Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Whizbang Dustyboots" data-source="post: 3823594" data-attributes="member: 11760">"Tough critter," Ragglus pants, the adrenaline leaving him in a rush. He drops down to one knee, finally using the opportunity to rest and look over the various hits he'd taken, most notably the broken shaft of the arrow still sticking out of his chest.Kat blows on the panpipe experimentally. A few off-key notes later, he walks past the stalagmites and hands the instrument to Tock."Are you OK?" he asks his cousin. Before Tock can answer, Kat's eyes go wide. "NO!"Renraw looks up, annoyed, poised over the chest. Kat races over, pulling Renraw away from the chest begins muttering divination spells and tracing symbols in the air.The heavy lock on the chest appears complex, but Katadid's spell reveals no well of poison.Given the chance to look around, it's clear the dwarf led a filthy existence down here, sleeping on stinking and almost certainly flea-ridden furs. Tiny harnesses for small animals hang from the pegs on the east wall. In the fire pit is a cast iron pot with a stew that's more muck than meat or vegetables, although a few mealy potatoes bob forlornly in the orange-red gunk.The studded leather armor and equipment the dwarf left behind -- other than smelling like unwashed dwarf -- are nice. His short bow is clearly masterwork and he has 29 arrows left in the leather quiver. A masterwork short sword hangs from the belt scabbard and a small liquid flask is tethered to the belt as well.Tock looks over the panpipes. Although he's no expert on the instrument, these are clearly expensive and sturdily built. Closing his eyes, he tries to recapture the tune the dwarf was playing, and after a moment, he has it: "Mice of Tarsis." He gives an experimental puff on the panpipes, but nothing happens. It'll be a while before he can master the panpipes at all, much less play that nimble tune.Katadid gets up and leaves the lock to those stronger than him. Instead he walks over to the wall, eyes the harnesses curiously.Tock walks over to Rags and puts his hand on the big man's shoulder."You OK? You saved our necks back there. Again."With an exasperated grunt, Ragglus pulls out the remaining portion of the arrow still buried in his chest, letting it fall to the stone floor drenched in blood. Breathing heavily, he reaches for the healing potion, removes the seal, and drinks the remainder."Yes, Ragglus, great job! You're so mighty. Everyone loves Ragglus," Renraw mutters quietly to himself while examining the lock. "No one seemed to notice how I risked my own skin back there.""We need rest," Tock says, ignoring Renraw. "You boys need to get new spells. Rags needs to heal up. The question is, do we camp out here or do we go back to the surface and risk that freak setting up shop here again or even moving his stuff? Well, obvious, right? Still, it'd be nice to somehow get word to the surface of what's going on. Maybe get some help with this chest."Katadid shakes the leather flask from the dwarf's belt. He opens it and smells it. It's not water, it's not alcohol, but beyond that, he's stumped."Hmm." Kat walks over to Renraw and hands him the flask. "Ideas?"While Renraw investigates the liquid himself, Kat inspects the harnesses. His eyes narrow as he removes one tries to envision what creature it could possibly wear them. After a moment, he shrugs and turns back toward the group."Did you see the initial transformation, Ragglus?" Kat asks. "I wonder if the half-form was a necessary state between the two."In addition," he says as he kneels down and picks up a bloody silver bullet, deformed by the force with which it hit the lycanthrope's skull. "Why would a creature who is obviously, well, sensitive to silver have a bag of silver ammunition in their home?"Shaking his head and shrugging, Ragglus gets up and looms over the chest, considering it.It takes several tries, but the lock on the chest finally shatters under Ragglus' attacks. It takes fast reflexes to keep Tock, Katadid and Renraw from diving in as he opens it.There are a number of items inside that the group paws over and snatches from one another during their investigation:There is what appears to be a map of the small tunnels at the north end of the cave. A central path leads to a cave marked with a smiling face. Beyond that is a cave marked with water. A northwest path beyond that leads to a cave with a picture of an ear on it. A northeast path leads from there to a cave with what looks like a crude drawing of a ravine (or, as Tock points out, "it could also be a bad drawing of lady parts"). The only tunnel leading from there goes to a cave marked with a skinny black triangle and then, beyond that cave, a cave marked with a rectangle flanked by what look like a pair of forks. A final blank cave exists east of that one.An ivory scroll tube with an elaborate sliding lock system is handed back and forth between the Gentlemen Delvers. It will take real work to sort out the puzzle, which a defeated Renraw finally admits after 10 minutes of work and proclamations that he's almost got it.There is a small wooden rack of six labeled potions, which are said to be potions of some spell called "improved reduce person."And finally, there's a sack of presumably stolen treasure, including 27 platinum pieces, 212 gold pieces, 6 gems of various worth, a gold necklace and a jade statuette of a tiger from the Distant South.There is no immediately obvious way of determining which items were stolen from Blackberry Ridge, and which are just the dwarf's own belongings.</blockquote>

Verification