Rhanloi's Romp Through the Sword Coast

"So left or right?"  Wakka asked as he made his way to the front of the group.

(Rolled 9 perception so I assumed he saw nothing)

(Also it's probably best to have Wakka in front since the rest of y'all are so squishy XD)

Manfred steps forward and looks to see if he can see anything to help with the decision..

(Investigation: 16 / Survival: 10 / Perception: 19, not sure which you want to use?!)

perks kneels close to the ground and eyes the ground closely to look for tracks.  "I can't tell which way they went, I say left."

Survival 8

(You'll have to pick a direction =D)

"No time to waist overthinking things." Penumbra says as she sneaks off towards the stairs.

stealth: 13

"You heard the woman," Wakka shared with the halflings behind him as he followed Penumbra down the stairs and deeper into the mine.

• Stealth: 17

Manfred follows on, leaving Perkas to bring up the rear...

(Stealth: 17)

lil best ready and waiting to danger.

Stealth: 5

Three shadows move through the mine tunnels, quietly following the stone passages to find three new choices - a door to the north (4), a door to the east (5), and a passage winding around to the south and west (6). And then comes the little blunderer, somehow knocking into the bracing timbers and kicking rocks down the way! Luckily, you attract no attention...

"Let's keep going left.  I have a good feeling about it."  Wakka joked as he headed towards #4.

(Assuming you go to Door #4) The group quietly approaches the door leading north, listening before opening it. Beyond the iron-banded wooden door is a roughly 30'x15' cavern that appears to be a ransacked office. You see a variety of office furnishings, including a desk, a chair, an empty wooden chest, and a cot. There are papers strewn all about, as well as an ink pots, some quills, and other items one would expect, but nothing of value.

While you are checking out this office, you hear a loud commotion coming from the south! (passage #6) Moving quickly, but cautiously, to investigate, you find a group of five dwarves in common mining clothes standing over the carcasses of two giant rats. One of them is slumped against a wall with several small crossbow bolts (like from a hand crossbow) protruding from his chest. Her face is ashen from blood loss, but you can still hear her grumbling something about "Just yank these little stickers out, wrap a bandage or something around it and give me some stout ale...I've still got something left for those filthy rats!"

After a tense moment, you all come to realize that you are on the same team. These miners have already lost ten miners who died fighting the wererats for control of the mine, but refused to give it up. They were hiding out in the southeast corner of the mine, and know of an eastern entrance they used to get out and bury their comrades. They had just come out for a foray into the mines and were ambushed by these two giant rats and their wererat master, who had a strange glow around them! The miners fought valiantly, and drove the wererats off. One claims they heard the female exclaim that she would "get those pesky meddlers" if it's the last thing she did! 

The miners' offer to let you stay in the mines overnight  since you helped them out by killing over half of their enemies. After checking the rest of the mines with you, except for the area behind door #5 ("Something skittering in there...best wait to have reinforcement before checking that out"), they show you their old bunk room. They also offer you ten fist-sized chunks of gold ore worth 10 gp each. A more thorough search of the area where you fought the wererats originally also reveals a sack with that holds 82 sp, 450 cp, and a pair of goggles of night.

(Go ahead and take a long rest, post any personal description/thoughts/reactions of the above, and prepare for tomorrow's continued exploration of the Sword Mountains! Or...if you wanna see what's behind door #5, let me know that, too ;-)

Penumbra's eyes grow wide at the sight of the gold ore. "I can hold on to those." She says opening a side pocket on the haversack. Searching through the cleared rooms she gathers the rest of the loot into the same pocket to be sorted out later. Upon finding the goggles she places them on her face. "Ohhhh, cool. I like the look but one of you might be able to make better use of these, I can already see in the dark."

When the group gets to door #5 and the miners suggests waiting for reinforcement Penumbra looks around at her companions. "Looks like reinforcements are here already to me. What kind of adventurers would we be if we didn't help you clear out this last room?"

(I recorded the loot on Penumbra's character sheet under notes/other rather than just putting them into her inventory, that way I remember what needs to be split up amongst the group and the guild.)

"Glad to hear that there are still some folks alive in these mines.  When we first got here and saw the wererats, I wasn't too sure."  Wakka shared with the miners as they checked on the rest of the mines.  As they walked, he was pleased to see that his severity and regularities of his migraines was slowly starting to weaken; at the moment he barely felt a thing (Using his Psionic Power: Recovery ability during this time to regain one Psi Die).  When Penumbra found the magical goggles, Wakka looked through them for a few moments amused before tossing them towards Perkas.  "I tend to be up close and personal so it's easy enough to spot things when I need to.  I'll take it if neither of you want it but it probably makes sense for one of you to hold on to them since you're at range more often."   

Quote from Kolbitr >>

When the group gets to door #5 and the miners suggests waiting for reinforcement Penumbra looks around at her companions. "Looks like reinforcements are here already to me. What kind of adventurers would we be if we didn't help you clear out this last room?"

Arriving at the last unexplored area of the mine, Wakka replied, "I suppose your right.  Any idea how big whatever's in there is?"   

(Should we short rest first?)

‘Did anyone get bitten?’ asks Manfred, with concern. ‘Rats carry nasty diseases, and I can help with that..’

He looks over to Penumbra

’I think Perkas should probably get those, I don’t need to see as well for my skills!’

As they are checking out the office perks questions "what was that guys name? Raskin?"  She looks around the papers strewn around and in the desk for any papers with his name on it or the name of the mine...just in case they would need to prove anything later. She shrugs her shoulders as she thinks her team is probably looking at her questiongly "What? You never know..."  Investigation Check: 16

When they meet up with the new miners, Perkas will wait to hear if anyone got bitten before helping anyone attend to their wounds and injuries. As they are checking out the rest of the mines, Perkas will ask them about Raskin and "You haven't happen to have any dragon problems lately have you?"

Perhaps takes the goggles when they are tossed to her. "Thanks, yea these will be helpful" and she adjusts them on her head.

At door #5 she smiles and says "you know I'm always up for a fight." She recalls her knowledge about things thAt could possibly live in a tunnel like this naturally. Nature check: 22

The miners' timeline and story indicate that the wererats took over the mine a couple months ago. They apparently invaded the mine after orcs pushed them out of their previous lair — an old shrine near Conyberry. The miners never met or saw the Don John fellow, but that doesn't mean he couldn't have been captured, or killed, by the wererats. (Once you eventually get to the bunkroom, you'll find evidence that there was a captive held there at some point...)

Perkas can think of any number of creatures and beasts that would make their home in an old mine shaft...without any additional evidence it is impossible to know! The door is latched closed, but not locked...that at least narrows it down to a non-intelligent species. Still, the group is forewarned, so at least you're not likely to be surprised! You open the door and cautiously move up the old tunnel, Sure enough, within a minute you hear a sound of many legs moving along the rock, and spot a large monster moving quickly along the ceiling towards you - a carrion crawler! (Roll Initiative!)

Creature Init: 18

Manfred Initiative: 6 (rolled a 2 - also known as Halfling's bane!)

Perkas is at 10

Wakka initiative: 9 

(we didn't rest right?)

(@Zoldier: Correct - you can rest when you're dead =D
I'm going to post now for knowing Penumbra could very well get a higher Init and attack first)

Initiative: Carrion crawler (21) - Penumbra (?) - Perkas (10) - Wakka (9) - Manfred (6)

The creature appears on the ceiling - not what you had expected! It is almost 10 feet long and about 2 feet thick - so it is six feet above the ground...maybe a little out of reach for halfling melee weapons? But it has a set of long tentacles that can easily reach any of you...it attacks 3 (Penumbra, Wakka, Perkas, Manfred) with its tentacles and tries to bite 4.
Tentacle Attack on Penumbra: 22 Poison Damage: 4  (On a hit, make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned for 1 minute. Until this poison ends, the target is paralyzed. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the poison on itself on a success.)
Bite Attack on Perkas: 7 Damage: 6