Into the Dragon's Maw (Adventure)

For days, your band has tirelessly tracked through the winding trails of the steamy jungle. For the past day, your goal has been in sight: the majestic Dragon’s Maw Falls, looming hundreds of feet in the air. But travel has been brutal, and straying off the path incurs the wrath of brambles and thickets that not only slow progress, but can be quite painful. A pall has fallen over the jungle here, and even the resident fauna leers at your band with unhidden contempt.

But alas, you find your band trekking alongside a steep rocky cliff on a trail a mere few feet wide. Slick with condensation from the nearby falls, the rocky way twists and turns, climbing and descending, as you toil to the base of the falls. The thunderous cacophony of millions of gallons of tumbling water renders communication impossible. Finally, your journey nears the end, as you press forward behind the massive curtain of water to a natural cave beyond.

With the curtain of water to your back, the slick rocky trail leads to a massive cavern. About 100 feet wide, the cavern stretches into darkness. A faint light can be discerned at the opposite corner of the chamber, likely hundreds of feet away. More flickering illumination emits from above the chamber in the northeast corner of the cave. The ceiling disappears into the darkness as well, likely scores of feet high, judging by the sound of several pillars of water cascading from the riverbed above.

The chamber is covered with turbid water, lapping onto the rock path. The path runs parallel to the waterfall for 40 feet or more, before twisting back to the south. The path becomes a ledge along the south wall and then it turns directly north, arching above the water while angling toward the lit corner of the cavern.

Motioning to my party to sit tight - I slink back into the nearest pool of shadow, pull my cloak up over my head and begin a slow, crouching reconnoiter of the illuminated area in the back...

[sblock=description] Cade is of slightly below average height and with a lean, muscular built. He has black hair just showing signs of receding at the temples and looks like he hasn't had a good shave in at least a week.
He typically will wear a reddish brown tunic under his breastplate, which is typically burnished to near-mirror sheen.
The rest of his armor is hard-boiled leather, rimmed with steel.

[/sblock]
Cade, feeling rather peevish at the brambles still caught in his leathers and tunic, scratches his rogh cheeks and mutters a vile oath about a orc and someones parents. Kneeling at the near edge of the large cavern, he peers into the dark depths. Seeing nothing but damp darkness, he turns his attentions to the more nearby stones, trying to determine whether anyone but them has passed recently.

—Is good to be in the dark again, for a change… —said quietly Faera, removing the hood she normally use to protect her eyes from the scorching, evil sunlight. Her eyes ached, the sunlight, even that obscured by clouds and trees was torturous and painful. But now, she can finally open her eyes at ease.

She then let free her familiar, an owl that was hidden beneath her cape, protected from most of the water from the falls. The animal flies to a nearby rock and wring out its feather, silently. «Don’t make any noise» she thought, and the words were "heard" by the animal, that did something similar to nod as an answer. It was not an ordinary owl, after all, but a faerie one, a gift from her patron.

With her eyes finally accustomed to the blessed darkness of that cave, the drow looked curiously into the darkness, searching for anything of note while waiting for her friends.

Ursus drew his longsword and extended it in front of himself. "Infernus!" he growls and the blade bursts into flame, the light illuminating a forty foot area around him. He was tired and in no mood to play shadow games.

"Stay put for a moment, I want to have a look around first."

Dropping to the cave floor before his companions disturb it too much he looks for sign of other creatures.

[roll0]

Ignis, Evoker (wizard 12)

[section]
"All this cautionary digression, better to illuminate darkness and extricate that which is undisclosed," The genasi insinuated, as his fingers began to glow and flicker with flames. At this moment, Ursus sparked his sword and requested time to look around.
Brow raised quizzically, Ignis studied the human tracker for a moment, the flames in his hand subsiding.
"Very well then, I'll utilize said juncture industriously."
At this, he produced a ruddy brass-bound spell, arcane symbols in copper along it's spine, a sigil of a flame prominant on it's cover. An inaudible word uttered, and he opened it up flipping to one of the first pages. Scanning that page with his finger, gesturing with his other hand and intoning in primordial for several minutes, he eventually called out "invisibilium servum!"

There was a woosh of air around the genasi as he closed his book.
[/section]

[sblock=Action] Casting Unseen Servant as a ritual (taking 10 minutes while the tracker scouts)[/sblock]



[sblock='Mini-Stat Block']
Ignis (Wizard) 12th level
Initiative: +2 Perception: +0
Darkvision 60 ft.
Speed: 30'

AC: 19 (Elven chain(Chain Shirt+1)=14+Staff of power+2, Dex+2, Cloak of protection +1)
HP 98/98

In Hand:Staff of Power
Off Hand:

Character Sheet
[/sblock]

[section]Pell adjusted the lamb's leather of his new gloves. He couldn't help but admire them. Their leather was soft as violet petals, lightweight, and any motion he made with his hands while wearing them was silent as a snow-dampened morning. He looked up just in time to watch Faera's owl take flight. The spectral familiar captivated Pell. He watched its movement carefully from the sidelines, longing to stroke the creature's feathers. Was it soft? Would it feel good to pet? He'd wondered these things repeatedly since meeting Faera.

Nervousness settled in Pell's gut, twisting and pulling at his innards. He jounced in place just a little, unable to stifle the jiggle of his right knee, the tap of his foot. They'd gained the waterfall at long last, and the cave yawned wide before them. He didn't know these new companions very well just yet. Ignis lighted his sword, and the sudden flicker of flames made Pell jump. Until this trip, he'd heard of but never met a fire genasi. Pell couldn't help but think his mother would be intrigued. He snorted. Intrigued was probably too tepid a term; hell, she'd try to hire Ignis, convert him to a carnie. The genasi knew his way around a flame, a valuable skill on the circuit.

Pell left off staring at Ignis and refocused on the cave. He fingered Flick's pommel, letting the magic of the short sword soothe his jangled nerves. Flick was an old friend, a stalwart companion in a backalley fight. Pell found comfort in the blade. He stopped jouncing and caressed the leather-wrapped pommel, waited to be told where the group would head next.

[sblock=OOC]Not really doing anything in particular at the moment, just generally looking around and trying to stay alert. Pell has the Alert feat (PHB 165, one benefit of which is that other creatures don’t gain advantage on attack rolls against him as a result of being hidden from him). He also has the Dungeon Delver feat (PHB 166, which grants him advantage on Perception and Investigation checks to detect secret doors, advantage on saving throws to avoid or resist traps, resistance to damage dealt by traps, and he can search for traps while traveling at a normal pace, instead of only at a slow pace). Not sure if either Alert or Dungeon Delver will come into play, but there you go. [/sblock]

[sblock=Crunch]hp 75/75
AC 15
Initiative +6
Darkvision 60’
Speed 30’
Passive Perception 17
Investigation +8
Perception +7
Stealth +9
Action: Shortsword +2 (“Flick”), 1d20+10, 1d6+6 piercing, finesse, light
Bonus Action: Shortsword (“Swish”), 1d20+8, 1d6, piercing, finesse, light

Spellcasting:
Spell save DC 16
Spell attack modifier +8
Cantrips (4): mage hand, fire bolt (10), minor illusion, prestidigitation
Spells Known (8): sleep (3), color spray (3), grease (3), silent image (4), invisibility (7), spider climb (8), blur (10), disguise self (11)
1st lvl (4 slots)
2nd lvl (3 slots)[/sblock][/section]

[SBLOCK=Faera Your vision extends farther into the darkness than others allowing you to make out more details than the others. The cave is big. You can barely make out the ceiling directly above you and it seems to slope further up as it goes. Most notably, you can make out four waterfalls dropping into the cave and creating the pool of water that surrounds the winding path. As you look towards the path, you make out several large shapes lying on the path. Suddenly a burst of light from Ursus’ sword momentarily disturbs your vision and as you refocus, you make out a final glimpse of the forms dropping into the water. You weren't able to make out a full number, but the beast looked large. At least six feet long.[/SBLOCK]

[SBLOCK=Cade Cade Perception Roll: 1D20+4 = [4]+4 = 8

You look carefully at the nearby stones, but the constant moving water around has made them slick and hidden any details that you may have otherwise expected to see.[/SBLOCK]

[SBLOCK=Ursus The stone path is slick with moisture and you would expect it to be smooth, but there are jagged marks throughout the path. The marks don’t actually break the surface of the stone. Instead, they look like scratches from something very sharp moving across its surface. The fact that the scratches haven’t been smoothed away by the lapping water gives you the impression that its recent.

As you bend down and bring the light of your blade closer, you have a further thought. You have seen water worn rocks and paths before. This is similar, but seems more refined somehow. It does seem partially natural, but there was also an intelligence involved in shaping it slightly.[/SBLOCK]

[SBLOCK=Ignis You begin your ritual. If the narrative allows ten minutes to pass, you’ll have him.[/SBLOCK]

[SBLOCK=Pell Your natural wariness alerts you to the path. With how smooth and slick the stones are, it will be slow going to keep your footing.[/SBLOCK]

Pell piped up, "The rocks on the path are slick. We'll want to take our time picking our way across them, lest someone fall and get hurt. Unless you lot are sure on your feet?" Pell's eyes ranged over the group, trying to assess who looked tricksy enough to navigate the path.

Ursus looks up from the stone floor, "This floor has been worked, someone has shaped it and recently."