He can hear battle coming from somewhere down the hall and around the corner. It sounds like a big fight with many involved. He moves slowly, finding shadows where none seemed to exist, curious, but cautious.
The empty hall is suddenly no longer empty, as someone rounds the corner and comes running towards him, limping, obviously wounded. “Interesting” he thinks, crouching a bit more, decreasing his already small footprint. “I could let him run by, but where is the fun in that” he muses.
Then another figure rounds the corner, and he let out a small gasp. “An Earth Genasi? Down here? That’s even more interesting!”
From the shadows steps a small kobold and stands directly in front of the running thug. “Halt!” the kobold says, his small smile revealing rows of sharp teeth. As the man slows, unsure of this small creature, the kobold sticks him in the thigh with his rapier. A small hit, masterly delivered, barely enough to draw blood, but suddenly the man’s body is enveloped with small bolts of energy. “Isn’t there a guild policy regarding running away?” the kobold asks, his smile widening, “Oh, and if you try and run, that energy is going to knock you on your skinny ass, if not worse. So don’t move.”
“Greetings sir Earth Genasi” he says, turning to the pursuer. “I am ArdneK, of the clan, … well … it’s been a long time since I’ve had a clan, I am a clan of one. Me! I am ArdneK. I present to you, one previously escaping Xanathar thug” and he bows, impossibly low, the Genasi must look straight down to see him.
ArdneK is a kobold, just under three feet tall, with greenish brown scales and gold eyes. He is dressed in studded leather armor, a rapier in his hand, daggers hanging on his belt, a small bow strung on his back.
He looks up at the Genasi, still smiling, in his other hand he’s twirling something very small and grey.
“It sounds like the fight is over. How did it go?”
Pisgah rounds the corner in pursuit of the fleeing thug. As he draws within bow range of the fleeing thug, Pisgah skids to a stop as he nocks an arrow to the string. The first arrow is away and the second on the string as a small shadow steps in front of the thug and Pisgah hears "Halt! Isn’t there a guild policy regarding running away?” the kobold asks, his smile widening, “Oh, and if you try and run, that energy is going to knock you on your skinny ass, if not worse. So don’t move." as the creature stabs the thug in the thigh causing bolts of energy to dance around the mans body. The second arrow is loosed as a small kobold turns and stunningly makes a formal introduction.
Attack 1: 20 to hit for 6 piercing damage
Attack 2: 22 to hit for 3 piercing damage
OOC: assuming the thug falls....
Pisgah stalks over to the thug and puts a dagger to its throat as he checks for a pulse. Once sure the thug is dead, Pisgah pulls the arrows and checks the tips and, after wiping the arrow off on the man's cloak, returns it to his quiver. Turning to the kobold, Pisgah returns the bow saying "Greetings Master ArdneK, clan of one! I thank you for your assistance and am glad to make your acquaintance. I am Pisgah. Yes, I am an Earth Genasi though few I have known have found it fit to aid me so, in a way, I too am from a clan of one. Please, come with me and let me introduce you to my companions. I apologize for the form of our meeting but we were just viciously attacked by Shunn and his followers. I mean, you try to pull a joke on a guy and he gets all bent out of shape. This coward fled the battle before the tide had even turned against them and Shunn swore he would die. Seeing how it wouldn't be proper for this turncoat to be the only one to live, I meant to fulfill that promise in the name of my companion who fell in that fight. Would you care to come back with me to meet the others and share in some food and rest with us? I can assure you, we aren't generally this prone to a kinetic solution to our problems, thought it is sometimes the more enjoyable option."
Pisgah picks up the body of the thug and begins to carry it back to the rest of the group. When they arrive back in the chamber of Shunn's headquarters Pisgah introduces ArdneK to the party and describes how he helped to stop the thug as he dumps his body with the rest of the slain enemies.
"What are we going to do about this lot and how do we keep this from becoming known to Xanathar? I gather that we probably don't want to make him our enemy? Can we somehow pin this on this Yek character or the wererats?"
Once the arrows fly into the thug, ArdneK backs against the wall, and drops the energy of his spell. It's clear to him that the Earth Genasi wants this kill, so Ardnek let's him have it.
"Your companions? hmm, yes I think it's time..." the kobold thinks for a whole minute, "Yes, I would like to meet them. You know, often the best number is one. But there are times where you need more than one. I think I've seen enough of this place as one, it's time for some others. You know, kobolds are very good in packs! You know..." the kobold goes quiet, "... your companion fell? Oh, I'm sorry" and he bows his head a bit and follows Pisgah. As they approach the rest, he says to Pisgah "By the way, I am no friend to Xanathar's cult, but I am not an enemy either, at least currently. I find them tangential to my existence."
As they round the corner back to the rest of them, it's immediately clear that the battle just ended and things are in chaos, so the kobold stops talking, and waits.
Nikkitch fills one vial with bugbear blood [No rolls necessary, it's just a bit messy in either case].
Apart from the obvious loot described earlier, you can't fail to notice the silver chest in the adjoining room. It's standing on a dusty table and features a lock. Nikkitchs cursory investigation doesn't reveal any traps. The thugs equipment isn't the most well maintained, but each of them was equipped with leather armor, a shortsword, and a heavy crossbow. Shunn wore studded leather, two scimitars and you also find two vials of drow poison in a back pocket.
Rico, Canti and Nikk [Passive Arcana 16+] all have enough training to know the basic facts about intellect devourers. These terrifying creatures were originally created by beings called mind flayers, but it's well possible that the Xanathar Guild has since adopted them for their own use. It's equally obvious to you that the creature named X'irlo has destroyed Jayas brain, making it impossible to bring the dragonborn back without powerful magic (for example, Resurrection).
Pisgah and AdneK join the others, carrying the last of the xanathar thugs. Everyone is back together. The chamber looks chaotic. Sulfuric stench still lingers in the air from the bugbears room, where Nikkitch had detonated a fireball. Arrows and crossbow bolts lie strewn around. It's quiet.
Seeing Rico and Canti gathered at Jaya's side, Pisgah approaches them "I'm sorry. I should have thought about Jaya before being concerned about what to do with this mess." He kneels down beside the body, opposite Rico and Canti, he places a hand on Jaya's chest, "I'm sorry. You fought well beside us. You and I worked well together. I think this could have been a good friendship, maybe better than Oliver and I. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you better. I couldn't think of anything to do other than attack once your behavior changed. I killed the brain thing that attacked you."
Looking up at Rico and Canti, "I would like to take the time to bury him. With the rubble from the cave ins nearby, we can build a cairn for him. I don't know if he had family above in the city. I never heard him speak about anyone. We should look through his things and see if we can find anything about who we can tell. Would you two be willing to remove his things, sort them for things we can use, and look through them while I go and begin to prepare a place for him?"
Getting up, Pisgah turns to Nikk and asks "Will you keep watch while we prepare a cairn for Jaya and go through his things? Also, I have some empty vials, after we finish with this I would like to try and extract some of that poison from Shunn, it was some pretty wicked stuff and hit me hard when he stabbedme." Turning back toward Rico, "Thank you, Rico, for the healing. I could feel that poison continue to work even while I was unconscious. I don't think I would have survived if not for you."
Pisgah returns his bow to the carry straps, goes over and picks up his shield and the longsword Little Lyle then goes around the corner to begin moving rocks out of the way to build a burial cairn for Jaya. He uses Little Lyle as a prybar to assist with removing the rock, pitting, nicking and generally abusing the blade to point of it not being of much use. Once a space has been cleared for Jaya he returns to the group and sits beside the fallen Dragonborn holding the damaged longsword in one hand and Jaya's sword in the other as he waits for the team to be ready to move the body.
“I knew this Dragonborn” ArdneK says, standing above Jaya. “Well, I didn’t know him, but I knew of him. He was on the city watch. Some watchmen abuse their position, some don’t. Others understand the … subtleties between Law and Chaos, right and wrong. He was one of them. Rest well noble dragonborn.”
He looks at the others and says quietly, “I am ArdneK, at your service, how can I help? I’m skilled with opening locks” he says looking at the chest, “as well as in the art of poison craft” he says to Pisgah. “Or I can help with the Cairn, small rocks for me…”
Canti nods to Pisgah. Her eyes are wet, but she appears fairly stoic. She begins searching Jaya for any form of identification. When ArdneK relays what he knows, Canti looks at the dragonborn, absorbing what the kobold says about him. She nods to herself, agreeing with the newcomer's words. When it is time to lay Jaya to rest, Canti hums a tune — not loudly, but as a kind of background melody to accompany the ceremony.
"Are we going to rest here," she asks the others. "I know I could use one."
The kenku shakily stands at Pisgah's request. He coughs as he takes up his staff, throwing flecks of blood as he moves across the chamber, leaning heavily on his focus when he takes his post at the opposite corridor. "Try to. Save. The. Studded. Leather. I'd like. To. Learn. To. Wear it." He gives it another thought. "Don't. Tear up. The. Body. Either. We can. Still. Talk to. That. Drow. Before we. Rest."
OOC: What loot do we recover from Jaya or did that all transfer over to ArdneK? I thought that Jaya had carried a longsword and had a RP idea. IF Jaya did carry a longsword, I will just swap out the swords and leave the beat up and damaged one with him when we bury the body OTHERWISE:
Returning from preparing an area to lay Jaya to rest Pisgah takes Jaya's longsword and hands it and Little Lyle to Rico and asks, "If it is possible, can you repair the damage I did to this sword while we rest using the metal from Jaya's blade? I would like to be able to still fight with him, in a manner of speaking, and have him beside me."
Taking the studded armor off of Shunn to the kenku, Pisgah says "I think you have well earned this. Thank you for watching our backs and dealing with so many of the bugbears. When you are done trying to get what information you think we need from Shunn, I have some empty vials if we want to try and harvest his venom. Also, if you could manage another fireball before we rest, would that prevent any of Xanathar's people from questioning these thugs?"
"Jaya seemed to be a good man. Thank you for sharing what you have heard of him ArdneK. I need to sleep before we move on, I know it is not all that late in the day but I do not have anything left in me and need a rest."
While Rico has used very few of her resources, she has no objection to taking an early long rest. That just gives her more time to make things! Starting with a nice lunch for everyone else using the food stores they just found.
Rico offers to bandage Nikk, in case we get interrupted before we get a goods night sleep. Does Nikk accept?
Rico will cast Cure Wounds on Pisgah and Canti, since she's already bandaged them since last time we rested.
Returning from preparing an area to lay Jaya to rest Pisgah takes Jaya's longsword and hands it and Little Lyle to Rico and asks, "If it is possible, can you repair the damage I did to this sword while we rest using the metal from Jaya's blade? I would like to be able to still fight with him, in a manner of speaking, and have him beside me."
Rico agrees, "Yes, I can do that while you're resting. I can loan you my sword while I'm working on yours."
OOC: I assumed Jaya's loot would be split to the party and not inherited by ArdneK. Feel free to look and see what he has, I may grab a few things for ArdneK but will wait for you all to loot first: https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/120743191
Most important: Wand of Secrets, 4 Healing Potions, 48 gp, 2 antitoxin, 2 acids, healers kit, skull dice, etc.
Loot: The thugs carry a total of 15 gp in coin in various pockets. On a black cord around his neck, Shunns corpse wears a silver key. The barrels and crates here contain a lot of food and water, around 600 rations worth.
Apart from the obvious loot described earlier, you can't fail to notice the silver chest in the adjoining room. It's standing on a dusty table and features a lock. Nikkitchs cursory investigation doesn't reveal any traps. The thugs equipment isn't the most well maintained, but each of them was equipped with leather armor, a shortsword, and a heavy crossbow. Shunn wore studded leather, two scimitars and you also find two vials of drow poison in a back pocket.
Besides the studded leather, does anyone want to claim any of the items? How shall we divide the gold? Or should Rico just add it to one of the money pouches she has stored to divide later? Rico will collect any unclaimed weapons to use for crafting. The food is more than what she can carry, but everyone can restock.
Can crossbow bolts be recrafted into arrows? My guess is no, but the fletching and heads could be used for arrows. In any case, what raw material can she get from the crossbow bolts?
How many more arrows does Canti need to restock? Rico has 10 already made and will be making more while everyone is resting.
Rico comments, "I think the silver key will unlock the silver chest."
While Rico doesn't do much during exploration, downtime is when she gets busy. After everyone else makes it clear that they want to take a long rest, Rico gets busy to help make it comfortable. Once the others are done with them, she and Steel will drag all the bodies to the bugbear room. Then she'll clean the bloodstains and anything else that needs cleaning using prestidigitation. Then she'll take out her cooking tools and start making lunch for everyone. After lunch she'll start on repairs. She seems happy and content to be puttering around getting things done for the others.
Ardnek would be interested in the poisons and one of the scimitars, and a shortsword to enable two weapon fighting in the future.
He would share that he as an extradimensional space where he can store things. Only he can enter and only once per long rest, but if anyone wanted some longer term storage, he can put things in there. He currently has some extra arrows and healer kits in there. He does share the space with his pet mice, so any food stuff will be shared with them too.
Bottled Respite. As an action, you can magically vanish and enter your vessel, which remains in the space you left. The interior of the vessel is an extradimensional space in the shape of a 20-foot-radius cylinder, 20 feet high, and resembles your vessel. The interior is appointed with cushions and low tables and is a comfortable temperature. While inside, you can hear the area around your vessel as if you were in its space. You can remain inside the vessel up to a number of hours equal to twice your proficiency bonus. You exit the vessel early if you use a bonus action to leave, if you die, or if the vessel is destroyed. When you exit the vessel, you appear in the unoccupied space closest to it. Any objects left in the vessel remain there until carried out, and if the vessel is destroyed, every object stored there harmlessly appears in the unoccupied spaces closest to the vessel’s former space. Once you enter the vessel, you can’t enter again until you finish a long rest.
OOC: Pisgah is down 5 arrows. Pisgah can carry about another 80 pounds of stuff before becoming encumbered so I can help haul stuff. Also, Jaya did carry a longsword (I got confused with the description earlier - one of the dangers of trying to do some of this on a phone) I will plan to keep Jaya's longsword and leave the RP stuff as me having damaged my sword making the cairn.
Pisgah slides the shield around to his back and takes Jaya's longsword. He slides it into the sheath on his hip and takes the battered longsword he had been calling Little Lyle. Laying it across Jaya's chest and closing his hands around the hilt he says "I am trading swords with you. This way I will always be able to fight by your side. Far well, my friend, in whatever realm you have entered."
Pisgah takes one of the four potions of healing from Jaya's pack and hands the other three to Nikk, Canti, and Rico. Pisgah also takes one of the vials of anti-toxin and hands the other to ArdneK, along with a bag of ball bearings, the two vials of acid, and a healer's kit. "ArdneK, you look to be like a pretty quiet and sneaky type guy. These ball bearings could come in handy for you. Also, Shunn used some poison that really knocked me out of it so this anti-toxin may come in handy. Canti, you may want to take that poison that Shunn used. With your arrows, that would be a deadly combination."
Whenever everyone else has a chance to take what they want of Jaya's we can lay him in the cairn and cover him up with the rocks.
To ArdneK, "A space where you can go? Can you take any kind of objects? This could be a great place to store some of the crafting supplies Rico needs to carry. Also, it gives me an idea if we need to sneak through rough territory. If hop in there and then the container was thrown or rolled past a group of enemies and you popped out, instant flanking!"
Pisgah will go to Shunn's body and take the silver necklace off his head. He also will look the venom glands and try to extract some of the poison.
OOC: I don't know how many attempts can be made but I have 4 vials.
"Nikkitch, if I am successful I think I can extract some of the poison from Shunn. Would you be interested? I have four vials but am not sure how much I can try to get."
Survival roll 21 for first vial
Survival roll 13 for second vial
I am going to stop there unless the others want to try for more.
With the situation dealt with, Rico also dashes over to Jaya and examines him. Medicine 6
OOC: Does Rico know about Intellect Devourers, and how they eat brains?
He can hear battle coming from somewhere down the hall and around the corner. It sounds like a big fight with many involved. He moves slowly, finding shadows where none seemed to exist, curious, but cautious.
The empty hall is suddenly no longer empty, as someone rounds the corner and comes running towards him, limping, obviously wounded. “Interesting” he thinks, crouching a bit more, decreasing his already small footprint. “I could let him run by, but where is the fun in that” he muses.
Then another figure rounds the corner, and he let out a small gasp. “An Earth Genasi? Down here? That’s even more interesting!”
From the shadows steps a small kobold and stands directly in front of the running thug. “Halt!” the kobold says, his small smile revealing rows of sharp teeth. As the man slows, unsure of this small creature, the kobold sticks him in the thigh with his rapier. A small hit, masterly delivered, barely enough to draw blood, but suddenly the man’s body is enveloped with small bolts of energy. “Isn’t there a guild policy regarding running away?” the kobold asks, his smile widening, “Oh, and if you try and run, that energy is going to knock you on your skinny ass, if not worse. So don’t move.”
“Greetings sir Earth Genasi” he says, turning to the pursuer. “I am ArdneK, of the clan, … well … it’s been a long time since I’ve had a clan, I am a clan of one. Me! I am ArdneK. I present to you, one previously escaping Xanathar thug” and he bows, impossibly low, the Genasi must look straight down to see him.
ArdneK is a kobold, just under three feet tall, with greenish brown scales and gold eyes. He is dressed in studded leather armor, a rapier in his hand, daggers hanging on his belt, a small bow strung on his back.
He looks up at the Genasi, still smiling, in his other hand he’s twirling something very small and grey.
“It sounds like the fight is over. How did it go?”
Pisgah rounds the corner in pursuit of the fleeing thug. As he draws within bow range of the fleeing thug, Pisgah skids to a stop as he nocks an arrow to the string. The first arrow is away and the second on the string as a small shadow steps in front of the thug and Pisgah hears "Halt! Isn’t there a guild policy regarding running away?” the kobold asks, his smile widening, “Oh, and if you try and run, that energy is going to knock you on your skinny ass, if not worse. So don’t move." as the creature stabs the thug in the thigh causing bolts of energy to dance around the mans body. The second arrow is loosed as a small kobold turns and stunningly makes a formal introduction.
Attack 1: 20 to hit for 6 piercing damage
Attack 2: 22 to hit for 3 piercing damage
OOC: assuming the thug falls....
Pisgah stalks over to the thug and puts a dagger to its throat as he checks for a pulse. Once sure the thug is dead, Pisgah pulls the arrows and checks the tips and, after wiping the arrow off on the man's cloak, returns it to his quiver. Turning to the kobold, Pisgah returns the bow saying "Greetings Master ArdneK, clan of one! I thank you for your assistance and am glad to make your acquaintance. I am Pisgah. Yes, I am an Earth Genasi though few I have known have found it fit to aid me so, in a way, I too am from a clan of one. Please, come with me and let me introduce you to my companions. I apologize for the form of our meeting but we were just viciously attacked by Shunn and his followers. I mean, you try to pull a joke on a guy and he gets all bent out of shape. This coward fled the battle before the tide had even turned against them and Shunn swore he would die. Seeing how it wouldn't be proper for this turncoat to be the only one to live, I meant to fulfill that promise in the name of my companion who fell in that fight. Would you care to come back with me to meet the others and share in some food and rest with us? I can assure you, we aren't generally this prone to a kinetic solution to our problems, thought it is sometimes the more enjoyable option."
Pisgah picks up the body of the thug and begins to carry it back to the rest of the group. When they arrive back in the chamber of Shunn's headquarters Pisgah introduces ArdneK to the party and describes how he helped to stop the thug as he dumps his body with the rest of the slain enemies.
"What are we going to do about this lot and how do we keep this from becoming known to Xanathar? I gather that we probably don't want to make him our enemy? Can we somehow pin this on this Yek character or the wererats?"
Once the arrows fly into the thug, ArdneK backs against the wall, and drops the energy of his spell. It's clear to him that the Earth Genasi wants this kill, so Ardnek let's him have it.
"Your companions? hmm, yes I think it's time..." the kobold thinks for a whole minute, "Yes, I would like to meet them. You know, often the best number is one. But there are times where you need more than one. I think I've seen enough of this place as one, it's time for some others. You know, kobolds are very good in packs! You know..." the kobold goes quiet, "... your companion fell? Oh, I'm sorry" and he bows his head a bit and follows Pisgah. As they approach the rest, he says to Pisgah "By the way, I am no friend to Xanathar's cult, but I am not an enemy either, at least currently. I find them tangential to my existence."
As they round the corner back to the rest of them, it's immediately clear that the battle just ended and things are in chaos, so the kobold stops talking, and waits.
Nikkitch fills one vial with bugbear blood [No rolls necessary, it's just a bit messy in either case].
Apart from the obvious loot described earlier, you can't fail to notice the silver chest in the adjoining room. It's standing on a dusty table and features a lock. Nikkitchs cursory investigation doesn't reveal any traps.
The thugs equipment isn't the most well maintained, but each of them was equipped with leather armor, a shortsword, and a heavy crossbow. Shunn wore studded leather, two scimitars and you also find two vials of drow poison in a back pocket.
Rico, Canti and Nikk [Passive Arcana 16+] all have enough training to know the basic facts about intellect devourers. These terrifying creatures were originally created by beings called mind flayers, but it's well possible that the Xanathar Guild has since adopted them for their own use. It's equally obvious to you that the creature named X'irlo has destroyed Jayas brain, making it impossible to bring the dragonborn back without powerful magic (for example, Resurrection).
Pisgah and AdneK join the others, carrying the last of the xanathar thugs. Everyone is back together. The chamber looks chaotic. Sulfuric stench still lingers in the air from the bugbears room, where Nikkitch had detonated a fireball. Arrows and crossbow bolts lie strewn around. It's quiet.
Seeing Rico and Canti gathered at Jaya's side, Pisgah approaches them "I'm sorry. I should have thought about Jaya before being concerned about what to do with this mess." He kneels down beside the body, opposite Rico and Canti, he places a hand on Jaya's chest, "I'm sorry. You fought well beside us. You and I worked well together. I think this could have been a good friendship, maybe better than Oliver and I. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you better. I couldn't think of anything to do other than attack once your behavior changed. I killed the brain thing that attacked you."
Looking up at Rico and Canti, "I would like to take the time to bury him. With the rubble from the cave ins nearby, we can build a cairn for him. I don't know if he had family above in the city. I never heard him speak about anyone. We should look through his things and see if we can find anything about who we can tell. Would you two be willing to remove his things, sort them for things we can use, and look through them while I go and begin to prepare a place for him?"
Getting up, Pisgah turns to Nikk and asks "Will you keep watch while we prepare a cairn for Jaya and go through his things? Also, I have some empty vials, after we finish with this I would like to try and extract some of that poison from Shunn, it was some pretty wicked stuff and hit me hard when he stabbed me." Turning back toward Rico, "Thank you, Rico, for the healing. I could feel that poison continue to work even while I was unconscious. I don't think I would have survived if not for you."
Pisgah returns his bow to the carry straps, goes over and picks up his shield and the longsword Little Lyle then goes around the corner to begin moving rocks out of the way to build a burial cairn for Jaya. He uses Little Lyle as a prybar to assist with removing the rock, pitting, nicking and generally abusing the blade to point of it not being of much use. Once a space has been cleared for Jaya he returns to the group and sits beside the fallen Dragonborn holding the damaged longsword in one hand and Jaya's sword in the other as he waits for the team to be ready to move the body.
“I knew this Dragonborn” ArdneK says, standing above Jaya. “Well, I didn’t know him, but I knew of him. He was on the city watch. Some watchmen abuse their position, some don’t. Others understand the … subtleties between Law and Chaos, right and wrong. He was one of them. Rest well noble dragonborn.”
He looks at the others and says quietly, “I am ArdneK, at your service, how can I help? I’m skilled with opening locks” he says looking at the chest, “as well as in the art of poison craft” he says to Pisgah. “Or I can help with the Cairn, small rocks for me…”
Canti nods to Pisgah. Her eyes are wet, but she appears fairly stoic. She begins searching Jaya for any form of identification. When ArdneK relays what he knows, Canti looks at the dragonborn, absorbing what the kobold says about him. She nods to herself, agreeing with the newcomer's words. When it is time to lay Jaya to rest, Canti hums a tune — not loudly, but as a kind of background melody to accompany the ceremony.
"Are we going to rest here," she asks the others. "I know I could use one."
The kenku shakily stands at Pisgah's request. He coughs as he takes up his staff, throwing flecks of blood as he moves across the chamber, leaning heavily on his focus when he takes his post at the opposite corridor. "Try to. Save. The. Studded. Leather. I'd like. To. Learn. To. Wear it." He gives it another thought. "Don't. Tear up. The. Body. Either. We can. Still. Talk to. That. Drow. Before we. Rest."
OOC: What loot do we recover from Jaya or did that all transfer over to ArdneK? I thought that Jaya had carried a longsword and had a RP idea. IF Jaya did carry a longsword, I will just swap out the swords and leave the beat up and damaged one with him when we bury the body OTHERWISE:
Returning from preparing an area to lay Jaya to rest Pisgah takes Jaya's longsword and hands it and Little Lyle to Rico and asks, "If it is possible, can you repair the damage I did to this sword while we rest using the metal from Jaya's blade? I would like to be able to still fight with him, in a manner of speaking, and have him beside me."
Taking the studded armor off of Shunn to the kenku, Pisgah says "I think you have well earned this. Thank you for watching our backs and dealing with so many of the bugbears. When you are done trying to get what information you think we need from Shunn, I have some empty vials if we want to try and harvest his venom. Also, if you could manage another fireball before we rest, would that prevent any of Xanathar's people from questioning these thugs?"
"Jaya seemed to be a good man. Thank you for sharing what you have heard of him ArdneK. I need to sleep before we move on, I know it is not all that late in the day but I do not have anything left in me and need a rest."
While Rico has used very few of her resources, she has no objection to taking an early long rest. That just gives her more time to make things! Starting with a nice lunch for everyone else using the food stores they just found.
Rico offers to bandage Nikk, in case we get interrupted before we get a goods night sleep. Does Nikk accept?
Rico will cast Cure Wounds on Pisgah and Canti, since she's already bandaged them since last time we rested.
Pisgah: +8 HP
Canti: +9 HP
She'll have Steel repair himself:
Repair +9 HP
Rico agrees, "Yes, I can do that while you're resting. I can loan you my sword while I'm working on yours."
OOC: I assumed Jaya's loot would be split to the party and not inherited by ArdneK. Feel free to look and see what he has, I may grab a few things for ArdneK but will wait for you all to loot first: https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/120743191
Most important: Wand of Secrets, 4 Healing Potions, 48 gp, 2 antitoxin, 2 acids, healers kit, skull dice, etc.
Besides the studded leather, does anyone want to claim any of the items? How shall we divide the gold? Or should Rico just add it to one of the money pouches she has stored to divide later?
Rico will collect any unclaimed weapons to use for crafting. The food is more than what she can carry, but everyone can restock.
Can crossbow bolts be recrafted into arrows? My guess is no, but the fletching and heads could be used for arrows. In any case, what raw material can she get from the crossbow bolts?
How many more arrows does Canti need to restock? Rico has 10 already made and will be making more while everyone is resting.
Rico comments, "I think the silver key will unlock the silver chest."
While Rico doesn't do much during exploration, downtime is when she gets busy. After everyone else makes it clear that they want to take a long rest, Rico gets busy to help make it comfortable. Once the others are done with them, she and Steel will drag all the bodies to the bugbear room. Then she'll clean the bloodstains and anything else that needs cleaning using prestidigitation. Then she'll take out her cooking tools and start making lunch for everyone. After lunch she'll start on repairs. She seems happy and content to be puttering around getting things done for the others.
Ardnek would be interested in the poisons and one of the scimitars, and a shortsword to enable two weapon fighting in the future.
He would share that he as an extradimensional space where he can store things. Only he can enter and only once per long rest, but if anyone wanted some longer term storage, he can put things in there. He currently has some extra arrows and healer kits in there. He does share the space with his pet mice, so any food stuff will be shared with them too.
Bottled Respite. As an action, you can magically vanish and enter your vessel, which remains in the space you left. The interior of the vessel is an extradimensional space in the shape of a 20-foot-radius cylinder, 20 feet high, and resembles your vessel. The interior is appointed with cushions and low tables and is a comfortable temperature. While inside, you can hear the area around your vessel as if you were in its space. You can remain inside the vessel up to a number of hours equal to twice your proficiency bonus. You exit the vessel early if you use a bonus action to leave, if you die, or if the vessel is destroyed. When you exit the vessel, you appear in the unoccupied space closest to it. Any objects left in the vessel remain there until carried out, and if the vessel is destroyed, every object stored there harmlessly appears in the unoccupied spaces closest to the vessel’s former space. Once you enter the vessel, you can’t enter again until you finish a long rest.
His Pets:
OOC: Pisgah is down 5 arrows. Pisgah can carry about another 80 pounds of stuff before becoming encumbered so I can help haul stuff. Also, Jaya did carry a longsword (I got confused with the description earlier - one of the dangers of trying to do some of this on a phone) I will plan to keep Jaya's longsword and leave the RP stuff as me having damaged my sword making the cairn.
Pisgah slides the shield around to his back and takes Jaya's longsword. He slides it into the sheath on his hip and takes the battered longsword he had been calling Little Lyle. Laying it across Jaya's chest and closing his hands around the hilt he says "I am trading swords with you. This way I will always be able to fight by your side. Far well, my friend, in whatever realm you have entered."
Pisgah takes one of the four potions of healing from Jaya's pack and hands the other three to Nikk, Canti, and Rico. Pisgah also takes one of the vials of anti-toxin and hands the other to ArdneK, along with a bag of ball bearings, the two vials of acid, and a healer's kit. "ArdneK, you look to be like a pretty quiet and sneaky type guy. These ball bearings could come in handy for you. Also, Shunn used some poison that really knocked me out of it so this anti-toxin may come in handy. Canti, you may want to take that poison that Shunn used. With your arrows, that would be a deadly combination."
Whenever everyone else has a chance to take what they want of Jaya's we can lay him in the cairn and cover him up with the rocks.
To ArdneK, "A space where you can go? Can you take any kind of objects? This could be a great place to store some of the crafting supplies Rico needs to carry. Also, it gives me an idea if we need to sneak through rough territory. If hop in there and then the container was thrown or rolled past a group of enemies and you popped out, instant flanking!"
Pisgah will go to Shunn's body and take the silver necklace off his head. He also will look the venom glands and try to extract some of the poison.
OOC: I don't know how many attempts can be made but I have 4 vials.
"Nikkitch, if I am successful I think I can extract some of the poison from Shunn. Would you be interested? I have four vials but am not sure how much I can try to get."
Survival roll 21 for first vial
Survival roll 13 for second vial
I am going to stop there unless the others want to try for more.
[He does.]