Valghaz grunts and assists Mistra out of the creature's webbing. "We ain't got too much time." the dwarf calls out to Aladair, "Those bandits will be coming to look for us soon and I don't think we can be handling much right now!"
Aladair steps into cave that spider-man was about to take Penance into. This cave seems to have several large walls of web filament which obstruct parts of the cave. Using his blade to cut through the webbing Aladair pushes past the sticky webbing to reach what must be the creature's feeding area. Several bones litter the ground. Some are animal bones but several are also humanoid bones.
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Penance awakens just in time to see Conner and Aric sailing past her to obliterate the...thing that had snared her. With the violence finally coming to a close, she steadies her breathing with a hand on her collarbone. "B-B-By Ra...! That w-w-was..."
She is silent when Valghaz approaches, allowing him to heal her but still trying to conceal herself as best she can. The dwarf, and by extension the rest of the sell-swords accompanying her and Aric, had apparently chased the horrible beast to save her. A good sign, but signs were not confirmation. It still wasn't safe to fully trust them. In any case, they still needed to get out.
Penance studies Aric's arm when he offers his hand to her. There was something about the way his sweat ran across the muscles of his upper arm, a strange allure...she swallows and takes his hand. "S-S-Sir Aric, I...I-I-I am sorry. That f-f-foul thing surprised me. P-P-Please forgive me..." She picks strands of web off her cloak and tries to readjust her oversized garment, trying to disappear back into its folds. "M-M-My failure has w-w-wasted precious time...w-w-we need to h-h-hurry..."
After helping Valghaz with freeing Mystra and recovering her candle, she comes up behind Aladair and places her hand on the small of his back. "F-F-Find what you c-c-can quickly Sir A-A-Aladair...O' Ra, guide his gaze..."
"D-D-Do any of y-y-you know the w-w-way out? D-D-Did you see i-i-it while I w-w-was...?"
Mistra shakes her head in a negative to Penance's question. To be honest, I'm still woozy from that bite... I think I'll just sit and rest a moment until we have to move again.
Investigate:
Aladair quickly scans the lair not having much time and notices a small, leather satchel half-hidden beneath an old cocoon hunk that has disintegrated into pile of bones and webbing. He picks up the satchel and feels that it has a good weight to it.
Aladair continues to look around when he hears Valghaz calling out to him. Aladair finds another fallen husk containing a desiccated corpse still bearing a shield emblazoned with the symbol of a bronze eye on it's back. Grabbing this he runs back to the rest of the group when you all hear yelling echoing from the front caves.
Aric walks around a bit. "Those lazy slobs would have to be as crazy as we are to try and follow us down here," Aric says. "We got time. It's more important that we keep moving forward. Like they say, slow and steady wins the race." Finding a relatively clean spot to sit, Aric lets himself relax against the cave wall. Opening one eye, he looks over at Penance. "You should rest too, boss. Take some time to calm yourself before we get going. Likely there'll be other things that'll want to kill us down here."
Conner sits down and leans on the opposite wall of the cave from Aric.
A rest sounds good.
Confidant that the bandits will not traverse this deep into the caves you rest by the spider humanoid's lair gathering your strength back. The voices still echo in the cave but they seem to die down after about a quarter of a bell.
Aladair nods as Aric and Conner indicate the party should a rest a bit and heads back into the creature's lair. He does his best to give it thorough examination.
He finds the following:
Lying loose among a stack of bones are a few slivers of blue and purple stones (6 stones in total), a sturdy leather bag with silver nobles and copper shields inside (70 sp, 600 cp).
Scattered about the cave Aladair also finds 213 gold monarchs and another 65 silver nobles (213 gp, 65 sp)
In addition there are various pieces of old and damaged armor but Aladair does find a deep red cloak with a gold filigree pattern running along the inside hem of the hood and then across the outer collar of the neck.
Mistra awakens after a short nap pleasantly surprised to see that the bandits, as Aric said, would likely not come this deep. As he gets up the effects of the poison seem to have worn off.
Mistra stretches as she recovers from her nap, feeling like she's managed to actually get some rest.
Seeing that Aladair is not with the main group, Mistra lights a torch and walks over to the Elf. It's not the best idea to wander caves alone at the best of time - we shouldn't tempt fate to teach us a lesson. have you found anything to suggest a way out?
Looking at the cave you see no exit from this creature's lair other than the one you entered through. Mistra does notice Aladair's hands are full with some of the bags and items he has managed to find while you had been resting.
"While I have found no egress from this cave, I have discovered a wealth of items! Come, let's show them to the others."
The elf hauls everything he has found back to where the others are camped.
"Here now...looks like this little adventure of ours has not been for nought! I have uncovered many interesting items in the lair of that spider-beast...here take a look!"
He sets the items out on the ground for the entire party to see.
Mistra peers over Aladair's shoulders as he shows the items he had found to the rest of the group. We ought to be careful with those.. Lost in a place like this, they may be cursed. I wonder if anyone has any familiarity with curses? I'm afraid I am not the one to break a curse if it's present...
Can anyone see if it's magical at all?
Identifying a magic item requires an Arcana check depending on the rarity of the item. If you are not proficient in the Arcana skill, you may still attempt the check but suffer disadvantage on this roll.
When using the Identify spell it will grant a +5 bonus as well as advantage on the Arcana roll rather than automatically providing the results.
An Investigation check may also be used in lieu of an Arcana check, but you suffer disadvantage on this Investigation check.
On any failed roll, the character must wait at least 24 hours before attempting a new Arcana or Investigation check to identify the item. A failure with Identify causes the spell component to be lost (i.e., 100 gp pearl).
Common > Arcana DC 10
Uncommon > Arcana DC 15
Rare > Arcana DC 20
Very Rare > Arcana DC 25
Legendary > Arcana DC 30+
Valghaz shakes his head at the group "I've spent my ability to call upon the Forge Father's favour this day. If we ever make it out of this place and can get a good rest I should be able to find out."
Aric opens one eye and glances over at the items. None of them hold a particular interest for him, so he returns to his rest.
Conner studies the cloak.
When Mistra sees that no one is well-equipped to study the items, she leans forward to see if her limited knowledge of the arcane can find any clues.
She also uses her quarterstaff to nudge open the satchel, curious what might be inside it.
The stitching Mistra recognizes as eldritch script that likely would be used to provide some sort of protection.
The shield she remembers hearing about in passing. 'Bearing an eye to stand watch over that would seek cover behind it' The shield is a sentinel shield.
The satchel contains 146 gold monarchs as well as three vials. One has been shattered while the other two are intact and stoppered. The stoppered vials are a light purple, almost violet, in colour.
Mistra shares the information with the rest of the group. I do not think there are any curses on these items... It seems they are designed for protection. The vials, I do not recognize.
The silence is a welcome one albeit unsettling being in a cave full of spiders and their desiccated victims still it seems that the bandits have elected to wait you out or to come looking for your bodies later.
Either way you know you cannot stay here forever. There are a few places to check and given the creature you fought and the amount of victims found in its lair there must definitely be another way out of these caves.
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Al leaves the shield, cloak and the vials with those who seem to know their properties best, and scoops up the various coin to deposit it into his pack.
"I'll hold onto this for the time...once we are free we can divide it up. Now, let's go back and check those tunnels before something else creeps from the shadows to attack us!"
He begins to head back to the room where they first encountered the spiders and the pit.
Mistra looks on as Aladair walks towards the main cavern, shrugs and responds. I'm game. Let's find our way out of here.
She grabs the shield off the ground, and motions towards the cloak and vials while looking at Conner. Do you want to grab those? We definitely don't want to leave them behind.
Conner dons the Cloak of Protection, then tastes the vials to determine their properties.
Throwing the cloak over his shoulders Conner then begins to sample the two remaining vials. Tasting the contents you feel some of the swelling from your bruises slightly go down.
Having rested enough you move to the cave you encountered the beetles in carefully navigating around the pit. The cave is rather large but as you walk deeper into it you see Penance's candle flickers monetarily as a draft of wind passes by it. You rush quickly in the direction of the wind sensing your freedom do close and you find a hole the size of a dwarf. Rubble and forest debris can be seen around the hole. Sticking your head in you look above and see a shaft with some somber light from outside filtering in. The exit looks to be about 30 feet overhead.
These three vials contain healing potions, by my tasting.
Conner pockets one, and holds the other two out.
These could come in handy. Please hold onto them for later use.
If no one else makes a move to retrieve the vials, Aladair steps forward and takes them. He wraps them in s bit of cloth then stores them in his belt pouch, for easy retrieval.
Mistra nods in appreciation at Aladair's actions. With my luck, I wouldn't be upright long enough to use one.
Mistra rummages through her pack when they notice the ceiling shaft. Its got to be here somewhere... She pulls a grappling hook from the pack and sets it aside, then looks to the rest of the group with a frustrated sigh. Looks like I forgot to replace my rope after I used it to tie up... well, never mind that. Doesn’t matter now. The point is, does anyone else have some rope?
Penance looks up at the opening, then pauses. In short order, the sounds of rummaging can be heard from within her cloak, before her delicate hand extends forward with a large coil of rope. ”W-W-Will this be e-e-enough?”
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”I certainly hope so. What a bind this is, when a dwarf is yearning to see the light of day!”
Mistra nods in thanks to Penance, threads the rope through the eye of the grappling hook and knots it securely together, and then takes a step away. She swings the grapple, slowly playing out enough line. Here we go! With short grunt she lets the hook fly up the shaft.
”Here, lass. Let me give it a try.”
Mistra jumps out of the way as the hook comes clanging back down, almost knocking into her head. She watches as Valghaz takes the rope, straightens it out, and proceeds to make a much more impressive attempt at the process. That was very well done, Master Valghaz. Thank you - I do not want to be in these tunnels any longer than necessary!
"Well let's go. I suggest Valghaz goes first and I will go last."
Aladair holds the rope tight as Valghaz begins to climb.
Mistra's first attempt to catch the hook on something almost results in her getting clipped by the falling grappling hook as it strikes the ground beside her.
Valghaz aching to be done with this place takes the rope and hook and swings it up. There is a clattering sound as the hook successfully finds a secure purchase on the edge of the opening. Valghaz gives it a couple test pulls and nods indicating it is safe.
One by one you each make your way to the surface thankful to breathe in the fresh air. The gray sky makes it hard to determine what time it is but there is still light in the sky. Looking about a thick copse of trees blocks your view however you are confident that you are still in the Forest of Hope from the higher treetops that surround you.
Listening to the sounds of the swaying branches and leaves mixed with the constant forest sounds around you it would appear you are in a relatively safe place away from the bandits.
Tired yet still having daylight you all converse with one another on what you should do next.
”Sunlight and nay a spider in sight. Forge’s blessings! Anyone know which way to go?”
Mistra looks around, then shrugs. I don’t know where we are, but with good light and no enemies around I say we keep moving while conditions favor us.
We should get back on course with our original task before the bandits waylaid us.
You all remember the half orc proprietor of the tavern in Holscomb saying,
"Ain't no trails from here to the Ferry. If you make it you'll need to stick to the river and follow it downstream. Heard from here (Holscomb) to the Ferry is about five to six days on foot."
You had traveled one day before you were ambushed by the bandits. After examining several trees Aric points in one direction and indicates that the river likely to be in that direction.
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After having the direction helpfully pointed out by Aric, Mistra does a quick check of the surrounding area to make sure everyone is ready, and then suggests the group head in the direction of the river. If the group can reach the river, they will know roughly where they are.
Aye, let us get back towards the river so that we can follow the same to the ferry.
AL moves out and starts following the others towards the river. He keeps his eyes and ears open for any sign of pursuit or another ambush.
Perception: