We started with a series of “but firsts”. We wanted to head back to the winery with the recovered gem but first we wanted to check out the grove of trees nearby. But first we wanted to take a short rest. But first we wanted to search the bodies of the fallen Druids. But first the unholy aura of this place seemed to be tapping into the feral nature of Loki and Kharn. Loki felt the urge to take a small bite out of one of his friends. Just a nibble, they won’t mind. He turned into a rat and tried to bite Ezra who looked more appetizing that Lady Katrina. Luckily, he missed because Ezra only had 1 hit point. Ezra grabbed him and he came to his senses. Kharn felt compelled to feast on the blood his fallen foes. He turned into a wolf but manage to resist the urge to actually dig in. The bodies were searched but nothing was found. Druids and barbarians are much for stuff and we didn’t really kill that many of them. Ezra did a sense evil and determined that outside the walls was less evil than inside so we decided to do a quick bandage but put off the short rest until we reached the trees. Everyone’s heritage artifact was giving off a faint evil vibe, by the way. Visili did not although Ezra, in particular, did not trust him. Luckily the surviving Druids had all fled because we were in no shape to face them.
In the trees was an old black gnarled oak with a small tunnel under its roots. There was an inscription that was in Druidic. Lady Katrina cast a ritual Comp Languages and it said something about the unworthy being smited if they dared to enter. Loki vaguely remembered the area from his time in captivity but could recall nothing useful. We took a short rest and debated our options. Visili caused some trouble, asking questions. He talked to Loki about his artifact and questioned whether it was safe to use, given the bite he tried to give Ezra. He talked to Kharn about his curse. Both probably told him too much. While talking to Kharn, Kharn sort of drifted out. When he regained his thoughts, Stradhanya was on his mind and he tasted cherries. Visili then stated that he did not intend to go into the cave and advised Ireena to do the same. More suspicions, questioning and skills rolled but nothing much came of it. He stayed but she went. Loki felt the cave was the way to go so eventually, we went.
The entrance was tight and all had to crawl to get in. With Loki leading the way, it was a series of tunnels dug out of the dirt and roots. We found the body of the Vistani girl that Stradhanya took. Loki thought it very unlikely that she would have killed her and put her down here and was going to pass it by but someone had to look for a cause of death and it turned into 4 swarms of Rot Grubs. That fight was its usual annoying with half damage but not hard. I don’t think anyone got hit. There was no actual body. We found a room full of Stirigs, seeming to be feeding from the black roots. They didn’t seem to notice us but we went another way. The body of Zolton was found and again, we could not leave well enough alone. More Rot Grubs. We fought them a little better this time, using hit and run tactics to avoid getting attacked. More Stirigs which were avoided again. Another body which we finally let lie. We also found a talisman in a wall, an adventurer’s pack with a potion in it and a tarot card.
The last room, assuming we didn’t miss anything along the way, was a large chamber with holes in the floor. It was pretty obvious something or somethings lived in here. Loki successfully snuck halfway across and readied his guns. Ambrus went next and his 20 stealth was not good enough. A huge Remoraz appeared. I was tough. High AC, immune to fire and cold and a long reach. However, it’s most devastating power was that any melee attackers took 2d6 of fire damage from the heat of its body. No to hit and no save. Since we heavy with melee characters and did 2-3 or more attacks per round, that 2d6 really added up fast. Our usual advantage of multiple attackers and attacks was working against us. Some were taking more damage than they gave. Loki, with his ranged pistols was doing well, but then the Remoraz tunneled into the ground, appeared 20 feet away and attempted to swallow him. That attack did 50+ points and Loki was knocked out in one blow. Luckily, with all the other attackers, it was too distracted to swallow him.
Ambrus managed to use his cunning action to grab him and get him out of harm’s way. A good berry later he was ready to start shooting again. Meanwhile, things were getting dicey. Kharn was also hit with that massive attack but manage to stay conscious due to his rage induced half damage. But he was restrained in its maw and wouldn’t last long. But Lord Q managed to finish it off in the nick of time. No treasure was found. We discussed fleeing at this point and facing an “I told you so” from Visili however the GM nudged us to keep going one more room. The last room had talisman hanging from the ceiling. There was a burned-out fire pit and carvings all over the walls. And another even smaller tunnel exiting. With the help of another Comp Languages, the carvings were goodly Druid stuff about the century old role of this tree in spreading life throughout the land and such. It seemed like this was a rite of passage room that predates the rise of Stradhanya and the corruption of the Druids. Over the tunnel was something about the worthy passing through the challenge ahead. But it seemed like a safe place for a long rest. With a couple torches for fuel, we started the fire. The items were identified. A Potion of Climbing, a talisman that allowed the holder to understand Druidic for an hour once a day and the finder of the tarot card (Lady Patrina) gets a free death save success on her next attempt. The talisman went to the Druidish Loki. I think Lady Patrina held onto the potion?
It was late at that point but we decided to press forward a bit more and tackle the always contentious skill challenge that awaited us at the next tunnel. So, it was to be a Dex check to squeeze through. The predetermined DC depended on the size, armor and gear of the character. Loki had it easiest, being small. Ezra had it worse with his heavy armor. Next was a bunch of debates about what would help and not help in this challenge. Removing armor, gear, oiling up, who had oil, would acrobatics help, can one help another, one at time, how about this spell or that spell, etc. Sadly, Loki who could only miss with an automatic miss 1 was the only one that had to use an inspiration die. A couple got stuck but we managed to work around it. Loki discovered that it ended at the top of a vast chamber with water 60 feet below. Kharn managed to lower him on a 50 rope, only because he was small and we stopped there. And no one’s Darkvision was working. Not Loki’s subclass enhanced or Lady Patrina’s feat driven devil sight. So, will it be more skills or more fights or both? Tune in next time.
