Zack stands for a moment, thinking, unsure of how to topple the stalagmite. He leans in for a closer look (Investigation: 9).

(Edit - not sure if it makes a difference, but my passive Perception is 19 and Investigation is 20 as well. But that was an atrocious roll haha.)

Quote from SpieltJoos >>

Zack stands for a moment, thinking, unsure of how to topple the stalagmite. He leans in for a closer look (Investigation: 9).

(Edit - not sure if it makes a difference, but my passive Perception is 19 and Investigation is 20 as well. But that was an atrocious roll haha.)

 (yeaaaah let's just... disregard the roll, eh? :P)

The stalagmite is thick around the base, but with a good few whacks and perhaps a few spells, it'd topple easily enough.

"Ah, Oriander, would you be so kind as to hit this stalagmite right here?" Zack says to their guide as he points to a weak spot, then steps back.

Oriander takes out his club... frowns for a moment. He then grabs a stone and quickly ties it to the end of the club to give it something of a sharper point, and starts whacking.

After a few good strikes and about 5 minutes, the stalagmite is toppled over the river, opening the way across.

"Brilliant," Zack snaps his fingers and nods to the goliath, "I say we make our way across and look around over there at what options might open up to us." With that, Zack lights his dagger and moves across the water, watching out for anything on the other side as he does (Perception: 9).

Vigil pats the goliath’s shoulder in a show of ‘camaraderie’. ‘’Well done, big guy.’’, he says with a smirk.

He then proceeds to cross the makeshift bridge over the river carefully.

'Ah, progress.' Kalgren smiled when their goliath companion knocked over the stone structure. He followed the others a bit slower than he would have liked but his body still hurt from the previous encounter so he rather spent a couple of extra steps crossing than risking to slip.

Though he would had preferred to light another torch, the presence of the river made everything around feel clammy. Kalgren made a mental note to light a torch as soon as they reached some place more dry but for now, he followed suit with Zack and put a Light spell on one. 

'Where to now?' He asked after putting foot back on solid ground. He looked around to see what was on the other side of the river now that he was there.

OOC: Perception 22
EDIT: Kalgren sees into the beyond ^^

Nothing of significance is found by Zach or Vigil, but Kalgren is able to see that there are a number of small burrows within the stone walls at the edge of the Light. These creatures seem to have gotten busy with making tunnels. Down river, there are a few larger tunnels that are clearly naturally formed. And seemingly unclaimed, as there are no marks in the stone indicating the creatures' talons have been used.

Oriander makes his way across carefully, surprisingly so for such a large man, and gets down... setting a hand on Kalgren's shoulder. "We shoul' probably fin' a fortifiable spot to prepare to rest... Somewhere near the river, but not necessarily righ' on it."

'You want to take a rest here?' Kalgren replied to Oriander half confused and half hoping he had heard him wrong. 'With those things around? Seems better we push forward until we get somewhere truly safe.'

He waved his magically lit torch at the others. 'You seem the more outdoorsy type, what do you think?'

"Well, those smaller tunnels are definitely not a good option," Zack points towards the larger tunnels though, "But that might be a good option. We can defend ourselves easily enough and although those things can burrow, I think they'd have a hard time quickly getting to us through all this stone and we'd hear them coming besides. I'm alright, but I definitely think you need to rest Kalgren. This is the best option we have at the present moment. There's no promise that we'll find anything ahead."

"That is why I said fortifiable." Oriander says. "And yes, so long as we don' already 'ave a burrow, we can hear 'em coming through the stone and move if necessary. But all in all, ya need to recover some, and we can consolidate resources. Perhaps find a path forward into one of the ruins. Ancient equipment, mithral and adamantine, or maybe more valuable gear could be found down here as we carve our way through."

A pause. "...Ah won' lie. I don' want to leave Mother Mouth yet. This is... a dream. Grew up 'earing stories o' this place. An' they've desecrated it."

Vigil seems to think for a moment as he’s readjusting his armor.

"Don’t think it’s that safe to rest near the river. But it’s also not safe to carry someone who can’t pull his own weight. No offense, Kalgren, but you need to recurperate a little. If another one of those things jumps on you, might no be so lucky."

'I appreciate the concern but I can handle myself.' Kalgren smiled. 'Really, there is no-'

A sudden sharp pain in his side shut Kalgren up. He clutched the side of his torso and grimaced. 'Or perhaps we should take a breather.' He turned to Oriander. 'You know the most about this place: where would be the nearest best spot to rest?'

Oriander motions up ahead to one of the larger tunnels that have already been pointed out. "Down one of those tunnels a little ways. Either we find a slightly smaller tunnel we can fortify, or we fin' a ruin we can bunk up in."

Zack nods and holds up his lit dagger, moving forward into the tunnel slowly and watching out for movement (Perception: 8).

(Well, I had been out of commission for several days. But I'm back!)

as the party moves into the larger tunnel, it is clearly untouched by the creatures. No signs of their talons anywhere. Moving further ahead, you can see the tunnel splitting into three. One angled upwards, one going straight ahead, and one angled downwards before curving back to 'neutral'. Sounds of the caves can be heard... little drips, the scuttles of what are clearly insects... 

But the downward path has none of that. It's eerily quiet coming from that tunnel. Does that mean it's safe?

Oriander certainly seems to be focusing on that downward path with a look of contemplation on his face.

"I don't like the sound of silence down that way," Zack says as he indicates with his lit dagger. "Even though we can hear the bugs and that down here, I might suggest that as at least that means that the creatures haven't scared away whatever calls this tunnel home."

'I'll take bugs over weird snakey things with claws.' Kalgren flatly said. Eliminating the downward tunnel, he looked at the other two options. 'Straight ahead or going up? I'm leaning towards up.' 

Vigil nodded. ‘’I’d have to suggest up as well. Just a hunch, but I think these creatures might not like sunlight a whole lot. Could be why they only attack at night, hide in caves and seems to fear flames. Closer we are to the surface, the better I think.’’ He begins walking toward the tunnel leading upward.

Zack nods, "Sound reasoning, Vigil." He follows up the tunnel, keeping his lit dagger out and eyes open for anything (Perception: 19).