Sam merely grunts at Griff. Both regarding the translation and later when he draws a sword. Sam is fully back to not being fond of the flightly bird-man. So much that he doesn't even trust him when he claims he is lost...
Insight Check: 18
"Keep your eyes open," Sam says to one and all, a hand signal to the animals in order to have them spread out a bit and use their senses to sniff out any who may be nearby. (Brownie and Ógra both get adv on Perception including their sniffers... But I don't want to be rolling for every beasty so just rolling Brownie's who has the best: Perception: And Brownie rolls a 2 and a 3 for a Perception of 4. Brownie must be sniffing Molly's Giant Goat Butt...)
For his part Sam indeed looks around and stays cautious but he doesn't fully draw his maul yet... Though it is at hand. "No saying backtracking would get us back on track. I say we press on..."
Purely focused on finding their destination, Elthana checks herself on what she feels is the way, seeing if the direction Griff is taking makes the most sense.
"Nef knows as much as we do", Vin replies to Sam as they walk. When Griff tells them he thinks that their destination is close, he starts to feel nervous, sticking back behind the big hound and psyching himself up for whatever may come.
Nef remains alert, making full use of her enhanced senses.
Elthana nods to what Vin is saying, "Yes, with the ruined structure foretold, it makes sense that is where the breeze would be coming from. All this crystal is sure is curious." She spins her long black pole a few times, expecting a fight soon.
The group follow the breeze to its source, Griff now taking a more vigilant rear guard role, it isn't long before you open a door into a side building and begin to see the ambient light from the vast blue above penetrating the walls and making them glow slightly.
You find yourselves in an abandoned corridor, moss curling up the walls and in places having reached high up enough to fold over, succumbing to its own weight and being taken by the gravity of the big down.
Small empty vials, broken crystal scalpels, and other Ancient medical accoutrement scatter the walkways Within the side rooms, what looks like rows of broken and cracked crystal slabs for beds lay dormant and collecting in a thick layer of stone dust.
As the group heads further towards the breeze they see more signs of destruction, chunks of ceiling and floor having fallen in, areas that have shattered to dust, and finally they head through an archway into a room with half of the room missing.
From the intact side of the room, the group stands as if on a platform overlooking a pit, a pit that goes deep, the ceiling has given way to the open air several stories above, as the top of the building has become a great crater.
Surrounding the platform overlooking the pit several stalagmites have formed into sharp crystal spikes that separate the group from the drop into the darkness many many stories below. That also seems to be the source of the breeze, underneath.
As they stand looking down into the pit, Vin turns to Nef and reaches out to grasp some of the fur on her side. He then seems to space out for a few seconds as Nef surveys the darkness below.
Perception (with Nef's 120ft Devil's Sight and Advantage): (15, 11)+8=23
"I uh... I've been here before." Elthana states as they walk into the main building. She stares around at all the decay and destruction, a look of dismay and confusion on her face. "But the place was whole, I talked to... I don't remember who, but someone. I used all manners of tricks and charms and dark ways to find this place, it was a hospital of sorts. I believe death was worshipped here..."
Her voice drifts off as Elthana touches things while walking around, seemingly half in the present and half in her memory. Pausing and leaning against a stalagmite, she holds her head, "oooh, my head hurts."
Muir looks curiously at Elthana "Do you mean you have walked these halls before or are these memories of you were cloned after?" Muir wastes no time asking questions of the situation
Vin hears Elthana speak through Neferox's ears, and wonders how it might have worked with someone dying and trying to transfer themselves into another body. He finds himself hearing his own mumbling through Neferox's ears, "So the memories and soul are trying to find a new body, after the first has perished. And if Elthana only has a few memories of the before, perhaps Morris got the rest. Or perhaps she has the memories but they are repressed or jumbled like mine. But what about the soul? If the original soul didn't inhabit the new body, what soul did? Or was a new soul spontaneously created?".
Realising he was speaking loud enough for Elthana to hear, he adds more loudly, "But Sam is right, we are here for you".
Looking around there appears to be several floors inaccessible unless the party decides to jump down the crater and to the bottom. Every layer seems to have these stalagmites clinging to the edges of the hole in this ruined building, like knives pointing upward into an unknown descent.
The platform that the group find themselves on has moss curling up the back wall of it, opposite to the hole. There appears to be several bones stripped of any flesh buried in the moss. Scratches and burn marks line the walls from past fights. The group can't help but feel watched from the walls, from above, from places that it would be impossible to view them from.
Faintly, below, the group hear the harsh growling tones of the draconic tongue being whispered and carried on the updraft, then a disgruntled cawing.
"Wraiths up, kobolds down, yes?" Sam asks looking for someone to confirm his own recollection. Or fix it. "Definitely was wraiths near the top... and the voices seem to be coming from below so... Shall we go down and investigate?"
Sam then looks to Elthana and pauses. "Or do you need a moment?" The tone indicates Sam will wait for as long as it takes for her to be ready.
Elthana looks to her friends, realizing their care and worry for her. She really doesn't know how to take it, at least when she was cursed by the giant, that was a physical issue that just made her angry, this? This was way more.
She looks to Muir, "I don't know? I have never been to Thaeir and from what I have been told, I was cloned before Nivara went to Thaeir, so it makes absolutely no sense that I should be able to recall this place? It's making my head feel like it is splitting open." She turns to the pair of Nef and Vin, "I...I don't know what kind of soul I have inside of me, only that it isn't whole." She visibly crumbles a bit as she says this, her normal stoic stature very much cracked.
Shaking her head, "No, I don't need a moment, things aren't going to get better standing here." then in a softer voice, "Thanks though."
"I think whichever direction we choose to go, I will be going quietly. I think taking a quick moment would be a bad idea, for El's sake, and for ours." He pulls out his whetstone and sets it to the blade of his sword. He immediately cringes at the volume of the grating sound, light though it is. "Never mind. I am good to go. I don't know why I expected that to be quieter. Tired, I guess. My sword is sharp enough already."
As Sam is saying that he sees Gewyn begin to use the whetstone and decides perhaps he himself should try out a new trick... Putting on his helmet, Sam casts Stoneskin upon himself in preparation in case their is a battle to come. Then... We will start leading down.
"Huh?" Sam asks to the general assemblage and then starts digging around in his backpack instead of waiting for an answer. Once done Sam sidles up to Elthana. "It's going to be fine," Sam says in his most reassuring voice and moves away her hair from the back of her neck, laying his hand there is a friendly, calming gesture. Sam leans in and whispers something to Elthana and then takes his hand away, moving her hair back in the process.
"So still downward then, right?" he asks her.
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Sam merely grunts at Griff. Both regarding the translation and later when he draws a sword. Sam is fully back to not being fond of the flightly bird-man. So much that he doesn't even trust him when he claims he is lost...
Insight Check: 18
"Keep your eyes open," Sam says to one and all, a hand signal to the animals in order to have them spread out a bit and use their senses to sniff out any who may be nearby. (Brownie and Ógra both get adv on Perception including their sniffers... But I don't want to be rolling for every beasty so just rolling Brownie's who has the best: Perception: And Brownie rolls a 2 and a 3 for a Perception of 4. Brownie must be sniffing Molly's Giant Goat Butt...)
For his part Sam indeed looks around and stays cautious but he doesn't fully draw his maul yet... Though it is at hand. "No saying backtracking would get us back on track. I say we press on..."
Purely focused on finding their destination, Elthana checks herself on what she feels is the way, seeing if the direction Griff is taking makes the most sense.
Survival: 15
"Nef knows as much as we do", Vin replies to Sam as they walk. When Griff tells them he thinks that their destination is close, he starts to feel nervous, sticking back behind the big hound and psyching himself up for whatever may come.
Nef remains alert, making full use of her enhanced senses.
Nef Perception: (
9, 12)+8=20"Nef smells dragonkin on that breeze. We are going the right way", Vin confirms.
Elthana nods to what Vin is saying, "Yes, with the ruined structure foretold, it makes sense that is where the breeze would be coming from. All this crystal is sure is curious." She spins her long black pole a few times, expecting a fight soon.
The group follow the breeze to its source, Griff now taking a more vigilant rear guard role, it isn't long before you open a door into a side building and begin to see the ambient light from the vast blue above penetrating the walls and making them glow slightly.
You find yourselves in an abandoned corridor, moss curling up the walls and in places having reached high up enough to fold over, succumbing to its own weight and being taken by the gravity of the big down.
Small empty vials, broken crystal scalpels, and other Ancient medical accoutrement scatter the walkways Within the side rooms, what looks like rows of broken and cracked crystal slabs for beds lay dormant and collecting in a thick layer of stone dust.
As the group heads further towards the breeze they see more signs of destruction, chunks of ceiling and floor having fallen in, areas that have shattered to dust, and finally they head through an archway into a room with half of the room missing.
From the intact side of the room, the group stands as if on a platform overlooking a pit, a pit that goes deep, the ceiling has given way to the open air several stories above, as the top of the building has become a great crater.
Surrounding the platform overlooking the pit several stalagmites have formed into sharp crystal spikes that separate the group from the drop into the darkness many many stories below. That also seems to be the source of the breeze, underneath.
(Group perception check time!)
As they stand looking down into the pit, Vin turns to Nef and reaches out to grasp some of the fur on her side. He then seems to space out for a few seconds as Nef surveys the darkness below.
Perception (with Nef's 120ft Devil's Sight and Advantage): (15, 11)+8=23
"I uh... I've been here before." Elthana states as they walk into the main building. She stares around at all the decay and destruction, a look of dismay and confusion on her face. "But the place was whole, I talked to... I don't remember who, but someone. I used all manners of tricks and charms and dark ways to find this place, it was a hospital of sorts. I believe death was worshipped here..."
Her voice drifts off as Elthana touches things while walking around, seemingly half in the present and half in her memory. Pausing and leaning against a stalagmite, she holds her head, "oooh, my head hurts."
Muir looks curiously at Elthana "Do you mean you have walked these halls before or are these memories of you were cloned after?" Muir wastes no time asking questions of the situation
Sam steps up to Elthana wanting to keep her nearby. "We're here. Whatever you need, we're here."
"Whoa, easy there, El. Don't want you falling in. I don't think this place is admitting new patients," Gewyn jokes, though concern rests upon his brow.
(Bardic inspiration to Elthana)
Vin hears Elthana speak through Neferox's ears, and wonders how it might have worked with someone dying and trying to transfer themselves into another body. He finds himself hearing his own mumbling through Neferox's ears, "So the memories and soul are trying to find a new body, after the first has perished. And if Elthana only has a few memories of the before, perhaps Morris got the rest. Or perhaps she has the memories but they are repressed or jumbled like mine. But what about the soul? If the original soul didn't inhabit the new body, what soul did? Or was a new soul spontaneously created?".
Realising he was speaking loud enough for Elthana to hear, he adds more loudly, "But Sam is right, we are here for you".
Looking around there appears to be several floors inaccessible unless the party decides to jump down the crater and to the bottom. Every layer seems to have these stalagmites clinging to the edges of the hole in this ruined building, like knives pointing upward into an unknown descent.
The platform that the group find themselves on has moss curling up the back wall of it, opposite to the hole. There appears to be several bones stripped of any flesh buried in the moss. Scratches and burn marks line the walls from past fights. The group can't help but feel watched from the walls, from above, from places that it would be impossible to view them from.
Faintly, below, the group hear the harsh growling tones of the draconic tongue being whispered and carried on the updraft, then a disgruntled cawing.
Elthana's headache remains.
Vin’s eyes suddenly go wide with shock, and he stumbles backwards letting go of Neferox.
”Crikey!”, he says looking at Elthana and then at the hole.
"Wraiths up, kobolds down, yes?" Sam asks looking for someone to confirm his own recollection. Or fix it. "Definitely was wraiths near the top... and the voices seem to be coming from below so... Shall we go down and investigate?"
Sam then looks to Elthana and pauses. "Or do you need a moment?" The tone indicates Sam will wait for as long as it takes for her to be ready.
Elthana looks to her friends, realizing their care and worry for her. She really doesn't know how to take it, at least when she was cursed by the giant, that was a physical issue that just made her angry, this? This was way more.
She looks to Muir, "I don't know? I have never been to Thaeir and from what I have been told, I was cloned before Nivara went to Thaeir, so it makes absolutely no sense that I should be able to recall this place? It's making my head feel like it is splitting open." She turns to the pair of Nef and Vin, "I...I don't know what kind of soul I have inside of me, only that it isn't whole." She visibly crumbles a bit as she says this, her normal stoic stature very much cracked.
Shaking her head, "No, I don't need a moment, things aren't going to get better standing here." then in a softer voice, "Thanks though."
"So, down?"
"I think whichever direction we choose to go, I will be going quietly. I think taking a quick moment would be a bad idea, for El's sake, and for ours." He pulls out his whetstone and sets it to the blade of his sword. He immediately cringes at the volume of the grating sound, light though it is. "Never mind. I am good to go. I don't know why I expected that to be quieter. Tired, I guess. My sword is sharp enough already."
"So down?" Sam asks. "Quietly?"
"I'll do my best but... well, obviously..."
As Sam is saying that he sees Gewyn begin to use the whetstone and decides perhaps he himself should try out a new trick... Putting on his helmet, Sam casts Stoneskin upon himself in preparation in case their is a battle to come. Then... We will start leading down.
"Before we go down there", Vin starts to say cautiously. "You need to know something, Elthana".
He takes a deep breath before continuing, "Nef picked up a scent earlier, a familiar scent. And it is stronger here, coming from below us".
Nef nudges him as if prompting him to get to the point.
"It's your scent, Elthana. Well, the same scent as yours, but obviously not actually yours. I can only assume it is Nivara".
"Huh?" Sam asks to the general assemblage and then starts digging around in his backpack instead of waiting for an answer. Once done Sam sidles up to Elthana. "It's going to be fine," Sam says in his most reassuring voice and moves away her hair from the back of her neck, laying his hand there is a friendly, calming gesture. Sam leans in and whispers something to Elthana and then takes his hand away, moving her hair back in the process.
"So still downward then, right?" he asks her.