"Well, unfortunately I don't have anything prepared today to help with venom. Given how large this lair is proving, we... may not be capable of clearing it all out in a day," the raven states, obviously unhappy with this conclusion.
"We can do it!" Spirit declares as he follows after Mheenah.
He turns towards the sounds. "Do you think they have boats down here?"
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"Well, unfortunately I don't have anything prepared today to help with venom. Given how large this lair is proving, we... may not be capable of clearing it all out in a day," the raven states, obviously unhappy with this conclusion.
"From what we've learned, I don't think we have any choice." says the wolf. "If we don't find the children today, it will likely be too late to save them. Not to mention that our entry into this place will have been discovered and the guard redoubled. Either we find them today, or we give up hope of ever rescuing them. And I for one will never give up my child."
"I'll be fine. I just may need to rest once in a while."
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Mheenah goes west and spies the lowest room in the dungeon. Here the water that seeps and trickles through the labyrinth finally collects in a buried under a heavy timber, and attempts a rescue. Five zombies operate a system of buckets connected to a stout rope and pulley. As the pulley turns, the buckets are dipped into the pool and filled, then lifted through a hole in the ceiling. At the top of the cycle, the buckets are tipped by a cleverly placed block of wood, emptying the water into the marsh and returning for another load. The zombies here are very singleminded of purpose, and ignore Mheenah…
There appears to be nothing else of interest…
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Mheenah flies back to her companions.
"Eh, it's just a bunch of zombies bucket-brigading the water out of this place. Like, maybe don't build your evil lair in a literal swamp? Sheesh."
"Anyway, that way is a dead end. But at least it tells us that there's no other deeper layers in this place. We're at the bottom."
"Okay, then... let's go this way!" Spirit declares, heading to the left.
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Mheenah goes to the south and sees an opening to a chamber to her right (#32); further down she notes the passage becomes muddy, with forks to the east and southwest…
Looking into the chamber, she sees…
The walls of this cave drip and glisten with moisture, but the area is apparently empty. Mheenah’s sharp ears can hear trickling water and faint creaking noises; while she is not able to determine the direction the noises are coming from, she suspects it might be tied to the water room with the working zombies…
There is nothing of interest here.
Spirit continues trotting along the ceiling, heading southwest.
Spirit looks around, wondering where Mheenah has gotten off to.
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Mheenah flies back to the group. She lands and turns visible and begins marching about in exasperation.
"Nothin'! This place is a stupid maze of mud and slime and bones and nothin'! Who'd want to live in a hole like this? Nagas are idiots!" She kicks at the muddy dirt of the floor, sending a tiny arcing shower of goop at the passage wall.
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The wolf watches Mheenah's diatribe, then moves forward and licks some of the mud off the little demon's head and back.
"I think we're doing very well, all things considered. We're alive, there's been no general alarm, and we're bound to find them eventually. Have patience little one." she says in a gentle, soothing voice.
"Yeah, I'm sure we'll find them!" Spirit declares. "So let's keep going! If they're not down that way, probably they're this way!"
He heads off to the southwest from the fork.
Spirit gladly races off after Mheenah.
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Mheenah and Spirit press on in and see this leads to another chamber…
This small chamber holds a savage-looking reptile that strongly resembles a miniature tyrannosaurus rex. It is chained to the west wall of the cave and looks as if it can not come closer than 5' to the east wall. Several disturbingly human bones are scattered about, and four jaw bones have been driven into the dirt walls of the chamber.
"The rest of us can probably get past, but maybe I should teleport Lorelei?" Spirit suggests. "I feel kind of bad for that thing being all chained up, but it probably wouldn't say thank you if we let it go."
"No, I'm sure they're fine! They're going to be in the room with the naga, and the naga will be all 'foolish creatures, I have your masters, how could you beat me?' and we'll be all 'like this!' and then we'll free them and everything will be fine!"
Is there... just a hint of a manic edge to Spirit's voice? A crack to his irrepressible optimism?
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Lorelei sits, looking hard at the reptile, then speaks.
"The way I see it, if those bones belong to the children, then our business will still be with the nagas. We would have to revenge ourselves upon them and make sure that no one else in the town suffered because of their wickedness. And if the bones do no belong to the children, then engaging this beast would serve no purpose."
"In either case, we can gain nothing by fighting this thing. But I agree with Spirit, I believe the children are still alive. I think I would feel it if my boy was dead."
"Use your teleporting spell, Spirit. Let's move past this beast."
"It would make little sense for them to capture our masters merely to feed them to a beast. No, they will still be trying to convert them to their cause," Mr. Pitch opines. He waits until Spirit is casting his spell, then swiftly darts through the cavern to the other side.
"See, Lorelei believes it too!" Spirit says as he scampers down the wall and over to the wolf. With a wave of his tail he sends Lorelei to the other side of the cavern, and then does likewise himself.
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You make your way past the bonesnapper, it lunges at you and large sharp teeth snap, missing you by just under a foot or so as the chain restrains it just enough…
You come into a large and eerie cavernous chamber…
This huge cavern is lit by a ghostly green glow emanating from the eight columns supporting the vaulted ceiling. A rather large flatbottomed boat is set at the shore of the pool before you, and the water seems to occupy most of the cavern...
"They do like boats, don't they?" Spirit says.
He scampers up onto the ceiling. "I can help push with telekinesis again!" he declares.
"I'll keep watch," Mr. Pitch says shortly, wary of the dark, wet chamber.
"Beware! I hear the tromping of feet!"
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Mheenah flies back to check out the noise and sees…
…an old man, with a familiar face, making his way through the mud, with a weasel upon his shoulders…it’s the old hermit from the grove of stately elms back in Orlane!
He cocks his head, looking in Mheenah’s direction, mumbles a few words, then murmurs, ”Ah, it’s the quasit! About time, Whiskers here has been tracking you for days…”
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Mheenah rematerializes. "Well, look at you, ya meet all the best people down here! Mind the dinosaur! We was just about to hop in a boat and cross some kinda lake. Hey, Lorelei got some kinda poison up her snoot from a centipede, you got anything for that?"
She will accompany the druid back to the group.
Spirit hurries over. "Hi! I didn't think we'd see you here! Why did you come all the way down here to find us?"
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Shaking his head to Mheenah, the hermit says, ”Sadly, no…but I do have some spells that might help against the naga…”
Nodding to Spirit, he says, ”Llywillan thought you might be in over your ahead against this naga and asked me to go after you…he and his brother are dealing with the constable and his thugs, in addition to some others that have been charmed, or they would’ve come their selves…
“So, I’ve seen your path of destruction…are you any closer to finding this naga?”
"Yeah, I think so! At least it would be pretty weird for them to have all these guards and then... not have the naga behind them, right?" Spirit says.