Eberron Adventures

[Asmodeus]

Wrench

Wrench spots Azmirith, and while Butch is waving his hands around, Wrench walks past him, out a bit into the clearing and says "Did you find anything?" loud enough for Azmirith to hear, and probably enough to give away his position to anyone who didn't know they were coming anyways that is in the immediate vicinity.

[KCiemir]

Azmirith

Upon hearing Wrench, Azmirith darts into the shadows, clearly startled. he then procedes in the shadows to the group. Quietly, he answers the question. "Good to see you all again. The passage to the east, behind the boulder is a cave. I was unable to enter it myself. To the north is another passage, into a room, with a small legde. it continues further throug the passage, but i did not go, partly to meet up with you, and partly becasue there were small rodents in the way, and given the incident last night, i didnt want to risk anything. Also, There are tracks leading off, i couldnt tell where to.

[Citizen Joe]

Butch

"OK, what is to the west? We could probably distract the rodents with some food and just walk by, but if the western passage can bypass them, we may as well go that way."

[Asmodeus]

Wrench

"It probably doesn't matter. Just a bear cave or something. Lets head north and find the wrecked airship! I can't wait to see its structure." Wrench sounds almost giddy in anticipation.

[MandibleBones]

Cecil

"I agree with Wrench, but let's make a note of this cave's location. I want to check it out on the way back, if we can."

[Citizen Joe]

Butch

"Very well sir. Mr. Caskin, make sure our path is marked."

Butch enters the north passage, again pausing at corners to peek around.

[Velvet Elvis]

Caskin

Caskin watches Butch begin a long series of gestures, waiting raptly for the manifestation of some arcane spell. Interesting...never would have expected that. At the armsman's eventual explanation, Caskin smirks and coughs lightly, glancing at the others momentarily and shrugging.

Quick fingers retrieve a piece of black chalk from a belt pouch while Caskin easily scales the western wall to a height of about ten feet. Once there, he makes a small circle with arrows in all four directions. The ones pointing north and south are hashed, the other two are left as small arrows. The entire marking is no more than a few inches across. From the floor, the small black lines against the stone would be difficult to pick out, even if being searched for.

He descends and drops lightly to the floor, the chalk finding it's way back home as he does.

"All set," he states as he walks to the boulder. "Azmirith--you said there were tracks...what kind? And how many creatures? I assume you can tell that sort of thing." As he awaits a reply, he glances down at the boulder's base, looking to either side.

[KCiemir]

Azmirith

Looking at Caskin, Azmirith replies
"I do not know what kind or how many, I am not skilled at following, only at looking for danger, finding hidden things, and killing people."

He then turns to the others
"well, if we are going to go north, we may as well get moving. If we can find the ship before the day is over, we will have acheived an immesurable success."

[Bigmac]

The group makes its way through the winding passage untill it comes to the spot Azmirith mentioned. The cavern walls spread outward to form an opening about 50ft wide and 40ft long. The cavern has two levels separeated by a thirty foot tall cliff that bisects the opening in front of you.

Spot DC14

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you notice claw marks and a few spots of blood on the ground. The blood is still wet.

[Citizen Joe]

Butch

Butch halts abruptly, noticing something. He raises his hand in a fist and then kneels down swabbing the ground with his guantleted index finger. "It's blood," he says in a low tone, "And it's still fresh."

Rubbing it between his fingers, he sniffs the blood. "It isn't human... I'd say orcish..." Butch swipes his pinky across his tongue quickly. "Aye... I'd say from the southern coast of Droaam, judging by the diet. And she smokes a pipe... expensive tastes too..." Sniffing the blood again, he nods sagely. "She's with child too... twins... although they are fraternal..."

[Asmodeus]

Wrench

Wrench just kind of stares at Butch. "By the Host, how did you ever come to such a precise conclusion?"

Spot - (1d20-2)[2]

[KCiemir]

Azmirith

once Butch shows him the blood, he nods at wrench's comment, and says "I certainly agree that it is fresh blood, but where did a brelish farmboy come to know so much about a creature through Tasting it's blood?"

[Citizen Joe]

Butch

Butch stifles back a smile but bursts into a chuckle. He shows his still clean pinky. "I was kidding. The blood is fresh though. Hasn't dried up or turned brown yet. Not that it matters, but it isn't likely to be human, either animal, half-elven or orcish. Anyway, we've got a choice... can anyone make out an exit?"

[Velvet Elvis]

Caskin

Caskin stands to one side in line with Butch, observing his impromptu investigation. The tasting of the blood raises both eyebrows, but the ultimate outcome of his actions were only jest. Still, he seemed to assume something not in apparent evidence, unless he was used to the taste of the blood of various creatures.

"Amusing. But upon what basis do you assume the blood is not likely to be human? Are you more experienced with drinking blood than you let on?" He makes a face of dead seriousness, then looks to Cecil, and says, "How sure are you this man isn't a vampire, or worse? He plays that it is a game, but from my vantage point I believe I caught a smile on his lips when he tasted the blood--like a connoisseur tasting a fine wine after months of choking down last week's vintage."

[Citizen Joe]

Butch

Butch wiggles his pinky. "Wrong finger, Mr. Caskin. My little sister always fell for that trick too. We haven't seen any activity yet, which makes me think this place has been abandoned for some time. Probably since Droaam broke away. The switchback and the very mountains say that this place was likely used by miners at one point. But we humans like to socialize, so we would have seen someone by now. It could be an animal, but there are only a few drops, which makes me think that whatever was bleeding, managed to staunch its wounds. That makes people likely. Since we're expecting survivors from the crash, it could be Lyrandar blood. But it could also be blood from whoever shot them down. My guess would be Droaamites, which is largely orcish."

Butch turns back to the cavern, craning his neck around to get a good look. "I'm not sure about this. It's either up or down, but I can't make out an exit from here. This may be a dead end. We may need to go back to that path on the left."

[MandibleBones]

Cecil

"In any event, we must be careful," he muses. "And I'm sure young master Butch wasn't expecting some sort of a Thranish Inquisition for his little trick."

[Asmodeus]

Wrench

"He walks around in broad daylight. Thats enough to convince me he isn't a vampire."

Wrench starts walking forward as far as he can before reaching the cliff. At that point, he starts looking for a place that looks likely as a point to climb.

Wrench says "I think we better get out that climbing gear." He takes out his length of rope and begins knotting it at intervals, to make it easier to climb with.

[Citizen Joe]

Butch

"Hold it, Wrench. Use my hempen rope. It's shorter that the silk ones." Butch provides his coil or hemp rope.

"Mr. Caskin. While Wrench prepares the rope, could you go up this face behind us to get a look. No point in going up there if the passage doesn't continue."

[Asmodeus]

Wrench

Wrench continues to use his silk rope.

"No. Shorter is bad. Better to have too much than too little. Its a 30 ft cliff. Knotting a 50 ft rope, will shorten it to 40 ft approximately. Then we need enough slack for whoever goes up with it to secure it properly, and make sure it still reaches the ground down here.

Plus, Silk rope is easier to knot, so whoever goes up to secure it will be able to make a firmer knot.

I'm not much of a climber though, so someone else should be the one to go up, secure one end of this knotted rope, and then toss the other end down for those of us who are less skilled to use."

{OOC: I think I've got the worst climb check at -4. With a DC 0, knotted rope w/ wall to lean against, even I can do an accelerated climb, while taking 10.}

[Citizen Joe]

Butch

Butch nods in acceptance and puts away his rope. "Alright. We've still got some blood in the water here, so eyes open. There are claw marks as well. Azzy, you said something about rodents? Did they make these marks? Whatever made these marks and left the blood had to go someplace. We didn't pass it on the way here, so it's someplace close."

[Slash_712]

Threshkor

{OOC- Oh my gawd. I completely spaced. this thread jumped}

A little tired from the rest Threshkor decides to sit down on something near him, preferably of the non-pointy variety, and asks the rest of the group.
"Is there anything I can do to help?"

[KCiemir]

Butch

Butch nods in acceptance and puts away his rope. "Alright. We've still got some blood in the water here, so eyes open. There are claw marks as well. Azzy, you said something about rodents? Did they make these marks? Whatever made these marks and left the blood had to go someplace. We didn't pass it on the way here, so it's someplace close."

Azmirith
Azmirith thinks for a minute, and says "I did not see the blood here before, nor did I see these marks. This could be becasue I did not see it, or becasue it wasn't there. The rodents were slightly smaller than those beasts we fought last night. They must have continued down this passage, or we would have seen them."

[Citizen Joe]

Butch

"OK. Mr. Caskin, you're our eyes. Climb up this back wall and let me know if it is clear up there. Then I'll climb the cliff and haul everyone up. Let us know if anything is coming up behind us."

Butch quickly scratches out a crude sketch on the ground...


And then goes over to the corner where the chasm wall meets the cliff. He throws out a coil of rope and ties one end to his scythe and the other about his waist. He gives the corner a little test climb and nods to Caskin.

[Velvet Elvis]

Caskin

Looking a bit deflated, Caskin mutters, "Poxwail. It was just a joke." Further under his breath, he adds to himself, "Alright, you want it all business, my pleasure...."

Caskin asks Wrench, "I don't suppose you could make me a light stone? Would rather not lug around a lamp or waste a sunrod at this point. Think about it while I set myself up a bit."

He sweeps back the left side of his cloak, drawing a narrow wooden stick from a suitably narrow slot in his leather belt, then, taps his open left palm with the head of the stick. When nothing happens, Caskin's face sours and he commences shaking the stick as if punishing it. On the second try, the stick's head glows blue for an instant, making Caskin smile. As he puts the stick back into its belt notch, he says, "Now I have that ready for an hour or so."

Wiggling fingers of his left hand, Caskin passes it over the surface of all his exposed clothing and armor, resulting in an unevenly dark grey outfit from head to toe. Clucking his tongue in satisfaction, he returns to Wrench.

"So, how about that rock?" He waves his left hand and a small, flattened stone about an inch across rises slowly from the ground to a point level with Wrench's hands. "This'll work nicely."

OOC - Bigmac; Wrench

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Drawing and using my trusty wand of prestidigitation. DC20 UMD needed to convince it to work. Success on second attempt (2 rounds; failed roll was an 8; rolls in dice thread). Charge deducted on charsheet.

Bigmac - Is it dark in this place? No mention was made of it, and as far as I can recall, none of us has produced a light source since we left the surface level. I'm assuming it either is already or will be soon unless there's an ambient light source everywhere. Btw, my prestidigitation display is intended to make me harder to see against the prevailing backdrop.

Wrench - I know you have a Light infusion, I'm just not sure it's something you want to do (since I don't know much about Artificers). Much easier for me to handle a little rock than a torch/lamp, and much easier to mask when needed.

[Asmodeus]

Wrench

To Caskin, Wrench says "I only have a single infusion left. I would prefer to save it in case of emergency. Mr. Cecil? Do your magical abilities include a light spell? If you insist, I will infuse the rock with light, but I've got an extra sunrod you can use instead."

If Cecil can't cast light, and Caskin insists on a light spell, Wrench will use his infusion to light up the rock. Otherwise, he'll let Cecil cast the spell, or offer the sunrod.

[Velvet Elvis]

Caskin

Caskin shrugs casually. "Not critical. It's, as I said, just easier to work with. Yes, we should probably reserve your infusion for something more important. I'll use the sunrod, instead.

He allows the small rock to settle back to the floor, accepts the sunrod and sticks it in his mouth like a pirate's dagger. With the deftness of an expert thief, he scales the rock face indicated earlier, by Butch. At a height of just over thirty feet he stops to scan across the gap toward the north.

OOC

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Okay, I'm gonna pause here until I know if this room is naurally lit to any degree, and to find out if I can see anything without using the sunrod. If the room's dark, then we'd have a light source out, already. Shall we use the sunrod or does someone have a lamp the'd like to use?

[Bigmac]

From the OOC thread: visibility is limited on the canyon floor to 100ft of shadowy illumination (10% concealment). Still an hour or two of daylight left (you think).

Gimme a spot check if you can VE.

[MandibleBones]

Cecil

"If you need more light, just let me know," he says, almost itching to cast something.

[Velvet Elvis]

Caskin

"Sunrod's unused and I'm still partial to a nice lightstone, if you're so inclined," he replies in a low voice as he peers into the gloom.

OOC

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Spot - (1d20+2)[3](5) - Umm...can someone recommend a good Brelish Lasik surgeon?

[Bigmac]

For Caskin:

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The upper landing has a large boulder nearly 10ft in diameter about 15 feet from the east wall. Near the northen exit where the cavern wall come together you notice a rat that looks to be about 4ft long that scurries back towards the exit as it notices you.