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Brother Symeon

Symeon latches onto Meatloaf and Durgo, hoping that their combined weight will prevent the creature from lifting them.

Steady lad, we've got you.

Beyond the Xvart camp.

Meatloaf has fished and been snagged himself, the little gnome caught and snared by a twisting filament spun by a Cave Fisher.

A tug of war begins, two grab a leg each of gnome while Fydmar triggers a bolt towards a niche above. He pings the snout of a critter that perks out from the rocks. A flaming firebrand is lit to the sticky line and it begins to melt and burn, like a wick to a candle. The globular clusters drip as hot fat and cause Meatloaf to feel he is being cooked as the burning lines twist around his wrists. -2hp But the flammable line also threatens the critter and after the flames reach its snout, the Cave Fisher is forced to cut the line and release his morsel. The gnome drops to be caught by the outstretched hands.

He can bathe his wounds in the stream and bandage the burns though they leave a spiralling scar from his forearms to hand. "We forgot about those critters." he bemoans.

The critter retreats into its ledge, so difficult to address unless folk determine to climb up. You might think the risk greater than reward. The miners barrage the niche with a few pebbles to discourage it from showing its presence.

you have an option to try to catch and eat some of the cave carp in order to gain residual memories or to progress the exploration without that option. Figuring the memories given might be good or bad, for example giving you extra knowledge or a debilitating headache or future nightmare.

actions please.

Brother Symeon

Symeon will attempt to catch and prepare some carp.

I volunteer to sample the fish. An ascetic life and the grace of the Saint have allowed me a strong constitution.

"Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you"

Durgo

Young Durgo is impressionable and feels he too would like to sample the carp and tries catching some as well. "St. Ygg will look over me too brother, I'll try some too."

Durgo tries his hand at catching some fish to eat.

Fydmar
We dwarves are famous for our constitutions, and iron stomachs. Bring on the carp!
On another note, we need to have someone on look up duty while we remain in these caverns. Maybe hold hands with another when moving so he doesn't walk into the rest of us?

Durgo

While I'm not as healthy as Baberuth perhaps or a dwarf, I'm of the opinion I have a guardian looking over me. I like the idea of keeping a watch above. Now that we know and have been reminded of that threat we might fair better as we trek through. Any future exploration will need to heed any instruction we can give.

Durgo will watch for any movement from above as well as around them in case those other gnomish kin show up or some other creature.

Beyond the Xvart camp.

The group decide to fish for the blind cave carp and gain some food for thought. The fish are timid and feed in various aquatic lichens that grow upon the rocks which border the pool. These mossy growths are rich in a special enzymes and proteins, which causes the subterranean flora to exhibit an almost sentient quality expressed across a collective of the the clumps. The fish feed off the moss, garnering from them fragments of thought and memory. Of course all gold fish have very short term memory hence every swim around a glass bowl is a new experience. So even if garnering bad memories, that experience is soon forgot. Unlike in each of you who may gain not just a memory but an affliction too.

I would like each person to roll a [1d20]. On a 1, the fish you are had a bad experience which it passed on to you and you gain a permanent phobia (until healed).

The other thing you realise is that these fish, as inferred above, are not gaining memory directly from lost miners, it is the lichen in the cave which is somehow soaking that in.

Brother Symeon, you gain a memory from a miner who followed a ghost that held misty ethereal lanterns', calling him to follow into a cave of crystals. The ground underneath him gave way, swallowing him slowly as one might sunk into a bog. The miner's last vision before submerging is seeing his companion ignore him in favour of excavating crystals.

Fydmar, you gain a memory from the perspective of someone looking down upon a group of miners who excavate some ore. Your thoughts are to release boulder traps upon them. You are about to pull the tease when a sniper tags you with a heavy crossbow bolt. You fall forward, crawl a few steps until your life is ending being scalped by an axe wielding murderer.

Durgo, you hear a song, a voice beautiful and slender. It is pleasant and charming; you hold your breath, diving into a deep pool never to resurface.

The miners have a similar short but specific memory. There are several passages that lead from this cavern, all going in a northerly direction. The widest looks the most well trodden and you can take that one.

The widest looks the most well trodden and you can take that one ... at least you all think you take that one!

In your private forums, can each player tell me one of their character's fears. Something simple like, 'a fear of swimming, a fear of being eaten alive by ghouls'

actions, roll a [1d20] vs 1, please. Post any comments and actions. Post in private forum a fear.

Fydmar
I think I've got double vision....or more vision... He waits and rubs his eyes and stares again to see if the number of passages leading north changes.

[1d20]=9

Durgo

Durgo shivers as if something crawled up his spine as if he dodged an arrow.

"I had a vision of jumping into a pool holding my breath and diving down to never come up again. I wonder if it was or ogre's ghostly companion or one of his friends."

Brother Symeon

I received a vision warning against trusting the vile undead. A wise warning, if unnecessary for a servant of the light.

[1d20]=5

The widest looks the most well trodden and you can take that one ... at least you all think you take that one!

Exploring beyond the Xvart camp.

The group proceed through the tunnels and narrow passages that follow deeper into the subterranean caverns. The soft babbling waters of many trickles echo in the darkness, footsteps sound hollow steps, like beats upon a drum, somewhere a mule brays.

The passages seems to construct, not just physically but mentally too, making the darkness and gloom just that extra but blacker, the chill that extra but cooler upon exposed skin which become sensitive to many unseen bugs and gnats that flit about.

Each character seems a little paranoid, as if very real fears were being made manifest. The tunnel becomes a death trap as murky waters suddenly fill rapidly, riding above ankle and knee quicker than Fydmar can run out of the increasing depth. Climbing up and out becomes a struggle as wet walls cave in causing you to land head over heels in a churning maelstrom of icy waters. He flails against a strong current and pulled down beneath rising fathoms, he holds his breath. Counting one minute, two, pressure increasing to take a breath, a final gulp of water before blackness. He had hoped to die axe in hand, welcomed in the Meadhalls of Moradin by his ancestors, flagons in hand and hard won battle scars worn as halos. Instead ignominy and shame awaits.

Durgo and Brother Symeon become as one, sharing a joint fate, sealed as the air become fetid and sulphurous. The temperature rising as they descend deeper into the earth's crust, the heat increasing into intensity, searing throats, blistering skin. Then ignition as the firedamp methane explodes and cave becomes an oven. An intensity of a fireball, melting armour, melting skin, burning bone to ash; yet the immolation does not end for the hellish scene become a purgatory of unending flame that cannot be quenched.

...

Exploring beyond the Xvart camp.

Some time later, moments probably in all reality though it seems a lifetime passed in the lichen covered passages. The explorers burst out into another wide cavern to fall upon their knees and come to a better sense of themselves and their surrounds. Each, character and miner has experienced some measure of a fear becoming a nightmare reality, experienced individually, you can share as you see fit.

as part of that, subject to needing a skill check relating to your ascribed Fear, you will have a -1 penalty.

This cavern is huge. A wide expanse with many stalactites around the edges. Inside is another slim stream of babbling waters. A steady 'thump, thump', a sound of hammers and picks upon rock echo from the far side. By your feet several large rocks, each has a sliver of glinting ore, suggesting a rich vein resides nearby.

actions and any comments please.

Fydmar
(understating the obvious, he speaks quietly to his companions) I don't think that carp agreed with me. Perhaps the gnomes our blue friends told us about are making the racket.
Looks to see if he can identify the glinting ore of the sliver.

Durgo

Durgo whispers, "My mind played tricks on me. I thought I was roasted alive. Perhaps the strange lichen does that to us. I can hear hammering too. We are not alone.

Durgo sword and shield with Lantern lit to look about.

Brother Symeon

Symeon shudders, "and they shall be cast into a furnace of fire, and there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."

We have passed the trial. Let us be grateful and proceed in faith.

Durgo

"Amen. Brother Symeon. Amen", whispers Durgo.

Hi guys, I am travelling right now but will update this thread later this evening when I get back home.

Safe travels

Exploring the Silver Mines:

This cavern is huge. A wide expanse with many stalactites around the edges. Inside is another slim stream of babbling waters. A steady 'thump, thump', a sound of hammers and picks upon rock echo from the far side. By your feet several large rocks, each has a sliver of glinting ore, suggesting a rich vein resides nearby.

Taking a breather to gather your thoughts and wits, it is clear each person has been afflicted by some intrusive mind attack, to bring about a phantasmal nightmarish scene, manifesting personal fears though no obvious physical affects have taken place. A few prayers, a dram or two of ale and an extra carrot for BabeRuth steadies the nerves.

The mined boulders here all have slivers of ore in them though the quality or quantity in each looks a poor return for the endeavour of hewing it out. Perhaps why many are just cast aside though the steady 'thump', unmistakable of hammer upon stone certainly indicates more productive endeavours nearby. There is little choice but to walk towards it and investigate further. Sound drawing you inexorably as Bogart warned Fydmar at the tavern.

You come to a place where you can see ahead a small group of Svirfneblin, gray skinned gnomes. They are acting as pall bearers to a stretchered figure that they carry towards a section of cave that seems to act as a burial crypt. Lanterns lights, fuelled by radiant glands of fire beetles give them cover them with a reddish glow. Several gnomes hack away the seal of a large stone and once loosened, they roll it away and the pall bearers enter a cave beyond.

As this happens your presence in the periphery is noticed which causes a little alarm. A couple of deep gnomes call out in their obscure dialect and Meatloaf and Fydmar can reply, perhaps assuring them you mean no threat. After a tense moment you can approach and make the group a bit more visible which at least alleviates some fear of attack.

You are about to introduce yourselves proper when the pall bearers are heard screaming and fearful inside the unsealed crypt.

actions please.