Storm King's Thunder [CLOSED]

[Baba Luga]

Now that the five strangers have come closer, Lycan can see what a motley bunch they are:

• The armor-clad female dwarf who stands before him
• A kenku outfitted for life on the road
• One of the human guards from nightstone
• The blue-skinned man sixty feet below at the foot of the hill; probably a genasi
• Standing next to the genasi, a tall, buff tiefling man with bright purple hair and a lute

 

[Ellywyck27]

Ruthenia nods and listens. Ten goblins. An og— AN OGRE?! Great. A cave. Probably the Nostril. A stream. A promise... This elf was not making much sense. Possibly dehydrated. Ruthenia unstoppers her little water skin and offers it up for the elf to take.
“Here. Drink. But you haven’t seen any humans? Not good, Bell. Wait—
Ruth does her best to raise one eyebrow, and then hopes it conveys skepticism without being rude. But the thought has clearly occurred to her that the promise might be one of blood or revenge. What brings a lone elf to the edge of random caves? And how does he know there might be Nightstoners here?
“Why are you looking for them, elf? What promise did you make?”

 

[ZombWie]

Bell stands with Ruthenia looking around the side of the hill nervously. Each time the pair speaks the Kenku visibly flinches, then with a finger to his beak he mimics, "Goblins... Orgre..."

They have arrived and confirmed that this location is where the villagers have been taken. Now they need to scout the cave mouth and get an idea of what they are walking into. This strangers motivations are of little concern to Bell. He only wants to know whether the elf will be helping or hindering their operation, so he sits quietly while the talkers talk. If they get too loud he will shoosh them again.

 

[Tiktik]

"I came here originally to get rubbings of some runes and to talk to one Destiny Agganor, a rather lovely tiefling lady native to Nightstone, some questions about said runes. However, she was captured by one of those hateful goblins. My promise", he scowls at the prospect of informing these ignorant fools about the inner workings of the Brotherhood, but carries on anyway, "Was to my master, Galinevan the Incessant, Scholar of the South Tower, and was composed of me swearing on my honour not to let him down."

 

[Ellywyck27]

He didn’t accept her drink, no surprise.
He hadn’t looked her in the eye.
But one thing her father didn’t understand was that dwarves and elves and Kenku and blue sky people and such all have different ways of showing respect. Ruthenia is pretty sure if the elf was trying to be rude he wouldn’t have answered the questions, let alone show his opinion of his master. She smiled to herself. She would never scowl when speaking of her father to a stranger, however frustrating he was.

She looks to her friends to see what THEY think of this tall stranger... But there was only Bell, shushing her again as she asks, “Whaere are they? Clearly it wasn’t a trap, as— catching the idea of being quiet, she finishes in a whisper— as I said, and we can use another set of hands and weapons. Can you signal them up here to join us?”
Then she swigs a gulp of the warm water, re-stoppers her water skin, and straps it back on.

 

[ZombWie]

"...another set of hands and weapons..." quietly mimics Bell with a nod. Ever the practical kenku, Bell is always willing to accept more help into the group as long as they are willing to carry their weight. He continues, "Many hands make light work." in the gruff voice of an older human woman. Standing from a crouch, Bell waves the rest of the rescue party up the hill. Once the rest of the group arrives they can formulate some kind of plan of approach. Maybe the elf has some insight as to how they might enter the cave to release the villagers, if the people have not been tied to spit by now.

As if he just realized his negligence, Bell reaches a hand toward the elf, "Bell Damper," he mimics in Rathas' voice and accent, then gives a curt nod of his head.

 

[ramonlimon2]

Aseir purses his lips slightly in annoyance as both the bird and the dwarf rush in, staying where he is and looking around while they talk. It's a comfortable silence with Lecuis, standing and waiting as they have so many times.

Finally, at Bell's gesture and the lack of sprung traps Aseir goes to climb the hill.

 

[ZombWie]

Bell recognizes that he is the one best suited to scout ahead and attempt to get some eyes on their destination. He heads up and over the hilltop and finds plenty of cover to remain hidden as he traverses the hill. Once on the other side, he realizes, not unlike a nose on a person's face, there is no way to see up into the Nostril. Laying down and scooting closer to the edge of the Hill, Bell can see only the partially butchered remains of what can only be the villager's horses. Maybe even his own beauty has been cut up by the green garbage eaters. The muscles on the sides of the kenku's face tense with anger. Bell does a quick push up and and slinks back into the woods to head back to his group.

 

[Baba Luga]

After interpreting Bell's reconnaissance report as best as they're able, the other five join him in shuffling back down the east side of the hill, over to where Lycan discovered a smaller entrance yesterday.

It's a narrow gap between rocks that opens up, but not by much, into a dry tunnel that slopes gently down and then bends out of sight after about fifteen feet (those without darkvision can barely see that far). A very slight air current flows into the passage.

 

[Baba Luga]

Taking his hooded lantern in hand, Bell follows Lycan through the tight squeeze. The elf's stuffed backpack blocks most of the kenku's view ahead, but it's not going to matter much once they get around that first turn, when the light from his dimmed lantern will only illuminate Bell's immediate surroundings anyway. Aseir comes last, navigating his own full pack around the squeeze.

Spoiler: What Lycan et al. find

After that first turn, the passage continues another ten feet before bending again—there's ample headroom at least. It continues like this for a while: short stretches of passage between each slight turn, with only the sound of sliding feet and packs scraping against the irregular cave walls. Lycan guesses they've slowly advanced nearly a hundred feet on a subtle downward slope, when the passage spreads around a great stalagmite that rises halfway to the cave ceiling twenty feet overhead. This formation is riddled all over with apple-sized holes that appear to go deep into the stone. Smaller stalagmites and stalactites are all around, so that, although wider than what has come before, this chamber presents its own impediments to progress. There's a strong earthy scent in here, with an undertone of rotting cabbage.

A bit of cautious exploration reveals that the large stalagmite is actually at the center of a cave about fifteen feet across. Two other narrow passages exit this chamber, one on the other side of the stalactite, the other to the right of the tunnel from outside. A faint sound of splashing water comes from the passage forward. The air is also a bit cooler in that direction. Two heavily-corroded weapons lie on the uneven ground near it: a curved short sword and a dagger.

In the course of circumnavigating the stalactite, Bell's dim light reveals several large patches of a dry, powdery white residue on the walls and floor. Tiny cave crickets cluster around these patches, their long antennae slowly waving. Exposed to the lantern light, the crickets launch themselves away into the darker regions.

Spoiler: Ruth et al. outside

The spelunkers have been away five or ten minutes when Lecuis makes a curious expression and asks, "Is someone singing Brother Valdo's Broken Helmet?" Neither Ruth nor Torem have any idea what the so-called Demon Musician is talking about, until an enormous, hairy humanoid, easily twice Ruth's height, comes into view from around the side of the hill about fifty yards to the south. Its big belly sags over a shaggy loincloth, and even at this distance there's no missing the long tusks curving from its mouth. The wind shifts and carries the low, guttural tune that Lecuis picked up over to Ruth's ears as well. As the singing creature comes fully into view, so does the tree trunk it drags behind itself.

The ogre stops and lifts its head, as if sniffing the air. Torem's eyes go wide and he clenches his spear, while Lecuis whistles quietly and presses his back against the rocks near the "sinus". Then the ogre takes up its discordant tune again, from the beginning, and walks ponderously away from the hill, out across the moor to the west.

 

[ZombWie]

Bell follows Lycan as the enter the cave in the hill. Once the group rounds the first bend and the light fades behind them, Bell's anxiety goes up a notch. This cave is no place for any kind of civilized creature. The Kenku much prefers high ground with plenty of space and a good view of his sorroundings. This cave and the tiny lamp makes him feel like a pet bird in a cage. Nonetheless, Bell is there to do a job. He keeps his eyes on the elf ahead of him. There is very little reason to not take this newcomer on his word, but Bell watches him anyway.

Further down the cave, when it opens up and they must move around this large stalactite, Bell notices a white powder. He reaches out a finger and drags it through the substance then brings it up to his nose.

 

[ramonlimon2]

Aseir taps Bell on the shoulder, gesturing quiet, then begins backing toward the sound of water without taking his eyes off the stalagmite.

 

[Baba Luga]

Spoiler: Aseir, Bell, Lycan

In the same order as before—Lycan, Bell, Aseir—the three spelunkers move into the narrow passage opposite the one they used to enter the stalagmite chamber. The sound of water is definitely louder this way; its echoes soon grow loud enough to cover the sliding sounds their feet make on the rough ground. After about twenty feet the passage makes a sharp turn left. Peering around the bend, Lycan can see that it soon opens up into another smallish chamber with a low ceiling. On the rear wall a subterranean waterfall splashes down from the ceiling eight feet overhead to fill a pool that occupies about a third of the chamber. The water appears to enter through cracks in the rocks, with no space to follow the flow upstream.

Bell and Aseir hear the water grow louder at the bend, but with nothing to go by except a bit of light from the lowered lantern, they don't see the chamber ahead.

 

[ZombWie]

The Kenku turns and sees Aseir. Bell figures the blue Man may know something he doesn't, so he shrugs and follows the along down the tunnel with the watery sounds.

Turning to the elf, Bell shrugs and gestures toward the room as if to say, "What do you see?"

 

[Tiktik]

Lycan groans. "Damn. Dead end. Right, there's a pool,about two-thirds of the room. Fills from an overhead waterfall, but there's no space to try and follow it further upstream."
He pauses for a moment, before continuing, more excitedly, "There may be something in here, though."

 

[Baba Luga]

Spoiler: Aseir, Bell, Lycan

As Lycan moves forward into the darkness to get a better view of the room with the waterfall, something feels not quite right to Aseir. With Bell's lantern lowered, there's only blackness behind them, but he turns to look just the same. In doing so, his stuffed backpack jams against the jagged wall. As he struggles with it, a solid blow from unseen thing in the darkness beside him spins him around. With a sickening splash, a dark, foaming spray spreads over the genasi's chest, seeping between the links of his chain shirt. The smell of burning leather and corroded metal rise up, along with the resurgence of the acrid, earthy odor from the stalactite chamber. Heat burns across Aseir's torso; whatever this corrosive foam is, it seems to be burning through his armor with incredible speed.

Just five feet away, Bell is jostled by Aseir's movement from the blow. The kenku also hears the splash and smells the noxious odors, but sees only the blackness beyond the lantern's faint glow. About ten feet into the waterfall room, Lycan hears a scuffle back in the tight passage.

 

[ZombWie]

A wet splash alerts Bell to something strange happening behind him, then he hears a scuffle in the dirt. The kenku turns and begins backing away from the sound as he raises the hood on his lantern. Bell's eyes go wide with shock when he sees a black formless thing attacking Aseir. He quickly sets the lantern on the ground and moves quietly around the corner trying to stick to the shadows. He considers his next move as his hand instinctively moves toward his bow.

 

[ZombWie]

Bell watches as Aseir succumbs to the attack from the formless mass of black goo. If the fighter can't hold his own against this thing, then the kenku knows he should show extreme caution. Unfortunately, Bell also recognizes that they my need Aseir to get out of this hole. With a dip of his beak and resigned sigh, Bell charges forward and grabs hold of Aseir dragging him back into the chamber with the strange elf. Once he reaches the water's edge he drops the blue man in the dust and gestures for Lycan to do something about the unconscious Aseir. A moment later the blob enters the room and begins to move toward trio. Bell's instinct is to split up since they are only fighting one foe. He considers dragging Aseir, but there is no time. He is force to head for the far wall alone. With another gesture he tells Lycan to go the other way.

Through all this, Bell wonders how he might fight this creature. He doesn't want to get close, so his bow seems to be his only option. It's just so tight in this cave.

 

[Baba Luga]

The amorphous black entity pauses briefly as Bell darts over to the nook on the east side of the waterfall chamber, and then surges forward to where Aseir lies, unconscious, at the pool's edge. A thick, viscous pseudopod erupts from the foaming black mass and slams into Aseir's chest, causing the genasi's body to shudder from the impact, but the corroded chain shirt Aseir wears seems to have momentarily held off the blob's onslaught. Crouching nearby, Lycan feels stinging droplets bite the exposed flesh of his face and hands

 

[Baba Luga]

Caught between the cavern wall and the blob, Lycan takes up his bow and backs up as far as he's able. His head hits the sloping wall and his elbow scrapes on stone as he draws and fires two arrows into the pulsing mass. There's a soft hiss as more droplets of stinging fluid erupt from the thing and prick his exposed flesh. He rolls his head to the side just in time to avoid a globule of dark fluid that might have otherwise blinded him.

The black ooze seems to lower itself as it once more backs away from a source of injury. In retreat, it glides into the narrow passage from which it came, assembling itself back into a human-size mass that chokes the tunnel. Standing at the other end of the passage, Bell sees the dim light from the lantern in the waterfall room begin to fade—something is cutting it off—and suddenly, the kenku is surrounded by darkness again. The earthy, rotten odor assaults him, and something acrid brings tears to his eyes. And then, there is a pinprick of light, opening back up to the lantern's dull illumination coming around the bend in the passage. The black mass is before him, compressing itself to flow rapidly along the wall to his left. With so little light, Bell can barely see the huge stalactite in room behind him, but he can tell that the blob is moving towards it, enveloping it. It rests there for a brief moment, draped around the rock formation. Then there's a low, slurping, sucking sound as the black blanket covering the stalagmite drips into it through the many holes, until the putrid odor in the air is the only sign that it's been here at all.

 

[ZombWie]

Bell watches his shot go wide and disappear into the dark water behind the black pudding, then ducks around the corner out of sight. Moments later the soft swish of bow string echoes off the cave walls and Bell surmises that the elf must have taken a shot at the blob. When the passage goes black the kenku's breath catches and he once gain reaches for a weapon only to see the light return and witness the creature slide past him. Bell holds hist breath and lets the blackness slink away into what must be it's nest in the cave column of the previous chamber.

The only thing that moves on the bird man's body is a single finger tapping noiselessly on his trousers, one, two, three... Bell counts out 20 seconds in the still passageway before quietly creeping back into the waterfall room and toward Lycan and Aseir's body. The kenku kneels next to Aseir and holds a hand beneath the blue man's nose. With a quick nod he turns toward Lycaan, "Can you signal them up here to join us?" Bell mimics in a Ruth's hushed tone. Then, as if to reinforce his suggestion, Bell makes walking fingers toward the exit to this chamber.

 

[Baba Luga]

Readily grasping the kenku's meaning, Lycan nods and quickly heads off through the narrow passage, leaving Bell alone by the waterfall pool with the lantern and Aseir's unconscious form for company.

* * *​

"Come quickly, the genasi is hurt," the laconic elf's voice beckons from the "sinus" near where Ruth, Torem and Lecuis have been waiting out the ogre's march towards the horizon.

 

[Ellywyck27]

The sneaky trio hasn't been gone more than two minutes before Ruth settles into a comfortable position leaning against the rocky hill face beside the narrow opening and says casually, “If this back entrance was a surprise to us, let’s hope it is also a surprise to the current occupants. Do you think any of the Nightstonians know this sinus well?”
Ruthenia listens for Torem’s response as she looks out toward the open moor. Nothing moves there. Then she quietly asks, “Why do you care so much to find them, that you were willing to trek out alone against goblins, and showed disrespect to your captain?” Ruth wonders if Torem has family that is missing, or if there is some other reason of goodwill or heroics or fortune that was driving him to seek out the civilians.
*****
When Lecuis interrupts, they all fall silent to listen. The sight of a huge ogre coming round the hill strikes cold fear in Ruth’s chest, and she is thankful she is already sitting down, leaning against the hill side.
She doesn’t move a muscle;
doesn’t blink;
doesn’t breathe.
If I’m spotted by that monstrosity, she thinks, I’ll squeeze into this cave opening. In her state of panic, she doesn’t think about her companions, only herself.

The ogre wanders away and is already far out of sight before she feels the icy chill begin to fade from her body. She completely forgot about her interest in learning Torem’s motivations. She’s lost in memories and fearful nightmares which she wrestles against, demanding her mind focus on repeating over and over, Milil, god of light, grant me strength. She is ashamed to remember how so recently she thought to casually invoke a prayer for protection, when now was the time for true faith. Do not mock thy gods, she remembers her grandfather saying, or they wyll laugh at you in your moment of need.

When Lycan’s voice beckons them to enter the cave and assist, Ruth wonders if Milil has granted her the strength she prayed for, if her secret ability to touch and heal will fail her friend, or if Milil alone is not a fickle god like all the others.

 

[Baba Luga]

"Well, someone had to do something, didn't they?" is Torem's somewhat vague response to Ruth's question. "Stay back there playing house in the empty keep? Who am I then?"

Preparing to enter the dark tunnel, Torem takes a candle, tinderbox and twisted iron candle holder from his pouch. In short order he has the stick of burning tallow mounted in the holder against the side of his helmet, providing low light for himself. "Sorry," he mutters, being the only only of the group who needs the light to navigate the cave, "I'll bring up the rear."

Ruth, Lecuis and Torem head into the tight, twisting passage after Lycan. "No idea what this all's about," whispers the Nightstone guard. "No one even goes out to the Bunion much any more, certainly not the Nostril."

In a couple of minutes the group has reached the stalagmite chamber, where Lycan indicates that everyone should move around the central column with great caution. Pointing the way through the western tunnel to the waterfall cave, he stays behind to keep an eye on the pitted rock formation while the others go on to find Bell and Aseir in the damp cul-de-sac.

 

[Ellywyck27]

Ruth leads the way into the small passage indicated by Lycan. Even if she couldn’t see, the sound would have told her there was a small waterfall here. It glints and glistens with the small candle light as Torem enters the room behind them.
Ruthenia kneels beside Aseir to assess his wounds, and quietly asks Bell, “What happened? What is this damage to his armor? Do none of us have a potion for healing?”