On a game where each turn is an email exchange taking a day, I didn't want the party to get into a protracted "split the party" situation as the majority of the group would "zero" turns. So in order to keep momentum going, I communicated with the elf and scout characters a bit on private message and they talked to each other as well (on the phone riding home from work, lol) to make sure we maximized our separate turns as much as possible.
Follows:
TWO HUNDRED THREE
(I/C)
Taking out a dart and giving the passage south a critical eye, Lannis shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. “My thoughts? Send in the best of us to sneak by, hopefully not set off everything. However, I'll be the first to admit that I'm out of my element on this one. Sneakers sneak, everyone else hides.” He looked around and shrugged, “None of you are listening anyway, so I'll just shut up and let you guys decide whatever."
“I have to agree with Lannis on this,” Lyra offered, “I’m not huge on sneaking either - if fire is the plan, I have a few resist fires you guys can use. I could also go in with you guys if you need me to be ready with a hold person too.”
“It’s a mushroom,” Lannis mocked, “Not a person.” He gave her a side eye, “Although some people are mushrooms.”
“Bite it,” she retorted drawing out her towel to cover her face if need be and getting a smirk in return from the wizard.
Drawing a torch, Kovid lit it and pointed at the wall of yellow fungus. “Let's clear the fungi out of the way with fire first, THEN sneak past the Shrieker if we need to. I can light it up from a toss on the fungi from a safe distance.” He looked around, “We might want to prepare ourselves just in case the shrieker... shrieks."
Throughout all that, Brendon and Wyn were talking quietly with one another, pointing and gesturing down the hall, counting off ideas on their fingers, and then coming to a conclusion with one another. “We’re going to go and get it,” Brendon said, “Lannis is right, this is a job best suited for us.”
The two of them began stripping off packs, sacks, and unneeded equipment, laying them in two piles on the floor while the elf addressed the dwarf, “Monsieur Dwarf, I tink dat fungus will not react to body heat... maybe we save fire in case something bad happens. I get back to dat in a second.” He reduced his gear to his silver dagger, short sword, 2 large sacks, jar of honey, and vial of oil.
Meanwhile, Brendon was also divesting himself of gear, leaving only: short sword, both daggers, rope, grappling hook, 1 sack, his thieves…er…Scout tools, and a single torch.
“Monsieur Salazar,” Wyn continued, “dis castle and de silly tings we be dealing with certainly deserve all of de slings and arrows... and daggers... we can hurl at dem... but I don't tink aggression is what de Trog had in mind. We be needing to show dis guy we cen do good work if we want de best change to get the flail.”
“I say we just kill the Shrieker ahora, then Plan B the funguses,” Abraxas replied disgusted. “I will not go anywhere near those funguses amigos. Not when we can just solve the whole issue of them with fuego. Seems estupido mas.”
The elf sighed heavily, “Trust moi, I want to bash dat feckin' mushroom over dere, but I don't tink dat be de answer to impress de Trog. I really want to bash something. Like, it would be very satisfying... but the party's priority is getting that flail. So we need to do it the sneaky way I tink.”
The Fighter shrugged, “Haces que quieres. I'll hold your things and prepare for the worst."
“Elves sure do a lot of worrying,” Kovid noted. “I’ll wait for the Plan B signal before throwing the torch. Good luck to you and Brendon... and remember Fire is our friend.”
“Merci. Monsieur du Lac en I will go in after taking de proper precautions.” He looked around the floor and picked up a small stone. Holding it aloft he intoned, “FAIT LUX”, and the rock blossomed in light. “’Ere you go, Du Lac,” he said handing it over. “Small ‘nuff to fit in your hand and will last 90 minutes.”
Turning to Lyra, Brendon asked, “Mi’lady care to give us a Fire Resistance blessing before we go?”
Lyra called out to Aine, “Goddess Aine, protect my friends from the effects of fire…”
“Even if it’s our own fire,” Kovid muttered.
“Si!”
“…and then my goddess, do it again for Wyn as well.” Her holy symbol flared twice and a shimmering fields surrounded both of the men.
“Great,” Wyn smiled as Brendon handed him the Potion of Invisibility. Before he drank it he looked at the group and said, “We do NOT touch the fungus. We do NOT linger in the hallway. We move as silently as possible, but with purpose.
The Scout reached down to his discarded equipment, and picked up the Prybar, tucking that into his current gear. “If we’re lucky we’ll be back without a problem. If the Shrieker goes off and we’re running towards you, let’s go to the Jailer. Hopeful he’ll give us cover from whatever is alerted. Remember we have we he wants.”
Wyn nodded, “Everyone else stay back here and guard de area please... keep an ear our for de panic words. “Plan B!” Once we get down the end, we can figure out what's going on, get the thing from the chest, put it in the sack and if need be, satiate it with the honey.”
The elf gave a lopsided grin, “In case dat baby be an Orb of Annihilation or a Baby Beholder dat eats Wyn... please know dat I have enjoy our time together.”
“Hey, Pirate Scout,” Lannis pointed at Brendon’s belt. “What is that leather roll?”
“This?” Brendon looked down. “It’s my Scout Tools.”
“Scout tools? Don’t you mean Thieves Tools?”
“Big Brain, not a thief. I’m a scout.” Brendon gave the magic user a blank stare.
“I dont think a Scout's Tool kit would have the same things as a Theives Tool kit, Senor Dampness,” Abraxas said, “Two very different skill sets. Two different needs of tools.”
“No, no, it’s ok,” Lannis motioned, “He just took out all the thief stuff and took the scout stuff.”
“Stop looking through my things, Lannis,” Brendon frowned.
"Why would I?” The wizard shrugged, eyeing Brendon’s pile, “What do you have that I could possibly want?"
“Wouldnt "scout stuff" would entail like a telescope/spyglass, compass, markers/chalk, maps, etc? Like stuff used to scout with?” the Fighter wondered.
“Dad uses that stuff,” Brendon shrugged. “Lady Lyra, can YOU watch my stuff please?”
“Gladly,” she said, standing over his pile and nudging Lannis out of the way.
"Why do you think I want to go through your shit?” Lannis asked belligerently, “I really don’t. I've never accused you of going through my stuff and you never have, so what’s your problem?"
Popping the cork on the potion, Wyn drank it down and groaned, “Ugh... let's go du Lac.” The party watched as Wyn and all his belongings faded from sight (Time: Orange 2: Potion lasts 2+6 turns: 8 turns or 80 minutes).
Brendon cupped the light stone tight, letting only a little bit trickle out enough to guide his steps, turning the light so it was closer to the wall. The two of them entered the south hall while Abraxas drew some weapons to throw and Kovid hoisted the torch a bit higher. The party could only see Brendon but they noted that he stayed to the east as they walked past the yellow fungus…without issue.
Alternating covering and letting a little light peek through, Brendon gave enough glimpses for the two men to see as they made their way further down the passage. Getting closer to the Shrieker (<Hide in Shadows, +30 bonus as long as NOT letting the light through, Red 20) the two of them continued moving closer but were picking their way along as quietly as they could (>Move Silently, Orange 7…<Move Silently, Red 31). Wyn could tell his boots made a few semi quiet scrapes as he walked but the Shrieker didn’t seem to respond.
Up close they could see the fungus was not only pretty big, but it also had some layers of shiny coating that gave it a mottled and thick appearance. The pinkish circles puckered and then widened with slow regularity, and the two of them could see the fat stalk would swell and contract accordingly as if it was breathing. Wyn did accidently rub against the wall, a minute noise but still one, and the Shrieker swelled up and gave a tiny faint squeal, no louder than a soft whisper but enough to make both men concerned…and STILL move forward.
As Wyn made it past, Brendon had to squeeze closer to the wall and crouch as the Shrieker MOVED. Squat feet along its base caused the giant toadstool to lift off from where it was squatting and rotate about 45 degrees and move a foot closer to the west wall before settling down again. He wasted no time and continued past as the two of them made it to the turn to the east and took it, getting out of sight from the rest of the party.
“5 Silver they fuck this up, somehow,” Lannis offered.
“They fuck it up, you pay me 5 silver?” Kovid asked.
“As if.”
“Sucker bet,” Lyra shook her head. “Save your coin.”
Once around the corner the passage went over a dozen paces and turned south again before heading east. Using the light to guide them and far enough from the Shrieker Brendon let out the breath he was holding. “Ok, they move?”
“Tell me aboot it,” Wyn muttered invisibly ahead of him. “I did not see dat comin’!”
“And was it just me or did its skin seem thick?”
“Oui! I tink takin’ it down wit’ a few daggers an an arrow or two was not gonna happen wit’out some grande effort.”
The two of them continued on until the passage ended as a cavern. The ceiling was tall, over 15’ up, and there was a dark pool that took up a bit under half the room. The room was warm and moist, droplets were in the air and they could feel it on their skin and clothes. But the main feature was the 15’ tall statue of an elven woman whose features were both breathtakingly beautiful as well as having a cruelty in her eyes and the planes of her face. She was sitting at a 45 degree angle from one side of the room and went over the pool, leaning on the opposite wall. Her clothing was carved to look tight and had a webbed look to it. She had a spider motif on her belt and it looked like her close hand was empty but curled as if it was at one point holding a weapon or a handle but nothing was there now. Her other hand was cupped over her midsection which had a slight swell to it giving her the look that she was pregnant. Her eyes were reflecting the light in Brendon’s hand with a refracting red scintillation, making them think that there were gems set in there.
Her chest had a faint purplish/red glow coming from it as if from inside the stone somehow. And around her neck on a bronze chain over the water was a key.
Tapping the Scout’s hand, Brendon closed his fist tight and the room plunged into darkness, allowing Wyn’s vision to flare over to the heat spectrum. And the water was very warm, like almost body temperature warm. The statue appeared to be the same temperature as the room, except for the “pregnant” belly, it was glowing softly with real solid almost hot warmth, and it pulsed slowly hotter and cooler, hotter and cooler.
“Ok,” Wyn said and light came back in. “I kin see why the Trog knows she is pregnant an’ dere is somet’in inside.” He sighed. “Ok, ‘ow we gonna dew dis?”
Time now is Day 6, 11:30 AM
(OOC)
Ok, you’re here. What now? Mostly will be Wyn and Brendon but PLEASE, everyone is allowed to chime in and ask questions if need be. As for resolution, it’s up to you two to tell me what you want to do and how you want to do it and who is doing it.
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