The shadows peel away, revealing several adult snakes slithering among the fungi and foliage of the grotto.  The wizard steps back cautiously and begins narrating to the others about these snakes' various properties, such as their coloration, the potency of their venom, and their... confused movement?

"...normally they move with a sense of sinister purpose, not so frantic and random like this.  I suspect that something is disturbing their ability to detect prey by vibrations in the ground, though I've no idea-"  He stops, turns to look at the T.A.N.K., and then mumbles "oh, right."

Between his ongoing battle with his creation causing a bit of perspiration and the increase in humidity from the cool air of the grotto, Gnorton's goggles had gotten fogged. He removed them in an effort to alleviate the problem, but like many oldsters, once spectacles are removed the ability to hear is lost as well.

Strange phenomenon that...

His cheeks flushed a bit when what he thought he'd heard had to do with frantic nominal spinsters and disturbing vibrating hounds. Flustered, he sputtered back his indifferences on the particulars and promptly replaced his goggles!

The T.A.N.K. convulsed a bit, very similar to someone trying to suppress... laughter.

Nah, couldn't be...

Interupted in his philosophical ruminations by the sounds of combat, dr madz rushes into the grotto, flames in his hands.
"What happened? What I miss?"

Flames look like a good idea to Gregory, too, and he fills his left hand with a small ball of fire.

The T.A.N.K., not to be outdone, emitted a small jet of green flame from a battered appendage.

"Not gonna play nice all day I think, better get harvesting whilst they be... fuddled."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:51, Mon 06 Feb 2023.

Are the snakes really befuddled? Can the vibrations and wondrous shadow magic?

Let's see who is like a snake charmer beating 2 5's

08:54, Today: Game Master rolled 11 using 3d6 ((5,1,5)).

08:39, Today: Gregory Gilligan rolled 13 using 4d6 with rolls of 4,5,3,1.  Acolyte of Lady of Fire and Frost burning up the snakes.

The snakes don't take kindly to fire or frost, curious that their sssss'ing causes the magic to dissipate a bit.

OOC: Gregory down a die.

Hinimas waves his staff around, moving shadows accordingly, quickly working into the shape of... a giant mongoose.  Surely something that snakes should fear instinctively, whether or not such creatures actually live around here.

Hinimas rolled 9 using 4d6 with rolls of 4,1,3,1.  Shadow Wizard.

"Careful! You are gonna ruin their meat!"

The ghost of Jon Hudson, reached out to the snakes, firmly believing that no harm may come to him (ever again). He attempted to calm himself, and soothe the snakes in the process. "Easy there. Keep your meat soft and tender"

09:15, Today: Ex-Jon Hudson rolled 8 using 2d6.  Supernaturally Empathetic.

Dr madz attempts to cast a sleep spell on the slithering snakes

Dr. Madz Eyeinsists rolled 15 using 4d6 with rolls of 2,3,6,4.  Tinkering mad mage. –

11:55, Today: Game Master rolled 13 using 3d6 ((5,2,6)).

The Slithering lovelies appear to resist just about anything thrown at them. A strange  thing indeed. It seems that the TANK just whirs in the background, without a care.

OOC: Please mark 'Record each Die". I can only count the roll if I see the individual dice, since we are using highest roll.

Mush. The contraption seemed to flounder a bit in a patch of mushrooms, or whatever organic matter beneath them upon which they'd been growing! Gnorton pulled a lever which locked one track in place whilst the other churned ahead. The effect worked well to unstuck the scrap heap, but probably didn't do much to help with the current serpentine dilemma...


Gnorton rolled 14 using 4d6 ((5,2,4,3)).

In reply to Gnorton (msg # 32):

Gregory looks at the snakes. They don't seem to be moving anymore...and neither does anything else.

"Oops, sorry about that."  Hinimas waves his hand in a quick motion of dispelling, and the shadows return to normal instead of synchronizing to create the illusion of stillness.  He then reaches into his cloak and pulls out his most frightening possession: a cheap recorder.

The logic would of course be obvious to anyone with a modicum of knowledge about the world around them.  Snakes are mesmerized by the sound of a reed instrument.  Or a woodwind.  Definitely one of the two.  All it took was a bit of skill.

Hinimas does not possess the right level of skill.

Hinimas rolled 2 using 1d6.  Amateur Musician.

08:36, Today: Game Master rolled 6 using 3d6 ((1,4,1)). Success! I considered the lead being Hinimas and Gnorton providing a wondrous echo-symphany with his T.A.N.K. (though no cliche was mentioned). So by all means- Monologue of Victory Hinimas!

If one were well versed in the social behavior of cave snakes and knew what signs to look for, one might catch the serpentine equivalent of an eye roll and a "this sucks, let's leave" gesture.  Hinimas, well versed as he may be in the cultures of humans and other obviously sapient species, has no such awareness when it comes to mere animals.  So instead he treats his companions to an unjustifiably confident lecture about how the cacophony produced by recorder, TANK, and general adventuring party scared them away because of their sensitivity to vibrations of air and earth.  A lecture which, all things considered, risks having a similar effect on his companions.

"Hrrumph! We were just getting started!" Gnorton was grinning now that the moisture from the inside of his protective bubble had been wiped free.

"Make your harvest and let's get going, steam ain't cheap and we're not getting any younger!" He maneuvered the contraption in preparation to continue further into the depths, surmising it an obvious shortcut to their destination.

Gregory picks up a few more mushroom pieces, then also heads down towards the depths.

The depths open up to a large immense cavern rising up to membraneous buttress, making the whole area seem like a giant ribcage. A shallow canal ran through the middle. Otherwise the place looked completely deserted (4).

As they progressed into the grotto, Gnorton looked around and took it all in. He wasn't really very thrilled about being below ground anyway, and though this... shortcut, seemed to have been forced upon them by the hand of Fate, he'd rather be on some testing ground blasting off munitions, making adjustments and contemplating upgrades.

As the T.A.N.K. idled by the edge of the water, he tossed a flexible hose below the surface and turned a valve which would draft water into the reservoir used for producing steam.

"I suppose we should follow the water. Probably the left-over of whatever cut its way through here to begin with. At the very least, it'll lead us along the path of least resistance."

Whether that reasoning was entirely sound would depend on the severity and frequency of concussions the little gnome had sustained during his career.

Hinimas shrugged and followed along.  Gnorton's idea seemed as good as any other, so he didn't bother coming up with any other.

Gregory says, "And we'll have something to drink if we get trapped down here." He follows with the rest of the group.

Gnorton snorted at the suggestion they might not emerge from this subterranean sojourn. "Shortcut, it's a shortcut... but yes, water is quite a nice luxury to have at our disposal for whatever the reason."

The scrap-heap he was piloting belched a sulfurous-smelling gout of steam as it proceeded forth in exploration mode.

Gregory fans away the smoke with the hand holding his holy symbol.