V. Going Underground

[AleBelly]

Bingus regards the new member of their party and rolls his eyes at his loquaciousness. "I lay claim to the first earplugs we get from these loincloth-wearing bat-herders" he exclaims.

He waves his dagger at the bat again, certainly not expecting to hit it.

Hit AC 4 with dagger, melee (+1,0,-1,0,+4), [1d20+4] = 4+4 = 8, damage [1d4-1] = 4-1 = 3

[ToniXX]

Morgan, seeing the diminutive new arrival as no threat, lowers her bow and lessens the tension on the string. Do you plan on joining us or simply regaling us with your colorful words? We could use all the help we can get. She motions to Pendleton to back up, so that they can make room for him to come all the way down the ladder.

[dmw71]

OOC: ranged attacks into melee always have a chance of hitting a friendly target.

True, but only minimally so. There is a -4 penalty to firing into melee, but that penalty "eliminates" the chance of targeting a friendly (except on a natural 1).

[Alethan]

OOC: ranged attacks into melee always have a chance of hitting a friendly target.

True, but only minimally so. There is a -4 penalty to firing into melee, but that penalty "eliminates" the chance of targeting a friendly (except on a natural 1).

Like I said... Always a chance.

[Zhym]

Pendleton backs up a bit to make room for the newcomer as asked.

“And, Yes! Incogitable!” Phineas says, holding his little hands in the air as if in the grip of a violent emotion or religion. “The astonishing! The stupefying! The wondrous! Marvelous! Miraculous! Bewildering! Incomprehensible! Mind-boggling! Unthinkable!"
His little hands return to his little sides. "I ask you... What is mere cogitation compared to that?!"

Pendleton replies calmly with the tone of a professor responding to a comment by an enthusiastic but ill-prepared student. "I am afraid you have trapped yourself in something of a logical fallacy, my sesquipedalian friend. The unthinkable is, tautologically, unknowable, and thus it is impossible to be an 'impresario' of something that cannot be fathomed by the mind. As for the astonishing, wondrous, marvelous, miraculous, bewildering, or mind-boggling, I find that thought—or 'cogitation' as you grandiloquently put it—is in fact the only way to approach such matters. For how can one comprehend wonder or miracle without thinking about it? How could a mind possibly boggle or find itself bewildered without thinking about the thing that confounds it? No, I must disagree with you, sir. Cogitation is the very foundation of wonderment, not its antithesis."

"As for a boat—we do have access to a sailing vessel, assuming it has not departed these shores without us. We do not, however, 'have' it in a traditional sense of property ownership. If you desire passage, you will need to speak with the ship's captain. But I doubt he would turn you away if you are prepared to work."

[dmw71]

Round 10
Sasha and Dagg continue to wage battle against the last remaining bat while Phineas makes his verbose introductions to those just south of the conflict. As Morgan loosens the tension on her bow and redirects its aim, the half-sized newcomer lets loose an arrow of his own which sails harmlessly wide and caroms off a cavern wall before dropping into the chasm below.

The bat and Dagg continue to elude the attacks from each other, but Sasha manages to successfully clip the winged beast, slowing it slightly.

Morgan and Pendleton swap positions again while Siirist seems to largely recovered from his wounds after imbibing the blue healing draught. Bingus flails with his dagger menacingly in the direction of the last opponent, which never really gets close enough to target.

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Actions?


Rolls:
Initiative: Monsters [1d6] = 1, Players [1d6] = 3

[ToniXX]

Morgan holds her position, as she can't easily get at the last bat.

[AleBelly]

Bingus makes sure that he's not the first in line to face anything that may come from the east. He watches, sweating, pulling for Sasha and Dagg to end the elusive bat's life.

[Inferno]

Phineas T. Codswallop, impresario of the incogitable:

Pendleton "I am afraid you have trapped yourself in something of a logical fallacy... Cogitation is the very foundation of wonderment, not its antithesis."

"So the unthinkable is what you think about?" asks Phineas. "Kid, I'm glad you're not trapped in a logical fallacy. What the hell are they teaching kids at the academy these days?"

"As for a boat—we do have access to a sailing vessel... If you desire passage, you will need to speak with the ship's captain. But I doubt he would turn you away if you are prepared to work."

"Work, huh?" says Phineas.

Morgan Do you plan on joining us or simply regaling us with your colorful words?

"It's my sincere hope, madam, that the two aren't mutually exclusive," says Phineas, nocking a second arrow.

Morgan We could use all the help we can get.

"Suppositiously! Happy to help! I officially accept your munificent offer to join your little venture. We can discuss terms later.
"This archery-based personal trebuchet was a gift from Calamitous Jhayne, a dead-eyed trickshooter. Well, more like a loan, really. Occupy your eminence whence you currently do, madam!" he says as he lets off another arrow.

• • I'll take the -4 to avoid friendly fire.
    Bow at short range: +2, +1, +1, +4, -4: [1d20+4] = 7+4 = 11, damage: [1d6] = 1

"Hmm. I confess to a minor trepidation that my replete drenching may have temporarily debased my long-range missile capabilities."

[Alethan]

Siirist, now much more fully recovered, moves to 19 at the end of the bridge to reduce the amount of weight on it and to keep an eye on that path to make sure they aren't ambushed.

[OGRE MAGE]

Sasha laughs at Penny's corrections, knowing he is never one to be "outsmarted ".

She mercifully ends this battle by plunging her sword deep into the flying bat.

[GreyWolfVT]

Dagg lets out a dwarf battle cry "Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd ai-mênu!" "The axes of the dwarves! The dwarves are upon you!" and swings his sword at the bat
Sword attack (Lvl 1): [1d20+1] = 20+1 = 21 to hit [1d6] = 6 dmg

[Zhym]

"You misapprehend my argument, sir," says Pendleton, seemingly oblivious to the battle still going on behind him. "I do not claim to think about the unthinkable—quite the opposite. But I believe that you and I have vastly different conceptions of the size of the set of unthinkable things. Despite its common use in the layman's vernacular, nothing that we can describe or to which we can give a name is truly 'unthinkable,' for even to name something is to think about it. The truly unthinkable is so far beyond our ken that we cannot even imagine the very existence of such things! Why, our very identities are based in thought. Isn't it as René of Cartes said? Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum—I think that I think, therefore I think that I am!"

"In fact, we at the Arcaneum have long known that thought—combined with hard work, of course—is at the center of creating the wondrous. The most learned of our number can shape the fabric of reality itself in ways that are truly astounding. How do you suppose they do that? By muttering a few words and waving their arms about? Those are merely the outward effects: the results of long days, months, or sometimes years of intense study. Wonders are not incogitable, my good sir. Cogitation creates wonders."

"Perhaps an example would be illustrative," he continues. "Consider the ruins in which we currently find ourselves descending. One could merely look at them, say 'How wondrous!' and move on, knowing no more than he did when he saw them. Or he could attempt to understand them: Who built them? For what purposes? How did they live? What has happened in the history of the ruins since? What secrets might they hold? Through thought, the merely amazing becomes something that can enhance the future through lessons of the past! Why—"

Pendleton pauses a moment as the sounds from behind him change. "Oh! It sounds like Sasha and Dagg may have finally brought an end to their engagement with the bat. Perhaps we should continue our colloquy at some other time. No doubt we are boring the others!"

[dmw71]

Siirist and Bignus edge slightly east, with the elf stepping foot off the bridge on the far eastern side, while Sasha and Dagg both land successful blows against what was the last remaining target.

The end of the threat interrupts the intellectual diatribe of Phineus and Pendleton, and they, along with the rest of the group, take a moment to survey their situations after the exhausting battle which lasted nearly a full two minutes.

Siirst observes that the eastern passage continues in that direction about 50-feet before seeming to turn due south, but there's another chasm splitting the passage with a familiar rope bridge spanning it.

To the north, Dagg is now free to examine his surroundings more closely and reports that both east and west run approximately 25-feet; a door is found at the end of the passage to the west, and a narrow opening, maybe a foot wide, is formed out of the natural stone of the walls is found to the east. There is also the door almost directly in front of the door, which was opened and subsequently closed by a plate mail wearing human mail minutes earlier.

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Actions?

[Zhym]

"I wonder where the armored man went," says Pendleton. "Should we follow?"

[Inferno]

Phineas T. Codswallop, impresario:

"...No doubt we are boring the others!"

"Am I counted among "the others?"

Phineas said to the warriors, sotto voce: "Masterful cleaver-work! Superlative cutlass-erie! Top notch! Hundred-proof! I'm only thoroughly contented I was here to rally your endeavors onward to ascendant victory! No need to thank me." Then, "What armored man?"

Codswallop will follow the enterprising company, acting as rear guard in case of insidious ambush from the surface!
He whispered to Pendleton: "Did your aggregation scrutinize the indigenous natives of this archipelago?"

[OGRE MAGE]

Sasha kicks the dead bat carcass as she walks over it while moving down the tunnel to get out of the way for the others. to 8
She addresses the newcomer of the group. Hey shorty! Can you do anything other than talk a lot? Why don't you come down here and have a look at these doors before we open them. Or, is that type of work beneath you?

[Inferno]

Phineas T. Codswallop, impresario:

"Doors?" said Phineas as he tried to see past the parade of adventurers at what the cantankerous elf was complaining about. "What doors?"

"Excuse me, I beg your pardon, coming through, one side, beg pardon, forgive me please," he said as he slowly navigated his way to the front of the crowd.
"Ah! Doors!" he said.

Then he looked at the elf, "Madam, I don't understand your desideratum for slanderous misrepresentations, fabrications and distortions. I'm only too happy to continue helping! It's all part of my magnanimous, philanthropic nature. Also, humble."

He turned to the doors. "Now that is one fascinating egress," he observed of the northern door, after a close look. Leaving it for the dwarf, Phineas strolled easterly to have a look at the other door, as requested.

[ToniXX]

Morgan slings her bow over her shoulder and readies her sword. She watches the newcomer as he listens at and examines the doors.

[GreyWolfVT]

Dagg "Don't know if the armored man was friendly or not but he sure did shut the door quickly when he saw us and the bats." the dwarf openly comments the starts tapping on the walls and doors with an ear listening at each of them. Trying to "tap" into his dwarven talents for stone.