Serpent's Skull [Racing to Ruin] (IC)

[Blackhawk101]

Fronaldo throws his small dagger at the constrictor once again.

Spoiler: Fronaldo>>>Collective

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“Are you alright, Aron?”

Spoiler: crunch

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FAA, Risky Strike, throw dagger
to hit - (1d20+10)[17]
to dam - (1d3+11)[12]

[lostsole31]

R3T27: Fronaldo throws his small dagger at the constrictor once again, but not before it snaps at him. Fronaldo ducks underneath and sails the dagger in for 12.

R3T18: Book, what do you do?

[BuckGodot]

Book lashes out with his whip at the boa.

Spoiler: When a snake meets a snake...

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Attack using Risky Strike
(1d20+11)[27]

Damage: (1d3+14)[17] (1d3 + 9 + 5)

Demoralize

[lostsole31]

R3T18: Book lashes out with his whip at the boa python, slashing it for 17, and dropping it.

Aron follows up by putting the torch to its head (maybe a few times) as Fronaldo's dagger comes back to him.

Combat Ends ...

And with that, while they still need to use the torches to get snakes to move (and therefore difficult terrain), this party of predators has proven their puissance against pit vipers and pythons. No more violet mambas, Mwangi ringed pythons, or other uppity snakes actually attack. Lots of posturing that the torches make them recoil from doing, but this area is theirs to look through.

After a thorough search, the party only really notes one thing of interest in this "Tower of Serpents" .... there is a small room to the north that has a shaft that connects to Taizon's abandoned subterranean aqueducts.

Fronaldo's mirror image will wink out during this search.

What does the party do?

[BuckGodot]

”That was way harder than it should have been…” Book says as he takes a moment to reload his sidearm before dropping it back into its holster.

[Blackhawk101]

Fronaldo tosses his torch into a pile of snakes before drawing a second dagger.

Spoiler: Fronaldo>>>collective

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“Stay together and try to be quiet. I will scout ahead about 50 ft. If I come to a branch in the way, I will mark my direction with a mark like this.”

The green skinned goblin scratches a crude arrow into the dirty stone floor with his back up dagger.

Spoiler: Fronaldo>>>Collective

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“I will stay in touch with the mind speak.”

He sheathes his daggers and retrieves some silk rope from his pack. He secures the end and tosses the rest down the shaft. He hands a sun rod to Aron with a wink before donning his pack again.

Spoiler: Fronaldo>>>Collective (Xhan)

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“I could really use some of your “special” healing before climbing down into the pit of Doom, Xhan. I still feel weak from the blood loss the little bitters did to me.”

Healed or not, the little guy grabs the rope and shimmies down the shaft.

[silphael]

Before Fronaldo leaves, Xhanfaerd casts Lesser Restoration on him to reduce the blood loss.

"Sure, let's be safe."

[lostsole31]

Fronaldo regains 1 CON (back to max), which also increases his hp max and gives him 6 hp actual.

Fronaldo shimmies down the shaft, but doesn't go very far at all before he is moving more horizontally than vertically (and even that was a gentle slope, as if the aqueduct were designed for the ancients to enter in case of needed maintenance.

Now what, Fronaldo? it looks like hte aqueduct goes west-ish well out of sight of your darkvision.

[Blackhawk101]

Spoiler: Fronaldo>>>Collective

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“It is not far down. Come down and bring my rope if you can. I will wait for everyone before moving out.”

Fronaldo moves to West quietly until he is about 50 ft from the shaft. He drinks an elixir.

Spoiler: crunch

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drink elixir of CMW

[lostsole31]

The potion heals over the last bit of physical trauma Fronaldo was suffering, but not the muscle strain.

So, it seems the party is now taking the aqueduct westwards, and the party did see an aqueduct entrance on the western side of Tazion before that this might intersect with.

While down here, how far in the lead is Fronaldo going to be? Book, are you fine with Fronaldo's desires, or do you amend whatever he asks (remember that Fronaldo doesn't need light, but you do)?

[BuckGodot]

Book nods to Fronaldo...

"I think we should stay closer together. Don't want you missing anything that might be dangerous... remember that trigger pad you missed when we were back up there? Let's not have a repeat! Plus... It's really dark, so... Any solutions to that for us light dependant types?"

[Blackhawk101]

Fronaldo huffs and shuffles about self-consciously.

Spoiler: Fronaldo>>>collective(Book)

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“Yeah, I might not spot every little thing, but your light will announce to everything down here we are coming before you can see them. Plus Xhan is noisy and I can move quietly. I will only be just ahead of you. Think of me as your early warning danger detector. I might not spot every danger, but I will inevitably find the danger and I am fast enough to avoid most and I can sneak up on things. That sounds good, right?”
”I gave Aron a sun rod for light so you should be good. I will be just ahead of its light… And use the mind speak so we don’t make noise.”

Spoiler: crunch

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Fronaldo will stay 60 feet ahead of the group to keep ahead of the light.

[BuckGodot]

Spoiler: Book>>>Collective

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"Right. Right... Sorry. I forgot... Well, lead on then!"

and Book will follow along as suggested.

[lostsole31]

The party moves due west for approximately an eighth of a mile or so before Fronaldo there is a T. The passage you are on continues, but there is now also another aqueduct passageway heading to the south.

Which way do you go? Turn south, or continue west?

[Blackhawk101]

Spoiler: Fronaldo>>>Collective

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“There is a passage to the left or “South”. I am going that way. Move a little slower than your normal speed.”

The sound of metal scratching on stone is heard as Fronaldo makes a mark pointing south. When he sees the glow of the party he moves down the southern passage.

Spoiler: crunch

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moving silently at normal 3/4 speed. If he needs to slow down or speed up a little to keep ahead of the party’s light he will.

[lostsole31]

After traveling about 200 yards in a SSE direction, the aqueduct comes to an end as it opens into a large "chimney." The aqueduct's end is about 20' below a large hole in the surface above, and drops down another 40'.

[Blackhawk101]

Spoiler: Fronaldo>>>Collective

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“The aqueduct ends in a shaft up to the surface and also down. I will wait here for you to catch up to me.”

[silphael]

Looking around, Xhanfaerd casts Detect Magic, in order to check if there are any clues at the embranchement, before moving toward the chimney.

Spoiler: Collective

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"We should probably first securise both ends of this embranchement before considering going down the chimney ?"

[Blackhawk101]

Spoiler: Fronaldo>>>Collective

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“Down promises to be more interesting than up. Anyone have more rope?”

[BuckGodot]

Spoiler: Book>>>Collective(Fronaldo)

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Down it is then. Oh! Yeah! Hold on... Awwww. Nuts... I left my rope in that cave with that short kid... I liked his hat, too. Oh well. Sorry!"

[lostsole31]

Okay, how are you going to do the downward bit? Rope/ no rope? Who's going first? If rope, how anchored? Etc.

[Blackhawk101]

Fronaldo examines the shaft. Can he see bottom? How are the sides for climbing?

[lostsole31]

Fronaldo sees that the shaft continues 40' to the bottom.

He studies the nearby walls of the shaft and realizes that if he were to free climb, it would be a challenging climb.

[Blackhawk101]

Spoiler: Fronaldo>>>collective

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“It is about 40 ft to the bottom and a challenging climb without rope.”

[BuckGodot]

Spoiler: Book>>>Collective (Frodo)

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I mean... I do have my whip... But that will only give about 15' of climbing. I think maybe another way might be better... Come on back, pal.

[lostsole31]

Spoiler: Aron >>> Collective

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"It's a sizeable shaft, in width I mean .... not just depth. Could you boys figure out some math magic and possibly figure out where in Tazion we might be? Just to get a sense of position."

Assuming you take her suggestion, with Fronaldo's help Book easily figures that this is actually the Well of Unending Screams (as Gelik had translated the runes previously). Before you met Book, the larger surviving of your group had a fight with charau-ka and even managed to keep from fighting a horror that crawled out of the shaft - a type of octopoidal aberration that took dead charau-ka with it back into the well.

Spoiler: Aron >>> Collective

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"So, that means a thing we had a truce with to keep from violence lives below. I say we avoid it and head west."

[Blackhawk101]

Spoiler: Fronaldo>>>Collective

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“As you wish, Arun. I have no desire to run into that thing in a tight space!”

Fronaldo smiles and heads off North and then takes the West branch; moving silent at 3/4 speed.

[lostsole31]

As Fronaldo takes the western branch .... with the party following 60' behind him (approx.) ... there will be standing water here and there in the aqueduct. Soon, the aqueduct rises up to the surface. Ahead there is a stone section in the middle of the aqueduct. It is an obstacle that one can easily amble over, not a full-size wall. Fronaldo's not an engineer, so he doesn't understand it's purpose. Still, it is an easy shot to the end.

Fronaldo, you clamber over the obstacle?

Spoiler: Aqueduct Entrance Map (Discord is Down)

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[Blackhawk101]

Spoiler: Fronaldo>>>Collective

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“I think I found the entrance we spotted a couple days ago. I will wait for you to catch up.”

Fronaldo waits for the others to catch up.

[lostsole31]

The rest of the party catches up.