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"We should divide out the stuff here that we found. How about everyone but Rorik and Malsuza takes two alchemists fire. Those two take 1 each. Then, perhaps, myself, Gordy, and Witz each take a tanglefoot bag. Everyone but Witz and myself can take a soul stimulant. Does that make sense?" asks Archer.
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Observing the pool, you notice a few details of interest. The water is crystal clear and goes 8 feet deep into the ground. Translucent, eyeless fish swim in the water, along with cave insects and mold. If you decide to boil the water, you could remove the mineral taste and make it safe for consumption.
Archer notices that there appears to be three sets of tracks here that were recent. Interesting to note is that some of the tracks look like they burst from the ground going up. The other seems to be small insect like tracks that lead just further up the path, going up on an above balcony cave.
Then he hears it, the sound of what must be a large cricket. Looking above, he sees what looks like strange cricket plant monstrosities!
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Light Condition: Party Light
Active Buffs: None
Active Penalties: None
Kipp(-0,Fine)
Archer(-0,Fine)
Malsuza(-0,Fine)
Rorik(-0,Fine)
Blue Aberration(-0,Fine)
Gordy Grimes(-0,Fine)
Witz(-0,Fine)
Red Aberration(-0,Fine)
Fungal Crawler
N Small Aberration
This giant fanged cricket is caked in pungent fungal growths and topped with a mushroom-like cap.
Doggoth, assuming his owner wants to toy with the strange creatures, barks playfully and contributes nothing beyond his moral support.
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Light Condition: Party Light
Active Buffs: None
Active Penalties: None
Kipp(-0,Fine)
Archer(-0,Fine)
Malsuza(-0,Fine)
Rorik(-0,Fine)
Blue Aberration(-10,Fine)
Gordy Grimes(-0,Fine)
Witz(-0,Fine)
Red Aberration(-27,Dead)
Archer dispatches the red Fungal Crawler aberration with minimal effort, but the blue one still stands. It digs its claws into Kipp!
What Happened
This time, her canine companion understands! He scampers past Archer and up the stairs, moving to take a bite out of... whatever this thing is.
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Gordy gathers power and sends himself flying at the bizarre cave insectoid fists first.
"I'm gonna get ya' you scurvy cave bug!"
After delivering his attack with a splashy charge, Gordy dangles in the air for a brief second before slowly drifting back down to the ground.
The Cap'n waddles closely behind Gordy, ready to attack anything threatening that jumps out at him.
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”We will have to be better than that next time, won’t we?” says Archer to himself, and perhaps his bow. ”Old Deadeye won’t be happy with that poor marksmanship, regardless of whether I hit the target or not.”
Archer takes more careful aim, going for a single, more accurate shot.
”No, that was not much better. Really, get a hold of yourself, Archer. Don’t let these unusual Pathfinders shake your aim. ”
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Light Condition: Party Light
Active Buffs: None
Active Penalties: None
Kipp(-6,Fine)
Archer(-0,Fine)
Malsuza(-0,Fine)
Rorik(-0,Fine)
Blue Aberration(-31,Dead)
Gordy Grimes(-0,Fine)
Witz(-0,Fine)
Red Aberration(-27,Dead)
Green ???(-0,Fine)
Spirosek
CN Medium Magical Beast
The rear limbs of this elk-sized insectoid loop into a large, chitinous sphere, and it nimbly propels itself forward with balance and grace.
Doggoth, Kipp, and Witz dispatch the Fungal Crawler aberration. It almost felt too easy with how quick that was.
Then the ground behind Witz bursts open, and suddenly a strange creature comes forth and bites at the hapless bard!
What Happened
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The party lands some hefty and deadly blows against the Spirosek, and it retreats, discarding Witz and realizing that missing out on a meal is better than death.
With the path clear once again, a search through the nest of the Fungal Crawlers leads to an interesting find.
Ring of Sustenance.
This ring continually provides its wearer with life-sustaining nourishment. The ring also refreshes the body and mind; its wearer needs only sleep 2 hours per day to gain the benefit of 8 hours of sleep. This allows a spellcaster that requires rest to prepare spells to do so after only 2 hours, but this does not allow a spellcaster to prepare spells more than once per day. The ring must be worn for a full week before it begins to work. If it is removed, the owner must wear it for another week to reattune it to himself.
Without further delay, the party can continue through the tunnels once again. Provided, they eat something to continue this long trek.
Countless small halls and chimneys break off from the primary tunnels here, blocked or redirected by occasional collapses, and creating a dizzying, three-dimensional maze.
Hours.
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The smile follows along, occasionally darting off and squeezing between narrow stones to fish for a relatively harmless creature to hunt. She does manage to take care of herself, if just barely.
She is unable to gather enough food to feed Doggoth, sadly. At her behest (via wriggling tendrils) she signals her Sergei to offer up a doggy treat for the trouble.
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With the combined effort of the party, the navigation of the tunnels is smooth and easy. You notice a few paths that smell fairly foul and take none of them. The continued path you follow leads to large chamber with brilliant stripes of red and black stone. Growths of glittering crystal lines this massive chamber's central pillar.
You see a light source along with someone's shadow. The sound of a fast-paced conversation between one person is taking place.
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"Hey, looks like it's starting to get dark. Let's go outside, I wonder if it would be alright? With the help of just a little tiny magic spell... No, I shouldn't have put a ring on it. Maybe I should have added some spice and fire. Less fire. More fire. Equilibrium! if they aren't spicy then they aren't real. This is no place for children."
This is all coming from one voice.
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"I'll be honest." explains Archer. "I may be able to track pretty well, but stealth just isn't a skill that I am particularly good at. I am better than some, but that's more a thing of natural agility than training.
"So, that being said, I am actually partial to being straightforward. Why don't we just approach this person, and engage in conversation.
"Mind you, I think we should all be resistant to fire if we do."
If the party agrees to this strategy, he will cast resist energy to gain fire resistance 20.
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"Oh! No need to take your shoes off! I'm coming!" A voice calls out towards you all. You hear many shuffling steps and the sound of a few objects dropping. Eventually from the passage an orc with a stone slate upraised on his arms and black wild hair steps out. "Ah, young visitors. Good of you to come out on such a night like this!" He shuffles his way up to Kipp, who is the most forward of the party.
From here you can see what is on the tray; cooked cave rats and crispy bat wings, as well as a few that are uncooked. "My my, you must be a tiger." He says to Kipp, reaching down and picking up one of the rats and handing it over to Kipp. "I must say I haven't had visitors here in... Oh... Lets see... At least a week now." He shoves the cooked rat into Kipp's mouth before going down the line to the next person.
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Kipp eats the food he has had shoved in his mouth before talking to our nufriend "Hey, that's not bad. Way better than undead or fogs. Oh! I'm Kipp by the way, I'm a fox, and these are my friendpanions and fellow pathfinders. Grumpy Fox, Mister Jokester, Bow-man, Miss Guu, Good-boy-dogo, Salty-Sea-Dwarf, and Brain snake. Who are you Mister Orc-Chef?" Kipp introduces each person as their new friend walks up to them.
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Upon watching her allies moving towards the strange individual, she moves forward, all the better to not be left out! As she does, her form stretches out and reshapes itself, with the shape of a humanoid body pressing against her surface as though it were expanding from the size of a pebble to the size of a human.
The thin layer of slime surrounding Malsuza's new form pops like a bubble, revealing the leather-clad form of a female half-orc. She grins a toothy grin, flexing her muscles.
"Oh man, it's nice to be back on a pair of legs after a few days of..." she trails off, watching their newfound friend feed a rat to Kipp. "Well, wasn't expecting hospitality down here."