A weary-looking paladin studies the harengon newcomer for a moment or two and then states simply, "Welcome, Walks with Shadows. I am Angus Killburney of the Knights of Myth Drannor. I ... wasn't expecting to encounter any friendly faces out here on the moor. How come you to be here?"
"I had a calling. Sometimes a higher power lets people like myself know when death is near," she gives you a wink then takes a seat near your group.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
Marlyth will move closer to the new-comer when she feels less nervous about the presence of the stranger while leaving behind a faint scent of fresh green-apple and sunshine. She folds the length of her dark skirt carefully so that she can move freely, then kneels beside the smaller companion:
"You must be really lucky since you have four paws attached to your body"- she points her finger to the feet of the rabbit/harengon girl, then adds:
"We, the Hybsils would often harvest the front foot of a rabbit and carry it around as a symbol of good luck."
She pauses abruptly in order to swing the feathered Totem side-by-side and casts Find Familiar using her 'Wildshape' feature to summon a flying fey spirit. The spirit takes the form of a Blood Hawk and hastily positions itself on her forearm.
"Are you being followed by anyone else?"
(Welcome to the party! My socially awkward yet altruistic druid-ranger PC will be pleased to meet both of you.)
<Welcome Culuril. Play by play for this chapter: Departure from the tomb of Sylvene's husband, Waltarn, some overland travel to a hill. 3 galeb duhr open a sealed Shrine on the north side, allowing entry. Party enters, fights 2 undead giant constrictor snakes. Long rest, and here we are. There is another entrance to the hill, a few hundred feet to the West, sealed with a large stone. The rock guys seem surprised you didn't encounter a giant in yiur exploration of the cave. Oh, yeah, and the central shaft of the area inside the csvern is clearly man made and gravity is inverted. Some of the side chambers are also man-made. Technically, they are magically made. Back at Waltarn's tomb, the group found an artifact called a chip of creation, that allows the attuned creature to create and access pocket dimensions per the demiplane.>
Walks looks at Marlyth and tilts her head. An unusual custom, a bit but not entirely unheard of. "I have seen similar customs in my travels. People take teeth, nails, or bones from enemies they have conquered. I don't follow such practices, but I think they do it for power or bravery or like you said, luck."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
Tabaqui yawns. "The gods have sent you to the right place then, we've seen plenty of death the last few weeks. Angus here has seen it a little too close, eh?" he smirks.
Just as Walks with Shadows has introduced herself, a human figure appears from near the crest of the hill. His off-white cloak and rich brown robes flutter a bit in the wind until he starts the trek down towards the group. He wears a head scarf the same color as his cloak.
As he nears, he gives the group a smile. "Well, I did not expect to find a crowd out here! I am Tauzan Sarava of the Marching Mountains, and humble scholar. What brings you all out here upon the Moor?"
Now closer, you can see his dark brown hair escaping a bit from his head covering. His skin looks tan and his eyes are hazel. He carries only a pack and an unusual curved sword (a khopesh) at his belt.
Tauzan takes Calner's offer and steps closer to get into the lee. "Much better," he says. "I'm not much of a classroom scholar. Not for several years at least. But my investigations have suggested I might find more information here."
He looks around at the rest of the group. "So that's why I'm here. What about all of you?"
(OOC: Tauzan would probably not just come out and say he is here to find Sylvene's artifact. Either they tell him their purpose or not. Both ways he would still welcome going with them and be a little wary as to their intention until he knows them better. So, we don't need to play out the whole conversation if you prefer. I'd just need to know if the party lets on to specifically what they are doing.)
The Blood Hawk perched on Marlyth's forearm suddenly grows wary of the strangers as if he can sense the anxiety of the tiefling companion, he moves his head side to side while letting out screeching noise as a warning. Marlyth will scratch his head, then release the bird and let him scout the place.
She will pull out the draft version of the map of Sword Coast, and use a set of compass, line gauge from her Cartographer's Tool to draw an estimated floor plan of the inside of the cavern at the opposite side of the parchment.
"....there's a dark hole at the bottom of the long chamber and a mysterious picture... We've been using climbing gears paired with thick spider-webs to move and search for the object of interest for the last few hours."
Angus smiles amiably. "The more, the merrier. Our friends have been dwindling while our enemies have multiplied. It will be good to have more companions in battle."
Tauzen nods to Calner and Angus. "I have heard of Sylvene," he says cautiously. "And I would be glad to lend you all a hand."
He tries studying Marlyth's diagram and listens to her explanations. "The hole is at the bottom. But gravity is reversed? So you have to climb 'up' to the bottom?"
He's clearly trying to piece it together but seems eager to see it for himself.
Tabaqui has mixed feelings about the new members of the party. More bodies means his share of the treasure gets smaller. On the other hand, more bodies means he has a better chance of surviving to spend that treasure, rather than winding up a decaying corpse in this forsaken place. He stands and says, "Well, if we're all working toward the same goal, we might as well do it together."
Marlyth will attempt to explain the issue of reversed gravity(!) by exemplifying the case of SkeletalHorror and she discourages the scholar from taking unnecessary risk by trying to fall or move freely since it might result in total disaster. Then she replies to the question posed by Calner:
"If we get the chance to meet one, that will be really interesting. It's quite impossible for a large creature to squeeze through the narrow space that we've been using."
The patient rocks 🪨 wait until everyone has finished speaking g, following g along in the conversation, but biding their time before intersecting. The furthest from your group responds, seemingly to Marlyrh's point, "Indeed, it wouldn't make much sense for him to try and squeeze under the scalies' shrine when he could just walk right in through the mouth of the cave."
Marlyth will attempt to explain the issue of reversed gravity(!) by exemplifying the case of SkeletalHorror and she discourages the scholar from taking unnecessary risk by trying to fall or move freely since it might result in total disaster. Then she replies to the question posed by Calner:
"If we get the chance to meet one, that will be really interesting. It's quite impossible for a large creature to squeeze through the narrow space that we've been using."
"What if it were dead, then put back together inside?"
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
Marlyth shudders at the thought of death and the possible intervention of a necromancer, but doesn't wish to continue the conversation further. She agrees with the words of the Galeb Duhrs and feels ashamed of the fact that she couldn't think of the simple solution earlier.
"Let's see if we can find him somewhere around the mouth of the cavern."
The rock folk consent to the promt and roll up into little boulders once more, barreling their way to the west side if the hill, where an opening is sealed by two large stones, easily 1,000lbs each. As they resume humanoid form, the quietest of the group of galeb duhr, who has thus far said nothing, calls out in Terran, "Wake up, Uguniano. Wake up, Malukalathi".
The pair of tall stones sealing the entrance tremble in response, slowly leaning, leaning, then falling. Rolling end over end, they join the galeb duhr, leaving the mouth of the cave freely accessible.
The cleft is little more than a fracture in the stone underneath the turf of the hillside. It’s tall and narrow and might be easily traversed at ground level if not for half a dozen six-foot-tall boulders set into the cleft now, almost like they’re neatly queued up to go inside.
Again, the galeb duhr cries out and the six stones roll out of the way.
The cleft shrinks to become a recessed passage leading into the hillside beneath a rough ceiling of rock. At the end of that natural passage is a huge, humanoid statue made of stone, with its back to you.
"I had a calling. Sometimes a higher power lets people like myself know when death is near," she gives you a wink then takes a seat near your group.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
Marlyth will move closer to the new-comer when she feels less nervous about the presence of the stranger while leaving behind a faint scent of fresh green-apple and sunshine. She folds the length of her dark skirt carefully so that she can move freely, then kneels beside the smaller companion:
"You must be really lucky since you have four paws attached to your body"- she points her finger to the feet of the rabbit/harengon girl, then adds:
"We, the Hybsils would often harvest the front foot of a rabbit and carry it around as a symbol of good luck."
She pauses abruptly in order to swing the feathered Totem side-by-side and casts Find Familiar using her 'Wildshape' feature to summon a flying fey spirit. The spirit takes the form of a Blood Hawk and hastily positions itself on her forearm.
"Are you being followed by anyone else?"
(Welcome to the party! My socially awkward yet altruistic druid-ranger PC will be pleased to meet both of you.)
InkedBee (Undead_Analyst)
Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts - Jenviel Tsumara: Fallen Aasimar- Monk|Crimson Sands of Time - Navarra Iltazyara: Human- Druid/Warlock| Bleak Prospect - Ermasnietsz: Reborn- Clockwork Soul Sorcerer
<Welcome Culuril. Play by play for this chapter: Departure from the tomb of Sylvene's husband, Waltarn, some overland travel to a hill. 3 galeb duhr open a sealed Shrine on the north side, allowing entry. Party enters, fights 2 undead giant constrictor snakes. Long rest, and here we are. There is another entrance to the hill, a few hundred feet to the West, sealed with a large stone. The rock guys seem surprised you didn't encounter a giant in yiur exploration of the cave. Oh, yeah, and the central shaft of the area inside the csvern is clearly man made and gravity is inverted. Some of the side chambers are also man-made. Technically, they are magically made. Back at Waltarn's tomb, the group found an artifact called a chip of creation, that allows the attuned creature to create and access pocket dimensions per the demiplane.>
Walks looks at Marlyth and tilts her head. An unusual custom, a bit but not entirely unheard of. "I have seen similar customs in my travels. People take teeth, nails, or bones from enemies they have conquered. I don't follow such practices, but I think they do it for power or bravery or like you said, luck."
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
Tabaqui yawns. "The gods have sent you to the right place then, we've seen plenty of death the last few weeks. Angus here has seen it a little too close, eh?" he smirks.
Just as Walks with Shadows has introduced herself, a human figure appears from near the crest of the hill. His off-white cloak and rich brown robes flutter a bit in the wind until he starts the trek down towards the group. He wears a head scarf the same color as his cloak.
As he nears, he gives the group a smile. "Well, I did not expect to find a crowd out here! I am Tauzan Sarava of the Marching Mountains, and humble scholar. What brings you all out here upon the Moor?"
Now closer, you can see his dark brown hair escaping a bit from his head covering. His skin looks tan and his eyes are hazel. He carries only a pack and an unusual curved sword (a khopesh) at his belt.
Rabbit Sebrica, Sorcerer || Skarai, Monk || Lokilia Vaelphin, Druid || Liivi Orav, Barbarian || Vanizi, Warlock || Britari / Halila Talgeta / Jesa Gumovi || Neital Rhessil, Wizard
Iromae Quinaea, Cleric || Roxana Raincrest, Rogue || Meira Dheran, Rogue || Qirynna Thadri, Wizard || Crisaryn Melkial, Sorcerer
<up to you guys if you want to tell them, but they're here for the same general reason, just heard about it by different means.>
Tauzan takes Calner's offer and steps closer to get into the lee. "Much better," he says. "I'm not much of a classroom scholar. Not for several years at least. But my investigations have suggested I might find more information here."
He looks around at the rest of the group. "So that's why I'm here. What about all of you?"
Rabbit Sebrica, Sorcerer || Skarai, Monk || Lokilia Vaelphin, Druid || Liivi Orav, Barbarian || Vanizi, Warlock || Britari / Halila Talgeta / Jesa Gumovi || Neital Rhessil, Wizard
Iromae Quinaea, Cleric || Roxana Raincrest, Rogue || Meira Dheran, Rogue || Qirynna Thadri, Wizard || Crisaryn Melkial, Sorcerer
<Not looking for a recap. The new players know what's up, just deciding g if you're one cohesive unit or initially wary of each other>.
Let me know if via the rock guys when you're ready to go back in the place and feel free to skip them to elaborate on the giant.
(OOC: Tauzan would probably not just come out and say he is here to find Sylvene's artifact. Either they tell him their purpose or not. Both ways he would still welcome going with them and be a little wary as to their intention until he knows them better. So, we don't need to play out the whole conversation if you prefer. I'd just need to know if the party lets on to specifically what they are doing.)
Rabbit Sebrica, Sorcerer || Skarai, Monk || Lokilia Vaelphin, Druid || Liivi Orav, Barbarian || Vanizi, Warlock || Britari / Halila Talgeta / Jesa Gumovi || Neital Rhessil, Wizard
Iromae Quinaea, Cleric || Roxana Raincrest, Rogue || Meira Dheran, Rogue || Qirynna Thadri, Wizard || Crisaryn Melkial, Sorcerer
The Blood Hawk perched on Marlyth's forearm suddenly grows wary of the strangers as if he can sense the anxiety of the tiefling companion, he moves his head side to side while letting out screeching noise as a warning. Marlyth will scratch his head, then release the bird and let him scout the place.
She will pull out the draft version of the map of Sword Coast, and use a set of compass, line gauge from her Cartographer's Tool to draw an estimated floor plan of the inside of the cavern at the opposite side of the parchment.
"....there's a dark hole at the bottom of the long chamber and a mysterious picture... We've been using climbing gears paired with thick spider-webs to move and search for the object of interest for the last few hours."
InkedBee (Undead_Analyst)
Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts - Jenviel Tsumara: Fallen Aasimar- Monk|Crimson Sands of Time - Navarra Iltazyara: Human- Druid/Warlock| Bleak Prospect - Ermasnietsz: Reborn- Clockwork Soul Sorcerer
Angus smiles amiably. "The more, the merrier. Our friends have been dwindling while our enemies have multiplied. It will be good to have more companions in battle."
Tauzen nods to Calner and Angus. "I have heard of Sylvene," he says cautiously. "And I would be glad to lend you all a hand."
He tries studying Marlyth's diagram and listens to her explanations. "The hole is at the bottom. But gravity is reversed? So you have to climb 'up' to the bottom?"
He's clearly trying to piece it together but seems eager to see it for himself.
Rabbit Sebrica, Sorcerer || Skarai, Monk || Lokilia Vaelphin, Druid || Liivi Orav, Barbarian || Vanizi, Warlock || Britari / Halila Talgeta / Jesa Gumovi || Neital Rhessil, Wizard
Iromae Quinaea, Cleric || Roxana Raincrest, Rogue || Meira Dheran, Rogue || Qirynna Thadri, Wizard || Crisaryn Melkial, Sorcerer
Walks nods her head, stands, and rubs her hands together. "A worthy quest, shall we get started?"
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
Tabaqui has mixed feelings about the new members of the party. More bodies means his share of the treasure gets smaller. On the other hand, more bodies means he has a better chance of surviving to spend that treasure, rather than winding up a decaying corpse in this forsaken place. He stands and says, "Well, if we're all working toward the same goal, we might as well do it together."
Marlyth will attempt to explain the issue of reversed gravity(!) by exemplifying the case of Skeletal Horror and she discourages the scholar from taking unnecessary risk by trying to fall or move freely since it might result in total disaster. Then she replies to the question posed by Calner:
"If we get the chance to meet one, that will be really interesting. It's quite impossible for a large creature to squeeze through the narrow space that we've been using."
InkedBee (Undead_Analyst)
Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts - Jenviel Tsumara: Fallen Aasimar- Monk|Crimson Sands of Time - Navarra Iltazyara: Human- Druid/Warlock| Bleak Prospect - Ermasnietsz: Reborn- Clockwork Soul Sorcerer
The patient rocks 🪨 wait until everyone has finished speaking g, following g along in the conversation, but biding their time before intersecting. The furthest from your group responds, seemingly to Marlyrh's point, "Indeed, it wouldn't make much sense for him to try and squeeze under the scalies' shrine when he could just walk right in through the mouth of the cave."
"What if it were dead, then put back together inside?"
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
Marlyth shudders at the thought of death and the possible intervention of a necromancer, but doesn't wish to continue the conversation further. She agrees with the words of the Galeb Duhrs and feels ashamed of the fact that she couldn't think of the simple solution earlier.
"Let's see if we can find him somewhere around the mouth of the cavern."
InkedBee (Undead_Analyst)
Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts - Jenviel Tsumara: Fallen Aasimar- Monk|Crimson Sands of Time - Navarra Iltazyara: Human- Druid/Warlock| Bleak Prospect - Ermasnietsz: Reborn- Clockwork Soul Sorcerer
The rock folk consent to the promt and roll up into little boulders once more, barreling their way to the west side if the hill, where an opening is sealed by two large stones, easily 1,000lbs each. As they resume humanoid form, the quietest of the group of galeb duhr, who has thus far said nothing, calls out in Terran, "Wake up, Uguniano. Wake up, Malukalathi".
The pair of tall stones sealing the entrance tremble in response, slowly leaning, leaning, then falling. Rolling end over end, they join the galeb duhr, leaving the mouth of the cave freely accessible.
The cleft is little more than a fracture in the stone underneath the turf of the hillside. It’s tall and narrow and might be easily traversed at ground level if not for half a dozen six-foot-tall boulders set into the cleft now, almost like they’re neatly queued up to go inside.
Again, the galeb duhr cries out and the six stones roll out of the way.
The cleft shrinks to become a recessed passage leading into the hillside beneath a rough ceiling of rock. At the end of that natural passage is a huge, humanoid statue made of stone, with its back to you.
*this area is dimly lit by natural light