Another Bloody Isekai IC: Team Heroes

[FearlessGnome]

It's a mild summer day in a little populated village in the kingdom of Eashen. An area the size of the tiny village itself has been fenced in and blocked off from civilian access. In the middle of that area is an old hill, a jagged hole having appeared along one side, leading deep underground, to danger, death and potentially riches. A dungeon has appeared.

Having spawned so close to a village it was immediately discovered, and heroes from the capital could be summoned before a single monster emerged. The heroes quickly explored the dungeon, and judged it stable and 'defensive' – unlikely to cause much damage to surrounding areas. It was found suitable to be a training and testing location for new heroes. And so, for the last few months adventurers from all over the country have come to the little village to explore the dungeon for themselves. Every few weeks there is a larger, international gathering of overseers and new summoned heroes who would prove themselves, and seek out a patron or make a name for themselves.

The day has come for another batch of potential heroes to be tested. For the experienced onlookers, however, there is something special in the air this time. The test overseers are provided by powerful political factions from every continent – often they send up and coming heroes, personal assistants or even largely retired senior members to oversee the tests... But today there are several people present whom most of the onlookers have never seen before, unless during some ceremony of state or at a far distance on a battle field. Their presence signals either rising political tensions, or – most likely, an unusually promising crop of new hero candidates.

There is Remiel, a powerful healer, known for his terrifying experiments. Though he started out Human, he is now more amalgamation between angel and elemental than any mortal race and has an arm made entirely out of metal. His eyes glow with a searing white light that lacks any human warmth. Even so, he is one of the two most powerful healers in this world, and always sought after by those who need his expertise. At his side stands a terrible beast. A black horse with mane and hooves of crimson fire.

Remiel heads up an extensive network of lesser healers. Though well connected to most realms and many religious orders, it is ultimately a mercenary organisation that does not fight (Save against the undead), but which can greatly magnify the powers of those who do.

There is the creature known as Death Fairy, a tiny fey boy who glows and sparkles with all the colours of the rainbow. He is a Bard, and it is said his music can melt even the coldest of hearts. At his side stands Titan, a Goliath of great size, with metal spikes sticking out of her shoulders and back. A combat brute without equal. These two belong to no kingdom in particular, travelers and adventurers who have shut down many Dungeons on their own. They are here today as representatives of Tarbon, economic powerhouse and the largest centre of trade in all of Auricien. Though without its own official army, the various city states of the federation keep complex alliances and have contracts with mercenary forces, usually out containing or subduing dungeons, but always ready to return to their patron states.

In the shadow of a wizened old tree stands a humanoid shape draped in black. He calls himself Nightpain. Almost human in appearance, his skin is pale and he wears large black goggles that hide his eyes from the sun and curious glances. A master of darkness is he, and he runs a school of shadow magic on the Plane of Shadow. Many suspect that he has some involvement with the School of Night, arcane thieves and assassins, though he denies the connection. He sighs a lot, and says nobody understands him. According to the other faction leaders he holds the record for most civilians killed by accident, though he refuses to talk about it.

An ugly toad creature stands near the headmaster, trying to engage him in conversation. Potbellied, unclean and smelling of fish, he is the only healer who can measure himself against Remiel. He is called Socrates, and it is not a compliment. An adviser to the great churches, he is an undisputed servant of the forces of Good, having sworn long since to live a life of poverty and integrity and in the service of civilization. A gentle light surrounds him at all times. However... Nobody really likes having him around. Whatever strange species he is, it seems to just smell bad. Even when cleaned to perfection with magic, it only takes minutes for the foul odor to return. He is also often sarcastic, and likes nothing better than to ask questions of promising young students until they fall into an existential crisis and question the road they have chosen. Though he often works with church leaders, he has been banned by every church, individually, from speaking to their lower level acolytes and worshipers. Never the less, for overseeing, judging and assigning new heroes, a great many churches that would never entrust the role to each other are quite content to trust his judgement.

Nearest the entrance stands an enormously overgrown, mutated gnome almost as large as a horse. This gnome is known as Toohey. He is the leader of a... It's not quite a religious cult, but it's something in that direction. In the last days before the fall of the Featherlands to one of the most destructive dungeons in history, the many desperate remnants of civilization on the continent turned to extreme ideologies and leaders to preserve a sliver of their old lives and homes. Toohey seized control over some ten thousand people and began a brutal regime, promising to defend what remained of their homes. As the malevolent energies of the dungeons were winning out in that land, nothing grew anymore. No crops, nor plants for cattle. So. With dwindling supplies Toohey adopted a policy of forced poverty and altruism through brainwashing, seeking to convert the whole population into saints and servants of the Common Good – using the vow of poverty to remove their need to eat.

Most of the citizens starved to death, but those who survived follow Toohey's teachings with a fervor rivaling that of any religious cult. Though no citizens in their land can have private property, they work hard to keep demons, undead and aberrations away, and have amassed enormous wealth for The People through trade of monster corpses and rare ingredients. Money that is spent on public works, diplomacy, mercenaries, walls and weapons. These days food is also imported at great expense to feed children, until on the cusp of adulthood they have to choose between a life of communal asceticism or exile.

On a wooden stage stands an iron throne. Tathaln, king of Eashen, half-elf and son of two great heroes greets each candidate personally as they arrive. Eashen has not been a powerful country historically, but the ruthless king has adopted a controversial policy of allowing many dungeons to stand, allowing his champions to close them down only when it grows clear that the malign energies they leak are becoming a danger to army and infrastructure. As a result the kingdom has gained greatly in artifacts, wealth and the power of its champions. Critics worry however that if the danger these dungeons pose has been underestimated or should quickly grow, the people will be the ones to pay the price while the king and his champions are able to retreat to safer lands.

At the king's side stands the elf Nesterin, second high priest of the Holy Order of Dawn, the oldest continuous church in Auricien. Though the church holds little territory, it is widely believed to be the real power behind the thrones of every country in Abria – and indeed, those three countries have sent no representatives except the church leader.

To complete the trio, on the king's other side stands Ilmadia, elven ruler of Teya and master of its state school of arcane magic. Teya is poor in natural resources, but being the continent closest to the forbidden zone, magic is stronger there. Being the continent where new dungeons open up with the greatest frequency, it has adopted a hard policy of destroying every dungeon within its borders, as soon as they open. Because anyone may destroy a dungeon core without special permit it is very popular with roaming heroes and mercenary bands seeking riches and battle experience.

The delegation from Dragon's Jaw, capital of the Cracked Continent stands away from the rest. It is an unusual country they come from – a triple S dungeon as dangerous as the one that destroyed the Featherlands has poisoned most of the Eastern half of the continent, yet the deluge of malicious energies pouring from the gate has been mostly contained by an unholy alliance of ruthless spellcasters, cults and necromancers. Unable to take the dungeon itself, they fight and maneuver among themselves to secure as much as possible of the magic and monsters that spill out. Though the villains themselves have not been allowed to send representatives, it is widely believed that the rulers of the Western end of the continent are their puppets and tools, allowed to rule a sliver of the continent only to keep trade and smuggling routes open. The continent's main exports are magical artifacts, rare spell components and mercenaries.

The candidates introduced and allowed to mingle with the representatives, the details of the test are explained to them one final time. You may not leave this fenced in area except to enter the dungeon. You may retreat here to rest, or even request healing from the test overseers, but doing so will be factored into your assessment. You are to cooperate with the team you have been assigned. Your goal is to penetrate as deeply into the dungeon as you can. You may circumvent monsters and other obstacles in your path, but not if doing so would lead to anyone outside the dungeon being exposed to danger – though in this case of course the combined might of the overseers would be more than enough to subdue anything you could reasonably come across inside the dungeon. 'Dumping' dangers on the other parties inside the dungeon is frowned upon, but dungeons are inherently dangerous, and anyone who enters one should be prepared for the worst. You may not destroy the dungeon core, but if you can manage to reach it that will be seen as a very impressive feat. More likely however you will eventually come upon an obstacle you cannot surpass. That is not failure. That is life. Recognizing your limits is an important part of dungeon exploring. You will be assigned one overseer per team who will watch over your progress, and who will answer any general questions you may have. Specific questions about obstacles you encounter or the test itself will be ignored, of course. In the last extremity they may step in and save you if it becomes clear that a challenge is beyond you, but if they are forced to do so that will factor heavily against you in the assessment. Your overseer will also relay your progress to those on the surface, through scrying artifacts that allow sound and visual feeds to continually display for the remaining overseers and onlookers.

You are sorted into your teams, and given time for introductions, any last minute preparations and tactical discussions.

When you are ready, you approach the gash into the hillside, which leads down through a wide if low tunnel into what looks more like a roughly cut hall than a cavern. Lit by a number of torches along the walls, you see there is nothing obviously here except a chain link fence in a dark metal put down by the king's men. Through a door in the fence you are allowed into the hall proper, where you see... nothing, really.

Though you cannot see anything to indicate recent fighting, there is a lingering odor of blood and goblin guts. You remember something they mentioned during the few lectures you received in preparation for this day. Anything slain within a dungeon is soon absorbed by it, gear and all, unless quickly removed.

At the end of the hall you see three corridors stretching out and down into darkness. Team Heroes is instructed to take the right hand path. Team Too Strong is instructed to take the middle path. And the final team is left to walk the left hand path.

[dragonsamurai77]

A large, imposing figure, human in shape but covered head to toe with large golden scales, walks towards the designated path. Taking a moment to sniff the air around him (Hunter's Stance), he pulls out a small stick, simple in design but brimming with magical energy, and attempts to call on the powers within.

(Attempt to UMD wand of Mage Armor: DC 20 to use it, nat 1 means I can't use it for 24 hours)


[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]



HP 109/109
Spell slots:
0: 3
1: 4
2: 3

Bardic music: 6 uses

Maneuvers readied (* means expended):
Moment of Perfect Mind
Sudden Leap
Burning Blade
Shadow Jaunt
Insightful Strike
Soaring Raptor Strike

Stance:
Hunter's Stance

Temporary effects:
NONE

[dragonsamurai77]

A magical field of energy emerges from the wand, surrounding the draconic figure.


HP 109/109
Spell slots:
0: 3
1: 4
2: 3

Bardic music: 6 uses

Maneuvers readied (* means expended):
Moment of Perfect Mind
Sudden Leap
Burning Blade
Shadow Jaunt
Insightful Strike
Soaring Raptor Strike

Stance:
Hunter's Stance

Temporary effects:
AC +4

[kylelopezwms]

"so, lets be off then. Might as well just get this **** overwith." Bob sighs exasperatedly as he activates his globe of protection from evil. "Bloody bull**** is what this is. I could be working with magical gear, and experimenting with magic but here i am. Running into a bloody dungeon full of monsters." Bob mutters under his breath.

[dragonsamurai77]

I know not why we have been chosen for something of this magnitude, but now that we are here, we must do all we can to excel. I am Nabaru, humble servant of Bahamut, at your service. What is your name?

[kylelopezwms]

"names Bob. I'm probably going to craft your gear later to keep your sorry ass alive. Personally i would prefer we don't chat, as i think we are wasting too much oxygen. But dont mind me if you are wanting to keep jabbering." Bob looks annoyed, but speeks calmly in a somewhat soothing voice

[dragonsamurai77]

If that is what you wish, I will comply. But please, at the very least, accept this minor gift from me. Nabaru lifts a clawed hand towards Bob, and suddenly the environment feels slightly more pleasant.

(Using Endure Exposure, giving Bob an Endure Elements effect as well as immunity to my breath weapon for 24 hours.)

[kylelopezwms]

"Bah! Wasting your spells on me. Wasting magic......... Well thanks." *Hmph* Bob groans

[Unavenger]

Fey, giant gnomes, toad creatures, extraplanar assassins and actual goddamned angels do absolutely nothing to faze the perfectly average-looking human, decked out in plain clothes and with a variety of unusual but otherwise unremarkable tools. I flick through my shoulder-length, messy hair, and create a small negative-space light-show as emanating auras stop fractions of an inch from my person and my possessions. Even despite my pleasant demeanour - and if I do say so myself, quite pleasant-looking face - you can't focus on me too long, as though I'm not supposed to exist.

I look completely composed and uninterested, but in reality, even knowing that most of the assembled can't lay a metaphorical finger on me, I'm feeling more than a little uneasy. Wouldn't do to show it this early, though. I walk into the conversation in progress. "Just don't waste magic on me. I'm Micah, your resident perfectly ordinary human. Magic tends to give up and go home when I'm around, so feel free to throw whatever gribbly nasty things you have at enemies without worrying about hitting me. Oh, and if we're stuck in close combat, get on the other side of the enemy and I'll make them die."

I clear my throat slightly. "Now, shall we? I'm just about ready to start killing whatever jumped-up mutant animals they've got down there."

[Warmatt]

For his own part, Malog was mildly confused. This was not an uncommon state of affairs for him, though it was slowly fading back into a 'eh, what can you do about it' feeling. Still, he would nod, as he listened. Yeah, he didn't understand a lot of the more complex words, but that was fine. With a smile on his face, he would amble up to the pale guy in a suit. Was it like a set of cards? And was he spades, clubs, diamonds or hearts? Either way, those were interesting things to make clothes from.

Still, reaching out a finger, he would poke him. "You smart guy right?"

[Esprit15]

A hand clapped on Micah’s shoulder and a somewhat louder, more joyful tone drags the mood 180°. ”Another Earther! Awesome! I was worried I was going to be the only one from back home! And you actually look half-way normal! No offense to Nabaru, of course.” The girl is a bit above average height and, like Micah, in impeccable shape, with blonde hair tied back in a ponytail that gives her face the look of a student at a library, though the armor and weapons suggest that she belongs here at least as much as anyone else.

”So two gals, a grouchy angel, and a dragon. And somehow, we’re the least wild looking group. This should be... interesting.” While she had been somewhat scared and overwhelmed at first, Tara had made some level of peace and was eager to experience her second shot at life.

[kylelopezwms]

"Bah! Grouchy angel... Im not grouchy i just hate everyone. If i thought for a second that you could have made it though the dungeon without me i would have stayed behind! I have much more important things to do." Bob growls

[Unavenger]

"Heh, Earth seems like a distant memory. But it's good to meet someone else... well, normal-ish." I smile at her. "Ain't a gal, mind. Or a guy neither. But..."

My thoughts are interrupted by the yelling angel. I roll my eyes, and turn. "We'll be fine without you. If you're only here to make sure we don't die, well, go home. Do your important things. We won't miss you." I glare at him with a look that seems to hail from the void itself. "Plus, if you don't wanna be called grouchy, stop grouching. Being obnoxious at everyone and anyone isn't actually a good look. At the very least, grouch quietly, and say something useful, if you're able."

[Esprit15]

”Oh, sorry! They/them, then?” Tara says, blushing slightly. “And yeah, Micah’s got a point. You’re being tested here just like the rest of us, near as I can tell. I’d rather we got along at least long enough to get through our dungeon.”

[Unavenger]

"Got it in on... well, two, I guess, but who's counting? Don't answer that."

I take a moment to look at the girl. She's cute, especially when she's blushing. She doesn't look like an earthling, with her perfect figure, chiselled face, and borderline-fantastical armour, but then neither do I with my abyss-gazes-back eyes and aura of nothing in particular.

"So, uhm, you haven't actually told me your name yet. Or your shtick." A good Yiddish word, that, shtick. "Like, uh, what do you do, apart from prolly swing that sword around something fierce?"

[kylelopezwms]

"Bah, what do you all know. Im a bloody healer and an angel, you couldn't last a day without me to save your bloody lives. And when the adventure is done just WHO do you think'll be doing the repairs. Me. Only part of this bloody job i like. *Hmph*" Bob stares at the ground and grumbles to himself

[Unavenger]

"Ah, magic healing. Got it. So, completely pointless to the regenerating person who's literally a hole in all things magical, then? I don't need your healing, and if it did, it wouldn't work on me. Stick to saving your own sorry butt down there, angel-face." I wave him off dismissively; a few grand says he can't hurt me if he wanted to. "The rest of us will be, I dunno, actually co-operating."

[kylelopezwms]

"*hmph* dont like you one bit. Who cares about you anyways. i hope you die down there.... Well no, thats a bit harsh... I hope you get injured... Not too much, but enough to cause some pain! ...well hopefully not that much pain.... Still, i dont like you!" Bob starts rambling to himself

[Tyrann]

A slow-strutting rhythm of soft drumming quakes makes its way up the hill and stops near the podium to return king Tathaln's greetings. "Hello, pointy eared human king," comes a deep metallic baritone. "My name is Marambe. Is this your band?"

He looks over to at the other representatives and his eyes linger on Titan. "They look impressive. Especially that one. He looks strong. He would make a good gorilla, if he had more hair."

Then looks over at the other candidates. "Greetings, humans and other fleshy creatures with fleshy bits. I am Marambe. Why is that one" nodding at Bob "saying he does not like the other? It was my understanding we were supposed to smash things here together. Is the other not good at smashing?" Giving a confused look at Micah.

[kylelopezwms]

"i prefer fixing things to breaking them." Bob sighs

[Unavenger]

"Never mind the angel, he just hates everything," I say, before thinking a moment. Wait, a gorilla... named Marambe? That's a letter away... surely it's just a coincidence? Or maybe, given that it seems to be a robot, someone has a really sick sense of humour as well as being far too good at robotics. I decide against questioning it.

"I don't really do smashing so much as stabbing, but whatever. Doesn't mean I couldn't take most of you pompous lot." I flick my hair over my head. "Shouldn't you be with your group, making preparations, anyway?"

[Tyrann]

"That is an odd preference", the hulking gorilla bot looks at the deva that is now Bob, apparently completely oblivious to the meaning behind a sigh. "Are you here to fix the dungeon after we break it?"

Then turns to Micah. "I have a group? I was not aware. Apologies. I will go look for this group." And then wonders off.

After a few social mishaps, the gorilla notices Malog. "Hello. You look strong. Are you here to smash what's inside the dungeon, too? I am Marambe. I am looking for my group."

[Warmatt]

Malog himself would have fallen back into just waiting and looking after a few moments, seemingly entirely focused on the vampire lord... even if a casual glance of his mind would reveal that there was nothing going on at all, his mind entirely empty and blank. Yet, as Marambe spoke, Malog would take just a few moments to take in the shiny thing.

"People say Malog make friends if he smash in dungeon." He would be cheerful, a wide smile on his face as he faced the gorilla. "I in left path group!" All the while, he was wondering why the statue was speaking to him. He didn't have any of those special mushrooms that that funny guy said would make him smarter and he wasn't rutabaga.... or was that....

"You play Bongo in the Congo?" As he would speak, he would **** his head, eyes hidden under his helmet.

[Esprit15]

"Got it in on... well, two, I guess, but who's counting? Don't answer that."

I take a moment to look at the girl. She's cute, especially when she's blushing. She doesn't look like an earthling, with her perfect figure, chiselled face, and borderline-fantastical armour, but then neither do I with my abyss-gazes-back eyes and aura of nothing in particular.

"So, uhm, you haven't actually told me your name yet. Or your shtick." A good Yiddish word, that, shtick. "Like, uh, what do you do, apart from prolly swing that sword around something fierce?"

”Tara! Tara Wilton!” the girl says, extending a hand to the other human. ”I’m... a jack of all trades, I suppose would be the way to put it. Everything except magic, from hiding to punching, I’m a good hand at. It all just... kinda comes naturally to me. Guess I have my patron to thank for that.”

***

”Did Harambe just talk to us?”

[RelentlessImp]

"Who the heck names their realm after dirt?" comes a question from a brightly-attired creature with solid-colored eyes of a brilliant, neon green, second only in shade to her thick, nearly luminescent hair of pink-red-pink-red-pink in a fiery waterfall of constantly-shifting gradients. The fae is a riot of coloration, from the hair to the eyes to the iridescent dragon scales almost totally on display with her clothing - to say nothing of the bright, complementary colors of said clothing that somehow match with her almost insane coloration - including a bare midriff top-vest combo that leaves the patch around her navel exposed.

Shaking her head at the Earthlings, Cecie turns toward her own group. "Lessee," she says, tilting her head to the side as she studies her group. She points at Livia. "Protagonist, pure and good and probably more than a little naïve. And with hair like that, you've definitely lost the game of Who's The Protag." She eyes the Petal. "Hm. I'm thinking... tiny brute with a horrifyingly effective weapon. Nice to see someone who isn't... well, mortal." She smiles at Sundrop. And then her eyes fall on the kobold. "Foil, possibly? A bit of interparty conflict? Hey, just so you know, I'm totes down with the whole 'kill all enemies, show no mercy' schtick, so you'll at least have one person on your side when the inevitable arguments start."

[Unavenger]

"So it looks like we're pretty similar, apart from the bit about a patron to thank. What do you mean?" I vaguely wondered if it were something religion-based; I knew that this world had actual freaking deities who made themselves very obvious, but she just said that she didn't do magic. "And, well, the robot obviously isn't Harambe. It's Marambe," I said jovially, then more seriously, "Probably someone's idea of a dumb joke. Lord knows this entire world is."

I turn to the obscenely bright faerie girl. "Worlds are made of dirt. What do you want it to be named after, a dull bird of prey? A bunch of countries nobody can remember? An oxymoron of a star? A magical misfire machine? A spear with some connection to flying lizards? An attic full of crows? Honestly, dirt seems more sensible." I shrugged. "Ah, and I see you're the party's insufferable know-it-all who's probably doomed to the role of backup slapstick comic relief. Really, you should stop with your outdated genre stereotypes." I smiled at my own joke, and waited for her reaction.

[Ryton]

"—dugeon. Will contact when complete and my services are available again." As she finishes speaking, Livia tucks the small stone she'd been holding back into a pocket. She observes the others interacting for a short while with no real interest, until her attention sharpens as she catches a word spoken she had never expected to hear here, only to hear it repeated again.

She briefly takes flight, quickly closing most of the distance between her and the socialising group before landing gently a few feet away. "My apologies, my intent was not to eavesdrop, but did the two of you just say that you are, or perhaps were, also from Earth?"

Her eyes narrow slightly at Cecie's comment. "My hair was a perfectly serviceable brown before getting dragged here, thank you very much. I was human back then too.... And anyways, aren't protagonists usually sporting some legendary blade passed down through the generations? Or given by "the gods" or somesuch? No, I'm just here to patch you up so you can keep on doing all the stabby-stabby burny-burny stuff to get to the Core."

[RelentlessImp]

Cecie tilts her head back over her shoulder to the human-thing. "Hey, I haven't had coffee since I got dragged here. If my references are a bit stale, blame the lack of caffeine in this world. Bluh. What I wouldn't give for a local Faebucks."

She looks back to Livia, rolling her eyes. "Ugh. You mortals and your boring hair colors. All 'found-in-nature', and occasionally the color of something your biology produces when ill. At least now there's something interesting about the color, even if you are claiming kinship with these Earther things."


She looks towards the gash in the hill that is their dungeon for the day. "Speaking of stabby-stabby, burny-burny, can we get on with some of that? Not that chilling outside the fun part of the landscape isn't just making my day, but I was promised explosions. Okay, not promised, but getting to blow things up was definitely implied when I was called here."

[Esprit15]

”Yeah. Isn’t that what happened to you? Died back home, got yoinked here rather than passing onto whatever afterlife you were destined for?”

[Triskavanski]

While angels and dragons bickered and the like amongst themselves, there was a small calico cat sitting on top of a larger orange tabby. The calico wore an apron while carrying a frying pan and spatcula made of a shiny silver metal.

"Would you get a load of these guys Mao? How did we wind up here?"

"Meow."

"Albuquerque? No that's the rabbit kingdom.. No wonder we're not at the cat kingdom. Where did the map go?"

"Murreow"

"You ate it? "

"Mew"

"Of course it tasted bad! I the greatest chef of all time didn't cook it!"

[kylelopezwms]

"huh? A cat chef? Well at least you are a craftsman. Much better company then the rest of them to be sure. Names Bob, pleasure to make your acquaintance."

[dragonsamurai77]

They said the last member of this group was a "pair of cats." Somehow, I did not expect them to be so... literal. Regardless, we are to be allies in this endeavor, so you have my full support.

Nabaru again lifts a clawed hand, giving his protective aura to the rest of Team Heroes as well.

Now then, I suppose we should begin our descent, unless anyone has any remaining business on the surface.

[Triskavanski]

"Yep! One of the best chefs in all of the cat kingdom. Got my trusty non-stick frying pan and spacula to brave the evils down there. Hopefully some good eating.."

"Meow"

"Murrlin told me, if you get lost, seek the dungeon."

[Esprit15]

”Nope, seems everyone is patching onto their own groups.” The woman give another look to her party. This would be interesting...

[Anomander]

Serafino squints in the sunlight as he watches the others bandy their words about. This dungeon raid was going to play hell on his clothes. He sets aside the bother of his own silks, and does his best to dismiss the bickering.

His fellow runners aren't the powerbrokers in this world. Perhaps they will be someday, and he'll be watching them, but other powers have been established here already, well beyond his own capabilities. They're the ones that he will need to watch for.

King Talthan in particular gets a few extra words. They are running a dangerous game, but as a kingdom with fewer resources than others, it seems to be a necessary one, and one they're doing well at so far. Seraphino might not mind working with such a kingdom for his own purposes.

And then the tiny Death Fairy and the nation he represents - he certainly gets a few more words than most of the others. Now that is the sort of country that Seraphino is familiar with - trade, money, treaties, alliances, and a stable nation state. Certainly still more primitive than the corporate states of his own time, but they will be an excellent base of operations for him to work on.

With an eternity to plan ahead on, Seraphino wants a good place to begin. But before he works them over, he needs to survive and thrive with his fellow dungeon divers.

"Anyone need a last bit of prep? If not, I'm ready to dive right in."

He flips an expensive-looking dagger around. "I'm ready to shove this where the sun don't shine, and the sun ain't shining down there."

Anything to get out of the sunlight. It's not a deadly danger for him, but it's still uncomfortable and irritating.

[Togo]

Towards the back stands small creature, halfling sized, and beardless, but built more like a minature muscular dwarf. Judging from the cheap clothes, lack of weapons or armour, and the backpack larger than he is, he may be a henchman or hireling of some kind.

He finishes adjusting his straps and looks around, craning his neck to see around all the larger adventurers.

Ah.. Left. So is that our left or...

He start trying edge his way through the crowd, which unfortunately doesn't work, party because his freight makes him larger when presented side on, and partly because he seems reluctant to just push through. Eventually he tries asking people at random

Hi, sorry, can't actually see through the crowd, is left *this* way? Does anyone know?

[Ryton]

Livia shakes her head at Tara's comment. "No, I didn't die. I was taking a nap in the break room and woke up here. I mean, maybe there was a carbon monoxide leak, but they just checked the detectors last month. And I work in a hospital, surely someone would have found me before things got lethal...

Well, it was nice to meet you, I'm Livia by the way. Good luck on your spelunking or dungeoneering or whatever, and hopefully we can chat later, once we're out of this dungeon."

As Team Hero begins to get situated, she turns to Cecie. "I can be ready for dungeon delving whenever, so don't let me keep you from doing your thing if everyone else on our team is ready for this. Whatever this is."



A look of puzzlement briefly crosses her face. Did — did that man just... threaten to stab a dungeon?

[Tyrann]

"I have never been to Congo. I was born in Texas. I believe that is why I am so big. What is a Bongo?" the gorilla replies to Malog.

Marambe gives Seraphino a welcoming nod, followed by a mechanical shudder at the mention of diving. "There's no.. water in there. Is there?" Nervously eyeing the dark hole.

Extending an open palm to Tsu-Tse Qu as an offer to put the little not-quite-halfling on his shoulder and raise him above the crowd, Marambe says, "Hello friend. I am supposed to go left as well. But I am not sure which path that is. I cannot see through the dark."

[Unavenger]

”Yeah. Isn’t that what happened to you? Died back home, got yoinked here rather than passing onto whatever afterlife you were destined for?”

"N...no, not exactly. I was yoinked, maybe even yitten, over here, but I was very much still alive. And I'm not sure about the "Whatever afterlife you were destined for" thing either." I resolved not to get any further into such a contentious subject, mind. "I was initially half-tempted to believe that this was all a drunken dream, but I haven't had a drop since the Seder. But whatever, I was here for a while and then some goons told me I was a hero and to get myself over here, so... I did that."

"Now then, I suppose we should begin our descent, unless anyone has any remaining business on the surface."

"Don't look at me, I've been good to go since I got here. Shall we?"

[Anomander]

Serafino is glad to see his own group congregating and preparing to go. He shakes the hand of the large, mechanical gorilla.

"Marambe? Good to meet you. I'll be glad to take the front and scout. In my world, water was the bane of chrome, too. A group of runners tried to hit my ship's hoop, and frag me if their booster didn't buy it trying to drink the ocean. Sank right to the bottom when he slipped off the side."

He looks at Malog - heavily armored.

He checks the small dwarf-like being - piled high with gear.

"In fact, water might be the bane of all of you. Let's hope there's no flooded passages."

'And having teammates drowning would be a bad look for me,' Serafino thinks.

[Togo]

Tzu-Tse hesitates for only a moment, a little apprehensive at the metal behemoth before him, before giving a shrug. He springs lightly onto Marambe's palm, and then again onto his back, before strolling up to one shoulder. The sensation is a little strange, Tzu-Tse' weight being negligible compared to the that of his backpack.

He remains on the shoulder, still standing, shifting slightly to Marambe's movements. It feels like he's stood on a shoulder before. Hm. Actually, this is a lot better. Thanks.

He looks around, then points.

Ha. This way, I think? Where those torches are? You know, we might be able take one of those with us, if you can't see in the dark. They don't look like they're bolted down or anything...

A shrug.

...and I'm not sure it would matter if they were. I brought a lamp, but they're so fragile.

Tzu-Tse starts to lean one elbow on Marambe's head, and then stops, instead prodding it with a slight 'bonging' sound.

You know, this is good construction. Not bad at all. You do this?

He turns back to surveying the scene.

Any preference for overseer? And is there anyone else on the team? It can't just be us, surely?

[Warmatt]

Malog as he looks at the robotic gorilla, now with a dwarf in its shoulder even as he wonders.... "Congo big jungle and bongo is a type of drum." He would seem confused, as his eyes would be on the dwarf. "Why there Lannister on your shoulder? He like parrot?" Yet he would continue after just a moment or two, as he would point at some of the possible overseers.

"Smart one (Socrates), Uchia (Nightpain), Pretty one (Ilmadia)."

[Togo]

Tzu-Tse greets Seraphino and Malog with raised eyebrows at the contrast between them, but little more.

You two have any ideas on overseer, or should we just see who we get?

He waves an arm back over at the delegates.

Thematically, I like the look of Death Fairy... says the tiny dwarf perched on the shoulder of the gigantic metal beast. They suit us. And would probably appreciate what we can do more than, say, a mage or priest. But politically we may be better off with that king you two were talking to. Exploit rather than just contain is probably where we want to be if we're going to get rich. I like idea of the elves, particularly just choosing our own targets, but I don't think the leadership will know what to make of us.

He looks over the others hopefully.

Or we could just take pot luck.

[Triskavanski]

"Well I've got one thing here.." Ted says moving closer to the congergation of rulers of the world. "Ladies and gentlemen and whatever other honorifics you might be refereed as, I am Ted. A humble but great chef from The Cat Kingdom, and I beseech you today for the possibility of starting a buiness in the world as well, after running through the trial of course."

[Thunder999]

Vhaak, wearing the illusory form of his old body, with a few minor cosmetic improvements, shinier scales, pointier claws and the like, approaches the gathering "Hello my comrades, firstly I shall clear up a small misunderstanding, I am an arctic kobold not a Foil, still I'm sure such misunderstanding are common in this place, so I shall not hold it against you. You may call me Vhaak and, as my attire no doubt gives away, a sorcerer. If you're Livia, congratulations on the species upgrade by the way, then would you, my draconic friend, be Cecie or Sundrop?" he says, with a nod to Livia and Cecie at the appropriate times and a particular smile at the word draconic.

[Tyrann]

"You scout, I smash." The giant ape nods happily at Seraphino, but looks deeply confused when the vampire goes on to mention 'runners' and 'boosters'. "Yes, flooded passages would be bad. I sink."

"I have never drummed." Marambe answers Malog. "And I don't think he is a parrot. He does not have any feathers."

Marambe gives Tsu-Tse a second look, just to make sure no feathers were missed, but otherwise doesn't react much to the dwarf climbing about, happy that his new friend can now see. "That is a good idea. We should take some torches."

At the boing to the head, he replies "No, I did not make myself. I used to have fur. But then I got a headache. And then a voice lady made me Mecha-Rambe. Or Marambe for short." He does a half-shrug, careful not to throw the dwarf off.

"If I had to choose, I do like Titan (the brute with Death Fairy). He looks strong. Or the King." the gorilla pauses a moment and then adds "But I am not so good at picking humans. It might be better if one of you decides."

[Anomander]

Serafino sighs. A new world and language to get used to. He'd just gotten used to the 21st century Earth lingo.

"I cannot say that I have been especially drawn to any of them, though the country represented by Death Fairy and his massive companion seems to be a stable, strong, and growing country. I've found those to be valuable aspects for a healthy society.

"Eashen and Ilmadia seem likely locations for progressive efforts. A country on the edge of survival seems to be a place rife with possibility."

With a quick glance over the various judges, Serafino shrugs.

"None of the individuals truly inspire me. I've had poor relationships with established religious groups in my previous world. That is perhaps coloring my impression of some of them here, but I would still prefer to avoid the various religiously oriented individuals."

[Eldan]

Sundrop Snapdragon
The petal looks a bit indignant, or as indignant as a three inch ball of light with wings can look. There is at least a tremble.
"Hey, listen, lady! I'm not a brute! I'm elegant and refined! Hrmph."
The ball zips around the group in the blink of an eye, taking them all in.
"Also, what's coffee?"
Sundrop zips away almost too fast to see. It seems she's trying to be part of every conversation at once.
"Hello cat. You're also a chef? That's amazing!"
"I didn't see any carbon monoxide. Just some guy in a green tunic breaking pots to catch faeries. Also, I don't think I'm dead."
She flies back to her own group.
"I'm Sundrop. Nice to meet you, big fellow. Are you a dragon?"

[Thunder999]

"Hello Sundrop, that's certainly an interesting name, no true dragons here, though Cecie clearly has some dragon blood and I, like all kobolds, am descended from them, albeit not so closely. Why would someone break perfectly good pottery in search of the fey. Oh and we're all definitely alive here, no dead people at all"

[Ryton]

Livia tries to follow Sundrop with her eyes, but quickly stops, as the effort starts giving her a headache. Once the tiny fey returns to their group, Livia gives it a smile. "It is lovely to meet you Sundrop. In case you didn't catch it earlier, my name is Livia, and I'm our team Band-Aid. I'll keep you all hale and hearty so you all can keep on doing your thing. I can also create a sort of simple psychic link between all of us that will help me monitor your vitals, and I can provide some measure of advance protection as well, which is good. 'To prevent is preferable to curing' and all that."

At Vhaak's comment Livia's eyes narrow. "Is this one of those things where you're claiming you somehow accidentally dropped an active drill on your arm or something when you obviously have a GSW?"

[RelentlessImp]

Cecie waves a hand dismissively. "Yeah, great-great-great-granny Ava boinked a prismatic dragon something like a thousand years ago, got married, had a couple kids, took his hoard in the divorce, blew it all on a backdoor draw in Veygus. Now pretty much the entire family's scaly in one way or another. And yeah, I'm Cecie." At this, she studies Vhaak for a moment, then shrugs.

"This is turning into a crazy party. Two mages, a healer, and a frontliner? Well, can't be any crazier than a party of four healers, and a group like that thwarted some of the first threats to our realm, so the story goes." She shakes her head, casting a longing look towards the dungeon entrance again, her fingers itching to do their waggling so she can rain status effects and damage on enemies. And here, her new companions might notice that Cecie is never really still; she bounces on the balls of her feet, or shifts continuously in small, sinuous movements, or her hands are playing with her hair, something to keep the hyperactive energy bottled up inside of her diverted from potentially making her explode if she were ever fully at rest. Her eyes go back to Sundrop after a moment, and then go distant - fond memories.

"Coffee is... this wonderful thing. Beans that grow on trees that are harvested, roasted, ground, and then percolated with superhot water, forcing out a lovely dark brown or black, depending on roasting, drink that, when done correctly, tastes like chocolate and fills you with energy and makes you ready to take on the world. And then there's espresso, which is really tightly-packed bean powder that you force lots of water through and get very little, but it's packed with sooooooooo much energy! Aagh. You're making me homesick! I've been caffeine-deprived for so long!" Her full lips form a pout, and she crosses her arms over her chest, exhaling sharply to blow strands of that gradient hair out of her face.

To distract herself from her lamentations, she points at each of them in turn. "Livia, Sundrop, Vhaak. Livia, Sundrop, Vhaak," she mumbles to herself, committing the names to memory, along with their abilities - at least, the ones they've stated.

[Togo]

Tsu-Tze nods.

Ok, so Death Fairy, and if not him then King Talthan. I'll start with the kallidascopic cabbage patch doll and his Zoid companion. Anyone want to come with me? Might be a good idea.

He looks down at the steely warforged he is standing on.

And if you're not coming, could you possibly pitch me over in his direction, that is, over in that direction? Might be a useful trick if we practice it...

[Anomander]

Tsu-Tze nods.

Ok, so Death Fairy, and if not him then King Talthan. I'll start with the kallidascopic cabbage patch doll and his Zoid companion. Anyone want to come with me? Might be a good idea.

He looks down at the steely warforged he is standing on.

And if you're not coming, could you possibly pitch me over in his direction, that is, over in that direction? Might be a useful trick if we practice it...

"I agree with your estimates on potential judges and their represented countries. I shall speak with the king and anyone is welcome to join me. I am not yet familiar with this world's political pitfalls and wouldn't mind others' expertise."

Serafino keeps an eye on any flying dwarfs, ready to use a nudge of telekinesis to redirect any mishaps. Having a goof before even entering the dungeon would be bad, but a fancy trick might catch the right eye.

"Your majesty," Serafino says with a bow when he reaches the king of Eashen.

"May I introduce myself on behalf of my fellow group of dungeon delvers? I am Serafino de la Cosa, recently of a world advanced in technology and delving the depths of magic. As we await the beginning of our run, we wish to introduce ourselves to some of the esteemed beings gathered here. Your kingdom's wise approach to these dungeons has spread at least to our ears."

[roll0]

[Tyrann]

"All right." Marambe shrugs and tosses the small dwarf towards Death Fairy and Titan.


No idea how this would work, but I assume dwarfs can be improvised thrown weapons? So AC 5 to hit a square and max 4 range increments of 5' each, for a total of 13 needed to throw Tsu-Tze 20 feet?

[roll0]


Marambe himself stays put. He figures it might look bad if all his party is talking to different overseers.

[Togo]

Tsu-Tze arcs neatly through the air to land on his feet. At least that's the plan. The momentum makes him bounce a couple of times. before he comes to a stop....

Acrobatics[roll0]

...more or less on his feet. He then move over towards Death Fairy.

Umm... We were talking about who we should ask to be our overseer. Do you have any advice? Would you be a good choice, assuming you're willing?

[Togo]

It's obvious that Tzu-Tse is trying to make a good impression.

It's equally obvious that he's had at least some training.

But not enough training.

Diplomacy check [roll0]

[FearlessGnome]

"I agree with your estimates on potential judges and their represented countries. I shall speak with the king and anyone is welcome to join me. I am not yet familiar with this world's political pitfalls and wouldn't mind others' expertise."

Serafino keeps an eye on any flying dwarfs, ready to use a nudge of telekinesis to redirect any mishaps. Having a goof before even entering the dungeon would be bad, but a fancy trick might catch the right eye.

"Your majesty," Serafino says with a bow when he reaches the king of Eashen.

"May I introduce myself on behalf of my fellow group of dungeon delvers? I am Serafino de la Cosa, recently of a world advanced in technology and delving the depths of magic. As we await the beginning of our run, we wish to introduce ourselves to some of the esteemed beings gathered here. Your kingdom's wise approach to these dungeons has spread at least to our ears."

[roll0]
The king smiles at Serafino's words. "The pleasure is mine, I am sure. As a native of a world of both magic and technology it may take a while to get used to the many subtle ways in which the laws of nature are broken differently here. Still, we may have the opportunity perhaps to hear about your home at some point. There are so many very different worlds out there." Talthan gestures vaguely toward the many candidates. "Even so this is an exotic crop." His smile widens. "We are pleased to see so many strong candidates, naturally. Should any of you do well today, you will be more than welcome to join our operations here. In Teya they close every dungeon they can, but... the world is not always so simple. We are always happy to welcome new blood into our old order."



Tsu-Tze arcs neatly through the air to land on his feet. At least that's the plan. The momentum makes him bounce a couple of times. before he comes to a stop....

Acrobatics[roll0]

...more or less on his feet. He then move over towards Death Fairy.

Umm... We were talking about who we should ask to be our overseer. Do you have any advice? Would you be a good choice, assuming you're willing?
As Tsu-Tze lands he feels something very slightly different about the air. It's not painful, in fact... He feels a little better than usual. As he steps up to Death Fairy however there is a faint sense of discomfort. Titan is undeniably monstrously strong, and if there had been a trace of hostility in her demeanor she might have been quite intimidating. But Tsu-Tze's keen senses tell him that it is the little fey creature who is the greater threat.

Death Fairy glitters and glimmers. His form is slightly translucent, and it seems to shift in colour from one second to the next. When he speaks, however, he sounds carefree and relaxed.
"Whom to choose, hm?" He looks around at the other overseers. "Well personally I would love it if you asked for Nightpain." His grin widens and his eyes... sparkle... literally... The air around him glitters like undisturbed snow in the sunlight."Well that might not be very fun for you. For such a gloomy guy he doesn't shut up much when it's not him fighting. Still, if you decide to sneak past anything he won't be in your way. I myself am always happy to go dungeon diving, but I don't exactly... blend in." He throws his hair back and it glimmers like gems and precious metals. "Really we all don't mind going. Just choose whoever you like. Well, the Dragon's Jaw crowd might not like to. They're... political appointees. Everyone else is fine, though. Even the king is strong enough. Or Titan, she would be very happy to go. This seems to be a pretty trap happy one."

While he's friendly enough, there is... just the faintest hint of a feeling Tsu-Tze can't shake that he should not be standing so close to the sparkling creature. Like something bad is building up, ever so slowly.

"Oh. Dude. By the way. Not Socrates. Seriously. The man has no filter. He'll spend the whole test asking questions and being thoroughly unimpressed with anything you say. It might be a hidden test you have to pass to join a secret church or something. That man can smell an insecurity five miles away, and he doesn't let anyone off the hook. He's pissed off so many angels."

[Anomander]

The king smiles at Serafino's words. "The pleasure is mine, I am sure. As a native of a world of both magic and technology it may take a while to get used to the many subtle ways in which the laws of nature are broken differently here. Still, we may have the opportunity perhaps to hear about your home at some point. There are so many very different worlds out there." Talthan gestures vaguely toward the many candidates. "Even so this is an exotic crop." His smile widens. "We are pleased to see so many strong candidates, naturally. Should any of you do well today, you will be more than welcome to join our operations here. In Teya they close every dungeon they can, but... the world is not always so simple. We are always happy to welcome new blood into our old order."

"'New blood into our old order'," Serafino quotes the king with raised eyebrow. "Hmmm."

"Well, if I may ask, what sort of skills or resources are you looking for in particular among the gathered candidates? Certainly the ability to overcome the challenges of the deeps, but I imagine you might have particular areas in your kingdom which might be filled with certain sets of skills.

"And, if I may be so bold to be blunt, what might be the attractions to your particular kingdom over others?"

Serafino isn't worried about letting the king see he is prying for information, but he's doing his best to make it polite and seem genuinely interested. However, that crack about getting 'new blood' in might have been a hint at certain leanings.

'I've dealt with enough unreasonable hatred back on Earth that I'd rather not have to drain half the population here before they figure out not to cross me.'

Looking for:
hints on how much they want candidates to join them.
hints on how much they might be willing to offer as incentives.
hints on whether they have pro- or anti- vampire leanings.
[roll0]

[FearlessGnome]

"'New blood into our old order'," Serafino quotes the king with raised eyebrow. "Hmmm."

"Well, if I may ask, what sort of skills or resources are you looking for in particular among the gathered candidates? Certainly the ability to overcome the challenges of the deeps, but I imagine you might have particular areas in your kingdom which might be filled with certain sets of skills.

"And, if I may be so bold to be blunt, what might be the attractions to your particular kingdom over others?"

Serafino isn't worried about letting the king see he is prying for information, but he's doing his best to make it polite and seem genuinely interested. However, that crack about getting 'new blood' in might have been a hint at certain leanings.

'I've dealt with enough unreasonable hatred back on Earth that I'd rather not have to drain half the population here before they figure out not to cross me.'

Looking for:
hints on how much they want candidates to join them.
hints on how much they might be willing to offer as incentives.
hints on whether they have pro- or anti- vampire leanings.
[roll0]
Talthan laughs charitably. "Our kingdom is not vast, but it is large enough that we are able quite happy to attract a wide variety of talents. Naturally, at the end of the day the resource that is most precious is the ability to contain the threat of a dungeon. However... in the extreme, we can always call in mercenaries for a week or two. No, I should say, what I value most is people who don't let things get to that point. If you want to impress me, show me that you have the guile to exploit a dungeon without overreaching. And loyalty, of course, although that can only be showed and earned over time."

The king shrugs. "As to what we can offer... Haha, you must impress us before we can speak in tangibles, but shall we say... Eashen, as a result of our policies, is resource rich, if poorer in manpower. We do attract champions from elsewhere, of course, but it seems to me... For all that Teya has strong magic due to its geography, gold and curious artifacts are more plentiful here." Talthan looks over at the ruler of Teya, the elf lord Ilmadia. "Wouldn't you agree?"

The archmage opens his arms in a soothing gesture. "I would certainly agree you have a greater number of those things." He smiles, but says no more.

Talthan chuckles. "My old friend is half expecting us to be overrun by a triple S dungeon any day now. This has been his position for decades. Never mind that we break any dungeon that threatens to grow beyond A level."

The smile disappears for a brief second and he meets your eyes. "If you are useful to me and I can trust you, you will have more toys and freer reign here than anywhere outside the Deadlands."

King Talthan is looking for leaders. He is quite confident in the security of his kingdom. While he does not seem content, it is hunger and not desperation that moves him.
The last thing he said was crystal clear. If you are useful and as long as you're useful, "toys and free reign" can be interpreted as broadly as you like.
If he knows that you are a vampire he doesn't care.

[Ryton]

Livia chuckles a little at the mention of coffee. "I definitely drank too much coffee back home. I know how much caffeine it takes to be dangerous, and I got to that point more than once. I never really developed a taste for it though, mostly I just drank the cheap stuff for the kick."

She gives a brief glance around at her assigned teammates, then gives an odd, non-committal shrug. "Well, may as well get my limited prep out of the way. Here we go." She closes her eyes for a moment, concentrating, then snaps them open quickly. The Collective only brings in willing members so the following is only relevant to willing members of Team Too Strong.

[So, welcome to the Collective. First off, don't blame me, I didn't name it that, apparently that's just what these mind meld things are called. Second, I can create some nifty armor for anyone before we go in, it's not restrictive at all, and it'll last quite a while. And lastly, I'm planning giving you guys a sort of buffer in the likely even we get hit by things while we're in there, if that's okay with you all.]

She touches her chest briefly and a faint blue field shimmers around her for an instant before fading away.

In the telepathy she's offering (non-augmented) Inertial Armor, the psionic equivalent to Mage Armor. I imagine only Sundrop is interested, but she's offering to everyone. She'll also give everyone some hefty Temp HP with Vigor, assuming no one objects.

Additionally, she manifests a fully augmented Overchanneled Inertial Armor on herself for 7pp. Her fast healing will take care of the damage, so I'll only roll for Overchannel damage in combat.

And finally, her Concentration modifier is high enough that she auto-passes all checks to suppress manifestation displays. She still provokes AoOs, her powers just aren't accompanied by weird smells, flashing lights, ectoplasmic disturbances, etc.

[Thunder999]

Vhaak pauses a moment then thinks as hard as he can [ Telepathy, interesting I can handle my own armour, but the buffer sounds nice, I'm actually rather fond of touch range spells, so I'll be in melee on occasion] with that 'said' he casts a quick mage armour. [I don't believe I have described my abilities yet, I'm a sorcerer, I can do some damage in a pinch but am more talented at weakening foes, suffice to say that you don't touch the fog I also picked a little summoning, but the summons are very dead indeed, handy for trapspringing if nothing else. ]

[Togo]

Tzu-Tse nods at Death Fairy's words. Occasionally he glances over at Serafino and King Talthan, who seem to be having a far less awkward conversation.

Sure, sure, that's interesting.... um...

These are, despite appearances, representatives, maybe even diplomats. I need to be careful here. Subtle even...

So... this weird feeling I'm getting standing near you, and the nickname 'Death Fairy'. What's up with that then?/

After a pause, he forges on.

Would you really be less subtle than Titan here? Should we ask him?

He stops, confident he's covered the necessary ground.

Oops! Forgot about geopolitics! Sensitive area. Let's see...

And ah... Which country should we be trying to go with, if we want to be rich and gets lots of stuff? Yours maybe?

[Eldan]

Sundrop, Telepathy
"Ooh, I've never worn armor before. What's that like?"

[RelentlessImp]

[Huh. Telepathy. Yep, definitely winning the game of Who's The Protag. Then again, Githyanki Ganker has telepathy as well and he's usually relegated to a side character in comics,] Cecie states, and her telepathic voice comes with a lot of mental imagery, flickering behind her words and giving context - a brief flash of comic book pages and a green Githyanki alongside the emotional impact of the phrase 'superheroes'.

[Well, since we're talking about things behind the other's backs, if we're looking for a patron I'm thinking we go with the Dragon's Jaw delegates. From what I understand of this world, they're the ones who actually have real, no-bullywog-BLEEP- power, and are chief exporters of things that are crucial to adventurers - to wit, magic items that we can decorate ourselves in like Christmas trees.] All of her telepathic communication is delivered at once, with her mental imagery flashing to give context rather than full words, handing over entire ideas that unpack themselves in the brain as sentences, with only the space of a couple of (human) heartbeats passing throughout the entirety. The profanity is, in fact, -BLEEPED- out in a loud ringing noise. And she continues with the rapid-fire concept-passing conversation.

[Oh, right. I lock things down and blow things up. Granted, my explodey-bits aren't quite ready for full artillery status, but a little grinding and I should be popping out murderous blasts of magic full-time. I'm looking forward to it, in fact. And really, this telepathy's going to make communication a lot easier in the heat of battle, and we'll be avoiding enemies hearing our plans. Definitely got ourselves a good protag here.] She flashes a smile within the span of another heartbeat at Livia - a smile that shows a mouthful of shark-like teeth, razorsharp and multiple-rowed.

[Thunder999]

[I am certainly in favour of the Dragon's Jaw delegates, to thrive that close to one of the greatest hazards in this world is an excellent sign. They don't seem especially unified, but that just means there is more room to carve out a place for ourselves. Oh and what precisely do you need to grind up to further your power, I carry my wealth in the form of gemstones, so perhaps I could lend you one if things go poorly?] As to the nature of his telepathic speech, it has a slight echo, reminiscent of speaking inside a cavern and, unlike his fairly cheerful vocalisations earlier, contains not the slightest hint of emotion.

[Anomander]

Talthan laughs charitably. "Our kingdom is not vast, but it is large enough that we are able quite happy to attract a wide variety of talents. Naturally, at the end of the day the resource that is most precious is the ability to contain the threat of a dungeon. However... in the extreme, we can always call in mercenaries for a week or two. No, I should say, what I value most is people who don't let things get to that point. If you want to impress me, show me that you have the guile to exploit a dungeon without overreaching. And loyalty, of course, although that can only be showed and earned over time."

The king shrugs. "As to what we can offer... Haha, you must impress us before we can speak in tangibles, but shall we say... Eashen, as a result of our policies, is resource rich, if poorer in manpower. We do attract champions from elsewhere, of course, but it seems to me... For all that Teya has strong magic due to its geography, gold and curious artifacts are more plentiful here." Talthan looks over at the ruler of Teya, the elf lord Ilmadia. "Wouldn't you agree?"

The archmage opens his arms in a soothing gesture. "I would certainly agree you have a greater number of those things." He smiles, but says no more.

Talthan chuckles. "My old friend is half expecting us to be overrun by a triple S dungeon any day now. This has been his position for decades. Never mind that we break any dungeon that threatens to grow beyond A level."

The smile disappears for a brief second and he meets your eyes. "If you are useful to me and I can trust you, you will have more toys and freer reign here than anywhere outside the Deadlands."

King Talthan is looking for leaders. He is quite confident in the security of his kingdom. While he does not seem content, it is hunger and not desperation that moves him.
The last thing he said was crystal clear. If you are useful and as long as you're useful, "toys and free reign" can be interpreted as broadly as you like.
If he knows that you are a vampire he doesn't care.

'Ah, another dictator building a country based on his personal skills and abilities," Serafino thinks with an internal sigh. "If he were to vanish, it would collapse. No long term stability as it is now, but there have been worse seeds to tend. I'd need to be watching my back constantly, since he is insecure and ready to remove potential rivals at first chance. Lawlessness. Bah.'

"That certainly does have an attraction, your majesty. Perhaps I suffer from overconfidence, but I believe my abilities are more than sufficient to accrue basic wealth anywhere. Non-monetary possibilities are the more interesting to me. I look forward to further contact with you and your country."

With another bow, Serafino withdraws from the king's immediate presence. There are worlds of politics and conflicts here, far more than can be picked up in a few conversations. While he had the chance, Serafino would learn what he could, but the dungeon here was the primary focus and he needed to be ready at a moment's notice.

Seeing how his teammate, the dwarf, was faring with the being called death fairy would not be amiss if time permitted.

Serafino crosses the small area, weaving through the crowd to join Tzu-Tse. Next to Tzu-Tse, the towering 'Goliath,' as he overheard her race to be, was certainly a striking figure. She and the small, psychedelically-colored being were quite a pair, and their represented country of Tarbon was another leading candidate for Serafino's focus.

[FearlessGnome]

Tzu-Tse nods at Death Fairy's words. Occasionally he glances over at Serafino and King Talthan, who seem to be having a far less awkward conversation.

Sure, sure, that's interesting.... um...

These are, despite appearances, representatives, maybe even diplomats. I need to be careful here. Subtle even...

So... this weird feeling I'm getting standing near you, and the nickname 'Death Fairy'. What's up with that then?/

After a pause, he forges on.

Would you really be less subtle than Titan here? Should we ask him?

He stops, confident he's covered the necessary ground.

Oops! Forgot about geopolitics! Sensitive area. Let's see...

And ah... Which country should we be trying to go with, if we want to be rich and gets lots of stuff? Yours maybe?
Death Fairy grins. "Weird feeling? Weird feeling? Hmm. Oh yeeeah. That's just one of my powers. Don't worry about it. It's more of a long term thing."

At Tsu-Tze's question about Titan, the monstrous giant turns a ring on her finger and seemingly disappears. Death Fairy speaks again, but no words come out. In fact, there are no sounds at all. You can't hear the background buzz of the other gatherings or the wind or even your own heartbeat. Just as quickly she returns, and sound resumes.

Death Fairy claps his hands together. "She can be discreet if she has to. The perks of wealth."

At Tsu-Tze's final question the fairy laughs, the air around him glittering intensely. "This world is surprisingly rich, even if it is a little concentrated in the hands of rulers and adventurers. You can get 'rich' anywhere, if you are patient. If like me you want to get there as quickly as possible... Well, nobody makes quite as much money as a good healer with Remiel. The rates they charge are just disgusting... Short of that, you'll find the highest risk and reward in... the Deadlands, probably. Tarbon, of course is a wonderful place. So much posturing and maneuvering. Everyone has a sword but no one uses it kind of deal. Right here in Eashen is probably the easiest place to get land, if you care about that. Hmm... Teya is great for closing down dungeons, so you can get some real experience. Sadly most dungeons grow over time, and they don't really get a chance there, so... Well, I hear the wizards like it, but it's not really my style. Remnant does offer a lot of money to outside mercenaries, but the people there are just... nuts. It's like they pity you even as they pay you. Every meal they cook comes with a sad smile like they are handing an alcoholic another barrel of wine. The countries in Abria... Well to be honest they're a bit too well adjusted. With the exception of the royal dungeon in Qan they are pretty aggressive about shutting them down as well. Though to be fair they do have the highest populations, and one bad gate could spill over into all three countries I guess."

[Ryton]

Livia ponders Sundrop's question for a moment before responding. [To be honest, I don't know what wearing armor is like. But this won't get in the way if you want to try it out, and I can dismiss it if you don't like it.

As for our overseer, I've no real preference, and you make some valid points about those from Dragon's Jaw.
And, uh, the grinding Cecie means is less actual physically grinding an object, and more repetitively doing something ton increase wealth or power. I'm not sure if that's necessarily how things work here, but that's what I remember from my gaming days...]

[FearlessGnome]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~Team Heroes~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When you walk down the right side path it is a long, narrow corridor that twists and turns. Soon there is no light left from the great hall behind you. Walking slowly and cautiously, at last you come upon a hole in the floor. The corridor seems to continue on beyond it, making this a fork in the road.

The drop down the fissure is about ten feet, then another ten feet of empty space, to the floor below. Climbing down looks tricky to an untrained person, but should be doable for anyone with a little experience. Getting back up without tools or flight would be harder. No signs of life or light below.

[kylelopezwms]

"looks safe enough. Careful of the drop ahead. Looks like we can go down but going back up is going to be a pain. Not for me, mind you as i got wings." Bob mutters to the rest of the party

[dragonsamurai77]

I've some rope, at least, and clearly they expect us to get out. Be careful, though; I've been smelling dead goblins ever since we approach.

Nabaru pauses a moment before continuing, I'll go first. Don't want to be first in the overall marching order, but anything that's right here shouldn't be a problem, and I can toss up the rope if anyone needs it.

Nabaru proceeds to jump to the bottom of the shaft.

Acrobatics check to jump down, though even if I fail my Fast Healing will presumably take care of the fall damage in short order:
[roll0]

[FearlessGnome]

Nabaru has a slightly rough landing, but recovers quickly enough.

It is pitch black down here, but with his draconic senses he is able to see through the darkness. This is a corridor, similar to the one above. It stretches out in two directions. There are not two roads in your fork then, but three.

You hear and see nothing out of the ordinary.

[Esprit15]

Tara pulls out an everburning torch from her bag and gives the area a quick once over, crinkling her nose. ”I’ll second the goblin stench observation. Unless anyone here minds, I can’t see in the dark, so... yeah.” Looking over the cliff, Tara drops the torch over. Assuming the area looks safe to head down (which it should, someone else is already down there) she begins to carefully climb down, before letting herself hang as the wall gives way to empty space, and then dropping the last few feet.
Taking 10 on both checks since we are not to my knowledge in any rush
Athletics to climb: 26
Acrobatics to fall and take no damage: 27

[kylelopezwms]

Bob flies down the hole, "bah. Not that bad a drop."

[Unavenger]

"Well, if all the cool kids are doing it..." I sigh, and jump down the hole.

[roll0]

It wasn't so much that the injury would actually matter, but goddammit does pain tend to hurt - it's best avoided. "I have a grapple and a winch that can lift me back up, if needs be. Mind you, I could probably also just climb back up." I shrug. "Still, I brought... well, a load of stuff, just in case we need lockpicks, healing salves, or an actual goddamn bridge. Just letting you folks know."

[Triskavanski]

For Ted and Mao on the other paw, was a rather simple task of the larger of the two cats just climbing down the wall with their claws, and the smaller continuing to ride the larger one.


"And if we run into something that we can cook, I'll prepare it and make us something pawesome!"

[FearlessGnome]

https://orig08.deviantart.net/c695/f/2014/089/8/0/archon_final_by_miguelregodon-d7c9g4p.jpg

After the last member of the team has finished their descent the mercenary healer, Remiel floats down to the bottom of the crack, but does not land on the floor below. A direction chosen, the party advances, and Remiel follows. The man is wearing a special monocle that relays everything he sees and hears to those still above ground. There seems to be nothing of interest in the corridors themselves here, although as you go further you notice this particular path gets more and more narrow. There is not enough space to fight comfortably here. Eventually, after a number of twists and turns you come upon a flat surface that stops your progress. There is no ordinary door here, but there is a strange handle and a trick door that has to be lifted up and slid to the side, into the wall. This definitely does not look natural. Is this normal for dungeons?

Smells like goblins. As well as... alchemical components. Remiel has a similar scent on him, but he is far enough back that you are sure this new smell is from the other side of the wall.

On the other side of the door is... The inside of a cell. Through the iron bars you can see three more cells ahead of you. All are empty. You have found a dungeon dungeon. The cell door for each cell is open. There are lit torches hanging on the opposite wall. There are muffled sounds in the distance, but you can't quite tell what those sounds are (Though feel free to make a Perception check).

[Esprit15]

”Smells like more goblins, sounds like it might be, too.” Very gently, Tara presses the door open, doing her best to slowly open it and not draw any attention. She wasn’t scared of what she might see on the other side, but... no, she was actually pretty nervous. She hesitates and adjusts her footing. “Oh, and alchemical supplies.”
Stealth: [roll0]

Change stance to Flame’s Blessing

[FearlessGnome]

As you enter the cell the distant sounds become slightly more clear. There are definitely several speaking creatures nearby, though probably not inside this dungeon. Inching further from the door, you see that there is a long row of cells. However, like the ones in front of you, they seem to all be empty. A sturdy wooden door stands at one end of the dungeon, while the other end in what looks like a natural cave bottom. There are no signs that any of the cells have been used, ever, and every cell door stands open.

Smell of goblins and alchemical supplies is definitely getting stronger in the direction of the thick wooden door.

There is a keyhole on the door.

[Esprit15]

Oh good, this isn’t going to be one of those kids of worlds where monsters are hanging at every turn. Tara gives a passing glance to the empty cells before heading to the door and taking a look through the keyhole, then pressing her head to the door to listen as before.

[FearlessGnome]

As Tara bends down to peer through the keyhole, she gets her first glimpse of the inhabitants of the dungeon - and the source of the scents she has been smelling. On the other side of the wooden door is what appears to be a laboratory of some kind, or possibly an operating room. Little green creatures with flat heads, big ears and big teeth are bustling about, some carrying equipment. There are several long tables and benches with vials and other lab equipment of a huge variety. Some of the tables also hold something roughly humanoid shaped, though the angles don't allow you to make out any details through the keyhole. Some of the goblins are standing on stools, almost comically small next to the things they are operating on - almost. Whatever is going on here, it is probably not something good. There are about two dozen goblins in total.

[Esprit15]

"Goblins, around two dozen," she says in a hushed tone, stepping away from the door. "Seems like they're doing some sort of Frankenstein-type bio-engineering, can't really tell on what.

"How do you guys want to go about this?"

[dragonsamurai77]

Perhaps in this case I should go in first; try to ensnare as many as possible with my fire breath.

[Triskavanski]

"Oh! I've got it! We could knock on the door and sell some Kittenscout cookies to them!" Ted says clapping is paws together.

"Me-row"

"No.. we don't have kittenscout cookies. Oh! Be careful with fire though! While most accidents in the kitchen are caused by a blunt knife, a lot are caused by fire too! You wouldn't think it but flour could explode, and you can't put grease fires with water... Besides that there is a lot of good stuff with alchemical stuff. "

Ted thought on it a bit, "Yeah.. Probally don't wanna go throwing fire in there. What if they come this direction like fish in a barrel?"

"Mao?"

"No I don't have any fish right now."

[Esprit15]

”Do we want to assume hostility, even? Like, I’m not sure what your world was like, but back home, we didn’t just break into places and slaughter the inhabitants... well, unless we were at war with them, but that was still kinda frowned upon. Or it’s a dungeon, so maybe it doesn’t matter? They seem intelligent, worst we could do is try, right? They’re not even armed.” Tara has a look of confusion and slight concern on her face. ”And Ted has a point, there are a lot of chemicals in there. Something could easily catch fire or explode.”

[dragonsamurai77]

[COLOR="#DAA520"]In my world, goblins were monsters, preying on outlying settlements from their caves. If things got too bad, a dragon would eventually descend the heavens, wiping out the invaders to protect Bahamut's children.

Still, if you think things are different here, I would be willing to try a diplomatic approach, though my dragon blood is telling me otherwise./COLOR]

[Unavenger]

I considered. "I doubt they'll see me if I go to check out what they're doing and report back. If no-one else has any strenuous objections, Imma go do that."

[roll0] stealth
[roll1] perception

[kylelopezwms]

Bob sees micah trying to pick the lock "bah, let me help. I know a thing or two about locks". Bob helps micah pop the lock open

[FearlessGnome]

The lock picked, Micah waits for the perfect moment, then opens the door a fraction and slips out. It's a pretty large room, if full of tables and crowded. About 100' by 150'. The whole room is well lit. There are two more doors, one along the same wall as the one Micah entered through, and one on the wall to your left. That last door appears to be made of metal, but the closer one is just wood, same as the one to the dungeon.

There are alchemical reactions running. One person alone could not be running all this, you definitely need a large team (Like the goblins currently bustling about). The humanoid things on some of the tables appear to be corpses, with large, terrible scarring and stitching all over their bodies. They are roughly human shaped, but the skin looks more like that of the goblins who are running this place.

With so many goblins moving about, it's only a matter of time until Micah is discovered.

[kylelopezwms]

Bob closes the door gently and then loudly knocks on the door and says something in goblinoid


"Greatings compatriots! I have come to make a business deal with your dungeon, i am a renouned smith of magical arms and armor and i and my allies would like to see if we can make a deal!

[FearlessGnome]

The goblins in the laboratory come to a halt. Every one of them looks at the door to what they believed was their uninhabited dungeon. Some of them start looking at each other, and little whispered conversations break out.

After several more seconds of confusion, one goblin shouts for quiet. It looks elderly, but wears the same stained white coat as most of them. It calls out in a threatening voice to the others:

Shut up! Or I'll cut your vocal cords out.

It then approaches the door.

"Greeeeat one," it grovels. "Greeeeat one." It struggles with a key on a chain around its neck, trying to unlock the door. Which is, of course, not actually locked. The goblin struggles for a few seconds, before opening the door. "Do not make us fight. We are little and clever, but we cannot fight. We have been making many golems for you. We-"

When the goblin sees the party it snaps its mouth shut. Its eyes bulge with surprise and some unknown emotion (Do feel free to roll Sense Motive OOC or on Discord). It squeaks and tries to slam the door shut and lock it, but misses the lock with its key - giving you ample time to interrupt it should you wish.

[kylelopezwms]

Bob speeks back in goblinoid in soft tones but enough to be heard by the goblin. "There is no need to be afraid, we wont attack you unless you attack first. If you have any troubles, perhaps we might help. I am an angel as you can see, my word is worth your weight in gold."

(Too lazy to use spoiler)

[Esprit15]

"The angel speaks true," Tara adds in Goblin (I'm pretty sure we all speak this?). "We could fight, but we would rather end this... without bloodshed. May we come in?"

[FearlessGnome]

The old goblin finally manages to jab the key into the lock and turn it, then slams his back back into the door. He squeals.

Crushers! Crushers! coming back up from below!

Two dozen voices scream in panic, and the goblins scatter.

Some begin to run to the other two doors (It turns out the metal door is locked, and they can't get out). Though some of them seem to just... Disappear near the metal door.

Hearing the soothing voices from the other side of the door, the old goblin breathes heavily for a few seconds. Then he takes a step away from the door and looks at the keyhole. He leans down to it.

You want to leave? You aren't going to clear us out? We don't have any treasure.

[Esprit15]

"Or at least move forward. But if you don't mean us harm, then we don't mean you harm. Now, would you please open the door?"

[kylelopezwms]

Bob replies in goblinoid "You don't need to fear us, we do need to go down... we need to go down as part of our quest, but we have no desire to kill anyone. And like I said, if anything is troubling you, we are willing to help. we don't want to use violence, but unfortunately if we are not aloud down we may have to use force which neither of us desires. please, open the door and we can talk, no violence. as a show of good faith, I will let you know that one of our friends is already in the room with you. We don't need you to open the door, yet I am here taking the time to talk to you."

[FearlessGnome]

The old goblin stares at you through the keyhole. He's breathing heavily, and looks mighty suspicious. When you mention that someone is in the room he jumps, and looks around him. He's picked up a pair of tongs somewhere, and is now holding it like a giant pair of scissors.

"What do you want? Are you here to claim the dungeon? If... if you're not going to attack us, I don't mind. But you're going the wrong way. There's a hidden door in one of the cells. Isn't that where you came from? The other way out here just leads up to the surface and those crushers.

[kylelopezwms]

"I know that you are hiding something from me but we can forget about that for now. We still want to talk, as we have not been in this world long. We would like some information about the dungeon, your way of life, and any information you can give us.... and if you will tell us, what you are so terified of." Bob speaks softly in goblinoid

[FearlessGnome]

"Ahah!" the old goblin calls out. "I knew it! You just want to know our secrets! We're neeever saying! Neeever!"

[kylelopezwms]

"Calm down blast it! We arnt gonna kill you, we dont even know what secrets you are talking about, we just got to this damn world and dont know a ****ting thing other than what we were first told when we got here and just want some information. After we make a run in the dungeon we most likely will not be coming back. Now just open the door." Bob scoffs a bit angrily with his limited patience running out.

[FearlessGnome]

The old goblin stands still as stone for several seconds, then slowly he turns around and looks at his brethren scattered around the laboratory.

He turns back with a sigh.

"Ok... but..." Whatever he was about to say, he trailed off.

He takes out the key and slowly unlocks the door.

As it opens, he counts how many there are of you, and breathes heavily and rapidly. He's definitely not calm.

As those who looked through the keyhole before have a chance to look around the room once more, you see maybe half a dozen goblins around the room, looking nervous. The rest have presumably hidden somewhere.

The old goblin lowers his tongs, and looks for a moment like he has resigned himself to being eaten by some great predator.

[kylelopezwms]

Bob walks into the room and turns to face the goblins and speaks in goblinoid "Dont worry, i said that none of us will harm you, and i may not be a good person, but i keep my word."
Bob turns to the leader "alright, now we have a few questions to ask you... Do you speak common? Some of our members don't speak your refined tounge"

[FearlessGnome]

The remaining goblins all stare at Bob with some degree of fear and anger. To the question of whether any speak Common, they shake their head. With so many of them in one place, it seems likely one or two normally would speak it, but... perhaps it's different with dungeon creatures.

Boy, there sure are a lot of dead peop humanoi things with surgery scars lying on tables in here. Smells really strongly of alchemical compounds, too.

So... they seem to be making Flesh Golems. Like a lot of them. Like about ten of them that you can see.

[kylelopezwms]

Bob turns to the old goblin and speeks im goblinoid "now dont get me wrong, and you dont need to answer if you dont want to... But why all the flesh golems? I mean, i dont mean to pry, but there are much better constructs to make and have much easier materials to acquire. That and flesh golems have a habit of going insane and attacking whatever is closest and im afraid you are not equiped to deal with a rogue flesh golem. They could be a danger to you and your people. Also, why are they made of goblin flesh, surely you could have used animal flesh or something. Using your own race for flesh golems is a bit macabre..."

[FearlessGnome]

The old goblin looks a little embarrassed, and scratches his beard.

Um... Well, we haven't been able to catch any people yet. But we had to start building, and, well... new goblins reform in the shadows, anyway. I don't think animals would work.

[kylelopezwms]

"well, you do what you can i guess... Not to my tastes granted, but they arnt mine to begin with. By the way, do you comunicate with the dungeon or is there some other reason why would you stay here? I mean im sure there's some goblins on the surface so it wouldnt look strange if you left, and construct makers are often quite well recived so you could live a decent enough life."

[Esprit15]

”Well, I wouldn’t recommend trying it. There are some other folks coming through here, and they’re way more dangerous than us. Best hide out here if they come through, alright?” She gives the angel a look at the suggestion that the goblins leave the dungeon, but says nothing. Nope, that’s how you get a bunch of them killed, not to mention who knows what kinds of effects result from creatures leaving the dungeon? “Building them for what, though?”

[FearlessGnome]

“Building them for what, though?”

The old goblin looks increasingly embarrassed.

"Well, like you said, we want to break out of the dungeon, but the crushers above are incredibly strong. We wouldn't stand a chance. So, uh." He gestures vaguely toward the golems. "At first the dungeon tried sending us out without weapons or anything, but um, none of the first generation came back. So then we thought we'd ambush some people. But the first people who came through were crushers, so we didn't stand a chance. That's when the dungeon gave us the idea to do this. Um. It doesn't speak or anything, but you just sort of... know what you need to do. It's pretty hungry, but we don't really have anything to feed it except ourselves. If you take over the dungeon, could you maybe help it grow a little?"

[kylelopezwms]

Bob seems a bit confused... "Well... possibly. If we can come to an agreement with the dungeon we might be able to talk to some local cities and villages, there are always criminals who are to be executed, so if the dungeon can provide something such as protection or something of the sort I'm sure they wouldn't mind sending them here for the dungeon. It's too bad, if we could directly speak to the dungeon, it would be much easier to come to an agreement. However, as a sort of hint, I know that there's a way of crafting souls to directly send into constructs so you could be self sufficient here. but you would need to study this on your own as I am not quite sure how to do so."

[Esprit15]

”This dungeon does seem to be of the safer variety. Having peaceful inhabitants in it might make it easier for this world’s scientists - well I guess that largely would be arcanists - to study the dungeon more easily. Would you guys be able to keep future generations from turning on us if we made a deal? Or, rather, do you think future generations would be motivated to break it in the first place if we could keep the dungeon satisfied?”

[FearlessGnome]

”Would you guys be able to keep future generations from turning on us if we made a deal? Or, rather, do you think future generations would be motivated to break it in the first place if we could keep the dungeon satisfied?”

The old goblin shuffles his feet uncertainly.

"Um. If the dungeon's happy it probably won't try to eat you. We definitely won't attack you unless we really have to. But really if you want to make some deal with the dungeon you have to go deeper."

[Triskavanski]

Ted watched as the group talked, placing between the different members of the conversation.

"Well neither of them are trying to kill eachother...so yay go team?

" Meow? "

" No of course I can't understand them. They've been squealing and grunting and squeeing"

"mew"

Ted gets a rather confused look on his face.
"What do you mean you can understand them? When did you learn goblin?"

" Meow rawr mew"

" That.. Is disgusting. "

" Mao! "

" Don't be proud of it! "

[kylelopezwms]

"Then we will go down and see it. If possible let it know we are coming, as we wouldnt want to hurt any of the dungeon dwellers, but we will do so in self defence."

[FearlessGnome]

"Then we will go down and see it. If possible let it know we are coming, as we wouldnt want to hurt any of the dungeon dwellers, but we will do so in self defence."

The old goblin laughs involuntarily.

"She already knows you're here, not to worry. The dungeon always knows. It, um... Ah... I wouldn't count on her telling any of the creatures to stand down, though. We goblins are usually wiped every time a team comes through, so we've gotten pretty focused on surviving and just tending the, uh, tending the..." He coughs. "Making the golems for now. But we daren't go down either. There's things down there that eat goblins. Spiders and... Yeah, it's not a nice way to go. We don't go down there." He stares unseeingly into the distance for a few seconds. "I hope you do bond with her. We could definitely use some help with the crushers."

[kylelopezwms]

"hmm. Well it is what it is, shouldn't be that much of an issue hopefully as we can defend ourselves. Well it was nice talking to you and i apologize for scaring you, and your people earlier. We should take out leave, and i hope we meet again."

[FearlessGnome]

Battle... averted? The party bids farewell to the goblins - Micah having rejoined the group one way or another, and they retrace their steps back to the hidden door in the cell. Remiel is waiting inside.

"Did we have fun? he asks in a dull tone as the party files back into the corridor. "Those goblins have gotten quite creative in the months since this dungeon opened. The first few waves they just killed, but the goblins stopped trying to venture out. Now they are... trying to make things. The purpose of those golems of course is to, aha, break through the perimeter and start harvesting villagers." His lips twitch in a sardonic smile at the notion of the perimeter being breached.

You come back to where you descended through the crack. It's still there, and so you have two ways still unexplored you could go. Only... there is now a crack in the floor here as well. A second hole has opened up. It seems to go down quite deep. There is no light down there.

Remiel whistles with interest, but says nothing.

[dragonsamurai77]

An easy thing to believe, certainly - I myself fell victim just as hard to the trap of assumption. It is possible, of course, that they were lying. It is also possible, however, that they are being completely honest. My mission as a champion of Bahamut is to aid those who fight evil and guard those who cannot. Yet, at this point, I cannot say for sure who it is I should truly be looking after.

Naburu then turns to the rest of the party.

To all of you, I am sincerely grateful. I felt confident in my role despite having no knowledge, merely because I gained an amount of power. Your actions have showed me that I must be far more mindful moving forwards.

[Esprit15]

”Hey, not a problem,” Tara says, giving her party mate a pat on the shoulder. “I just come from a more peaceful time and place. My first instinct is talking, your first instinct is caution. Neither’s bad.” As the party seems to pause for a bit, Tara takes a moment to practice her forms and work off some nervous energy with some shadow boxing. Those flesh golems threw her off her game a little, and she wanted to be ready in case the worst happened.
Five minutes of exercise, swapping Sudden Leap and readying Mountain Hammer.

[Unavenger]

Having returned to the rest of the group without any of the goblins actually noticing me, I raised an eyebrow at Remiel. "Yeah, well, here's the thing. Those goblins are just spawning out of nowhere, so even if we brutally murder all of them, they'll be back. And it's not as though a few flesh golems will break through - hell, I suck against constructs, and I can still chop up five of the damned things in a minute or so. With the number of people guarding that perimeter, and the number of schmucks you're sending down here on the regular, I don't think they're gonna manage in a million years."

[roll0]

I turned my attention to the hole in the ground, unfazed by the lack of light, trying to see whether or not I could see the bottom. If not, well, there's my handy cable-spool and grapple, so if no-one's objecting, Imma go down and see what's there...

[kylelopezwms]

"hmph, you need to learn to be polite when dealing with people or you will never make it out in the world. You don't know a thing about this dungeon and you want to attack right away? If we did that we wouldnt find out there was another way, becides we might be able to be making a deal with this here dungeon so try being nice when possible. Also, i would best be taking vanguard as im the only one who can fly back up!"

[Esprit15]

”Fine by me, means I have to be smacked around way less.”

[FearlessGnome]

I raised an eyebrow at Remiel. "Yeah, well, here's the thing. Those goblins are just spawning out of nowhere, so even if we brutally murder all of them, they'll be back. And it's not as though a few flesh golems will break through - hell, I suck against constructs, and I can still chop up five of the damned things in a minute or so. With the number of people guarding that perimeter, and the number of schmucks you're sending down here on the regular, I don't think they're gonna manage in a million years."

[roll0]

Remiel shrugs. He seems to be amused more than anything, enjoying the irony of mercy being shown to creatures that he does not believe capable of showing mercy to anyone else. The thought doesn't make him feel sad or worried, mind you - he finds it delightful.


I turned my attention to the hole in the ground, unfazed by the lack of light, trying to see whether or not I could see the bottom. If not, well, there's my handy cable-spool and grapple, so if no-one's objecting, Imma go down and see what's there...
"Also, i would best be taking vanguard as im the only one who can fly back up!"
The walls of this fissure are sharp and jagged - climbing back up should not be difficult, but the stone is sharp enough that putting too much weight on a rope might cause it to tear.

The hole is a lot deeper than the one above you. The descent into darkness is long enough that even with darkvision you lose sight of the party above before seeing anything new below. Eventually the hole opens up into an enormous cavern. There is no light inside, but with darkvision or a light source you can see what looks like the outlines of bare trees or crude stone pillars below.

The air is colder here. In the distance you can hear a quiet noise, just at the edge of hearing.

[Esprit15]

Tara still carries the everburning torch, and as the threat of conflict disappears, changes her stance back, sniffing the air for threats as the sound reaches her ears. Are we allowed a roll to try and ID the sound, or did you already roll that in secret?

[Esprit15]

”Something’s sleeping up ahead. Want to scout it out, Sneaky?” she says to the shadowy human. “Figure you’re a tad quieter than I am.”

[Triskavanski]

Ted gives a sidelong glance to the goblins as they left, after Mao meowed something to him, but he was certain the rest of the party already knew what Mao told him. Looking over to the human shadow as well, he raises a brow.

[Unavenger]

"On it." I rushed in where the angel probably didn't fear to tread, feeling decidedly un-stealthy - though most people still wouldn't have had a snowball's chance in hell of seeing or hearing me, mind.

[FearlessGnome]

As Tara begins the slow process of climbing along the ceiling, Micah lowers herself down to the cavern floor.

There are what looks to be large, bare trees here. Appears to be... oak trees? They are withered, presumably from growing in a cavern deep underground in a dungeon that never gets sunlight... But never the less, they are still intact and do not appear to be rotting. If they had had leaves, or even just more than a few branches, it might have seemed to be a forest. As it is, they just out of place in this gloomy cave.

In the distance Micah just barely catches sight of something tiny scurrying away. Not an animal, but clearly something that fled upon realizing it was not alone. A few seconds later another of the small creatures scurry off in another direction. This one remains in view long enough for Micah to get a clear look at it. In darkvision nothing has colour, but it looks at first like a cobra, only that's not quite right. Part of the knowledge Micah gained when transported to this world was knowledge of the nasty thing that live in the deep. This appears to be what's known as a tongue worm. Rare parasites that form symbiotic bonds with other creatures, and imbed themselves inside their host, covering their tongue and extending down into the host's stomach. They have a weak poison attack, but are more notable for conferring immunity to all poisons for any creature brave enough to let one of the things crawl inside them.

---

Tara climbs carefully, and so fairly slowly. There appears to be nothing of interest on the ceiling, but below she sees the landscape of deadish trees extending in all directions. In the end she can see something like a hill below, and in it a large opening, like a cavernous mouth. The snoring appears to come from inside the hill. Whatever's sleeping in there - and there are several somethings, they are probably significantly larger than horses. It might be her imagination, but it feels colder the closer she gets to that hill.

[Esprit15]

Tara's hands begin to feel a bit of the strain of holding not only her weight but the weight of her armor as well. This new body seriously was kind of amazing. She had gone rock climbing at the gym once, and was hurting as soon as she got to the inverse portion of the wall. She smiles a bit to herself, continuing forward, taking her time to do everything right, feeling for firm handholds, teeth clenched on the everburning torch. The smile disappears though as she notices the temperature begin to drop and the snoring getting louder, breaking up into distinct sources.

That's not good.

The woman takes a few seconds to take in what information she can: the sounds, the environment, the smell, the temperature drop, before climbing back to the rest of the party. As she does so, she tries to parse what she observed with the knowledge impressed upon her upon entry into this world.
Any knowledge, they're almost all the same: [roll0]

+2 if the creature is identified by K: Psionics or K: Nature

[Triskavanski]

After waiting a bit, following behind Tara and Micah was Ted and Mao, the feline pair having a fairly easy time climbing down the walls with the use of claws and cat like reflexes.


Mao has a climb speed of 20.
Ted rides [roll0]

[Esprit15]

As Tara gets back, she’s slightly surprised to only find the bitter angel remaining. ”If I were to guess what’s there, it would be ice giants. Come on - I doubt the others are actually going to turn around at this rate.”

[kylelopezwms]

"Of Course it would be giants. Stupid of me to think otherwise." Bob gracefully flies down the hole

[Esprit15]

Tara climbs down and catches up with the rest of the party.

[dragonsamurai77]

Nabaru follows the party’s lead, attempting to catch the wall with his claws.

[FearlessGnome]

Most of the party rushes through the bizarre forest to catch up, taking time to study neither the trees nor the little scurrying creatures that seem to be avoiding you but also studying you from a distance. What awaits you inside the hill is a short tunnel, but the further you go inside it, the louder you hear the snores, and the colder it feels. It's not to the point where it's damaging, but it's definitely uncomfortable, and you couldn't really sleep here without something to help you keep warm.

In a room the size of a large house lie four sleeping forms. They are giants, three times the size of a human, with blue skin and frost white hair. Three of them have full plate armor, though they do not sleep in it, and it lies next to them. One appears to be using theirs as a pillow. The fourth lies sleeping as well, but has no armor. The three also have enormous axes at their side, the fourth seems to have no weapons or equipment at all.

They are asleep. If you are quiet you could get the pounce on them. However... they do look quite strong. This feels like a fight that could go very badly if you fail to end it quickly.

Alternatively you could try to sneak past them. A tunnel on the other side of the room slopes downwards, and likely leads deeper into the dungeon.

...You could try to steal their equipment. That might cause them to wake up though.

Remiel has gone completely quiet since you descended to the cavern floor outside the hill. He gestures to a ring on his finger, turns it around, and seems to disappear.

Remiel's faint smell remains. He has presumably gone invisible so as not to cause any difficulties, should the party attempt anything sneaky.

At this point you are in the tunnel, just outside the room with the sleeping giants.

[Esprit15]

As Tara looks at the huge humanoids, her mind races, images of battles she never fought and stories she never heard rush through her mind. "They're far stronger than you or I, and have taken blows that would stop a full grown bear," says the voice of an older man as she watches one slice its axe through three men, cleaving them all in half. "We slew one, by setting its clothes ablaze, but even then he slew two of our friends before succumbing to the flames," it continues as the scenes shifts to two men hurling flasks of dull liquid that burst into flame upon impact with the giant.

Tara looks to the party and gestures to move outside.

"Sneak. I'm not budging on this. A fight with those giants will wake the forest. Those aren't ordinary trees," she whispers.

[Triskavanski]

Mao and Ted whisper a bit to each other before nodding and attempting to sneak along with the rest of the group. He wasn't about to go toe-to-toe with frost giants.. If you can't stand the heat.. or lack there of, get out of the kitchen.


Mao Sneaks [roll0]

[Esprit15]

Not the sneakiest, but happy that the cats seem receptive, Tara quietly follows suit.
Stealth: [roll0]

[Unavenger]

I look back at Tara, and roll my eyes. I'm, like, 80% sure I can take the frost giants on my own. Whatever. I'm blaming her when this all goes horribly wrong. I eff off away from the sleeping giants, scowling.

[roll0]

[dragonsamurai77]

Nabaru vanishes into the shadows, silently reappearing further into the cave.

OOC:

Alternating between Shadow Jaunting through the cave and recovering it, never taking a step.

Stealth:[roll0]

[Triskavanski]

Ted turns about and waves to the other, as Mao prods along. "Trip.. wires" he whispers out to the others, while tying to be still quite as he can.

[FearlessGnome]

The team manages to get past the Frost Giants without waking them up or falling for tripwires. The tunnel beyond leads deeper.

And deeper. It finally levels, but not much further on it dips again. Only... there is water here. The tunnel slopes slowly downwards, and it looks like the only path ahead involves going down into it. There are no light sources here, either. The water is cold.

[Triskavanski]

"Meow.." Mao protests

"Yeah.. I agree. Turning to look got he rest of the party. "Water up ahead.. and frankly neither of us wants to go in there. It looks wet. Cold.. and wet."

[kylelopezwms]

"BAH! My wings are going to get wet, and i wont be able to dry off, and its going to be a pain."

[Esprit15]

Tara looks around at everyone squirming at the prospect of a little water. ”We sneak past giants and now you’re all scared of a little water?” The human woman takes a deep breath, and looks around in the water, shining the torch around. If the water has some depth to it, she gracefully dives in for a bit to get a better idea of what they would be dealing with down there. If it was just a short swim, the crew could hopefully suck it up.
Perception: [roll0]
Swim: Take 10, 25

Tara is unbothered by normal levels of cold thanks to her Traveler’s Cloak, and her core is kept dry thanks to the same. When she starts to need air (just under four minutes max, so let’s say after around three) she will return to the surface).

Shift stance to Flame’s Blessing, because it’s not like she can smell anything while holding her breath.

[Triskavanski]

"Well, yeah. Water has caused many more deaths than giants have." Ted explains. "Like when you pour it on a grease fire and it explodes throwing flaming hot grease everywhere!"

[FearlessGnome]

Tara is the first brave one in. The water is cold, but not supernaturally so. Her everburning torch helps immensely in scouting ahead.

The tunnel continues much as it did above the surface, winding slightly left and right as it goes. There are no obvious traps, however there *is* one thing. Some 100 feet in, the corridor ends in a wall, but there is also a hole in the ceiling. In the wall is set a small shaft, blocked by metal bars. You do not see where it leads, but it starts out going straight down. A human sized creature could maybe squeeze through that shaft, but there is no room to really fight.

The hole in the ceiling leads to a small room above water, about 20 feet broad and 50 feet long. There is a similar hole on the opposite end of the room, leading back down into the water. In the center of the room stands a small pedestal, and upon it a human skull. A large green gem is set in each eye. It seems to be grinning.

[Esprit15]

Tara looks off at the skull. Her gaming instinct was screaming “Touch it. See what happens. Just touch it. Throw a rock at it. Do it. Do it you coward,” but thankfully the rational part of her brain reminded her that she didn’t have any save points in this world, and that the ‘avatar’ she was using was her own body, so maybe a little caution was warranted. Disappointed, she swims back the way she came.

”It’s only around a hundred feet you wimps. Come on, the water isn’t even that cold,” she says as she shakes her arms and legs off. “At the end there’s a dry room, and a skull with gems in its eyes. Gamer instinct says touch it, survival instinct says don’t touch it. I’d at least like some backup before following the former.”

[dragonsamurai77]

Perhaps I should accompany you, then. Though I've yet to try, this body seems reasonably adept at swimming, and I'm almost certainly the one in this group who can hold their breath the longest.

[Esprit15]

Perhaps I should accompany you, then. Though I've yet to try, this body seems reasonably adept at swimming, and I'm almost certainly the one in this group who can hold their breath the longest.

”If I can do it, I would hope you can. Come on you newbs,” Tara says with a smirk, stepping back into the water.

[dragonsamurai77]

Nube? I'm afraid that is not a word we have in my world, though I can more or less surmise its meaning from the context.

Nabaru removes his backpack and sandals before following Tara into the water.

[Triskavanski]

Ted sighs, looking to Mao. Look I don't wanna anymore than you do.. But we're suppose to go down there right?"

"Rereow.. "

"Of course I know they don't know how long it takes fur to dry. Look at them, they just change their clothing and thats that. Course they haven't thought about the water after they get out. After all The second most common accident is slipping on something you spilled. Besides they want to touch what is probably an obviously death trap skull with all of us in the room. Nothing could go wrong with that!"

"Meow.."

"Well do you want to try to fight the frost giants?"

"Mew"

"Me neither.. I don't have the ghost peppers for such an endeavor."

[FearlessGnome]

As with Tara, when the party swims the 100 feet through the cold (cold!) water you will notice a set of metal bars in the forward wall that covers a narrow shaft leading straight down.

You swim up through the hole in the ceiling and quickly breach the surface, and are able to enter the 'safe' room. It is about 20' by 50'. On the opposite end is a hole much like the one you emerged through, leading back down into the cold water, and in the center of the room stands a pedestal with a grinning skull with green gemstone eyes. There are no other lights here, but Tara's everburning torch does provide some illumination. If that torch remains the only light source however, its location would be pretty significant for your abilities to search the room, monitor the two holes and possibly engage in combat.

[Esprit15]

Tara sniffs the air, letting the sneakier and more nimble human do any investigations they want to before proceeding. If there was any danger in here, she expected some lingering scent of blood, ash, or some other sign of death, especially with the stagnant air.
Switching to Hunter’s Stance again to sniff the air. After that, changing back to Flame’s Blessing.

[FearlessGnome]

There's a faint, lingering scent of dead things.

[Unavenger]

I get up out of the water. It's freezing, but I barely feel that any more. Ugh.

"Mm, what's with this skull?" I plod over to it, still dripping, and take a look around it to see if it's trapped.

[roll0]

If I can't find anything trappy-looking, I'll pick it up.

[FearlessGnome]

The skull does not budge. It seems to be attached to the pedestal. However, it does feels like bone, so you could presumably break it if you applied more force.

[Esprit15]

Tara opens a pouch in her handy haversack and pulls from it a smaller pouch. Reaching her hand into it,
Take 10 on Wisdom check to control Shape Sand for 15, since there are no consequences for failure
she pulls out a uniformly brown, gritty looking hacksaw, and begins filing away at the border between the skull and the pedestal. She does however make sure to stand on an end away from the face of the skull, gripping it firmly with the hand not holding the saw.
Don’t know if you want any sort of check for that.

[FearlessGnome]

The skull soon comes loose. Looking at it from below, it quickly becomes clear that the gem stones were attached to some sort of mechanism inside the pedestal.

Get:
One grinning skull.
Two large green gem stones.

[Esprit15]

Tara gives the gems a quick look. Were they something to sell and split the profits of, or not even worth the effort?
Appraise: [roll0]

Also, IDing the skull's race, probably K: Local? [roll1]
"So, you guys gonna make me take point again?"

[Triskavanski]

Ted watches the others mess around with the skull, and hums. Suddenly when it was far too late, "Uh.. Well its a bit too late. But maybe we should have tried turning the skull?"

[FearlessGnome]

The skull looks like that of an adult human. There are no signs of injury on it.

The green gem stones seem to be of incredibly high quality. If there is no trickery you have failed to see through, these stones will easily sell for more than 10,000 gold each, although you may have to be patient or put in some effort to find a buyer who will pay fair price.

[Esprit15]

"Hey sneaky one, catch!" Tara says, tossing one of the gems to (you never use your name and I am too lazy to look at your sheet). She gives a look to the skull. "Well Yorik, if you plan to do us harm, do it now or forever rest in peace," she says, setting the skull back in its resting place. "Unless you want to ask the skull its life story, let's get moving. We're already the lowest rank out of the other isekaied people, I'd hate for us to prove them right."

[Unavenger]

I catch the gem. "It's Micah, not "Sneaky one," but cheers for the gem." Not that I was sure what I'd buy with whatever money I could get off it, but that was a problem for later. "And hey, I don't mind being the "Lowest rank." It means they give us easy stuff like this to deal with." Still, I follow Tara. No sense wasting time.

[Esprit15]

With a nod, Tara takes a deep breath and dives into the water.

[FearlessGnome]

Tara dives in, and some of the others follow. It starts out a mirror to the other side - a dive straight down, then behind you is a flat wall with a small shaft leading down into darkness. There are no bars on this one, however. A Medium creature could probably just barely squeeze down, though there wouldn't be room to turn around, or even really to move your arms or have your lungs full.

It would be pitch black in the main tunnel as well but for Tara's everburning torch. Even that however can only illuminate some 40 feet out into the corridor.

[Esprit15]

Tara gives a look to the tight spot. She probably could make it, but coming this far only to drown in a hole seemed rather unappealing. The girl signs to the others that she planned to ascend, and swims to the surface to get a breath, taking out the sand again and willing it into the shape of a rope, wrapping it around her everburning torch before taking in more air and diving down.

When she returns, Tara lowers the wrapped torch down into the tunnel, willing the rope to thin a little bit more and stretch itself further down the shaft.

[FearlessGnome]

Tara begins to lower her torch down the shaft. At first she hears little clunks as it softly hits the walls, going back and forth as she lowers it, but slowly the torch goes further and further down the shaft, and soon the soft sound doesn't carry all the way back up. She can still see the light, however.

And then... it hits something. Because it is so bright by the torch, you can see clearly what bumped into it. It looks like the corpse of a human, swimming slowly up from below. It is squeezing up the shaft.

No sooner does she see the thing, however, than it becomes almost impossible to hold her breath. She feels almost overwhelmed, but manages to keep from breathing in water - for now.

That thing is maybe 30 feet below you, and it is coming up toward you. You can only assume that it is what made you almost start drowning.

[Esprit15]

Tara yanks the rope back up as fast as possible while swimming away as quickly as she can. Just as with the giants before, her mind flashes to images of sailors suddenly grasping at their mouths, eyes going red as their lungs gasp for air that is already in them. She wasn't an effective fighter down here in the water, and she would be all the less effective blind and drowning.
Swim: [roll0]

[FearlessGnome]

A
B
C
D
E
F


1
w
w
w
w
w
w


2
w

M
H
B
w


3
w




w


4
w




w


5
w




w


6
w

N

P
w


7
w



T, Ma
w


8
w




w


9
w




w


10
w
T



w


11
w


H

w


12
w
w
w
w
w
w

H = Hole. The water surface is just a foot down.
P = Broken Pedestal
w = Wall

T = Tara
B = Bob
N = Nabaru
M = Micah
T = Ted
Ma = Mao
D = A 'Drowned' - undead with water powers.


We are about to enter the party's first combat together.
Please take your first turns, in any order, starting within one step of the upper hole. Ted and Mao can start where ever they want.

Initiative, which only comes into play on turn 2:
Tara: [roll0]
Bob: [roll1]
Nabaru: [roll2]
Micah: [roll3]
Ted & Mao: [roll4]

????: [roll5]

[dragonsamurai77]

Nabaru walks towards the center of the room, drawing an ornate flute from his belt. He begins to play a haunting melody, and the party feels a fiery presence enter their weapons.

OOC:

Move C2-C6 and use Dragonfire Inspiration, adding 1d6 fire damage to our melee attacks.

[kylelopezwms]

Bob stabs with sword
Roll = 14

[Esprit15]

Tara scrambles out of the water, savoring the sweet feeling of air in her lungs. Some of the water even seems to steam off of her as she bolts to the other side of the chamber.
If she wasn't already in it (I think she was), Tara gets into Flame's Blessing stance, and her AC increases by 1 as she moves. Tara double moves to reach B10, drawing her sword.

Also, take a -4 to AC and activate karmic strike.

[Triskavanski]

Ted looks up from his work with the pedestal, "Oh look who is running from the water now. Just a little cold water, can't hurt you at all. Now you all look like drowned rats.." "Meow?" "No. There isn't. Its a turn of phrase and expression.. uh.. a.. uh.. idiom? The point is, they all came back up rather quickly. There was probably something in there."

Ted pulls out his frying pan, as Mao Looks over to the hole, preparing to charge at what comes up out of the water that wasn't an ally.

[Unavenger]

Micah takes out their weapons, and gets ready to stab any nasty creature that comes up out of the water. "Somebody get around the other side, please. Let's make this quick."

[FearlessGnome]

A
B
C
D
E
F


1
w
w
w
w
w
w


2
w

M
H
B
w


3
w




w


4
w




w


5
w




w


6
w

N

P
w


7
w



T, Ma
w


8
w




w


9
w




w


10
w
T



w


11
w


H

w


12
w
w
w
w
w
w

H = Hole. The water surface is just a foot down.
P = Broken Pedestal
w = Wall

T = Tara
B = Bob
N = Nabaru
M = Micah
T = Ted
Ma = Mao

D = A 'Drowned' - undead with water powers.


The party readies for battle, watching for the first signs of the corpse emerging out of the water.

It doesn't. However... The stone floor shouldn't be wet except where party members have walked while dripping from the swim, but even completely dry areas are starting to take on a watery glint near the Northern hole.

Bob, even though he's out of the water, suddenly feels like he is running out of air and desperately needs to breathe.

Constitution check to avoid starting to drown: [roll0]
The DC is 10.
Bob passed, and can act freely. However, the feeling of imminent suffocation is not going away.
You feel fine. Bob's not doing great, though.

Nothing emerges from the water. The party may act. Block initiative would normally split the party up into blocks, but the enemy rolled the highest Initiative somehow, so the next 'block' is the whole party. Everyone may act in any order.

[Unavenger]

Micah holds their sword towards the water, still ready to strike. "Bob, duck out of and into its magical... whatever aura, if you need to. But I do quite like having a flanking partner, so, yanno."

[Triskavanski]

"Is it invisible?!" cried out the cat flicking his gaze between the two holes. "Mao you look left I'll look right!" "Meow" "My left or your left? We've got the same left!"

[FearlessGnome]

A
B
C
D
E
F


1
w
w
w
w
w
w


2
w
.
M.
H.
B.
w


3
w
.
.
.
.
w


4
w

.
.

w


5
w




w


6
w

N

P
w


7
w



T, Ma, Ta
w


8
w




w


9
w

.
.

w


10
w
.
.
.
.
w


11
w
.
.
H.
.
w


12
w
w
w
w
w
w

H = Hole. The water surface is just a foot down.
P = Broken Pedestal
w = Wall
. = A watery glint covers objects and creatures in these squares.

Ta = Tara
B = Bob
N = Nabaru
M = Micah
T = Ted
Ma = Mao

D = A 'Drowned' - undead with water powers.


Tense seconds pass. The strange, watery glint expands, and then-

The thing stays out of sight.

Suddenly Tara feels the drowning aura clamping down on her as well.

Bob feels the drowning aura intensifying.
Constitution check to avoid starting to drown: [roll0]
The DC is 11.

Tara, half the battlefield away, feels an aura as well.
Constitution check to avoid starting to drown: [roll1]
The DC is 10.

There is a watery glint on the stone near the South hole as well.

Tara has collapsed, unconscious.

Remiel, visible once more, mouths a quiet 'Ouch'.

It appears the party is surrounded.

Everyone may act, except Tara, who seems to be drowning.

[Triskavanski]

"Oh come on!" Ted huffs, annoyed that his companions where just falling over suddenly and without an enemy to fight. "Mao lets get her and bring her back here!"

[Unavenger]

"Oy vey... you lot concentrate on staying out of that watery aura." I sigh, and flop into the hole next to me.

Free action to drop down... straight into the hole I'm standing over with my sword. 5ft step if that won't work. Once I'm there, I'll work out what I'm doing if I can see an enemy.

[FearlessGnome]

Ted and Mao enter the aura and drag the unconscious Tara back to safety. Immediately she stops drowning.

Micah drops into the water - the corpse is about 20 feet under the surface, 10 to 15 feet from Micah. It appears to have stopped moving, although it immediately sees Micah and grins maliciously.

Bob and nabaru have yet to act, and Micah has actions left.

[dragonsamurai77]

Nabaru runs towards the north hole and jumps in, intending to blast the creature with frigid breath.

OOC:

Spend 10 ft of movement to move to D4.

Constitution check to avoid drowning: [roll0]

Regardless of success, Child of Shadow gives me concealment until my next turn.

Assuming success:
Sudden Leap into the hole: I've moved 10 feet, so the DC is 10, which is an auto-success with my modifier.

Swim check: [roll1]

Swim down until I'm within 15 feet, then use Frost Breath towards the Drowned (not using Entangling Exhalation this time).
Damage: [roll2] cold, DC 25 Reflex for half.

[Unavenger]

I take a moment to swim calmly towards the drowned, and then poke the blasted thing right in the face.

I shouldn't be able to fail on the swim, but what the hey, [roll0]

Knowledge: [roll1]
Stabby stabby: [roll2] for [roll3]

[FearlessGnome]

A
B
C
D
E
F


1
w
w
w
w
w
w


2
w
.
.
H M N D
B.
w


3
w
.
.
.
.
w


4
w

.
.

w


5
w




w


6
w

.
.
P
w


7
w
.
.
.
.T, Ma, Ta
w


8
w
.
.
.
.
w


9
w
.
.
.
.
w


10
w
.
.
.
.
w


11
w
.
.
H, D.
.
w


12
w
w
w
w
w
w

H = Hole. The water surface is just a foot down.
P = Broken Pedestal
w = Wall
. = A watery glint covers objects and creatures in these squares.

Ta = Tara
B = Bob
N = Nabaru
M = Micah
T = Ted
Ma = Mao

D = A 'Drowned' - undead with water powers.

Micah's attack slides off of the corpse's hardened skin without hurting it.

The thing reaches out to Micah, trying to grab and grapple:
Full attacks, each attack substituted for a grapple:
Touch attack: [roll0]
If successful, grapple check: [roll1]
Note that Micah takes -2 on the opposed grapple check for being underwater.

If Micah successfully resists, the second attack is replaced with a grapple attempt as well. If the first attempt succeeded, the following does nothing and it ends its turn.
Touch attack: [roll2]
If successful, grapple check: [roll3]


The second corpse has reached the surface of the Southern hole, although its head only bobs quickly above the surface before disappearing into the water again.

Nabaru made one ahead of time, so that carries over.
Bob: [roll4]
DC 12

Ted: [roll5]
Mao: [roll6]
Tara: [roll7]
DC 10
Mao is drowning.

Conscious party members may act. If you have any bonuses to constitution checks beyond your con bonus, now would be a great time to tell me.

[dragonsamurai77]

Nabaru swims down towards the creature, analyzing it for a moment before slamming an open palm into it at unnatural speed.

OOC:

Swim check: [roll0]

Attacking with Insightful Strike.
Hit: [roll1]
Damage: [roll2], halved for being underwater.

[Triskavanski]

"Alright Mao we've got here.. Mao.. MAO!?" Ted cried out, hopping off his animal companion, seeing the cat starting to spit up water now as well. "Seriously..? Oh I've got a swell IDEA, why don't we all go into the water. What, are you a scaredycat? Afraid of the water? I don't know. LOOKS PRETTY DAMN LETHAL DOESN'T IT?!"

He huffs, picking up Mao the best he could, and tried to squeeze past the pedestal on to the other side. "Come on mao, spit it up! Breath!"

[Unavenger]

I scowl at the creature as it tries to grab me - or at least, as much as I can scowl underwater - and float around it opposite Naburu as I aim a barrage of attacks at the damnable thing:

Rapier [roll0] for 35 and [roll1] for 34
Kukri: [roll2] for 29
Foot of Fury: [roll3] for 25

[FearlessGnome]

Ted drags Mao out of the drowning aura, and Mao immediately resumes breathing.



A
B
C
D
E
F


1
w
w
w
w
w
w


2
w
.
.
H M N D
B.
w


3
w
.
.
.
.
w


4
w

.
.

w


5
w



T, Ma
w


6
w

.
.
P
w


7
w
.
.
.
. Ta
w


8
w
.
.
.
.
w


9
w
.
.
.
.
w


10
w
.
.
.
.
w


11
w
.
.
H, D.
.
w


12
w
w
w
w
w
w

H = Hole. The water surface is just a foot down.
P = Broken Pedestal
w = Wall
. = A watery glint covers objects and creatures in these squares.

Ta = Tara
B = Bob
N = Nabaru
M = Micah
T = Ted
Ma = Mao

D = A 'Drowned' - undead with water powers.


With not a roll over 6 between them, both Micah and Naberu fail to hurt the deadly corpse.

The thing reaches out to Micah once more, trying to grab and grapple:
Full attacks, each attack substituted for a grapple:
Touch attack: [roll0]
If successful, grapple check: [roll1]
Note that Micah takes -2 on the opposed grapple check for being underwater.

If Micah successfully resists, the second attack is replaced with a grapple attempt as well. If the first attempt succeeded, the following does nothing and it ends its turn.
Touch attack: [roll2]
If successful, grapple check: [roll3]

The second corpse stays still.

Bob: [roll4]
DC 13

Nabaru: [roll4]
Tara: [roll5]
DC 11
Conscious party members may act. The unconscious Tara begins to drown once more.

[dragonsamurai77]

Nabaru lashes out in a fury of claws and fangs, the distraction proved by Micah mitigating his somewhat awkward underwater movements.


Full attack, all damage rolls are again halved for being underwater, but flanking should counteract the to-hit penalty.
Claw 1:
[roll0]
[roll1] damage
Claw 2:
[roll2]
[roll3] damage
Bite:
[roll4]
[roll5] damage

[Triskavanski]

Ted sighs a breath of relief now that Mao stopped drowning.. But then Tara started spitting up water next!"Arrgh!" cried the cat "Can you please stop dieing that would be very helpful okay?" as he moved to try to drag her next to mao.

[Unavenger]

Micah lashes out again, hoping for better luck this time:

Rapier [roll0] for [roll1]+[roll2] and [roll3] for [roll4]+[roll5]
Kukri: [roll6] for [roll7]+[roll8]
Feet of Fury: [roll9] for [roll10]+[roll11] and [roll12] for [roll13]+[roll14] and [roll15] for [roll16]+[roll17]

[FearlessGnome]

A
B
C
D
E
F


1
w
w
w
w
w
w


2
w
.
.
H M N D
B.
w


3
w
.
.
.
.
w


4
w

.
.

w


5
w

.
.
T Ma Ta
w


6
w
.
.
.
P.
w


7
w
.
.
.
.
w


8
w
.
.
.
.
w


9
w
.
.
.
.
w


10
w
.
.
D.
.
w


11
w
.
.
H .
.
w


12
w
w
w
w
w
w

H = Hole. The water surface is just a foot down.
P = Broken Pedestal
w = Wall
. = A watery glint covers objects and creatures in these squares.

Ta = Tara
B = Bob
N = Nabaru
M = Micah
T = Ted
Ma = Mao

D = A 'Drowned' - undead with water powers.

Nabaru and Micah manage to get in substantially more damage this time around, although it is becoming increasingly clear that fighting underwater greatly favours this creature. This battle of attrition could end abruptly and tragically.

Ted quickly retrieves Tara as well, and she immediately begins breathing again. However, the creature that caused them so much trouble is not content to stay in the water now that no potential victims remain in its aura, and it climbs out of the hole.

The corpse fighting Micah and Nabaru reaches out for Micah once more:
Full attacks, each attack substituted for a grapple:
Touch attack: [roll0]
If successful, grapple check: [roll1]
Note that Micah takes -2 on the opposed grapple check for being underwater.

If Micah successfully resists, the second attack is replaced with a grapple attempt as well. If the first attempt succeeded, the following does nothing and it ends its turn.
Touch attack: [roll2]
If successful, grapple check: [roll3]

Just Nabaru and Bob this time.
Bob: [roll4]
DC 14
[roll5]
DC 12

[Triskavanski]

"You!" Cries out Ted, who, in a swift and fluid motion, charges the zombie creature now that its shown itself, drawing his his non-stick mitral frying pan in the same instant.




Charging attack - +2 to hit.
Two-handing the +2 mythril frying pan
White raven stance - Leading the Charge - +3 to damage rolls
Iaijitsu focus - [roll0] 15-19 [roll1] 20-24 [roll2] 25-30 [roll3] 31-35 [roll4] additional damage
Catch off-guard - benefit: You do not suffer any penalties for using an improvised melee weapon. Unarmed opponents are flat-footed against any attacks you make with an improvised melee weapon.

[roll5] to hit.
If Crit [roll6]

[roll7] - this attack ignores up to 5 points of the target's damage reduction
if Crit[roll8]

[Esprit15]

Tara gasps as air returns to her lungs, eyes shooting open. "We need to get out of here," she shouts to nobody in particular, pulling a potion off of her belt and taking a drink from it.
Standard Action: CLW Potion: [roll0]

The woman tests her limbs, feeling that everything was still attached. With a bit of focus, she changes her stance, the fire inside of her quieting and the tension in her legs becomes stronger.
Swift Action: Change stance to Leaping Dragon

With a powerful burst of energy, Tara hops up into the air, trying to grab onto the side of the wall for some extra distance from the Drowned.
Move Action:
Jump and cling onto the wall: [roll1], +10ft to result, Tara is treated as running
Clinging I assume would be climb: [roll2]

[Triskavanski]

Mao, spurred on by some hidden reserves of strength so too also awakens, quickly getting to his paws as he shakes his head. Letting out a low growl, he gets into his martial spirit stance, focusing his eyes on the soaking wet zombie over by his master.

[Unavenger]

As it grabs hold of me, I squirm out of the way, and roll my eyes at it. We could be here a while. I jab at it, noticing that my rapier seems to be way more effective than my other weapons. Gah, shoulda brought another piercer for the other hand.

Rapier (Piercing, not halved!): [roll0] for [roll1]+[roll2] and [roll3] for [roll4]+[roll5]
Kukri: [roll6] for [roll7]+[roll8]
Feet of Fury: [roll9] for [roll10]+[roll11] and [roll12] for [roll13]+[roll14] and [roll15] for [roll16]+[roll17]

[dragonsamurai77]

Nabaru has little option other than to continue striking out with his natural weapons, supporting Micah.

OOC:

Full attack again. These all do piercing in addition to one or more other damage types, so in hindsight, I'm not actually sure if they should be halved underwater.

Claw 1:
[roll0]
[roll1]

Claw 2:
[roll2]
[roll3]

Bite:
[roll4]
[roll5]

[FearlessGnome]

A
B
C
D
E
F


1
w
w
w
w
w
w


2
w


H M N
B
w


3
w




w


4
w




w


5
w

.
.
Ma Ta
w


6
w
.
.
.
P.
w


7
w
.
.
.
.
w


8
w
.
.
.
.
w


9
w
.
.
T.
.
w


10
w
.
.
D.
.
w


11
w
.
.
H .
.
w


12
w
w
w
w
w
w

H = Hole. The water surface is just a foot down.
P = Broken Pedestal
w = Wall
. = A watery glint covers objects and creatures in these squares.

Ta = Tara
B = Bob
N = Nabaru
M = Micah
T = Ted
Ma = Mao

D = A 'Drowned' - undead with water powers.

And with that final volley, Micah and Nabaru succeed in destroying one of the Drowned. Party members up in the room notice the watery glint wink out in the Northern half of the room, and Nabaru, though he still cannot breathe, no longer feels that desperate need to breathe.

Ted having charged at the second corpse and gotten a good hit in, it attacks back.
Full attack
Slam attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]
Slam attack: [roll2]
Damage: [roll3]


Just Ted this time!
[roll4]
DC 10
The party may act.

[Triskavanski]

Noticing Mao was awake again, Ted calls to him while withdrawing away from the Drowned. "Mao! Back Corner!" Quickly the other cat moves to the corner as Ted goes to climb onto the cat.


Ted and Mao move to B2, and prepare to charge once mounted. If possible, they'll climb the wall to give them a little more time to strike.

[dragonsamurai77]

Slow-moving in water, Nabaru instead teleports to the surface, climbing out of the well and ready to face the other monster.

OOC:

Shadow Jaunt to the water's surface, climb out, then move to D4, just outside the aura. Regain concealment.

[Unavenger]

I drag myself up out of the water, and roll onto the shore before standing up. "Your friend's done for, dead guy. Now it's your turn."

"I recommend you lot leave this one to me, but chances of that... well, we'll find out together I guess."

I think that getting out and standing up is two move actions, but neither of them actually moves me so I think I can five foot step towards the drowned.

[Esprit15]

Tara climbs toward the back of the cave (upper end of the map) and higher up the wall. ”Huh, maybe I spoke to soon. Um... good luck, don’t drown!” she calls from her perch.
Can’t shoot a bow while climbing, so just getting to a safer spot - [roll0]

[FearlessGnome]

A
B
C
D
E
F


1
w
w
w
w
w
w


2
w
.T Ma
.Ta
H
.B
w


3
w
.
.
.M
.
w


4
w
.
.
.N
.
w


5
w
.
.
D.
.
w


6
w
.
.
.
P.
w


7
w
.
.
.
.
w


8
w
.
.
.
.
w


9
w
.
.
.
.
w


10
w
.
.
.
.
w


11
w

.
H .
.
w


12
w
w
w
w
w
w

H = Hole. The water surface is just a foot down.
P = Broken Pedestal
w = Wall
. = A watery glint covers objects and creatures in these squares.

Ta = Tara
B = Bob
N = Nabaru
M = Micah
T = Ted
Ma = Mao

D = A 'Drowned' - undead with water powers.

Victory is within reach, with all party members now facing only one of the abominations, but it has not given up. The Drowned charges Naberu.


Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]
In what is likely the last or second to last round of combat, the drowning aura finally lies thick over every member of the party.

Ted: [roll2]
Mao: [roll3]
Tara: [roll4]
Naberu: [roll5]
Bob: [roll6]
DC 10

Finish him

[Triskavanski]

"THIS IS WHY WE DON'T GO INTO THE WATER!" Ted shouts as he points to the last zombie thing around. In a flash Mao charges the creatures unleashing a flurry of claws, teeth, and a spatula!




Now then.. Ted is going to use Leading the Attack as he draws his nonstick spatula to slice and dice the foe.
He is currently in Leading the Charge stance, granting +3 to all damage rolls on charge attacks.

[roll0]

If hits, everyone gets a +4 to hit the creature

[roll1] + Spirited Charge [roll2]
Iaijitsu Focus [roll3] 15-19 [roll4] 20-24 [roll5] 25-30 [roll6] 31-35 [roll7] additional damage if the enemy is still flat footed due to catch off guard.



MAO! The King of the Jungle! Mao uses Battle Leader charge gaining +10 to the charge damage roll
Bite! [roll8] To attack, if Ted hit, add +4 to each attack

[roll9]

CLAW! Don't know if Battle Lead Charge would work on the full pounce

[roll10]
[roll11]

Claw 2!
[roll12]
[roll13]


RAKE!
[roll14]
[roll15]



RAKE 2!
[roll16]
[roll17]



Since Mao is in Martial Spirit stance, each hit will heal out +2 to one lucky recipient each.

[Esprit15]

As the battle seems to be turning around, Tara lets out a "Whoo! Get 'em!" ...and finds her lungs filling with that same choking sensation that overcame her the first time she blacked out. Her grip weakens and the woman falls to the stone floor with a loud slap and clang, and metal armor and wet limbs come to a sudden halt.

And then, she feels just a hint of energy, enough to shake her out of her brief, dreamless sleep. Her body was hers again, and the little bit of light from the everburning torch reaches her eyes. She coughs, the suffocating sensation still all around her, but that could be dealt with later. She hops to her feet quickly, and taking inspiration from Mao and Ted, moves like a rocket toward the creature that had knocked her out not once but twice in the past thirty seconds, thrusting her sword forward at the creature.
Battle Leader's Charge
Knowledge Devotion: +2
Ted's Leading the Attack: +4
Charging: +2
AC: [roll0]

Knowledge Devotion: +2
Battle Leader's Charge: +10
Ted's Leading the Charge: +3
Power Attack (Shock Trooper): +12
Damage: [roll1]

[FearlessGnome]

With a final, collective charge the party are able to take down the undead abomination, and its supernatural aura fades.

Remiel gives a quiet thumbs up. "I thought I might actually have to step in there. It's good to see you were able to take them down. The last group who came this way got caught by one at the end of the corridor. They... didn't last very long." He gives Micah a curious look. "Still, I find it very interesting that you were unaffected by the aura. You don't look amphibious. Is this part of your 'magic immunity'?"

"Anyway. So what will it be? Are you still pressing on? There will be more traps if you do. I would advice against sawing through suspicious objects."

[Esprit15]

"I think us taking a break might be good. Several of us passed out from those things and I don't know about the others, but I am feeling pretty rough after that. Unless one of you guys is a good healer, taking a break might be a good idea."

[dragonsamurai77]

I am enough of a healer to restore consciousness to those who have fallen. A "good" healer? Certainly not. I concur, resting for a bit would be beneficial.

[Unavenger]

"Yeah, that aura's magic, seems like. I know some monsters think they're immune to magic but ain't really, like golems and such, but some of us over here are the real deal. 'Course, it comes at a price. I can't use magic of my own, and the best I can do with a magic item is donk someone over the head with it."

I turn to the others. "I'm a hundred per cent A-Okay, but if you guys need to rest, feel free. I can heal you up a little bit while you sleep, or save you if you're about to die, but any more than that I'd need to use my salves for, and... well, I only have so many of those. So, if you gotta sleep... well, go ahead, sleep. Shouldn't be too much that can reach us here..."

[Triskavanski]

"Murreow." complained Mao, looking rather annoyed about the whole afair, finding a place to flop opposite of the Podieum. "Yeah.. This is why we didn't want to go into the water. If we could breath water.. that might be okay, but this.." the cat shakes his head, before sighing. "Though to go either direction we'll have to go in again, and this time those frost giants are propally awake... And I can't cook these! Thats gross! Why couldn't we be attacked by something edible?"

[FearlessGnome]

After a quick breather the party forges on, back into the cold, dark water. The narrow shaft through which the Drowned emerged remains open.

Some 200 feet ahead, the underwater tunnel ends in a massive gate. Carved into the gate is the outline of an enormous skull, and in each eye socket a slot that looks a perfect fit for one of those gems you found.

Under the left socket is the word 'Progress', and under the right is the word 'Wealth'. In a slightly darker shade of stone are mirrored humanoid forms holding their arms up, hands underneath the sockets as though holding them up.

The enormous skull grins malignantly.

[Unavenger]

I look back at the others and shrug. It doesn't seem that we'll be able to get through without using one of the gems. I try to sign at the party.

Back? Forwards? I can't use this.

[Esprit15]

Tara takes out the gem she held onto and gestures for the other to be taken out as well... Just in case, she pushes her gem into the 'Progress' slot first, in case the other became inaccessible.

[Triskavanski]

The little cat works at holding his breath, waving to the eyes frantically himself, but had nothing more to add to the event that wasn't already taking place.

[Unavenger]

I grab onto the other gem, ready to hand it to Tara if nothing interesting happens so far...

[FearlessGnome]

Tara places the first gem, and for a tense few seconds nothing seems to happen, but then-

With a mechanical rumble and the grinding of stone on stone, the gate splits cleanly down the middle and both halves begin to slowly recede into the walls. There is water on the other side of the gate as well, so there is no sudden flood of rushing water. Since you have the other gem with you there is time to fill the second socket, but you suspect if you had only brought the one, there would not have been time to get the second. On the other hand, the gem itself certainly counts as 'wealth', and it would be exceedingly cruel for the dungeon to give you treasure, only to make you trade it away for empty promises of more.

The tunnel on the other side slopes slowly upward. You can't see the surface, but it's probably not too far away.

[Esprit15]

Seeing her partymate float like a dumb piece of pumice as the wall gives way, Tara takes the other gem from their hand and shoves it in the slot before it disappears.

[FearlessGnome]

The second gem inserted... nothing happens.

Well, for a few seconds. As with the first gem, the mechanism seems to take a few seconds before anything visible happens.

A crack appears in the floor before the gate, in a perfect circle. The floor inside the circle sinks, then slides into the floor.

Unlike with the gate, there was no water on the other side of this barrier. There very soon will be quite a lot of water there, however, as water rushes in from the tunnel you are swimming in.

Turns out, water can flow pretty fast.
Swim check DC 20 to avoid being swept down the hole and knocked into the wall for [roll0] damage.

Bob: [roll1]
Tara: [roll2]
Nabaru: [roll3]
Micah: [roll4]
Ted: [roll5]
Mao: [roll6]

The flood ends soon enough, although the water doesn't quite reach to the ceiling in the tunnel anymore, leaving about half an inch of air, enough to breathe but not without the occasional unpleasant mouthful of water.

The cylindrical shaft leads down into a large vault. It is full of gold coins.

The good news is that the gold in this room is likely to be worth a lot more than the two gems you gave up. The issue remains as to how you will transport it, however.

[Unavenger]

Fortunately, being slammed against the wall does little to faze me, and the small amount of pain fades in a few seconds. I swim back up to the top and poke my nose up above the surface, then inhale. This'll be fine, probably. Also solves the issue of the drowned.

I wait for someone who's more able to move the gold than I am to do something about it.

[Esprit15]

Tara gulps in what air she can before diving down, filling the pockets of her handy haversack one by one until they're overflowing. Damn bedroll, and that sand. Could hold another thousand gold if it weren't for them.

Oh well, no need to get greedy.

[Triskavanski]

Ted and Mao move to the surface before nodding a little to each other, dipping down into the pit, Ted fills up his apron with as many coins as he could carry, before going back to the surface, pointing to the gate and the two begin swimming away to the next aera after getting another breath.

[FearlessGnome]

Sadly, the party is forced to leave most of the gold behind.

Better news is that the tunnel beyond the gate has a slight incline, and soon you are back on dry land. The tunnel is still pitch black, and is slowly widening. Soon however it ends in a wall, except that the wall has six tunnels in it, three on ground level, three at varying heights up the wall.

Smells like spiders and other vermin. Definitely some kind of spider though.

[dragonsamurai77]

Spiders. Don’t think we’re sneaking around this one.

[Triskavanski]

Ted and Mao work at shaking the water out of their fur, "Bleh. So much water.. At least spiders don't make you drown while being near them.."

[Esprit15]

Tara sniffs the air, and scrunches her face at the scent. ”First roommate hated spiders. I love the little guys, but...” she looks around at the high fantasy world around her, ”I’m guessing such an epithet is not applicable to spiders in this world.”

She gives a once over of the holes in the wall. Suspicious, she gives each one a sniff, wondering whether one of them was more frequented by any of their octopedal hosts. ”So do we want to be completionists about this?” she asks as she makes her way up the wall to the higher placed caves, ”or do we rush at wherever seems like the, presumably, big, monsterous, momma spider is hiding out?

“...and do we have a way to avoid or resist webs? Because I feel like we could easily wind up trapped in webs if we aren’t careful.”

[Unavenger]

I stuff about 5000 gold in the remaining space in my backpack, before swimming back out.

"Hmm. I have nothing special that'd be great against spiders, unless they turn invisible or try to swallow someone. But I should be able to handle them anyway. Just, please someone flank them with me if it comes to that."

[FearlessGnome]

The higher up tunnels smell more strongly of spiders, although that scent is definitely coming from all six tunnels. The other vermin smells are mostly coming from the lower tunnels, although it does seem that no scent in unique to any of them. They are likely interconnected further in. Peering into the different tunnels, they are a lot more jagged and rough than the ones you have been walking so far.

[Esprit15]

”Spiders live higher up, and hunt whatever small fry live in the lower tunnels,” Tara says, hopping down, “in case you all need help picking where to go.”

[dragonsamurai77]

It matters not to me. They all burn equally, Nabaru notes grimly. It does us little good to deliberate. I say we take the bottom center path, as I doubt it matters in the long run; they likely all meet up.

[Triskavanski]

"Well.. Now that we're all wet.. do any of you have something for fire?" Ted asks, sitting on Mao, still dripping.

[Esprit15]

”Just my cloak to keep me from getting cold.” Tara shines her torch a little further into the caves, and then after a moment, begins to lead the way into the center. She would have personally went for one of the side paths if they met up later, or even an upper path, but she asked, and it would be rude to just ignore them after that.

[FearlessGnome]

The party cautiously advances. The passage quickly narrows, and a creature larger than you would have trouble passing through it at certain points.

Soon however it opens up into a wide room. There is a large hole in the ceiling, revealing another chamber above. There are tunnels leading off to each side, as well as one leading forward. The dungeon floor is covered in black sand. And there are...

Three sizable wooden chests sitting in the middle of the room. They are closed. One is tall, one is blue, and one is wrapped up in chains.

Four lit torches hang on the walls, illuminating the room.

Sure does smell like spiders up there.

[Unavenger]

"No traps. Or at least, no traps that I can find." I start opening the chests.

[Esprit15]

Tara looks over the black sand with caution. Something in her head screamed “Danger, danger” at the simple floor covering, that it just didn’t sit right with her. ...better safe than sorry after that last encounter. The ex-college student takes out her jar of sand and again fashions a rope, this one with a large loop at the end, and copying something out of an old western, tosses the lasso... and misses. Two more tries though and she manages to loop the blue chest.

As she pulls the box back toward the party, she looks around at the others. ”Weren’t we talking about taking a rest earlier?” With a shrug, she pulls the blue chest off of the potentially dangerous ground and places it in front of Micah. “Alright, have at it.”

[FearlessGnome]

Micah begins working on opening the blue treasure chest. It's a very tricky lock, but soon there is an audible *click* and the lock comes undone. The chest opens and-

Inside is a cloth sack about 2 feet by 4 feet in size. It appears to be larger on the inside than the outside. If/when Micah holds it it seems to just close, though it doesn't do this for anyone else.

[Unavenger]

"Bag of Holding in aisle five. Tara, fancy going for another dive?"

I offer her the bag, and go to work on the next chest.

[roll0] search and [roll1] DD if needed.

[Esprit15]

Tara nods and heads back to the water, diving in and collecting as much gold as the bag will carry.
A Type I will hold 12,500GP, Type II will hold 25,000, and I doubt it’s one that’s higher than that.

[FearlessGnome]

The bag it turns out is incredibly spacious. The room appears to have contained about 40,000 coins, and even that is not quite enough to fill the bag.

However... It also seems that something unusual is afoot with either the coins or the bag, because while all the coins can easily fit, their weight is not being reduced. For every coin that goes into the bag, it becomes one coin heavier.

[Esprit15]

Hm... so it causes them to not take up the volume, but the mass is maintained... interesting. Tara hauls the bag along the bottom of the water toward the shore, dragging the tiny sack along the shoreline in what is no doubt a rather humorous display of a person struggling to shove and roll a backpack toward their party.

[Triskavanski]

Ted sits on Mao, watching the tall ones run back and forth. He and Mao certaintly weren't going to go in there until it was considered to be safe.. One of those chests could explode after all.

[kylelopezwms]

Bob stands quietly i the back, gold didnt seem to intrest him all that much however he muttered "I better get at least SOME of that gold. Although... Im more intrested in the bag."

[FearlessGnome]

One chest safely opened and the black sand apparently harmless (At least to them), Micah strides into the room and gets to work on the remaining chests. The tall chest opens easily enough, revealing a second cloth bag, as well as thousands of... black... shiny... wasps...

Ah.

They immediately swarm Micah.
Micah takes [roll0] damage, and has to save against poison.
Fort save: [roll1]
On a failed save Micah takes [roll2] Dexterity damage.
It was indeed a failed save. Micah takes 1 point of Dexterity damage.
At the same time, monstrously overgrown spiders emerge from the holes in the ceiling, climbing on the ceiling with ease. Two of them shoot webs toward Micah.
First spider: [roll3] (Exact attack bonus is not known by the party)
Second spider: [roll4]

One of the spiders gets off an incredibly well aimed web - but Micah's uncanny dodging ability allows them to evade both nets.
Aaand we're in battle. Everyone except Micah, please pick a position on row 18, 19 or 20.



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1
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W
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2
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?


W
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3
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5
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W
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6
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W
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S
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M w
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S

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S








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12
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N S
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T Ma

W
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19
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20
W
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W
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W
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W
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W
W

W = Walls.
t = Treasure chest

M = Micah
T = Ted
Ma = Mao
N = Nabaru

S = Spider
w = Wasp swarm

The spiders are on the ceiling, which is 15 feet up. However, please note that this means they only have 10 feet to fall or jump to be on the ground.

Where a wall goes diagonally in this room you can squeeze between the two squares as a Medium creature, because the stone wall isn't one thick block, but enough space is taken up by rock formations that you can't stand in those squares.

I don't mind expanding the map - if you want to retreat or go into one of the side/forward tunnels, move there and I'll try to quickly expand to cover what you see. At the same time though, I can't really reveal what you don't yet see. After all, one of the tunnels could be a dead end.

Initiative:
Bob: [roll5]
Tara: [roll6]
Nabaru: [roll7]
Micah: [roll8]
Ted & Mao: [roll9]

Spiders: [roll10]
Swarm: [roll11]

Block Initiative: The swarm will act again, as it won initiative. Then Tara and Nabaru may act in any order, followed by the spiders, followed by Bob, Micah and Ted & Mao, in any order.

At the start of their turn, Micah must make a DC 18 Fortitude save or be nauseated for one turn. Probably best to make it on Discord.

[FearlessGnome]

The wasps, with almost preternatural speed and ferocity, swarm Micah again.
Micah takes [roll0] damage, and has to save against poison.
Fort save: [roll1]
On a failed save Micah takes [roll2] Dexterity damage.
Micah takes another 6 points of Dexterity damage, now 7 in total.
The swarm does not move toward the rest of the party, busy angrily tearing into Micah.

[dragonsamurai77]

Looking towards the ceiling, Nabaru approaches the first group of spiders. Once in range, he breathes in before exhaling a blast of tar-like fire.


Start at F18. Move to E14 and use an entangling, cone-shaped fire breath towards the four spiders above.

Damage: Half of [roll0] fire, DC 25 Reflex to further half it.
As long as they took damage from this, they are also entangled for [roll1] rounds, taking 1d6 additional fire damage for each round they are entangled.

Swift action change to Assassin's Stance.

[Unavenger]

I exit hurriedly back away from the wasps. "Someone get rid of the swarm, then I can mash up the spiders, thanks"

[Esprit15]

As Tara rolls the sack of gold along the ground, the sound of wasps reaches her ears, and the woman sprints up to the rest of the party.

”What the hell did you do!?” she shouts, taking out her bow and aiming at the nearest spider, loosing two shots. “We were supposed to be getting ready to take a break!”
Attack: [roll0] Crit on 20 for x3
If Crit: [roll1]
Damage: [roll2]

Attack: [roll3] Crit on 20 for x3
If Crit: [roll4]
Damage: [roll5]

Swift action: Flame’s Blessing stance

[Unavenger]

"Yeah, 'cause all treasure chests have ****ing WASPS in them!" I yelled back. "Cover me for a bit! I'm gonna try what's called a pro gamer move."

[FearlessGnome]

Nabaru's fire burns the large spider, and succeeds in crippling its movements.

Tara's first shot hits, the second connecting but sliding off the spider's hard carapace. The large spider isn't dying yet, but Tara and Nabaru together have quickly done substantial damage to it. The spiders don't seem to be all that durable.

Wounded and angry, the spider strikes back, dropping down on Nabaru and trying to bite him.

Attack roll: [roll0] - that's a hit. The spider succeeds in sinking its fangs into Nabaru.
Damage on hit: [roll1]
Nabaru's Fort save if needed: [roll2]
As rolled on Discord, that's 8 points of Strength damage. That's... incredibly bad luck.
Having dropped down for its attack, the spider retreats out of Nabaru's personal space.




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18
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T Ma

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20
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W
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W

W = Walls.
t = Treasure chest

M = Micah
T = Ted
Ma = Mao
N = Nabaru

S = Large spider
s = Medium spider
w = Wasp swarm

The spiders are on the ceiling, which is 15 feet up. The exception being the one spider that jumped down on Nabaru, which is now on the floor.

Except for the large spider that attacked Nabaru, they all remain on the ceiling. Three of the smaller spiders moved toward the party, but having moved so far they did not have time to attack just yet. The large spider near Micah, as well as one lonely spider to the East, stayed still.

[Triskavanski]

In an instant, Ted and Mao readied up, charging the first spider with a sudden rush. "GET CLOSER MAO! I WANNA HIT WITH MY FRYING PAN!" Shouts Ted




Ted rolls for Attack with Spirited Charge and Lead the Charge!


If Critical [roll1]

[roll2]
Sprited Charge Extra damage [roll3]
If Crit [roll4]


Mao Pounces the Spider

Bite [roll5] +4 moral Bonus if Ted hits
if Crit [roll6]

[roll7]
If Crit [roll8]


Claw 1 [roll9] +4 moral Bonus if Ted hits
if Crit [roll10]

[roll11]
If Crit [roll12]

Claw 2 [roll13] +4 moral Bonus if Ted hits
if Crit [roll14]

[roll15]
If Crit [roll16]


Rake 1 [roll17] +4 moral Bonus if Ted hits
if Crit [roll18]

[roll19]
If Crit [roll]1d+6

Rake 2 +4 moral Bonus if Ted hits
if Crit [roll21]

[roll22]
If Crit [roll]1d+6

Then they move to L12

For every hit, Mao heals 2 hp.

[Esprit15]

”Nope, don’t like any of that,” Tara says, stepping in a bit of a circle and beginning to gain a small heat mirage around her as she looses an arrow at one of the spiders that was approaching her.
Move enough to activate Desert Wind Dodge

Attack: [roll0] Crit on 20 for x3
If Crit: [roll1]
Damage: [roll2]

Swift Action: Defensive Precognition - +1 to AC and Saves for one turn