Shae feels much better after soaking in the tubs. (Assuming she got her 3 shapechange forms back again too?) "It was about time we had something good happen to us," she says as she begins to air dry, thankful for the dry warm air surrounding everyone thanks to the lava river nearby.

"I also think we should offer these waters to our companions, even the devious one. It is the humane thing to do, even though we don't trust him."

You all finish dipping in the pools when you hear a commotion from outside. At first, you think you hear a squealing animal, but maybe it is actually a woman's scream. It is very disconcerting, and then it suddenly stops.

Shae grabs her ancestral spear, shakes the water from her hair, and runs out to see what the trouble is.

You rush out at the screams and notice two things that are different. First, there is now a third stone canoe parked just south of the bridge.

Second, across the bridge at 22A is where the screams are coming from. You at first thought they were from an old woman because they were so high. But now you realize they are the screams of Fingas Hatt--not screams of pain but of fear. His screams stop suddenly just a moment later.

You can't see what's happening over there because of the stone stairs leading 40 feet down block your view.

You currently stand outside 24E.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:06, Fri 31 July 2020.

"Come on!" Tahldar says as he starts to run over the bridge.

"Let me go first!" he adds as he notes the lava and is wary of a trap.

OOC:  I suggest Tahldar cross first, and if I get over the lava bridge okay, the rest come over. If I find myself falling I'll cast feather fall and Fly.

Kahan follows behind Tahldar and waits to cross as the elf wishes.

You cross the bridge and find no traps waiting. At the top of the stairs, you can see down.

Pinned against the far wall is Fingas, spread eagled. He was the one screaming like an old woman. However, he seems unharmed. As you go down the stairs, you notice also that Geebo and Dalharen are not there.

At the bottom, it looks like Fingas is released from whatever invisible bonds held him. He collapses to his knees.

"He appeared out of nowhere like a black shadow," Fingas says. "He used some sort of mind magic and pushed Dalharen down over the cliff there." He points to where you had just climbed up with the 30 foot drop. "Then he slammed me against the wall. I couldn't move." He points up to the 40' cliff to the east.  "And then he took Geebo and jumped to the top over there like it wasn't more than a simple hop to the top." Fingas rubs his arms. Right before he took Geebo, he said, 'Do you know the word?' I said, 'What word?' Then he said, 'The gnome must know' and hopped up there."

"Sounds like more combat is coming our way." Tahldar says as he looks up to the 40' cliff.

"Shae, can you cast fly on Borimer?  That way he can ferry us up quickly.  I will cast a Stoneskin on him for protection as I'm sure he'll need it."

Kahan will peer over the cliff to see if Dalharen is even possibly still alive, although he assumed the worst.

Shae says, "Fly is not in my itinerary. I think it is Kahan who casts that one. But I can turn into a bird to get up there."

Looking over the edge, it is very dark, but you see the still dark figure of Dalharen 30 feet below on the rocky ground. He is not moving.

Kahan casts fly on Borimer, and Tahldar casts stoneskin. Borimer flies up to the ledge 40 feet above. He finds himself on an empty ledge (22C). A narrow, 5 foot wide tunnel leads north before splitting off into west,  and north passageways (equally narrow) (23A).

There is no sign of Geebo or his captor.

However, Borimer hears a sound coming from the northeast direction through the tunnels north of him. The sound was faint but was probably about 70-80 feet away.

Shae will turn into a falcon and fly to the top with Borimer. She transfers back into her half-elf self, with her ancestral spear ready, and says, "I can't let you go alone. I'll be right behind you."

OOC: Fly is a Mage spell, Priests can't cast it. Not sure where you guys got that from but I just figured I'd clear that up ;)

"I think Dalharen is dead," Kahan remarks quietly as he returns to where Tahldar was waiting.

OOC: Let's forget the fly spell for now. I was following along without really checking. Backing up just a bit...

Borimer easily climbs up to the top of the ledge. There are natural handholds carved into the rock where others in the past apparently climbed. (It takes a simple DEX and STR roll to succeed, both of which are no problem for Borimer.)

"Toss down a rope!" Tahldar asks Borimer.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:43, Wed 05 Aug 2020.

Not to be outdone, Leo climbs up as well.

It takes a few minutes to do so, but eventually everyone who wants to makes it safely to the top.

Borimer will carefully lead the group north through the narrow passage.

Tahldar follows Borimer and wonders what kind of battle they will be faced with ahead.  He's never faced or seen a psionicist and doesn't know what to expect.

Borimer leads you north to the opening at 23A. From here, you see that the western passage leads to a large room about 20 feet wide and 35 feet long (23B). There are 11 stone items here that look like crosses between altars and stone coffins, old and decayed. Each is about 5 feet wide by 10 feet long, very large for either an altar or a coffin. To the far west side of the room is a 5 foot long statue of a black spider, apparently the object of some worship in ancient days.

If you continue north, you will enter a passage with very large spiderwebs. The webs themselves are about as thick as a rope. They do not appear to be all cobwebs covered in dust. Some appear quite recent.

You could burn through the webs or, alternatively, maneuver carefully around them without touching them. (Doing the latter requires a DEX check for every 10 feet traveled.)

That web-filled passage continues north or cuts to the east, depending on your choice. The room to the west has no other exits.

You now all can hear the sounds coming from the east direction through the tunnel. The sound is still faint but was probably about 70-80 feet away. It sounds like rustling and someone making sounds from behind a gag.


This message was last edited by the GM at 05:39, Fri 07 Aug 2020.

Tahldar does not like the looks of the webs one bit.  "I think we should burn through them." he says as he gauges his odds of sneaking his way through them to be quite low.

"Maybe we should have someone go through them first, to make sure there isn't something flammable on the other side? If we burn the webs, they would likely catch anything else in these caves on fire, and who knows what's up here," Kahan mused out loud, looking to Borimer and Leo for their thoughts. They were, after all, likely the two nimblest companions they had found so far.

Borimer says, "I will try it and go to the east to investigate the sound. Be prepare to rescue me if this proves foolish."

Borimer successfully navigates the webs, and nothing happens. He pops out on the east side, which breaks up into a passage east and a passage northeast.

The sound appears to be coming from the northeast. It sounds like a low moaning sound, followed by a soft squeal that sounds like, "Help!"

"Geebo needs us.  Time is wasting." Tahldar says as he takes out flint and steel to see if he can the webs burned off.