Gruenic makes light work of the barrier, bashing away with his hammer and pulling chunks of congealed mud out of the way for his teammates to clear it further away.He breaks through to find the floor suddenly drops away on the other side, into a pool of water which is fed by a stream that runs from north to south.
As for the cavern itself, the ceiling must be thirty feet overhead. A foul stench assaults your nostrils immediately; the remnants of butchered game animals hang from crude wooden stakes along the cavern walls, and you spot a pair of orc corpses treated in the same fashion.
Gruenic smells the rotting flesh and holds his hand up indicating to his companions to stay still for a moment. He scans the periphery for any movement or sign of what butchered the game or treated the orcs in this fashion, looking for movement. His darkvision stretches out 300 ft and he looks for trouble ..
Perception : 19
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
" What is this…! " Lucy frowns and groans. The strong stench makes the elf girl feel like hitting her nose against a wall. Whoever did this, they might be the orc's enemy but wouldn't be her friend.
Artemis prepared herself to fly into the cavern, but the sight of skewed corpses made the owl rethink her plan. Artemis decides to stay back and wait Gruenic's instruction.
Sila continues to keep alert to the South east while Gruenic inspects the newly created opening. "Agh, what is that smell?!" She whispers loudly towards Garavant, then spots Artemis hesitate at the opening and stay in the room. "Perhaps not our best direction?" Then returns her attention to the Southeast periodically looking North.
Garavant goes a little pale as the foul stench drifts out the opening and hits their nostrils. He shakes his head at Sila's question, a grimace on his face. "Smells like dead, rotten meat," he says quietly, gripping his crossbow a little tighter in his right hand.
"Gruenic!" he hisses in a loud whisper. "What do you see?"
Gruenic leans into the stinking cavern as far as he can; the water before him looks at least as deep as he is tall, right up to the point where the south-flowing river joins it.
The angle of the rock makes it impossible to survey the whole area, although he does manage to scout a little more (see new map below).
Just as he is sure that he has checked it out, the cleric hears a noise around the corner to the north – a scrape of something across a stone floor, maybe?
Sila descends the stairs to the south east of the sepulchers’ platform, scanning north, but sees nothing of note in the massive darkness of the cave. About 30ft from the platform where her colleagues stand, she reaches the top of a flight of stairs carved into the rock. They descend and turn right (west) after about 15ft.
"Hmm, where to next?" She shares what she's seen but isn't sure which way they should go. As its been some time since the Darkvision was cast for Bree by Gruenic (if I'm correct) she moves over to Bree to check in. "The other darkvision will wear off soon, I can recast now, or wait until its completely gone? Mine is not as effective, but will last for 8 hours."(linked mine ^^)
Gruenics turns and walks a bit back into the other chamber, takes a knee and motions everyone in, with a "huddle up" manner. He says in quiet, soft tones, "I know that you can all smell that. Something foul in the next chamber. I see butchered animals and orc corpses staked on the walls in the next cavern. There is a drop and some deep looking water right below the opening, then it dries up to the north. I hear a scratching sound up there, like something is moving. What should we do? I don't want to drop into that water in this..." Gruenic looks down at his armor. "Perhaps you could send Artemis in to look? But beware, whatever is in there can likely fly. Or climb."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
" Go Artemis. Take a look." The white owl reluctantly enters the other side of the chamber. She flies slowly, keeps eyes on every shadow and listens carefully to the sound of the cave.
Stealth:18
Perception: 17
" I don't like this place either. " Says Lucy with her arms folded. " Aside from the foul smell, the water is too deep. It will prevent us from swift retreat. Maybe we should leave here, and explore the other places first. "
Artemis flies away from Gruenic at first, then arcs back and beats furiously towards him as he stands in the doorway to the newly-discovered cave. Just as she reaches the cleric, the owl stops flapping and soars silently over him, through the gap and into the cavern beyond. Almost immediately she sees another mud-and-stone barrier (green spot on the map)
As she reaches the far end of the cavern, Artemis banks right to take in the area that Gruenic could not see - it is about twice the area that had been seen already, but most alarmingly there are two lizard-like humanoids tucked up against the east wall as if preparing an ambush.
Artemis keeps banking until she is facing east, coming back on herself and heading back to the party in one silent glide.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
" Upright lizards. " Lucy whispers to others as she closes one eye to connect her sight with Artemis. " The creatures orc mentioned are hiding by the eastan wall. There are two of them. Probably prepare for an ambush. I have no intention to play their game. " The elf girl searches her memories for those humanoids. She thought they were lizard men, but something of them feels off for the reptilian race she knows.
Garavant considers what he has heard from the others scouting and sight (and the evidence of his own nose) and nods at Lucy's words and Gruenic's confirmation.
"Agreed," he says. "Let's move on. I doubt there is much of value in this charnel pit."
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Sila agrees with the others, "At least not on their home ground. They must come out to hunt, we should watch out backs, they are obviously aware of something up here." Not having seen the creatures, she tries to recall any information about the creatures using the other information she has. The blocking of entrance/exits with mud, standing lizards, possibly eating carrion (?) or storing their kills. nature7
Sila casts darkvision for Bree as soon as she needs it - using 2 ki.
Whilst Sila recalls a good deal of information about troglodytes, Lucy is a veritable authority. Quite how she knows so much is up to the fiery bladesinger to explain, should she wish:
Perhaps the most loathsome of all humanoids, troglodytes eat anything they can stomach. They dwell in filth. The walls of their cavern homes are smeared with grime, oily secretions, and the debris of their foul feasting.
Troglodytes have a simple, communal culture devoted almost entirely to procuring food. Too simple to plan more than a few days into the future, troglodytes rely on constant raids and hunting to survive. They take sadistic pleasure in hunting intelligent creatures weaker than themselves and show no mercy toward those they capture and drag back to their lairs to be devoured. The largest and toughest troglodytes lead the hunt and become the leaders of their tribes. However, if a leader shows any weakness or hesitation, other troglodytes attack and eat it in a frenzy.
Troglodytes make little and build less, scavenging their possessions from their prey. They understand the value of metal weapons and armor, and fight among one another for the right to have such items. A troglodyte tribe might be torn apart by battles over a single longsword.
Some troglodytes venerate Laogzed, a demonic, monstrously fat toad-lizard that slumbers in the Abyss. Laogzed offers the troglodytes nothing in return except aspiration, for it is the dream of his troglodyte worshipers to become as fat, well-fed, and wearily content as he seems to be.
As Lucy relates the information, and they plan their next move, Gruenic says "Hmm, what if we threw a sword or some bauble down there for them to fight over and weaken each other, then we could finish them off? Perhaps from above, with arrows or a spell? I am curious about what you said to the southwest, another passageway like this one?"
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Sila looks towards the cavern down the stairs and remembers the other stairway that leads lower just to the South East of it. "They are lower than us from the description you gave. There is a stairway near this one that goes even lower. It might put us down to an even level with them?"
(cropped a little of the map on the previous page )
Gruenic keeps swinging his hammer and busting through to create a passage, a walkway through.
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Gruenic makes light work of the barrier, bashing away with his hammer and pulling chunks of congealed mud out of the way for his teammates to clear it further away. He breaks through to find the floor suddenly drops away on the other side, into a pool of water which is fed by a stream that runs from north to south.
As for the cavern itself, the ceiling must be thirty feet overhead. A foul stench assaults your nostrils immediately; the remnants of butchered game animals hang from crude wooden stakes along the cavern walls, and you spot a pair of orc corpses treated in the same fashion.
Gruenic smells the rotting flesh and holds his hand up indicating to his companions to stay still for a moment. He scans the periphery for any movement or sign of what butchered the game or treated the orcs in this fashion, looking for movement. His darkvision stretches out 300 ft and he looks for trouble ..
Perception : 19
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
" What is this…! " Lucy frowns and groans. The strong stench makes the elf girl feel like hitting her nose against a wall. Whoever did this, they might be the orc's enemy but wouldn't be her friend.
Artemis prepared herself to fly into the cavern, but the sight of skewed corpses made the owl rethink her plan. Artemis decides to stay back and wait Gruenic's instruction.
Sila continues to keep alert to the South east while Gruenic inspects the newly created opening. "Agh, what is that smell?!" She whispers loudly towards Garavant, then spots Artemis hesitate at the opening and stay in the room. "Perhaps not our best direction?" Then returns her attention to the Southeast periodically looking North.
Garavant goes a little pale as the foul stench drifts out the opening and hits their nostrils. He shakes his head at Sila's question, a grimace on his face. "Smells like dead, rotten meat," he says quietly, gripping his crossbow a little tighter in his right hand.
"Gruenic!" he hisses in a loud whisper. "What do you see?"
Gruenic leans into the stinking cavern as far as he can; the water before him looks at least as deep as he is tall, right up to the point where the south-flowing river joins it.
The angle of the rock makes it impossible to survey the whole area, although he does manage to scout a little more (see new map below).
Just as he is sure that he has checked it out, the cleric hears a noise around the corner to the north – a scrape of something across a stone floor, maybe?
Sila descends the stairs to the south east of the sepulchers’ platform, scanning north, but sees nothing of note in the massive darkness of the cave. About 30ft from the platform where her colleagues stand, she reaches the top of a flight of stairs carved into the rock. They descend and turn right (west) after about 15ft.
(Sorry I left Sila in that picture before I moved her)
"Hmm, where to next?" She shares what she's seen but isn't sure which way they should go. As its been some time since the Darkvision was cast for Bree by Gruenic (if I'm correct) she moves over to Bree to check in. "The other darkvision will wear off soon, I can recast now, or wait until its completely gone? Mine is not as effective, but will last for 8 hours." (linked mine ^^)
Gruenics turns and walks a bit back into the other chamber, takes a knee and motions everyone in, with a "huddle up" manner. He says in quiet, soft tones, "I know that you can all smell that. Something foul in the next chamber. I see butchered animals and orc corpses staked on the walls in the next cavern. There is a drop and some deep looking water right below the opening, then it dries up to the north. I hear a scratching sound up there, like something is moving. What should we do? I don't want to drop into that water in this..." Gruenic looks down at his armor. "Perhaps you could send Artemis in to look? But beware, whatever is in there can likely fly. Or climb."
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
" Go Artemis. Take a look." The white owl reluctantly enters the other side of the chamber. She flies slowly, keeps eyes on every shadow and listens carefully to the sound of the cave.
Stealth:18
Perception: 17
" I don't like this place either. " Says Lucy with her arms folded. " Aside from the foul smell, the water is too deep. It will prevent us from swift retreat. Maybe we should leave here, and explore the other places first. "
"I agree with you Lucy, I don't like it. Let's try another option. Let us know what Artemis sees, but I think we should quietly move away from here."
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Artemis flies away from Gruenic at first, then arcs back and beats furiously towards him as he stands in the doorway to the newly-discovered cave. Just as she reaches the cleric, the owl stops flapping and soars silently over him, through the gap and into the cavern beyond. Almost immediately she sees another mud-and-stone barrier (green spot on the map)
As she reaches the far end of the cavern, Artemis banks right to take in the area that Gruenic could not see - it is about twice the area that had been seen already, but most alarmingly there are two lizard-like humanoids tucked up against the east wall as if preparing an ambush.
Artemis keeps banking until she is facing east, coming back on herself and heading back to the party in one silent glide.
" Upright lizards. " Lucy whispers to others as she closes one eye to connect her sight with Artemis. " The creatures orc mentioned are hiding by the eastan wall. There are two of them. Probably prepare for an ambush. I have no intention to play their game. " The elf girl searches her memories for those humanoids. She thought they were lizard men, but something of them feels off for the reptilian race she knows.
Nature: 6
Garavant considers what he has heard from the others scouting and sight (and the evidence of his own nose) and nods at Lucy's words and Gruenic's confirmation.
"Agreed," he says. "Let's move on. I doubt there is much of value in this charnel pit."
Sila agrees with the others, "At least not on their home ground. They must come out to hunt, we should watch out backs, they are obviously aware of something up here." Not having seen the creatures, she tries to recall any information about the creatures using the other information she has. The blocking of entrance/exits with mud, standing lizards, possibly eating carrion (?) or storing their kills. nature 7
Sila casts darkvision for Bree as soon as she needs it - using 2 ki.
Whilst Sila recalls a good deal of information about troglodytes, Lucy is a veritable authority. Quite how she knows so much is up to the fiery bladesinger to explain, should she wish:
Perhaps the most loathsome of all humanoids, troglodytes eat anything they can stomach. They dwell in filth. The walls of their cavern homes are smeared with grime, oily secretions, and the debris of their foul feasting.
Troglodytes have a simple, communal culture devoted almost entirely to procuring food. Too simple to plan more than a few days into the future, troglodytes rely on constant raids and hunting to survive. They take sadistic pleasure in hunting intelligent creatures weaker than themselves and show no mercy toward those they capture and drag back to their lairs to be devoured. The largest and toughest troglodytes lead the hunt and become the leaders of their tribes. However, if a leader shows any weakness or hesitation, other troglodytes attack and eat it in a frenzy.
Troglodytes make little and build less, scavenging their possessions from their prey. They understand the value of metal weapons and armor, and fight among one another for the right to have such items. A troglodyte tribe might be torn apart by battles over a single longsword.
Some troglodytes venerate Laogzed, a demonic, monstrously fat toad-lizard that slumbers in the Abyss. Laogzed offers the troglodytes nothing in return except aspiration, for it is the dream of his troglodyte worshipers to become as fat, well-fed, and wearily content as he seems to be.
As Lucy relates the information, and they plan their next move, Gruenic says "Hmm, what if we threw a sword or some bauble down there for them to fight over and weaken each other, then we could finish them off? Perhaps from above, with arrows or a spell? I am curious about what you said to the southwest, another passageway like this one?"
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
(Checking in - giving time for the team to discuss plans)
Sila looks towards the cavern down the stairs and remembers the other stairway that leads lower just to the South East of it. "They are lower than us from the description you gave. There is a stairway near this one that goes even lower. It might put us down to an even level with them?"
(cropped a little of the map on the previous page )