IC XIV

[Wyzard]

Well, Severi doesn't have any, since needing light is a human weakness he has no truck with. But I thought I'd throw it out there in case anyone else wanted to take a shot at it.

If not, I say we stash the gnome and go hunt some more proto-orcs. I don't want to take the wandering monster checks going all the way back up and then back down here.

[Atlictoatl]

Tev Meren, Fighter

Tev tosses Severi one of the three oil flasks from his backpack.

[thirdkingdom]

The column is soon doused with oil and set alight. The vast majority of the surface suffers no damage, but the softer areas -- that had until recently been absorbing Ono's life-force -- begin to bubble and char. By the time the flames die down, the column somewhat resembles a melting candle.

From deep within the lair, echoing strangely through the halls, a faint, keening warble can be heard.

[Koren n'Rhys]

Quint Kacie
"Well, it seems that got something's attention at least. Though I don't know if this will be such a safe place to let poor Ono rest now. So, do we leave him behind for the moment or simply take him with us while we continue on?"

[Alethan]

Rhys the Traveler

"We should take him with us. If those orc-things catch him again, he's sure to end up right where we found him."

[Wyzard]

"Fair enough." Severi points towards the sounds coming from further in the dungeon. "Let's assume that that hollering is going to alert the entire dungeon. I say we smash and grab what we can, and then leave post-haste. No further discussion is warranted or timely."

Severi moves to go toward the room that the hammering sound emerged from, on the basis that they might have been crafting baubles of gold or some other valuable.

[thirdkingdom]

While a plan is discussed, the bodies of the slain oroks are methodically searched with the expertise that being a professional adventurer brings. All of them are armed and armored with weapons of beaten iron, like much of the metalwork already seen in this section of the caverns.

No coins are found on any of them, although all have belt pouches that contain a variable number of small stones and pebbles. Most are determined to be worthless, but there are a half-dozen that are recognized to be agates, and worth about 10 gold coins apiece.

Going towards the sound of the hammering will involve returning to the main column room, then advancing down the open archway at the northern end.

[thirdkingdom]

The Lair of the Oroks
Two hours elapsed

With Ono in the middle*, weak-kneeded and softly moaning, the adventurers return to the main room where the columns were first encountered. Another, high-pitched warble can be heard as they enter the room; sound travels strangely in here, with a certain liquid quality, but it sounds like both the warble and hammering come from the open archway in the northern end of the hallway.



*

At least, I'm assuming that's where you put him.

[MonsterMash]

Thurgan, dwarf

Thurgan proceeds cautiously towards the sound with his sword readied.

*

At least, I'm assuming that's where you put him.

Makes sense to have Ono in the middle.

[Wyzard]

Severi goes to peer down the hallway.

[thirdkingdom]

The hallway runs for some thirty feet before it begins to descend in wide stairs; Severi advances, and notes that they descend for at least twenty treads before leveling out into another floor.

[Wyzard]

Severi is still in favor of descending and killing whatever they find.

[Atlictoatl]

Tev Meren, Fighter

Tev accompanies Severi and backs the elf up.

[MonsterMash]

Thurgan, dwarf

Thurgan agrees they should continue to investigate.

[Alethan]

Rhys

Rhys nods in agreement, as well.

[Koren n'Rhys]

Quint Kacie
"It just goes deeper and deeper. No sense in standing here looking at it though. Onward friends!"
Quint walks alongside the injured Ono, helping the little fellow along when he falters while trying to keep an eye out for danger.

[thirdkingdom]

The adventurers descend the stairs, noting as they do that the waxy substance coating the walls, ceiling and floor seems to grow thicker and layered. The bioluminescent fungi coating the walls is actually entombed within the waxy coating, in spots, shining dimly through the lacquered thickness.

At the bottom of the stairs the corridor levels out and opens up into a long, narrow hall, perhaps twenty feet wide and stretching out beyond the range of the torchlight. There are no columns in this room, but a number of evenly spaced niches. Some . . . shapes occupy the visible niches, but the forms do not move. The sound of hammering is louder, and sounds like it is coming from the far end of the hall.

[Wyzard]

"That's probably where they grow the monsters they sell," Severi points at the niches. "We should probably try and stick a sword through them rather than leave them at our backs."

[thirdkingdom]

From a distance, the forms appear to be horrible, waxen figures, grotesquely fat with folds of flesh that cascade down to the ground. Upon closer inspection, however, it is revealed that they are actually statues, carved from stone, and covered with layer after layer of whatever substance this lair seems to secrete. It is impossible to tell, without scraping the secretions away, what manner of man or beast the statues represent. Before any further action can be taken, Rhys' attention is caught by a skritching sound coming from the end of the hallway.

[thirdkingdom]

Anyone want to act?