D&D 5E The Kalarian Precipice - Chapter Three

[Carthum One-Tusk]

Carthum One-Tusk: Crack Creeping

Carthum would keep an eye on the area- more concerned with threats than trinkets, he did not notice Metea fooling about with her liberated prize.

He wondered if Annit would find anything. Part of him hoped it was a dead end, for that crevice looked like a tight fit for him and his unyielding armor. It seemed a tight fit even for the small Annit!

So far they'd found nothing that would have lead him to believe there truly was anything of value down here. The trip itself was worth it, to liberate the trapped soul in the skeleton, but nothing that made him think Annit's father knew what he spoke of about this mine.

Perhaps any of these 'magical gemstones' had been gone for some time, and he had sent his daughter here to risk her life in his stead in naught.

 

[Otiroth]

Otiroth: Crack creeping

Otiroth sidled up alongside Metea. For a moment, what he was about to do seemed quite up in the air, as he laid one hand on the small of her back, but they were in far too much of mixed company to do anything particularly exciting. Still, the rustle of unseen feathers was... ahem, intriguing...

The cavern still had a lot to tell them- their rest had been brief, and they had focused on resting instead of investigation. While things were still quiet, and they had free reign and movement in the cave, it seemed a decent time to get some of that done... while keeping their ears open for the thief's welfare, of course!

"A fine pair, m'lady," he said. Probably about the gemstones. "Mind if I take a look?"

He knew Metea's grasp of the arcane was unparalleled, he'd seen her theory before, but they had very different approaches to magic. Very different, though magic wove through both of their veins, its pattern was unrecognizable to the other. Perhaps he might be able to assist her investigation- see something she could not.

But the gemstones, he figured, were hers- finder's keepers.

<Arcana roll- 18>

 

[daindarkspring]

Dain - Crack Creeping

Dain watched in the dim light as Annit headed off and began her investigation. His gaze lingered on her, admiring her lithe body and graceful steps, straying back only after she had disappeared into the darkness.

Most of the others seemed intent on doing some investigations of their own, no doubt to assuage their curiosity or more likely to combat frayed nerves. This mine they were in was deadly. There was no other way around that fact. He lay back, adjusting his pack so that he could rest his head upon it. Staring upwards, at the top of the cavern, his thoughts drifted back to still pools and the smell of damp leaves.

I feel her with me still. Closer, even, than ever? Essithea...are you my goddess or are you some queen of faerie that I served in my previous life?

In the back of his mind he heard the sound of horse hooves pounding upon a dirt path. The smell of animal and leather followed. The glint of sun off of steel. Words too came to his mind, words of desperation, but they were vague and still beyond the reach of his memory.

Memory. Was that a memory?! His heart pounded.

Within a moment, his sword was half-drawn and he was standing over his pack. But there was nothing. Just Otiroth and Metea huddled together, barely bothering to hide their attraction. Jeovanna was chiseling rock with her dagger, alone with her thoughts. Carthum alone seemed to be guarding them against any would-be threats.

"Any sign of her?" Dain asked Carthum, going over to stand beside the crack Annit had gone into.

 

[97mg]

Annit: Crack Creeping

Back to the wall, Annit carefully stepped sideways with her torch held out. Another step or two and something felt different, beneath her boot. Soft and dark. Crouching to investigate, she was surprised to find that there was a layer of black moss, or some kind of mold growing upon the floor. Well, it helped one to move more quietly at least. Moving further, it was obvious that this area of the space was covered in it! The walls, the stone ceiling above too. It thickened the further she wandered towards a dark corner, just at the edge of the torchlight.

It was then that she saw the mound. A black misshapen pile of old bones, rusty iron, tattered cloth and wait… a few things that reflected back her light. The mass extended all the way up to the twenty foot ceiling and was some ten feet wide. It smelled like sour meat, but that didn’t stop her. A thief’s curiosity got the better of the rogue.

After taking a moment to retrieve a pair of thin leather gloves from her pack, and attempting to hold her breath, she started to gently brush aside some of the moss that covered much of the pile.

Interesting.

She pocketed something. A smile then, as she held another object out to her torch before pocketing that also. There was something else glittering, higher up, she reached out for it and slid it out from the old stinky home.

Nice.

Unexpectedly, a patch of moss tumbled to the ground. She looked up and almost screamed at what lay nearer the top! A face, pale as death, a bulbous nose, and eyes brown, staring out into nothingness. A lump grew in her throat and fine hairs on her arms stood to attention like well-disciplined soldiers. The captive’s eyes blinked then, as she heard it take a raggard inhale from parched white lips.

She ran then, fast as her legs would take her back the way she’d come. Just as she reached the entrance to the crack, she swore she might have heard a crackle.

F***.

Annit sprung from the other side of the crevice like a cottontail with a hunter in pursuit. It was sooo good to see her colleagues still there, unharmed. Her heart was racing, her skin lacking much of it's earlier color, her hands felt clammy with fear and sweat.

“There is someone alive in there! We have to help it! I saw a face in a pile of junk! I found some stuff too,” she exclaimed, panting. In an outstretched hand she showed them a small disc of glass, a small chip in one side and a tiny fracture in it's lens. Also, a small black slither of basalt with a clear shaft protruding from it. An inch high or so it was, and hexagonal in cross-section. A gemstone!

She would tell them everything she’d noticed, including the ominous crackle she had heard upon departure. Well almost everything. There was still one item unaccounted for...

 

[daindarkspring]

Dain - The Crack

"Annit! Slow down!" Her pace of speaking was furious, but it was obvious she was telling the truth. Dain's sword was free of its scabbard in a moment and he slid over near the crack, peeking in from a position of safety with his back against the wall near the crack entrance. Waiting. Guarding. Let the mystics figure out the trinkets.

Something alive? In there? Another demon, no doubt! Some new denizen of this place that seeks our end!

In the back of his mind, he heard the words of Essithea whispering to him. *Will you bleed for me?*

She was close. She was close!

With a hidden grin, he peered around the corner and gripped his sword.

<Perception roll=7>
<Passive Perception=15>

 

[97mg]

 

[Otiroth]

"If they have a captive, and know we're here- they could very well set an ambush of their own," Otiroth said quietly. He looked troubled, but also, oddly excited. Someone kept in the clutches of demons, if not already mad, would surely have decent information on the creatures, if nothing else.

"Perhaps we need a different sort of stealth," he continued. "Your scouting was invaluable, but something they can see might be even better now."

He would concentrate a fair bit, creating his dancing lights before him, before merging them together in a humanoid form. It was glowing, it was vague- and it stood out like crazy.

"I can guide it down the cavern in front of us," he would have to be somewhat close to do that, though, "so if any of you have another way to enhance the dancer... act now."

Otiroth's dancing lights were just a little cleaner around the corners than before- either a boon of concentration and skill, or a consequence of the burning of his blood...

<Dancing lights to create a vague humanoid shape. Deception check to try and make it look like more than a walking magic effect= 23 if applicable. >

 

[Metea]

Metea: The crack

"A captive?" Metea repeated. Her first thought was, well... who cared? They were here to get gemstones to help everybody, not to try and release some lone fool that probably got grabbed after trying to dig down here itself.

But then, if she were trapped, she'd like a rescue! So, maybe she was with them after all. Besides, she'd not leave her friends behind...

"I don't fancy facing another one of those demons," she'd whisper. "But I fancy delaying for too long even less." They could summon more.

"Demons, they.. I mean, what if they... corrupt through fear?" Metea tried to find a way to phrase it delicately, but failed. "We should be careful when rescuing someone who has been with them too long. Maybe... be ready to tie it up."

Otiroth's mystical display got a fanged smile out of her- she loved that. Her patron had whispered new secrets to her. The price of using them seemed to lay just beyond this crack! "I could... try to create..." rather than saying it out loud, she'd demonstrate, trying to create an image of the crevice that made it seem as if it were still there, but the bones and refuse behind were not. Of course, she would turn it around... maybe send it on the heels of the dancing man... if she could keep her concentration up, that was!

But she was not going in first!

<Invocation: Misty visions>

 

[Jeovanna]

Jeovanna: The crack

Jeovanna laid one hand solidly- and heavily- on Annit's shoulder. "You did well," she said. The barbarian was likely trying to be comforting. As it was, her grip was perhaps a bit too tight, and laid there for nearly too long.

Still, was that a gemstone? A real one? It certainly made the pallid flakes she'd chipped free seem meaningless in comparison.

She'd glance back at the others as they spoke, and smiled. Or grimaced? Hard to tell. The mages were too clever by half. It'd kill them someday. Jeovanna watched Metea create the illusion, so would likely understand its inexistence on some level. "Indeed? And when we get into the cavern?"

It was a crazy plan, but perhaps a clever one. Something that would at least let them all get through the crevice without getting attacked one by one, if nothing else.

The crevice looked to be a very tight fit for the big woman, but she carried little, so she could perhaps squeeze through in front of Otiroth and Metea- let the two peer over (well, under) her shoulders.

If the plan failed, then her sword seemed a decent back-up.

 

[Carthum One-Tusk]

Carthum One-Tusk: The Crack

Carthum would take in what Annit had to say; the cavern ahead sounded even more unpleasant, were that possible. Demon spawn- and a captive?

Metea introduced another concern, though. Demonic corruption was far more insidious than just some horns and a tail- he knew that well enough. The captive could have been kept alive for any number of reasons. It would not suit them to throw caution to the wind now.

He would also take in what Annit had seized to bring back. And that surely was a gemstone! So perhaps these mines were not totally plucked clean... perhaps. Still, the thief had been honest enough and brought them back what she had found. "Indeed- you did well! And for misjudging you at our meeting before the mines, I apologize."

Approaching the crack, he'd grimace, though with a bit of humor. "I will not be able to fit down that silently," he said. Armor aside, he was a bit less... supple than Jeovanna, he imagined. Though he'd not imagine too hard.

So, he should perhaps bring up the rear?