Sitril shares what he found about the wolves and tracks.
"After we heal ourselves we should go and slain what is in that cave. As there are no signs of it leaving we can assume it is still growing. Let us hope that the ranger would stop any wolves to interfere with our plans."
Saying that Sitril walks a bit to the side
"Your fight here a couple of days ago made some of the tracks hard to read."
Giggett hears nothing...
"I am ready to go and check the opening. How about you?"
"I need healing. Either let's take an hour to be fully healed or let's use more limited resources. I don't want to enter without being prepared. Also, we need to check Dragh's corpse which should be over here..."
Giggett goes in the direction she thinks Dragh died.
You move warily, carefully, into the clearing, first of all finding--
--Natsume's lost flail, dagger, and broken shield.
Then, in the center of the clearing, where you first saw the three bushes, lies the wolf carcass you caught a glimpse of, as well as... the corpse of poor Dragh.
His belongings are scattered around, close by.
Natsume casts an eye around the perimeter before taking her equipment back. The shield (and its splintered pieces) she props up beside the mouth of the cave; no sense in carrying it until the trip back, she reasons. It's far too heavy for all that.
She sighs as she sees Dragh's fallen body. "Does anyone know who he worshiped? If we can part with him in his own tradition, that would be..."
She chokes up a bit, and wipes her eyes on her hide armor. "...that would be the right thing to do."
Giggett doesn't look at the body. She's tensed, like if she was keeping her anger for herself.
Sitril looks at the sucked dried body of Dragh and bows his head in respect. His eyes look at his ring
"He was a Goldenoak. I will pack his clan dagger and return it to his clan. When possible I will escort Bort's body to Highhelm and I can carry those items back."
He was an Abadar’s believer. says Tamerius looking at Dragh’s corpse.
Lets take some time to pray for his soul, we will recover his body and belongings and we will sent them to his clan as Sitril suggested.
Tamerius stays next to Dragh and makes some prayer for Dragh’s soul so his soul can reach Abadar’s place in Axis.
After the prayers, he turns to his comrades and says. Lets take time to heal and we will continue further into the cavern.
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Natsume does not see anything else special around the dark and foul looking clearing.
As she props the shield beside the old, rotting tree, she is taken aback by an overpowering smell of wet and rotten fur coming from the hole.
In the center, Dragh's body has obviously been attacked by the tendrils, that sucked it dry to the bone.
In a way it preserved him, and he looks proud and regal.
Sitrll finds the clan ring and dagger.
You each respectfully take what you wish from the belongings.
After about an hour of resting, exploring the clearing, and praying in a ceremony for Dragh to rest with Abadar--
--Tamerius tends to Giggett's wounds.
"Thanks Tamerius, I feel a lot better. Natsume is hurt, too, you should also tend to her wounds. And then, I'll be ready to move on!"
After about an hour of resting, exploring the clearing, and praying in a ceremony for Dragh to rest with Abadar--
--and fixing her shield, if we're taking the time!
Bang, bang, Natsume's hammering on the shield resonates in the clearing.
Then the sounds dies off.
All remains silent.
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Tamerius takes time to patch Natsume’s last wounds
Looking at Natsume’s wounds, Tamerius seems to notice something and was ready to ask something to her, but finally stays silent.
After taking back his tools he says to his comrades.
I’m ready to go. I don’t need any of Dragh’s belongings.
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Sitril grabs a javelin in one hand and his axe in the other saying
"Ready when you are."
Sitril hopes that by bringing the clans dagger to the Goldeoak clan he might get a job in the brewery. Maybe as a cask carrier or a guard of their shipment. He could drink from every barrel that he would carry just one pint, to make sure that it's of best quality of course.
Sitril shakes his head checking if someone saw his dreamy face.
Natsume slips the vials into her belt and sighs. "We will have to come back for you, friend," she says, shaking her head sadly.
Ready as she'll ever be, she ponders her available equipment.
"Hmm."
She moves a few things around, taking her once more shiny-and-new tower shield, leaving her dagger and the smaller shield.
She hefts the tower shield on one arm and keeps her other hand free for a javelin, bastard sword, or flail, depending on what they find.
"I'm all set. I'll take the lead, once we're ready."
Natsume is healed up while some dream of beer.
As Natsume get's ready to lead... she sees that, unfortunately, the hole is not quite big enough for any of you to enter without getting on your hands and knees.
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Giggett takes her bow in one hand and a Juggernaut Mutagen on the other one.
"I'm as ready as I can be!"
Seeing Sitril's face, she starts thinking this dwarf loves combat...
Giggett sees Tamerius notice something with Natsume's wounds, but not asking her about it.
And Giggett sees that she too has to get on all fours to go through the narrow and low passage, made for wolves and other four legged creatures.
If Tamerius gets alone at some point, she asks him:
"I had the impression you saw something on Natsume's wounds... Maybe am I a little too curious, but is it important?"
And in front of the hole:
"Who goes first, then? I'll also need to crawl if I want to get in there, but it may be easier for me. Another solution would be to get them out of here. We can smoke'em!"
And from Giggett's expression, it's something she'd be pleased to do.
Giggett sees Tamerius notice something with Natsume's wounds, but not asking her about it.
Natsume considers. "I think with my shield, I'm probably the most able to survive if we find something on the other end we don't like. I'll crawl in with it on top of me, and if something attacks me, I'll just scoot it over my head and try to crawl back out!"
"Like a turtle, kinda."
"Ok, I'll follow you then, in case I see traps. Unless you like the idea of putting everything on fire!"
Tamerius looks down at Giggett and says nothing important for you to know.
Tamerius was torn because he had absolutely no desire to crawl like an animal into the cave and be trapped inside something too small to get out if something bad happen and his desire to continue his mission and curiosity about what is inside the place that could be responsible for the corruption of the forest, or at least a clue.
Listening to Giggett’s idea, he finds it quite good!
It’s a good idea Giggett. But we don’t know if there is other way out. But we can try and see if the fumes get out somewhere else?
I’ve use this tactic several times already with slaves, it’s most efficient and a win-win for their owner.
"I feel like maybe starting a fire big enough to kill whatever's in here might not be a good idea for the forest," admits Natsume, "but even if we do want to do that, maybe it would be better to get in there and set up the tinder inside."
Natsume gets down on all "three's" with an arm over her head, holding the shield for protection and she starts to crawl into--
--the narrow tunnel under the tree.
She realizes it is slick with foul-smelling mud.
And it leads down...
Moving along the short tunnel, Natsume sees that it opens into a cramped den.
There is some kind of light coming out of deeper in the den.
The chamber is lit with a creepy blue-ish dim light.
The chamber stinks of wet fur and sickness.
The damp earth-ceiling is low--
Roots and moss hanging from the ceiling, making it hard to see.
Natsume sees that most of the chamber is around the corner at the end of the corridor--
Natsume relays the information back to the group, whether they follow right behind her or not; she stays crouched, looking around. "Gonna be hard to see to hit anything down here," she advises.
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Sitril listens to Tamerius remark related to slaves and smoking them out nodding to what he hears. Then follows after Natsume.
"I was a miner at some point in life, and I know my way in the underground."
Sitril looks around his surroundings and wonders what lives in this rabbit hole...
Tamerius will light a torch before closing the march.
Tamerius lights a torch, and gets down on all fours, crawling into the corridor.
He is happy no one from his Family can see him and moves on his hands and knees in the stinky muck under a tree!
As Giggett takes her place behind Natsume--
--your front liner warrior, looks around into the low ceiling den, past all the dangling roots.
The cramped den you can see, is illuminated by... a shimmering pool of oily water.
It is this glowing pool that provides the chamber with blueish dim light.
Next to the pool, Natsume, and Giggett a bit too - the others not yet - between the gnarled and dying tree roots, is a rotting carcass.
Oh, wow!
That is a BIG carcass.
It is the dead body of what must have once been a truly GIGANTIC wolf.
The chamber stinks of wet fur and sickness.
Wet fur?
Two pairs of eyes turn towards you-- well, no, actually no eyes turn towards you.
Because the pair of hairless mutant wolves that are nosing around the carcass, their bodies deformed by large pustules and tumors, actually--
--have no eyes!
But they clearly detect your presence, for, after turning their heads towards you... the snarl.
Giggett covers her mouth because of the stench and, seeing the wolves, regrets once again not having followed her own ideas as fighting them in here will be tough...
...but she stops, realizing that the wolves don't attack.
The wolves both turned their heads towards you... and are snarling.
So, they "see" you - despite having no eyes - and are either not happy, or warning you, or some such thing.
But they are not attacking, no.
With a lowered voice Sitril asks
"Why have we stopped? What is happening there?"
Sitril can't contribute much from where he is.
Sitril is used to being underground... but this reminds him of some time he spent in the sewers beneath the dog kennel.
Giggett whispers:
"Let's go back, Natsume, we should avoid to fight them here."
And then starts moving back slowly, pushing the dwarf behind her.
Natsume quietly grabs her flail.
"You all go first. If they attack while we're withdrawing, I'll hold them and come after you... or you can all come out and join me, if we don't get very far."
Tamerius starts retreating.
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If Sitril accepts to move back with the others... you all exit back into the bleak grove.
You knees are moist and dirty from the soil.
Natsume groans as they exit the cavern. "Well, I'm not sure if it's going to catch fire very well, given how wet it is," says Natsume, "but if anyone has bright ideas, I'm open to them."
Sitril follows the others in graceful tactical movement backward.
The space under the tree seems very soggy, and there is a pond...
Giggett thinks a second. She has seen the worves, maybe she can recall knowledge about them?
"Considering the monstrosities these wolves are, I'm all for eliminating them. Maybe we can drive them out differently. Food may attract them?"
Natsume taps her chin. "I almost wonder if we could flood it?"
"Although that would make it hard for us to get down there to investigate after..."
Giggett has no idea what these might be... hairless wolves, with no eyes, covered in tumors.
Giggett starts collecting meat from her rations, asking if she can get other's meat. She then puts all of it on a small plate a few feet from the entrance of the hole .
"Let's split guys. If they spit acid like the previous one, we need to avoid being lined up. Once one of them is out eating the food, we will charge it! Is it ok for everyone?"
If everyone's ok, Giggett then moves a bit in the woods, hiding herself behind a tree.
Natsume shrugs, pulling a few pieces of rabbit and poultry out of her pack.
"As good an idea as any," she shrugs, hefting her shield and gripping her flailhead in her fingers, the handle in her thumb.
She figures it'll be easier to bounce the flail between two wolf heads than cleave a sword through both.
It's worth a try.
Says Tamerius who moves to be out of sight, into the forest.