Pat
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Lafiel:
Below, seated in the heart of a great plaza, is a mighty temple surrounded by braziers that dance and writhe with flames. The temple, plaza, and indeed all the city, seems oriented towards your vantage point. And for good reason: peering above and below, you realize that you are seated in the stone maw of an enormous, five headed dragon – carved from living rock, and looming over the city like a god.
500 feet up or down.
Lafiel returns to the group with a strange expression on her face, and simply tells them: "You must see this." She leads them down the tunnel, and shows them the view down the waterfall.
"Amazing."
Making his way cautiously in Lafiel's wake, Rin's eyes nearly drop out of his head as he gawps at the revealed city.
"I don't think "amazing" does it justice. I don't really know what does..."
Barshevy looks out upon primeval Parhok. It takes him a while to find his voice again.
"I don't suppose we can lodge a complaint with the mayor and then be on our way back home? No? Such adventures never end peaceably, do they? With everyone realizing it was all a simple misunderstanding."
Drivish stands just as wide-eyed as the others, his attempt to sound unimpressed betrayed by his expression of overwhelmed awe.
"The temple looks like a good place to start. We should check the other tunnels for a way down."
Qadim-sul stares for a few minutes, then finally finds his voice. "Wonderful. An entire city of ape-men for us to fight. Then again, that's the stuff legends are made of! Although I have to admit that our current perch seems like an ill omen..."
"That can't possibly be good."
"That's a good idea Barshevy. Knowing our surroundings is important."
"I'm not sure cliffs are a great idea for me. Fargrim's got this dodgy relationship with gravity as well. I'm just saying."
"Some exploration first, then. If they're no longer scrying on us, we should be able to remain out of sight until we found a safe way down and into the city." Qadim-sul frowns as he thinks of something else. "As long as we don't run into any ape-man patrols in the tunnels, of course. They may post guards at the approaches to their city."
"The enemy has not been able to scry us at all ever since we entered the chasm. No zain-kin have been able to find us since then. This is the work of Pelor, I'm sure of it. Oh, great sun-father, your servant thanks thee!"
Rin lies on his front and looks awkwardly down to see if there are any exits at the bottom of the cliff face. He doesn't have very high hopes, but any little helps.
Lafiel offers to scout the other tunnels in the area.
"I'll come too. I don't like sitting here in the dragon's mouth."
"Fine. If you make too much noise though, you can keep on by yourself."
Qadim-sul makes hos way down the corridor as quietly as he can.
Stealth (1d20+1=15)
Lafiel disappears in the shadows almost completely. As Qadim-Sul makes noise, she gestures him to stay back.
"Your funeral," Qadim-sul mutters as he watches Lafiel disappear down the tunnel. He stays where he is, within sight of the rest of the group.
Pat
Lafiel returns to the group, while informing them that both unexplored tunnels reconnect and lead to a room with two giant monkey-like skeletons in it. "Perhaps they are skeletons of those ape-men... We should investigate further."
"Let's go check it out."
"Sounds like Barshevy needs to be on hand in case they wake up."
Rin mutters his light cantrip and prepares to follow the explorers, staying towards the back of the group.
"I'm coming!"
Barshevy stays in the center of the procession.
"Almost everything we have encountered in this realm has something to do with the Queen of Wyrms. I wonder if the scene before us is the aftermath of a ceremony gone awry."
"Here's an idea! There's three pots that aren't broken. Let's open them!" Qadim-sul's voice drips with sarcasm.
Drivish peers cautiously around the room. "Something happened to these apes, maybe a trap?"
"I feel uneasy about this room."
"That makes sense. Every room we've walked into has been a trap of some kind. I'd call it natural caution."
"Hmmm. The zain-kin have been dead for a while, obviously. Why didn't their people come looking for them? Or perhaps they did, but this chamber, these tunnels, are unknown to them."
The cleric looks suspiciously at the remaining pots.
"And if this is a secret place, what were these two doing in clandestine?"
"Something's been gnawing on these bones. I think the reason the apes don't patrol these passages is that something worse guards their back door. It might be a better idea to stay together from now on."
"Maybe they were outcasts?"
Rin prods experimentally at the unopened pots, trying to sense if any of them are magical.
"Hmmm. Something Barshevy-flavoured in one of these. Divine anyway. I don't know what the ethics of opening other people's pots are in this part of the world though."
Lafiel considers the situation again. "Rin, can you try and open the pots from a distance? I think it would be safer."
The cleric edges up to the pots. He studies the items, while taking care not to touch anything.
Qadim-sul sighs. "I should think it's clear that those pots are some kind of trap, divine magic or not. Holy snakes probably jump out of them, or something." He shrugs. "But it's your funeral." Qadim-sul steps back to the entrance of the chamber, as far from the pots as possible, but holds his khopesh at the ready.
Rin looks a bit doubtful. "Maybe. Backing off is a good plan anyway I suspect."