Curious Critters- A Tal'dorei Tale.

Quote from VolcanoLair >>

Immediately when he reaches the bottom, Normont looks at the labyrinth of tunnels to see if their shape is man made or more likely to have been burrowed.

He then releases Maggie from the bag.

There are no tool marks.....though no mandible marks that he can see either....

(OOC:  DM- What shape are the tunnels? Round or square/rectangular?)

Quote from VolcanoLair >>

(OOC:  DM- What shape are the tunnels? Round or square/rectangular?)

 ( Round)

“Nuts and bolts, I might have been right, these tunnels could well have been burrowed”, Normont says as he and Maggie stand ready for anything. 

When Dev reaches the bottom and sees the various tunnels curving away in all directions, he has a vision of himself alone in the darkness, overwhelmed by an invisible, cruel, and malign foe and he shivers.

”Maybe… instead of going into the tunnels, we could try to call it to us…?,” he suggests in a tone filled with dread.

Progo emerges from the one tunnel in a crouched position, shield in front of him. Entering the larger area he starts to attempt to de-slime himself a bit. "A tunneling creature you think. If we call the creature to us, we should trap the area. And also be prepared that in doing so will will let everything else down here know of our presence. But Progo's question is, do we think this get any closer to the firearm we are in pursuit of? I doubt a tunneling creature would have much use for it."

"You're most likely correct, I'm afraid. The chances of it being here are, I now believe, slim," Werhann answers. "So now, all that remains is determining whether there is danger here that should be exterminated, before it hurts those less capable of defending themselves. With all this... mucus here, I believe the answer is a positive one." 

He looks around, briefly, noting the number of tunnels. "I'm not too sure we can trap a tunnelling creature underground. Calling it to us could give us the advantage of not being surprised, and of fighting - if the need arises - in this spacious area, but we'll also lose the element of surprise ourselves. And, as you said, it could be problematic if there's more than one down here."

Finally, Werhann tries to recall if, at any point during his time as a Hunter, protecting Whitestone from abnormal threats, he ever encountered or heard about a creature that matches all they know by this point - a burrowing, mucus-producing, person-sized (more or less) creature? 

Not sure what to roll for this, but all Intelligence-based checks except Religion have the same bonus for Werhann - rolling Nature as a representative. 20!+1 (or +3 if Religion)=21 (or 23).

"Absolutely, the primary concern is making sure there is no threat to Whitestone here, which on current evidence is definitely in doubt", Normont adds.

With that thought in mind, he once again digs into his bag, this time drawing out his orb of direction. He will use it to figure out if any of the tunnels heads towards Whitestone.

Werhann racks his brain but though he can think of many different burrowing creatures none match all of the parameters.....unless it is a very young giant worm of some variety.

Normonts orb tells him that some of the tunnels do face Whitestone but....a quick inspection seems to indicate that they all seem to dip rapidly downwards spiralling downwards much like the one Progo explored.

Quinn grunted and looked around, " Could this...squid'...thing have made the tunnels? Through Magics? "

Normont frowns, "It's a good question, Quinn. I guess anything is possible. I have not heard of these things before yesterday, so it is all hypothesising using the variables I know about".

He looks around, looking at the height of the tunnels and how each person compared to it. "I assumed the big squid would be tall, and that it would float like Phindis did rather than walk. Which makes sense with this slime coating. Hearing that Progo had to crouch to enter the tunnels didn't align with the theory that the big squid created them. But perhaps it is smaller than we think, or perhaps Phindis created the tunnels. Or perhaps there is one route it travels that is bigger", he says, voicing aloud his thought process.

He checks to see if any particular tunnel is taller than the others.

"And mention of a new pet could mean anything in truth. Perhaps Phindis and his daughters were the original pets", he says, and looks briefly to Werhann.

"One thing is for certain, something else is down here. Phindis didn't transform himself. And that means everyone else in Whitestone is at risk", he finally says.

(OOC: DM - Any bigger tunnel, or one that stands out from the others? Marked in any way etc?)

( All tunnels are identical in appearance.)

"I don't actually recall anyone referring to the squid as 'big'. They were scared of it, oh yes, but that tells us nothing about size." Werhann pauses briefly before adding: "Besides, as you know best, Normont, for a person like Progo to crouch doesn't mean the creator of the tunnels is small. Not every bigger squid must be as tall as a Half-Orc.

"But you know, despite serving as a Hunter for quite some time, I cannot for the life of me recall ever hearing about a burrowing, mucus-producing monster of this size. It may be something new, or that I just happened not to hear of it - I admit - but it may be something else. Magic? Maybe. Seeing what happened to Phindis, I'd be surprised if the squid doesn't possess some magical abilities." Not to mention his own current, fortunately non-physical (?) transformation. "But there's also a possibility that there is more than one creature down here. More than one type of creature. The guards called me the squid's 'new pet', as I've told you before, but it doesn't mean there couldn't be another creature serving it. Perhaps something that can burrow, some kind of worm, maybe? I gigantic one, I mean. These often burrow in a similar fashion, although usually leaving behind larger tunnels. Perhaps a young one?"

In any case, it seems raising hypotheses will drive nothing forward, and no worm seems to be on the move, as far as Werhann can tell. "Usually, I'd prefer smoking them out, but I'm not sure we can do it here. I suppose there's nothing to do but go inside and be careful." He turns to Progo. "Which tunnels have you yet to explore? Please, show the way."

Progo turns and points back to the tunnel he came out of. "Just that one, slow going when you have to walk crouched. Progo stopped once the tunnel sloped again and seemed to cross under itself. Was about to try this next one. As far as making the tunnels, in Progo's experience, magic is... cleaner. Not so rocky or slimed. Magic tends to leave flat edges. Unless the squids mind controlled a worm to do this, but would you consider the making of the holes magic then? Since the creature physically burrowed it." Progo will start to do his crouched walk down the next tunnel, shield in front.

"Absolutely", Normont replies to Werhann. "It was the levitation aspect that made me think they would need more height to their tunnels. But you are right that I made an assumption about their height to begin with", he says, conceding the point.

"Ok, we will get no-where if we stand around, that is true. Quite literally. So let's pick a direction and see what happens".

He looks back to Dev, "Do you still have paper, Dev? Perhaps we can draw out the path as we go, using the orb to keep direction?".

He and Maggie will follow Progo down the tunnel of choice, his rifle in one hand and the orb of direction in the other to help Dev draw if he intends to do so.

Lokilia tries to think if she's heard of anything that might make tunnels like this, especially related to illithids. (Nature or Acana: 8)

Regardless, she comments to the others, "You stopped when the tunnels descended? And they pass beneath each other? Could they just all lead down to one place?" 

She pauses a moment, looking around to all the others. "It's not my favorite choice, but maybe we just follow one path as far as it goes?" She then looks at Progo. "Was it hard to continue from where you came back? Slippery? Steep? Do we need more rope?" 

Lokilia grins awkwardly. "I don't want to get even deeper and end up trapped somewhere."

The party headed down the tunnel Progo had already walked, the tunnel spiralled in wide circles leading steadily downward, the strong astringent smell and slime persisted, after almost half an hour of spiralling down the tunnel stopped abruptly at a strange flexible membrane like cartilage, that covered what seemed the tunnels end completely...

(OOC: Ooh, I thought he picked a new tunnel, but never mind)

Normont looks at the blockage of what seems like cartilage.

"Hm, that is disappointing. Unless that big glaive of yours can pierce it?", he says looking at Werhann.

He also thinks about whether some kind of artisan's tool might be able to do the job. Unlikely, unless he could somehow whip up some acid, but he has no ingredients for that.

"I can try," Werhann answers, "but is there anything behind?" 

(OOC: Maybe I misunderstood, but the tunnel just ends after the membrane? That is, there is a wall right behind it?)

If it seems piercing the membrane has some worth in it, Werhann will ask all to step aside so that there's no risk of accidentally grazing anyone, especially if the membrane proves unexpectedly tough for some reason. Then, he will stand at the ready for a second before slashing the membrane from the bottom up, trying to pierce deep enough to tear through it. He doesn't in particular care if the wall is right behind the membrane, as he can always just recreate the weapon if it is damaged by anything... probably.

Attack: 14+6=20, dealing 8+4=12 magical slashing damage.

Quote from VolcanoLair >>

"Absolutely", Normont replies to Werhann. "It was the levitation aspect that made me think they would need more height to their tunnels. But you are right that I made an assumption about their height to begin with", he says, conceding the point.

"Ok, we will get no-where if we stand around, that is true. Quite literally. So let's pick a direction and see what happens".

He looks back to Dev, "Do you still have paper, Dev? Perhaps we can draw out the path as we go, using the orb to keep direction?".

He and Maggie will follow Progo down the tunnel of choice, his rifle in one hand and the orb of direction in the other to help Dev draw if he intends to do so.

 Dev searches in his backpack for paper and finds a clean sheet atop the sheet music pages of popular music of Zemniaz which he still carries around with him, and an ink pen. He’ll offer it to anyone with cartography, otherwise will try to illustrate their progress  with simple lines.

It is impossible to see past or through the membrane, but Werhanns blow soon fixes that, his blade sunders the tough cartilage enabling them to see past it, the light you carry does not illuminate much of the massive space beyond, you seem to be somewhere near the top of a large almost spherical chamber, similar membranes can be seen dotting the smooth polished walls and ceiling of the chamber......

Far, far below ( at least 100') beyond the range of any light or dark vision can be made out the vaguest outlines of what might be structures....