Riza continues her assault on the elves firing another arrow this time at the lone elf to the left of the group. Once firing her arrow she will duck down at the base of the tree, using her chameleon skin to try and blend in with the Forrest so she is harder to find and get shot.


OOC: rolled 18 to hit elf e9, rolled 2 damage, rolled 27 to hide from the scary elves

The goblin slowly and trepidatiously makes his way back down the tunnel, his fears eased somewhat (but by no means entirely) as he finds Jurz waiting there.

 he hisses.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:30, Wed 01 Oct 2014.

 Jurz responds quietly as he keeps watch for anyone coming over the edge.   he shakes his head sadly as he informs his fellow goblin.

Dregz shakes his head in return.  he replies to the goblin druid.

Minmorc and Riza both shoot at the elves again and surprisingly both manage to hit their targets (e3 and e9), although both arrows just wound those two elves.

The elder male elf that Minmorc shot gasps as the arrow pierces his arm and the pain is evident in his voice as he replies.

"So be it, Orc! Leave now and we will not shoot you or your scaly little friend. Leave this forest and never come back. Your lives will not be spared a second time."

Down below in the tunnel and cave, nothing has changed except that Raven has gone in and Dregz has come out to the entrance to whisper to Jurz.

OOC: Everyone currently at +1 to hit (Bless from Minmorc) for 7 more rounds.

Riza hisses to Minmorc after hearing the elder elves proposal. "Sounds good to me Minmorc, let's grab Nurzhan and get the hell out of here... I don't trust them though, you get Nurzhan and I'll cover us"

Riza will wait to see how Minmorc responds before moving out from her hiding spot...

"Righto clever Riza, don't fink I'll lug der whole body, just the good bits." Minmorc will quickly strip the backpack and quivers from the body and will also take the long bow. He'll then hoist Nurzhan up against the trees to stare out at the elves and will use his javelin to prop the corpse up. With goodies in hand and Nurzhan to watch their backs one last time Minmorc will head down towards the wet bit looking for the others.

When he sees Riza and Minorc heading down the slope, he leans out a bit and waves them over towards the invisble cave.  "Dis way."  he hisses.

Standing besides the druid, the goblin priest breaths a sigh of relief. "Wese thought youse were dead fer sure !" he tells the pair, doing a quick head count then pausing as he notices what Minmorc is carrying, nodding his head sadly as he realises Nurzhan won't be joining them.

"Can youse collapse dis tunnel behind us ?"  he asks the big ork.  "Stop dose damn Elves from followin' !"

Minmorc will have a good look around. "Errr... It it a tunnel or a hole? Don't wanna go trashin doors if der ain't an udder door ter go to."

"Its an invisible hole."  Jurz says as he passes his hand through the solid looking rock face.  "Dere's a cave inside ..." he says.

---

OOC:  If I haven't got this invisible / concealed thing right -  please just delete this post :)

Bulldust looks around at the cavern happily.

"Look Moffa, we've finded a paddle pool! We's can plays skip toad, too. See's how many times can make a froggy bounces when we's kick vem cross ve waters. Come wiv me! Gotta explore some mores."

He grabs Moffa by the hand and heads off to the left around the edge of the cavern.

In reply to Bulldust (msg # 50):

Oopses becomes sullen and quiet, even more submissive then usual.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:52, Sat 04 Oct 2014.

Minmorc and Riza are able to withdraw safely without the elves trying to shoot them as they leave. Minmorc carries Nurzhan's backpack, bow and quivers of arrows with him as he slides down the slope and splashes loudly into the swamp at the bottom. Riza follows shortly after but manages the descent with far more skill. The very dead Nurzhan is left propped up against a tree to guard their backs.

Jurz shows them the way into the secret tunnel entrance, which seems to be concealed by some sort of permanent illusion of a solid boulder.

Meanwhile, down in the cave, Dregz wants to collapse the tunnel entrance. The first ten feet or so is through solid rock and probably impossible to collapse. Beyond that the walls seem to be mostly large boulders with the gaps full of densely packed earth. The ceiling has far less rocks and is mostly soil held together by the roots of trees above. Several great rock columns support the ceiling but to the eyes of those more used to deep tunnels carved through solid stone the whole cavern looks a bit too unstable. It has obviously been like this for many years but you have the distinct impression that any attempt to collapse any section could have disastrous effects over a much wider area of the cavern.

Bulldust enthusiastically explores around the perimeter of the cavern and finds that the narrow beach does indeed extend all the way around the cavern. There are two wider beaches over on the eastern side of the cavern and the largest, easternmost of these has relatively few frogs resting along the waterline and none at all more than two feet from the edge of the water.

Bulldust also finds two more tunnels leading out of the cavern toward the southwest (back toward the swamp?) and toward the northwest (further under the forest?).

Moffdust spots a large boulder almost completely submerged in the middle of the pool, which she finally realises is actually a huge statue of a frog with just the top of its head and eyes visible above the surface of the water.

OOC: Main game map updated.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:55, Sat 04 Oct 2014.

With the blank expressions and raised brows directed at him suggesting that perhaps collapsing the tunnel is 'a very bad thing', Dregz slopes off, back to the main froggy arena, trailing in the wake of Bully and Moffa (for the partially cleared path they leave behind them as frogs skip out of their way or fail to do so).

The priest is not at all happy at the discovery of the frog statue. "Laogzed ?" he ponders, "Wastri ?"

"Dey're both frog-gods ... could be der troglodytes or der bullywugs or der bad humans," he cautions, looking around nervously and clutching the sack containing the Holy Book to him, for protection.  "Ise really hope it's der troglodytes.  Bargrivyek does not like Wastri !"

Carefully Jurz enters the chamber of the cave for the first time, encouraging Rog to walk along behind him, and checks around the party members.  "Where's de cat?" he asks the sullen looking Oopses "Or did de elveses get de pussy as well?" he asks of Riza and Minmorc apparently more concerned about the well being of the animal that the well being of Nurzhan.

Then he looks around the cavern proper, looking to see how fresh the water is and if there is weed growing in it.  He also scans the room for other creatures and plants before he bends down and inspects one of the frogs -  just to see whether it is a frog, toad or something that looks like a frog.

"Hur, damned pointy ears hate greenies, deys likes der little furry critters of der woods. Kitty cat'll be fine.  So yer wanna explore more or sleep, I'm ready ter sleep."

In reply to Minmorc (msg # 55):
/pokes the game thread with a big stick.
"Whys the frogs staring at us, theys creepy."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:59, Fri 10 Oct 2014.

"Come on, Bully. Lets us explores dis back tunnels. Its all narrows and winding and lots of tree roots and rocks and stuff. Feels like homes to me."

Moffdust pulls Bulldust into the northwest tunnel. She pokes her head out again moments later to speak to Grakk.

"Grakksy, you want to explores dat other tunnel over theres? Looks like it bendses back towards the swamp outside. Sees if there's another way for the elveses to gets in heres."

Riza slumps against the wall visibly exhausted. 'explore? You are kidding right. You can if you want i'm going to sleep like minmorc suggests'  riza will shuffle over to a corner near minmorc and try to make herself as comfortable as possible and will try to sleep.

It doesn't take long for Moffdust, Bulldust and Grakk to explore the other two tunnels out of the cavern. Grakk quickly finds that the ceiling of the southwest tunnel appears to have collapsed some time ago and is hopelessly blocked by fallen rocks and dirt. You would probably be able to dig your way out there but it would take a few hours of heavy work.

Moffdust and Bulldust find that the northwest tunnel is also impassable for anything bigger than the frogs that infest the whole cavern. That tunnel is structurally sound but simply choked by a mass of tree roots. However the presence of leaf litter just visible among the furthest tree roots suggests that tunnel might be open to the surface beyond that blockage. Hacking a way through the tree roots might offer a quicker way out if required, although that certainly won't be quiet work either.

Minmorc and Riza lead by example and quickly select the most frog-free part of the cavern to settle down to sleep in. They choose the relatively wide beach at the eastern end of the cavern as the most promising spot. Bulldust, Moffdust and Grakk join them as soon as their tunnel exploration is done.

Arlein the cat comes in through the main tunnel shortly afterwards looking as calm and unconcerned as only a cat can.

The thousands of frogs throughout the cavern remain quiet and watchful. They tended to hop or swim a little out of the way as Bulldust, Moffdust and Grakk had explored the cavern but calmly drifted back to their previous positions after the trio had passed by.

OOC: Main game map updated. General location of frogs added for clarification.

Arlein walks the circuit, sniffing at points as she goes, before sitting next to oopses quietly.

Satisfied that Arlien the cat is still with them and that the frogs are frogs, and not toads or anything else that look like frogs, Jurz starts to relax slightly.  Even better when it is reported that the other two tunnels are blocked.  However, he makes a mental note to go and look at the one that is blocked by roots when he wakes up.  Like the others he makes his way around to the frog free breach and finds himself a comfortable spot.

Once he has unpacked Rog he is able to look  more closely at the animal to decide whether he needs to take any action of heal it  over night, or whether Rog just needs a decent night of rest.   Then he will dig out some meat from his sacks take a portion for himself and  give some to Rog.  Indeed, he will share  some with those who don't have  food of their own.

Before he settles down to sleep, he turns to Rog.  "No eatin de frogs yets.  If youse wants some we's can get dem when we leaves.  No points upsetting de god of dis place when we's needs to stay here todays."  He knows the dof won't go chasing frogs, but he hopes the others see the wisdom of his words and leave any skip-frog games until they are ready to leave.

OOC: Current status:
Arlein: uninjured and not fatigued
Bulldust: uninjured and not fatigued
Dregz: uninjured and not fatigued
Grakk: uninjured and not fatigued
Jurz: moderately wounded but not fatigued
Minmorc: fatigued but not injured
Moffdust: fatigued but not injured
Oopses: uninjured and not fatigued
Raven: fatigued but not injured
Riza: lightly wounded and fatigued
Rog: lightly wounded and fatigued

Minmorc will flop down onto the beach and sleep the blissful sleep of the ignorant. If his rest is uninterrupted he will use the big rocks in one of the blocked up tunnel to do the work out he seems to consider prayer.