"Oh gods, Fentus!" Trista examines the spiders creature for weaknesses and charges it.
for
Voz's Camp - Round 9 - concluded
Trista's book has no information to impart on this aberrant spider-like thing that is mauling Fentus, so she just makes an attack that seems likely to work against bugs, however her attack fails to pierce the hard carapace of the creature, it remains unharmed.
End of Round 9
Voz's Camp - Round 10
Bless active for all party members (4 rounds)
24 Voz (33hp dmg; 1 image remains)
23 Zainab
19 Olaf (31/38hp)
17 Fentus (dying 1, needs DC 11 Flat check)
16 Spider Thing (11hp dmg)
15 Trista (32/35hp)
Voz calls out as she departs the cavern system. Happy eating, Balka! I will return after you have devoured my problems." And she scuttles for the exit, still clinging to the wall and ceiling. Once outside she starts up the 50' sheer cliff face that the small cave mouth is set in. It takes her most of the time, but she is near the top, and about to escape.
Fentus bleeding out, tries to will his blood back into his body.
Unfortunately more leaks out.
It didn't matter to her. All she heard was the scream of pain and shouts of Fentus going down. There was little hesitation from Zainab other than a little growl from her before her face turned to worry as she went back to help Fentus. Saying a small prayer, she reached out into the corner where she could see the sorcerer as she hopes that it would be enough to save him.
Snarling at the downing of his companion, Olaf steps to the big bug thing and slashes with his sword twice, raising his shield as he does so.
Voz's Camp - Round 10 - continued
Fentus continues bleeding out, dropping a bit closer to death.
Reversing course, Zainab casts a healing spell on the fallen sorceror, reviving him from unconsciousness, and closing some of his wounds.
Olaf attacks the spidery-thing but even flanking with Trista his blows fail to harm the creature. He is ready with his shield if he is counter-attacked.
The creature backs away from being flanked, positioning herself in the corner but close enough to Olaf to attack. It bites at him with its terrible jaws, and then clubs at him with a long, jointed leg. The bite is quite severe, pushing through the warrior's shield and sinking into his neck. The leg strike misses however.
Critical
miss
Trista moves in on the spider and slashes at it.
for
for
Voz's Camp - Round 10 - concluded
Olaf uses his shield to block some of the damage from the spider-thing's bite. It bends a part of his steel shield inward however.
Trista stabs at the creature. Green ichor escapes from where she scores a hit, but her second attack misses.
End of Round 10
Voz's Camp - Round 11
Bless active for all party members (3 rounds)
24 Voz - escaped
23 Zainab
19 Olaf (17/38hp)
17 Fentus (16/32hp, wounded 1, prone)
16 Spider Thing (16hp dmg)
15 Trista (32/35hp)
Roaring in pain and rage, Olaf drops his broken shield and still manages to chant out a spell through gritted teeth as he swings his great blade again. Chanting out yet another spell after the blow.
"Hang in there1" It was at that point that she realized she had run out of healing spells, but she did have a couple more tricks. She moved up to Olaf's slide and laid a hand of Olaf's shoulder. Olaf would feel a glimmer of energy around him as protection magic washes over him.
Fentus blinking his eyes as he re awakens, wounded, and in pain, he weakly croaks as he sees the rest of the group, "Did'ya at least stop Voz?"
He stands shakily to his feet then blasts a black inky ray from his hand, trying to sap some of the intense bugly strength from this monster.
Voz's Camp - Round 11 - concluded
Filled with pain and anger, Olaf channels his frustrations into his spell-enhanced weapon. This time is strike is true, and powered by the electrical energy, he severs the creature's head from its body in one fell strike, killing it instantly, and ending the fight.
End of Combat
Now that the threats in this cavern have subsided, This room is filled full of webs and traps but no further foes are apparent. It seems Voz escaped, climbing up the sheer cliff outside, but her camp in the other room, may have items of value among the crates and boxes stored there. There are also several wounds to tend to, and perhaps a rest is called for since most of your magic has been expended already today.
"Let's check out this camp, see if Voz has left anything useful. Then we can find a safe place to rest up and tend to our wounds." Trista pokes through the web-filled cave with interest, as well.
"It's a shame that Voz escaped, but I'm more interested in what she was researching than in killing her."
Under a pile of web-covered bones in the northeast corner of the spider room, Trista finds the body of an unfortunate gnome who was once a meal of the denizen of this chamber. Still on the corpse, and apparently inedible, is a suit of splint mail armor and a starknife.
"Ick. I'll take a closer look at this when we rest. Perhaps it has magical properties." She packs the items carefully into her bag. "Let's examine Voz's campsite. I hope she kept good notes!"
Olaf breathes heavily after the creature dies, also bleeds a little (maybe more than a little), and looks around.
”She escaped eh? We’ll get her next time.”
Dismissing the loss of their query for a moment he looks over at Fentus, then at their healer and asks, ”Do you have some healing? I’m leaning a bit here.”
Then he notices Trista looking around and joins her in looking for interesting stuff around the cave, casually swapping his broken shield for his spare on his back.
Zainab gave out a huff of laughter even with all the fear inside her potentially losing a party member. "Keeping you safe was more important." With that, she helped get him back up.
Her smile was gone when Olaf once again mentioned that she escaped and she shook her head to Olaf. "I'm sorry, but I used it all up with that fight we had."
The Northman shrugs at the comment about there being no more healing and continues looking around. ”Ill live.”
Nothing else of note is found in the spider-thing's lair, so eventually the group migrates back to the camp set up by Voz before you drove her away.
There is camping equipment, food supplies, and some necromantic ritual devices, none of which are as interesting as the knapsack left behind at hte campsite.
Investigating Voz's bag reveals a series of letters and a her journal. The journal seems to be written in a ugly harsh language that none of you seem to read or understand.
The papers however are plain enough. There is a series of letters between Voz and something called the Scarlet Triad. The correspondence does not make clear what the organization is, but you can read that they promise to sponsor Voz's plans to found an assassination guild and necromantic laboratory under Citadel Altaerein. To get what sounds like a handsome sum of money, Voz agrees to confirm the existence of Alseta's Ring, find away to secure it, and then activate as many of the portal as possible. Once this is complete, the Scarlet Triad agrees to pay whatever it takes for Voz to set up her murderous organization.
The letters from the Triad don't have a return address, but they are all signed by someone named Laslunn. Not surprisingly at this point, all of Voz's letters are signed with the closing "By Norgorber's hand"
"Goodness. I thought she was just a grumpy bookseller. We'll have to do a more thorough job of defeating her when next we meet," Trista reflects.
"I can brush up on first aid skills in the morning. Perhaps it's best we take a rest here and push on tomorrow."
Looking at the others after reading the letters, "We'll have to do everything we can to stop her. And more references to Alseta's Ring. Seems like everything is coming to a head in the basement of the Citadel. Might be time to head back there and finish exploring it,"
"Not a bad idea, though I'd like to push into this tunnel complex a bit farther, first. There must be some reason Voz was here." Trista makes some sketches of the spider creature from memory as she settles in the abandoned campsite.
Olaf looks around the group. ”If we are moving on without a rest.” he shakes some blood from his dripping arm, ”Im going to need to dip into our healing potion stash.”
Thinking for a bit and looking at his second shield, ”and a few minutes to fix my shield.”
Zainab tried her luck with the notebook, but it was all gibberish to her as well.
"Well, it's not like we're much in a position to fight right now," she shrugged. [B]"But checking out the Citadel again seems like a good idea. She may still need some items there.
"I agree. I think a rest is in order. Let's use the quarters outside--those mercenaries probably had them well cleaned."
The cabin outside is one-room and small, but protected from the elements, and somewhat easy to defend, given just one door. You take some of the comfort elements left behind by Voz and set up camp there, eating her food and resting. There is still a passage here that you have not explored, but in your current condition, that may have to wait until the morning.
As you consider next actions, and have started to uncover some of the secrets of what Alseta's Ring might be, you recall finding notes in Voz's library that said the entrance to Alseta's Ring was found at Guardian's Way, which is what led you here in the first place.
The night's rest passes uneventfully, and when you awaken, you feel refreshed, and somewhat restored. Perhaps with more skill and power than you had before.
As they are preparing to bed down, Fentus gathers the crew around and expends the rest of his magic in a quick 30 second burst of healing.
Olaf looks relieved at the agreement to rest, and even more greatful when Fentus spends magic on healing him up. "Thank you my friend, I was perhaps more wounded than I was letting on." he says as the group moves to bed down for the night.
As they settle, he pulls his tools out and repairs his damaged shield.
Zainab relaxes as the healing energy washes over her. "You're getting better at it healing business," she complimented. "Have you thought about hosting a hospice in the future?"
Opening and closing his hands, "I don't know about that, I feel like I only unlocked this healing magic thanks to your influence. Seems like the more I experience the more power is unlocked. Sometimes it feels like my blood is scorching hot. Despite how I use it, I can't shake the feeling that this power is not a power of Good"
Zainab looked over to him with sympathy and placed a hand on his shouluder. "You don't seem too bad from what I see. Besides, it's what you do with that power that determines how good you are."
After Fentus burns through the rest of his magical repertoire to heal the team, they all get a good night's sleep and awake refreshed and ready to see what can be found regarding Alseta's Ring, the Scarlet Triad, cultists of Dahak from Mwangi Expanse, and any number of other mysterious circumstances.
Looking at the others, "We might as well finish exploring this cave to its fullest since we are right here? Then double back and finish the castle's basement? Both seem equally important, we might find more answers in this cave but the Citadel seems pretty pressing as well. I still only have more questions than answers" He says this last part, shaking his head.
Trista, looking refreshed, agrees with Fentus. "A solid plan. I'd prefer to clear out this cave, if there's a chance Voz will come back, and we'll certainly finish exploring the basement. I get the feeling there are more secrets in the keep."
Entering the caves again, under the long hanging curtains of ivy, the group ends up back in the space where Voz had set up camp. There is a passage that leads off to the southeast about 10-15' wide. Along the twisting winding way, you find smaller caverns or spaces that are filled with dead spiders, centipedes and the like. A handful of broken up skeletons along the way attest to those necromantic minions of Voz who fell protecting her as she cleared these long tunnel of denizens. There are ruined stone huts and signs of abandoned goblin encampments, no threats are noted.
The passage continues in the generally southeasterly direction for several hours and what must be 5 or 6 miles.
So they were all in agreement. It was time to explore more of the cave in order to figure out what Voz may have been looking for. Unfortunately, caves were not something she was familiar with.
"A longer tunnel than I imagined. Where could it lead?"
Olaf just leads the way.
Stepping up beside Olaf, "No no, I have a feeling, like I'm being drawn back to the Citadel. This tunnel is leading us right back into the basement. Deeper even. I feel it, like a sense or a tingling. . ."
He looks distant, concerned at what this means, his last sentence trailing off at the end softly.
Olaf grunts and nods, looking at Fentus for a moment, ”Two birds with one bolt then.” he rumbles as he continues to lead down the tunnel.
"Yes, that is lucky."
Trista pauses.
"Or maybe not luck. Perhaps Voz was trying to find a way into the lower levels of the citadel that bypassed the goblins and monsters."
"It does all seem to be connected somehow. I guess we are about to find out how."
"There's too much that seems connected right here, and that includes the tunnels themselves," Zainab added with a hint of worry. "I hope we get more information on the people she was helping."
Continuing to walk, "I'm sure she doubled back here while we were sleeping and will be waiting for us. This time we'll be ready for her tricks,"