Bookrat's Demon Lord Game 3 (Inactive)

Game Master bookrat

In the Belly of the Beast

Awful walks out of the Dragon's Maw wielding a long knife with a pearly white blade - reminiscent of a dragon's tooth. The red and black handle is made of a translucent material. He moves to the dragon's heart and stabs it with the Savage Ornament. Black translucent tendrils grow from the translucent handle and dig into Awful's wrist and arm, snaking their way into his flesh as he sacrifices the dragon to the blade.

The heart stops pumping, and as it does so, the light starts to fade. A faint Thank you, can be heard as a whisper in the back of your mind. The air seems to stop within the Beast, and with it the strange foulness dissipates, allowing you to breathe without struggle for the first time since you entered.

Suddenly, a part of the "roof" starts to fall inwards, as if the entire dragon is going to collapse soon.

------------

Meanwhile, in the Maw…

Hydrand searches through the boxes. The vast majority of it is junk. Ruined equipment, supplies with mold and slime, rusted weapons and armor.

But he does manage to find at least one thing special, one thing that was not touched by the seemingly accelerated rot that occurs in this cavern. It's a small vial of blue liquid, sealed by a cap that has an eye dropper attached. Whatever this stuff is, it's meant to go in the eyes.

Suddenly, the maw starts to rumble.

------------

A Lonely Pig…

Hamdras stands outside the beast, alone and in the dark. He lifts a leg to urinate, and the stream hits something that doesn't sound like rock or earth or cave. It sounds like metal. Metal which clinks against other small metal objects.

Hydrand searches through the crates for a time, methodically moving objects so that he can be sure he's gone through everything. He finds a vial and analyzes its form and contents. Pocketing the vial in his new vestments, he decides he's through with the gear-gone-refuse and then the room shakes. He turns to look for some reaction from Awful, only to realize he's alone.

Guess that took longer than expected; mark one against clinical detachment.

He rushes back to the main room to find everyone looking on as Awful stands beneath the now-lacerated heart. Experience in his employ tells Hydrand that his demeanor is equivalent to one of unbridled joy in spite of the unbecoming rictus Awful now displays.

I'm glad to see that wicked implement has raised his spirits!

Glad for his compatriot, and almost envious of the joy apparent in his demeanor, Hydrand resolves to ask him about--

Another rumble like the one he felt in the head-space touches the room, and part of the ceiling sags. It becomes quickly apparent that time is short, and Hydrand bounds over to the party. He notes that they aren't oblivious.

"Well, shall we?"

Hydrand gestures over to the entranceway and gallops a couple steps before noting a certain hulking figure is missing.

"Wait, where's Andras?"

The mental sensation of referring to the beast as his comrade was new, but it sat well; his concern was just as genuine as before he knew Andras to be such a one.

Hokey watches Awful come back up, less one shoe, but doesn't say anything, recalling his outburst she just overheard.

"What's up with Hydrand?" she asks to Awful's back.

"Digging through crates." Awful barely responds as he continues on without losing a beat.

Hokey waits at the junction for Hydrand and Pigdras to come back, when the whole dragon seems to shudder a bit and
the ceiling starts to cave in.

Awful must've killed the dragon already.

She follows quickly behind Hydrand as he passes her and returns back to the group. As soon as Hydrand asks about Andras, Hokey responds quickly.

"He went further in by himself. I'm not sure how much longer we have before a cave-in, so we should go get him now."

"We should head forward. I don't think we'd be able to get this man down the mountain safely even if we were able to get out." Erik says to the party, watching the gleeful look upon Awful's face for a few more moments before readjusting the pack on his shoulders. "Just make sure I have a light so I can see." Erik takes the lead, heading deeper into the dragon to follow after Andras.

As Awful woke from his trance-like state, he was able to immediately understand what was happening and what needed to be done.

"We can't go back, we need to go through! There is bound to be another exit... No, there has to be."

He takes off at full tilt in the opposite direction of the throat and eye holes.

"Let's GOOOooooo!!!"

Now that the dragon is dead, the creatures strange ability to shape its form is failing. Fortunately, you might just have time to escape.

Unfortunately, you run in the opposite direction of the only known exit.

The back room doesn't seem to have anything of interest; it's just a tunnel that goes on and on. There is, however, hoof prints. Andras went this way. As it goes, it gets smaller and smaller, until it gets to the point where it's barely large enough to fit you.

But yet, the tunnel continues on. As you press forward, you get to a point where you will have to squeeze through to keep going. It's clear that you will have to physically crawl at some point, squeezing through an ever tightening column of flesh as you worm your way out the long dragon tail. Is there even an opening on the other side? Tails typically do not have such an opening. Or are you in the intestines? They don't typically get smaller and smaller - at least that you know of.

Panic starts to creep into your mind at the thought of getting stuck inside the flesh of a dead dragon, trapped underground with no one to rescue you, doomed to die of hunger or thirst. Or perhaps dying of asphyxiation as the dead meat covers and seals over your face.

I'll need to challenge rolls from everyone. The first is a will challenge roll to see if you panic. If you fail, you will refuse to go forward and insist on going back. Your friends will have to force you through if you want to escape the collapsing dragon.

The second is a strength challenge roll to see if you can physically push through the flesh of the dragon. Failure means you're stuck and your friends will have to push you out.

More challenge rolls to come if there are failures here.

So here they were, pushing through the tiniest tunnel imaginable, maybe even the tiniest tunnel possible and it wasn't getting any bigger.

Ugh, if Andras made it through here, how is it so damned small?!

Onward they pushed. Progress slowed. He could feel whoever was behind him pressing against him, and likewise his arms were ahead of his body and between someone's feet. It was tight, but it's not like that bothered him too much.

"Unless I get stuck. I suppose I could wait for this thing to rot around me, I guess. I really don't want to be stuck, though.

He had begun talking to himself to keep himself company, not realizing that the reason behind this was his own rising panic.

"Well, at least it's a good thing I don't have to..."

OH NO

"...breathe!"

Tipping over the edge from worry to panic, Hydrand begins to flail a bit. He tries his best to break free in some way, anything that might free him, and to a lesser degree, anything that might give his allies some air. It halted his progress, and some of his limbs nearly became stuck.

And then he heard it. "Squee-ueeel!"

It was the voice of an angel.

Andras has made it, and in pig form, no less! Given it's probably still night time, it's possible that he's actually outside! I can't believe it. So close, can't stop now.

He wills himself forward once more.

Unfortunately, the path closes down even further, and as he methodically tries moving every joint in every direction available, what little range of motion was left to him wasn't enough to continue his journey through this gods-forsaken place.

But at least he wasn't panicked

Hokey looks at the narrowing tunnel and grabs some rope.

"Tie this around yourselves. That way, the rest can help pull or push, if someone gets stuck."

Hokey looks on as everyone else ties the rope around themselves and then proceeds forward.

Panic Roll: 1d20 ⇒ 3

Hokey was smoothly crawling forward when Andras's pack started to get caught on the sagging flesh around her. She keeps trying to continue on, but seems to get more mired the more she struggles. She continues in vain and can't help, but grow increasingly more alarmed at the potential of dying here.

Like this? Like a worm?

Hokey weakly struggles alone in this dark, musty, sweltering tunnel that seems to give like quicksand under her struggles. She starts hyperventilating as the flesh seems to close in on her and she wants to scream, but she feels like she can't open her mouth for fear of something crawling its way in.

Succeeded at the cost of getting a quirk, Night Terrors. Every rest, roll 1d6. On a 1, make a Will Challenge Roll or Gain 1 Insanity.

Suddenly, someone bumps into Hokey from behind, which jolts her from her building hysteria. Hokey's immediate panic gets put aside as a wave of revulsion crashes through her body, threatening to overwhelm her.

Str Roll: 1d20 ⇒ 16

Hokey redoubles her efforts to get out of this tunnel. Her renewed desperation pays off and as Hokey successfully claws, kicks and crawls out of the tunnel. She unties herself and celebrates a bit before she looks around for Andras.

"Andras? You better be here. Help me pull the rest of the guys out."

From the other side of the 'passage', Andras hears the familiar clanking of Hydrand's feet.

They must be near. Hey! Over here! I'm out!

SQUEAL. SQUEAL! he says encouragingly.

Thanks to some godly rolling, you get a boon on one of your rolls.

"Thank Gods you're actually alive."

Hokey finds Andras's squealing and trotting to be oddly comforting amidst this craziness. Just as she relaxes, she hears a hollow "breathe!" come from the "tunnel" followed by some grunts and then nothing.

"You stuck, Hydrand?"

"Sigh Yeah."

Succeeded with helping Hydrand on Discord

Hokey ties the rope around Andras and pulls with him on the rope, succeeding in getting Hydrand loose enough to let gravity do the rest. He falls down with a wet and dull crash.

Will: 1d20 ⇒ 10
Boons: 2d6 ⇒ (1, 1) = 2
Str Challenge: 1d20 ⇒ 8

Bertram manages to keep his mind steady while the Dragon's flesh collapses and continues to push towards the exit. Unfortunately, he finds himself pinned under the weight.

"Blast it, I'm stuck! Someone give me a hand!" He hollers to the others.

Folks pop out of the flesh tunnel one by one, and though some get stuck, through the help of allies does everyone make it out. Suddenly, someone remembers the kid - likely the younger brother Ms. B!*++ had demanded you rescue. As you pull him out, you realize it's too late. He's no longer breathing.

Someone stabs the lump of Creature growing in his chest, just for good measure.

That leaves you standing on the tail end of a dragon so large that it completely blocks the small tunnel leading back to the only way you know how to leave. You find yourself standing in a smallish cavern with a pile of various coins and shiny, presumably valuable items intermixed. Scraps of leather or cloth are weaved intermittent through the pile, as if someone oncendumped bags of coins here and the bag has deteriorated over time. As you stare in wonder at all the treasure, imagining living a lavish lifestyle in some mansion for the rest of your days, you suddenly feel a rumble. The dragon corpse starts expanding, bloated rotten flesh quickly growing outwards in random and haphazard directions. If you don't run now, it will consume you. Your only escape is to run towards the sound of rushing water.

To grab treasure, roll a d20. This will represent the amount of random treasure you can shove into your pack. Each person who did not help Andras save Geraldd may make 1 roll. Each person who did not help Erik "save" the kid may make 1 roll.

After that, you may make 1 roll for each round you want to risk staying with the treasure before you start running. For each roll you make, you must make a challenge roll, with 1 bane for each time you've rolled on the treasure table. The challenge roll can be any (strength, speed, perception, will, etc...) Just be sure to write in how that challenge roll is helping you; you cannot use the same type of challenge roll more than once. Failure means you roll a d6 to see what happens to you. On a 0 or less, roll twice and take the lower result. If you're still alive, you can decide to run or risk another treasure grab the next round.

1: The dragon flesh spouts a cloud of corrupted matter, coating you. Gain 1 corruption.

2: The dragon flesh surrounds you and starts to envelop your body. You escape, but not without consequences. Will challenge roll with 3 Banes or gain 1d3 insanity.

3: The dragon flesh surrounds you and starts to envelop your body, crushing you for 2d6 damage.

4: A cloud of fungal spores infecting the flesh burst out and you breathe it in. Strength challenge roll or become diseased.

5: Caustic fluids bursts from a swollen pocket of flesh. Take 3d6 damage, or half with a strength challenge roll.

6: A tendril whips out at you; make an agility challenge roll or take 1d6 damage.

1-3: A bag of coins that rips open as you grab it, spilling all over the place (worthless)

4-5: 2d6 bits

6-7: 4d6 copper pennies

8: random enchanted item

9-10: a book

11: a piece of iron bark with 1d3 incantations

12-13: random enchanted item

14: 2d6 silver shillings

15: 6d6 copper pennies

16: 3d6 silver sillings

17: a scroll case with 1d6 random incantations

18: 2d6 gold crowns

19: 4d6 gold crowns

20: a piece of armor or weapon of your choice, with a random enchantment

Rolled on Discord. Coin purse containing 23 copper, plus enchanted weapon / armor of choice.

Andras takes a look at the pile of treasure, and heads towards a relatively intact coin purse. He picks it up in his mouth and passes it to Geraldd.

Watching the cavern fall down upon them, he spots something interesting. A nice pair of clothes, made out of soft leather. They're black, and have gold engravings on them.

Could do with a change of clothes, and those are beautiful.

Dodging chunks of dragon, and keeping his footing, he grabs the clothes in his mouth, and bolts for the exit, keeping an eye out for anyone who's in trouble.

I can't carry any more in this state. Shame. But don't want to put anyone else at risk.

"Damn it. He's already dead." Erik was one to always try to save who he could but he wasn't keen on carrying around a dead body with him. He would grab something personal; a bracelet, necklace, or a ring, as proof that he had found the body of her brother. He knew what it was to lose family and he wouldn't just let her sit in that awful town if he could. Soon though, the dragon's body began to bloat and swell right in front of them. Whatever kept its diseased form controlled was no longer working and they were quickly being surrounded by decaying flesh.

Grabbing a nearby bag that felt heavy, Erik rushed towards the sound of running water. He noticed it a batch of flesh beginning to swell up and dodged underneath a rupturing pustule. The heavy skin sought to overtake him but he carefully rolled out of the way, moving up to his feet quickly to keep running. The flesh was closing in on him and it took all his strength to leap through the collapsing folds and escape to safety.

Rolled on Discord. I got two books and a piece of iron bark with one incantation on it.

Rolled in discord. Rolled a 0-, then used fortune to succeed on the will roll... 15 coppers

Turning around, looking to see that everyone's safe, Andras sees Hokey pointing at a bulging, fat coin purse.

Hey, I'll carry it for you! she says, gesturing to his pack. He drops his clothes in there and heads for the purse.

You only get one chance to raid a dragon's hoard after all.

He turns around, trying to use his brute pig strength to force his way through the enveloping flesh. But it's not enough. It squeezes, and presses, in on him. He struggles, and can't move.

Urghhhh. Disgusting.

Finally, he manages to grab the purse, and runs out of the exit as fast as his legs can carry him. Dropping it on the floor, he's disappointed to see it was all copper coins.

Thanks, Hokey.

Geraldd helped Andras the Pig gather treasure while also trying to grab things for himself. His first pick ripped open, raining coins everywhere. No time to pick it up. His second was a something more solid; he tucked away the scroll case hoping it had something useful inside he could check for later.

Scroll case with 5 incantations.

Hokey sees her companions slowly being excreted out, one after the other. Just as she thinks everything will be fine, Geraldd shouts that he's stuck. Hokey slaps Pigdras's behind to "motivate" him to help Geraldd out. He squeals and runs forward, successfully pulling Geraldd free and out of the tunnel in one herculean charge.

"Geraldd, are you okay?" Hokey says as she helps him up and unties him.

Erik realizes that the parasitized brother is still stuck in the dragon. He immediately pulls the kid out, only to find that he had already died.

Hokey looks at the corpse and asks Geraldd to give back the dagger she lent him. He complies without any hesitation, and she takes her dagger and runs up to the brother and stabs his stomach.

"Sorry for this, but I have to ensure that the parasites are as gone as I can be. I know you would've understood. I'll take this for your sister to even it out."

Hokey takes the boy's necklace as she offers her sympathies, and then stabs the boy's stomach a few more times, for good measure. Suddenly, Hokey notices that the dragon's body moved slightly.

What the hells? I thought Awful killed the dragon.

Before Hokey could even ask herself what was going on, the dragon's body begins expanding at an alarming rate. She immediately alerts her companions, most of whom were already digging through the treasure pile, that time was short.

Rolled 10, and 20 for treasure and agi challenge roll, respectively, on discord.

Hokey runs to the pile, alongside Erik, and grabs a book. She nimbly avoids getting her hand pinched by the expanding dragon's body. Pigdras also walked up with a few items of his own, which she obligingly put in his pack.

Rolled 19, 17, 9, 9, and 18 for treasure, gold, and perception challenge roll, damage roll, and battle scar, respectively, on discord.

Hokey also stuffs her book in Andras's pack and becomes emboldened by the success. She stays long enough to grab a heavy bag of coins, which she hastily stuffs in Andras's bag, as well. This time, her additional activities left Hokey distracted enough to get half her body pinned between the dragon's flesh and the wall.

The immense pain almost knocks Hokey out, but she was able to pull her arm out. No longer feeling brave, Hokey immediately runs out of the room without even so much as a glance back at the splendor she was leaving behind.

Don't worry Dad! I got your back! Cap calls out, glowing as bright as he can for the benefit of everyone.

But as Andras and Erik pull people out, Cap gets distracted. Oooo... Shiny.... he starts buzzing about the treasure pile, picking up what he can and flying it over to Erik's bag to deposit it.

He finds a fancy scroll, grabbing it because it looked pretty. Whether it had anything worthwhile inside was another question, but it did have a nice rose with some thorns and leaves carved on the outside.

Then he saw the mother load. Platinum coins. The most valuable coins he's ever heard of. He lifts them up one by one and drops them into Erik's bag. Dad's going to be so proud of me! His throughts radiated happiness. Unfortunately, platinum coins don't actually exist, and he actually dropped fifteen silver shillings into the bag.

As he was going back to grab some more, a buble if flesh burst, releasing a toxic cloud. The cloud enveloped the poor pixie, causing him to fall from the air and land hard on the ground. He coughed violently and he got to his feet on wobbly knees.

Hydrand feels a jerking at his waist where the rope is tied and uses his hands to keep himself aligned with the flesh tube as he's pulled free.

"Ugh, yeah. Thank you. That was... not good.

He begins to collect himself and free himself of the rope. As he's loosening the knot so he can slip free, he briefly glances around the room and then at Andras, saying, "How? HOW?! How on earth did you get through that when I..."

He trails off as he looks down to more effectively address the rope at his waist, eyes crossing an immense amount of treasure on the way.

"Questions for later."

He slinks out of the rope and grabs a bag of coins at his feet. As he does so, the bottom of the bag falls out and the coins scatter as they fall among the trove.

Guess I need to be a bit more picky.

He follows the wan light of Cap's wings, bless that boy, to a nearby pile that's also out of the way of the dragon's "end", just as Bertram is pulled free behind him. Sitting neatly at chest height is a box; the box is fancy, upon more than a passing glance. Some very tarnished filigree marks it, and Hydrand grabs it and tucks it under his shoulder.

Just then, with a great"PFFF", a cloud of putrid bile spews out from the dragon, which had begun to expand. Hydrand, still in awe of the treasure and thus none the wiser, fails to notice.

It coated Hydrand, and defiled his new clothes, blanketing him and all he was carrying, and... it seeps into his mechanical heart, just a little.

His moral compass moved, just then. Just a tick.

In this case, it moved him away from awe, and just a touch closer to greed. He immediately doubles down and begins shoveling through the pile with renewed vigor. He spots another coin purse and pockets it without a second glance, hoping it doesn't fall apart like the first. That's when he sees a glimmer from where the purse had been lodged. He pushes his hand into the purse-sized divot and presses into it, managing to get his fingers around part of whatever it is. Before he can pull it out, however, the rapidly distending corpse of the legendary Beast makes itself known. It presses against Hydrand, threatening to crush him, but he holds on to that shiny thing and manages to keep his feet under him; the bloated mass drives him away from the pile of treasure, but with a will and all the leverage of the expanding cadaver, he pulls free a--

Wait, I'm being crushed.

Hydrand snaps out of his awe-greed reverie, finally noticing the disgusting wall of rotting flesh that's crushing down the entire left side of his body. He wrenches whatever it is free and, with that in one hand and the fancy box in the other, he slips free and takes off away from the gross engrossing grossness and begins sprinting for everything his metal body has.

As you flee the expanding dragon flesh, saddened at the loss of such treasure, it becomes harder and harder to hear. The sound of rushing water is ahead of you. An underground river - not large, but bigger than a stream - flows crossways in the tunnel. It might be challenging to swim across, especially with all the extra gear you just looted.

On the other side, the tunnel continues into the mountain.

What do you do? Do you try to find a way across and keep exploring the mountain? Or do you risk the waters and hope this underground river will blast you out a waterfall or something?

Hokey retreated from the dragon before anyone else. She lit her torch and continued on towards the sound of rushing water.

If Hokey's torch was spent/ruined, she will take one from Andras's pouch and give one of hers back to him later.

Once the rest of the group catches up, Hokey notices that Bertram was missing. She asks about him and thanks the Seer and the World Mother for helping her overcome her greed after hearing what happened to him.

"Oh. That's unfortunate." she says after a moment of shocked silence.

"Well, uh, we need to cross this stream. How do you guys think we can get across? I think the best option might be to get Cap to fly over, and tie this rope to a stalagmite. Then we could tie you, Hydrand, at the middle, so we can pull you up if something goes wrong, and you can sink down and walk across the river. Then you could help pull the next person, until we all make it across. What do you guys say?"

Erik takes a moment to breathe as the world continues to crash down behind them; rock and flesh crushing all beneath them. He would have to learn how to write and leave a message to his children that there was a treasure horde deep beneath the earth. They just needed to mind the smell is all.

"Like we're going to have children. The world is ending, brother." The voice in his head said matter-of-factly, making a scowl spread across the young man's face. He looks over the others and readjusts the sack on his shoulder as Cap lands nearby, excited to have helped his father. Quietly, he counts out his comrades in the bit of light his tiny companion creates. He counts again, the number isn't right. "Bertram..." He murmurs, looking back towards the collapse tunnel and grimacing. Another friend gone, another name and face to remember. They had just really started to talk and Erik felt his fists tighten. "He won't be the last..." The voice taunted, earning a growl from him.

"Shut up!" He shouted just as Hokey finished talking, turning around to look at the group. It was only then that he realized that his timing had been so poor and his anger had gotten the better of him. A blush spread across his cheek, fortunately hidden by the grime, innards, and bits of blood this expedition had collected. "Sorry...that sounds like a good plan. Be careful Cap, you come right back over if anything happens, alright?" Only with his little friend's willingness to go would he make his way to the water's edge and wash his arms and face clean of the ichor they were all covered with. The freezing cold water made him feel human and was a welcome change to the fetid humidity they had been trapped within.

Hokey looks taken aback at Erik's sudden outburst at her suggestion. While she expected some push back, she didn't expect such a violent reaction. Understanding and sympathy washes over her face as Hokey considers what Erik has lost so far. As he goes to wash off some of the muck, she follows and quietly adds a follow-up suggestion to her proposal.

"It'll be okay, Erik. Get your bow out; we'll cover Cap and ensure nothing happens.

Saying so, Hokey will distance herself a bit from Erik and prepares potent magic to assist Cap as soon as he might need it.

"Get back as soon as you think your light is about to run out, Cap. Don't keep Erik worrying."

Erik quietly nods and finishes washing his skin down, relieving the heat that has been vibrating off of him. He calmly takes his bow out and focuses on his breathing for just a moment. Nocking an arrow back, he watches the shadow around his boy for any dangers that may be coming.

The loss of Bertram would have shocked Andras into silence. If he could still speak. As it is, he just sits, slightly numb to the sensation. At least it was pure avarice that got Bertram. He couldn't stand another friend dying for his sake. But it could have been worse. Much worse.

While contemplating mortality, Andras waits patiently for the people with opposable thumbs to do Rope Things.

He looks with trepidation at Hokey, worried that she has forgotten that he is unable to grasp things. But she shoots back a look that says don't worry, reassuring him.

He keeps an eye out for any danger, hoping his superior animal senses will at least prevent them from being surprised, even if he can't do anything from where he's standing.

Cap flies across, holding one end of the rope. His small body illuminates the river surface, leaving you behind in the darkness.

As he flies, he pulls more and more of the rope across the waters. The rope dips into the river, and the current starts to pull the rope downstream. It's heavy, and cap struggles to keep ahold.

Strength challenge roll with 1 Bane: 1d20 - 5 - 1d6 ⇒ (9) - 5 - (4) = 0

Suddenly, a surge of water pushes the rope faster than you expect; Cap, holding on and trying with all his might to pull the rope to the stalagmite, gets sucked into the river as the current pulls the rope down. Dad! He yells out before his voice is lost to the sounds of the rushing river. You can see his glow start to disappear down the watery corridor.

"Cap!" Erik shouts, letting go of the bow. The pixie is too weak to hold onto the rope in the current and so, without another word, Erik dives into the water and swims to the glow in the water.

I imagine swimming with the flow is a boon rather than a bane?

Strength: 1d20 + 2 + 1d6 ⇒ (16) + 2 + (2) = 20

Andras watches in silence as Erik dives into the water.

Brave. Hopefully he'll be fine. Can't really help him as I am.

He does his best to stay out of the way, trying to let the others help or not without being a nuisance.

Additionally, retconned the leather armor I found to be hard leather.

Hokey releases her hold on the magic she had prepared and tries to grab the bit of rope that is still not in the water.

Agi Roll: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10

As she successfully grabs onto the rope, she looks at her companions who are blankly looking on.

"Help me pull them up!"

Hydrand, like others, takes a few moments to breathe after reaching safety.

Relative safety.

Hydrand reminded himself. This was new territory, who knew what else awaited them in these depths?

He slumped against a wall and watched as everyone realized they were one short.

It looks like I can't protect people from the consequences of their own decisions.

Hydrand felt his resolve shake as he dwelt on Bertram.

At least you were a friend to us to the end, Bert. I'm happy to let your secrets go with you to your grave so that we may all cherish your memory together.

As he was working through grief, he noted others putting together a plan. Hokey tapped Hydrand for part of it, so he rose and moved to the waters edge, fishing a hand into the surface to familiarize with the temperature and flow so they wouldn't be a surprise later.

He looked on as Cap attempted to bring the rope across and got subsequently dragged into the river. Hydrand felt a pang of panic, but his body didn't move. He didn't have much left to give; existential dread from grieving for Bertram still had a hold on him.

I can't protect people from the consequences...

He watches Erik jump in after his son. Not being completely devoid of empathy, he understood what drove Erik to the decision, but the paralyzing dread completed the thought for him.

...of their own decisions.

He watches Hokey snatch the rope. She calls for assistance and he moves, almost unconsciously at her beckoning. He grabs some of the remaining slack behind her and begins to steadily reel in the rope.

Maybe I'm wrong.

Hydrand opened himself to the possibility that he might still be able to save them, seeing that Hokey has the rope well in hand. Deep in the back of his mind, though, he knew that if either of them weren't on the other end of this rope when he pulled it out, it would drive his spirit to some much darker places.

Strength summoned to save Cap and Erik, his friends: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21

As Cal hits the river, Erik leaps in after him, swimming hard and using the current to catch the pixie. He quickly catches up.

At the same moment, Hokey grabs the rope before it's lost and Hydrand yanks hard on it, pulling Erik and Cap back to the shore.

It's a resounding success; both Erik and his 'son' are saved from the unknowns of an underground river. They are cold and shivering from the freezing waters. All their equipment is soaked through.

What do you do now?

Andras is glad that Cap is safe. He doesn’t know how good of a swimmer he’d be.

Alright. Someone tie a rope to me and I’ll go across...

He waits patiently for someone to go across the river first. Or to tie a rope to him and let him go first. Just something to get them out. Out into the sun. Out into the fresh air. Anywhere but this damn cave.

The freezing cold waters sap the strength from his tired limbs but there is a fierceness in Erik's movements that won't give out. He can see the light getting closer and closer, his hand wrapping around the pixie gently and pulling him up out of the water.

"I got you!" Erik chokes out for a moment before he feels something touch behind him. The rope! He grabs onto it, numb fingers holding on for dear life as he slowly wraps his arm around it and kicks with all his might.

He slowly emerges back into the cave properly, gasping for air as the others help pull him to shore. Crawling up, he shivers hard from the icy touch of the water and cradles poor Cap to his chest.

"Y-you did good, Cap. You-you did good." Erik forces a smile even as his teeth chatter. Curling up, he tries to fight off the cold as best he can before he speaks. "I-I'll go back across. The water is as cold as hell itself."

Hydrand easily pulls the rope by himself, his mechanical arms moving in a precise rhythm. Hokey runs over to where Erik made landfall and drags him up, being mindful of Cap.

I guess he's okay, since he's worrying about others.

Hokey nods at what Erik says.

"I think following a waterway we don't know would end up getting us killed, anyway. Hydrand, think you could walk over without the lead? I'll tie the other end of the rope to Andras here and we'll all pull you up if anything goes awry."

Hydrand grabs the rope and starts to head across. His weight immediately causes him to sink to the bottom, but he's able to stand against the current. Soon, he's across and climbing back out the other side. He ties the rope around the stalagmite and waits for everyone to cross.

It's wet going, but everyone makes it out the other side, soaking wet and freezing cold.

Continuing on, you travel through the cave system, hoping to make it to the outside soon.

Let's see how long it takes you to get outside. Make an Intellect challenge roll with 2 Banes. It will take a total of ten successes to get out. Each set of rolls (one roll per PC) counts as one hour. As soon as you have a collective set of ten successes, you escape the mountain. Current time is 3 am.

Whatever part of Hydrand's soul was on hiatus returns to him as he sees Cap and Erik on the other end of the rope. It's as if his world, once grey, was full of color again. Once out of the water, Hydrand rushes over to Erik and Cap and embraces them, the act almost unconscious. He lets them go a moment later, these were his friends, and he'd saved them. He did this. He could do this.

I can do this.

He pulls himself up by his mental bootstraps and looks to Hokey, holding the rope.

"Alright, I can do this."

He grabs the rope and begins making his way across, testing the water step by step until he's fully immersed. The flow against him was an odd tugging sensation on his garb, but just by leaning into the current a bit and making double sure of his footing for each step, he was able to make it across without issue.

Once across, he relayed that everything went according to plan, and tosses the rope back across.

He helps each person out of the water, pulling on the rope to expedite their journey and giving them a hand getting them out on the other side. He could tell they were very cold, and so as he'd been assisting, he ran back through their journey thus-far.

We entered, the tunnel led down at an angle to one side of the path, then it was a turn at the bottom, we arrived at the dragon... the path was aligned with the head, the tail was straight out the back, the exit from the hoard was at this angle, and we've made no turns since arriving at the river.

It may have been his renewed vigor that enabled his mind to go back over the spatial reasoning of this place in such detail; impressed with himself, he works out the correct direction to lead them towards the face of the mountain, rather than further in. Once everyone is out of the river and prepared to go, he moves into the lead position of the party and says, "This way, everyone. I know the direction to the surface, all we have to do is head that way at any junctions and we'll be out in no-time!"

They gathered themselves and their belongings, some making one last fateful glance towards the resting place of their friend, Bertram.

"We'll have to say something for him when we make it out of here. Did anyone know his family?"

A round of silence and the shake of a few heads brought cold sobriety into an already cold situation.

After a moment, Hydrand says, "Well, I'd imagine he'd be frustrated with us if we didn't make it, let's go." And on they went.

Hydrand was using a mental map to work out which direction to go, and he talked it through as he went. He noticed others started to catch on, and at some very unsure junctions, step in to lead the way. An hour went by, then two, then three. They kept each other company by talking over which way they thought was north, or having intentionally meaningless debates about how long they had been subterranean just to fill the silence.

"We should have reached the surface already, I'm sure of it. We didn't end up below the ground at the foot of the mountain, did we?"

Hydrand responds, "Lets see if there's an incline at the next junction, maybe you're right."

The cave soon split into two paths, neither seemed particularly inclined, but one was certainly on the side that was nearer to the mountain face. Hydrand waited only a beat, not long enough for them to decide as a group, and headed down that path. A round of shrugs and murmured agreement later, the group followed. Hydrand was steady at the front of the group, something like impatience entering his mechanical body language. Then he stopped. The group stopped behind him, peering beyond him to try to see what the issue was. Hydrand heaved a guttural, aggravated sigh and then went still.

Very still.

It was only a moment before Awful stormed to the front where Hydrand was, saying, "Alright, tin man, what's the hold u-- F@~&, UGH."

Hydrand had stopped just short of a decline so steep the party wasn't likely to make it back up should anyone have fallen.

Awful slaps Hydrand on the shoulder, bantering, "Wow, you nearly f!!@ing killed all of us, good job!"

Hydrand didn't respond, except that he started to lean over the edge from the direction of the slap. Further and further, he leaned, until Awful understood what had happened, and...

And he thought, for a moment. Weighing the pros and cons, dwelling on whether he needed to make another sacrifice for his newest pet, the Savage Ornament.

This thing said "sacrifice a defenseless creature by plunging the blade into its heart..." Metal man here don't even got one, the f##%er...

Just a tick before it's too late, he puts a hand out to catch Hydrand from falling over the edge. With his other hand, he reaches up to a niche in the back of a metal shoulder, twisting blindly until Hydrand shudders back to life.

"AGHHH", Hydrand shouts before stumbling back and into Erik and a pig. "Thanks, Awful... Damn." He takes one more glance at the opening in the floor before turning back. "Not that way". Hokey, already concerned for him before this, moves astride Hydrand to keep him company. She knew how he could get down on himself whenever his key stopped turning, so she kept his spirits up with talk of escape. Hydrand welcomed the distraction, engaging her company.

Anyone who knows about the turnkey feature of clockworks will recognize what happened, and anyone who doesn't may ask and Hydrand will let them know. It helps pass the time, after all.

The group sallies forth into the second path from the previous junction, and it isn't long before the temperature begins to rise. The air becomes a moist, warm thing, almost like a welcome hug after the coldness of the cave, post-swim. Unconsciously, everyone slowly starts to tromp faster, breaking into a light jog that's invigorated by the hope of the outdoors, the hope of freedom. That's when they see it. Not much further, down a straightaway, there's the unmistakable specks of stars dancing in the sky. They arrive outside, everyone tempted to kiss the warm ground to get a literal taste of their freedom, relief painting every face in some shade or other. Off to one side, the stars are almost completely faded from view as the sky is taking on a brighter and brighter blue hue, sunrise not long to be awaited. They took solace in the warmth; their next destination was obvious, but they were all happy to savor their freedom while the sun rose.

Four long, long hours after the cold of the river and the death of a friend, they've finally escaped that horrible, wretched, fatal place.

It takes four hours to escape the mountain caves, but you finally make it outside. The sun has risen, but it is still near the horizon.

It's been a long night. A night full of terror, stress, conflict, danger, and near death experiences. But the night is finally over and you're finally breathing clean fresh air. And it feels good.

Are you going to take a rest here, or are you going to head straight back to town?

Andras - the sunlight shines upon you. You change back to human!

As the sunlight touches Andras, a miraculous transformation occurs. Miraculous, like childbirth. Things stretch in ways they were never meant to stretch, horrible ripping sounds, blood everywhere, screaming. That kind of thing. It is not a pleasant sight.

Even more unfortunately, Andras' tailor did not size his clothes correctly for a boar, and they are completely in tatters, leaving very little to the imagination. As he emerges, blinking, into the light, his normal self again, he realises his nudity.

Embarrassed, he tries to cover himself with the remains of his ruined breeches, as he hastily grabs the nice leather armor he grabbed from the dragon's hoard.

I knew this would come in handy.

After nipping behind a nearby rock to change, despite the fact that everyone had pretty much already seen anything there was to see, he pats himself down. Just to make sure everything was in the right place. No sneaky hooves, or a tail, or something like that.

He emerges, clothed in the black leather armor, and bright red.

Terribly sorry about that... Not something you should have to see. Especially a lady. You are a lady, Hokey? I guess you are. Seems a bit dehumanising to call you otherwise. Even if you aren't fully human...

Andras stumbles over his words, trying to keep his embarrassment under check. He takes a deep breath.

Well. That was an interesting experience. And I guess the cat's out of the bag. Or the boar. Heh. I think it was something that happened on the road here. Got attacked. I guess it was a were-boar. Did something to me.

Back to my normal self now. I hope. Better avoid the full moon from now on. And Hokey - try to keep those beacons under control.

He coughs awkwardly, retrieves his pack and the various loot.

Onward then? The further we get from the damn cave the better.

In response to Hydrand's post regarding Bertram

"I didn't really know Bertram and I didn't really know his family."

"Don't worry, Erik, I'll write to Alistair Romden about Bertram, per his wishes."

Hokey knowingly nods over to Erik and has a quick moment of silence for Bertram before moving on.

-----

The group continues on for hours, relying on their dysfunctional teamwork to get out of the mountain. Suddenly, Hydrand stops and tilts over when Awful jokingly slaps him on the his back.

Since Hokey has Andras's stuff, she would've been near him in the back to give him peace of mind.

Recognizing what was happening to Hydrand, she struggles forward, past the rest of the group, as she tries to catch Hydrand in time. Just before she gets to him, Awful pulls Hydrand back and gives his hidden key a quick few turns to bring him back up. Hokey moves up to check on Hydrand after Awful turns him back on.

"That was close. Easy does it. Don't worry, Hydrand. I'll watch your back."

Hokey ensures Hydrand is okay while moving alongside him. She then glances over at Awful fancying his new toy.

Maybe act a bit sooner than he did, too.

-----

As the group continues on, sparse conversations being struck up and let go over the hours, they fail to realize the air quality was slightly improving. Then Awful mentions how the air "seems to be changing for the worse", causing everyone to realize what it meant at the same time. They start quickening their pace to a sprint, the promise of escape too tantalizing to resist at this point.

Except Awful, they all arrive at one of the many openings in this mountainside and deeply breathe in the light, fresh, moving air. Suddenly, disgusting noises come from behind the group, and they turn around to see the massive boar painfully morphing back into Andras. Andras, back in his human body, looks around before realizing how naked he was. As he begins to turn a deep shade of embarrassed, Hokey takes out her stuff from Andras's pack and gives him his pack.

Andras snatches the pack and steps away for a brief moment. A few minutes later, he comes back, fully clothed and mumbling stupid stuff in his embarrassment. Hokey rolls her eyes a bit before saying, "It's okay, Andras. It's not like I haven't been traveling with you guys for the better part of 3 weeks. And if you don't want my magic to protect you, just let me know any time."

"We should probably rest here, since we never know what might happen in the next moment. That being said, I am in complete favor of putting this nightmare faaaaar behind me. I'm also anxious to see how Hyacinth has been doing in our absence. That village wasn't too friendly...And it'll probably be less so, once they realize we've not come back empty-handed."

There's three votes to head back to the village, so we're moving forward.

You head off to find a trail - any trail - that will lead you closer to the village where Hydrand's friend from the Tower Arcane has set up shop.

The sun is low in the sky and shines brightly.

Challenge 1: Find the Easy Path. Intelligence or Perception challenge roll with one Bane. Everyone can make this roll, but add one additional bane for each person who has made the attempt before you.

The group murmurs general agreement to flee these horrific caverns and go back to their lean-to. Hokey was grateful to be able to leave these caverns behind even a moment sooner.

Rolled a 9 total and then used Fortune to succeed in Discord.

Everyone begins to look for a path down this accursed mountain, and Andras almost falls off a cliff. Hokey's mind was on the treasures she'd found, the possibilities that were now hers to explore. She snaps out of her daze and begins to look in earnest for a path, and recognizes a path just ahead of her. She calls the group over and begins to make her way down.

Through pure fortune, Hokey manages to find a goat trail that leads to landmark you witnessed on the way up. From there, it's just a downward slide and a stream crossing to get to the the trail you took on the way up!

Easy Path: 2 challenges. Slippery slope: Agility challenge roll or take 1d6 damage. Cross the Stream: Strength challenge roll or slip on the sharp rocks and gain a battle scar.

agi: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4
damage: 1d6 ⇒ 3
injury: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 1 = 13 I became injured as part of this, but no battle scar.
str: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 1 = 14

The slope ahead is steep, and without good boots, Andras slips and falls awkwardly.

He gets up, brushes himself down and yells back.

I'm alright!

Already having fallen, he pays much more attention as they come across a fast-flowing little mountain stream. The cold water feels good on his toes as he crosses, and he manages to make it across with no issues.

"Thank you, Hokey." Erik murmurs. He felt the books in his bag one more time, assuring himself that he would use them to read and learn. He was tired of being one of the only ones there that could not understand the damn symbols and what they meant. Erik remained quiet most of the trip from the caves but he was glad to be in the warm air once more and see the brightening sky above him. As long as he lived, he felt he would have a dislike for caves and their brethren.

"So...a wereboar then?" Erik asked Andras in the back, speaking quietly to the man he had made an oath towards. "Are there any things were should prepare for when a full moon does come? Manacles? Things of that nature? I cannot have you hurting others."

The answers would need to wait as they reach a path and begin to ascend. The steep climb was challenging and all Erik's feet wanted to do was give up and rest. When Andras fell, he would help catch the man before he spiraled all the way down to the bottom with a small smirk, helping him up.

"M'lord. You were better in hooves, I think." Erik says with a little chuckle before they reached the mountain stream. Again he washes the sweat off of his body and refills his waterskin before following the others across with no issue at all.

Succeeded on the Agi Roll (11) and failed the Str Roll (6).

Battle Scar result: Minor Injury: You suffer a minor injury that causes you to become impaired for 1 round.

Andras tries to slowly climb his way down, but slips and falls. He tumbles down and gets a few bruises, but otherwise dusts himself off and was ready to go. Hokey chooses to slide down the slope, instead. She expertly navigates down the hill while using her hooves to steer herself out of trouble. Hokey then watches on as the rest of her companions tumble down in their own time. She can't help but to burst out laughing for a moment when Erik teases Andras, reminding her of her own thoughts when she fell down at the onset of this trip.

The group finally makes their way to the stream, which Hokey recognizes to be one of the last "landmarks" before they reach town. She quickly runs into the stream, only to get her hoof stuck in the mud. She abruptly trips and smashes her head on some larger river stones. Hokey lays there, momentarily stunned, and begins to drown. As the murky darkness threatens to engulf her conscious, Hydrand pulls Hokey up.

"Hokey, grab on!" Hydrand says as Hokey sputters and coughs. He hoists Hokey onto his shoulders and she dazedly grabs on. He pulls her to to the other side of the shore as Hokey stumbles along after him.

"Urgh. Cough Cough Thanks, Hydrand. Cough Cough Cough Gimme Cough a moment."

Hokey will move on after catching her breath for 1 round.

After the immense transformation of one very immense pig, the party searches the area in front of the cave for an exit. Hokey calls out that she found some sort of animal trail that leads down towards the village. Towards civilization, and away from here.

"What a blessing." Hydrand says to nobody in particular. Hydrand was happy to be free from that place. For the usual reasons, of course, but also because it was uncomfortable having something so clearly illuminate what separated him from his compatriots.

Still need some sort of intervention for Geraldd, or he's in tr--

It hit him, metaphorically speaking, right in the chest.

Bertram had one of those things inside him... I guess we can only hope that the crush of the corpse was enough to put an end to it.

Hydrand decides that particular thought could remain unspoken.

They were making their way through the low and dense path when it began to veer down at a successively higher decline. He dug in his heels with every step, and shot a hand out to grab branches or to get ahold of dirt to keep himself steady. He didn't consider that such an activity might be exhausting for the others as he himself didn't fatigue, so there was an odd curiosity at those who were slipping and sliding as they made their way down.

The decline began to improve, as it inevitably would, and and they began making real headway back towards town. They came across a river, not dissimilar from the one they crossed in the mountain. Something about being in broad daylight made this feel much less threatening, however, and they began to make their way across, en masse.

It was easy going for Hydrand; he nearly didn't need the rope to cross the last river, and now he had a head for it. His footing sure, he moved straight across with confidence; at least until he saw Hokey slip beneath the surface.

He hopped with the current the short couple steps to where she had gone under. She began to drift with the current; Hydrand grabbed at her limp arms and caught one by the wrist as it slipped under. He leveraged himself back, leaning extra to spite the current. Once Hokey had her head above water, Hydrand shouts, "Hokey, grab on!" and pulls her hand until he has her around his shoulders. He had to focus to make sure his footing and his lean into the current adjusted for her, but the extra weight made it easy enough and they came out of the river on the far side.

He was, once again, a touch uncomfortable at the reminder that he wasn't like the others, but he couldn't sense the sentiment growing talons or anything that would stick in his head long-term. And besides, knowing his friend was safe dwarfed that feeling millionfold.

Seeing Andras' transformation

"What... The... F@&$!? That was the most disgusting thing I think I've ever seen in my life... and we just came out of a f~!*ing dragon corpse-den!... Do it again!"

Awful looks around briefly, finally breaking out of the trance-like admiration of the Savage Ornament, finding Hokey.

"Hokey! Do the beam thing again!..."

The unanimous "no" he was met with only made Awful give a hearty chuckle. When Andras emerged fully dressed from the woods, Awful slapped him on the back and looked at him up and down before saying:

"Yikes buddy, you looked better as a wild pig!"

He breaks out in laughter, shaking his head. His face once again grinning in the familiar, yet off-putting, way you're used to.

Later...

Agility;Trickery: 1d20 + 2 + 1d6 ⇒ (4) + 2 + (2) = 8
Dmg: 1d6 ⇒ 1
Strength;Trickery: 1d20 + 1d6 ⇒ (5) + (2) = 7
Battle Scar: 1d6 ⇒ 3
Battle Scar2: 3d6 ⇒ (6, 2, 5) = 13
Awful became impaired for one round.

Still high from killing a dragon, Awful's head was in the clouds. So when it came time to do some tricky maneuvering, he fell flat on his face... Literally. He took a moment to refocus, straighten out his broken nose and gathered some stringy fiber from a nearby tree. He stuffed the fiber in his nose to stop the bleeding and quickly caught up with the group, grumbling to himself.

As they continue along the path, Andras responds to Erik.

I think manacles might be a good back-up. But I suspect that so long as I can keep myself shuttered from the light of the moon, I should be ok. Perfect darkness will be my friend. But I would appreciate some help in managing it. I would not want to harm anyone either. If I had lost control to the beast...

Andras shudders.

It would not have been pretty. We nearly died as it was. Bertram DID die... best to not dwell on such things.