It just goes back to sobbing.
Looking around you can see where many vines still cling to the floor and likely go between the stones making up the floor, walls, and even the ceiling. Much was burnt in this small confines but there still is vines everywhere but they are the thinnest on the ceiling. You can see several spots where the ceiling appears to be flat. Nearly every surface except for the bathing spaces with water is covered in soot. Ash is here and there as well. But mostly the black soot.
Lilianne isn't sure what is going on, but she's pretty sure she understands. Unless Thorn explains otherwise, she is going to feel like she probably gave the order to kill this thing's family. No other reason she could see to cry like that in her mind. With Andrei comforting her, she will place a hand on his on her shoulder as if welcoming it but keeps her other hand rested on the long hilt of her sword, just in case.
Thorn sighs as he looks up.
"Nothing much we can do for him here. The giant plant creature had already slain his family and trapped this one here. He's disappointed that the flames didn't claim him as it did his foe." He says with a straight face hoping to spare his companion's feelings.
Blaze looks on, her face painted in pain. She hadn't expected her flames to do so much damage. They must have recognized the evil of the plant creature before she even knew what it was. Their power had been growing within her, she would have to be more careful when unleashing them in the future.
"Tell that we are sorry we could not help his family." She said sadly, her head hanging down. She wandered off to search for anything useful that had not burned away to nothing before they finished with this level.
Regardless of the lie, her revelation of the traps in the other room speak otherwise that the beast was still there. Perhaps it killed this leshy's family before the flames tore through this area, but it was still their interference that led to this event unfolding. Her perspective remains.
"It wants to die..."
There is a moral quandary in her mind. She is no stranger to killing people who deserve it, but this one doesn't. Sometimes, people just need a push, and in time they will come around.
"I am sure it wants to be left alone, but fish it out of that water. We'll bring it back up with us. We aren't going to leave it here to die in despair. It may not want to live now, but that can change with time. We'll try to give it a purpose, then it can decide what it wants to do when its pain has subsided."
She is not oblivious to Blaze's feelings either. Her eyes trail to her friend wandering off.
The leshy does not resist being taken. Though it's sobbing might grate on your nerves.
Looking around you find in the bath rooms some towels that seem to be soft and clean somehow, they emit magic. You find a few small bottles of incense, liquid soap, and other amenities that were obviously forgotten.
Most of the towels are destroyed by the mold or fall apart at the merest touch.
In the back pool, which seems to be heated you see something bobing in the water. Fishing it out, you find it seems to be a slime that feeds off of cleaning. You find several more in the warm pools. They are friendly and clean off your clothes or armor should you let it stay on you.
Thus no vines are in the bath rooms.
Aramyros was wondering what the rest of the group had been up to. But he wasn't sad or ashamed of not coming with them. This fence didn't build itself and the automation could only do so much.
Aramyros was a soldier by trade and building fortifications wasn't new to him. He had done so many times, however, they were usually of smaller scale.
Andrei whispers in Lilianne's ear. "Îf you need me, Î'll be helpîng Nîma în dă kîțchenș." The caydenite quietly takes his leave.
Thorn brings the leshy out and settles it in a suitable place. Staying with it to ensure that it begins to calm down before he heads to go forage for food.
Lilianne will go check on Blaze. As Thorn brings up the Leshy, she will aid him by climbing and trying to help him get up top easier. Once finished with the dungeon itself for now, she will ask if Blaze wants to go for a walk, as she feels the two of them are of a similar mind.
There is still a functional elevator on each level. The vine viper only destroyed one on each level.
Thorn's attempts may not be a resounding success but he does manage to find flowering bushes for him to work his natural magic which bears him just one berry sadly.
Lilianne will aid Thorn on his foraging for food as she intended from the beginning. While out on their expedition she will give a similar blessing that Andrei has on him to Thorn in case he gets attacked so he will have a displacement effect upon him. Before she leaves, she will kiss Andrei goodbye.
That night, she will keep watch, but will want to have some alcohol and a decent fire for warmth. In the tent, she will confess to Andrei her worries. Callie never was one to cry, but he will see her tear up for a moment before she distracts herself.
Andrei did not understand his Callie's 'world' of missions and espionage, but he sat with her and listened, ad did his best to comfort her in his dark moment.
Blaze was lost in her own thoughts. The way the lower level had burned brought memories to the surface. Images of leaping flames and blackened roof timbers floated before her mind's eye in such a way that she could not turn from it.
When Lilianne sought her out, she held her hands out looking down at them almost accusingly. "My flames still grow stronger, hungrier. I bring them forth but never have I been able to call them back. If it is magic, like Thorn says, how do I stop them burning? Is it evil? What I do?"
Before Thorn and Lili went foraging, she asked for the book about the Tower and spent her evening looking through it. It was clear that the wizards had kept many pets and experiments and they would need to continue to explore and set them free or destroy them if they were too dangerous. "If we read about levels before we go there, mebbe we have better ideas for what to expect."
That night, she moved her bedroll out from the tent she shared with Baahir and slept in the open. Today's events had reminded her how quickly her flames could consume everything she cared for. She was weary from the toll she'd taken from her internal burning and gazed up at the stars until sleep took her.
The next morning, she planned to go back to the vault and try again with the book. Hopefully, with the Mephit's proper name, she would be able to learn how she might free him.
Survival 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16
Will good berry if there isn't enough food for all. Thorn will eat the berries and give the others their meal.
Berry 1d4 ⇒ 1
Possible encounter? 1d20 ⇒ 13
Thorn takes 1st watch in order to do his stuff.
Thorn's attempts may not be a resounding success but he does manage to find flowering bushes for him to work his natural magic which bears him just one berry sadly.
Thorn hunts for hours, and scrounges up three hares and four handfuls of black berries. This is enough food to feed four individuals.
As Lilianna takes down a deer, plenty of food for 6 more people!
"I faced the same thing the first time I was ordered to kill someone. It was a hard pill to swallow, but I looked at my own intent in that moment. I knew the man I was going to kill was evil and hurt a lot of people. I knew my commander was trustworthy. I had swore to follow his orders. All of these helped me deal with the pain of taking someone's life.
Here, you didn't even have to face that. You simply burned some plants. We couldn't have known that there was potentially a sentient race in here that would be attacked by that monstrosity for our actions. Fresh plants? I thought they would smolder and put out the flames. Instead we got plumes of smoke and a crazy fire. I thought beyond was stonework. That is why I asked you to burn them. I gave you that order, if you will."
She adjusts her hair and holds out her arms for a hug, allowing her friend to suppress her burning skin for a moment.
"You have control. You have never hurt me. I don't believe you would hurt anyone or anything that didn't deserve it. Plus, according to Thorn, we avenged the killer of that thing's family. If anyone is at fault here, it is the mage who made that monstrosity and let it be awakened by fire...and put evocation traps all around it to wake it up, I'm sure. My point is, it shouldn't have been here in the first place, this whole level shouldn't have burned, and you are amazing, cute, and a little bit more charming when you are bothered, so knock it off before I fall in love with you..." she jokes lightly, hoping to have encouraged her friend. She will give her a playful smooch on the cheek and will pull away.
Despite all of her words of encouragement, she still feels the pains of the order given and the consequences do weigh on her.
------------------
Lilianne will dress the deer and leave the remains for the forest to claim. Impressively, Thorn will see her carrying a deer on her shoulders when she returns to where he was picking berries. Each of them would eat very well that night. She will enjoy herself a bit more than she normally has up until this point as if having completed a mission. She will not return to the dungeon. Instead, there are many other missions to focus on in the meantime. Despite this, Andrei would come to find it all a front as she was deeply troubled by the day's events with the fire. With him listening to her express her connection to past events and trials with her spycraft and how it related to today, she was thankful he was there for her. She would sleep well that night despite her internal conflicts due to his grace.
"Welcome back to the surface. I hope you brought good news?" Aramyros shouts at the party returning to camp.
With the food supply handled, he keeps coordinating the fence building with the automation.
The next day is a bit breezy and partly cloudy. The 'picket fence' is a third done to surround the entire glade. Two more hard days of work and it should be done by the trio, Aramyros, Baahir, and the automaton.
After the meal last night there are some left overs. A total of 7 meals worth of meat, someone might want to cure them somehow.
Aukan walks around with a big dopey smile that just won't go away. He asks if he can help Andrei with breakfast. If not he goes about asking others if he can help. In the end he likely goes off to help with the picket fence.
If no one else grabs the meat last night. It would be missing in the morning.
They would thank the two who were on watch. Then head back down into the dungeon.
Aramyros investigates the items left by the ghost. To Blaze he asks "What did he want from you? Lay down the book?"
"There is only one being I truly wish to harm. But I wish it with everything that is in me. Some part of me still expects to find her, lying in wait for me around the next corner. My flames search for her too. I will try and think on ways to call them back... to have more control. Until then, I will be more careful. We can try to read about the levels before we go down." She suggested, remembering the ponderous tome they had found below.
"You want to say you gave an order, so I will not feel guilt. Your words carry much weight for me, but they are not law. My flames have caused harm before. It is always a risk. But I still seek to use them. How can I not?"[b] The glow in her eyes flared for a moment and Lili was reminded again how inextricable her Inner Flame was from her tiefling friend. [b]"It is a part of me." She finished simply.
Aramyros investigates the items left by the ghost. To Blaze he asks "What did he want from you? Lay down the book?"
Blaze stood with her head tilted like a confused animal looking where they had just seen the apparition. "I... do not know." She walked to where it had pointed to the ground and was about to set the book down there, as Aramyros suggested when she noticed the bracelet. She picked the item up and set the book down, then turned back to the bronze skinned Aasimar with the bracelet held out on her palm. "Is it magic? Cursed, mebbe?"
Upon returning, Lilianne would have returned the invite of Aramyros to tell him what they found by quietly moving over to him to give him the news. Shortly after, he'd see Thorn carry up the near-lifeless Leshy.
Lilianne rose just before the sun came up. She and Andrei's watch went by uneventful and she got some sleep. Now that it is morning, she rises to clean the camp. She will recruit the aimless Aukan to help her before he goes off doing other things.
She asks those few up, "Anyone have any problems last night? There was nothing on our watch. I'll get breakfast going."
She will look to where Thorn deposited the Leshy to see if it still sits motionless where he left it. She will be watching it as it begins to see its first sunrise ever seen.
The leshy is still motionless. As the new sun's rays begin to hit, it will slowly stand up. Raising its arms to the dawning sun.
Aukan helps Lilianne, then helps with the picket fence, and on his breaks he reads through the journal.
Thorn keeps himself busy as he dresses their day's hunt. Storing the leftovers to prepare for the next day's meal.
With his own prayers done towards his fey patron during the first watch, he is up to accompany the leshy.
"How does it feel to greet the morning sun?" he asks in order to start a conversation with the leshy.
Thorn any food left out last night is gone.
"This is wonderful, never so bright or strong before!"
After the meal last night there are some left overs. A total of 7 meals worth of meat, someone might want to cure them somehow.
"It is good that you feel this way." That is the Sun. It'll help strengthen you I suppose." Thorn replies to the leshy.
Andrei works the campfire, using Lilianne's morning kill for breakfast for all.
She asks those few up, "Anyone have any problems last night? There was nothing on our watch. I'll get breakfast going."
Blaze shook her head, "No problems. But I think Aramyros and I saw the spirit of a Tower Mage, mebbe. He pointed us to this." She said as she held out the bracelet of twisted silver and black metal. "It has magic for fixing things. Mebbe we can use it to fix elevators. Seems like someone wants us to keep exploring. Book says the next level down should be dormitories and then after that a pool for swimming. Something about necromancers for level after that, but book doesn't say much about that level."
When the group gathered for breakfast and noticed the missing food, Blaze went to check on the goblin captive.
"A tower mage?" she comments in brief as she listens to her friend. As she finishes explaining, Lilianne is in deep thought. "Look...I don't want to piss off some ghost. And I think those chairs and tables slammed up against that wall down to the next level is telling us something. If that vine thingy was any indication of the strength of what we would face down there, then it's not likely we'll live. I don't think the dead care though. What do you think? Do we risk it? Part of me wants to see this area cleaned out completely, but we are capable yet. The last thing I want is for one of you to die. Naturally, you and I would be okay, because no-one would kill us. We are too pretty."
She will take some of the breakfast she made and will go give it to the goblins.
"If you bite me...I'm cutting your head off where you hang." Before she gives them the food, she will ask, "What do you know about what lives in this area?"
She can see out of the corner of her eye that the Leshy has awoken and will make a mental note to go ask Thorn what it said.
"Wait, what?! I took a nice relaxing bath and y'all go down in the dungeon?! What happened?! Yes you are all pretty but not to a vine! Take me with you next time, I have good meat on my bones that it will likely like better than your scrawny legs."
The goblins think about it but don't bite Lilianne.
"Here! You... vines... animals... night critters. it snarls out.
Aramyros notices Lilianne taking care of the goblins and nods in appreciation. Hopefully those creatures can be redeemed before we decide they can't...
Blaze laughs at her friends' funny joke about her being pretty. "And what will we do instead? Hunt your demon or my witch? Explore the woods and mebbe stumble into Alia's dragons? I do not see any safe paths. But this Tower is just beneath us, here. You've seen the vaults. It's no coincidence Ethos sent us to this place." Still she shrugged, if Lili wished to let sleeping towers lie for a while, she was not really opposed to the idea.
"It wasn't a plot to exclude you, Aukan. I just went down to speak with my mephit friend and it grew from there. I plan to go back to the Vault and ask the book again. Do you want to come?"
He shakes his head and decides it is better for him to just walk away. His good mood obviously broken.
"I am not sure," she answers Blaze. "We should clean the place out, and that's what I want to do too, but on the other hand, if we don't know what's in front of us, we could get in trouble. I don't want that to happen. Things seem to be getting more and more intense the lower we go. That beast unnerved me."
When Aukan leaves them she shrugs and then goes to feed the goblins. She isn't really one to want to argue over things early in the morning. While feeding them, if the goblins get a bit bitey, she will bop them on the nose gently at first with the spoon. If they keep being bitey as she feeds them, she will hit harder. Basically, she is teaching them what behavior is acceptable without speaking.
As she finishes, she will move over to warm herself by the fire and by Andrei. He will feel the familiar touch of frozen hands tucked up under his clothes as she holds onto him. As the sun continues to rise and she becomes more alert and awake, she will look to the others.
"We need to discuss how long we are going to leave these goblins tied up. How hard we want to press downward into the levels below us, and what we should do with this Leshy. How is it doing, Thorn? I saw you talking to it."
"Ăye've ălwăyș wondered whâț îț would be lîke îf we hăd ânoţher lîțțle mouţh ţo feed. Ăye never țhoughț îț would be goblînş!" Andrei gave his love a labored look. "Well, dîd you geț âll dă înformâtîon you wânțed ouț of țhem?"
"Shut up..." she heavily rolls her eyes with a delighted smile at Andrei. From her laugh, he can be sure she is entertained. Now that she is further away from them, she nods and answers him, "About as much as I expected to. Basic stuff. They didn't know much. I think Goblins are not very bright unless they are led by something smarter. That's why you usually see bugbears or orcs working alongside them. They are too stupid to really be functional on their own."
Thorn drops his disguise as he stretches.
"I would say to give the leshy time to heal from its wounds, it's the first time it has seen the sun afterall. Perhaps we could have another ally and one suited to growing food maybe. Should there be more, we could bring them up though I doubt we can find more so easily."
He looks at the rest.
"We didn't know so much as we want to blame ourselves for what happened down there, we didn't know." he emphasizes the latter.
"I don't have many flashes of insight usually but I knew that facing that giant plant creature on our own would have us dead. We sent to explore the tower but I'm beginning to think that the previous owners were all slave traders of some sort. We keep finding creatures and if Blaze's warning is right then we'll be facing undead of some sort."
"As for the goblins..." he glances at them.
"Keep them as workers or end their lives, I care not. They are still dangerous too."
"I'm not enslaving nobody! No sentient being should be, ever." Aramyros answers angrily at Thorn's suggestion.
"We bring them to the spiders. They're entitled to a fair fight and a chance of survival and escape. If they loose, well, our eight-legged friends shall have a nice meal then."
"Ârâmyroş mîghţ hăve dă rîghţ îdeâ", Andrei nods, as it aligns more with the varisian god's ideals.
Thorn raises an eyebrow.
"Why does keeping them as workers become slavery? he asks.
"Offering them food and shelter in exchange for a chance to better their lives, to be part of a greater community or is that the natural thought that slavery is a must? Feed them to the spiders for a fair fight? Are we giving them equipment? "
"Our mission was to end the goblin threat in the area. These two are still alive because we wanted information on what happened. They have given what little information they have; which was essentially nothing. All their family have been killed off or turned demonic and slain. Let's just end it. I don't want to disobey orders here and sully the relationship between Ethos and myself. And I'm not going to potentially cause problems for the spiders, who are just trying to live in peace for a while. There are other things they can feed on. Plus, they may take it as an insult that we send them armed goblin warriors to fight them. No, that is no good."
She will get up slowly and move to place her cool hand on Aramyros's shoulder while her other is on her sword hilt.
"It's never wrong to want to preserve life. It's never wrong to want to think better of other races--even the uncivilized ones. I believe they are redeemable. If this were another situation, I would support the decision to let them free, but I think for now we should follow orders through. They just ate. Soon they will sleep. We can do it then if there are no objections?"
Here is where the cold chill of the assassin comes forth. She is trying to be as sensitive as she can, but there is a coldness about discussing the death of another.
"It's not like I care for them in any way. But I learned the hard way that a man's principles are often the only thing he has left when out in the wild. If you loose you humanity, you're gone for good."
He seems to ignore Lilianne's hand. Instead he stands up, takes the food he was eating and walks away into the opposite direction of the goblins.
Sasha, Nima, and Pharos are rather quiet as they eat the breakfast. They each smile at everyone and after they have their food each of them does a small bow to the chefs.
Without many supplies at hand, just venison and the random herb, berry, root vegetable found on their search, she will just make a red wine braised venison stew. There's no real salt or anything, so it probably doesn't taste as good as it could, and she is not the best cook in the world. It would be a standard military stew from what you find in nature when on a survival training.
If no-one objects, she will wait until the goblins fall asleep and then will do the dirty work herself. With her long blade, she will slay them both before they even wake up. She will then untie them and bury them further into the forest or will toss their bodies to the vines if they are indeed carnivorous.
Andrei waits for his Callie to return from burying the goblins, and greets her with a bracing smile and an outstretched bottle of whiskey.
Thorn continues speaking with the leshy to learn more about it and takes time to study the journal as well, particularly the sections on Leshys.
"I do not wish to be party to keeping prisoners. Free them from their bonds of rope or flesh as you will, but let us be sure we have asked all the questions we can."
She made the effort to put the fear of the Holy Flame into them and then asked her questions. Then she checked the Dossier before asking her questions.
"Who brought your tribe to this place?
What did your tribe do here?
Why come here? Did you summon demon? Why do this?
What happened to the abandoned village?
What other goblin tribes are nearby?
Do you know where the witches are?
What is the Silver Spire to the southwest?
What dangers are near the Spire?"
Once that was accomplished, she spoke to the group. "I will journey back to the vault where the goblin tribe was set on by the demon. Does anyone want to come along?"