"I need to do a séance," he says as the others rouse. "Anyone want to join me?"
"I will also join your séance, Roscoe."
Before the ritual, when she hears of unusual tracks she'll go over to look, hoping her recent training with the Ranger might help her notice anything unusual.
[dice=survival to examine tracks]1d20+7+1
Definitely a woman, running light. Probably a scout or archer. Prints would be heavier if the person was wearing more armor than just leather.
The prints, at the forest's edge spread apart in a shooting stance. She drew, probably? Likely aiming at something on this side of the river. Otherwise she would've rocked back on her rear heel slightly as her aim elevated for the far bank.
And definitely not an archer used to riding. The gait isn't bowed.
After the muddy edge of the forest, the tracks disappear and there's no trace of passage in the forest. So a woods-wise scout?
Roscoe finishes his séance. His eyes narrow when he is done and he pounds his chest.
"Let's do this! I'm tired of everyone messing with us!" he exclaims in anger.
After several hours of walking, the heroes arrive again at the entrance to the goblin caves. The stench of death lies over the place.
Laying in the tunnel entrance is the dead goblin dog, one of two killed during the team's raid earlier. A small rat sits atop it, chewing... something. It skitters away when Nasir approaches.
|
Ter can be on outside guard duty again. She spent a lot of time while we were in town with the Ranger, getting treats and pampering. She then stopped by for blackberries and made up a story about her contributions to our battles. (She's a young bird and was a little sad to be left out.)
Ayita casts "shield companion" on Yazhi. In the morning prep, she will have done "Spirit's Gift (stone)" for Yazhi.
Yazhi has the "Bear" animal focus on for +2 con, by default, which is included in her HP total.
Frantino is holding off on casting any buff spells quite yet, but checks out the area at the cave entrance. These aren't kobolds but goblins aren't immune to setting traps.
"Doc, you should link Nasir if he's going to lead the way back in."
Frantino is ready to head in behind Nasir.
Though the last few days Roscoe had been trailing behind the group, today he takes the lead with Nasir.
"Well, I'm not sure what has changed since we've been here, except it stinks more," he muses.
Pulling out his everburning torch, he holds it aloft and moves forward.
"Let's see what we see."
Nasir nods as everyone gets ready to enter the caves again. He pulls his keffiyeh across his mouth and nose and secures it under his helmet.
"Everyone seems ready. Let us go in then."
Seeing that there seems to be sufficient light sources behind him, Nasir proceeds into the cave.
As he passes the body of the dead goblin dog, he takes a moment to see what the rat was chewing on. Nasir assumes that it is just the dead flesh of the creature as that's what most vermin and carrion eaters are drawn to, but with the strange properties of this cave, it's best to be sure.
Seeing nothing but the decomposing gristle of a dead animal, Nasir continues into the cave to the edge of where he can see.
The light from Nasir's shield shows pools of sticky blood and days old goblin corpses.
Nasir hears low chittering and the scurrying of rat feet, followed by long dank silence from the depths of the cavern.
Feeling a sense of deja vu, Roscoe walks forward in the cavern.
"I'm not sure if it smells any worse in here with the dead bodies, or not," he says. The halfling holds his torch aloft.
"Are we thinking of just making our way to the force field room again, I guess?" he asks.
Nasir continues into the caverns, retracing his steps to the teleportation room.
"Yes, Roscoe Elring. That is where I intend for us to go. If we can use this entrance to the Stone House, I hope we can avoid a direct battle against entrenched defenses such as we encountered when we entered these caverns.
Considering how many times we were almost killed in here, I think you would agree that this is a better tactic than going in the front, yes?"
Nasir carefully makes his way to the chokepoint in the early part of the cavern where he remembers almost succumbed to arrows and a snarling wolf. He continues to look for signs of new "inhabitants".
Seeing all the lights at the front of the group, Frantino lets Doc get ahead of him. "It's OK, Doc, I'll keep an eye out behind us as we move through these narrow passageways."
|
|
Ayita gingerly steps over the goblin bodies.
We ought to lay them to rest. Perhaps using fire would be viewed positively by their spirits? And their relatives? If they care about that kind of thing.
She is half expecting to be surrounded by undead goblins any second now... did that one move?
Yazhi: defend.
She is half expecting to be surrounded by undead goblins any second now... did that one move?
Nasir moves some of the decaying bodies out of the way with his sword as he continues forward into the goblin cave.
"We are clear so far. Let us get through here quickly before the stench has us all retching."
Nasir continues further into the cave toward the long narrow passage.
Roscoe is also in favor of moving forward.
"If we have time to burry them later, that's fine. But we should probably keep going and leave these to the vultures until we get back."
The smell is quite nauseating. The deeper the team goes into the caves, the more bodies there are. And more stench.
Finally, they arrive at the long, narrow tunnel that connects the outer caverns with the remains of the Thassilonian armory. A terrible smell comes from the tunnel.
Frantino is confident that he has gotten used to the smell of dead bodies after the amount of time he has spent with Audrahni. He is wrong.
Nasir feels the stench all around him, but his keffiyeh across his face saves him from the worst of the smell.
"Let us press on quickly to get past this smell of rot!"
Knowing that the narrow tunnel has no side passages, Nasir picks up the pace until he reaches the entrance of the "maze".
The tunnel narrows down and winds away into the darkness and stench. Eventually, the tunnel opens up into the maze of walls you remember before. The smell is terrible, but will only get worse as time goes on.
Nasir nearly steps on a dead goblin's entrails. Yazhi is tempted to take a bit or two.
Nasir continues to walk quickly, but cautiously through the maze and up to the teleportation room.
|
|
The tunnel narrows down and winds away into the darkness and stench. Eventually, the tunnel opens up into the maze of walls you remember before. The smell is terrible, but will only get worse as time goes on.
Nasir nearly steps on a dead goblin's entrails. Yazhi is tempted to take a bit or two.
Ayita sees Yazhi eyeing those goblin guts, and whispers Yazhi!!! to get her Companion past the temptation. She thinks she's succeeded and looks for traps some more...
But it's too distracting, she keeps glancing back at Yazhi and suddenly sees the wolfdog... licking her chops... (Ayita didn't even see what that darn wolfdog ate!!!) And looking really guilty.
Milani, why??? she thinks.
Seeing no dangers, Nasir quickly moves through the maze and to the door of the teleportation room.
"Come quickly! the stench should not be so bad it this room especially since we took the witch's body out of the room. The air should definitely be fresher in the room with the wall of force."
Who enters the teleport circle first? Order please. Recall that only two at a time are allowed in the Negotiation Room.
First duo: Nasir & ??
Second duo: ?? & ??
Third duo: Doc & ??
"Roscoe, why don't you go with Nasir. Ayita and Yazhi should go next, and I'll stay with Doc to go through last."
"That is a reasonable plan, Frantino. Let us proceed then."
Nasir enters the teleportation circle. Assuming that there is no one or thing in the teleportation room, he will use the javelin gain to make the wall of force warp so that the group can pass through.
He will then pass to the other side of the wall and wait until Ayita and Yazhi come into the room before going through the next teleportation circle.
Beofer teleporting a second time, Nasir will cover the light on his shield. and draw his sword ready to fight when he passes to the other side.
Nasir enters the teleportation circle. Assuming that there is no one or thing in the teleportation room, he will use the javelin gain to make the wall of force warp so that the group can pass through.
When Nasir and Roscoe appear in the Negotiation Room they find the acrid smell of electricity and/or blood still there. It isn't as bad as elsewhere, of course. Obviously, air must circulate into and out of the room, somehow.
The javelin trick doesn't seem to work anymore. The wall of force rarely flickers anymore, but does bend when Nasir presses the javelin into it. Just... not enough to break or tear.
Nasir notices new burns in the wall similar to the previous lightning strike that killed the witch.
"It seems like we were not the last people here, Roscoe. Whoever was here last has reinforced the wall. I'm concerned that the Order has found this passage before we could return.
We need to find a way through this wall again. Understanding how this magic works is beyond my capability. Do you have any insight or should I get Frantino Kaddren or Gregory C. Hatfield to come in to examine the wall?"
"It looks like the witch cast lightning bolt to weaken the wall of force. If we damage it again, maybe we could squeeze through, like we did before."
Nasir nods in understanding.
"I am no spellcaster, so this seems to be beyond my capability. I know that you, Frantino Kaddren, and Gregory C. Hatfield can do so. I shall leave to make room for one of them to enter to help you, Roscoe Elring."
Nasir touches the teleportation circle he entered on to return to the rest of the party and explain the situation to them.
Frantino listens to Nasir intently. "Yes, walls of force can be brought down by damaging them, but they are normally very resistant to being damaged. However, this one is very old, perhaps it is getting brittle? I'll go through and try to damage it with my weapon, see if that does anything. Nasir, either you or Roscoe can join me using my great flail, that may do more damage to the wall than your scimitar. Perhaps we can weaken it to the point that it'll flex again, perhaps even drop temporarily. Normally that would destroy it, but this one seems to be able to repair itself. Runelord magic, amazing!"
Time to test my new feat, power attack! Combined with Roscoe's séance, Frantino will be doing 2d6 + 9 + 2 per hit, or an average of 18 points of damage. He'll teleport in and go at it for a few minutes, does it seem to be doing anything to the wall? Roscoe, do you want to help, or do you want to make way for Nasir again? Can we get it to stretch out of shape again?
The wall buckles and shimmers, emitting slight blue motes of energy as Nasir and Frantino damage it with their weapons. Soon it looks torn and ragged in one particular spot, enabling them to step through.