Zee stares at the Kelp, a dopey grin over his face. “Yeah…. I’d love to do some ‘experiments’ with this stuff. I dunno if it’ll smoke too good, but we can pick some up on the way out and drop some in a safe environment.” He nods at Gulin with a wink before patting him on the back. “May the stars lend you strength bruh, keep a hold of that rope.” he bolsters Gulin with guidance
Caspia holds the rope securely at Gulin takes his leap.
Assuming Gulin makes the leap, I will also attempt to leap after him.
Scenario 1: Gulin makes the leap
Gulin makes his jump safely. Caspia hands the rope off to the adventurer behind her and takes a running leap for the spot. Given her aquatic origins, she is confidant she can handle it if she lands in the water itself.
Should Gulin not make the leap, I will wait and amend my post to reflect that, depending on the situation.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Moonday Goodmonth 16th, 591 CY
Gulin takes a running start across the damp cave surface propelling himself forward with all of his might, and the assistance of Zee's magics. While the dwarf's legs are short, he more than makes up for it with brute strength. You watch the aged dwarf sail over the small barrier of water and onto the other side.
Gulin Runehammer Acrobatics Check: 17
Above roll should have been a 12, I forgot Gulin's +2.
Landing on the ground on the other side the dwarf barely regains his footing before possibly violently crashing into the spindly stalagmite. From this closer view the stalagmite looks very sharp, yet brittle and likely to easily be broken. This terrain is rough and will take some additional time to traverse. Gulin looks down at his rugged boots made of heavy leather, with notched soles for traveling hiking, and steel toes and a steel shin guard. While this choice of footwear would likely fail the dwarf in the water, it will provide ample comfort traversing this portion of the cavern.
Caspia, seeing Gulin land, begins to back up to follow suit. You hear Zee say, "Not so fast!" as he taps Caspia on the shoulder, once again casting guidance. Caspia runs forward and jumps. Similar to Gulin, Caspia's innate strength allows her to easily cross the water.
Caspia Aspergina Acrobatics Check: 6
Above roll should have been a 6, I forgot Caspia's +2
Caspia gracelessly crashes down directly ontop of Gulin. Shocked by the turn of events, Gulin accidentally shoves Caspia, and she falls back into the water. The kelp, still illuminated with their biolumenscent colors slowly reach out and wrap around one of Caspia's exposed legs.
Caspia Aspergina Constitution Saving Throw: 18
The triton, being a creature of the sea, easily resists the numbing sensation coming from the kelp. She uses her hands to brush it aside before standing up in the water and climbing back onto the shore with Gulin. As Caspia looks down at her soft boat shoes and the sharp stalagmite ahead, she winces a little at the thought of how slowly she will have to pick her path through the rough terrain.
Meanwhile, a mere 10 feet away on the other side of the water stands Reynnar and Zee. The party now has a rope on both sides of the crossing, though nothing except themselves to tie it to. Off on the right side of Reynnar and Zee stands the sliper/treacherous looking cavern wall, and in front of them in the water, the kelp still glows.
Zee grabs the other end of Gulins rope, holding it taut as he pats Reynnar on the back. “Don’t think you can make the jump eh bud? Don’t worry man, we got you, and I know you’ll be there for us when the time comes. It’s all give and take.” He smiles warmly as he imparts his guidance
Reynnar isn't exactly a plump fellow. In fact due to his partial eleven lineage he is pretty light for his size. However, the man is carrying almost 80 pounds of various equipment. Zee braces himself as Reynnar hops up and grabs the rope. Thankfully the task of holding Reynnar's weight is split with Gulin helping hold the rope taught on the other end.
Zeetox Zabree Athletics Check w/ Advantage: 7
As Reynnar reaches the apogee of his hop halfway across the water and grasps the rope, the full weight of his equipment begins to be pulled downward by gravity. The sudden increase in weight surprises Zee and causing him to drop the rope. Reynnar careens off into the water near Gulin who quickly hauls the elf in.
Reynnar Eversharp Constitution Saving Throw: 19
The elf nimbly manages to prevent any of the kelp from touching him as Gulin drags him ashore. Zee, easily hops across the gap to join the party. In front of the party lies a forest of sharp stalagmite of various heights. Here the path widens out, at first to ten feet, then to twenty feet, and in the distance the path appears to widen even farther perhaps as far as a hundred feet or so. Traveling over this terrain will likely be slower than earlier when you made good time. Movement itself in the cavern has been relatively easy until now, but perhaps around an hour has lapsed since you left the dwarven mining crew. Most of this time spent deciding how to cross the small channel of water. Among the options, the party can decide to stick near the coast of the aquifer, venture further into the forest of stalagmite, or hang as close as possible to the cavern walls on your right. To your left, the water of the aquifer still beckons with the beautiful light of the luminescent kelp.
Zee hangs his head in shame, looking at Reynnar “Sorry dude, I dropped it. Been a while since I had to work together with crewmates.” he looks ahead at the ever widening path. “Should we stick by the water? I’d feel a lot safer if we did.”
Gulin pats off some water from the damp Reynnar as he helps the elf up. "At least you're only a hundred pounds soakin' wet, lad. Glad our roles were not reversed!"
To Zee, "That's fine by me. We can continue to circle, though if we have no signs of something more threatening than glowing kelp, we can come back to the stalagmites here... I imagine that might make a good den for some critter."
You continue your journey through the underground cavern, sticking closely to the aquifer. Progress is slow. While you are at the edge of the stalagmite forest, the ground is littered with the brittle sharp pieces of rock that threaten to push through the parties' softer footwear. You walk for about another twenty minutes or so, Zee constantly renewing his produce flame to provide light. Usually there is no sound within the cavern, but every now and then you hear echoes of your previous conversations reverberate back within the cavern or the drip of water from one of the massive stalactites overhead the aquifer.
At some point, your hope is raised that you've finally reached the edge of the stalagmite forest. As you edge forward you notice a large swathe of the stalagmites have been crushed under heel. The damage is in a large twenty foot radius semicircle projecting outward from the water. Within that radius not a single stalagmite remains standing. Instead they have been knocked over and destructively crushed into thousands of pieces. You look out over the water wondering what could have caused this.
Zeetox Zabree:
With your passive perception as you look out across the aquifer in the middle of the massive cavern, at the edge of your vision you are able to notice a large jagged rock-like structure jutting out from the water. It could be another stalagmite, evidence of the other edge of the cavern, or something else. From this distance and in this darkness without darkvision you can't be too sure.
Gulin lets loose a low whistle. "Whatever mitey critter that caused this certainly got its points across." He waggles his eyebrows at the closest partymember, before looking around. Are all the stalagmites broken as if something pushed out of the water, or broken as if something went into the water?
"Anyone see any tracks, footprints in the muck, or anything else?"Gulin says, looking around.
Zee nods, staring into the distance. “Yeah, yeah, tracks in the mud, I feel you bro.” He mumbles before realising. “Oh, you meant me. Yeah, I’ll have a look, got distracted by that rock over the water there, could be another path, look.”
Zee points to the rocks jutting out of the water, throwing his star shaped flame towards it to try to illuminate it for a second. As his flaming star fizzles out in the water he ignites a new one and checks the ground for tracks. “Anyway, back to business bro.” 12 Survival
"It seems we have found our first obstacle. Approaching the water seems a sure way to face whatever crushed those rocks,"Caspia murmured to her companions.
Zee throws his flaming sphere of fire from produce flame out across the water. The kelp near your position on the shore begins to darken as the immediate light source leaves. Looking out over the aquifer the water barely lights up with a muted multifaceted color, likely from bio-luminescent kelp deep beneath the surface.
All eyes are on flickering flame as it recedes towards its 30 foot range before extinguishing. In the moments before it snuffs out everyone notices a large rock like feature in the center of the aquifer. It appears to be well past the range of where the fire from produce flame ended. Maybe a hundred or couple of hundred feet? You are unsure of the exact size of the natural structure in the distance and are therefore unable to accurately estimate its range from your current position.
After a few moments of looking out across the aquifer, Zee and Gulin begin to check the ground for tracks and further inspect the broken stalagmites. Based off the patterns in which the fragments lay and noticing the area where the stalagmites suffered the most damage, the party concludes that it appears as if the stalagmites were violently pushed over by a force emanating from the water. The stalagmites closest to the water are almost entirely pulverized, while those further "inland" were broken into larger pieces.
Looking around just outside the area of destruction the party finds a set of booted humanoid tracks leading towards the semi-circular impacted area. Though the trail of tracks is lost as soon as it enters the area of destruction. Whatever force destroyed the stalagmite appears to have covered or obscured further trace of the tracks. You do not find any other tracks leading towards or away from this area.
Zee shrugs at Caspia, “Yeah, that’s probably where it lives, but I don’t see no tracks coming back. Unless it came back another route, I’d say our little beasty is down there.” He points down the flattened track. “Looks like it flattened a few miners too, so that’ll be our problem.”
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Gulin ponders a moment. "I can at least see if the island is currently occupied. Be ready for anything..." He kneels down, taking the hooded lantern from his bag of holding. With the hood low, he lights the lantern, forming an arcane spark of fire and applying it to the wick. Then, raising his arm, he snaps his fingers. Avalloc appears in a poof of mystical feathers, the hawk looking none too pleased as it spreads its wings and settles on the dwarf's arm.
"I'm sorry, my friend. You'll get some time in the Feywild shortly... but we have need of your eyes and your speed. Take the lantern and fly by the stalagmite island out there. I'll be watching. Return shortly, but keep the path circular... and keep an eye out for any dead dwarves or critters both on the edges of the lake and on the island itself. Fly close enough for the light to help you see."
Gulin delicately sets Avalloc down on the lantern's handle, the bird's talons grabbing the metal. He raises the hood, and nods. "Go!"
Gulin's eyes glaze over to a milky white, and he narrates anything interesting the hawk sees.
One instant Avalloc is peacefully circling over the coastline of the Azure Sea, riding pockets of hot air higher and higher above the coast. The clouds from the last few days of rain have since cleared and the view is absolutely majestic. Avalloc hasn't felt this level of freedom on the material plane in a long time, and his feathers bristle with excitement. Then he poofs out of existence.
The next moment he reappears on the material plane in a damp, dark, and though absolutely humongous still enclosed cavern. Yet despite the circumstances, the bird gracefully takes flight from Gulin's outstretched arm without uttering a complaint. Gulin begins to narrate the following to his compatriots:
Avalloc Perception:
Avalloc begins to quickly take flight into the middle of the cavern. Thankfully the ceiling is at least a few hundred feet over his head, and the drooping stalactites are easy to dodge. The aquifer is enormously immense, likely measured in the thousands of feet. The feature of land Gulin points Avalloc towards, while appearing centered from their view in the land, is obviously skewed towards this section of the coast. Avalloc crosses the stretch towards the landmass, an approximately 300 feet journey and begins to circle his target.
The ancient stalagmite jutting from the aquifer in this area has been worn by millennia of water dripping down on it from above, and is now largely dome shaped. It gently rises approximately 40 feet out above the aquifer at an angle that one could easily tackle without the use of climbing equipment. About halfway up on one of the sides of the feature Avalloc spots a cave-like opening, approximately 10 feet wide and high. Thanks to his keen vision the bird also notices that there are small humanoid tracks leaving and entering the cavern, though no humanoids are to be seen from Avalloc's view.
After staying aloft sufficiently long to ensure he did not miss anything, Avalloc begins to fly back to the party. Looking down at the aquifer as Avalloc journeys, the bird spots a huge white skeletal creature coasting underneath the water currently about a hundred feet from the shore. The creature is gracefully gliding beneath the surface so as to not disturb the water.
"It seems we have likely found our creature that has been causing the disappearance of the miners. I can attempt to communicate friendliness to the water beast, but I won't be able to understand much in return. And its motivation is survival and food, it may not matter regardless."
She turns to her companions.
"Do we have other options to draw this creature out? I could jump in the water and draw it to the surface, but I will need to be fast to do it safely."
"We should definately not fight it in its home territory... I think even you'd just be a quick meal to it, Caspia. Perhaps if we can draw it to the stalagmites, engage it here with some distance from the shore so we can't be reached."
Looking around the destroyed stalagmites, Gulin notes, "We know how far it reached when it last went after its prey. We just need to be farther than that. Lure it with some meat to start. Zee, perhaps you can lay down spikes along this clearing. Give the creature a prickly surprise when it attempts to repeat its meal. Caspia, if you use your marine layer, we can blast it with fire and arrows from relative safety, unseen in the mist, and retreat into the stalagmites should it get through the spike growth."
Caspia nodded. "Keep in mind that the fog may obscure our efforts as well. Zee, let me know when you are ready for me to raise a fog."
Caspia moved into position just outside the circle of destruction to cast fog cloud when the beast emerges. She also readies her crossbow and bolts for battle.
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Zee stares at the Kelp, a dopey grin over his face. “Yeah…. I’d love to do some ‘experiments’ with this stuff. I dunno if it’ll smoke too good, but we can pick some up on the way out and drop some in a safe environment.” He nods at Gulin with a wink before patting him on the back. “May the stars lend you strength bruh, keep a hold of that rope.” he bolsters Gulin with guidance
Gilgin Hardhammer - Mountain Dwarf Cleric (Forge Domain) - Icewind Dale
Petal - Forest Gnome Druid (Circle of the Land - Forest) - Unsung Heroes of Embera
Caspia holds the rope securely at Gulin takes his leap.
Assuming Gulin makes the leap, I will also attempt to leap after him.
Scenario 1: Gulin makes the leap
Gulin makes his jump safely. Caspia hands the rope off to the adventurer behind her and takes a running leap for the spot. Given her aquatic origins, she is confidant she can handle it if she lands in the water itself.
Should Gulin not make the leap, I will wait and amend my post to reflect that, depending on the situation.
Moonday Goodmonth 16th, 591 CY
Gulin takes a running start across the damp cave surface propelling himself forward with all of his might, and the assistance of Zee's magics. While the dwarf's legs are short, he more than makes up for it with brute strength. You watch the aged dwarf sail over the small barrier of water and onto the other side.
Gulin Runehammer Acrobatics Check: 17
Above roll should have been a 12, I forgot Gulin's +2.
Landing on the ground on the other side the dwarf barely regains his footing before possibly violently crashing into the spindly stalagmite. From this closer view the stalagmite looks very sharp, yet brittle and likely to easily be broken. This terrain is rough and will take some additional time to traverse. Gulin looks down at his rugged boots made of heavy leather, with notched soles for traveling hiking, and steel toes and a steel shin guard. While this choice of footwear would likely fail the dwarf in the water, it will provide ample comfort traversing this portion of the cavern.
Caspia, seeing Gulin land, begins to back up to follow suit. You hear Zee say, "Not so fast!" as he taps Caspia on the shoulder, once again casting guidance. Caspia runs forward and jumps. Similar to Gulin, Caspia's innate strength allows her to easily cross the water.
Caspia Aspergina Acrobatics Check: 6
Above roll should have been a 6, I forgot Caspia's +2
Caspia gracelessly crashes down directly ontop of Gulin. Shocked by the turn of events, Gulin accidentally shoves Caspia, and she falls back into the water. The kelp, still illuminated with their biolumenscent colors slowly reach out and wrap around one of Caspia's exposed legs.
Caspia Aspergina Constitution Saving Throw: 18
The triton, being a creature of the sea, easily resists the numbing sensation coming from the kelp. She uses her hands to brush it aside before standing up in the water and climbing back onto the shore with Gulin. As Caspia looks down at her soft boat shoes and the sharp stalagmite ahead, she winces a little at the thought of how slowly she will have to pick her path through the rough terrain.
Meanwhile, a mere 10 feet away on the other side of the water stands Reynnar and Zee. The party now has a rope on both sides of the crossing, though nothing except themselves to tie it to. Off on the right side of Reynnar and Zee stands the sliper/treacherous looking cavern wall, and in front of them in the water, the kelp still glows.
DM for Out of the Abyss | Edvord Reinholdt for Killilli's Waterdeep Dragon Heist | Sergeant Cernan for Viper's Descent
Zee grabs the other end of Gulins rope, holding it taut as he pats Reynnar on the back. “Don’t think you can make the jump eh bud? Don’t worry man, we got you, and I know you’ll be there for us when the time comes. It’s all give and take.” He smiles warmly as he imparts his guidance
Gilgin Hardhammer - Mountain Dwarf Cleric (Forge Domain) - Icewind Dale
Petal - Forest Gnome Druid (Circle of the Land - Forest) - Unsung Heroes of Embera
"Thanks friend, yes, this gap looks to be a little too far for my legs to carry me..."
Reynnar then hops onto the rope and attempts to shimmy across the gap.
Moonday Goodmonth 16th, 591 CY
Reynnar isn't exactly a plump fellow. In fact due to his partial eleven lineage he is pretty light for his size. However, the man is carrying almost 80 pounds of various equipment. Zee braces himself as Reynnar hops up and grabs the rope. Thankfully the task of holding Reynnar's weight is split with Gulin helping hold the rope taught on the other end.
Zeetox Zabree Athletics Check w/ Advantage: 7
As Reynnar reaches the apogee of his hop halfway across the water and grasps the rope, the full weight of his equipment begins to be pulled downward by gravity. The sudden increase in weight surprises Zee and causing him to drop the rope. Reynnar careens off into the water near Gulin who quickly hauls the elf in.
Reynnar Eversharp Constitution Saving Throw: 19
The elf nimbly manages to prevent any of the kelp from touching him as Gulin drags him ashore. Zee, easily hops across the gap to join the party. In front of the party lies a forest of sharp stalagmite of various heights. Here the path widens out, at first to ten feet, then to twenty feet, and in the distance the path appears to widen even farther perhaps as far as a hundred feet or so. Traveling over this terrain will likely be slower than earlier when you made good time. Movement itself in the cavern has been relatively easy until now, but perhaps around an hour has lapsed since you left the dwarven mining crew. Most of this time spent deciding how to cross the small channel of water. Among the options, the party can decide to stick near the coast of the aquifer, venture further into the forest of stalagmite, or hang as close as possible to the cavern walls on your right. To your left, the water of the aquifer still beckons with the beautiful light of the luminescent kelp.
DM for Out of the Abyss | Edvord Reinholdt for Killilli's Waterdeep Dragon Heist | Sergeant Cernan for Viper's Descent
Zee hangs his head in shame, looking at Reynnar “Sorry dude, I dropped it. Been a while since I had to work together with crewmates.” he looks ahead at the ever widening path. “Should we stick by the water? I’d feel a lot safer if we did.”
Gilgin Hardhammer - Mountain Dwarf Cleric (Forge Domain) - Icewind Dale
Petal - Forest Gnome Druid (Circle of the Land - Forest) - Unsung Heroes of Embera
Gulin pats off some water from the damp Reynnar as he helps the elf up. "At least you're only a hundred pounds soakin' wet, lad. Glad our roles were not reversed!"
To Zee, "That's fine by me. We can continue to circle, though if we have no signs of something more threatening than glowing kelp, we can come back to the stalagmites here... I imagine that might make a good den for some critter."
Aldrik Reinholdt in Dragon Heist
Daventry in The Candlekeep Mysteries, and her bag
"Agreed, I would prefer to stick to the water. Let us continue."
Caspia starts forward following the path of the water, watching the water and ground ahead of her as she walks.
Moonday Goodmonth 16th, 591 CY
You continue your journey through the underground cavern, sticking closely to the aquifer. Progress is slow. While you are at the edge of the stalagmite forest, the ground is littered with the brittle sharp pieces of rock that threaten to push through the parties' softer footwear. You walk for about another twenty minutes or so, Zee constantly renewing his produce flame to provide light. Usually there is no sound within the cavern, but every now and then you hear echoes of your previous conversations reverberate back within the cavern or the drip of water from one of the massive stalactites overhead the aquifer.
At some point, your hope is raised that you've finally reached the edge of the stalagmite forest. As you edge forward you notice a large swathe of the stalagmites have been crushed under heel. The damage is in a large twenty foot radius semicircle projecting outward from the water. Within that radius not a single stalagmite remains standing. Instead they have been knocked over and destructively crushed into thousands of pieces. You look out over the water wondering what could have caused this.
Zeetox Zabree:
With your passive perception as you look out across the aquifer in the middle of the massive cavern, at the edge of your vision you are able to notice a large jagged rock-like structure jutting out from the water. It could be another stalagmite, evidence of the other edge of the cavern, or something else. From this distance and in this darkness without darkvision you can't be too sure.
DM for Out of the Abyss | Edvord Reinholdt for Killilli's Waterdeep Dragon Heist | Sergeant Cernan for Viper's Descent
Gulin lets loose a low whistle. "Whatever mitey critter that caused this certainly got its points across." He waggles his eyebrows at the closest partymember, before looking around. Are all the stalagmites broken as if something pushed out of the water, or broken as if something went into the water?
"Anyone see any tracks, footprints in the muck, or anything else?" Gulin says, looking around.
Gulin helps someone do a survival check.
Aldrik Reinholdt in Dragon Heist
Daventry in The Candlekeep Mysteries, and her bag
Zee nods, staring into the distance. “Yeah, yeah, tracks in the mud, I feel you bro.” He mumbles before realising. “Oh, you meant me. Yeah, I’ll have a look, got distracted by that rock over the water there, could be another path, look.”
Zee points to the rocks jutting out of the water, throwing his star shaped flame towards it to try to illuminate it for a second. As his flaming star fizzles out in the water he ignites a new one and checks the ground for tracks. “Anyway, back to business bro.” 12 Survival
Gilgin Hardhammer - Mountain Dwarf Cleric (Forge Domain) - Icewind Dale
Petal - Forest Gnome Druid (Circle of the Land - Forest) - Unsung Heroes of Embera
"It seems we have found our first obstacle. Approaching the water seems a sure way to face whatever crushed those rocks," Caspia murmured to her companions.
Moonday Goodmonth 16th, 591 CY
Zee throws his flaming sphere of fire from produce flame out across the water. The kelp near your position on the shore begins to darken as the immediate light source leaves. Looking out over the aquifer the water barely lights up with a muted multifaceted color, likely from bio-luminescent kelp deep beneath the surface.
All eyes are on flickering flame as it recedes towards its 30 foot range before extinguishing. In the moments before it snuffs out everyone notices a large rock like feature in the center of the aquifer. It appears to be well past the range of where the fire from produce flame ended. Maybe a hundred or couple of hundred feet? You are unsure of the exact size of the natural structure in the distance and are therefore unable to accurately estimate its range from your current position.
After a few moments of looking out across the aquifer, Zee and Gulin begin to check the ground for tracks and further inspect the broken stalagmites. Based off the patterns in which the fragments lay and noticing the area where the stalagmites suffered the most damage, the party concludes that it appears as if the stalagmites were violently pushed over by a force emanating from the water. The stalagmites closest to the water are almost entirely pulverized, while those further "inland" were broken into larger pieces.
Looking around just outside the area of destruction the party finds a set of booted humanoid tracks leading towards the semi-circular impacted area. Though the trail of tracks is lost as soon as it enters the area of destruction. Whatever force destroyed the stalagmite appears to have covered or obscured further trace of the tracks. You do not find any other tracks leading towards or away from this area.
DM for Out of the Abyss | Edvord Reinholdt for Killilli's Waterdeep Dragon Heist | Sergeant Cernan for Viper's Descent
Zee shrugs at Caspia, “Yeah, that’s probably where it lives, but I don’t see no tracks coming back. Unless it came back another route, I’d say our little beasty is down there.” He points down the flattened track. “Looks like it flattened a few miners too, so that’ll be our problem.”
Gilgin Hardhammer - Mountain Dwarf Cleric (Forge Domain) - Icewind Dale
Petal - Forest Gnome Druid (Circle of the Land - Forest) - Unsung Heroes of Embera
Gulin ponders a moment. "I can at least see if the island is currently occupied. Be ready for anything..." He kneels down, taking the hooded lantern from his bag of holding. With the hood low, he lights the lantern, forming an arcane spark of fire and applying it to the wick. Then, raising his arm, he snaps his fingers. Avalloc appears in a poof of mystical feathers, the hawk looking none too pleased as it spreads its wings and settles on the dwarf's arm.
"I'm sorry, my friend. You'll get some time in the Feywild shortly... but we have need of your eyes and your speed. Take the lantern and fly by the stalagmite island out there. I'll be watching. Return shortly, but keep the path circular... and keep an eye out for any dead dwarves or critters both on the edges of the lake and on the island itself. Fly close enough for the light to help you see."
Gulin delicately sets Avalloc down on the lantern's handle, the bird's talons grabbing the metal. He raises the hood, and nods. "Go!"
Gulin's eyes glaze over to a milky white, and he narrates anything interesting the hawk sees.
Avalloc Perception: 14
Aldrik Reinholdt in Dragon Heist
Daventry in The Candlekeep Mysteries, and her bag
Moonday Goodmonth 16th, 591 CY
One instant Avalloc is peacefully circling over the coastline of the Azure Sea, riding pockets of hot air higher and higher above the coast. The clouds from the last few days of rain have since cleared and the view is absolutely majestic. Avalloc hasn't felt this level of freedom on the material plane in a long time, and his feathers bristle with excitement. Then he poofs out of existence.
The next moment he reappears on the material plane in a damp, dark, and though absolutely humongous still enclosed cavern. Yet despite the circumstances, the bird gracefully takes flight from Gulin's outstretched arm without uttering a complaint. Gulin begins to narrate the following to his compatriots:
Avalloc Perception:
Avalloc begins to quickly take flight into the middle of the cavern. Thankfully the ceiling is at least a few hundred feet over his head, and the drooping stalactites are easy to dodge. The aquifer is enormously immense, likely measured in the thousands of feet. The feature of land Gulin points Avalloc towards, while appearing centered from their view in the land, is obviously skewed towards this section of the coast. Avalloc crosses the stretch towards the landmass, an approximately 300 feet journey and begins to circle his target.
The ancient stalagmite jutting from the aquifer in this area has been worn by millennia of water dripping down on it from above, and is now largely dome shaped. It gently rises approximately 40 feet out above the aquifer at an angle that one could easily tackle without the use of climbing equipment. About halfway up on one of the sides of the feature Avalloc spots a cave-like opening, approximately 10 feet wide and high. Thanks to his keen vision the bird also notices that there are small humanoid tracks leaving and entering the cavern, though no humanoids are to be seen from Avalloc's view.
After staying aloft sufficiently long to ensure he did not miss anything, Avalloc begins to fly back to the party. Looking down at the aquifer as Avalloc journeys, the bird spots a huge white skeletal creature coasting underneath the water currently about a hundred feet from the shore. The creature is gracefully gliding beneath the surface so as to not disturb the water.
DM for Out of the Abyss | Edvord Reinholdt for Killilli's Waterdeep Dragon Heist | Sergeant Cernan for Viper's Descent
Caspia smiles grimly.
"It seems we have likely found our creature that has been causing the disappearance of the miners. I can attempt to communicate friendliness to the water beast, but I won't be able to understand much in return. And its motivation is survival and food, it may not matter regardless."
She turns to her companions.
"Do we have other options to draw this creature out? I could jump in the water and draw it to the surface, but I will need to be fast to do it safely."
"We should definately not fight it in its home territory... I think even you'd just be a quick meal to it, Caspia. Perhaps if we can draw it to the stalagmites, engage it here with some distance from the shore so we can't be reached."
Looking around the destroyed stalagmites, Gulin notes, "We know how far it reached when it last went after its prey. We just need to be farther than that. Lure it with some meat to start. Zee, perhaps you can lay down spikes along this clearing. Give the creature a prickly surprise when it attempts to repeat its meal. Caspia, if you use your marine layer, we can blast it with fire and arrows from relative safety, unseen in the mist, and retreat into the stalagmites should it get through the spike growth."
Aldrik Reinholdt in Dragon Heist
Daventry in The Candlekeep Mysteries, and her bag
Caspia nodded. "Keep in mind that the fog may obscure our efforts as well. Zee, let me know when you are ready for me to raise a fog."
Caspia moved into position just outside the circle of destruction to cast fog cloud when the beast emerges. She also readies her crossbow and bolts for battle.