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Poppy dropped her hand from her knife sheath and occupied it by rubbing her temple with concern, head downcast in thought. Still shaken, she considered his strange words and what they meant moving forward.He's lost everything because of this adventure. He likes you because you were nice. No one ever taught him anything close to tact. A swell of pity drowned out her previous concerns and she paused a moment to think and explain to the group
" He sayz he vas protecting me from you all. Thinks I'm a...Queen?", she said cringing slightly from the absurdity of it all.
Rubbing her throat, sore from having to alter her voice speaking Goblin, she finally answered him.
She then proceeded to try and explain the concept of boundaries to the Goblin, fully aware that this might require an ongoing process.
Muckbreath moves forward to say something, but trips on Ruka's foot and lands funny on the ground. His neck twists an unnatural angle and with a sickening crunch he no longer moves. Despite Kajiwara's best attempts at stabilization, the poor goblin meets his demise at own making.
Poppy eyed the pitiable creature before her, its head facing a direction most living things couldn't manage, so she assumed he wasn't. She didn't know whether or not to laugh from the sudden twist in it's fate, but she certainly wasn't going to shed a tear. She'd known plenty of people who couldn't get out of their own way, and Muckbreath seemed like the poster child. There was an air of inevitability to the whole affair.That snap ended all ethical debate. It's just meat now. Still, outside was better.
A few moments of shock, Poppy briefly whispered in a lilting tongue, seemingly to herself, before unsheathing her knife and using it to emphasize her words to Kaji, "Promise kept, da?". She shrugs before leaning down to grab Muckbreath's limp wrist. Poppy dragged the goblin corpse out of the sleep room careful not to hit any unconscious party members and added twenty gold to the party's coffers.
From outside on the walkway she asks those awake, "Vhat say ve skip breakfast and make for thoze caves? I'll make up for it vith an early leftover lunch.". She was ready to put some distance between herself and the fort.
Ruka stares at Muckbreath's body, feeling a strange combination of guilty and relieved. She'd been trying to deescalate the situation, had failed miserably, and now...well now he wasn't their problem anymore.
That certainly makes things easier.
Exhausted from two nights in a row of interrupted sleep, she gets lost in her own thoughts and barely registers Poppy dragging off the corpse. She stares blankly at the floor until she vaguely hears Poppy talking about leaving. Right, the caves. Whatever these walking dead are, we need to make sure they're not a threat. Besides, the sheriff wanted us to map out the whole swamp.
"Right." Ruka clears her throat and shoulders her pack. "Let's get going. Poppy, do you think we can tie the chest to Arti? I could carry it, but it would get in my way if we get ambushed by another snake or something."
Well. Alright. Okay. Someone probably understood what had just happened, but that wasn't Lor-Sinn. She gives Sam a confused look - perhaps the smart cartographer had an idea of what was going on and might share - before latching onto the new topic.
"Alright, yes. We are investigating the caves, and if there are any walking bones there we will deal with them. We cannot have them be a danger to the town."
The young tiefling sheathes her sword and picks up her pack, ready to go.
Asuka finally wakes up with a big stretch and a cute chittering noise in the back of her throat. She jumps up, as though someone had suddenly turned her from off to on. Asuka sleeps like the dead and can barely keep herself conscious when she’s tired, but the moment she wakes up naturally, she’s ready to go. ”Oh good, everyone’s awake! I had a weird dream that somebody was fighting or something.” She grabs her sheathed sword and rests it over her shoulder like she once saw a cool hero do on the front of a comic. ”Ready to go! Let’s go crack some bones like we are fixing an old man’s back pain.” She frowns as the joke comes out more strained than it sounded in her head. ”Hmm, need to work on that one. Meter and rhythm of it is a bit off.”
Kaji looked at Muckbreath’s body, carefully considering the events that had resulted in it. In the end, he nodded to Poppy. ”Agreement kept. Let’s prepare to find these caves and any “Walking Bones” that may be there.”
As he gathers his things to head out, he pulls out some cheese and hardtack so he doesn’t have an empty belly.
"Um... huh," the young wizard mumbled at seeing the goblin accidentally snap its own neck. And that was about all he had to say about that. Manic as they were, Muckbreath probably wasn't the first of his kind to die in such a manner. Wouldn't be the last either.
Turning to what actually mattered, Samton looked through his notebook and precursory diagrams of the marsh, recently embellished with directions taken from the fan. He wanted to map out the safest route possible for the group, maybe even free of any more giant snakes. After all, what awaited them at journey's end was plenty dangerous enough already: the undead. The cartographer tensed every muscle in his body to stop the jitters taking hold of him.
But if he appeared worried, then it was nothing to the eccentric paladin's look of confusion at events. Realizing only after a few seconds that she was looking for some clarification, Sam, predictably, didn't know what to say beyond parroting his mentor.
"Don't, uh, don't worry too much about it, Ms Lor-Sinn. Like Mr Parooh says, 'If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.' Sandpoint matters. Let's just focus on that and find these undead."
You finish up at the village, gathering all of the items of interest and ensuring all of the ears are taken. Ruka picks up the chest and after an hour of preparation, the group finally sets off on their way following Samton's directions as he uses the map on the fan to help move you in the correct direction.
He takes a few wrong turns and forces you to backtrack twice, the unpleasant trip through the marsh becoming even more so as he makes you march through not roads and bridges but water and muck nearly the entire way there. You do not come across any walking bones or more goblins on your way there thankfully. Eventually after a few hours as the sun crests high into the sky, he declares you are at your destination.
In front of you, you see that a fifty-foot-high cliff rises along the marsh’s southern border, its face a thick tangle of jutting rocks and bright green vines and nettles. A curtain of these thick nettle vines partially conceals a cave opening at the base of the cliff. Inside the caves, the fading light gives way to a deep darkness.
Ruka sets down the chest, stretching out her shoulders. "I think Arti's going to have to stay out here. Looks a bit cramped for him." She gently pats the donkey on his neck. "Guard this for us, will you?" Not that she's actually expecting trouble, given that they haven't seen anything dangerous in the past few hours. At least, she's not expecting any trouble outside the cave.
She digs through her pack, muttering to herself. "I think I remember grabbing one of those, where is it..." After a few seconds of fumbling she produces a hooded lantern and a few pints of oil. "This should make it easier to see in there. Sam, do you mind carrying it so I have my hands free?"
Once the lantern is lit, she prepares to head into the darkness.
"As there are six of us, we may need more than one light."
Kaji pulls a torch out of his backpack. After a few quick strikes on his flint and steel, the torch was lit, and he held it high.
Looking at the nettle vines, Kaji tries to determine if they should try to cut them down, or just move them out of the way.
Kajiwara sees that the vines block the entrance in the cave, but are loose enough that they could simply be pushed aside without hindering your travel.
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Asuka slips off to privately change into her fancy new chain shirt. She returns having also changed her clothes, choosing an outfit of deep blue and bright red. She heads off any questions about her sudden outfit change. ”The metal shirt completely clashed with the other outfit. Made the paler colors look more washed-out. This looks much better, don’t you think? Can’t fight evil if you aren’t cute!”
Feeling a fresh pep in her step from the fresh clothes, Asuka skips forward and parts the vines with the flat of her sword. ”After you, my dears.”
Lor-Sinn frowns in deep thought at Asuka's statement. "That's... not what they taught us in guard training. And I can't say that the Sandpoint guard has particularly cute members, although-" She raises one finger, then seems to forget she had raised it as she stares off into the distance.
"What, exactly, is the definition of 'cute'? I think that kittens are cute, and chicks, and tadpoles, and those flowers that you can squeeze with your fingers and they move like a fish mouth, except they don't smell of fish, of course, and piglets are cute, oh! and if you think baby owls are cute, well, they're NOT! They're actually weird and scary."
Babbling on, the tiefling holds a gauntleted hand over her head to keep the vines from getting in her eyes as she ducks through the cave entrance.
"Sure thing, Ms Kaijitsu," Samton said, looking up from his notebook where he had been sketching distinctive features of the cave and its surroundings. Stowing away paper and pencil for the lantern, he tried to make sure he understood the mechanisms of the lamp before entering the cavern. The wizard was too methodical and far too anxious to be helpful to do anything else. Ducking beneath the vines held up by the tengu, he resisted to urge to shake his head at Lor-Sinn's silly chatter on 'cuteness'. Then he realized that the first image his mind conjured up at the word 'cute' was Shalelu Andosana's nose, and Sam reminded himself that there was no one in the group sillier than himself.
Kaji waitied for the others to step through, then assumed a position as rear guard. He merely shook his head at the talk of cuteness. Why were they concerned about that when potentially facing the undead?
"Thanks Sam." Light source secured, Ruka clutches Murasamemaru tightly as she walks into the cave.
'Too tightly. Relax your grip.'
Her jaw tightens as she's forcibly reminded that the sword is more than just a sword, but she follows its directions. So far its advice has been sound.
Although once we're safely back in Sandpoint, I'm going to have to talk to someone about this. Before it gets worse.
"What, exactly, is the definition of 'cute?’
Asuka is uninterested in the deeper philosophical definition of “cute.” ”When it comes to fighting, it’s whatever makes you feel good and strong and ready to fight!”
A cave. Perfect. Poppy had spent her early decades trapsing through mountain to feed many a dwarf miner and had grown an appreciation for a good cavern.
Poppy loosely tied Arti to a nearby tree, behind some foliage and vines to keep him vaguely camouflaged. Don't want him getting stuck in case danger comes this way.
Poppy had been considering her companions for most of the walk, agonizing over her luck of finding such a fine group of adventurers. For instance, the care with which Ruka treated Arti, couldn't help but make Poppy grin. "We can judge someones heart by their treatment of beasts.". She wasn't sure where she'd read that but imagined it applied to Ruka. Even when dealing with the goblins, a creature she despised for perfectly legitimate past reasons, she put effort in trying to be fair. All potential qualities of a good leader. She'd have to tell her such, soon.
Her thoughts turned to Asuka, as their fine feathered friend returned and clapped in approval of the new outfit. "I know eef I vere a hideous undead I'd, vithout doubt, be flattered to be slain by someone so stylish." She admitted dryly before entering the cave.
Asuka holds the nettles aside and as the party pushes into the cavern, a sense of claustrophobia sets in as the ceiling decreases the further in you press. Moisture constantly drips down from the above, making the ground slightly slippery from puddles and rivulets on the floor. After about twenty feet a smaller five foot corridor breaks off to the right as well as the larger passage continuing south.
Ruka instinctively keeps her voice down, even though the group as a whole is not stealthy in the slightest. "I'd say check out that side corridor first. Make sure it's clear before heading down the main path."
Ruka leads the party through the small passageway on her right. The tunnel quickly narrows to 5' in width and forces you to move through single file, one at a time. After traveling briefly west, the tunnel turns abrubtly south before opening into a large 30' x 15' chamber. Sitting in the chamber is a giant spider who is feasting on a corpse of some kind.
The spider looks up at Ruka and launches webbing at it, wrapping her up in its stickiness and entangling her.
.
Lor-Sinn did not like caves, tunnels, cellars and any other cramped and enclosed spaces. And in these contorted caverns and narrow passages she wouldn't even be able to use her bow. So when the party starts going single file down the smallest branch in the cave, the tiefling doesn't look happy at the prospect, even less so when they suddenly stop.
"What's the hold-up, folks? Is there something up ahead?"
Wait, weren't undead evil? And didn't they teach her at the temple how to sense wickedness and malice?
"Giant spider," Ruka says curtly as she tries to get the sticky webs off her.
She doesn't succeed. In fact she might have even gotten more entangled. She steps into the room anyway. Can't retreat; they're blocking my path. Can't stay here; I'll block the others from being able to do anything. It'll have to be forward.
Kaji moved into the room, then dropped his torch and readied his bow.
"Asuka, we need you up here. Lor-Sinn, if you can get sight of it to shoot, that would also help."
Asuka rushes up to the front, her sword in-hand. ”A spider? Hah! Birds eat spiders for a nice bit of extra protein.”
1d20 (8) + 4 - 4
She doesn't succeed.
The younger Kaijitsu acted as target for a great many things within the cave; no sooner had the spider launched its webbing, before Samton also took aim at her with his magic. Fortunately and obviously, the latter was benign. With the wizard looking on, brow heavy in concentration, Ruka felt a strange fugitive instinct come over her, taut muscles feeling much more dexterous, more unbound. Heeding the sudden impulse, she made the attempt to slip her bonds.
Poppy perked up at hearing that a large spider blocked their path and rushed from the rear to the horned ones side. "If you can get in before it's over, thees might help." Her words were accompanied by an odd gesture and the slightest of brushes on the shoulder, prompting a feeling of confidence to surge forth in Lor-Sinn.
After offering the spell to bolster their chances, Poppy barked further up the cavern to her allies in the fray. "Try not to rupture venom sac! Goes vell vith squash!"
Ruka despairs for a second as the sticky strands cover her and she can’t seem to break free. Then suddenly Sam starts chanting behind her and, in a fear of dexterity she wouldn’t ordinarily be capable of, she slips free of the web. What just...never mind, spider!
”Thanks,” she calls out over her shoulder. Free now, and with enough light in the room to actually see the creature, she charges into the room. A powerful hit from Murasamemaru should end this quickly.
...If she actually hit anything.
(’You're still trying too hard. Relax.’)
’Not. Helping.’
Ruka closes the gap to the spider who dodges her attack when she tries to obliterate it in a single, powerful blow. As the weapon swings over the spiders head, it lunges forward and bites her right forearm.
"Shoot a spider? Isn't that a bit overkill? If you want, I can catch it in my helmet and put it outside... oh." Lor-Sinn makes her way past the others, squeezing herself between the irregular walls of the cavern and the companions clustered in the passageway, until she catches sight of the aforementioned spider. Alright, that was a rather large spider.
Taking a few more steps sideways to get a better angle, she nocks and arrow and lets loose, aiming for the eyes.
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He supposed it made sense. What did giant snakes feed on if not similarly giant-sized rodents, amphibians and insects? Of course there were giant spiders in the marsh, it was silly of them to expect anything else. Nature was a balancing act like that, with any one part of the system corresponding to the other. But wait, where were the giant flies for the spider to feed upon? Or the giant flora to support them? What about...?
The inquisitive youth's ruminations were interrupted by the wet sound of the arachnid's fangs piercing Ruka's skin. Ah, right. The giant flies were a moot point. The party was the last link in the swamp's food chain and the final value in the agrestal equation. Well, time to show nature where she could shove it. Samton raised his hand and, with a little flourish, conjured a wad of acid that...
... shot out to end up as a colorful streak on a stalactite.
How about you just stop playing hero, and just help those who are actually competent? Thank you, Sam, that's a good suggestion.
Lurching forward in the low cave, the wizard hurried over to the Kaijitsu just as she was ready to launch another swing with her sword. Said attack was strangely amplified as Samton put a hand to her back and worked his magic.
Bow out, Kaji drew forth two arrows and fired them in rapid succession.
Ruka grits her teeth as the spider’s fangs find purchase in her skin. It’s far from the most painful thing she’s experienced in the past two days, but she can practically feel the venom pumping through her veins. It doesn’t seem to be doing anything yet, but she suspects that could easily change if it bit her again. She tries to ignore it and find a weak spot to focus on.
Even with the extra surge of strength Sam lends her, the distraction from the venom costs her. The retaliatory swing is much too slow and easily dodged. Worried now, she puts her back to the wall so the spider can’t get behind her.
Poppy could barely make out the fight before them but knew it might be something serious if it lasted much longer. The groups frontliners were becoming a force to be feared now that everyone was learning how to work together. Though Poppy couldn't speak to their efficiency as much an expert like Kaji could, but she knew a bit about teamwork from working in many a kitchen, and could see some semblance of cohesion forming.
"One more try!", she whispered to Lor-Sinn, repeating the gesture and rhyme from before.
Finally able to see her target, Asuka steps up into melee. ”My sword is a tool of justice! And justice demands you pay for attacking my friends.” She spins into an overhead chop, following up with a quick jab of her beak.
One of Kajiwara's arrows nearly critically strikes the spider, narrowly missing striking its heart. It still severely injures the large beast, but it still has a lot of fight left.
Asuka's tool of justice slices off two of the spiders legs, unsteadying it and causing it tremendous pain. It tries to lunge forward and bite the tengu in retaliation, but it's lack of two legs and arrow through its body cause it to fumble about and come up short, missing its attacks.
"Thanks, Ms. Cotton. Which part shouldn't I hit again?" Lor-Sinn calls over her shoulder as she looses another arrow at the spider.
Lor-Sinn finishes off the spider, identifying the correct part that needed to be struck. The large body falls flat onto the floor, spilling blood across the stone floor. Searching the room finds the cargass ofa giant gecko, but nothing else of interest.
With the threat neutralized, Ruka takes the lead and moves south through the cavern back into a small passageway again. After twenty feet the path ahead splits east and west.
Poppy playfully slapped Lor-Sinn on the back in celebration. "Perfect!"With the battle finished, Poppy stepped around her party and did her best to collect as few web strands as possible on her person. Seeing the wound covered arachnid she gave a small gasp at it's size and spent a second grateful she wasn't the one going toe to toe with it.
"Nice vork all! Now let's see vhat bits you have to offer..." , the gnome whispered the last part while breaking out her tools. "Two minutes please.", she asked of the group, holding up two spindly digits, before diving in knives first.
Making quick work of the corpse, she ended up with a partially ruptured venomgland, some fangs and a hairy chunk of carapace. She hastily joined the others as soon as her task had finished, admiring her trophies and future meal bits. "Vhichever vay you choose, you can't go vrong as far as I'm concerned.", Poppy chirped secretly hoping for a beastie around every corner.
”Yes, that was a nice shot.” Ruka rubs her arm where the mandibles had gone in. The pain was irritating, but not too bad. Although once again she had proven completely useless in the fight. Well, not completely useless. The spider had attacked her rather than anyone else, which meant she’d still sort of protected them. Right?
She takes advantage of the brief break provided by Poppy’s harvesting in order to continue rubbing feeling back into her arm. By the time she’s finished, Ruka is ready to go.
Once more at the front of the line, she pauses when they get to the crossroads. Both ways look the same to her. ”I guess we keep going east?”
”Whichever one is to the right! Right is right, as Mom always says. Or righty tighty lefty loosey, as Mother says.” Asuka closes an eye and taps her beak. ”Though I think that second one’s a saying for something else, maybe?”
The spider defeated, Kajiwara picked up his torch, and attempted to recover any arrows that he could. He waited patiently as Poppy harvested spider bits, then nodded when they continued.
Asuka's colorful commentary aside, she had a great deal of insight into the split. "Asuka is correct. When in doubt, we should take the right turn to avoid getting lost. Does anyone have any chalk? We could use it to mark the walls so we know where we've been and don't accidentally double back."
Following the path on the right, Ruka pushes onward. After another twenty feet or so the path divides again, continuing south or moving to the right. Following the same strategy, Ruka pushes onward to the right. The path snakes west then north before moving west again before abruptly coming to an end at a small 15' x 15' circular room with glittering crystals that protrude from an island that is surrounded by a pool of deep park water.
"Hm? Yeah, yes, right. I mean, we should go right. Establish a perimeter... mazes... right."
The young cartographer couldn't quite muster much attention to the direction question - he was far too occupied looking on as Poppy skillfully and efficiently harvested the giant arachnid for edibles, obvious concern in his eyes. Perhaps it might be best to sit out the group's next meal and just dig into the rations. No disrespect to the gnome's cooking, but the mere thought of eating spider... The heebie jeebies immediately came upon him. Sam didn't consider himself particularly squeamish, but nature hadn't imparted the entirety of the human species with an instinctual revulsion to the eight-legged things for nothing.
Huh. Actually, that thought made Sam, rationalist that he was, want to defy his natural programming in favor of reason. Darn it.
Pushing aside thoughts of spider-eating for the edification of reason, the wizard pushed on along with the others, eventually reaching the small chamber.
"What's this then?" he wondered, under his breath. He held the lantern high.
Ruka does indeed have chalk, a fact which likely surprises no one. She follows Kajiwara's instructions and marks their path as they move through each intersection.
When they come to the pool, she pauses and peers into the dark water, trying to see if anything either living or dead is lurking beneath the surface.
While she looks, she absentmindedly responds, "I'm not sure. Maybe it's just a natural formation? I've never really explored a cave before." Nor am I likely to do so again. I don't like these tight spaces.
Lor-Sinn is completely absorbed by the glittering crystals. "Oooh, these are so pretty! Are they gems?" She taps them with the tip of one finger, listening to the sound they make.
Samton doesn't find anything to be concerned with, but Ruka does. As Lor-Sinn leans to try and touch the crystals, the slayer yanks the paladin's shoulder back from the water. Unsure what exactly is going on, she sees something outlined below the surface that is transparent and blends in with the water but clearly out of place.
Kajiwara looks into the water as well, trying to see if there is anything in the deep.
"I know little of geological formations. Perhaps they are some form of gemstone? I can't say."