Brijetta nods very seriously as she's admonished against swimming.
She blushes furiously at the compliment, staring down at her feet as she's not quite sure how to respond.
You give the elementals a wide berth as you proceed into the cavern and approach the nearest intact building. It looks like an immense stalagmite fell from the ceiling and crushed a shop here long ago, but two silos of magically shaped stone survived.
The shorter silo, designed to hold iron ore, stands about 20 feet tall. The small sliding door at ground level is closed, and when opened, an operator can hit the chunks of ore inside to cause the silo’s contents to tumble out in a controlled stream. A small platform juts from the silo’s side 15 feet off the ground, providing access to a larger door used for loading material into the silo. The platform’s ladder has snapped off, and its cargo crane has collapsed, both having rusted to the point of uselessness.
The second silo is nearly identical to the first with a few exceptions. First, it’s 30 feet tall with a loading platform 25 feet off the ground. Second, it’s about half full of bituminous coal rather than ore. Finally, this silo received some damage, creating a few cracks and spilling substantial coal dust nearby.
Brijetta looks at the silos, and then back at Krohan. "Are you sensing anything?" she asks quietly.
Uhe sneezes as the sniffling dwarf looks forlornly at the dirty shoots.
Mal nods at Brijetta's question, adding, "I don't mind a climb, but that's an awful lotta mess to dig through without knowin' there's anything at the bottom of it."
Krohan shakes his head. "I don't sense any psychic impressions, no, but there is other magic nearby. Perhaps there is something worthwhile to be found?"
Brijetta looks uncertain, but dutifully starts looking around. She's distracted, however, cocking her heads as if she's listening to something.
Mal begins to scan the area with detect magic, hoping her divinations will narrow things down.
Uhe sighs.
The Investigator then quickly brews up an Eagle-Eye Elixir . He then drinks it.
Doing a bit of stretching, the dwarf begins investigating both partial silos for Traps, hazards and dusting it with a handkerchief as he does so.
You don't find any traps around the silos. Mal definitely detects at least one aura of enchantment magic within the smaller silo.
"Anyone have a rope?" Gig has plenty of string, but nothing that would hold anything heavier than a puppet.
Assuming that someone in the group came prepared for spelunking, he gestures esoterically and a magical force lifts the rope up to the higher platform, hoping to be able to look at the contents from above.
Uhe just grins as he reaches into his Adventure's Pack to retrieve 50' of rope.
Got sum soap too if'n ye be wanting ta make tings interest'n?
"Soap? I'm sure we'll need it after cleaning out these silos." The dwarf guides the end of the rope over the remains of the ladder and back down before tying it into a loop. "There. That should make it easier to climb!"
"Great - back in a jiff. Hup!"
Clambering up to the loading area, Mal discovers an eclectic collection of items within the silo, real treasures mixed with worthless baubles. The more valuable items include a hammered silver plaque depicting the goddess Nivi Rhombodazzle’s apotheosis (worth 15 gp), a fist0sized copper six-sided die with garnet pips (worth 8 gp), and a wand of fear (1st level). The baubles include a tin ring, crumpled brass teakettle, a tin tavern sign depicting gemstones pouring out of a pitcher, a headless doll half-eaten by fungi, an assortment of fragile bone dice, and a handheld chalkboard still bearing a child’s Undercommon grammar homework.
At first Mal is delighted to wave her finds down at the crew, but gradually worry settles in over her features. "Hey uh, who do y'all reckon set all this up here?"
"Maybe some kind of underground crow? Do they have those?" Gig is unfamiliar with most subterranean wildlife that doesn't feature prominently in tales of the Quest for Sky. "Anything up there that looks like an ancient and priceless heirloom?"
Brijetta makes a sad sound at the doll. "I bet that mushroom monster would have appreciate this doll," she says. "I wonder where it came from."
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Uhe casually Strides a bit away from the two nests of underground Rocs....
"We can rule out beasts and animals unless you also find other signs, like old fur, scales, feathers, droppings." Cricket tells. "Perhaps just children or thieves."
From the silos, you make your way to a nearby home. Debris has damaged the home and rubble blocks much of the gnome-sized entryway. With several minutes of work, you are able to clear away the rubble and enter the house.
The front of the home consists of a bedroom, storage, and living room with a complete set of hand weights, all sized for small creatures and partitioned by aging curtains. There is only a minimal cooking setup here.
The withered corpse of a drathnelar (deep gnome) woman sits propped on the sofa like a macabre mannequin, her head visibly dented from some impact and her lower legs missing. She wears sturdy clothing and a leather apron with crushed drafting tools in its pockets. The walls and floors are covered in disjointed Gnomish and Undercommon phrases scratched in over time. You can hear soft crying noises coming from the bedroom.
Two tiny animate dolls depicting grim grinning gnomes are busy scratching more phrases into the walls, but they turn towards you as you enter, quickly raising their daggers. "Intruders! What are you doing here?" one shouts, a clear edge in its voice.
"Speak quickly or we'll stab you!" the other one cries.
"We're here to help!" Brijetta cries out! "What happened?"
"Agony!" one doll says.
"Misery!" the other adds.
"Woe!" both exclaim together.
"It's far too late to help. If you don't leave at once..." The first doll waves its dagger threateningly.
"Oh, OK, we're going, we're going!" Brijetta quickly replies. "But maybe you could tell us more about the agony and misery and woe as we go?"
She begins backing out of the room.
Uhe takes a quick peek into the freaky doll room before backing the....away...away....away....
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More comfortable with freaky dolls than most, Gig tries to continue the conversation.
"Yes, what could your woe have been? And even if it is too late to help, we can tell your story as a warning. Or maybe an object lesson! People love those on solemn feast days. Who took care of you, and what became of them?"
Mal shudders. They're bad enough when they're Not alive
Away from the dolls, since he doesn't want anything to do with them, Cricket makes sure his crossbow is ready.
"Thenur created us," one of the dolls says, gesturing to the withered corpse on the sofa. "She died when the worm attacked. We brought her back here, to her home, but without her guidance, we haven't known what to do."
"Then our new house guest came..." says the other doll.
As if on cue, the sobbing stops from the nearby bedroom. A moment later, the door opens to reveal a withered undead drathnelar! The creature's mouth twists into a rictus grin, and it cackles as it stalks forward! The dolls cackle as well, as if feeding off the undead's emotions.
Mal recoils at the cackling beast, flinging it back amid a storm of wind and lightning before hunkering down behind her shield.
Uhe looks from creepy doll to creepy blue grinning surf to creepy doll with just a bit of panic in his blue eyes!
This s*!&s gonna have nuts in it!
The dwarf then gives his best Deadpool facial impression (if Deadpool had a beard, wore glasses and was Not in a red suit).
The Investigator then....
And, because he doesn't have a better third Action for some reason, he fires using only his brawn not his pure Intellect!
Uhe doesn't recognize the undead gnome. He does manage to shoot it with an arrow, and Mal zaps it with lightning, though it dodges the worst of the blast.
The creature seems to draw vigor from your feelings of disgust and uncertainty! It howls as it lunges at Mal, swinging its fist! It connects, the blow also filling Mal's mind with confusing sensations and memories.
The two dolls move in as well, calling upon their magic to try to inflict pain upon Uhe and Cricket!
"I've seen it a hundred times, a frustrated dollmaker!" Gig's professional experience does little to make him feel better about confronting the creature. He begins a performance to bolster everone's spirits and flings some shards of metal at the creature.
for
HP 46/46
AC 19
Fort +11, Ref +9, Will +8
Hero points: 2
Infused regents: 2
Effects:
"Oh no!" Brijetta cries as things get awful again. She calls on the power of the forge, her happy place, and it immediately responds to the young dwarf.
Blasts of fire and metal lash out at the undead.
"Oh... not my knee!" He exclaims about the bane of old people while scurrying away. Once safe, he turns, look carefully at the undead and then shoots at the ceiling.
Still keeping her shield raised, Mal unleashes the out of place torrent once more!
"I reckon you just got lucky!"
Never shouldn't of skipped me catechism as a youth!
Uhe braces for the pretend pain!
It feels so real!
The Investigator then studies the foul not Blue at all creature!
Uhe grins!
The dwarf positively beams!
Cricket's bolt lodges into the ceiling of the house. Brijetta scorches the undead gnome before unleashing a blast of shards that tear at it. Gig's needle darts sail past the creature. Uhe's arrow strikes it square between the eyes, puncturing the remnants of the monster's brain! It collapses to the floor! Mal zaps one of the dolls with lightning, though it dodges the worst of it.
The dolls move to attack Mal, but she fends off their tiny blades!
Gig continues performing and shooting needles at the dolls. "Down, stop moving! Your master is dead."
for
"He was already dead!" Cricket points out as he reloads and shoots.
HP 46/46
AC 19
Fort +11, Ref +9, Will +8
Hero points: 2
Infused regents: 2
Effects:
Brijetta rushes to help Mal, a fiery hammer forming as she swings at the dolls.
The Investigator then studies the foul (creepy!) doll!
Uhe grins!
The dwarf positively beams!
With shield still raised, Mal continues to bring the lightning, sending a lesser bolt crackling between the two dolls.
Cricket and Brijetta miss with their attacks. Mal zaps both of the dolls, while Gig strikes one with needle darts. Then Uhe fires two arrows with precision, shattering both dolls' porcelain bodies and destroying the constructs!
Gig clucks his tongue over the broken dolls. "This is why you have to be so careful when you mix magic and puppets."
With opposition vanquished, he examines the corpse of Thenur to see if it has any clues as to her identity or fate.
There doesn't seem to be anything more to learn here, but there are still a few other buildings to explore in the cavern...
Brijetta looks sad -- this place is awful -- but eventually turns her attention back to her companions. "Is everyone OK? Mal?"
Uhe kicks pieces of the dolls under a carpet.
Freaking me out, dwarf.
"Yeah yeah, I'm good. Just gimme a sec."