(OOC: It doesn't look like anyone has taken definitive ownership of the dagger so, based on the possibilities mention above and some of the conversations in the OOC Chat, I'll interpret it as Gulp taking it.)
Sandlot and Undertow talk about the crab's not-so-helpful words for a second and then turn to discuss the loot the rest of the party found in the cabin. The cleric collects the gold coins and gems out of the chests and into his seaweed bag of holding. The ranger passes on the ownership of the adamantine dagger, allowing Gulp to claim it as his own.
Shanty explains he does not need the enchanted candle, so Bubbles claims it instead. Using some of the cordage found about the wreck, the barbarian binds the thick candle to Last Rite's shaft. The whole contraption is a bit precarious and clumsy and it is not instilling Bubbles with a lot of confidence that it'll hold.
Having already claimed the silvered javelin for himself, Barnacle waits for his companions to finish gathering their things and ponders if his weapon needs a name too.
"Off track, we are getting a bit..."Sandlot said, giving a half-smile seeing Bubbles contraption. "Time it is, this one thinks... An idea forming of cause, but... proof we find within coral."He adds, nodding sagely at the thought. "So, go we must... go we do, to within the coral... but wary, we must remain... What is dead, does not die again easily... Not while close to core, this one is certain."With that grim assurance spoken, the aged Locathah floats there awaiting for the more stalwart to take up the proverbial charge at that point, and lead the procession back to the opening... and beyond it.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
When you realize you're doing too much: Signature.
Snapping back to the matter at hand, Barnacle looks at the others, "Any thoughts on changing our marching order? If not, we can press on in the same fashion and heed Sandlot's words."
Did not he said it from the start? On the other fin, they would not get the cool candle and gold would be useful to the village. All good. Gulp mover forward with his globe of light, though, keeping close to Bubbles and Barnacle.
OOC: Where's the duct tape when you need it - geesshhh.
Finishing the binding of the candle to the haft of his weapon he contemplates the haphazard binding for a second or to before stating "That will have to do I guess" to no-one in particular.
As the sagely Sandlot he takes in his words, and as he is following the others back out he repeats th instructions to himself a few times "Coral....be wary......make dead deader - got it - let's go..."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Bubbles the Barbarian" (Locathah - Lvl 9) - Locathah Rising; Shai'ere Delatete (Githyanki Monk - Lvl 9) Rrakkma (deceased - MindFlayer); Saros Rockfoot (Deep Gnome Diviner - Lvl 5) - The Lost Kenku & One Grung Above; Tagret (Goliath Barbarian - Lvl 2) - Tales of Faerun;
Loot and information gathered, Sandlot urges his companions to move onward, albeit carefully. Barnacle ponders if they should shift the marching order a bit but reverts to leading the group back into the hull himself. Bubbles gives his pike-candle combo contraption a couple of thrusts and focuses on the task ahead. Gulp comes to terms with the time spent within the shipwreck and follows Bubbles and Barnacle out of the ship alongside his trusty globe of magical light. Sandlot exits next, followed closely by Shanty, Undertow, and Riptide.
Once the entire party exits the ship through the large opening in its back portion, they take a moment to take in their surroundings. They find themselves in an enormous, cavernous opening as if much of the mystical coral mountain was hollow within the thick coral-and-ship walls they saw outside. Those with darkvision can tell that the cavern ceiling within the coral mountain is approximately 50 feet above the sandy ocean floor. In fact, the sea floor here is compacted sand with some small stone outcroppings, though none big enough to properly stand on. The violent water currents from outside do not ravage this cavern, and the water here is mostly still. Shanty and Undertow (passive nature) would have expected as much, as they understand that the water from outside should be slowly filtering through the coral that encompasses this area.
Bubbles finds his decision to take the Candle of the Deep justified as there is no source of light within the cavern other than the ones the party brought along. At least not in the immediate surroundings. Shanty is the one who can see the farthest (120 feet), followed by Undertow(Goggles of Night) and Riptide (60 feet each). The others are limited by Gulp's Driftglobe (40 feet) and Bubbles' candle (10 feet).
Ahead of them, the party sees an area that goes well beyond where their vision extends, stretching into the darkness. Thousands of humanoid corpses (humans, elves, dwarves, halflings, gnomes, and the odd half-orc) are neatly arranged in lines along the sea floor beneath the ceiling of the coral mountain, in some kind of macabre underwater morgue. Many of the locathah have spent enough time on ships or dry land to recognize that most of corpses here are dressed in uniforms common among surface-dwellers traveling at sea.
Should they want to move forward, Shanty describes the general area he can see to the party. He can see four possible paths ahead (see map below.)
"I say we go straight to the center - where else would be anything serious?" It was hard to tell where the center actually is but certainly not near the now petrified remains of the ships.
Currently playing in: Quest for the Shunned City, Coliseum of Conquest, DragonDenn's Dragonlords, Shipwrecked on Fugue, Tomb of Annihilation, Razor's Lost Mine of Phandelver, The Lost Kenku & One Grung Above
Currently DMing: Princes of the Apocalypse, Out of the Abyss, Coliseum of Conquest—The Arena (Sometimes)
Barnacle nods in agreement; it's not his place to question his more learned betters.
"The entrance to the ship is a choke point, should any of these topsiders decide to form a welcoming party, I doubt we could do much better than to hold them there. Be ready to skedaddle."
"Wise words, these are.... Prepare, this one will be." Sandlot said, though somewhat absently in the moment. For try as he might've, the aged Locathah couldn't help but look at the neat rows of bodies with both apprehension and disgust. Once the group is on the move again, he would mutter just loud enough for the group at least to hear, "Worst than thought, this one sees.... But why an army.... Why now...."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
When you realize you're doing too much: Signature.
Barnacle fashions a quick plan should the numerous corpses lying in front of the party give them any trouble. Sandlot agrees to his companion's displayed caution, and wonders why an army of undead would be needed under a coral mountain.
Gulp waves such concerns away for now. Sensing no immediate danger from rows upon rows of dead surface-dwellers, the monk suggests that the group simply continues walking forward. Shanty agrees, and urges the party onward by casting a magical light upon Barnacle's shield. The fighter leads the group forward, as he has been doing since they entered the Darkening.
As they move, the party comes across more and more rows of neatly arranged corpses. Every now and then, the party notices a gap in a row here and another one over there, indicating some missing bodies. After some time, the party comes to a section of this large cavernous opening that begins to narrow a bit and close on itself. That's not to say that there aren't even more ways for the locathah to explore. In addition to the paths they had identified earlier (paths 1, 6, and 7 in the new map below), they now also see two other sunken ships with openings in their hulls (paths 2 and 4), a narrow gap leading upward between one of these new wrecks and a third one (path 3), and yet another passage leading to one more ship that has become part of the coral wall (path 5).
MAP:
STAR = Party
(OOC: Anyone interested in analyzing the bodies should roll a medicine check. If looking into their pockets, roll an investigation check instead.)
To be honest, Gulp did not like to deal with dead people, regardless of the race. This is either pointless - the dead is dead, sad - obviously, or dangerous. Or all at once. Right now it was definitely more on a "dangerous" side and the monk did his best to calm wild imagination and push away a picture of all those bodies raising at once.
"Looks like we went through it to the other wall. Anyone senses something? Sees? There is nothing but the bodies. I'd check this "upstairs" way. Anyone's with me?" There were three sources of light now and Gulp felt like he can take one with him just to check briefly the surroundings. If there were no objections, he carefully swam upward (path 3).
Currently playing in: Quest for the Shunned City, Coliseum of Conquest, DragonDenn's Dragonlords, Shipwrecked on Fugue, Tomb of Annihilation, Razor's Lost Mine of Phandelver, The Lost Kenku & One Grung Above
Currently DMing: Princes of the Apocalypse, Out of the Abyss, Coliseum of Conquest—The Arena (Sometimes)
While the others either contemplated/responded to Gulp's request, Shanty wasn't the only one interested in the bodies. Initially, the more aged Locathah had tried to put off even going more remotely near them, least some magical trap or curse tied into the ritual lead to his or the party's fall. But though assured now more than ever of the certainty that the whole set up was some form of ritual in the making, the comment from the crab yet plagued his mind.
He needed further proof to confirm his theories. And while the other lost souls they fought had been too far gone to hopefully learn anything more, hope had been kindled in his heart. Hope in their being some symbols, body arrangements, or even the removal of certain parts narrowing down the specifics of the ritual; and thus, aid him in figuring out how to undo it once they eventually reached the center. So again, he burbled in elvish a request for Eldath's guidance and blessing before drifting down towards the nearest body for a closer examination...
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Barnacle stays central as the group takes a moment to examine the bodies, keeping his shield raised to offer a little light to those that need it.
Given his decision to not get too close to the bodies, Barnacle turns his attention to the various uniforms on display. Casting an eye over them for insignia, Barnacle attempts to recall whether he knows any of them or can tell their relative ages.
"... A....moment G'ulp.... just a few.... need to confirm something, this one does...... Up is likely, the course we should take.... but some rituals.. some curses.... need to be assured, this one must, that this is not the madness of surface dwellers... for if so, the source of it, this one is assured.... the source would be deep and buried... not up above."He assures Gulp, if albeit absently, as the examination took much of his focus.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
When you realize you're doing too much: Signature.
Gulp doesn't seem interested on the corpses at first and, as such, encourages his companions to keep moving. Sandlot asks for a moment, mentioning a potential curse and the suspected ritual. This earns Gulp's attention and he relents, giving the party the time they need to perform their examinations.
Sandlot spends several minutes examining a randomly selected corpse, then moving on to a second one and a third. After a while, he concludes that these sailors also died from drowning, lending further credence to his earlier theories. The cleric also finds a dried drop of blood in one of the corpse's blouse. Sandlot does not recognize its source, although he is sure it doesn't belong to a humanoid. Finally, the corpses here also seem to be more decayed than they should be based on the number of days since the Darkening began.
Barnacle looks about the field of corpses as well. Paying attention to their clothes more specifically, he thinks he spots some merchants, private sailors, and even pirates. He also comes across some victims wearing tabards that display an emblem he is familiar with, confirming that many of the drowned served on the Thurmish army.
Shanty also partakes in the study of the corpses, though the bard seems more interested in their pockets. The first one he examines bears no fruit, but the second one wore an pearl earring that is of some value (worth 25gp.) The third corpse also fails to offer anything worth Shanty's time, but inside the fourth one's left boot, he finds another 4gp. Shanty arrives at the conclusion that whoever placed the corpses so neatly on the sea floor did not spend the necessary amount time to relieve them from their valuables. The bard surmises that were the party to dedicate the necessary amount of time to the task, they could potentially collect hundreds of gold pieces worth of riches.
"Anything?" Gulp watched Sandot's manipulations with cautious curiosity. Once it became clear the corpses did not hold any answer he shrugged. "The dead is dead. Unless it's undead. But in this case I would rather be some place else than here. Let's go up?"
Noting the absence of any Thayan uniforms, Barnacle knows it could be that they cannot be seen from his current position. Maybe they're somewhere else in here?
(OOC: It doesn't look like anyone has taken definitive ownership of the dagger so, based on the possibilities mention above and some of the conversations in the OOC Chat, I'll interpret it as Gulp taking it.)
Sandlot and Undertow talk about the crab's not-so-helpful words for a second and then turn to discuss the loot the rest of the party found in the cabin. The cleric collects the gold coins and gems out of the chests and into his seaweed bag of holding. The ranger passes on the ownership of the adamantine dagger, allowing Gulp to claim it as his own.
Shanty explains he does not need the enchanted candle, so Bubbles claims it instead. Using some of the cordage found about the wreck, the barbarian binds the thick candle to Last Rite's shaft. The whole contraption is a bit precarious and clumsy and it is not instilling Bubbles with a lot of confidence that it'll hold.
Having already claimed the silvered javelin for himself, Barnacle waits for his companions to finish gathering their things and ponders if his weapon needs a name too.
(OOC: What is the group doing next?)
"Off track, we are getting a bit..." Sandlot said, giving a half-smile seeing Bubbles contraption. "Time it is, this one thinks... An idea forming of cause, but... proof we find within coral." He adds, nodding sagely at the thought. "So, go we must... go we do, to within the coral... but wary, we must remain... What is dead, does not die again easily... Not while close to core, this one is certain." With that grim assurance spoken, the aged Locathah floats there awaiting for the more stalwart to take up the proverbial charge at that point, and lead the procession back to the opening... and beyond it.
When you realize you're doing too much: Signature.
Snapping back to the matter at hand, Barnacle looks at the others, "Any thoughts on changing our marching order? If not, we can press on in the same fashion and heed Sandlot's words."
((I'll add the dagger to the Gulp's inventory))
Did not he said it from the start? On the other fin, they would not get the cool candle and gold would be useful to the village. All good. Gulp mover forward with his globe of light, though, keeping close to Bubbles and Barnacle.
Meili Liang Lvl 5 Monk
Dice
OOC: Where's the duct tape when you need it - geesshhh.
Finishing the binding of the candle to the haft of his weapon he contemplates the haphazard binding for a second or to before stating "That will have to do I guess" to no-one in particular.
As the sagely Sandlot he takes in his words, and as he is following the others back out he repeats th instructions to himself a few times "Coral....be wary......make dead deader - got it - let's go..."
"Bubbles the Barbarian" (Locathah - Lvl 9) - Locathah Rising; Shai'ere Delatete (Githyanki Monk - Lvl 9) Rrakkma (deceased - MindFlayer); Saros Rockfoot (Deep Gnome Diviner - Lvl 5) - The Lost Kenku & One Grung Above; Tagret (Goliath Barbarian - Lvl 2) - Tales of Faerun;
Loot and information gathered, Sandlot urges his companions to move onward, albeit carefully. Barnacle ponders if they should shift the marching order a bit but reverts to leading the group back into the hull himself. Bubbles gives his pike-candle combo contraption a couple of thrusts and focuses on the task ahead. Gulp comes to terms with the time spent within the shipwreck and follows Bubbles and Barnacle out of the ship alongside his trusty globe of magical light. Sandlot exits next, followed closely by Shanty, Undertow, and Riptide.
Once the entire party exits the ship through the large opening in its back portion, they take a moment to take in their surroundings. They find themselves in an enormous, cavernous opening as if much of the mystical coral mountain was hollow within the thick coral-and-ship walls they saw outside. Those with darkvision can tell that the cavern ceiling within the coral mountain is approximately 50 feet above the sandy ocean floor. In fact, the sea floor here is compacted sand with some small stone outcroppings, though none big enough to properly stand on. The violent water currents from outside do not ravage this cavern, and the water here is mostly still. Shanty and Undertow (passive nature) would have expected as much, as they understand that the water from outside should be slowly filtering through the coral that encompasses this area.
Bubbles finds his decision to take the Candle of the Deep justified as there is no source of light within the cavern other than the ones the party brought along. At least not in the immediate surroundings. Shanty is the one who can see the farthest (120 feet), followed by Undertow (Goggles of Night) and Riptide (60 feet each). The others are limited by Gulp's Driftglobe (40 feet) and Bubbles' candle (10 feet).
Ahead of them, the party sees an area that goes well beyond where their vision extends, stretching into the darkness. Thousands of humanoid corpses (humans, elves, dwarves, halflings, gnomes, and the odd half-orc) are neatly arranged in lines along the sea floor beneath the ceiling of the coral mountain, in some kind of macabre underwater morgue. Many of the locathah have spent enough time on ships or dry land to recognize that most of corpses here are dressed in uniforms common among surface-dwellers traveling at sea.
Should they want to move forward, Shanty describes the general area he can see to the party. He can see four possible paths ahead (see map below.)
MAP:
STAR = Party's location
"I say we go straight to the center - where else would be anything serious?" It was hard to tell where the center actually is but certainly not near the now petrified remains of the ships.
((In short - path 2))
Meili Liang Lvl 5 Monk
Dice
Shanty will indeed describe what he can see, and will cast light to have another source of illumination for everyone.
"Center works just as well as anything else, I suppose."
Check out my Extended signature here
Class Guides: Barbarian, Rogue, Sorcerer, Bard General Guides: PvP
Currently playing in: Quest for the Shunned City, Coliseum of Conquest, DragonDenn's Dragonlords, Shipwrecked on Fugue, Tomb of Annihilation, Razor's Lost Mine of Phandelver, The Lost Kenku & One Grung Above
Currently DMing: Princes of the Apocalypse, Out of the Abyss, Coliseum of Conquest—The Arena (Sometimes)
Barnacle nods in agreement; it's not his place to question his more learned betters.
"The entrance to the ship is a choke point, should any of these topsiders decide to form a welcoming party, I doubt we could do much better than to hold them there. Be ready to skedaddle."
"Wise words, these are.... Prepare, this one will be." Sandlot said, though somewhat absently in the moment. For try as he might've, the aged Locathah couldn't help but look at the neat rows of bodies with both apprehension and disgust. Once the group is on the move again, he would mutter just loud enough for the group at least to hear, "Worst than thought, this one sees.... But why an army.... Why now...."
When you realize you're doing too much: Signature.
Barnacle fashions a quick plan should the numerous corpses lying in front of the party give them any trouble. Sandlot agrees to his companion's displayed caution, and wonders why an army of undead would be needed under a coral mountain.
Gulp waves such concerns away for now. Sensing no immediate danger from rows upon rows of dead surface-dwellers, the monk suggests that the group simply continues walking forward. Shanty agrees, and urges the party onward by casting a magical light upon Barnacle's shield. The fighter leads the group forward, as he has been doing since they entered the Darkening.
As they move, the party comes across more and more rows of neatly arranged corpses. Every now and then, the party notices a gap in a row here and another one over there, indicating some missing bodies. After some time, the party comes to a section of this large cavernous opening that begins to narrow a bit and close on itself. That's not to say that there aren't even more ways for the locathah to explore. In addition to the paths they had identified earlier (paths 1, 6, and 7 in the new map below), they now also see two other sunken ships with openings in their hulls (paths 2 and 4), a narrow gap leading upward between one of these new wrecks and a third one (path 3), and yet another passage leading to one more ship that has become part of the coral wall (path 5).
MAP:
STAR = Party
(OOC: Anyone interested in analyzing the bodies should roll a medicine check. If looking into their pockets, roll an investigation check instead.)
To be honest, Gulp did not like to deal with dead people, regardless of the race. This is either pointless - the dead is dead, sad - obviously, or dangerous. Or all at once. Right now it was definitely more on a "dangerous" side and the monk did his best to calm wild imagination and push away a picture of all those bodies raising at once.
"Looks like we went through it to the other wall. Anyone senses something? Sees? There is nothing but the bodies. I'd check this "upstairs" way. Anyone's with me?" There were three sources of light now and Gulp felt like he can take one with him just to check briefly the surroundings. If there were no objections, he carefully swam upward (path 3).
Meili Liang Lvl 5 Monk
Dice
Shanty will root around in their pockets. What’s the worst that could happen . . .
Investigation: 14
Check out my Extended signature here
Class Guides: Barbarian, Rogue, Sorcerer, Bard General Guides: PvP
Currently playing in: Quest for the Shunned City, Coliseum of Conquest, DragonDenn's Dragonlords, Shipwrecked on Fugue, Tomb of Annihilation, Razor's Lost Mine of Phandelver, The Lost Kenku & One Grung Above
Currently DMing: Princes of the Apocalypse, Out of the Abyss, Coliseum of Conquest—The Arena (Sometimes)
While the others either contemplated/responded to Gulp's request, Shanty wasn't the only one interested in the bodies. Initially, the more aged Locathah had tried to put off even going more remotely near them, least some magical trap or curse tied into the ritual lead to his or the party's fall. But though assured now more than ever of the certainty that the whole set up was some form of ritual in the making, the comment from the crab yet plagued his mind.
He needed further proof to confirm his theories. And while the other lost souls they fought had been too far gone to hopefully learn anything more, hope had been kindled in his heart. Hope in their being some symbols, body arrangements, or even the removal of certain parts narrowing down the specifics of the ritual; and thus, aid him in figuring out how to undo it once they eventually reached the center. So again, he burbled in elvish a request for Eldath's guidance and blessing before drifting down towards the nearest body for a closer examination...
Medicine: 20. (Includes Guidance)
When you realize you're doing too much: Signature.
Barnacle stays central as the group takes a moment to examine the bodies, keeping his shield raised to offer a little light to those that need it.
Given his decision to not get too close to the bodies, Barnacle turns his attention to the various uniforms on display. Casting an eye over them for insignia, Barnacle attempts to recall whether he knows any of them or can tell their relative ages.
History 6
(All: Slight addendum to my previous post.)
"... A....moment G'ulp.... just a few.... need to confirm something, this one does...... Up is likely, the course we should take.... but some rituals.. some curses.... need to be assured, this one must, that this is not the madness of surface dwellers... for if so, the source of it, this one is assured.... the source would be deep and buried... not up above." He assures Gulp, if albeit absently, as the examination took much of his focus.
When you realize you're doing too much: Signature.
Ok, "curses" Gl"Ulp could understand and somewhat respect (as "take your enemy serious" respect). He paused, letting Sandot examine the bodies first.
Meili Liang Lvl 5 Monk
Dice
Gulp doesn't seem interested on the corpses at first and, as such, encourages his companions to keep moving. Sandlot asks for a moment, mentioning a potential curse and the suspected ritual. This earns Gulp's attention and he relents, giving the party the time they need to perform their examinations.
Sandlot spends several minutes examining a randomly selected corpse, then moving on to a second one and a third. After a while, he concludes that these sailors also died from drowning, lending further credence to his earlier theories. The cleric also finds a dried drop of blood in one of the corpse's blouse. Sandlot does not recognize its source, although he is sure it doesn't belong to a humanoid. Finally, the corpses here also seem to be more decayed than they should be based on the number of days since the Darkening began.
Barnacle looks about the field of corpses as well. Paying attention to their clothes more specifically, he thinks he spots some merchants, private sailors, and even pirates. He also comes across some victims wearing tabards that display an emblem he is familiar with, confirming that many of the drowned served on the Thurmish army.
Shanty also partakes in the study of the corpses, though the bard seems more interested in their pockets. The first one he examines bears no fruit, but the second one wore an pearl earring that is of some value (worth 25gp.) The third corpse also fails to offer anything worth Shanty's time, but inside the fourth one's left boot, he finds another 4gp. Shanty arrives at the conclusion that whoever placed the corpses so neatly on the sea floor did not spend the necessary amount time to relieve them from their valuables. The bard surmises that were the party to dedicate the necessary amount of time to the task, they could potentially collect hundreds of gold pieces worth of riches.
"Anything?" Gulp watched Sandot's manipulations with cautious curiosity. Once it became clear the corpses did not hold any answer he shrugged. "The dead is dead. Unless it's undead. But in this case I would rather be some place else than here. Let's go up?"
Meili Liang Lvl 5 Monk
Dice
"Plenty of uniforms I recognise, not sure if that means anything. Number of bodies though; this has been going on for some time."
With that chilling thought Barnacle peers out into the surrounding darkness, watching for a sign of movement.
Perception 18
Noting the absence of any Thayan uniforms, Barnacle knows it could be that they cannot be seen from his current position. Maybe they're somewhere else in here?
He doubts it.