Thanks. I spent the night in the ER, and they turned me loose this morning. I still don't feel right though, and my joints all hurt. :P I am at work now, so...
Sorry, my computer was having internet connection problems. Sites load… weirdly. I am trying to figure out why. But it seems to be at least a little better now.
Once you figure out how to stay out of their way, you are able to slaughter the piercers with impunity. Each of you receive 60 exp for your part in the fight. The grating over the mushrooms is small enough to prevent anyone from falling through it, even someone as small as Alora. The mushrooms don't do much except leak that green, glowing stuff.
Jaheira *does* recognize them, though, from an old, rare druidic manual. These are an extremely rare variety of shrieker, called, by some "wit" Leakers. Unlike shriekers, they make no noise and are therefore considered useless and harmless. Their sap glows in the dark and can be used to power lanterns. Other than that, they are useless. They don't even taste good. But Jaheira knows how to gather their spores if she ever wanted to transplant some leakers elsewhere. In fact, Bheannhe might want some for her mushroom garden upstairs.
None of the monsters here seem to have any treasure. But now that all the piercers are dead, you can exit to the northwest or back the way you came (east and south-ish).
Pleased with her part in incapacitating the piercers, Jaheira shifted her attentions back to where they properly belonged. "These mushrooms..." She cared more for them than anything else in this accursed pit, for they were of nature, and it was not. Ignoring her husband, she said, "The Lady," meaning the one, who'd carved out a place for the natural world in her herbal shop, "might find uses for these. Their main value is the light, of course," which was nothing but pure snobbery on her part. She happened to know about these, while others did not, making her knowledge valuable in this instance. Regardless, she gathered some spores and folded them into a cloth for safekeeping.
Alora, who is aware that her part in this battle was a bit less than glorious, decides to keep quiet for a while.
Her resolution doesn't last long. She whisper to Jan: "I found those mushrooms and now Jaheira is taking all the credit just because she read about them in some old book. Who has time to read books. Boring!"
Having got this off her chest Alora heads off down the northwest passage. "Come on everyone, we're going this way."
She goes ahead of the party, moving stealthily and checking for traps as she goes.
OOC: If you guys want to go in a different direction just yell at Alora. She'll find a way to convince herself that it was her idea in the first place.
Books are not boring, Alora. Some of them are full of a special kind of magic, with tales of heroic deeds, and adventures, not much unlike our own! I usually preffered to study the arcane scriptures though, one could say my whole life depended on becoming a mage.
Speaking of adventures, you don't think you will keep all the treasure to yourself, do you?
Jan runs after Alora, to make sure he doesn't miss any treasure that may be awaiting the party.
The corridor goes about 28' north, and a corridor splits off to the straight east. 25' down that corridor, you see the Stalagmite/Stalactite room you were investigating before having to deal with the piercers. The corridor continues to the north(ish) as far as you can see, and ahead, another corridor splits off to the west(ish). The ducks waddle along with you, quacking happily, seemingly glad to accompany you.
Jan has an idea. He stretches out a hand to pet one of the ducks. Once the duck touches him, he casts the last spell he has left today: Identification. He wants to know exactly what the purpose and origin of these ducks is.
Jaheira follows, just in time to catch Jan in the act of... Of... "What are you doing?" she cried out, nearly interrupting his arcane wizardry in the process. "No respect for nature," she added, as the spell proved (or appeared to prove) harmless, if not benign, in the process. "And you," she then continued, shifting to the other miscreant. "Running off with him, for I can't imagine what, while the party is in disarray." Exaggeration, to be sure, but they definitely hadn't waited for anybody else.
*Anomen huffs and cleans off his mace. He watches Jaheria collect the mushrooms and rolls his eyes but says nothing. He follows behind the group, looking annoyed.*
Alora looks around pretending she can't see Jaheira. "I can hear a moaning, whining sound. Can anyone else hear that?"
Alora then turns on her heel and flounces off to the Stalagmite/Stalactite room. She will, however, be very careful not to walk directly under them. She will also keep as far away from the ones on the ground as possible. She will also look for traps and stuff lurking in the shadows.
"That hamster is smarter than he is," Jaheira snorted, intending for only Khalid to hear her words. It was likely that Aerie did, as well, but she figured that those who went into danger needed to be able to handle strong speech. Halflings, as well, now that she thought of it; Alora could definitely toughen up a little - or a lot!
The Uniducks are not magical, any more than Unicorns are. They are brought about by magic, but they aren't magical artifacts that can be read like magic items.
When you enter the stalactite/stalgamite room from the west, you can glimpse a door through the stalactites to the north. It's impossible to get there, however.
It was an excellent question. "Perhaps we are not thinking of this the right way," Jaheira proposed, although, for the life of her, she could not think of a solution. "Further exploration might be in order."
Alora feels she may have led her party in the wrong direction.
"It looks like we'd have to break all the stalactites to get to the door. And if we start doing that the ones on the ceiling will probably fall on our heads. "
Then she has an idea. "I will fire my sling at the door and if anyone is behind it they will think it is someone knocking. And when they open the door to answer we can ask them how we get there."
She will keep firing her sling until she hits the door but if no one answers the door when she "knocks" she will head back to the corridor going north and explore that. As usual she will attempt to stay in the shadows and look for traps while she explores.
"The added benefit," Jahara piled on, "is that, should whatever is behind that door prove unfriendly, we can proceed with clear consciences that it is alerted to our presence." With the craziness of this tourist attraction of a dungeon, she really didn't know what to expect and, as far as that was concerned, any guess was just about as good as another.
Alora misses several times and nearly hits Arkanis in the head. Then, she hits one of the stalactites and it grows a mouth and screeches at her. (It was only a glancing blow, but I guess it stung…)
Arkanis thinks it looks like a roper, but it doesn't have any tentacles, making it a ropeless?
"Or," Jaheira continued her previous commentary. "Whatever is in front of that door." She backs to a safe distance, assuming that these shouting stalactites had no projectile attacks, as Jaheira did not wish to turn her back on this enemy. "Alora's Marauders, indeed," she then muttered. "More like Alora's Followers of an Idiot Fool-Child."
Alora stops running and waits at the entrance to the cave. "Maybe people who are better shots than me should fight them from a distance? It seems a bit cruel though. They can't fight back."
Alora is in a moral quandary. She really wants to know what is behind the door but she is not sure it is okay to kill stuff to find out.
Comments
OOC: Get well, @LadyRhian ! Any game will be on pause just perfectly. The main thing is you getting well. Wish you the swift recovery.
Jaheira *does* recognize them, though, from an old, rare druidic manual. These are an extremely rare variety of shrieker, called, by some "wit" Leakers. Unlike shriekers, they make no noise and are therefore considered useless and harmless. Their sap glows in the dark and can be used to power lanterns. Other than that, they are useless. They don't even taste good. But Jaheira knows how to gather their spores if she ever wanted to transplant some leakers elsewhere. In fact, Bheannhe might want some for her mushroom garden upstairs.
None of the monsters here seem to have any treasure. But now that all the piercers are dead, you can exit to the northwest or back the way you came (east and south-ish).
Pleased with her part in incapacitating the piercers, Jaheira shifted her attentions back to where they properly belonged. "These mushrooms..." She cared more for them than anything else in this accursed pit, for they were of nature, and it was not. Ignoring her husband, she said, "The Lady," meaning the one, who'd carved out a place for the natural world in her herbal shop, "might find uses for these. Their main value is the light, of course," which was nothing but pure snobbery on her part. She happened to know about these, while others did not, making her knowledge valuable in this instance. Regardless, she gathered some spores and folded them into a cloth for safekeeping.
Her resolution doesn't last long. She whisper to Jan: "I found those mushrooms and now Jaheira is taking all the credit just because she read about them in some old book. Who has time to read books. Boring!"
Having got this off her chest Alora heads off down the northwest passage. "Come on everyone, we're going this way."
She goes ahead of the party, moving stealthily and checking for traps as she goes.
OOC: If you guys want to go in a different direction just yell at Alora. She'll find a way to convince herself that it was her idea in the first place.
OOC: @LadyRhian - Good to have you back!
Speaking of adventures, you don't think you will keep all the treasure to yourself, do you?
Jan runs after Alora, to make sure he doesn't miss any treasure that may be awaiting the party.
He watches Jaheria collect the mushrooms and rolls his eyes but says nothing. He follows behind the group, looking annoyed.*
Alora then turns on her heel and flounces off to the Stalagmite/Stalactite room. She will, however, be very careful not to walk directly under them. She will also keep as far away from the ones on the ground as possible. She will also look for traps and stuff lurking in the shadows.
When you enter the stalactite/stalgamite room from the west, you can glimpse a door through the stalactites to the north. It's impossible to get there, however.
Arkanis inspects the the stalactites with curiosity, looking for hidden mechanisms on both sides of them. He watch the ceiling above them too.
"It looks like we'd have to break all the stalactites to get to the door. And if we start doing that the ones on the ceiling will probably fall on our heads. "
Then she has an idea. "I will fire my sling at the door and if anyone is behind it they will think it is someone knocking. And when they open the door to answer we can ask them how we get there."
Alora fires her sling at the door.
She will keep firing her sling until she hits the door but if no one answers the door when she "knocks" she will head back to the corridor going north and explore that. As usual she will attempt to stay in the shadows and look for traps while she explores.
Arkanis thinks it looks like a roper, but it doesn't have any tentacles, making it a ropeless?
Alora runs away.
OOC: I am a seriously bad shot!
Alora is in a moral quandary. She really wants to know what is behind the door but she is not sure it is okay to kill stuff to find out.
"Anomen, do you think they are evil?"