Pisgah is sure that he's looking at a male dwarf skull, but something doesn't quite add up. When he peers into the skull cavity, where the spine would normally connect, he notices some crystal residue. It's like glitter dust, fused with the bone. Additionally, the eye sockets are marginally smaller than what you would expect from a surface dwarf. This could be the skull of a deep dwarf, the ones called duergar. It is said that they're able to grow in size, so perhaps this is why the gelatinous cube around it was so large. There is no religious significance that Pisgah can think of.
[For later reference, the glass wand is mundane, the "rod of water" is a magic item. Once you have fully identified it, I'll link the complete item.]
Sure. Oliver didn't have many kind words about the duergar and he didn't mention them often. To him, they were evil across the board, plotting away in their underground halls. When they did come to the surface, it was to raid and plunder. Once they had what they wanted, the retreated, afraid of the sunlight.
"Back to their dark lairs, where even Moradin's hammer can't reach them.", the cleric would glumly say.
"Oh, Rico, whe we get down to Dumathoin's alter, you can keep the duergar in the bag. It may come in handy later. There are crystal deposits at the base of the skull that may be useful to study. Maybe Canti's Bwibble could find some use for them."
Hearing ArdneK's answer that he is good to go, Pisgah will lead out through the west door out into the ooze alter room and then turn south down the hallway with the moving frescoes to the southern hallway. Pisgah will stop at the corner and try to quietly peek around the corner and will also listen with the ear horn.
STEALTH roll of 14
PERCEPTION roll of 19 (without ear horn, visual look-see)
Pisgah spies down a very long and dark hallway. It seems to go on for hundreds of feet with featureless walls and no noise at all. On the northern wall, a tunnel snakes away before turning east. To the west, the hallway eventually curves south.
The barbarian doesn't notice anything moving.
[Showing quite a large chunk that your characters can't technically see yet, just because it's a massive empty area. (A) and (B) are the main ways forward in this direction.]
Pisgah reports that he sees a long hallway running east and cannot see anything at the edge of his vision and that there are no sounds being picked up from the horn. "Let's move forward". Once the tunnel to the north comes into view, Pisgah will signal a stop and repeat the process for he and ArdneK to sneak to the corner and peer north up the tunnel and listen with the horn.
STEALTH roll of 10
PERCEPTION roll of 9 (without ear horn, visual look-see)
Pisgah sees that the tunnel inevitably leads west and the small rooms here seem to be uninhabited.
These hallways are lined with crumbling stone tables and shelves upon which rest sturdy anvils, whetstones, tongs, hammers, chisels, and other tools. [Functionally, the contents of 2 smith's tools and 1 tinker's tools.
Embedded in the wall at the end of the westward hallway is an arch gate, looking much the same as the gate you had previously activated on this level, but with different decoration. The the image of a dead tree is carved into its keystone. Rico, Canti and Nikkitch immediately recognize that the portal is functional, but currently inactive.
[Time: Morning of 9th of Kythorn: everyone that uses a torch, mark one useage]
Pisgah picks up a whetstone as he walks by the work benches and drops it in his pouch, "This will work better than just a plain stone." Rounding the corner, "Huh, I wonder if that portal leads to the drow too?"
OOC: Canti and Rico, do you want the smith and tinker tools?
If no one else wants, ArdneK would take the tinker's tools. He is not proficient, but seems like a handy thing to have. If someone else wants, please take first.
[I'm going by the downtime rules on that, so doing it during a long rest isn't really possible. But I'm open to you taking an extended period of downtime back up in Waterdeep if you're so inclined.]
So if I'm understanding this correctly, we have a stick that was emitting water and a glass wand that has the keywords for the stick engraved?
Handing the skull back to Rico," That about sums it up. Magic is weird, it seems much easier to just hit the problem, repeatedly. "
Pisgah is sure that he's looking at a male dwarf skull, but something doesn't quite add up. When he peers into the skull cavity, where the spine would normally connect, he notices some crystal residue. It's like glitter dust, fused with the bone. Additionally, the eye sockets are marginally smaller than what you would expect from a surface dwarf. This could be the skull of a deep dwarf, the ones called duergar. It is said that they're able to grow in size, so perhaps this is why the gelatinous cube around it was so large. There is no religious significance that Pisgah can think of.
[For later reference, the glass wand is mundane, the "rod of water" is a magic item. Once you have fully identified it, I'll link the complete item.]
Do I know anything about the duergar from conversations with Oliver (are they generally evil or lawful aligned?)
Sure. Oliver didn't have many kind words about the duergar and he didn't mention them often. To him, they were evil across the board, plotting away in their underground halls. When they did come to the surface, it was to raid and plunder. Once they had what they wanted, the retreated, afraid of the sunlight.
"Back to their dark lairs, where even Moradin's hammer can't reach them.", the cleric would glumly say.
"Oh, Rico, whe we get down to Dumathoin's alter, you can keep the duergar in the bag. It may come in handy later. There are crystal deposits at the base of the skull that may be useful to study. Maybe Canti's Bwibble could find some use for them."
Shall we head on to explore the southern passageway or do folks need a short rest?
"I'm good to head on!"
Hearing ArdneK's answer that he is good to go, Pisgah will lead out through the west door out into the ooze alter room and then turn south down the hallway with the moving frescoes to the southern hallway. Pisgah will stop at the corner and try to quietly peek around the corner and will also listen with the ear horn.
STEALTH roll of 14
PERCEPTION roll of 19 (without ear horn, visual look-see)
PERCEPTION roll of 18 (with the ear horn)
Canti snaps her journal shut and shoves it into her pack as she follows along.
Pisgah spies down a very long and dark hallway. It seems to go on for hundreds of feet with featureless walls and no noise at all. On the northern wall, a tunnel snakes away before turning east. To the west, the hallway eventually curves south.
The barbarian doesn't notice anything moving.
[Showing quite a large chunk that your characters can't technically see yet, just because it's a massive empty area. (A) and (B) are the main ways forward in this direction.]
Pisgah reports that he sees a long hallway running east and cannot see anything at the edge of his vision and that there are no sounds being picked up from the horn. "Let's move forward". Once the tunnel to the north comes into view, Pisgah will signal a stop and repeat the process for he and ArdneK to sneak to the corner and peer north up the tunnel and listen with the horn.
STEALTH roll of 10
PERCEPTION roll of 9 (without ear horn, visual look-see)
PERCEPTION roll of 19 (with the ear horn)
Pisgah sees that the tunnel inevitably leads west and the small rooms here seem to be uninhabited.
These hallways are lined with crumbling stone tables and shelves upon which rest sturdy anvils, whetstones, tongs, hammers, chisels, and other tools. [Functionally, the contents of 2 smith's tools and 1 tinker's tools.
Embedded in the wall at the end of the westward hallway is an arch gate, looking much the same as the gate you had previously activated on this level, but with different decoration. The the image of a dead tree is carved into its keystone. Rico, Canti and Nikkitch immediately recognize that the portal is functional, but currently inactive.
[Time: Morning of 9th of Kythorn: everyone that uses a torch, mark one useage]
Pisgah picks up a whetstone as he walks by the work benches and drops it in his pouch, "This will work better than just a plain stone." Rounding the corner, "Huh, I wonder if that portal leads to the drow too?"
OOC: Canti and Rico, do you want the smith and tinker tools?
OOC: I can't use smith's tools, and I have a set of tinker's tools already.
Canti examines the portal and nods, but doesn't say anything.
If no one else wants, ArdneK would take the tinker's tools. He is not proficient, but seems like a handy thing to have. If someone else wants, please take first.
Pisgah will take one set of smith's tools.
OOC: @Preyfire During long rests, would we be able to work toward gaining proficiency with tools we currently are not proficient with?
[I'm going by the downtime rules on that, so doing it during a long rest isn't really possible. But I'm open to you taking an extended period of downtime back up in Waterdeep if you're so inclined.]
Pisgah leans up against a wall in the room with the arch and plays with his whetstone as he begins to sharpen his handaxe.
Rico has smith tools already, but doesn't have tinker tools (though she is proficient with them), so she'll take the tinkers tools.