The Game Thread 2

[Juramenta]

Oh no.... Bishop says as his eyes widen in shock when he sees the cloud forming.
Scarecrow, get them off! he yells at his effigy before he balls up and pushes his clothing over his face and ears.
Instead of fighting them, he focuses on keeping the creatures from entering his body, while hoping his effigy will save them from a horrible fate.

[Grognardsw]

"Gnat Wall" intones an oddly scratchy voice in the darkness, probably belonging to the eyes.

Elcroon was startled to hear speech. Thoughts flashed in his mind: More then beasts - something to talk with!

Momentarily... a vast cloud of small black biting insects billows from the darkness into your faces...

Momentarily…

Realizing magic was at play, Elcroon dropped his bow, grabbed the lower hem of his cloak, swooped it over his head, bolted forward through the wall of gnats, rushing the red-eyed figure to tackle him!

As he broke past the gnats, he lowered the cloak to see and yelled “Stop! We come by order of the king! / Cease your insect sting!” as he lunged to tackle…

Elcroon tackle [1d8]=5

[jemmus]

Thoughts flashed through Delx's head. Try a partly blind shot at the eyes, hoping for good fortune to hit and maybe stop the spell? Charge up close with Black Dog and try to disrupt the conjuring? He was about decided on the latter when Elcroon cried out and ran forward. Black Dog, forward, let's go! He broke into a run, two paces behind the man of rhyme and music.

[tibbius]

Bishop had the lamp on the staff … but he dropped it … the blue light flickers eerily not that Delx or Elcroon have heed of it as they dash blindly into the darkness …

The sound of rapidly-shuffling feet reverberates through the dark space where the "gnat wall" figure was. It hasn't chosen to stick around and be tackled!

Delx and Elcroon stand in darkness, at least freed from the gnat wall. Looking back into the flickering blue glow of the lamp, which is mostly obscured by the wall of gnats, they realize it is about to go out. Meanwhile, Bishop is huddled in a heap on the floor like dirty clothing, while the scarecrow automaton is flailing all its limbs in the midst of the gnat wall. The insects are remarkably persistent and not dissipating, but also not pursuing anyone. But to get the lamp over here, someone will have to push through the disgusting and annoying barrier of flying vermin.

[Juramenta]

Bishop is consumed by fear, terror even.
Years of digging through soil and slicing into carcasses teeming with maggots have done nothing to prepare him for this. The sheer overwhelming force of the swarm leaves him no room for reason. Not once does it cross his mind that this might be magic. This is unlike anything he has ever faced before.

[Grognardsw]

As Elcroon relit his previously doused torch he said to Delx.

"Bring our torches alight
with fire and smoke to fight
to kill gnats and drive their flight."

The bard wrapped his lower face with part of his cloak to prevent gnats flying into his nose and mouth.

[tibbius]

As Delx fumbles to relight his torch, his foot thumps against a heavy soft object on the floor. The torch flares, and he looks down. On the floor is a hairless naked person about the size of a large dog, with an arrow head jutting out of their back between a set of gossamer iridescent wings. They appear to be recently dead.

[Grognardsw]

“Delx what is it?
Ah, a fae I hit!
First fleas to lit
Then apply wit.”

[tibbius]

The torches soon disperse the gnats, which already were beginning to drop in the cold air.

The stickamaton appears fearful of flame.

Bishop emerges from his huddled mass and regrips his staff, again setting the lamp to light.

The passages are cold, silent, and dark beyond the light of your torches and lamp. The dead fae lies on the tool-marked stone floor.

[Juramenta]

Bishop scrawls back against the wall, breathing deeply, trying to regain his composure.
The normally so calm and collected man is now experiencing actual fear. A feeling he hasn't felt since being a little child.
He clamps hard onto his staff after lighting it, as if it somehow would protect him more.

After a while, he starts to come back to his senses, albeit slowly.
Magic? That was a spell? he mumbles, visibly still not having fully recovered.

[jemmus]

Delx
Ah, Elcroon, we've slain a little thing. I hope if was wicked and we did some good. He calls out to the other pair of red eyes. Halloo there! Do you speak a human language? If you don't want to fight, neither do we.


I'd like to know more about fae.
Know skill
Is it a d10 I roll?
[1d10]=9
Or a d12?
[1d12]=11

[Grognardsw]

With the gnats vanquished, Elcroon helped steady Bishop. He retrieved his bow and put out his torch now that the staff light was back. He said to the necromancer:

“Aye, gnats by magic was the danger
Worse threats will be no stranger.”

The musicmancer nodded at Delx’s comments. He examined the dead body of the fae for signs of its type, and if it was carrying anything. He knew there were a variety of such beings, often associated with nature. In this underground environment, it was unlikely to be a fae of the forest, or water, or air. There were dark fae too; perhaps it was a member of the Unseelie Court.

Elcroon thought back to the humming sound preceding the fae. He feared the elevator had left, perhaps summoned by its unseen master. The same who set the salt lines at each level elevator corridor? Someone with knowledge of the ghost dangers. Could that be the fae, or were there others inhabiting the undermountain?

“Shall we continue down passage right
Where lurk fae and treasure bright?
Or turn left to avoid fae sight?”

Reason [1d8]=6

[Juramenta]

Bishops accepts the help and gets up.
He dusts himself off.
My apologies, I do not know what came over me. That must have been an embarrassing sight. I am in control again, adventuring life surely ain't for the faint of heart. Lesson learned he replies giving Elcroon a hand to thank him for helping him up.

He looks around and says If we can deal with any remaining fae, we won't have to worry about them attacking us in the back or even worse, when we are vast asleep

[Grognardsw]

“Then on our way, wary of fae, I say!”

Elcroon moved with the others down the right corridor, deeper into the dark where the late the fae had emerged.

He examined the dead body of the fae for signs of its type, and if it was carrying anything.

Did this reveal amything?

[Grognardsw]

He examined the dead body of the fae for signs of its type, and if it was carrying anything.

Did this reveal anything?

After searching the dead fae, Elcroon moved it down the first narrow 5’ wide passageway in the north wall to hide it from the main corridor.

With the others, Elcroon (with bow out) continued down the right passageway, pausing at the second narrow corridor in the north wall. With the staff light he peered into it, wondering if it may indeed be a mining tunnel. The bard looked for floor or wall scrapes.

He whispered to Black Dog:

“Keep alert ear and nose
To detect fae foes!”

Elcroon did the same process for the third narrow passage. He walked 30’ down it with the light to see that much further.

Map

[tibbius]

The fae was nude and empty-handed. Its only possession was the arrow through its chest.

The first passage continues out of light. The second passage similar. The third passage, as Bishop follows in with the lamp, at about twenty feet in the light shows a dead-end wall at its limit (the passage is about sixty feet long).

All the walls, ceiling, and floor show tool marks. Looking closer at the walls, there's traces of some kind of colorful purplish mineral all through the grey-brown granite.

[Juramenta]

Bishop, being physically weaker and less resilient compared to his adventuring companions, makes sure he always remains behind the party.
Once he spots the minerals, he moves closer to it in order to investigate.

I expected more salt, but this seems something different entirely. Have either of you two encountered minerals like this before?[ he asks Elcroon and Delx.

[Grognardsw]

The fae was nude and empty-handed. Its only possession was the arrow through its chest

Elcroon retrieved his arrow. He would have liked to talk with the fae, maybe they could have been friends and frolicked together.

The musicmancer was convinced the narrow tunnels had been for mining. He watched Bishop examine the purple mineral veins in the walls.

When Bishop asked if he knew what type of purple mineral it was, Elcroon considered the possibilities: amethyst, purple chalcedony, charoite, sugilite, lavender jade, tiffany stone, tanzanite, kunzite, purple sapphires, fluorite, or perhaps rubellite. His mind rebelled at versifying such an answer, so he just said:

“Maybe but no
I don’t know.”

“Alas we lack the tools
to mine raw jewels.”

Elcroon didn’t bother searching for secret doors at the dead ends. it wouldn’t make sense.

Heading in the direction where the fae came from… He wasn’t sure this was wise. Hopefully there wasn’t a whole nest of them down here. Gnats would be the least of their worries then.

[tibbius]

Heading in the direction where the fae came from… He wasn’t sure this was wise. Hopefully there wasn’t a whole colony of them down here. Gnats would be the least of their worries then.

The proper collective noun for fae is "a nest of" — like hornets.

[Juramenta]

Alas he repeats, leaving the minerals for what it is, ready to move on.