Burik will rise quickly to his feet, swinging at the creature to make sure it's dead before looking around, keeping his guard up while he does so. He then casts light on a few small rocks and throws them around the area, hoping to light it up a bit better for a minute.
If it looks safe he'll back towards the hole, "I'm safe enough and this thing's dead. If you throw a rope over I'm sure I can anchor it somewhere."
(He's going to wait for a short rest once reunited with his fellows to heal with hit die, if he spots something dangerous he'll use cure wounds on himself instead)
Brask and Effort, make dexterity checks if you want to climb up the rock fall to get over to where Burik is (with advantage thanks to Effort's grappling hook). Cadmael takes off and makes his way toward the opening.
Burik:
The cave fisher is lying on its back, sliced nearly in half and bleeding out. It lets out a final shriek as Burik finishes it off mercifully. He then starts taking inventory of his own wounds as he tosses a few rocks around to light up this section of the tunnel. The fisher claws took a few solid swipes at him, and he's feeling the effects. He notices that this fisher isn't the only one down here...as he surveys the area there are a few empty carapaces around. There must have been a population down here before...something killed them off. Burik, roll a history or nature check.
You both get to the top of the rock pile easily, but as Effort nimbly hops down from rock to rock to get to the tunnel section that Burik is in, Brask loses his footing about halfway down, smashing his shoulder into a large stone and suffering 10 damage.
Effort helps Brask up at the bottom of the pile, and they find Burik tending to his wounds.
Burik, you feel like you should know more about these cave fishers, but you can't bring anything to the forefront of your mind at the present moment. It's probably the adrenaline from almost being cut in half a few moments ago.
Effort and Brask look around the room, noticing the other cave fisher carapaces. And, strangely enough, it's just the carapaces. They've been seemingly hollowed out, and only the shells are left. There's maybe a half-dozen in this section of the tunnel alone.
Burik, whose eyes have had a few more minutes to adjust, also notices a glimmer of metal against one of the tunnel walls. Upon slightly closer inspection, he finds a pickaxe sticking out of the dirt, along with a hand holding it. A dwarven hand. As he follows it down, he finds the rest of the body. Mutilated, and mostly eaten, but with little bits of clothing and mining gear still clinging to the remains. This must have been the last miner that went missing. His remains look recent.
As Burik turns to gesture toward the others, he thinks he catches just a tiny hint of light coming from deeper into the tunnel. A flicker. Fire, perhaps? It was too quick to tell.
You can take a short rest if you'd all like, but it will take an hour of just hanging in this area of the tunnel. Or you can use cure wounds.
Brask pokes at his wounds, which are not too bad, and shrugs. Let's push on. Which way? Towards the thing that's been eating these... things, yeah? Should be fun.
"Burik... take some time to heal yourself first," Effort says. "There's a small ritual I want to perform first. It shouldn't take but a moment," she tells the others, settling down amidst the bones and clearing a small spot on the ground. Taking a few pinches of salt and soot from her component pouch, she makes a complex pattern on the floor and starts to murmur under her breath. After around 10 minutes of this, the runes flare and disappear, and Effort stands up again.
"It was just a precaution," Effort tells the others. "If we run into something odd down here, I want to be sure I can comprehend languages it might use."
She's not happy about not having the time to rest and recover her magic, but on the other hand, Brask has the right idea... spending more than 10 minutes in this area, when there's clearly something else down here with them, is an uncomfortable thought.
"Cadmael," she calls to her familliar. "Go towards the light. Swiftly, and quietly. See what you can, and return immediately. Be careful, my friend."
As you're casting the ritual, Burik notices the subtle flickering of the light starts to fade. Cadmael takes off, flying low to the ground and cruising around the first corner, out of your sight. Brask and Burik, you see Effort close her eyes, concentrating.
Effort, you see through Cadmael's eyes. The tunnels up ahead are almost completely dark. Cadmael slows his flight, becoming a bit more cautious. After a few moments, though, the flickering light reappears. Cadmael flaps a little harder to catch up to it, and spins around a corner. He lands on the ground, curiously eyeing a torch burning in the center of the path. Something isn't right, he thinks. Just then, something grabs Cadmael from behind. One hand over his eyes and face, the other grasping his body. Everything goes black, but he still calls out to you, Effort. Help! There's something down here!
Effort's eyes fly open when she hears Cadmael panic, and she reaches within herself for the thread that binds her to Cadmael and recalls it, dismissing the familiar to her pocket dimension. Cadmael probably won't be happy to have been dismissed when she recalls him, she thinks, but it's better than having been killed.
(I'll leave this to the DM whether or not this interrupted the Comprehend Languages ritual, since my sense of timing this is fuzzy)
"Something attacked Cadmael," she tells the others. "The light was from a torch, and whomever carried it dropped it on the ground as a trap to ambush him."
"Waiting, I believe... although since I banished Cadmael from his attacker's grasp, they may be alert to our presence. It may be useful to know that whomever grabbed my owl did not attempt to immediately kill him... it may be a miner, lost or trying to escape down here, rather than an opponent. We best be alert in any case."
Brask, as you start heading down the tunnel again, the light from the torch grows brighter. Just as you're about to turn the corner that would bring the flame into view, something heavy drops onto you, wrapping its arms around your shoulders and attempting to pull you down to the ground. Roll an opposed athletics check.
Whatever is on your back is strong. Really strong. You lurch back as it pulls you down, dropping your maul as you attempt to maintain your balance. You both struggle for a bit, but you're able to twist around and use your large frame to gain the upper hand, centering yourself and getting on top of your assailant. As Burik and Effort come running around the corner to join you, the light from Burik's axe and the torchlight coming from behind you reveal a dwarf lying on the tunnel floor beneath you. He's wearing full body armor that is intricately detailed with scenes of an army fighting a dragon - flame covered fields turn into inlaid rubies along his arms that turn into blossoming flowers along the breastplate. He wears a heavy helm with a bright green gemstone set directly in the center. Dark eyes peer out from it, with a thick, dark brown beard braided down to his chest. He looks more angry than frightened. "Get off of me, ye hairy oaf!"
Burik:
You quickly recognize Thurnar Birchstone - the dwarf your parents said had gone into the tunnels to search for the missing miner and never returned.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM - Above & Below
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Perception 15
(assuming the thing is dead at this point)
Burik will rise quickly to his feet, swinging at the creature to make sure it's dead before looking around, keeping his guard up while he does so. He then casts light on a few small rocks and throws them around the area, hoping to light it up a bit better for a minute.
If it looks safe he'll back towards the hole, "I'm safe enough and this thing's dead. If you throw a rope over I'm sure I can anchor it somewhere."
(He's going to wait for a short rest once reunited with his fellows to heal with hit die, if he spots something dangerous he'll use cure wounds on himself instead)
Brask and Effort, make dexterity checks if you want to climb up the rock fall to get over to where Burik is (with advantage thanks to Effort's grappling hook). Cadmael takes off and makes his way toward the opening.
Burik:
The cave fisher is lying on its back, sliced nearly in half and bleeding out. It lets out a final shriek as Burik finishes it off mercifully. He then starts taking inventory of his own wounds as he tosses a few rocks around to light up this section of the tunnel. The fisher claws took a few solid swipes at him, and he's feeling the effects. He notices that this fisher isn't the only one down here...as he surveys the area there are a few empty carapaces around. There must have been a population down here before...something killed them off. Burik, roll a history or nature check.
DM - Above & Below
Effort dex check 21
Nature 9
Yeah, better stick together. Bloody cave scorpions. Brask tries to steady himself as he clambers towards where he thinks Burik has gone:
DEX save: 11
You both get to the top of the rock pile easily, but as Effort nimbly hops down from rock to rock to get to the tunnel section that Burik is in, Brask loses his footing about halfway down, smashing his shoulder into a large stone and suffering 10 damage.
Effort helps Brask up at the bottom of the pile, and they find Burik tending to his wounds.
Burik, you feel like you should know more about these cave fishers, but you can't bring anything to the forefront of your mind at the present moment. It's probably the adrenaline from almost being cut in half a few moments ago.
Everyone, roll perception.
DM - Above & Below
Effort: 13
Cadmael: 8
Brask's Perception 13
16
(short rest or cure wounds?)
Effort and Brask look around the room, noticing the other cave fisher carapaces. And, strangely enough, it's just the carapaces. They've been seemingly hollowed out, and only the shells are left. There's maybe a half-dozen in this section of the tunnel alone.
Burik, whose eyes have had a few more minutes to adjust, also notices a glimmer of metal against one of the tunnel walls. Upon slightly closer inspection, he finds a pickaxe sticking out of the dirt, along with a hand holding it. A dwarven hand. As he follows it down, he finds the rest of the body. Mutilated, and mostly eaten, but with little bits of clothing and mining gear still clinging to the remains. This must have been the last miner that went missing. His remains look recent.
As Burik turns to gesture toward the others, he thinks he catches just a tiny hint of light coming from deeper into the tunnel. A flicker. Fire, perhaps? It was too quick to tell.
You can take a short rest if you'd all like, but it will take an hour of just hanging in this area of the tunnel. Or you can use cure wounds.
DM - Above & Below
Brask pokes at his wounds, which are not too bad, and shrugs. Let's push on. Which way? Towards the thing that's been eating these... things, yeah? Should be fun.
"Burik... take some time to heal yourself first," Effort says. "There's a small ritual I want to perform first. It shouldn't take but a moment," she tells the others, settling down amidst the bones and clearing a small spot on the ground. Taking a few pinches of salt and soot from her component pouch, she makes a complex pattern on the floor and starts to murmur under her breath. After around 10 minutes of this, the runes flare and disappear, and Effort stands up again.
"It was just a precaution," Effort tells the others. "If we run into something odd down here, I want to be sure I can comprehend languages it might use."
She's not happy about not having the time to rest and recover her magic, but on the other hand, Brask has the right idea... spending more than 10 minutes in this area, when there's clearly something else down here with them, is an uncomfortable thought.
"Cadmael," she calls to her familliar. "Go towards the light. Swiftly, and quietly. See what you can, and return immediately. Be careful, my friend."
Cadmael Scouting: Stealth: 5, Perception: 16
As you're casting the ritual, Burik notices the subtle flickering of the light starts to fade. Cadmael takes off, flying low to the ground and cruising around the first corner, out of your sight. Brask and Burik, you see Effort close her eyes, concentrating.
Effort, you see through Cadmael's eyes. The tunnels up ahead are almost completely dark. Cadmael slows his flight, becoming a bit more cautious. After a few moments, though, the flickering light reappears. Cadmael flaps a little harder to catch up to it, and spins around a corner. He lands on the ground, curiously eyeing a torch burning in the center of the path. Something isn't right, he thinks. Just then, something grabs Cadmael from behind. One hand over his eyes and face, the other grasping his body. Everything goes black, but he still calls out to you, Effort. Help! There's something down here!
DM - Above & Below
Effort's eyes fly open when she hears Cadmael panic, and she reaches within herself for the thread that binds her to Cadmael and recalls it, dismissing the familiar to her pocket dimension. Cadmael probably won't be happy to have been dismissed when she recalls him, she thinks, but it's better than having been killed.
(I'll leave this to the DM whether or not this interrupted the Comprehend Languages ritual, since my sense of timing this is fuzzy)
"Something attacked Cadmael," she tells the others. "The light was from a torch, and whomever carried it dropped it on the ground as a trap to ambush him."
Coming this way, or waiting for us? Brask asks, grabbing his maul and testing its weight in his hand.
"Waiting, I believe... although since I banished Cadmael from his attacker's grasp, they may be alert to our presence. It may be useful to know that whomever grabbed my owl did not attempt to immediately kill him... it may be a miner, lost or trying to escape down here, rather than an opponent. We best be alert in any case."
Brask nods. Right enough. Hey, you banished the bird? What's that mean?
Brask, maul raised in anticipation, stomps down the tunnel towards where the bird got busted.
I'll assume the others are coming with you. :)
Brask, as you start heading down the tunnel again, the light from the torch grows brighter. Just as you're about to turn the corner that would bring the flame into view, something heavy drops onto you, wrapping its arms around your shoulders and attempting to pull you down to the ground. Roll an opposed athletics check.
Athletics: 11
DM - Above & Below
Athletics: 23
Whatever is on your back is strong. Really strong. You lurch back as it pulls you down, dropping your maul as you attempt to maintain your balance. You both struggle for a bit, but you're able to twist around and use your large frame to gain the upper hand, centering yourself and getting on top of your assailant. As Burik and Effort come running around the corner to join you, the light from Burik's axe and the torchlight coming from behind you reveal a dwarf lying on the tunnel floor beneath you. He's wearing full body armor that is intricately detailed with scenes of an army fighting a dragon - flame covered fields turn into inlaid rubies along his arms that turn into blossoming flowers along the breastplate. He wears a heavy helm with a bright green gemstone set directly in the center. Dark eyes peer out from it, with a thick, dark brown beard braided down to his chest. He looks more angry than frightened. "Get off of me, ye hairy oaf!"
Burik:
You quickly recognize Thurnar Birchstone - the dwarf your parents said had gone into the tunnels to search for the missing miner and never returned.
DM - Above & Below