Entropy tries to bite and claw the big thing. The claw swipe gets into the tendons.
finesse
Critical!
Scary Gourd tries to put the fear of scary gourds into the big brute using his magic...but the creature seems unaffected. But what is effective is Entropy's jaws and claws - the big cat first sinks his teeth into the lumbering corpse and then slashes at the thing's leg with a claw swipe. The claws do indeed rip into where the creature's tendons would be and cause massive damage! In fact, the slashing claws seem super effective against the beast.
______________
Scary Gourd
>Entropy
Aella
Ezren
Isder
Sebasti
Parnel
==============
Red
Active Conditions: None
Environmental Conditions: Severe Fog - Creatures between 10 and 20 feet away are Concealed (DC 5 flat check to target; this includes allies). Greater than that, they are Hidden (DC 11 flat check to target).
Aella, Ezren, Isder, Sebasti and Parnel are UP!
|
With a surprisingly spry spring in his step, Sebasti bounds around the clearing and dashes into the brush, which slows him down. He leaps back out of the thick undergrowth and stabs his rapier toward the hulking zombie. "Ha ha! The tides have turned in our advantage! It is time to press it!" he cries, enjoying himself far too much.
+
Aella channels healing energy in a wave that washes over the battlefield, encompassing everyone and everything save Scary Gourd. The wounds of her allies heal while Big Red, even though he seems to resist some of the positive energy, withers noticeably!
Opting to press the advantage, Sebasti dashes up and expertly skewers Big Red from behind while Isder follows it up with a slash of his sharp tiger claws! The kobold manages to disembowel the rotting hulk with his swipe, leaving it to groan confusedly...and then collapse!
Silence hangs over the fog-shrouded camp for a moment before Andri and Arek cautiously peer out from behind one of the wagons while Professor Shurgun, Eigil, and Kasaya peer out from behind the other.
"Are...are they gone? Is it over?" Arek calls out.
"Fantastic," Arek remarks with a sigh of relief as he steps out from his hiding spot; the rest of the caravan's non-combatants slowly follow suit. "I wish we had your weight in gold to pay you with, because you're worth every bit of it!"
"Agreed," Andri nods as she quickly gets back to the task of packing up the camp. "Four gold each feels like small potatoes now, but it's the best we can do. I hope it'll be enough..."
Professor Shurgun clears his throat. "As eager as I am to sing the praises of our talented guards, we can do so on the road. I am keen to get moving and away from this place before more of those creatures show up!"
______________
And so taking a cue from the good professor everyone hustles to finish breaking camp and tending to injuries so that you can get on the road once more. When you do, you notice that the fog continues to hang thick in the air.
Thankfully, the rest of the day is quiet if a bit tense - everyone is still understandably on edge from the morning's events - and you finally reach Caliphas at the end of the day just as the shadows begin to grow long. There, you part ways with the half-orc siblings and the other caravan passengers, but not before receiving your pay as well as several assurances that your praises will be sung near and far.
Rain. Under most circumstances, rain is a blessing The cool and refreshing waters cascade from the heavens, quenching the land's thirst and often leaving behind a beautiful and tranquil scene after their passing. Truly a wonderful thing.
Except when you have to travel in it, that is.
After arriving in Caliphas from your brief stint as caravan guards, you said goodbye to Parnel but picked up a new traveling companion in the form of a rather unusual halfling carrying a very big greatclub. From there you set out and now find yourselves traveling the Flood Road near the city of Urgir, unofficial capital city of the orc-ruled Hold of Belkzen. Unfortunately, the region is currently in its wet season and subject to frequent and sometimes-unexpected rainstorms. It is once such storm that has forced you all to seek shelter within a nearby cave to wait out the storm.
When you stumble into the cave, however, you quickly find that you are not its only recent visitors. Inside, you find the remains of a campfire that looks to be a couple days old, as well as some simple traveling gear such as a bedroll and cooking pot. But what truly gets your attention is the small note stuck into a crevice in the cave wall, where it stands out against the dark stone. The crevice is near a narrow tunnel that appears to lead deeper into the caves. The note is written in both Common and Orcish, and is dated 2 days prior:
If you find this, I am caught somewhere below. I am Lorekeeper Unzgrin, and I've gone below to explore what I believe are the ruins of an ancient dwarven outpost. I trust that there is no danger, but if you find this note, and more than a day has passed, then I am likely in trouble. I offer a reward in gold for any assistance in exploring the caves - and for my immediate rescue, should I be in danger.
Lorekeeper Unzgrin of Urgir
|
"Huh." Is about all Bubba can think to say as he gets himself out of the rain, listening to the ghostly voice read the note.
"I use'ta love being out in the rain in the desert. It didn't show up often. It was quite an event. So many pots to lug around we've fill up and store down in the cool caves." He pulls off his overshirt and wrings the rain out of it "Now I guess I don't care for it so much."
Through you travels you've got to know just a bit about Bubba. He comes from the desert lands of the ancient Osirian empire and somehow ended up working for the Society, mostly to help move heavy things around. For some reason he's quite fond of carrying around an oversized wooden plank, that seems pretty awkward, but it sure does smash snakes well.
"Oh, I've got one of those light things too." Hanging around his neck he pokes it into glowing. "Should we maybe have some lunch first or go straight into search and rescue?"
|
|
Tarcog, the new kobold who joined your group, doesn’t seem to like the rain. He likes wet clothing even less. His shiny bronze scales are pretty good about repelling water, but his clothing probably weighs more than him with all the water it has soaked up.
“Finally! A nice cavern to protect us from that dreadful rain! Now I will not short out!”
As soon as he is inside, he starts wringing out his clothing and using his magic to warm and clean it.
At Ezren’s mention of climbing down, Tarcog says “Not all caverns are dank! I happen to like caverns.”
He moves further into the cave and then summons his friend Sparks.
Sparks is a small bronze dragon, about the size of a large hound or small bear. It preens itself, then looks at Tarcog and says something in Draconic.
Tarcog just gives the dragon a look, then resumes trying to get the clothing dry.
“So where is this Urgir?”
Looking to Bubba, he says “A meal would give us time to finish drying out. Sounds like a plan to me!”
Though most of you have little issue with going to check up on the (presumably) missing Lorekeeper, you do take enough time to dry out and have a quick bite to eat before proceeding into the narrow crevice at the rear of the cave.
Using Sebasti and Bubba's wayfinders for light, you travel along a passage that varies in width from as wide as 10 feet to as narrow as 3 feet that eventually empties into a small natural cavern. The walls here seem to be a mix of natural stone and clay and the ceiling is about 10 feet high. As expected for a cave, there is no light down here and those of you without darkvision are thankful for the wayfinders Sebasti and Bubba carry.
From where the passage empties into the caverns you can see three passages stretching away into darkness - one to the northeast, one to the east, and one to the south.
|
|
"Can't start a new project without at least a snack first. Just doesn't seem right." He wipes away the crumbs and grease of said trail snack on his simple pants and continues making his way down the sometimes narrow passageways. His unwieldy weapon stowed away and somehow not making life miserable.
Once the trail forks he rubs his forehead and squints, trying to look ahead into the darkness. "Maybe that fella didn't get into trouble with orcs and goblins, maybe he got lost..."
Several of you begin scanning the floor of the cavern, looking for any signs of recent passage by Lorekeeper Unzgrin or anything else. Normally it would be quite difficult to track most creatures across a stone floor but the cavern seems full of dust and debris, making it much easier than it would be otherwise. And with a little help from Sebasti, Aella soon spots the tracks of a booted humanoid! They seem to lead away from the entrance towards the east.
Sebasti begins to lead the way down the eastern path, but quickly comes to a stop for two reasons. The first is that this eastern path empties into a small, dead-end cavern. The second is that he spots a rather large, practically human-sized purple mushroom over by the cavern's far wall. He's not entirely sure of what it is but maybe Aella or one of the others might have an idea?
Things come to a halt as you ponder the mushroom of unusual size. Tarcog wonders aloud if it might be able to speak but if it can, it ain't talking. The kobold joins his senses to those of his eidolon, who peers around the corner - but the little dragon isn't really sure what this thing is either.
Bubba carefully squeezes past Isder to get a better look...and as he stares at the mushroom it tickles something in the back of his mind. He remembers hearing something once about large mushrooms that emit a high-pitched shriek when disturbed by proximity or light or when damaged. The shriek is said to be painful and there's also the added danger of the noise alerting other nearby creatures. However, it's possible to get close enough to cut the mushroom's air sac without triggering it but it's a tricky bit of business to do.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Huh. I'm gonna try something that might look dumb, back me up if it does." He turns off his glowing wayfinder, draws out a dagger and tries to creep up close and personal with the shrieker.
Who are you trying to impress? This has gotta be the dumbest thing you've ever done Ho-tep!
Oh come on Mother, you obviously didn't see some of the stuff I did when you weren't looking!
He creeps as close as possible before lunging out and stabbing his dagger into the fungus.
Bubba turns his wayfinder off and carefully creeps towards the enormous mushroom while the rest of you wait with bated breath, ready to leap to his defense if need be. The halfling gets as close as he dares to the shrieker...and then expertly slices its air sac away with a quick flick of his dagger!
And blessedly, nothing happens. The shrieker seems to quiver a tiny bit but otherwise remains silent, leaving you free to examine this small chamber. While your search doesn't turn up anything new, Aella is able to determine that the booted tracks lead into this chamber and then out again, now heading down the southern passage. She notes that the stride between the tracks is longer as they leave the small chamber, as though whoever made them was running.
You follow the tracks along the southern passage, pausing long enough to explore another dead-end side chamber that branches off from the path before continuing on to another, larger chamber further south. This chamber is also devoid of anything of interest save a lot of moss and fungus covering the walls.
From this chamber the path leads to the east and to what looks to be an intersection of several tunnel branches. The group doesn't get more than a few feet into the intersection before you hear the sound of angry hissing to the south as you spot several creatures that seem to be riled up by your lights...
These are giant centipedes, creatures that hunt and scavenge among dung and detritus in all manner of locales, from forests to caverns to city sewers. They move quickly along surfaces and walls and their bite is venomous.
______________
Ezren
==============
Blue
==============
Isder
Sebasti
Bubba
Aella
==============
Red
==============
Tarcog
>Dragon
==============
Orange
Active Conditions:
Environmental Conditions:
Ezren is UP!
Ezren, convinced that the group should've found a different cave to shelter in, moves up and attempts to electrocute one of the many-legged creatures. Orange proves to be rather agile, however, and manages to dodge part of the electrical arc.
Blue skitters forward and snaps twice at Tarcog's dragon friend, the first bite taking a small piece out of the eidolon's hide!
______________
Ezren
==============
Blue
==============
Isder
Sebasti
Bubba
Aella
==============
Red
==============
Tarcog
>Dragon
==============
Orange
Active Conditions:
Environmental Conditions:
Isder, Sebasti, Bubba and Aella are UP!
Tarcog's dragon buddy shrugs off whatever nastiness was brewing in that bite wound!
Realizing that they need to spread out a bit Bubba draws his weapon and hoofs it around the nearby side tunnel, aiming to get behind the multi-legged critters.
Taking advantage of Blue's proximity Isder shifts into his tiger stance before directing a quick series of jabs at it! The first jab barely misses the mark while the second connects, ripping away several of the creature's legs!
Aella identifies the creatures as giant centipedes and knows that their bite is poisonous. She also knows that they're quite fast and also good climbers, thanks to their many legs. The druid then flings her own arc of electricity at Blue and Orange; both of them manage to avoid the full blast but it's still enough to fry Blue, who collapses into a sticky, smoking, twitching mess! Orange doesn't look to be too far off from doing the same.
______________
Ezren
Isder (One Action Remaining)
Sebasti
Bubba
Aella
==============
Red
==============
Tarcog
>Dragon
==============
Orange
Active Conditions:
Environmental Conditions:
Isder and Sebasti are UP!