"There is a submerged lava tube, about 10 feet deeper that leads out to the sea. It is about a 70ft swim to the end of the tunnel, and another 20ft up to the surface. Would you all be able to manage that?" she asks her companions as Haplo surfaces besde her.
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Norveg bends over and regards Nahuatl ti's friend. "Joo tell 'er that? Well done, lil feller." Straightening up, he speaks to Nahuatl ti. "Handy bloke! Oi heard them's smart. Cute, too. But naw..." He waves his paw in a negating gesture. "Can't 'ardly swim atall. Streams and rivers, Oi gets by. But why suffer if yer ship's sinkin? Best to drown roit away an' get it over wif." He shrugs. "Any chance someones can run a rope?"
"That seems to be the best thing for the group of us less skilled and athletic." he then rummages into his pack as he is talking to himself. "I thought I had some rope somewhere.
"Afraid I don't have any rope. That is certainly something I should remedy as soon as possible but afraid it won't help us now."
Norveg drops his pack and rummages through the items attached to the straps.
"'Ere we are. Rough, but all Oi got."
13 Spider reaches in his backpack and pulls out a coil of well-made rope
"I have a coil as well" He says looking at Norveg "I think we can make it with our two tied together"
Norveg nods briskly. "Roit, then, let's get 'em lashed." He uses a complicated knot to fasten the two together.
Norveg's long experience with splicing ropes and rigging comes in handy as he deftly combines the two ropes into a cohesive 100' span
”Bah. What manner of Opallines are you, if you can’t even swim?” Tragon teases good-naturedly. ”I could make a swim like that if needed.”
"Tolja mate," Norveg says from where he is putting knots in the rope at ten foot intervals, "Rather die quicker if she sinks. No joke."
He regards the rope with satisfaction, then turns to Tragon. "You volunteerin' to take it froo, then? Or should our best swimmer do it?" He cocks his head at Nahuatl ti.
"I'll take the rope through and give you all something to follow."Nahuatl ti says with a smile. "Do we want to explore the other tunnel before exiting though?"
Taishe shrugs at Nahuatl's question.
"Don't know. Never tried to sswim ocean before." The kobold replies honestly.
"We should at leasst peek into the other tunnel. Lesst we die of curioussity later in life." Taishe nods at the tunnel, a faint draconic grin on his features.
With a chuckle, Nahuatl ti leads the wat to the end of the cave and the other lava tube leading up after Haplo resecures himself on her leg.
Nahuatl swims gracefully across the 20-foot stretch of water to the other side. There a small wedged-shaped shelf of rock holds some sand and flotsam of various bits. Another lava tube climbs at a slight rise from the ledge, becoming completely dry. Nahuatl sees that the tunnel advances about 10 feet into the rock before terminating in another swollen old wooden door
Nahuatl ti(or anyone who follows her)
"There's a door here, it seems like this may open out to overlook the ocean, but..there's a scent of...might be more undead behind it." Nahuatl ti calls back to the others.
Taishe follows Nahuatl as best he is able. (His short lizard form not liking the water as much a longer, more graceful form might)
"Thiss One Ssmellss it azz well. If we proceed, it should be with caution."
”Hmm. There will always be more undead where they came from around these parts. But it could also be that their loot is trapped in there with them…”
As Nahuatl ti draws a bit closer, she notes that there is a distinct dead-thing smell. However, there doesn't seem to be any discernable noise coming from the other side of the swollen salt-bleached door.
"It's quiet through, so might just be something dead, and like Tragon says, they may have left something useful, or valuable behind." Nahuatl ti says, listening closer. "Somebody want to tackle the door?" she asks, stepping back.
"Sure," Tragon offers. He swims confidently to the other side. When the rest of the party has assembled, he tries to open the swollen door.
Norveg sighs. "Swim all that way ta git ta undead? Madness."
He waddles into the watter and dogpaddles (rather ineffectively) to the ledge. "Budge up, make room." He squeezes in at the end.
Tragon bursts the door open, feeling a bit of resistance. Inside is a small room, barely 10'x10'. Sprawled on the floor of this small room is the source of the bad odor, a swollen corpse.
The corpse shows no signs of activity. A puddle of noxious fluids surrounds the bloated body, and its flesh is blackened and swollen, straining against a suit of studded leather armor. One hand clutches a scroll tube. There is a pen lying on the floor, along with the stub of a torch burnt low.
Other than the leather armor, there are belt pouches on a wide leather belt with a scabbarded short sword. One large golden ring is almost hidden by the swollen flesh of its right hand.
Beyond this noxious find, the room is bare. Another swollen door is visible upon the farther wall.
"Well at least this corpse is still dead." Nahuatl ti says, cringing slightly at the smell. "And has no use for jewelry and gear."
After swimming across to the room. He glances around the room and looks to see if he can notice any tell tale signs of the corpse perhaps being undead.
The swollen corpse is definitely dead dead. Narl finds some deep claw marks in the corpse's side that look similar to the wounds inflicted by the heucuva they encountered. He also finds a tattoo almost camouflaged by the blackening of the corpse's skin. It is a dragon clutching a lotus blossom.
Taishe lizard-paddles along after the others. (The kobold and the ratling vying for most comical paddling style along the way)
SHaking water off his scales in an almost canine fashion, the diminutive draconian also surveys the room.
"One preferss corpssess that sstay dead." Taishe echoes Nuahtl's observation.
"Anything of interesst?" Taishe inquires of Narl as he scans the room itself.
The room is bare of any traps. Taishe discovers a small fire pit in the corner, with a few gnawed fish bones scattered in the ashes. The dead man obviously had a few nights alone in the room before expiring. There is an empty leather wine jack by the fire as well. The door is similar to the others they have seen - decades if not centuries old, the ancient wood bleached and swollen by neglect and the heavy wet salt air of the caves.
"Ah well by these claw marks here it seems this person was a victim perhaps to the heucuva from the other room we fought he also has a tattoo of a dragon clutching a lotus blossom , which I believe is a sign for that gang called the Lotus Dragons. Maybe this was a hide out for them? But then what happened here that they died eh?"
Norveg tunes his senses to detect magic and stares at the corpse for half a minute or so.
The corpse is depressingly inert. No magic at all. Not even the intriguing scroll tube it clutches in its hand.
Tragon searches the body for absolutely anything of interest. (He will hand off the scroll tube to anyone curious about the contents.)
"Yes it looks like this was a Lotus Dragon hideout." Nahuatl ti says taking the scroll tube and opening it.
Curious about the scroll Nahuati has Narl looks over at her and asks.
"Anything of interest in that?"
Nahuatl ti unscrews the scroll tube, extracting a stained scrap of papyrus. close scrawled writing reveals the final thoughts of the dead man, now identifiable as Penkus, the name Vanthus had shouted at them when he trapped them
Tragon gets the belt and scabbard off the noisome corpse. The gold ring is more difficult, but Tragon isn’t squeamish. The armor ….. that would be a project, and likely needing a complete rehab. The belt pouch carries a few oddments, a handful of various silver coins totaling 32, and a flint and tinder
Taishe nods solemnly at Narl's observations.
"Very asstute friend Narl. One believess you have the making of a worthy invesstigator."
The kobold patiently waits his turn to read the contents of the scroll tube. Once done he hands it along to the next interested party.
Taishe nods thoughtfully.
"Thiss, 'Penkuss', was also trapped here by Vanthuss. One observess that hiss thoughts on revenge are mosst poetic. One would be happy to deliver thiss message to Vanthuss. And now one know where the Lotus Dragon makess it'ss den. Under one Taxidermy shop. Logical. When one conssiderss the convenience of being able to disspposse of errant body partss, without drawing unwanted attention, to ssuch a group." Taishe observes dryly.
After reading Penkus' final vengeful thoughts, and passing it to the others to read, Nahuatl ti shakes her head. "Vanthus truly is a bastard. Good to know he makes so many enemies though. It's bound to make going after him easier."
It looks as if Penkus either didn’t try, or was unable to open the further door. No one has heard anything coming from whatever space lies beyond it
Taishe nods at Nuahatl's words.
"One hopess you are correct. Shall we explore where Penkus could not?" The kobold adds, gesturing towards the other door.
"We should keep this letter safe and be discrete with it. Our employer should probably see the letter and it may help with ensuring she remains in control of her families estate. Though perhaps some one other than myself be the one to give her the letter? When I brought up her brother before she didn't take too kindly to the suggestions."
”Let’s see where this leads.”
Tragon tries the next door.
Tragon heaves against the old door and it splinters. Inside is yet another small room. This one is actually dry, the height obviously higher than the tides will bring water. Thick cobwebs dangle from the ceiling, and six inches of dust blanket the floor. There is no evidence that anyone has been in this room for a long long time.
Along the farther wall are three cobweb-cloaked chests. These chests seem to be the round top heavy duty type used for storing heavy items.
"Well... I am glad we detoured," Tragon says, admiring the chests. "Still, there could be traps or wards."
"We should keep this letter safe and be discrete with it. Our employer should probably see the letter and it may help with ensuring she remains in control of her families estate. Though perhaps some one other than myself be the one to give her the letter? When I brought up her brother before she didn't take too kindly to the suggestions."
Nodding at Narl's words, Nahuatl ti, takes the parchment, rolling it back up and placing it back into the scroll case which she screws shut. Reaching into her satchel, she takes out a waterproof bag, and slips the scroll inside before resealing it.
Looking at the dust covered chests she nods. "Does someone want to check them before we open them?"
"I will be happy to check them ... but Taishe my friend your keen eye is much better at seeing things and traps than mine. Perhaps it might be best for you to take a look first?"
Narl says with a shrug.
"One iss happy to oblige friend Narl." Taishe agrees with a bob of his draconic snout.
"Ah, Excusse, pleasse." The kobold murmurs as he makes his way carefully to the chests and begins giving them the draconic version of the suspicious eye,...
Taishe looks over the three ancient chests carefully. They are not trapped, but they all have stout rusted iron locks on them. Using his tools and a bit of mineral oil, the skilled Kobold is able to pop all three locks open. Peering inside he discovers a treasure trove
Chest 1:
7,500 CP
1,500 SP
Chest 2:
10 leather bags containing 100 GP (1,000GP total)
2 velvet bags containing 250 GP in small gems ea (500 GP total)
Chest 3:
8 potions
A wand
A small intricately carved jade box which contains a faceted brown gem on a velvet cushion
"One believess the appropriate word iss,... 'Jackpot'!" the kobold says as he waves the others forward to see for themselves.
Fascinated with Taishe's findings, Nahuatl ti utters a brief spell , her eyes glowing as she peers into the magical spectrum, and begins studying the individual items
Nahuatl gains some insight on a few items. The wand is a wand of Mage Armor (11chgs), 2 potions of clw, a potion of CSW, a potion of lesser restoration, and an elixir of swimming. The other potions remain unknown. The gem eludes her until she sees a scrap of parchment sticking out from under the velvet lining. Written on it in fading oak gall ink are the words ‘Earth Elemental Gem’
Relating the details of the items she can identify, Naahuatl ti separates them from the as yet unclassified treasures, you be better sorted out later. "A good haul here."