[KAUAI]The Rod of Seven Parts: Of Hexes and Gems

Gamad stays in the back, his last encounter with the earthly creature clarified to him where he should be.

Load crossbow, weapon ready.

Brakkus grips his guisarme and prepares for whatever may lie ahead.

Maelicent shuffles forward on flapping goblin feet a few feet into the crystal cavern. Carefully sniffing the air and peering with keen eyes into the inky dark shrouding the network of caves, the goblin is well in his element and soon rounds the nearest corner and is both out of sight and out of earshot.

Round the corner, Maelicent finds the air to be moist. Stalagmites spire from the cavern floor up toward the low 8 foot ceiling in this area. A few icicle-like stalactites narrowly hang from the ceiling in clusters. Sighting the stalactites, the Gudwulf hunkers down and keeps a sharp eye out for scuttling cave teeth but, finding none, eventuallys shuffles farther inside the network of caves and veers south. Inside this new cavern, the air is dead still. Other than the occasional plink of water dripping somewhere down here, everything is quiet. Most of the cavern seems to tunneled of natural rock and dirt, but an area to the east and north attracts Maelicent's attention as it seems to have been forcibly tunneled through by what must be a fairly large and fairly armored creature of some sort; the rock of this tunnel wall is worn much smoother than the natural jagged edges of the rest of the caves down here.

Reference I/J/K/L 9 on the map for the tunnel to which I referred.

Using the cavern's natural stone formations as cover, the Gudwulf warrior carefully skulks ahead, pausing at every new bend in the tunnel to carefully scan the area ahead for hidden threats and suspicious sounds. Arriving at the oddly excavated tunnel, Maelicent takes a moment to examine the stonework for signs of what type of creature created the space before resuming his scouting mission.[sblock=OOC]At the excavated tunnel, Mael will try using his tracking ability (Track feat, Survival +8) to try and discern what burrowed through the area, when it did so and where it went. From there he'll continue with the same cautious advance as before (Hide & Move Silently +8, taking 10) to forge on, pausing at N-8 to scan ahead (Spot +8 & Listen, taking 20) before moving on. Assuming the tunnel connects as I expect, he'll continue on to pause at O-11 and then K-11 to spy around the eastern corner. Assuming there's nothing lying in wait for him there, he'll continue on to H-10, D-10 and then B-7 before returning to report to the party.[/sblock]

Maelicent closely examines the smooth-sided tunnel. Whatever made it must have been much larger than he. Picking up a stray bit of plated shell, the Gudwulf turns the clue over and over in his hand but is unable to identify the bit of thick shell-like armor. Dark in hue, the shell obviously came free from the creature that made the tunnel as it brushed against the tunnel wall. Casting a careful eye on the dirt floor, the goblin finds no discernable footprints, but does find drag marks that resemble a snake in that the marks slither. Unlike a snake, however, these tracks do not sidewind; they unerringly forge straight, then turn left at the end of the short smooth tunnel. The drag marks are pocked with thick goop, a variant slime of sorts.

Hoping to pick up the drag marks where they exit the smooth tunnel on the other end, Maelicent skirts around to the east and, heading north, has a quick look east. In the largest cavern yet, the goblin spots the ripple of water softly illuminated on the ceiling and walls of the cavern's southeastern corner. A quick look reveals a muddy pool of water with a current coming up from somewhere that causes the water to eddy. The dripping of water from ceiling into the pool from a long white calcified stalactite hovering over the pool supplies the answer to the source of the dripping sound previously heard echoing throughout these caves. Wary of cave teeth, Maelicent stops and crouches, bow at the ready. The ceiling in the new warren opens up to a 20 foot height, the floor is smoother, and five clusters of fat stalagmites litter the floor, obscuring vision to the east and south. The rock in here has the look of being worked, though is still in its natural state. Someone has taken tools and dug and scraped in a rough improvised manner until the worst of the drop offs, holes, and ledges are made even. Though damp, the air in the big cavern reeks like a barnyard on a hot day. The floor of the cavernous space is spongy with spoor and offal, out of which sprout a patchworked carpet of mushrooms. There are normal specimens a few inches in height and giant varities as tall as Mal.

From the northeast comes the scritch of metal on dirt.

After completing his circuit of the labyrinthine caverns, Maelicent strides out of the shadows and back into the narrow tunnel where he'd left his companions to wait. Entering the circle of light shed by Voadam's torch, the goblin lowers the point of his nocked arrow to deliver his report. "Ta tha east there's a handful o tunnels tha wind in an out like a maze. They got cave teeth on tha floors and roofs, but they don't look nasty or nothin." Maelicent raises one iron-clad claw over his head, fingers splayed downwards to mime stalactites hanging down from the ceiling before flipping his hand over at knee level with his fingers pointing upwards to mime stalagmites rising up from the floor.

"At tha far east, they'z open up inta a big cave with a fair-sized pool o flowin water tha glows in tha dark and a forest o cave teeth and giant shrooms all over tha floor." This time the goblin holds his iron-clad arm erect up over his head to indicate the size of the mushrooms. "There's somebody in tha cave, digging aroun outa sight at the back end with a pick or shovel. Aside from that, there's a pair o tunnels that wind south and go deeper down; one of em seems ta curl back under this here tunnel." The Gudwulf warrior points his index finger at the ground beneath his feet.

"If ya snuff yer light out, ya's can follow me an keep a hand on tha right-hand cave wall ta keep from loosin yer way. Take it slow, stay quiet and don't trip nor bump nothin and I'll poke yas when we're gotten ta a good place ta stop an light up again. Ya giants want ta check out tha shroom cave and digger or just keep goin deeper?

Brakkus says quietly, "If there's someone down here, I'd like to know who. They will hear Chev and I well before we spot him though."

Maelicent shrugs. "Once ya giants are set up a bit closer by, I can go inta tha shroom cave and get a bead on him afore ya come in."

"When it comes to being quite, I'm like a raging battle on a warm summer's day. I am best suited for other things." Chev says after Mael's report. "But I can do my best."

Gamad

Shroom cave? You mean Mushroom huh, you messy non understandable creature.
Maybe it is the place.
The deformed dwarf replies excitedly.
I saw mushrooms and fungi in the horrific vision when I concentrated on the second segment.

Now, who's in there, couldn't be the gnomes.
The dwarf scratches his forehead and pulls his beard.
Stay alert, little hunter, if its not the gnomes, then my intuition tell me it's some sort of cave horror.

With that the dwarf mumbles and casts a protective spell.
*Extend Mage Armor