rolled 2, 2, 5 = 9

---

Hore begins analyzing the message.

Two words probably represent a place rather than an action, while the four words could represent a place or an action or a combination. 'Fold' is probably a slang of measure of distance about less than the distance to the horizon. So in theory, if they climb somewhere high enough, they should be able to see the city, and then Viste can portal them out. Realistically, this seems like another useless riddle meant to mislead adventurers and the forest may be too chaotic to attain line-of-sight from the city or even the ocean from their current position at top-tree height.

Hore continues to analyze the local flora with her cybernetics, hoping it's not ready to grab and strangle. Roll for analysis.

(She hasn't fired her pistol since the fungus. So maybe the traps are fire-based?)

rolled 1, 2, 4 = 7

---

Okay, Vos is going to be upfront and honest and tell Esmeraude that he is a previously unaligned mercenary who decided to intervene and that he's responsible for the capture of Esmeraude's uncle.

I guess whatever I ask is going to hinge on her reaction to that. Vos will mention that the man is alive though not entirely unharmed.

rolled 3, 1, 5 = 9

---

Maru is incredibly uneasy- this is too similar to the bloodmist labrynth for her to find any degree of comfort in the momentary lull of combat. She's gonna look around for some hefty rocks and try to match up everyone's stories; Hore doesn't seem to think the sorcerous did this but Maru says she thinks that's where the smart money is. She's especially interested to hear Ji's perspective on things because he came in from above and probably had the best view of everything before it kicked off. She wanted to check to see if anyone had any radically different experiences or lost any time before they move forward so they know what they're dealing with. Roll to investigate the immediate area and what happened. Can she hear any bandits or fighting or such still nearby? Does sound seem to transmit through the walls at all?

rolled 3, 4, 6 = 13

---

>She wanted to check to see if anyone had any radically different experiences or lost any time
The last thing Viste remembers is losing a duel with a man she had already run through. In the time it took her to recover from her fall... well. *gestures at the environment*. Her rations do not support lost time or absent memories.

Does anyone know what became of Vos and the bandit chieftain?

>"If you leave here through {two words illegible} and then {four words illegible} to avoid the traps" and on the side without fire damage, "you will be within one {fold?} of Eckton's front gate."
Wonderful. The key information is damaged.

Let's see if Mending can repair a gourd carving.

>So in theory, if they climb somewhere high enough, they should be able to see the city, and then Viste can portal them out
Assuming space behaves as we expect. Remember, it was not midday, nor was their a primeval forest here until very recently.

It might be worth asking Ji to ascend, to see if he can still see the town. Or the ocean.

>>807938
She said her uncle was "their old boss", which implies he isn't their boss anymore. So the bandit chief we fought may not have been her uncle.

>>807871
>analyze the local flora [...], hoping it's not ready to grab and strangle
>rolled 2, 2, 5 = 9
There are some oddly noose-like vines up near the canopy, swaying gently in the lack-of-a-breeze, about as far above the rope bridge as it is above the ground. They seem to be more than two inches thick, though, which might make it difficult to grab individual humans.

>>807944
>Can she hear any bandits or fighting or such still nearby? Does sound seem to transmit through the walls at all?
>rolled 3, 1, 5 = 9
It's actually eerily quiet. Background noise is just some soft rustling and creaking noises, like loose soil or leaves shuffling around and trees bending in the wind or houses settling on their foundations.

There aren't really any well-defined walls to the larger room. It would be easy enough to step through Viste's portal down to ground level, then climb up and over the tangled tree roots which form those six archways and explore the space beyond.

>>807948
>Let's see if Mending can repair a gourd carving.
>rolled 3, 4, 6 = 13
Ten minutes later, Viste has successfully (?) removed both the superficial fire damage, and the original carved letter, from one gourd.

Yisheng Ji's sense of time says you've got about nine hours, thirty-eight minutes to get back to the ship before the bosun starts worrying about missing the window to leave Eckton Harbor safely during high tide. He probably wouldn't depart without at least a solid majority of the New Fire Hawks present, but the shipping company wouldn't be happy about tungsten delivery being delayed just because you got distracted by some other business on shore. If you could get a message to the ship, they might be willing to leave on schedule and have Viste & friends catch up by way of portals along the coast road.

>>807938
She's very briefly overjoyed to hear that her uncle, Baron Netseth, somehow survived or escaped after being abandoned by the bulk of his forces, captured by inquisitors, tried, and publicly executed six years ago. She rides a rollercoaster of emotions in a fraction of a second, settling on outrage at the idea Vos would jump in and brutalize the former captain of her uncle's guards (and current best hope of the survivors), for no apparent reason, on the eve of their greatest victory. All that hard work, research, shady deals, scouting, sacrifices, all for nothing! Why?

Absent a particularly compelling argument, she's about to break off the link and then attack like a cornered animal while weeping bitter tears.

>>807944
>hefty rocks
Soil down below the bridge is damp, and almost pure loam. If it were dry, it would probably burn as easily as wood. There are pea-sized pebbles, but the only big rock is that massive boulder in the center. Hard to judge the exact size since it's partly sunk into the ground, but given the visible dimensions, and the fact that it doesn't sound hollow, probably at least twenty tons. Far too large to wield as a weapon.

rolled 4, 2, 2 = 8

---

>>808010
>OLD boss
Guess I glossed over this one.

>she's about to break off the link and then attack like a cornered animal while weeping bitter tears.
Vos will immediately break the link himself and try to restrain the sorceress before she can do anything.

>>808013
He's two and a half, maybe three times her weight, already has a grip on her face, and she doesn't seem to be particularly experienced at ground fighting, so knocking her down and sitting on her is easy enough. Then her fingers and toes extend black resinous talons. Only superficial scratches from her frantic flailing so far, but she's not calming down in any sort of a hurry, either.

rolled 1, 2, 2 = 5

---

Vos tries to reassure Esmeraude that he has no intention of harming her. "But try to understand, Esmeraude, what it is like for people in village who knew nothing of war until you brought it to them. Oath of devotion would not allow me to sit idle."

>>808023
Critical success. She's still struggling, but only to escape, not inflict injury. Her claws retract and disappear. She's sobbing and blubbering barely intelligible phrases with a wounded tongue, spraying spittle and blood, mostly about how unfair the whole situation is, punctuated with unflattering fragments of Eckton's military history.

Esmeraude no longer blames Vos personally for everything bad that just happened, and given another fifteen or twenty minutes to cool down, an hour at most, she'll be willing to work with him, at least on a temporary basis.

Hore considers for a moment, then recommends that Davina open a portal as high as she can. Hore and the others could use their strongest powers as morse code, calling the ship and remaining Fire Hawks to keep moving. Of course, this wouldn't be the best option by far, but something to think about if they only have a minute left.

Hore opts to analyze the next gourd as Viste repairs it. There might be something her cybernetics can figure out as the gourd is returned to its original state.

rolled 3, 2, 1 = 6

---

>>808029
Vos will get off Esmeraude and help her up to a sitting position, apply more healing goo for that bleeding tongue, and then give her a little space while she recuperates. Clearing up that misunderstanding with her uncle and the bandit leader too, though I imagine she already figured that one out.

Roll is to keep watch.

>>808115
>more healing goo
Vos is 3rd level now, and has an immediately relevant choice to make. What sort of additional boost is he going to specialize in infusing his goo with? All five will be available, but the other four are optional, and effectively transfer the patient's relevant problems to him rather than such issues being cured outright.

-Clarity/wisdom
-Comfort (opposite of disgust/revulsion)
-Courage
-Physical energy
-Tranquility (opposite of rage, despair, etc.)

rolled 1, 1, 4 = 6

---

>recommends that Davina open a portal as high as she can
Since my range is limited by sight, "as high as she can" is probably not above the canopy, between the glare and the foliage. (I'd also have to burn my last spell slot to survive the fall, if I'm opening a door in the sky).

>Of course, this wouldn't be the best option by far, but something to think about if they only have a minute left.
Fair enough. A plasma signal skyward might be easier if we find a room with a break in the canopy.

>If you could get a message to the ship, they might be willing to leave on schedule and have Viste & friends catch up by way of portals along the coast road.
Viste might be able to send her flying familiar up and over the forest to carry a message, but that's a long way to send a bug alone, through potentially dangerous territory. We shouldn't assume the canopy is without dangers.

Another possible option: if the forest hasn't caused an additional spacial distortion, the boulder here was within teleport range of the beach. Forcing Viste out of phase might allow her to see through the wood currently blocking line of sight.

>what do
Well, since the advice on which way to go is damaged and a repair attempt failed, spot check? Anything notable, or any noticeable differences examining the 8 exits (6 archs, 2 bridge ends) to the room?

Although our best scouting option is probably if Ji takes an areal view.

Viste, peering into those shadowy archways, spots a lone soldier approaching through what she's fairly confident is the northernmost. The bandit's face is flushed, belly swollen, and he's staggering toward you with one hand outstretched, like a drunkard or someone delirious with fever who's begging for alms. He trips, crawls a bit further on hands and knees, whispers something, then vomits. Vivid green fiddlehead ferns grow out of the puke, as fast as the ashy extrusions of cheap fireworks.

A moment later, his shirt rips open, straight along the spine as bark-clad spider legs unfold messily through shoulderblades and kidneys. The top of his skull cracks apart like flower petals or insectile mandibles, with some tentacle-tongue of repurposed grey matter coiled inside, tense as a serpent about to strike.

>rolled 1, 1, 4 = 6
The man's last words were "the ninth gate is down." Associations which spring readily to mind are the Agate siblings' description of their goddess's prison-realm having nine layers, but with dozens of interconnecting gates, or alternatively Yisheng Ji's esoteric medical theories involving 'gates' or 'flowers' or 'wheels' of subtle energy within the body, although in that case they're numbered from bottom to top, and only go as far as seven, plus two similar-but-crucially-not-identical features in the hands, and the sequential numbering is definitely from bottom to top.

>>808130
Physical energy seems the most logical given Vos' deity. In this case he'll impart tranquility though to take Esmeraude's grief upon himself,

>>808290
Esmeraude swishes Vos's goo around in her mouth, swallows, and cheers up almost instantly. Vos, meanwhile, is overwhelmed by the futility of trying to escape. Barely more than a month ago he was stuck in the Bloodmist Labyrinth, then he managed to get lost in perfectly normal woodlands, and now this! Might as well curl up and sleep until something comes by to eat him.

The sorceress asks what he's so upset about, but grabs his hand and starts dragging him off down the passage directly opposite the fungus wall without waiting for a response, saying they need to keep moving before the law catches up.

rolled 4, 6, 6 = 16

---

>>807948
>>808137
>arial scouting
>Viste have to burn her last spell slot to survive the fall, if she's opening a door in the sky
Couldn't she open a portal in the sky and take Yisheng Ji with her? He should be able to hold her aloft long enough to give her a good view as well.

Otherwise, sure. He'll scout alone.

rolled 1, 4, 5 = 10

---

>>808385
>Couldn't she open a portal in the sky and take Yisheng Ji with her? He should be able to hold her aloft long enough to give her a good view as well.
I'm not sure, actually. I didn't know if Ji's weightlessness could support another person in a glide. If he can, yeah, that would make a door to the sky much safer, and more useful.

>>808156
The concerning thing isn't that we're facing a monster, or even that something transformed that unfortunate. It's that the transformation / incubation period is very short- no one has been in this forest for long.

>tense as a serpent about to strike
Well, if it's tensed to spring forward, lets not play to its expectations.

Lunge forward, portal behind it, and stab.

>"the ninth gate is down."
With the context provided, that makes it sound like the forest is split up into layers or planes, and we need to travel between them to get out. Could be the "folds" the written message refereed to.

rolled 2, 5, 3 = 10

---

>>808388
>could Ji's weightlessness could support another person in a glide
I don't see why he wouldn't be able to. His ability clearly extends beyond his skin to some degree, or else he wouldn't be able to wear clothes or carry anything on his person without dropping like a stone.

Roll to survive aerial fumble.

>>808350
Vos ignores his strange intuition to go LEFT from the fungus wall and despondently insists that Esmeraude navigate, lest they remain lost forever.

rolled 3, 1, 2 = 6

---

Hore keeps her pistol trained on the mutated soldier. Apparently, he's not moving, but Hore is worried that someone is going to get too close and that tongue will pull them in, injecting parasitic plant life with a single bite. Hore opts to charge a sniper shot for precision.

Hore also stands alert, paranoid about all the other infected that roam the concealing forest. Roll for perception.

>>808385
Yisheng Ji glides off into the open space above and between the northwest and southwest root-arches, intending to scout out a path straight back toward the coast. He hops from branch to branch in a straight line for almost exactly half an hour, noting clear landmarks or cutting small runes into the trees where there are none.

>>808388
>Lunge forward, portal behind it, and stab.
>rolled 1, 4, 5 = 10
The blood's like rancid chocolate milk, but it does bleed. Seems to have some capacity for pain and fear as well. That bark-y hide is about as tough as good heavy leather, or maybe substandard chainmail, and Viste runs through some messy trial and error to find the thing's vital organs. Other than that it's easy enough. Squad of guards who followed Maru try to help, but most of the action was over before they could even catch up.

Only salvageable equipment, apart from his boots, a thin silver band on his left ring finger, and a thick copper ring around the base of his right thumb, is an elaborately embroidered hip quiver. Looks like it should have space for twenty arrows, but it actually holds fifty, with room for ten more. Color-coded fletching distinguishes between broadheads (10), bodkin points (15), Y-shaped blades with integrated whistles for tearing bare flesh or signaling (7), blunt heads for stunning birds in flight without mangling them (15), and strangest of all, little glass balls filled with tar and flecks of some luminescent white crystalline material like stars in the night sky (3). The quiver has two other compartments. One is only half-full holding a longbow, a spear with a good steel point, and a 6' long walking-stick or tent pole. The last compartment is packed with links of dried pork sausage (softer and fattier than jerky but more or less equally suitable as trail rations) totaling fifteen pounds, along with three loaves of bread each about four feet long but less than two inches wide. With all that inside, the quiver weighs only two pounds.

>>808397
Twenty minutes after the fight (nine hours, eight minutes to rendezvous/departure deadline) Yishemg Ji is surprised and disappointed to discover that he's somehow circled around to emerge from the east side of the clearing.

>>808408
Persuading the last scion of Netseth to change course isn't inherently difficult at the moment, but with the emotional penalty in place, no hard evidence or argument beyond a vague hunch, and the risks if you take too long and thereby proceed into uncharted territory, it is non-trivial enough to require a roll.

>Ji attempts to scout ahead in a straight line and loops around the other side of the clearing
That would seem to support the idea that the dungeon is warped into layers connected by gates, or that Ji's senses were somehow deceived.

>bark spider slain
Viste places her sword tip on her slain opponent, in a gesture oddly reminiscent of a knighting. A flicker and a flourish later, and a glowing mark remains on the corpse.

(Tagged kill with Arcane Mark. Been waiting for a chance to start going Mark of Zorro on things for a while now).

>quiver of holding
>several types of arrows, bow, spear, walking stick, and a bunch of food for under two pounds
Nice! Totally not touching that though.

Viste warns her companions against carrying the enchanted object through one of her portals. Such devices have been known to react... explosively in the past.

Still, too useful a find to simply leave behind, or destroy by test-throwing it at a portal. (Viste can't safely handle it, Hore already has a ranged weapon. Between Maru and Ji, I'm thinking Ji benefits more from gaining the option to fire arrows from above? Unless one of the npc guards has training with a longbow).

>planning next more
We haven't found any significant clues trying to decode the riddle, visually examining the exits, or attempting an aerial scout. I think at this point we may just have to pick an arch and attempt to travel west to the coast. (Any objections, or better ideas?).

Maru is going to start making some headway on that jerky and ask Ji if he wants to grab any of the weapons. Davina is fully equipped, as is Hore with her ax and pistol. She's not sure whether Ji prefers arrows or a quarterstaff style weapon. She has enough experience with a bow to shoot straight but she prefers to brawl more than the careful consideration involved in archery so Ji welcome to have first pick and she'll pick up anything left over.

She then takes a thoughtful moment and pulls a half chewed piece of jerky out of her mouth and holds it up. Since she's offering first dibs and all.

Also nice work dealing with whatever the fuck that was. Cheers to you. Half a nervous smile emerges as they kick around the loot and wait for more death spiders to knock on their non-existent doors

>>808481
>destroy by test-throwing it at a portal
In many previous experiments and mishaps, even with cheap useless 'proof of concept' trinkets specifically optimized for fragility, a solitary item has never been known to cause damage to itself as a direct result of interaction with Viste's portals. On one occasion when some servant tried to carry a bag of holding in each hand, the first was fine (apart from smelling like the alley behind a butcher's shop no matter how thoroughly it was washed) while the second ruptured upon approaching within four feet of the portal, apparently when fringe effects from the first one reached it. Usually the "ghostly razor wire" only extends a handspan or so, almost never more than six or eight inches.

So, might be safe to toss it through, but also reasonable not to want to take chances. Good news is,
>too useful a find to simply leave behind,
Thanks to deputized black market exploration, Viste happens to know someone who'd gladly pay thirty pounds of gold ($600,000) for such an item, with no questions about where you 'found' it. Might even be talked into paying more, for one that's particularly well maintained. If you all makes it out alive, and back to Passholdt with that item in hand, this visit to Eckton just paid for itself, with enough left over to reincarnate MSgt. Oldaric in a full size body and then keep the lights on at the Fire Hawks chapterhouse for at least six more months.

>the NPC guards
Inspector Trihs, squad leader, says most of them have at least a week or two of archery practice, but that's with shortbows. Bigger problem is, halberd and bow are both two-handed weapons, so wielding one means you need somewhere to put the other, and you can't store a halberd in that quiver. Looks like it's working right up until the blade gets caught on the lip, then it spits the whole haft right back out. Could just leave your halberd leaning against a wall, but in a place like this that's asking for trouble.

As for asset review, they've got lamellar armor made from mostly chitin, with bronze bits over the vitals or wherever a scale wore thin, steel-reinforced turtle shells for helmets, some basic first aid supplies, a scattering of protective charms and amulets (which can't be definitively confirmed as having any actual magical effect), and... not much else. They weren't exactly packed for an expedition.

>pick an arch
>>808420
>roll for perception
>rolled 3, 1, 2 = 6
The northern arch, which that infected bandit came out of, has a sulfurous steamy sort of smell, like a hot spring half clogged with mud.

>>808489
>Davina
She's not here. Maru figures she probably stayed on the ship, if she didn't somehow manage to sneak off for another 'emergency budget meeting' with Acolyte Galanodel way back in Passholdt.

>>808408
Oop, looks like I misread this one. About half an hour later, Vos is adequately calm and lucid again, and Esmeraude wants his advice. They're in a 40' wide circular room shaped like a half a bagel, flat side being the floor. The dirt is not packed hard; in fact, it's so loose and soft as to be mistaken for knee-deep snow, apart from being warm and black. Roof and central pillar are held together by tangled pale tendrils, flat like the root-ball of some medicinal herb grown in a flower pot that was slightly too small. There are three doors other than the way you came in, thick slabs of bubbly blue glass. She can't figure out how to get any of them open.

Hore will take the spear to replace her old one, which was broken in the labyrinth and low-grade anyway. She might not be as proficient in spearwork, but there are areas where an ax simply won't fit, and a spear can quickly stab through/from cover. Also, the roadside inns will allow patrons to bring covered spears into the house, but an ax is too much.

Hore eyes the rations. After what happened to Rainbow Ferns over there, she's not eating a single leaf from this forest.

rolled 4, 3, 6 = 13

---

>>808507
Well, let's see if the flesh blessing works on plants too. Trying to mutate the closest door to give it some sort of opening.

>If you all makes it out alive, and back to Passholdt with that item in hand, this visit to Eckton just paid for itself, with enough left over to reincarnate MSgt. Oldaric in a full size body and then keep the lights on at the Fire Hawks chapterhouse for at least six more months.
Very nice indeed.

>The northern arch, which that infected bandit came out of, has a sulfurous steamy sort of smell, like a hot spring half clogged with mud.
This just seems like further reason not to take that path. Something that can rapidly infect and transform people, plus suggestions of an environment suited for stealth and ambush by the unknown infector.

If Ekton was to the west of our position, Viste is of the opinion we should try exploring the NW or SW arches. (Presuming then that arches around the hexegon are N, NE, SE, S, SW, NW? At least, as far as we can tell the cardinal directions in here).

The damaged engraving did indicate that one path out of this room (though not which one) is only one "fold" away from the exit. Which does give us one useful constraint. In theory, we're only two degrees of separation away from the exit at our current location- if we travel further than that down any path we can double back and try another. (In practice, this will be a little messy since we don't have a more concrete measure of distance, but it's better than nothing).

Should probably follow Ji's earlier example and mark our passage as we go.

rolled 1, 4, 1 = 6

---

>>808426
>straight lines loop around
Sounds like there's either an illusion causing one's path to deviate subconsciously, very subtle teleportation wards redirecting movement, or we're in a non-euclidean pocket realm that truly is only 20 minutes in diameter at this segment. Regardless, it is another labyrinth which cannot be escaped via normal means, and should be treated with the standard fearful reverence and paranoia due to any such installation.

>>808481
>>808489
>bow and quiver should go to Yisheng Ji
I suppose. I don't know how useful they'll be in his hands, but he'll take them if everyone else insists.

>>808600
>repeatedly scouting and doubling back
Yisheng Ji volunteers for such duties, as it is significantly less strenuous for him to cross longer distances and the others will need to conserve their energy to fight any enemies which appear. He will go whichever way Viste orders him.

>>808507
>Armor and other loot is still up for grabs.
Well, Maru isn't sure what to do with a ten foot pole- especially when you don't have somewhere to keep it. Might be useful for Ji in his scouting though- good for poking suspicious corpses before they turn into more bark spiders and such. Maru was never really one to wear much in the way of armor, but Hore could probably replace her damage armor with the bits laying around. Maru will take claim to the leftover first air supplies and the misc charms and trinkets, putting on whatever fits and stowing the rest away in her cloths. Feels good to do some looting again, she was kinda upset about not getting to scratch that itch much in bee-fuck central before.

>Viste happens to know someone who'd gladly pay thirty pounds of gold ($600,000) for such an item
>>808691
>I don't know how useful they'll be in his hands

Less about combat use, more about who's the best candidate for ensure the safe return of the very valuable new toy they have. Upon appraisal, Maru insists he hold on to it, at least instead of her. Hore's reckless and flammable, Davina is going to be on the front lines portalling around, stabbing things and such, and Maru doesn't want to risk anything happening to it on her watch; she's seen how the this company keeps their grudges, and she can't afford 30 pounds of gold worth of anger directed at her if anything goes wrong. Plus, Ji is just kinda the right pick if they wanna keep something safe. Reserved, measured, always calculated and never off balance; almost the exact opposite of Maru, and no fun at parties, but pretty much the definition of "rooster for the job" in this case.

>Yisheng Ji volunteers for such duties
Good luck and good man. Or demi-god, as it were. Takes guts to volunteer to scout alone in the labyrinthine death jungle, even if your dad is the reason the sun rises or what have you. Or was that that goblin lady they ran into by the water wheel? She's never been good with getting the whole organized religion thing.

>>808547
The slab of lifeless glass is impervious to mutation. Tittivila's energies flow across it, into the walls and ceiling, where rootlets crackle and spark. Loose soil begins to rise from the floor in strange whorls and arcs. A glowing rune, which Vos recognizes as Viste's signature mark, appears in midair right where the door would be if the open archway he and Esmeraude arrived through were also closed, and wind begins to whistle through that same opening.

>>808600
> (Presuming then that arches around the hexegon are N, NE, SE, S, SW, NW? At least, as far as we can tell the cardinal directions in here).
Yes. Viste's main directional reference is the asymmetries of that boulder she was falling off of on arrival. She had opportunity and cause to carefully examine it's exact shape, and orientation relative to Eckton's walls, before and during that duel with the bandit leader. It doesn't seem to have changed, and hopefully someone would notice in the unlikely event that a force came along sufficient to relocate it.

>>808691
>how useful they'll be in his hands
With fowling arrows he might be able to deliver disabling pressure-point strikes at range.

>>808757
>replace her damage armor with the bits laying around. Maru will take claim to the leftover first air supplies and the misc charms and trinkets,
You seem to have confused equipment the allied town guards are still wearing with salvage from the dead bandit. There's no armor, charms, clean bandages, salves, or dubiously magical trinkets 'up for grabs.' If Yisheng Ji takes the expanded quiver, the only loot left is those two rings, a pair of boots, and some filthy ruined clothes.

So, are you going northwest, or southwest? Viste thinks northerly is a bit closer to the right angle back toward where she remembers the town gate being, but Yisheng Ji thinks he can hear birdsong through the southwest arch.

As a third option, Maru and the guards all definitely arrived through that knothole passage connected to the bridge, and they clearly remember charging out the front gate and then straight ahead to get there, though the ground was shifting under their feet. Hore seems to have come from more or less the same direction. The tree trunk in question is south-southeast relative to the big rock, and the packed-earth tunnel which was (last you checked) blocked by some sort of fungal mass is north-northwest. The fungus expanded rapidly when exposed to extreme heat, but nobody's tried cutting it yet.

rolled 2, 5, 1 = 8

---

>>809013
Oh. Bubbled glass makes much more sense than bubbled grass, which is how I originally read that.

>Viste's Mark
Vos gurgles excitedly and explains that the mark belongs to a friend who will help the two find a way out. He'll try to touch the symbol, making praises to Tittivila, and quickly go slithering down the marked path (making sure Esmeraude is close behind) if physical interaction doesn't produce any interesting results.

>>809016
The symbol is intangible, a simple illusion projected on the air. Esmeraude briefly protests that that's the way you both came from, and the other doors have symbols now too (similar but not identical) but her rant is interrupted when the whistling wind coheres into a staccato shriek, timbre somewhere between the honking of geese and the wailing of the damned, pulsing at precise half-second intervals, overlaid with a deep melodious voice chanting in High Draconic.

Esmeraude closes her eyes and bites her lower lip to concentrate on translation. "Tertiary lightning safety door is... audited? Lazy? Something bad. Usually I'd only hear that word when I made a mistake in ballet practice, or when mom was yelling at a bookkeeper. Anyway, something's still open, but it's supposed to be closed by now. Everyone who doesn't know how to fix that needs to leave, quick, or at least get out of the way of the ones who do. After that it just repeats."

She silently considers the meaning of what she just said for about three heartbeats before running on ahead of Vos, back the way they came. The tunnel is about ten yards long, followed by an odd little S-curve seemingly with no purpose beyond blocking line of sight, then ten more yards before emerging into an open area.

There's a rural cottage, the sort of place where a ranger or charcoal-burner might live, ringed by a 20' high wall of dense thorns with two other visible exits (apart from the tunnel you just arrived through, and sky-like ceiling), both more or less directly opposite.

Just outside the front door of the cottage is a family of elvenoids huddled together. Three adults, two children. Knee-high cabbages grow in the nearby garden. Esmeraude waves dismissively at the charred corpses, mumbling "don't worry, they were like that before I even got here," and turns back to the far exits. "I'm pretty sure we originally came through, um, one of these two."

rolled 5, 4, 2 = 11

---

>"Everyone who doesn't know how to fix that needs to leave, quick"
"Well, leaving quick sounds like good plan to me."

>Charred corpses
Vos briefly considers stopping to perform a funeral ceremony, but his friends need him and there's no way he can eat all these corpses in time even with Esmeraude's help. Might be a good idea to (very quickly) look for clues as to what exactly happened to them though.

>"I'm pretty sure we originally came through, um, one of these two."
"You were supposed to navigate, Esmeraude. You are almost as poor at it as I am!" Vos looks for his signature slither marks.

>3 likely paths (down from 8)
Okay so:
1) NW, for being possibly pointed most closely in the right direction
2) SW, for still being pointed in a promising direction, plus birdsong
3) SSE back the way Maru, Hore, and the guards came from, which hopefully still connects to the front gate.

In those terms, I feel like option 3 is a good first candidate to check?

>I suppose. I don't know how useful they'll be in his hands, but he'll take them if everyone else insists.
If you're operating off ground level (this environment is a playground with Ji's ability) and scouting around too, you're also barely impacted in terms of mobility by being temporarily unable to safely use portals (without dropping the quiver). The group's average speed is higher with it trusted to Ji than any of the ground-pounders.

>>809255
>look for clues as to what exactly happened to them
>rolled 5, 4, 2 = 11
Roughly triangular or paraboloid section of grass is also burnt. Scorch marks on the front wall of the cabin. Looks like somebody hit them with a cone of magical fire, most likely a breath weapon. Door is also blackened on the front, but sitting open, with a busted lock, and the floor inside is undamaged, so possibly the assailant kicked it down afterwards in order to ransack the inside of the house.

>"You were supposed to navigate, Esmeraude. You are almost as poor at it as I am!"
She pouts and grumbles that she wasn't expecting to turn back, and it's not her fault you were being all sad and dumb and not paying attention here either. Anyhow, isn't either path good enough for getting away?
>Vos looks for his signature slither marks.
>rolled 5, 4, 2 = 11
Drag marks in the grass from, or possibly to, both doors. None of Esmeraude's footprints near either, nor the usual swishing zigzag signature of Vos's slithering movement. Two sets of large dog paw prints coming out of the left-side tunnel, one heavier and closer together, both leading in to the house's open door.

rolled 2, 4, 4 = 10

---

If only Eric were here, his zombies could walk right into the minefields for the party...

Hore stands next to Ji and closes her eyes, attempting to scan using her cybernetics and natural senses to determine where the loudest things in the forest are bellowing. Hopefully Ji can use some of his monk arts to boost her perceptive abilities...

>>809283
Hore confirms the sound that Ji heard, but is less certain it's actually birdsong. Seems to be a strong and irregular magnetic field coming from that same direction. Her database says it might be a fusion reactor with a damaged containment torus, in which case she's probably just outside minimum safe distance for the worst-case "spontaneous energetic disassembly."

rolled 1, 6, 3 = 10

---

>>808507
>Davina isn't here, and general confusion over where we are and what's going on due to a lack of proper reading

Maru takes a second handful of jerky and bread, takes a seat by the boulder, and has a snack while she takes a moment to clear her head. For some reason she was unsettlingly dizzy and confused for a good few seconds there. Chock it up to nerves and bad vibes.

She takes the rings and, lacking a chain to put them on, pockets them for future evaluation. She figures taking the walking stick won't hurt, even though she's not gonna fight with it, they can sweep the path ahead and such. With everyone just standing around, she decides it's best to just pick a direction since no one seems to have a better idea. Viste seems to favor the gate Maru and the guards came through, so she gives a rousing call to everyone and gets down to sorting out a marching order, getting the names of their new companions, and hearing complaints before they move out. Her current suggestion, provided they can walk three abreast:

Hore , Guard, Maru

Guard, Guard, Guard

Guard, Ji , Guard

Guard, Guard, Guard,

Guard, Viste

Maru's reasoning is that she, Hore, and the guards are all equipped with weapons that work in short-melee range, and Hore's "scanners" might pick up magical dangers ahead. Ji, being the doctor with the valuable goods is the most protected in the center of the formation, and Viste can quickly jump between the front or back, so it's best to have her as a rear guard. She's also thus far shown to be one of the most competent swordsman in the local area, so it's comforting to have her watching one of the flanks should they get assaulted from the rear by more plant creatures.

Maru also wants to get a quick assessment on the moods of the guards, so while they're arranging the marching order and portalling up, she'll insist that everyone interested share some bread and jerky. No better way to get to know someone than to break bread with them after being rescued from dire straights.

She's particularly interested in assessing how likely they are to panic or break, and how angry they are at the bandits in case they meet up with any stragglers who want to set aside bloodshed and work together to survive.

>>809396
I think Ji's better off exploiting the third dimension with stuff to perch on everywhere in a forest than stuck in the middle of the formation. (And he already rolled to scout anyways). He's really mobile here, and having him in the air gives him better sight lines, scouting, and the ability to attack from above if he ever opts to try his hand at the bow.

Depending on the exact terrain we find, we may want Viste at the front to allow the ground-based group to quickly cut across terrain (opening a portal all the way down a hall, or to the other side of a room, instead of walking).

rolled 5, 5, 2 = 12

---

>>809281
>Anyhow, isn't either path good enough for getting away?
She raises a good point, we don't know if we are actually supposed to be backtracking any further than this room or if we're supposed to take a different path from this point.

So this is interesting. The family was dead when we first passed through here. No sign of Vos' slither marks. If whatever left the paw prints also killed the family, they had to have passed through here before we even arrived and thus couldn't have stamped out our tracks. Vos will ask Esmeraude if she remembers seeing the paw prints when we first entered this room.

Might be a good idea to very quickly check out the house for any standout clues before moving on. Vos will tell Esmeraude to stay behind him.

>>809445
Actually, I'll try asking Tittivila for directions again first.

The wooden tunnel connected to the bridge curves gently to the left for about twenty yards (far beyond apparent thickness of the surrounding tree), at the end of which there's a sort of six-way intersection: the narrow single-file tunnel you're in meets a big 12' diameter tunnel, then both of them cross a yawning 40' wide chasm by way of a massive fallen log, and go their separate ways on the far side. Well, not a fallen log exactly, maybe more like a splinter which came loose in the course of some titanic axe splitting mountain-sized trees for kindling. There's natural light comparable to a full-moon night coming up from below, but the top of the chasm is dark, and something's moving around up there with soft furtive rustling noises.

Nine hours and one minute 'til the tide turns. Planning to cross the bridge, or check out the wide tunnel on the near side (to the right, with it's floor about 3' lower, just enough overlap to form a lopsided 'binoculars cutout' shape), or what? Chasm walls are rough broken wood, so they should be easy enough to climb, at least for anyone with heavy gloves to protect against the sharp edges.

>>809452
>asking Tittivila for directions
>rolled 5, 5, 2 = 12
Vos's patron deity thanks him for his devotion and good works, but suggests that maybe the next shrine he establishes should be somewhere likely to benefit from a bit more casual foot traffic. Rather than delivering a mass of transcendent wisdom relevant to the issue at hand, Tittivila simply rummages through and lightly annotates his own existing memories.

He and Esmeraude originally came through the tunnel on the right, but down the left path there's some sort of devil dog which must be slain, so saith the goddess.

It's conceivable Esmeraude is lying about the bodies being charred before she got here. Red dragons are well known to breathe fire, and many dynastic sorcerers can emulate the powers of their most significant ancestor. She certainly doesn't seem very upset about it, compared to how emotional she's been over some other things.

rolled 4, 2, 6 = 12

---

>>809485
>a bit more casual foot traffic
Vos thanks Tittivila and promises to do better next time.

>down the left path there's some sort of devil dog which must be slain
The path is clear then. Vos tells Esmeraude that they are in for a fight and to be careful, and slithers down the left path.

>Esmeraude might be lying
The thought had certainly occurred to Vos, but there's really no way of knowing. The two are inside of a giant dangerous dungeon that popped up out of nowhere, which adds a lot more possibilities to the equation. Also, Vos is having trouble picturing the formerly blubbering, pouting girl murdering a family of innocents at this moment.

Viste 2017/06/21(Wed)21:33 No. 809687 ID: 3abd97
File 149810603681.png - (31.44KB , 400x417 , Quick chasm map.png )

rolled 4, 6, 2 = 12

---

>The wooden tunnel connected to the bridge curves gently to the left for about twenty yards (far beyond apparent thickness of the surrounding tree)
That seems pretty solid confirmation of the suspected spacial distortion.

Crude map of the room, not to scale (or attempting to get angles right). 6 Exits: skinny tunnel near (where we entered), skinny tunnel far, wide tunnel near, wide tunnel far, chasm left, chasm right.

>Well, not a fallen log exactly, maybe more like a splinter which came loose
>[Hore] runs along falling stalks of wheat as thick as redwood trees
I wonder if maybe the bridge is one Hore's been across before?

>what do
Roll for spot, I guess. Let's see if anything stands out that helps us pick a path, or shows someone went this way before.

rolled 3, 3, 3 = 9

---

Hore tries to recall what path she took.

>>809687
Even in bad light, muddy bootprints stand out clear enough on pale broken wood. Maru and the guards definitely came across the bridge. Hard to say which tunnel on the far side they came from without lighting up a torch (or magical equivalent, such as the low-power settings on Hore's plasma pistol) which might disturb the giant bats or piles of dry autumn leaves or whatever it is lurking up in the shadows at the top of the chasm.

>>809694
She remembers running down a slope that got steadily steeper without curving, and shooting the base of a pillar to make it fall over as a bridge up to the ceiling. This could be that same spot. Certainly smells the same, apart from the charcoal smell being slightly less fresh.

>>809542
Through the left side and past a curtain of spanish moss, there's another room enclosed by dense thorn-hedges. It's only about ten yards square, with an open-topped stone well in the center and another archway exit at the far side.

A large black dog, with bony ridges down it's back and a stink like rotten eggs, is holding a burlap sack in it's mouth. Esmeraude says the sack has something magical inside, just loud enough to catch the dog's attention. It turns, very deliberately tosses the sack down the well, and then growls at Vos, articulating one of the few goblin-tongue words he knows: a challenge to single combat without weapons or armor.

>rolled 4, 2, 6 = 12
Those scratches Esmeraude left with her magically enhanced finger- and toenails are feeling increasingly itchy. Surrounding skin is a little bit swollen and discolored, too.

rolled 3, 4, 5 = 12

---

>a challenge to single combat without weapons or armor.
Vos bares the ghastly inside of his gaping eelmouth and accepts the challenge. Tossing his spear aside and stripping down, Vos stands tense and ready, waiting for the devil dog to move in close so he can grab it.

rolled 6, 6, 6 = 18

---

Hore considers scanning the area, but thinks against it. The beasts above might be attracted by her scanning methods.

Hore sniffs out, but recommends the others start tracking. Who knows what has been done to scent in here...

>>809733
Vos's opponent laughs like a hyena as he strips down, then vomits some sort of gelatinous tar rather than closing in to bite as expected.
>rolled 3, 4, 5 = 12
Decaro Vos is now on fire.

Esmeraude jumps weightlessly over both of them and dives feet-first down the well, intent on retrieving whatever she sensed in that bag.

>>809745
The bridge shifts slightly and a loose portion crumbles away as Hore is sniffing around, sending her tumbling off the edge into the abyss. Thirty-seven seconds later she comes plummeting past again at terminal velocity, close enough for someone to reach out and touch.

Eight hours, fifty-nine minutes 'til the tide turns.

rolled 3, 4, 3 = 10

---

>>809757
Oldest trick in the book, Vos does not think because he's busy screaming.

If it's some kind of fire hound then grappling is probably out of the question. Should have known, there's no way to hurt this thing unarmed.

Well, Tittivila isn't necessarily a goddess of honor. Vos picks up the spear and throws it.

rolled 5, 6, 2 = 13

---

>Maru and the guards definitely came across the bridge
>Could be Hore too
Well that bodes well. If the dungeon didn't move the path or the entrance as it formed, we seem to be on the right path, so far.

>hard to see the tunnels on the other side from here without lighting them up
Is the light good enough to portal over to the far tunnels without physically walking across the bridge?

>Hore in a terminal velocity loop
Well that definitively confirms spacial shenanigans.

Hmm. If we approximate a falling cyber-gnoll as a human skydiver, that puts her speed somewhere around 122 mph. (Although she's probably falling a little faster? I'd expect a gnoll to be denser than a human, and then there's the cybernetics on top of that).

>Thirty-seven seconds later
Which, as a rough estimate, puts the total vertical loop somewhere around a mile to a mile and a quarter long.

>what do
Viste flickers momentarily in response to Hore's fall. On Hore's next pass, Viste will try to hit the canine with Feather Fall. (Not going to grab her though).

>Well, Tittivila isn't necessarily a goddess of honor. Vos picks up the spear and throws it.
If she were around to do so, Vos' friend would approve.

>>809781
>Is the light good enough to portal over to the far tunnels without physically walking across the bridge?
Yep. Similar to that situation with the deepest shaft on the way out of the Bloodmist Labyrinth, light from below means it's easy to get a visual fix on the ceiling, but something unpleasant might be waiting on the floor.

>Feather Fall
With velocity mostly negated, two of the guards catch Hore and pull her in for a safe landing using the hooked side of their halberds.

>>809769
The devil dog dodges, bounding side to side and barking "Cheater! Coward!" A thrown spear draws lurid orange blood from it's right rear leg, but glances off rather than penetrating more deeply and flies onward to become entangled in thorns on the far side of the room.

Decaro Vos is still on fire, starting to feel overheated and dehydrated.

rolled 6, 5, 5 = 16

---

>>809828
Seeing the dog is injured, Vos lunges forward and reaches out to slap it with a baleful mutation right in the face. Bubbled over eyes, tentacles coming out of the ears, lobster claw replacing the nose, anything that'll cause sensory issues.

>>809846
>baleful mutation right in the face
>anything that'll cause sensory issues.
>rolled 6, 5, 5 = 16
Non-critical failure. Half-blinded by pain, Vos's grasping claw falls short of his intended target. He falls on his own face, accidentally delivering Tittivila's blessing to the grassy ground, which helpfully encloses him in a cocoon of damp seaweed. Vos is no longer on fire, and his wounds are being treated.

The devil dog laughs a while longer, steals Vos's chainmail shirt for it's own use, and eventually wanders off.

rolled 1, 5, 4 = 10

---

>>809874
No time to nap now. Vos rips himself free of the seaweed and painfully slithers over to the well to check on Esmeraude.

>>809880
>rips himself free of the seaweed
It clings to his charred skin like gummy green adhesive bandages, but doesn't impede movement as much as brass balm. Vos now has a sufficient range of experiences to justify points in the Connoisseur (emergency medicine) skill, which is unlikely to be of much use beyond making conversation with jaded aesthetes who suffer severe injuries on a regular basis.

>painfully slithers over to the well to check on Esmeraude
On closer inspection, it's less of a well, more of a slanted chute. There's a hatch on the left wall, about halfway down. The sorceress is at the chute's terminus, a hundred feet away, and has just retrieved her prize from among a heap of compost. "Aw, man! It's just a freakin' paintbrush?" she moans.

The brush leaps from her hand and delicately inscribes "O man, it is just a freaking paint brush?" on a polished section of the stone wall in vivid green ink. Esmeraude's eyes light up enough for Vos to see this all the way from the top. She clutches her hands to her chest, drools slightly, and squeaks "That is so cool." The brush dutifully adds her comment to the record.

rolled 6, 5, 5 = 16

---

>>809887
Too steep to climb back out, I assume?

>"That is so cool."
Vos lets out a guttural sigh. "I will look for rope."

Checking the house or just looking for a sturdy vine.

>>809922
>Vos lets out a guttural sigh.
Flesh around his inner jaws feels like he's been gargling sandpaper. The bee larvae in his pouch seem to be growing, and their writhing movements are making him mildly nauseous.

>"I will look for rope." Checking the house or just looking for a sturdy vine.
>rolled 6, 5, 5 = 16
No rope-like items of sufficient length are readily available. Vos crawls around in the abandoned/depopulated cottage, opening containers at random, hampered by feverish brain-fog to the point that he struggles to identify some common tools and furnishings at a glance. There was some reason he needed to flee this place, but he can't quite...

Esmeraude sneaks up, taps his shoulder just hard enough to derail that train of thought, and cheerfully asks what he needed rope for.
>Too steep to climb back out, I assume?
Apparently not for someone with a flight spell.

rolled 5, 1, 2 = 8

---

>>809970
Vos ignores her question. "Esmeraude, answer me truthfully and I will not be angry. Did you poison me with your magic claws?" Vos takes a long drink from his water jug and applies some healing goo to himself to fix what he can.

>>810079
>Did you poison me with your magic claws?
She clams to have never knowingly used poison or disease as weapons, nor sabotaged sanitation infrastructure, or anything else of the sort. Seems to be sincerely offended and disgusted at the very idea. Arson's only tolerable in a military context because everyone can tell when it's over.

Wounds might have gotten infected on their own, though. It could happen to anybody, particularly in a jungle or swamp. As a 3rd level paladin with the martyr archetype, Vos's 7-yard radius aura grants allies within it (including himself) a bonus to resist disease as long as he's conscious, but no total immunity. She's never seen infection proceed quite that fast, but then again she's also never seen a forest erupt like a volcano.

>water jug
It's packed full of spongy seaweed. Vos only manages to extract about half a mouthful of drinkable water.

>healing goo
Wounds close, swelling is reduced, throat feels slightly better, larvae settle down. Itchiness and nausea remain.

rolled 6, 5, 6 = 17

---

>With velocity mostly negated, two of the guards catch Hore and pull her in for a safe landing using the hooked side of their halberds.
"Exercise caution, please. I cannot do that again, today."

>Similar to that situation with the deepest shaft on the way out of the Bloodmist Labyrinth, light from below means it's easy to get a visual fix on the ceiling, but something unpleasant might be waiting on the floor.
Let's conjure a dancing light and send it across to the other side, then.

If the other side looks clear, Viste will open a portal.

rolled 5, 6, 2 = 13

---

>>810087
Vos will look for some more damp sea weed or tree sap or anything that he can slather on to make himself less flammable. He'll also ask Esmeraude if she has a spell that protects from fire.

Retrieving his spear and folding away his cloak, he will start following the devil dog's blood trail.

>>810143
Or mud. Mud seems like a much better idea.

>>810126
>conjure a dancing light and send it across to the other side,
>If the other side looks clear, Viste will open a portal.
>rolled 6, 5, 6 = 17
Portal opens, but rather than successfully stepping through, Viste is immediately struck in the chest with what seems to be an enormous spring-loaded battering ram, while the near end of the bridge creaks and falls out from under her feet. The ram withdraws just as the far end of the bridge also fails, and she's left standing precariously on the semisolid edge of the portal itself, with nothing but open air and bottomless pit out to four feet behind her or forty feet in front.

>>810143
>a spell that protects from fire
Yeah, but she's a bit out of practice with that one. Ever since she started painting her nose, people hardly ever try to burn her alive.

Vos has been warded with fire resistance. While sufficient for most mundane purposes, due caution should still be exercised around high-circle magic or large quantities of molten metal. The spell also provides no protection against smoke or toxic gasses, which are actually the more immediate threat in most burning buildings or volcanoes.

>blood trail
None visible on the grass. Thin streak of that same lurid orange leads down the chute to the hatch, punctuated by some goblinese runes, then the words "cheater," "coward," and "omphalos" in humish.

Hatch is only about three feet square, composed of green shoots tangled together somewhere between 'watertight' wicker baskets, macrame, and rod-logic clockworks. There's a wooden wheel which seems to be stuck, refusing to rotate either way by more than an eighth of a turn, and a three-by-four grid of tiny delicate flowers.

Esmeraude probes one of the flowers with a wisp of magical energy, and it shifts from a pale pink blossom resembling the alchemical symbol for mercury, into a lavender bud resembling a rabbit's head in profile, facing to the left. She squints and bites her lower lip, pondering, and eventually says "I think that means it'll open if I do...this."

Then she kicks the wheel with her bare foot, hard enough to blow the whole hatch off it's hinges.

Beyond the hatch, there's a much wider passage, about the right size for cargo wagons to pass single file. If those parallel tracks in the floor are anything to go go by, it's actually be used for such. The walls are mostly off-white plaster, in between rough wooden beams weeping thick sticky golden-brown sap. Living branches sprout from the beams and form a dense canopy about 12' up. There's flickering lantern-light from somewhere above the canopy.

Paw-prints lead straight ahead, to a bubbling 40' by 60' mud pit where the ceiling is between twice and three times as high. There are a few irregular stone platforms, the nearest of which has a spatter of orange blood on it. A pair of deliquescent horses are still harnessed to an overturned wagon near the center of the room. Two other obvious exits, one twenty yards away at the far end, the other halfway between on the right wall, both similar to the way you came in. No active threats visible, but the devil dog could easily be hiding in or behind that wagon.

>The ram withdraws just as the far end of the bridge also fails, and she's left standing precariously on the semisolid edge of the portal itself, with nothing but open air and bottomless pit out to four feet behind her or forty feet in front.
If I opened a portal 4 feet out onto the (now fallen) bridge, there would be open air for 40' in front of the portal, and 4 behind. But if Viste is standing on/in the portal itself, halfway through it, isn't the ground underneath / in front of the far end of the portal directly in front of Viste from her perspective?

>>810186
Entry wound of the portal is 4' away from solid ground and allies. Exit wound is approximately 36' forward and 8' down, flush with the opposite wall, just below and facing away from the passage Viste was intending to reach. "Battering ram" was the bridge, after she accidentally sheared through it's attachment point.

rolled 1, 6, 5 = 12

---

>>810171
>Viste is struck by a surprise attack and is left standing precariously on the semisolid edge of the portal itself
Yisheng Ji immediately lassos and pulls her back with a ghost whip, ensuring a solid grip on her whether she's flickering or not.

rolled 4, 5, 1 = 10

---

>>810171
>"cheater," "coward," and "omphalos" in humish.
"Esmeraude, does this last word mean anything to you?"

>Ever since she started painting her nose, people hardly ever try to burn her alive.
Despite her nonchalance when explaining this, Vos rests his lower jaw on Esmeraude's shoulder in a show of empathy. He vows that whatever happens when the two escape this place, he won't allow some torch bearing mob to lay hands on the young girl.

>Living branches sprout from the beams and form a dense canopy about 12' up. There's flickering lantern-light from somewhere above the canopy.
Before making it through this pathway, Vos will raise up on his tail and try to see where this lantern light is coming from. Seems like a strange feature for a forest dungeon.

>bubbling mud
Vos will find a tree branch to stick into the mud to see how dangerous it is.

rolled 5, 2, 6 = 13

---

Maru turns after chatting with guards, learning everyone's names, and ruminating over which side they came from, just in time to see Hore fall. After the combined teamwork of Viste and the town guards, Maru she then is left astounded as the otherworldly fencer portals into the makeshift bridge, rather than across it. That fight with the captain must have really done a number on her, or this ledge is just unnaturally dangerous. Knowing Ji will likely not react well if Maru invades his personal space at this, or really any moment in time, she elects to try to get everyone else away from the ledge, to prevent further problems and ensure no one is standing in the way of Viste getting back on solid ground or further complicating matters. Rolling to help in a way that doesn't involve grabbing Ji, and standing by to catch or help pull up Viste as needed

rolled 6, 5, 6 = 17

---

>>810640
Hore will help Maru if needed.

>>810640
The guards start to back up, hampered by those in the back wanting to see what's going on.
>>810642
Hoee interprets this delay as noncompliance, and attempts to punch one of them in the face as a gnoll-style disciplinary measure, thereby bruising her hand on his helmet's nose-guard.

>>810200
Yisheng Ji pulls Viste back from the brink without incident. However, in another twenty seconds or so, that massive slab of wood which used to be a bridge is going to come back around and hit the midair portal, hard enough to shear off some substantial fragments and send them flying off at unpredictable, possibly dangerous, angles and velocities.

>>810601
>this last word
She thinks it might refer to an Old God's belly button or some religious thing like that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omphalos

>raise up on his tail and try to see where this lantern light is coming from.
Can't quite reach high enough to see all the way through the canopy. Pushing branches aside is ineffective at increasing the field of view, and gets sticky sap all over his hands. No matter which way he pivots around, the source and focal point of the light always seems to be just beyond the edge of his peripheral vision.

>hugs
Under normal circumstances she'd be happy enough to cuddle up together indefinitely, ideally on a soft silk bed sprinkled with rose petals and gold coins, but for now we need to keep moving.

>test the mud
Some snapped-off twigs from the ceiling appear shriveled and discolored after exposure. The two horses hitched to a wrecked wagon might be more accurately described as horse skeletons dipped in puddles of horse-meat-flavored sludge, but it's not completely clear whether the mud itself did that, or another hazard or monster. Esmeraude carelessly scoops up a handful of the stuff and licks it, then says it's a little bit too warm to be comfortable for swimming, but otherwise seems fine to her. She loved goofing around in muddy hot springs back before the war.

rolled 6, 2, 4 = 12

---

>>810780
>Twigs shriveled and discolored
>Esmeraude tries to lick the mud, is fine
>melted horses
>already know there is caustic mud in this dungeon

Vos will dip the very tip of his finger in this mud.

rolled 4, 1, 4 = 9

---

>>810780
>in another twenty seconds or so, substantial fragments of wood will come flying out of the portal at unpredictable angles and velocities
Plenty of time to shout a warning and dash for cover, if indeed there is any cover to be found within a twenty-second-or-so dash.

If there's no cover, Yisheng Ji will just turn his back to the portal and maneuver Viste around so that he is between her and it, taking the brunt of whatever damage comes their way. He is somewhat more difficult to kill than she is, and significantly less valuable if lost. The group still needs her to get us out of here. He also will not forget to remove the quiver from his back and shield it with his body so it hopefully won't be damaged either.

>>810804
Vos's fingertip tingles in a very unpleasant way, consistent with a mild chemical burn. He also recalls that Esmeraude never actually specified which sort of dragon the Netseth family is descended from.

>>810863
Nearest accessible cover is a granitic disc protruding from a slot in the wall about ten yards down the yet-unexplored wider corridor on the near side of the chasm. Looks like it's meant to roll back and forth as a door or barricade. Yisheng Ji escorts Viste through the crescent-moon-shaped opening and around behind the heavy stone, incidentally away from the developing brawl, with adequate time to spare.

rolled 1, 5, 6 = 12

---

>>810881
Not sure if this was a deliberate trick to try to get me to dive into caustic mud, or if she's just 'goofing around'. Either way, need to find a way across this mud pit. Are the platforms close enough together to hop across? It's going to be difficult with a naga tail but Vos will go ahead and try it if so.

rolled 4, 5, 6 = 15

---

Hore's ears are sharp enough to hear that warning about a splinter explosion. Hore grabs Maru and makes a mad dash for cover, barking at the soldiers to get down and cover their heads!

rolled 4, 6, 2 = 12

---

In quick succession, Viste finds herself unexpectedly slammed in the chest, has the earth drop out from under her, is left teetering on an impossible edge, and then is yanked back from behind. Then, as Ji leads her away from the from the edge of the cliff, her attention is distracted by the growing argument between Hore and the guardsmen.

As such, it is not until they reach the crescent opening that her mind manages to catch up with the immediate tactical situation and realize the danger bearing down from above.

Viste attempts to call out a warning to those of her allies (apparently) more concerned with some petty grievance than their own safety. "Fall back and take cover!"

rolled 5, 2, 4 = 11

---

>>810909
>Not sure if this was a deliberate trick
She's had a fairly rough day, and legitimately forgot that weak-blooded peasants are so vulnerable to that sort of thing.
>Are the platforms close enough together to hop across?
Some of the gaps are wide enough that Esmeraude has to provide some support in between, but Vos manages to make his way over to the wagon without further injury, It contains sixty bolts of plain silk cloth, sixty inches wide by forty yards long. Cheap mulberry-worm silk rather than the sturdier stuff from giant spiders, and somewhat coarsely woven, but that's still good enough for moderately luxurious textiles. A dense weave of raw fibers like this is particularly well suited for undershirts worn beneath armor. In addition to comfort and padding, it can catch a penetrating arrowhead, simplifying extraction, reducing the risk of infection, and preventing any poisons or curses on the projectile from making direct contact with the blood. Each bolt weighs twelve pounds and is worth a bit over five silver if it's clean and intact, or somewhat less after being dipped in caustic mystery mud.

The chain-clad devil dog, as a swift quadruped, apparently has much less difficulty leaping from one platform to the next as it quietly circles around and gets ready to spit fire again.

>>810935
Hore does not make it behind cover in time, and is hit by wood fragments in a random location as determined by that roll I just made.

rolled 3, 2, 6 = 11

---

>>811107
Maru's first priority would have been encouraging everyone to get to cover after the numerous warnings from her fellows- she would have brought up the rear of the retreat. Rolling to see how well she led everyone else and seeing if she managed to avoid the same fate as Hore

rolled 1, 6, 5 = 12

---

>>811107
Vos waits for the devil dog to stop and open its mouth to spit fire, and then he throws his spear at its face.

>>811111
Maru manages to get the guards to back up beyond the bend in the tunnel. Injuries are minimal. Hore caught a fist-sized chunk on her upper back, but fortunately broken wood is poorly optimized for penetrating even acid-weakened armor.

>>811159
Decaro Vos's spear is stuck to his claw by a combination of sap from the ceiling and regenerating fragments of thorny underbrush from the previous room. This makes it difficult to effectively throw. He adapts the motion into a wild lunge, tip of his tail braced underneath the wagon to avoid falling into the mud, and thereby forces the dog to abort it's attack and leap away onto a different platform, where the fire breath can't hit both Vos and the wagon.

Esmeraude is chanting and gesticulating, waist-deep in the mud, as a halo or mandala of cold bruise-colored lightning coalesces behind her and begins to slowly rotate.

rolled 4, 5, 3 = 12

---

>>811185
Vos coils up, ready to dive out of the way of a fire spit.

rolled 1, 2, 3 = 6

---

Might be wise to wait another revolution or two to be sure any debris left from that mess is in a "stable" loop.

If there are no other complications, let's portal across the gap properly this time. (Ji will have to wire fu, timing his jump to not get hit by what's left of the bridge, since the quiver of holding can't be safely portalled).

Once we're on the other side, do Maru and the guards' tracks continue down the narrow passage or the wide one?

>>811307
Second portal goes much more smoothly. The broken bridge doesn't plummet by for a second pass at all on schedule (as of eight hours fifty-four minutes until the tide turns), but there does seems to be increasing noise and fluttering movement coming from that shadowy region up above.

>do Maru and the guards' tracks continue down the narrow passage or the wide one?
>rolled 1, 2, 3 = 6
No.

>>811212
Vos dodges successfully, and shrugs off fringes of the fire thanks to the sorceress's ward. The wagon is untouched. Esmeraude herself dives face-first into the mud, escaping with nothing worse than scorched hair. Her spell collapses into a single tiny icicle launched from her pinky finger, which ricochets improbably off the wagon, a wall, and two 'ceiling' branches before coming to a stop embedded in the devil dog's right eye. Vos's divinely sanctioned quarry yelps and whines in pain, then turns to run off through the passageway opposite where they all came in.

rolled 3, 2, 6 = 11

---

>>811442
>ricochets improbably
Nothing is improbable with Tittivila's guidance! Vos yells praise to Esmeraude as he gives chase.

>>811442
>No.
Drat.

Since that roll seems to have been applied to spot / I already looked for tracks, anything else that notably distinguishes the two tunnels besides diameter, now that we're in close proximity?

We probably should get a move on before whatever we woke up in the chasm reaches us. Barring any additional information that might help us decide, I'm leaning towards following the narrow path (as it's what we followed so far, and it's conceivable there there was no intersection here when Maru and co ran past the first time, and the two paths were crossed through each other as the dungeon formed).

rolled 1, 5, 1 = 7

---

>>811307
>>811442
>time the jump to not get hit by what's left of the bridge
>broken bridge doesn't plummet by for a second pass at all
Alright, I guess now's a good time to cross then, before physics changes its mind again.

>>811660
>anything else that notably distinguishes the two tunnels besides diameter?
Properly angled portals make it relatively simple to direct moonlight (or whatever it is) from below down along either path.

The wider passage, after about eighteen yards, splits like a tuning fork into two identical hallways ten feet apart, both tunnels continuing straight for another twenty yards before ending in identical thorny hedge-walls. Halfway along the split section there's a crawlspace between them, just under three feet in diameter.

The narrower tunnel has a side passage on the right after ten yards (same size, but flooded waist deep with crystal clear, ice cold water), curves to the left for another twenty yards, then there's a wicker door in the left wall with some sort of puzzle lock, and after that it slopes down for another twenty yards to a grassy clearing about a third the diameter of the one you started from. There are two other ground-level exits, and a bridge about 20' up above,
>>811635
with a chase scene in progress. Decaro Vos, and a young elvenoid woman who can fly by magic but is otherwise unrecognizable due to being covered in mud from head to toe, are pursuing some sort of infernal canid, which is leaking prodigious quantities of day-glo orange goo from a damaged eye socket.

>>811671
>before physics changes its mind again.
>rolled 1, 5, 1 = 7
Vos leaps across the chasm easily, and with a glance upward, notes that the broken bridge is still descending, escorted and slowed by a swarm of bat-shaped orchids and other animate winged epiphytic plants.

>>811678
Helen and Jank climb up out of the chasm, from the misplaced portal, right behind Viste as she's looking for tracks and in front of Yisheng Ji as he's landing. Jank has a fresh blueberry pie balanced on top of his head, and shallow bloodless cuts on his right cheek, left ear, lower back, and both forearms, the source of which he does not remember. When Viste sees such wounds she should roll for her phobia.
>history check
Based on the style of armor those elves in the first panel were wearing, the events depicted probably took place shortly before the Rhestmere Incursion, Seems to be showing how the Church of Orcus relocated from wherever they started out to here. Or, rather, to where the frescoes are.

>>811688
>Vos leaps across the chasm
Should be Yisheng Ji, but I don't feel like deleting and reposting the whole thing.
bluh.

rolled 3, 3, 3 = 9

---

>>811688
I think Helen needs a minute to take all this in.

>Jank has a fresh blueberry pie balanced on top of his head, and shallow bloodless cuts
Any plausible hypotheses?

>chase scene
I'd like to point out that, as if this sight isn't bizarre enough as described, the infernal canid is also wearing Vos' armor.

>>811803
>Any plausible hypotheses?
He must've looked too close at the Things Which Dwell In Corners. Rookie mistake for long-range scrying, relatively common problem among time-travel-related morbidity and mortality. Natural healing tends to be slow, and some claim the surrounding tissue needs to be massaged, burnt, or otherwise stimulated before it'll start at all. Infection and other complications are rare, magical treatment almost always works normally.

>chase scene
>I'd like to point out that, as if this sight isn't bizarre enough as described, the infernal canid is also wearing Vos' armor.

The hellhound spots Viste's Fire Hawk insignia and claims, in High Draconic (which she and Esmeraude Netseth can somewhat understand but Decaro Vos cannot), that if it's life is spared, it can teach them how to build a private place. such as Philista desires, without high-circle magic. Real gods have... shortcuts, and Agatia did not think to guard the library she stole.

rolled 3, 2, 2 = 7

---

>>811816
Vos tries to lunge and stab the devil dog in the back while it's distracted talking to Vista.

rolled 4, 2, 1 = 7

---

>three strangers show up, a wounded Vos and a wounded dog

Their garb isn't too far off from bandit wear- boots, cloak, rough around the edges, etc, but Maru thinks she recognizes the woman from the expedition. Can't recall her name, but if she's right, this is much closer to being the bloodmist labrynth than Maru is okay with. Seeing Vos take a stab at the dog, and not understanding a word of what it's saying, she starts yelling out to the others while grabbing the end of the 6 foot pole. She then takes a hard underhand swing at the side of the creatures head.

"I fink I recognize de woman comin out of de chasm! I dunno your name luv but I'm pretty sure we were down in dat bloody orcusite deaftrap togeder before de group got split!"

>>812376
Vos rems his spear through the eye-hole in his stolen chainmail, into the devil dog's kidneys and out through it's belly button, pinning it to the bridge. The dog turns to look at him with it's remaining eye. "Breathe, breed, bleed, adapt... don't you wonder what I have that She hates?" Then it crumples up and disappears with a puff of green fire and whirl of silver sand.

Esmeraude Netseth groans and rolls her eyes in frustration, then stomps around in the air ranting about missed opportunities. She looked the other way for a minute and the captain of the guard got himself assassinated somehow, then the rest of her army gets eaten by freakin' trees, then this helpful eelman screws up all the awesome ancient secrets being dumped in her lap. At this rate, if she wants to rebuild her fallen noble house, she's going to have to marry somebody! Why is life so hard?

>>812539
>seeing
Maru Red is roughly two hundred feet away, around some corners, facing the wrong direction, and caught up in a brawl between Hore Wutashi and the Eckton Town Watch.

>swing at the side of the creatures head.
A normal human wielding a six foot pole does not have sufficient reach to make melee attacks against someone on a bridge twenty feet overhead.

>>812544
Hm. Would it be possible for someone to clarify how exactly that much distance was accumulated? I remember us taking cover from debrie, the viste portaedl across the chasm and looked down a couple different pathways, with Ji helping to scout. Now Helen and Jank emerged from that we just crossed, with Vos, a muddy mage, and a divine servant all within sight of Viste and Ji. How did I go from 10 yards away from the chasm to 200 feet? Or did they somehow move to a different chasm? I'm not quiet following where separation occurred and how

>>812555
Maru is close enough to the chasm to possibly see or shout at Helen and Jank, though they're on the opposite side. The action with Vos is happening in another forest clearing sort of room, down one of those passages Viste scouted.

Hore begins barking happily at Vos. Then due to her fear of this newly-formed dungeon, she decides to just keep following the others CAREFULLY until she can actually touch Vos. Which she will blah blah whatever.

>>811816
>>812541
Before Viste can consider if she's willing to trust an offer that seems far too good to be true, or how to best interrupt the chase, Vos has already ended matters decisively.

"Vos, it was trying to surrender." she offers, while raising an eyebrow at the unusual sight of a flying pile of mud having a temper tantrum.

>At this rate, if she wants to rebuild her fallen noble house, she's going to have to marry somebody!
"Not me" our resident fallen noble thinks to herself, as she mentally files her poorly tempered peer far down her list of potential candidates. Alliances between houses can be beneficial, but less so if she has to pull them both back up herself.

>>812555
>>812575
Or in other terms, apparently Hore's squabble with the town guard didn't get end when diving for cover, and the eight of you haven't followed Viste through the portal to cross the chasm yet. (Honestly, don't feel bad for missing that, I didn't realize you guys were still held up either).

rolled 2, 5, 6 = 13

---

So let me make sure I have this sequence of events right.

1. Helen and Jank emerge right behind Viste just as she's portaling forward to scout ahead, and Ji is jumping across the chasm

2. Maru ignores the brawl that Hore started, instead looking over the chasm toward Viste and Ji she also spots Helen and Jank. She calls out a greeting to the two bewildered time travelers.

3. Viste arrives through the wicker door and sees Vos chasing the devil dog up above. Conversation and backstabbing occurs.

>"Breathe, breed, bleed, adapt... don't you wonder what I have that She hates?"
Vos' first kill in Tittivila's name. He doesn't feel particularly good about the accomplishment. He coils up on the spot, gasping for breath. "Viste. Do you have any water?"

>Hore begins barking happily at Vos.
(Assuming Hore heard of Vos' presence with her super dog ears, and the barking's loud enough for Vos to hear in turn) Vos shouts out to Hore at the top of his lungs, same as he did the first time the two shared that intimate moment in the Bloodmist Labyrinth.

Helen looks between the feathered fellow floating down in front of her and the horned lady shouting at her in cockney from across a giant chasm. Vaguely familiar faces...

"Excuse me. Where are we and what's going on?"

>>812605
>Do you have any water?

>>811688
>The narrower tunnel has a side passage on the right after ten yards (same size, but flooded waist deep with crystal clear, ice cold water)
Add a portal up to the bridge, backtrack, and Vos could be there in the time it takes him to cross 40 feet.

>>812715
Don't our basic kits include a day's worth of water? Unless Vos needs a great quantity, that seems safer to offer him than a pool in a dungeon (which might be safe, or might be poisoned, drugged, enchanted, trapped, harboring parasites, hiding an ambush, not actually water, etc).

>>812770
>Don't our basic kits include a day's worth of water?
Yes.

Did Viste, in fact, bring her full field kit along for that strike on the bandit leader, or did she leave a few of the heaviest and least immediately necessary items behind? Her private cabin on the ship, or the staging area on shore, were both readily available for storage at that point, and she'd have known (in appropriate in-character terms) that encumbrance penalties apply to movement speed, dodges, and fencing parries, all highly relevant to that mission, and further that 'zero encumbrance' means no more than twenty pounds of gear for someone of average human strength. Breastplate alone might weigh 18 lb, though particularly fine metalwork and tailoring could reduce that to twelve and a half pounds for a trifling 30x the base price.

>>812861
Vos isn't drinking any dungeon water no matter how clear it looks. This place already gave him some sort of horrible infection, which he mentions to Viste and tells her to be very careful of any open wounds.

"And I am glad you are safe. Was very worried when you did not follow through portal. This is Esmeraude."

rolled 3, 1, 5 = 9

---

>>812770
>>812861
>>812919
>nobody wants to drink the water
Yisheng Ji applauds the wisdom of caution when presented with a suspiciously convenient reservoir of water when one is thirsty. That said, he can purify food and drink at will, so while it doesn't rule out a situation where the pool may be concealing an ambush of aquatic creatures or is itself a camouflaged slime, it is enough to deal with any poison, disease, or contamination present in the liquid.

Holding his hand level above the water's surface, Yisheng Ji sends ripples of divine purification down into the pool, ensuring at least the few cubic feet of water closest to him is potable enough for anyone to consume. As a further precaution against potential threat afflicting the party, he will drink of it first, both to quench his thirst and to investigate any immediate effects it may have. (Such as if the entire pool is a potion of Flesh to Stone, or some other such nasty thing.)

Roll to detect unusual effects in the consumed water, if any.

>>812861
Fair point that the minimum necessary kit for a surgical strike expecting fast hard combat with a planned quick retreat would be less than the minimum necessary kit for prolonged field operations in a dungeon.

Although that raises other complications if we don't get out of here in time.

>though particularly fine metalwork and tailoring could reduce that to twelve and a half pounds for a trifling 30x the base price.
Well, rich bitch equipment bonus. :v

>>812919
>I am glad you are safe.
"As am I."

>This is Esmeraude
Assuming Esmeraude has completed her tirade, or at least paused long enough to notice the introduction, Viste will doff her hat and nod in greeting.

>>812944
>equipment bonus
Yep.
>Esmeraude has paused long enough to notice the introduction,
>Viste will doff her hat and nod in greeting.
The sorceress curtsies, about three feet off the ground, but in the process looks down and notices (with a squeak of embarrassment) that she's still covered in mud.

A quick gesture and a few muttered words cause the mud to explode off of her, leaving her black dress and pale skin spotlessly clean. She fusses with rearranging her greasy unkempt hair before attempting the curtsy a second time. There's a brown starburst of smoldering dead grass now, but the mud didn't hit anyone standing nearby.

>>812928
>rolled 3, 1, 5 = 9
Unpleasant alkaline flavor, and as previously noted it's extremely cold, but otherwise seems safe. If someone tried swimming in it without appropriate protection (a watertight 'drysuit' or magic) the fire essence in their blood would be leached away transdermally at such a rate that they'd be unconscious in a matter of minutes and dead shortly after, but with a well controlled heat source resuscitation would be relatively straightforward even without magic.

On the subject of minutes, once introductions are sorted out, the brawl with the guards has been smoothed over (at least temporarily, since they've got enough professional pride to not needlessly escalate petty disputes in the middle of a more serious crisis), and everyone is back together in one place, eight hours and two minutes remain until the tide turns.

Hore isn't too bitter about Esmeraude's cheap shot because Hore was also lining up a mid-sentence murder herself, but she expected better from a supposed "professional".

Hore gives the mage a few pointers. Battlemages are supposed to keep an air of superiority and invincibility to intimidate their foes, and leave the dirty tricks to their minions. As we saw, using an attack of opportunity meant that Hore was both desperate to end the fight AND confident that Esmeraude was mortal, and the subsequent retreat just increased her confidence about the latter; if Esmeraude had conserved her spells and fought normally with a few extra inches of hover, she could have intimidated Hore, who was tiring out her ammunition, into retreating to a worse position.

Hore's eager to be friends. As a mercenary, she has learned to keep her grudges on the battlefield. Having a proper elementalist on the team fills an important niche. Plus, she's hawt.

Due to her developed phobia of dungeons and all the assassin things that lurk in their shadows, Hore sticks to Vos and tries not to touch anything.

rolled 4, 1, 3 = 8

---

Alrighty. Does Echoes of the Old World have anything about huge forest dungeons?

Also, rolling for knowledge on local geography to recall if there is any place with impossibly gigantic trees roughly 1500 miles away from the entrance to the Bloodmist Labyrinth.

>>813090
>knowledge on local geography
>a place [...] roughly 1500 miles away from [the mouth of the Stoneheart river]
>rolled 4, 1, 3 = 8
With no direction specified, you're talking about a circle, circumference of nine thousand four hundred and twenty-five miles, sweeping from civilized lands up north, out across the open ocean, potentially onto uncharted islands or some other continent, back onto the coast somewhere down south of the Wild Edge river and thus across unfamiliar regions of the current continent, over mountains and deserts... Helen is not aware of specific known forests of anomalous size or internal geometry, but can't rule out the possibility with much confidence.

>Does Echoes of the Old World have anything about huge forest dungeons?
Anywhere there's a massacre, usually meaning at least a few hundred people being seriously injured or killed in the same mile radius over the course of no more than a week, two main ways it can go from a geomantic standpoint: if it's one-aided, usually meaning systematic executions or torture, you get a 'necropolis.' Unseasonable fog, spontaneous undead, natural colors tending toward white and black with occasional red but very little gray, that kind of thing. If it was more of a fair fight, you get the reverse, an eruption of life. Necropoli tend to be fairly stable, gradually growing if actively managed by some sort of dark lord or eroding otherwise, whereas blooms rapidly expand until they hit natural barriers. then fade away in a few years.

This might simply be an unusually extreme bloom. Magnitude of the reaction usually correlates to the magnitude of the bloodshed, but there are exceptions, so it's possible the preceding battle 'hit a nerve' somehow. Particularly ancient and terrible necropoli such as the tomb of Queen [!]'Tula (the first letter of her name is one of those click consonants that doesn't translate well) are known to incorporate spatial anomalies so severe as to be deadly traps in their own right, so geometric weirdness might just be a thing that happens in any sufficiently extreme case. It's also possible that the Blood Mire's local overgrowth is being exaggerated and contaminated by some lesser divinity (an angel's involvement, and the presence of legible omens carved into gourds, would both tend to support that theory), or even that this is the culmination of generations of assiduous effort by some vast conspiracy of mortal geomancers.

rolled 6, 6, 3 = 15

---

>>812617
"Some backwater seatown, 'cept, not really. Buncha bandits were slaughterin folks, and after de tides turned, dis big ol' forest sprouted up. I reckon it might 'ave been de doin of de mage dey 'ad, some sorta last ditch escape plan, but can't say for sure. Only fing I can say is it's too much like dat damned labyrinf we were in 'owever many weeks ago. Why dontcha follow me- we got a couple more friends up ahead, tryna find our way outta here."

>>813055
After we all get united, and have a brief discussion to catch up, including the important detail of this not being the doing of the sorceress, Maru suggests they head towards the hexagonal room and look around some of those other exits, unless anyone has some sort of magical solution or good suggestions.

rolled 1, 6, 3 = 10

---

>everyone introduced
Rolling for fear reaction to Jank's wounds, then.

>Maru suggests they head towards the hexagonal room and look around some of those other exits, unless anyone has some sort of magical solution or good suggestions.
Seems premature to me. Turning around means crossing back across the chasm with that "swarm of bat-shaped orchids and other animate winged epiphytic plants" we went and riled up by dropping a bridge on them. We should probably let them settle down before we go back that way. (Or we could go the other way around, but that requires breaking down or through the fungal wall).

Also, we just got where we are, and we haven't investigated the area at all. At the very least, several characters could / should roll for spot to see if we see anything that looks towards a clue towards a way out, or clear evidence Maru and co passed this way before, before we turn around.

Assuming we all met up by the pool of water, or in the clearing, there are several things nearby we can readily examine without significant travel: (This is mostly OOC, I'm summing this up for players who might have trouble keeping track, not so swordgirl can give a speech).

1) 4 exits (2 ground level, 2 bridge) in the room / clearing the devil dog died in. (Although one of these leads back to territory Vos and Esmeraude have already pretty well explored).
2) Down the flooded hall (Ji's basically the only one who can cross that path easily, assuming we can keep his feet from freezing off, so if he finds the way out is that way, we'll have to get creative).
3) The wicker puzzle door (one of the scholarly types could have a look, or one of the brash types could hit it with an axe, plasma fire, or sorceress strength).
4) There's the tuning fork hall that ends in hedge walls too, but that's a little father away, and requires heading back to the chasm, which I would prefer to give space for now.

Now that we have more of us there's also the option of combining resources to possibly find the exit more effectively. Some options that occur to me:

A) Esmeraude mentioned long range communication capabilities. Being in contact with an ally in town could make finding the exit easier (if for example they describe the exit near town, or they set up some kind of signal to guide us towards it).
B) If Esmeraude establishes communication with someone in town, it's possible that's a magical or mental link Vos will be able to see and follow with Aura sight.
C) If Contact Nightgaunts is a summoning spell, Ji might be able to call forth some disposable scouts / searchers to split up and speed our search. And Esmeraude's ability to communicate at a distance was specifically noted to work with nightgaunt.
D) Possibly Helen learned something from studying the discontinuity she passed through that might lend itself to a portal abuse? (Not very hopeful on that one).
E) Trying to eat part of the history of a seemingly primordial forest that just appeared might also have interesting consequences. (Although I'm less sure that would aid us in exiting, per se).
F) Vos completed the task his god gave him when he last asked for advice. She might be amenable towards providing further guidance in navigating this living space?

>Ji's basically the only one who can cross that path easily
Oh, and the flier. Still, hard to move anyone else down the flooded path.

rolled 2, 2, 1 = 5

---

>>813185
Let's try some of the exits to this room we haven't looked at then. A puzzle, a hazardous liquid, and a maze all sound like sub-optimal choices at the current point and time. While Viste talks shop with the sorceress, Maru will grab anyone who's willing to take a quick gander down those 2 unexplored paths on the lower floor.

>>813185
>fear reaction to Jank's wounds
>rolled 1, 6, 3 = 10
Failure by one, thanks to a penalty from Helen's expertise confirming that it's exactly what you think.

>2) Down the flooded hall (Ji's basically the only one who can cross that path easily, assuming we can keep his feet from freezing off, so if he finds the way out is that way, we'll have to get creative).
Thermal shock is only an issue with immersion. If Ji was walking (or even crawling on hands and knees) across the surface, keeping his torso dry, he'd be fine. If you want to be extra cautious, some minor magic could layer extra waterproofing onto boots or gloves, if they're already made from nonporous material (properly tanned leather yes, rawhide maybe, most cloth no). Esmeraude claims she can ward anyone against any single type of elemental damage. It's not perfect protection, but it should be more than adequate against any hazard that would normally take multiple minutes of continuous exposure to kill. Lasts a little over an hour. Only catch is, she hasn't got much magic left today, and probably wouldn't be able to cover fifteen people all at once even if she was full.

Her long-range comm spells are outgoing only. She can send 25-word whispers to anyone within a few miles, or a generic "Hi, I'm over here, please reply" to fish-people or nightgaunts from farther off, but it's the equivalent of dropping business cards in mailboxes. No way to be sure anyone's even received it. She's got two-way comm options at shorter range, but Vos can confirm those have other problems.

When the subject of navigation comes up, she also remembers seeing some message about a 'ninth gate,' and how to avoid related traps, carved into a bunch of gourds. She's idly curious whether any of you have found anything to which that might refer.

>she also remembers seeing some message about a 'ninth gate,' and how to avoid related traps, carved into a bunch of gourds. She's idly curious whether any of you have found anything to which that might refer.
We may have seen the same message, though it was damaged by then.

>"If you leave here through {two words illegible} and then {four words illegible} to avoid the traps" and on the side without fire damage, "you will be within one {fold?} of Eckton's front gate."
From her account, we can infer "the ninth gate" fits in the first blank? (Assuming the "the" is implied or embed).

We also encountered a dying man whose last words were "The ninth gate is down."

If this place is broken into self contained planes or gates, we haven't found a way to transfer between them yet.

rolled 3, 2, 1 = 6

---

>>813146
"So you are saying this place sprung up out of nowhere. Well it certainly supports my theory..." >>813133 Which Helen explains to the party.

>Trying to eat part of the history of a seemingly primordial forest
Was thinking the exact same thing. Helen will try to eat a branch, a leaf, anything she can detach and fit in the maw. After warning everybody what to expect first.

rolled 2, 6, 6 = 14

---

>>813258
Vos will accompany Maru after getting his fill of the water Ji purified and exchanging hugs with the party.

>>813372
>>813258
Both of the other ground-level passages are 20' wide and 15' high. The one on the right is blocked by a portcullis after about ten yards (it weighs 450 pounds, in case anyone wants to try lifting the hard way) while the one on the left turns sharply further to the left, passes through a cluster of single-file side passages and rat tunnels (one of which, on the right side, is covered with a crude oxhide curtain), then a 4-way intersection of similarly wagon-sized halls. Down the right-hand path from the intersection, you can see a broad sunlit area with an elephant-sized boulder in the middle.

>>813371
Helen feeds the Cosmic Maw an (unlabeled) gourd from the bridge in the smaller, boulder-free clearing. The empty slot on the bridge's support vine is soon refilled with a ripe coconut, somehow naturally marked with the wax seal of the Mantis Courier Guild.

A dozen wrist-thick vines, bristling with glassy nettle-barbs, silently descend from the ceiling toward the location at which Helen was standing when the gourd was devoured. When anything other than native plant life touches them, they whip around to constrict-and-hoist it, but otherwise unfurl aimlessly like endless spools of rope.
>rolled 3, 2, 1 = 6
Helen successfully dodges this hazard.

>>813401
Maybe the room they started in? Maru will enter, and barring any events that necessitate reaction, will mark the boulder with a big letter Y. Then she'll head back to the room where Viste and the sorceress are planning- or were planning, at least when Maru left. Seeing Davina flickering intangibly, she'll rush over and ask what happened, not having paid particular attention to the disquieting cuts on Master Jank. Rolling to help calm Davina, but not casting swallow your fear just yet. Maybe Vos and/or Ji would be able to better assist, given their history with Davina.

>portcullis
Could be easily bypassed with portals, so long as Ji physically passes the quiver through gaps in the portcullis before taking the portal himself.

>Helen's result
Potentially a useful way to set a deathtrap or block a narrow corridor, but probably best not to repeat that in most circumstances.

>>813454
>Maybe the room they started in?
Check if there's fire damaged gourds and an arcane marked corpse.

It's possible the path circled back to start, or it's possible each "gate" repeats the central room as we descend (ascend?) through layers.

rolled 2, 6, 2 = 10

---

Well it seems like the forest did not like that. Any cases I've read about where a geomantic atrocity reactively defended itself like this?

>gourd to coconut
Blueberry pie to rhubarb. Gourd to coconut. The symbol changes, though this particular gourd did not originally have a symbol. Seeing a bit of a pattern, though it's not enough to really formulate a good hypothesis. And no regurgitation this time?

>Mantis Courier Guild
I suppose this is common knowledge if I recognize the symbol. Is this a courier guild that is composed of mantids or is that just a company name? Where do they normally operate?

>>813465
>fire damaged gourds and an arcane marked corpse
Yep. Intersection connects to the 'northern' gate, going by Viste's original reckoning.

>>813556
no regurgitation this time?

>Is this a courier guild that is composed of mantids or is that just a company name?
Company name and signature martial arts style. Leadership is mostly mound-builders. and they adopt a lot of derelict or 'obsolete' necrolithographs.
>Where do they normally operate?
All throughout traditional mount-builder ranges. Green elven territory along the coast, grassland from Rhestmere to the Thumb, and possibly far beyond. It's a vast and venerable institution, like Lloyd's of London or the Shaolin Temple, but for hand-delivering documents and small packages. When the fate of your kingdom hinges on where some bit of paperwork ends up, or when, or who reads it first (all surprisingly common issues in a multipolar diplomatic environment), they're the ones to call. Most of the work isn't nearly so exciting, of course, and they don't have anything like a monopoly on such services.

>no regurgitation this time?
Decaro Vos lets out a painful-sounding burp and spits up what looks like a tiny snail shell, or maybe some sort of fern, but that's probably unrelated.

rolled 1, 4, 4 = 9

---

Hore's ears perk up as Vos vomits out the spiraled fern. A horrifying suspicion creeps on Hore's back as she eyes Vos and the little thing frantically. Hore scans the strange spiral shell / fern for any anomalies.

>>813578
It has the shape of a snail's shell, but is composed of green wood, with no sign of tool marks. Looks like it just grew that way. Seems stable and reasonably sturdy. Might make a good exotic ingredient for some sorcerous project.

rolled 6, 5, 5 = 16

---

Viste will portal-travel along the path Maru just scouted back to the central room, and then check on top of the boulder / Omphalos.

It's the one significant piece of the environment to persist from the battlefield, it was at the center of the bloodletting that triggered this bloom, there were up to three open spacial anomalies up there when everything changed, and it's the one place in the room that would be hidden from sight from the ground and the bridge in a room with 8 visible exits, and a supposed ninth.

I'm guessing the portal(s) were co-opted, or that there's a path leading down on top of the boulder.

>>813853
>Viste will portal-travel along the path Maru just scouted back to the central room,
>rolled 6, 5, 5 = 16
For many years, the air-tearing swordswoman thought she was either extremely resistant, or violently allergic, to all common recreational drugs. This latest chain of portals puts her in mind of the experiment with distilled fermented potato juice which disabused her of that notion. Almost every step seems to be subtly misaligned somehow, setting her staggering as if flat loamy ground were the deck of a storm-tossed ship. Doesn't help that her hands are still shaking, with Jank's wounds stuck in her mind's eye and the nonsensical concept of four-cornered time-hounds (lean and athirst but lacking bodies) rattling around her imagination.

>and then check on top of the boulder
>there were up to three open spacial anomalies up there
Bloodstains and footprints are consistent with the choreography of the fight, as well as she remembers it, but her familiar flits around and can't find any sign of those three portals in the space above. Yisheng Ji confirms how much time has passed, down to the second (speaking of which, seven hours and forty-seven minutes until the tide turns), and the quasi-winged millipede murmurs that a cut as rough and hasty as the one she used to flank the bandit leader that second time should have left perceptible residue for a day or more.

>it's the one place in the room that would be hidden from sight from the ground and the bridge
The bridge is relatively narrow. Anyone up there could have seen the top of the boulder by leaning over the side, or peeking between gaps in the boards, and in any case Yisheng Ji got a good look at it during his aerial scouting. Anyone reasonably athletic could have climbed up there the same way the bandit leader originally did, and Vos might have been able to peek at the top from ground level without even touching the rock, just by standing on the naga equivalent of tiptoes. If there was an obvious magical hole right out in plain sight on top of the boulder, I would've mentioned it by now.

rolled 3, 6, 2 = 11

---

>>813882
>tiny snail shell
"Strange. Do not recall eating this."

>ninth gate
Vos points out that it's possible the bandit was granted some sort of insight into this place from the affliction that transformed him. If Vos undergoes the same transformation (he seems to already be infected) then he might be able to lead his companions out.

Until then, he'd like to explore for clues a little more. Is it possible to stand on his tail and lift himself back up onto the 20' bridge?

>>814210
>Is it possible to stand on his tail and lift himself back up onto the 20' bridge?

Vertical reach without jumping is only about fourteen feet, but he could climb the trees at either end, or Viste could open another portal.

rolled 6, 3, 4 = 13

---

>If Vos undergoes the same transformation [as the infected bandit]
"That was fatal."

>Until then, he'd like to explore for clues a little more.
>Viste could open another portal.
Assuming Vos followed Viste's chain of portals to ask for her assistance, she'll stand up from the boulder she was investigating, ask what his third eye sees, then acquiesce with his request.

rolled 1, 4, 6 = 11

---

>"That was fatal."
Can Ji cure the infection? Vos will ask. He'll also ask Ji to check on his larvae.

>ask what his third eye sees
Alright, I'll roll for that.

rolled 5, 2, 6 = 13

---

>>814494
>Can Ji cure the infection?
Diligent Vermifuge "expels infections, parasites, and other foreign objects from a living body." So if it truly is an infection, the answer is yes, but it may also have serious negative consequences for your children. Such as death.

If it is a poison, Yisheng Ji can merely delay it for a few hours. Normally, he could simply Detect if Vos has been poisoned or not, but as Vos himself is full of bee venom, the Detect would return a positive regardless.

He will allow Vos to ruminate on that while he employs what measure of medical, veterinary, and religious knowledges might be relevant to Vos's divinely-inspired hybrid eelbee larvae.

>>814494
>third eye
There's a slight discontinuity, vaguely similar to the way light is distorted at the surface of water, or in Viste's portals - particularly that recent string of 'crooked' portals - wrapped tight around the boulder on all sides, except for a coffin-sized protrusion three or four feet above ground level on the northeast side, where Viste fell off after the duel. Possibly also underneath, where Vos's aura sight can't reach.

Or, at least. mostly can't reach. Like many low-circle detection spells, it sometimes catches a glimpse of something through wooden or earthen barriers less than a yard thick, or stone barriers less than a foot thick. Looks like there could be a hollow space down there, just at the edge of that range.

>>814552
>simply Detect if Vos has been poisoned or not
>rolled 5, 2, 6 = 13
Combination of magical divination and mundane diagnostic skill can adequately discriminate between bee venom precursors in the larvae and various other toxins. Decaro Vos's nausea is not a result of any physical problem with chemicals in his bloodstream. It seems to be a relatively normal opportunistic infection, the all-too-common result of improperly treated injuries in a swamp or jungle environment, but it's being accelerated and twisted by excessive quantities of ambient wood essence. Reinforcement of the immune system from Vos's divine patron is probably the only reason he's made it this far, and even that won't last forever.

>medical, veterinary, and religious knowledges might be relevant to Vos's divinely-inspired hybrid eelbee larvae
Dilligent Vermifuge wouldn't normally abort a pregnancy far enough along for the baby to be kicking, unless it was cast with the specific intention to do so. Any degree of divine involvement also dramatically improves the child's chances of survival (but not necessarily the mother's, particularly for half-demons). If you want to be extra careful about the eelbee larvae not being treated as parasites by the spell, best option would be somehow providing them with food and/or drink that hasn't been pre-processed through Vos's body.

rolled 3, 2, 5 = 10

---

>>814625
>Hey, theres a cool thing popping up on the aura sight radar

>Also though Vos is getting sick, and may not have long

"Alright, feck all this todderin about. Anyone who wants to be useful, gimme a hand, or start workin on a way outta here." Maru tries to hide her fear, worry, and frustration at herself for being utterly unable to do anything useful for her friend, gets whatever tools that might both be somewhat relevant to the task, and on hand, and starts digging in that coffin sized area Vos pointed out

rolled 3, 3, 1 = 7

---

"Let's just get Vos out of here before he begins raving the Caterpillar Song with real caterpillars for teeth."

Hore is going to assist Maru with... whatever the hell Maru is trying to do right now.

>>814625
Vos would much rather not risk the larvae, but if Ji thinks the odds of the spell killing them are low then Vos will go along with it.

>>814653
The coffin-sized area noted on aura sight is a volume of otherwise unremarkable air, between waist-high and chest-high for someone standing on the ground next to the boulder.

That being said, the ground under that area yields easily enough when Eckton's guards reconfigure their halberds into shovels. A single breath of Maru's inspired song sets them working tirelessly for an hour (six hours forty-four minutes remaining once they're finished, though other things could be accomplished before then), after which they've removed just over a cubic yard of soil each. That's more than enough of a hole to reveal a vertical shaft directly underneath, and nearly as wide as, the boulder.
>>814704
Peering into the hole, Hore sees the indirect sunlight gleaming off of heavy chains and blades hanging at odd angles.

rolled 1, 1, 2 = 4

---

Maru checks on Vos, seeing if he's okay to go down the ladder. She snaps her fingers, casting spark down the shaft for some illumination, and asks for a dose of mages light somewhere on her so she can lead the group down. Suggested marching order puts Maru, Viste, Hore, Vos, Ji, and the the guards, the reasoning being Maru generally offers to lead, Viste seems to be their most capable in a fight, and seems to prefer the front, Maru wants Hore close enough to keep an eye on, and separate from the guards, and Hore is obviously better suited towards the front- Vos and Ji should both be protected near the center of the formation, and Ju should be next to Vos to moniter his condition and take action if needed. With those rules Gaurds naturally end up towards the back.

Rolling for perception.

>>814850
>ladder
There's no ladder. It's a smooth-walled pit, packed full of deadly interlocking traps. Looks like the nightmare of somebody who designed threshing machines for a living, lost an arm to one of 'em, and then passed out drunk in an abandoned, severely-haunted sawmill or abattoir.
>rolled 1, 1, 2 = 4
Critical success. Maru deduces, mostly from the way chains are hanging, that gravity is not pointed the same way inside the shaft as outside. The "floor" in there, direction you'd fall toward, is actually a helical shape along the shaft's apparent walls. Eckton's main gate is dimly visible at the far end, two hundred feet away, though it's shut and probably barred.

rolled 2, 4, 2 = 8

---

After Maru explains the gravity shift, Hore begins performing mathematical calculations on paper to determine the least-risk plan for jumping through without getting speared by blades. She'll try basic calculations for applying powers and their effects in the subspace, and if she can come up with a general plan she'll spend another half-hour calculating non-magical methods in case their powers don't work down there. She's not very confident that she can get it right, but if there were ever a time to apply her childhood education in orbital physics...

>>814910
>The gate is dimly lit
>Davina/Viste can portal to visible places
>Tunnel has gravity like a spiral(?) and is full of traps

>>814923
Might be a better plan to wait for Davina to calm down, have Ji heal Vos, and then light the way more sufficiently so portalling to the end is a safer bet.

>>814924
OR Hore could just fire sniper rounds at all the blades.

But if she's not going to do anything else, PRACTICING physics calculations is a good mental exercise. Just saying.

She'll leave it to Maru.

rolled 5, 1, 4 = 10

---

>>814625
>somehow providing [unborn children] with food and/or drink that hasn't been pre-processed through [the parent]'s body
I can't even begin to imagine how one would feasibly go about doing this without a level of power that would render the original task effortless to begin with.

>>814720
>Vos will go along with it
Yisheng Ji will nod and (after making proper preparations) pour as much focus as he can into preserving the life of Vos's children as he cleanses the disease. If there is backlash from controlling the magic in such a way, Ji will do his best to take it upon himself rather than allow Vos (or his larvae) to suffer it.

rolled 2, 5, 2 = 9

---

>working tirelessly for an hour (six hours forty-four minutes remaining once they're finished, though other things could be accomplished before then)
>Might be a better plan to wait for Davina [Viste] to calm down
Viste will take advantage of the wait to try and center herself. She'll spend part of the hour moving through sword forms (a familiar, comforting ritual), and some time with Vos (a comforting presence).

When the exit is unearthed she repeats, quietly, "The ninth gate is down".

>least-risk plan for jumping through without getting speared by blades
>Might be a better plan to wait for Davina to calm down, have Ji heal Vos, and then light the way more sufficiently so portalling to the end is a safer bet.
Ji would have to jump (or otherwise cross), since her can't portal safely while holding the quiver, not that gravity is much of a threat to him. Well that, or someone would have to toss the quiver all the way across so Ji can safely portal.

And using observation or Hore's math to figure out which way is down directly in front of the gate is probably a good idea before attempting to open a portal. (We want it oriented properly).

rolled 1, 6, 2 = 9

---

>>814991
>Got the name wrong again
I apologize, I really should be better with that at this point, given all the reminders and clarifications.

>Send Ji floating along above the traps to spiral down and meet them with the quiver, instead of safely portaling with them without the quiver
Maru states that, yeah, that quiver is worth a fortune, but it's not worth recklessly risking the life of a friend. She'll insist that they don't leave Ji behind to gently float down the trap corridor simply to keep a magic hole safe. Maru has no doubt something deadly will stick out of the wall far enough to kill, and do so with malice, at at least one point of the shaft, maybe more. Rather just drop the quiver down the hole and hope it makes it to the bottom as opposed to doing something similar with Ji, who is significantly more skilled, but also significantly more fleshy. Quiver can't die of infection if it gets a scratch on the way down. In that same vein, Ji might have an advantage avoid the traps, but is certainly not the only option to carry it down. Maru doesn't want anyone to be sacrificed to an obvious death trap though, and is rather fiery in her expression of those values.

She makes it a point to suggest it's not unlikely some of the traps might function in such a manner that they would crush the victim to death, but only after Ji attempts to care for Vos. Don't want to spook the venerable doctor while he cares for a patient.

rolled 4, 2, 3 = 9

---

>>814954
Vos expresses the utmost gratitude to Ji and says that Tittivila looks kindly upon the doctor.

>hour of waiting
>time with Vos (a comforting presence).
No reason she can't do both at the same time. Vos can hang out with Viste while she's practicing her sword forms and they can talk when she's done (after Ji finishes his spell, of course. Not sure how long that takes)

Vos will also offer to heal Jank's time wounds with his healing goo (should have one left if I've been counting correctly), giving the whole evangelism pitch while he does so.

rolled 3, 4, 6 = 13

---

>>813401
Question about that coconut. Did it grow back or just materialize? If Helen picks a gourd, does it grow back?

Cosmic maw doesn't necessarily seem to eat things, just change them. But that's only been observed to happen for magically generated matter. The vampire's hand just poofed. Once again, a wonderful testing ground that's too dangerous to practically perform enough experiments. Either way, she'll try to take one of the gourds with her, being very careful of those snaring vines.

>it's not worth recklessly risking the life of a friend [for a fortune]
"That is the job" responds Viste, who quite recently risked her life for the group when there was no money on the table, when she was the best person for a dangerous task. It was, in fact, the reason any of them were in this prediciment.

"And it is worth it" she continues, tapping her Fire Hawks' emblem as she does so, reminding Maru of the one recovered earlier, and that money can, in fact, buy back allies' lives.

>Rather just drop the quiver down the hole
>Quiver can't die of infection if it gets a scratch on the way down
No, but it is more liable to hit something on an unpowered / unchangeable course. And it it lands on a trap, it could still be destroyed, or just trapped where we can't recover it.

Let's not toss the expensive payday so glibly, shall we? Alternate creative solutions for getting it across are welcome.

>>815080
"Bullshite. We went in to keep a friend safe. Dis 'as nofin to do wid de job. If we were just doin what we signed up to do, none of dis woulda 'appened, but we all agreed dat lettin our friend frow dere life away wasn't somefin we were gonna let happen- I refuse to watch it 'appen now just because it might net some coin. Nofin's worf tossin out de life of a friend."

Maru concedes that it's a bad idea to simply toss such a valuable item down the tunnel, but suggests that if Ji is hurt or killed on the way down, then there's all the same risks of the treasure getting stuck, with the bonus penalty of not being able to retrieve remains easily. She's guessing Ji will agree to go on this suicide mission, but that Vos will likely side with her against it, leaving Hore to be the tie breaker if it comes down to it. In the case that she's overruled by a group vote, Maru will volunteer to be the one who has to walk the gauntlet.

>>814923
Might be possible to launch, say, a javelin so it impacts the gate before touching anything else, but you'd either need to throw it with Olympic-level force and accuracy, from a really awkward position, or else get that boulder out of the way (somehow) and then drop your projectile from the bridge.

>>814954
>how one would feasibly go about doing this
Well, keep in mind, they're not exactly placental mammals. Eels and bees both hatch from eggs, and in this case you're looking at larvae hanging out in a pouch like marsupials. They've got functional digestive organs, it's just that they're not rated for food less refined than milk or royal jelly yet.

>backlash
No, more a matter of being less thorough. Vos's infection seems to be gone, but there's a chance it's just been beaten back into remission.
>>814991
>try and center herself.
>moving through sword forms
>When the exit is unearthed she repeats, quietly, "The ninth gate is down".
>rolled 2, 5, 2 = 9
Viste lightly taps the tip of her ancestral blade against the stone, and that same mark she left on the mutant-bandit-wood-spider corpse appears, unbidden. One of those
>>808010
>oddly noose-like vines up near the canopy
descends, coils around to frame the mark, and grips the boulder with swift-growing rootlets, straining to pull upward, though it's barely enough to even slightly shift the massive rock. If there were, say, two or three more, that might be enough.
>>815066
>Did it grow back or just materialize?
Grow back.
>If Helen picks a gourd, does it grow back?
Yes, but not as quickly.
>being very careful of those snaring vines
It would seem there was more than one way to open this passage.
>>815065
>Vos will also offer to heal Jank's time wounds with his healing goo (should have one left if I've been counting correctly)
Jank respectfully declines, saying that his condition is stable, and someone else might need it more before they're out of here.

>there's a chance it's just been beaten back into remission.
This will do for now. Vos thanks Ji again.

>arguments over Ji carrying the quiver to the gate
>that Vos will likely side with her against it
"I am sorry, Maru, but should all know not to question Ji's talents by now. Ji, if you are confident you can do this safely then do so. It is your choice, not for us to decide with voting."

>>815291
Maru turns towards Vos, and locks eyes with the optimistic eel-man, getnly placing her hands on both shoulders.

"Look Vos, mate, dis ain't about respect. We all know damn well 'ow capable 'e is. 'e doesn't need us to surround 'im wid soldiers, protect 'im in dese situations and such, because we know 'e can take care of 'imself, better dan some of us can. But we do anyways. Not because we doubt eachoder, or because we fink we're better dan 'im, but because Ji can't be replaced. If I get a spear run frough my guts, no matter 'ow much our friend 'ates me, I can count on you guys to pick me up and get me back on my feet. Dat's what friends do. Dat's what a family is. I can't replace any of you. And I'm not gonna let you all risk your lives on some nonesense treasure! What good is gettin out wid de loot if it means someone we care about doesn't back wid us?"

She drops her hands and turns away, taking a breath before dropping into a more casual stance and tone.

"I know you two 'ave de utmost confidence in yaselves, but we've seen de trouble dat can cause. You and Ji bof nearly cut your lives short in dat chess room because you were confident about what to do. You lost a whole damn foot, and coulda died if it got worse, because you were confident. You were lost, Ji risked breaking away to sleep in a monster invested feast hall, and we're all 'ere because if we didn't come wid, you'd be 'ere fightin off bandits on your own! We're not 'ere to tell eachofer we can do anyfin as long as we try our best and believe- dat's all bulshite dat gets you killed. Friends make sure you don't run off into more trouble dan you can chew, or at least make sure you don't do it alone. I'm absolutely, 100%, dead serious when I say I'm not gonna see any of my friends try to run dat gauntlet down dere for love nor money. If you all insist it has to be done, den I insist you at least make me do it. I'm not gonna let my friends run off and get demselves killed just so I can keep de pantry stocked for an extra monf. Feck dat. Besides, I'm sure dere's ofer ways we can get dis damned quiver around. Don't 'ave to result to plan deaf right away yanno."

rolled 1, 4, 2 = 7

---

>>814910
>smooth-walled pit, packed full of deadly interlocking traps
>gravity is actually a helical shape along the shaft's apparent walls
>>814923
>Hore performs mathematical calculations on paper to determine the least-risk plan for jumping through without getting speared by blades
Once Yisheng Ji has finished his business with Vos, he will consult with Hore regarding the optimal path through. Knowing the shape of the gravity will make it significantly easier to traverse, as Ji can ensure his feet are always towards the blades. His ability was designed explicitly to make him invulnerable to pressure-sensitive traps and he cannot cut himself on a blade just by landing on it. With Hore's calculations factored in, only proximity-based magical triggers hidden within the pit could possibly pose a threat to him.

>>814994
>>815080
>>815125
>Maru obstructing progress with misplaced sentimentality
Yisheng Ji shares Viste's opinion on all counts.

>guessing Ji will agree to go on this suicide mission
"Correct, but I have no intention to die here."

>quiver can't die of infection if it gets a scratch on the way down
As someone who was just a moment ago curing an infection with his mind, it is rather unlikely Yisheng Ji will succumb to that particular threat either.

>makes it a point to suggest it's not unlikely some of the traps might function in such a manner that they would crush the victim to death
"Please. It is plainly obvious that blunt trauma was never the intention of this twisted arrangement."

>Maru will volunteer to be the one who has to walk the gauntlet
"I'm afraid I lack the energy to restore your mangled corpse at the moment. Perhaps next time."

Once he's fully prepared, Yisheng Ji will descend into the pit, carrying only the quiver (wrapped securely in his arms to shield it with his body should he make a misstep or other complications arise) and leaving the rest of his items with Viste to be retrieved afterward. (He'll murmur into her ear as he passes them over that she is to keep them if he fails.) If he successfully reaches the other side, he can conjure additional light for Viste to use as a portal beacon.

Roll with fingers crossed.

>>815402
"Well, seems I'm out voted and out manned. Not much I can do to stop you, likely won't make any progress tryna do so. But look, Ji, I really did fink we were friends. I want you to know dat. It's not too late to turn around- you're gonna get chewed to peices in dere before you 'it de ground, and we're gonna be able to do jack shit to help. We could at least TRY somefin else before you frow yourself into anoder deaf trap. It doesn't 'ave to go down dis way. If you die 'alfway frough, we lose you and de treasure everyone is gettin so worked up over. We don't 'ave to make riskin people's lives de first option 'ere."

>>815406
"Maru... risking lives is what adventurers do."

>>815409
"Ach. Feck de lot of ya. I'm gonna go toke."

Maru goes to against a wall and take a smoke.

>>815402
>With Hore's calculations factored in, only proximity-based magical triggers hidden within the pit could possibly pose a threat to him.
Conceivably some mechanical trap could be triggered by a tripwire. He'd be fine if he stepped on it directly, and in no danger of actually tripping of course, but the lateral force of brushing a camouflaged obstacle aside, or simply 'kicking' it in mid-stride, might set something off.
>rolled 1, 4, 2 = 7
Yisheng Ji glides from one perch on a dangling chain, to another on a spring-loaded scything blade, to the gate, with no such complications.

rolled 6, 4, 2 = 12

---

>If he successfully reaches the other side, he can conjure additional light for Viste to use as a portal beacon.
>Yisheng Ji glides [...] to the gate, with no such complications.
Viste portals to Ji, in front of the gate.

>>815571
>rolled 6, 4, 2 = 12
She immediately steps on a hair-thin wire. With an ominous click and swoosh, a lever-arm pivots down, swinging a 40" diameter circular saw blade at approximately shoulder or neck height, which grinds and roars and blunts itself against the back side of the portal. Rusty saw teeth break loose and ping off the walls. One passes intangibly through Viste's left calf but gets caught in her pantleg on the far side; Yisheng Ji deftly sidesteps another. The mechanism winds down to a stop just before the portal closes.

Eckton's main gate is about 20' wide and 15' high. Double doors of solid iron-bound wood open inward. Doesn't seem have serious wards, but it is currently closed, and likely barred shut, given that it's after sundown (noon-bright glow from behind you notwithstanding) and hostile forces are known to be active in the area. How are you planning to get through?

>The mechanism winds down to a stop just before the portal closes.
I would have preferred to keep that open. Although I suppose reestablishing a passage back to the untrapped ground I started on is a less risky endeavor than getting to the gate in the first place.

>Doesn't seem have serious wards
Worst case, we did leave Maria behind. It's possible she could have been asked to bind the door shut. (More optimistically, it's also possible our allies are keeping vigil to see if we make it out).

>How are you planning to get through?
If there's any gap in the door, opening a portal though is possible. Although I'd expect some kind of watch to be posted in case something from the forest tried to get through, and that might lead to an unfortunate misunderstanding.

Honestly, it seems to me our best bet would be to knock loudly, and ask the guards with us to identify themselves to people inside they almost surely know. If we can't get anyone's attention, we could ask Maru to make some (musical) noise? Or she could cast message (should be able to get through a wooden door).

>>815627
>I would have preferred to keep that open.
Portal stays open on it's own for about a minute, like usual. Mechanism winds down after 45-50 seconds. You could do other stuff while that's happening, and re-open the portal as necessary.

>If there's any gap in the door
It wasn't breached during the previous battle, and it's a reasonably well designed gate, so there aren't any knotholes or cracks wide enough to see through. Maru Red, or anyone else with an axe (or other suitable tool) could create such an opening quick enough, but doing so would be noisy and extremely rude.

>our best bet would be to knock loudly, and ask the guards with us to identify themselves to people inside they almost surely know
The squad leader steps through the portal once you've confirmed a particular patch of floor is safe, knocks, waits for a response. The voice on the far side sounds like a skittish child, barely audible.
"whose there?"
"Inspector Trihs, my squad, a doctor, that Lady with the shortcuts, a few others. Perimeter's secure, no hostile contact to speak of for..." The inspector glances at Yisheng Ji, who makes a quick gesture. "...more than an hour and a half. Let us in already."
"whatsa pass word?"
"I didn't get tonight's password. I was busy putting out that fire, then sallying forth through this same gate to chase off the bastards who set it."
"y'might be a bandit, just pr'tending."
"Damn it all, Gorsk, I've had lunch with you at the barracks every day for the last eight years. I haven't got time for your procedural shit right now. Open the fucking door!"
"can't let an'body in w'thou the pass word."

rolled 5, 6, 2 = 13

---

>>815673
Helen will ask to be cleared to go down through the portal. Once this is so, she'll say something along the lines of "By high order of the drakocracy, open this gate or suffer heavy fines!"

rolled 6, 6, 4 = 16

---

>>815673
"We left two of our number behind. The nun and holy man would vouch for our identities."

>>816240
"big fight, ma'am, audit hasta wait 'til morning"
>>816249
>vouch for our identities
A few more minutes pass, lots of whispering and hurried footsteps from the far side of the gate but nothing intelligible. Scraping noise as the bar is drawn aside, then the doors open.
>The nun and holy man
>rolled 6, 6, 4 = 16
Nope.

It's the bandit leader, standing alone in the middle of the gatehouse. Hands behind his back, smug grin on his (now fully clean-shaven) face. He invites you to enter, and says that a small feast is being prepared in your honor.

>>816369
>It's the bandit leader, standing alone in the middle of the gatehouse. Hands behind his back, smug grin on his (now fully clean-shaven) face. He invites you to enter, and says that a small feast is being prepared in your honor.

Viste heads back though the portal, renewing it as she goes (or reopening it if it's closed) so others can cross to (relative) safety. She'll motion Esmeraude forward for a reunion with the former captain of her uncle's guards.

Assuming the others are distracted, focused on the what's happening in front of them and/or getting across, Viste will take advantage of the distraction to step away for a moment and...

...fetches her mistress from wherever she's been hiding to parley with their unexpected host.

After introducing herself, and expressing happiness at seeing he and Esmeraude reunited, Davina continues:

"Such hospitality is most welcome, although I must confess some surprise that you are in a position to offer it. My bodyguard offers the highest praises for your skills as a swordsman, but it would seem you are adroit on landing on your feet as well.

"May I inquire as to your position here?"

I would guess he went from prisoner to being recruited to help defend the town against the threat of the Green Tide? The squabbles of men pale before a violent act of god. Same as we made truce with Esmeraude, he made a similar with the town he was previously attacking.

Not 100% sure we should attend the feast, but we should at least try to play nice and see what's going on. And even if we do go, reuniting with our companions and checking in with our employer probably takes priority.

>>816369
When Vos passes through the portal he slithers up to confront the bandit leader, tense and ready to strike. "Where are Daniel and Maria?"

>>816490
Gimme a roll to avoid belly-flopping onto caltrops.

rolled 4, 4, 2 = 10

---

>>816490
Maru holds onto Vos's arm, guiding him from hugging the broken trap debris. She would rather Vos hold Esmeraude than threaten the bandit leader when his [] is now safely in his arms.

rolled 6, 2, 5 = 13

---

>>816492
Got it boss!

>>816493
Gonna be honest kome, I can't puzzle out what you're trying to say with this post.

>>816495
I read it as both trying to keep you from falling on those caltrops and trying to preempt any impulse Vos might have to attack the once-bandit leader.

>>/questdis/113607
>Dav and Ji mostly just need to figure out how to politely refuse to eat chicken stew without giving too much offense
I haven't seen this come up yet, but since we're apparently waiting on it, there's a very reasonable explanation to give. (with clasped hands)

"I thank you for your hospitality, but I must politely decline the stew, for my faith prohibits the consumption of feathered creatures. I will gladly partake of any other dishes that have been prepared sans such ingredients."

"Regarding my patient, she is unfortunately suffering from a rare, thankfully non-contagious illness at the moment, and as her physician, I must insist she abstain from intaking anything beyond her prescribed medicinal fruit. I thank you for your understanding."

>>816490
The entry passage is 20' wide and 40' long, with ten arrow slits along each wall and dozens of irregularly-spaced murder holes in the ceiling. Bandit leader is standing 10' from the far end, with his arms tied behind his back and bootlaces tied together. The floor is strewn with caltrops.
>rolled 6, 2, 5 = 13
Vos catches one in the palm of his non-claw hand and two more on his right side, one just below the ribs and the other near that waxy scent gland under his right vestigial leg. Larvae seem to be unhurt, though.
>Where are Daniel and Maria?
Last he saw, they were talking about rescue missions, contract breaches, and payment plans with the mayor and some EOD monk.

Once it's been confirmed you're not hostile, the crossbowmen disperse. Apart from those inside the actual gatehouse, there were two ranks (ten standing, ten kneeling) lined up on either side of the gate, five crouched like trapdoor spiders in a storage pit in the middle of the square, and five more behind those, laying on their backs with their feet in the pit. Anyone who made it through before the portcullis closed would have a volley of fifty crossbow bolts to worry about, and if that didn't stop them, pit squad could pick up a set of five great monster-slaying pikes. Takes special training for two strong men to effectively wield one together.

>>816582
Ah, he hasn't been put in charge, they were using the durable prisoner as an expendable spokesperson. And that's quite the effective welcoming party they had prepared. Whoever's in charge here has a good head on their shoulders.

All right, assuming the excitement's over, there are a few administrate things I think the Fire Hawk's nominal leader has to see through before we wrap this up:

(a) Reunite with Daniel and Maria
(b) See what that business of rescue missions, contract breaches, and payment plans with the mayor and some EOD monk is, and resolve it.
(c) Meet with and reassure our employer, who is probably concerned right now.
(d) Figure out if anyone we picked up in the dungeon wants to leave with us. (Helen and Jank have a decent claim at membership if they want it, if they bring up the remains they recovered, pending confirmation they're authentic. Also conceivable Esmeraude might want to get out of town, though in her shoes, I'd stick around and try to use the disruption and opportunity of the dungeon to start building a power base here, and work towards getting her high level ally back). Bringing more people along might present contractual problems to iron out with the bosun.
(e) Collapse in bed back on the ship after having been up all day, most of the night, and having survived far more excitement than we planned for.
(f) Process level ups, if I'm lucky.

(And I'm assuming Ji will want to stow the quiver of holding on the ship until we get back to Passholdt to sell it. He doesn't seem interested in using it himself, and there's no reason to prolong the tactical disadvantage of being unable to pass through portals otherwise).

>Feast stuff

"Bound by de tides, can't leave our ship 'ere anofer night. You guys got any sort of potable rations, dat'd be good. Like de princess said, couple of de crew can't eat what yous servin anyhow, so it's best we be off."

Maru addresses the former leader of the bandits, and possibly the sorceress if they happen to be together.

"'Ey guv, ah, look 'ere. I fink if, in de future, yous lookin to hire on outside 'elp, I might not say no to an interested party. I ain't big on de ol' "organized army" deal, but everyone's gotta eat. Figured I'd frow dat out dere before we get movin again."

>>816741
A)Easy enough.
B)The mayor's a crafty-looking old woman in a broad brimmed hat, and the second-coil monk from the Esoteric Order of Dagon has oddly wide-set eyes, like Hugo Weaving if he never blinked. They were in the process of talking the Agate siblings out of getting paid for helping out with the battle. Fortunately nobody had signed anything binding yet.
C)The trip's been going smoothly, and you were back well before deadline. You've been jumping into unreasonable-looking risks and coming out clean. Bosun's starting to think you know what you're doing.
D)Esmeraude and her sole confirmed-surviving minion don't intend to stick around in this town they just tried and failed to violently subjugate. She discreetly approaches Davina during the feast, voices suspicion that Dav's bodyguard was trying to keep the two of them apart earlier, and offers to hire the Fire Hawks to extract her from this situation. Main payment she can offer is spellcasting services up to the third circle, since she's a bit short on cash at the moment, but there are also a few Netseth family secrets she's the last living holder of, most notably a formula for constructing and enchanting a... well, a sex toy. All the key ingredients can be synthesized by her personally or bought off-the-shelf in a major city like Overmire, apart from a quill from the Tenebrous Bandersnatch, but those show up at auction in Passholdt from time to time, so it ought to be possible to work something out if you're headed there anyway. Relevant functions of the device in question include selective tangibility (reach through thin walls, provide haptic feedback for ghosts) and facilitating a lesbian couple's conception of one or more children who are natural heirs to both of them.
E) Easy enough, though timing is such that this should probably wait until business in town is wrapped up.
F) How's the Renown social talent suit you? Plus another spell known for both currently accessible circles (the last zeroth circle spell you'll get without spending feat slots or retraining), and a minor upgrade to your familiar's "vengeful" aspect. As for the usual feat slot, skills, BAB, and saving throws, instead of fiddling with specific numbers, think about what you'd prioritize in a training montage covering a period of a year or more.

>if they bring up the remains they recovered
Helen says she's not a combatant and wouldn't be of much use unless the Fire Hawks have need of some sort of field consultant. She would prefer funds to charter another expedition (a proper one this time). She mentions that Jank is quite the formidable warrior, however.

>>816800
Is she going to volunteer the fact that she's got 90% of Azarthraine's skeleton in a bag, wait for someone to ask, or try to cover that up somehow?

>>816807
Sorry I wasn't clear, yes she will bring up the bones. Assuming she recognized Viste's Fire Hawks emblem.

rolled 3, 6, 2 = 11

---

>>816778
>They were in the process of talking the Agate siblings out of getting paid for helping out with the battle. Fortunately nobody had signed anything binding yet.
Well, let's see if I can come to some agreement about getting paid, instead. Rolling for negotiations.

>Esmeraude's offer
Seems reasonable. Davina's willing to accept.

It would seem Esmeraude has something of a talent for knowing what people want, or gathering information on someone quickly.

>How's the Renown social talent suit you?
If I'm reading http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/vigilante#TOC-Social-Talent right, basically Glory Girl aura lite? Sounds good.

I'll get back to you on the spells and a training focus after I've had a think on em.

>>816800
>>816818
I'd think the entire team probably has emblems, and even if Helen didn't recognize the symbol, I'm sure the name "Fire Hawks" has been spoken in her earshot by now.

Davina explains that, regrettably, we're more the people who participate in expeditions than those who fund them. Recovering the remains of our founder (presuming they are authentic) earns you membership, should you want it. Alternate remuneration is possible, although that does complicate matters by making authentication of the remains more pressing and as the discretionary liquid assets we carry in the field are limited.

You... are planning to hand over Captain Azarthraine's remains, are you not?

>>816828
>negotiations
>Esmeraude's offer
Are you going to ask for Esmeraude and the man in the ochre coat to be treated as prisoners and handed over to the Fire Hawks as payment (which would already be a bit on the generous side for a day's work, given the fair market value for ridiculously elite warriors, or mid-level dynastic sorcerers who also happen to be young and physically attractive), or take some risks asking for more and/or faking an escape?

Jank isn't interested in joining the Fire Hawks, but even without him the ship is starting to get overcrowded.

>>816848
Can we not lay claim on the prisoners since we were the ones who captured them both?

>>816848
>Are you going to ask for Esmeraude and the man in the ochre coat
Assuming that she's paying to get them both out of town, and not just herself, yes.

>or take some risks asking for more and/or faking an escape
Davina feels like she already took a good deal more risk than she planned for today, and managed to come out ahead. Not inclined to not push it any more, and the potential reputation hit of backstabbing the town if a breakout goes bad isn't worth it.

>>816890
Well, technically, Esmeraude is currently no one's prisoner (so custody is moot) although a more useful position to take with the town is that she's already in our custody (and Eckton's leaders don't have much leverage if we chose not to cede jurisdiction and surrender her to them).

The man in the ochre coat is a bit stickier- our team subdued him, but there were guards on site when he was detained and the Agate siblings apparently allowed them to take custody. He's valuable, but also dangerous, and the town's leaders can probably be persuaded to part with him if that means not paying us in addition to that.

>the ship is starting to get overcrowded
Well, worst case, Dav might have to let someone else into the cabin she's "sharing" with her bodyguard (wherever she's hiding at the moment).

>If you want a more in-depth breakdown of what [Esmeraude's] magic can do, that'd be a very reasonable thing to ask IC as part of agreeing to 'rescue' her.
A list of what magic she's willing and able to use would be appreciated, if she's partially paying in casting services.

rolled 2, 5, 2 = 9

---

Is that Eelfolk settlement a short travel away? If so Vos would like to forego the feast to visit the place and see if he can help their inbreeding problem (with Tittivila's blessing).

>ship is crowded
Standing offer to anybody who wishes to share a bunk.

>>/questdis/113701
>Does the training focus affects the balance of magical / physical specialization? Or is it just simply what things she would get better at.
I'm not quite sure what you mean by that. In Pathfinder terms, I'm asking you to define skill and feat selections from a practical standpoint rather than rooting through splatbooks. In GURPS terms, I'm asking you to spend at least a dozen character points on skills and learnable advantages. Magical Child gets 4+int modifier skill points per level, and everybody gets a feat at third level, so you could potentially be taking some class skill you don't have any points in and adding three points to it, plus Skill Focus, thereby improving the skill modifier by 9 points. In GURPS, that's the equivalent of going from a default skill of 6 ("saw somebody do this on TV once") to 15 (above average even among competent professionals), probably costing 16 character points, overnight. One character point is the equivalent of 200 hours of skilled instruction, meaning something like eight hours a day five days a week for a month, or at a less intensive pace, taking a typical college class for a semester. Might even have a couple points left over for some other skills.

Helen's leveling up to 2 as soon as she gets a good night's sleep, and everybody else is level 3, so similar questions all around. Yisheng Ji is almost up to level 4.

>>/questdis/113702
>a 500 strong army
Just as a technical quibble, the bandits weren't 500 strong. Barely even 150.
>>803386
>Roughly a hundred infantry, thirty or forty light cavalry, one low-to-mid level magic user.

Cavalry isn't too useful in a siege or amphibious assault, and Eckton has a strong defensive position from the land side. Given the resources visible, the bandits were probably going to lose even if you didn't get involved. They were mostly planning to serve as a distraction, to set up a flanking attack after subverting Eckton's aquatic allies, but eelmen never arrived to fight on either side... or at least, haven't done anything you noticed yet.

>>816926
>Is that Eelfolk settlement a short travel away? If so Vos would like to forego the feast to visit the place and see if he can help their inbreeding problem (with Tittivila's blessing).
Sun's down, but there's enough moonlight on the waves to spot sandbars and atolls for Viste to hop between, helping Vos get out and back in time.
>rolled 2, 5, 2 = 9
Unfortunately, either the directions were faulty or the eelfolk settlement has been abandoned. Also missing? Most of those little fishing boats loaded with Eckton's noncombatants.
>>816923
>A list of what magic she's willing and able to use would be appreciated
Third circle: Aqueous Orb (10' diameter ball of water, can roll around at her command for a minute or so, scoop people up and maybe drown them, extinguish fires, etc.), Flame Arrows (50 arrows or crossbow bolts per casting burn but are not consumed; not much use without bows to launch 'em), Linnorm's Flight (as Fly but self-only, lasts 10 minutes per level)
Second circle: Acid Arrow (leaves a mild-looking burn but usually causes convulsions, coma, and death in short order by messing up blood chemistry; nanites helped a lot there), Arrow Eruption (only useful when you kill somebody outright with a solid projectile, basically turns the corpse into a fragmentation bomb), Contact Deep One, Contact Nightgaunt, Resist Energy, Whispering Wind.
First circle: Endure Elements, Grasping Corpse (reanimate a very temporary zombie, only lasts long enough to stand up, walk maybe ten yards, and grab someone, falls limp again when they get free; handy combo with Arrow Eruption), Mage Armor, kiss-variant Mindlink, Polypurpose Panacea, and True Strike.
She's also got a metamagic feat that lets her cast "self-only" spells on someone else as a 10-minute ritual involving a tea ceremony kit and bodily fluid contact, with concomitant disease risk. Privacy and a relaxing environment are preferable but not strictly required. Most common use is applying Polypurpose Panacea as a bribe, since it can treat minor medical problems, or get someone high with no hangover or other side effects.
The ice shard was a minor effect enhanced with True Strike. She's not inclined to list all the minor effects she can do, since that would take all day and most of them aren't good for much, but she does show off the ability to conjure arbitrary origami animals by snapping her fingers. They're as fragile as ordinary folded paper, and return to dust after an hour or so.

If there's a feat or skill focus that would help Maru improve on bar fight style brawls, using a throw anything style of combined headbutts, thrown chairs, and dirty tricks, I'd like to grab that. Focusing on expanding on the social aspects of her skill set like rallying others, would be good- might be nice to get a sort of demoralizing presence or something similar in terms of spell or ability. I like the idea of a flame theme as I level her up, to match her fiery personality. Let me know what you think is appropriate.

>>817047
>throw anything
Did you mean http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/throw-anything-combat-final ? Or possibly http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/catch-off-guard-combat

>>817064
I was thinking of the throw anything feat, but I like the catch off guard feat better- Maru is more melee than ranged.

>>817047
On a less chatbot-y note, Ratbag Amphoranung's signature move is http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/deadly-stroke-combat and Maru could reasonably have Weapon Focus (summoned axe) and Dazzling Display as prerequisites working toward that. Or alternatively, assuming Int 13+ and some practical refinement of the aforementioned hypervigilance, Combat Expertise and Improved Dirty Trick. As for the fire theme, best match I can find at a glance is http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/racial-feats/scorching-weapons-combat-ifrit/ with further upgrades available at 7th level.

You also gain a rage power, which is granted to anyone who benefits from the axe's song. Kind of a long list, lemme cut it down to manageable chunks for you.
Fire theme:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/barbarian/rage-powers/paizo-rage-powers/elemental-rage-lesser-su (you don't technically meet the prerequisite, but it's close, and I'm not exactly running an official Paizo-sponsored tournament here)
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/barbarian/rage-powers/paizo-rage-powers/linnorm-death-curse-crag-
su-1 (same)
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/barbarian/rage-powers/paizo-rage-powers/elemental-blood-lesser-su
/
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/barbarian/rage-powers/paizo-rage-powers/infernal-blood-lesser-su/ (probably the best fit to the backstory)

Intimidation:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/barbarian/rage-powers/paizo-rage-powers/intimidating-glare-ex
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/barbarian/rage-powers/paizo-rage-powers/roaring-drunk-ex

Drugs theme:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/barbarian/rage-powers/paizo-rage-powers/good-for-what-ails-you-ex

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/barbarian/rage-powers/paizo-rage-powers/liquid-courage-ex
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/barbarian/rage-powers/paizo-rage-powers/staggering-drunk-ex

>>817078
After looking at the rage powers, I do think infernal fits both the theme, and is better for group raging- might have been tempted to choose something like intimidating glare or brawler if it affected just Maru, but I like the image of Maru playing a power chord on her guitar and everyone's weapons bursting into flames.

I believe I also get a new cantrip and a new first circle spell- how does "unwittingly ally" and "comprehend languages" sound?

As for skill point focus, Maru would put emphasis first on preform (oratory), then intimidate, then a jack of all trades smattering of points in roguish things like bluffing and diplomacy, as well as wildnerness things like survival, mundane medical skill, and handling animals.

Based on her daily use abilities, I assume you're treating her as though she has a charisma of 16- if this is a ten point buy system that's everything she's got so she wouldn't have int 13. If it's a 15 point buy she'd probably have everything average with bonuses to Con and Dex, and if she had more than that I'd probably bump up strength and Dex again- so she probably doesn't have an above average intelligence score without racial bonuses and a lot of ability points.

Yisheng Ji is already level 3, so I think we mainly need to hear for the eelman and the cyber gnoll

I guess Vos will focus on honing his Coral Snake Style wrestling.

For Helen, I guess the wizardy route would make the most sense?

>>817178
What do you think about something similar to the archaeologist class archetype from pathfinder? You're basically a bard, with all the spells and bonuses to knowledge checks, but anything based on music or performance skills is replaced with roguish abilities to evade traps and damage. It's the first thing that came to mind when I though of Helen, given that it's a nice mix of knowledge, magic, and dungeoneering.

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/bard/archetypes/paizo-bard-archetypes/archaeologist/

>Unfortunately, either the directions were faulty or the eelfolk settlement has been abandoned. Also missing? Most of those little fishing boats loaded with Eckton's noncombatants.
Sounds like a backstab to me. Instead of helping the bandits take the town as agreed, the eelfolk snatched up the vulnerable noncoms and ran off with them to solve their inbreeding problem.

>I'm asking you to define skill and feat selections from a practical standpoint rather than rooting through splatbooks
I feel like there may be an implicit assumption I would know what I'm about doing the later. But okay, just things I'd like my character to be better at? Let's throw a few ideas at the wall and see what sticks.

Any hypothetical training montage would almost certainly include swordplay, and studying her new (compared to how long she's been practicing with a sword, anyways) magical discipline under her familiar's tutelage. Dav's a a bit of a perfectionist and would certainly keep honing her skills.

Speaking of the familiar, something that allowed more active synergy with it might be neat. I'm assuming that after sufficient fearsome evolution it will be able to function as an eidolon fighting alongside her in vigilante mode, but in the meantime, and in social mode, it's a mobile and intelligent creepy critter that could be hidden under loose clothes on her in person at any time. I feel like there must be some way to use that to ones advantage.

Something that exploits or takes advantage of the tangibility mutation could be cool. Something like a pokemon-style double team? Or being able to more reliably / safely clip through objects when she wanted to. Or maybe some kind of metal discipline feat that makes managing her own emotions easier, and indirectly allows better gaming of the mutation.

One idea I had was to rip off that obsidian butterflies spell we heard that neogi caster had (re-skinned to be energy constructs, or mobile holes in space with sharp edges, instead of stone) as a crowd control option, although I'm guessing that effect is second or third circle.

If weapon specializations are a thing, I feel like there must be a thing that rewards you for specializing in a specific weapon beyond the class of weapons it belongs to. Something that plays to or takes advantage of the seriously expensive ancestral blade.

>>817189
I imagined Helen might be more occult researcher than archaeologist, but that's a neat idea.

Trying to think of what niche Helen fits, I was thinking she might eventually turn into something like Egon was in the ghostbusters cartoon, or any madgirl in Girl Genius. She's be pushing knowledge to its limits, jury rigging solutions to out of context problems (only with magic, instead of tech).

>>817192
if you're looking for stuff that emphasizes your familiar, there's a feat called "evolved familiar" that allows you to choose from a variety of low level improvements; most of them didn't seem too thematically appropriate, but one ability called scent allows your familiar to sniff out enemies and other things within 30ft- I liked the image of your centipede senses alerting you to nearby danger that Viste or Davina might not normally catch. An extra pair of nostrils watching your back.

There's a chain of feats called eldritch heritage which allow you to tap into magical powers of your bloodline (or in your case, the bloodline of a strange outsider who shares your body). There's a few different ones that are thematic and interesting- the "ectoplasm" bloodline, which could easily be reskinned as more starbeast and less ghost-goo, gives you the ability to first make an attack that entangles people, then as it's upgraded it lets you make attacks with tendrils of ectoplasm which can also carry your spells and can reach further than you normally, and finally at the capstone it lets you transform into a flying "insubstantial, misty, and translucent" cloud- again, easily reskinned as your ethereal form rather than slimer from ghost busters.

Another one of these bloodlines that I thought might fit was the harrow bloodline, that lets you confuse a target for a round so they can't choose how they act (according to pathfinder rules- probably doesn't work quiet the same way in game here), gives you a bonus to saving throws, lets you gain a +4 bonus to a random ability score, which basically means +2 on rolls based on that skill for a few minutes. The capstone for this one is really cool " At 15th level, your otherworldly connection is so strong that your subconscious cleaves off a small portion of the Harrowed Realm for use as your own private sanctuary". Basically you get access to your own personal demi plane, a place where time does not pass while you're not there, meaning it can serve as a pretty effective prison/ hospital. I'm sure there's lots of other cool things you can do with a bubble of frozen time but that's what first comes to mind.

Amateur swashbuckler might be good- swashbuckler class is based around using weapons like a rapier, and the feat gives you ability to choose from some extra combat options, one of them being the parry and riposte ability that allows you to turn an attack against you into an attack against your assailant.

Arcane strike gives you the ability to apply a small but free damage boost, and lets your weapons count as magic which can be useful for harming enemies who are otherwise immune to mundane weapons.

Piranha strike lets you choose to take a small penalty to accuracy in exchange for a slightly larger bonus to damage

There's a lot of other good feats but those stuck out to me

>occult researcher vs archaeologist
The name of the class wasn't really the motivating feature- more-so the focus on knowledge skills, which basically translates over too "I'm great at research". Doing little on the spot gadgetry would be pretty cool though.

Side note, I just found the feat I wanna take at level 5 http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/wasp-familiar/

I'm not sure why we're putting all this meta build discussion in the main thread, but if this is the place for it, here are my two cents.

>>817192
>Davina and Viste
Davina and Viste are dex-based characters with probably average strength, whose style of swordplay runs in the family. With that in mind, it wouldn't be a stretch for their ancestral blade to qualify as being a finessable weapon, and therefore making use of Weapon Finesse to use Dex to hit instead of Str. Having Weapon Finesse and Weapon Focus with the weapon in question (which they most likely do) qualifies them for taking Slashing Grace, which goes one step further and allows them to add their Dex to damage instead of Str. http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/slashing-grace-combat/

That is, of course, assuming the ancestral blade itself is not an Agile weapon, which it could very well be if it is a finessable heirloom. http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/magic-weapons/magic-weapon-special-abilities/agile/

>>817178
>Vos
I'm not sure what Coral Snake style fully entails, but as a custom style for someone with high charisma as he does, it might be very interesting and flavorful to stat it as a modified version of the Kraken style feat tree, using Cha instead of Wis.
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/kraken-style-combat-style
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/kraken-throttle-combat-style
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/kraken-wrack-combat-style

>>817192
>swordplay
Lot of that's covered by full BAB progression.

> I'm assuming that after sufficient fearsome evolution it will be able to function as an eidolon fighting alongside her in vigilante mode
Not exactly. It keeps pace with skills, saves, and BAB, and gains DR and improved evasion to compensate for only having half as many hit points, but it's still going to be tiny, which puts some serious limits on weapon size and leverage and so on. More of a sidekick, flanker, or scout than a powerhouse in it's own right.

>some kind of metal discipline feat that makes managing her own emotions easier, and indirectly allows better gaming of the mutation.
Something like a technique for opting in and out of some extreme emotion on short notice, so you could become fully intangible at will? Ideally some combat-effective sort of emotion, like berserk rage. Maybe something like, I dunno, a song that only affects willing allies? Changing whether you're "willing" would logically be a free action.

>that obsidian butterflies spell
Just a reskinned Magic Missile, actually, inspired by the classic Exalted area-attack http://rathess.xi.co.nz/exalted/index.php/Spells:Death_of_Obsidian_Butterflies

>>817211
>eldritch heritage
Yeah, that sounds particularly appropriate. How about this: retroactively say Dav/Viste took Skill Focus (Stealth) back at first level, Eldritch Heritage (Ectoplasm) now, and that entangling ectoplasm power also catches on the weave of space, anchoring the target to their current position if they're on the ground or catching them like Feather Fall if they're plummeting... though it still can't be used reflexively without a readied action, and may miss.

Later on, after getting in touch with some deeper cosmic forces, you can pick up Mythic Eldritch Heritage, but, because I like that 'Harrowed Realm sanctuary' (and personal demiplanes in general) but not the rest of the Harrowed stuff quite so much, you get a variant: Black Tentacles is upgraded to Mythic Black Tentacles, acid damage and all, centered on the door to your sanctum whenever said door is open. To have one without the other is as inconceivable as a mouth to be open without the lips being apart, for exactly that same reason. http://falsemachine.blogspot.com/2013/02/still-tor-men.html

>>817221
>why we're putting all this meta build discussion in the main thread
Most quests have IC stuff in the main thread and OOC stuff in the disthread, but for this one it seems more appropriate to consider character development part of the 'immediate action,' saving the disthread for long-term plans, characters not yet instantiated, and OOC stuff about the broader setting.

>>817211
>eldritch heritage
Yeah, that sounds particularly appropriate. How about this: retroactively say Dav/Viste took Skill Focus (Stealth) back at first level, Eldritch Heritage (Ectoplasm) now, and that entangling ectoplasm power also catches on the weave of space, anchoring the target to their current position if they're on the ground or catching them like Feather Fall if they're plummeting... though it still can't be used reflexively without a readied action, and may miss.

Later on, after getting in touch with some deeper cosmic forces, you can pick up Mythic Eldritch Heritage, but, because I like that 'Harrowed Realm sanctuary' (and personal demiplanes in general) but not the rest of the Harrowed stuff quite so much, you get a variant: Black Tentacles is upgraded to Mythic Black Tentacles, acid damage and all, centered on the door to your sanctum whenever said door is open. To have one without the other is as inconceivable as a mouth to be open without the lips being apart, for exactly that same reason. http://falsemachine.blogspot.com/2013/02/still-tor-men.html

>>817221
>why we're putting all this meta build discussion in the main thread
Most quests have IC stuff in the main thread and OOC stuff in the disthread, but for this one it seems more appropriate to consider character development part of the 'immediate action,' saving the disthread for long-term plans, characters not yet instantiated, and OOC stuff about the broader setting.

>>817221
Kraken style seems surprisingly fitting. Perfect!

>>817189
Archaeologist is a very good suggestion and pretty in-line with what I had in mind during character generation. Though I think at this point I'd rather tend more toward
>Egon from the ghostbusters cartoon
with more focus on arcana and less on dungeoneering.

>>/questdis/113761
>Hore's current skill list
TBH I don't actually keep detailed records of everybody's skills. D&D/Pathfinder, Exalted, and GURPS all provide reference points for how competent somebody should be, based on how much training and experience they've had and how that compares to average chumps, competent professionals, or legendary masters. I'm cross-referencing those, holistically estimating specific skills as they come up. Anything obviously directly relevant to your character's specialty, you'll be as good at as an optimized Pathfinder character (of the given class, level, etc.) reasonably could be. Less central, but linked to the backstory and/or specifically trained? Almost that good. Something they couldn't possibly be familiar with, or which you've specifically mentioned them being bad at? Better hope you get an amazing roll.

>>817211
>evolved familiar
A neat idea, though it might be redundant as long as Hore's canine nose is around.

>Arcane strike
An eventual answer to enemies that don't bleed would be nice. Flavor wise, I was thinking she might eventually be able to fold space around the blade, or do something like http://crawl.chaosforge.org/Distortion http://crawl.chaosforge.org/Warp_Weapon

>Wasp Familiar
You have my wholehearted support. Our familiars can be bug-buddies.

>>817221
>Slashing Grace
I notice this precludes a second weapon, so it unfortunately wouldn't work if Viste was using a main gauche.

Thank you both for the input, help brainstorming is appreciated.

>>817237
It had occurred to me that emotion altering allies could be used to force full intangibility. That strikes me as gross control though. I was wondering if there were ways to more reliably do fine manipulations, like when she phased her sword out of the bandit leader. (Might be a moot point if we've seen she can already do it?).

>Just a reskinned Magic Missile, actually, inspired by the classic Exalted area-attack
I was imagining more of an AOE option than the kind of targeted attack MM offers (unleashing a flock of random walking fluttering razors, spreading generally outward from point of origin until they expired). Dav doesn't lack for means to hit a distant enemy, but being pressed by a crowd is potentially a problem.

That and something that's innocuously innocent or elegant looking that will cut you up plus bugs would fit the eldritch magical girl theme I've got.

>>817249
>Skill Focus (Stealth)
Not something I would have thought of, but it does make sense. A boost to stealth would felicitate stuff like stabbing things from behind, making a surprise attack with a poisoned piece of jewellery, sneaking away to swap between personas.

>Eldritch Heritage (Ectoplasm)
So, flavor wise, creating a small spacial distortion that catches or anchors things? I can dig it. Logically makes sense as something in the same tech tree as portal cutting (a different application of similar principles).

An eventual demiplane sounds awesome, as does Mythic Black Tentacles.

>Spell selection
I'm thinking Endure Elements for first circle (easy to flavor as a phase adjustment, and if Viste is supposed to something of an alien horror, resistance to some environmental factors makes a certain amount of sense).

Kinda stumped on a cantrip. Been browsing lists and I haven't really seen anything that strikes me as very in-theme or as having much utility to this character.

This post is way too long. Bad me.

I've been going over the kineticist rules, and I feel that Hore's playstyle and build may need a few tweaks.

For starters, you'll notice how I stated that Hore's cybernetic arm overheats instead of developing burn. See, I was thinking about giving Hore a permanent Constitution penalty involving her various cybernetic organs unhealthily pushing into her body, causing complications from even the slightest of wounds, which brings her high constitution down to slightly above average. On the flipside, her cybernetic arm can take temporary burn in the form of overheating, and her cybernetic second liver produces low-grade nanomachines that aren't even remotely reliable in small increments of time, but are scary effective at counteracting against long-duration maladies and injuries, including aging to a certain extent, increasing the success rate of long-term healing to near-perfect. This would explain why a single death ray was enough to fell a woman who hacked an undead giant dire boar to death, and how she cheated death for an entire ten hours.

In particular, the arm is attuned to plasma, which decreases burn of plasma-based attacks by 1 (to a minimum of 1), and far more importantly, channels remaining burn as overheat, which dissipates over time. Since this is somewhat overpowered, there are a few limitations. Hore's arm is physically as durable as she is, but magically distracted, so magic attacks can break the arm like we saw in thread 4 and leave her arm's non-physical powers useless for all intents and purposes. Using a power that is NOT plasma-based, like the flamethrower, accrues burn as normal. Hore COULD attune the arm to fire and get an unlimited use flamethrower, but her arsenal is currently plasma based and she would have to attain the air element focus to attune it back to plasma. And finally, if she overheats the arm, it can shut down, explode, or even misfire in random directions before running out of power, possibly even in her face. Hore's arm in particular has multiple redundant combat-debilitating safety features that prevent the last two things from happening most of the time, and learning how to make her arm safe enough by learning kineticism allows her to disable a few safeties when she levels up. Once she reaches level 7 and learns air-based kineticism, this unlocks her understanding of plasma as a whole and removes some of these detriments, including the ability to cast with two hands with pure overheat instead of half overheat and half body burn.

>>817352
>imagining an AOE version
It doesn't have to be just one spell. You could have the Magic Missile equivalent at first circle, then learn proper Death of Obsidian Butterflies at, say, third circle, and the horrific area-denial Chrysalide Bombardment https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1jmxwx7FPXA-jzWJiv2fyCGeJQGQu2QomFTs5j45mPec#h.5e4g6jlyn8w8 at... maybe fifth?

>flavor wise, creating a small spacial distortion that catches or anchors things?
With an "I'm crushing your head" gesture instead of a blade.

>ways to more reliably do fine manipulations
Will saves, and thus emotional control, improve as you level up. Mutations normally don't. I'll be mostly adapting the GURPS 'extra effort' rules to resolve any tangibility-related stunts, meaning you spend fatigue, then make either a willpower roll or a willpower-modified skill roll, with penalties based on how complex or intensive the stunt is and bonuses based on emotional stimuli. Success means you do something that wouldn't otherwise be possible, failure risks injury, crit failure cripples a relevant limb (not necessarily permanently).

>stumped on a cantrip
You could copy Esmeraude's origami-animal-conjuring spell. Max range is three or four yards, and the results are obviously artificial and temporary under any close inspection, but it can be used to create a paper privacy screen for better-than-nothing camouflage or tactical concealment. Also handy as a supplement to silent communication, since it can conjure semaphore flags, construct a 3d model of things that would take too long to explain any other way, or simply write a note without pen, paper, or ink. Traceless self-destruction after an hour may seem like a frustrating limitation, but it can be an asset in espionage contexts.

>>817478
Exalted has such fantastically descriptive beautiful horrors.

Sold. I'll take the 1st circle, uh call it Lesser Death of Butterflies for now.

>conjure origami
If it's not restricted to animals per se, and writing / ink on the false paper can be whatever you want it to be, yeah, that's pretty versatile.

Lots of applications for planning sessions: Make a small 3d model of the building or fortress or thing being talked about. Create a temporary copy of a map you've memorized, or an area you've explored. Create origami miniatures of allied and enemy assets to place on a map.

Might also be useful for making fancy napkins or impromptu doilies for an unexpected tea time, if you lacked better materials.

Fits the elegant nobility theme more than the eldritch magic girl one, but that's fine.

>a minor upgrade to your familiar's "vengeful" aspect
So what does vengeful-bug get in addition to a palette swap and heat-shimmer wings now?

>>817559
>Lesser Death of Butterflies
Let's call it "Birth of Obsidian Butterflies," since that gives the three effects a certain cyclical quality when considered together.
>Do Dav's and Maru's spells per day go up from 3 to 4?
Yes.
>So what does vengeful-bug get in addition to a palette swap and heat-shimmer wings now?
Some minor supernatural attack or enhancement to it's natural bite attack, comparable to the smite power granted by the celestial or fiendish templates, or the curse of a coral capuchin, or a pyrausta's breath weapon. Possibly some other powers, resistances, and/or vulnerabilities, all somehow thematically related to each other. Details negotiable.

>>817192
>Sounds like a backstab to me. Instead of helping the bandits take the town as agreed, the eelfolk snatched up the vulnerable noncoms and ran off with them to solve their inbreeding problem.
Planning to do anything about that? Tracking down a bunch of eelfolk, out in the ocean, when they don't want to be found, will take, at minimum, several hours. More likely a matter of days, possibly weeks. Certainly (barring some convenient combination of superhuman expertise, magic, and luck) far more time than you have before the ship is scheduled to depart.

Various citizens of Eckton can scrape together a small amount of gold and silver as ransom or reward for the return of their loved ones, or promise a somewhat greater long-term value of various food (mostly fish), goods, and labor. Obviously useful for supporting a military, particularly one stationed at, or within two day's travel of, the town, but probably still not enough to be worth the breach penalties (and reputation hit) the Fire Hawks would take by fully abandoning their current shipping-security gig... unless that brand-new miles-high jungle turns out to have something unreasonably valuable somewhere inside, which Eckton is now ideally positioned to control exclusive access to. In such a case, the townsfolk would be able (and possibly also willing) to reward new allies very generously.

Splitting the party is a plausible option, particularly if Viste and Maru are on the same team, since their powers synergize well for accelerating long-distance travel. If Esmeraude traveled with the other group, and Davina permitted her to conduct some quick, and fairly safe, but disgustingly invasive 'research,' she could develop a new Contact {Entity} variant. That would then allow her to notify Davina's or Viste's familiar of her own identity, location, and willingness to be sought out, from at least a hundred miles away, which would remove a lot of dangerous guesswork from the process of reuniting the two teams. That's a full day's travel along the coast for the ship, or about an hour across any solid ground with clear sight-lines for Viste and Maru working together.

Jank is staying behind regardless. He will gladly assist with any plausible-sounding search-and-rescue plan, but is morally repulsed by contract mercenary work, even of a mostly nonviolent nature. He considers room and board to be an adequate reward for risking his life in service to a woman and her children, whether or not they're blood relatives, and has no use for any wealth beyond what he can easily carry.

rolled 4, 6, 1 = 11

---

>>817723
>Planning to do anything about that?
Absolutely! Vos will ask the townsfolk if they have any watercraft left over that can be used for the search. Any eelman insight into where they might have fled to?

>Planning to do anything about that?
This sounds like something that needs to be decided as a group.

Breaking out contract to protect the merchant ship is a non-starter. In addition to the reputation hit and any contractual penalties we incur, we also lose our means of transporting the quiver of holding for sale (since we can't portal it).

There's also the problem it's fairly late in the day, most of us are tired from battle and dungeon survival (except Ji, probably), and somewhat depleted on uses-per-day limited abilities (and the level ups shouldn't kick in till after we've rested). Inspired song can circumvent the fist problem, but not the second, which would put us at a disadvantage if we did find them quickly.

The initial assessment also doesn't address the logistics problem of transporting... how many? civilian refugees back where they belong. (Estimated size of the eelfolk community we need to either convince or force into releasing their captives is also relevant).

I won't deny that the goodwill and debt of a town that controls access to a brand new dungeon would be useful... but this seems like stretching ourselves too thin. And we lack divinations of the sort to track them down quickly (unless the town has someone of that skillset?). Davina's inclination would be to let this go.

If we do split the group, Viste and Maru would have to be on the away team for tireless fast travel. Vos is probably needed for any hope of peaceful resolution or an alternate solution for the eelfolk (eelsecks, and/or forcing genetic diversity via deity) and it would be damn hard to convince him to stay behind anyways. Ji staying with the merchant ship means that group retains someone who can scout, and both teams have healing. That leaves the escort team somewhat lacking in melee units, though. And I'm honestly uncomfortable taking too many people away from the escort- it's poor planning if we leave too much of the burden of fulfilling our primary mission on the bandit paying us for transport.

And we haven't even addressed the problem of how we're accommodating the Swordsman, yet. He is extremely dangerous, possibly a useful asset, but he has good reason to hold a grudge, and we don't know what motivates him or how he feels about the current situation yet, or if he's willing to defer to and honor the arrangements Esmeraude has made.

tl;dr- splitting the party to pursue this is a mess, but possible, though I'd prefer not to.

>Jank
Respect. One must hold true to their convictions.

>>817802
"I'll go. Fink Vos'll go anyway you slice it, and I'm feelin like personally we should intercede. If Dav or Viste wanna join, I guess that's Dav's call to make. You guys probably shouldn't leave the ship all by itself dough. I doubt princess 'ere and our former foe are gonna get much outta a cargo ship, 'specially one without much in de way of good dat can be used to support and supply mens. Maybe dey'll overpower whoevers still onboard and sail away somewhere new, but guess you gotta hedge your bets. Vos, lemme know when we leave."

>>817797
>Any eelman insight into where they might have fled to?
Somewhere wet? But not too wet, if they've got so many guests.
>rolled 4, 6, 1 = 11
Vos does not know local geography well enough to come up with any credible leads on his own.
>any watercraft left over that can be used for the search.
Not really. Anything at all seaworthy was sent out. Locals have relevant skills, and tools, and plenty of lumber of course, so they could start patching up damaged or decrepit boats, or slap together a simple raft. That takes time, though, especially if you want it done right, and most craftsmen don't do their best work late at night after a long, busy day.
>>817904
>when we leave
How good is Maru at swimming?

>>817929
Floats naturally, but not much experience swimming in any body of water large enough to have waves or a current, so not particularly bad at it, but not really skilled either. Not going to spontaneously jump off the boat or anything like that though- she was more weighing in that she figured Vos would do what he wanted regardless of how the crew voted, and that she'd go with him.

>>817802
>the logistics problem of transporting... how many? civilian refugees
Disproportionate number of very young children, so call it the equivalent of a hundred adults. Good news is, they've done this kind of thing before, so they brought along at least a day or two of provisions, and the mayor's apprentice who knows how to magically condense fresh water.

>Estimated size of the eelfolk community
Gods-only-know how many hatchlings, less than a thousand adults total. Less than a hundred adults living full-time within a day's swim of Eckton proper. Nearly all are armed with stone-tipped spears, but they're hunter/gatherers, not soldiers.
>divinations of the sort to track them down quickly (unless the town has someone of that skillset?)
The mayor can do some scrying and dowsing, but she's not much good beyond a couple hundred yards, and has other responsibilities, including administrative stuff and tending to the wounded. If you can follow the trail to a cave entrance or something, she'd be able to confirm whether they're still inside without actually intruding.

>Viste and Maru would have to be on the away team for tireless fast travel
Bosun thinks Viste needs to stay with the ship to counter possible boarding actions.

>>817904
> I doubt princess 'ere and our former foe are gonna get much outta a cargo ship,
There's about five man-months of q-rations and
>>/questdis/110436
>the full value of the cargo (20 tons 'tungsten ingots. mid-grade' @ $400/lb = $16,000,000)

>>817959
Q-rations I missed, those are very valuable to a teaming looking to support an army of hungry bandits. The tungsten I figured had less value- harder to pay your troops wages in tungsten ingots due to weight, size, and trade value compared to coins, jewelry and food. It would also be more difficult for them to sell the tungsten off in bulk, given that whoever the ship makes sales to probably has ways to identify the company they're buying from- normally you don't just ship 20 tons of ingots and hope someone's willing to buy, so there's likely a contractor who will be at least somewhat attentive to the details of who they're buying goods from. One could get around such things with magic, but it's still not easily liquidatable goods. Maru was suggesting though that there's still risks involved, there's not a big motivation for the bandit leader to try to capture the sip, since cargo of that size and value is going to get noticed, and if you have a two person team, or even if they managed to recruit another small fighting force, it's likely not going to be good for them if they get caught.

>Bosun thinks Viste needs to stay with the ship to counter possible boarding actions.
If an away team wants to able to wrap up a search in a reasonable time frame, someone is going to convince him his cargo will still be adequately protected.

>there's not a big motivation for the bandit leader to try to capture the [ship]
Well, there's sticking it to the people who stabbed him in the back, maimed his hand, and messed up his attack plan, if he's not feeling charitable.

(Even if his eelfolk allies leaving him in the lurch, and the Green Tide happening would probably have doomed the assault if we'd done nothing).

>hard to liquidate assets
Even if someone had to sell stolen cargo for cents on the dollar on the black market, that's still a hefty profit for starting from nothing.

>>817973
>If an away team wants to able to wrap up a search in a reasonable time frame, someone is going to convince him his cargo will still be adequately protected.
Don't see why. Viste can stay on the ship, while Davina stays behind in Eckton to help with finding the eelfolk and to help us catch up with the ship after the job's over.

>>817994
Hore just STARES at Vos as if he just ate a pack of nega-mentats. There is no way Viste can pull off constant portals between the ship and the coast, even if the ship's captain spontaneously lost his mind and decided to sail at the speed of a sloth. And they are SO not going to pretend that Viste is on the ship by placing a set of armor on display. Hore whispers to Vos, asking what the @#$% he's talking about.

>>817966
>the details of who they're buying goods from
What if he escorts the ship there, lets the sale take place as normal, then steals a dozen Immovable Rods as soon as they're out of port on the way back? Similar price for a bundle that's plausibly small enough for two people to carry while flying, and they'd be easy to move on the black market with shady architects like the Youngmason family around.

>>817995
>>817994
How are the two of them supposed to pull that off with only one ancestral portal-cutting sword?

>>818004
Well Viste doesn't necessarily need the sword to fight.

Vos says he understands if his companions would rather move on, but he can't do so himself in good conscience. His primary goal is helping people and spreading the teachings of Tittivila, and making money is secondary.

>>818162
Vos also mentions that he thinks ha knows where the eelmen went, based on guidance from his deity.

>>818162
Maru clicks her tongue, making a small smoke ring.

"Yous like to be 'elpin people eider way Vos, up to you which people you care more about 'elpin. Not plannin on lettin Vos wander off alone, just so everyone's on board 'ere. If dis is finna be a people style mission dough, might sit dat part out- just volunteering to tag along in case your marshy friends turn out to be less dan friendly. Unless of course dats an insult to your ability as an adventurer- wouldn't wanna offend anyone by suggestin we watch eachofers backs."

Hore isn't going to leave Vos and the others for money, but she's of little use diplomatically and does not like dungeons. She wants to stay in the town and keep an eye on Esmeraude and her creepy boyfriend, guard the area so Vos and Maru can retreat back here with little worry.

(This gives her an opportunity to learn magic from Esmeraude, which unlocks further abilities like fire blast from her organic hand. If you think this is a bad idea just speak up.)

>>818200
I believe Esmeraude is probably going to travel with the new Fire Hawks down river on the cargo ship, not stay in town. The crew might have something to stay about Hore deciding to stay behind in town, but if she wants to learn magic from Esmeraude that's probably not the route to go. The young woman might also charge for tutoring services. Maru isn't going to speak out or tell her what she should/shouldn't do at this point and time. She's not feeling particularly committed to keeping everyone together at the moment.

And as a technicality, I personally think it's doubtful the Eelmen are in a dungeon given the information gained form divine providence.

>>818200
Esmeraude and the man who isn't her boyfriend aren't staying in town. She's paying us to get the two of them out of dodge because they're wanted criminals here.

(Which incidentally, means staying here is bailing on two jobs).

Also, if Hore's afraid of dungeons, why does she want to stay in the little town that now literally has a dungeon looming at the gate, as opposed to simply sailing away as planned?

>>818162
>>818168
Davina is visibly perturbed. After being talked into a fight that was never theirs in the first place, getting out dueled by an opponent who by all rights should have died in her opening strike, racing against time to escape a dungeon that appeared out of nowhere... and just when they made it all out, reunited, and even managed to finish the day in the green, half her team seems set on jumping ship.

So now she has to argue with her too-good-for-their-own-good friends instead of being able to sleep.

"Vos, it is not about putting money before people. We made a commitment to see this through, and I cannot turn my back on that. Not if I want to see my other commitments through.

"I feel for the plight of these people, but I do not have the means to cross 30 miles of ocean, without a ship (even assuming you are right). I cannot prevent you from leaving, but I have today once already had to persuade you not to charge headfirst into danger, or without a plan."

Vos, and whoever decides to go with him, reach the atoll in question... mmm, probably late afternoon the next day. The civilians are all present and accounted for. They seem to be emotionally devastated, but otherwise in good health. They've got tents set up already and are settling in for a long stay. Most of the fishing boats have been disassembled, the lumber reused.

They're under the impression that Eckton has been overrun by bandits, and their old homes destroyed. When Decaro Vos asserts otherwise, the mayor's apprentice accuses him of being in league with the bandits, says that she can smell Esmeraude Netseth's tainted blood on his breath, and asks (rhetorically) what foul blessing she offered in exchange for him luring these poor people back into a trap.

>>818220
>river
Past two and a half weeks of travel have been coastal, not riverine. Remainder of the route to Overmire likewise.
>>818200
>stay in the town and keep an eye on Esmeraude
These are mutually-exclusive goals. Esmeraude is doing her best to get as far away from this town as possible.

>>818253
I'm surprised Maru is counted in the too-good-for-her-own-good category- originally she was advocating they let the town burn, and they sail on by. Only reason she joined in was to provide back up for Viste and Vos so that if things went south your exit wouldn't be blocked. Even then she wasn't that interested in helping the people- she just wanted to satisfy Vos and help keep her people safe. She's volunteering to help Vos for the same reason- she's also somewhat motivated by the nature of peril the citizens are in. She dislikes most townsfolk in general, on the ingrained assumption that they'd probably refuse her the time of day, even turn on her for gain given the chance, so just fuck everyone in general, but she has a special hatred for rapists. And usually when you kidnap people to solve your breeding problem, there's going to be less than enthusiastic and ongoing consent. So she doesn't have any sort of moral or idillic stake, and would be fine if the Eel-folk were taking to townsfolk to eat or some other more gruesome act, but this particular scenario she's a little bit grudgey about. If they hadn't been in a life or death dungeon, having already seen Hore's capabilities in a fight, it is likely Maru would have been upset enough to attempt to maim/kill her after the displays she saw. Had a scene planned out and everything for if she caught a wiff or Hore doing anything like that in town. It's a touchy subject for Maru, and she takes that kinda thing very personally, regardless of whether she has any personal involvement in it or not.

rolled 2, 5, 2 = 9

---

>>818255
Whoops- that's right, we just left the coastal city. Obviously not in a river.

In keeping with what she said early, given that no one else is joining him, Maru went with Vos. As such, she's privy to the conversation going on.

"Look mates, I ain't 'ere to force you to do anyfing. You believe whats you want to believe, we just wanted to make sure de folks taken by de Eel-men weren't in need of rescuin. Given dat I don't see anyone 'eld 'ostage or anyfing like dat, I figure you all can work fings out yourselves. If it 'elps prove anyfing, we're wif de Fire 'Awks, who, if you alls familiar wif de old members, aren't pushovers. Got de badges right 'ere. After de fighting stopped, we met up wif Inspector Trihs and Gorsk, who've apparently been eatin togefer for de past decade. We talked to de mayor about recompence for helpin turn de bandits away- older woman wif a big 'at, and she 'ad a monk wif dese big ol' bug eyes. Dere was a feast wif de main dish bein chick stew, we came from de big boat off de coast of de town if dat's familiar to anyone- figured it would be best if we all intervened. Vos 'as de sorceresses stink on 'im after she got 'erself caught in 'is jaws. Up to you what you wanna believe, but I'm happy to answer any questions or try to verify what we're sayin. I understand you can do a little magic- can't 'appen to compel truf or anyfing like dat, right? Would certainly make dis business a lot faster if you knows we ain't lying about de town bein safe."

Rolling a persuasion check to convince the Mayors apprentice we're telling the truth.

rolled 3, 5, 5 = 13

---

>>818255
So...they're not being held captive by eelmen? If that's the case, there's really not much for us to do here. The people of Eckton can come get their noncombatants themselves when time permits. I guess I'll do a quick roll to see if I can spot anything amiss, but I'd rather not spend too much time here.

>>818312
>convince the mayor's apprentice
>rolled 2, 5, 2 = 9
Success! Unfortunately, she doesn't want you to go on to convince anyone else.
>I'm happy to answer any questions
Who were your parents, stranger? Are those horns under your hair?

>>818319
>they're not being held captive by eelmen?
>spot anything amiss
>rolled 3, 5, 5 = 13
Vos has the right combination of OOC knowledge, firsthand observation, and theological education, for the underlying plot to suddenly make sense to him at this point. Eckton's noncombatants are being held in a cage made of saltwater, deception, and despair, rather than a more conventional type made from iron and violence or the threat of violence. Ever since Mishka the Wolf-Spider was cut down on the Fields of Pesh, none have doubted that the greatest jewel among Dagon's manifold wisdom is patience. The local eelmen intend to keep their captives as safe and well fed as reasonably possible, allowing children to grow up accustomed to isolation and dependence. Eventually they'll want sex, and the Westermarck effect will rule out all the accessible humans. Typically the spawn of a human and an eelman is an aquatic elf, whose beauty may help overcome any lingering stigma. Three or four generations later, the inbreeding problem is solved.

rolled 1, 6, 4 = 11

---

>>818427
>Who are your parents, are those horns

"Yep. Forgot to tuck dose away."
Maru will take some time to wrap her horns in cloth while answering the other question.

"Closest fing I 'ad to parents were a group of ythakite orcs- sort of a brothers band, only dey were a bit removed from dere culture. Don't really see 'ow dats relevant, or any of your business dough. I suppose you 'ave de upper 'and 'ere, what wif bein a friendly face dese people will trust and all, but is dere any sort of good reason not to let dese folk know dere 'omes are safe? I wouldn't mind 'avin a town to fall back on where people treat me nice like for a change, so I fink it's in my better interest to earn de gratitude of de familys of Eckton if I can."

Rolling to stay on alert in case the apprentice tries anything hostile- normally people who ask about Maru's horns and lineage aren't doing it out of curiosity, so she's a little wary here.

>>/questdis/113936
>retroactive diplomacy
Gonna go ahead and roll to try to convince the bosun to let Viste come with us