The Pod-Caverns of the Sinister Shroom (Game Thread VIII)

[Breila]

Babushka nods. "Yes, I will take the lead. In a minute. But first, I would like to complete introductions." She turns to the famale gnome. "My two companions have done their part, as have I, and you called your companion Wingnut, so there's only your name we need to know?"

[JadedDM]

"My human name is Sunni," the female gnome explains in Common, slow enough for the others to understand her. "It's nice to meet you all."

[Breila]

"Then thank you and welcome, Sunni." Babushka smiles and turns to lead the way with Locky.

[JadedDM]

Locky, Jerrard, Babushka and the two new gnomes, Wingnut and Sunni, head deeper into the cavern. Babushka uses the wooden key to divert the waterfall, allowing them to descend the root ladder.

"Ingenious!" Wingnut exclaims. "Whatafascinatingmechanismthisis! Perhapswithmorestudywecouldlearnhowitworks--!"

Luckily, Sunni is able to pry him away from the device with a promise they can check it out later, after they finish their tasks.

Once down, the party travels through the tunnels until they reach the second level, then turn toward the prisoner cavern where the horses had been left. This takes about 10 minutes or so, altogether.

As luck would have it, both horses are still there and unmolested. They seem a bit skittish, but the sight of Babushka helps calm them down again. Wingnut hurries over to them to measure them, but has difficulty finding his measuring tape. Luckily, Sunni has a spare she loans him.

"So these creatures were summoned by magic?" Sunni asks, walking up to the white one. "I wonder if they are magical themselves?"

"OhI'msuretheboysdownatthemagicalcreaturesguildwouldlovetogettheirhandsonthesebeauties!" Wingnut agrees. "Ofcoursetheywouldprobablydissectthemimmediatelybutsuchisthepriceofscientificprogress!"

====================

Locky's Bless has worn off.

[Breila]

Babushka spreads out the fodder for the horses and talks to them fondly, then turns to Wingnut. "Well, I don't think it matters if they're magical or not to get them out. And I object to them being killed for scientific progress as much as you would protest to be dissected by a human mage who wants to know how a gnome ticks!"

[Jenara]

"How interesting" Locky responds, not getting most of it, "They are quite lovely aren't they?"

She looks Wingnut in the eye, her face suddenly serious and concerned, "You won't hurt them, they didn't ask to be here, much like the people we found down here, we have to save them, its the only way." Just like that she returns to a silly happy go lucky Kender, Topknot bouncing she gives both horses a playful stroke and looks around the cavern.

"We need to return to the Mushroom Forest don't we?"

(Is it possible for Locky and Babs to carry the coins they found, alone, or would they need Jerrard? if only we could use the horses....)

[JadedDM]

Wingnut doesn't seem to really understand what he's said to offend the girls, after all he's only talking about science. He simply nods absently, and then he and his companion begin speaking to each other in hushed tones in gnomish, discussing their plans to get the horses out.

(OOC: Well, depends. If you want to retrieve all of the coins, that's 900 stp, 3,000 sp, and 8,000 cp, or 11,900 coins altogether. As I mentioned before, coins are 50 to a pound, so that's a total of 238 lbs to carry between the two of you.)

[Jenara]

Locky stops, watching Jerrard, "Jerrard can't carry on like this.." She ponders, "You figure out what you need to, and I will rest and ask Paladine for aid."

(Plan is for Locky to rest and gain remove curse, while the others think about the horses, do we agree?)

[Breila]

"Yes, Locky, of course you can rest now. I was only worried the horses had wandered off, that's why I didn't want to stay in Buho"
Babushka makes a soft bed for Locky from the straw and hay that should be the horses' meal for the next day. Then she joins the other gnomes and discusses with them.

[Jenara]

Locky grabs her cloak around her and jumps onto the hay with glee, sitting quietly she prays to Paladine.

[Jerrard]

Jerrard smiles watching the Kender, he sits nearby trying to read some of the new spells in the books he found. He tries to start learning Enlarge.

1d100=79 Fail

[JadedDM]

(OOC: It will take 8 hours of rest and another half hour to memorize Remove Curse. Is that all right? Also, Jerrard all ready knows Enlarge. Look at his stat block in the Character Stats thread.)

[Jerrard]

(Ooops! I meant Charm Person, which he failed anyway, I got the wrong one! And I guess it will have to be, we can see what the Gnomes have done by then)

[JadedDM]

The first few hours are without incident. Wingnut and Sunni come up with an idea to rig up some pulleys that they can use to lift the horses up with rope. They'll need to do this twice, once for each waterfall.

The caverns seemed quiet, and perhaps the party believed they had cleaned out all of the Shroom's henchmen and therefore had nothing to worry about. But with the podmen and other abominations gone, the ecosystem of the caverns was starting to rebalance itself. Creatures that remained hidden began to emerge, and such was the case here in the fifth hour, when a quartet of spiders emerged from the tunnel into their cavern, sensing there was fresh meat to be had. The spiders were all quite large, the same size as the one that ambushed Babushka and nearly killed her a few days ago.

Sunni was the one who saw them first. "Spiders!" she cries, pointing.

"Ohdeartheymustbeafterthehorses!" Wingnut exclaimed.

==================

First hour - No encounters
Second hour - No encounters
Third hour - No encounters
Fourth hour - No encounters
Fifth hour - Encounter!

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.
.x._._._.x.x.x.x.x.
.x._._._.x.x.x.x.x.
.x._.x.x._._._._._. -->
.x._.x.x.4.x_x.x.x.
.x._._.1.2.3.c.c.x.
.x._._.g._._.c.c.x.
.x._._._._._._._.x.
.x._._._._._._._.x.
.x._.W.S.B._._.J.x.
.x._.H.W._.L._._.x.
.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

x – Rock wall
c – Empty Cage
g - Grinder
L – Locky
J - Jerrard
B - Babushka
W - Wingnut
S - Sunni
H - Black stallion
M - White mare
1-4 - Huge spiders

(State actions for Round 1!)

[Breila]

Just holding back a cry of rage (so as not to disturb Locky), Babushka leaps up. The fungus staff must be hard now, and she runs around the grinder to attack spider 1 from the side.

species enemy hit, for 5 damage