"Oh! I met some rocks back home. The one kind really just seemed like rocks but they kind of moved when you weren't looking. I saw them in a forest early on in our adventure, they seemed to be heading somewhere. The others were... I guess more kind of dudes disguised as rocks? They had spindly arms and legs and such. Met them in a cabe when we were being attacked by a giant spider. Neither sets of them sounded anything like that though," Sam says with some confusion.
"Sounds the same, but means something different", Vin explains to Sam. "This Roc is very large bird, and quite dangerous if I remember correctly. It's a good thing I disturbed it otherwise we might have stumbled onto it unawares".
He fires another few blasts similar to the one that caused the reaction from the Roc.
Sam shrugs to Muir and whispers back. "The first ones, Ghoram Dhur or Galeb Duhh or something, nope. Don't think so. Ummm... no. Second ones, yeah. Not sure I ever got a name for the other ones. They were more creatures using the rocks for a disguise. Hiding in them. Or under them. But yet, I summoned a tree to break my fall and after we dealt with the spiders the rock dudes were around the base of the tree...."
Vin's blasts slam yet again against the crystal stricture, and the chunk of crystal moves slightly upon impact, vibrating it's way through the mountain. The Roc screams once again, and Griff's head twitches. "Female, mature, it is being big.."
Hector looks to vin and then looks up the massive crystal mountain, "we wouldn't reach it if we went around, the pocket I spoke of before... We'd completely circumvent our destination. We could go over but the higher we go the more exposure to the winds, and the harder it would be to keep ourselves on the this side of the isle shard, that and we'd add another day both ways to the journey... It's up to you, is a Roc more dangerous than the hoard of undead you guys faced?"
Elthana rolls her eyes, "You're not that good." She considers the tunnel and Hector's words. "Well, can we hide and keep having Vin blast at it until it leaves? Scare it out of the cave and then once it flies off, head through? Though.. if it does work and then comes back while we're with the witch... " she shakes her head, "One thing at a time."
"Ahhh, you can't judge by Hootie," Sam replies to Elthana. "The little bird is a snob, is all..." And with that Sam starts walking towards the cave.
"If we scare it out then it'll be all annoyed and likely attack the first thing it sees... Us!" he explains as he strides forward. "And if not then it's behind us and we'll never know when it may sneak up behind us and attack. Best bet is to go in and get to know the bird, make friends... And if things do go sidewise then at least we're fighting a bird in a cave instead of out in the open where it has the advantage, eh?"
((Sam is walking to the cave while explaining, but not running to it or anything. He can certainly be called back or caught up to or whatever... but his intention is to just walk in and see whats what.))
Gewyn, beleaguered from the walking, is reclining with his socks and boots kicked off, quietly immersing himself in tuning and doddering around with his new prized instrument when the Roc signals its presence. He sits up and starts tugging on his footwear again. With a light shining in his eyes, he says, "I say we go through. A little danger has never put any of us in the ground more than once, but adding more walking to our trip might do me in. I am built for leisure. Punctuated of course with brief affairs of adrenaline and music."
Vin nods in agreement, "Happy to go take a look. Drive it off or take more permanent action if necessary, we can decide once we see what we are dealing with". He moves to follow Sam, staying behind the half orc though.
Neferox stretches and stands up, padding over to walk beside Vin.
"An alternative of course, is that Elthana and I go a little more discreetly to take a look first", he suggests casually.
The mouth of this crystal cave is large, large enough for a gargantuan beast to comfortably move in and out. Walking in, it is not long before the group is plunged into darkness and those without darkvision become at a loss for sight.
(At this point I need to know how you decide to proceed, stealthily or not? With light or other visual aids for those with no darkvision or not? If the group splits who is scouting ahead and by how much? Etc...)
Sam walks in slowly and carefully. He's doing what he can to be stealthy and quiet but he is a big goof of a Half-Orc in plate armor so his Shrekness only can do so much. Still, it would be best to get close enough to see just what they're dealing with before awakening it, or letting it know they are visiting, if possible. He has one hand upon his Bag of Tricks ready to pull out a ball of fuzz to help if needed but not being sure of what is ahead - Besides the rock bird - he's reluctant to pull them out in advance as they would need be left behind if there is too much of a climb or such ahead.
"How does a rock bird fly anyway?" he asks in a hushed whisper. "Or is it flightless like an dodo?"
Seeing that Sam is doing his best to be stealthy, Elthana shakes her head and grabs hold of his forearm to stop him. She puts her finger up to her lips in a shush manner, leaning in to whisper, "I'm sure you'll find out."
Then looking to Vin and motioning with her head that they move forward, she slinks ahead of Sam to try and move silently in the large cave so they can get a look at what they are about to deal with.
“They fly and are enormous. They are territorial. If it’s a female with eggs they’ll see us as a threat unless we can show them we are not. They are hunters. We should not engage it outside of the cave as it would have a huge advantage. Enclosed in the cave would keep it from diving and attacking us. However, with all that said if they aren’t hungry and we are able to show them we are not a threat…..perhaps I could speak with it, if we are not dinner.”
Vin puts two fingers to his temple and does a short sharp salute to Elthana, and then he takes deep focussing breath and moves onwards into the cave as quietly as he can. Neferox immediately sits and waits, but she does not take her eyes off Vin's back as she watches him disappear.
Sam is happy to let the Stealth Squad take the lead but he too keeps following, not wanting to let them get too far ahead in case there is trouble. Neferox was expendable, of course, but Sam kind of wanted to keep Elthana and Vin around for a while.
"Sam, wait..." Before Sam reaches the cave, Gewyn adjusts the big guy's clothing a bit to pad sounds between the joints of his armour (Bardic inspiration 1d8 to add to that stealth roll if dm allows).
Then Gewyn takes a step back to survey his work. "Better," he mouths.
Then he turns around to stride into the cave and trips on a rock (Stealth 10). He hops a few times before catching his balance, cringing as he listens for signs of movement from the roc within.
There is indeed distant movement of rocs within, and once Elthana and vin are able to lay eyes on it they find not one but two Roc's, one of which is very much on the alert and scanning for potential threats.
Vin and Elthana move back once more to report the findings to the group and figure out the plan of approach.
"Two of them, both adults although one looks sickly, in a large chamber up ahead. They are enormous, must be almost 70ft tall!", Vin reports back in hushed tones. "And they are protecting four eggs that are bigger than I am tall!".
He thinks for a moment, "I wonder if the sickly looking one is ill or just malnourished. Either way, the other does not look like it will let anyone get close".
He looks across to Muir, "If it has a disease, are you able to cure it? I mean, if it is just hungry, we don't have enough food to feed such a big bird. But if we heal it, maybe it will let us pass?".
He looks unsure but desperate to find a way to avoid attacking them.
While Sam listes to Vin's report he gently fumbles in his coin pouch. While doing so he casts light upon one of the coins but keeps it hidden in the pouch for now. "If we go in and anything goes down I'll drop it so we can all see what's what," he whispers in explanation to the others.
Sam then looks to Muir. "Think you can talk to them? Explain we mean no harm, will help if we can...?" Sam had seen rocks that could talk before so it's not out of the realm of possibility. But huh... Sickly rocks. Sam wonders if that is how dirt and sand happens? Dying rocks....
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"Oh! I met some rocks back home. The one kind really just seemed like rocks but they kind of moved when you weren't looking. I saw them in a forest early on in our adventure, they seemed to be heading somewhere. The others were... I guess more kind of dudes disguised as rocks? They had spindly arms and legs and such. Met them in a cabe when we were being attacked by a giant spider. Neither sets of them sounded anything like that though," Sam says with some confusion.
"Sounds the same, but means something different", Vin explains to Sam. "This Roc is very large bird, and quite dangerous if I remember correctly. It's a good thing I disturbed it otherwise we might have stumbled onto it unawares".
He fires another few blasts similar to the one that caused the reaction from the Roc.
"Is there a way to go around?".
Muir looks at Sam and quietly asks him
"The rock creatures....did you see them after using the artifact Jimmy gave you?"
Sam shrugs to Muir and whispers back. "The first ones, Ghoram Dhur or Galeb Duhh or something, nope. Don't think so. Ummm... no. Second ones, yeah. Not sure I ever got a name for the other ones. They were more creatures using the rocks for a disguise. Hiding in them. Or under them. But yet, I summoned a tree to break my fall and after we dealt with the spiders the rock dudes were around the base of the tree...."
Vin's blasts slam yet again against the crystal stricture, and the chunk of crystal moves slightly upon impact, vibrating it's way through the mountain. The Roc screams once again, and Griff's head twitches. "Female, mature, it is being big.."
Hector looks to vin and then looks up the massive crystal mountain, "we wouldn't reach it if we went around, the pocket I spoke of before... We'd completely circumvent our destination. We could go over but the higher we go the more exposure to the winds, and the harder it would be to keep ourselves on the this side of the isle shard, that and we'd add another day both ways to the journey... It's up to you, is a Roc more dangerous than the hoard of undead you guys faced?"
"I'm pretty good with animals," Sam suggests. "Maybe I could just go in and ask it's permission for us to walk on by?"
Elthana rolls her eyes, "You're not that good." She considers the tunnel and Hector's words. "Well, can we hide and keep having Vin blast at it until it leaves? Scare it out of the cave and then once it flies off, head through? Though.. if it does work and then comes back while we're with the witch... " she shakes her head, "One thing at a time."
"Ahhh, you can't judge by Hootie," Sam replies to Elthana. "The little bird is a snob, is all..." And with that Sam starts walking towards the cave.
"If we scare it out then it'll be all annoyed and likely attack the first thing it sees... Us!" he explains as he strides forward. "And if not then it's behind us and we'll never know when it may sneak up behind us and attack. Best bet is to go in and get to know the bird, make friends... And if things do go sidewise then at least we're fighting a bird in a cave instead of out in the open where it has the advantage, eh?"
((Sam is walking to the cave while explaining, but not running to it or anything. He can certainly be called back or caught up to or whatever... but his intention is to just walk in and see whats what.))
Gewyn, beleaguered from the walking, is reclining with his socks and boots kicked off, quietly immersing himself in tuning and doddering around with his new prized instrument when the Roc signals its presence. He sits up and starts tugging on his footwear again. With a light shining in his eyes, he says, "I say we go through. A little danger has never put any of us in the ground more than once, but adding more walking to our trip might do me in. I am built for leisure. Punctuated of course with brief affairs of adrenaline and music."
Vin nods in agreement, "Happy to go take a look. Drive it off or take more permanent action if necessary, we can decide once we see what we are dealing with". He moves to follow Sam, staying behind the half orc though.
Neferox stretches and stands up, padding over to walk beside Vin.
"An alternative of course, is that Elthana and I go a little more discreetly to take a look first", he suggests casually.
The mouth of this crystal cave is large, large enough for a gargantuan beast to comfortably move in and out. Walking in, it is not long before the group is plunged into darkness and those without darkvision become at a loss for sight.
(At this point I need to know how you decide to proceed, stealthily or not? With light or other visual aids for those with no darkvision or not? If the group splits who is scouting ahead and by how much? Etc...)
Sam walks in slowly and carefully. He's doing what he can to be stealthy and quiet but he is a big goof of a Half-Orc in plate armor so his Shrekness only can do so much. Still, it would be best to get close enough to see just what they're dealing with before awakening it, or letting it know they are visiting, if possible. He has one hand upon his Bag of Tricks ready to pull out a ball of fuzz to help if needed but not being sure of what is ahead - Besides the rock bird - he's reluctant to pull them out in advance as they would need be left behind if there is too much of a climb or such ahead.
"How does a rock bird fly anyway?" he asks in a hushed whisper. "Or is it flightless like an dodo?"
Seeing that Sam is doing his best to be stealthy, Elthana shakes her head and grabs hold of his forearm to stop him. She puts her finger up to her lips in a shush manner, leaning in to whisper, "I'm sure you'll find out."
Then looking to Vin and motioning with her head that they move forward, she slinks ahead of Sam to try and move silently in the large cave so they can get a look at what they are about to deal with.
Stealth: 29
“They fly and are enormous. They are territorial. If it’s a female with eggs they’ll see us as a threat unless we can show them we are not. They are hunters. We should not engage it outside of the cave as it would have a huge advantage. Enclosed in the cave would keep it from diving and attacking us. However, with all that said if they aren’t hungry and we are able to show them we are not a threat…..perhaps I could speak with it, if we are not dinner.”
Vin puts two fingers to his temple and does a short sharp salute to Elthana, and then he takes deep focussing breath and moves onwards into the cave as quietly as he can. Neferox immediately sits and waits, but she does not take her eyes off Vin's back as she watches him disappear.
Stealth (with Guidance): 7+9+4=20
Sam is happy to let the Stealth Squad take the lead but he too keeps following, not wanting to let them get too far ahead in case there is trouble. Neferox was expendable, of course, but Sam kind of wanted to keep Elthana and Vin around for a while.
(Sam stealth, staying maybe 30ish feet behind? 12)
"Sam, wait..." Before Sam reaches the cave, Gewyn adjusts the big guy's clothing a bit to pad sounds between the joints of his armour (Bardic inspiration 1d8 to add to that stealth roll if dm allows).
Then Gewyn takes a step back to survey his work. "Better," he mouths.
Then he turns around to stride into the cave and trips on a rock (Stealth 10). He hops a few times before catching his balance, cringing as he listens for signs of movement from the roc within.
There is indeed distant movement of rocs within, and once Elthana and vin are able to lay eyes on it they find not one but two Roc's, one of which is very much on the alert and scanning for potential threats.
Vin and Elthana move back once more to report the findings to the group and figure out the plan of approach.
(Map in discord shortly)
"Two of them, both adults although one looks sickly, in a large chamber up ahead. They are enormous, must be almost 70ft tall!", Vin reports back in hushed tones. "And they are protecting four eggs that are bigger than I am tall!".
He thinks for a moment, "I wonder if the sickly looking one is ill or just malnourished. Either way, the other does not look like it will let anyone get close".
He looks across to Muir, "If it has a disease, are you able to cure it? I mean, if it is just hungry, we don't have enough food to feed such a big bird. But if we heal it, maybe it will let us pass?".
He looks unsure but desperate to find a way to avoid attacking them.
While Sam listes to Vin's report he gently fumbles in his coin pouch. While doing so he casts light upon one of the coins but keeps it hidden in the pouch for now. "If we go in and anything goes down I'll drop it so we can all see what's what," he whispers in explanation to the others.
Sam then looks to Muir. "Think you can talk to them? Explain we mean no harm, will help if we can...?" Sam had seen rocks that could talk before so it's not out of the realm of possibility. But huh... Sickly rocks. Sam wonders if that is how dirt and sand happens? Dying rocks....