D.O.R.K looks back again to the gate, seeming a touch reluctant to be bereft of the easy out. But for better or worse, she was a disciple of the Red Knight, and would not back down from the mission. Beedo is far more reluctant to step out of the shadows, but with some gobliny 'persuasion' from Vark, he hurries to join the gathering group, if but to bombard his fellow with some very choice words in their native tongue!

Ignoring their banter (or more accurately one-sided dressing down), D.O.R.K says quietly the party while awaiting the lift, "This might be a strange point to make this juncture, but now that we know that it is automatic, perhaps now we stop here for the day, examine the lift schedule for a time, and otherwise prepare ourselves for a full excursion below." At any negative looks she adds, "Alternatively, we should limit our excursion today only to the immediate next level, explore for a time, and then find a point of relative safety to bunker down. Either which way, we should keep in mind that today is not the day we fully commit to the search for our objective."

Ebonitus approaches the platform with some trepidation. As he steps on he says, "I tend to agree it may be best to hole up somewhere for a day or so to recover ourselves to our fullest. Let's have a look and see if the next level down has somewhere to hide." 

"Concur." the Dusk Warden replies. "Although this level is ideal for an encampment because it is secure, offers a way out, and is a single chamber. We could give the next level down a quick scouting to ensure it is empty, and may have no other choice but to rest there until tomorrow if this platform only makes a single round trip per day..."

"I don't like it. " says Torunn "If we have to make a quick exit from that level we will deend only on this thing- Better rest here asnd exlore the whole thing when not everything hurts..."

"I am in agreement with Torunn.  I say we rest here, now, and explore when we are in better shape.  It seems this things goes up and down on its own perhaps? We are at the mercy of the lift if we have issues on any level below us.  Here at least we can remain safe enough with an escape route." Devin weighs in on the debate.

The party agrees to take a long rest at the top of the shaft. Their rest is not interrupted and it will be late afternoon/early evening before they’re ready to move on. So what now?

Ilezenya will spend the day and night resting, praying, and repairing his equipment. He will keep an eye on the platform to determine its operating patterns - how often does it rise and fall? How long does it spend at each stop? How many stops are there? Later, he ritually conjures up Leomund's tiny hut for the group, ensuring they are all warm, dry, protected, and fully rested for the next phase of their mission. 

When all are ready, and the lift comes back, he will prepare to explore the complex one level at a time...

After the long rest, Ebonitus thanks the Earth Mother for her beneficence, then he says to the others: "Remember we are not here to remove these giants from the face of the world and trying to do so will unlikely to end happily. We are here to collect an artifact. Let us focus our attention on this. Does anyone remember the details of what we are looking for and where it might be?"

When the group decides to rest before venturing down, Mullo leave the cave and rests outside with Haetone.

Torunn gets the frist good night of sleep in a long time. In the morning he prays to Gond to give him and his friends wisdom and strength to overcome the hard test ahead. 

 D.O.R.K is anything but idle even as the group whiled away the rest of the day till rest eventually claimed them. Armor needed to be repaired, Torunn & her goblins required a full debrief about the current goal(s), and apart from anyone being particularly tight lipped about their gear, she'd lead charge on a full assessment on current stocks to better be prepared for the future. As for Vark and Beedo, she leaves them to their own devices with but one cavaet: Neither were to leave the perimeters of the main village. To which, Beedo makes some cheeky and long winded remark about the sensitivity of his lower extremities being too delicate to willfully allow them to freeze on a lark.

Of course had the mood struck him regardless, worry of any bodily inconveniences hadn't stopped him from playing in the snow anyways with Vark, or making halfhazard attempts at building snowmen guards at the gate to try and fool any onlookers. But such antics aside, D.O.R.K eventually asks to borrow the bag of holding, if but to return to the stash of weapons discovered earlier, and load up with as much ammunition and a few spare weapons as possible, before then inevitably returning to keeping watch/resting near the lift.

Then came the final hour before it was time to begin the dive into the depths. And unless the others advise against it, she painstakingly unlocks her chainmail armor and packs it away in favor of locking in her breastplate instead. For with the aim of the mission being to recover a conch and escape from a certain giant lord's chamber, confrontation needed to be the least of their worries.

 But as straightforward the process of changing armaments should've been, D.O.R.K enlists Vark as her Aide in turning the process into one more of a a more ritualistic bent fitting of a priest/ess of war preparing for what may be their final battle, as she recites scriptures on warfare and the enduring spirit within all warriors. She might've offered the same opportunity to Beedo; but, with the more talkative goblin being more intent on weedling out as much information as he can about Torunn's craft (or more accurately, about explosives and firearms!) during any spare moment the dwarf had, she left him be.

"It is conch shell located in the chambers of a fire giant duke, and... most likely very difficult to extract if of a fitting size for giants. But, we shall concerns ourselves once we've seen it for ourselves. For now, finalize any preparations. Because we're down, we may find moments to prepare further to be fleeting." She warns the others, and would lead by example in offering a few final blessings on quite a few companions.

(OOC: Man.. I kinda wish I had some silvered powder for Ceremony, so I can use the Dedication aspect on Vark and.. maybe Beedo)

Dork's Prep Spells:
-Death Ward on Ebonitus.
-Aid(lvl 3) on Dork, Vark, and Ilezenya, healing and raising max hp by 10!
-Aid(lvl 2) on Beedo, Mullo, & Ebonitus, healing and raising their max hp by 5!

While helping D.O.R.K. donning off and donning on her armor, and hearing about the party's mission Torunn frows his eyebrows. 

"Well... I do hope that thing fits into the bag of holding..." he ponders for a little bit  "We are not well suited for stealthy missions... It is not if the giants catch us but when they did... " he smirks "Better for them if they don't... ha! Anyway thank you... thank you all for coming and rescuing me. And the others. We should see them safe returning to their homes once we have finished here... Come here lady, allow me... " 

With that he produces his holy symbol and takes some hot embers from the fire on his gauntled hand. He then applies them to D.O.R.K.'s breastpalte while holding his holy symbol with the other hand and muttering a pray to Gond. The embers light and kind of melt with the metal. D.O.R.K. feel it getting warmer but it isn't umcomfortable.  The whole piece of armor heats for a few seconds and even brights before returning to normal.    

"There... a little bit more protection for ya... just in case... "

( Blessing of the Forge to give her +1 to AC ) 

"Yes, it is the conch that we seek. Once we think we are close there is a spell I can cast that will hopefully allow us to find it faster.  But I do not think we are close enough yet." Devin says after preparing for the day and handing out Goodberries. "The main doors were at the bottom of this mountain.  We will have to see how far down we must go to find the giants and the conch.  When we are closer I can send out the Arcane Eye again to scout the area."

Though out of habit she'd accepted Torunn's unexpected help with the "ritual", D.O.R.K still flinches at the following request, before then glancing at once to Devin and Mullo. Yet with thoughts on the importance of the mission lingering in mind, she stood still and waiting for... whatever was to come next.

"Wh-... I.... Thank you, Torunn." She'd say after, still somewhat in shock at the gift. A moment later Devin's words cut through the shock, and like free diver desperate for air, she immediately latched on to the topic. "Understood, though we should yet do some exploring along the way, and keep an eye out for an alternate means to progress downward at some point, as we will be fairly exposed on the lift." D.O.R.K chimes in as she accepts a berry, and absentmindedly studies it for a moment or so, prior to finally putting it in a pouch.

"No need for it my friend. " replies Torunn "It will only last until tomorrow, but we can re do it if necessary" 

"Do we have means to go down by our own?" asks Torunn to the others "I do not like the idea of depend of the lift, even a cleverly built one like this one... " he adds tapping the chains.   

Devin sends Aslan out to fly no more than 100 feet from him so he can maintain communication vision through him. Devin will move around the room that we are in so that he has searched out all the edges to make sure there is nothing else in this large room. 

"From here? Technically no, as the only alternative besides jumping down would be to repell down, and both face similar 'safety' issues." D.O.R.K replied as Devin gave the room one final once over. "This is why are aim to get off on the next immediate level, or so I'd recommend. But, if there's any dissenting opinion, best to air it out now before the lift fully arrives on this level."

"Combat tactics dictate that in an unknown location, the team should clear each area before moving further in to ensure there are no enemies who can surprise you from the rear. Additionally, we do not know where this forge or conch are, and so again we must investigate each level," the Dusk Warden chimes in.

"Going level by level, making sure is safe for us to return sounds good D.O.R.K. And we do not know where the giant quarters are, maybe they rest up and forge below... we'll see... Scout the next level then?" ask Torunn.

Merry Christmas all. Apologies for the silence but I had family visiting and despite us all being good little boys and girls here on Norfolk Island, Santa didn’t give us a new internet. DDB still won’t load on my IPad so continuing to work off the IPhone. So on with the story…

The party gets off the platform at its first stop and find themselves facing a 20’ high adit. The entrance is rough hewn and tor those without darkness vision it is pitch black! Bolted to the  floor is a set of railway tracks leading off into the darkness.  What is party order?