Into The Long Wet Darkness

[Paladin]

Apollonius Triton

The Atlantean agrees to carry a torch for Akhilleus. He is otherwise silent and gazes upon their surroundings with great curiosity.

[OGRE MAGE]

The Green Grotto
Early Morning, Dark, Cold

Dropping the anchors to secure their broken boat, Euripides tosses the smashed lower half of the rudder he retrieved from the sea floor inside, shrugging at the downtrodden Mikhail.

After giving his report regarding wreckage, other idols, and strange currents, the crew at the shore does notice a rippling motion on the waters surface that appears to be bubbling up from below. A quick taste test reveals the water from the lagoon to be brackish.

Once everyone is reunited on the rocky shoreline, the group watches Valkrina playing in the nearby dirt. The moist but gritty soil she finds could definitely be ground up bones, or perhaps her mind is only playing tricks on her in this unwholesome place.

The torchlight eventually reveals a narrow path of larger, lighter colored stones that leads away from the shore, heading towards the green glowing vegetation in the distance. As your eyes adjust to the strangeness of the torch light combined with the phosphorescent glow of the lichen above, a bit more detail can be made out.

The area ahead appears to be a glowing green garden or grove of some kind, lined with alien looking fruit bearing trees of various sizes that cause your empty stomachs to growl. The path you’re on leads to a maintained archway of mauve colored vines, their dim glow pulsating softly in the darkness. The path continues into the garden beyond and a barely audible hint of whispering can be heard over the plopping of water droplets.

Actions?

positions:
Akhilleus AC:4 11/11
Valkrina AC:6 8/8 1/1 [Torch]
Apollonius AC:8 5/5 2/2 [Torch]
Xenos AC:5 9/9 2/2 [Torch]
Hakon AC:4 9/9
Drest AC:7 7/7
Euripides AC:5 7/7 2/2

[Rex]

Drest

Drest will scout ahead towards the fruit trees.

[Karaunios]

Akhilleus

Akhilleus gets his shield ready again and walks towards the fruit trees too, but lets Drest do the scouting while he himself remains several feet behind.

[shaidar]

Xenos holds back with the main group, letting the others scout ahead. He ensures his javelin's are to hand in case the whispering turns out to be something dangerous.

[Paladin]

Apollonius Triton

Apollonius remains near Akhilleus, peering into the advancing torchlight as they proceed.

[Scott308]

Euripides Nereos

Euripides follows the others, sword at the ready, dripping a trail as he goes.

[Bluetongue]

Valkrina

Since none of these trees and flora look like anything she has seen before, she will leave well alone. Thinking they could be poisonous, even carnivorous? She will lookout for any lotus blossoms though as they might be harvested for spell compounds.

If there is a spring, that at least shows drinkable water.

[OGRE MAGE]

The Green Glowing Grotto
Early Morning, Dark, Cold

The others allow the unruly scout to move ahead of them to sniff out any danger in this strange place. Passing through the archway of greenish-brown vines, the group learns that the path leads into a small garden of all things. A meandering line of fruit trees surrounds the garden, acting almost like a fence or border around the place. Although foreign to all of you in species, the plump, moist globes of varying sizes of fruity goodness almost call out to your grumbling stomachs.

Inside the ring of trees, past the vine archway, a gravel path continues to stretch out before your light. It veers off to both sides but also continues deeper into this chamber. Along the path are smaller bushes and plants, all of them well maintained, but very few look like vegetation you have seen before. There are small rock gardens along the paths that hold even smaller varieties of foliage growing inside them. The strange whispering you hear does not abate. In fact, some of you think you can hear what sounds like high pitched giggling periodically now as well, but searching around in the plants gives no clue to where the noise is coming from. Can I get a Sorcery Save from each character please?

Drest moves in further, seeing an elevated area ahead with a stone structure that looks like a fountain or statue of some kind. The greenish glow from the plants dims slightly whenever you approach any of them, but so far none has tried to eat or otherwise kill anyone.

Actions?

35871398-2A2F-4DB9-9FA5-7C2F6AB5C614.jpeg (369.29 KiB) Viewed 789 times

positions:
Akhilleus AC:4 11/11
Valkrina AC:6 8/8 1/1 [Torch]
Apollonius AC:8 5/5 2/2 [Torch]
Xenos AC:5 9/9 2/2 [Torch]
Hakon AC:4 9/9
Drest AC:7 7/7
Euripides AC:5 7/7 2/2

[shaidar]

Xenos

Unnerved by the situation, he keeps his hand on his pommel and his eyes roving for the source of the noises.

Saving Throw: [1d20]=8 FAIL

[Scott308]

Euripides Nereos

Seeing the abundance of fruit but unsure whether it is safe to eat, the Atlantean calls upon the divine power of Rel, asking his god whether eating the fruit would bring woe upon them or not.

I'm at work so don't have the book handy. He will cast Omen. If I recall, that just tells me whether a specified action will bring good or bad results to the character, correct?
Sorcery Save (14/13): [1d20]=10

[Rex]

Drest

Sorcery save (16/14) [1d20]=8 Fail

Drest will stop and listen intently.

Discern Noise, 4:12

[subaltari]

Hakon

His bow ready in case of attack, the Viking waits with the others for Drest's report whilst standing at the 4-way intersection of the garden paths. "Without having more frœði [knowledge] of that fruit, I reckon we should leave it be."

Saving Throw [1d20]=6 vs. Sorcery 14 fail

[Bluetongue]

Valkrina

Valkrina saves vs sorcery (spells) vs 15 [1d20]=6

Walks through the garden. She hears the giggling which rather than growls or warcries, calms her fears. It would seem less dangerous.

She shoulders her scrimshaw spear and brings out some panpipes which she blows a tune into as she walks along.

[Karaunios]

Akhilleus

Akhilleus decides against asking his companions if they hear any noise. It's obvious by their expressions that they have. He keeps silent and on guard, in case any unexpected danger jumps on them in this strange and alien place.

Saving Throw (Device, Avoidance, Sorcery) - [1d20]=14 vs

Subaltari, if you want to make it even more realistic, that should be frœða, in the accusative case :-p

[OGRE MAGE]

So far every one of you has failed the save?

This might be a short adventure.

[Rex]

I expect no less.

[subaltari]

First-level characters don't have easy saving throws (whether in 1e, AS&SH, or nearly any edition).

But I often think our DM has forgotten this is a first-level party.

[subaltari]

Subaltari, if you want to make it even more realistic, that should be frœða, in the accusative case :-p

So far I've just learned a handful of words, no grammar, so apologies for that!

[OGRE MAGE]

The Sleepy Grotto
???, Dim, Cool

As the group moves in, eyeing all the strange varieties of fruit hanging everywhere, most warn against trying any until they can learn more about it.

Valkrina stows her weapon, blowing a soft lullaby on her pipes as they search through the giggling garden. She grabs what looks like a dark colored pear and takes a bite, chewing in between the long notes.

The others try to stay alert and continue listening to the odd whispering over the soft music. Seeing the Bard enjoying a snack, each of them tries some of the fruit for themselves. Once everyone is munching away, the sleepiness really starts to set in.

Drest moves ahead and sits down with his back next to a fountain filled with water and starts to snore loudly. That noise makes each member of the party join him for a quick nap, the fruit clearly making them all very, very sleepy...........




......An undetermined amount of time later, the well-rested group is now completely dry, with bellies filled with what appears to be nutritious food. Every single member can recall dreams of detailed training and lengthy study of their individual craft. In fact, each of you feel even better and more healthy after waking up then you did before your naps.

Actions?

positions:
Akhilleus AC:4 11/11
Valkrina AC:6 8/8 1/1
Apollonius AC:8 5/5 2/2
Xenos AC:5 9/9 2/2
Hakon AC:4 9/9
Drest AC:7 7/7
Euripides AC:5 7/7 2/2

Since I haven't been keeping up with XP rewards very well, and because there was quite a bit of adventure missed when you left Onja stranded back on the last island, I have decided to award everyone enough experience points to bounce up one level. (technically, this should have happened before any of this....and you will need all the help you can get real soon)

So please add 3000xp to your sheets and make all the necessary improvements to your characters, posting your new hit point rolls in your private threads, re-rolling any 1's. Once you have that done, please go ahead and make an action for your new and improved selves. Congratulations!