Once Kahli finishes with healing everyone she stows the wand for future use. "I hope we find a way to replace or recharge this before the last chanrge is used. My channeling negative life energy means that my ability to heal everyone is less than a usual cleric...."
Once Lash sets off again, Kahli follows, ~20' behind if Lash is OK with that.
Trying to keep her chain shirt from jangling, Kahli plunges into the mud and follows behind Lash, ending right at the edge of the far side of the mud pool . From Kahli's vantage point, Lash doesn't appear to be in trouble.
She observes Ko'Tua kneeling by the water's edge. Surely, the loss of his tribe, and not joining them perhaps is weighing on him? She considers this should he perish.
"I'm sure we will," she gives out with a dose of optimism to Kahli before hopping off. As she hops along, all-in-all she doesn't do too badly and makes it to the other side. With care, she checks the area.
"Hello...what are you?"
The rock wall and its oddness bothers her, but first she waits to signal the others to join her. She doesn't want to handle a room on her own if that's what ends up being behind the odd stones. In the meantime, she more accurately searches it to make sure she isn't seeing something.
Taking a closer look at the wall, what looks like rock is just a sheet of hanging fabric with a painting or drawing to make it look like rock.
Lash signals Kahli, who in turns signals the rest of the party to move forward.
Hamley and Tenney bet each other they can make the jump that Lash couldn't. Neither come close to the rock with Hamley coming up just short of her jump and Tenney making it an extra foot.
Ko'Tua stays near Marcos as they make their way through the mud. "Kuru don't live to old age. You are older. Have you been close to death?"
Joining Kahli and Lash, Shiv is instructed to pull aside the fabric once the party is in place. To everyone's(?) relief(?), there is nothing but a narrow tunnel through the rocks that quickly turns east. Giving a quick listen, there are no immediate sounds coming from the tunnel.
Marcos smiles.
"No, Ku'Toa. Where I live, I was in charge of keeping the records in books. We do this so we know what happened to our ancestors."
He shrugs, smiling once again.
"Until I appeared here, the most dangerous activity I was involved into was eating my aunt's cakes. They're known for having lots of sugar." In response to Ku'Toa's face, he adds "Sugar is bad."
The librarian doesn't like tunnels, but it seems the way to go.
"Let's see what awaits us inside there, friend, shall we?"
Lash will take her time checking this room. Even washing off her muddy boot in the water and peering in with her darkvision to see if it tied together nicely with the other tunnels underwater.
Once she is finished searching the room, she will scout ahead in the tunnel. There is a smile on her face as she passes Marcos, as if she doesn't believe that with all his stories his only danger in life had been eating cakes. All she will mutter as passing him is, "Sugarcane is delicious..."
When Lash passes by and Marcos thinks she can't hear him, he points at her and comments in a whisper "She's right."
As the group gets going again, Kahli offers conjured water to clean the mud off. Hearing the conversation between Marcos and Ku'Toa she grins. "Sugar itself isn't bad! Sugar makes food and drink sweet. Too much sweet food can be bad for your health. Being grossly fat is a slow death!"
Tenney chimes in. "We were delivering sweetcakes once, and I may have partook of the merchandise. Next to a fine woman and rum, sugar makes life most enjoyable," he says with a sly grin.
Ko'Tua stays silent during everyone's inputs. After a long pause,"...maybe I eat sugar in future."
The group spends some time combing over the immediate area, and feel confident they've search every nook and cranny and not turned up anything.
Lash steps up into the tunnel, having to duck into it. It's maybe three feet wide and four feet tall, leading to slow progress. Seeing the first bit clear, Kahli joins in behind Lash, and the duo creep forward, step-by-step. The tunnel winds to the east for about 125 feet before turning to the north, seemingly empty as far as they can see.
Lash ceases moving forward at the sight of the long tunnel ahead of them. She turns at a crouch to Kahli.
"Okay, I think for this tunnel, we'll need a frontline in the lead. Shiv. Now it's time to practice that trapfinding. I'll be right behind you, trying to peer over your shoulder ahead of us, but just in case something charges us at the end of this tunnel, I don't want to be stuck in front." Not that it wasn't amazing watching her navigate the lizardfolk's attacks in melee with a freaking bow.
She will take off after him, having Kahli behind her and the others behind them.
Marcos now knows he's going to be stuck in the middle of the line when they're in the tunnel. Well, it's the best place to be of either the vanguard or the rearguard are attacked... though the worst place if he needs to get out real quick.
Kahli nods agreement and follows Lash.
The party discusses the order to squat through the tunnel, opting for Shiv and his armor to go first. One after another, they crawl into the tunnel, Ko'Tua having to run his hand along to ceiling to avoid bumping his head.
Shiv leads the group, the light rippling along the rocky tunnel as they slowly make their way through toward the sharp turn north. With the naturally warm cave and the body heat from all the party members, the cave quickly becomes uncomfortably warm, beads of sweat running down everyone's foreheads.
Reaching the sharp turn, Shiv takes a peek around the corner.
He looks around and sees the tunnel runs 60' to the northeast. He gives the all clear and moves forward. As he and Lash turn the corner, , she sees the tripwire that Shiv missed and grabs his shoulder, stopping his ankle a few inches from it.
Lash thinks back to previous traps on this floor and looks to the ceiling, and notices the rocks right above her seem a bit loose...
Lash will have the others back up in safety behind the potential falling rocks of the trap. Her and Shiv will work each side of the trap, him aiding her.
Marcos can save his stories as, with Shiv's help, Lash is just able to retain the correct tension on the wire while removing it from the walking path. There's a collective sigh of relief.
Getting back into order, the party continues down the tunnel, the next 60' feeling like they're taking forever between the slow pace and the humidity. They make it to the next sharp turn and Shiv pokes his head around.
He relays that the tunnel ends just after the turn, but that it seems like there's light coming through the wall at the end. Thinking for a moment to the end the group came in, Shiv speculates maybe it's another piece of fabric like before.
Kahli readies her shield and holy symbol. If there is light past the barrier there might be enemies.... The group will need to move fast to get out of the tunnel.
"Okay, according to this map, there is an 'X' ahead. That must mean something nasty since all of these other things on the map have been monsters. Let's get really ready..."
She will pull out her potion of Owl's Wisdom and Mage Armor. She will drink the Mage Armor potion and then return her bow to her hand, but will be ready to drink the other just in case this looks to be some great villain. Along with the others, she will proceed forward through the barrier.
Prepping for what may come next, Lash drinks a potion and signals to the Druid. Squeezing around Shiv and swapping places, Lash avoids disturbing the fabric and listens. She can only hear the crackling of fire. No voices or rustling. Opting to take a peek before jumping headlong into the fray, she delicately reaches out and pulls the fabric slightly to the side as stealthily as possible...
Lash has to stifle her gasp as she sees, by far, the largest cavern so far. Measuring about 120' by 120', there's a lot to take in. Closest to her is a lone torch sitting on the end of a long rope bridge. The bridge, about 80' long, spans a large pool of water, the drop into it being 25' feet.
She can't see around the cave wall to her left, but that doesn't draw her attention as much as the commotion on the far side of the water. The wall to the north is masonry stone work, looking like the wall of a building, with an open stone door in the middle.
To the west is a campfire, around which is a group of four lizardfolk. Two look similar to ones the group fought before, while the one in the corner is wearing dark green robes and has face paint. The final is wearing black full plate armor and has a series of swords sheathed to his back. While Lash can't hear him, he appears to be giving orders to the others.
Apart from them, at the far end of the bridge, is a crouched Lizardfolk with a longbow in hand, its vision trained at the south end of the cavern. He doesn't appear to have noticed Lash.
Lash will step out and fire at the lizard dressed in dark green robes with facepaint.
The party gets into position and Kahli casts a familiar blessing on Lash and her bow. Lash pushes the hanging canvas aside and slips out, training her bow on the robed Lizardfolk.
Lash releases two arrows in near unison. They strike true, piercing their target in its left shoulder. The robed Lizardfolk lets out a hiss as the others prepare to react.
Shiv rushes out of the tunnel as fast as he can and moves to lead the party.
Kahli stays by Dash to keep her "Lucky"....
Kahli makes her way out of the tunnel, giving Lash another touch of luck on her shoulder as she moves past.
The robed Lizardfolk moves towards the open door and waves its hands and conjures a fog cloud on the bridge.
Tenney squeezes through the group, dagger in hand, and presses against the wall to allow others to move through.
Marcos continues his stories of brave adventurers crossing dangerous chasms as he makes his way to the entrance of the tunnel.
The Lizardfolk archer can't clearly see the party, so he retreats back towards the campfire.
The two Lizardfolk retrieve orders from the armored Lizardfolk and rush over to where the bridge ties to the posts, standing with their teeth ready to dig into the rope.
Though tall and lanky, Ko'Tua uses his impressive speed to scramble out of the tunnel and behind Kahli, knowing to stay out of the archer's way.
Hamley keeps his head ducked and makes it to the bend, the light from his torch now bleeding out into the large chamber. "Woah! Do I need to ditch the torch?"
With another hiss, the armored Lizardfolk makes his way through the door to the north, giving a look to the party before disappearing behind the door.
Lash growls as the lizardfolk just happens to have the perfect spell to thwart her. "Of course you can do that..."
Hearing her companion, she responds to Hamley, "Yeah, put it out. You can light it again when you go near the bridge. There's one burning there, and stick close to Ko'Tua," she tells him. "You guys stay either behind that fog cloud or out of the light. You'll present targets for their archers. Use bows and crossbows! If you don't have one, I have a spare bow on my back. Arrows in a quiver too!"
Quickly she will take aim once more for the face-painted foe, hoping to take him out before he can even do anything else but he doesn't present himself. Since he can't be seen, she takes advantage of her long-range and shoots the archer near the bridge with a couple of arrows.
Hearing Lash's comment about the torch makes Kahli grin. She gets out her crossbow and a quarrel and moves over by Marcos. "Lights out over here. Darkvision doesn't have that kind of range, but we can light the other side up. Marcos, Could you please put a light cantrip on my quarrel and I'll add to their light level!"
Hamley nods and tosses his torch to the ground behind him. "I'll just grab the one from the bridge as we go!"
The monk maneuvers to her right and aims to take out the Lizardfolk to the east. The first arrow catches it in the side, turning it away from the rope. The second pierces its mouth shut, killing it instantly.
Shiv calls for the croc to follow him and they rush forward to take the front line.
As Shiv moves up to the torch, the Archer Lizardfolk releases a readied arrow at the Samsaran.
The arrow deflects off of Shiv's thick armor and he keeps moving unaffected.
Kahli moves and prepares to fire a lit bolt to the far side of the chasm.
The robed Lizard hisses another incantation and a burst of evil energy flows out of it and into the other Lizardfolk.
Tenney continues his rush out of the tunnel to join the fight. "Is that the church over there?!"
Marcos keeps weaving tales of swinging on vines and daring escapes. He follows Kahli's request and casts light on her quarrel.
The Lizardfolk Archer takes another shot at Shiv, hoping to stop the armored Druid...
Shiv barely avoids a deadly arrow, but just takes a glancing blow off his leg. The Lizardfolk then moves back into the stone doorway.
The Lizardfolk by the bridge sees his companion die, but continues on with the orders and bites the rope.
Its teeth rip into the rope and when it pulls back, the bridge shakes as one of the attachments is broken. It then runs to the other post to finish the job.
Ko'Tua continues to show no fear and rushes forward past Shiv and onto the bridge, making it into the fog cloud.
Hamley runs out to try and get to the torch by the bridge, but can't quite make it.
"Hold onto the right side's rope as you near the end, Ko'Tua! He bit one side of it off! It might be unstable! When you get near the end, just jump!
"Oh no you don't!" Ko'Tua would feel the woosh of two arrows zip in front of him once more as he's on the bridge, hopefully, ending the lizardfolk's life before he gets to the end of the bridge.
Shiv rushes forward, trying to keep pace with the speedy Kuru, the croc following after.
Kahli continues to synergize with Lash and blesses her bow again.
With the blessing imbued upon her, Lash seeks to stop the Lizardfolk from breaking the bridge. Both arrows appear to be flying true, but the low-light may make it difficult...
But the experienced archer doesn't let it affect her and the first arrow ends the Lizardfolk's life just before its teeth can reach the rope.
Her second shot fires past the Lizardfolk and seeks out the archer, catching its shoulder before it's able to duck behind the door.
The robed Lizardfolk chants another incantation and Shiv feels his body begin to stiffen...
But he's able to shake it off. The robed Lizardfolk then pulls a potion out.
Tenney sprints to the east, past the bridge. He points across at the campfire on the far side. "The magic one is over by their firepit!"
Marcos seeks to stop the other spellcaster and, while reciting his stories, moves to join Tenney to get a clear view.
The Lizardfolk archer lines up a shot at the rope and seeks to finish the orders.
The arrow goes low and skips off the ground and falls into the water.
Ko'Tua continues rushing across the bridge and manages to get into the face of the archer.
Hamley runs up to the torch on the near side of the bridge and pulls it out, dropping it into the water, plunging the party's side into darkness, minus the lit bolt in Kahli's crossbow.
Shiv keeps running forward across the bridge, getting to the last few planks overhanging the water.
"Yes!" she cries out. "Now get over there and get 'em! Wait until we are all there to go through the door!"
She will then take careful aim at the archer to see if she can nail him behind his cover.
If she kills him with her first shot, she will shoot him again for good measure to send a message!
Once the light is on her crossbow bolt, Kahli looks across for a target. She considers firing at the enemy archer, but mainly just wants to light up the area so she fires at the wall by the door.
Kahli fires a bolt across the chasm to help light the far side.
A streak of light flies across the chamber and the bolt lands exactly where she aimed it.
Lash looks to end the archer. Her first arrow finds its mark, even at range. Her second shot looks like it's going to hit a vital area, but the Lizardfolk twists at the last second.
The robed Lizardfolk sees his archer in trouble and calls forth a dagger made of force behind Ko'Tua, which slashes at him.
The blade slices into Ko'Tua's back, dark red blood running down his back.
Tenney shifts back and forth in his spot. "What do I do from here?!"
Marcos keeps the tales coming, and takes a long shot at the robed Lizardfolk.
The robed Lizardfolk stops its chanting as the bolt pierces cleaning into its chest and its magical dagger disappears.
The Lizardfolk archer retreats slightly and attempts to stop the Kuru from following after.
Ko'Tua goes to take a step after the archer, but hears Lash's plan, and fights his instincts to run in, moving to the side.
Hamley continues to work on getting across the bridge.
Shiv finally reaches the far cliff and follows orders, moving beside Ko'Tua and on this side of the stone door.
Lash will take off after the others, saying, "Come on guys, let's go! Across the bridge, as quick as you can muster it safely."
With her rushing forward to the bridge, it won't take long for her to catch up and move past the fog cloud.
"If you are hurt, now is a good time to heal up," she calls out in general to those in front of her. Perhaps Shiv has a spell to help anyone hurt? She can't see them so she isn't sure.
Kahli follows, pulling out the wand as she hears Lash's words. "The enemy went through the door, probably to rally reinforcements. Let's be ready for them!"
Eyes glued on the door, the party moves to the north. With the bridge integrity compromised, the party carefully hurries across without any sightings of the archer. Kahli sees the cut on Ko'Tua's back and taps him with the healing wand, closing the wound. Ko'Tua thanks the cleric while focusing on the door.
Without looking around the door, Lash and Marcos hear faint talking in Draconic and everyone hears the sound of scraping stone.
Lash has confidence in her abilities. She is certain that she can handle whatever will come out of the "gate" at them, taking the hit for her companions. Once Ko'Tua is healed, the second later, she springs around the corners with her bow at the ready and her eyes peeled forward. The scraping sound seems like some sort of escape attempt to her, so she doesn't want to waste time peeking and sneaking about. The less time they have to prepare something, the better.
She seems to be moving with that same serpentine grace as demonstrated before, and her free hand is prepared to deftly deflect any incoming shot from their archer "friend".
"You are going to face us for those you've killed, you cowards!"
Lash moves around the door, set to give chase. Before she can take in the room, her eyes catch the archer on a second floor, bow trained on her. Her reflexes kick in and she's able to knock the arrow out of the sky, avoiding the abush. However, two more Lizardfolk are ready with javelins, and toss them down at Lash.
The monk is nimble enough to easily dodge out of the way, the javelins skipping across the floor and past.
The Aasimar is now able to scan the rest of the room. To her left and right are wooden staircases with landings that lead up to two second floor areas 15' high with wooden railings lining the edges. Set into the walls in the "foyer" area are 6 human-sized stone slabs with Draconic writing on them. In the middle of the foyer is a 10' tall stone obelisk that is rotating in the clockwise direction with a mirror about 5' off the floor.
Beyond the foyer are two rows of wooden pews that lead to a table, at which stands the armored Lizardfolk. He hisses something towards Lash and the other Lizardfolk before reaching behind him and pulling a lever on the wall.
A hole in the 30' ceiling opens and a beam of sunlight floods into the room. The light reflects off the mirror on the obelisk and creates a focused beam that begins moving as the obelisk continues rotating.
With Lash already in position, Marcos hears the attacks and conjures forth a fantastical story.
The armored Lizardfolk at the far size of the room draws a sword made of bone and runs around to its right.
Shiv and the croc move around the door as far as they can and into the room with Shiv sprinting up the stairs to end the ranged threat.
Hamley follows Shiv's lead and makes his way up the stairs.
To hit the mirror's face, you would have to have line of sight to the front of the mirror. If you want to shoot the "body" of the mirror and attempt to redirect it, you just have to be 90 degrees from it (Currently on or east of the line from O14 to T19).
Lash will contemplate this obelisk to destroy it or move it for a mere moment, but then will decide that since she saw the armored lizardfolk flip the switch, if she just kills him, she can flip it again.
Lash lines up two shots, hoping to clear a path to the lever. The first shot skims over the top of the pews and finds an opening in the armor on its left side. The second arrow gets deflected by the Lizardfolk's shield.
Tenney runs around the door and sees everyone going left and the one Lizardfolk to up on the right and rushes to close the gap.
Ko'Tua runs in and sees the armored Lizardfolk on the far side of the room. He identifies a worthy opponent and rushes forward.
With Lash hitting the Armored Lizardfolk, the Archer tries to protect him and fires a shot at Lash.
The Lizardfolk on the east second floor moves up to the stairs and throws a javelin at Tenney.
Tenney ducks just in time and the javelin smashes into the wall.
The Lizardfolk on the west steps up and throws a javelin at Shiv.
Shiv watches the javelin skip down the stairs and past him.
Lash hears the bow being drawn and, even though she's focused on the Armored Lizardfolk, she's able to swing her bow up and deflect the arrow.