Forge of Fury - DM GrubaMcD

Sila does an expert job of skinning the displacer beasts with the help of the muscular Gruenic to move the heavy bodies as needed.  She packs the skins away, confident that they will be usable for most purposes she can imagine (although the shimmering effect seems to have disappeared with the creature's passing)

The rest of the journey to Stone Tooth is pleasant and uneventful, taking two more days (and one night) to reach.  The weather is mostly fine, with only a light shower at the start of the last day to provide any discomfort - although some may find it cooling and even calming.

In the late afternoon of your third day of travel you arrive.  You stand at the bottom of the winding path up to the Stone Tooth entrance, ready to continue your quest.

(We're back!  Please process a Survival check if you wanted to forage on the way here, or deduct one day's rations.  You can either explore a particular room of the first level again, or we can fast-travel to the chamber where you defeated the stirges.  Let me know if you need any maps brought forward)

Garavant pauses as they reach their destination, taking a long deep breath as he looks up at the entrance to Stone Tooth and the potential riches that lie in its depths. 

"I do hope the place has not filled back up with orcs or something nastier," he says. "That'll make it much easier to head straight for the part we haven't explored yet."

(I vote for fast travel to stirge land)

Lucy didn't receive any scrying since the last spell failed. It's strange. But since predicting what an arch mage could do is impossible, she shrugged and decided to put the concern aside. 

" We will check it now. Let's see what the piggy boys were doing while we were leaving " After returning the Stone Tooth, Lucy starts to check the bodys of the orcs they slayed. If the corpses were eaten by huge creatures that means some threats are here. And if the items were taken that indicates something intelligent beings are around.

Investigation: 16

Survival: 19

(If she couldn't find any immediate threat, Lucy will agree with Gatavant to move to next floor)

Foraging check 17

Sila forages along the way, gathering berries, hunting or fishing as the terrain allows sharing extras as she can and continuing to work the wolf skins into a functional cloak.  Finding the lands closer to Stone Tooth less accommodating to her hunting style, she reaches into her pack and returns to rations for the day just as Gruenic hands her a juicy roasted Rabbit leg.  Smiling her "Thanks", she bites in heartily, happy to have more fresh food and saving her rations for another day. 

Enjoying the gentle rain she spots Stone Tooth and is brought back to the reality of their mission. "I agree, move swiftly to the lower level clearing any new inhabitants as we go if necessary."  

Gruenic forages for food on their way back to the Stone Tooth.  11 

He manages to find some a nice juicy rabbit that he spears with a javelin and he shares it with his companions.  

As they are walking up, approaching the entrance, Gruenic says "I feel that we are here for a purpose.  More ears for Bree's ear bag, yes.  Fame and fortune, yes.  But also we are here to help you Lucy.  To the Van Gogh Squad!  We will conquer this place and leave our initials on the doorstep.  And we will find.. Sunneedle!."

In the days leading up to your arrival, Lucy and Gruenic manage to forage ample food and water for the whole group (nobody needs to expend any rations). 

You climb the switchback path to the mountain’s entrance, passing the spot where Laethelas had pushed an orc to his doom at the start of your last excursion.  Apart from a small patch of blood, there is no sign of the body. 

Entering the mountain through the same main entrance as before, you notice that the orc bodies have been troubled by local wildlife. Some have limbs missing, others are open at the navel or chest.  All have mutilated faces, the soft tissues first preference for the scavengers of the area.  A couple are gone entirely, drag marks suggesting that a larger beast has taken them out of the mountain – maybe back to a nearby lair. 

Finding no sign of danger on the first level of the mountain, you descend the stairs to the cave where most of you encountered the swarm of stirges on your brief foray into the second level.  The cave is as dark as ever, your respective night visions turning pitch darkness into dim light (Bree please declare illumination method or if you are being led by a colleague). 

Stood once more, here at the furthest point of your expedition so far, you assess the options for going forward.  A fast-moving stream about five feet wide runs across the floor of the chamber from the north and disappears under a low stone overhang to the south (blue circle), and larger passageways exit to the southeast and the northeast (green circles).  Bree could walk under the rock ceiling to follow the river south, but would be standing upright with her head just above the surface.  Any other party member could stoop to go through, it would be uncomfortable though.

" Thank you Gruenic. I'm …very appreciative of your… support." Lucy downs her head to hide blushed face. But her effort is meaningless. All her skin, even the tip of her pointy long ears, are already turned rose red by the embarrassment. She is happy with the half orc's word. However these friendship things are so new to Lucy that she doesn't know how to react to them. 

When she arrives at the second level of the cave, Lucy orders Artemis to fly around the staircase and search for any stirges left. If there are no more little blood suckers, then she will send her owl over the stream to scout the southeast passage. 

Perception

Lucy:11

Artemis: 22

Sila hears Gruenic's words, knowing the half-orc has already faced terror within the walls and survived. Was coming back for more, his strength inspired her. His hunting too a little come to think of it. "Nice catch!" She applauds him on his success. "Enjoying her share of the rabbit."

"To the Van Gogh Squad and to finding SunNeedle! May our enemies run in fear." She smiles at the group. In such a short time, they've become her new family and she thinks she could trust them with her life.

Later in Stone Tooth...

Sila will await the Owl's return to see what lies ahead but move forward to look into the stream.  Is the stream depth consistent appearing? (It would come to Bree's shoulders if I understood) Also looking to see in anything inhabits it with only visual inspection for now. 

 perception 8  if needed. 

Bree follows along with the rest of the party towards the Stone Tooth. Helping Sila with learning her leather working in the evenings before sleeping. 

Before going down she says to the others: "Remember, I can't see in the dark like you guys. I'm fine with being led by you, but please warn me if anything dangerous is happening. I can make light for myself if necessary." She will probably stay near Sila (or Gruenic when the rest goes off exploring). 

Bree offers to go through the tunnel with the stream "If we think it a good idea I could go on exploring through the stream, tough I would like one of you to use your 'seeing in the dark'-skills then." 

In Camp
Garavant happily eats the food gathered by others, wishing he knew a little bit more about how to take care of himself in the wild. His life growing up in a river town (mostly in a tavern) meant that he had never really been forced to grow, hunt or gather his own food. He smiles and nods when Gruenic enthusiastically throws his support behind Lucy's quest. "Hear, hear!" he says, raising his waterskin. His eyes, though are a little unfocused, as if his thoughts may be on something else entirely--perhaps the fortune he seeks and what he plans to do with it. 

At Stone Tooth
Garavant waits with the others to see if Artemis finds anything of interest. He looks from Bree to Gruenic. "Gruenic," he says, "can't you do that thing you do to help Bree see in darkness? We can definitely be sneakier if we can all see in the dark."

Gruenic nods to Bree, and extends his Eyes of Night blessing from Selune.  “One other can share in this, I know that you can already see in the dark, but this extends that out to 300 feet.  Anyone else who would share this with us?”  After this is done, Gruenic nods to proceed, standing back in readiness as the stealthier members of the team scout ahead.  

 "Should we use the blessing now? Or wait until we really need it? Or can we make it so that I can see in the dark for the rest of the day between you and Sila?"

Lucy and Artemis see nothing in the cavern of note, and Sila can see into the water clearly enough to see no sign of life - or danger.

@Lucy: 

Gruenic pauses as he is about to give the gift of night sight to Bree, "This will last an hour, do you want me to do this now?"  

"I think now is best, we never know what we'll run into, we wouldn't want you at a disadvantage." She says answering Bree's inquiry.  "After Greunic's wears off, let me know and I can cast for you a less effective but longer lasting one."  

"The water seems clear of danger, but runs pretty fast.  We should secure one another before moving within it to reduce risk."  Sila pats the rope attached to her pack.  

"Lucy, which way seems best?" Turning to her and eyeing the Owl.  

darkvision  can be cast by Sila using half of her ki.  Her ki refreshes at short rests so she should have at least one available for Bree generally.  Since her ki can also be used to add attacks, darkness , pass without trace , silence lets use Gruenic's first then Sila's.  Sila is also happy to be a recipient of his should the other's decline. 

Lucy explains to the rest of the party what her owl has found. " …So there's a smaller chamber on the west side of the great cave. In the chamber, there are a couple dozens of stone coffins lining the wall. The coffins are adorned with elaborate reliefs and runes like … this. " The elf girl uses Minor Illusion to make a miniature size coffin in the air. " Can any of us speak dwarvish? I think , I have read something like them before but … can't remember well. " 

Gruenic nods and extends the Eyes of Night to Bree.  "I can read and speak dwarvish.  If I can get close enough I could translate those.  Can you draw the figures from what you saw, or was it not clear enough?  Do we need to get closer?"

She moves to see the illusions Lucy is producing.  "I know Dwarvish too, the skills I learned were  dependent on it as my teacher refused to communicate with me in any language other than Dwarvish.  'If I wanted to craft like a Dwarf I could at least do him the courtesy of learning the language.' " She says mimicking the gruff voice of her mentor.  "Truly lucky to even have been granted the internship."

" Did you hear that? Gruenic and Sila need a clearer image. " Lucy says, closing her eyes and putting the index finger on her temple. " Get closer owl. Move right… no that's LEFT you idiot! Rise 1.5ft and stop! Now, this is much better. " The bladesinger moves her hands and makes a gesture to stretch the image. The illusion blurs and expands 3 times larger, focusing on the dwarven runes which are far clearer than before. 

@Gruenic

" You can give the superb dark vision to Artemis. We share the same sight. Which means you can kill two birds with one stone. " In a chamber lit by phosphorescence Artemis makes a face. She isn't happy about the metaphor her master used. " …Or save the miracle to cast Bree again later.  Both are fine for us. "