Seeing Reknar take a hammering from dagger and maw Tol rushes to his aid, staunching a wound with a handy poultice and providing a firm grip on the warrior’s shoulder. The poultice immediately drops to the ground with a splat.
Then Tol leaps at the man-faced maggot making two swift kicks before leaping back out of reach.
◆ Battle Medicine ◆ Flurry ◆ Stride
Wavering from the massive strikes, Reknar retaliates - "I am not dead yet maggot!"
When a mortal dies, their soul travels to the Boneyard in the Outer Planes where they are judged by Pharasma, the goddess of the dead. Once they have been judged, their soul is sent on to their final reward or punishment in the afterlife, and in the process is transformed into a creature known as a petitioner. Ed identifies the horrid maggot creature as a larva, a petitioner created from a corrupted soul in the Abyss.
Fortunately, the larva is not very tough. Tol moves to flank the fiend and delivers a good hit, then Reknar smashes it to pulp with two powerful blows of his hammer!
The remaining cultists are weak as well, and they quickly fall to your attacks. A few minutes later, the glowing ritual circle here goes inert. You've likely disrupted whatever fell purpose it might have served.
Tol makes an adventurer’s professional assessment of the disarrayed corpses.
Then, if Hess is satisfied there are no hidden caches of gems or hiddenish secrety doors Tol will suggest they check the Roome of Croaking.
”Ed - I still don’t think we need to use the potion of invisibility just yet but I won’t argue. No ise having it if we are all dead after all. Hess, you want to scout the room of the croakbeast?”
"Whatever you say Tol," Ed nods in agreement, "Yes time to investigate that room."
"Wait! You want me to go first? Look how little I am. One trap could wipe me out".
Still not wanting to disappoint, Hess moves forward to check the door.
The door seems safe, so you open it and move into the room. Stone tables fill this vast hall, many of them covered with cutlery, dishware, goblets, or tools. Rusty iron chandeliers hang from the ceiling, but instead of large candles providing light, huge glowing mushrooms spring out of each holder, bathing the room in a dim bluish-green radiance.
A trio of froglike humanoids, boggards, are sorting through several items on the tables and cleaning the grime from them. The creatures have slightly phosphorescent pale green flesh gives them an almost ghostly look.
The three glare at you with their big, red eyes. One of them steps forward and speaks in a guttural voice. "More humans. Are you with the robed ones?" she asks with a decidedly unfriendly tone.
Ed raises his hands in a non threatening manner, "We wish you no harm. We are not with the robed ones, and we seek to oppose them. Can you tell us where to find the leader?"
Tol thinks quickly, and realising he has no weapon in hand, raises it. Then the other. Hands held up he smiles.
”See. No robes!”
The boggard grunts. "If you truly mean no harm, then you may pass. I am Gurga of the Black Lake clan. We came to this place to look for treasures when the robed humans arrived. They have not attacked us... yet. But we do not trust them. We are waiting for them to leaev so that we can make our way back to our home.
"I assume the humans' leader is down below, near the Black Lake where we dwell. There is a secret door to the west that leads to a weird room with stairs going down. There are others of our kind down there as well. We will craft you friend badges so that the other boggards will know not to attack you."
Gurga and the other boggards take a few minutes to construct small badges made from chips of stone, glowing mushrooms, rodent teeth, and a sticky brown substance that might be mud. They offer you the badges when they are done.
Ed carefully pins the badge to his cloak, and motions for the others to follow suit. "Thank you again. We will deal with robed ones as we have our own score to settle with them."
Tol nods in thanks. He asks a few questions of Gurga while also donning his own badge…
”Gurga, I am Tol. Did you come up to this place from the chambers below? And the Black Lake lies even deeper below? Can you tell us more of what lies down where your friends are now?”
Hess gleefully accepts the badge of honor, and first smells it then touches a grubby little finger to it before tasting it, then smiles and pins it to his cloak.
"Thank you for the wonderful gift". He then reaches into one of his many hidden pouches and produces a ball of lint he had been collecting.
"And in return as a gesture of friendship... I offer you this incredible collection that I have been nurturing for years".
Reknar reluctantly accepts the badge in silence, his hands firmly on weapon and shield.