Day Ten. Early Afternoon. Tuesday, October 25th, 576 CY
Cloudy, damp, cold, foggy
By the cold, feeble light of the distant sky, Pip and Mouser tie a length of rope around a slain veteran of Briarsgate's Goblin Years. Pip wishes to use human bait to lure the rippling ooze off its ledge.
Grothnak and Hoom are, for once, aligned. They join Brevos, happy to move away from the deadly precipice overlooking the bottomless pit of the hell mouth. Together with Bo and Urdur, they move eastward into the green-tinged muddy underground channel.
The white hooded cultists were seen pouring out of the southeast spur of the mud warren. Water raining down on them from the cavern roof, the scouts cautiously tread forward through the thick, deep, muck. The cavern slopes down and widens. Its entire southern half is flooded with water whose surface is opaque and deathly still. All is quiet, for now.
Meanwhile at the cliff, Pelias silently commences with the grisly work of decapitating the dead, hooded victims of the cult.
It is hard, wet labor. The paladin's arms are soon soaked in crimson to the elbow.
When Mouser sees this, he abandons Pip's plan and readies a torch. He immolates a headless, robed corpse and pushes it over the edge!
It hurtles down the shaft like a fallen star trailing a comet tail of blood and flame. The waterfall spray eventually extinguishes the fire and the cadaver disappears from sight.
After an interminable pause, a sickening wet crunch echoes up the pit.
The eerie, alien piping abruptly stops. The silence is deafening.
Suddenly, all the heroes hear an alarm sounding from somewhere deep below.
GONG! GONG! GONG!
Actions?!
Map:
One square = 10 feet. X = Dead or Unconscious. H = Held. O = Oozing horror.
Black area to the west of the PCs is the cliff into the main shaft of the hell mouth.
Cutaway View:
West is left. East is right.
PCs are near the red "X." The PC scouts are at "S." The oozing horror is at "O." The fallen, dead cultist is at "C."
The area around X and S is illuminated by glowing mushrooms and Urdur's torch. All else is from memory.
PC Status:
- Brevos, Half-Elf Ranger 2: Move: 9", AC: 4, HP: 23/27
Grey Mouser, Half-Elf Magic-User/Thief 2/3: Move: 9", AC 5, HP 9/15, Spells: 2/2 1st lvl
Grothnak Uthglukh, Half-Orc Fighter 3: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 24/28
Ingrid Esthof, Human Cleric 4: Move: 6", AC: 3(1), HP: 17/22, Spells: 2/5 1st lvl and 2/4 2nd lvl
Hoom Feethos, Elven Magic-User/Thief 2/3: Move: 9", AC 3, HP 11/12, Spells: 2/2 1st lvl
Long Bo, Human Druid 4: Move: 9", AC: 6, HP: 23/30, Spells: 1/6 1st lvl, 2/3 2nd lvl and 2/2 3rd lvl
Pelias Blanchflower, Human Paladin 3: Move: 9", AC: 2(0), HP: 29/30, Laying Hands: 0/1
Pip, Human Monk 2: Move: 16", AC: 9, HP: 11/12
Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 3: Move: 9", AC: 0, HP: 21/28
Urdur Shimmerstone, Gnome Illusionist 3: Move: 12", AC 6, HP 9/9, Spells: 0/2 1st lvl and 1/1 2nd lvl, Torch
- Protection from Evil (Pelias): -2 to AC and +2 to saving throws against evil, in a 10 foot radius around Pelias.
Hold Person (Ingrid): Duration: 2 rounds.