19th Dravago, 999 YK
- Darkmantle part 2
- Naze unsummons Zaphkiel and informs the rest of the group about the cave fisher "with an appropriate level of panic".
- At the start of the next round, they all hear a clicking sound but can't tell where it's coming from.
- Warren goes to investigate but moves past it.
- Between them, they manage to kill the remaining darkmantles.
- Valaari picks up one of the darkmantle corpses and hooks it to their belt, and then instructs the group to move out, back towards the entrance.
- The cave fisher puts the filament back down, fishin'
- Warren comes back and tries to sever the filament, but gets his sword stuck in the filament.
- Bhaltair steps out of the bubble of darkness, and flash bangs 15ft above Warren, illuminating the Cave Fisher. Bhaltair shudders.
- Runmae picks up one of the darkmantles and throws it over her shoulder.
- Runmae also internally debates eating the pucker pickle, which would make her taste bad.
- She decides to grab Warren and help him to free his sword
- Valaari identifies the Cave Fisher, and then runs up and severs the filament, freeing Warren. Valaari also remembers that cave fishers leave shed carapace around as traps.
- Naze and Zaphkiel run back the way the party came.
- The cave fisher tries to grab Valaari with a new filament but misses, and then hangs the filament around Valaari's head height.
- Warren lights the filament up, and then runs after Naze
- Bhaltair uses magic to speed themselves up and catches up with the others. Runmae and Valaari follow, and they all catch their breath once they're away from the cave fisher.
- Valaari wants to leave the demiplane and recover. Bhaltair suggests they can look for a shed carapace as they go.
- They continue to hear the clicking sound, though cannot place where it's coming from. Bhaltair and Runmae think about whether it reminds them of anything, and come to the conclusion that something is echolocating. Are they being tracked?
- Bhaltair examines the sound more, and thinks the creature is using a specific pitch to obfuscate its position.
- Naze wants to leave, so much.
- Spooked by the sound, they decide not to look for a carapace and just make their way out of the demiplane.
- Naze, at the front of the group, almost walks directly into a large minotaur. He panics and steps back, throwing his arms out and lighting the minotaur up, who holds their hands up in a gesture of peace and then begins signing at them.
- Bhaltair silently casts Translate on Valaari at 3rd level, which lets Valaari understand the sign language and speak it.
- They have a signed conversation, they both ask the other if they are friendly. Valaari signs that they are, and they have a short conversation.
- They say they need to leave the demiplane, but the minotaur is confused. Valaari says they are from another place.
- Valaari introduces themselves properly, and the minotaur introduces themself as Tinvak. They will let the group past, but they ask first if the group is only friendly because they are bigger than them?
- Valaari confirms they are friendly regardless
- Tinvak clicks (the same sound they heard) with their tongue behind them, and someone clicks in response.
- Oh there's more!
- Tinvak moves aside to let the group pass, and Naze illuminates a smaller humanoid. Tinvak introduces them as Two Rusted Gears Grinding Towards Progress.
- Two Rusted Gears is very excited to see new people, they sign with Valaari. They show off their projectile launcher, which shoots rocks "very fast".
- The pair come from a village nearby, they use sound absorbing fungus for building materials, which allows them to speak.
- Gears examines Runmae's crossbow, and finds it interesting but insufficient. It couldn't pierce a cave fisher carapace, tut tut.
- Gears asks where they are going, and Valaari explains they come from another plane, a place of light. Gears signs that her people come from another plane too.
- Valaari asks them to describe it, and they describe a city built into the walls of a canyon, surrounding towers that pierce the sky. Their people had to flee, but she doesn't know what happened.
- Valaari dreamt of this place! Gears signs "that's weird".
- Valaari would like to speak to them more, but needs to discuss with the group. They can't do that here, so they need to get outside of the demiplane. They ask if the pair will still be around for a while. Tinvak says they are hunting, they will be out for a while.
- They leave the demiplane, and discuss. Valaari wants to go back and learn more about these people. Runmae is interested in their projectile launcher.
- Naze hates the Glitterdrift, he doesn't want to go back in.
- Bhaltair is cautious, they have a mission. They don't want the group to get too sidetracked by distractions, they were supposed to get monster parts and leave.
- Naze does some first aid on the group.
- Valaari goes back into the demiplane to speak to the hunters again, accompanied by Bhaltair just in case.
- They return to where they met the hunters, but they aren't here currently.
- Bhaltair tries to recreate the clicking sounds that the pair made, and did a pretty good job of it. A few minutes later, Tinvak emerges from the darkness with Two Gears sat on his shoulder. He's wearing a harness so she can shoot from his shoulders/back, and she's strapped to it so she cannot fall.
- They ask how far the village is, Tinvak refuses to answer but Gears says it's about 30 minutes away.
- Valaari asks if they speak a language, Tinvak's people speak Old Common, Gears' people speak multiple languages.
- Valaari asks if both of their people came from the canyon city and how long ago it was. They do not, Tinvak's people come from a "Great Labyrinth", both peoples have been here for generations.
- Valaari asks for more information on the canyon city, but Gears can't really provide it. She doesn't know why her people fled.
- Valaari returns to the group and passes on the information, and they discuss whether to try and visit the village. Naze doesn't want to, Warren isn't too bothered, but the rest of them want to visit the village. Runmae wants to learn more about the projectile launcher if possible, but Bhaltair tells her to temper her expectations. They might not be willing to share the secrets of making magical railguns.
- Okay, so the group as a whole wants to visit the village. They don't want to go back in straight away though, they want to give Tinvak and Gears time to discuss it.
- They could visit another demiplane in the meantime?
- Naze is like "yeah there's a cool plane of fire" and everyone says no.
- They don't know how long that'll take though.
- They risk getting wounded and needing to rest up if they visit the Pinnacles Sublime.
- The group is split on this, 2 want to wait, 2 want to visit the Pinnacles, and Naze wants to just leave.
- Valaari makes the executive decision that the group is going to wait here.
- Warren has a nap while the rest of them argue about it.
- There are still people who need first aid, but Naze is having a tantrum and goes to find a stick.