"Well there is part one of our mission although that thing mentioned a master which has me concerned, there are at least two more of them in these tunnels"

Sienna doesn't put her rapier away and looks back to the paladin patting him on the shoulder with her other hand "Thank you for not hitting me, I wish I could have done more but all I did was manage to get us a little space although the one that ran is going to have 9 hell's of a headache"

She pauses a moment "My suggestion would be we press our advantage and pursue this creature if we have the strength, I've used a good amount of my energy today but have some to spare"

Thavriol nods.  "I too have used up the majority of my strength thus far and, aside from my strength of arms and faith in Tyr, have but a single spell left to call upon.  What say the rest of you?"

ooc: Thavriol would like to know if the spider-things were of this world or were unworldly (aberration, celestial, elemental, fey, or fiend)?  What can he roll to determine that?

“I believe I can call for the Arms of Hadar once more. However most of my eldritch magic is without limit. I am willing to go forward, but we do not know what is in store for us.”

(OOC - You can roll an Arcana check to try and identify the remains of the creature.)

Thavriol looks at the spider-things remains, trying to determine what sort of creature it was.

Arcana 6

Alix opens his black tome and flips through the pages, searching the strange twisted language for a clue as to what the creature before him is.

Arcana: 16

Thavriol recalls the name of the creature from some book or lesson years ago, at the same time, Alix flips to a page in his black tome and you both exclaim, "Neogi." You both remember that these creatures are known for enslaving people and creatures alike. Traders of their enslaved livestock, and captured goods, they are known to invade and devour.

“Ah yes. Neogi. Dark, dangerous beings whose society is built on slaves of all races. We could go after the other one, but it will assuredly be not alone by now. It might even be on its way back. The real problem is, the farm may be lost be now, if they plan to finish what they started.”

"Not sure we can stop here, after only a few minutes of travel inside the tunnel." Nolla says with a frown. "The Farmer asked us to look into this, and I doubt if we tell him there are spider-things down here, and leave it at athat, that he will consider the job done." She moves over to the crates the two spider-things were near, opening them and glancing inside.

ooc: For some strange reason a paladin's Divine Sense does not work on aberrations...that's just dumb. 

"Neogi...yes, spidery aberrations.  I can protect us all, for a minute or so, and to a limited degree, from them.  Or I can try to force them to flee, as you forced the other one, Sienna.  The protection will assist with resisting their ability to charm us, but not with their poison.  If we proceed, when we encounter the creatures, I will ask my Lord Tyr to bless you all and will also extend my protection over us all.  I think that'll give us the best protection against them.  If one of us is going to stay out of melee, I will include myself in the bless.  However, given our weakened state, if we can somehow secure the opening, it may make better sense to retreat for time, regain our strength, and then return.  We have weakened them and will serve no one by dying here in dark when there is much left to be done."

Alix chuckles. “Melee? Yes you can count me out of that. I can certainly strike a blow for the good fight if circumstances dictate, but I believe I am best at bringing other methods to bear.”

As Nolla looks in the crates she opens, she sees supplies and produce that would definitely help the farmer - goods to tend his land with and plant new crops, and produce and goods to sell in town as he supplies the town with some of its food. 

As you peek round the corner to the exiting tunnel from this room, the tunnel opens up into several more tunnels as the underground network seems to open up and branch out - much like what you would expect to see in an ants' nest. Occasionally you can hear echoing sounds, though it's hard to discern just how far they are.

Nolla shows the crate's content to the others. "We could take this out, and give it to the farmer, rest and then return." She suggests. "The farmer would surely like to have this, but we would definitely need to guard the tunnel exit while we rest, as we wouldn't wish the spider-things to come out and attack the poor farmer while we were resting."

"Assuming they don't have another exit that works, but if we need to rest we don't have much of an option"

Sienna keeps an eye down the tunnels making sure they are not being snuck up on.

(OOC - Just a note for you all, in case you forget, as I know I did sometimes too. This west marches campaign uses the gritty realism rules so short rest is a night and long rest is a week. However, travelling back to the town, you can inform town leaders or town guard to get some help in guarding the farm, it may take some convincing, but that is an option, especially as this farm supplies the town. And by heading back to town, you can talk to others and try to get some extra help in delving deeper after the neogi.)

So far, Sienna's watch of the tunnels doesn't present any current danger, though occasionally the echoes in the tunnels sound closer.

Thavriol appears concerned.  "I am not sure pushing on is a good idea for us at this point.  We could explore and I'm interested in that but am concerned if we do we might lose the chance to return to the farmer what we can.  I will follow the majority in this.  In the meantime, let me see what the might Tyr will show me."

Stepping a bit into the tunnel, and activates his Divine Sense.

ooc: it has a 60' radius

ooc: I think the gritty realism rule is silly.

ooc: I think the gritty realism rule is silly.

(OOC - it definitely adds a significant difficulty curve. But it also makes for some great problem solving and different problem solutions simply due to reduced resources. It's hard to play, but it's also challenging DMing, as I'm trying to make it fun and tough, but not steam-rolling you at the same time.)

Thavriol's divine sense doesn't identify any celestials, fiends or undead in the area, though it is unlikely that any would arise due to the nature of Neogi (being aberrations) and their devious and insular society.

"Well there is another option, it will probably buy us some time if not crush our interlopers" Sienna looks at the walls "Although the farmer may have to deal with a ditch for a while"

She pauses again "And I can also think of another way without a ditch"

Alix raises an eyebrow. "Oh? I am curious to hear both plans."

 "Well these Neogi, they live and breathe like any other creature and we have an entrance to their home assuming the tunnels don't open out too much to early, if we were to create a smokey fire at the entrance and we could create enough air flow to push the smoke into the tunells we can either knock them out, kill them or bring them to us"

She looks around the group "The other idea is more explosive, I'm fairly certain I have some oil in my pack if we were to leave it to vaporise for long enough and sparked it I am fairly sure it would create a sufficient explosion to collapse the tunnels and trap the neogi inside"