D&D 5E The Kalarian Precipice - Chapter Five

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Annit & Magaw: Trick or Treat

Annit was barely conscious, shivering with shock, pale and soaked with sweat when the priest had arrived. “Carth… Dain…” she mumbled as half-orcen hands went to work.

The sensation was incredible, the release, the feeling of cool softness that floated up her darkened and flame-touched legs. A large majority of the pain was lifted from her, leaving only minor burns and a light blistering behind. She came around quickly, and was stunned to see the results.

“Thank you!”
She said, smiling, “praise Suru!”.

Soon enough, Annit was able to stand, stretch, and work with the team in their efforts to disguise the truth, the fact they were not really... prisoners of a half-breed fiend.

Magaw of course looked on with intense curiosity. It wasn’t every day the old skull got to watch a magical leg massage in progress. A feeling of envy struck. Legs. He almost missed his own, sometimes. Moreso, he missed perhaps the opportunity to stroke a lady’s slender limbs...

Carthum, now here was clearly a man of faith and godliness. Under normal circumstances it would have made one such as Magaw rather uncomfortable, but the group’s survival depended on the priest, and Magaw… he wanted them to survive too. The skull might not have been a fitting example of an honest, law-abiding Kalarian, but he did care, he did know when a debt was to be paid. An undead owing his freedom and “life” to someone? Magaw respected that strange irony.

He hovered around the group as they assembled and prepared their illusionary status as captives.

“Ingenious!”


They were ready for business, and Magaw would offer what useful information he could.

“Friends, few fiendish residents remain, that is true, and now quite a few less I suppose. A long while ago these passages were full of red and furious activity. Imp’s shoving mindless miners about, lesser beasts such as Kravikus keeping order, and higher ranks also, sometimes strutting through these cracks. I would see sacks, obviously heavy and loaded, dropped into an old iron cart upon these tracks, and then trundled off to where we head. What lies there I do not know."

What was once a hive of hellish activity, is now little more than an outpost me thinks. But guarded still, by what might be a skeleton-crew. Kravikus, Botiloth, Grimok, they are names and faces I remember, the only devils of note that I can recall seeing in recent time.”


The skull floats over to Metea then, with a question.

“Fine lady, would you mind if I were to travel in close proximity to your backpack? This face you see, though handsome and memorable, is not one any local inhabitants would respond well to.”

<Will pop in a map and next section soon. Feel free to post if you want while you wait :) >
 

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Jeovanna

First Post
Jeovanna: Trick or Treat

Jeovanna growled a bit as Metea yanked on the rope, but otherwise, played along. She was, after all, easily irritated.

Otherwise, the barbarian carried the dwarf along and kept an eye on their surroundings. While Otiroth looked beaten down and Dain wore mystical symbols on his flesh, Jeovanna actively looked like a wild animal trying, but unable, to see a way to escape. Even though the rope was only really draped around them, the illusion of chains was enough to bother her.

Gods, she'd sooner chew off her own arm than be in true captivity such as this!

The potential for there to be two other demons as, if not more, dangerous than Kravikus did not fill her with any particular confidence. This plan was a mad one, but so were the mines, and it seemed as good a path as hoping they could skulk through the shadows.

At least, to replace her missing trap, she now had a demon's horn hidden away in her pack.

She missed her sword!
 

97mg

Explorer
The cartwheel scars continue upon the passage’s floor, as it slowly descends, straight and true. Walls of basalt, with sections of dark coals within winding veins surround you, though something about this track appears different. This is not some random crack formed from the movements of a once angry and violent earth. Nor is it formed by human hand, worked with tools of iron and steel.

This tunnel is largely circular in cut, as you make your way forwards. Here and there, along the edges of the tracks there are small piles of grit. Black crushed stone. Sharp rib-like protrusions bulge from the rock at what look like regular intervals too, as though you walk down the throat of some ancient, still and massive creature’s neck. The occasional gouge in the wall, are they teeth marks? It almost looks like your way forwards was chewed from the stone by some tunneling worm…

It is a long walk, before dimly in the distance, on the edge of the range of the Tiefling’s darkvision, there is an opening. Another cavern.

In the floor is an expansive area depressed by some foot or so. The stonework different, though still dark. Beyond it the shape of a doorway appears to be carved into the rock. In it's center a formation, hexagonal, and below it a row of further markings and runes perhaps, that are difficult to make out from this distance…

<Map coming soon...>
 
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Carthum was at the end of their prisoner chain. His armor still on, and his shield at his back at least meant he still had some feeling of being able to defend himself. Hopefully his shield, positioned as such, would not be questioned- with the 'chains' in play, it did not look as if he could get his hands on it.

Suru could as easily approve of strength of mind as of strength of flesh and steel. They were sure to be a spectacle- but there were perhaps certain spectacles that demons would expect to see.

It was sobering, though. The demons left behind in this mostly abandoned mine... demons of prestige perhaps, but the truly powerful ones would have been called back to other duties.

For them to help Kalair- they must continue ever deeper.
 

97mg

Explorer
carve.jpg
 

daindarkspring

First Post
Dain was in the rear, and what little he could see was obscured by the shifting bodies of his comrades. They had committed to their ruse, and now they must see it through. Metea was enjoying it a little too much for his liking, but there was little he could do about it.

Maybe she was just a better actor than he was. That wasn't hard to believe.

It was incredible how the darkness had opened itself up to him. His eyes scanned around him, exploring the shadows.
 

Metea

First Post
Metea grinned at Magaw. A grin to match the natural grin of the skull, even. She was feeling generous! "Sure, ride along if you want. Or hop inside," she'd undo the strap of her pack.

After a moment of contemplation, she paused, then pulled out her book and slipped it into a pouch at her hip. Everything else in there, even the gemstones, could be spared... but not the book! It was a present from her patron!

And she'd hate to have to ask for another one too soon!

They'd head down the hall, everybody playing their parts with varying levels of accuracy. When they reached the next room, Metea paused a moment, then nodded. "Let's take a look, 'eh? No good just standing around."

Cautiously, she'd head in, though stopping before they reached the actual furrow in the ground. Metea took in what her tiefling eyes could see.

And, the others needn't have worried- she wasn't about to stick her hand in whatever rune was way over there!
 

Otiroth

First Post
Otiroth: Trick or Treat

"This path could have been chewed by a burrowing creature. Surely much faster than chiseling it by hand," Otiroth mused. He might have been 'chained', but his position gave him a unique perspective on investigating matters.

But the large room? That was something else entirely.

He squinted, but could not make out much of what was beyond the reach of their torchlight. Such a big room could be a waiting or sorting area for gemstones and slaves... or it could be a waiting room to visit a great demon sitelord. One fared better for them than the other!
 

Jeovanna

First Post
"Hrmph. Like what. A mole? A worm?" Jeovanna muttered back. For some reason, she could not think of any other burrowing animals at the moment, but then, she rarely concerned herself with such animals. Not worth hunting.

There was a big difference between burrowing animals and one that simply lived in burrows!

Otherwise, Jeovanna remained somewhat quiet. Despite all her grimacing, she was trying to play along. That she could really not see much at all helped make the area at least foreboding; perhaps they were stealthier in this torchless crawl than they were when sneaking along with their torches and glittering lights before.
 

Walking through the dark was both comforting and not. Carthum may have been able to see in the dark, but light brought color. And righteousness! He could summon a light at any time, though, and using it to investigate the door seemed a necessity.

Or not? Demons could see in the dark, could they not?
 

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