"Well, it's not very precise," Sier answers Lyla. "But I can tell when a living being is close. Not their exact location, but that they're within a certain range. Your friends just left that range, so I detect them no longer. Either they died or they got out of range."
--
All either of you is able to tell is that the bones appear to be a Human's. However, not that you walked a little farther into the tunnel, you notice there are a lot more bones scattered. Most of them are fully intact, but a few are broken. Nevertheless, these surely belong to quite a few people.
“How horrible. Well, I can’t tell anything about how they may have died, or who they may have been. But they are people.” She says a prayer for their souls to the goddess.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
“Horrible, indeed”Randal murmurs “Even more so if we were to share their fate. Let’s avoid that shall we?” He continues on down the tunnel, moving carefully and quietly, boots crunching softly on the bones littering the ground and his eyes alert to danger. “We have come too far to turn back now. Let’s see this through.”
Perception 6, stealth 15. Tess tries to be as quiet as possible, but she can’t look around much being too horrified by the bones. “It’s like another nightmare.” She says quietly, half to herself.
More skeletons all around as you keep walking through the tunnel. Hard to tell exactly, but perhaps two dozen, based on skulls. Most of them, so it seems, have died near the hole down which you climbed before. After a certain spot where many bones were scattered, their number rapidly declines until, at some point, you no longer see any. If the cause of their demise, however, is still there, you see no sign of it.
Eventually, after walking for a couple of minutes, you end up reaching what at first seems to be the end. The tree roots block your way, and it seems you can go no further. However, looking closely, you notice there's no earth between the roots. In other words, it may be possible to pass through them. Some are thick and heavy, others long and thin, but the real problem is there are so many of them, so tightly packed, there isn't any gap to walk through. Trying to force your way through wouldn't work either - many of the roots just too thick and heavy.
**“We need Sier here, I bet he could just tell these roots to move or something**. “. Tess searches around for a way through, or any clues. 6 investigation.
frustrated, she tries saying “ok tree roots, let us through” in common, and then in Elvish. “I don’t speak tree” she tells Roland apologetically.
“A dead end,”Randal sighs. He tries to pull and tug at the roots blocking their way without much success and even tries to peek through the cracks to see if he can spot anything on the far side. “I don’t speak tree, either.” he replies to Tess “But I may be able to get its attention. Are you sure we want to keep moving forward?”
He pulls out one of his own torches and holds it against Tess’ torch to light it. He steps forward toward the roots and prepares to thrust the torch against the wood.
The roots are too inflexible and heavy, and despite her best efforts, Tess cannot move the roots by strength alone. Neither do the roots respond to her words in any way. Meanwhile, the light from the torch Randal holds flickers on the roots.
“No use trying to push our way through, the roots will not budge. Let’s try fire”Randal pulls Tess back away and thrusts his torch into the roots, looking up toward the roof of the tunnel with apprehension as the flames try to take hold on the wood. "Avium will not like this" he sighs.
The roots are still connected to the tree, and thus naturally, still full of water. But even if they do not catch flame immediately, that doesn't mean they're unaffected. Once the fire touches the roots, those retreat to the sides, clearing the path. Almost as if they were alive, capable of feeling pain.
Now, that path ahead is clear, but something is amiss. The roots beyond this point look dark and shrivelled, and a faint foul stench now reaches your noses.
“Good idea Randall. We can continue.. eww… something is rotten here.. and doesn’t look good. Tess ventures carefully into the newly opened area, looking around for the source of the smell.
Tess only ventures a few steps beyond where the wall of roots used to be before she sees some movement in the dim light in front of her. It is too dark to see anything exactly, but it almost seems like the tunnel's sides are moving slightly, but unlike the singular movement of each root that made the wall Tess had just crossed, the movement now seems... uniform. Almost like the entire side of the tunnel moves like one body. The motion, however, is slight. Like waves in a puddle, the change is apparent only on its surface, but does not make the puddle - or the walls of the tunnel, in this case - change its location.
Randal brings his arm up to cover his mouth with his sleeve, his other arm extended in front with the torch. “That smell, the roots, it is like the inside of the tree is dying or rotten.” He steps forward, following closely behind Tess. If he also sees the tunnel walls ripple he doesn’t understand what causes it. He approaches with caution, eyes open for any danger.
Randal does indeed see the little wall ripple as well. And as he comes closer, the light of his torch now reveals that it was not the walls that moved, but something on them. Countless bugs - small worms, grubs, maggots... all trying to eat the tree's roots. To burrow into them, but the tree constantly repairs itself, and the bugs cannot burrow inside much. But what little of the tree you can see between them, is rotten. Black and withered.
Looking back, the roots behind you - the side that now faces you - are similarly black and wrinkled. Beyond the bugs, about 30' away, you see another such wall of black roots, blocking the way. Almost as if the tree was keeping the bugs confined. For now, the bugs pay you no heed.
Randal holds the torch near the rippling walls and grimaces at the sight of the bugs. “Not a good sign. Do you think we are approaching the heart of the tree? Where is this artifact?” He continues forward toward the other wall of black roots and again tries to clear the way with his torch, pushing it into the roots.
Once again, the roots swing to the sides, clearing the way forward. However, this sudden movement seems to disturb the bugs. Crawling, flying, burrowing into the earth between the roots, they all gather where the roots just opened, faster than anyone would expect those small creatures to move. In a moment, Randal finds himself standing in front of an amorphous mass of bugs.
The top part of this mass leans into the tunnel, and it almost looks as if it is going to crawl - or slide, whatever a movement of such a strange mass of creatures can be called - farther into the tunnel. But then, rather than the lower part following after the top, the entire thing whips backwards and "leaps" on Randal. Countless bugs, trying to bite into his soft flesh. They get under his clothes, and Randal immediately starts feeling like his body's being pierced by countless needles.
As combat starts, the swarm has taken its turn. It counts as a medium creature but consists of tiny beasts. It can occupy a space simultaneously with another creature. Currently, it occupies Randal's space. The roots in front and behind you can be ignored for all purposes. Other than that, the tunnel is about 10' side to side and about 7' floor to ceiling. You can consider the tunnel straight in this area.
On its turn, the swarm attacked Randal and rolled 13. Unless Randal has a way to prevent it, he takes 6 points of piercing damage and must succeed a DC14 Constitution save or be Poisoned. While poisoned in this way, on top of the normal condition, one takes 1d6 poison damage at the end of each of their turns.
Tess recoils in horror at the sight of the bugs on Randall. She raises a hand and a bolt of fire shoots out, attempting to burn the mass of bugs without hurting her friend. Firebolt: 12 to hit
Randal recoils from the bugs, waving his torch aggressively to ward off the creatures as he lets loose a string of insults and curses at the bugs, trying to drive them away.
Action: Cast Vicious Mockery swarm must succeed on DC13 Wisdom save or take 2 psychic damage and have disadvantage on next attack.
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"Well, it's not very precise," Sier answers Lyla. "But I can tell when a living being is close. Not their exact location, but that they're within a certain range. Your friends just left that range, so I detect them no longer. Either they died or they got out of range."
--
All either of you is able to tell is that the bones appear to be a Human's. However, not that you walked a little farther into the tunnel, you notice there are a lot more bones scattered. Most of them are fully intact, but a few are broken. Nevertheless, these surely belong to quite a few people.
Varielky
“How horrible. Well, I can’t tell anything about how they may have died, or who they may have been. But they are people.” She says a prayer for their souls to the goddess.
“Horrible, indeed” Randal murmurs “Even more so if we were to share their fate. Let’s avoid that shall we?” He continues on down the tunnel, moving carefully and quietly, boots crunching softly on the bones littering the ground and his eyes alert to danger. “We have come too far to turn back now. Let’s see this through.”
Perception: 23.
Stealth: 8.
.
Perception 6, stealth 15. Tess tries to be as quiet as possible, but she can’t look around much being too horrified by the bones. “It’s like another nightmare.” She says quietly, half to herself.
More skeletons all around as you keep walking through the tunnel. Hard to tell exactly, but perhaps two dozen, based on skulls. Most of them, so it seems, have died near the hole down which you climbed before. After a certain spot where many bones were scattered, their number rapidly declines until, at some point, you no longer see any. If the cause of their demise, however, is still there, you see no sign of it.
Eventually, after walking for a couple of minutes, you end up reaching what at first seems to be the end. The tree roots block your way, and it seems you can go no further. However, looking closely, you notice there's no earth between the roots. In other words, it may be possible to pass through them. Some are thick and heavy, others long and thin, but the real problem is there are so many of them, so tightly packed, there isn't any gap to walk through. Trying to force your way through wouldn't work either - many of the roots just too thick and heavy.
Varielky
**“We need Sier here, I bet he could just tell these roots to move or something**. “. Tess searches around for a way through, or any clues. 6 investigation.
frustrated, she tries saying “ok tree roots, let us through” in common, and then in Elvish. “I don’t speak tree” she tells Roland apologetically.
“A dead end,” Randal sighs. He tries to pull and tug at the roots blocking their way without much success and even tries to peek through the cracks to see if he can spot anything on the far side. “I don’t speak tree, either.” he replies to Tess “But I may be able to get its attention. Are you sure we want to keep moving forward?”
He pulls out one of his own torches and holds it against Tess’ torch to light it. He steps forward toward the roots and prepares to thrust the torch against the wood.
“We’ve come this far… let’s see if there’s a way through. “. Tess helps shove aside some of the roots to see if they conceal any passageway.
The roots are too inflexible and heavy, and despite her best efforts, Tess cannot move the roots by strength alone. Neither do the roots respond to her words in any way. Meanwhile, the light from the torch Randal holds flickers on the roots.
Varielky
“No use trying to push our way through, the roots will not budge. Let’s try fire” Randal pulls Tess back away and thrusts his torch into the roots, looking up toward the roof of the tunnel with apprehension as the flames try to take hold on the wood. "Avium will not like this" he sighs.
The roots are still connected to the tree, and thus naturally, still full of water. But even if they do not catch flame immediately, that doesn't mean they're unaffected. Once the fire touches the roots, those retreat to the sides, clearing the path. Almost as if they were alive, capable of feeling pain.
Now, that path ahead is clear, but something is amiss. The roots beyond this point look dark and shrivelled, and a faint foul stench now reaches your noses.
Varielky
“Good idea Randall. We can continue.. eww… something is rotten here.. and doesn’t look good. Tess ventures carefully into the newly opened area, looking around for the source of the smell.
Tess only ventures a few steps beyond where the wall of roots used to be before she sees some movement in the dim light in front of her. It is too dark to see anything exactly, but it almost seems like the tunnel's sides are moving slightly, but unlike the singular movement of each root that made the wall Tess had just crossed, the movement now seems... uniform. Almost like the entire side of the tunnel moves like one body. The motion, however, is slight. Like waves in a puddle, the change is apparent only on its surface, but does not make the puddle - or the walls of the tunnel, in this case - change its location.
Varielky
Randal brings his arm up to cover his mouth with his sleeve, his other arm extended in front with the torch. “That smell, the roots, it is like the inside of the tree is dying or rotten.” He steps forward, following closely behind Tess. If he also sees the tunnel walls ripple he doesn’t understand what causes it. He approaches with caution, eyes open for any danger.
Randal does indeed see the little wall ripple as well. And as he comes closer, the light of his torch now reveals that it was not the walls that moved, but something on them. Countless bugs - small worms, grubs, maggots... all trying to eat the tree's roots. To burrow into them, but the tree constantly repairs itself, and the bugs cannot burrow inside much. But what little of the tree you can see between them, is rotten. Black and withered.
Looking back, the roots behind you - the side that now faces you - are similarly black and wrinkled. Beyond the bugs, about 30' away, you see another such wall of black roots, blocking the way. Almost as if the tree was keeping the bugs confined. For now, the bugs pay you no heed.
Varielky
Randal holds the torch near the rippling walls and grimaces at the sight of the bugs. “Not a good sign. Do you think we are approaching the heart of the tree? Where is this artifact?” He continues forward toward the other wall of black roots and again tries to clear the way with his torch, pushing it into the roots.
Once again, the roots swing to the sides, clearing the way forward. However, this sudden movement seems to disturb the bugs. Crawling, flying, burrowing into the earth between the roots, they all gather where the roots just opened, faster than anyone would expect those small creatures to move. In a moment, Randal finds himself standing in front of an amorphous mass of bugs.
The top part of this mass leans into the tunnel, and it almost looks as if it is going to crawl - or slide, whatever a movement of such a strange mass of creatures can be called - farther into the tunnel. But then, rather than the lower part following after the top, the entire thing whips backwards and "leaps" on Randal. Countless bugs, trying to bite into his soft flesh. They get under his clothes, and Randal immediately starts feeling like his body's being pierced by countless needles.
As combat starts, the swarm has taken its turn. It counts as a medium creature but consists of tiny beasts. It can occupy a space simultaneously with another creature. Currently, it occupies Randal's space. The roots in front and behind you can be ignored for all purposes. Other than that, the tunnel is about 10' side to side and about 7' floor to ceiling. You can consider the tunnel straight in this area.
On its turn, the swarm attacked Randal and rolled 13. Unless Randal has a way to prevent it, he takes 6 points of piercing damage and must succeed a DC14 Constitution save or be Poisoned. While poisoned in this way, on top of the normal condition, one takes 1d6 poison damage at the end of each of their turns.
Randal and Tess may act in any order.
Varielky
Tess recoils in horror at the sight of the bugs on Randall. She raises a hand and a bolt of fire shoots out, attempting to burn the mass of bugs without hurting her friend.
Firebolt:
12 to hit
7 damage
Randal Con Save: 21.
.
Randal recoils from the bugs, waving his torch aggressively to ward off the creatures as he lets loose a string of insults and curses at the bugs, trying to drive them away.
Action: Cast Vicious Mockery swarm must succeed on DC13 Wisdom save or take 2 psychic damage and have disadvantage on next attack.