Soar Jalt Nub and Jamna would head out of the roadhouse in two groups with their gear, casually. They’d loop around the outside to where they judge the strong room to be near. Soar casts locate object on the whistle having worked out with Nate that’s what he was carrying. She would use that to follow him wherever he was going, assuming it’s into the mere.
Soar can see in the dark, can the others? Guessing not so we’d need a torch.
Nate is advancing west, or at least in what he think is a generally westerly direction. As he's in a tunnel without a compass, he can't be completely sure.
Soar, you, Nub, Jalt and Jamna exit the roadhouse, and are noticed by the guard, Mack. Evening, he says, in his standard polite/friendly/guard manner. You loop around the the south of the roadhouse.
Soar, you cast the spell, and immediately pick up the whistle, to the northwest, headed west. This takes you into the Mere of Dead Men at night. You follow for the full ten minutes, keeping the whistle ahead of you, to your west, slightly down, and headed west. You at least can be reasonably confident of the direction, given you can see the stars.
After ten minutes, the whistle is still moving, and the spell ends.
Nate, you've been walking just over ten minutes. And then you hear the sound of something moving up ahead. Quite a long way off, but it echoes through the tunnel. A scuffle. Then a hiss.
[On edge of seat, but cannot do anything at the moment. I'm hoping Soar has another locate object she can cast and that Nate rolls a good stealth check.]
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
oh shit
Nate knows that trying to hide with a torch isn't really going to work. He tenses up when he hears the scuffle, then almost yells in fear after he hears the hiss... but manages to keep it together. Barely.
He thinks of something in the moment and acts on it. Nate chucks his torch as far as he can forward with all his might, directly at the sound of the noise. So it should still be burning, and he should be able to see way up there. It might be dark around him, but that's ok. The torch should light up the part of the tunnel that he threw it at. THEN, he will hug the tunnel wall, and be as quiet and as non visible as possible, and slowly walk up to the torch, seeing if anything comes into view. His spell lasts an hour, so should still be good.
It's narrow, but not too narrow. You can walk, you're not having to squeeze through gaps. But two people couldn't walk side by side down it. There are nooks and small spaces where you might be able to hide with the help of the magic, but without it, it's unlikely you would pass unnoticed.
What do Soar, Jalt, Nub, and Jamna see as they walk into the swamp at night? Soar would be marking tree trunks with chalk once she realized that the exit wasn’t just a couple hundred feet from the roadhouse. Do we see anything ahead of us that indicates an eventual exit?
”So it’s definitely a tunnel, and he’s still moving as a human with the whistle. This is... a lot longer than I thought. Where does it go? Oh. Oh my. The spell just ended. It’s on my end, not his, it was still moving. I can cast one more time and that’s it for today. Normally I’d say I’d pause and let him get further before casting again because he’d still be within 1000 feet. But this tunnel is really long, and I don’t want to lose him if he turns or heads back. How is it not flooded in a swamp?!? Okay I am casting again. We can keep going along with him, and hopefully we see where it exits and can meet him from that end. If we lose him again after ten minutes, well, we’ll have to double back quick, cause a distraction, and get into the strong room directly to come in after him.“
She casts again, on the whistle. She asks Jalt, Nub, and Jamna to look around for any kind of building, opening, edifice, anything at all that would suggest and exit for a tunnel.
In the darkness, Soar, Jalt, Jamna and Nub, you see a gloomy swamp, cold and with a sense of death and decay. Most of the land is underwater, but not all - here are there are sections where small islands of land rise up in a way that looks rather unnatural, given the geography of the area. However, you don't see any obvious evidence that they are man-made either. There are tree trunks, certainly, and you can mark them. No, nothing up ahead indicates an exit, though both the nature of the mere and your darkvision limit your ability to see into the distance.
Jamna grumbles quietly. How long is this bloody thing?
Soar is also brainstorming about distractions should they need one. She has her elk steed get close enough to the roadhouse to be available for one. “Nub do you have any illusory magic? Could you make an elk look like a fiery demon monster? Maybe a fiery dragon? That might make everyone focus and give us the chance to get into the warehouse unnoticed and get after Nate if we can’t find the other end.”
Nate will still proceed with doing what I said earlier about throwing his torch as far as he can down the tunnel. With his stealth roll, he's hoping he can at least see something where he throws the torch if something does in fact investigate it, without it seeing him first.
He thinks of something in the moment and acts on it. Nate chucks his torch as far as he can forward with all his might, directly at the sound of the noise. So it should still be burning, and he should be able to see way up there. It might be dark around him, but that's ok. The torch should light up the part of the tunnel that he threw it at. THEN, he will hug the tunnel wall, and be as quiet and as non visible as possible, and slowly walk up to the torch, seeing if anything comes into view. His spell lasts an hour, so should still be good.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
You throw the torch, but see nothing but more tunnel. You walks towards the torch. You hear more sounds of creatures approaching. There's a burst of hissing a few seconds later; it seems whoever is coming is coming quick. And you begin to recognise the hissing sounds - from when Jalt was speaking to his kobold friend Okkie. This is the draconic language.
12
What are you doing? Continuing to hug the tunnel wall and walk forwards, or hide, or turn back?
Nate doesn't know if Soar and the others have found anything with the tracking on the 'top side', but he does know that he hasn't found any exit yet down here... so he feels he needs to push this forward. And, not in wildshape.
Even if it means fighting.
He's scared.
Nate will continue to walk forward hugging the tunnel as best he can, being a skinny as possible. He'll keep throwing the torch ahead each time he gets to it...
From the sounds, you are getting very close to the creatures - they are maybe thirty feet away, maybe slightly less. You have picked up the lit torch, and up ahead the tunnel curves slightly to one side - that's why you can't see them, and they can't see you yet. Though they can definitely see the torch light, from the sounds of it.
You can throw the torch forward if you wish, though it will likely land very close to the oncoming creatures. Is that what you're going to do?
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
...and it's at that moment that Nate looses his nerve.
He changes into the tiny spider, crawls up on the ceiling, and starts creeping towards the creatures, now within his 30 ft of darkvision hoping to see how many creatures are ahead past the curve, and what they look like. He's going to do everything possible in the little spider's body to not get noticed by any of the creatures as he walks on the ceiling.
You transform, keeping the torch with you so the light disappears as it no longer has any effect. The tunnel returns to not quite darkness - because the creatures approaching have their own torches.
What you see coming round the bend in the tunnel is a group of ten lizard-like creatures, some carrying torches, walking in single file up the tunnel. They seem on edge, looking around, talking in draconic, but they have absolutely no chance to see the tiny, sneaky spider on the ceiling, or any reason to care if they did.
After a minute of two of fruitless searching, one of them gives a loud instruction, and they give up the search and continue on their path toward the roadhouse. You are left in the grey darkness of your darkvision, with just under an hour left on your wild shape.
Nate, you can make a Nature check to see if you know what these are. What are you doing next?
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Nate would like to in fact make that check. 12
Next, Arachnate would continue creeping down the tunnel, opposite direction of the roadhouse where the lizard like creatures are headed. He's going to keep track of the time and relative distance he's traveled so far, to ensure he has enough time to get back to the trap door as a spider, if need be. But for now, he continues to press on, on the ceiling, hoping to use that natural 20 for stealth as long as he can. He is banking now he can find an exit somewhere this way... wherever it leads.
(makes perfect sense because Nate wouldn't know what the hell these things are)
Nate, make a Perception check.
13
passive of 17
Soar Jalt Nub and Jamna would head out of the roadhouse in two groups with their gear, casually. They’d loop around the outside to where they judge the strong room to be near. Soar casts locate object on the whistle having worked out with Nate that’s what he was carrying. She would use that to follow him wherever he was going, assuming it’s into the mere.
Soar can see in the dark, can the others? Guessing not so we’d need a torch.
Nate is advancing west, or at least in what he think is a generally westerly direction. As he's in a tunnel without a compass, he can't be completely sure.
Soar, you, Nub, Jalt and Jamna exit the roadhouse, and are noticed by the guard, Mack. Evening, he says, in his standard polite/friendly/guard manner. You loop around the the south of the roadhouse.
Soar, you cast the spell, and immediately pick up the whistle, to the northwest, headed west. This takes you into the Mere of Dead Men at night. You follow for the full ten minutes, keeping the whistle ahead of you, to your west, slightly down, and headed west. You at least can be reasonably confident of the direction, given you can see the stars.
After ten minutes, the whistle is still moving, and the spell ends.
Nate, you've been walking just over ten minutes. And then you hear the sound of something moving up ahead. Quite a long way off, but it echoes through the tunnel. A scuffle. Then a hiss.
[On edge of seat, but cannot do anything at the moment. I'm hoping Soar has another locate object she can cast and that Nate rolls a good stealth check.]
oh shit
Nate knows that trying to hide with a torch isn't really going to work. He tenses up when he hears the scuffle, then almost yells in fear after he hears the hiss... but manages to keep it together. Barely.
He thinks of something in the moment and acts on it. Nate chucks his torch as far as he can forward with all his might, directly at the sound of the noise. So it should still be burning, and he should be able to see way up there. It might be dark around him, but that's ok. The torch should light up the part of the tunnel that he threw it at. THEN, he will hug the tunnel wall, and be as quiet and as non visible as possible, and slowly walk up to the torch, seeing if anything comes into view. His spell lasts an hour, so should still be good.
How big is this tunnel? Like how wide?
Stealth 29
It's narrow, but not too narrow. You can walk, you're not having to squeeze through gaps. But two people couldn't walk side by side down it. There are nooks and small spaces where you might be able to hide with the help of the magic, but without it, it's unlikely you would pass unnoticed.
What do Soar, Jalt, Nub, and Jamna see as they walk into the swamp at night? Soar would be marking tree trunks with chalk once she realized that the exit wasn’t just a couple hundred feet from the roadhouse. Do we see anything ahead of us that indicates an eventual exit?
”So it’s definitely a tunnel, and he’s still moving as a human with the whistle. This is... a lot longer than I thought. Where does it go? Oh. Oh my. The spell just ended. It’s on my end, not his, it was still moving. I can cast one more time and that’s it for today. Normally I’d say I’d pause and let him get further before casting again because he’d still be within 1000 feet. But this tunnel is really long, and I don’t want to lose him if he turns or heads back. How is it not flooded in a swamp?!? Okay I am casting again. We can keep going along with him, and hopefully we see where it exits and can meet him from that end. If we lose him again after ten minutes, well, we’ll have to double back quick, cause a distraction, and get into the strong room directly to come in after him.“
She casts again, on the whistle. She asks Jalt, Nub, and Jamna to look around for any kind of building, opening, edifice, anything at all that would suggest and exit for a tunnel.
In the darkness, Soar, Jalt, Jamna and Nub, you see a gloomy swamp, cold and with a sense of death and decay. Most of the land is underwater, but not all - here are there are sections where small islands of land rise up in a way that looks rather unnatural, given the geography of the area. However, you don't see any obvious evidence that they are man-made either. There are tree trunks, certainly, and you can mark them. No, nothing up ahead indicates an exit, though both the nature of the mere and your darkvision limit your ability to see into the distance.
Jamna grumbles quietly. How long is this bloody thing?
Soar is also brainstorming about distractions should they need one. She has her elk steed get close enough to the roadhouse to be available for one. “Nub do you have any illusory magic? Could you make an elk look like a fiery demon monster? Maybe a fiery dragon? That might make everyone focus and give us the chance to get into the warehouse unnoticed and get after Nate if we can’t find the other end.”
What happens when Soar uses divine sense out here? Sort of afraid to ask.
No celestials, fiends or undead. Of course, Divine Sense has a very limited range, and the Mere is very large...
Roger that about the tunnel width.
Nate will still proceed with doing what I said earlier about throwing his torch as far as he can down the tunnel. With his stealth roll, he's hoping he can at least see something where he throws the torch if something does in fact investigate it, without it seeing him first.
He thinks of something in the moment and acts on it. Nate chucks his torch as far as he can forward with all his might, directly at the sound of the noise. So it should still be burning, and he should be able to see way up there. It might be dark around him, but that's ok. The torch should light up the part of the tunnel that he threw it at. THEN, he will hug the tunnel wall, and be as quiet and as non visible as possible, and slowly walk up to the torch, seeing if anything comes into view. His spell lasts an hour, so should still be good.
You throw the torch, but see nothing but more tunnel. You walks towards the torch. You hear more sounds of creatures approaching. There's a burst of hissing a few seconds later; it seems whoever is coming is coming quick. And you begin to recognise the hissing sounds - from when Jalt was speaking to his kobold friend Okkie. This is the draconic language.
12
What are you doing? Continuing to hug the tunnel wall and walk forwards, or hide, or turn back?
Nate doesn't know if Soar and the others have found anything with the tracking on the 'top side', but he does know that he hasn't found any exit yet down here... so he feels he needs to push this forward. And, not in wildshape.
Even if it means fighting.
He's scared.
Nate will continue to walk forward hugging the tunnel as best he can, being a skinny as possible. He'll keep throwing the torch ahead each time he gets to it...
From the sounds, you are getting very close to the creatures - they are maybe thirty feet away, maybe slightly less. You have picked up the lit torch, and up ahead the tunnel curves slightly to one side - that's why you can't see them, and they can't see you yet. Though they can definitely see the torch light, from the sounds of it.
You can throw the torch forward if you wish, though it will likely land very close to the oncoming creatures. Is that what you're going to do?
...and it's at that moment that Nate looses his nerve.
He changes into the tiny spider, crawls up on the ceiling, and starts creeping towards the creatures, now within his 30 ft of darkvision hoping to see how many creatures are ahead past the curve, and what they look like. He's going to do everything possible in the little spider's body to not get noticed by any of the creatures as he walks on the ceiling.
Stealth 23
(breaks the link with Soar's spell)
You transform, keeping the torch with you so the light disappears as it no longer has any effect. The tunnel returns to not quite darkness - because the creatures approaching have their own torches.
What you see coming round the bend in the tunnel is a group of ten lizard-like creatures, some carrying torches, walking in single file up the tunnel. They seem on edge, looking around, talking in draconic, but they have absolutely no chance to see the tiny, sneaky spider on the ceiling, or any reason to care if they did.
After a minute of two of fruitless searching, one of them gives a loud instruction, and they give up the search and continue on their path toward the roadhouse. You are left in the grey darkness of your darkvision, with just under an hour left on your wild shape.
Nate, you can make a Nature check to see if you know what these are. What are you doing next?
Nate would like to in fact make that check. 12
Next, Arachnate would continue creeping down the tunnel, opposite direction of the roadhouse where the lizard like creatures are headed. He's going to keep track of the time and relative distance he's traveled so far, to ensure he has enough time to get back to the trap door as a spider, if need be. But for now, he continues to press on, on the ceiling, hoping to use that natural 20 for stealth as long as he can. He is banking now he can find an exit somewhere this way... wherever it leads.
(makes perfect sense because Nate wouldn't know what the hell these things are)