"Phew!" Agnes drops her backpack heavily onto the floor of the sleeping chamber and stretches her arms over head. She takes a few minutes to cast prestidigitation to clean herself and anyone and anything else that needs it, including the smelly bugbear's armor and clothes. Then she lays down on her back and rests her head on her pack for a spell. "D'ya think that Nox is still here? I mean, obviously they came 'n reset the snare trap. But how long ago was that?" Maybe they're deeper 'n th' chambers."
Rachael enjoys the rest, and is especially thankful for Agnes's cleaning magic, she purrs and Rinn nods, saying, "Indeed. Now this place is half-way inhabitable. Rachael thanks you for that, Agnes."
After spending some time to meditate, breathe, and try to regain his focus on his internal magical energies, the now-more-relaxed Rinn says, "I do say that's a possibility. I think we best be careful, lest we trigger a magical fireball trap, or even have this Nox sneak up on us. He must also be the one to have cast the spell on the demon head door." Rinn listens to Rachael as she meows a bit at him, like some sort of feline sage, and he adds, "While none of these spells require the prowess of an archmage, it does require a bit more than some hedge wizard's cantrips."
As the wizard (and party accountant) counts out the 200 gold pieces, he lets his mind wander, trying to think if he's ever heard of a Nox on his travels. Perhaps the kobold wizard has some sort of reputation or history that may be helpful to know? (OOC - History 16+3=19)
"It wouldn't surprise me if these creatures are in the service of a wizard," Yaudara says as he casts aside the non-magical morningstar. "We should continue downward after this rest, and cleanse this place of its evil."
Rinn divides the gold coins out into four piles of 60 gold (200 from this fight and 40 from the bullywugs) and starts to give each member of their group their share as they rest, thinking it best do it now while they've stopped.
"Indeed," says Rinn, agreeing with Yaudara, "these goblins are much more than what we initially gave them credit for, I fear, but if they're not stopped, I imagine that they will continue to claw at the towns and villages of this land. We have to be smart on how we go up against them, but it's the right thing to do. Havenford, while it does have quite the awful Baron, its townsfolk are a rather kindly sort and do not deserve such cruel fates as being beneath a goblin king's boot."
The group finished their short rest and resumed exploring the now-vacant subterranean complex.
The more they looked at it, the less they were convinced that this structure was something the goblins could have achieved on their own. Much more likely ... the complex had predated the goblins inhabitation and they only recently took up using the location as an outpost.
As evidence of their hypothesis, there was an elven statue in the first room and the carved demon-face in the second room. The ropes that comprised the rope bridge were woven in the elven style and quite old ... still strong and supple all these hundreds of years later.
The goblins and the bugbear had littered quite a bit, and the chambers were filled with their trash and other messes, but the underlying structure was sound and solidly built. The room below the circular hole was plain and unadorned, which made it unique among all the other rooms of the complex in that they had some defining feature. From the plain room, the spiraling staircase led into the final chamber of the complex. A cool, dry, root cellar with a deep well. The goblins of course, had brought their filth to this place as well and the foodstuffs stored there were quite unpalatable to the civilized diets of the heroes.
Rinn allows Rachael to search ahead with Toadstool, helping the druid continuing to search the rest of the ruins. The elven wizard finds the architecture quite lovely, and definitely deserving better keepers than those awful goblins and bugbear.
The familiar walks ahead of the wizard with the rat and she begins to investigate the well more, in case there's anything more there. (OOC - Rachael uses help, which I believe adds +5 to Toadstool's 14).
Rinn wonders if there's any hidden doorway that they're missing, or perhaps this is but one of many structures scattered throughout these hills. He uses his light cantrip on Swan Song, using it to aid in exploration. The wizard peers down into the well, wondering if there's anything down at the bottom.
OOC - Due to my misunderstanding of the help action, it's not +5, just advantage to Toads, but she'll still help.
As the heroes continued to explore the underground chambers of the now-defeated goblin warren, they began to piece together a fascinating history of the place. It became apparent that the goblins were not the original architects of this underground structure; rather, they had taken over an existing location for their own purposes.
Between the art and the carvings, it became clear that this underground complex was originally an elven lookout. The stonework in the archways, walls, and floors, hinted at dwarven construction as well, in an age long past. During the last age, before the age of man, elf and dwarf were known to cooperate against common foes. This small, hidden structure must have served some purpose in that regard. The nearby Shadowfang Caverns have long been a sinkhole of evil, and it appeared that ages ago, this lookout post was constructed to keep tabs on what surface developments the denizens of the caverns were up to.
But as the ages passed and alliances shifted, the once-proud stronghold fell into disuse and was eventually abandoned. Left to the ravages of time and neglect, it became a forgotten relic buried beneath the earth, until the goblins stumbled upon it and claimed it as their own ... and repurposed the lookout to establish a perimeter defensive position.
As the heroes continued their exploration of the underground chamber, they scanned every room for hidden secrets, they noticed something peculiar about one of the walls. Unlike the surrounding stonework, which appeared solid and unremarkable, this particular section seemed slightly different, as if it didn't quite belong.
Upon closer inspection, they observed subtle indentations in the stone, almost imperceptible to the untrained eye. These indentations formed intricate patterns, reminiscent of elven sigils. It was as if the stone itself whispered secrets of its past.
The heroes began to experiment with the wall, pressing and prodding at the indentations in search of any clues. After a few moments of trial and error, they discovered that applying pressure to a specific sequence of indentations caused a portion of the wall to shift, revealing a hidden compartment behind.
With a soft grinding noise, the concealed door swung open, revealing a vault.
In the vault, a pair of skeletons, armed and armored. Elven scouts by the look of it. The skeletons lay propped up, reclining against a wall.
"Wait," Yaudara mutters, staring at the skeletons. "Their positioning seems...odd."
He closes his eyes and focuses. "Torm," he mutters, "lend me but a portion of your Divine Sense, so that I may reveal any danger these skeletons pose."
Using Divine Sense to determine if the skeletons are undead.
With a silent prayer, the paladin tapped into the divine connection granted to him by Torm the True, seeking guidance and clarity. Yaudara reached out with his divinely granted senses to discern any taint of undeath within the skeletal remains.
As divine energy flowed into and through him, he felt the reassuring absence of the cursed aura that often accompanied undead creatures. These were simply the remains of long-deceased beings, devoid of any malevolent presence.
Toadstool looks at the skeletons, mutters some "ashes to ashes, dust to dust" type of thing and turns to his allies.
"Uuh seems this is it. We, we need to find our way to the other side and up. If, if you're not scared of me, I, I can turn back into the spider and carry you to the top."
Rinn thinks for a moment, he picking up Rachael briefly to pet her as he thinks. He is eyeing the skeletons, wondering if they have any valuables on them, or anywhere in this vault.
An idea flashes through his eyes, he taking out a length of 50 feet of rope from his backpack, saying, "This may also help us get up to the other side of the canyon? Toadstool, you can climb up and hold he rope while everyone else tries to climb. Perhaps Yaudara could ride up on your back and help keep ahold of the rope?"
Rinn briefly examined the secret vault and the pair of elven skeletons it contained, his elven eyes fell upon a number of intriguing items scattered amidst the dust and debris.
Lying coiled upon the stone floor was a fine rope, woven in the elven style, its fibers still supple and strong despite the passage of centuries. The craftsmanship was exquisite, a testament to the skill of elven artisans.
One of the skeleton's bony fingers bore a gleaming silver ring, its intricate design catching the light emanating from Swan Song.
Propped up against the wall, next to the other skeleton was a shortbow of exquisite craftsmanship, its wood polished to a fine sheen and its string taut and ready. Despite the isolation of the vault, the bow appeared untouched by the ravages of time, another testament to the durability of elven craftsmanship.
But perhaps the most intriguing discovery were the small, flat stones held in the skeletal palms of each deceased scout.
Each skeleton held a flat stone, smooth and polished, like they had come from a riverbed. The opposite sides of each the stones were marked with an elven sigil.
OOC — Rinn can read the elven script
Both stones were marked the same. In elven, one side bore the inscription "speak," while the other side was marked "listen."
"Aunt Zara'd warn against disturbin' th' dead..." Agnes says reluctantly, her will torn between cautionary tales told around the fire and pure, unadulterated curiosity. "But it is a pretty ring..."
"These elves have had their time on the Material Plane. They're with the gods now," Yaudara says, "and I sense no evil residue on them. Perhaps we can take their trinkets and use them to drive monsters from this realm."
Rinn nods in agreement with Yaudara, saying, "The elves have long since passed...their suns have set far beyond the horizon. But, one must still wonder what tales they might have been able to tell."
Rinn takes notice in the stone artifacts in each of their hands, reading their inscription out loud to his companions, and wonders if these could be magical.
Arcana: 6 + 5 = 11.
He starts to gently picks up the interesting stones into his hands, being ginger as to not break the remains of his elven kindred.
During the short rest, Yaudara would like to determine if the morningstar is magical.
"Phew!" Agnes drops her backpack heavily onto the floor of the sleeping chamber and stretches her arms over head. She takes a few minutes to cast prestidigitation to clean herself and anyone and anything else that needs it, including the smelly bugbear's armor and clothes. Then she lays down on her back and rests her head on her pack for a spell. "D'ya think that Nox is still here? I mean, obviously they came 'n reset the snare trap. But how long ago was that?" Maybe they're deeper 'n th' chambers."
Rachael enjoys the rest, and is especially thankful for Agnes's cleaning magic, she purrs and Rinn nods, saying, "Indeed. Now this place is half-way inhabitable. Rachael thanks you for that, Agnes."
After spending some time to meditate, breathe, and try to regain his focus on his internal magical energies, the now-more-relaxed Rinn says, "I do say that's a possibility. I think we best be careful, lest we trigger a magical fireball trap, or even have this Nox sneak up on us. He must also be the one to have cast the spell on the demon head door." Rinn listens to Rachael as she meows a bit at him, like some sort of feline sage, and he adds, "While none of these spells require the prowess of an archmage, it does require a bit more than some hedge wizard's cantrips."
As the wizard (and party accountant) counts out the 200 gold pieces, he lets his mind wander, trying to think if he's ever heard of a Nox on his travels. Perhaps the kobold wizard has some sort of reputation or history that may be helpful to know? (OOC - History 16+3=19)
"It wouldn't surprise me if these creatures are in the service of a wizard," Yaudara says as he casts aside the non-magical morningstar. "We should continue downward after this rest, and cleanse this place of its evil."
Rinn divides the gold coins out into four piles of 60 gold (200 from this fight and 40 from the bullywugs) and starts to give each member of their group their share as they rest, thinking it best do it now while they've stopped.
"Indeed," says Rinn, agreeing with Yaudara, "these goblins are much more than what we initially gave them credit for, I fear, but if they're not stopped, I imagine that they will continue to claw at the towns and villages of this land. We have to be smart on how we go up against them, but it's the right thing to do. Havenford, while it does have quite the awful Baron, its townsfolk are a rather kindly sort and do not deserve such cruel fates as being beneath a goblin king's boot."
"Thanks Agnes for, for cleaning the armor. As I say, cleanliness is godliness, yes"
Toadstool takes gold from Rinn and puts it in his pouch. "Uuh, thank you. Be sure I will be using this for everyone"
"I think we, we can go deeper now. If you want, I, I can turn into a rat or, or something small and scout ahead"
The group finished their short rest and resumed exploring the now-vacant subterranean complex.
The more they looked at it, the less they were convinced that this structure was something the goblins could have achieved on their own. Much more likely ... the complex had predated the goblins inhabitation and they only recently took up using the location as an outpost.
As evidence of their hypothesis, there was an elven statue in the first room and the carved demon-face in the second room. The ropes that comprised the rope bridge were woven in the elven style and quite old ... still strong and supple all these hundreds of years later.
The goblins and the bugbear had littered quite a bit, and the chambers were filled with their trash and other messes, but the underlying structure was sound and solidly built. The room below the circular hole was plain and unadorned, which made it unique among all the other rooms of the complex in that they had some defining feature. From the plain room, the spiraling staircase led into the final chamber of the complex. A cool, dry, root cellar with a deep well. The goblins of course, had brought their filth to this place as well and the foodstuffs stored there were quite unpalatable to the civilized diets of the heroes.
Toadstool goes down to the cellar and inspects the well.
Investigation: 12+2=14
"They, they were guarding this place quite, quite strongly. Even put a, a trap. There must be something, something that escapes our eyes."
OOC — An updated map.
Rinn allows Rachael to search ahead with Toadstool, helping the druid continuing to search the rest of the ruins. The elven wizard finds the architecture quite lovely, and definitely deserving better keepers than those awful goblins and bugbear.
The familiar walks ahead of the wizard with the rat and she begins to investigate the well more, in case there's anything more there. (OOC - Rachael uses help, which I believe adds +5 to Toadstool's 14).
Rinn wonders if there's any hidden doorway that they're missing, or perhaps this is but one of many structures scattered throughout these hills. He uses his light cantrip on Swan Song, using it to aid in exploration. The wizard peers down into the well, wondering if there's anything down at the bottom.
OOC - Due to my misunderstanding of the help action, it's not +5, just advantage to Toads, but she'll still help.
As the heroes continued to explore the underground chambers of the now-defeated goblin warren, they began to piece together a fascinating history of the place. It became apparent that the goblins were not the original architects of this underground structure; rather, they had taken over an existing location for their own purposes.
Between the art and the carvings, it became clear that this underground complex was originally an elven lookout. The stonework in the archways, walls, and floors, hinted at dwarven construction as well, in an age long past. During the last age, before the age of man, elf and dwarf were known to cooperate against common foes. This small, hidden structure must have served some purpose in that regard. The nearby Shadowfang Caverns have long been a sinkhole of evil, and it appeared that ages ago, this lookout post was constructed to keep tabs on what surface developments the denizens of the caverns were up to.
But as the ages passed and alliances shifted, the once-proud stronghold fell into disuse and was eventually abandoned. Left to the ravages of time and neglect, it became a forgotten relic buried beneath the earth, until the goblins stumbled upon it and claimed it as their own ... and repurposed the lookout to establish a perimeter defensive position.
As the heroes continued their exploration of the underground chamber, they scanned every room for hidden secrets, they noticed something peculiar about one of the walls. Unlike the surrounding stonework, which appeared solid and unremarkable, this particular section seemed slightly different, as if it didn't quite belong.
Upon closer inspection, they observed subtle indentations in the stone, almost imperceptible to the untrained eye. These indentations formed intricate patterns, reminiscent of elven sigils. It was as if the stone itself whispered secrets of its past.
The heroes began to experiment with the wall, pressing and prodding at the indentations in search of any clues. After a few moments of trial and error, they discovered that applying pressure to a specific sequence of indentations caused a portion of the wall to shift, revealing a hidden compartment behind.
With a soft grinding noise, the concealed door swung open, revealing a vault.
In the vault, a pair of skeletons, armed and armored. Elven scouts by the look of it. The skeletons lay propped up, reclining against a wall.
OOC — An updated map. Now with 100% more secret vaults!
"Wait," Yaudara mutters, staring at the skeletons. "Their positioning seems...odd."
He closes his eyes and focuses. "Torm," he mutters, "lend me but a portion of your Divine Sense, so that I may reveal any danger these skeletons pose."
Using Divine Sense to determine if the skeletons are undead.
With a silent prayer, the paladin tapped into the divine connection granted to him by Torm the True, seeking guidance and clarity. Yaudara reached out with his divinely granted senses to discern any taint of undeath within the skeletal remains.
As divine energy flowed into and through him, he felt the reassuring absence of the cursed aura that often accompanied undead creatures. These were simply the remains of long-deceased beings, devoid of any malevolent presence.
Toadstool looks at the skeletons, mutters some "ashes to ashes, dust to dust" type of thing and turns to his allies.
"Uuh seems this is it. We, we need to find our way to the other side and up. If, if you're not scared of me, I, I can turn back into the spider and carry you to the top."
Rinn thinks for a moment, he picking up Rachael briefly to pet her as he thinks. He is eyeing the skeletons, wondering if they have any valuables on them, or anywhere in this vault.
An idea flashes through his eyes, he taking out a length of 50 feet of rope from his backpack, saying, "This may also help us get up to the other side of the canyon? Toadstool, you can climb up and hold he rope while everyone else tries to climb. Perhaps Yaudara could ride up on your back and help keep ahold of the rope?"
Rinn briefly examined the secret vault and the pair of elven skeletons it contained, his elven eyes fell upon a number of intriguing items scattered amidst the dust and debris.
Lying coiled upon the stone floor was a fine rope, woven in the elven style, its fibers still supple and strong despite the passage of centuries. The craftsmanship was exquisite, a testament to the skill of elven artisans.
One of the skeleton's bony fingers bore a gleaming silver ring, its intricate design catching the light emanating from Swan Song.
Propped up against the wall, next to the other skeleton was a shortbow of exquisite craftsmanship, its wood polished to a fine sheen and its string taut and ready. Despite the isolation of the vault, the bow appeared untouched by the ravages of time, another testament to the durability of elven craftsmanship.
But perhaps the most intriguing discovery were the small, flat stones held in the skeletal palms of each deceased scout.
Each skeleton held a flat stone, smooth and polished, like they had come from a riverbed. The opposite sides of each the stones were marked with an elven sigil.
OOC — Rinn can read the elven script
Both stones were marked the same. In elven, one side bore the inscription "speak," while the other side was marked "listen."
"Aunt Zara'd warn against disturbin' th' dead..." Agnes says reluctantly, her will torn between cautionary tales told around the fire and pure, unadulterated curiosity. "But it is a pretty ring..."
"These elves have had their time on the Material Plane. They're with the gods now," Yaudara says, "and I sense no evil residue on them. Perhaps we can take their trinkets and use them to drive monsters from this realm."
Rinn nods in agreement with Yaudara, saying, "The elves have long since passed...their suns have set far beyond the horizon. But, one must still wonder what tales they might have been able to tell."
Rinn takes notice in the stone artifacts in each of their hands, reading their inscription out loud to his companions, and wonders if these could be magical.
Arcana: 6 + 5 = 11.
He starts to gently picks up the interesting stones into his hands, being ginger as to not break the remains of his elven kindred.