Seeing four fuses remaining as her comrades clear the area, Marion locks eyes with Joren and gives him a nod. She slashes at the near wall, severing one of the remaining 4 threads, and then turns to splash her water at a fuse on the other wall, but it's not enough. The flame simply throws up steam as it burns through what little moisture actually made it onto the fuse. Marion runs 15 feet down the tunnel and turns with her shield raised, bracing herself for detonation.
Joren is not entirely successful stilling his mind with discipline as he clocks the threats. Some of his companions help put out the fuses. Three left...
He pulls his waterskin from his pack but in his rush, fumbles with it and is unsuccessful dousing one of the fuses with the water. Growling angrily, he moves away 30' down the tunnel, following the others. The attacks come from echo Joren, remaining behind, more rapidly than he would normally.
First Action: Regular attack from echo's position: 26 (wasted Nat. 20) Unleash Incarnation attack from echo's position: 12
Second Action (Action Surge): Regular attack from echo's position: 19
Expending most of Joren's strength in a flurry of activity, the echo whirls between the remaining three lit fuses, cutting each one with its echo of a greatsword. It then moves 30' to rejoin the others down the passageway. Joren shakes his head as if to clear it, but remains quiet.
The party watches with bated breath from behind the cover of Marion's shield as Joren's echo explodes into a flurry of attacks. One by one, the unextinguished flames reach the severed ends of their fuses and fizzle out. And then there is silence. Disaster has been narrowly avoided, and everyone is able to continue on, hoping that their frenzy hasn't revealed their presence.
Vilus relaxes as the explosion is averted and stands up straight once more, he sighs and quietly addresses Ashley and Malachi, "Sorry for suddenly grabbing and throwing you both. Couldn't bare to see your smouldering corpses eh?" He takes a breath before continuing, "Lanya and Andra are still our main priority, but I think we need to be on the look out for more traps"
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Ashley stands there breathing in and out, trying to calm herself as Vilus apologizes. As his reason sinks in, she looks at him more softly. "I..." she looks down, not able to meet his gaze as she remembers hitting him and throwing a bit of a tantrum, "I couldn't imagine being stuck in this cave again. Even with Lanya down there, I don't think I could do it." She shrugs, embarrassed by her own admission and then turns away.
Looking down the tunnel where the light was, she tries to focus on what's ahead and sees what she can.
If Ashley remembers correctly, around the next bend or two should be the chamber where they'd had to partially drain the aquifer to come up from the gloazworm's domain. She doesn't see any more sign of traps, but then a smell hits her nose. One that has become a little more familiar of late than she cares for. Blood. Lots of it, and fresh too.
Samir stares at the now diffused trap, silently adjusting his glasses. For a moment, he says nothing, before turning down the tunnel and begsin heading deeper in.
Ashley recoils at the smell of the blood, worry flooding through her for her new friend Lanya, and right before she starts to head down the tunnel, she hears the small voice of Samir next to her. She whirls around to face him and puts her hand on his shoulder. "What do you have to be sorry about? We're fine, and we aren't trapped. We worked as a team as we have become really good at. There is absolutely nothing for you to be sorry about. And next trap we come across, we're going to lean on you again, so don't you go doubting yourself. You are the best." She watches him, makes sure he understands before letting him go and continuing down the tunnel.
Joren is about to clasp Samir about the shoulders to try to lift the brilliant artificer's spirits when he is beaten to the punch by Ashley.
"Speaking sense as usual, the fiery lass. Stay with us Samir. We will be needing your intelligence and skill again soon enough," he whispers grimly.
At the scent of blood in the tunnel, he sends his echo to the front of the group once more, trailing 30' behind himself so as not to ruin the party's Stealth.
As they approach the final corner, the scent of blood becomes stronger. From the light glinting off the slick walls, it is clear that the source is just around the bend, flickering but no longer moving away. Then there is a voice, indistinct and male, too muffled to make out the words. It is followed by grunts of protest from a woman. Lanya!
Vilus presses on, and tries to get a look at whoever is speaking. He allows others to take the lead, but as they round the corners into the flickering lights ahead, he attempts to read the lips of anyone within sight range before the group make their move
Looking around the corner, Vilus sees the aquifer once more. But this time it is littered with bodies. The mining team that had originally found them when they arrived at Tensmith now lies slaughtered to a man, half of them still with dusty mining equipment in hand. The blood pooled under their bodies shows that they bled out quick.
At the other end of the track, Vilus sees Lanya standing shakily beside a tall, lanky man in a black, knee-length coat with a high collar. For her part, Lanya has her hands tied behind her back and a gag over her mouth. Dried blood and matted hair cakes one side of her face.
Vilus can just make out the side of his mouth, but now that he is a round the corner, the sound is a bit clearer too. With a combination of listening and lip-reading, Vilus makes out the tall man's words. "Hush now Marshal. I am expecting guests any moment now. Then we can put this whole business behind us"
Looking around the corner, Joren sees the cavern and its corpses with a weary, numb sadness that cuts through his anger.
Like the battle in the narrows, in the foothills above the Plains. More dead than living. Truly, I am amidst a field of corpses too often in my life.
Before giving in to his instinct to charge in and attack the villain Andra, Joren attempts to discern what killed all the miners. Do the wounds appear caused by the teeth of a giant gloazworm? Wouldn't it have swallowed them? Or perhaps by the transformed, adult winged gloazworm after its metamorphosis? Caused by an explosion? Or weapons? By some unnatural, magical means?
Also, does Andra look as if he is expecting someone or something coming from the path below (south of) the lake? Or expecting us perhaps?
Malachi picks himself up off of the floor of the tunnel and brushes the dust off of his jacket with a look of indignation toward Vilus. “Well it all turned out alright in the end, well done everyone!” He puts a reassuring hand on Samir’s shoulder as Ashley tries to lift his spirits.
As they press on down the tunnel, his face turns white and he just holds back his breakfast at the sight of the miners laying in the pooling blood. Quickly spotting Andra and the marshal, he places a finger to his lips, urging the others to keep quiet. Flipping a copper piece in his other hand, he quietly attempts to detect thoughts in Andra’s mind.
From the closest body, Joren can make out a vicious gash across the throat. Another body seems have fallen while clutching a red bloodstain just under her ribs. He sees Andra holding his cult dagger, unsheathed, in his hand as he speaks to Marshal Lanya. He can't tell what Andra is talking about, but with his back partially turned to the water, he seems to have little regard for it.
Malachi reaches out with his mind, but Andra is simply too far away, and he feels the tendrils in his mind trying to hold him back for some reason.
Even as he reaches out though, Andra perks up as if he'd taken notice. He pulls Lanya to him and turns around to face the party, wicked dagger held up to the throat of his human shield. He does not seem surprised at all to see everyone. "I thought I heard you coming. You are right on time." His voice is imperious and refined, though a bit nasal. "I presume you are the ones who have been interfering in our business. As a troubling bunch of loose ends, I was so hoping you would come right to me so I could resolve the matter and move on with more important things."
Vilus steps into the light proper, his hands open showing no weaponry, he slowly paces forward, although will stop if Andra becomes nervous or erratic. "Oh you're a confident one aren't you? Loose ends are the least of your worries right now, but do as you will... We do have some questions for you though Andra, Y'know, before you 'resolve the matter' of course" he states calmly.
Samir gives a wan smile and nod to Ashley, Joren, and Malachi as they approach the turn. It vanishes quickly, however, and the smells and sounds they encounter. As Vilus moves forward, Samir does as well, his eyes flickering from place to place, from body to body. Counting. Considering.
A puzzle. A situation. A Problem to Solve and correct. That is all it is... all it is...
He pushes away the images of the dead strewn about the place, doing his best to remain logical and clinical, to observe the situation as he would a particularly tricky mechcanical problem to be fixed. If he were to allow the enormity of the scene, the horror of it, to seep into his thoughts... he wasn't certain how he would react. For now, he simply watches and listens, keeping a short distance off to Vilus' left side.
The tall man's face, leathery from his time as a seaman, crinkles in a mix of irritation and amusement. "You? You have questions for me? When you are about to die? Hmmm, how about this? For every question I answer, you will answer one of mine."
Lanya struggles and grunts in protest, but he has no trouble with holding even her strong frame in place. He jabs his dagger into her arm, only about an inch deep. Her eyes go wide in pain and she slumps a little more. Andra places the dagger back at her throat and stares back at Vilus expectantly.
Joren's echo advances just ahead of Vilus, with Joren himself 30' behind it. He leaves the dialog with Andra to the others.
This is feeling like a trap. Or maybe the bastard is just wanting us to think it is a trap. Is Andra truly so strong that he can be handling Marshal Lanya so easily? Or perhaps something is weakening her, and even possibly the miners that he apparently slaughtered here before we arrived?
He growls, voice pitched low so his companions can hear but Andra cannot. "Being ready, everyone. He may be luring us into a trap or an ambush. They have been using rat swarms and poison gas and explosives and who knows what else. The miners' corpses are looking dagger-slashed to me, but is Andra really so strong as to slay them all so swiftly on his own and hold the Marshal down with such ease without help or weakening them?"
Joren looks for an ambush, or indications of a hazard such as poison gas, a collapsing tunnel, a tripwire or pit, danger from the cavern ceiling, an illusion. His echo stays focused on Andra like a hawk, hoping the man will not notice Joren himself scanning in all directions, attempting to register threats.
"Sounds fair, and since we're gonna die anyway, it hardly seems fair that you get a hostage and we don't. So why don't you release the woman and then once you're done, you can kill us all as one big group eh? It's not like Rasmus would let you die here, not after all you've accomplished", Vilus continues pacing forwards, slowly, surely, inch by inch.
Seeing four fuses remaining as her comrades clear the area, Marion locks eyes with Joren and gives him a nod. She slashes at the near wall, severing one of the remaining 4 threads, and then turns to splash her water at a fuse on the other wall, but it's not enough. The flame simply throws up steam as it burns through what little moisture actually made it onto the fuse. Marion runs 15 feet down the tunnel and turns with her shield raised, bracing herself for detonation.
Joren is not entirely successful stilling his mind with discipline as he clocks the threats. Some of his companions help put out the fuses. Three left...
He pulls his waterskin from his pack but in his rush, fumbles with it and is unsuccessful dousing one of the fuses with the water. Growling angrily, he moves away 30' down the tunnel, following the others. The attacks come from echo Joren, remaining behind, more rapidly than he would normally.
First Action:
Regular attack from echo's position: 26 (wasted Nat. 20)
Unleash Incarnation attack from echo's position: 12
Second Action (Action Surge):
Regular attack from echo's position: 19
Expending most of Joren's strength in a flurry of activity, the echo whirls between the remaining three lit fuses, cutting each one with its echo of a greatsword. It then moves 30' to rejoin the others down the passageway. Joren shakes his head as if to clear it, but remains quiet.
Barn(Paladin1): Damian_May's Ereworn Under the Shadow | Lyra(Warlock2/Bard4): VitusW's Silverwood Forest | Nivi(Rogue5): Erik_Soong's Netherdeep
Joren(Fighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Quyen(Adept1, ba5ic): ConstancePhokas' Nentir Vale (Discord) | Seri(Druid1): Hunter_Orien's Saltmarsh
Xarian(Fighter3): Luna_Dust's Marks on the Map | Ophelia(Sorcerer2): BillM's Icewind Dale | Shin(Wizard1): Culuril's Strixhaven
The party watches with bated breath from behind the cover of Marion's shield as Joren's echo explodes into a flurry of attacks. One by one, the unextinguished flames reach the severed ends of their fuses and fizzle out. And then there is silence. Disaster has been narrowly avoided, and everyone is able to continue on, hoping that their frenzy hasn't revealed their presence.
Vilus relaxes as the explosion is averted and stands up straight once more, he sighs and quietly addresses Ashley and Malachi, "Sorry for suddenly grabbing and throwing you both. Couldn't bare to see your smouldering corpses eh?" He takes a breath before continuing, "Lanya and Andra are still our main priority, but I think we need to be on the look out for more traps"
Ashley stands there breathing in and out, trying to calm herself as Vilus apologizes. As his reason sinks in, she looks at him more softly. "I..." she looks down, not able to meet his gaze as she remembers hitting him and throwing a bit of a tantrum, "I couldn't imagine being stuck in this cave again. Even with Lanya down there, I don't think I could do it." She shrugs, embarrassed by her own admission and then turns away.
Looking down the tunnel where the light was, she tries to focus on what's ahead and sees what she can.
Perception 8
If Ashley remembers correctly, around the next bend or two should be the chamber where they'd had to partially drain the aquifer to come up from the gloazworm's domain. She doesn't see any more sign of traps, but then a smell hits her nose. One that has become a little more familiar of late than she cares for. Blood. Lots of it, and fresh too.
Samir stares at the now diffused trap, silently adjusting his glasses. For a moment, he says nothing, before turning down the tunnel and begsin heading deeper in.
"I'm... I'm sorry."
Ashley recoils at the smell of the blood, worry flooding through her for her new friend Lanya, and right before she starts to head down the tunnel, she hears the small voice of Samir next to her. She whirls around to face him and puts her hand on his shoulder. "What do you have to be sorry about? We're fine, and we aren't trapped. We worked as a team as we have become really good at. There is absolutely nothing for you to be sorry about. And next trap we come across, we're going to lean on you again, so don't you go doubting yourself. You are the best." She watches him, makes sure he understands before letting him go and continuing down the tunnel.
Joren is about to clasp Samir about the shoulders to try to lift the brilliant artificer's spirits when he is beaten to the punch by Ashley.
"Speaking sense as usual, the fiery lass. Stay with us Samir. We will be needing your intelligence and skill again soon enough," he whispers grimly.
At the scent of blood in the tunnel, he sends his echo to the front of the group once more, trailing 30' behind himself so as not to ruin the party's Stealth.
Barn(Paladin1): Damian_May's Ereworn Under the Shadow | Lyra(Warlock2/Bard4): VitusW's Silverwood Forest | Nivi(Rogue5): Erik_Soong's Netherdeep
Joren(Fighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Quyen(Adept1, ba5ic): ConstancePhokas' Nentir Vale (Discord) | Seri(Druid1): Hunter_Orien's Saltmarsh
Xarian(Fighter3): Luna_Dust's Marks on the Map | Ophelia(Sorcerer2): BillM's Icewind Dale | Shin(Wizard1): Culuril's Strixhaven
As they approach the final corner, the scent of blood becomes stronger. From the light glinting off the slick walls, it is clear that the source is just around the bend, flickering but no longer moving away. Then there is a voice, indistinct and male, too muffled to make out the words. It is followed by grunts of protest from a woman. Lanya!
Vilus presses on, and tries to get a look at whoever is speaking. He allows others to take the lead, but as they round the corners into the flickering lights ahead, he attempts to read the lips of anyone within sight range before the group make their move
Looking around the corner, Vilus sees the aquifer once more. But this time it is littered with bodies. The mining team that had originally found them when they arrived at Tensmith now lies slaughtered to a man, half of them still with dusty mining equipment in hand. The blood pooled under their bodies shows that they bled out quick.
At the other end of the track, Vilus sees Lanya standing shakily beside a tall, lanky man in a black, knee-length coat with a high collar. For her part, Lanya has her hands tied behind her back and a gag over her mouth. Dried blood and matted hair cakes one side of her face.
Vilus can just make out the side of his mouth, but now that he is a round the corner, the sound is a bit clearer too. With a combination of listening and lip-reading, Vilus makes out the tall man's words. "Hush now Marshal. I am expecting guests any moment now. Then we can put this whole business behind us"
Looking around the corner, Joren sees the cavern and its corpses with a weary, numb sadness that cuts through his anger.
Like the battle in the narrows, in the foothills above the Plains. More dead than living. Truly, I am amidst a field of corpses too often in my life.
Before giving in to his instinct to charge in and attack the villain Andra, Joren attempts to discern what killed all the miners. Do the wounds appear caused by the teeth of a giant gloazworm? Wouldn't it have swallowed them? Or perhaps by the transformed, adult winged gloazworm after its metamorphosis? Caused by an explosion? Or weapons? By some unnatural, magical means?
Also, does Andra look as if he is expecting someone or something coming from the path below (south of) the lake? Or expecting us perhaps?
Insight: 13
Barn(Paladin1): Damian_May's Ereworn Under the Shadow | Lyra(Warlock2/Bard4): VitusW's Silverwood Forest | Nivi(Rogue5): Erik_Soong's Netherdeep
Joren(Fighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Quyen(Adept1, ba5ic): ConstancePhokas' Nentir Vale (Discord) | Seri(Druid1): Hunter_Orien's Saltmarsh
Xarian(Fighter3): Luna_Dust's Marks on the Map | Ophelia(Sorcerer2): BillM's Icewind Dale | Shin(Wizard1): Culuril's Strixhaven
Malachi picks himself up off of the floor of the tunnel and brushes the dust off of his jacket with a look of indignation toward Vilus. “Well it all turned out alright in the end, well done everyone!” He puts a reassuring hand on Samir’s shoulder as Ashley tries to lift his spirits.
As they press on down the tunnel, his face turns white and he just holds back his breakfast at the sight of the miners laying in the pooling blood. Quickly spotting Andra and the marshal, he places a finger to his lips, urging the others to keep quiet. Flipping a copper piece in his other hand, he quietly attempts to detect thoughts in Andra’s mind.
From the closest body, Joren can make out a vicious gash across the throat. Another body seems have fallen while clutching a red bloodstain just under her ribs. He sees Andra holding his cult dagger, unsheathed, in his hand as he speaks to Marshal Lanya. He can't tell what Andra is talking about, but with his back partially turned to the water, he seems to have little regard for it.
Malachi reaches out with his mind, but Andra is simply too far away, and he feels the tendrils in his mind trying to hold him back for some reason.
Even as he reaches out though, Andra perks up as if he'd taken notice. He pulls Lanya to him and turns around to face the party, wicked dagger held up to the throat of his human shield. He does not seem surprised at all to see everyone. "I thought I heard you coming. You are right on time." His voice is imperious and refined, though a bit nasal. "I presume you are the ones who have been interfering in our business. As a troubling bunch of loose ends, I was so hoping you would come right to me so I could resolve the matter and move on with more important things."
Vilus steps into the light proper, his hands open showing no weaponry, he slowly paces forward, although will stop if Andra becomes nervous or erratic. "Oh you're a confident one aren't you? Loose ends are the least of your worries right now, but do as you will... We do have some questions for you though Andra, Y'know, before you 'resolve the matter' of course" he states calmly.
Samir gives a wan smile and nod to Ashley, Joren, and Malachi as they approach the turn. It vanishes quickly, however, and the smells and sounds they encounter. As Vilus moves forward, Samir does as well, his eyes flickering from place to place, from body to body. Counting. Considering.
A puzzle. A situation. A Problem to Solve and correct. That is all it is... all it is...
He pushes away the images of the dead strewn about the place, doing his best to remain logical and clinical, to observe the situation as he would a particularly tricky mechcanical problem to be fixed. If he were to allow the enormity of the scene, the horror of it, to seep into his thoughts... he wasn't certain how he would react. For now, he simply watches and listens, keeping a short distance off to Vilus' left side.
The tall man's face, leathery from his time as a seaman, crinkles in a mix of irritation and amusement. "You? You have questions for me? When you are about to die? Hmmm, how about this? For every question I answer, you will answer one of mine."
Lanya struggles and grunts in protest, but he has no trouble with holding even her strong frame in place. He jabs his dagger into her arm, only about an inch deep. Her eyes go wide in pain and she slumps a little more. Andra places the dagger back at her throat and stares back at Vilus expectantly.
Joren's echo advances just ahead of Vilus, with Joren himself 30' behind it. He leaves the dialog with Andra to the others.
This is feeling like a trap. Or maybe the bastard is just wanting us to think it is a trap. Is Andra truly so strong that he can be handling Marshal Lanya so easily? Or perhaps something is weakening her, and even possibly the miners that he apparently slaughtered here before we arrived?
He growls, voice pitched low so his companions can hear but Andra cannot. "Being ready, everyone. He may be luring us into a trap or an ambush. They have been using rat swarms and poison gas and explosives and who knows what else. The miners' corpses are looking dagger-slashed to me, but is Andra really so strong as to slay them all so swiftly on his own and hold the Marshal down with such ease without help or weakening them?"
Joren looks for an ambush, or indications of a hazard such as poison gas, a collapsing tunnel, a tripwire or pit, danger from the cavern ceiling, an illusion. His echo stays focused on Andra like a hawk, hoping the man will not notice Joren himself scanning in all directions, attempting to register threats.
Perception: 21
Barn(Paladin1): Damian_May's Ereworn Under the Shadow | Lyra(Warlock2/Bard4): VitusW's Silverwood Forest | Nivi(Rogue5): Erik_Soong's Netherdeep
Joren(Fighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Quyen(Adept1, ba5ic): ConstancePhokas' Nentir Vale (Discord) | Seri(Druid1): Hunter_Orien's Saltmarsh
Xarian(Fighter3): Luna_Dust's Marks on the Map | Ophelia(Sorcerer2): BillM's Icewind Dale | Shin(Wizard1): Culuril's Strixhaven
"Sounds fair, and since we're gonna die anyway, it hardly seems fair that you get a hostage and we don't. So why don't you release the woman and then once you're done, you can kill us all as one big group eh? It's not like Rasmus would let you die here, not after all you've accomplished", Vilus continues pacing forwards, slowly, surely, inch by inch.