D&D 5E The Kalarian Precipice - Chapter Four

[97mg]

Red Finger

Into the twisted bowels of the earth you go, feeling as though your chosen path is leading you inland, away from the sea? It might be possible that you have even descended below sea-level by now. The walk is winding, jaggard and long as you move through the narrow empty spaces of rock’s internal separations.

After what feels like a little under an hour, your passage seems to smooth, a consistent bending to your left, have you traversed some section of a circular path? With each step forwards you begin to witness changes in all that surrounds. It begins with the floor. The resonant tapping of boots against hard stone is occasionally interrupted by a crunch. Small pieces of black chalky grit are scattered within narrow wall-kept veins. Over time, the less dense of the materials becomes more prominent, as shafts of basalt’s formations are interspersed with more and more of this new substance.

Other changes follow. The temperature rises, not uncomfortably, but enough to make you want to loosen a collar, or wipe a brow from time to time. Then the smell hits. Sela wasn’t lying. The bitter aroma of a recently extinguished campfire, or a blacksmith’s furnace waft over you as the path ahead is lit with subtle red and layered in a fine and misty smoke.

You stop in your tracks, wiping vapor from your eyes and noting a sour taste in the air. Ahead, a ledge of stone nestles beside a slowly smouldering twentyish-yard length of red. On its edges, ash white as snow sits like dusting upon a slither of beach. A miniature underground lake, a long red finger where one can bathe in burning coals. Directly ahead, a hole in the far wall appears to offer an exit, however it's angle is awkward and not so simple to navigate. A diagonal jump off the ledge, or some form of climbing could be required? Half way down the lake’s stretch, another hole is visible. All it might take is a leap across the two to three yard wide stretch of coals, if you dare.

Beads of sweat grow heavier upon your skin, and those that fall evaporate rather quickly on the warm floor below.

“I don’t know if it will help,” Annit says as she drops her pack on the ground and rests a moment, “but I have a short rope ladder, not that it is fireproof or anything.”

For now, the dwarf nestled in Dain’s arms is deep in rest. Probably only a matter of time until the heat draws him from sleep...

<Feel free to investigate or declare other actions >

 

[Jeovanna]

Jeovanna: Red Finger

It had been quite the walk, and Jeovanna spent most of it staring suspiciously at the floor. This new path- was this the path of fire? It was certainly *hot* enough. "Tiefling! Is one of those ledges an illusion as well?"

Her temper came and went, it was true.

The barbarian would stoop near the entrance to pick up a rock that- HOT- she'd fling it at one of the exits, her attempt at a similar illusion-finding trick rather hotly contested.

Ow. Damn it. The barbarian grimaced, but had a sharp look for anybody that might have commented on that...

Dain shifted the dwarf in his arms- well, at least he knew now not to put the dwarf down on the coals- and would look around for anything else of interest. Hanging stalactites, or more importantly, any part of the cave that did not seem wholly... natural.

<Dain perception check = 13>

 

[Otiroth]

Otiroth: Red Finger

Otiroth is silent for a moment, one finger pressed to his lips as if he were about to say something. He remained in that pose for a moment later as there was really nothing to say, now was there?

"Here," the sorcerer pointed a finger at a pile of rocks near the coalbed, and a thin blue ray shot out of his fingertip, sending up a cloud of steam where it struck. "Toss to your heart's content."

<Spellcasting: Cantrip. Ray of frost>

It'd cool them, for a moment perhaps- but they were too heated to freeze entirely.

"Good idea, Annit- but yes, keeping it out of the coals will be tricky..."

<Perception check= 8>

 

[Metea]

Metea: Red Finger

"Ah! Let me see!" Metea peeked up and over the others' shoulders, but she didn't know what Jeovanna expected her to see from here?

"Are we heading in or not? What's the matter? It's not that hot!" Of course, Metea could handle the heat. Silly humans! Touching hot rocks.

She'd wave one hand, and her glittering spectral 'mage hand' appeared. This time, though, no fun was to be had- but it would pick up a pebble, and she'd send it floating as far as it would go. Which wasn't far, but she could maybe bang it against the far wall? Heck, she didn't mind the heat, she could spend as long as she wanted investigating the area for anything interesting!

Honestly, the coals, the heat- it was quite intriguing. Seemed like a nice vacation spot! Not that she'd step into that burning water, even with her tiefling resistance...

<Investigation check=24>
<Spellcasting: cantrip. Mage hand>

 

[Carthum One-Tusk]

Carthum didn't have Metea's affinity for fire, but he wasn't as thin-skinned as the humans, either. Still, a bead of sweat was wiped away, and the half-orc set his jaw.

"Whatever we do- we should be quick, for if we remain here too long, we may well collapse from the heat. That pool is probably hotter than it looks..." and it looked pretty hot! Suru, he hated to imagine what the path of bones looked like!

"Now the real question is- which path leads deeper down into Immel? Surely, that is the path we should be taking," Carthum stated it without much confidence, but he could try, if nothing else, to track the feeling of the floor, the water- whether this was natural or not, it must obey the pull of the earth beneath! "Suru! Guide us!"

<Survival check with cantrip: Guidance. 20>

 

[97mg]

Red Finger

The explorers divide their efforts well!

A physical investigation by the brave barbarian. The magical searching of a warlock’s creepy summoned extra set of phalanges, and a priest's faith in their ability to survive, with a little help from Suru of course. Everyone else merely looks on, observers of this dangerous underground phenomenon.

Jeovanna’s stone travels well and true, bouncing off into the hole within the far wall. It's position, and the darkness within is most certainly real, or at least not an illusion like those you’ve already witnessed in this venture beneath Kalair’s fields. The entrance is big enough, you think, to allow one person to climb in at a time. First though, if you used the wall to shimmy across to it, there would be a risk of course. Prolonged contact with those rocks looks like more than a little skin exfoliation. The second opinion offered by Otiroth’s pre-cooled rock confirms it. This is definitely a way out, or a way in, depending on how you look at it.

Metea’s mage hand floats across the site worthy of a subterranean barbecue, and a few clicks of it’s carried stone against the wall reveal much the same. The wall is true. The hole here too, is as available to the physical world, as it is to your minds.

The half-orc contemplates, trying to remember a sense of direction that might have been lost in the recent yards walked. A straight line, drawn from where you met Sela to here, would suggest that Metea’s magically fingered hole is a wiser choice. The other? You would not know until finding a way in. If it turned right, all good. Left, that would feel like something of a detour. Suru’s quiet guidance indicates that the lesser of the two evils is clear. Whether this divine instinct includes what could actually be down those two dark tunnels, remains to be seen.

Annit watches on, quite mesmerized by the team’s work. Seeing that the ways out are validified, she offers another option.

“Friends, it is largely my fault that we carry this burden,” at which point she looks to Dain and his carefully carried Dwarf. “I can attempt to jump, to either of them perhaps.” She wasn’t sure if she was the most athletic of the group, but the young rogue felt pretty confident. “If at least one of us can reach the other side, then they can help others across…”

She looks to Otiroth then, "that icy blast you just did, do you think you could freeze a rope?" Every second would count, right?

 

[Jeovanna]

Jeovanna: Red Finger

They had all agreed to be here! It was not Annit that was responsible for them being here.

Annit at least was likely to make it across- and they had already had a chat about crossing gaps!

Jeovanna could give the thief a boost/ toss that should help her leap dramatically!

 

[Otiroth]

Otiroth: Red Finger

"I can certainly chill the rope- it may be a bit too cold, though," Otiroth replied. In the intense heat of the cavern, though, it would 'thaw' quickly.

Which path would they take, then?

 

[Metea]

Metea: Red Finger

Rogues lived for feats of daring and skill, didn't they? At least, Annit seemed to, because she offered to leap the gap quickly enough, when before they had been stymied by a fall with much less boiling liquid underneath it.

Metea's hand dropped its rock- it splashed into the water below with a little 'bloop', but the disturbed surface did not last long.

"I could probably float the rope across, though not tie it to anything," Metea said. "Or- it could just be a helping hand. It's not very strong, though."

That was to say- she could float it across to the other side of the hole, and while it wasn't strong enough to grab Annit if she fell, it could at least be something to grab onto and pull herself forward, should she stumble.

 

[Carthum One-Tusk]

Carthum One-Tusk: Red Finger

They would move further into the cavern, the heat continuing to be uncomfortable for at least most of them. The water would no doubt be scalding; something a healing spell could fix, but it'd surely be painful. Their little thief did not deserve that sort of pain, but with Jeovanna's help, she was the one most likely to get across on her own.

"This side cavern seems the one most likely to continue downwards," Carthum noted. "The other one; it is difficult to say. It looks more awkward to reach."

It seemed Annit was going to make the leap, and so Carthum would take a moment to call on his spell once more for guidance. Such things came from within- so long as he concentrated, their benefits would remain.

<Spellcasting: Cantrip. Guidance. +1d4 to an ability check>