Quest #21 "Island Hopping"

[Quonundrum]

Andronichishche purses his lips in thought at the reaction, or lack thereof, the strange trees had to the fresh offering. "It would seem if they are carnivorous, live prey is preferred." He silently sighs and shakes his head imperceptibly at Gramble's insistence on a scorched earth solution. "Perhaps so, Mr. Gramble, but I ask for a bit more patience before we resort to such, please."

Andron then moves up to join Crestbrook, Lerrick, and Maag, noticing for himself the new adornments to the cave entrance. "This is very odd. Could those be from the rags Cora had upon the walls in her cave?" He lifts up his minotaur head lamp, "No need for a torch at the moment, if one of you would like to investigate more closely?"

As he holds out the radiant skull, Andron gazes intently upon the rocky ledge above the cave entrance to ensure another minotaur wasn't also summoned, lying in wait ...

[Storm11]

Saracen suddenly curious, begins to chant a spell.

Detect Magic on the trees, then the area around the cave, then he will move into the cave carefully scanning the inside once again.

[wolfpack]

Fine

but when one of those trees eat you it will be your own fault.

[Quonundrum]

Andronichishche nods in acquiessence to Gramble. "I cannot argue with that, Mr. Gramble. I just hope if I am mistaken, the consequences rest with me."

[kruk]

Cresty

Andronichishche"This is very odd. Could those be from the rags Cora had upon the walls in her cave?" No need for a torch at the moment, if one of you would like to investigate more closely?"

Everything is odd about this place. I will go closer to investigate. The paladin, equipped with his shield and his sword, moves closer to the cave entrance to investigate the rags and take a peak as to what might be behind them


Lerrick

No movement of the trees? Hmmmm. Perhaps the mysterious trees will feast when no one is around. When the rest of the party moves towards the entrance of the cave Lerrick circles back and checks if the trees move towards the slain beast in front of them when everyone has left. If no change she moves back quickly to join the party.

[Quonundrum]

Everything is odd about this place. I will go closer to investigate.

Andronichishche arches an eyebrow, "I also cannot argue with that." He will follow the paladin a few paces back, but close enough so that the light from his minotaur head lamp breaches the cave entrance, still keeping a wary watch on the ledge above.

[Jernau35]

Maag

"Der rags are makin' sure dat we can't see wotever is waitin' inside der cave." says Maag. He holds out his bamboo pole. "Somebody take dis an' use it to move der rags out of der way".

Maag eyes the rocks above the cave. "I'm gonna go back up der". He starts to climb up the rocks again, remaining a safe distance away from the actual area above the cave.

Climb Walls (90%) [1d100] = 3

[ravenn4544]

Alordan doesn't look satisfied at the lack of results with the vines. "So near it may not be good enough - what if we roll it into the vines?" He'll try and roll the corpse into the vines - looking for help if he can't himself.

[Rex]

Tlachtga

Tlachtga and Cu wait for everyone to finish up and keeps an eye on the cave in case of a surprise attack.

[OGRE MAGE]

Back To Work
Freeday, 19th of Goodmonth
Early Morning, Partly Cloudy, Warm, Humid

Alordan is unsatisfied by the results of their test, pushing the dead, headless body of the minotaur up into the leafy vines of the tree a little further. Nothing happens. Gramble grumbles something about setting the whole lot up in a flaming inferno, but doesn't act upon his words after being cautioned by the priest or Rao.

Saracen uses up a minor prayer to detect for any magic emanating from the trees. His spell reveals nothing magical about the strange beings, so he moves into the circle with the others, looking at the cave mouth next, but finding nothing magical about that either.

While the others peek inside of the cave opening, seeing nothing special beyond the hanging rags, Maag begins climbing up the rocks again. Tlachtga and Cu keep an eye on the pair still messing with the trees, just in case.

Nothing is spotted in the area above the cave mouth and it is easy enough to deduce where the rags came from once the group gets a little closer. Both of Alordans lost nets have been hung across the opening of the cave, from the inside, but have since been torn to threads. The thick ropes of the nets are still intact where they are stuck to the rock wall, but any ropes that were hanging down into the opening have been ripped through and shredded, leaving only small tufts of frayed rope hanging down that now look more like thread bare rags.

Actions?

map:

5B61BFB2-8989-436E-9A43-7D3F66D93AC0.jpeg (101.09 KiB) Viewed 602 times

Sir Crestbrook 10/11 LoH
Gramble 16/16
Tlachtga 8/8 2/4 1st
Cu AC:3 13/13
Lerrick 11/11 3/4 1st
Saracen 33/33 3/5 1st 2/2 2nd DM:9
Alordan 16/18
Andronichishche 6/6 1/3 1st Head Light:57 CL, DM, RM / 1/1 1st
Maag 12/12

[Rex]

Tlachtga

Tlachtga and Cu get ready to go in the caves, lighting her last torch once they start in.

"I need to remember to pick up more torches when in town or make some when I have some time."

Torch deducted from inventory.

[wolfpack]

Gramble enters the cave

[kruk]

Lerrick and Cresty enter the cave, both of them with weapons equipped

[ravenn4544]

Alordan sighs at the mystery of the trees. "Do you understand me," he tries in futility. "We don't mean any harm." He'll wait for a second for some sign of response before joining the party at the cave.

[Quonundrum]

Andronichishche shuffles over to the left side of the cave entrance and carefully sets the minotaur head onto the ground with a dull thud. He takes a couple deep breathes and stretches his arms, now relieved of the heavy burden. "I'll leave this here for now. Brutus may get the wrong ... impression ... if he sees us with it." Andron glances back at Alordan, the latter now railing at the strange trees in frustration, and decides to wait for the ranger before entering the cave. He steps up to examine the rope fibers more closely, attempting to determine how they were torn; cut with a blade or ripped apart with sheer strength.

As Alordan approaches, the cleric of Rao clasps him on the shoulder and offers a nod and consoling smile. "A commendable effort, my friend. We shall solve the mystery of those trees in due time. Let us join the others inside."

[Storm11]

Saracen Peeks his head through the rags and scans the inner cave once more with his detect Magic. If anything new appears he will alert the others verbally.

[Jernau35]

Maag

Seeing that there's nothing above the cave that he needs to run away from and let his companions deal with instead, Maag jumps back down from the rock.

Climb Walls (90%) [1d100] = 63

Once again, he waits to join the end of the line as they head in.

[OGRE MAGE]

Back To Work
Freeday, 19th of Goodmonth
Early Morning, Partly Cloudy, Warm, Humid

Alordan again attempts conversation with the strange trees to no avail. Once he realizes that the trees arent going to respond to him, he begrudgingly follows Tlachtga and Gramble back into the ring of standing stones where the others are gathered at the cave opening.

Maag rejoins the others too while Saracen peeks into the cave with his enhanced vision. The holy warrior doesn't see anything glowing with magic light other than the already detected magical summoning dais in the center of the room.

Andron sets his massive head lamp down outside the cave entrance, attempting to encourage the groups ranger once he returns. He studies the frayed ends of the ruined nets, noticing immediately that these ropes were aggressively ripped apart as opposed to cut with any blade. However, he finds another oddity as he searches this area. Whoever hung these nets on the inside of the cave didn't use pitons or any other kind of fasteners to hang them. The ends of the nets are simply fused into the rock wherever they touch, as if the ropes grew directly out of the natural stone formations of the cave wall. The skin on the priests chin begins to sting from all his inquisitive rubbing.

Once Saracen gives the all clear, the party enters the dark cave again, with aid of Tlachtga's last torch to help them see by. Cresty shudders at the many bad memories from this place while the ever curious Lerrick decides to take one last look at the trees outside before entering the cave. What she sees there once everyone has left that area almost makes her call out in shock. (I am taking this action from your last post because it was a very good idea. Please dont forget to check your private threads once in a while)

The dried up brown vines towards the tops of the trees begin to slowly lower their way down the trunks towards the dead, headless minotaur carcass. Once the vines contact the body, they begin to entwine snugly around their target, tightening up to the point of nearly severing the limbs from the body. Several other brown tendrils slink in from the other two trees, entwining their strong vines around other parts of the dead beast. As the priestess watches on in horror, the body of the minotaur is quickly torn apart, almost as if it were drawn and quartered. Its ripped apart limbs are then slowly pulled back up the tree trunks to where the thickest tangle of the brown vines remain. Once she returns inside the cave, the look on Lerrick's face tells the others that she has obviously just seen something disturbing.

Actions?

map:

B4B0C98A-9575-418F-A02B-16966CED57A9.jpeg (96.43 KiB) Viewed 571 times

Sir Crestbrook 10/11 LoH
Gramble 16/16
Tlachtga 8/8 2/4 1st Torch:60 (40'r)
Cu AC:3 13/13
Lerrick 11/11 3/4 1st
Saracen 33/33 3/5 1st 2/2 2nd DM:8
Alordan 16/18
Andronichishche 6/6 1/3 1st Head Light:56 CL, DM, RM / 1/1 1st
Maag 12/12

[ravenn4544]

Alordan shakes his head, his melancholy clearly visible on his face, "Killer Trees... I knew it...."

He sighs and after a minute turns his attention to his nets. "What could have pushed rope into the rock like this? No creature that I've ever heard of. Magic then? Killer magic, more likely.."

If any of the rope is salvageable he'll take it. "and now that I think about it, who or what would have even put this rope up? Keep something in or out?"

[Quonundrum]

Andronichishche carefully examines the hanging remnants of netting and reports his findings to the group. He absentmindedly rubs his chin again in thought, but quickly stops to look at his hand, wondering at this odd affectation he seems to have picked up on the islands.

The thought doesn't linger long as he shrugs his shoulders and resumes rubbing his chin. "What pushed the rope into the rock is almost certainly the same being that shaped the tunnel to the west, and likely also arranged the statue there on top of the strange trigger like mechanism." He holds one end of a frayed portion of net in his hand, then holds it up for the others to see. "The nets were also shredded by sheer strength, not cut, and one of Mr. Alordan's nets was rather sturdy. It would have taken giant like strength to effect such a feat."

Andron pulls out his map of the complex and points to the caves containing the "dancing minotaur", the pointing statues, and the look, see, hear trio with the ceiling acid trap. "If it can shape stone this easily then it may also be responsible for posing those groups of statues and the wall recesses behind the acid trap trio. I expect this is the work of the enigmatic Brutus?" He moves over to stand in front of the magical dais and looks at the cave entrance obscured with the tattered rope. "Why indeed would he put up the rope, though?"

Just as Lerrick enters the cave with a shocked and ash stricken expression, Andron notices the light from the morning sun enter the cave. At the moment he was intently more curious about the light than Lerrick's distress, and steps up to the frayed rope curtain to pull it back a bit more, studying the sunlight on the floor. He attempts to gauge if the noontime sunlight would reach to the dais.

He quickly shifts his attention to Lerrick however, when she relates what she saw the strange trees do with the minotaur's body. "Mr. Gramble, it would seem I owe you an apology. Those trees certainly exhibit carnivorous behaviour. I am sincerely sorry for doubting you. Although, it is a bit strange they did not attack Mr. Alordan, unless he didn't linger long enough. Regardless, we will definitely need to address them before we can declare the island safe for the townspeople."

He refers again to his map and points at the northern cave containing the statue trio and the acid trap. "Our current objective is within these caves, however. I suggest we continue with the investigation of whatever secret is guarded by those statues. We know which statue to move, thanks to Mr. Maag's earlier confirmation. I would also like to see how my gift of food was received."