Ellis darts across the bridge, the adrenaline suppressing the pain and stabilizing his footing. He maintains balance long enough to get to the other side and he is able to allow himself to tumble safely forward at the threshold to the entrance of the yaun-ti temple. The mold pursues, slowly, but surely, still sensing Ellis' delicious perspiring flesh nearby. It moves double-time towards Ellis, clinging to the stone bridge with no problem, moving 20 feet towards him. This places Ellis 10 feet away from the blob as the blob nears crossing the bridge. It would have surely overtaken him if he had taken it slow.
Tempest, seeing Darion join them felt hope that they would all make it out alive. When Liss'ard left he would watch peculiarly as Darion cast a spell and then would try himself to cast Shape Water and cause a globule to float in front of himself. Intrigued he'll respond, "I am fine. I don't want to raise too much suspicion. There is a wealth of information to discuss but how are we able to cast spells now? Did someone disable the tablet?" He'll pause as he remembers, "Here take this, it will help with the hunger." and will hand Darion a Goodberry.
OOC: My work has poor data reception, i kept trying to get an update on Ellis but couldn't! It was quite anxiety provoking!!! I second 'go Ellis'!!
Darion greatfully takes the Goodberry, almost snatching it in haste, and gobbles it down quickly - he can never entirely overcome the habits of poverty!
I'm presuming the spells work, otherwise Darion will look pretty silly waving his arms around and nothing happening! If they do work he will nod at Tempest "i'm sorry, didnt have a chance to tell you I was able to operate the device when Ellis and Daner created that diversion earlier. We should have full use of Magic until they notice it is deactivated!"
If the spells dont work, Darion looks mortified and says "dash it all, I cocked up, sorry I thought I had deactivated it!"
In either case he will say to the other two "I spent a repugnant day cleaning these monsters! Did you know they used peoples blood to bathe in? They disgust me. I even found out there was a Harem. I mean, I didn't even think they could reproduce. How do the more snake ones even..." he pauses for a second with a look of mounting horror "perhaps i'll add that to my short list of things I actually dont want the answer to..."
Tempest will walk over to one of the walls and use Shape Water to begin freezing the water into ice against the stone wall in the shape of their current room, the hallways, Altar room, Fenthaza's room all the way to the storeroom creating a map of his path. He looks back to Darion and Daner and causes another globule to float up and says, "What can you add so we can plan on how to get out of this place?"
(Tempest will do his best to make sure the map is out of sight of anyone who would look over the hole.)
Ellis sighs in relief that he was able to get across the bridge without any issues, near the cave entrance. But he could see the blob quickly coming his way and close to crossing the bridge. So Ellis will Dash, quickly leaving the cave and going along the walkway of the pit, being careful as he was making his way around this pit to get back to the poison distillery.
Darion looks impressed at Tempest's spell, and despite himself a look of child-like fascination crosses his face and he gives a grin "Now that is an amazing ability. I've never seen a spell do that! What school of Wizardry do you come from?" Darion is a city-boy and has never run into Druids before, and only vaughly heard of them!
He then continues, directing Tempest to the Crossroads leading to the distillary and the large vaulted chamber "I've been wondering what that is... some meeting hall? an arena?" He blanches at the sudden image of having to fight in such a place "then beyond that is a snake pit with some rickety walkway. Our esteemd guard likes throwing prisoners in there. For fun. I dunno what is to the east, but the baths are to the south. I'm not sure if there is anything useful for us there."
Darion will go on to summarise what he found from his time in the baths, particularly noting the apparent tensions in the Yuan-ti ranks.
"I have another thought though, I want to get out of here so much, and we all seem capable enough that it might just be possible with Tymora's blessing. But what about the other prisoners? We should try and get everyone out, shouldn't we?"
Daner, gratefully took a goodberry from Tempest and chewed slowly on it as he thought back on what he had seen and heard. "There were a few things of interest that we should be aware of,"he said as he watched Tempest creating his map. Walking over he points to the area where he was working. "Right about here there is a large gong. I am pretty sure that if it gets rung, everything in this place will be on our backs. We either need to be careful until we are past it, or find some way to disable it. Also," he moves to point at the main entrance, "the guard mentioned a someone called Nanth at the main gate here. He was frustrated with him because he was accepting bribes. Maybe that is something we can use. Oh and also, there was a room here, that had symbols of weapons and armour on it. It appeared to be locked with a magic word of some kind. This may be an armoury, or it could be a barracks."
Daner thought for a moment. then went back to point at the room where he had been working. "We could also just look to create a little chaos. Giving the Yuan-ti something else to worry about may give use the cover we need to act. In this room, the stables? I'm not sure. They have some type of lizard things chained up. If we could set them free, they will be too busy trying to recapture it to worry about us for a while. But then again, it will be out in the corridors with us too."
"I have to agree with Darion. I don't want to leave any of these people here. At the least we need to give them the same opportunity we have. Open the pits get them out, and destroy that device."
Tempest would listen intently and do his best to make the shapes with globules of water before freezing them in place. "School? I am no wizard, just a druid of nature. Eldath empowered me with the ability to control the elements. She brought me back from the brink of death. When I was young... " Tempest stops himself from trailing on and goes back to the task at hand.
"Thank you for disabling the magical tablet.I should be able to lift the grate with ease and build us a stairway up using all the water we have here. I also heard there is much dissension here. Azi Mas, a giant snake I made friends with in the storeroom told me Fenthaza may be planning to overthrow Silthotep. He also may have given me another way out. He said when he wants to leave the temple he goes to the underground river but said to stay close to the shore. Also I'm pretty sure all of our stuff is in the storeroom along with everyone else they've captured or killed." he says as he finishes putting the last room in place before continuing
"I think releasing the other slaves and the lizard things would benefit us greatly in escaping. While they may not all make it out with us it would help distract the yuan-ti focusing on just us. We can try to save as many as we can but our priority should be ourselves. We can't help anyone else if we're dead. I might also be able to help out with the gong. If there is enough water nearby I can freeze a layer of ice over part or all of it to dampen the noise." Tempest says as he looks over the map and ponders for a few moments before asking. "Did any of you see an underground river on your way?"
As they discuss Tempest will slowly make a wall of ice with stairs that pushes the water away from one section of the pit until a section is dry then create a pile of rocks resembling a bench or stump to sit on using Shape Water & Mold Earth. He'll turn to Daner & Darion and say, "There's a dry spot for you now. When Liss'ard comes back I'll have to remove this but can do it again as soon as he leaves." and will use Shape Water to remove the water from their clothes once they enter the dry area. As soon as he hears Liss'ard coming back he'll remove the ice wall and leave the rocks since they'll be submerged.
(DM Question: Is the stone in the pit made of bricks or just carved out of smooth stone? I'd like to excavate a portion so some of us can stay dry if we're here multiple nights. Basically could I create a 5 or 10 foot nook in the side of the pit wall. Not trying to tunnel out of here just make it more comfortable.)
Darion listens to the others, admiring Tempest's sculpting.
He grins at Daner's plan "I like your plan of using another distraction. As you say, it will be a danger to us and the other prisoners - but if it keeps the snake-people busy, we may end up in less danger overall."
As he listens to Tempest discussing the other prisoners, Darion's eyes narrow for a moment, and he reminds himself that he doesn't truly know these people or their motivations. He interrupts slightly stiffly "My motive for helping the other prisoners wasn't to use them as bait, but you are right that not all of us will make it out alive. But everyone deserves a chance to try, I think."
He shakes his head at the mention of the underground river, "Though one of the Yuan-ti thought there was another way out, and it would make sense if that were it. I had thought to use the teleportation circle, but I think that might be vastly more dangerous. I cannot believe that the Yuan-ti would put an easy means of escape so near prisoners - it sounds more like it is used by Slithotep to move around - perhaps when he fancies an impromptu blood-bath. They seemed to think it leads to the Harem," Darion makes a gagging sound "And the'Fane'. I have no idea what a Fane is, but I suspect it is not a place that is good for us. Do you two know what a Fane is?"
"I'd wondered about using the divisions of the Yuan-ti against them, but that could be dangerous. For a start, we might be limited in what we could do as slaves to encourage them to fight - though I could potentially disguise myself as one of them, at least the more human looking ones, which might help. But even if we did manage to increase the tension, what if the first thing Slithotep does is decide that whats-her-name has overstepped the mark in letting prisoners - us - wander around. He might just kill us to spite her."
Darion pauses for a moment, thanking Tempest as he sits on the dry seat he has made, while realising he is beginning to over think things "Which leads me to another horrible thought I had. What if Fenthasa does have some concept of what we can do. She seems to have taken an unusual amount of interest in slaves, and was surprisingly forgiving of mine and Daner's defiance this morning. Back home, we had a couple of gangs that particularly disliked each other - the River Rats and the Skull Lane Boys, but they had a truce. Now, the River Rats wanted to get rid of..." he pauses, realising he is going in to way to much detail "Well, they wanted someone dead without taking the blame. So they managed to con some poor sap from another gang into trying to do it. What was the phrase? Ah yes 'plausible deniability''. Of course, the River Rats were a bunch of numb skulls and they cocked it up. Anyway, what if she is looking for something similar? A bunch of slaves she can use to destabilise? Even Kill? Slithotep, all without it going back to her. Course, either way we would be dead."
Darion sits back, pensive and worried 'too much thinking' he mutters under his breath.
Ellis quickly rushes away into the snake pit room. Ellis does not see the creature enter the room with him. The confounding stench arising from the pit of snakes must have thrown it off your scent or otherwise drove it away.
As you limp towards the poison distillery, the pain from your ankle sets in, and it is hideously swollen. Xopal, completely engrossed in his work doesn’t even look up at you as he holds out a gloved hand, expectantly.
"Does it really matter if us getting out of this pit also helps her in some way? My concern is not what she gets out of it, but what I do. I agree. We are not using the other prisoners as bait, but neither can we be responsible for their lives. It is up to each to fight for their own, but if they are still in chains, they can't even fight."Daner shifts around, trying to find a comfortable spot on the dry patch created for him. "The next question is, when do we move? I don't think we have enough time to spend a few days getting to know their routines, and being underground lends to people not following the cycle of the sun. Last night you remember there were short times when the guards left us. I think that will be our most likely. And if by some chance Fenthasa is wanting us to destabilise the situation, wouldn't she want to make it easy for us to get out of here?"
Ellis was wincing, feeling the pain in his ankle come back while he limped, seeing just how swollen it is now. He finally got back to the poison distillery as he saw Xopal busy working but holding his hand out, expecting the plant he wanted. So Ellis slowly made his way over, placing the Stalk in the other's hand, waiting to see what he says or does next. He thought for sure that he had picked the correct plant, hoping that would still be case and what else Xopal may have him do.
"A fair point, Daner, I think I agree with everything you said. I just think what we do should be on our own initiative, not waiting for her. And I agree, every moment we spend in this place risks eroding the advantages we might have; they could discover we've tampered with the device, or that we can cast spells - or just be killed by a bored or spiteful Yuan-ti. I think we should we wait for Ellis, rest a little while to recover, but look at getting out of here 'tonight', hopefully they have a time when they are mostly asleep too..."
Xopal takes the shroom and quickly gets to dissecting it, paying you or your injuries no mind. He extracts some green goop from the interior, mixes it with other various ingredients, and fills a syringe with the concoction.
While you awkwardly look on, he brings the syringe over to a wandering zombie and jams it into the zombie’s neck. The zombie immediately convulses and falls to the floor, as dead as it once was before it was risen. Xopal, completely expressionless up until this point, wears the face of shock. He immediately becomes immensely careful with the syringe, muttering “this could poison even a Yuan-ti... this is most excellent and most surprising!”
Right about then, Liss’ard comes back to collect you. He laughs at your obvious chemical burns and jabs his elbow into Xopal’s side as if to say, “good job!” He was so disappointed at the lack of maiming of his other subjects.
liss’ard unceremoniously deposits you in the pit along with the others. (You can clearly hear the portcullis rising as he comes to do so). He tosses Ellis in without even looking, half hoping that he would hit somebody else with him.
”Get some good resssst my pretties.”
(You may take any actions or rolls before being put in the pit as you like)
"I don't want any of the other slaves to die, but I don't know if we can save all of them without endangering us. If I wanted to escape by myself I could at any moment. I could turn myself into a snake and slither out. I might even be worshiped but I'd prefer if all of us were able to make it out. If we can rest for a bit I can change into a bear and transport Ellis out so we can at least move quickly." Tempest says somewhat defensively before slinking down in the water calming himself. "I think we're all on edge given our situation. I'm sorry if it came off as inconsiderate. I just want out of here like each of you. I'll follow whatever plan we all think is best and now that we can cast spells, thanks again Darion, I can try to heal Ellis' leg."
Tempest will remove the ice wall but leave the map on the stone wall. As Ellis falls in he'll attempt to catch him and lessen his fall. then once he thinks Liss'ard is gone he'll make another ice wall and set Ellis up on the dirt bench and wrap his ankle with some cloth and the wood he stole from the storeroom casting Cure Wounds.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Ellis watched Xopal dissect the plant, guessing that he got it right since the other didn't say anything as they made a concoction with it. He was surprised when Xopal injected it into a zombie and saw as they actually died for good. He could hear Xopal mutter, thinking of how useful that concoction would be for going up against Yuan-ti if it can even poison them. But then he saw Liss'ard, looking down as he laughed at his chemical burns and seemed to be saying good job to Xopal, even though Xopal certainly hadn't done this to him. He was brought back to the pit, suddenly being tossed in as he heard Liss'ard. But he was glad when he felt Tempest catch him, happy to see everyone here and all not hurt unlike him. Ellis noticed how easily Tempest was using magic and guessed that someone must have deactivated that tablet up there. "Thank you very much." Ellis had said back to Tempest with a smile as the other healed him a bit. But with the brace, even he could tell that it wasn't good at all. "Let me help." he said, now trying to fix up the brace and redoing it to be better while also casting Cure Wounds on himself too. Then he would talk to everyone about the poison distillery, everything that he saw and heard along with what he had to do, mentioning the fungi cavern and the underground river. He would have told them of the blobby mold that attacked him when he tried to get the necklace, which was the reason for why he got even more hurt. Ellis definitely tells them about the new concoction made from the Stalk that can even poison Yuan-ti.
After listening to Tempest, Darion sits back in silence for a bit. Perhaps he had been a little harsh on Tempest, but it always paid to remember that you could never truly tell who you could trust. Still, one way that those who aspired to power tried to control others is through splitting them and pitting them against each other, and it would do none of them any good if they ended divided.
Darion watches as Ellis is thrown in, and he shoots a look of utter contempt up at Liss'ard, but notes how Tempest tries to catch Ellis. He gets up and moves over to Ellis, concerned "What on Earth Toril did these monsters do to you, it looks like you've been dipped in acid?" Lacking medical skills he watches as both Tempest and Ellis use Arcane and Mundane methods to heal him up.
Swallowing his pride, he says to Tempest "I'm sorry, I did not mean to sound so harsh. What is your take on things? Daner and I seem to be more... hot-headed, whereas you seem to be a little more reserved - bowing to Fenthasa this morning may well have saved all our lives. I'm for trying to do something tonight, but what is your counsel?"
He will let Ellis recover, listen to what he has to say and update him with the others "And what is your take Ellis? You've potentially found an escape route for us, how viable do you think it is - and how many could try?"
Finally, he glances at the chains on all of them and says "We will want to get these of as well. I have some skill in being able to unpick locks, but I will need my tools to be able to do it. It seems recovering our equipment may well seem like a good first step - and somehow we have to get past the gate guard whatever we want to do."
Darion will wait discuss these things with others. Though he is still scared, what he has seen today has also made him angry, and the prospect of action is beginning to give him a buzz of energy. Unless something happens, I'll assume they have a short rest while this is going on and I will use Arcane Recovery to get a 2nd level slot back.
OOC: DM, does the Entrance guard have a clear line of sight to the Slave Pits, or are they tucked out of immediate sight?
((Whew, you needed that!))
Ellis darts across the bridge, the adrenaline suppressing the pain and stabilizing his footing. He maintains balance long enough to get to the other side and he is able to allow himself to tumble safely forward at the threshold to the entrance of the yaun-ti temple. The mold pursues, slowly, but surely, still sensing Ellis' delicious perspiring flesh nearby. It moves double-time towards Ellis, clinging to the stone bridge with no problem, moving 20 feet towards him. This places Ellis 10 feet away from the blob as the blob nears crossing the bridge. It would have surely overtaken him if he had taken it slow.
(Yes! You can do it Ellis!)
Tempest, seeing Darion join them felt hope that they would all make it out alive. When Liss'ard left he would watch peculiarly as Darion cast a spell and then would try himself to cast Shape Water and cause a globule to float in front of himself. Intrigued he'll respond, "I am fine. I don't want to raise too much suspicion. There is a wealth of information to discuss but how are we able to cast spells now? Did someone disable the tablet?" He'll pause as he remembers, "Here take this, it will help with the hunger." and will hand Darion a Goodberry.
OOC: My work has poor data reception, i kept trying to get an update on Ellis but couldn't! It was quite anxiety provoking!!! I second 'go Ellis'!!
Darion greatfully takes the Goodberry, almost snatching it in haste, and gobbles it down quickly - he can never entirely overcome the habits of poverty!
I'm presuming the spells work, otherwise Darion will look pretty silly waving his arms around and nothing happening! If they do work he will nod at Tempest "i'm sorry, didnt have a chance to tell you I was able to operate the device when Ellis and Daner created that diversion earlier. We should have full use of Magic until they notice it is deactivated!"
If the spells dont work, Darion looks mortified and says "dash it all, I cocked up, sorry I thought I had deactivated it!"
In either case he will say to the other two "I spent a repugnant day cleaning these monsters! Did you know they used peoples blood to bathe in? They disgust me. I even found out there was a Harem. I mean, I didn't even think they could reproduce. How do the more snake ones even..." he pauses for a second with a look of mounting horror "perhaps i'll add that to my short list of things I actually dont want the answer to..."
Do you like my Boots of Flying?
((Hah!))
(Yes, the spells do resolve as they should. You surmise that the anti-magic device has been successfully rendered inert for now)
Tempest will walk over to one of the walls and use Shape Water to begin freezing the water into ice against the stone wall in the shape of their current room, the hallways, Altar room, Fenthaza's room all the way to the storeroom creating a map of his path. He looks back to Darion and Daner and causes another globule to float up and says, "What can you add so we can plan on how to get out of this place?"
(Tempest will do his best to make sure the map is out of sight of anyone who would look over the hole.)
Ellis sighs in relief that he was able to get across the bridge without any issues, near the cave entrance. But he could see the blob quickly coming his way and close to crossing the bridge. So Ellis will Dash, quickly leaving the cave and going along the walkway of the pit, being careful as he was making his way around this pit to get back to the poison distillery.
Darion looks impressed at Tempest's spell, and despite himself a look of child-like fascination crosses his face and he gives a grin "Now that is an amazing ability. I've never seen a spell do that! What school of Wizardry do you come from?" Darion is a city-boy and has never run into Druids before, and only vaughly heard of them!
He then continues, directing Tempest to the Crossroads leading to the distillary and the large vaulted chamber "I've been wondering what that is... some meeting hall? an arena?" He blanches at the sudden image of having to fight in such a place "then beyond that is a snake pit with some rickety walkway. Our esteemd guard likes throwing prisoners in there. For fun. I dunno what is to the east, but the baths are to the south. I'm not sure if there is anything useful for us there."
Darion will go on to summarise what he found from his time in the baths, particularly noting the apparent tensions in the Yuan-ti ranks.
"I have another thought though, I want to get out of here so much, and we all seem capable enough that it might just be possible with Tymora's blessing. But what about the other prisoners? We should try and get everyone out, shouldn't we?"
Do you like my Boots of Flying?
Daner, gratefully took a goodberry from Tempest and chewed slowly on it as he thought back on what he had seen and heard. "There were a few things of interest that we should be aware of," he said as he watched Tempest creating his map. Walking over he points to the area where he was working. "Right about here there is a large gong. I am pretty sure that if it gets rung, everything in this place will be on our backs. We either need to be careful until we are past it, or find some way to disable it. Also," he moves to point at the main entrance, "the guard mentioned a someone called Nanth at the main gate here. He was frustrated with him because he was accepting bribes. Maybe that is something we can use. Oh and also, there was a room here, that had symbols of weapons and armour on it. It appeared to be locked with a magic word of some kind. This may be an armoury, or it could be a barracks."
Daner thought for a moment. then went back to point at the room where he had been working. "We could also just look to create a little chaos. Giving the Yuan-ti something else to worry about may give use the cover we need to act. In this room, the stables? I'm not sure. They have some type of lizard things chained up. If we could set them free, they will be too busy trying to recapture it to worry about us for a while. But then again, it will be out in the corridors with us too."
"I have to agree with Darion. I don't want to leave any of these people here. At the least we need to give them the same opportunity we have. Open the pits get them out, and destroy that device."
Tempest would listen intently and do his best to make the shapes with globules of water before freezing them in place. "School? I am no wizard, just a druid of nature. Eldath empowered me with the ability to control the elements. She brought me back from the brink of death. When I was young... " Tempest stops himself from trailing on and goes back to the task at hand.
"Thank you for disabling the magical tablet.I should be able to lift the grate with ease and build us a stairway up using all the water we have here. I also heard there is much dissension here. Azi Mas, a giant snake I made friends with in the storeroom told me Fenthaza may be planning to overthrow Silthotep. He also may have given me another way out. He said when he wants to leave the temple he goes to the underground river but said to stay close to the shore. Also I'm pretty sure all of our stuff is in the storeroom along with everyone else they've captured or killed." he says as he finishes putting the last room in place before continuing
"I think releasing the other slaves and the lizard things would benefit us greatly in escaping. While they may not all make it out with us it would help distract the yuan-ti focusing on just us. We can try to save as many as we can but our priority should be ourselves. We can't help anyone else if we're dead. I might also be able to help out with the gong. If there is enough water nearby I can freeze a layer of ice over part or all of it to dampen the noise." Tempest says as he looks over the map and ponders for a few moments before asking. "Did any of you see an underground river on your way?"
As they discuss Tempest will slowly make a wall of ice with stairs that pushes the water away from one section of the pit until a section is dry then create a pile of rocks resembling a bench or stump to sit on using Shape Water & Mold Earth. He'll turn to Daner & Darion and say, "There's a dry spot for you now. When Liss'ard comes back I'll have to remove this but can do it again as soon as he leaves." and will use Shape Water to remove the water from their clothes once they enter the dry area. As soon as he hears Liss'ard coming back he'll remove the ice wall and leave the rocks since they'll be submerged.
(DM Question: Is the stone in the pit made of bricks or just carved out of smooth stone? I'd like to excavate a portion so some of us can stay dry if we're here multiple nights. Basically could I create a 5 or 10 foot nook in the side of the pit wall. Not trying to tunnel out of here just make it more comfortable.)
Nature: 18 (if needed)
Darion listens to the others, admiring Tempest's sculpting.
He grins at Daner's plan "I like your plan of using another distraction. As you say, it will be a danger to us and the other prisoners - but if it keeps the snake-people busy, we may end up in less danger overall."
As he listens to Tempest discussing the other prisoners, Darion's eyes narrow for a moment, and he reminds himself that he doesn't truly know these people or their motivations. He interrupts slightly stiffly "My motive for helping the other prisoners wasn't to use them as bait, but you are right that not all of us will make it out alive. But everyone deserves a chance to try, I think."
He shakes his head at the mention of the underground river, "Though one of the Yuan-ti thought there was another way out, and it would make sense if that were it. I had thought to use the teleportation circle, but I think that might be vastly more dangerous. I cannot believe that the Yuan-ti would put an easy means of escape so near prisoners - it sounds more like it is used by Slithotep to move around - perhaps when he fancies an impromptu blood-bath. They seemed to think it leads to the Harem," Darion makes a gagging sound "And the'Fane'. I have no idea what a Fane is, but I suspect it is not a place that is good for us. Do you two know what a Fane is?"
"I'd wondered about using the divisions of the Yuan-ti against them, but that could be dangerous. For a start, we might be limited in what we could do as slaves to encourage them to fight - though I could potentially disguise myself as one of them, at least the more human looking ones, which might help. But even if we did manage to increase the tension, what if the first thing Slithotep does is decide that whats-her-name has overstepped the mark in letting prisoners - us - wander around. He might just kill us to spite her."
Darion pauses for a moment, thanking Tempest as he sits on the dry seat he has made, while realising he is beginning to over think things "Which leads me to another horrible thought I had. What if Fenthasa does have some concept of what we can do. She seems to have taken an unusual amount of interest in slaves, and was surprisingly forgiving of mine and Daner's defiance this morning. Back home, we had a couple of gangs that particularly disliked each other - the River Rats and the Skull Lane Boys, but they had a truce. Now, the River Rats wanted to get rid of..." he pauses, realising he is going in to way to much detail "Well, they wanted someone dead without taking the blame. So they managed to con some poor sap from another gang into trying to do it. What was the phrase? Ah yes 'plausible deniability''. Of course, the River Rats were a bunch of numb skulls and they cocked it up. Anyway, what if she is looking for something similar? A bunch of slaves she can use to destabilise? Even Kill? Slithotep, all without it going back to her. Course, either way we would be dead."
Darion sits back, pensive and worried 'too much thinking' he mutters under his breath.
Do you like my Boots of Flying?
Ellis quickly rushes away into the snake pit room. Ellis does not see the creature enter the room with him. The confounding stench arising from the pit of snakes must have thrown it off your scent or otherwise drove it away.
As you limp towards the poison distillery, the pain from your ankle sets in, and it is hideously swollen. Xopal, completely engrossed in his work doesn’t even look up at you as he holds out a gloved hand, expectantly.
"Does it really matter if us getting out of this pit also helps her in some way? My concern is not what she gets out of it, but what I do. I agree. We are not using the other prisoners as bait, but neither can we be responsible for their lives. It is up to each to fight for their own, but if they are still in chains, they can't even fight." Daner shifts around, trying to find a comfortable spot on the dry patch created for him. "The next question is, when do we move? I don't think we have enough time to spend a few days getting to know their routines, and being underground lends to people not following the cycle of the sun. Last night you remember there were short times when the guards left us. I think that will be our most likely. And if by some chance Fenthasa is wanting us to destabilise the situation, wouldn't she want to make it easy for us to get out of here?"
Ellis was wincing, feeling the pain in his ankle come back while he limped, seeing just how swollen it is now. He finally got back to the poison distillery as he saw Xopal busy working but holding his hand out, expecting the plant he wanted. So Ellis slowly made his way over, placing the Stalk in the other's hand, waiting to see what he says or does next. He thought for sure that he had picked the correct plant, hoping that would still be case and what else Xopal may have him do.
"A fair point, Daner, I think I agree with everything you said. I just think what we do should be on our own initiative, not waiting for her. And I agree, every moment we spend in this place risks eroding the advantages we might have; they could discover we've tampered with the device, or that we can cast spells - or just be killed by a bored or spiteful Yuan-ti. I think we should we wait for Ellis, rest a little while to recover, but look at getting out of here 'tonight', hopefully they have a time when they are mostly asleep too..."
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Xopal takes the shroom and quickly gets to dissecting it, paying you or your injuries no mind. He extracts some green goop from the interior, mixes it with other various ingredients, and fills a syringe with the concoction.
While you awkwardly look on, he brings the syringe over to a wandering zombie and jams it into the zombie’s neck. The zombie immediately convulses and falls to the floor, as dead as it once was before it was risen. Xopal, completely expressionless up until this point, wears the face of shock. He immediately becomes immensely careful with the syringe, muttering “this could poison even a Yuan-ti... this is most excellent and most surprising!”
Right about then, Liss’ard comes back to collect you. He laughs at your obvious chemical burns and jabs his elbow into Xopal’s side as if to say, “good job!” He was so disappointed at the lack of maiming of his other subjects.
liss’ard unceremoniously deposits you in the pit along with the others. (You can clearly hear the portcullis rising as he comes to do so). He tosses Ellis in without even looking, half hoping that he would hit somebody else with him.
”Get some good resssst my pretties.”
(You may take any actions or rolls before being put in the pit as you like)
"I don't want any of the other slaves to die, but I don't know if we can save all of them without endangering us. If I wanted to escape by myself I could at any moment. I could turn myself into a snake and slither out. I might even be worshiped but I'd prefer if all of us were able to make it out. If we can rest for a bit I can change into a bear and transport Ellis out so we can at least move quickly." Tempest says somewhat defensively before slinking down in the water calming himself. "I think we're all on edge given our situation. I'm sorry if it came off as inconsiderate. I just want out of here like each of you. I'll follow whatever plan we all think is best and now that we can cast spells, thanks again Darion, I can try to heal Ellis' leg."
Tempest will remove the ice wall but leave the map on the stone wall. As Ellis falls in he'll attempt to catch him and lessen his fall. then once he thinks Liss'ard is gone he'll make another ice wall and set Ellis up on the dirt bench and wrap his ankle with some cloth and the wood he stole from the storeroom casting Cure Wounds.
Healing: 6 Medicine: 5 (for the brace)
Ellis watched Xopal dissect the plant, guessing that he got it right since the other didn't say anything as they made a concoction with it. He was surprised when Xopal injected it into a zombie and saw as they actually died for good. He could hear Xopal mutter, thinking of how useful that concoction would be for going up against Yuan-ti if it can even poison them. But then he saw Liss'ard, looking down as he laughed at his chemical burns and seemed to be saying good job to Xopal, even though Xopal certainly hadn't done this to him. He was brought back to the pit, suddenly being tossed in as he heard Liss'ard. But he was glad when he felt Tempest catch him, happy to see everyone here and all not hurt unlike him. Ellis noticed how easily Tempest was using magic and guessed that someone must have deactivated that tablet up there. "Thank you very much." Ellis had said back to Tempest with a smile as the other healed him a bit. But with the brace, even he could tell that it wasn't good at all. "Let me help." he said, now trying to fix up the brace and redoing it to be better while also casting Cure Wounds on himself too. Then he would talk to everyone about the poison distillery, everything that he saw and heard along with what he had to do, mentioning the fungi cavern and the underground river. He would have told them of the blobby mold that attacked him when he tried to get the necklace, which was the reason for why he got even more hurt. Ellis definitely tells them about the new concoction made from the Stalk that can even poison Yuan-ti.
Cure Wounds: 9
Medicine: 13
Ooc: at work, will post properly later, but quick question: are we still in manacles / chains that restrict us?
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((Likewise, so I'll get back to it later too. Yes, you are still in manacles and chains. It did not make working easy.))
After listening to Tempest, Darion sits back in silence for a bit. Perhaps he had been a little harsh on Tempest, but it always paid to remember that you could never truly tell who you could trust. Still, one way that those who aspired to power tried to control others is through splitting them and pitting them against each other, and it would do none of them any good if they ended divided.
Darion watches as Ellis is thrown in, and he shoots a look of utter contempt up at Liss'ard, but notes how Tempest tries to catch Ellis. He gets up and moves over to Ellis, concerned "What on
EarthToril did these monsters do to you, it looks like you've been dipped in acid?" Lacking medical skills he watches as both Tempest and Ellis use Arcane and Mundane methods to heal him up.Swallowing his pride, he says to Tempest "I'm sorry, I did not mean to sound so harsh. What is your take on things? Daner and I seem to be more... hot-headed, whereas you seem to be a little more reserved - bowing to Fenthasa this morning may well have saved all our lives. I'm for trying to do something tonight, but what is your counsel?"
He will let Ellis recover, listen to what he has to say and update him with the others "And what is your take Ellis? You've potentially found an escape route for us, how viable do you think it is - and how many could try?"
Finally, he glances at the chains on all of them and says "We will want to get these of as well. I have some skill in being able to unpick locks, but I will need my tools to be able to do it. It seems recovering our equipment may well seem like a good first step - and somehow we have to get past the gate guard whatever we want to do."
Darion will wait discuss these things with others. Though he is still scared, what he has seen today has also made him angry, and the prospect of action is beginning to give him a buzz of energy. Unless something happens, I'll assume they have a short rest while this is going on and I will use Arcane Recovery to get a 2nd level slot back.
OOC: DM, does the Entrance guard have a clear line of sight to the Slave Pits, or are they tucked out of immediate sight?
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