Iron Gods : Double Characters (IC)

[u-b]

"It seems we are as prepared as we could be, given the information we have already, but we certainly could benefit from more information. Thony Radache. This is my friend Sarina. You see, we hope to have more success than the previous teams, but, right now, I don't see why this would be the case. I believe one of the teams was closely associated with the church of Brigh, and it was not the first team. So, I rather expect they did their fair share of investigations and preparations. I hope that if they worked with you closely you would be able to provide us with adequately detailed account of the information they had at the time, and also their capabilities and general plans. Are we in luck?"

[Sleepy Shade]

Joram smiles "Yes I was expecting you Kallak and it's a pleasure to meet you Thony and Lady Sarina. After you accepted the request Dolga sent a messenger over here. I worried you migh have just gone over to the Pond and tried to swim down into the caves with no help. " The raven makes his way over to the boy and climbs on his shoulder. "Well unfortunatly I didn't get to know them very well before they wen't down there. Lets see Ute I think was very devoted to the faith she channeled powers of Brigh and seemed the dependable sort. She was human. As was Claude he seemed to know his way around weapons. The other two wern't human. Gus was a halfling and finally a Half orc Chandel. They were pretty eager to get down there and explore so they talked to some people purchesed some stuff and headed down. I think they expected to find undead down there or abberations not sure to be honest. Sorry I can't be much help in that regard"

[Continental Op]

Kallak nods. "Well, thank you, Joram. It sounds like you have something else in mind? Why were you waiting for us?"

Yarro chimes in, from behind the others, "And are there some dwarves here? We heard some strange liquid came from the torch, and wanted to ask about it. Thank you."

[u-b]

"If there is nothing else to be learned, then I think we are mostly ready. Just give me a moment to water-proof the things."

The powder horns should hold on their own, but more sensitive things, like scrolls and paper cartriges, require some care. Thony puts them, including Sarina's two scrolls and the discount papers into an empty waterskin. Then he declares he's ready.

[Sleepy Shade]

" She didn't mention me? Dolga must have forgotten to tell you but for those that are traveling down into the caves below I offer my services to help you get to the caves free of charge. I've prepared Water breathing and with some eqipment I can make it so you'll be able to breath under water for six hours that should be enough time to swim in and explore for a bit and then return."
When the Yarro chimes in about the dwarves he gestures to the youg man "Otto can introduce you to them if you want to talk to them they're in the guest rooms." The young man Otto, gets up from his seat ready to help you.

[u-b]

"Yes, we'll talk to them. This wouldn't take much time." says Sarina ready to follow.

[Continental Op]

Kallak smiles at Joram and says, "Thank you, that sounds perfect. We'll speak to these dwarves and be right back."

Yarro nods as she and Kallak follow Otto, Sarina, and Thorny to the next room.

[Sleepy Shade]

"Splendid I'll get ready while you talk to them " Otto and the bird lead you across the hall to the door opposite of the shop it opens to a long hall way leading to individual cells.
"You know them or something" Otto asks "your the first visitors they have gotton since they came here." He stopps at a room near the end of the hall and knocks.
A voice frome inside responds with a gruff"Come in were decent"
Otto opens the door and two dwarves playing cards with another human at the table look over at your group.
The human seems to be another alcolyte of the church dressed in brown work clothes. The two dwarfs are dressed in simple clothes one in a green vest while the other has a blue shirt.
"He finally kicking us out?" The one in the blue shirt asks "we'll be gone tomorrow back home"
"You got visitors"
"Oh well come in."
The green vested one replies " We're not for hire right now if thats what you askin"

[u-b]

"Uh, no, that's not what we are asking." "Though we might well ask as to why." "I mean, greetings. I am Sarina and this is my friend Thony. And these two are Kallak and Yarro. We are going to make an attempt to relight the Torch and rescue anyone still alive of the previous teams. And we came here because we've heard of some accident with some substance and would like to know more, if you do not mind."

[Sleepy Shade]

"Oh yer gonna go down there well best of luck. If your talking about this" The dwarf in the blue shirt lift it up showing a large patch of pink new skin on his left side " Nothing to special just a bad luck draw from the Drippins." He plays a card still interested in there game.
The human male chimes in with "Can't believe you drank that stuff. Yer lucky to be alive"
"Well them high felutin up in Starfall drink it."
"Yeah but they get the good stuff" The Dwarf in the green vest finally replies "They got alchemist to weed out the duds"

Skill propt
Diplomacy Dc10 Try and keep them on track and tell you why they drank it.

[Continental Op]

Kallak chimes in, "That looks very interesting. What are drippins?" Yarro adds, "I know a little about alchemy, maybe I can help if you describe it."

[Sleepy Shade]

"You explain Clarance I've had enough talk about drippens for awhile" The blue shirted dwarf draws from the deck on the table.
The green vested dwarf Clarance throws down a card and starts talking "The Drippens,Chaos juice and a dozen other names. They all are talking about that sludge that's coming up where the torch was."
Another round of cards and once it's back to him he resumes speaking "Alot of people try it it opens up your mind and has weird effects on the body some good some bad mostly temporary."
Another round "But to the lucky few it permenatly changes people they say the top official under the black soverighn got to drink some special stuff makes them immortal. Not sure about that."
Final round and the three show their hands the blue shirted dwarf. you finally learn his name is Lumin, wins. " Lumin over there convinced me we should try it. See if we could live forever and ended up nearly killing himself. Any more questions?"

[Continental Op]

Yarro says, truthfully, "That is interesting. How did you know it was drippings?"

Kallak adds, "Yes, how would we recognize it?"

Yarro speaks softly, mostly to herself, "I wonder if it can be refined. Or if good or bad drippings can be identified in some way..."

[Sleepy Shade]

Lumin chuckles and explains "Drippins like my uncle explained are usually some sort of muti color sheen on it like when oil contacts water an bubble and smell like a dozen different things. You know when you've found it no two ways about it."
Clarance shakes his head "Not sure if you could refine it or at least make it more stable. That's something beyond us."
Otto pipes up with "I think Joram might be ready by now. Do you have any more questions?"

[Continental Op]

Kallak says, "No, I think we are good here." He smiles and nods at the dwarves. "Thank you for your time, master dwarves."

Unless Sarina or Thorny have anything to ask, he and Yarro follow Otto to Joram.

[Sleepy Shade]

The whole group: Thony,Kallak,Yarro, Sarina along with Joram exit the temple and head off to the Weeping Pond. You travel along the road passing the Crowfeather Palace and then follow the river leading to the pond. The it's about 3:00PM when you arrive. The pond and river have a pungent and noxious sulfur smell along with several other chemical scents. It reminds Kallak and Yarro of Yarro's chemical experiments. When you reach the pond you see that no plants or animals live in the pond or at it sides. The pond is tranquil and surrounded by cliffs. Joram remarks "It be a lovely place to go swim if it didn't stink to high heaven." He grips the strange rod he has been carrying and casts water breathing on the group. "Alright now the caves are through there" he points to a place near the cliffs.
You now can water breath for 6 Hours.
Skill Prompts
Swim :DC 10
Every one needs to make fortitude save Vs Poison

[Sleepy Shade]

Yarro, Sarina and Thony have trouble at first swimming while Kallak swims around with practiced ease.Thony starts to get the hang of it but Yarro and Sarina struggle. Yarro finds her armor is impending her movements and Sarina's limited body strength is not cut out for swimming. Still with the spell in effect you are able to make it to the first cavern. It still takes you twice as long because of Yarro and Sarina but you make it in two minuets.As you finally walk up the sandy beach in the first chamber a wave of nausea hits you Kallak and Sarina get hit the worst.

• Kallak and Sarina are now sickened for 1 minute: –2 penalty on all attack rolls, weapon damage rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks.

The air stinks of mold and vinegar a biter taste compared to the air outside. Surprisingly there is a faint light in the cave but you see that it emanates from three house cat sized beetles that are chittering around the cave. You see a small ledge leading further into the cave system and a large passageway that the water is flowing out of. The water your standing in is about two feet deep. The bugs are the only illumination you have in the room.

Skill propt
Knowledge nature: Dc 10 to Identify the creatures
Battle Map Here

[Continental Op]

Kallak spits the disgusting water out of his mouth, trying not to retch and empty his guts entirely. He wants to take a drink from his waterskin, but these glowing beetles command his attention. He takes a 5' step forward in front of his companions, and readies his greatsword in case any of the creatures approach him. "I don't know what you are, but if you let us through we will be on our way," he says in a calm, (hopefully) soothing tone. He knows he cannot sooth these vermin like he sometimes can with animals, but familiar habits are hard to break.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Kallak failed his knowledge check, but I think Yarro succeeded. I will wait to post her action depending on what she knows about these beetles.

[u-b]

Thony draws the rapier and hands the musket to Sarina. "Let's stay right here for the moment, I have to get my weapon dry. Also I wonder if these are good swimmers and would like to get wet. That said, if no earlier group bothered to kill them, probably harmless anyway. I think I've read something about this sort..." Meanwhile Sarina casts Prestidigitation and starts to remove the remaining water from Thony's musket.

Spoiler

Show

Thony is standing still with an attack ready.

[Sleepy Shade]

Thony and Yarro both reconize the creatures as Giant Fire Beetles they're Vermin and they don't look happy. However they don't come closer they seem to be waiting for the group to get on dry land.
Taking a moment to observe the cave you notice the stony beach seems to have scorch marks as if someone tried to burn something here. Seems you can either take on the fire beetles and climb the ledge to go further in or continue following the river.

Ooc: The battle map dosn't depict it accuratly but you can follow the river through the North east exit. It's not that small.

[u-b]

"I wonder which way would be more "forward". We can shoot these beetles from where we stand, but there is no point if Khonnir went through that passage." says Thony as Sarina finishes draining the musket and hands it back. Sarina then proceeds to drain all the clothing while Thony sheathes the blade and loads the musket. The draining of the clothing was going to take some time and might, at their option, include Kallak and Yarro too.

[Continental Op]

Yarro responds to Thorny, softly, "Why don't we follow the river? If Master Khonnir destroyed fire beetles here before, I doubt they would come back so quickly."

Kallak nods at that. "Yeah, and we can always come back and go the other route if we have to. Save our strength for whatever got the other teams. It certainly wasn't these bugs." He shoots a glance at Sarina. "And that's a neat trick drying the weapon, lady."

[u-b]

After she has finished the draining and has mostly recovered from the poisonous effect of the water, Sarina takes one of the scrolls and casts a spell stored in it. This does not have much visual effect. She then declares that she is ready to go.

Spoiler

Show

Mage armor on herself.

[Sleepy Shade]

Deciding against engaging the with the Fire Beetles the group decide to continue following the river but find that out side of the initial area of the fire beetles glow the cave is pitch black.After getting a light source (I'm assuming you light a torch or sun rod) your able to see the cavern you've wandered into.A shallow creek runs through the middle of this cavern, while to
the south a stony bank rises up from the water. Thick carpets of green and gray mold and fungus grow on the bank, particularly around a trio of three-foot-high, foul-smelling mounds. You also see that poking out of the mound clossest to you a desicated foot.

Battle Map Here

[Continental Op]

Yarro, holding a torch, looks at the fungus and mounds. "That is very interesting," she states in her flat way. "Do you think each of those mounds was a person?" She looks hard at the fungus, trying to identify what it could be.

"Yeah, interesting," Kallak responds, slightly sarcastically. He is looking all around to make sure there isn't some creature who caused those mounds in the first place. As usual, his hands are free, but he makes sure his bow and sword are not obstructed by his backpack.

[u-b]

"Just perfect. Some carnivorous fungi. Needs some fire and I would prefer the bugs anyway. Move on, shall we?" says Thony ready to continue east.

[Sleepy Shade]

Yarro notices that something is off that while the mold here seems to all be natural there seems to be too much of it. Kallak notices that the mounds are not just fungi as he spots one moving. He warns the others and suddenly the mounds unfurl "looking" at the group with a psudopod. Yarro recognizes that they are slimes but young ones. The slimes start to maneuver towards the group unafraid of the water as the beetles were.

Your in a battle

Skill propts
Know Dungeoneering DC 11

Battle Map Here

[u-b]

Sarina steps behind Yarro and raises her hand ready for a magical gesture. "Step aside, Yarro, please. I'll try to burn them." Thony moves forward a bit and when he has a clear line of fire to the farthest thing, makes a shot.

Spoiler

Show

Sarina: step to NE, ready burning hands S
Thony: move two squares E, shoot at SE

[Continental Op]

Yarro nods and quickly steps back behind Kallak. She continues holding her torch high as she deftly grabs the necessary reagents from her belt and make an alkahest bomb. She aims the bomb for not the nearest slime, but one where the splash damage hopefully will not harm her companions.

Kallak unsheathes his greatsword, and brings it down with all his might on the nearest mound creature.

Spoiler

Show

Yarro 5' steps diagonally so Kallak is between her and the nearest mound before mixing and throwing her bomb. Hopefully she has a clear line of sight to one of the slimes that is more than 5' away from one of the other PCs.

[Sleepy Shade]

The three slimes converge on the group. One takes a swipe at Yarro and missis. The two others focus on Kallak one manages to hit Kallak and gives him a nasty bruise.
(Kallak -3hp)
Sarina prepares to unleash a burning hands spell getting into position and waiting for Yarro to move. Yarro moves out of the way and Sarina unleashes her burning hands spell scorching the two slimes in front of her. However the flames have no effect on the masses of mold. Yarro grabs one of her bombs and decides to go for an area of effect against the slimes instead of a direct hit. She tosses it so it hits the body behind the slimes. The bombs contents quickly dissolve a good portion of two of the creatures and injure the last one.
(A-5hp,B-5hp,C-3hp)
Rather than risk getting hit by the slimes Thony stands his ground and fires quickly obliterating one of the slimes.
(Slime A is Dead)
Kallak unsheathes his weapon and again obliterates a slime.
(Slime C is Dead)

Battle Map Here