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Message: <blockquote data-quote="spyscribe" data-source="post: 1915376" data-attributes="member: 5808">Part the Eighty-FifthIn which: we have combat!  Discoveries!  Mysteries!  And a really stinky pit.As the last flames lick down the remnants of Annika’s web spell, Benedic creeps into the mouth of the cave.  It takes a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dim light, but when they do, he can just make out a small figure dashing across the floor in front of him and then disappearing into a side passage.He turns to call over his shoulder.  “We’ve got a runner!”Thatch leaps up from where he was kneeling beside his unconscious horse.  “Where?”“In, and to the left.  I think—” But Thatch does not care what Benedic thinks.  He barrels past the ranger and then charges down the indicated side tunnel.  Sheesak turned his horse against him.  She may be dead already, but he is going to make sure that all of her little minions join her.The passage is dark as Thatch pounds down it, sword drawn and ready.  However, soon it begins to grow lighter, and then, as he rounds a gentle corner Thatch sees that it is actually an alternate exit from the cave.  And there, silhouetted against the daylight is one little minion, one littler minion, and one… not so little minion.The goblin shaman, his raven familiar, and a last ogre were trying to make good their escape when Thatch comes bearing down on them.  Thatch raises his sword, takes careful aim and swings, slicing through the air so quickly at first it seems that he hasn’t hit anything.  Which is when the goblin shaman starts shrieking.The ogre scowls in confusion.  The goblin is not hurt.  Why is it making so much noise?  Then, in its dim ogre way, he notices the black feathers floating through the air.  Thatch has sliced the raven cleanly in half.(Thatch’s player: Can I cleave through to the goblin?Fajitas:  Umm… sure.)Without pause Thatch spins back around, slashing at the goblin shaman like fury itself.  The shaman and the ogre try to counter attack, but Thatch is not to be resisted, and, with strength and determination born of fury, he hacks and slashes his way into the light. ###Meanwhile…“Come on men!  He might still be alive under there!  Get one of the clerics over!”“Can you reach him?”“No, we’ve got to move her body…”“Everyone over here!  On three.  One… Two…”With a mighty heave Lord Agasha’s men roll Sheesak’s body from where it rests, pinning Anvil to the ground.The Justicar does not look good.  He’s unconscious, and a trickle of blood runs down his forehead.“Is he alive?” Lira asks.One of Lord Agasha’s clerics is already checking the body.  “He’s alive…” He checks again, “He’s stable!”Everyone exhales, relieved.  Some even laugh, stunned by the sheer luck awarded to Anvil for his audacity.Everyone, that is, except Eva, who shakes her head as she takes out the party’s wand of cure light wounds.  “You incalculable jackass.”(Behind the scenes flashback!BadMonkeyJeff pulls out his dice and prepares to make his first stabilization roll after Anvil has been crushed under Sheesak.  In a very Anvil-like way he announces: “I will stabilize on a 3!”  He throws a die straight up; it lands, rolls, and comes up “3.”  We are all marveling at this stroke of luck when Fajitas clears his throat.“BMJ, that was a d20.  You could have called two numbers, you know.”)Overall, the party’s casualties are light.  Many of Lord Agasha’s and Lord Fau Meen’s men were severely wounded, but none died.  Although for Anvil and Benedic especially the battle was a near thing, no one should be much the worse for wear after some healing and a good night’s rest.Reyu experimentally tries directing her flaming sphere towards the hedges on the mound before the spell expires.  The magical flames do ignite the plants, leading Reyu to guess that they were produced through some sort of modified wall of thorns.However, what is even more interesting to her is the altar and surrounding standing stones.  The stones are not—as she had guessed earlier—repositories for spells such as she has seen others of her kind employ.  Instead, the stones and the crudely shaped alter all seem almost to be protrusions of one huge stone whose mass is buried in the mound below.  Lira casts detect magic and frowns.“What is it?” Annika asks.“I don’t know.  The stones show some kind of powerful transmutation, and… something else.”“Like what?”Lira gestures helplessly.  “Like nothing I’ve ever seen.  It’s not arcane, it’s not divine, it’s just… kind of weird.”Anvil, always prepared, casts detect evil.  “It is evil,” he announces.“Why am I not surprised?” Eva asks of no one in particular.(Lira leans over and whispers, “Dare me to suggest we sacrifice a Kettenite priest on it and see what happens?”Eva giggles.  “No.”)The inside of Sheesak’s lair proves to be not just a single cave, but a small network of interconnected caverns.  The main space is largely empty, except for a fire-pit towards the middle of the room.  On the right side from the entrance and at the back are two smaller side caves, and to the left is the tunnel leading to the alternate exit, where Thatch lately mopped up the last remaining ogre and goblin shaman.  The two side caves each contain several piles of stinking furs which Benedic theorizes were probably bedding for the cave’s former occupants.  (Lord Agasha and his men, as well as the party, decide that they will continue to camp outside.)  However, as Eva pokes through one particularly large pile of bedding, she suddenly lets out a triumphant shout.  “Thatch!  Take a look at this!”  She emerges into the main cavern a moment later, brandishing Professor Alexandra’s pitcher.“There’s a bunch more stuff too,” she tells the others as everyone gathers to watch Thatch put the pitcher through its paces.“Get everything together in a pile,” Annika tells her.  “If anything reads as magical I can identify it tomorrow.”“Do you know what that stinky pit in the other room is?” Kiara asks her, nose wrinkled elaborately for effect.“The loo?” someone suggests.“That I can identify,” Kiara retorts.“Here,” Annika says.  “Show it to me.”  Annika spends a few minutes inspecting the viscous liquid in the pit, sniffing, watching how it reacts to being stirred, and in a few moments returns with her analysis.“I think someone had started brewing a batch of healing potions.  It’s most of the way done actually.  If you want, I can see if I can finish it off.”“What would we want a bunch of goblin healing potions for?”  Benedic asks.“Well, it’s not as though they only heal goblins,” Lira points out.“Do you know how to do such a thing?” Reyu asks Annika.Annika shrugs.  “Obviously I’ve never tried to make one before, but the underlying principles are the same as any other potion.   I think I should be able to do it.”“How long will it take?”  Anvil asks.“Not too long.  Maybe a day?”  Annika shrugs.  “We don’t really stand to loose much.  We might need the potions, and if we don’t, I’m sure we can find an alchemist who’d be interested in buying them to study.”The party agrees that it is worth a try, and Annika spends the rest of the day sprinkling odd herbs into the bubbling, smelly pit.  ###(It's not much of a cliff-hanger, so sue me.)</blockquote>

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