Do we have time for this? We have some sort of fireman who said he wouldn't wait for us forever up stairs. And if he heads out the mouth of the cave he'll prolly set off an explosion whether he wants to or not sealing us in here
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... Arnek casts detect magic and touches the oily substance trying to figure out what it is. He smells his finger.... Anyone have any clue what this stuff is?
Arnek keeps a low profile, while the others decide who is going down the hole, picking through a random pile of supplies. Please don't let them think of tying a rope around me, just because I'm light, and lowering me down like a piece of bait on a fishing line for whatever might be lurking down in that water.
I was not expecting that... Arnek inches a little closer to the hole and takes a peek down into the darkness casting dancing lights and sending them down into the pit.
Casts detect magic, then casts light on a rock handing Ito Korunar. Finally he sends a ray of fire towards the darkness to see what happens .
. looks like they shucked off all their clothes and went swimming. Another underwater tunnel you think?
Arnek has a shiver run down his spine as a thought occurs to him. He walks up-to one of the bundles of cloth and looks underneath....
Arnek follows everyone else through the wall. I guess I was completely off track about the wall. I was so sure it had something to do with the light too... What do you think is up with the pile of laundry?
The others got by without destroying them... Probably used a darkness spell or some kin o illusion. Maybe we can just cover them...
Let's stsrt by turning off all of our lights... then if that isn't enough we can start in on the glowing stones.
Arnek backs up to the maximum range of his spell and as soon as everyone is clear he hits the wall with a "Ray o Fire".
I think it's a trap meant to stop folks that aren't of last-embers people. Prolly means it involves fire. If you all want to back up I could hit it with a fire ray.
Okay we're making our way to the other side of the water... I'll need some help though.
Arnek walks down to the water and ducks under. He takes a few experimental kicks in the water then something comes over him and he decides to go for it. He kicks and pulls at the ceiling but he makes it to the other side of the water.
Well I vote that we go catch up with the other people from terrace before they go stumbling into all the traps in the tunnels...
Well as I see it we have two choices. One we continue on and Last-Ember waits here. Two we confront the Knosp outside the cave... and Last-Ember waits here till the explosives are cleared. Last-Ember will you be okay waiting for us?
Okay... The plan is to go warn the other people from terrace of the danger they are in. Then let them go deal with the knosp, which should be a pretty good distraction; eh Emerich! Then we deal with the tree. Huh, I wonder what those explosives would do to the tree. Well... lets go find the others... Um... does anyone know where to find the others from Terrace?
Ignan:
Thank you The Last Embers. We are still trying to figure out how best to deal with the knosp, but I think working together is in everyone's best interest. Your input would be most welcome. As the rest of the party shows up Arnek will address them. Last-Ember here has agreed to work with us for the well being of all. Our immediate problem is still the knosp outside the cave with the explosives. Do we go and get the others from Terrace to help with them, try and fight them ourselves, or try to trick them some more? I for one am worried they'll figure out a way to blow the entrance. We've left them alone for a while now.
I wanted to warn you. Their are knosp just outside the cave and they have explosives set up to cause a cave in. If you go out there and create fire you could set them off dropping allot of rocks on you and sealing us in here. There are also other people in the caves. People the knosp had pretended to help but really just wanted to seal in here as well . I think if we asked the other people in the cave ,they might help you free your people from the knosp. Especially when they find out about the explosives.
Arnek will run after the burning man shouting... Ignan: Wait... we want to help you. You've been captured once already and they're waiting at the entrance of the cave. Your chances of success will be better with our help.
Should we find the other people from Terrace and let them know that we think the solution to our problem is to take the tree down? They might be motivated to help out if they here about the explosives.
The question then is what is our next step. My gut says that part of the puzzle for us is to help.... I'm sorry what was your name? My name is Arnek Redding.
Arnek turns to his companions and looks down as he slowly and thoughtfully says... Okay, I think I need to say that you were all right about coming in to the mine. I have spent a month in this tree loving village and I have learned more in the last three minutes then during that entire time among the... Knosp. Arnek turns back to the man with the fiery blood much like his own. I know what it's like to lose every one you care about. And you are right about fire running through my veins. It seems we have much in common. I truly am glad to meet you. Arnek walks up to the man and extends a handshake to him.
Arnek looks at the stranger. I do not know about you... But... I would be glad to no longer be stuck behind that door. It must have seemed like an eternity. And I know that I can't know what it was like for you. But I think you can afford to give us the benefit of the doubt and trust us when we say that we want to be your friend. Haha.
Arnek Gives a low whistle... That's some strong magic you got growing on you Trini... Somehow I think trying to pry or even burn it off will only be treating a symptom, not the cause... wonder how much of you it will grow to cover... guess that's what you get for messing with magics you don't understand. But it does looks like it's meant to protect not harm. Arnek turns around as the being raises it's arms. Actually we're free lancers. We work a little for everyone. It's much cleaner than picking s specific side. Hedging your bets and all that.
of course it's going to be magic! But let's see what kind of trouble your inquisitiveness has gotten you into. Turning his back to the newcomer Arnek casts detect magic and examines the patch.
Arnek scratches his neck and steps forward looking at this person steps out of the room.
I'm so glad we found you. We're the ones who came to save you from your imprisonment here.
Arnek scratches his temple... Well fire seems to help it grow... I wonder what cold does.
Arnek casts detect magic and eyes the water as well the immediate surroundings... I have no problems continuing on this path or going down the other... but I would definitely need allot of help navigating the underwater tunnel.
Camping this week and cell coverage is way worse then I expected. My apologies for the expected lack of engagement this week. Will be back on Friday.
Just for the record, So I can say I told you I said so later... I think going in is a bad idea... But lets do this... so which way are we going guys?
So... Um guys... What's our play here? I mean if we spend too much time in here the villagers WILL find another way to blow up the entrance to the mine. I think we have to choose a side. To be honest I am kind of inclined to help the villagers. You have to push them pretty far to get them to fight you... So you guys should ask yourselves wouldn't terrace be better off without the people who mistreated the people of the village so much? This iteration would have been solved along time ago if the various guilds hadn't been working against each other. And don't the villagers have the right to defend themselves?
Sorry, traveling this week... Been keeping an eye on things though.
Arnek does what every smart person does when he's not sure what to do. He Stalls. Looking at the head Guard.Look first off we are WAY TOO CLOSE to the blast area. I know allot about Geology and this is a very tricky type of substrate that your going to be blasting through. I'm pretty sure that there's a sandstone inclusion here which with all the seismic activity could liquidate and possibly kill all of us here. That's not even taking into account the local fault line. You could easily cause not just a landslide here, and send huge boulders flying in our direction but this might even trigger an earthquake that could hurt allot of people back at the village. Before we do this we should back off at least 100 yards further than we are now.
Arnek looks down at the stick wondering how it works. he casts detect magic and examines the magical device...
Wow... Um... so are you guys ready for this? He scratches his head with the stick. I mean, we're about to kill allot of people. Arnek looks at his companions trying to figure out whether they REALLY want to side with the towns folk over the other groups from Terrace.
Hahaha... looks like the town folk have a plan of their own... not as spineless as they first appeared... Arnek walks over to the wagon to see if there are any more bundles... and tries to get a closer look at the villagers bundles as he walks past them.
Arnek picks up the scabbard and hands it to Korunar. There are some creatures in that can only be hurt by magic blades. You will be very happy to have this if we ever meet one of those. As for the bracers... well we all have armor that is just as good or better. But they will still help any one of us against some magical attacks. So who wants em?
Dwarven:
I don't know... I've met a dwarf or two who wouldn't mind lying to you. True your folk do tend to be a bit more sturdy in both temperament and build then most folks. Arnek give Daniel a wink and continues on with the group as they leave the inn.
Arnek looks at Trini... Looks at Daniel... Looks at Trini... And gets up stretching his arms. Whelp... I think it's time for me to stretch my legs... Good luck Daniel... I think you will need it. With that the gnome steps away from the table watching to see what happens... With a grin on his face.
Arnek pads back to the table and shares what he heard with the others trying to put two and two together.
Well if we're going to spy on them then we might as well do it properly. Arnek gets up from his chair and crosses to the door. He opens it just a little and slips out looking for a good place to find cover and listen in.
If he is detected: He goes into bold faced lie mode... Hey Vivi... I was looking for some tobacco...I was ondering if you had some.... Oh hello folks didn't realize you were out here.
Arnek has never seen or heard of this Trio before, and doesn't recognize which guild from terrace they might belong to from their bearing. He keeps his mouth shut and his eyes and ears open to be ready for anything.
So back to the inn? Arnek does not sound excited about the prospect of seeing Vivi again.
Arnek smiles at as Trini tries to get the boys to recognize the spectral figure from the night before through her crude drawing. You see kids the boy in this picture... you may not know him. But maybe you have heard of him. We've heard a story or two about a ghost that looks a little like the picture here. Have any of you ever heard a story about something that sounds like that.
That's a good Idea... here let me see if I can get the attention of some of the kids... Arnek casts dancing lights and start pretending to juggle the balls of light in front of him to get the children's attention. Then tosses the balls up into the air where they get stuck. Then he pretends to get mad at the balls and shakes his fingers at them yelling at them. Finally he stomps the ground seemingly causing the lights to fall from the sky to the ground where they wink out of existence.
I hate it when that happens.... Oh hey kids... mind if my friends ask you a question or two?
Arnek quietly talks to Daniel and Korunar so as not to disturb the ritual. whisper: Well Iv'e never been one to be big on worshipping the Gods... I always felt that you make your choices... and those make yo u who you are... Sounds like Korunar puts his reust in steel... How about you Daniel... what kind of things do you trust in?
Seemed weird to me the first time I saw it... seems weird to me still... It's a tree... maybe a magic tree but it's still just a tree. Arnek will find a place to sit where he can watch what's going on with out getting to close to or interacting with the crazy tree cult people.
I would really rather not go back to Terrace with out some thing to show for our time here. Especially considering that the other guilds are all planning their raids on the mine. I kind of think we are all in a race with them. It's unusual for an iteration of the Abyss to last as long as this one has. If we delay too long we might lose our chance to earn our place in the Guild
I wonder if that was the source of the laughter that woke me up last night... I heard a child laughing.
When everyone else wakes up Arnek is already eating breakfast. He makes polite conversation with people as they show up... and is delighted to let people know he has had the best sleep he's had in a couple weeks. He's really glad Vivi let him sleep in the inn.
Arnek stays quite and stares at the fire place paying little heed as the others go to bed. He simply waits for Vivi to let him know where to sleep. If the answer never comes he is more than prepared to sleep in one of the chairs in the common room. It would certainly not be the most uncomfortable place he had slept this last month.
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