You all make it back up the ladder, unimpeded by the nothics or whatever was down the hole.
(OOC - can I get you all to make a Stress Check/Wisdom Save for me as well. Meant to get you to check that earlier when you heard the creatures down the hole, sorry!)
The sun still tries its best to shine through the dull grey clouds and much of the day remains. In the daylight now, you look at the tome you retrieved from below. The tome is quite large and cumbersome, several inches thick and quite heavy (it will just take one inventory space however). Its ornate leather and gold cover has no title, but in the centre of the front cover is a large, smooth, glassy stone. The round stone appears to swell with clouds and darkness that reacts to your touch, like waving a hand through a smoky cloud. The book, however, is sealed shut. Held tight by two locking metal straps, though you see no keyholes with which to unlock them. Apparently when Gandalon closed it to carry it across to the ladder, it also locked it, perhaps why it lay open on the pedestal in the centre of the sunken library.
What would you like to do? You have much of the day to continue to explore the library or whatever lies below. And much of the library still lies untouched or explored.
We are up and out of the sunken library as of this moment, correct?
(OOC - that's correct. Well, I assumed you had all gone up the ladder as you had made a run for it. Trinjya was definitely yeeting out as she had said she was climbing. But if I've assumed wrong that you were all climbing out, I'm happy to retcon and adjust.)
(Edit: Also, you bamfed Gandalon out of the tunnel and would have bamfed back to you whenever you wanted to use another action to bring him back. He's safe.)
"Indeed - Samael, let's take this back to Morn. Perhaps with his resources, he can unlock what has been hidden, and give us an edge for our return journey. In addition, I feel we must needs bring more to aid us. Perhaps as many as our number again. This will be a larger task than I had imagined."
(OOC - you sure you don't want to go back down and look around the library more? You can take that as you will, either as an evil DM trying to get you into combat or a good DM saying there's more down there... you never know :P But you've definitely uncovered something interesting, and in the process raised more questions than were answered.)
EDIT:
At the sounds of the pitched, maniacal laughter coming from the hole as you escaped, Perigord is shaken somewhat as images flash through his mind of what might be down that hole waiting for them (+1 stress point). The others however remain unaffected, perhaps from your time in the swamp, or something else, but while the question of what awaits you below runs through your mind, it does not cloud your mind with anxiety or worry just yet.
"Well, not to put it mildly, but asking them didn't seem to work. It seems like something lives in the level immediately below the nothics that is far, far less friendly. At least the Nothics were curious enough to try and communicate. Those below, well, Gandalon's wounds speaks for that count."
"The problem is, we have no idea what else lives down there. If we get deeper into the building and run into something dangerous, we will have the Nothics in our back and there is no way of telling how they'll react. I'd rather not be stuck in a hole in the ground surounded by hostile creatures."
"Perhaps we simply surprised those on the second level? We might be able to speak with them, and through them to the nothics. Are they controlling the nothics, do you think? Did the imp see anything?"
(OOC - I'm recording stress on a spreadsheet and will update you with stress levels at the end or if stress levels implicate something in play, but for the moment you're all okay.)
Gandalon was only able to make out a couple tiny floating shapes in the darkness before he was bombarded with rays of magical energy that pushed him, chilled him and enthralled him before Horatio pulled him out of the tunnel. The imp now sits on the warlock's shoulder, chest heaving as his tiny body tries to recover from whatever it was he saw.
(OOC - so I'm not sure what you want to do next guys? There was talk of returning below but also returning to town with what you have. Morn is not with you so no info on what is down the hole, sorry.)
You all make it back up the ladder, unimpeded by the nothics or whatever was down the hole.
(OOC - can I get you all to make a Stress Check/Wisdom Save for me as well. Meant to get you to check that earlier when you heard the creatures down the hole, sorry!)
The sun still tries its best to shine through the dull grey clouds and much of the day remains. In the daylight now, you look at the tome you retrieved from below. The tome is quite large and cumbersome, several inches thick and quite heavy (it will just take one inventory space however). Its ornate leather and gold cover has no title, but in the centre of the front cover is a large, smooth, glassy stone. The round stone appears to swell with clouds and darkness that reacts to your touch, like waving a hand through a smoky cloud. The book, however, is sealed shut. Held tight by two locking metal straps, though you see no keyholes with which to unlock them. Apparently when Gandalon closed it to carry it across to the ladder, it also locked it, perhaps why it lay open on the pedestal in the centre of the sunken library.
What would you like to do? You have much of the day to continue to explore the library or whatever lies below. And much of the library still lies untouched or explored.
Stress check/wis save: 12
We are up and out of the sunken library as of this moment, correct?
(OOC - that's correct. Well, I assumed you had all gone up the ladder as you had made a run for it. Trinjya was definitely yeeting out as she had said she was climbing. But if I've assumed wrong that you were all climbing out, I'm happy to retcon and adjust.)
(Edit: Also, you bamfed Gandalon out of the tunnel and would have bamfed back to you whenever you wanted to use another action to bring him back. He's safe.)
Stress save for Trin: 17
15 wis save
"while knowledge is good, peaceful acquisition of it is better than blood and loss in order to take the knowledge from corpses."
Wis Save: 10
"Indeed - Samael, let's take this back to Morn. Perhaps with his resources, he can unlock what has been hidden, and give us an edge for our return journey. In addition, I feel we must needs bring more to aid us. Perhaps as many as our number again. This will be a larger task than I had imagined."
(OOC - you sure you don't want to go back down and look around the library more? You can take that as you will, either as an evil DM trying to get you into combat or a good DM saying there's more down there... you never know :P But you've definitely uncovered something interesting, and in the process raised more questions than were answered.)
EDIT:
At the sounds of the pitched, maniacal laughter coming from the hole as you escaped, Perigord is shaken somewhat as images flash through his mind of what might be down that hole waiting for them (+1 stress point). The others however remain unaffected, perhaps from your time in the swamp, or something else, but while the question of what awaits you below runs through your mind, it does not cloud your mind with anxiety or worry just yet.
"will the nothics let us be if we keep ourselves from them in a different part of the library?"
"Well, not to put it mildly, but asking them didn't seem to work. It seems like something lives in the level immediately below the nothics that is far, far less friendly. At least the Nothics were curious enough to try and communicate. Those below, well, Gandalon's wounds speaks for that count."
"The problem is, we have no idea what else lives down there. If we get deeper into the building and run into something dangerous, we will have the Nothics in our back and there is no way of telling how they'll react. I'd rather not be stuck in a hole in the ground surounded by hostile creatures."
"Perhaps we simply surprised those on the second level? We might be able to speak with them, and through them to the nothics. Are they controlling the nothics, do you think? Did the imp see anything?"
OOC: Where is stress recorded?
(OOC - I'm recording stress on a spreadsheet and will update you with stress levels at the end or if stress levels implicate something in play, but for the moment you're all okay.)
"hmm...."
Gandalon was only able to make out a couple tiny floating shapes in the darkness before he was bombarded with rays of magical energy that pushed him, chilled him and enthralled him before Horatio pulled him out of the tunnel. The imp now sits on the warlock's shoulder, chest heaving as his tiny body tries to recover from whatever it was he saw.
(floating shapes......morn, make a check to see what creature can pull that off, would ya please?)
(OOC - so I'm not sure what you want to do next guys? There was talk of returning below but also returning to town with what you have. Morn is not with you so no info on what is down the hole, sorry.)
((I want to see what's down there but Trin does not, she will argue for returning to town))