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Janira makes sure you are all patched up and ready to go Janira grabs her pack. "We need to keep moving if we are going to reach the cave by dusk. If don't reach it by dusk the gillmen may be gone before we arrive."
As the group continues to travel through the wilderness, you find trails blocked by fallen objects, shortcuts overgrown, and other minor delays that cost you time.
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The dense forest opens to a wide clearing at the base of a sheer cliff. Thick vines cover the surface of the cliff stretching 30 feet overhead. “Here! The cave entrance is behind those vines,” Janira says with a broad smile as she walks to the cliff’s face. She pulls back several layers of vegetation to reveal a narrow crack in the cliff’s surface. “This is where I saw the gillmen enter.”
As she motions toward the aperture, the surrounding woods come alive with the sound of small animals fleeing some unseen danger and a large creature crashing through the undergrowth.
The halfling worriedly remarks, “Quick, take cover before whatever it is spots us!” As if she’d summoned the creature with her words, a massive horned monstrosity emerges from the trees. Standing eight feet tall on a pair of cloven hooves and wielding a tremendous axe, the bull-headed creature roars with unbridled anger when it spots the group.
Wisely assessing that a minotaur is beyond her charges’ capabilities, Janira screams, “A minotaur! There’s little chance we can stand against it. Take this bag,” she continues, pulling off her backpack, “and head deeper into the caves. Finish your mission. I’ll lead it away from the caves, lose it in the forest, and join you as soon as I can. Now go! GO!” She heaves her backpack into the cave, casts a spell, and darts off toward the minotaur before turning to lure it away.
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The cave entrance is only 5 feet wide and extends 20 feet into the rock before widening into a broader tunnel.
Emerging from the dense forest is a single minotaur scout that has been tracking the movements of a local centaur tribe. It hastily decides that you are probably allies of the centaurs and are a threat it can destroy quickly, so it moves to attack.
An crossbow bolt slams deep into the minotaur's shoulder as Janira begins to call out to it in the language of the Giants. This draws the Minotaur's attention as it snorts and huffs as the minotaur chases after Janira through the trees and dense undergrowth. Soon the cacophony of the chase fades and the sounds of the forest slowly return to normal.
Keechu grabs the bag, leading the group further into the cave. Water dripping
from stalactites and the distant rushing of underground streams creates an eerie backdrop as you explore. The caves’ walls are patterned with blue-green luminescent fungi that provide dim light. Petroglyphs—most depicting marine animals or spiral shapes—periodically decorate the tunnels’ walls, becoming increasingly frequent.
Inside the cave entrance the narrow tunnel twists and turns for several hundred feet before slowly opening to a wider passage. A large hole spans the cave’s width and stretches ten feet down the path. At the bottom of the pit lies a small bundle of cloth.
The trap seems to be a 10 foot deep pit filled with spikes. There is no easily accessible means to bypass it.
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"JANIRA NO! If there is a monster attacking, I will NOT leave you!" As Janira seems determined and capable to handle the minotaur herself, Thornrose gives up and follows others to the cave.
Dark cave makes the leshy feel clearly anxious. "Keep moving, there are likely to be more than one hole so watch your step."
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Click-click finds a suitable stalagmite on the opposite end that he is able to hook his grappling hook into. Giving it a tug the grappling hook seems quite secure. Finding a second stalagmite on his own end Click-click ties off his rope so it is taut over the 10 foot pit for someone to climb across.
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Before attaching the grappling hook to the opposing side Click-click tries to go fishing for the tattered cloth below at the bottom of the pit. It takes several small attempts but eventually on of the hooks snags the cloth and he raises it up to ground level.
This bundle of cloth has flecks of silver or steel sown into the garment.
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One by one the group is able to make it across the knotted rope that the grappling hook is holding. Approximately 30 feet beyond the pit and out of sight around a corner is a long, 3-foot-wide wooden plank that rests against the cave’s wall.
The tunnels continue on, leading deeper beneath the Kortos Mounts until they eventually open into a large cavern. What must have once been beautifully carved reliefs and inscriptions have since weathered heavily, their features dulled and softened to the point that it is hard to distinguish what each once depicted. A wide tunnel exits the cavern on its far side, and blue-burning torches line the passageway’s walls.
A variety of faded carvings adorn the walls. Yet only four are in partially recognizable condition.
A thief. The thief is depicted stealing a gem from a shop while whispering a prayer.
An allusion to a passage saying that larceny—though illegal—is a form of praise, for anything worth stealing is also worthy of praise for its craftsmanship.
A craftsman. The Craftsman is depicted creating shoes, pots, jewelry, and other moveable goods.
People express their ingenuity in creating new products from raw materials.
A shepherd.
The Shepherd is depicted herding animals out of a crowded city to the pastures beyond.
To direct people to the tasks and places that best suit them.
An artist.
The Artist is depicted painting murals on the walls of impressive buildings.
As if giving color to a grand city, such as Absalom, to show the splendor to all who would visit.
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The carvings here are different in style from the petroglyphs found elsewhere in the caves, and they date back to long before the gillmen explored this area. You can tell from identifying the four inscriptions that these inscriptions are from the History and Future of Humanity, the principle holy text of Aroden, and images that depict these passages.
The carvings focus on parables that feature Aroden’s 12 guises, meant to illustrate his hopes for humanity: the artist, beggar, craftsman, farmer, fisherman, hunter, merchant, scholar, shepherd, soldier, tailor, and thief.
The sections of the holy text you have identified and are depicted are slightly different than those that appear in the known version of the History and Future of Humanity, suggesting that these might represent an earlier version of the work.
The soft light of the surrounding fungus mixes with the flickering glow of the nearby torches to reveal a grand chamber. A large pool of water along the chamber’s southern edge reflects the blue and green radiance to illuminate the massive stalactites that cling to the ceiling overhead. Two other tunnels branch off from this area, leading to the east and west.
Rising up from the pool is a column of rock with steeply sloped sides and a flat top, as if someone had sawn off the top of a massive stalagmite. A miniature city carved from this same stone occupies nearly the entire surface. Tiny trinkets such as ancient coins, polished semiprecious stones, and ornately braided loops of string are scattered throughout the diorama, and pale cave frogs clamber atop it. The smooth cavern floor is covered in gravel and pebbles along the edge of the pool, and several foot-long centipedes prowl among the gravel in their search for prey.
Here the cavern’s ceiling stretches 20 feet overhead and is crowded by dozens of stalactites, some measuring 10 feet long from base to tip. Despite the impressive geology, the cave’s focus is the sloping, 15-foot-deep pool and its tiny city.
Kneeling in the waters is a lone gillmen with his back turned towards you.
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The Interrogator's are shocked as the electrical arc burns across their bodies. The exit wound of the charge blasts holes through the bottom of their boots as their cheeks bear scorch marks. "That's it, this one is going to die!" They each mark Martus for death, giving a moment for their muscles to finish convulsing.
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BOLD: GO!:
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➤ Amour │
➤ Shard │
➤ Miloban │
➤ Martius │
Interrogator (Red)
Interrogator (Blue)