Return To The Ruins (Warlords Palace)

[OGRE MAGE]

Under The Zakath Desert
Bottomless Chasm?
No Idea On Time Or Day

With only the dim light of very distant flickering torches and the phosphorescence yellow/brown mushrooms to see them by, the group above has difficulty keeping all 4 party members below in sight. Sik gets his sling ready, just in case he needs to fire a stone over 300 feet to the chasm floor. The group can hear and smell nothing in their current position besides the roaring of the fast moving watrerway beyond the splinter team.

While the other 3 (plus rat) remain a short distance away, Ceana walks up to the closest mottled stem that must be at least 8 feet around. Other than cutting some of the flesh away with a blade, she isn't sure how she might collect even a mall sample of the unknown fungus. One thing is certain, nothing like this was growing back at the Toad Mothers shack they found.

The druid looks around for a smaller sample to collect, finding that none of these specimen are under 6 feet tall. When she inspects the mucky ground, she does notice something strange. It looks like large piles of fecal matter have been left behind, scattered about this area. Without touching it herself, she is pretty sure this is some kind of pig crap.

Unbeknownst to those above:

Taibhse, Belloc, and Kainaxarthos suddenly hear a cracked and labored voice coming from the darkness somewhere behind them, speaking softly in the common tongue. "Travellers? In these parts? Unheard of. Not safe here."

Actions?

Can I get a Sorcery Save from Kain, please? This one is at a -2 (willpower adjustments apply)

Ceana (D3) FA:2 AC5 19/19 Torch
Kainaxarthos (C3) FA:1 AC6 17/19
Taibhse (Sh2) FA:0(20) AC5 11/11 Torch
Belloc (M2) FA:0(20) AC6 36/14 Enlarge


Drest (Sc4) FA:3 AC7 16/22
Xenos (DS3) FA:3 AC5 17/17
Akhilleus (F4) FA:4 AC4 19/35
Magda (W2) FA:0 AC9 8/8 Hooded Lantern
Sik (Ba1) FA:1 AC5 9/12
Cyril (Pr3) FA:1 AC8 12/12 CLW, DM Torch

[Rex]

Drest

Drest continues to wait, keeping alert.

[hedgeknight]

Ceana

Wrinkling her nose is disgust, the druid turns to her friends and says, "There is pig shit everwhere! I wonder if whoever tends these giant mushrooms uses it as fertilizer? Gods!"

[Ahlmzhad]

Taibhse

Getting ready to answer Ceana that a cutting would probably due, but should be from the cap not the stem, he hears the crack and voice behind them and turns to see who or what is approaching.

[subaltari]

Magda can still see and hear what is going on via her familiar's senses. She warns the rest of the party that the others have encountered something among the toadstools, something that speaks but hasn't yet been seen.

Skavi begins to pick his way through the hog manure and around a big toadstool's trunk to try to get a peek at the person speaking.

[Karaunios]

Akhilleus "Someone is speaking to them? Then we should move at once, lest be too late when we arrive down there."

[Rex]

Drest

If the upper group is moving down Drest will lead the way as stealthily as possible.

Move Silently 6:12

[Belkregos]

Belloc turns to face the source of the voice while moving to a side

[shaidar]

Xenos

Xenos will move with the group to join the others.

[silifi]

Sik follows Akhilleus down the cliffs.

[The_Wanderer]

Cyril nods grimly and follows the others down the path.

[Monsieur Rose]

Kainaxarthos

Save v Sorcery: [1d20]=2 I make you wait all weekend for that?!

Kain turns toward the voice, about to respond. Pending his failed save.

[OGRE MAGE]

Under The Zakath Desert
The Underborea?
No Idea On Time Or Day

When Magda translates what her rat Skavi hears and sees below, the others decide they better start making their way down to them after all. Drest leads the way, moving slowly and trying to remain silent, while the others tromp on behind the Scout making all kinds of racket in their heavier armor and gear. (this is going to take a while if you want to try to be unheard as you move along)

Ceana, Kian, Taibhse, and Belloc all turn to witness a grotesquely obese man with pinkish skin walking towards them from out of the darkness. The huge human makes no aggressive moves towards anyone, in fact quite the opposite. In his cracked and labored tone, he speaks out again as he approaches even closer. "You are not of the Snake-Men then, I see. That is good. As I despised their flavors."

Now completely inside their ring of torchlight, the group can see this man is morbidly overweight, probably in the neighborhood of 500 pounds, and has odd porcine countenances. What is even more unfortunate is that he wears a very modest amount of clothing, showing off more than you'd really like to see, if you know what I mean. Again, he makes no aggressive moves, apparently content to simply meet these newcomers who have accidentally wandered into his home. "Tell me your names, friends?"

Actions?

Can I get a Sorcery Save from Belloc, please? This one is at a -2 (willpower adjustments apply)

Ceana (D3) FA:2 AC5 19/19 Torch
Kainaxarthos (C3) FA:1 AC6 17/19
Taibhse (Sh2) FA:0(20) AC5 11/11 Torch
Belloc (M2) FA:0(20) AC6 36/14 Enlarge


Drest (Sc4) FA:3 AC7 16/22
Xenos (DS3) FA:3 AC5 17/17
Akhilleus (F4) FA:4 AC4 19/35
Magda (W2) FA:0 AC9 8/8 Hooded Lantern
Sik (Ba1) FA:1 AC5 9/12
Cyril (Pr3) FA:1 AC8 12/12 CLW, DM Torch

[Rex]

Drest

Hearing the racket everyone else is making Drest decides to move along at a more normal but still safe pace.

[Belkregos]

[hedgeknight]

Ceana

The druid wrinkles her nose again, this time not from the smell of the pig shit, but rather from the oinker approaching and speaking to them. And a nearly naked oinker at that! "I've never seen mushrooms grow this large," she says, ignoring the man's question. "Is it the...erm...fertilizer that makes them grow such?"

[subaltari]

Magda & Skavi

What her alert rat can see and hear, Magda continues passing on to the group with her. "We can see him now... a grossly fat man, nearly nude, and sort of... piggy. He is just talking," and with that she trails off.

"You are not of the Snake-Men then, I see. That is good. As I despised their flavors."

Magda repeats these words to the party on the slope, then she adds "He may not like snake-men himself, but that means... he eats people! Let us get down there quickly!

"...Does one of you have a bow?"

[The_Wanderer]

Cyril raises an eyebrow at the description of the man.

"No bow but I have a sling? What did you have in mind?" Cyril readies his sling and stows his staff as he makes his way down the path.

[Ahlmzhad]

Taibhse

Not liking the newcomers comments about the taste of other visitors waits for others to speak first, and gets a good grip on his axe.

[Rex]

Drest

"No, a sling also. Bows are costly and fragile. I am poor."