Maverick hugs Mittens' side and buries his face in her side. He doesn't say anything. But he does rest against her.

---

Resting stuff...

Angel: No need to heal up.
Carla: Surge value 8(+4)=12. HP 29+12 = 34 FULL
Maverick: Surge value 9(+4)=13. HP 22+13 = 35

Adam exhales sharply in relief.  "Had me worried there..." he comments about not seeing Matt alive upon regaining consciousness.  He smiles over at Carla and pets her in reaction to the cute kiss then chuckles to Angel.  "Staying alive is very much a priority."

<<Safe stretch of scenery up here,>> Lucky thins from atop the cliff the group came from.

Adam nods to the tiger.  "What Matt said.  Let's go back near where we sprung the ambush from and rest there."

Mits glomps her lil boy and the adorable cherub, hums the healing song for the group, and rests up with them.  "Thanks, Matt!  Nice smashing on your end.  And stabbing and arrowing and slashing and all you guys's awesomeness!  Yeah I was scared...  But all's well that end's well, right?"

  "Well, I've been lucky with all the poisons and assorted other lingering problems compared to the rest of you.  I think that's the only reason I haven't fallen over yet, even if it's come close at times."  Tank Feats, working as intended for now.

  "But we all did as well as we could, and that's probably why we were able to walk out of that when they didn't."

"I'm sure they put forth their best effort too" Angel argues, "Just that they weren't our equals. Too bad. So now to decapitate and take our prize to the goblins? Would be worth it just to see the expressions on their faces."

Carla gives bright smiles to Adam and Mittens as they return attention to her.

Maverick discretely hides his tears and wipes them away. "What *is* our next step? Is there a way through the mountains this way? Or do we need to retrace our steps?"

Mits mommycats Mav some more with a doting smile.  "Next we do as Angel said and take our hard earned prize.  Though the goblins who see our accomplishment might not be the ones we expected.  There'll be some other goodies by the way.  Those nasty monsters thought this a wishing well."

Adam makes with the making sure the defeated foes are dead and the taking of their pocket change.  The real treasure is the Zaarani's solitaire worn by the madcaster, one of the pieces of the Ashen Crown.  And a few valuables in the moon pool are found.  Soon, goblin voices can be coming from the northeast, the opposite direction of where the PCs came from.  Before long, the familiar faces of the Kech Volaar appear from above the East cliff face at the the far side of the chamber.

"Impressive," Yeraa says, surveying the carnage left by the heroes.  Her eyes rest on the solitaire and she looks even more impressed.  "You done well!  We did well too."
She shows off Lurtaan's cord.  "But many dangers back the way we came.  Is your way clear?"

---

Zaarani's solitaire  Heroic Level
The power of this Bolden sphericalBem drives your foes to the
ground.
Wondrous Item
Power (Encounter): Free Action. TriBBer: You score a critical
hit on your turn. Effect: The target of the critical hit slides 2
squares and is knocked prone.
Special: You cannot use more than one solitaire in an
encounter.

Lurtaan's cord  Heroic Level
Fashioned ofbraided mithral and Bold, this belt Brants protection
aBainst supernaturally charBed attacks.
Item Slot: Waist
Power (Encounter): Immediate Interrupt. TriBBer: You are hit
by an attack that deals typed nonweapon damage. Effect:
You gain resist 5 against typed nonweapon damage until
the end of your next turn.

  "Unless more came to take the place what we have fought, our way back should be clear.  Why, traps along the way you took?"  Matt wasn't going to suggest the Goblinoid group ran from encounters, he didn't want to deal with tiny barbarian axes again.

  "Still, I wouldn't be surprised if something was waiting for us right outside.  Even if it looks like we're done, some proper rest before travel would be good.  It's not like everything that tries to kill us has limited themselves to caves we enter willingly."

Angel says, "Well technically clear of monsters. But don't forget the guys we passed earlier, Yeraa. They did initially threaten to eat us. But if they see we took out the Deathgaunt, they may be scared enough to not engage..."

Carla doesn't say anything, though she does wave.

Maverick does the same.

(Sorry, couldn't think of anything Maverick would do or say beyond the waving)
This message was last edited by the player at 13:36, Mon 01 Oct 2012.

Yera nods.  "Ghosts and things like that."  She points at the deathgaunt.  "Rest yes.  Good.  We go to camp."

She and the others wait up to make sure everyone is ready before moving on.  When the group arrives in the previous chamber they see the cave goblins cautiously watching them from the far south side of the chamber.  Yera strikes up a conversation with the leader of the cave goblins and they talk back and forth in goblin.  She and the Kech Volar look uncomfortable with what they are hearing.

"They say we have same ancestors" Yera explains, "But...   We go now."

She and the others hurry to the east to move on to the next chamber.  The cave goblins watch, their leader looking angry.  Adam just follows without comment while Mittens hums a soft tune.

Angel says, "Could be worse. They could have decided not to let us go. So aside from ancestors... what did they say? Why so unwelcoming? Was the deathgaunt sacred to them?"

(skipping Mav and Carla. Besides, I kinda posted out of order anyway)

  "They already had the tunnel closed to keep the deathgaynt away from them.  I don't think they cared for it all that much.  They didn't get upset and deny us passage in the first place when we brought up the Wordbearers.  If they have anything to be upset about, it's probably a recent development."

  Well, that or a case of relevant NPC motivations not being revealed until later in the module.

"Matt right," Yeera replies, "They hate deathgaunt."

She doesn't say any more about the topic until the group is in the next chamber.  "They want the relics.  Keep eyes open."

The group backtracks all the way back to the entrance without incident.  "We camp here," Yeera says.

Mits plays her song of rest for the Wordbearers and they seem to cheer up a bit.

Angel, Carla and Maverick certainly don't object to camping in a safe-ish place.

Carla sways slowly to Mittens' song and then leans on her, gazing up at Mittens with a bright smile. She then does the same for Adam.

Maverick is hugging his knees and looking heavily in thought and slightly irritated, despite the pleasant music.

Angel takes Maverick by the hand and leads him to Mitts' side. Then goes to take Adam by the hand. If he lets her, she then leads him to be near Mittens. She would also try to lead Matt to the bunch. Angel then sits between Adam and Mittens. "Are we all OK? Now that we have a little time to talk..."

  Hang out near his friends?  Yeah Matt isn't against the polite silent request.  "Well, about as okay as it gets.  Our situation hasn't changed much, but at least now we have some time to recover." Along with one less plot coupon to track down.  At least the ones they are recovering actually have practical applications, though Matt hoped they found a suitable weapon for Maverick before his recent sharp object gets converted into headgear.

  "Though you all did great back there as it was, rushing off to get revenge then and there wouldn't have meant much if Adam and Mitten's did not pull through."

Adam and Mits both smile at Carla's smiles and thank her.  Mits then mommy-cat glomps Mav when he's led to her and lucky joins the kitty cuddle.  Adam can't resist Angel's gentle guidance and sits where she leads him.  He interprets her question to mean that she's not okay, so he reaches to give her a reassuring side-hug.  Mits follows suit.  Adam glances from Matt to Mittens to the others and back, and rub behind his head bashfully.  "Revenge?  Goodness.  You all thought I was dead?  And Mittens... as good as dead?  I can see where you would get that impression.  I'll echo what Matt said.  Feeling much better now with rest.  Thanks for asking."

"Me too!" Mits chimes in, "Thankies!"

Angel says, "Our little group has become something of a family. Like soldiers who have been to war and back talk about their "brothers in arms". In the case of Maverick, he's literally been taken in by Mittens, but I think we've all taken each other in. And I sometimes wonder if Carla thinks herself our mother."

Carla blushes.

Maverick says, "Just add to our list of things to do: Don't scare Angel by going unconscious again."

Angel says, "Maybe we'll find smarter ways to fight in the future."

  "I'm sure there is always room for improvement, but I figure we all did as best we could in that last one.  It's always the lingering pains that seem to get us the most, when something isn't able to send us halfway to death's door with one strike."

DoTs.  Worse than Crits?... No.  More annoying? Yes.

At the mention of becoming a family, Lucky smiles and reaches out to give Angel a big fluffay tiger hug.  He then leans over to give Carla a kiss on the cheek.  Mittens and Adam chuckle at the kitty love.  Adam rubs behind his head bashfully when the topic of fighting smarter comes up.  "In hind sight I probably should have called for a withdrawal rather than charge at those things with the exploding balls of filth.  Angel's right.  I'll try and fight smarter in the future."

"Speaking of the future," Mittens chimes in, "Even though I know we're all gunna wind up famous heroes, I still panicked.  Sorry 'bout that.  If it's any consolation for charging in, had we backed off it's very likely that the local goblin tribe would have been caught up in the fight and at least one of them killed."

Adam nods.  "Yeah, actually.  That does make me feel better.  Thanks."

Angel chuckles from the hug and pets the large cat. The tiniest little giggle can be heard from Carla as she shrugs a shoulder from Lucky's cat-kiss.

Angel says, "Whatever the case, we can keep making sure we aren't grouped for a nasty attack that could hit us all, but at the same time this last fight proved we should still stay close enough to be able to get to each other in a timely fashion. Thankfully, we were able to."

  Matt imagines falling back then having to fight those things while the party is crammed in a 2 tile wide hallway/staircase the whole fight.  Ouch.

  "Yeah, spending the whole fight in the passageways leading to rooms just sounds like asking for more pain and frustration."

"I didn't mean fall back to the hall," Adam clarifies, "Rather just beyond that to force the enemy to funnel through it.  But I guess only time will tell if terrain will allow an opportunity like that again."

"We've got lots more combat ahead of us before we get back home," Mittens predicts, "So it's likely we'll have plenty chance to be tactical."

Angel nods. "Well then let's get some rest and prepare. Goodnight, all."

Carla yawns and stretches, fists clenched (Like this: http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/t...1291499300T5860P.jpg ).

Maverick gets his bedroll prepared.

---

As a side note...

  Considering they have hooked up with the wordbearers again, getting a proper nights sleep without watch rotations on their end is doable, score.

  "Some days, smash it with a hammer is as tactical as it gets."