The slow rhythmic pulse has continued from Dev as some part of himself sorted through options while another part of his soul took pleasure in the prospect of smashing these strange creatures to pulp. When Normont’s pistol fires, the tiefling’s lip curls in a snarling smile, and he thinks, ‘more!’
When Lokilia shouts for a retreat to a more defensible position, Dev nods, red lightning tracing his horns, then turns back momentarily to the strange creatures, and shouts forcefully, his unearthly voice trumpeting a hundred yards, “FOLLOW AT YOUR PERIL!,” and with a flourish of his arms slams his open palms together, causing a thunder blast to explode upon the hillside! (Thunderclap)
Showing his teeth, he then turns and rushes to the overhang with the others.
Devs sorcerous display blows a number of the creatures off of the rock wall to tumble down the slope and break upon the rocks below, they fall utterly silently and eerily make no move to try and arrest their fall before they are killed by the impact of the fall and split open far below.
Normont stands guard but the creatures do not come within a distance he considers dangerous, as the party joins Amber under the overhang they are disturbed by what they find there.
Beneath the stone outcrop is a deep pool of still, black liquid that looks like oil but smells like rotten meat. This fluid issues from a narrow fissure within the overhang which seems to extend back into the ridgeline. From here, the black liquid trickles out down a narrow canyon and into the valley below along many small streams, where it likely eventually joins the Mooren River Run far below, and the Mooren Lake itself back home in Drynna.
Lokilia, Magnus and Normont note hundreds of small scalloped hoofprints around the edge of the pool indicating animals, likely the ones clustered around them.....and judging from other tracks many others in the region have been drinking from the pool.....
( Can I please get a Wisdom Save from Everybody. DC 10- If you fail it you feel a deep compulsion to crouch down and lap from the pool.....)
Normont frowns as he looks at the pool of black liquid, piecing together the animal footprints he sees and the strange deformities of the animals themselves. They had obviously been drinking from the pool. The pool that was so inviting..
He kneels down, puts his pistol on the floor and starts to unstrap his shield so he can cup his hands in the dark liquid to help him lap it up.
Wis Save: 1+2=3 (6+2=8 if it is magical, either way he fails).
(OOC: Does Amber need to roll a save? Can she stop Normont from drinking if she isn't effected?)
Magnus notices Normont bending over to take a drink and he shrugs and thinks, "Enh, why not, I am pretty thirsty and it is right here."Then he starts to bend over to drink from the seeping liquid.
Dev feels pulled to the black water in the pool, but it doesn’t take long to connect it with the chamois, and he stands firm and now is taken with regret for hurting the creatures who must have succumbed to whatever was infecting this mountain spring. The piercing shadow that had fallen on his features fades, and a look of concern throws his eyes wide as Normont bends to drink at the pool. The tiefling jumps forward to take Normont’s arm and pull him back.
“Normont, No!! It’s… poisonous or evil magic! Don’t drink it! Magnus, No!,” and Dev likewise tries to grab the sorceror with his other hand.
Lokilia looks at the pool, the trickle that must head down to the river, and the animal prints all about the pool. "This is awful!" she cries. "How horrible! We've got to get rid of this!" She takes a moment to look back at the chamois that had seemingly been herding them here. "Did they just want us to come here to the pool?" As she notices Normont and Magnus seeming to approach the pool to get a drink, she joins Dev in trying to keep the pair back. "No! This water is clearly corrupted! Look what it did to those poor chamois!"
Dev and Lokilia manage to keep the other two from drinking with a little effort, then as the others come to their senses watch the liquid trickling downhill towards the river that feeds the lake that Drynna draws its livelihood...and a lot of fish...from.
Normont shakes his head and he crawls backwards away from the dark liquid pool.
"Nuts and bolts, I don't know what I was thinking. It must have some hallucinogenic properties, because I was certain it was desirable to drink it. Possibly magical but more likely some chemical reaction. Looking at the creatures that drank from it, I would hypothesise that it is a secretion from something that gains some sort of mental control of creatures that consume it".
He looks like at the river, "Which if it contaminates enough of the river and the lake, will be the whole of Drynna and beyond what with the fish exports!".
"We need to block its path to the river, destroy what is here and find the source!", he says starting to look for rocks to make a dam in the first instance.
“I understand Dev. The dam, and destroying what is here already, is only a temporary solution to buy time. We need to cut off the source”, Normont explains.
After being saved by Dev once again, Magnus gives his thanks and then starts to examine the ooze. Using a stick he diverts some of the ooze form the water, placing it on a flat surface in the sunlight to see what it does. Does it crawl back to the other ooze or just sit there and start to evaporate in the sun. All the while he tries and search his mind for any clue as to what this strange liquid is. He will also look around to see if there is a cave entrance nearby that they can probably enter to try and find the source of this bubbling liquid. "I agree with Dev, we can;t stop the flow of this liquid from here, we need to find the source and stop it from there. There are ways to purify water but alas that is not part of my powers, yet anyway."
Arcana: 15
Perception: 11 (try and find entrance to cave or possible source of this flowing liquid)
Between Normont and Magnus they note the fissure at the rear of the overhang, it looks like someone could squeeze through sideways ....though how far back it goes is hard to tell....
"I could potentially pray in the morning for a spell that would purify water," Lokilia says. "But it only removes poison and disease, not things of a magical nature." She pauses then, looking at the crack where the source of this strange liquid seems to be. "I could go," she offers. "I'm not too big to begin with. But I could always adopt a smaller form if necessary."
Normont carries on looking for rocks to dam the flow of the dark liquid into the river before he shifts focus to the fissure, but he joins in the conversation if he hears it.
"Perhaps it is combustable. We could attempt to set it on fire once we have blocked its path to the river. And if you need someone small, Amber and I can come with you Lokilia. No-one should go alone, especially after we found out whatever this is, and whatever produces it, can influence our decisions".
"Sounds like a plan, Lokilia and Normont, be very careful and at the first sign of danger please come back and then we can all venture forth." Magnus says to the group as he continues to help damn the trickle of water to be diverted from flowing as best he can.
Dev follows Lokilia and Normont to the very edge of the fissure, but is reluctant to follow. He has been claustrophobic ever since the time the Smyth twins shut him into a firewood locker for almost a whole day when he was twelve.
”Be careful,” he pleads, and when the gnome and the half-elf disappear from view, Dev, at short intervals, craves reassurance that they are okay, and calls out in a whisper that carries as far as it needs to whatever the Tal’Dorei version of the Marco Polo call and response might be.
Lokilia is willing to lead the way ahead of Normont. She moves cautiously, slowly squeezing past any tight spots. She keeps her eyes out for any dangers. (Perception: 12)
Just before they enter the fissure, once the dam is in place, Normont will dip a stick or a rock into the dark liquid and move it away from the pool. Using his clockwork fire starter he will see what happens to the liquid when it is exposed to flame.
Once his simple experiment is complete, unless there are some unusual results like it explodes, he will follow Lokilia. As they move he will help her to focus.
(OOC: Guidance for you perception if you want Lokilia)
The slow rhythmic pulse has continued from Dev as some part of himself sorted through options while another part of his soul took pleasure in the prospect of smashing these strange creatures to pulp. When Normont’s pistol fires, the tiefling’s lip curls in a snarling smile, and he thinks, ‘more!’
When Lokilia shouts for a retreat to a more defensible position, Dev nods, red lightning tracing his horns, then turns back momentarily to the strange creatures, and shouts forcefully, his unearthly voice trumpeting a hundred yards, “FOLLOW AT YOUR PERIL!,” and with a flourish of his arms slams his open palms together, causing a thunder blast to explode upon the hillside! (Thunderclap)
Showing his teeth, he then turns and rushes to the overhang with the others.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Devs sorcerous display blows a number of the creatures off of the rock wall to tumble down the slope and break upon the rocks below, they fall utterly silently and eerily make no move to try and arrest their fall before they are killed by the impact of the fall and split open far below.
Normont stands guard but the creatures do not come within a distance he considers dangerous, as the party joins Amber under the overhang they are disturbed by what they find there.
Beneath the stone outcrop is a deep pool of still, black liquid that looks like oil but smells like rotten meat. This fluid issues from a narrow fissure within the overhang which seems to extend back into the ridgeline. From here, the black liquid trickles out down a narrow canyon and into the valley below along many small streams, where it likely eventually joins the Mooren River Run far below, and the Mooren Lake itself back home in Drynna.
Lokilia, Magnus and Normont note hundreds of small scalloped hoofprints around the edge of the pool indicating animals, likely the ones clustered around them.....and judging from other tracks many others in the region have been drinking from the pool.....
( Can I please get a Wisdom Save from Everybody. DC 10- If you fail it you feel a deep compulsion to crouch down and lap from the pool.....)
Normont frowns as he looks at the pool of black liquid, piecing together the animal footprints he sees and the strange deformities of the animals themselves. They had obviously been drinking from the pool. The pool that was so inviting..
He kneels down, puts his pistol on the floor and starts to unstrap his shield so he can cup his hands in the dark liquid to help him lap it up.
Wis Save: 1+2=3 (6+2=8 if it is magical, either way he fails).
(OOC: Does Amber need to roll a save? Can she stop Normont from drinking if she isn't effected?)
( OOC: Amber is not affected and anyone present can easily prevent you from drinking if they wish, the urge fades after a short time....)
Magnus notices Normont bending over to take a drink and he shrugs and thinks, "Enh, why not, I am pretty thirsty and it is right here." Then he starts to bend over to drink from the seeping liquid.
Wis Save: 7
(Wis save: 12)
Dev feels pulled to the black water in the pool, but it doesn’t take long to connect it with the chamois, and he stands firm and now is taken with regret for hurting the creatures who must have succumbed to whatever was infecting this mountain spring. The piercing shadow that had fallen on his features fades, and a look of concern throws his eyes wide as Normont bends to drink at the pool. The tiefling jumps forward to take Normont’s arm and pull him back.
“Normont, No!! It’s… poisonous or evil magic! Don’t drink it! Magnus, No!,” and Dev likewise tries to grab the sorceror with his other hand.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Quinn wis save:10
(Lokilia WIS Save: 10)
Lokilia looks at the pool, the trickle that must head down to the river, and the animal prints all about the pool. "This is awful!" she cries. "How horrible! We've got to get rid of this!" She takes a moment to look back at the chamois that had seemingly been herding them here. "Did they just want us to come here to the pool?" As she notices Normont and Magnus seeming to approach the pool to get a drink, she joins Dev in trying to keep the pair back. "No! This water is clearly corrupted! Look what it did to those poor chamois!"
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
Dev and Lokilia manage to keep the other two from drinking with a little effort, then as the others come to their senses watch the liquid trickling downhill towards the river that feeds the lake that Drynna draws its livelihood...and a lot of fish...from.
Normont shakes his head and he crawls backwards away from the dark liquid pool.
"Nuts and bolts, I don't know what I was thinking. It must have some hallucinogenic properties, because I was certain it was desirable to drink it. Possibly magical but more likely some chemical reaction. Looking at the creatures that drank from it, I would hypothesise that it is a secretion from something that gains some sort of mental control of creatures that consume it".
He looks like at the river, "Which if it contaminates enough of the river and the lake, will be the whole of Drynna and beyond what with the fish exports!".
"We need to block its path to the river, destroy what is here and find the source!", he says starting to look for rocks to make a dam in the first instance.
Perception (with Guidance): 6+4+1=11 (Passive 14)
Having grow up on the shore of Mooren Lake, Dev has seen the indomitable forcefulness of high water and flooding and shakes his head.
“But it’ll just flow around if we make a wall. Or, like, rise?… and then go over the wall. I mean, it could.”
He looks to Magnus. “Do you know a magic spell to, I don’t know, like, purify the water or something?”
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
“I understand Dev. The dam, and destroying what is here already, is only a temporary solution to buy time. We need to cut off the source”, Normont explains.
After being saved by Dev once again, Magnus gives his thanks and then starts to examine the ooze. Using a stick he diverts some of the ooze form the water, placing it on a flat surface in the sunlight to see what it does. Does it crawl back to the other ooze or just sit there and start to evaporate in the sun. All the while he tries and search his mind for any clue as to what this strange liquid is. He will also look around to see if there is a cave entrance nearby that they can probably enter to try and find the source of this bubbling liquid. "I agree with Dev, we can;t stop the flow of this liquid from here, we need to find the source and stop it from there. There are ways to purify water but alas that is not part of my powers, yet anyway."
Arcana: 15
Perception: 11 (try and find entrance to cave or possible source of this flowing liquid)
Between Normont and Magnus they note the fissure at the rear of the overhang, it looks like someone could squeeze through sideways ....though how far back it goes is hard to tell....
"I could potentially pray in the morning for a spell that would purify water," Lokilia says. "But it only removes poison and disease, not things of a magical nature." She pauses then, looking at the crack where the source of this strange liquid seems to be. "I could go," she offers. "I'm not too big to begin with. But I could always adopt a smaller form if necessary."
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
Normont carries on looking for rocks to dam the flow of the dark liquid into the river before he shifts focus to the fissure, but he joins in the conversation if he hears it.
"Perhaps it is combustable. We could attempt to set it on fire once we have blocked its path to the river. And if you need someone small, Amber and I can come with you Lokilia. No-one should go alone, especially after we found out whatever this is, and whatever produces it, can influence our decisions".
"Sounds like a plan, Lokilia and Normont, be very careful and at the first sign of danger please come back and then we can all venture forth." Magnus says to the group as he continues to help damn the trickle of water to be diverted from flowing as best he can.
Dev follows Lokilia and Normont to the very edge of the fissure, but is reluctant to follow. He has been claustrophobic ever since the time the Smyth twins shut him into a firewood locker for almost a whole day when he was twelve.
”Be careful,” he pleads, and when the gnome and the half-elf disappear from view, Dev, at short intervals, craves reassurance that they are okay, and calls out in a whisper that carries as far as it needs to whatever the Tal’Dorei version of the Marco Polo call and response might be.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Lokilia is willing to lead the way ahead of Normont. She moves cautiously, slowly squeezing past any tight spots. She keeps her eyes out for any dangers. (Perception: 12)
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
Just before they enter the fissure, once the dam is in place, Normont will dip a stick or a rock into the dark liquid and move it away from the pool. Using his clockwork fire starter he will see what happens to the liquid when it is exposed to flame.
Once his simple experiment is complete, unless there are some unusual results like it explodes, he will follow Lokilia. As they move he will help her to focus.
(OOC: Guidance for you perception if you want Lokilia)