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"Oh I definitely like the sound of Bull's End or Horn's Fall." Harry snickers a little to himself as he thinks. A full agent, eh. Hmm, now to figure out how to turn a nice profit out of this...... The cave's too important to the gillmen to sell it's location, but maybe a nice little monograph on the runes? I could probably get a few speaking engagements!
Harry looks over at the thoroughly clobbered minotaur. "Zohls! I knew I was going to get a good shot in this time, but I guess I don't need to now. Oh well...." He then pauses to think about Janira's question. "We could always make sure this particular entrance is documented into the caves as well - it is a bit easier to reach the runes and the relic city, as you don't need to cross a pit. Otherwise, I think Acher did a fair job of summing it up, ma'am."
Harry will need to get across the river soon to heal poor, loyal Riri! He can't believe he was worried about the beast biting him when they first met. But, nothing is safe over there until the minotaur is dead. Harry takes a deep breath, and tries to center himself before aiming and firing.
Unfortunately, the sight of bits of Riri dropping off the axehead is a bit of a distraction, and Harry shoots wide. "If we can drop him soon, I can heal Riri!"
Harry hustles forward with his bow. Unfortunately, the beast is just beyond Harry's longest accurate distance, but he chooses to shoot anyhow. At least it's not mixing it up with the half-pint right now, so I don't have to worry about hitting her!. Harry aims carefully: . However, it just doesn't seem to matter from where he's at. You hear Harry curse in a variety of languages, with a heavy frequency of "Zohls!" and requests for various curses to be rained down upon the bowyer, the fletcher, and the minotaur. Next time I'll move a little closer, and stick him like my dear ma's pincushion!
Harry stows away his alchemical fire, nocks and arrow to his bowstring, and tightens his grip. He really doesn't look forward to fighting whatever has Janira's attention - most likely that bull-headed minotaur. Stupid thing just wouldn't give up!. He momentarily loosens his grip to make sure the wand is easily accessible in his pack when he needs it, because he suspects there may be great need soon.
Harry reaches into his pack, and withdraws some alchemists fire. "We can burn it out, if need be. I have FIRE!" Harry will then take a close look at Dinuci . Hmm, dwarves must be amazingly resilient he looks to be in perfect health! I wonder if it's their diet? It certainly can't be their taste in music....
Harry ambles forward, finishing up the last of his notes as he goes. "Oh, bother. Zohls! Is this place going to be overrun by nuisances the whole time? Did any of you happen to notice that counterclockwise rotation he did of the bones in the water? Pure Azlanti!" Looking annoyed, Harry nocks an arrow to his bow and aims at the kobold in red. "Filthy vermin! No better than cockroaches!"
Harry hopes no-one notices his note-taking during the ceremony. He was on an ethnology kick a year ago, and it still crops up from time to time. Hmm, very Azlanti in flavor. I guess that's support for their claim to be descended from the last of the Azlants. Following the ceremony, Harry will recover Susie (his brass knuckles), and then, drawing his bow, follow Dinuci to the other side.
Harry spends some time studying the dead dhampir, and looks around the room carefully. I mean, what kind of secret lair doesn't have a secret passage? He's baffled when he doesn't find one, and so asks the others to help him look about. You can hear hmm muttering about "no wonder the fool is dead" and "probably a lousy necromancer too" the whole time.
"Perhaps we should go back and inform our new gillman friend that some remains of his people, slightly worse the wear from our weapons, can be found in this room?"
Harry pokes around in his quiver, looking for the blunt arrows he could have sworn he had bought. You hear some highly creative swearing; it's truly amazing what one can do to Common when using Draconic swear-words and an Aquaan grammar! Harry studies the space immediately in front of Acher, thinking perhaps he'll jump in there to offer support and assistance when the final skeleton comes forward. He's worried if he jumps in too soon though, he'll merely make this a more difficult combat. For how, he'll sit back here, cursing himself and doing what he can to support the rest of the team.
Harry is pretty happy where he is. He looks down at Susie (his lovely and wonderful set of brass knuckles), sighs, and removes them. He reaches forward and taps Chilly on the shoulder. "Would you like to borrow these?" Harry is willing to spend the next few seconds trying to get a blunt weapon into the hands of someone a bit stronger and healthier looking than himself.
Harry will, indeed, tap the dwarf on the head with the wand, while shouting "HEEL!" at him. Of course, everyone else will hear it as "Heal!", but it's the little things (no pun intended towards the dwarf, mmmm hmmm) that makes life fun sometimes. As Cure Light Wounds is on his spell list, and is one he actually knows (albeit can only use on himself for now), he doesn't even have to lie to the wand about his intentions.
Harry finishes up the lecture on skeletons - and man is he parched after all that talking! He takes a quick swig of water from his canteen to cut the dust, and looks around the new stretch of cave. He holds two fingers roughly a knuckle's length apart and looks through them, first by his eye and then with his arm fully extended. He then peers intently at each of you, and again at the skeleton he can see. He then announces "Gentlemen, and lady of course, as well as you my noble lupine companion, I do believe that one of you will need to forego glory, and come join me back here. There simply isn't sufficient space here for all of you to stand in a line and smite our foes."
Harry tries to remember what he knows of skeletons to inform the others of any particular strengths, weaknesses, or attacks they may have ( ).
As he's informing the others of what he remembers, Harry is busy stowing his bow - mostly useless in this sort of combat. He draws a set of brass knuckles from a pouch at his waist with a wicked grin. Oh, Susie me dear, are you ready to kiss some more foes for me? I know I've missed wielding you...
Harry gets a giant grin on his face. "Thanks, Acher! I KNEW something cool could happen. It's old magic!" That dwarf is definitely in a hurry. I don't really want to kill anything I don't have to, but sometimes you just need to bash a few heads together. I guess he's having one of those days today. Well, best to humor him and keep on with our mission I suppose. Harry turns and bows once more to Uori. "Thank you, sir. We hope you find what you're looking for here as well. In the meanwhile, we'll be poking about a bit more, and hopefully leave this place a bit safer for you and yours." Harry looks at Acher and Chilly. "Our compatriot seems to be impatient to see what else there is to these caves. Can't say I blame him, seeing as he's a dwarf who's never been in a cave before! Shall we?" Harry strides off towards Dinuci, to continue exploring the caves.
" No - nothing that active, it's more the symbolism! We saw the farmer, the merchant, the craftsman, and the thief. I bet if we examine the city, we'll see something we can use for a quick symbolic prayer as a sign of respect. Come take a quick look with me?" Harry moves into the water, and stares at the city in awe and desperation, while his lips moves in silent prayer in stride with his thoughts. Zohls, I do this in your name, even if it is for another. Like you I cannot stand a mystery, and I ask your humor here. Harry studies the miniature city, for signs of something he could make, something he could plant, something he could buy or sell, or something he could steal, at least in some symbolic form.
Harry bows deeply to the gillman, and waits until he is upright and facing the gillman before simply saying "Thank you, Uori". He then turns to face the others, and asks "I had some ideas after looking at the runes in that last room. Perhaps we should make an obsecration here to Aroden? I suspect our usual deities will understand, and be forgiving, as we are in a place of his worship, and it seems polite. We were able to see four different aspects of Aroden - should we try to figure out how to imitate one of them here?"
Harry studies the gillman ( ) carefully, and notices both his apparent lip fetish and the similarity of the gillman's cloak to the one they found. Harry mentions "I had a friend growing up who got really sick when he was a kid. Something in the fever ruined his ears, and he couldn't hear. He learned to figure out what people were saying by watching their lips." Harry moves forward, and turns to face the gillman. Once the gillman turns to look at his, he politely ( ) tells the gillman "Hello, friend. We are sorry to have disturbed you in your meditation at this holy site. We hope our worship here will not disturb you as well? We are here on behalf of the Pathfinder Society to map out these caves. A previous group, mapping the mountains, noticed your people using these caves. This was thought to be worth noting, as your people are not well-known for venturing so far from the sea. Those carvings in the previous cave are phenomenal, and so old! Is that why your people come here? I know you are descendants of the old Azlanti.I found the stories of the Craftsman, the Thief, the Farmer, and the Merchant to be fascinating in their differences from the tales I have seen! Oh, oh dear, I'm so sorry - my name is Haraldo, but my friends call me Harry. Please feel free to do so as well, Uori. As to the cloak, we found one at the bottom of the pit." Harry waves behind them, and then continues "It seems like we left it back there. I think it was magical, but we did not know what it did. I would certainly be willing to run back and fetch it for you if you like? I assume it belongs to a compatriot of yours, given the similarity of the stitching and coloring." Harry continues "We'll continue exploring and mapping out these caves. Do you have any knowledge of what's beyond this room?"
"Dinuci, I am so very very sorry. I'm clearly just worrying and not thinking clearly. A humanoid so short and stout as your should be quite memorable, really." () Harry is absolutely enthralled by the carvings along the walls, and proceeds to go into lecture mode, pointing out the relevant glyphs and practically bouncing with excitement at how it differs from the traditional text. The more he reads, the less worried he becomes about his surroundings. Eventually, he notices that his audience has shrunk by one, and looks around to see what's become of Dinuci. Harry wanders up to see what has the dwarf's attention - what could possibly be more interesting than ancient Azlanti carvings after all? He easily ( ) identifies the city. Harry says "Hey, that's home! That's Absalom!", with the homesickness easily heard in his voice. Zohls, Harry, it's only been a few days. You'll get home soon enough, but in the meanwhile, you don't want to make a bad impression on your fellow pathfinders, now do you? Harry calls out, "Hail, Fellow" loudly, in Aquan, hoping that someone as aquatically oriented as a gillman may speak the language, as he moves forward to join Dinuci.
Harry requests some help from the others, but he also pointedly mentions he knows Aquan (along with Auran, Celestial, Common, Daemonic, Draconic, Ignan, Infernal, Osiriani, and Terran). He has read extensively and trained himself in both history and religion, but this seems to be maybe more like history? . He stares at the reliefs for a while, and mutters occasionally to his companions, asking them to move a light, or "Hey, does that look more like the cuniform version of ox or the classical version of money to you?" At one point he looks up and asks " Can anyone can help me with this glyph? I think it's an old holy symbol but it may have been their symbol for baking?". Harry seems completely ready to get a paper and pen out from his pack to start copying everything down. These look ancient! I may be the first human to have read these in thousands of years. Zohls! That's so awesome! How do I convince the others we need to spend more time studying these? Eventually, he think's maybe he has an idea of what may be going on. Spoiler:
At one point, Harry also looks around and realizes there are blue-burning torches. Blue would mean those are pretty hot, or they're magic! He asks "Diniri, are those torches regular, or are they magic? Man I hope they're magic. I mean, if not, well, we thought we may have company in here anyhow, but who lights torches and leaves them burning behind them? Armies do that kind of stuff, that's who! Did anyone see an armies' worth of footprints? I thought there were only a few recent prints? Diniri, are those magic? I've got to figure out a way to identify magic! I hope it isn't an army!"
Harry goes a bit pale when Chilly comments on the distance to the bottom, but it's hopefully hard to see that in this lighting. On the other hand, the surprisingly shrill eep sound he makes when Dinuci pops up can be clearly heard. Harry read a book once that explains certain animals can hear noises that are higher than what a human could hear. He hopes that is not true of minotaurs, or, he my have just reminded one where they went!
"Sorry, Acher, I was just really worried about you falling!" Harry looks down into the pit, and gulps - but just a little. He'll climb across the rope, because he doesn't want to be left alone. Alone in the dark. Alone in the dark with an angry minotaur. Alone, in the dark, with an angry minotaur, and a big pit at his back. Yeah, he'll climb. () Zohls, this rope is swinging side to side. I've got to be one of the lightest of us though, so it'll hold. It'll hold, right? It'll hold! I wonder how often I'll have to dangle above a pit full of spikes as a Pathfinder. They didn't warn me about this part. When he gets to the other side, Harry will watch Acher's back if she decides to poke ahead a little. He may be able to spot a trap she's about to step into, after all!
Harry doesn't have the ability to detect magic, but he's pretty good at recognizing spellcraft - he's seen enough finger twiddlers, and likes to read their books. He'll try to examine that cloak, and asks if someone else could assist him perhaps? Ideally, perhaps, someone with the ability to detect magic? Spoiler:
Harry will wait to see what the Gods make of his work on that one. In the meanwhile, he's keeping an eye on Acher climbing up that far wall. If he can, he'll call out advice based on what he can see by standing back on the far side, and getting the big picture, as it were. Mostly, as it turns out, it's really useless advice like "Put your feet on the wall" or " Reach higher!", and but he hopes it's helpful instead of distracting. It'd be awful if she fell. I'd never be able to help carry her and keep an eye out for loose goodies in here! Harry waits, hoping that Acher makes it safely to the top without a problem.
Harry stares at the pit. A pit. Of course. Why wouldn't a cave have a giant hole in the middle of it. He starts thinking about ways to get around the pit, but doesn't have much in the way of ideas Spoiler: .
"Huh. Yeah, someone dug that - that's not natural. I mean, look at those straight lines there, and there. Nature doesn't do that. I guess this is maybe where all that rope we've talked about may come in handy?" Harry looks around to see if maybe there's something on this side of the pit that we could tie a rope onto. Spoiler:
Harry smiles happily at the alchemist's fire in the bag - it was one of the first recipes he figured out, back when that bully Melkor threatened to beat him to death the next time he saw him. Tough to do that when your family has to move away after their shop's courtyard kept catching fire each night. Funny old thing how that didn't happen to the buyer.... The other items - tanglefoot bag, thunderstone, smokestick, are all great as well. It takes a little bit to figure out the holy water is HOLY water. It looks and tastes just like regular water, and it's not like the half-pint carved a holy symbol into the vial or anything. Holding up the wand of cure light wounds, Harry tells everyone "Hey! I can use this to heal you if you get hurt. But there's not much energy left to it, so we can only use it a few times. Actually there's a lot of really useful stuff in here, more than in my own pack for sure. Though, man, is it heavy. I can help carry it some, but I'm going to get tired fast." Harry looks at the prints Dinuci found. Hmm, this is getting a bit more real. I wonder what's in here to attract these gillyflappers so far away from their water? Imitating Acher, Harry gives Dinuci a half-bow " Lead on master dwarf, these seem to be more your realms than ours!"
Harry looks around confused... he feels like he lost an entire day on that hike up to the caves. Hmm. Too much thinking maybe. It's like power just faded out of the world for a little while there. It's a great sight when they finally reach the cave. Finally! My feet aren't used to this, and I didn't expect my shoulders to hurt. If there's any valuables that may come loose in these caves, or maybe on the gillmen, I really need to get some better footwear and a better pack. One of those sweet ones I saw over in the Grand Bazaar maybe - I swear that guy was pulling items out of it that were bigger than the bag itself! The crashing through the brush doesn't disturb Harry too much. Probably just another murder of fleas... "Zohls! That's no flea!" Harry stares wide-eyed at the bull-headed humanoid lumbering through the woods at them. He knew from their briefing that there were some up here, but he never expected to see a minotaur! Harry isn't quite sure what to do. On the one hand, cooperate would mean helping Janira, right? But it could also mean doing what she says, since she's the boss. Harry reluctantly heads towards the caves, to explore and report, glancing back frequently to see if he could get a clean shot with his bow. He doesn't. Harry steps into the cave, looks at Diniri, and mutters "Come on, we should probably head just a little bit deeper before we see what resources we have in case that thing turns around. Man, I hope that little half-pint knows what's she's doing."
Well, crud . Harry calls out in a loud, not-quite panicky voice " Umm, guys. We're all going off in different directions. Janira, do you know which way is the fastest to the caves? Maybe if we all talked it over? Acher seemed like she may have the best idea, so maybe if we help her make sure of it?" Spoiler: if we can do that still
Did that tree really fall in the forest just as we were passing by, or was someone trying to slow us down? If I say anything though, they're going to think I'm paranoid. Maybe someone doesn't want us there tonight though. All the more reason to hurry! Harry goes back to where he had been standing when the attack started, and recovers his bow. He brushes some leaf litter from it, and is thankful that the softer ground here means he didn't have to worry about it shattering when he dropped it. Just to be safe, he'll carry that in his hand from now on, unless there is a rough patch that requires two hands en route to the caves. Once he sees how slippery a cave is, he'll re-evaluate whether or not to keep the bow on hand. "I'm ready. I can't do very much for you, but, did anyone feel sickened after being attacked by the fleas?" Harry gets ready to hurry through the woods - will he be able to figure out a smarter way of getting there? . Hmm. Maybe if we go back the way we came? Was the cave in the city? I don't think I'm adjusted to these woods yet...I'll keep my mouth shut and maybe someone else will have some idea of what to do. It doesn't feel natural, but I don't have to always be the smartest guy, right? But if someone does know, I want them to teach me how they figured it out. OK, so which of these mooks to suck up to? The half-pint? I'd look like a brown-noser at though. Got my butt kicked often enough for that before I figured out to quit talking to the adults when I was a kid.
Harry calls out "As fun as pummeling these vampires would be, we need to cut them - piercing them is tougher with their exoskeletons, and they barely notice a bash." He drops his bow, looks longingly at it, and draws his dagger. He carefully maneuvers himself around the flea. Harry isn't able to get himself into the perfect position to help Chilly this time (Man, he's fast!), but maybe next time Chilly goes to hit the flea Harry can help out by providing some distractions. Hmm, what would distract a flea. I bet they'd like blood, but I'm not in the mood to cut myself for them. I'll just have to take a swipe at them once I'm in place Harry realizes he forgot to mention some important things to his companions. He calls out in a loud, carrying voice "Giant fleas, like their lesser brethren, are prodigious leapers. I think we're safe from that now, but also like their pestulent cousins, they are disease bearers. Do you best to not get bit!". Harry knows there are formulae out there to cure diseases, but he doesn't know them yet, and his brews still only seem to work on himself. Yet another thing I need to work on when I have some time. Maybe there will be some interesting new ingredients out here! As Harry is thinking about things, he starts to ponder the J.L in the wayfinder Janira showed them. Did she marry so young? Does she have loose fingers and big pockets like me? Didn't she say it was a gift from the master of scrolls though? What was his name? Does it end in an L? Maybe there's something going on there? Pay attention Harry! This thing will drain you before you can blink if you don't pay attention!
Harry stares at the flea to the west. It seems to be just at the limit of his ability to hit with his bow- any farther away, and he'd have much less confidence in hitting. It's tough to find a long straight run longer than 60' in the city for practice shooting at those longer ranges. Hmm. Maybe there are some advantages to this country stuff. "There's a tree in my way, I don't have a clear shot to the west yet. When it moves though, I'll try to tag it!" Harry tries to remember what he knows about fleas: "Jiminy, those things look big enough to carry off Fat Andrew back at The Pig's Paunch!" Harry looks down at his bow, shrugs, and nocks an arrow. When the flea to the west moves past the tree in front of it, he'll try to hit it. Shooting a flea sounds like something the Weapon Master would do, but, even Harry may be able to hit these! When it's time, Harry will draw in a deep breath, relax, and on the exhale will release the arrow: . He's got a feeling it's going to be a particularly sweet hit though - he's feeling centered, and there's only a small breeze.... ...until he let's that arrow fly, and then it gusts, Zhols curse it!
Harry stands up, looking with distaste at the heavy pack. He knows he's got what he needs within it - but will it be enough? But, he can't shoulder any more wait - he'd be as flat as the Osirian economy if he added any more to it! Harry shoulders the pack with a bit of distaste, muttering something about "Take a nice walk in the country, you'll love it. Things to do, weight to carry, people still trying to kill you." under his breath. He looks around at his companions: Dinuci, Chilly, Acher. He nods to himself, tightens up the pack straps and turns to look at Ms. Gavix. "I'm ready, ma'am"
"I can do a bit of healing, but only for myself I'm afraid. As to rope... I'm a city boy. What legitimate use does a city boy have with rope?" And besides, I can't hardly carry another pound and still move forward. I'll have to drop stuff off if we find anything good. Hmm. These mooks look strong. Maybe one of them would be willing to carry stuff for me? Harry nods his thanks to Dinuci, and sits. He looks askance at the wolf. When it doesn't look like it's likely to eat him, he mutters "Good Doggy" and smiles at it. The pack he had been carrying slides from his shoulders and leans heavily onto the chair behind him. "With a bit more cash, I'd maybe try to find a better grade of pack - I've heard there are some made particularly well for carrying heavy loads. And, I'd love to be prepared for any situation, but for now, I'll have to rely on my wits. And with MY wits, I ain't never been unarmed!"
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