Loriel greets the others brightly as they breakfast and make ready for a day of exploring the underground complex. "Have you encountered any boobytraps in your explorations so far?" he asks the others.
"At least two, but thanks to Tobin's nimble eyes and fingers we were able to avoid and disarm them. I'll ask that you be careful as we explore and not take any chances. Many an adventure has met an untimely end due to simple carelessness."
Darie thankfully took some of the eggs and mushrooms, smiling widely. "Tyrion, you are a saint. Thank you so much, i was just about to shrivel to a rasin if i had to eat nothing but stale cheese, dried pork, and dried fruit for another day."
Chiming in on the topic of discussion, she added. "We also encountered some strange creature. All muscle with no... well, "natural body". An eye on either end. Very strange. Kadath insisted we try to reason with it, but in the end, it came down to a fight. Nasty bugger."
Darie thankfully took some of the eggs and mushrooms, smiling widely. "Tyrion, you are a saint. Thank you so much, i was just about to shrivel to a rasin if i had to eat nothing but stale cheese, dried pork, and dried fruit for another day."
Chiming in on the topic of discussion, she added. "We also encountered some strange creature. All muscle with no... well, "natural body". An eye on either end. Very strange. Kadath insisted we try to reason with it, but in the end, it came down to a fight. Nasty bugger."
Smiling at Darie Tyrion says,"You are most welcome. I like to make it a point to start each day with a good breakfast." Finally helping himself to some roasted veggies and eggs he sits down to listen to Darie explain about there encounter with the strange creature. "Let me think on it a bit but I don't think that I have heard of anything quite like it. And you tried to reason with it you say? So you were able to talk to it?"
"Yes, I agree that we should explore the cairn to its fullest. Can you tell me what you have discovered already?"
"Let me see," Tobin says thoughtfully, chewing on some mushrooms. "Inside the cairn's entrance was a long corridor, filled with spooky whispering sounds, and with strange patterns carved into the walls. There were some deep alcoves off the side of the corridor, one of which held a broken statue that had some of the windfolk's writing carved into it. Another was the lair of a couple of massive snakes - they would have done for me and Kells, were it not for Khadath's magic. Stairs led down from the end of the corridor into a huge, domed chamber suffused with sparkling light. There was a large sarcophagus in the centre of the room, and seven alcoves radiating out from the walls, in most of which hung a coloured lantern. Oh, yes - there was a fresco of that room earlier on, showing it with all the lanterns present. We found that the sarcophagus could rotate, and when it pointed at the yellow lantern, a chamber only large enough for one person rose out of the floor. It turned out that this would carry us, one at a time, down to another corridor that was lined with statues of the windfolk. Someone had been there before us, and set off a booby-trap that blocked the corridor, but we managed to shift the blockage." He pauses in his recollections, and looks round the others. "Have I left anything out?"
"We talked to it alright, but it never talked back to us. And well... it did not stop harassing us with some kind of magic, and had evil intentions towards us, so..." She raised a shoulder, a bit of the guilty feeling from last night returning. "We tried our best, but in the end, we fought back... and it ended up dead."
"Have I left anything out?"
"The snakes. We came across some snakes that were living just off the main entrance. Also that sarcophagus you mentioned was trapped so we never opened it. It's likely empty but I guess until we find a way to remove the trap we'll never find out."
"Let me think on it a bit but I don't think that I have heard of anything quite like it. And you tried to reason with it you say? So you were able to talk to it?"
"Actually Khadath identified it as a lucking strangler, some sort of beholder kin, and although it was incapable of speech I believe it understood what was being said quite well. It certainly used our arguing to it's advantage."
Kells' hand strays up and rubs his throat as Kessel talks about the little beholderkin. "Agreed. And I think that the snakes up top were just incidental. They probably just found a good denning area where they can ride out the winters. There wasn't any noticable snakey motif in the cairn."
After a hearty breakfast and filling in the new arrivals on the cairn that is yet to be fully explored the party sets off and towards the ancient tombonce more. Entering the yawning mouth of the structure the wind picks up and sounds oddly like whispering voices that follow you as you progress past a strange looking device and to the large domed room. The ceiling here is covered in small mirrored pieces of glass that catch the light and give the effect of falling snow. Off of the main room are seven passages each containing a chain, on all but one of the chains hangs a coloured lantern; Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo & Violet. Perched in the center of the room is the sarcophagus the base shaped like a stylised arrow, which is currently pointing at the yellow lantern. Under the yellow lantern is a metallic cylinder with it's doors open, showing a small room that will fit one person inside.
"You see," Tobin says, pointing towards the yellow lantern, "that's the device that carries you down to the lower passage. You just step inside, and it slides into the floor. Would you like to accompany me down, Tyrion? I expect the two of us can squeeze in together!" Tobin walks towards the small room, ready to step inside.
Darie moved over towards the cylinder below the yellow lantern. "This is the strange contraption that got us to this other level yesterday." She stepped into it, once again her stomach clenching slightly. What if something had changed in the meantime, and this had turned into a trap now?
Once the cylinder returns to the upper level empty, Kells steps in and shrugs "It's an interesting ride, to be sure."
Loriel follows the example set by the others and steps into the alcove with the Yellow lantern, unsure of what to expect.
As before the doors slide closed after each person enters, soon opening again into a smaller room below. The room leads onto a corridor that is flanked on either side by tall statues that hold their cupped hands out before them.
"The dead eye-thing is just there, in the corridor," Tobin says. "I wouldn't look too closely at it as we go past - it's pretty gruesome." He draws his rapier and eyes the passageway speculatively. "Now, don't we need one of your diagrams, KC, to show us where we should be walking?"
Kessel draws his rapier and pulls out a piece of chalk with his free hand.
"Tobin, you have the lead again, but without Zereta our front like is going to be slightly different, Kells you have the front line again but could you offer support Loriel? We'll put Tyrion behind Kells, basically where Khadath was, and then Darie, and I'll guard the rear."
Kessel draws his plan on the wall:
T
L Kel
_ Ty
_ D
_ Kes
"It's basically the same plan as before only with Loriel in place of Zereta and Tyrion taking over for Khadath. Jeny and Yorick are not here. Here's how it works: basically Tobin scouts ahead while we follow at a safe distance behind. If Tobin spies anything dangerous, like snakes or lucking stranglers, He'll dart back to the group and get behind the front line. If we get attacked from behind either Kells or Tyrion, which ever of you can react first, can run back and give me support. Tyrion, you'll be casting spells to support Kells or Loriel, as will I, unless we're attacked from the rear . . .
"Any questions?"
Kells chuckles "Sounds like a plan... untill we find another hole I have to crawl into to wrassle snakes." He shoulders his hammer and takes his place.
Darie pointed towards the "D", and eyed it for a moment. "That one was supposed to stand for Darie, right?" She asked. It was embarrassing, sure. But it would be even worse if she went to the wrong place, and possibly caused the death of the entire group. So better to jump over her pride. She'd have to learn to read at the very least.
Kells tosses Darie a bright smile "Exactly. Excellent!"
Looking a little nervous as everyone starts falling into position Tyrion says," It sounds like you are all very experienced in this sort of thing. I shall do my best not to let you down."
"Yes," Kessel says to the halfling driuid, "we're almost almost twenty four hour veterans."
As everyone prepares to advance down the hallway Kessel turns to Darie:
"When we have a moment Darie, I'm going to have to teach you your letters. They're not essential for the farm but if you're going to become an adventurer they're extremely useful."
Tobin chuckles merrily. "Don't worry, Tyrion," he says, "we're not at all experienced at this sort of thing! We have learnt a few things from our previous foray, though - as KC said earlier, carelessness and disorganisation can have a heavy cost in the unexplored places of the world. But where would the excitement be if we all just stayed safely at home? I'm sure you'll be fine - and we're glad to have you along!" He pats the older man on the shoulder fraternally, before heading down the corridor cautiously, keeping his eyes peeled for anything suspicious.
Loriel listens to Kessel's plan and nods in agreement. He takes is place in the first rank next to the armored warrior Kells with a grin. He holds his Elven longbow ready in his left hand, leaving his right free to draw either an arrow or his longsword as needed.
The corridor opens out onto a larger room. A dull grey stone pillar extends from floor to ceiling in the large chamber. Halls extend to the left and right and around the right-hand hallway is some sort of brownish mold.
Darie grinned sheepishly. "Well... Thanks, Ke... KC. I know they are useful." She smiled a little sheepishly. He was right, and most cityfolk knew them, learned them from this temple, or during their apprenticeship. This marked her as a bumpkin as surely as anything. Actually, some of her siblings had learned them. Just not everyone.
"I mean, you could almost think you cared for me?" She teased, shifting the conversation away from that embarrassing topic. She wanted to add a morbid comment about that being unwise due to the high mortality of adventurers, but held her tongue. The last thing the group needed was a doomsayer. "Alright, at the end of this corridor, our "known part" ends. Yes, it is pathetically little, but then, we have been here for only about half a day, and we were also pretty careful."
Tobin doesn't find any traps on the archway leading into the room. Are you wantng to explore to the left, to the right or the big pillar first?
Loriel nods and points over to the right hand hallway. "I think we should take a closer look at that mold over there."
Kells holds the everburning torch closer to the mold, illuminating it with the magical light. "Looks like a big patch of mold, alright. Tyrion, Loriel, Kessel... you have the deepest knowledge of natural stuff, right? Can you tell anything about it?"
Kells takes the opportunity to detect evil on the mold and passage beyond.
"I don't know that I have ever seen this type of mold before, but to be on the safe side I suggest we distrub it as little as possible." answers Loriel.
Loriel peers into the room on their right, trying to spot anything interesting over there.
Kells detects no trace of evil, he does however feel a creeping and painful cold come over him when he's near the mold. As he shivers and feels the awful ache harm him Loriel too starts to feel the effects of the mold
Loriel staggers back () from the numbing cold of the mold. He is clearly disoriented from the effect.
"What's wrong?" Kessel asks in alarm.
Darie would probably have jumped to the side of the two "front runners", had she not been caught in shock and confusion. "What's... going on right now?" She asked noone in particular. Had they sprung some kind of trap? Was there something more to the thick (and disgusting) mold patch?
"C-c-cold. F-f-fr-eezing." says Loriel, his teeth clattering. "S-stay back!"
"Easy, Loriel," Tobin says, helping the elf away from the mould and easing him into a seated position against the wall. "Take it easy. You felt a freezing cold, you say? Was it coming from the mould, or somewhere else?" He sidles along to take a peek around the left-hand side of the pillar, looking for any threats coming from the other side.
Kells reels back along with Loriel, shuddering spasms of shivers wracking him as he lurches. His hammer's head shows traceries of frost running all across the surface and on his face and eyebrows stand droplets of water from where the rime is already melting away.
"Buh-by th-the guh-ods! I-it's s-s-so cuh-old! Luh-like being puh-lunged i-i-into f-free-zing wuh-aters!"
Kessel looks to the mold searching his brain for any relevant information.
Tyrion quickly moves over to Kells and Loriel doing what he can to help them . "Come with me you two and sit over here a moment and let me take a look at you." Tyrion removes some fireseed from his bag and crushes them in his hands. "Here breathe this in deeply. It should help warm you a bit." While attending to Kells and Loriel he studies the mold from a distance .
With Tyrion's help the two injured men warm up a little but still ache a lot from their exposure to the mould. Meanwhile Kessel tries to figure out what the stuff can be, as he thinks on it he can remember a lot of tales of dungeon delvers running into mould that injures them, worse than that if they tried to destroy the mould with the wrong sort of element it would spread and end them.
After healing the two other men Tyrion has think on the subject as well, remembering learning bout brown mould, it's very dangerous and a great many people have fallen to it by trying to burn it. Setting fire to it will cause it to expand, Tyrion is fairly certain it would need to be frozen to be killed off.
Tobin meanwhile looks around the other side of the pillar, there is the other archway into another room and no sign of anything else dangerous. As he turns around to return to the others he finds a small catch in the side of the pillar opposite the mould.
Tobin looks back at Kells and Loriel, sees the two are being ministered to by Tyrion, and returns his attention to the pillar. "I've found a small catch here, in the side of the pillar," he announces to the others. "I'm going to trigger it, once I've done my best to check that it's safe. It looks like it might open something." Tobin carefully searches the area around the catch, trying to ensure that it isn't the trigger for a devious trap.
Part of the column hoists itself into the ceiling revealing a niche. In the revealed area is a crushed human skeleton wearing shiny chainmail, clutched in his crushed fingers is a sack and on the walls of the alcove are several pegs, obviously at one point they all held tools but now only a few of them contain items. Tobin is certain the trap will not go off again as he finds that the trap's trigger has also been crushed.
Listening to the druid's instructions, Kells breaths deeply of the plant dust. He feels some warmth trickle back into his body. "Not the most h-hospitible of places, eh? I'm glad you know about this st-tuff. I was going t-to offer some of my ah-alchemists fire to clear it out. Wuh-would'a just killed us, probably."
"Don't be too hard on yourself, Kells," Tobin says, "I wouldn't have had any idea about it, either! That's why I'm glad we have our friends with us - to help us out when we need it. In turn, I'm sure your courage and good humour are an inspiration to them, as they are to me!" He gestures at the pillar with one hand. "It looks like there was a trap here, but some unfortunate fellow set it off a long time ago. There's only bones left of him now, but his mail is still shiny! And he's holding something..." Tobin leans forward and pulls the sack free, opening it up to peer inside.
"Really," Kells asks, "what kind of mail? I think we should take his remains up top and bury them, at least a cairn from some of the rock the snakes were behind."
"I'm not an expert, by any means," Tobin replies, "but it looks like chainmail to me. And I agree - our fellow explorer deserves a cairn of his own!"
Tyrion smiles at Kells for his kind words,"I'm just glad I was here to help! I didn't think we would find anything so dangerous so quickly. Do you think it will be like this throughout the entire cairn?" Looking past Tobin to the skeleton that lies there Tyrion says,"Perhaps we should leave him where he was found. You don't know what you might be disturbing by moving him."
The Druid's attentions have taken the worst off of the chill. "My thanks, Tyrion." says Loriel. Turning to Kells, "I would have thought fire the best way to deal with the mould as well. Does anyone have magic that can freeze the vile stuff?"
Darie wordlessly shook her head. Even if she had been willing to do what she had promised herself not do anymore, there was nothing chilling, freezing or otherwise cold she could do... well, other than making a barrel of beer cold enough to be especially tasty, or other nonsense like that.
Kessel shakes his head, "Sadly I have no magic or gear capable of dealing with this problem. We'll need to avoid this area for the time being. I wonder if we can get around the other side of the pillar."
"I guess unless we find some alchemical doodat for this, we are stuck for the moment. If it messed us up so badly merely stepping on it "dashing through" is just a stupid idea." Darie sighed, and eyed the mold as if she could make it wither under her disapproving stare. "We should go back, and see if there are any other passages here."
Kells still rubs his hands getting circulation movin through them. "Well, there's still the side that Tobin is busy on, and it looks mold-free behind this obstruction. Anything back that way, Tobin? Or in the open room to the east?"