Kyle quietly makes his way down from the stairs and opens a few of the doors on his way by. They open easily and inside is what looks like a commode. A slab of marble with a hole upon the top sits about chair height in each one. You now stand outside the door with the whimpering in it.
As Kyle descends the stairs not only are there bloodied foot prints down the steps, but there is also a deep red streak spiraling above them. Over and over again above it in Celestial it reads 'Louder, Louder, Louder'. This is repeated all the way until the bottom of the stairs where they open up into a larger room. This time it cuts into the center instead of having an opening from the perimeter into the center of the tower. A set of banisters are elaborately carved from the bone and make a swirling pattern.
This room appears to be a straight hallway. At the base of the stairs sit two raised platforms on either side. To the left of the stairs stands a skeleton in a purple robe with black highlights. Another one of these robes lay on the ground next to two bodies dressed in light leather armor. The hallway is lined with doors, and in the farthest one of the right a slight whimpering can be heard.
After clearing the Temple to Ka the party sought the advice of a Fortune teller named Gail. She was struck by divine enlightenment and turned an ancient scroll the party had found into a map. It updates with information on places the party knows about and has traveled to.
The map led them south and east to a tower made of bone. Tanker, a dune walker druid on his way to dune willow accompanied the party there, but went on his way. He gave them a willow medalion that will signal if they are in dire need.
Inside they found a servants quarters and an armory which had a fancy Armour and a magic ring guarded by regenerating skeletons. Also inside were some books and notes, and a Map of a unknown place called Sangoria. Over the bedroom door the name Sibal was written.
With bloodied footsteps leading down into the next room, what will the adventurers do?
The cobwebs seem thicker to the right, but line the whole thing. The passages turn at either end.
Neither seems to have discerning marks. The path to the left does look slightly more eroded than the one to the right (as if something acidic crept down it).
The hallway jutting out of the cavern takes a step down and continues downward. Cobwebs lightly line the walls, though some are singed lightly along the walls which appear sanded. The hallway comes to a T with another passage which looks like an unrelated section of stone. The stone here is dark black and smooth in large brick chunks. It veers to the left and right.
The entrance here is broken into the new section of stone, as if something jarred some bricks loose.
The Goos melt away as their form dissolves.
Alright enough with the one liners huh? Leave the glib remarks to me next time we get in a goey situation. Nilee says and puts the instrument on her back.
Nilee steps back and sings a second verse of her battle hymn, envigorating the party.
Caliban manages to crunch through the Jelly and carve out a piece with his Morningstar, splitting the jelly into two smaller ones. They flow to either side, one to hit Caliban the other to hit Nilee.
Slam 1: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 3 = 12
Slam 2: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 3 = 12
Both miss and just roll into seperate blobs.
Kyle gets an aoo
Kyle is able to land a hit on the Goo, cracking through the crust and piercing through the jelly.
Although losing his footing slightly Caliban manages to light his sunroof and place it in the side of the jelly near him. With the extra light in the room, and a sunroof placed in its side, the jelly seems to crust over.
strength: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10
slam: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11
It manages to move ever so slightly but is too slow to hit Caliban back.
Yogort does not see any spider, but out of this cavern is another thin hallway sloping down. Hanging from the ceiling it appears like there are small cobwebs. The walls of the crack are also very smooth, as if sanded.
Yogort steps up and makes a giant cleave into the jelly, carving out a piece with his axe. It plops onto the floor and wiggles slightly, and then just gives out and dissolves. The rest of the Goo jiggles as it is carved, and you see some of the mushrooms it landed on and absorbed, as well as the skeletons, seem to dissolve further. The corner Yogort chopped off fills in slightly.
Nilee sees this and steps back slightly, retrieving the lyre from her back. She begins to strum and hum lightly. Each of you feels energized and alert.
You get a plus one to damage and attack rolls from now on
Kyle, after another witty retort also fails to get purchase in the strange Goo, despite it not making any swift dodges.
Kyle recognizes this as an Umbra Jelly. They are light sensitive and harden when exposed to light. They are acidic and digest things they absorb, and split when cut.
Nilee looked impressed at first after you saved her and made a witty quip, but as your Morningstar comes down short of the Glob she begins to laugh lightly. The Glob seems to flow backwards towards Nilee then gushes forward towards Caliban.
Slam Attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9
But it plops loudly to his side.
It looks like some sort of jelly. You can see floating inside of it are bits of mushroom and a few corroding skeletons of bats and rats. With your perception you can see that it seems firmer and condensed on Nilee's side, and more gelatinous on your side. The bottom also seems thick and congealed. You can see Nilee through it sillouetted by her torch.
Nilee Init: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6
Goo Init: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (18) - 2 = 16
Yogort Init: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 2 = 12
Order
Caliban,
Goo,
Kyle
Yogort,
Nilee
The Goo lands as the glass vial shatters beneath him and it seems to sizzle and melt, but holds together intact.
Nilee is thoroughly moved. She daintily twirls out of the way as the giant gloop lands directly where she was.
Woah, thanks for the push she says wiping the hair from her eyes. What a nasty thing you are huh
Caliban believes that the bite was done by a spider and that it was poison from the bite in the wound. However the boiling in the sun bit does not seem related, that seems the work of some kind of shadow magic.
Caliban luckily looks up and sees, in the dimness of the room, some amorphous black blob stuck to the ceiling making a light squelch sound. In the flickering light of Nilee's torch you see it diesengage from the ceiling with a light pop, falling directly down towards her.
These mushrooms have a slight anesthetic property to them. They are mild and grow in dim dank areas like seaside desert caves.
As you squeeze through the crack the light on the other side is significantly lower. There is little chillweed here. Luckily Nilee ahead of you has lit a torch.
The stone is this small entryway is very craggy, but walkable. In all the room is about 25 feet in circumference. To the north there is a a another small passage that winds off into the darkness.
Around this room instead there are mushrooms. Small green fungus very unlike the ones that the halflings were farming.
everyone else please make perception
You know as much as we do. Nilee might reiterate her title if you ask kindly. He chuckles and Nilee glares at him. She straps her instrument onto her back and turns to head into the cave.
While this sounds similar to vampires, they do not generally leave green goo at their incision points, and are not as big as in this case. Also while a vampire is weak to the sun, generally what it feeds upon is not, unless they are a vampire.
Dengal slowly rises, he looks to be adult half elf but the strain of work has drained him a bit. He grabs a cane from the shelves behind him and walks you to the door. The cow pen is nearby, and you have to chrouch a bit in the low ceiling of that part of the cave, but it opens back up in the hallway where you were previously. The crack in the wall sits in the back of the cave, a slight whistle eminating from it as a draft spills out.
A human woman is sitting on the ground strumming a small string instrument. She is wearing a cowhide leather outfit, and has short brown hair. She stands quickly as you approach.
By Kotu's song you sure take you're time don'tcha? Alright names Nilee Nubelle, daughter of Noelle Nubelle, Head SongSpirit of Jubill, fifth cousin of prince Juball Jubelle of Jubill.
She seems to run out of air she recited this from memory, and one of the other farm hands seem to mock her and talk along, implying they have all heard this many times before.
Oh quit it Chandran. We off into the cave or what?
One last note Dengal says The body of the cow we found was acting strange. It didn't seem cast a shadow, and when we brought it out the barn, the sun seemed to boil it. That's about all we know.
The half elf looks up and nods to the halflings. Thank you Billy, that will be all. Billy waddles off and the half elf looks up and studies you through a pair of glasses.
And thank you fellows for volunteering to take care of our problem. My name is Dengal Carver, my family has run this farm for as many generations back as the Scribes can remember, and that is saying something. I presume you have heard about the monster. Recently a sandspout to the south shook the area and opened a crack in the wall out behind the pen. Something came out and killed one of our cows. Big fangs, and some kind of green poison. That's all we know.
If you are willing to take on whatever is in that cave, I can offer you 50 gold each, sadly that's about all we can afford. There is a local woman who would like to come along as well, Nilee. You seem better fit to take on the danger than her by herself, so it is up to you if you take her along, though she won't like being left out.
Assuming you follow him you, you wind through a short stint of cave with all manner of halflings going about their day. You see some carrying wheelbarrows of chillweed, others full of mushroom. You pass a couple rooms that look like a distillery, another a small workshop. The farm seems to be its own little underground ecosystem.
You get to an Era that appears more residential, you see children running about, mostly halflings but some humans and half elves, and you take the first door there into an office. At a desk sits a half elf, muttering to himself scribbling down on paper.
Boss these here folks are lookin' to get inta the cave out back and take care of o' our monster problem. They seem real confident, and I think they deserve more'n just the 50, what with three o' em and all.
Oi, good thing too, we were getting restless in here I'll tell ya what. Rightie, I'll take you down to the boss. Not much'n I can do 'bout the price, I ain't got the gold meself. You'll have to talk to Carv' boutique that's. If'n ya don't mind ill take ya to him.
He opens up the rest of the door and you fit inside alright. This part of the cavern has been dug for taller folks, but the main cow area you saw earlier looked like a bit of a squeeze for medium sized creatures.
Presuming you back track and head to the front door of the cave, you find that it is locked. The rattling announces your presence and a small slit opens up halfway down the door, and a pair of halflings eyes look up at you.
Next to the door is a large sign with the text reading 'Adventurers wanted, 50 gold reward for killing monster harrasing farm' in sloppy white paint. It has a stick figure of a soldier fighting a large amorphous monster of unknown make (due to poor artistic ability) in the center.
Howdy, what can we we be doing ya for?
Kyle did in fact hear tell of the local farmers looking for adventurers for some reason. However there no other specifics.
On the other side of the door, through some slats in the patchwork wooden door, Kyle can see a couple dozen bovines roaming and munching at chillweed hanging from the low lying ceiling. A couple yards away stand two figures, one wearing a pair of overalls with a shovel slung over his shoulders, and a second one in nicer work clothes. They are both short, small creatures.
They are speaking
Shovel Guy "A shame it got Bessie, whatever did it. She was a good milking cow. Never put up a fuss."
Nicer Guy "'Tis. I have a poster up outside but ain't no one seemed interested yet besides Nilee. She's rearin' to go check it out, might just send her in on her own if no one else takes an interest, if'n she'll go."
Shovel Guy"Huh. Any idea whats in there?"
Nicer Guy"No clue, somethin' big that's for sure if'n it got teeth that big. An somethin' wasn't right 'bout the body. I'd stay back towards the front working till this is sorted out."
Shovel Guy"Right, thanks boss."
With that the two separate and head away from the door.
You enter into another dimly lit hallway. The mooing is very loud coming from a door on your left. That is the only door in this area. Down the hallway to the right You can see there is a slight crack in the wall just tight enough for each of you to fit single file.
Nothing of real value stored here other than to those working the land (cave?). Behind the door the moos sound louder, but still slightly muffled. There is a draft coming through up and out the door you came in through.
Caliban pushes the door open lightly. Looking back the way you came the door is well hidden in the back corner of the room, and painted over to resemble the sandstone walls. Inside it is still quite dark, but the room appears lined with wooden shelving. Bags of fertilizer, feed, trowels and other tools sit on the shelves.
Another door can be made out in the darkness across the way, and an unlit torch sits in a sconce beside it.
Yogort's law book talks about breaking and entering being illegal.
As the party approaches the end of the hallway they get to a wooden door. The sound of mooing grows louder and seems to be coming from nearby, but not right outside the door. No light creeps around the doorframe except dim light from chillweed.
It looks just like you left it, sandy, with red brick walls. It is about six feet tall and four feet wide. Some chillweed grows from the cracks in the brick. It is a couple hundred feet long
You know that chillweed coalesces moisture from the air into its bulb, and that it secretes a dimly bioluminescent fluid. Enoigh with some study could be used to make either a light potion or the thick fluid can help make the alchemical item liquid blade.
Kyle hears the soft clanking of glassware from the opposite loft upstairs, where he can see Caliban cleaning up his potion supplies. He can also see that in the corner of the room the floorboards appear loose.
The clattering of Caliban's lab equipment cover the quiet squeak of the door as Kyle enters.
Kyle peaks through a window and sees that the barn appears empty of people. Although sand beaten the paint is relatively fresh and it appears well kept.
Inside there are a dozen shovels lining one of the side walls, a bunch of wheelbarrows and farming supplies rest against another. In the center of the room there is a section of the wooden floor that is slick with blood, and hooks hang from the ceiling down there. Raised near the ceiling there is some meat drying on other hooks, and in a loft on one side lie shelves of meat.
As described above there is a barn outside and wooden doors blocking the entrance to the cave. Inlaid in the larger wooden doors is a smaller medium sized creature sized door.
The most likely place for a tunnel would be in the already existing cave structure into which the farm is built.
With their intimate knowledge of the area, either asking around or having been here a while, Yogort and Kyle know that the civilians of Farport subsist off of a farming complex built into a cavern system to the south of the city. A local plant called chillweed grows underground in the damp and dark of the cave. It is a small dandelion looking plant that grows dimly blue and water condenses in the bulb of the plant. This allows the farm animals to graze in the cavern.
The entrance to the caves are blocked by a set of wooden doors. A large barn sits outside. It looks well kept, but there is no sign of anyone. Lots of footsteps and hoove prints lead up to the doors.
The guards look at each other as you approach and one steps forward and shouts.
"Stay back and go on your way. The archive is off limits to strangers and is not permitting guests. Trespassing will be met with extreme hostility."
When questioned about the spire they soften slightly.
"Look, it's been there for as long as anyone can remember, and any attempts to dig around it, or anywhere around here end up filling back in during the next storm. Now please be on your way before a scribe comes by and sees you."
Dang you got mad skills, adding 18, thats higher than most rolls!
I just included that in the post because you would have passed it.
In his time in the city gathering information he has found that no one knows what the spike it is. It has been there for as long as anyone can remember and seems very old. The townsfolk just leave it be.
hold up there buddy ;)
Out from the tavern the path to the center of the town is well worn, as the other end leads to the docks. Out in the open, with not much else around, there is a large spike of black stone that cuts into the sky. Another lighter path breaks off to the north
The archive itself sits to the north east of the city. Around it stands a large white stone wall with guard towers interspersed in such a way to allow one within view at every point along the wall. Upon the top of each sits a small glowing blue orb.
In the middle of the wall there is a steel gate that sits set into the wall. Two guardsmen stand at attention outside it.
Through the gate you can see a large circular building of carved black stone, resembling the spike in the center of the city.
He looks at you confusedly at first, then he seems to sober up and leans in close.
" The boundless book gives unlimited knowledge to those who study from it. Scribes have been transferring all known history, arcane information, and so on for centuries. Though you risk going mad from the transfer. It is held at the bottom. All the way down. The archive goes all the way down.
With that he his grabbed by the guards and dragged out of the tavern.
After his arrival a few days earlier Kyle had set immediately to work. Getting the inhabitants of Farport to open up to him had been an uphill battle, they all seemed busy, worn down, and distrusting of strangers. Finally the moment Kyle had been waiting for arrived, a pair of Scribes from the archive entered the bar. An unusual sight, but after a few mutters and a moment of hush the tavern blared back to life.
The two appeared to be celebrating something, and after a short time the older of the two walked off, leaving a singular young man, robed in the customary purple and wearing four chain links about his neck on a copper necklace. As Kyle approached he seems welcoming, a welcome sight. With no inhibitions he talks openly about his knowledge of the Archive. stopping only to take antoher drink, belch loudly, or find the correct word.
"M'names timothy", he slurs, just coherently enough to be intelligible. After some small talk and some carefully questioning he lets on more. "I've jus' got a... pr'motion. I got me fourth sh'ckle." He points clumsily to the necklace he is wearing with a thin finger.
"The'ave in there stuff so old, I dunno, its probably... old. From before the shackling. But before Siscep left, he left us his great big book. The... Bindless Book, got a page for everything, never ends. I ain't seen it, only sixth shackled even really get to know it exists".
They got some other stuff from around then too, I think they got Pin's sword, though I'm just guessin'. I don't know much about Wen, religion and history aren't mah strong suit. I'm a onte.. orni.. ornithological metamagologist".
As he finished his sentence, another Scribe walks in with two guardsmen, and points to Timothy.
You have the chance for one more question.
The city of Farport sits to the north west of the Clench. An isolated encampment, it is the home of the grand archive, an elaborate and secretive gathering of Clerics of Siscep. It is rumored they keep and study a great many items of immense power and ancient tomes only the wisest and most revered have access too.
Just outside the walls of the archive, which is heavily guarded, lie the refuse of the archive. A small patch of humanoids has gathered living outside. Many wisemen come and beg at the gates for entrance, or theives attempt entrance through other means. In so far as is known, none have succeeded in entering.
Due to the short stay of most visitors, strangers are far and in between. A few nights at the Dusty Flagon and they are on their way. The interior of the Dust Flagon is wooded and musty. It appears to be a repurposed barn, or storage shed, barely accommodating the two dozen customers. A recent shipment of grain from Jubal has brought with it stowaways and voyagers who will likely be gone within the week.
You find yourself here, among the rabble. A ground of incredibly tanned and muscular men and woman sit in the corner, common customers. The spades are loud and rowdy, but town folks have come to ignore their escapades.
Two couples sit at the bar, and on one end a lonely grizzled man sits alone, drooping over his cup.
Small groups of people sit at table keys scattered around talking lightly and keeping to themselves.
Homebrew game for friends. Already closed just posting for reference.
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