Marcos ppicks the book from Lash' hands and turns some pages with a nasty face.
"Uh... this is a prayer book for a very evil god. I say we burn it as well."
He then takes the leather armor.
"Anyone wants this?"
Not wanting Kahli to expend uses of her magic, Lash takes a moment to line up a shot at each egg as Kahli stands ready with the torch, and ends the spiders' lives before they begin.
Marcos joins in identifying the scrolls. Casting Read Magic on each, he identifies them as a Scroll of Bull's Strength and a Scroll of Fog Cloud.
Ko'Tua and the smugglers turn down Marcos' offer of the armor. However, Ko'Tua shows interest in the scroll of Bull's Strength. "That paper make me stronger? How that work?"
Hamley picks up the Masterwork Spiked Chain and spins it around, almost catching himself in the head. "Maybe I'll keep practicing with this if nobody minds."
"Somebody watch though! Don't want any stray critters wandering in and surprising us!"
While a few people act at watchmen, Kahli and others slowly work on cutting the webs, careful not to get stuck. After a lot of sweat, they come out of the main area of the lair pulling web strands off their armor and pile the loot on the floor.
Corpse 4
• Leather Armor
• Singing Steel Dagger
• Disguise Kit
• Masterwork Tambourine
• Masterwork Thieves' Tools
• Scroll of Cure Light Wounds
• Scroll of Invisibility
• 25 gp
Corpse 5
• Eel Hide Leather Armor
• Club
• Acid
• Potion
It was hard work, but as a team, they get the job done. After sorting through the gear, Lash will take point once more and move down toward the mushrooms and then further down toward the mudroom. On the way, she is cautious of that monster popping out from the stone again and has an arrow drawn, ready to shoot it should it leap out at them.
As she gets to the mudroom, she thinks to herself, "Somewhere on the other side of this cavern, there is a secret pathway to...well...whatever the X mark is."
"Evidently there is a monster of some kind in here. I'm not sure if I'd rather take my chances swimming through those sharp rocks again or dealing with this beast."
Looking in, she tries to find where the monster is lurking.
The group makes their way down to the mud room to find a way over to what they believe is the tunnel marked on the map. Tenney and Hamley are quietly discussing Hamley's new weapon while Tenney keeps bragging about how he killed the spider.
As the party approaches the mouth where the mushrooms are, Marcos sees the wall to his left come to life as the Vilstrak steps back out, its hands greedily reaching for his rapier on his belt.
But Marcos quickly turns and keeps his rapier away from the insectoid.
Lash will agree with moving the bodies out of the cavern at least a little ways and the eventual burning of the webs. While they couldn't bury these people, they could cover them with loose dirt to make them unappealing to any other creatures that come along. The monk wouldn't spend much time or strength on it but will ask Marcos to say some words over them if he is willing.
------------------
As they head further south, she is on the alert, as stated, and so when the Vilstrak pops out, she pulls a couple of arrows and fires!
Ko'Tua and the smugglers join in digging very shallow graves for those that they found in the webs. Hamley steps forward with his torch and gently places it against a cluster of webs which alight almost instantly. The fire spreads swiftly, the heat forcing the party to make haste in leaving the small chamber. It doesn't take long for the webs to burn out and, with no wind or place to go, a thick blanket of smoke is left covering the area.
Marcos is quick to react, defending himself and keeping the Vilstrak's attention long enough for Lash to put an arrow through it's stoney carcass, dropping it to the floor. Taking a moment to search the creature's body, they don't find anything on it.
They continue south back towards the mud and rocks. They pause as the path begins to open to their left and Lash looks around the corner at the wide pool. Knowing there is a creature of some sort, she spends some time scanning the area. Her eyes eventually fall on the largest rock in the middle as she sees the mud rippling slightly.
"How rude..." she smirks, "first it takes your gear and then keeps it stuffed back there. Safe to say I dislike these more than I do insects...and that's saying something."
While she doesn't have a fear of insects, she does hate being crawled upon, and being forced to remain in prison, she has been forced awake by numerous animals crawling on her. She recollects her arrows and heads to the mud room. After spying it out, she is certain there is something lingering under the largest rock in the middle.
"Okay, I think I see it. See there, how the mud is rippling? That's got to be it hiding. The question is...how do we draw it out? I don't want to fight that thing in there. Who knows how deep that mud is..."
"Tie a rope to me. I'll cast my duplicate again and move in. Whatever it is will attack and is just as likely to hit my duplicate as me. Shiv can hold the rope and pull me back if something in there grabs me. And if something attacks me I still have some magic available to hurt it or heal me, or both!"
"AND.... It will be visible so you can put an arrow, or three, in it!"
"What...like bait?!" she quietly exclaims. "You are crazy. What if that's a mud golem or something? What if it's stronger than us?" she groans and then thinks to the usefulness of Kahli's energy bursts. With a sigh, she relents. "Fine...but you get back here safe. Is there anything we can do to make her safer?" She looks to her companions to see if any of them have rope or have anything to aid in this misadventure.
Kahli pulls a coil of silk rope from her pack and ties a loop around herself. She hands the other end to Shiv. "If you see some huge mud figure stand up, feel free to yank me back quick! Otherwise, be ready to make whatever is in there dead before it does that to me."
Before she steps forward she calls on Calistria's power to create a duplicate of herself.
"Don't go all the way there. You can hit that thing from a distance. We know it's in alliance with the one who put it here, as it's on the map. Just blast away from your maximum range. We can hang back and shoot from a distance."
Lash readies her bow with an arrow just in case this beast pops out after getting stung.
Kahli nods. "I'll watch for it as I approach. It might be something harmless that will swim away.... If I'm not sure I can try to shoot a crossbow bolt at it to get it's attention!"
Shiv puts his scythe on his backpack and takes the rope in both hands, nodding in understanding of Kahli's plan. Ko'Tua moves between Shiv and the mud, readying his club. "I fight dirty creatures. Keep them away from tribe." Tenney and Hamley stay back with Lash, Shiv, and Marcos as Kahli begins into the mud, torch in hand.
With the plan in action Kahli pretends to not be afraid. She glances at the rocks but decides against climbing and jumping. Just her luck and she'd slip and be flat on her back under the layer of mud.
She moves around the rocks to the right. H4->I4->J5->K6->L7.
She moves closer. L8->Climbing up on the rock at M10.
If nothing has happened she takes out her crossbow, loads and fires at the movement in the mud....
With the rope tied around her waist, Kahli manifests her duplicate and wades into the mud, sloshing through carefully but quickly. Working her way down and around the first rock, she keeps her eyes trained on the rippling mud. With a quick glance, she pulls herself up and finds perch on a rock near the middle, mud dripping off her armor and caked to her boots.
She lines up a shot where she suspects the head to be and fires a bolt.
Her foot slips on the mud and her shot goes wide. The bolt ricochets off the large rock, which begins to move and shift as a hulking humanoid cloaked in saturated ragged cloth rises from the mud, coming to stand over 9 feet tall. It looks like this (minus the barrel)
As it stands, two more spots of mud begin to form and coalesce into vaguely-humanoid shapes made entirely of mud. They look like this.
Knowledge checks for identifying the enemies:
Seeing the giant stand, Kahli turns to get away if possible.... "CRAP! Pull the rope!"
"Get out of there!" she exclaims. "I can't believe she didn't do what I suggested...She could have been safe on the solid ground about now." "What was that? I thought you were going to channel to harm them from a distance!"
Quickly, the monk fires into the most hideous one.
Tenney and Hamley yell as the hulking creature emerges. "What in the bloody hell is that?!" They both toss a dagger at the disgusting-looking humanoid.
But they're too far away and a little shaken to be accurate.
Shiv gives a pull on the rope, trying to pull Kahli back to safety.
Lash is about to release her readied arrow, but makes a last second correction and her arrow strikes true.
Staying safely out of the way, Marcos reaches deep into his knowledge of tales and spins something about mud people and giants.
The mud creature closest to the party easily glides through the mud and approaches Kahli and her duplicate, taking a strong swing with its muddy arm.
Kahli hopes the mud creature will fall for the duplicate, but it strikes true, mud starting to stick to Kahli's armor...
But she's able to quickly wipe it off.
Lash quickly lets a couple of other arrows fly at the most hideous of these new foes. She can't stand the sight of it but hopes the mud will hide that once more.
Perhaps slightly revolted by its sight, Lash is unable to find her mark, and her arrows plop into the mud.
Hamley sees Kahli in trouble and pushes past Tenney while drawing a dagger, rushing forward to leap out to the first rock.
He lands on the rock, but still not close enough, quickly changes his grip and throws the dagger.
But, in his worry to not hit Kahli, the dagger skips off the rock she's standing on.
Shiv rushes forward, drawing his scythe, but is unable to make it far between the bulk of his armor and the thick mud.
The large humanoid creature slowly reaches down into the mud and picks up the rock to its left with both hands, lifting it above its head, and hurls it at Hamley.
Hamley is able to duck and the rock shatters on the wall behind him, spraying dust everywhere. The creature lets out a gurgling yell.
Ko'Tua flies into a rage and runs headlong into the mud, getting right up in the face of the mud creature threatening Kahli and takes a mighty swing with his club.
His club connects, dislodging a chunk of mud from the creature, splattering it across the rocks.
Tenney runs to the northeast, trying to get a better line of sight, drawing a dagger and throwing it at the large humanoid.
His dagger flies through the air. The large humanoid raises its arm to block the weapon, but it sticks into its forearm.
Kahli looks around and can see that she, and her friends are in danger from the mud monsters. This place was getting too dangerous and she was tempted to dump the stone it the mud.... She holds out her holy symbol And prays to Calistria, "Calistria. I call on your power to smite my enemies and heal the wounds that they have done to your servant. Exclude my friends from your power please."
"Tenny, I'm sorry but I can only exclude three from this power. Please back out of my range!"
"Beware the bigun, companions, for he's able to throw away death with precision. Use a mirror, however, to weaken it, if you have one to spare!"
While he moves , Marcos keeps his speech and tries to capitalize from the advice himself. Sadly, he lacks the proper items, si he decides to try a shot instead.
"Really? I'd believe it! I think I have one in my backpack. Someone get it out of my floral kit inside!"
She will look to Marcos, Hamley, and Tenney just to see if one of them would do it.
The various mud creatures all recoil in pain, along with Tenney. "Aw, damnit! I thought I was your favorite!"
The farther away Mud Elemental bloops into the mud and reappears next to Kahli, a muddy arm slamming down at her.
In its anger, it can't differentiate between Kahli and her duplicate, and its muddy arm harmlessly swings through the image, destroying the image but leaving Kahli unharmed.
Start of Round 2!
Marcos identifies the creatures and shares how to disrupt the Thawn. He steps forward, levels his crossbow, and fires a bolt at the Thawn that sticks into its fatty stomach.
Lash calls out about the mirror and Hamley calls back. "I can jump back to get it if you get it out!" Tenney shakes off the pain. "No, you dummy. You stay up there, I'll grab the mirror and show this thing how ugly it is."
The Mud Elemental by Ko'Tua sinks into the mud and reemerges on the other side of him, attempting to slam him.
Ko'Tua is ready and easily dodges out of the way.
Lash will sling her backpack around, pull the kit to the top and quickly retrieve the mirror. She then let Tenney grab it, and will pull an arrow and fire.
Kahli steps a little farther from the party (5' step? to L9) and activates her Channel again, excluding the closest members of the party.
Lash reaches into her backpack, pulls the mirror to the top and sets it down, ready for Tenney. She then puts an arrow into the Thawn's shoulder. It wobbles slightly before a large, meaty leg finds balance.
Seeing Kahli channeling and not wanting to be in range, Shiv drops his scythe on the rock in front of him, draws a spear, and throws it at the Thawn.
He has not practiced with it recently, though, and it flies wide.
The Thawn slops through the mud to the south and picks up another rock, this time aiming at Ko'Tua.
Distracted by the Mud Elemental, Ko'Tua is unable to react in time and the rock catches him in the back of the head and he crumbles, falling into the mud...
Ko'Tua goes limp and falls into the mud.
Tenney sees Ko'Tua drop. "Crap!" He turns and rushes back to Lash's backpack, quickly grabbing the mirror, before racing back towards the mud. He skids to a stop back where he started and yells out as he holds the mirror up. "Hey, ya big ugly! Look over here!"
The Thawn's attention turns from Ko'Tua's limp body and towards Tenney. Immediately, it sees its reflection in the small mirror and a wave of disgust comes over it.
Maybe he's too far away, but the sight of his own disgusting visage doesn't affect him.
Hamley draws his last dagger and steps forward, hoping to destroy the mud elemental.
Hamley can't seem to get his footing and swings wide.
Kahli stands steadfast, quickly pulls out a wand, and calls upon her powers to burst out. The Mud Elemental to her west shudders before melting apart into the mud. The Thawn, busy laughing at Ko'Tua's unconscious body, suddenly locks up and slowly falls over backwards, landing in a glorious splash of mud.
Tenney gets hit with the energy again, swearing at himself for having to be back in range.
The remaining Mud Elemental braces itself against the divine blast.
The Mud Elemental gurgles some sort of insult to Kahli before trying to slam down with all its might.
Kahli's vision goes blurry for a second from the impact, but she is able to stay standing. However, the threat of being encased in mud is present again...
"Way to go Kahli!" she cheers as the Calistrian cleric downs to foes.
Seeing their new teammates fall or writhe in pain, certainly sends shivers down her spine, reminding her of the deaths of Ko'Tua's tribe members. "What if he's dead there too?" she wonders. Before her mind draws her into a daze, there is still a battle going on and the archer needs to try to end it. She takes aim at the remaining small elemental and fires some arrows.
"Return to the mud, never to rise again!"
Channel is a Supernatural ability. Spell-like abilities are subject to AoOs and stuff, but not Supernatural abilities. Entangled doesn't prevent anything, just hamper. Since presenting your holy symbol is part of channeling (like using the material components to cast a spell), you can channel while entangled without any penalty.
Frustrated because of the much stopping her from using the healing wand on KoTua, Kahli holds her holy symbol as much as possible to direct it at whatever passes for a face on the muck thing. "Calistria, Your humble servant requests one more time to show your favor to these unbelieving creatures. Smite them with your holy power, restoring your servant. Please exclude the power from her friends that are harmed by it."
Even with a bevy of allies in the way, Lash's first arrow from her flurry weaves its way between everyone and strikes clean (ironically), piercing straight through. The hole in the mud elemental begins to close before the entire being hardens and collapses into the mud pit.
Seeing Kahli caked in mud and any visible threats taken care of, Hamley hops off his rock and quickly reaches down to pull Ko'Tua's head above the mud. "I'm not sure I can lift him up myself!"
To the east beyond the mud is dry land, and presumably a tunnel that bypasses the mushrooms. In a nook to the north is a chest. To the south is the pool of water Lash swam in to with a narrow cave that opens to the east.
Anyone who tries to search the mud elementals finds just a few bits of hardened mud, but nothing else. Heading over to the Thawn, you're glad that the giant is covered in mud as it masks its repulsive stench. You don't see it holding any weapons in its oversized hands, but if you are brave enough to pull its tattered "clothing" aside, you find the following tucked in under a fold of fat:
With Ko'Tua's safety in question, she quickly straps her bow and leaps into the mud to help Hamley.
"I'm here."
The two of them will pull at him to roll him over and get him on his back so he isn't threatened, then they can drag him through the mud. Behind him, she can see a flowing crimson river slowly disappearing into the mud.
"He may still be bleeding. We need healing over here."
She looks over him, but cannot tell with all the mud. Hopefully, they have a spell or charge for him.
Once he comes to, she will help him to the waters of the pool.
"Come, Brave Warrior...wash off that mud from your hair."
She will aid him, cleaning herself and her own gear off too in the pool. If Hamley or anyone else joins them, she will help remove the sludgy mud from them.
Eventually, they will need to get over to that chest. While it will likely be her doing it, she had to dip deep in mud to hoist up Ko'Tua. The journey over to the chest will hopefully not be so deeply dug in. Eventually, she will head that way.
Once it is clear that the battle is over, Kahli struggles with the mud holding her. She realizes that she can soften it with water and tries to cast a spell.
Her first attempt is successful and the mud seems to loosen. She tries again and the mud washes free.
Moving over to Lash and KoTua she quietly speaks the words to a spell.
Seeing the effect she checks to see how badly he is still hurt and uses the wand.
She glances at Lash and grins, "In the future remind me to stay by you and use my Bit of Luck to help your shooting! That mob hurt!"
Marcos finally reacts. "Wow, that was quick." He goes to check Ko'Tua or anyone that needs healing , and looks at the strange mud creatures with curiosity.
Hamley and Lash work together to pull Ko'Tua from the mud as Kahli works on cleaning the caked-on mud off of herself.
Kahli joins with them and casts a healing spell on Ko'Tua. He sputters back to wakefulness, coughing up mud. "In Kuru tribe, we leave for dead and eat the remains," he says, groggily. "I am glad you are not Kuru." He smiles.
Marcos makes his way to his allies, offering assistance, Shiv following closely behind.
5
4
Once everyone is feeling better and is tending to their various wounds and washing their clothes, Lash makes her way north to the chest. She pulls herself up onto the rock and eases into the recess the chest is sat in and inspect the small wooden box. She barely sees a thin wire running up to the ceiling. Her eyes follow it up and sees that its connected to a piton that, if removed, would cause a small cave in. She carefully cuts the wire, disabling the trap. She proceeds to open the chest and finds a small vial of clear liquid sitting alone. If shown to the others, they will see it emanates faint transmutation magic.
Lash reports back that her darkvision can't quite make out the full extent of the area to the north east, but that there is solid ground beyond the mud.
"It was great the way you just...drained them all." she openly speaks to Kahli, "I was not expecting those mud creatures. I only thought there would be one guy as that's all I saw on the map and with the ripples. I'm glad you're alive! So yes, until you can maybe exclude all of us from your bursting, that might be more effective."
Lash pats Ko'Tua on the shoulder before setting off.
"I'm glad you're mot dead. We'd hate to leave you behind. Actually, you have Hamley and Tenney to thank for you not drowning in mud, especially Hamley, who held you up until we could help him. Finally, Kahli brought you back to life with her skill in healing magic."
The way she says this is quiet and in a manner so that he knows who he owes his life to. With that, she is off to check the chest, and in doing so, brings back the vial successfully. She will then clean off the mud in the waters to the west and stick to the stones this time as they head eastward.
Ko'Tua registers what Lash said and turns to the smugglers. "Maybe we keep fighting together." He then makes his way to the water's edge and quietly kneels by it.
Lash scouts the rock then easily hops to the first rock, quickly bouncing over the next two. She pauses for just a second before hopping to the large rock in the middle. She lines up a jump to the closest rock to the east and leaps.
She falls just a little short, landing in the mud. She trudges over the last few feet and pulls herself up. She then easily hops from rock to rock, landing on solid ground.
She silently moves forward, scanning her surroundings. While she doesn't notice any immediate danger, something does catch her eye: an odd looking section of the northern cave wall . She also leans forward and peers around to the east and sees another pool of water.