Tyrien, Ausk, and Kanli finish scouring the side chamber with no real success, and make their way back to the larger central one.
"Blood is the ink with which our stories write themselves," Kanli says, and moves to study the armless body of the goggle-eyed man as the others start combing the walls for secret passageways, then he eventually moves to study the hunchback in the pool of muck.
Kalgor continues to map silently as Anaerion studies near the opposite wall, locking arcane patterns into his mind.
As Anaerion closes his spell book and stands to move back to the altar, Kanli announces to the room, "These have been robbed of their story, wrung dry of the ink to tell their tale. The Stone Hierophant suspects the malodorous interloper from above and below. It has many hungry mouths, it seems. The one with eyes too large to see his own doom found the mouth of another, though we have aided the world skin in reclaiming its property."
[sblock=Kalgor & Gragnor]He's not gone halfway back along his route before Gragnor announces he's lost the benefits of Anaerion's spell. He lopes along his slower, easier-to-endure pace, back to the fork, and announces he's taking the other way.
This passage arcs a bit before splitting again after about a hundred feet: north and southeast. Keeping to his orders, Gragnor turns north.
Think I'm on an incline here, but not much else to tell ya. Rocks, roots, dirt, ooh! that little lizard looks tasty. Yeah, I know: job to do. Kalgor hears a mental sigh.
Another split Gragnor announces. This one is northeast vs. a slightly northwest. Gragnor veers left again.
Okay, this fork seems a little more level, but I think … yeah. I keep going, gonna pull the thread thinner.
Despite the warning, Kalgor urges Gragnor on. They both feel the sensation as even more of Gragnor's life essence rips away when he crosses another limit in the anchor-bond between himself and Kalgor.
Getting tighter in here. More rocks. Walls seem a lot more crumbly around here comes the mental report. Then, finally, a sigh.
Another dead end, boss Gragnor reports. cave in this time. Don't think I can dig through that. Which fork you want me to do next, the one closer to me, or to you?
[sblock=ooc]See full party ooc on speed calculations. Gragnor loses invisibility on his way back. Gets back to the fork at around 8 minutes. veers in an arc roughly north and east for 100' before the next fork. Takes the left fork straight north. Upward angle rises roughly equal to horizontal distance, so 300' horizontal feet later, he's also 300' further above. Second fork. Takes left. This fork is levels off. 200' horizontal after the second fork, the tunnel's blocked off by a cave in. Between the horizontal and vertical distance, Gragnor hits his 1000' range.[/sblock][/sblock]
[sblock=cavern searchers]Still no secret doors or valuables beyond what you've already found, though Tyrien and Ausk seem to have gotten used to Kanli enough that they actually understand his rambling: the bodies are both bloodless, and twisted like those of the soldiers and citizens above. The mad prophets reference to many mouths would indicate they have small bite marks, and the final bit points to the goggle-eyed man as the meal the ghoul was feasting on when you entered.[/sblock]
[sblock=Anaerion]Focusing past Malkovian's petulance, Anaerion concentrates on preparing the mental patterns he'll need to cast the translation spell, and finally succeeds around the time Kanli spouts off his Kanli-speak.
[sblock=ooc]Comprehend Languages added to Anaerion's prepared list[/sblock][/sblock]
[sblock=ooc]Trying to keep things more or less aligned chronologically. Gragnor's half speed local movement should be 200 feet per minute if I calculated it correctly. To the end of the first tunnel and returning to his first fork, then, would be roughly 8 minutes.
A take 20 search takes 20 times a normal search. Depending on the text, that's either 1 minute per square or 2, but with three people apiece, I figure that clears the side room roughly around the time Gragnor moves on to his second split.
15 minute spell prep still ongoing, then, as others continue, ending at the finale of this particular update[/sblock]
