The Tortle Package (DM Lerus)

Rhogal has advantage on the save: 7 (9)

Krodhen's CON save: 13 (8)

Eeyal's CON save: 10

Hun, Krodhen, and Rhogal are considered poisoned until the next Short or Long Rest.

The party reacts quickly upon being faced with a new hurdle to overcome. Kairus provides a temporary respite from the surrounding ash while Yulmiath makes some executive decisions regarding tethering and navigation. Like Hun, Eeyal can only agree and the group moves onward. While some shield their faces, others, like Rhogal, try to hold their breath for as long as they can manage.

The group's quick thinking pays dividends, and you soon arrive at the mouth of the cave. Not only does it provide shelter from the ash, but it is also your targeted destination. It is not a clean victory, however. About half of the party breathed in more ash than they ought to, and will be feeling the consequences of that unfortunate development for some time to come (see post above.)

This cave is warm, though not hot enough to suggest you'll find lava inside as with the first cave. The initial tunnel descends into a medium-sized chamber, which extends to your right and links to another tunnel that leads deeper into the cave. From the mouth of the cave, some light from outside shines into the first chamber, but it only reveals its gray, rocky walls, ceiling, and ground. In other words, nothing strikes you as remarkable upon a first glance.

Kairus observed coughing and slightly more green in their skin part of the group a bit skeptically. "Some rest? Might help with nausea and dizziness. I'll check what's ahead while you resting." This time he did not ask - time in this place was truly is of the essence, not something one had the luxury to waste. While those resting could plan the return trip, he could try to scout the tunnels and the group would be ready to any outcome.

The now common invisibility tune - and the triton was gone. (Stealth: 25, Perception: 15 )

While he'd like to collapse to the ground and catch his breath, Yumiath looks at the others and decides that while he can still stand, he'll let the others rest, at least for now.

Wiping his mouth with the inside of his cloak, he takes his waterskin and offers it to the rest of the group first.

"Best wash some of the worst of that dust cloud off first, then take a drink.  Don't want to take in more of that stuff than you already have."

Positioning himself between the cave entrance and the direction that Karius has presumably stalked off in, he prepares himself should any more geonids arrive demanding monies.

"If didn't know better... I'd think.. I have miner's lung." Hun commented between bouts of coughing before letting out a strained chuckle. As far as Kairus rush to action, Hun neither had the will or the lung capacity to bother calling after the Triton. So instead, he'd settle on getting untied and eventually sitting down so Mr. Thicc could tend to him. "Probably save the real exploring for tomorrow anyhow. Hopefully one of those geonid might be of a mind to come forward then so we can get permission 'n all that."

Krodhen Con save 19  [ignore - @Lerus already rolled]

After sucking in too much of the ash, Krodhen is beset with almost constant coughing "Any chance <cough> we can <cough> take a rest <wheeze> to catch my breath?"  then eagerly grabs his flask for a drink and sits down, head between his knees trying to cough up as much ash as he can....

<Krodhen decides to start a short rest while waiting for Kairus's return>

Needing a rest, Hun, Krodhen, and Rhogal settle down near the spot through which they first entered the cave. Their coughs and general tiredness demand it from them and call for the compassion of the other party members. Both Eeyal and Mr. Thicc begin tending them, following Yulmiath's lead in using clean cloth to dust themselves off and passing around refreshing waterskins. Yulmiath takes upon himself the duty of keeping watch over the affected members of the party. He picks a spot that would make him the first one to meet anyone coming from the cave's deeper portions to meet the Snackers.

Kairus feels more adventurous. While the others begin the process of resting, the bard cloaks himself in invisibility and goes cave-delving. The first chamber is unremarkable, as he had noticed upon arrival. It is spacious and gives him line of sight to the rest of the party, but it otherwise demands little of the triton's attention. A tunnel leading northeast (the group entered from the south) is the only other passage. Kairus follows it and soon finds himself pulling his own weight up a ledge and then a second. After a bend to his left, the bard finds a third ledge. He had assumed the cave would take him deeper into the ground based on the downward slope of the initial tunnel, but Kairus now guesses that he is in a higher elevation than his companions.

After climbing up the third ledge, Kairus finds himself in a second large chamber (he enters this chamber from its southeast corner). This one also has plenty of rocks laying about, but it also has a few natural stone pillars connecting the cave floor to its ceiling. A large ledge on the west side of the cave leads downward to a tunnel that seems to loop around and connect back to this same chamber's northwest corner. Looking at the northeast corner of this chamber, one last ledge overlooks a small alcove. It is in this alcove that Kairus finally spots something worth his time. A small pile of golden, silvery, and bronze coins is peppered with chunks of obsidian rock. There might be more interesting treasure in the pile but Kairus cannot tell from this distance. Hun had not yet disclosed many details on the small hoard he found in the previous cave, but Kairus would guess this one looks similar to that.

Before even approaching the treasure, Kairus picked up a rock from the ground and threw it near the alcove, immediately changing position afterwords. He was not aiming at anything particular, just watching the rocks around - if any of them moved or anyhow revealed themselves as living geonids.

Yulmiath continues to keep his vigil over the rest of the group while they take their short rest.

Knowing that Karius is likely going to be invisible, he cocks his head in the direction the Triton wandered away in, trying to see if he can catch any kind of worrying noises.

Perception - 4

Kairus bends down and picks up a rock he judges too small to be a geonid. He launches the rock into the alcove and finds a different vantage point. A second or two after the rock finishes bouncing around, a small tremor begins to emanate from deep underground. The rumble picks up gradually until it gets closer to the surface. Then, bursting our of the ground just under the pile of treasure, a toothy maw flanked by three muscly and rocky arms swallows the would-be reward. Like a whale coming out of the water, the creature doesn't displace earth or stone as it moves, but merges with and flows through it, leaving no tunnel, hole, or hint of its emergence after it dips back down into the earth. Just like that, the pile of treasure is gone.

The rumble continues underneath the ground, moving to and fro for a bit before decidedly redirecting itself toward Kairus. The bard can tell the creature is not tricked by his invisible status.

Closer to the entrance, Yulmiath can also feel the rumble and hear noises coming from deeper in the cave. Eeyal and the others can feel the rumble as well. The tortle simply looks in the direction she can feel the earth moving and lets out a soft "Oh no..."

Never one to stay idle for overlong when there's work to be done, Hun uses the brief moments of relatively steady breathing to turn out the bag... Or so had been the plan up until the rumbling in the earth. As one born to a largely cavern dwelling tribe, the kobold is immediately not only scrabbling onto his feet, but bidding Mr. Thicc to brace and start moving towards the exit as Hun searched the area for any immediate fault lines or crumbling stone that might denote an ensuing cave in...

(@Lerus; Not sure if this would necessary be a perception, investigation, or even a nature check of some kind, so rolling a general intelligence check and you can replace the necessary modifiers.)

Intelligences: 18. 

As much as Kairus wanted to know how the creature could see him, the main question now was what to do. Leading the monster back to the group seemed like a bad idea, and yet, there was no way out, other than the cave entrance. It looked like the choice between being eaten alive and leaving the group without a warning even, and attempt to run, to warn them from far enough for people to escape. Kairus chose the second option.

Hoping, that the treasure-eating monster could enjoy another precious snack, the triton yanked off the Umbelee symbol from his neck and threw it as far from the exit out of this cave as he could. As soon as the silver pendant touched the ground, he zoomed toward the exit and further to the group.

(Assuming he managed to stay ahead of the monster) He began to shout the moment he was sure they could hear him. "Danger! Get out of here!!!"

"Fer feck's sake! It's like this island doesn't want us alive anymore!" Rhogal yells as he gets on his feet and follow Kairus.

Thinking fast, Kairus rips the silver pendant of Umberlee from his neck and throws it, timing its bounce with his own footsteps. The trick seems to work, though it only buys the bard a few seconds. Attracted to the distraction, the creature emerges from the ground and swallows the little silvery appetizer before redirecting its movement. The burrower is not confined by the shape of the cave, and it seems to be familiar with this dwelling. Kairus has to retrace his steps, heading east, then southeast, then southwest to reach the initial chamber, hopping down ledges as he goes. The creature simply "swims" straight towards its destination.

Yulmiath hears Kairus first, but soon all others do as well. Hun begins to look for signs of a cave in but concludes that this is not what must be happening. Mr. Thicc braces for impact and Rhogal gets a response from Eeyal: "Yes, outside of Ahoyhoy this island is the opposite of civilized. Everything is both hunter and prey."

The tortle is barely over speaking when a creature made of rock and soil emerges from the ground, separating Kairus and Yulmiath from the rest of the group. The bard and barbarian can see the entrance to the cave but are the farthest from it at the moment. The creature is the next one farthest from it and then Hun, Rhogal, Mr. Thicc, Krodhen, and Eeyal are quite close to the exit, their rest now clearly interrupted. Only the top half of the creature is showing. It has three enormous arms poking out of what can be compared to a humanoid's chest and shoulder area, with one yellow, searching eye adorning the meeting point of each pair of arms (for a total of three eyes). Instead of a neck and head, the creature has a gigantic mouth with dozens of long fangs. This maw aims up instead of the more traditional forward-oriented mouth of familiar animals.

Despite its abrupt emergence and horrific appearance, the creature pauses upon arriving at its destination. It examines the Snackers with its eyes but also with its whole body, as if taking in every minute vibration the party is causing, even their breathing. Its claws and fangs are quite menacing, but the creature seems inclined to talk first. It speaks the same language as the geonids, so Kairus gets to translating: "I can sniff the precious metals and gems that you carry. Give them to me for I hunger. Feed me and you can leave."

Hun still has his medallion of thoughts active, so he could sense a living creature's thoughts instants before it emerged from the ground. In turn, the creature has certainly noticed the golden and gem-adorned medallion.

Ugh! Does nothing on this island speak common!

Yulmiath gives the new arrival an ocular pat down.  Odd number of arms and eyes, claws and fangs, hunger for precious metals - yeah seems about on par for this place.

Assuming that the other Packers are in no hurry to get out into the choking dust cloud again, he asks Karius to ask whether they might not be able to come to some sort of arrangement with it, "See if it would let us wait this dust storm out in here."

If not, it was no problem.  The Snack Pack could likely do with topping up their rations.

"You seriously consider give the thing all we have?" Personally, Kairus had nothing anymore ... or did he? A couple of gold coins, maybe. But he suspected others might want to keep the treasure they got. He translated the question nevertheless with the additional explanation that the group needs to rest.

Rather than blow up at the eventual translation, Hun squinted at the creature and tried to discern it's species and nature. Surely the Great Volothamp had encountered such a creature and recorded it in one of the few works the kobold had the opportunity to examine in the past! Though between bouts of coughing and general unwellness, focusing became a game the kobold was ill prepared to win... but he'd try...

Arcana: 15. (if any other knowledge check besides arcana would be more appropriate, knock off two from previous roll)

Then if nothing came to his mind, then it is with fewer compunctions that he'd Dive Deeper into the mind of the creature to try and determine more of its inner nature. Anything at all, really. And if /that/ set it off, well... there'd been a reason to why he muttered a command for Mr. Thicc to be ready to attack in draconic if it came close. If it hadn't took offense immediately and attacked however, it is only then Hun would bother to pass along his insights. "Not gonna lie though. Getting real tired of being strong armed by everything on this island that ain't a Tortle. And though its against Kobold policy, I'm bout ready to fix that if ya'll catch my drift."

DM's Screen:

Frustration rises as yet another creature makes demands from the Packers upon first meeting, though at least the last few weren't birds who attacked upon sight. Given half of the party's condition and the ash cloud just outside the cave, Yulmiath appears to be willing to entertain a brief negotiation with the odd-limbed creature. Kairus is less optimistic about potential outcomes, but translates the comments and explanations as needed. The creature responds in harsh, crumbly sounds: "Feed me and leave or feed me and rest. It is up to you."

While this short interaction takes place, Hun observes the creature carefully. The first thing that comes to mind is something that happened a lot more recently than the kobold's reading of Volo's work. Back when Hun held Thrud captive for a hot minute, the geonid had mentioned something about feeding others (link). Then, refocusing on his previous studies, the artificer digs deep in his brain and recalls a page dedicated to theorized gem-eating monsters from the Elemental Plane of Earth. Volo called them... Korn, Dorn, Xorn... something like that. Hun remembers that the notes suggested these creatures where willing to negotiate for precious metals and gems, passing on more common metals and stones. However, should they find themselves in a hungry state, these rock creatures would become more aggressive.

Hun then considered digging deeper not into his own mind but the creature's...

(@Ori: I'm pausing here because you said "If nothing came to his mind". Taking this post into consideration, is Hun prodding deeper or not?)

With no further probing (as per message in the OOC chat), the creature simply waits for an offering from the group. It is easy to tell it won't wait for long and that the window of opportunity for peaceful negotiations is closing.