Return To The Ruins (Warlords Palace)

[Ahlmzhad]

Taibhse

Shakes his head sadly at why they need an augury to know that touching the gem is a bad idea.

[silifi]

Sik agrees with Taibhse, and is hesitant to touch the gem. But he awaits the results of the augury.

[OGRE MAGE]

Under The Zakath Desert
Resting At The Mushroom Hut
No Idea On Time Or Day

The discussion turns to how the group will save Drest, and disagreement seems to immediately follow.

The others wait while Cyril communes with his chaos god, the Priest eventually turning to them with his disturbing news. The spell seems to work, but the results are less than clear. Though he doesn't get a sense that they will be wasting their time searching for their friend, he also doesn't get a valid confirmation they will be successful in doing so. Such is the way of Azathoth, I suppose.

Akhilleus remarks that they will travel back to the island as soon as everyone is ready, but he forgets that they left their only mode of transport across the underground river a ways up the beach. And the last time they were there, one of their rafts was floating away on the water after the slug attack.

Actions?

Taibhse (Sh3) FA:0(20) AC5 15/15 CT
Xenos (DS3) FA:3 AC5 17/17 CT
Akhilleus (F4) FA:4 AC4 35/35
Kainaxarthos (C3) FA:2 AC6 19/19
Magda (W2) FA:0 AC9 8/8 Sleep Hooded Lantern
Sik (Ba2) FA:1 AC5 18/18 (according to your sheet)
Cyril (Pr3) FA:1 AC8 12/12 CLW, CLW, CLW, DM, HP

[Monsieur Rose]

Kainaxarthos

"I have the ability to create water. I wasn't planning on memorizing it today, but I can if needed."

Kain makes eye contact with Sik and Taibhse then speaks up. "The reasons remain the same. We should not touch the obvious trap."

"Let's explore the area and find Drest that way."

[silifi]

"We can travel up the shoreline and see if the boats can be spotted, but else I fear we're up the creek without a paddle, or a whole raft as it were,"

What is the Matron's hut constructed out of?

[Karaunios]

Akhilleus

"Aye. I forgot we lost the rafts... Let's look for materials to cross the river.

It looks like not everyone likes the idea of touching the gem. You're free to look for Drest by some other means. Or do whatever else you feel is better. We know we can survive it and I don't want to leave him like that. Alone. Maybe we can reinforce him and then we'll meet again later on, if you keep searching."

I’m not a fan of splitting the party, but we’re a decent-sized group, so it’s doable.

On another note, I don’t think the gem will necessarily take us to where Drest is. Its destination might be random. But Akhilleus is Akhilleus, and I’m up for an adventure. No risk, no gain!

[OGRE MAGE]

What is the Matron's hut constructed out of?

It's a hollowed out giant mushroom, what else?

[silifi]

Sik looks towards the hut, and knocks on it's walls, trying to discern whether they would be sturdy and rigid enough to construct a boat out of.

[subaltari]

Magda (earlier)

The witch's odd sense of humour could be helping her to cope with the pain of loss. Whilst she packs up her bag and refills her lamp with the last of its fuel, she carefully watches Cyril perform his divination ritual. She seems quite amused by the idea of asking for a wise portent from a blind, insane destroyer god at the center of the staggeringly vast Black Gulf. Nonetheless, Magda listens without any questions when Cyril shares the results.

(current)
As frustrated as anyone is by the loss of the boats, Magda follows the barbarian back to the hut to help if she can.
"We could uproot some of these lesser mushrooms, you know." She points to one that's about as tall as Sik and nearly the same width. "Just turn them upside down, stand inside and float across, one mushroom for each of us."

[The_Wanderer]

Cyril is not surprised by his god's lack of clarity. "As I see it, this is as good of confirmation as we were going to get."

Hearing Magda's plan he nods. "Clever. Mushroom cap boats. They might be tricky to keep upright however and I do not want to end up in the river with those beasts."

How far did we sale down the river on the rafts? And is there a shore route that would allow us to at least get close? If we can get close, we could use rope and setup a ferry to cross using the mushroom cap idea. Of course, somebody would have to swim across first to bring the rope.

[OGRE MAGE]

Sorry, there are no giant mushrooms to harvest here. Those were only growing in the area where you met the Pigface Daemon.

The rotting walls of the Matrons hut will not make a suitable raft.

Looking for the rafts, you find one still smashed on shore, but it will need to be repaired before it will float again.

How far did we sale down the river on the rafts? And is there a shore route that would allow us to at least get close? If we can get close, we could use rope and setup a ferry to cross using the mushroom cap idea. Of course, somebody would have to swim across first to bring the rope.

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[Karaunios]

Akhilleus

"Damn that worm! We need to find something to repair that raft. If we don't, then destiny is forcing us to keep looking for Drest somewhere else, if we don't find some other place to cross the river, that is. But then, we would have to explore more new areas of this cave, with the potential problems and delays that that would bring with it. Let me think..." He rubs his bearded chin while he tries to think of whatever furniture in the Matro's Hut would allow them to fix the remanining raft. "Let's take a look at the state of the raft first. That'll allow us to know what repairs it needs and if we can take something from the Matron's Hut that could serve us."

[silifi]

Sik thinks back to the passage Magda had found earlier.

"While we'll need the raft either way, perhaps we can give ourselves a shortcut across the water if we find where that passage Magda found links up with the rest of the castle above," he suggests."It's just a hop and a skip over the water from the northerly shoreline."

[shaidar]

Xenos

Xenos nods at Sik's suggestion.

"I was thinking about that passage too. Yes, we'd need to explore new areas, but it would mean a route which minimises the time on the river."

[Karaunios]

Akhilleus

"Good idea. Sounds like a plan."

[silifi]

"Let's head over and gather the remains of the raft so we can work on it near the hut," Sik says and starts heading cautiously along the shoreline after lighting a torch.

[The_Wanderer]

Cyril
"Agreed...it is more difficult than I thought to get to that gem. That path may solve some of our problems."

[OGRE MAGE]

Under The Zakath Desert
Resting At The Mushroom Hut
No Idea On Time Or Day

At least 12 hours have passed since the group last saw their friend Drest alive, and their plan to rescue the Scout seems to be hindered around every turn.

Sik lights a torch and drags the heavy broken raft back towards the hut so it can be reinforced with some of the wooden furniture items from within. He assumes it will take them about 2 more hours to get the single raft ready for waterborne travel.

Suggestions are made to return to the basement of the Warlords Palace to locate the area that leads to the stairway they found earlier. If they could find some way to reach those stairs, it would eliminate the trip around the cliff face where there is no beach to traverse.

Actions?

Taibhse (Sh3) FA:0(20) AC5 15/15 CT
Xenos (DS3) FA:3 AC5 17/17 CT
Akhilleus (F4) FA:4 AC4 35/35
Kainaxarthos (C3) FA:2 AC6 19/19
Magda (W2) FA:0 AC9 8/8 Sleep Hooded Lantern
Sik (Ba2) FA:1 AC5 18/18 (according to your sheet) Torch
Cyril (Pr3) FA:1 AC8 12/12 CLW, CLW, CLW, DM, HP

[subaltari]

Magda

"From the Palace, were you able to walk out onto a terrace of some sort overlooking the cliffs? ...Nay, I suppose those walls rise all the way to the roof of this giant cavern. But since Kain and I found that one passage to the inside, perhaps there are others to be found."

She walks east with Sik to the damaged raft, but takes time to shine her light over the vertical surfaces rising to their left, looking for telltale breaks in the cliffs to fulfill her hopes. After that she helps drag the wreckage back to the hut, along with any other flotsam or scraps she can find (though she doesn't expect to find much driftwood underground).

[silifi]

Sik begins working on repairing the raft, imagining himself as one of his Esquimaux forebears, though doubtless in a quite different environment than they were accustomed to boat building in.