Expedition: Earc/Guhra's Tower-Part II-29 July 2021

[Alethan]

Earc pulls out a stick of wood, glowing with the brightness of daylight, and passes it back to Hereward.

"Would you mind holding that, Hereward? Should be good enough light for now, but let me know if we need another," he says to the party in general as they line up to head down the narrow hallway.

He takes his place in line behind the dwarves. "Be sure and call out if you see anything out of the ordinary, Olaf."

[Alethan]

As they move forward, Earc quietly explains to Hereward that they are in a tunnel that leads to a secret entrance to Guhra's tower.

"We call it Guhra's tower, but really it's the dwarves what built it, isn't it? So we thought like dwarves and found a back entrance. So far, it seems the goblins know not of our access to the lower levels. We ran into but one so far and he seemed an outcast. Unfortunately he was killed before we could take advantage of his knowledge. Up ahead we'll come across an old dwarven bath that must have been magnificent at one point. I'd love to see it when the dwarves have had some time to restore this place..."

As they near the bath room, Earc's discussion fades to silence, at least until they can determine if the rooms are still safe.

[onlyme]

Halfpint listens and follows along, ready to see if their bloodbath has been discovered.

[Marullus]

It is a long, clammy trip down the narrow dwarf-mined passage. The steady trickle of water down the center of the floor the only thing of interest, there being no branches, alcoves, or side passages.

The dwarves pause as you approach the bath chamber. The door ahead remains propped open as you left it, the room behind now dark as the gnoll's torches burned out. The smell, however, is overpowering. Fetid rot and death, feces, and wet fur all combine in a stomach-roiling combination that your whole body resists. Funil and Drunil look back dubiously. "Seems those bodies are about where we left 'em," Drunil comments.

Date: 12:00am, 30 July 2021
Distance: ~2 miles
Effects: Continual light
Injuries: Herward (minor wound)

[Alethan]

Covering his mouth with the sleeve of his robe, Earc quickly moves through the fountain room, muttering, "We'll have to have someone clean that mess up eventually..."

If the chest room is likewise safe, he urges the dwarves to move onward to the secret passage so they can get to some fresher air.

If nothing surprises them in the altar room, he suggests the group pause to regroup, secure the secret door, and catch their breath for a moment before continuing.

[Zhym]

Olaf follows along but says nothing. Mostly to avoid having his dinner come back up if he opens his mouth.

[onlyme]

Halfpint as well. She prepares herself in case the interior spaces show signs of others coming through.

[Marullus]

The party presses forward, intent on moving quickly through the humid, hot room with the hot tub and the festering dead bodies. Pushing the door fully open and stepping through, seeing the oozing, popping, discolored flesh of the gnolls -- and the gnoll children -- riddled with maggots, a thick swarm of black flies rising off of them as your light hits them... its just too much.

Florian and Steve begin retching violently, falling to the floor with the nausea. Funil and Drunil both hold their breath and, with obvious distain for the scene, push through to the opposite door. Pony the Mule and Bushel the pony whinny in protest at the foul smell but are able to be led in and through the room with some comforting (who has their reins at the rear?).

Everyone make a save v poison. On a failure you are incapacitated now and will have a -2 to hit for three turns after leaving the area.

Date: 12:10am, 30 July 2021
Distance: ~3 miles
Effects: Continual light, Incapacitating Nausea (Florian, Steve)
Injuries: Herward (minor wound)

[Zhym]

The stench is bad, but Olaf has smelled worse.

Save v. Poison (6): [1d20] = 14

"We be needing to burn the bodies," he says.

[onlyme]

Halfpint likewise holds her breakfast.
sav throw poison [1d20] = 17

[Alethan]

Earc tries to respond to Olaf's suggestion, but suddenly loses his morning's meal.

Save vs. Poison (13) [1d20] = 4

"Do it. Burn them," he manages to get out between retches.

Earc has no oil to assist with such a task, unfortunately.

[Zhym]

What do we think about throwing them into the pillar of fire? We defeated the elemental that was there, right? All we need to do is drag the stinky, maggot-infested corpses there.

Alternately, we could drag the corpses out to the waterfall and dump them, but that risks drawing attention to the secret entrance.

[onlyme]

if we can burn in pillar, seems safest thing to do

[Alethan]

OOC: There were sheets/blankets/bedrolls in the altar room (used by the runt goblin to make his home) and maybe on the bodies found in the laboratory room. We could use those to move bodies if nobody in the group has blankets or bedrolls.

[Zhym]

Olaf isn't all that eager to put a maggoty corpse in his bedroll or blanket, thanks.

[Lunna]

Save vs. Poison (11) [1d20] = 10

Hereward tries but fails to hold it together. "Gwanwen's teeth!" he splutters, as he retches in a corner. There's no way he's donating his bedroll or winter blanket to the cause.

[Alethan]

Earc wipes his mouth on the corner of his sleeve and gasps, "Some of us should go to the altar room. We should be able to find blankets or bedrolls there."

"If someone will ignite a new light source here, I'll go get blankets with Funil and Drunil."

[Marullus]

Making some assumptions so as to not belabor this...

Funil lights a torch and hands it off to Olaf. Funil and Drunil go with Earc to the chapel of Moradin, collecting the blankets from the goblin's blanket fort. The two dwarves come back and haul the corpses through as Olaf prays at the altar to open the doorway. The corpses dissappear into the pillar of fire, just plumes of odorless ash snowing back down on the room a few minutes later.

The corpses disposed of, the party stands in Moradin's chapel, contemplating their next move.

Date: 1:00pm, 30 July 2021
Distance: ~3 miles
Effects: Continual light, Incapacitating Nausea (Florian, Steve, Earc, Hereward)
Injuries: Herward (minor wound)

[onlyme]

Halfpint readies herself for progressing into the other areas of the tower. She awaits the others.

[Alethan]

As they toss the last of the gnoll corpses into the fire, Earc sighs in relief and tosses the soiled blanket they'd been using into the fire, as well.

"Well that was absolutely disgusting. But... it should make travel through the hidden tunnel easier from now on."

If they haven't already done it, Earc makes sure the goblin runt's corpse is likewise thrown into the fire.

Then he calls for a short break (1 turn) so anyone who is not yet fully recovered from the gnoll mess has some time to do so.

Once everyone is recovered, Earc leads them into the laboratory room, going through the wooden door in the upper left corner of the room. Then straight ahead into the unknown from there, first listening at the door on the left wall of the laboratory prior to trying to open it.