(OOC Housekeeping: Before we left, Doc sold his leather armor (10gp) and spent all his gold (15gp total) to buy (3) new Healing Kits.  I have a feeling we're gonna need them...)

Doc pats his coin purse and sighed when he didn't feel a single coin jingle inside.  Hopefully he's willing to bargin... Doc thought to himself before giving Arora and the others a nod and stepping forward.  The group would notice as Doc stepped forward that his eyes, which had already recently changed to an unusual golden-brown color, were now bright gold and seemingly glowing.  The glyphs on his arms, which before last night were just normal tattoos, were now also glowing - pulsing actually - with an internal radiant light.

"Hello there!  You can call me Centurion.  We're unfortunately in a bit of a hurry and a bit low on funds at the moment.  Would it be possible to pay you on our way back or do something else for you in exchange for your assistance?" 

• Persuasion: 16   

"Hm! Well, yes! You see over there to your right, where the water is shallow? Follow the edge and you'll come to a cavern. There's a colony of three Ropers there that's giving me trouble. Lots of trouble. Take care of them - meaning, murder - and i'll sail you across. No tricks."

"Is that so..." Doc replied as he slowly made his way towards the direction the gnome had pointed to.  "If that's the case, then we'll look into it and get back to you.  Before we go, can you tell us what a Roper is?  I've never heard of one before." 

(Assuming he can get within 30ft of the cavern) Once he got near the cavern's entrance, Doc looked ahead with his glowing eyes to see if he sensed any magic in the area before calling the group together.  "What do you all think?  Sounds easy enough but that mentality is probably how we end up Roper food."  

• Insight (to see if the gnome is on the up and up): 16  

• Eldritch Invocation: Eldritch Sight - You can cast detect magic at will, without expending a spell slot.

   

"Oh, you'll see! Rock like creature with tentacles. Nasty things!"

Zoldier: Seems legit.

"Did he say THREE Ropers?!" Arora asks a bit fearfully...she turns to Doc "I don't think we want to face three Ropers, those things are nasty and super hard to kill...."

She turns looking back out at the lake "It might be better to just pay him to get across.... Mr. & Mrs. Roper... and a third Roper.... that's Three's Company... I wonder if the Gnomes name is Jack?" she mutters to herself.

Daewen’s duty is to her team, her force, and most importantly, her Queen. The order fluctuates by the minute. In this moment, her Queen’s desire to send her back souls is taking the lead, as she hungers to join Zhi in on eviscerating the gnomes guts all over the stupid little stalagmite in the middle of the lake.  Maybe even to use the little pipsqueek’s intestines as bait, and catch whatever tasty animals that might be swimming in the lake, for dinner tonight.

Yeah, her mind is wandering. She’s bored, and pissed off that this stupid little albino garden statue is impeding this route.

She silently counts down from 10, trying to calm her nerves and prevent herself from doing something stupid she’ll regret later. 

(mobile)

”Three Ropers should be of little issue,” Zhi snarls, boredom hinging on irritation clear in his raspy voice. He mutters a spell - his scaly skin becomes outlined in a snakeskin webbing of arcane force (mage armor) as he watches, growing more and more irritated with every passing moment. He eventually rolls his eyes and snarls - “Fine. I will verify the wipers by myself. Nephvir, I would ask you to recall our conversation from earlier where I mentioned stealthiness and scouting is unnecessary, though I am unsure if your mental prowess is capable enough of remembering much. Regardless, I will show you why you are no longer needed,” he nastily snarls, dialing up his irritability. 

He turns towards the direction of the cave as his eyes roll back. He mutters in a forgotten tongue as a crystal ball levitates before him - he sways, for his senses are no longer with him; and on the rocky ground, it is questionable if he will maintain his footing - Zhi isn’t exactly the most physically capable. Regardless, a clairvoyance sensor appears in the mentioned cave as Zhi recovers a first-level spell by siphoning the energy of the divination. 

You see a large cavern with nothing but lots of stalagmites. Nothing is moving in here. It's like a snapshot of a cave.

"So Zhi-myster, what do you see??" Arora inquires of the 'all-seeing' wizard "How many ropers are in there??  and where are they located?"  

Zhi's eyes roll forwards as he takes a moment to orient himself. "I was mainly ensuring the validity of the gnome's statement. I do not see any ropers, though I assume they have methods of disguising there presence. At the very least, this is not some form of ambush." Zhi shrugs and folds his arms. "Nephvir, you have my apologies. You do have some use; bait. Let us proceed, shall we?" 

Arora pulls a bit of a face "Do you know what a roper ever looks like?" she mutters.  She looks to Daewen and Neph "Well, I guess it's up to us to scout ahead and figure things out as usual" she leans in a bit closer to them "It's obvious that Zhi doesn't really know how to scout ahead..." she says softly.  With that, she will do her 'disappearing trick' as this is her and Daewen's true element, and will head off towards the cave to actually inspect it....at least from the opening of the cave.

Stealth: 18

Aroraception: 12

Daewen is invisible, so here’s her audible stealth: 20

Perception: 9

16

So far, it just appears to be a normal subterranean cave. If there are ropers here, you cannot see them.

Neph pulls his cloak over his head, moves to the shadows, and the very edge of the room, trying to stay to the periphery.  He does his best to appear like a bald stalagmite, inching forward every minute or two.  He points his finger under his cloak at Daewen and sends a message, "See anything?"  Remaining utterly silent.

Stealth : 21 

Perception :  24 

13

Still nothing. Whatever is in here, it hasn't noticed you due to how quiet/stealthy you're being.

Nephvir casts mage hand, and with mage hand legerdemain makes it an invisible hand.  Starting with the stalactites furthest away from us, he's going to "goose" the stalactites with the hand, rubbing their knobby ends and giving them a little pinch, to see if any react.  Slowly he will move to each one, assessing a response.  

It's going to take a while. It's a big cavern and there's lots of stalactites. While you do this, what are the rest of you doing? Where are the rest of you?

Daewen responds back to Neph: “Nut-n-honey!  I think we should press on further deep into this cavern. Master Zhi knows nothing about the underdark, and is bluffing his weak-ass ego out of his ass. I’m going in.”

And with that, Daewen creeps further into the cave, trying to stick to the wall on the other side of where Neph is going.

Perception: 20

OOC: Neph is heading into the cave along one wall, Daewen along the other wall. Arora?  Maybe down the middle?  Dunno. 

21

Daewen, one of the stalagtites, a huge one that you didn't notice was there before suddenly has a huge toothy maw, tendrils, and an eyeball. It drops to the ground in front of you and prepares to eat you.

Roll for initiative.

Roper1: 13