The Sea of Starry Night [closed]

[Yoric_Steele]

Trinark, Drow Cleric

Trinark begins moving among the group taking the time to look over each individual to assess the level of their injuries. He looks carefully for any signs of infection from the spider bites.

After he is satisfied he knows which injuries are the most serious, he returns to Hajih. Looking Hajih in the eye, he says "Do not be alarmed. Rest easy." Placing his hand upon Hajih's chest, he begins chanting an incantation. At the end Trinark's hands glow a dark blue, one of which is grasping the hilt of his longsword. The energy seeps into Hajih's chest. [OOC: Casting Lesser Restoration, +2 CON returned]

Not satisfied with the results, Trinark frowns. He begins chanting the same incantation again. [OOC: +4 CON returned]

Trinark turns to Aeroz. In Elven he asks, "Please translate for me, as I don't have a good enough grasp of (common) yet."

Further, in Elven, "I have been rewarded for all of my trials and suffering. I have been granted limited clerical abilities, which I will use as best I can to keep all of you safe. I wish to repay you for your willingness to rescue me from the evil of the Underdark. I have some additional healing remaining for today, but wish to be prudent in its application. I suggest caution if you desire to return to the spider chamber."

[Phasm]

Lissa watches Trinark's healing of Hajih with interest, noting his hand on the longsword. Once he's done (and Aeroz translates his speech), she speaks up. "I thought I saw you healing in the spider room yesterday. Um... this is probably kind of rude, but may I ask which deity you serve?"

Hmm, he just got that sword yesterday, and it almost seems to be acting as a divine focus. Do any of the drow or elven deities favor the longsword? Think, Lissa, think!

A rumble comes from the direction of the gnome's stomach. Lissa eyes the door leading to the passage with the darkmantles. "Didn't some of you mention a battle with a swarm of squid-like things? Squid is good eating." She looks up at the lizardkin druid. "Think you could tell us if Underdark squid is safe to eat, druid? If we have to go back to the Pit of Poisonous Death, I'd rather do it on a full stomach. Or fuller stomach, at least."

You know you'll have to finish what Sedryn started, Lissa. Preferably sometime soon... before the murderer decides to take you and Trinark out.
I will! Just not right now.
Are you afraid of what you might find? It would be really awful if a certain halfling showed up as evil, wouldn't it?
This is stupid! I'm not going to argue with myself!
Haha, I was right!
I'm not listening to you.


OOC: Yes, the dialogue at the end is Lissa and herself. She's not (quite) going mad, but her conscience is giving her some grief. Side effects of becoming a cleric. ;)

Oh yeah, and Knowledge: Religion check to see if she knows of any drow or elven deities who have the longsword as favored weapon. Result: 16 with skill mod

[Frojoe21]

Aeroz

Aeroz will translate whatever Trinark says in elven.

"I'm not to keen on rushing into that spider pit. I need to get to Teflamm as soon as possible or my head is literally on a platter. If you guys wanna go and get whatever we left in there, go ahead, but I am in a hurry and I don't want to be poisoned again.

[Muzzleflash]

Djital, plot exposition cannon

"This is a good time to tell our story, right? Me and my friend here, we go way back. I ended up doing some travelling for a while, sowing my oats and finding adventure. Mostly the military kind, working for a small army of freelancers. It didn't make me rich, but it gave experience, and that's what counts. Some geezer with more money than he knows what to do with doesn't want just run-o-tha-mill guards patrolling his grounds, he wants professionals that he can show off. Even better if they can teach his kid more about arms and martial combat than the local militia leader. But I digress."

He leans back and takes a deep breath, relaxing in his ropes.

"'Course, I got homesick eventually and made my way back to what my buddy was up to, and maybe plan something out together. People you can trust are worth their weight in gold, y'know. His specialty being magical and mine being more kinetic, we figured we had a good combination for exploring and getting some treasure. Never got a chance to try that out, 'cause an agent for a shipping business recruited me on the spot when I was selling off some spare weaponry in the square. Now, this is where it gets complicated.

See, there was this excavation going on in Altumbel, not too far from the coast. Some kinda temple was being dug out from a hill, and the man who was having it done owned enough ships to move the work crew over there and supply them regular like, without anyone talking about it or even having a clue. Politics.. not my thing, but it probably would have raised hell with both nations if anyone knew. One of his agents was looking for a few guardsmen and another cook, before heading to a port city to set sail for the dig with a fresh load of food and tools. They didn't much mind my friend coming, once I swore he was trustworthy. Seems they had a cautious desire for mages.

We got there, and the lodgings weren't exactly five stars, I'll tell ya. A bunch of tents, a few sorta-permenant structures, and a big gaping gash in a hill. There were Dwarven stonemason experts, a bunch of Gnomes had just arrived for some reason, and a whole lot of guys digging the whole top of the hill apart. I ended up getting promoted to the captain of the guards, mostly cause I had a head for organization and the other guys were a little green- couple sons of noblemen and that sort. Good men, though, and my position was partly a formality, partly just administrative. Mostly it meant that I didn't get as much sleep and would be the one it all came down on if things went bad.
Not like we were gonna see any fighting, but on a scale of hard to soft I'd have rated the staff "gelatin", cepting those Dwarves, and no one wants to be unprotected.

The two mages that were there already didn't take too much to my buddy, but he found enough to do. It wasn't like there was any shortage of coin each week.

Now as to why Dwarves were showing up at a dirt-dig. A while before we arrived, they found some tombs under the temple. Under and around those tombs, catacombs that turned into a deep system of caves. They'd explore far enough to think that was the last of any mortal construction, and find a keystone fitted into one of the natural rock archways. The Dwarves were as interested as you can pay someone to be, although I never caught what significance they found. The Gnomes spent most of their time underground, working deep. They were the first ones we lost. But that's later.

As time went on, we got a little more relaxed with the guarding and did patrols with the Dwarves down in the tunnel, along with more grunt work for the dig. I taught some of the reformed thieves they brought in for trapwork a few fun things with a sword, and learned a lot about creeping in the dark and disarming things. Almost enjoy it more than what I'd picked for a career, actually. Picked up a bunch about the Arcane arts from the general crowd too. Made me feel like I was a character in a Mikal Kryton tale, learning this and that explained in a clear manner.

Don't ask me what that one fellow commisioned the entire thing to find, because I never found out. Some kind of special artifact was supposed to be there, but it never got found. Plenty of lesser things, though, just tantalizing enough to keep people there hoping for more."


He bites his lip, looking around the room from face to face, then continues.

"Boring you yet, am I? I know, I know- should have taken bard lessons. This is the last bit- where everything goes sour, south, and sundered. A hurricane was coming up from the south coast, according to one of the mage's divinations and a few of the onshore sailors forecasts, and it was gonna tear right over us. A big one. Remember where I said it was all dirt and tents, cept for a few clapboard shacks? Can't weather a storm like that in those, and we had only one place to go- into the underground parts of the temple, and tomb system. We got everyone in and the ships sent off running back home just before it hit, and dumped the god's own chamberpot on us.

We had enough food to outlast it, fires, watches posted- on the sunny surface people got relaxed, but now that we were down there, I hardly got any sleep making sure that we had every doorway to the tunnel systems covered and every man accounted for. It was impossible to close everything off, though. We found that the hard way. People started vanishing.

We might have had some sense if the man who owned the whole operation hadn't been on-site since a week before the hurricane, or if he hadn't dissapeared the second day of living by torchlight and large light spells. That put everything wrong, and the only thing we could think was to go on a search.

We grabbed our standard ten foot poles and went down in a hurry, far down, and didn't find a thing except for one of his shoes around a mile into the tunnels. We came back for the mages who had stayed to ready a complicated divination spell- they wouldn't let any of the other magic adepts help. We found 'em dead in what looked like a suicide pact. Things went worse from there. People started vanishing, we'd go look and lose more. A bunch tried to go to the surface, cause wallowing in mud and driving rain is better than being dragged to your death in the dark, but we found them decorating a few lengths of hallway.

We banded together- constant light, never seperating from one big group, and decided to brave the underdark in the hope of coming up somewhere else. I had enough men left to make it worth the risk, and the one Gnome remaining thought he would be able to get us past any Drow with the twin tools of diplomacy and men and angry dwarves with sharp objects.

The things stalking us diminished in frequency, and we still never even caught a glimpse of one. We kept on our journey but around this very area, half what we were before we started down, we were split apart into two groups. One you see before you in it's entirity, the other I never saw living again. We fought into that very room behind that door, found our companions herded and slaughtered, and had one final stand before meeting a horrid and absolutely unpleasant cursed end.

I don't remember if we killed that.. thing.. before or after the transformation, but I remember enough anger and rage that overwhelmed the chaotic swirl that is the prison-mind of such a state. It was my last time as myself, until now.

And here we are. I fully intend to avenge the dead in that room, even if my closure comes from the simple act of killing spiders, or putting people to sleep with over-long stories."

He musters an attempt at a wry grin, and lapses into a look of introspection.

[runehawk]

Lizardkin Druid

Nodding his head and not completely understanding what the human captive was saying, Ssathiya with the help of the others managed ro rig an improvised net by tying some blankets together.

Using the net, he explained to others how it would be used to cover the door to the Darkmantle Cavern and net them some fresh darkmantle. He holds up a clawed hand in explanation of what was to follow.

The others understanding move to help in the endeavour.

[Dr._Bob]

The lizardman busies himself knotting silk rope into a crude net, while Lumpy looks longingly at the door leading to his beloved flail.

The antechamber has four doors. Through one, the darkmantles lie in wait. Through another is the spiral passage leading to the spiders' vault. Down one of the remaining doors supposedly lies passage to the ferry mentioned by the ex-driders.

What lies behind the fourth door?

Having nothing better to do, Fizahn examines the door that supposedly leads to the ferry. It appears untrapped and opens conventionally into a dark passage. He closes that door and turns toward the mysterious fourth door. He listens at the door carefully, but hears nothing. He is about to check for traps when he notices something alarming ...

An inky black wetness seems to be seeping into the antechamber through the cracks around the door. Fizahn steps back and points it out to the others. "Umm. That doesn't look good, does it?" In a few moments, the door is covered in black gelatinous slime.

[Phasm]

Lissa

"Urk!" Lissa's eyes grow huge, and she swings her crossbow down off her back. "No, Fizahn, that does not look good." She begins chanting in Celestial again, touching her holy symbol with her left hand. "Baravar, ward me from evil!" A glowing white circle appears, about a foot in every direction around the diminutive cleric-rogue.


OOC: Draw crossbow and cast protection from evil on self. I used Navy for Celestial; let me know if you want a different color for that, DR. I can't remember if there was an approved Celestial color. :-/

[Zeal]

Hajih, Human Ranger

Hajih pulls out his rapier and hatchet and faces the door. "This might just be a bad thing, we might have to run for it!"

[HempRope]

Achkby, Halfling Sorcerer

Achkby seems pleased that the man is so forthcoming, but makes no comment.
Well. If he is lying, it is quite a lie. And if he is truly capable of all that he says, I doubt he could pull off quite so magnificent of one. I hope we don't get the chance to test his swordsmanship for quite a while, though.

[hr]
"If we flee, then we, or at least I, are going towards the ferry! Even if it isn't a ferry, I'd say it is better than any of our other options."

He quickly balls his bedding into his pack, sighing as he sees it cover his armor, and swings the thing to his back.

[OOC]Er... I'll take it that we've levelled for this battle. Normally I do some spell discovery, but this might have to be it.
It's a shame I didn't get the chance to armor myself... ah, well. Regardless of my AC, it won't be good if I'm within striking distance.[/OOC]

[Zeal]

Hajih, Human Ranger

Looking at his empty left hand, it dawns on Hajih "Trice-damned underdark, my hatchet!" He sheathes his rapier and rolls up his bedroll. He shouts to the rest of the party "grab your stuff and follow me!" and opens the door towards the ferry.

[Phasm]

Lissa

Fortunately, Lissa had rolled up her bedroll and packed up most of her things earlier. She hurriedly chucks the engraving tools she was using into her pack, shoulders the pack and bedroll, and runs toward the ferry door. "Sounds good to me, Hajih!"

[Muzzleflash]

Djital

I really hate the underdark. Ah, now I slip the knot and.. At least it can't get any worse than this. The pants are nice though, I should find a way to thank-

He glances up from his state of concentration, seeing the slimy door and the party's reaction.

"Oh hell no!"

He lurches to his feet, working to slide the ropes off of his arms.

"Do we fight whatever it is or run? Maybe use an oil flask? Fire is always good!"

As he notices Hajih and the others running for the ferry door, he sheds the rest of his rope and turns to Lumpy.

"You gonna be happy with that sword for now or do we have to go cut apart a buncha spiders to get you 'Grinder'?" If it's worth dyin' for, then it's worth living for today to get it in a month or three. Our loot and your flail aren't gonna walk away, not with those spiders there. Let's get out of this goddamn death trap - that goop is gonna be in here any second - and come back when we're better off."

Immediately he picks up the battered short sword and slices his companion free of the ropes, and prepares to help the party either move in an orderly fashion into the passage, either assisting with Thokk's corpse, or battling whatever is seeping through the door.

[ooc: Djital has been taking 20 on his escape artist check throughout the long story ;) If I missed where we got untied, then disregard my maneuver- and if doing that wasn't kosher, then I'll just edit it.]

[bhdrake]

Lumpy, Half-Orc Warrior

The short orc's fangs grit audibly at the sight of the slime, a muttered chorus of words best left unrepeated eminating from his throat, curses in any and every language he knows and a few he probably just made up. After a few moments of grumbling, he caps it off with an emphatic "Damn it all!" Whatever the hell that thing is, it was the straw that broke the camel's back for Lumpy.

He stands, slinging his pack and bow, wedging Darius's sword among the straps across his back, still throwing out the odd curse. He glances at the Lizardman, waving at his crude net, pausing in his oaths long enough to grunt out a few words, "Gimme half'a that, and we'll drag the dwarf with it. Everyone else, get moving or yer left behind." If Ssathiya complies, Lumpy will help him load up the dwarf and then start running for the alleged ferry. He also promptly resumes his grumbling, though his creativity begins to suffer as he falls back on old standbys.

[Callos_DeTerran]

Callos

Throughout the long monologueish thing his companion gave he could only stare in wonder at him. He could remember Djital being talkative but not this talkative. Oh well, it saved him the trouble of explaining the exact same thing to them. As the slime began to slide under/through/around the door the lanky man yelped and began to yank and pull at his bonds frantically. Slimes were never a good thing! And Callos didn't need to know anything else about it. When he saw Djital use the short sword to slice his bindings, he held extremely still then stood up quickly, slipping the long shirt on.

"Gods damn it all! This is why I hate cold dank places like the Underdark! Its a festering place for molds and fungus. Come on Djital. The half-orc and lizard man got the body. We need to make sure that we all are still heading the right way to the ferry! "

And with that the brown haired mage shuffles to the front of the group and takes off at a light jog down the tunnel to wards where the ferry should be. Every now and then he stops to make sure that the others are still behind him.

[The_King_of_Durf]

Darius

"Hells bells... as if things couldn't get any worse!" Darius says

Then after listening to Djital he grins, "Fire is quite good, isn't it?"

Two flaming arrows thud through the ooze into the door.

"Now, let's get outta here!"

Darius spins around and follows the others out of the room.

[Zeal]

Hajih, Human Ranger

Propping the door open with a crossbow bolt, Hajih runs in and grabs the arrow that was formerly lodged in his breastbone. Running back to the door, he waits for everyone to leave then shuts the door.

[Dr._Bob]

The two arrows that Darius fires seem to annoy rather than damage the ooze. It flows ever more rapidly into the antechamber through the crevices around the darkstone door.

The party beats a hasty retreat through the opposite door, heading toward the ferry.

Djital initially takes the lead, only to discover that with mere human vision, he is unable to see in the darkness. He is forced to wait for the others to arrive with their everburning torches.

Six members of the party carry Thokk, who has been wrapped in the silk rope net. The netting forms a shroud of sorts, allowing the dwarf to be carried, armor and all.

The lizardman, bringing up the rear, is dismayed to see the ooze begin to leak around the second door as well ...

[HempRope]

Achkby, Halfling Sorcerer

Achkby hurries along as quickly as his short legs can carry him, nearly panting as thought race quickly through his head.
I see they've freed themselves. I knew they couldn't be trusted! Damn them, traitorous men, now leige to the spiders... but no matter. We shall rebind them later, and consequences will come hard on its heels. For now, though, we may need their help to escape here. unless they lead us into a trap. But if they do, they will surely die... I will not be kind to them if they try to arrange our deaths.

"You!" he calls ahead to the one that used to wear the claws. "Where are you taking us? And you had better tell the truth, for if you lead us into a trap I'll be releasing my magics on you, and not just the eight-legged spiders!"

[The_King_of_Durf]

Darius, CN!!!

"Damn! Damn!"

Darius looks at the ooze in dismay, then continues to run.

"I can't hurt it! What'll we do?"

Darius hurls the nearest rock at the ooze deperately before continuing to charge away with the others.

[Elmorwen]

Sheyra

Despite her fatigue, Sheyra manages to get to the front of the party before long thanks to her training. I can't believe we beat some kind of undead priestess and now we're running from a pile of jelly, she thinks, But at least we're getting out of here instead of going on a suicide run for the loot.

[Frojoe21]

Aeroz

Aeroz cautiously follows the two "escapees". He keeps his hand on his rapier, just in case the two try to do something funny.

[Dr._Bob]

The party moves along the corridor as quickly as possible away from the ooze. The corridor continues to show signs of having been worked by the drow long ago. It slopes ever so slightly downward, but there are no branches. The passage seems to be making a beeline toward a definite destination (the ferry, one would hope).

Sheyra soon finds herself at the front of the party, frustrated by its slowness. Lacking darkvision, the young monk is forced to wait for the rest of her companions as they plod their way forward. From her point of view, her companions seem to be moving at a snail's pace. Many of the party members are encumbered by their gear, and Thokk's armored body isn't helping matters.

The members at the rear of the party spare occasional glances backward and note, to their horror, that the ooze seems to be following the party.

Whether it's because Darius keeps shooting it and throwing things at it, or because "food" is hard to come by this deep into the Underdark, the black pudding seems determined not to let the party escape without a chase.

The enormous black pudding oozes inexorably forward along the passageway, visible as a glistening black river trailing the party by a good 100 feet or so. Unfortunately, as the slow-motion pursuit drags on for what seems an eternity, a terrifying reality becomes clear ... the black pudding is gaining on the party.



OOC: The black pudding has a base move of 20 ft.

[Zeal]

Hajih, Human Ranger

"You may not want to hear this... but we have to drop the dwarf, he's slowing us down." Hajih starts breaking the heads of his crossbow bolts and throwing the shafts to the pudding as he runs.

[Phasm]

Lissa

Lissa is running as hard as she can, but unfortunately gnomes have short legs. And her gear, normally a light load, feels much heavier due to the spider poison still affecting her. Risking a look back, Lissa gasps. "Good gods, people, look at the size of that thing!" Grimly, she faces front again and keeps running. "Much as I hate to, I have to agree with Hajih. If we can't outrun this thing, we're all going to die and Thokk's sacrifice will have been for nothing. Save the rope if you can, though!"

[The_King_of_Durf]

Darius

"Aah! It's not working!" Darius shrieks, tossing his arms up into the air and running as fast as he possibly can with the others.

[HempRope]

Ha ha ha ha! I almost fell out of my chair laughing...

Achkby, Halfling Sorcerer

"Lissa, see if you can give some things to stronger people!" Achkby shouts back. "Who can carry some stuff? And Sheyra, see if you can help them carry Thokk!"

My God! It's moving at least as fast as I am!

[Muzzleflash]

Djital, Disco Pants Man

"Gah! Hurry, hurry!" He yells and quickens his pace as much as possible, beads of sweat dripping down his forehead.

He quickly looks over the body of Thokk, sizing up the weight and trying to shoulder more of it. "Maybe pull off his armor quick, ease the load that way and *huff* give some of us more protection? Grease his body and the net with oil and drag it as *huff* fast as we can? There's gotta be something that doesn't teach it that we give away food!"

[King_of_GRiffins]

Elthan II

"Hmm.. Hey guys, we do still have the coins right? And since they function pretty much like major image, something as primative as that should fall for it pretty easily. Any other heat source could work as well, if anyones willing to part with a torch or two( or mybye if Light produced heat...). Mybye we are giving it food, but it will be so far behind us it'll never get a second lesson."

[size=0.125]"I hope the path branches farther on, else we may run into our friend latter on..."[/size]

(OOC: DR, it says Light produces light as a torch, but does not say if it produces any significant heat. I know a few spells that say they don't produce heat, but it's pretty much your call since it doesn't say.
Elthan will go through with one of these plans. If 1 doesn't work, he moves to the next and so on.
1) If Light does produce heat like a torch, he'll cast it on a few loss rocks above and to the side of the ooze to distract it.
2) Light a torch and throw it, then RUN!!!
3) Flip 2-3 coins along the width of the corridor, and pray that it waste as much time as possible attacking the Illusions.)

[Phasm]

Lissa

"Love to, Achkby, but all the strong people are carrying Thokk!", Lissa shouts to the halfling. "Take off his armor and grease him? That's full plate, Djital! I don't think you can take that stuff off quickly!" The rogue grits her teeth and keeps on running, her breathing uncharacteristically labored.

She looks up at Elthan's suggestion, hope sparking in her eyes. "I can make your torch smell like meat with prestidigtation, Elthan; that or I can light it quickly. Hey Achkby, got any cantrips?"


OOC: I don't think light produces heat, unfortunately.

[Muzzleflash]

Djital

"I meant grease the net and armor, or pull it off, and six people can pull plate pieces apart surprisingly quick- but making it smell like meat sounds good! Maybe even pour oil around the torch so it flares up? And if you want, toss things on me, you look overloaded."

I wonder why my only decent ideas seem to involve lighting things on fire...