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Message: <blockquote data-quote="el-remmen" data-source="post: 3841825" data-attributes="member: 11">Session #14  – “Skunk Cabbage Ambush” (part 2 of 3)Timotheus once again suggested checking the cave marked ‘empty’ on <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Map+-+The+King+Stones+%28Old+Adventurer%27s+Map%29" target="_blank">the map</a> as a place to possibly hole up if necessary.  The others grudgingly agreed, giving up on the idea of recruiting the rat-kin, but soon fell to arguing about the best way to approach the cave, which was slightly less than half way up the gorge’s western side, south of those marked as ‘shrine of the boar blood’.  Telémahkos was concerned about walking out in the open beyond the dogwoods to the best place to climb up to it from directly below, but Timotheus was not sure if climbing from here and passing in front of the ‘black orc’ caves was a much better solution.“If there are goblins on the lookout they will be able to see us make our way across the gorge floor,” Telémahkos warned.“And if orcs come streaming out of the caves because we pass too close to them, we will be in a precarious position to fight,” Timotheus said.The argument went round and round, with everyone giving an opinion, except Markos who seemed bored, and Bleys the Aubergine, whose placid face showed little.  It was not until he began to march off across the gorge floor on his own that his opinion was known.  The others followed him in a ragged line, Timotheus cursing the stubborn watch-mage under his breath.They made their way up the gorge embankment, which had a couple of short awkward climbs, and soon were gathered outside the cave entrance. It was obscured by more flowering trees, though they looked sickly and dry. To the left of it was a cracked stone cover, long ago moved aside.  It was weathered and covered with moss, and had crude runes scratched onto is flat side.  About seven feet in the opening, a stone slab had been sunken from above to obstruct most of the way beyond.  All there was left was about three feet of gap off the rock strewn floor.Bleys the Aubergine cast comprehend languages and did his best to read the weathered runes on the broken seal. They told of a king of the Ah-Ree-Raa who battled the <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Sunrads" target="_blank">Sunrads</a>, and was son of many more names than could be made out on the stone.  He stepped into the cave, squeezing in with Timotheus and Telémahkos, as Victoria, Falco and Dunlevey kept watch.   Laarus and Tymon were at the cave entrance.The watch-mage cast <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Spell+-+Radiant+Spark" target="_blank">radiant spark</a> and sent the tiny spark under the stone slab.  Timotheus crouched down and got a look at a widening cavern beyond.  It seemed very damp, and they could an echoing drip.  Meanwhile, Telémahkos borrowed a silver mirror from Victoria and adhered it to the end of his crowbar with some wax.  Timotheus moved out of the way and he crouched down and shoved the crowbar under as Bleys willed the radiant spark back in their direction.  As the light approached, Telémahkos heard an amused grunt and suddenly the mirror revealed a snaggletooth hairy face, but just as suddenly a large hairy hand grabbed the crowbar and pulled.  Telémahkos reacted too slowly.  Startled, it was yanked from his grasp even as he squeezed his grip, and he fell on his rear.  Within he heard the amused grunt, like a laugh once again.“Cover me, I’m going in there,” Timotheus said, beginning to crouch down, but Victoria put a hand on his shoulder.  “For a crowbar?” Victoria asked with wonder.  “Obviously there are foes waiting on the other side.  I respect bravery for it does honor to my god, but it would be foolish to crawl under there into their arms.”“I just want to kill goblins,” Timotheus sighed, sitting in the dirt, leaning his arms on his bent knees.“I wanted to attack the counter-ambush,” Laarus of Ra said.  “It was not my wish to come here. I am still not sure what we are trying to accomplish by doing so…”“You could not be more annoying, Laarus,” Timotheus did not bother to look up at the priest.“I am not the one changing his mind all the time.  I have been consistent in my opinions,” Laarus replied in a calm tone that bore no reproach.  “The same could not be said about you…”“If you want to be smug about something, Laarus… Find us something else worthwhile to do,” Timotheus said, getting back to his feet.“I have already said what it was I thought we should do,” Laarus said, but the rest of the group grew tired of their arguing and made their way around the side of the gorge to another opening they could see from this one. It was the one marked ‘avoid’ on <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Map+-+The+King+Stones+%28Old+Adventurer%27s+Map%29" target="_blank">the map</a>.Laarus and Timotheus refocused their anger at each other towards the rest of their companions, as they made their way over.“Cousin Markos, have you no opinion?” Laarus asked, as he arrived.“No… I mostly feel apathetic.  All this bickering has broken me…” Markos replied, with a curious mix of amusement and resignation.Timotheus did not pause, but made his way to the front, pushing past Bleys.“Would you like to go in front?” Bleys asked.“That’s my job!” Timotheus snapped back.The signers of the Charter of Schiereiland explored the cave beyond and found it went much deeper than they suspected.  Carved corridors gave way to moist natural caverns that branched in all directions, and far to the left, they came to a large cavern holding shining water with huge patches of white and gray bat guano floating atop it.  The ceiling was a writhing mass of bats clutching the stone among many stalactites.  Bleys sent a <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Spell+-+Radiant+Spark" target="_blank">radiant spark</a> out across the cavern, and saw a raised stone platform that looked like a dais of some kind, with over-sized stone furniture atop it.The goblin captive was silent when asked if it knew what this place was, jabbering nonsense when it was threatened. They went and explored some of the caverns back to the right and found they led to a maze of tiny rooms carved by years of dripping water.  Everything had the green sheen of limestone.“This place is too big to be used as a bolthole,” Timotheus complained.  “There are too many ways that might hide another way in here. We can’t control the environment, which is the basis for good tactics in defense…”Markos nodded.They all went back to the large bat cavern again, but Laarus of Ra broke off from them and went back to watch the entrance, uninterested in exploring the dais.  Markos followed him, shaking his head.Victoria Ostrander of Anhur took an end of a rope and began to make her way across the shallow edge of the murky water.  Timotheus held the other end. She made it more than halfway when the path became too treacherous.  She slipped and splashed in the dirty liquid, staining her tunic and splattering her dark hair and white skin. The militant scrambled back to her feet, making more of a mess of herself and she barely made it back without falling again.“Telémahkos should do it,” she said, but when Telie balked, Bleys volunteered.  Timotheus and Victoria held the rope, which the purple-robed wizard tied around his waist.  He carefully walked across, keeping his balance when his footing slipped, and eventually was able to climb up onto the stone platform, which was over five feet high.  He tried the rope off around some heavy smashed rocks near the edge of the platform.  Timotheus began to make his way across, clutching the rope.As Tim climbed up onto the platform, Bleys let out a startled grunt and there was a sound like stone dropping on stone.  The tall blond cousin looked up to see the strangest sight.  There was a broken stalactite a couple of feet from the watch-mage, moving slowly away from the wizard.  At first Timotheus thought it was rolling, but then he noticed how the point of it began to point up a bit and it scraped along lengthwise.  The stalactite was just the stony outer shell of some kind of creature that hunted by dropping on things passing below it.  However, it only got one chance to try, and was now slowly making way to the wall for the long slow climb back up.“What the hell is that?” Tim asked, as Bleys stepped over and picked it up by its shell.  The watch-mage turned and pointed the ‘broken’ end at the warrior to reveal the futile kicking of black crab-like legs within, and a small circular jutting mouth of jagged teeth, chewing dumbly.“Dinner!” Bleys gave a rare smile, and then leapt reflexively as he heard something above him.  Two more of the creatures crashed to the stone platform, the sound echoing out into the shadowy illumination beyond Bleys’ spell.Bleys knocked on one off the side of the platform using the one the held in his hands, and it splashed into the water below, while Timotheus smashed another easily with his morningstar.  As they began to walk the length of the platform to examine the over-sized stone furniture, another dropped and slammed heavily against Tim’s shield, which he had positioned over his head, while another clipped Bleys painfully in the shoulder, tearing his cloak and drawing a long line of blood underneath.  Timotheus smashed it, as the other made it frantic attempt to reach the wall.“I don’t think you need to kill them.” Bleys said, evenly, still holding the living specimen he had picked up.“Do you want them to keep dropping on us?” Tim asked with a smirk.“I see your reasoning, though at the rate they move we will be long gone before they are in a position to drop on us again,” Bleys replied. Tim shrugged his shoulders.“But yes, perhaps better to be safe…” The watch-mage said, and he smashed the creature’s shell open against the wall.  He squeezed the writhing creature within beneath his boot and it popped.The furniture was a cracked stone sarcophagus, old and filled with cobwebs and stained with lime.  There was a throne built for someone at least ten feet tall, and the shattered remains of a table.  There was nothing of value here, so the two of them made the treacherous journey back. Out at the cavern by the entrance, Laarus of Ra was complaining to Markos about the group’s lack of focus when the others finally joined them.  Frustrated by their lack of progress, they decided to rest for a few hours and then let the goblin captive lead them the ‘secret way’ to his tribe’s camp.After a quick prestidigitation from Bleys to clean and dry her clothing, Victoria laid down for a quick nap, while the watch-mage cleaned and oiled his sabre and checked his bow for wear. Markos spent his time with his nose buried in a book.  Laarus sat with his back to the wall, with his head down in prayer or deep thought, while Falco and Dunlevey talked in quiet tones a little deeper in the cave.  Tymon fell asleep, while Timotheus and Telémahkos stood at the entrance looking out at the gorge and talking.“We should have a leader,” Timotheus said quietly to his cousin.Telémahkos’ eyes opened wide in exagerated surprise.“It is the only way we are going to stop the arguments and the lack of focus,” Tim continued, pausing to cough up and spit out some lingering bog flu phlegm. “We change directions too easily… I am as guilty as anyone, so… How about Bleys?”“Heh. Bleys goes off on his own as well…  That is not very leader-like,” Telémahkos replied.“But Bleys is not the leader yet,” Tim said. “If he is given this responsibility he may step up to it.  Talk to him about it… Feel him out… You’re good at that…”Telémahkos agreed.“Hey! Did you see that?” Timotheus said, pointing to a cave entrance beyond the one they had tried before.  It was one of the ones marked as ‘Shrine of the Boarblood’ on <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Map+-+The+King+Stones+%28Old+Adventurer%27s+Map%29" target="_blank">the map</a>.  Telémahkos looked and for a moment thought he saw a tall humanoid figure standing there looking in their direction, but then it was gone.“Orc?” Telémahkos asked.“I don’t know, but it is almost time to get going,” Timotheus said.  “Let’s get everyone up and ready…”…to be continued…</blockquote>

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