The Tortle Package (DM Lerus)

Cooking and keeping warm in this area are tasks that come with extreme ease. The ever-present lava makes it for quite an amiable temperature contrast once the nighttime chills descend on the island. The Snackers have Eeyal to thank for finding a spot appropriately far from the lava, though. Should they have camped closer to the river, the heat could have become an overnight issue.

Apart from the unusual location, the night goes by much like any normal calm night.

@Yulmiath: This time you choose to take first watch. Not everyone is sleeping yet as you take on your duties, which make it for an enjoyable experience and a welcome distraction here and there. Eventually, you ask the bard to take you place without having much to report.

@Kairus: The orange-red light of the lava contrasts beautifully with the dark skies peppered in starlight. This is the kind of natural beauty you can truly only find on land. The added sight of the sea in the distance completes nature's triad and gives you comfort. This is a good and serene night.

@Hun/@Mr. Thicc: The construct's watch goes by with him being the only one awake. He does not wake his master up, so the Snackers have to assume all is well.

@Rhogal: The early morning shift falls to you this time. You keep an eye out for the potential of returning geonids but they do not show up. Before you can start waking the rest of the party up from their slumber when time comes, some of your fellow Snackers begin to rise on their own accord.

Leftovers from the previous night were kept warm on nearby cooking-rocks, making for a welcome breakfast. Eeyal looks around and asks: "Are we all going into the second cave this morning? If so, I'll resume my watch at the mouth of the cave, like last time."

(OOC: The Long Rest is completed. Be sure to hit the appropriate buttons in your character sheets. Also, please remove one ration from each of your inventories.)

"Not right away! First, let Grandpa take care of that trap." Kairus scratched his head and asked the most important question. "Looks like our friendly rocks did not return to the cave, they think a spider is living there. Does it mean, there are no aggressive rocks inside? I mean," he turned to Hun, "would you need me to make you invisible, Grandpa?"

In case Hun indeed wants to turn invisible before studying and disarming that trap inside, Kairus would gladly play him the "tune of the air" disappearing the little kobold.

For once the Snack Pack have enjoyed an uneventful night on the island, and even more surprisingly, Yulmiath failing in his watch was not the reason.  The dragonborn puffs out his chest a little, letting a swell of pride fill it.  Having assuming the same as Eeyal, that the packers are soon to go spelunking, Yulmiath gives his weapons a once over before breaking camp in the morning, making sure they are all within easy reach should he need them.

Yulmiath's brow furrows at the mention of a spider living within the cave that they are due to explore. "If the wee rocky fellas don't want to mess with it, what do we reckon about this spider? Also, Eeyal, given they were trying to barter with dinosaur eggs, can we assume there might be a few of them about as well?"

Despite offering no objections to Yulmiath taking watch, lingering doubt and the whole eyeing up of his things from the Geonid led to Hun sleepily going through the motions of making sure everything on his person had indeed stayed with him.

After which, its back to crankily going through all the usual morning drudgeries until addressed. "Hmn... Oh, I'm to -- shit. Uh... eck. Best to play it on the safe side, as they are a sneaky lot. But make sure the rest of you lot aren't too far away from the cave entrance, alright?" Once he had as much assurances, he held up a hand to halt any spellcasting before taking a moment to speak some kind of command word and tugging at the straps of his bag of holding, causing the patterns on it to shift.

Within moments, Hun's appearance distorts and reshapes itself into he appeared to become a Geonid! "There. A bit of added security should have need to undo the cloak of invisibility. Now! Let's be off then! Mr. Thicc? New standing orders are to protect Young Blue here while I'm away." The construct turns to Kairus, stares at him for a long moment, and then seemed to pantomime sighing in exasperation.

Just as soon as Kairus' spell is complete, he asks for a refresher on where he might find the trap before slipping inside the cavern as quiet as possible to investigate a trap!

(As part of morning prep, replaced detect magic with disguise self.)

Stealth: 8. 

"Meh... I wouldn't worry 'bout no spider..." Rhogal says.

The Snack Pack checks on their plan as they pack up camp but before heading to the nearby cave. Eeyal turns to Kairus and tries to clarify: "Didn't you say the trading geonids did not claim this cave? I don't think they'd be 'returning' to it, spider or not, if this cave is not their home." Whether it is the tortle or the triton who are misunderstanding the geonids' claims, Kairus moves the conversation along and offers Hun a dash of invisibility.

In a side conversation, Yulmiath seems to be a bit confused about the presence of a spider in the cave. Rhogal confidently tells him not to worry about it. Regarding the dragonborn's question on dinosaur eggs, Eeyal says: "Maybe... maybe. These geonids wander quite far from their caves at times, though."

After making sure none of his many belongings are missing, Hun then prepares for his solo mission by magically changing his appearance to that of a geonid, before then accepting Kairus' offer. Getting an info refresher from the bard, Hun then quietly heads down to and into cave#2.

(@Ori: I'd say being invisible cancels out your disadvantage on that stealth check, so we'll say you got an 11.)

The cave is just as Kairus and Rhogal had described. A single bending tunnel of no more than a few dozen feet in length eventually ends in a dead-end. There is a crack on the rock wall that is large enough for Small creatures to squeeze through and potentially reach whatever is on the other side. Knowing what he is looking for, Hun has no trouble spotting the trap. It looks like a simple one: boulders are carefully placed in the ceiling of the crack and wedged in place by a single "keystone". This trigger-stone could easily be displaced by a creature trying to squeeze through the crack unawares. Rocks would fall, potentially killing the intruder, and certainly caving in the passage to the other side of the not-so-dead-end.

@Hun: As far as you can tell, there are no other living being in this cave.

Given that Rhogal is more relaxed about the cave and any likely cave spider, Yulmiath shrugs and leans up against the mouth of the cave.

Hun quietly wipes an invisible tear in his eyes at the classic trap design. 'If I didn't know any better, I would think a kobold had a hand in this... this... this work of beauty!' He thought, spending maybe close to two minutes just standing there admiring the trap and thinking of the few fond memories of home left. But slowly but surely, the kobold gets his head back in the game and started studying the trap design more thoroughly. 

If he could but figure out how to reinforce the keystone -- PERhaps even using his pitons or other various tools without triggering the trap... 'Yes... yes. It's all coming together' Hun thought as he soon got to work in at best disabling the trap, and at worst at least reinforcing the keystone in such a way that any accidental triggering of it might be delayed long enough to get in and out.

Investigation: 24.
(presuming it'd be investigation to study the trap and disable it. But if dex based thieves' tool check might make more sense, ignore the 2nd roll and the bonus instead would be +4). 

If Dex Check/Save/Acrobatics still necessary for slipping through crack onto the otherside: 19(burning inspiration)

(@Ori: On paper, disabling a trap traditionally calls for a thieves' tools check but, with the flavor you added there, I'd say an active investigation check could be used, so let's roll with it. )

Hun lives for solving this type of problem. After admiring the simple but effective trap, the artificer considers triggering it on purpose and then calling in the rest of the Packers to slowly clear the caved-in passage. He shakes his head... that would not give the trap the respect it deserves. Instead, he pulls out a delicate hammer from one of his many tool pouches, a paste of some sort, and his tinderbox to help in quick-drying said paste. Within minutes, the kobold reinforces the keystone so that it won't be moving anytime soon, not even if someone bumps against it.

With the job done, Hun squeezes through the passage disguised and invisible. He finds a small chamber on the other side of the crack, where a small pile of treasure lies. Someone's hidden stash, he ponders... Perhaps the geonids', or a long-lost adventurer's?

If Hun spends the time counting the spoils (we can spend as much time here as the group wants), then you are welcome to peek into the spoiler below:

Yulmiath leans his head into cave mouth.

"Hun? Give a shout if you're alright..."

He pauses, and considers what might happen if the kobold is not alright.

"Give a shout if you need help too..."

Worryingly (perhaps), there is no response to Yulmiath's calls...

Apart from spending at least maybe a minute searching for any rogue statues among the treasures, Hun winds up in the end simply scooping just about everything into his bag of holding possible. Only the Oar gives him both pause and trouble enough to warrant hesitation absconding with it. But leery of taking too much time in the cave, the kobold wasn't above opting to leave at least that much behind if it could not fit the bag before returning to the others with some pep to his step.

"Well this was a bust." He'd say abruptly from behind Kairus if he can get away with as much. A little petty revenge from startling the old man just the day prior. Though even if not successful in getting a jolt out of the bard, he carries on only briefly seeming and sounding annoyed in any failings there. "No statue, but plenty of other stuff including coin. Though I'd recommend /not/ trading any of it in the nearby area on the off chance block heads somehow recognize any of it through some weird connections to prime elements." He warns.

"Speaking of, uh.... areas. Best we make ourselves scarce. Once we're a fair ways from here I can offload the findings and share what's there.... Though I do suppose that just begs the question of where to next, huh? Hmmm..... Suggestions?"

It takes some time for any response to Yulmiath's questions to arrive, but they do eventually come. Hun is back with the group and has some news to share. Tapping his bag of holding the kobold signals he has acquired a fair amount of treasure, or at least whatever the owner of this cave considered to be treasure. That said, Hun keeps the party in suspense, choosing not yet to reveal what he has acquired apart from the fact it includes some coin and it excludes the statuette they are searching for.

When the artificer asks for suggestions on their next destination, Eeyal feels it to be her guide duty to respond: "Well, the third cave marked in you map is just on the other side of this here mountain. We'll have to climb up and then down, but we should be able to make it before the end of the day. If you agree, I'd say you should prepare your climbing gear."

"Sure, let's do it!" Kairus was dying from curiosity to see what was in the bag, but since it was not the statue (otherwise why would they continue?) he could grudgingly accept the necessity of waiting. Climbing was not exactly his thing but he would help in any way possible.

Yulmiath gives Hun an approving nod. A bit of treasure is very welcome.

Falling into marching order on their way to the cliff, he picks out his climbing kit so that it's in easy reach on their arrival.

"Eeyal, what's this climb like? I imagine some of us will be fine, others might not be. Any tips on making it easier on them?"

He then gives Mr. Thicc a sideways look, "No idea what we'll do to help out that one, might be a bit on the heavy side, even for me."

"Riiiight... Climbing gear... yea... uhm..." Hun looks away muttering to himself and rubbing his chin up until the mentioning of Mr. Thicc. "Mr. Thicc in theory should be fine, as I had built him to be a somewhat all terrain Nimblewright. In fact, that's part of the reason I had him built with those pop out handles at the back. 'cause I'm a bit too old to be scaling mountains." He admits frankly, before also looking to Eeyal both curious and eager to hear her answer.

"I guess I could make someone better or bigger fer the climb." Rhogal offers.

"Wait, what? You too?!" Hun whipped around and looks incredulously at Rhogal. "Well shit... Maybe I got into the wrong profession with all this transformation magic you two got going." He gestures between Kairus and Rhogal. "But uh... shoot. Guess we're a bit more prepared for this then I thought."

The group agrees to move and save the treasure reveal for later. With no stern refusal of the tortle's suggestion, the group begins walking toward the mountain to the east. The guide answers the questions as they come: "Well, the climb won't necessarily be an easy one but if a few of us can use our gear and strength to lead the way and set pitons and rope in place, the others should find it easier to follow. It sounds like Rhogal's magic will be pretty useful too!" She adjusts her specs and continues leading the group onward. She then throws a question back a Yulmiath: "Didn't you mention at some point your kit included a useful climbing potion?" She then lets a chuckle escape thinking about the ever-lasting disagreement amoung the group on what exactly is Mr. Thicc's weight.

The walk soon takes a steeper slope. It reminds the party of the difficult trek they had to complete when first entering the volcanic area in the Snout of Omgar, but this one unfortunately ends with an even steeper climb. The party has a pretty good view of their surroundings as they approach the mountain, which allows them to be fairly sure no obvious threats can be found nearby. That said, who knows what might call the mountain itself its home.

Eeyal leads the group to a rock wall and drops some of her gear on the ground: "Very well, this is a good spot to start the climb. I have a spare climber's kit, so with the one Yulmiath bought, we should have three of them. Who is going to help us lead the way and set the anchors?"

"I think I can do it. Technically, I do not need to climb, even - there are ways to fly. For a very short time, but if ten minutes would not be enough, I'll just fly to the top and will try to fix a rope there. What do you say?"

Yulmiath rubs a hand over his lower jaw.

"Having a guide rope wouldn't be too bad of we're to mark out a route. It might make things easier for the rest of us...?"

Squinting up at the cliff, he tries to guage how much rope needs to be handed off to Karius.

Survival - 13

"Karius, you any good with knots?"