Grunting at the impact with Eryn, Marcus couldn't manage more than a nod and a short smile at her apology and thanks. Slowly rising after her, he looked at the situation. Another foe defeated, and a child saved. But not the one they came to rescue.

As others made their plans on how to deal with the corpse and dark treasure it held, the paladin took all that he had seen Ilura do and observed the crystal cavern they were in. He even moved a bit further to try and catch a voice drifting from somewhere else in the underground system. Hopefully, there would be some way to find any lost children without drawing more attention to themselves.

21:50, Today: Marcus rolled -1 using 1d4-3.  Damage from Eryn.
21:48, Today: Marcus rolled 10 using 2d6.  Discern realities.
Mostly trying to find the other children/the lair, so let's go with:

• What is about to happen?
• What should I be on the lookout for?
• What here is useful or valuable to me?

Ilura stopped herself from shrugging again.  Her bout with Mr Shadows had re-opened her shoulder wound and she could feel the blood oozing down along her side.  Her tunic stuck to her side and her thigh cried out with a litany of complaints as she returned to a standing position and made way for the magic user.

While she let Hiran do his work, the ranger carefully plucked one of the lizards spined and examined it closely.  The creature's spines had managed to penetrate stone and had flown with remarkable accuracy.  If she could manage to turn them into arrows, they might be rather effective.

Eryn wrinkled her brow at Hiran's knife. Something about the way he worked unsettled her. It reminded her of the earlier conversation with the witch.

"If it's some kind of magic shadow, perhaps this bit of magic could cut it loose?" The sell-sword knew little of how magic worked in practice, so when she indicated the blue blade hanging from her belt it was with an uncertain tone in her voice. It had a strange effect on shadows, at least, and cut through them without leaving a lasting mark. That ought to count for something.

"Oh, and if we are chopping this thing to bits anyway, let's try to salvage as much useful stuff as possible. We could use the meat for some extra food with all these children around, and the bones and scales as raw materials."

While she was talking and watching Hiran work, Eryn poked the dead creature's jaw with the blunt end of her spear, careful not to get any acid on it. She slowly lifted it upwards to peek inside, to see if there still existed a horrible dark void after the creature was dead.



A couple of questions:
* How much can we get out of this vorlag's corpse?
* Is the girl still in the cave, or did she run as instructed before the final moments of the fight?

Hiran nodded after using his scalpel to carefully cut into the beast to get to where this core of shadows was he if Eryn allowed then used the shadow blade to carefully pry the flesh from the pit itself hoping this blade would be less likely to damage it than a typical blade.  It was all guess work but no matter the occurrence this was something he had to write about for further analysis and study in the future.

Once the beast was sliced open, it became clear that its insides were of a more mundane nature than its outsides.  When Eryn peeked in its mouth, the magical abyss was quickly loosing its luster and a typical giant lizard mouth revealed itself, and the quills Ilura examined no longer tried to move about the vorlag's body.  They were certainly still sharp though, and the larger ones could probably be fashioned into decent arrows.

As Dr. Hiran worked, he found no real surprises in its internal makeup.  Nothing would suggest that there was a magical object residing within.  But when the stomach was cut open, thick black goop oozed out onto the floor and solidified almost immediately.  The only thing remaining after that was an ovoid object about the size of Hiran's fist.  It looked almost like a huge almond, but it reflected no light.  And it was heavy for its size.  As Hiran carefully cut it free from the stomach lining, he could feel the power pulsing from it.  It was potent.  The power didn't feel evil, per se, but certainly not good either.  But at any rate, there were no noticeable drawbacks to handling the object as far as Hiran could tell.

While Hiran was busy at work, Marcus was still focused on those who needed rescuing.  By the time Hiran had finished his work and everyone harvested all that they wanted from the vorlag, Marcus had made several notable observations about their nearby surroundings.  The most obvious one was that the girl they had rescued was still nearby.  He found her hiding just outside the entrance to the cavern, frightened for her life.  The relief in her eyes was almost palpable when she saw Marcus, alive and well (more or less).  She stuck close by his side as he continued his investigation of the room, but remained silent unless spoken to.  Her nose did crinkle at the sight of the vorlag being dissected though.

Marcus's second observation was that there were still cries from several different kids within earshot.  The same cries they could hear from back at the bridges.  The cries of children who knew they were being used for bait, but were to terrified to oppose Mr. Shadows' wishes.

Lastly, as Marcus closely observed the crystal cavern, one detail caught his eye.  A ripple in the small shallow pool at the center.  As he walked closer to get a better look, something tiny dripped into the pool to create more ripples.  He probably would have thought nothing of it since they were in a cave, except where the ripples originated the water was slowly turning a cloudy red.  Blood red.

Looking up, Marcus could see a small shoeless foot poking out over a ledge.  The vorlag must have set down its first prey in order to try and catch a second one!

What do you do?

Hiran
You have successfully harvested one Pit of Shadows. (1 weight)

Ilura
The quills do appear to be usable as an arrow crafting material.

Eryn

How much can we get out of this vorlag's corpse?
You can get enough meat that you shouldn't have to worry about rations until you get to town or the meat spoils.  Enough Quills to be able to make as many arrows as you would like (within reason).  Enough leather to make a full suit of leather armor or two.  Enough teeth to make a couple cool stabby daggers with.  One tail to make one three-pronged whip with. Enough bones to... I don't know.  Do whatever you might want to do with bones.  Basically just tell me what you want to harvest and I'll help you figure out the stats.  It probably isn't practical to carry the entire beast though, so keep that in consideration when making your choices.

Is the girl still in the cave, or did she run as instructed before the final moments of the fight?
She ran, but was still nearby.

Marcus

What is about to happen?
You are about to find the girl again, as well as the missing boy.

What should I be on the lookout for?
Drops of blood in the pool.

What here is useful or valuable to me?
The knowledge that the undiscovered kids sound like they are still alive, even if they are still scared.

Take +1 forward when acting on the answers.

I seem to have forgotten to bring a knife, Eryn thought. Careless of me.

Surveying the vorlag's corpse for useful materials, the thought crossed her mind that its teeth could be carved into tools. She concluded that there wouldn't be time to practice such craftsmanship while still in the cave. Plus, the void and the acid had been scary enough to keep her from messing around with the beast's mouth any more than necessary, even if the magic was fading. Instead she decided to purchase a knife as soon as they returned to town. The fighter noticed Hiran withdrawing his hand with a black object in it, so she withdrew her spear as well and let the mouth clamp shut once more. She recoiled a bit at the sight of the nasty liquid seeping out of the creature's stomach.

"Hideous," she said in a disgusted tone. "Did you find what you were looking for? If so, I'll need to borrow your knife for a few minutes. I don't want to stay here longer than necessary, but we could use the meat to keep the kids fed."

Eryn glanced over at the ranger standing nearby. "Ilura, could you help me flay this thing? The hide can be made into some new armor or water-skins or something." Skinning a catch would be familiar work, at least, but she felt antsy. The fighter could tell that Marcus was looking to get going, and even if the vorlag was dead there was still the matter of finding all its would-be victims.



I'll probably grab some meat, hide, and the tail if it's not too big. Bones and teeth sound useful but I think breaking them off and cleaning them might be too much work right now. The hide can be rolled up, at least.

"Lets grab the kids first.  We've got the dangerous part out so no-one else can steal it.  We can come back to cut this thing up once they're safe.  The children are more important than the meat.  Also, we don't know what else their cries might draw in the meantime."

"Fair enough. I just thought to take a breather at the same time. I'm feeling quite beat up and winded after that thing almost killed me."

Ilura nodded her head.  She wished the party included a cleric.  Or that she'd had the funds to pick up a few healing potions.  The Paladin had done some amazing things, but there was a limit to what a warrior could do - however pure their heart.

"Lets get the kids back to the fire, grab what we want from this beast, then catch some rest."

"There!" Marcus pointed to the ledge where presumably the wounded dwarf was. Moving towards the bottom of the slope, he asked Ilura for help "Do you have any climbing equipment?" Giving the ranger a moment, he started to ascend the rocky surface. "Any ideas on how to find the others quickly, their voices are coming from several passages."

Posting before receiving aid to speed things up, as I'm not sure how available I'll be in next day or two. (never mind though)
22:23, Today: Marcus rolled 10 using 2d6+1.  Defy danger (Str) - climb.

Hiran pulls out the shadow orb and immediately finds a bit of cloth or even his own robes and wraps it tightly so that light cannot pierce the orb.  He then begins to call forth magic to form an unseen servant to handle the added weight he has taken on. The strain in calling forth so much of his magic in this cave is more than he realized as the headache the follows the spell sears the spell completely from memory.  He cries out in pain for a brief moment before coming back to his clear senses.

Hiran carries the orb on his person safely nestled in his backpack and wrapped up then takes his bag of books and places it with the unseen servant.  The sack floats gently beside him as he looks back at the others. "We should leave before something else comes, we are in no shape to fight"

Hiran nodded and offered his knife to Eryn without response.

Hiran grabs a jingling large bag off of his back and looks at the others. "I have three potions of healing if we want to use them now to mend some of our wounds."

Ilura's head turned to look sharply at Hiran for a moment.  She'd heard of magic users who could read the thoughts of others.  The thought that one of her own party members might have attempted that left her deeply disturbed.  But looking into the old man's face showed no sign he was doing anything other than offering help.

She was about to accept when Marcus called to her and she saw the blood dripping into the pool.  She ran to him immediately offering her rope, but he'd already pulled himself up.  So instead she positioned herself to be ready to accept the child's body down.  The dwarf would need the potion more than she - if he wasn't already gone...

"You are right. I'll just do this real quick," Eryn said, accepting the knife from Hiran and using it to slice off a good length of the vorlag's tail. She swifly coiled it up and went on to carry it, then handed the knife back to its owner. "We'll return for the spoils later," she nodded, "and a healing potion sounds good, thank you."

Knowing they had two more healing potions - plus Rirrik's healing ability - and knowing she had neither shield nor deft movement to keep her safe, Eryn had no qualms about taking what she was offered. The fighter looked over at where Ilura and Marcus were working while uncorking the bottle. "That's the other kid for sure. Looks like he's in bad shape. If they see to him, maybe you and I can look for the rest."

Downing the potion in one gulp, Eryn was delighted to feel its healing effect spread throughout her battered and bruised body.


Accepting a potion from Hiran. Healed 10 HP.
Added vorlag tail to inventory.

This message was last edited by the player at 08:09, Fri 02 Feb 2018.

Marcus, with a combination of raw strength and sheer determination, managed to scale the cave wall with assistance.  His fingers managed to find nice handholds among the crystalline walls, but the ascension was still a difficult and perilous.  The ledge he was trying to reach was nearly thirty feet up, and one wrong step could have sent him crashing down into the shallow pool below.

When Marcus did reach the ledge though, the sight was a sad one.  The poor dwarven child was still breathing, thankfully, but he was unconscious and had several notable wounds from the vorlag.  In addition to scrapes and bruises from being dragged around, one of the boy's arms had acid-like markings on it similar to where the vorlag's spittle had dissolved Marcus's own supply of rations.

---

While Marcus made his climb, Eryn had plenty of time to retrieve the vorlag's tail.  It was surprisingly light and supple, and even longer than it first looked.

What do you do?

Eryn
Vorlag tail is 1 weight.

A shadow fell over paladin's face at the sight of the mangled child. While he was still alive, the ordeal must have been terrifying. Considering everything, his unconscious was a blessing. Waving for Ilura to toss the rope up, Marcus tied it securely and after hugging the boy close to him he started to descended slowly. "A potion please, Hiran." The paladin asked of the mage on his way down. He could likely heal most of the wounds the young dwarf sustained, but with the exhaustion that started to take over, Marcus decided it would be best if a potion would be administrated to the child.

As Marcus administered the potion, the boy's wounds slowly healed up.  The acid bite marks on his arm healed more slowly than the others, but in time they also disappeared.  Then suddenly, with a sharp gasp, the dwarven boy sat bolt upright and looked around wildly.  He panicked for a moment, as if trying to determine which way he needed to flee, but then calmed down again as he realized the vorlag was not trying to grab him any longer.  "I... I'm alive?"  He looked at his dirt-covered hands, as if he couldn't believe they were in one piece.  Then he looked up again and seemed to notice Marcus and the others for the first time.  A look of recognition crossed his face.  "You're the zombie-slayers, aren't you!  You saved me?"

What do you do?

I continued under the assumption that Hiran would allow the use of his potion, since he did offer them.  Let me know if that was not true.  Hiran should still have one potion left at this point.  Eryn used one and one was used on the child.

Ilura stood ready to help the boy down and, less obviously, to assist Marcus if he required it.  Though the Palidin put up a brave face, it was obvious to her experienced eye that the holy warrior was hurting more than he let on.  Once he was down, she clambered up the rope, untied it and then made her way carefully down the rocks, the rope secured again in her pack.

She accepted the remaining healing potion from Hiran, then turned to Marcus.

"You need this more than I.  And your strength may be needed to heal others among us yet."

She waited until the palidin had fully consumed the potion, however reluctantly, before leading the search for the remaining children.  Their cries made their locations obvious, but the caverns could be dangerous and she still needed to keep a sharp eye out.  She proceeded with more caution with Thomas not able to circle out ahead.  The crow might have been willing, but she did not want to risk further injury.  He needed his rest.  To be honest, so did they all...

quote:

12:10, Today: Ilura rolled 10 using 2d6+2.  Defy danger (Dex) - climb down.

(For climbing down without a rope)

quote:

12:11, Today: Ilura rolled 11 using 2d6+1.  Perceive realities (scouting w/o Thomas).

What should I be on the lookout for?
What here is useful or valuable to me?
What here is not what it appears to be?

Hiran gladly handed out the potions to the others.  "They may not understand me and I may not see eye to eye with them all but these people have been kind to me.  The least I can do is offer these to appease them about this childs well being." he thinks quietly to himself.

"We should begin to leave we could use a rest and we have to make it back out of this cave system alive.  Lets hope that witch doesn't descend on us while we escape.  I also need to resupply, we will need more potions if we are to survive this trek to stop Nikadroy."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:14, Tue 06 Feb 2018.

"I agree wholeheartedly. Let us get the few remaining kids and figure out which route to take."

The fighter set off after Ilura, feeling spry and confident after the healing and victory in battle. Still, it wouldn't do to get careless.

"We beat both the beast and the man in charge here. Seems to me herding the kids down here was their main purpose, and we put a stop to the people doing that. How likely do you think it is for there to be any more hirelings like those witches hanging around in the caves?"
This message was last edited by the player at 18:11, Tue 06 Feb 2018.

"As we saw with the bats, these caverns almost certainly have other natural denizens who might not welcome our presence.  Even the ground itself could prove dangerous.  We must still exercise caution."

With Ilura leading the way and pointing out hazards along the way, the group was collectively able to round up the rest of the children without too much trouble.  The caves were expansive and tough to navigate in places, but nothing the group couldn't handle.  It seemed that the three bridges all led to the same cave system after all, but just at different levels.  And it would have been difficult and dangerous to have a lot of kids climbing between the different levels all the time.  However, with Ilura's rope and with help from the adults, it was not much of an obstacle for the heroes to overcome.

The first few children were skeptical that they were being rescued, but quickly became joyous as the truth settled in.  And the first few children were able to lead you to where others were, and those children were able to lead you to even more.  It wasn't long before everyone was accounted for and meeting up near where the bridges had been cut down.

When the group reached the chasm with the 30 or so kids in tow, they could see Druzy still sitting by the bonfire on the other side.  The fire was considerably smaller now, but even in the dimmed light it was easy to see that Druzy was not alone.  Sitting right next to her and keeping her company was Mira, the old sea witch.

What do you do?

Marcus
If you do in fact drink the potion offered to you, heal 10 HP or heal one debility.  Also let Hiran know if he has to mark off his last potion.

Ilura
What should I be on the lookout for?
Typical cave hazards, which you were able to avoid with your sharp attention to detail.

What here is useful or valuable to me?
The kids' knowledge about where the other kids are stationed.

What here is not what it appears to be?
The Caves are actually all interconnected.  It would just be difficult for the kids to climb up and down between levels all the time, hence the three different bridge entrances.

Eryn tensed up when she spotted the black-haired woman sitting next to the child Ilura had saved. She knew the witch must certainly have realized what had happened to her sisters by now, even if she had taken a different route and missed the corpses on the way. There was also no way she wouldn't have heard or spotted the group by now, given the number of kids they had brought with them. Deciding to ignore the potential trouble brewing and putting a positive spin on it, Eryn waved to the young girl when they approached.

"Good news," she said in a kind voice, "We defeated the beast, and rescued your brother!"

Her mind was screaming to ready a weapon in case the witch tried something, but she fought the instinct and kept her spear slung casually over her shoulder along with the vorlag's tail.


I assume we can't cross the chasm without fixing a bridge?

This message was last edited by the player at 19:23, Tue 06 Feb 2018.

Upon seeing the witch, Ilura herded the children back a good 30 feet from the cavern entrance to a location where they could not see or be seen from the large cavern.

She wasn't sure of the witch's intentions or what was likely to happen, but there was no point exposing the group of children to further danger or trauma if she could avoid it.