Shushaar, gliding with an elegance at odds with the appearance of the grotesque fish man, gracefully moves to help hold the rope. “I don’t know why we bother,” he asks as he holds the rope steady, “The gods will do with us as they please.”
You and your troupe manage to find a working plan together, using some rope, and eventually you are all back on your way through the Silken Paths. The surprising incident still fresh in your minds as you begin the trek through the darkness, lit up only a bit by the floating lights (which I assume are either still up or recast) that basically help you see the immediate area but fade into the thick complex web structures that surround you and make up this nightmarish alley. Seconds feel like minutes, minutes feel like hours, the intensity of walking along carefully building up the longer you push on and still no end in sight, just more webs and darkness. 200ft...400ft...800ft...nothing but you, webs and darkness...1000ft....
"Thanks for your concern, Katryl," Khessa smiles brightly at her genasi friend, glad that she cares about her "but yes, I think it should be easy for me. Alwaya had quite an active life since I was a child..."
As they are all back up and trecking through thick webs and deep shadows, the blonde arcane warrior asks the two goblins: "How much longer will it take to complete the crossing? If it still takes a long time, we might think about a quick stop to rest and regain strength..."
As the disparate group of escapees slowly traverse the seemingly endless sea of webs, the noble drow vigilantly keeps his purple spheres lighting their way, his head mulling over the seemingly endless possibilities for a most gruesome revenge on those who wronged him, those who betrayed him.
The farther they get from the drow outpost, the more relaxed Silas gets. He begins to tell jokes and long stories, trying to keep everyone's spirit up.
Buppido, talkative as he always is, tries to start a conversation with Khessa, since she is also usually willing to have a chat (it wouldn't be the first time they spend those typical two-three hours of uninterrupted conversation to kill some time): "You didn't get scared by the mimic, Khessa, did you? You knew I was watching your back!"
"Of course I knew it, Buppido!" the blonde arcane warrior smiles at him, whom she usually finds nice "Indeed, you made a good shot, with your crossbow... Even if you hit that aberration in a peripheral area, you distracted it enough for Eldeth to hit it with two arrows in the mouth!"
The derro is speechless for a moment... the reconstruction of the facts he had in mind wasn't exactly that... "Yeah..." he concedes, after a while "And, go figure, that dwarf didn't even thank me! What would she have done if I had been selfish enough not to leave her the glory and hit instead the monster in the mouth myself?!"
"You did well, Buppido..." agrees the tall adventurer, still smiling "...the glory of the individual isn't as important as the collaboration of the team. It's so nice when everyone can count on everyone else!"
"Yes, of course! Speaking of that, you can always count on me, Khessa, you know?" tries to regain points Buppido "I, for example," and glares at Traydark"would never dream of selling you in a slave market in Menzoberranzan!"
The woman's blue eyes harden at this reference, but she sighs: "Well, thank goodness that at least you..."
"Sure! Who, if they had you, would ever do something that stupid?!" the derro hastens to assure "The slave markets of Menzoberranzan are laughable compared to those of Gracklstugh! There you would really get the price you're worth!"
Khessa remains open-mouthed (and with a murderous light in her blue eyes), while, without saying a word, she looks at the other for an interminable amount of time.
Buppido is several times on the verge of starting to speak again, but from the other's attitude he understands that perhaps his compliment was not well received...
"Thank you" is all the blonde arcane warrior finally manages to say, dripping sarcasm, turning her back on him and ceasing to pay him the slightest attention.
Muttering in disappointment, Buppido approaches Traydark and nudges him: "Hey, that one is really, really touchy, isn't she? She really doesn't know how to appreciate the civilization of the Underdark".
The noble drow chuckles to himself as he listens to Buppido talking to Khessa. The derro were mad, a wretched race, a failure of Ilithid breeding, but this one was somewhat entertaining at least, and apparently came out alive after the unintentional insult of the tall blonde human who would probably snap him in half if she wanted to.
"No, she doesn't, does she?" The noble drow answers the derro with an amused smile. "Keep at it though my little friend, there is still hope for you and the human, maybe she will eventually realize what Gracklstugh would have to offer her as a slave, or maybe for your savants to perform their wicked experiments on?" He continues, giving the derro a nudge back.
Khessa, meanwhile, has relaxed thanks to some jokes from Silas, so, smiling again, she wants to reciprocate with one she had heard in one of the last taverns where she had had the opportunity to stop: "You are really funny Silas! But let's hear if you know this one: why orc wedding cakes are made of skunk dung?"
The tabaxi cleric, intrigued, admits: "No idea... why?"
And the blonde arcane warrior: "To keep the flies off the bride!"
The journey stretches on still, marking more time than seems countable, conversation punctuating the echoing darkness. 1200ft...1500ft...1800ft...the webs suddenly give way momentarily to a stony platform, a mere 20ft across and about as wide."We almost there!"Your goblin guides cry with some elation."Hey! He wasn't here before, was he?"They point to a creature wrapped up in spider silk on the left edge of the platform. Upon a passing inspection, it appears to be a halfling male.
"Well, he is here now, that's for sure!" exclaims Khessa "And he might use some help, if he is still alive".
The blonde arcane warrior wants to be cautious, after her encounter with the mimic: not always all is as it appears, here... but she will definitely not abandon a helpless person in a place like this! She sends her already summoned Unseen Servant with the lighted pebble near the halfling, to be able to see him well. The tall adventurer tries to examine the person from a few steps away. Is he conscious? Or at least alive? Does he breath still?
Then the blue eyed woman starts burning some of the strands keeping the halfling in place, then has her faithful invisible assistant wrap him with her rope and she pulls the person to safety. If she does not detect dangers or anything amiss, she finishes freeing the hafling. Then, if he lives, she tries to wake him up; if he is dead, she searches him, looking both for eventual useful items and for any clue about who this halfling was.
It's hard to tell since most of him is wrapped up in webbing, but it is nonetheless clear that he is all but dead, the final breaths coming in pained efforts. He appears to be repeating something over and over, or at least attempting to. Yukyuk comes over to investigate as well and sticks his head down near the almost corpse. "Tomb? The tomb?"He stands back up as the halfling expires, their eyes rolling back slightly as their body slips from this mortal plane. The goblin looks at the other and shrugs,"Know anything about a tomb?"Spiderbait shrugs back,"Nope, but there are lots of strange things down here! Could be lots of tombs!"
It's hard to tell since most of him is wrapped up in webbing, but it is nonetheless clear that he is all but dead, the final breaths coming in pained efforts. He appears to be repeating something over and over, or at least attempting to. Yukyuk comes over to investigate as well and sticks his head down near the almost corpse. "Tomb? The tomb?"He stands back up as the halfling expires, their eyes rolling back slightly as their body slips from this mortal plane. The goblin looks at the other and shrugs,"Know anything about a tomb?"Spiderbait shrugs back,"Nope, but there are lots of strange things down here! Could be lots of tombs!"
You manage to claw open the webbing after a few long moments, but your efforts to heal the man have failed. You can see now that he has horrendous bite marks and gashes all over his body and the smell of putrescence and rot is already around him. There is a small bag around him still we well."Eww...that's not good. We should keep going before whatever did that to him comes back,"your goblin guides mutter.
Katryl trudges along as the distances pile on and on. She speaks softly to Eldeth now and then as they go, but for the most part she remains quiet. She watches as Silas tries to save the poor cocooned halfling and fails. "Let's grab that bag and get moving," she says, echoing the goblins' remarks.
Khessa sends her summoned helper to recover the bag, but she proposes in the meantime: "Yes, we could also just leave... and this would maybe the safest thing to do at the moment... but this hint of a 'tomb' intrigues me... What if we try to stop and look for it, instead? It shouldn't be too far away... and even if this poor guy didn't do too well, maybe we, who are more numerous, could do better... recover useful resources... Couldn't it be worth the risk? After all, we are heading to a Kuo-toa settlement, we'll find civilitation, maybe safety, maybe opportunity to equip ourselves. That's perfect, way to go. But the wares there will not be available for free... We'll need founds to buy things. So, I'd be tempted try to take a look around here, what do you all think?"
The blonde arcane warrior, while waiting for all to speak their mind, has her faithful butler open the bag in the middel of the party, so that all can see what's inside.
Shushaar, gliding with an elegance at odds with the appearance of the grotesque fish man, gracefully moves to help hold the rope. “I don’t know why we bother,” he asks as he holds the rope steady, “The gods will do with us as they please.”
Tamryn - lvl 4 Wood Elf Rogue - Circle of Light Campaign || Drusilla - lvl 1 Half-Elf Ranger - Sleeping Gods || Grrzark - lvl 1 Goblin Barbarian - Danger at Darkshelf Quarry || DM - LTG - Curse of Strahd
Silas attempts to climb the rope back up.
Dex Save: 15 (adv)
Tamryn - lvl 4 Wood Elf Rogue - Circle of Light Campaign || Drusilla - lvl 1 Half-Elf Ranger - Sleeping Gods || Grrzark - lvl 1 Goblin Barbarian - Danger at Darkshelf Quarry || DM - LTG - Curse of Strahd
You and your troupe manage to find a working plan together, using some rope, and eventually you are all back on your way through the Silken Paths. The surprising incident still fresh in your minds as you begin the trek through the darkness, lit up only a bit by the floating lights (which I assume are either still up or recast) that basically help you see the immediate area but fade into the thick complex web structures that surround you and make up this nightmarish alley. Seconds feel like minutes, minutes feel like hours, the intensity of walking along carefully building up the longer you push on and still no end in sight, just more webs and darkness. 200ft...400ft...800ft...nothing but you, webs and darkness...1000ft....
"Thanks for your concern, Katryl," Khessa smiles brightly at her genasi friend, glad that she cares about her "but yes, I think it should be easy for me. Alwaya had quite an active life since I was a child..."
As they are all back up and trecking through thick webs and deep shadows, the blonde arcane warrior asks the two goblins: "How much longer will it take to complete the crossing? If it still takes a long time, we might think about a quick stop to rest and regain strength..."
As the disparate group of escapees slowly traverse the seemingly endless sea of webs, the noble drow vigilantly keeps his purple spheres lighting their way, his head mulling over the seemingly endless possibilities for a most gruesome revenge on those who wronged him, those who betrayed him.
The farther they get from the drow outpost, the more relaxed Silas gets. He begins to tell jokes and long stories, trying to keep everyone's spirit up.
Tamryn - lvl 4 Wood Elf Rogue - Circle of Light Campaign || Drusilla - lvl 1 Half-Elf Ranger - Sleeping Gods || Grrzark - lvl 1 Goblin Barbarian - Danger at Darkshelf Quarry || DM - LTG - Curse of Strahd
Buppido, talkative as he always is, tries to start a conversation with Khessa, since she is also usually willing to have a chat (it wouldn't be the first time they spend those typical two-three hours of uninterrupted conversation to kill some time): "You didn't get scared by the mimic, Khessa, did you? You knew I was watching your back!"
"Of course I knew it, Buppido!" the blonde arcane warrior smiles at him, whom she usually finds nice "Indeed, you made a good shot, with your crossbow... Even if you hit that aberration in a peripheral area, you distracted it enough for Eldeth to hit it with two arrows in the mouth!"
The derro is speechless for a moment... the reconstruction of the facts he had in mind wasn't exactly that... "Yeah..." he concedes, after a while "And, go figure, that dwarf didn't even thank me! What would she have done if I had been selfish enough not to leave her the glory and hit instead the monster in the mouth myself?!"
"You did well, Buppido..." agrees the tall adventurer, still smiling "...the glory of the individual isn't as important as the collaboration of the team. It's so nice when everyone can count on everyone else!"
"Yes, of course! Speaking of that, you can always count on me, Khessa, you know?" tries to regain points Buppido "I, for example," and glares at Traydark "would never dream of selling you in a slave market in Menzoberranzan!"
The woman's blue eyes harden at this reference, but she sighs: "Well, thank goodness that at least you..."
"Sure! Who, if they had you, would ever do something that stupid?!" the derro hastens to assure "The slave markets of Menzoberranzan are laughable compared to those of Gracklstugh! There you would really get the price you're worth!"
Khessa remains open-mouthed (and with a murderous light in her blue eyes), while, without saying a word, she looks at the other for an interminable amount of time.
Buppido is several times on the verge of starting to speak again, but from the other's attitude he understands that perhaps his compliment was not well received...
"Thank you" is all the blonde arcane warrior finally manages to say, dripping sarcasm, turning her back on him and ceasing to pay him the slightest attention.
Muttering in disappointment, Buppido approaches Traydark and nudges him: "Hey, that one is really, really touchy, isn't she? She really doesn't know how to appreciate the civilization of the Underdark".
The noble drow chuckles to himself as he listens to Buppido talking to Khessa. The derro were mad, a wretched race, a failure of Ilithid breeding, but this one was somewhat entertaining at least, and apparently came out alive after the unintentional insult of the tall blonde human who would probably snap him in half if she wanted to.
"No, she doesn't, does she?" The noble drow answers the derro with an amused smile. "Keep at it though my little friend, there is still hope for you and the human, maybe she will eventually realize what Gracklstugh would have to offer her as a slave, or maybe for your savants to perform their wicked experiments on?" He continues, giving the derro a nudge back.
Khessa, meanwhile, has relaxed thanks to some jokes from Silas, so, smiling again, she wants to reciprocate with one she had heard in one of the last taverns where she had had the opportunity to stop: "You are really funny Silas! But let's hear if you know this one: why orc wedding cakes are made of skunk dung?"
The tabaxi cleric, intrigued, admits: "No idea... why?"
And the blonde arcane warrior: "To keep the flies off the bride!"
The journey stretches on still, marking more time than seems countable, conversation punctuating the echoing darkness. 1200ft...1500ft...1800ft...the webs suddenly give way momentarily to a stony platform, a mere 20ft across and about as wide. "We almost there!" Your goblin guides cry with some elation. "Hey! He wasn't here before, was he?" They point to a creature wrapped up in spider silk on the left edge of the platform. Upon a passing inspection, it appears to be a halfling male.
"Well, he is here now, that's for sure!" exclaims Khessa "And he might use some help, if he is still alive".
The blonde arcane warrior wants to be cautious, after her encounter with the mimic: not always all is as it appears, here... but she will definitely not abandon a helpless person in a place like this! She sends her already summoned Unseen Servant with the lighted pebble near the halfling, to be able to see him well. The tall adventurer tries to examine the person from a few steps away. Is he conscious? Or at least alive? Does he breath still?
Then the blue eyed woman starts burning some of the strands keeping the halfling in place, then has her faithful invisible assistant wrap him with her rope and she pulls the person to safety. If she does not detect dangers or anything amiss, she finishes freeing the hafling. Then, if he lives, she tries to wake him up; if he is dead, she searches him, looking both for eventual useful items and for any clue about who this halfling was.
(Khessa, make a medicine check)
Medicine: 18
It's hard to tell since most of him is wrapped up in webbing, but it is nonetheless clear that he is all but dead, the final breaths coming in pained efforts. He appears to be repeating something over and over, or at least attempting to. Yukyuk comes over to investigate as well and sticks his head down near the almost corpse. "Tomb? The tomb?" He stands back up as the halfling expires, their eyes rolling back slightly as their body slips from this mortal plane. The goblin looks at the other and shrugs, "Know anything about a tomb?" Spiderbait shrugs back, "Nope, but there are lots of strange things down here! Could be lots of tombs!"
It's hard to tell since most of him is wrapped up in webbing, but it is nonetheless clear that he is all but dead, the final breaths coming in pained efforts. He appears to be repeating something over and over, or at least attempting to. Yukyuk comes over to investigate as well and sticks his head down near the almost corpse. "Tomb? The tomb?" He stands back up as the halfling expires, their eyes rolling back slightly as their body slips from this mortal plane. The goblin looks at the other and shrugs, "Know anything about a tomb?" Spiderbait shrugs back, "Nope, but there are lots of strange things down here! Could be lots of tombs!"
Silas goes to the halfling and, in an effort to spare his life, casts cure wounds on him, and then attempts to claw open the webbing.
Cure Wounds: the halfling regains 8 hp
Tamryn - lvl 4 Wood Elf Rogue - Circle of Light Campaign || Drusilla - lvl 1 Half-Elf Ranger - Sleeping Gods || Grrzark - lvl 1 Goblin Barbarian - Danger at Darkshelf Quarry || DM - LTG - Curse of Strahd
You manage to claw open the webbing after a few long moments, but your efforts to heal the man have failed. You can see now that he has horrendous bite marks and gashes all over his body and the smell of putrescence and rot is already around him. There is a small bag around him still we well. "Eww...that's not good. We should keep going before whatever did that to him comes back," your goblin guides mutter.
Katryl trudges along as the distances pile on and on. She speaks softly to Eldeth now and then as they go, but for the most part she remains quiet. She watches as Silas tries to save the poor cocooned halfling and fails. "Let's grab that bag and get moving," she says, echoing the goblins' remarks.
Rabbit Sebrica, Sorcerer || Skarai, Monk || Lokilia Vaelphin, Druid || Liivi Orav, Barbarian || Vanizi, Warlock || Britari / Halila Talgeta / Jesa Gumovi || Neital Rhessil, Wizard
Iromae Quinaea, Cleric || Roxana Raincrest, Rogue || Meira Dheran, Rogue || Qirynna Thadri, Wizard || Crisaryn Melkial, Sorcerer
Khessa sends her summoned helper to recover the bag, but she proposes in the meantime: "Yes, we could also just leave... and this would maybe the safest thing to do at the moment... but this hint of a 'tomb' intrigues me... What if we try to stop and look for it, instead? It shouldn't be too far away... and even if this poor guy didn't do too well, maybe we, who are more numerous, could do better... recover useful resources... Couldn't it be worth the risk? After all, we are heading to a Kuo-toa settlement, we'll find civilitation, maybe safety, maybe opportunity to equip ourselves. That's perfect, way to go. But the wares there will not be available for free... We'll need founds to buy things. So, I'd be tempted try to take a look around here, what do you all think?"
The blonde arcane warrior, while waiting for all to speak their mind, has her faithful butler open the bag in the middel of the party, so that all can see what's inside.
"If we find this tomb and you want to enter," Buppido assures "I'll have your back as usual! You know you can count on me, Khessa!"