Skull Mountain: The Sacrifice

[Spanningtree]

Dieter - Mage

Dieter will help with the gnome and listen to Grimes. Hmmm... bit of luck there for us, not so much for him and his friends. Dandy, can you help him?

[Craigers07]

Furuk destroys the boats and pushes them out into the water to sink. While the injured gnome is helped, he will stand guard and keep watch.

[greyarea]

Dandy (autopilot) pulls the spear and touches the gnome with his Staff of Healing.

The gnome stabilizes and his eyes flutter open. He looks at the party looming above him and says, I'm not a prisoner am I?

The boats are destroyed.

Actions?

Hit points and marching order
Grimes 28/34
--Furuk 23/36
Dieter 18/18
--Dandy 22/23
Einar 0/11

[Spanningtree]

Dieter - Mage

Your not a prisoner as long as you come in peace. Were trying to get out of here at the moment. What brings you to hell?

OCC: Spells updated, usual load out.

[greyarea]

The gnome says, We are here to rescue our friend, Gatto of the Gemfarer clan. I am Noldor of the Gemfarer Clan, Gatto's cousin. He was kidnapped by the lizard folk a few weeks ago. We have traced his trail here. We... He looks around, as if somehow just realizing that his companions are not with him. His face darkens.

We lost some in the caves here. More in the locust cave. We fought lizards on the bridge. I'm sick of this. I want to find Gatto and go home! Are you searching for a kidnapped friend too? Perhaps we can work together.


Actions?

[badams30]

Grimes - Fighter

Grimes glances at the others, then at Noldor. "I'm sorry, but Gatto is dead, as are the rest of his companions. We rescued him from the lizards, but he perished from a bite of a poisonous snake. We rescued his companion, Greenstar the elf, only to have her and our colleague Einar (nods toward his body) perish at the hands of the Lizard's avatar, a black dragon." Grimes lets it sink in for a moment and says "There is nothing but scores of angry lizards on that island, come with us, out of here. And we'll avenge Gatto and your fallen with every lizard we happen upon. Come now, let's leave. Together we can get out of here."

Grimes will do his best to encourage the gnome to come with us. If he insists on going to the island, Grimes will point out that there are no boats (he won't mention why there are no boats..) if the guy still insists, he's on his own.

[greyarea]

Noldor looks at Grimes with shock. Gatto dead?

It takes a moment for him to process it. Then he slowly picks himself up and tests his wound. Well, I guess I'm heading back home. I can stick with you guys through the next huge cave, safety in numbers and all that, but I will likely split off there. I know that cave now: we Gemfarers spend a lot of time spelunking and have a nose for caverns. Did you come through the huge stalactite that the lizards use? We saw the slaughter there on our way in. Or did you come in one of the side caves leading to the main one? No matter, I can help make sure you make it out of here.

He eyes your haul. Cocks an eyebrow and then whistles. I hope you killed that dragon you mentioned. Else, you might have a problem with keeping that haul. Dragons aren't known for sharing.

Actions?

Hit points and marching order
Grimes 28/34
--Furuk 23/36
Dieter 18/18
--Dandy 22/23
Einar 0/11

[badams30]

Grimes - Fighter

Grimes says "'fraid so, my friend. We found him and these fellers here (motioning to the two morons carrying our stuff) chained up, and when we released him, he insisted on going with us to release his friend Greenstar, who was going to be a sacrifice. Poor Gatto didn't make it down there, 'cause of that damn snake. He was a tough one, though. Sorry, if we'd known you were coming, we'd have carried him with us." At the mention of the dragon's treasure, Grimes smiles and says "Oh, yeah. He's dead. We killed him real good." Grimes chuckles at the mention of the carnage of lizards. "Heh heh... yeah, that was our trail of mayhem. My only regret is that we couldn't kill all the lizards down here. But we'd be happy having you accompany us as far as you need to. Sorry about all your kin. This place has been hard for us, we've lost three of our men as well. I'll be glad to be outta here."

Grimes will offer some of his grub to the gnome, then he'll get ready to move. "Let's roll, boys. TIme to go home and get a cold ale."

[Spanningtree]

Dieter - Mage

Ay, lets be out of this place...

[greyarea]

The party moves on.

Breaking camp, you head up the tunnel. The lake of lava is just as hot as ever and the bridge is strewn with the corpses of both lizardfolk and gnomes. Noldor takes trinkets off of each of the gnomes before asking for help pushing their bodies into the lava pit below. The lizardmen are dumped into the magma with far less dignity.

A look up and you can see the blue sky up the volcano shaft: so close and yet so unattainable from here. Karl and Theo discuss among themselves various methods for getting the treasure up the shaft, many using a combination of magic and unlikely engineering and an infinite amount of rope, anything to keep from having to continue up out the way you came.

Noldor leads the party through the locust cave, saying before you enter, that light and sound set them off. He sneaks across the room without disturbing them and then gets you to follow suit. You notice more than a few gnome-sized lumps crawling with locusts on your way across. Karl and Theo heave their heavy loads across as well, and it seems that Karl might freak out when a locust finds his way into Karl's shirt. He's quaking by the time he gets across, the locust biting him and buzzing furiously. Furuk reaches out a ham-fist and, with a pop, crushes the locust's head through the shirt. The dead insect is removed and tossed aside but Karl doesn't lose his sense of fright.

You return to the huge cavern and, here, Noldor's assistance is vital. It is certain that you wouldn't have been able to find the guard house nor stalactite on your own in the huge space. Noldor tells you tales of lost men in the darkness of caverns who died within minutes' walk of their exit because of the darkness and confusion of some great caverns. He and Dandy chat a little about cave work too as he leads you to the guard house. Dandy admits that he himself would have been lost as he wasn't a spelunker like his ancestors were.

You stop to camp once in the cavern itself. The added weight of carrying the treasure and Einar makes for a long, slow hike. Nothing disturbs you there but it is eerie waking to complete darkness. Noldor asks you more about Greenstar the Elf. He confesses that he knows nothing of her. Karl and Theo both chime in that although Gatto and Greenstar were brought in together, they didn't seem to know each other well. Noldor notes that "Greenstar" is a common enough Elf name that he couldn't even pinpoint the clan it would be from. He also asks more about how Gatto died. He seems proud of his cousin's bravery and content that you avenged him.

Finally you get to the guardhouse. The smashed boulder is clearly evident where it injured the half-orc previously. Noldor thanks you for helping him. He vows to report back to his clan about Gatto's adventure and that you are all always welcome at the Gemfarer Clan.

Although Karl and Theo want to sleep in the guard house, you force them across the rope bridge and then up the winding stair. You get to the elevator and ride it up.

You make your way though the outpost where you first started dealing with lizardfolk and met your first Darkling, and then up the ladder to the lower level of the Skull Mountain area you heard called the Shrine, where you met and defeated Cooper before. You pull the treasure and yourselves into the room where you found and rescued Aiden previously. You are gathered there when you hear voices. At least two people, discussing something rather loudly.


(the party is in room 5. The voices are coming from room 1, it would seem.)

Actions?

Hit points and marching order
Grimes 34/34
--Furuk 36/36
Dieter 18/18
--Dandy 23/23
Einar 0/11