The last two areas were quick to light up once either of the two humanoids enter it, and this new area is no exception. It is a sort of stairway-- the stairs broad and easy to descend. It leads downward for about 150 feet, and then seems to turn left, although that may be to double back on itself.

There seems to be no way to open the door behind them again, so since there is nowhere else to go, The Duke and The Lady descend the stairs.

The stairs take them down oh... perhaps six, seven stories? At least it's easy-- downhill all the way... The lights overhead continue to light up as they travel...

Finally, the stairway opens onto... a large cavern. Half the ceiling and walls are metal flat stone. Half of it seems like natural rough bedrock.

Glowing, bioluminencent moss and mushrooms grow down here, lighting up areas where the ceiling overhead stops glowing.

There are many moths fluttering from fungus to fungus...

...The cavern floor slopes very gently downward. At the far end of the cavern is a very large tunnel that bends off to the right...

The Lady leapt sideways with a yelp, as The Duke almost squished her.
Then she giggled a little, and patted him amiably.

As the travelled down the stairs, she allowed her brute to take the lead, permitting him to protect her with his impressive bulk.
When the reached the Fungi Cavern, though, the scene intrigued her enough to draw her out into the open to better look at both the flora and the fauna.

"This place has developed its own ecosystem", she said, admiring that change from the ecosystem above them.
She even went so far as to pick some of the nearby mushrooms, and smell their fragrance as though they be flowers.
"I suppose we continue on?" she asked of The Duke, eventually, looking down the long cavernous corridor to the very large tunnel that bends off down there to the right.

She also wondered if this place continued any traps or such.

The Duke looks around just longe enough to determine stuff that glows might not be food and if the cause of their problem is there and then nods at the lady and blunders on.

The rocky parts of the ceiling are dripping just a tiny bit in places because of moisture levels, but otherwise there doesn't seem to be anything in this area that involves solving the water problem upstairs.

As for the fungal life forms, The Duke tries them. They don't seem poisonous, and indeed they do seem edible, but they definitely don't taste good.

So, The Lady and The Duke head on down the gentle slope to the only obvious remaining exit from the area...

...And they come upon... Well, the new area is quite a world of its own.

More large steps wind down to a HUGE cavern-- It's easily 150 feet from floor to ceiling, and might be more than half a mile from side to side and front to back.

There are little huts and things to the left, right, and straight ahead (each of the three groups of huts are separate from the other two groups, though)...

In the middle... There's some sort of fighting going on...?

                                 {in anticipation of your request, I am going to go ahead and make shit up}

The beings that were involved in this 'fighting' were small and insectoid.  Bugs, of three types it seemed, that had evolved into a bipedal form: their upper four arms articulate, and their small, 4' bodies carapace.

The Lady instantly assumed that the three sub-species were each camped in their own bivouac, and that perhaps each group represented a greater tribe/society somewhere deeper into the cavern system.
And that what they were witnessing now was some kind of ritual challenge ... a gathering of representatives from said cultures, in some kind of negotiation or conflict settlement.

She was thoroughly amused, and intrigued.
To her violent friend, she gently asked, "Please, don't kill them yet.  I hope to speak with them", figuring that Foers was probably labelling them as enemy for the moment.

Scrubbing his tongue with the back of his hand to get the foul taste out of his mouth the Duke gives one of the nearby mushrooms a solid kick that uproots it for tasting so foul as they abbandon the place.

Of coarse the lady was more then right Foers was painting them all red like enemies or threats that need to be eliminated and the Duke was already two steps ahead for a headlong charge when the Lady gives her request and he nods and then bursts off into the brawl to break it up so the lady can talk. slapping the things around a little if need be but mostly just being a big scary thing in their midst.

"You stop this fight or i will crush you bugs. Go talk to the lady good luck!!"

ooc: The Duke breaks up the fight. Unless its Agile everything else is 10+

07:54, Today: The Duke rolled 10 using 2d6 with rolls of 5,5.  Not sure what so no modifiers.

There are three types of combatants: human-sized frog-or-toad-people, human-sized (maybe a little larger) insectish/mantis-looking people, and a feline jaguar/leopard-looking people.

They are all completely shocked by the appearance of The Duke-- by his ability to toss hardened fighters this way and that-- and by the fierce intensity of his words. They stop fighting, and grow silent (save for one frog somewhere near the back who briefly shouts "Yes! Crush them! Crush all of the bugs!" but is quickly shushed).

"...You want us to talk? Talk to... that woman, there?" growls a jaguar-man. "That is what you want, mighty fighter? Then we shall talk, and listen... for now. What do you have to say, woman?" the jaguar warrior asks The Lady.

“YOU ARE IN LUCK”, The Lady replied, casually stepping o et to a nearby rock and seating herself elegantly.
In truth, when she’d said she’d like to speak to them, she’d meant ‘eventually’ ... after they’d finished their immediate business.
But thanks to The Duke, it seemed that immediately business was finished.

“Come, one at a time, and tell me who your leaders are ... and what is the nature of the ‘discussion’ we have interrupted”.
This was a test in itself.   Of aggression, and the willingness to negotiate.
She also suspected that the strongest among them would speak up first.

- rolled 10 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 4,5.  Charm.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:02, Sun 30 Aug 2020.

Everyone looked at an insect, who stepped forward. "We are the Cutari," said the insect. "Our queen is Cli'Ni'Cla."

"My tribe is the Onsu," says a jaguar. "We do not worship a mortal leader. The wisest of us, however, is Shuak, High Priest of Shaa."

"My people are the Durka," says a shorter-than-the-others frog-toad person. "We are currently without a mortal guide-- our last having been killed by the Cutari! But we know our own will. We fight for the water." There are growls and clicks from the Onsu and the Cutari at this, but they glance at The Duke, and let the Durka continue. "To murder a long history: We Durka need the water for birthing the young. The Cutari need it for their crops. The Onsu desire it for... religious purposes... Which is why we Durka have the pure cause. The Onsu pray to their god for victory in battle. The Cutari queen needs to feed more soldiers. We Durka simply try not to become extinct."

"As if food is not vital to stave starvation, lying toad?!" shouts a Cutari...

"Silence," says the Onsu who spoke before. He says it quietly, but the way he says it clearly means I WILL KILL YOU SOON, and all qrow quiet. "Shaa may have sent you to us, strangers. Woman, your manbeast is clearly a great warrior. Together, you have stilled the loathsome din of battle. I inquire after your intentions. Do you have any awareness of Shaa sending you to aid our campaign of war?"

"If they did, would they not have said so in the first place?" said the previously-aforementioned Cutari...

Shit, sorry folks.   I've been busy and somehow this dropped off my list.
Possibly I thought I had posted ....
Again, sorry


The Lady smirked as she listened to the banter ... like a kindly mother letting the children query here, and argue among themselves.
When the silence fell, she smiled benevolently at them.
- rolled 3 using 2d6 with rolls of 2,1.  Charm.
pfft, I don't know why I try to play The Lady as charming:  The dice roller sees her otherwise

"You are all so cute ... and insignificantly stupid", she said to them gently, with mirth and condescension.
"Shaa is nothing but your primitive imagining.
And as for your water, I am here to ensure it flows again ... with neither care nor concern for how it affects your petty lives".

And with a 'winning smile', she asked, "So, who will take me to where it is being dammed?" ... inferring that whomever did would get some 'sweety' for their loyalty and effort.

Every mouth and mandible falls open.

For about four seconds.

Then, with
--a fast series of clicks like running a stick across the bristles of a comb,
--a deep, loud CRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAK, and
--an unheard murmuring of prayers to Shaa at this blasphemy,

they attack.

The Lady and The Duke, that is, not each other.

The damage would have been worse, even in just the first few moments, but The Duke got in their way... and then they started getting in each others' way, each faction wanting to be the ones to destroy The Lady.

(The Duke and The Lady each take one level of damage.

The Lady gets 1 new xp point.

Everyone is trying to kill both of you, especially The Lady.

However,

1. They are still afraid of The Duke, and

2. They've started fighting amongst themselves again for the victory of being the faction to destroy The Lady. So you've certainly got a chance.

Options:
--Insightful for a good place to run and hide for a little while
--Charming to try to correct this diplomatic disaster
--Forceful to fight
--Agile to just dodge and hope that they forget about you and revert to fighting each other again out of force of habit
--Something else I haven't thought of)
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:54, Sun 13 Sept 2020.

The Duke had been ready and when the things go for the Lady the Duke bursts into action. Foers was pointing at all the critter swarming around them The Lady marked in bright green in his field of vision as the only friend and all the others blinker red for dangerous and in need of neutralizing. And the Duke neutralizes them in a way that makes the stream flow red. The Duke was not just regular violent this was really atrocious.

ooc: Atrocity 10. Assuming these people are not strong we got bug pure.

10-12: Strong Atrocity: Charge any one strong opponent, or group of weak opponents, and destroy them. You don't even need to use any weapons (though you may). If your next move is an assault or atrocity, take +2 forward.

21:06, Today: The Duke rolled 10 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 5,4.  Atrocity.

As The Duke played with the creatures, The Lady simply tried to stay out of harms way; dodging as best she could to avoid any harm coming her way.

- rolled 3 using 2d6 with rolls of 2,1.  Agile to Dodge.
      bloody hell, the Dice Roller hates me right now!

(The Lady takes one new level of health damage, but gets 1 new xp.)

The Lady is wounded further in the ensuing warfare...

...but The Duke reduces the likelihood of that happening further. All three groups of combatants suffer, and are decimated-- seriously, each group of combatants lose roughly 90% of their adherents, as Foers seems to regard this as a justifiable self-defense situation.

The surviving Onsu are too busy praying to fight further. Their quiet prayers to Shaa mostly seem to be prayers of thanks for getting to see such a miraculous fighter of The Duke in action.

The surviving Durka are simply horrified, fleeing.

The surviving Cutari are... impressed. "You are clearly in control of this situation," says one. "What do you two want from us, the living?"


(There was some talk of what The Lady wanted earlier, it's true, but the preceding Atrocity has driven it out of the heads of those present.)
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:11, Wed 23 Sept 2020.

The Duke looks around at the carnage and shows the one addressing him a bloody grin viscera dripping from his face as he does making it all just one unsettling situation.

"You took our water. It needs to flow again now."

The Duke cracks his neck making it clear he was planning to get that water either willingly or maybe even more preferably over their dead bodies.

The Lady was wounded, in body and pride.  And so she stood quietly now, as regally as she could, and allowed The Duke to take control of this situation ... for he was the one whom had earned their bloody respect.

That the statements evoke confusion is clear. "How... did... we... take your water? We are only aware of our three peoples' need for it..."

"And even then you find it hard to share and leave none for the others. Take us to the source. I will share the water for you. and if your populations are to big i can help with that."

He says activating his destructor gloves he hadn't even used in the slaughter yet and cracks his neck again.

"Follow this way, then," says the Cutari, and he leads you... straight ahead.

On the far side of the cavern, uphill a little, is a large pond. Water drips steadily from above into it. Irrigation sluices lead away to the left, presumably to Cutari territory.

There is evidence of ancient pipes that have mostly rusted away long ago.

There is also a large stone basin set into the ground at the edge of the pond. It is quite shallow, but has a large drain.

The (surviving) warriors who have followed The Duke and The Lady note the interest in the basin and the drain. "The drain makes sure that the pond doesn't overflow and flood us," says a Durka. "It used to be full all the time until someone's god started demanding more rituals. Now the drain is needed a lot less."

It's clear to The Lady that the drain very probably provides water for the fountain upstairs...

The Duke looks at the place puts a hand in the basin and looks up at where the water comes from poking the ceiling. Its clear he has no idea about the technical side of things.

"Maybe you should turn your faith to luck. The Lady can show you how you are lucky enough for enough water for all for sure."


As he diverts their attention to th Lady the Duke does an inspection to see what he needs to break to fix things.

ooc: 10:36, Today: The Duke rolled 10 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 6,3.  insightful.

The Duke does notice that the water comes from a still-intact pipe near the top, where there's an automated valve. The valve appears to be completely open. Probably this is what the valve in the fountain room controls. The problem is not the water coming from this pipe, it's that the water below doesn't make it to the drain as much as it used to.

Someone could just build a sluice to send the water straight from the pipe to the drain, and therefore to the fountain, but these people might starve.

Of course, according to them, they used to use less water, but now use more (which is why the fountain volume decreased).

It seems this problem might be cultural in nature. Maybe a little more investigation into exactly how the water use increased in the first place...?

The Duke taps the pipe a few times and doesn't think ripping it open will help much at this moment so starts to follow the water to where it is used. Casually loitering along its flow to see where and how the creatures use it.

Before this gets very far, three of the jaguar-men, the Onsu, come running up to The Duke, although they stop before they get in his arms' reach. "Mighty warrior," they say. "We invite you and the female to come with us. There is one of your own kind we captured and have been keeping prisoner for a few sleeps. We would like to turn him over to you in tribute."

"If this is a ruse to keep the water from me it will be your last ruse ever."

He remarks matter of factly but he does stop his wandering to follow their lead.

The Duke (and presumably The Lady) are taken to the edge of the Onsu camp, where they are presented with the prisoner-- another human, like The Duke (in as much as The Duke is like any other human, anyway).

(Ajakstu Gul, you need to add your Description.

Link back to this game )

"We found him prowling around a sacred place. We think he was looking for things to steal," says an Onsu. "Shaa blesses those who can move silently, so we did not kill him. We have been praying for guidance about what we should do with him. Now that you are here, mighty warrior, those prayers have been answered. We turn him over to your custody."