Progeny of the Overlord IC

[veovius]

"So I guess this isn't exactly what he had in mind when he said starting point....Perhaps we should start by figuring out where... and when we are. This is a huge task that Thessius has entrusted to us, if Lewstrom is within reach we should start there."

[mangosta71]

As the adrenaline fades, memories of the primal hunt and the encounter with the spiders combine with the scent of the lair to create an unfortunate effect on K'chat'ka's state of mind. His head jerks at faint or imagined sounds; his limbs twitch and vibrate. "I want OUT of here."

[veovius]

Aldrick walks over to the forestry opening, to see what there is to see.

[Quietus]

"Agreed.", Dagon says, in response to Aldrick's assessment of the situation and priorities. Seeing K'Chat'Ka getting twitchy, he catches the bug's eyes, and jerks his head in Aldrick's direction. "Then go with him to get a feel for what we've been thrust into. Ness, go with them, and if anything happens, come back here and get the rest of us."

With the worg trotting toward the entrance of the caves, Dagon turns his attention toward the chest itself, looking through what's been left and cataloging the contents, speaking each item he recognizes aloud. If there is any significant amount of unidentified objects inside, he curses under his breath in Infernal, before using Detect Magic to start scanning over things and trying to get at least a basic idea of their use, if only by reading the schools of magic involved with each item.

[The Squirrel]

Still a bit dazed from the lingering effects of the poison, Vittari shakes off the sluggishness that it seems to have induced. "Sorry aobut that; I think that... stuff settled in my thoughts for a miute, but I think the worst of it's past."
Walking over, Vittari casts Lesser Vigor on his tiefling companion for 15 points of healing over the next 13 rounds. "This will take a minut Let me know if you need more."
Vittari tilts his head as Dagon starts going through the items, keeping an eye that none are 'misplced'.

[mangosta71]

K'chat'ka, eager to be away from the confines of the cave (and the cursed spiders), hurries to the entrance alongside Aldrick.

[Pink]

Outside the cave, you see that while when you left through the epic teleportation spell, it was a few hours from the evening meal, it is now in the middle of the night. A full moon and bright stars gives some illumination, however the canopy of leaves from many large trees cuts it down sharply to make it seem a sinister forest of shadows that move as the wind bends branches gently in the night. You must be deep within a very old forest, as the trees have grown tall and thick, with very little undergrowth as the canopy blocks much sunlight from reaching down into the ground level of the forest. There is a stillness in the air, and you don't hear much beyond the eternal sound of leaves rustling in the wind currents above.

Those with the ability to detect by scent notice a lack of any other creatures nearby, not surprising being nearby a predator's lair.

A careful examination of the bags reveals that the four smaller pouches all hold a value of currency within in.
-Bag of Diamonds (Appraise check)
-Bag of Silver Pieces (2,000 pieces/200 gp)
-Bag of Gold Pieces (2,300 gp)
-Bag of Platinum Pieces (250 pieces/2,500gp)

The large bag weighs quite a bit (35 lbs), and upon opening it, Dagon appears to be looking into a small room as opposed to into a bag. It is filled with a variety of supplies, and after some length, Dagon is able to categorize them:
-350 Iron rods (1 lbs each)
-50 bags of flour (4 lbs each)
-150 lbs of preserved meat
-2 lbs of herbs and spices
-30 Lanterns
-100 flasks of oil
-300 candles
-20 vials of ink
-20 inkpens
-3 Signet Rings (Thessius' seal)
-5 lbs of sealing wax
-400 sheets of paper (200 loose, 10 20-page books)
-5 large iron cooking posts
-250' of Hemp Rope
-40 empty Sacks
-2 Tents
-5 Whetstones
-Full-sized Flag of the Overlord

The last item, the ebony wood rod, is not one known to Dagon. Upon detecting magic, Dagon finds that both the rod and the bag are magical. After concentrating upon them for a few seconds, Dagon is able to determine that the rod has a aura of moderate Abjuration magic about it. An inspection of it also reveals that one of the runes appears to be a button that can be pushed.

[mangosta71]

K'chat'ka calms visibly upon exiting the spider lair. His antennae quiver briefly as he strains to detect a hint of anything in the area. "Seems we'll need to wait until morning to get our bearings, but this should be a safe spot to camp for tonight."

[The Squirrel]

Vittari hefts one of the iron rods, enjoying it's cool weight. "I could make something of these. Looks like we're in this for the long haul."
Vittari looks deeper into the cave. "We should visit 'mother'. The question is to do it now or in the morning. I'm not sure I'd want to rest knowing something else was in here."

[Quietus]

"Mm. I'm sure the fighting disturbed it anyway, I doubt we've got a calm night in for ourselves if we stay here. And with my wounds healed, I'm in good enough shape to pull through one more fight if it comes to that. If I'm reading Ness's emotions right, things are quiet outside.. that only leaves deeper in the cave.", Dagon finishes, reading the calm feelings that his worg is emanating. "Lord Thessius has left us well enough prepared for the time being. I say, fortify ourselves for now, and survey the area. As you pointed out, it seems that would involve a visit to 'mother'. If we're lucky, it's intelligent enough to be swayed to our side. If not, these webs would make an excellent fire, to make pursuit a less appealing option."

After casting his gaze over the items properly, and filing them off based on usefulness - the monetary items, for the time being, being the least useful among them - Dagon holds the edge of the bag in one hand, and the wooden rod in the other. "The bag is, quite obviously, magical. I couldn't get a specific read on what type of magic, but I would GUESS that it has something to do with it being an extradimensional space. The rod reads as Abjuration, which generally means some sort of protective magic is woven into it. It seems to be activated with a touch to this rune, here, but for the time being, I'd rather not give it a dry test, in case its magic is limited. We may need every resource we can find. If we can get it properly identified, that would be useful; Once we have a better idea of where we are and what situation we're in, we can make a decision on that."

[Pink]

A glance further into the cave, either with the proper lightsource or vision, shows that the wide tunnel continues deeper around forty feet, before opening up slightly into another room of sorts. The webbing continues lightly along the walls, but nothing quite as thick as the room you've become familiar with, with no signs of prey hanging in web shrouds. You're only able to see part of the room deeper in, but you think you can make out, against the far wall, a small nest or bed of some sort, leaves, twigs, fur and feather held together with web. There also appears to be some sort of litter upon the floor, but it's difficult to determine what it is from a distance.

[veovius]

Aldrick strolls back into the cave, missing the fresh air already. As he hears Dagon talking about the bag, he mentions, "How many iron rods? Those tend to be pretty heavy, don't they, Vittari? If the bag itself is light enough to tote around, I'd say we have a very nice bag of holding. It looks like supplies for building and maintaining at least a platoon of troops for a while. 150 pounds of jerky? Thats a cow or two right there.... and I can't help but think that all that iron, seems meant for swords. It's too bad we didn't have our own dragon, eh?"

Looking down the cave, [COLOR="rgb(255, 140, 0)"]"Well, might as well get it over and get some quality sleep in; I do need a good nap after that braintwister."[/COLOR]

Aldrick holds the guisarme loosely in one hand, as he slowly makes his way down the tunnel. As he travels, he examines the walls, ceiling and floor carefully for anything suspicious. He stops 10 feet from the opening of the tunnel, ready for an attack.

Actions:
Search check as he travels, not sure how many you want.
(1d20+8)[17]
(1d20+8)[13]
(1d20+8)[9]
(1d20+8)[17]

Readies an action at the end to attack an enemy if it comes into range.

[Pink]

Heading forward, a careful examination of the room ahead reveals it to be quite small compare to the first. A full count shows not one, but a total of four of those nests. The litter on the floor are bones, most broken, of all types and sizes, from a rodent skull, to a large leg bone. The tunnel makes a turn in this room to head even further inside. There does not appear to be a sign of anything other occupants ahead, yet.

[The Squirrel]

Vittari considers the rods and sighs, "That dragon was amazing; I might be able to do something rather crude with a large well built campfire. Even a primitive smithy would be better - perhaps there's one in the area we could acquire along with everything else."
Watching Aldrick go to the other passage, "Hey Aldrick hold up a minute," as Vittari starts gathering the piles Dagon left out. "It's probably not best to leave all this just lying about, and I'm not sure it'd be wise to let him go it alone. You going to come?"
Vittari grabs the filled bag and moves to join. "Dagon, you want to grab K'chat'ka and your dog before you come?"

The cleric follows Aldrick deeper. "I wonder if there's anything worthwhile in these things," he says as he casts Prestidigitation to start slowly sifting through the mess as he waits for the others to follow.

[Quietus]

Making a mental note to pass through the nests up against the walls with Detect Magic on his way back out, Dagon nods in response to Vittari's question, then walks out to the edge of the cave. After taking a moment scanning the sky, in the hopes of using the stars to locate where they might be - a rather unlikely scenario, given that what little geography he did know wasn't based on the material plane - he calls out, "Ness, K'Chat'Ka! We're heading further into the cave, going to find this 'mother' those creatures were speaking of. Finish up whatever you're doing out here, and come with us."

By the time he's finished speaking, Ness has already returned to him, having not strayed too far from the cave in an unfamiliar location; She'd done a quick quick scan of the area within 100 feet, using her Scent to detect anything that might have come near, to confirm that the quiet seems to be because of the nearby predators. Once she's come back, however, Dagon turns, and walks back into the cave, scowling at the difference between the calm night and the unsettling webbed caves. Helping Vittari to pack everything back up, he works in silence, heading deeper into the caves once everything is back in the bag. As he does so, he draws his scythe and casts a fresh Light spell across its blade for the benefit of Naerwell and Aldrick.

[veovius]

As K'Chat'ka and Ness caught up, Aldrick moved through the turn, hugging the corner with the guisarme at the ready, searching high and low for dangers.

(1d20+8)[26]

[Pink]

Magically sifting through the remains of creatures on the floor of the second chamber, Vittari isn't able to see anything of interest.

Dagon's limited knowledge of the skies are unable to tell him anything relative about their location, as it's difficult to see the sky through the topiary as is.

Ness's scouting, at the furthest distance, starts to be able to sense some small life forms in the trees above. At Dagon's call, the worg is about to head back, but stops as it notices, spread between two trees, is a thin, almost invisible web, that no doubt is much stronger than it appears. After narrowly avoiding getting trapped in webbing, Ness returns to Dagon

((btw, does Ness speak at all?))

Heading deeper into the cave, it twists and turns a small distance further, before ending. At the furthest reach of the cave is a web nest at least twice the size of the previous nests, empty like the others. There is also, a small distance from this web, a pile of various trash and such, however as Dagon's light glints off it, something metallic in the pile reflects back. If something lives here, it's either invisible, or not there at the moment.

[mangosta71]

K'chat'ka glances at the cave mouth, shudders, and hurriedly turns his eyes back to the surrounding forest. He scans the ground, searching for tracks leading to or from the cave.
(1d20+9)[29] - Survival (Scent is also still active)

[Pink]

There are numerous tracks through the forest towards the cave, little effort has been made to hide them. Some of them K'chat'ka can recognize as the scuttling eight-legged trails of large spiders, others bear a resemblance to that of the spider-humanoids. Some of those humanoid tracks appear to be a size larger than those you encountered inside. Also apparent are tracks of bundles being dragged into the cave, some trace of webs indicated webbed victims no doubt. The freshest set of tracks head out into the woods.

[veovius]

Aldrick walks into the room, lights a torch, and starts the process of waving it around to clear the webs.

[mangosta71]

K'chat'ka fixes the scent of the trail in his mind, then hurries to the tree nearest the cave and leaps up, scrabbling to sink his claws securely into the bark and pull himself up to a low branch.

Spoiler

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Taking 10 on a jump check gives a result of 56, which translates to 14 feet up given a running start. Add in 8 foot reach for a medium creature, and if there's a branch within 22 feet of the ground I can reach it. If I'm still below the lowest branches, assuming I can catch myself I'm that high, and taking 10 on a climb check gives me a result of 24 to proceed up.

[Quietus]

((Considering the later plans I had for her, I was thinking I'd forgo her being able to speak, since winter wolves can't; She does, however, have the ability to speak with me specifically as a result of being the familiar of a fifth-level caster. Mostly, I just didn't want to go from "Ness can talk" to "Ness can't talk" when I 'upgrade' her later.))

Casting his gaze around this new room, Dagon takes note of how large the nest is, and sets his jaw in concern. If there were another one of those creatures, and larger.. he was sure they could take it, if it came down to that, but he didn't particularly want to find out for sure. Just to be on the safe side, he casts Detect Magic, casting his gaze about for any signs of something hiding magically, and if that seems safe, testing the metallic object before digging it out of the pile. The process takes a little longer than usual, as Dagon holds his concentration on the spell, intending to check out any gear and trophies they'd collected from the assassin. As he digs through the refuse, he growls, "Where the hell is that bug? Someone should warn him about this, if he's still outside."

[Pink]

K'chat'ka jumps what would seem to an onlooker, if there were any, a super human height, before grabbing onto one of the large lower branches of a tree and placing himself in a secure position. The old tree's branches seem to be able to bear his weight without any difficulty.

Inside the cave, the flame of Aldrick's torch burns away easily at the old dusty webs, making a slightly choking smokey smell.

Digging through the refuse in this chamber, shows that the pile of trash actually contains several pieces of armor and weaponry, though much of it is torn or rusted. The following items detect as magical:

-A Dwarven Styled Waraxe (Cave)
-A Heavy Steel Shield (Cave)
-A Strange glass and gold Monocle (Cave)
-The Assassin's Ring
-The Assassin's Bracers

((Actually, Winter wolves can speak common, says right there on their entry.))

[Quietus]

Picking through the refuse for the useful items, Dagon sets aside the noted items - the waraxe, the shield, and the glass and monocle. Focusing his magics on each in turn, he makes attempts to gain further information on not just those three, but on the Assassin's ring and bracers.

"Doesn't look like we've got anything left in here to worry about, unless your regular garden variety spiders concern you. 'Mother' appears to be out, unless she's hidden somewhere we haven't found yet.", he tells everyone gathered, along with any information he's gathered with Detect Magic. That completed, for thoroughness, he returns to the cave where they'd first appeared, scanning over other refuse piles on the way and then the webbed bundles, not expecting to find anything else, but taking care anyway. "We should be on our guards; whatever she is, I'd expect her to return at any point. And where is that blasted bug?", he growls, wondering what could have made K'Chat'Ka become so skittish.

Spoiler

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Spellcraft checks for identifying schools used in those items, and their relative power levels :
(1d20+14)[28]
(1d20+14)[17]
(1d20+14)[24]
(1d20+14)[31]
(1d20+14)[27]

[veovius]

"Mr. Bug would probably get a kick out of that axe....let's gather this stuff up and move it to the front of the cave. Maybe he was on to something; it's a little claustrophobic back here."

Once Dagon's done with his detecting/identifying, Aldrick helps carry some of the gear up to the main cave. Before he leaves, he looks around one last time to make sure there's not hidden entrance, like a ceiling access.

(1d20+8)[11]

[Pink]

Dagon:

Spoiler

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Dwarven Waraxe: A faint Aura of Transmutation
Heavy Shield: Faint Aura, can't figure out school
Monocle: Faint Divination
Ring: Faint Abjuration
Bracers: Moderate Conjuration

The search of the cave and the nests reveal nothing more than such debris that reminds you of the many victims this nest of spiders must've devoured.

[Quietus]

"That's probably true. It's magical, not strongly though. Probably no truly fancy enhancements, but who knows. The shield.. no idea, but again, not too strong of an aura on it. Might just be magically enhanced, but it's hard to tell. And then this thing... I wonder what it does?", Dagon asks aloud, raising the monocle to his eye and peering through it, looking around the cave for a moment to see if its magic works automatically - assuming its magic worked on anything there, anyway.

Once he's done testing the monocle, he gestures to the ring and bracers taken from the assassin, explaining, "Those are magical too. Given the types of magic in them, my guess is they're both protective in nature; I've never seen a pair of bracers that could summon something. Not that they helped the assassin at all, regardless."

[Pink]

Gazing through the magic glass, Dagon can spot no differences between his normal vision and what appears through the otherside of the monocle.

[The Squirrel]

"Good information, Dagon; perhaps further examination tomorrow will yield more. I guess camping in here tonight wouldn't be safe - not that it smells so great with the burning webs. Or that it smelled too great before the webs."
Vittari cautiously makes his way out to the cave entrance. "K'chat'ka? You out here?" Vittari questions softly.

[mrwest13]

Naerwell laughs. "That bug has a name, and I'd recommend you at least use it to his face, lest he use said axes on you. Regarding the gloves, I'd be loathe to try them on without first understanding exactly what purpose they serve. I've come across far too many cursed items in my life to trust a once-over with magical detection."

He glances over at Dagon. "Not that I don't appreciate your abilities. They sure save us a lot of time searching, but I think we can all agree that cursed items are too much of a risk at this point."