
"Yes your weapons and armour wiil be given to you when you enter. Use them to complete the debt owed. Do not let this turn into what happened when we first met."
Penance winces when Ianeria mentions her mother and father, but is still quick to reply. "They n-never knew of R-Ra's gift..." There is brief movement under her cloak, then she produces a small, beeswax candle. 'I-I will be careful...please, m-may I have a m-match?"
With some small sense of satisfaction, Penance realizes that the bandits never bothered to take her weapon, useless in her hands as they may be. Still though, she thought best not to mention their "mistake."
Aladair gathers up his kit and readies his bow, but keeps his rapier loose in its scabbard. He remains quiet until the group is alone.
"Ra's gift? Whoever that is. But I will entertain your ask." Ianeria looks at Penance quizzically and then motions for one of her people to bring the tiefling a flint and steel. Within a minutea man return]flint snd steel and passed to Penance. "I doubt I need warn you if this is some trickery." Her hands move to her sheathed rapier as she waits to see what Penance does next.
Being careful to shelter the candle from the rain, Penance lights the candle and then places it in the center of her left hand. She sets aside the flint and steel, then closes her right hand around the tip of the wax cone. At first it seems as though she has immediately snuffed the flame, but as she opens her fingers, what she has truely done becomes quite evident. The candlelight, at first dim and tinged orange, now shines brilliantly with golden hues. Under her hood, Penance smiles. ”There you are little one...would you be so kind as to help me today?” Perhaps it’s your imagination, but it almost seems as though the flame flickers slightly in reply. ”Wonderful...” She turns her head back towards Ianeria. ”I-I am ready t-to pay the d-debt...”
Aric begins the task of collecting all of his weapons back from the bandits. "Kill some spiders, not all spiders, don't let the weak ones get killed, don't let the silk get hurt, and on and on and on." Aric examines his great sword and battleaxe, hefting each in one hand before sheathing the axe. "Dunno why they call you Princess Hope. Ain't like you give much of it out."
Ianeria nods at Penance and then raises an eyebrow at Aric's comment. She looks like she is about to say something when the caster who you also encountered during the ambush comes up and whispers something into Ianeria's ear. "Get yourselves ready. Hayla will return and give you further instructions." Ianeria and the mage abrupyly leave you to re-equiping yourselves under the watchful eyes of of her people.
An hour goes by when you finally see Hayla return and you see she is not alone. Trailing behind her are four more individuals. Two wiry men pulling a cart laden with strange equipment, a halfling with a deep scar that runs along the right side of his face and a tall human woman pulling along two goats.
Hayla addresses you all, "So you've been given your orders. You protect us as we gather the spider eggs. Not sure what the Captain told you but there are two breeds of spiders in there that we know about. The dark brown or grayish-brown haired ones don't spin silk. You see those ones you kill them if necessary. The spiders with the white tips on their legs and pincers you don't touch. Marlowe here," she points at the scarred halfling. "Will be in charge of you while you're inside the caves. He's a veteran when it comes to collecting and navigating these caves. Listening to him will get you back out here alive and pay off whatever you owe the Captain. Got questions ask him. Marlowe they are yours. The rest of you let's get ready to go."
Marlowe shrugs at the party and pulls out a case. From the case he produces a rolled up parchment. "This is a map of the caves that we need to check for nests. It's dark in there but I see you brought some light. Any questions?"
"W-Which spiders fear the f-flame?" Penance tentatively asks. "A-And, what are the c-cart and animals f-for?"
As she looks at the map, the tiefling takes note of the fact that the cave system is not fully shown. She can see a tunnel with no mapped end at the bottom edge of the parchment. A plan formulating in her mind, she keeps the observation to herself and prays for a moment to speak with the others away from the bandits.
"Why don't we just kill all the ones that don't make silk?" Aric growls. He checks the edge of his sword, a bit frustrated. Pulling out a whetstone, he sharpens it a bit.
Marlowe speaks up, "Wish we knew that but we don't. The hunters, what we call the brown ones, they are more aggressive than the white tips usually. As to killing all the spiders we don't have time for that! Longer we stay in there the more will come! I for one don't want a mate for this." he points right at the scar on his face. "The animals and the cart. Cart's got the equipment we collect the silk with. Animals are for the spiders to keep occupied in case we get overrun! Little trick I devised a couple of harvests ago."
”Bloody stupid this is. Fookin’ kidnapping us to do this. Bet they murder us once it’s done. Bah! Well, I’m damned well here. A cleric of the Forgefather I am. Twice I can heal someone’s wounds. That’s it. Ye’re hurt, yell Valghaz and I’ll come running. If someone is dying I can half that. For that, Ironhammer and I’ll be over. Otherwise I’ll be back with Penance. I can summon some holy flame in a pinch. Nay much, and hope I won’t have to. Ye’all got that?”
A sound strategy, Valghaz. I am thinkin' me and Aric will be up front, knee-deep in brown spider guts!
"I think I too will be staying back with Miss Penance. my normal skills do not translate to face to face confrontations...but rest assured that my bow will be working hard to assist in keeping the spiders at bay!"
Mistra motions towards Conner. I may not look much, but I can support the front line. We can at least keep anything from getting through!
Marlowe looks at you all "The day ain't waiting for none of us and the crawlers get more active once night falls let's be about this!" Shouting back to Hayla and her crew, "Hayla we're ready to go in. You follow us." Lighting a lamp he affixes it to a pole and moves in with the others."That candle trick of yours is a good one. We don't want too much light attracting too many crawlers."
The bandits who were watching over you open up a gate that has been built into the wooden palisade. "Keep it locked until either Hayla or me get back!" Marlowe shouts at one of the bandits holding the gate open and with that you enter the dark cave.
The passage grade declines a little as you head down it with your weapons in hand. The air is damp in the cave and the sound of your feet walking over the natural stone floor occasionally can be heard. Moving a little deeper in the light from Marlowe's lamp reveals webbing scattered about the tunnel
In a hushed tone "Up ahead the passage breaks into two chambers. We start with the one to the left. Keep your eyes looking. The brown ones might be about."
Moving around the corner you come to a quick stop as a thick web blocks your way.
Penance comes to a stop along with everyone else before the web. Her first instinct is to set it ablaze, but then she remembers why they are here. "Marlowe, is this silk to be collected? Or shall I simply burn it?"
"No we ain't collecting this but we ain't burning it! That would set the factory up in smoke and who knows how many crawlers would come this way. Wasn't here the last time we harvested. Maybe we could cut it down carefully?"
Valghaz raised his hand and uttered ᛋᚨᚲᚱᛖᛞ᛫ᚠᛚᚨᛗᛖ.
It’s not actually fire, just “Flame-Like” and it does radiant damage, not fire damage. So it should destroy the webs where it hits, but not spread any further than that. Yay magic!
You watch as Valghaz calls upon his divine power and a flame-like radiance comes down on the web slowly breaking it away. Valghaz clears away the web providing you access to the rest of the caves.
Beyond the webbing you see two large caves one to the right and one to the left. "Alright that was handy dwarf. Now let's head to the left cave. The eggs will be deep in the cave so let's make sure it is clear for Hayla and the others."
From behind you hear the goats bleating as they enter the caves.
”Aye...” His voice trailed off as he looked into the caves. ”Watch the ceilings lads. Don’t want anything dropping on us.”
Mistra nods at Marlowe and heads to the left.
Aladair creeps silently behind the others. He keeps his eyes peeled for anything moving in the webs, but is also looking for possible exits from the cave as well.
Perception:
Aric draws his sword and looks around. "Just tell me when I can hit something already. This is a crap job, gathering silk from spiders. What do ya even do with stuff like that?"
Conner proceeds with the others, cautiously with both weapons drawn.
Penance creeps alongs, keeping very quiet as she readied her magic.
Moving into the left cave Aladair notices that the right cave has a thick wall of web blocking the passage as well.
With your eyes looking about the group moves about halfway into the cave when the ground in front of Conner gives way and a grayish brown spider the size of a wolf rushes out of the hole at the unsuspecting warrior. The fangs sink into the unprotected legs of the warrior.
”AH! Conner!” She quickly thrusts her hand forward and shouts words laced with arcane power. In a fraction of a second a perfect sphere of flame appears in her outstretched fingers and then darts towards the eight-legged monster.
Not waiting to see if she hits, the tiefling darts behind Valghaz, her cloak visibly shaking.
Aladair reacts swiftly to the sudden appearance of the spider, unfortunately not quick enough to stop it from biting Conner.
Attack:
Damage:
Sneak (if allowed):
Aric moves around the spider, looking for a decent shot at it. Swiftly, he strikes.
Conner swings his Long Sword and Flail at the spider that bit him.
ᚠᛚᚨᛗᛖ!
Radiant fire erupted from Valghaz’s hand and raced towards the fire.
Mistra moves up to the spider to thwack it with her quarterstaff, concerned about the sudden attack from the darkness.
Conner feels the pain subside as the poison finishes it course but can barely feel any sensation in his injured leg.
Penance sends a bolt of flame that hits the ground beside the hole as it misses. Fortunately it does not catch anything on fire. Aric and Aladair move up and attempt to strike the spider but the spider is too quick for them.
Once again Valghaz repeats his runic chant and calls down his radiant fire.
The flame catches two of the spider's legs causing it to stumble about.
The spell provides the necessary distraction for Mistra to move in and strike the spider over the head. The blow is enough to cause the spider to fall over onto its back.
Marlowe shines his lamp over the spider, "Hmm looks alive. Good work."
”Got one more in me. Let’s be careful, lads.”
Marlowe sticks his pole with the affixed lamp into the hole to make sure nothing else is in there. "Careful with all that fire. I want to make it out of here without being the crawler's next meal. Look after your man's leg there we got to make sure this place is clear of crawlers before Hayla and her crew come in."
Cure wounds is 1d8 + spell casting modifier.
So 7 (based on your roll) + 5 (Prof + Wis modifier) = 12.
Conner had 3 points left from his 13 so he should be at full. Not sure how you got to 6 points.
Now that the immediate danger has passed, Aric will walk around the perimeter of the cave, checking to see if there are any other spiders lurking in the shadows.