Shae jumps in...

Tahldar tries swimming to the edge...

They are both caught in a powerful undertow that pulls them under...

Everyone is flying through the circular wall like something in a pipe.  With the pressure on your lungs and the length of the trip, holding your breath may not be enough...

Kahan loses his breath...
Shae loses her breath...
Tahldar loses his breath...

They begin to take in water (3 hp dmg each), and then the pipe-like structure opens up and pours you straight down into an underground lake.

At least the water is warm and deep enough that no one is seriously hurt.  Kahan, Shae and Tahldar...all manage to catch their breaths again.

The lake stretches out to either side of the cavern walls and presses forward toward a left turn in the cavern ahead.  After your plummet, you are able to move forward about 15 feet to an area that is only about chest deep.

You take a moment to catch your breath and take in the situation.  The walls still glisten slightly with crystals, giving some small illumination.  There is a slight undertow, but not too bad, that pulls back toward the waterfall you just came down, where the water drains somewhere below.  The walls and path are as pictured below:

Borimer takes in deep breaths and counts his companions' heads to see if anyone is missing before moving towards the left turn to get a look at what lies around the corner.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:56, Thu 19 Jan 2017.

Tahldar coughs and sputters as he clears his lungs of water and waits for Borimer's report of what lay ahead.

"Well that could have been worse."  Leo tries to keep his head above the water as best he can.

<ooc - I assume Leo either has to swim a bit or jump off the bottom repeatedly to keep his breath?>

"Yes, much, much worse," Shae agrees.

Borimer goes to the T in the river.  He looks to the left and sees this:


The water ends and a slightly muddy pathway continues forward.  The rock ceiling hangs low (about 6 feet high at its highest) as the path curves to the left out of sight.  You see amber glowing crystals (as opposed to the purplish ones you saw before), which give off enough illumination to see by.

He looks to the right and sees this:


The amber light of the crystals provides sufficient light.  The water continues to the right, becoming deeper and acting as a mirror to reflect the numerous stalactites all around.  Dropping a pebble, you find that the depth goes to at least 20 feet below.

The waterway moves forward, where it splits into a Y junction where you can continue to follow it diagonally to your left or to the right.

The sounds of dripping water are constant.  To the right, from the distance another sound echoes across the water.  It sounds like something moving and pebbles falling into the water, followed by a quick outtake of breath, like a horse.  But the noise was far away and hardly distinguishable from here.

Borimer returns and tells the companions what he's seen, and heard from the waterway to the right. "I think there's something in there, but we'd have to swim to find it. Or let it find us."

"It could also be a creature that is trapped down here like us and needs help.  Probably not likely, but possible." Tahldar says as thinks.

"I could cast a fly spell on you Borimer and you can go check it out if you wish.  If it's hostile you can leave, and if it needs help then maybe you can carry it out."

OOC:  I'm not sure what the carrying capacity of fly is.  I would bet it's based on the recipients strength making Borimer the best candidate for it.

Borimer gives a wolfish grin, "I'll fly."

Just FYI, since the noise was far away and echoing through the caverns, if Borimer goes off alone, he might have to do some solo exploring before finding the source of the sound.

"We best stay together, I don't trust it in here," Borimer changes his mind. "Let's go explore the y junction to the left, unless it gets deep like the other side."

"Wait.  Stop." Tahldar says to Borimer as a thought occurs to him.

"What if we are below the dragon?  What if the sound we are hearing in the deeper water are it's legs shuffling around?"

"I'm not sure what good that does us since we still need to find these berries which will be up top, but maybe if the deeper part is investigated we might find a way to divert it's water away from the part it sits in?  I think it's worth looking into."

Leo is mostly concerned about keeping his head above the water but tries to listen in on the planning as best as he can.

The party moves to the T in the cave, then turns right.  From there, the party heads to the left side of the Y fork in the cave, staying to the far left where the water is not as deep.  You are forced to nearly straddle the left side of the wall to escape sinking into the 20 foot deep water in the center of the tunnel.

As it curves left through stalagmites and stalactites, the tunnel widens out.  You hear falling water ahead and then the cave opens to a round cavern with water pouring down a waterfall from above.



Besides where you entered, you can exit to the left.  Upon looking around and up, you realize that this water coming down must come from the river above that you were almost swept away in if you had not been sucked through the tunnel of water.

Just to your left, between where you stand waist deep in water and the watery exit to the left, there is a small 8x6 foot area of muddy earth.

Though the light from the surrounding crystals is dim, you can clearly see that there are footprints in the mud.  They seem to come up from the center of the waterfall area and then head down the tunnel to the left.  They appear to be booted footprints about the size of men.  Upon inspection, there are two different sizes, meaning two people must have been here.  And they are new enough to have been made within the last several days.

There is also a chalk marking on the wall with an arrow pointing to the tunnel on your left.


OOC: I understood from Borimer that you are skipping the mud and going to the right and then left at the Y.

Also, you may notice that I am not giving you a map, but instead landmarks.  I figure this is more realistic of having just fallen into an unfamiliar cave.

"Could those be the boot marks of those two adventurers we ran into earlier?"

[sorry, I can't remember their names offhand, they were a bit untrustworthy]

"I would bet it's them." Tahldar says in reply.  "One was named Fingas as I recall.  Which I believe means 'finger' in the old speech, which is now sadly lost forever in the destruction of our home."

Looking the cave over he adds, "Sure is pretty, but I'd like to keep moving.  Who knows what trouble these two have stirred up.  Let's follow after them."

"Yeah, most of the time staying in one place hasn't been the best idea while we have been here."  He shudders a bit remembering the little black things.

You follow the footprints of what you are assuming to be Fingas and Battrus.

OOC: For those of you who have forgotten or are new, their entry into this place can be found starting at post #28 here: link to a message in this game

The water pocket descends slowly.  You are able to climb over rocks on the left side and choose to do so for the moment because the water is becoming more and more cold.

You soon come to another turn in the bend.  Here the water is very cold, with short stalactites, many of them caked in ice.  The cave dips low on your right hand side where there might be an underwater cave if you dare swim in the icy cold water and can hold your breath long enough.

Otherwise, the cave and blue water continue to weave around to your left.

This message was last edited by the GM at 19:03, Thu 02 Feb 2017.

Shae steps up.  "I can cast a water breathing spell and split it among us.  If there are 5 of us, I can do two hours each.  We can leave the gnomes here while we check it out.  There is also a simple second level spell I can do which is endure cold.  I can cast it several times perhaps, but I can't split it like the other.  Perhaps Kahan can do the same thing.  If push comes to shove, I can also cast water walk to affect several people at the same time, but that might not help us get below the water surface."

Borimer nods, "I say we do some magic and check it out."

"Definitely cast the water breathing on us.  Can't hurt.  I would also cast the endure cold on someone if they want to explore the cave.  As for the Gnomes they're still back up top."

Vuzyl has not posted in awhile, so if he does not post, I will assume he stays outside the water area as a guard with the gnomes.

Everyone except Vuzyl is the recipient of a spell to diminish the effects of the cold and to breathe under water.

You shed yourselves of anything that would weigh you down (including armor but not including one weapon each) and dive into the water.  You swim down under the underground cave and after about 30 feet of swimming through the water tunnel, you pop your heads up in a cavern with walls of ice.  The cavern is about 50 feet in diameter.



To your left is a small area of ice that you can climb up on, but it is what is embedded in the ice of that wall that really catches your attention.  There is the body of a winged icy dragon spread out in the ice, encased except for its neck and head...or where its head used to be.  For someone has sliced off the head of the dragon, it would appear.  But there is no indication of blood.  The dragon's head was likely already frozen when it was severed from the neck.

The dragon looks something like this, but imagine it from the profile embedded in ice with its neck and head turned toward you, jutting from the ice...but now headless.


The tunnel continues straight ahead, or you can go back where you came from through the underwater tunnel.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:19, Wed 08 Feb 2017.

Tahldar rises into the cavern, drenched to the bone.  "Interesting." he says simply at the sight of the dragon encased in ice.

He moves nearer to the beheaded creature and adds, "I wonder if I can get a scale from it..."

OOC: Taldar will try to pry a scale or two from the dragon if he can reach.  He'll use his bracers or dagger.

Borimer watches the cave while Tahldar works. "I'm not liking being in here without my armor." Curiosity wins out however and Borimer checks out what lies beyond the tunnel straight ahead.

is the whole area partially submerged, including the tunnel ahead?

Near the dragon is a flat piece of rock that rises above the water and is dry, where Tahldar is trying to get a scale.  The water going back to where you came is quite deep 20+ feet, though it is all rocky and curves.  The passageway leading forward is a continuation of the rocks on the left, but about 4 feet underwater.

Tahldar begins trying to get a scale from the dragon.  It will take some time since it is all frozen solid, but he might be able to get one. There are only three scales exposed and intact enough to possibly take. (Roll dexterity and wisdom.  Must succeed at both to get one out intact.  Can do this three times; each failure means you have broken the frozen scale.)

Borimer explores the small cave leading straight ahead.  It winds for about 20 feet before broadening into a small, 25' diameter cave that is nearly perfectly circular, as though carved out of ice.  Borimer stands at the entrance and looks straight ahead.  Although darker than the previous room due to very few of the glowing crystals, something interesting is directly in front of him.

He sees a chest about 4 feet wide, 2 feet high and 2 feet deep.  It is an ancient chest.  Behind the chest is a large skeleton of...something humanoid.  It is larger than a human, standing 9 feet tall, and its skeleton is shiny and icy instead of bony.  It has hands that are more like claws or talons, and its eyes glow a soft yellow.



But Borimer does not need to worry about the chest or the strange giant skeleton right now.  Both are completely encased in ice.  The ice wall juts out about two feet past the chest and skeleton.  It appears as though an icy cave-in buried the two long, long ago.

Borimer still stands in about 4 feet of water.  The cold protection spell still holds, so the water does not feel as cold as it probably is.

FYI, I'm experimenting with mapmaking again, still having some issues with maptools.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:25, Thu 09 Feb 2017.

Tahldar wrestles with the dragon scales.  He is unable to get two of them intact, but he does get one.

Taking his scale prize, he moves over to where Borimer is standing.  He ponders the ice encased chest.

OOC:  I don't have any fire spells to melt the ice.  Would the reverse of enlarge, reduce, be able to shrink a section of it?

I made my DX and Wis checks for one scale, but missed on the other two.

The scale, if fashioned into a shield, will be -2 to AC, grant a +4 to saving throws related to cold attacks, and -1d4 hp damage to any cold attacks that succeed.

Fashioning it into a usable shield will require the appropriate non-weapon proficiency.  If no one has it (or can spend points to get it), then you are likely to meet someone after you get out of these tunnels who can do it for you (at a price).

* * *
Enlarge can only apply to one person or object up to 10 cubic feet per level of the caster.  So he could cast it on the ice, but it would not affect the items embedded in the ice (nor would shrinking the ice damage those objects because it would shrink around them).  The object would be reduced by 10% per level of the caster to a minimum of 10% of normal size, then by 1 foot increments, and then by 1 inch increments per level.  Anything unwilling gets a saving throw.  He could not cast through the ice to the skeleton or chest.

Of course, the problem with doing this is the risk of collapsing the ice ceiling further, but that will be subject to a random roll.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:57, Thu 09 Feb 2017.

Tahldar takes the scale and shows it to Borimer.  "This would be a good shield maybe." he says as he flips it over end over end.

Moving closer to the iced chest he adds "I'll shrink the ice, but be ready in case that skeleton jomps to life."

OOC: I will try to shrink only enough ice to free the chest and not the skeleton.  It's also my hope to reduce the risk of ceiling collapse by keeping the shrunk section to a minimum.  (I think I can reduce the area of effect of reduce as needed...)

Shae follows the others into the room with the chest.  "Is it undead?  Maybe Kahan can turn it if it comes after us."  Her ancestral spear is ready, and she spreads out to the right to have space to fight.

Leo stands off a bit watching for any misstep weapon drawn.

Borimer watches the creature in the ice...

does it look like it was surprised or defending itself when it was caught in the ice?

It is in the same pose as in the picture.

Tahldar casts the spell, and the ice around the ice thing and the chest shrinks.  The chest is now partially encased in the ice (and is so old it looks like it will fall apart if you try to remove it), and the ice skeleton is only buried to its knees in ice now.  The ice skeleton does not move or indicate it is anything other than a statue with scary yellow eyes.

Tahldar shrugs.  "Maybe you can bust it open?" he asks of Borimer.

"Of maybe rip off one section of it?"

Borimer takes another dubious look at the ice skeleton before approaching the chest. He attempts to break off ice from the side that would allow him to face the skeleton while working.

strength check(?) 23:52, Today: Borimer rolled 5 using 1d20.  strength check to break ice.

Borimer moves forward toward the chest and skeleton.  As he gets about halfway across, he steps on a rock that sinks into the mud.  Almost instantly, shards of ice begin falling from the ceiling.

Borimer dives back (saving throw made), taking only minimal (half) damage from falling shards of ice that are sharp as blades.  His right leg begins bleeding from the icicle that sliced through his thigh.  The shards are jagged and barbed on the end.  This results in more bleeding.



There are plenty more shards up there.

Borimer continues to bleed.  (Shards are soaked in an anti-coagulant that makes him continue to bleed at -1 hp per minute until stopped.)

The white dots indicate the area covered with the stalactite shards:

Tahldar looks up at the ice shards.

"I could try a web spell to cover the area and prevent them from falling."

"Or you could try this dragon scale.  If you hold it aloft it may protect you."

OOC:  I can create eight 10-foot x 10-foot x 10-foot cubes with web.  Would I be able to completely cover the area the shards are?

Here's the details on the scale.  If held in two hands over your head it might work:
The scale, if fashioned into a shield, will be -2 to AC, grant a +4 to saving throws related to cold attacks, and -1d4 hp damage to any cold attacks that succeed.

Leo, staying out of the area but close enough to look at the ground, looks to see if there are any obvious trigger points to determine if perhaps careful navigation might allow safe passage.

You could try the web.  It might work.  I will likely roll with a bonus to a saving throw.  Now that you know they are there, they will be easier to dodge anyway.  You just don't know where to step and can't really tell from where you are.

And also, Borimer is bleeding...

Tahldar looks at Borimer's wounds.  "A web I think would help and so would the dragon scale too maybe.  But if you want to wait on getting the chest and go up top to get some healing first from Kahan I'll hold off on casting."

Shae will cast a cure light wounds on Borimer.

Shae says, "I already changed into a bird today, but I can change into a reptile like an alligator to swim across without touching the ground.  Then I can change back to half-elf to break open the chest.  I'm just a little concerned about that weird skeleton."

Shae turns into an alligator and is able to get across to the chest without further incident.  She can now turn back or stay as an alligator.  (Shae gets one bird, one reptile, and one mammal transformation per day.  She has the mammal left.)

Borimer's wounds are healed consistent with the cure light wounds house rule.  This also stops the bleeding and helps him wrap it without further damage.

(I also assumed Kahan was with you.  He just didn't get to bring his plate armor with him.)

(I thought it would be interesting for a rogue to try a climb walls in an ice cave.  Not sure what the rules would be for that.)

"Thanks," Borimer rubs his leg ruefully after Shae heals him.

how much damage did i take before being healed?

Shae will go ahead and turn into an alligator, cross the water, and try to break open the chest with her snout.

Shae crosses the water without incident, but as soon as her snout touches the chest, the crystal skeleton comes alive, moving through the ice as if it were falling rain.  Its bones and fingers are sharp as steel and glass as it reaches out to attack the alligator by the chest.

"Tahldar, give me flight!" Borimer unsheathes the Godslayer...

Talhdar begins to cast...

OOC:  I will cast Fly on Borimer.

Shae stops her progress on the chest and begins swimming back in alligator form toward her friends to see if the ice skeleton will follow.

Not really having a way to get across, Leo readies himself with his dagger and watches to see if Shae draws the creature to within striking distance.

The ice skeleton lashes out, slashing Shae at the tail.  (6 hp damage.)

It begins following her across, and is suddenly buried in the spiked stalactites that line the ceiling.  It takes substantial damages but begins shaking them off to continue.

Tahldar casts fly on Borimer, and Borimer has Godslayer ready as the ice skeleton emerges from the spiked stalactites.  He chops down, slicing off one of its crystal arms.

The creature has just moved within striking distance, with your group forming a semicircle around it.  It appears very damaged by the spikes and the lost arm but still has some life in it.

Tahldar hangs back and let's Borimer finish it off.

This message was deleted by the player at 15:44, Sat 11 Mar 2017.

Borimer lands and slashes twice at the creature, trying to take it down before it can strike...

Leo slashes at it with his dagger.  "Not sure how much damage I can do but we are in it now."

Shae transforms back into her half-elf form to join in the fight.

Shae begins changing back.

Although Leo's attack misses, it performs the vital role of distracting the ice creature.  It lunges forward, slashing at Leo with both arms.  One of its crystal claws slices open Leo's right shoulder.  Oddly, it burns it is so cold.  (8 hp dmg.)  Leo's shoulder starts bleeding uncontrollably, spilling red into the otherwise crystal clear water coming up to his waist.  (Leo continues to suffer bleeding (anticoagulant) and acid damage from the blow until healed.)

Borimer takes advantage of Leo's distraction, hitting a critical blow as he swings Godslayer.  The blow severs the ice creature's arm and sends the thing backwards, where stalactites fall and impale it.  As it loses life or whatever animated it, the crystalline skeleton dissolves in shards of crystal under the water at your feet.

"Nice job, Borimer," Shae says.  She then swims across to the chest without touching the ground and tries to open it or break into it.

"This chest outta be worth it." Tahldar says as he waits for it to be opened.

Shae finds that the chest is locked.  Even worse, because it has an iron interior surrounded by wood, it cannot be easily broken.  (It will likely take a rogue or knock spell to get it open.)

Borimer flies over to the chest and tries to gauge if he could break it open.

Leo moves out of the water and continues to bleed profusely.

Borimer could try to break it open, but he would likely dent the iron of the chest and possible break anything inside if it is fragile.  He could break the ice around it and move the chest, if he wanted.

Leo loses 1 hp in blood loss.

Borimer begins breaking the ice around the chest. If it takes longer than 3 rounds he will give up and fly back to the others.

"Borimer, just break it out and we can carry back up and try to open it once we're back top side."

"How long can I fly?" Borimer redoubles his efforts to free the chest within its own unbroken block of ice and fly it over to the others as Tahldar suggests.

"A good long while.  At least an hour and a half." the mage says in reply.

OOC:  I took the liberty to roll the fly spell duration.  The spell will last 2 hours, 20 minutes. (1d6 turns, plus 9 for mage level)

16:46, Today: Tahldar of Tyrannia rolled 14 using 1d6+9 ((5)).

Borimer frees the chest.  The iron inside coating is completely airtight and it actually floats on the water as Borimer brings it back.  The party steps back into the large cavern with the headless dragon body embedded in the wall, where you can again step onto dry land and contemplate your situation.

(The effects of cold and breathing underwater will expire soon, so you will either have to renew those spells or get back to where Vuzyl is guarding the remaining gnomes.  Vuzyl, in case you forgot, is a rogue with lockpicking skills too.)

"Let's head back.  Leo needs healing and there's little more we can do here."

Borimer nods, picks up the chest, and if no one has another plan, leads the way back to Vuzyl when the party is ready.

Because of the buoyancy of the chest, you find it hard to take it down into the water...

...[strength check] However, Borimer is able to push it down with his strong swimming.

Your group pops up in the water next to Vuzyl and the remaining gnomes.  You step up onto the rocky dry area where they wait for a report.

You are back here:




Reminder or Area Description:  Here the water is very cold, with short stalactites, many of them caked in ice.  The cave dips low on your right hand side where there might be an underwater cave if you dare swim in the icy cold water and can hold your breath long enough.

Otherwise, the cave and blue water continue to weave around to your left.

Borimer puts the chest down onto the rocky floor. "Anyone want to check it for traps before we open it?"

"Sorry, can't help with that.  Or opening it for that matter." the mage says in reply to Borimer's request.

Vuzyl does the honors of checking for traps but finds none.  He then proceeds to pick the lock...and is successful.

The chest opens to reveal a dry interior.  Something is carefully wrapped in sackcloth inside the chest, which has been loaded down with rocks to prevent it from moving too much.

Tahldar carefully picks up the sackcloth and looks to see what's inside.

Leo does his best to bind his wound.

You unwrap the sackcloth and find a gold cup wrapped in it.  The cup has engravings:


What is strange about the cup is that it is on its side in the chest, and it is filled with a liquid that is the color of red wine.  But the liquid is not leaking.  Instead, it falls up against the mouth of the cup as if held back by some invisible wall.

There is wording in Ancient Allevian on the bottom of the cup.

There is also a stash of about 200 gold coins of an undetermined currency and country.

The sackcloth is also waxy to the touch and feels unnaturally strong.  It is about 2 feet by 2 feet in size.

Tahldar attempts to read the Allevian words written on the side of the cup.

OOC: Tahldar knows Allevian...

Borimer keeps his eyes on the surroundings as Tahldar tries to decipher the Allevien script on the chalice.

The words translate as:

"cup of water of life"
"pressed lips release its boon"
"fill and hold, sip and see"

Shae says, "It looks like you are supposed to drink from it and see what happens.  Any takers?"

Borimer grins, picks up the cup, and takes a large swig...

Leo braces himself for the worst.

<ooc am I still taking damage from the wound?>

Borimer takes a long drink from the cup.  When his lips touch it, the liquid is released into his mouth even though it otherwise would not spill.

Borimer gets a strange look on his face and drops the cup, which rolls but does not spill the remaining liquid.  He then falls to his knees, clutches his neck and collapses to the ground.

In reply to Leogold Silvershaper (msg # 84):

Leo is no longer taking damage.

Tahldar looks at Borimer with concern, but there is little the mage can do to help him.

"Kahan, is he poisoned?" he asks of their cleric.

OOC: Is Kahan still playing?  He hasn't logged in for some time.

(I think Kahan is still around but I'm not sure.  His player is in another game I'm in, and he hasn't posted there in awhile either.  He may just be on a break because he has always been very reliable.  I suppose I will NPC him until his player returns.)
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:01, Fri 14 Apr 2017.

Kahan begins inspecting Borimer.  He cannot find a pulse or any breath.  Borimer's eyes are rolled up.  One arm begins twitching.

Borimer suddenly seizes up, his hands curling into fists.  He takes in a breath and opens his eyes suddenly.

Tahldar looks at Borimer with surprise.  "What did you see?  What happened?" he asks inquisitively.

Borimer sits up and blinks, "The source of all magic..." He stands up shakily and regains his feet. "There was an old man, a prisoner of a large dragon in blue water. It had just been woken, but I don't think it knew I was there...if I was there, wherever there is." Borimer takes a swig of water from his skin, "There was a hole in the ground like an eye, and a voice from the heavens that proclaimed the source of all magic. Down that hole in the earth?"

"Interesting.  I shall dwell upon this.  But for now we should keep moving.  There's more to search and we still need to find out what happened to the pair we've been trailing."

You follow the blue flowing river a little further until it forks.  Off to the right, only a tiny rivulet stream flows, and the cave is mostly mud as it heads off into darkness.  You see human boot prints in the mud heading off in that direction, which you can only assume belong to Fingus and Battrus.

To your left, the majority of the deep blue river flows downhill, but you could follow it along the banks and the large stones.  Deep down that way to your left, out of sight, you hear what appears to be a man screaming in pain.  The sound carries well along the water.

The golden box which you have been ignoring for some time now begins to glow strongly and pulsate.

Borimer points with his chin to the area at the left and draws the Godslayer, "That was where my dream began, floating up from there." He keeps an eye out for the wyrm.

Shae says, "Then we head that way.  If someone is hurt, we should render aid as well.  That scream does not bode well for us."  Shae uses her ancestral spear as a walking stick in the mud as she follows the group to the left.

"Yes, lets go left.  But remember you can still fly Borimer which might come in handy."

This message was deleted by the player at 10:56, Tue 25 Apr 2017.

Borimer lifts into the air just a few feet above the ground and silently bemoans the temporary loss of his armor. He leads the way left when everyone is ready.

Leo follows along as best he can.