>>1095990
When she turns and sees you, the somber, dutiful grace with which she's been escorting Fleegman crumbles away. Her eyes bulge, jaw tightens, arms rise slightly from her sides with a sudden deep breath, hands clench into claws.

"Fucking hell! Of-fucking-course I missed one, practically right on the fucking finish line. I'll bet you learned a new excellency or something while you were down there in the gaps, didn't you? Isn't that just the perfect fucking capstone to this absolute shitshow of a mission. Next time Anys tries to tell me it'll be a milk run I'm going to shove that right up..."

Passes a hand over violet-speckled eyes, straightening her hair, and the rage is gone as suddenly as it arrived. Tidy, blank customer-service smile.

"Hello! Sad Ivory, chosen of endings. I don't believe I've had the pleasure of your acquaintance, Iselsi Mako, but I'm afraid I can't stay and chat. This man has an urgent appointment back in the big city, which could have catastrophic consequences if it's delayed by more than another hour or two."

They're on the weed-choked road just east of the camp, well within javelin range of those four foxmen on alert at the top of the wall. A fist-sized ghostly spider-thing (with far too many legs) hovers just behind the guards, alternately trying to peek at what's happening down there, and flinching away from salt or sunlight.

[i]Cold Blooded in the Blaze of the Sun smiles, seemingly unconcerned by the revelation of another Celestial Exalted before him[i/]

"Oh, it is so nice to formally meet you, Sad Ivory! Can I convince you to dally for just a bit of your time while you enjoy a humble breakfast with us? I couldn't let you sneak out like a maiden of the night to begin a [i]walk of shame[i/] upon an empty stomach."

[i]He gestures for the Chosen of Endings & Fleegman to return to the mess tents with him[i/]

"I do encourage you join us, if but for a moment. A pause to discuss things can avoid regret in the future, it is far too early for me to wilfully digest any unpleasantness. I know Fleegman owes us an opportunity to say goodbye at least!"

[Activating [b]Flawless Pickpocketing Technique[b/] upon Sad ivory, spending 3 Personal motes. Am looking to gain either something of value or any correspondence between Sad Ivory & her co-conspirators]

>>1095998
>[Activating Flawless Pickpocketing Technique upon Sad ivory, spending 3 Personal motes. Am looking to gain either something of value or any correspondence between Sad Ivory & her co-conspirators]
She's not carrying any incriminating documents. You do manage to steal her undershirt, though. It's made of some odd elastic material...
>Perception 2 + Bureaucracy 1
>>1095827
>rolled 3, 5, 10
...which you don't recognize specifically, but it's lovelier than ordinary silk as silk is superior to sackcloth. Probably worth at least Resources 4.

rolled 5, 3, 7, 8, 1, 3, 2, 3, 9, 8, 8, 10, 4, 8, 10 = 89

---

Cold gives a small bow in greeting as he takes a small step forward, one hand casually behind his back & the other before him, arm slightly ben , but outstretched with an upward facing open palm, as was the manner he was schooled for engaging in polite courtly intrigue back in the heyday of Thorns

"Tell me, Sad Ivory, why is it that Anys requires you to take Fleegman back, is there a way we can assist each other to avert this catastrophe & still remain courteous?"

[OoC Cold is engaging in `Monologue` action for a round or more, which will end in a Perception + Investigation (2+0+Motivation+stunt if applicable) check to try & gain further information of Sad Ivory's motivations for taking Fleegman.]

rolled 9, 10, 4, 1, 7, 1 = 32

---

No one's woken up Woe, so she'll make an altertness + perception roll to see if she notices something's up and wake up. Not sure what threshold is necessary to succeed.

Kisara, while this is happening and with what cold told her, immediately goes to shake Caitlyn awake next to her, cause of course the pair slept together. Well, till kisara went on watch.
“Caitlyn? Caitlyn. Something’s going on.”

>>1096190
Caitlyn sits up sluggishly looking over to Kisara "Something? Like the sort of something that will make me upset if I go outside kind of something? It's still pretty quiet out there, so theres no fighting, right?" She was half leaning against Kisara to keep from falling back to sleep. "Mmm, where is my sword? I'll go chase the tiger-bat or whatever weird beast is lurking outside."

rolled 2, 6, 2, 1, 9, 3, 7, 10, 7, 7, 9, 5, 5, 4, 2 = 79

---

Cold notices the odd spider creature, hus quick mind rapidly reviewing his knowledge of such things as he keeps himself focused upon the conversation at hand

(Wits+Occult 7 + 8 extra for filler)

rolled 4, 10, 1, 9, 3, 3, 2 = 32

---

Woe will also roll to understand the spider creature.

This is Wits + Occult + Past Lives.

>>1096282
>>1096283
It's the same sesselja Ashen Mercy summoned: >>1090364
You don't know for sure which abscissic plate it's bound to, or all the orders it's operating under. Could be any of the Conviction or Compassion based plates, or the Sufferer... or concievably some lost plate, though that's probably not worth worrying about.
Well, not just any of the Conviction plates - normal sesseljae aren't clever enough to be Viziers. But if it can't be a Vizier then it does qualify for the Horror plate, in which case the current reluctance to venture into direct sunlight is a very bad sign. Hunter or Functionary are also plausible. Only a very unusual sesselja could be bound as a Warden, but this one has some other unusual qualities so it's not completely out of the question. Sufferer might be a good pick on a more conventional sesselja assignment, chosen by habit. The Ecstatic would be dangerously shortsighted, but you don't know Ashen Mercy well enough to be able to rule it out.

You DO know that it got orders to give Fleegman follow-up medical care. The wards are probably stopping it from reaching him. You also heard Ashen Mercy mention that this particular sesselja is a master (though not full sifu-qualified grandmaster) of a particular esoteric martial art which should allow it to protect people even while remaining dematerialized - which is important, since a stomach bottle bug allowed to materialize in the middle of a jungle, without very explicit orders to the contrary, would be at significant risk of running off to not stop frantically licking colorful frogs until it died.

It's also a card-carrying Carnifex Guild journeyman, meaning it could spend 30m 3wp to create an instance of someone's dead body without actually killing them. While this may seem like an almost perfect solution for the current standoff, there are several potential problems:
- It would need to materialize, possibly going against its summoner's explicit orders. Nobody at the camp has heard from Ashen Mercy in at least a few hours, and she may have said something about needing to fetch something from her manse in the Summer Mountains, so, probably won't be back soon enough to be relevant.
- It would need to be provided with a bladed weapon, which is probably a bad plan if it's about to go on a violent rampage due to abscissic limit break.
- Materializing is expensive. It'll probably have no more than 20 motes left in its pool. Recharging enough to use the Carnifex Guild proprietary technique would then require convincing it to sit still for at least an hour (and delaying Sad Ivory the same amount) and/or feeding it large quantities of poison.

rolled 5, 9, 2, 9, 5, 8, 3, 7, 1, 4, 7, 2, 3, 4, 3, 1, 10, 6, 1, 6, 3, 3, 3, 6, 6, 4, 5, 1, 6, 8 = 141

---

Spinel Caryatid emerges from the tent-in-which-she-slept to find the tense standoff between Cold and the interloper; a standoff which lasts mercifully long enough for the others members of the circle present to quickly bring her up to speed.

Leaving the sorcerer to continue negotiations with the Reckoner, the Twilight approaches, raising one arm in greeting (enough for the sleeve of her robe to fall back, revealing the demon-skin relic worn on her wrist). She introduces herself and addresses it Old Realm, "Excuse me, sesselja? We need to discus the our patient's treatment; it would seem his preexisting condition is acting up." (While not discussed in most medical texts, a fated demise or recurring assassins seeking to enforce it are not conducive to ongoing health).

Somewhat fishing—an appeal to at least some of the orders it was given will hopefully get it talking in a way that helps narrow down plate, orders, if it's high Limit (and help tailor a subsequent social attack). Positioning herself as a peer, and showing the relic is more something familiar than a threat. Spending 1XP to increase Investigation and committing 5m to her anima for two automatic successes. (Perception 4 + Investigation 2 + Stunt).

rolled 10, 10, 10, 8, 10, 9, 9, 4, 10, 10, 10, 3 = 103

---

>>1096284
Woe will kneel down near the demon, and cock her head.

"My, my," she coos, and flashes her GSP sign at it. "I've gotta admit: I forgot all about you. You want to get over to that silly mortal over there, don'tcha?" She smiles, and clicks her tongue. "Something's happening with him, something dangerous, something you wanna be a part of, eh? But I don't know how to break a ward! It's hilarious, isn't it? You're lucky I'm in a good mood, and that I don't mind the company of gross demons. 'cause it occurs to me that if I can't get you into here, I might be able to get what's-his-face out."

She winks.

"So, just chill out here for a moment, and me and my associates'll see what we can do about that... danger. But keep your healing grossness ready, just in case."

After that, Woe will bound off to where the action is happening.

[Trying to calm the demon down so it doesn't go into a limit break or flip out or something. I'm not sure if this is Charisma [2] or Manipulation [4], but I assume it's Presence [5]. I'm just going to roll 10 dice, and you figure out what the result is.]

>>1096458
Spinel Caryatid figures out exactly what's going through the stomach bottle bug's tiny little mind,
>>1096459
and Woe rearranges those thoughts as necessary, with eloquence to shame the very gods.

A few minutes later and hundreds of yards away, near that shrine Maw spotted earlier >>1093465 Sad Ivory has mr. Fleegman's corpse slung over her shoulder - she's considerably stronger than she looks, lifting a hundred and fifty pounds one-handed without visible strain - while the living Mr. Fleegman is safely back at camp.
The Calibration Gate appears, surface rippling like a bowl of water somehow turned vertical. She steps partway through, turns back to face Cold Blooded In The Blaze Of the Sun, starts to bow and say something enigmatic and ominous like "be seeing you," but hesitates, awkwardly pats her own chest.
>"You sonofabitch, you stole my...!"
...then the Calibration Gate pulls her the rest of the way through, closes and vanishes.

A man in mycenean-style bronze plate armor, machete in hand, emerges from the underbrush and asks, in broken Riverspeak: "Was someone here a short time ago? You [talk/parley/haggle] at them?"
Half a dozen more people in line behind him, less clearly visible but also at least mostly armed. They're blocking the path from the shrine back toward the campsite.

rolled 8, 5, 8, 2, 6, 10, 5, 3, 2, 2 = 51

---

Wits 3, integrity 1, minus 2.

rolled 9, 10, 1, 9, 3, 5, 6 = 43

---

>>1096460
Woe shrugs at the newcomer, and responds in her perfect Riverspeak.

"You just missed her. There was talking/parleying/haggling going on all over the damn place, right up until she jet off, complaining about thieves."

Whatever this guy's response is, or whatever he responds to others with, I'm going to use Factual Determination Analysis on to detect the truth of what he's talking about.

Here's a Charisma + Presence roll as well, for whatever it's used for.

Once the conversation with the newcomer is dealt with, Woe is going to take a bow to her companions and nod.

"Well, folks, it's been amazing, but I'm going to get started on exploring what's down there. Meet me in the sinkhole if you feel like joining me."

Woe will grab her supplies, enough food for the rest of the day, and two torches, then tie a rope at the edge of the sinkhole and shimmy down to see what she finds at the bottom. Obviously, once it gets too dark to see, she'll light one of the torches.

[Dexterity + Athletics]

rolled 9, 10, 9, 3, 9, 9, 5, 6, 1 = 61

---

>>1096510
Didn't roll for some reason.

Shrugging as the Chosen of Endings leaves, Cold then waves a greeting to the armed newcomer, distractedly watching as Woe expertly answers their queries, more interested in what scenario requires a body swap of Fleegman. Cild's musing are interrupted as he notices Woe leaving.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa there Woe! It could be dangerous. Give me a few minutes to gather my cartography tools & i shall join you."

Cold rushes back, past Kisara & a still waking Caitlyn, into the Pavilion.

"Quickly, I am heading into the site with Woe. Join me when you can."

He grabs a haggard leather scroll case almos a while leg span in size plus his well worn writing kit, in uts ink-stained wooden box. With but a wink & a smile he excitedly runs off to join Woe. His joy for exploring old ruins had evidently been reawoken after the travels of yesterday. He stops briefly at the screen door of the Pavilion.

"Oh, i found this, does any of you wish to claim it as your own? It does seem of fine quality"

He throws the gossamer brazier at his two friends before disappearing out if the oversized tent.

>>1096510
About halfway down to the cavern floor there's a semicircular ledge protruding between a row of columns - clearly artificial, and well taken care of, though unoccupied at the moment.
Easy enough to stop on the ledge, since it's directly under the hole. If you do, convenient exits would be:

To the north - across a narrower bridge, into a hole in the cavern wall about 40' away which reaches either a dead end or a T intersection after another 30' or so. There's a lit torch already present there, which is how you can see that far wall so easily.

Or to the east, through the back wall of the broader pillared ledge. Broad processional hallway, far end of which vanishes into darkness, but about 50' away there's a heavily armored guard standing between a pair of torches on the north wall. Torchlight shines on the bronze plates. Could probably stroll over and get the drop on him, if you were careful about it.

Or, of course, could continue the rest of the way down to the cavern floor. Too dim to make out much detail, but there's a cluster of movement to the north, a bit west of directly underneath that bridge. Maybe between 10 and 20 reptiles, human-sized or a bit larger?
West wall, near the cavern floor, there's a large section which catches the light differently, could be an artificial tunnel or door.
Most of the cavern floor looks sandy rather than rocky, so it should be easy enough to walk around but you'd be leaving clearly visible tracks.

River comes in through the northeast end of the cavern, but it flows down a bit of a cataract, and there don't seem to be walkable ledges to either side, so following it directly back upstream would be a challenge.
Broad pool at the base of the rapids, maybe 30-40' in diameter - half the width of the overall cavern floor - then a narrower channel, about 10-15' wide, which continues southwest for about 60' before hooking east, right at the limit of natural light. Going by echoes, though, south end of the cavern continues pretty far to the east, spacious all the way.

>>1096548
Caitlyn finally wakes up dragging herself out of the tent with a yawn as Cold Blooded dashes off ahead to the ruin entrance; clearly the emergency she had been awoken for had already been resolved if he was being so cavalier; but why was he tossing undergarments around?. Slipping her armor back on, Caitlyn figured that it would make sense soon enough. Pulling a bit of jerky from her pockets, she gathered Kisara to catch up with their long time companion "Lets get going, or Cold will find something interesting without us; like undergarments in a jungle - what exactly happened last night? Did Venus bless him with a companion?"

“You really think Cold actually got someone? Nah. Anyways, we should probably go. Come on.”
*With that, she put what cold gave her down, told the commander, or the closest thing to it of the beastmen nearby that they were in charge, and ran off to join Cold and the others once Caitlyn was ready.

rolled 7, 1, 10, 6, 6, 2, 2, 7, 6, 2, 4, 2 = 55

---

>>1096550
Woe is happy to leave the fighting for her fightier allies, so she'll avoid the guard and reptiles, and head toward the room with a lit torch. She'll be stealthing the entire way.

[Dexterity + Stealth. I'll add two extra dice in case there's some other bonus I don't know about. Just ignore the last two if not.]

>>1096607
I'll also activate my Personal Silence caste power, so add +2 successes to that.

rolled 8, 10, 6, 9, 1, 9, 7, 8, 8, 9 = 75

---

At the sight of the guard, Cold tries to keep from being seen or heard, following Woe to the chamber lit with torches. He keeps near the walls, checking where he steps & trying to ensure that if any direct light lands upon him, it wont cast a shadow upon the watchful guard

(OoC stealth + Dex= 5 +5 dice for ST discretion)

rolled 8, 9, 9, 4, 10, 10, 10, 9, 10, 3, 8, 5, 1, 5, 3, 4, 10, 7, 7, 7 = 139

---

> Sentries spotted a human skull, deliberately emplaced up a tree to the south. They're pretty sure it wasn't there yesterday. Green and black bits on it, possibly metallic. It has good sight lines to most of the camp, so presumably a local necromancer set it up as some kind of spy.
"It was polite of them to let to watch us in a way that lets us know they're watching." Spinel will from disabling the observation device; a first step in hopefully establishing peaceful status with the locals.

>>1093448
> The plinth is 10' high, and around eleven thousand square feet. Might be just enough space to set up all the remaining tents - bit of crowding is a small price to pay for such a conveniently defensible site - but those broad stairs leading down reek of bat guano.
As Cold and Woe rush ahead to scout, heedless of the mess, Spinel will try and organize some of the beastfolk into actually clearing a path, especially if the group is going to be trekking up and down these stairs regularly. (This will be somewhat easier if she can grab Kisara to issue orders with her authority before the Lunar departs as well). If they need a foreperson to keep them in line, Jacques has more than enough dots in Craft (Earth) to organize an... earth moving exercise.

>>1096607
It is in fact a T intersection, and there are two more armored guards just around the corner to the west, in front of a very fancy-looking door. They've each got a spear and a sword. Limited angles of approach (light source not positioned to spoil night vision, lower ceiling, each backed up into a corner so limited peripheral from helmets isn't relevant) you're notably less confident of being able to sneak up and take one of them out without the other getting a chance to react.

Could also try just slipping past them into the long dark hallway on the other side. There's an odd smell coming from that direction. Sort of like alkali and rot?

>>1096619
At the bottom of the stairs is a 50' square room with entrances corresponding to the cardinal directions. Ceiling (which Mr. La'rue notes as being sturdy and rather elegantly arched) is 20' high, assuming the layer of guano stays consistently 6-8 inches thick - there could plausibly be pit traps or other surprises hidden under the shin-deep noxious mess. Per corebook p. 155
> WATER OR MUCK
> Characters standing in liquid shallower than ankle depth act without any penalty. Those in liquid up to knee depth or mud/slime up to mid-calf make appropriate Dexterity or movement based rolls at -1 external penalty and can walk or run at only half speed. This penalty increases to -2 for liquid up to waist height or mud up to the knees, and it drops Speed to 1/4 of normal.
This is "mud/slime up to mid-calf" for human-sized folks, at least until the beastmen finish shoveling paths through it. One of them mentions hearing of an alchemist back in the big city who'd pay upwards of an obol per hundred pounds for this stuff, though not completely sure offhand if that meant direct from the source, or after some sort of pre-processing or distillation. Certainly it's quite valuable to farmers as fertilizer - could easily find people willing to trade it for ten times the weight of raw grain almost anywhere in the world, possibly much more in places with exactly the right sort of exhausted soil.

You came in through the south side of the room. East and west exits are straight hallways, 10' square out to the limit of visibility, which isn't far - any bright lights would presumably rile up that massive swarm of mouse-sized bats which is just now settling in to sleep. North way is higher and wider, with a pair of decorative pillars or maybe statues. Hard to make out detail in the shadows at this distance.

rolled 8, 1, 9, 4, 2, 4, 1, 1, 8, 2, 7, 8, 2, 6 = 63

---

>>1096638
Woe will indeed check out the other hallway, but before she does, she's going to quickly do two things.
1. Woe will check out the ornate door to see if there's any iconography that has obvious meaning, or any symbols she remembers from her Past Life memories.
2. If the guards have, say, an obvious key, map, or written orders from their leaders, or something of that kind on a nearby table or anything like that, she'll try to lift it as she sneaks by.
Assuming nothing in particular happens as she sneaks by, she'll go toward the alkali smell, while checking out whatever she stole.

[Dexterity 5 + Larceny 5 + 4 from Adorjan Excellency]

>>1096642
Also, add two automatic successes from my earlier use of Personal Silence.

JamesLeng 2024/08/28(Wed)21:48 No. 1096646 ID: cfc7cc
File 172490689346.png - (16.13KB , 204x298 , treasury.png )

>>1096610
Cold, following precisely in Woe's footsteps, sets off a weight-sensitive trapdoor in the middle of the bridge and plummets through it into the river. One of the guards jogs over to take a look, then shouts something to the lizards - neither of you recognize the language, but going by tone it might be something like "wasn't one of ours, you can have 'em."

Without that distraction, or some sort of magical invisibility, there's no way Woe would have been able to examine the door while standing directly between the guards without being spotted. As it is, guard who stayed at his post opens said door a crack to whisper a status update to the two others inside, giving Woe a chance to peek through.

Room on the other side is elaborately furnished - possibly for thaumaturgical purposes, though Woe doesn't have nearly enough Occult skill to figure out relevant specifics at a glance. Multiple torch-equivalent light sources, but they seem to be some sort of essence-channeling crystal rather than actual flame. Lever just north of the entrance, within arm's reach of the guards, is presumably connected to some mechanism inside the walls. Big sturdy box near middle of the south wall has keyhole and pride of place that suggest valuables inside. Didn't get a good look at the north wall yet, but symmetrical layout suggests there might be another chest.

rolled 4, 5, 1, 1, 7, 6, 4, 7, 1, 8 = 44

---

As the floor opens up beneath him, Cold Blooded in the Blaze of the Sun desperately tries to catch himself, his hands flail as he seeks purchase of the edge of the concealed put, his forearms & tensing to take the extensive weight of his stone body

(OoC Wits + Athletics = 7 dice, +3 for ST discretion)

>>1096654
Belly flop into the water, taking a level of bashing damage in the -0 health box. Cold successfully swims or crawls to shore before the stuff on his back gets too soaked, but finds himself lying prone in front of the flinty spearpoints of a dozen lizardmen.

Cold Blooded looks unimpressed at being surrounded by the twelve or so Lizard zmen, even less so with their spears. He draws his Daiklaive & narrows his eyes, taking a ready stance to engage them all, but awaiting an opening to initiate combat

<Riverspeak with a High Realm accent>
"I will not tolerae being harrassed, let me pass or I shall fight earnestly"

[OoC Charisma + Presence = 4 dice + 3 for ST discretion, attempt to dissuadethem from engagingin combat]

rolled 3, 7, 5, 5, 2, 6, 4 = 32

---

"Kisara, we dont know whats underneath all of this uh soil. What do you think about running a safety rope across the room to help keep people from slipping or falling while crossing it?"

“Good idea. Give me a minute, sweetie.”
Kisara quickly kissed Caitlyn, then her clothes suddenly shifted into that silver-ish fluid again, before reforming into rope, leaving kisara in just her moonsilver breastplate. Before she turned into a bat again, flew to the other side of the mud, and changed back, to begin looking for a suitable anchor point.

rolled 10, 2, 10, 2, 7, 7, 3, 9, 2, 4, 1, 7, 8, 8, 10, 10, 3, 8, 7, 9, 10, 10, 3, 7, 9, 8, 8, 9, 8 = 199

---

Woe legitimately did plan on continuing on and leaving the guards to their thing, but if a guy is just going to STAND there next to a ledge, looking over it, dangling his head over it, with his back to her, not paying any attention to what's behind him, c'mon. That's basically an invitation. It would be rude NOT to.

Still in stealth mode, Woe will sneak up to the guard (avoiding the other one's eyes as well), fall madly in love with him via Tragic Love Amusement, and sweep him in the back as hard as she can with her staff. Then, she's going to duck back into the shadows and wait for a moment. If the guard dies or is attacked down there by the lizards, she'll be quiet and let the guards up with her be confused. If the guard shouts up that he was attacked and they go on alert, then she's going to move to silence them with her anima power, steal someone's weapon while he's alone, and stab him in the throat with her knife. She won't enter the mystery room yet, there are too many more people here can be fallen in love with and stabbed to death.

[For the moment, going for a stealth and a knockback, ideally to do both damage and knock him into the pit to follow after Cold. I don't know how you want multiple rolls adjudicated, so I'm going to just roll a shit ton of dice here, and you figure out which ones apply to what. Sneaking up behind him I imagine is Dexterity + Stealth (10 dice, +2 automatic successes), and attacking + knocking him back is Dexterity + Melee (13 dice, because of a specialty). I'm going to add 6 more dice just in case there's some weird rule I'm forgetting about.]

rolled 2, 3, 1, 3, 3, 3, 6, 7, 2, 2, 2, 9, 2, 9, 5, 3, 7, 4, 4, 1, 9, 8, 6, 2, 10, 10, 8, 8, 2, 9, 3, 5, 5, 4, 6, 6, 1, 1, 2, 7 = 190

---

>>1096641
While the beastfolk work on securing paths and the Solar-Lunar pair set up their safety rope, Spinel opts to set her "familiar" scouting again, through the north portal. Should be easier to establish stealth against the giant bats, now that they're fed and sleepy. Especially if it flies low.

Transferring 10 personal to the orichalcum kingfisher's pools. (Dexterity 5 + Stealth 5), with optional (Perception 4 + Awareness 3 + While Undetected +3).

JamesLeng 2024/09/02(Mon)02:01 No. 1096822 ID: cfc7cc
File 172526770932.png - (74.19KB , 272x478 , g'ruk.png )

>>1096656
One of the lizardfolk - older, with an elaborate headdress partly made from the skull of some horned animal - steps forward, with instant deference from the others. Sniffs at the stony-skinned newcomer, peers at him through a small crystal before tucking it back away in a belt pouch.
>"I am G'ruk. You are no friend to the Bronze-Veiled,"
...as if to punctuate this point, an empty suit of bronze armor goes sailing past overhead, then clatters to the ground behind him...
>"...and your Essence has some kinship to the Most High. If you would serve Him, as we did of old, come with me. Quickly!"
Then G'ruk says some other stuff to the rest of the lizardfolk, in a language Cold doesn't recognize, and they start hustling along the riverbank toward that door to the southwest.

Seconds later, Seeker of Wind and Woe arrives, kicking off the cave wall to slow her descent. At first glance looks like she's covered in blood, but it's gone by the time she jumps across the river. Maybe just a trick of the light?

An amorphous mass of tarry shadows is chasing after her with obvious hostile intent.

rolled 10, 4, 4, 2, 2, 9, 4, 10, 7, 2 = 54

---

Cold watches as they leave, only moving to follow them one he is sure that Woe has descended safely.

He sheathes his Daiklaive, nods to Woe, then moves off to follow the G'ruk & the others to the southwestern door.

"Good to see you joined me, shall we hold these shadows off at the doorway? A nice opportunity to bottle neck them so we can whittle them away one at a time"

[OoC Occult & Int check to identify the nature of the shadowy spirits 5 dice + 5 for StoryTeller discretion]

>>1096846
Woe chuckles, and moves behind him (and his magic sword) at the doorway, letting him take the lead.

>>1096846
It's an iron circle necromancy spell, "Hungry Creeping Shadow." Agents of the Mask of Winters sometimes use it to stop riots by silencing visible leaders. Gives up the chase if you can evade it for an hour, or when touched by fire. If it already grabbed the target, fire usually won't save them, and it only goes after one person per casting anyway. Immune to ordinary weapons.

After Cold, Woe, and the lizardfolk are through the door and it's closed behind them, G'ruk runs a finger along the seams, and stone flows like wax to seal it shut. The rest of them keep moving down the dark tunnel: sixty feet north, ten feet east, then, halfway down a flight of stairs which descend 20' over the course of 30' horizontally they abruptly stop. The lizardman with the blue scars indicates a small hole in the north wall.
>"It will come through here. How fast can you have a torch lit?"

>>1096672
Easy enough to loop a rope around one of the pillars to the north, but the muck continues, though gradually less deep.

>>1096689
Northern passage continues almost another hundred feet, ending with a wrecked marble statue - late shogunate style, probably the eastern goddess of war but it's difficult to be sure with the head missing - and a pair of doors to the east and west. There are tracks in the muck. Recent, human-sized, leading back and forth between those doors, but not toward the way you came in.

A tarry mass of shadows oozes its way up the rope where Cold and Woe descended, cuts an oblivious diagonal through the camp at nearly the speed of a galloping horse (startling several people, but no serious injuries), down the stairs, past Caitlyn, Spinel, Kisara, and the bejeweled scout-bird, then dives into a fissure in the west wall and floor, about twenty feet south of the doors.

Barely any daylight left that far in, could easily have missed the fissure if that shadow-thing hadn't called attention to it.

rolled 1, 2, 5, 10, 4, 5, 10, 4, 3, 8 = 52

---

>>1096873
Woe will try to light a torch as fast as she can. I assume this is Dex + Survival, but I'll just roll 10 dice in case there's something I don't know. If it is Dex + Survival, then only count the first 5.

rolled 7, 5, 8, 3, 1, 6, 3, 1, 5 = 39

---

Shaking his head at how Woe stands behind him, he unsheathes his Daiklaive & turns to G'ruk. The solid disc of his Zenith aspect shining upon his brow

"I do serve the one most high, he has turned his face from creation for far too long. I endeavour to return things to their former glory & send darkness scurrying back from whence it came. One day i hope to follow them to bring light to their dark realms"

(Charisma + Presence to inspire G'Ruk 4 dice + 5 for StoryTeller discretion, spent 1 mote to cause Zenith Caste Mark to show at 8-10 anima flare)

rolled 6, 4, 10, 4, 8, 4, 5, 7, 9, 6, 5, 1, 4, 7, 9, 2, 1, 1, 3, 8, 4, 9, 3, 9, 5, 5, 1, 8, 6, 10 = 164

---

>>1096873
Spinel directs her familiar to examine the fissure, cautiously. Is this a seam or opening connected to a secret passage?

(Perception 4 + Awareness 3 + While Undetected +3)

>>1096975
"Hey, man, don't blame me for not coming prepared with a magic weapon. Blame the monster for being so inconsiderate that he's immune to regular weapons!"

>>1096689
Caitlyn checks the rope and then begins to cross the room through the sludge, catching herself on the rope when her balance is threatened. "Whatever is down here better be worth this. Its going to take a week to scrub this smell out."

>>1097012
The fissure continues horizontally some 150', through about forty feet of wall and then diagonally across the floor of a pillared hall roughly twice the size of the one Kisara and Caitlyn are currently in. Below the fissure's entire length, there's a cave, seemingly separate from - but comparable in size to - the one under the hole Cold and Woe went down. Both areas are basically pitch black, so effective mapping would require a light source... or, possibly, a calligraphy brush Kisara can wield in bat form, to take notes as part of an echolocation-based survey.

Traversing the fissure to reach that larger hall might be relatively straightforward, by professional rock-climber standards - just gotta go single file, pressure-walking against opposite walls - but if part of it turns out to still be unstable, who knows how much rock could suddenly be coming down on your head. There's almost certainly another way around, longer but safer.

>>1097174
Shadow-tar thing plowed a path through the slime, and foxmen have been busily expanding it with shovels. Only about two or three feet wide so far, and the residue on the floor is still fairly slippery and disgusting, but the stone floor is actually visible. Even without the guide-rope, someone with at least Athletics 2 could run full-speed along the cleared section, or fight, without to significant impediment or risk.

rolled 9, 10, 2, 5, 10, 4, 4, 8, 8, 5 = 65

---

>>1097286
Once on the other side with Kisara she examines the entrance of the other door, illuminating it with her caste mark if needed to see further in. She pondered what that shadow mass might be and questioned if she should have struck it down or not - it seemed to know where it was going and that concerned her. "Does anyone know what that shadow was?"

ooc:
Try to determine the nature of the shadow thing that passed by.
int 2 + occult 4