Splat!!!The impact of Varel and Wolfie's landing is softened by a thick, gooey layer of guano that has accumulated on the floor of the cavern. The smell down here is indescribably foul: a potent airborne brew of ammonia, stale feces, and carrion.
There is plenty of illumination from the Light spell, but Varel's spectacles were lost at some point in the fall. Without them, she can't make out very much. Perhaps they landed somewhere nearby?
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Orthos moves quickly, but cautiously into the hole, crying out, "What is it, are you okay?"
Nibben peers down the hole considering the situation.
"Indeed, let us know if everything is alright. Hopefully you didn't break anything! I have a rope if you can't get out on your own."
"Gross!" exclaims Varel as she stumbles awkwardly on her hands and knees for her glasses. "Uhm... I'm okay!"
Wolfie helpfully nudges Varel's glasses toward her with his snout. Her hands eventually find them, and she puts them on, her vision somewhat occluded by brown streaks of bat dung.
Mercurio does his best to land gracefully from above, but finds it very difficult to fall into liquid guano with any measure of elegance.
In addition to animal filth, the floor is littered with detritus from the goblins’ pillaging: busted crates; shattered jugs; ruined bolts of cloth; bones both humanoid and animal; some weapons and pieces of armor – mostly rusted, but some are pristine as if only recently added to the heap. Although it would take a considerable amount of time (and fortitude) to dig through and catalog the mess, a few objects stand out sufficiently to be noticed immediately:
1. A featureless cube, roughly two feet per side. It appears to be constructed from some kind of glimmering, bluish metal unlike anything you have seen before.
2. A large tower shield rests against a near wall of the cavern, as if carefully placed there on purpose.
3. A dead man’s arm protrudes stiffly from beneath a small mountain of junk. There is a gaudy diamond ring on one of its fingers.
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Meanwhile, Nibben and Orthos clamber up out of the tunnel and begin looking for something upon which to secure the helpful gnome's rope. They settle on cramming its grappling hook between two stalagmites near the hole.
While they attend to this task, Laurie's sharp ears detect a quiet click. Did it come from the shrine?
[To clarify: Salbadore, Orthos, Laurie, and Nibben are currently in the shrine cavern; Mercurio, Varel, and Wolfie are in the cavern below. The two chambers are separated by a tunnel roughly 50 feet in length, and neither can be seen from the other.
With the rope in place, characters can move down the tunnel from the shrine chamber to the lower cavern at half their normal movement rate without falling (no check needed).
Characters can also climb up the rope (difficulty 15) from the lower cavern at a quarter of their normal movement rate without penalty.
If your character moves, please indicate this in your post so that I can keep track of who is where.]
"Y'awroit, lass?" Markus says as uses his torch to look around the floor of the cavern. He bends down to pick up his morning star from a brown pile. "Bloody Fekk, these 'ard ta clean, anni just fini-" he stops as his eyes land on the diamond ring. "Allo, allo, wot we got hea?"
Laurie turns and looks towards the sound. "Shh! I think I hear something."
As Laurie and the others watch, the faint outline of a door becomes apparent in the red wall behind the shrine. It slowly becomes more visible as the wall begins to swing outward without making a sound...
Laurie trains her bow on the door.
Salbadore, who has been resting against the altar, rouses when Laurie asks for quiet.
When she trains her bow in his direction, he scrambles in hers. When he reaches her feet - well below the arrow's line of flight - he stands up beside her.
Salbadore asks, "Was there a spare sword?"
The secret door in the wall behind the shrine swings outward. From out of the impenetrable darkness beyond, something slowly emerges.
Never in your nightmares had you beheld anything so dreadful! The thing is a horrible mockery of nature, some diabolical amalgam of man and snake!
In some forgotten forebear of the Common tongue, the words distorted by hideous reptilian lips, it hisses: “Firass? Hwa beon oew? Hwær beon sse gablynss? Onssweðan!”
The creature unsheathes the two scimitars on its back, its intentions clear.
[We are now in rounds. :) Please email or IM your actions to me.]
Markus cocks his head. "Sheiss, sommin' bad up that," he points back up the cavern. "Need ta git." He sheathes his morning star and walks over to the dead man's arm to palm the ring.
Mercurio reaches out for the ring, when a small crackle of electricity jumps from it to his finger! He draws back in pain and alarm as electricity visibly courses down the dead man's arm and the hand suddenly clenches into a fist.
A few seconds pass before the pile of junk begins to shift and fall away as the man beneath it comes to his feet.
But this is no ordinary man. Over seven feet tall and lacking any clothing, it is evident that he has been stitched together from a horrendous assortment of cadavers, and he also appears to have been partially digested. His dead eyes open and focus on Mercurio.
Then, in a sepulcherous voice that makes the hair on his neck stand on end, he asks him flatly: “Who would you like me to kill?”
Round 1: (Shrine chamber)
The snake-man-thing advances very slowly, almost nonchalantly; its yellow eyes burning with unmitigated malice, a cruel smile splayed wickedly across its blasphemous countenance. It appears to be in the mood for a bit of sport, and it opens its arms wide, practically daring the heroes to engage it.
Laurie accepts its challenge and lets her arrow fly! But the vile creature’s reflexes prove superior as it easily deflects the projectile with a casual flick of one of its scimitars. Nibben likewise fires a bolt from his trusty crossbow but it just bounces harmlessly off the creature’s scaly hide. With a malevolent laugh that sounds like dried cornhusks rubbing together in the wind, it hisses mockingly, “Beon sseo eower betsst, lytlingss?”
Orthos drops his staff for his cudgel, positioning himself in a defensive stance to help protect the vulnerable Salbadore. However, the nearly-naked wizard has already decided that discretion is the better part of valor and, with unexpected alacrity, jumps into the hole and starts lowering himself down the tunnel! “Don’t mind the sword!” he calls before disappearing from view.
"Paga wa ssan fa," the creature hisses. Once again, the discarded goblin chieftain's staff writhes to life and begins slithering toward the group!
Round 2: (Shrine chamber)
“Take this!” Nibben shouts and throws his cape in the creature’s face, distracting it just long enough for him to position himself out of its sight. Laurie ducks behind Orthos and, taking advantage of Nibben’s distraction, nocks and fires another arrow! This one strikes true, injuring its left shoulder.
Alarmingly, the serpentine creature seems almost delighted by this show of resistance. It charges forward with astonishing speed, sending Orthos sprawling to the ground with an elbow to the face (3 nonlethal damage). It doesn’t even seem to mind that it was burned in the process. It hisses at Laurie before violently slashing her with its scimitar (4 damage)!
From where he fell, Orthos looks up just in time to see the asp mere inches from his face, reared up in preparation to strike!
Round 3: (Shrine chamber)
Orthos, acting purely on reflex, grabs the asp with both hands before it can strike! It squirms in the agony of his fiery clutches before reverting once again into a gnarled staff, by now looking much worse for the wear.
Meanwhile, Nibben watches from the shadows as the snake-man-thing slashes at Laurie again and again as she desperately blocks with her bow and moves backward toward the hole. Once she reaches the edge, she allows herself to fall in, sliding down the tunnel and out of her attacker’s sight. She then manages to halt her descent by grabbing onto the rope with one hand.
A short distance below her, Salbadore continues to carefully lower himself down while the gravel and dust from Laurie’s brief slide rains down upon his head.
Varel realizes that neither she or Wolfie will be able to make the climb back up in time to help the party. So instead she looks around the pit she's fallen into, paying close attention to the cube and the shield but also being wary of any impending attack.
Also she exclaims to Mercurio, "I hear fighting... please tell that thing to get up there and help our friends!"
Round 4: (Lower cavern)
Mercurio says to his newfound friend, "I show yeh 'o we offin once us up tha'," he says as he points to the rope. He hops on and slowly pulls himself upward, hand over hand. The cadaverous construct follows suit while Varel looks on, worried for her companions.
Round 4: (Shrine chamber)
Orthos’ desperation is evident as he pulls out the oldest trick in the book. Looking just past the snake-man-thing, he shouts, “Strike now!”
The creature, suddenly cognizant that it had forgotten about the gnome and his crossbow, whirls around to confront its would-be attacker! Too late, it realizes that no one is there; in fact, Nibben is nowhere at all to be found. It hisses in annoyance.
In that instant, Orthos dashes for the hole and throws himself in, tumbling down the tunnel until he manages to stop himself by grabbing onto the rope! He can see Laurie below him, easing herself down the rope, wincing in pain as all the movement aggravates her injury.
Rounds 5 and 6: (tunnel)
Mercurio and the golem slowly continue their ascent up the rope. However, it soon becomes apparent that Salbadore is trying to make his way down, creating something of an impasse roughly halfway.
Mercurio says cheerfully, “Watch ou’ fer me monsta, mate! ‘Es on our side, that. An’ the drop’s a doozy.”
Salbadore continues sliding down the rope and replies anxiously, “Down, mate, down!” Jim James a-danglin’, he explains, “Snake monster!”
Meanwhile, Laurie and Orthos also continue making their way downward. They are nearly on top of Salbadore and Mercurio when suddenly the rope goes slack! The group begins falling while hideous, ophidian laughter echoes from above…
[Reflex saves, everyone!]
Time seems to stand still for a moment as the top half of the rope falls past the party.
Mercurio gulps: "Mother--!" He tries to find purchase along the tunnel walls, bloodying his fingers as he slides helplessly into the waiting arms of the golem, which holds him protectively as the two then fall roughly 25 feet into the lake of guano below.
Using all of the strength in his emaciated body, Salbadore manages to cling to the wall of the tunnel. He's about to breathe a sigh of relief when Laurie, too injured to hold on, falls right on top of him! The two tumble down the chute, falling into the fecal brew not far from Mercurio and the golem.
Orthos is able to stop his descent by bracing his shoulders and feet against the walls of the tunnel. He thanks his lucky stars and looks down, uncertain of the fate of his companions.
Markus sits dazed for only a brief moment before he collects his senses. He wipes the goop off of his face and turns to The Creature. "Thanks, 'bo. Are ye'aw roi-," he stops to look at the creature's cadaverous body. "Well, I ken atsa 'ard question ta..." he turns, clears his throat and leans over to help people to their feet. Or at the very least help them wipe the gunk off of their faces. "Sa' we nae saved th' wee ones yet, roit?"
Salbadore sits up in the pile of crap. He harumphs as he flicks one crumb of guano among many from his already-filthy hair. "Can't tell shite from Sheisse, as they say."
Laying back down, he asks, "Are we okay?"
"Nae shore," Markus says. "I good, nae th' firs' timmi been shove inna pile o' shit. Womblie," he points to The Creature, "seems awroit. Laurie lookabit battered. Er." He looks around, "Nae sure on Orthos or th' Pip. They wi' yeh onna rope?"
Mayna lands on a stalagmite nearby.
"There was not-a-thing for me to do," Salbadore answers Markus. "So I bolted to the rope."
He looks to Laurie and crawls nearer, as if to evaluate her wounds. "How are you?" he asks her, before noticing how covered in shit she is. "There is simply too much filth here."
Then, he adds quickly, "I mean, thankfully! The essence of guano is fire, and fire has antiseptic qualities. Or something. I do hope you're okay. How do you feel?"
Salbadore's eyes dance across Markus's weapon, then to Wolfie and Varel, then to the hulk of muscle and tendon that stood behind Markus as if to snap his neck. "Womblie - Is it safe?"
Markus looks confused at first, then smiles as if he understands. "Fekked Teets ifino, mate. Bu' 'es save me once. Whichis more'ni say fer ye blokes. Er..." he turns to Varel, "'Sep' yeh, lass. Anni 'priciate yeh help up that," he says as he points at his recently closed javelin wound.
He turns back to Salbadore, "sides, if'ee fer killin us, wunnae 'e dunnit awready? An' yeh two moit git along. Yeh go' th' same tasta clothes."
He snickers at his own joke, only to have his face turn into shock and surprise of a new idea. He turns to Womblie. "Ay, ye' na' kenna 'nutha way outta this cave, do yeh, mate?"
The golem shrugs, indifferent to its nakedness, indifferent to the fact that it is caked with bat dung.
"I do not know this place, nor do I recall how I got here. If you wish, I will attempt to climb up the chute and hold the rope for you so that you may follow."
Varel whispers, "Is there any other way out of this room maybe?"
Orthos crawls carefully to the edge and calls out in as loud a whisper as he can muster, "Can you hear me, is everyone alright? The snake-thing appears to be ignoring us for now."
(Characters must make a successful Listen rolls vs 12 to hear)
Laurie winces as she pulls herself to her feet, looking over her wound. "Well, I can walk, and I can talk, although another hit like that and I'm not sure I could do either. As it is, I'm not sure that bat shit and an open wound are a good combination. We need to find a way out."
Among the scattered, ruined remains of the goblins' pillaging, Salbadore and Laurie soon notice the presence of a large tower shield propped against one of the walls, as well as a cube (2'x2'x2') constructed from a strange bluish metal.
"Right-o, no sense having filth in your wounds. But there's fire in it."
Taking advantage of the moment of calm, Salbadore squats over a pile of assorted trinkets. Most of them are fragments of something else, or toys and trash attractive to goblins; less so for the humans and . . . Salbadore counts his rescuers. He points upwards and mouths, "Orthos."
"Did your pippish companion escape?" he asks aloud.
He readjusts Orthos's cloak around himself again, modestly enveloping both himself and most of the pile that he's sitting on.
Suddenly he gasps and winces. You see him lean stiffly to the left - then you see his right shoulder dip and his back arch as he reaches downward. "A-ah. Hello?"
Salbadore's hand emerges from the front of the cloak, holding a blue metal cube. "Odd kind of box," he declares, eyeballing it closely.
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