”Best we move on then,” Dugal suggests as looks down at the corpses.
Bernum shows the fancy crown to the others.
"That dead man-at-arms will have no further use of this bit of tat. I'll put it into my pack for the time being. Let's move on and see what else we can find!"
As you are about to push on, you notice that the dwarf Buster McDouglas is sitting down, leaning against the moist cavern wall. He is holding his strange missile device in his hands with a white-knuckle grip and silently staring out into space.
Stauntram turns to the other dwarf.
"Fellow son of Torag, what is amiss?"
Buster looks up at the other dwarf momentarily and shakes his head. "Torag?" he mutters, "are you from Golarion as well?"
"Aye. There are a handful of us here."
The dwarf takes small comfort in Stauntram's answer. "There must be a dimensional highway between the worlds or something," he mutters and picks himself up from off of the ground.
"In any case, I can't take it here anymore. I'm not going to risk my life in this damn hole. I'll head back to the Fort and find a nice boring job. Sorry, gents."
Buster then hands over his share of the magic items you were given by the Vizier and heads back toward the ladder.
"Understood. Take care, Buster."
Buster disappears into the darkness, using his darkvision to navigate the tunnel.
Now left on your own, your new group heads further down the tunnel.
After about 15 minutes of walking, the small tunnel you have been walking down opens into a much, much larger room running perpendicular to your previous direction of travel. After a bit of exploration, you discover that this is actually not a room, but a giant tunnel running east and west (you had been traveling roughly north before this).
Stauntram recognizes this location as a stretch of what his earlier group called the Devil's Highway, one of the main thoroughfares of the Underworld. If his memory serves, just ahead of this intersection to the right, he remembers his group defeating a massive Underworld giant, although you can't see the body at the moment.
"Up ahead, and to the right, was where my prior group defeated a giant. Let us approach with some caution, in case scavengers lurk nearby."
Following their new dwarven companion, Bernum attempts to move silently as they approach the area her says they defeated a giant.
Yamagata Uchimasa had a bad feeling about the magical tattoo thing but again, without a court or lord to attach himself to, what choice did he have?
He had been quiet and unassuming throughout the journey. Without a bow or spear he was without means to kill the flying glowing brain Yokai. He was content to watch his new allies dispatch them.
His stomach rumbles but he stoically presses on. He dreams of good wine... perhaps his one true love. It was while drinking that social mores could be loosened and formality relaxed.
He scowled, also thinking of the rudeness of his dismissal from the local court above. That he was dismissed was of no moment. It was the discourtesy that rankled. Good manners and adherence to customary traditions was paramount to a well ordered society and smooth interactions. Discourteous behaviours, in his own lands, would see a man and possibly his family slain for the offence. He hated discourtesy and rudeness.
Daivid walks ahead with the rest of the party, in the rear flank.
"Giants? I've had dealings with more than a few of those," Daivid volunteers. He did: he wasn't a great diplomat, but he was always willing to try. "I could try to make conversation if we catch up with one again. They're just harmless, misunderstood little buggers."
Daivid wasn't quite sure about that, but he hated having nothing intelligent to say when someone else did.
"I have found giants to be untrustworthy and deadly. But if we can talk our way past one that is not inherently evil, then so be it.", Stauntram says as he advances towards the spot he last saw one of the big folk.
You move down the Devil's Highway to the right. After a few minutes of walking, Stauntram gets the feeling that you should be approaching where the Prince's party defeated the mad frost giant, and at about the same time you hear the noise of buzzing insect wings coming from up ahead in the darkness. Cautiously moving forward, a large mass comes into view on the floor of the tunnel. It looks like the corpse of the giant, but it is covered in hundreds of small, dragonfly-winged and prawn-like creatures that seem to be feeding on it. The creatures, which are about a finger's length in size seem to pay no attention to you.
Next to the giant lies a threadbare sack that seems empty, but hundreds of coins in many denominations lie scattered around its body.
"Little threat from that big one. It likely went mad from living down in this place for too long. After we slew the creature, the Prince ordered us on before we could gather all of the coins. Now, an opportunity presents itself in said coins."
A worthy kill, the warrior grunts approvingly.
"let's be careful not to upset the swarm feeding on the corpse. I don't know what they are, but I can see that they have a hunger for flesh and better a dead giant's than mine!"
"let's be careful not to upset the swarm feeding on the corpse. I don't know what they are, but I can see that they have a hunger for flesh and better a dead giant's than mine!"
Agreed... we can always return at some point on the way back. If we make it back,
"Yes, ahem, it might be wise to ignore" – Daivid winces – "the gold, until the creatures leave. And perhaps we should bring an offering of dead meat with us to throw to them if they remain."
"True enough. We will surely slay other monsters and the fresher meat can distract these vermin. Let us press on."
Agreed... lead the way
You easily move around the body of the fallen giant and seem to avoid attracting the attention of the winged carrion eaters as well. You continue along the enormous, rather smooth tunnel that ranges from 40 to 60 feet in width, keeping a sharp eye out for any threats.
After a few minutes of walking, you notice that the tunnel floor is beginning to slope down. Looking at the stone, you can see that seems to be a natural occurrence.
Suddenly the light of your torches picks out a tall pile of what looks to be stone along the right wall of the Highway. Approaching a bit closer, you can see that other materials are mixed in as well, including carapaces of the beetles you saw earlier and odd bits of metallic ore and other stone. The floor around this area of the tunnel looks remarkably smooth, without any rocks or pebbles. The pile is casually heaped up against the side of the tunnel and looks to be about 7 feet tall, and 9 feet wide at the base.
"More bugs! We didn't approach them when there was a chance of gold, so definitely no reason to disturb them now, alive or dead. I wonder who took the trouble to make the pile, though."
Maybe something make tunnel... very smooth tunnel. Do we use as short cut or just follow this way?
"These are not the same bugs as on the giant. Also, they are dead. Let us have a look."
Stauntram does just that, poking the material with his plated gloves.
Stauntram digs amongst the detritus and finds that it hides a small hole about four feet wide that leads to a tunnel. As he examines it, he begins to hear a rumbling and scuttling sound coming from within the tunnel that is quickly getting louder.
"A passage. But also danger. Stand back and prepare for combat.", the dwarf says as he backs away from the hole and takes his two-handed sword back into his grasp.
Bernum quickly says a prayer to the 'One True God', blessing the entire party.
The warrior draws his sword and readies to strike!
Daivid moves far to the side and strings his bow. "See, I told you there was danger here!" he notes fiercely, annoyed that Stauntram once again seemed to have displayed more knowledge than he did.
OOps, yes I was casting Bless on the party before combat
OOps, yes I was casting Bless on the party before combat
The sound of movement from within the hole grows louder until three dog-sized pillbugs pop out, still rolled up like little balls. They tumble toward you, trying to strike and knock you over.
Yamagata easily deflects the pillbug with his sword, while Stauntram sidesteps it. Bernum jumps out the way, barely avoiding what could have been a painful collision.
Having stepped to one side, Stauntram drives home a blow of his own!
Swinging his flanged mace, Bernum strikes out at the pillbugs attacking his group.
Attack:
Damage:
Swinging hard with a 2 handed strike he gathers his might into a focused blow.
for
But he swings high, not accounting for the bugs low center.
Daivid slinks into the shadows, and once hidden in a niche near the hole that the pillbugs came out of, he readies his bow to fire.
x2=12
Stauntram's greatsword cuts through the giant pillbug's chitinous shell, bursting its insides open and spilling them over the cavern floor. Bernum is less lucky. His attack is ill-timed and bounces off the nearest creature's exoskeleton harmlessly. Daivid's slips into the shadows and fires his bow at the creature. The arrow buries itself in a crack between the armor plating, causing it to momentarily spasm before collapsing in an unmoving heap.
Stauntram stomps over to the remaining pillbug and swings his blade downwards!
Die insect!!!, he declares, cutting down.
for
With a downward cut, Yamagata cuts through the head of the pillbug creature, dropping it instantly.
Stauntram looks about him with satisfaction then peers down into the dark hole.
Uchimasa Yamagata Flicks his blade clean, splattering gore on the stone floor.