Iron Gods & Droid Diaries

[Cowpies77]

And when you're getting your shield fitted, the weaponsmith's daughter (a kinda cute tomboy by the name of Emilia Otterbie) has a request to make of the group if they're going to go down to explore the Black Hill Caves
"Gerrol... You remember him, right? Gerrol Sonder, my fiance? I was hoping... Kinda longish brown hair, goatee, He was with Khonnir's group when they went down there that last time. I know you're all looking for Khonnir, but please... If you find Gerrol, would you please help bring him back? The thought of him being trapped down there... God, that idiot... I told him not to go, but he said he'd be fine..."

"I cannot promise anything other than we will keep an eye out for him, I'm sorry I cannot offer more Emilia."

"Well, if you find him... Even if he's... y'know... passed on... Bring him back here anyway. Please? If you do that for me... I don't have much money, but how about I'll make you and your friends each a weapon for payment? I'm getting good at it, and I promise I'll make it better than what you're using right now at least...?"

"We will... consider your offer. We have a comrade who recently got his greatsword embedded in a repair drone and a brick wall."

Leaving, Xaines also goes and buys 20 vials for 1 gp, 8 sp and goes to grab Murtaugh from The Foundry Tavern. Murtaugh has since removed his Greatsword from the wall, and chopped up the Repair Drone and left its body parts scattered around, not unlike a hillbilly with husks of cars. Going up to the top of Black Hill, the three guys find that the air smells... uh... rather like oranges for some reason.

Going up to the pit where the torch used to be, they see an oily black liquid. It bubbles and occasionally froths, and every now and then, a large bubble will escape and float away, popping a few seconds after floating away. The group notices that each time it does so, a new smell is released. One smells like Cinnabons, another time it smells like bleach. One series smelled like apple pie. Another like roses. Chad-for-Short covers his beak after one that smells vaguely like wet dog pops, and says "Oh god, really? You're all going to DRINK this stuff?"
"It beats butt-chugging it?"
"I... what? What is- no, no no no. I'm not going to think about that. I'm gonna wait over there."

Xaines fills 10 of the vials with the shimmering oily fluids, leaving 10 empty for later.
"5 gold says you're too chicken to drink." Murtaugh goads, piercing red eyes showing that he's smiling behind his mask.  

[Campanula_Monkshoof]

"You're on Murtaugh, they don't call me steel stomach for no reason."  

[Campanula_Monkshoof]

((Craft Alchemy: +3 +8 AP use.))  

[Campanula_Monkshoof]

I pick a vial at random, Murtaugh looks over several very closely before choosing one.
]"No, no, maybe, no... ******** that one, hellooooo~?" Lifting one up, he says "I think I have a winner."
"I see being a drug addict has its advantages. Drink up."
Murtaugh and I both knock back our vials of mystery goop.
drinking the full amount, we stare at each other for a few seconds.
"Are you dying yet?"
"You feeling anything yet?"
"Don't think so..."
No sooner does Xaines say that, then there's a gurgling in his stomach. A painful rumbling. Handing the empty vial off to Murtaugh, Xaines proceeds to try and run off, but ends up doubling over.
"I'm feeling it!"
Shouting that, he proceeds to begin vomiting for a solid 80 minutes all while Chad-for-Short does his best to help alleviate the pain of puking off and on for so long and Murtaugh cannot help but laugh at Xaines the entire 80 minutes
After Chad-for-Short gives Xaines water to replenish the rather amazing amount of fluids lost (and Murtaugh stops laughing), Murtaugh says "Yeah, I think I won that one. That was worth every copper." and hands Xaines the 5 gold coins.
"Worth...it..."
Murtaugh meanwhile looks somewhat upset after you get cleaned up, saying "I think I got screwed. I just have a wicked case of the munchies."
Xaines wipe the remaining sick from the corner of his mouth and heads to talk to the priest in charge of giving water breathing, "Mine too Murtaugh, mine too. Hello sir, we're the newest search party and require gills."  

[Cowpies77]

Joram Kyte, a local priest, is waiting by the pond. The party finds him sitting on a stump, singing something that sounds like the opening theme song to My Gym Partner Is A Monkey, but they cant be sure because as soon as he notices the approaching group, he quickly clams up. Joram stands up, and Xaines notes that he looks kinda like an average human that got stretched out a few inches vertically, giving him a lanky look.
Giving a wave, he says "Ollo~ You're all the ones going under, I heard?" Pulling out a metal rod, he says "Right-o, so I'll cast a spell called Water Breathing on all of you. The council thankfully had this metamagical rod, so it'll last a bit longer than normal. You're going to have around... lets see..." Joram begins trailing off as he does a little magical mathematics in his head. "There's three of you... divide up the power, plus resistance... yeah? no... yeah." Bobbing his head a little, he says "Around 7 or 8 hours to get in, look around, and get back out. And hopefully not die in the process. I'm not really good at reattaching limbs, y'dig?"

"Are you high, or just always like this?"

Joram bobs his head a little and says "Yyyyyyyeah well, a little of both. Not gonna lie about that."

Murtaugh gives a chuckle and mutters to Xaines "I wish more priests were like this. Religion is a useless, but this is great."

"I'm beginning to see why people keep dying here..." Chad-for-Short says, putting a hand to his face.

"Shhhhh," Joram says, putting a finger on Chad-for-Short's beak. "Don't you worry bout a thing, darling. I've called on this prayer dozens of times. What're the odds that it'll misfire again?"

"Not helping."  

[Campanula_Monkshoof]

"If it is safe then fine. If you do not feel safe Chad, I'll be the first target."  

[Cowpies77]

"Right on, right on." Joram says. Moving forward, he says a short prayer and bops Xaines, Murtaugh and Chad-for-Short on the head. "So, you should be good to go, guys. Have fun."
"I don't feel any different."
"It's on. Believe it. Yeah."

A moment passes, and the matter is settled when Murtaugh grabs Chad-for-Short and holds his head underwater for several minutes before letting him back up. Coughing, Chad-for-Short shouts "DUDE! THE ******** style="color: red">You're fiiiiiine. I was just testing it. I wasn't actually going to drown you."
"DON'T TEST ON ME! I swear I'm surrounded by ******** reta-" Turning around, Chad-for-Short walks into the lake, shouting expletives into the air until his voice is drowned out by the water.

Shrugging, Murtaugh says "He'll get over it. Y'think it'd help if I started donating to his faith?" Murtaugh and Xaines follow Chad-for-Short's lead, walking into the lake and following a light in the water (Chad-for-Short having cast Light on his shield like a beacon). The water itself smells like a wet hobo, making Xaines wanting to gag a little.
After a short walk (hard to tell the passage of time), you find the entrance to the Black Hill Caves.

Quote:

Dampness hangs in the air of this cave, condensing into heavy moisture on the slick, stone walls. The air in the caves is bitter and stinks of mold and vinegar, but it is breathable despite its unpleasant flavor-narrow vents and fissures provide enough air circulation to keep the atmosphere breathable, if disagreeable. The calm, dark waters wind around to the east up north, along a stony, soot-scarred beach. A five-foot-high ledge sporting several stalagmites rises to the east, beyond which a low-ceilinged cave beckons.

Murtaugh, facing away from everyone, lifts up his mask a little to blow out his nose, then quickly lowers it back down. Xaines and company fight the eye-watering stinging the air causes. Regrouping, Murtaugh raises his hand to silence everyone else, and says "If we're going to be stuck in some sort of haunted cave that keeps ******** killing people, I would like to open this little quest up by saying sorry to Chad-for-Short. I thought about it, and yes, I was indeed kind of a d**k for that back there."
"Wow...uh... thanks? That's actually surprisingly matu-"
"I realized Xaines volunteered, so I should've tried to drown him instead. So yeah, my bad."
"And theeeeere it is." Sighing, Chad-for-Short just shrugs and looks past Murtaugh. "Heads up, spooky lights." Looking up at the cliff, Xaines and Murtaugh realize that the light in the cavern wasn't only coming from Chad-for-Short's spell. Three housecat sized beetles are buzzing around the top of the cavern, coming from over the ledge area (The ceiling varies about 7'-10' up from the ground btw).

Grabbing his greatsword, Murtaugh says "Oh, I didn't know things I get to kill will just fly at me. Awesome. That makes this easy."

Roll initiative~!

Murtaugh is at 14
Glow Beetles are at 13
Chad-for-Short's at 10  

[Campanula_Monkshoof]

((Initiative:+4))  

[Campanula_Monkshoof]

Xaine quickly takes his bow off his shoulder and notches an arrow, "Lights out." He draws the string back as far as he can then let's it fly at the beetle furthest right.
((Attack Roll:+4 AP use: +4))  

[Campanula_Monkshoof]

((Damage Roll))
He let's the arrow go and watches it fly through the air and hit one of the glowing beetles, he was surprised to see that they had not dropped, "Allright then, lights on... This is just going to be a bad day, I can feel it in my skin."  

[Cowpies77]

The arrow flies true and hits a beetle dead center, dropping it into the water with a loud *Bloop* sound.
Murtaugh chops at another with his sword, hitting it and spraying luminescent crap all over the area like a glow stick exploded.

The last remaining beetle flies down and bites a sizable chunk out of Murtaugh's bicep, dealing 4 damage to him.
"Augh! Little mother ********>" Murtaugh shouts, grabbing his arm.

Chad-for-Short swings with his b*****d sword, missing. However, he follows up with a strong peck, and plucks the beetle out of the air with a *crunch*, followed by spitting the glowing corpse into the water.

"Here, let's take a look at that wound..."
Chad-for-Short pulls away Murtaugh's hand, and while there's still the blood from where the gash was, the wound healed near instantly.
"Okay, now seriously. What the hell? This is weird, even for you..."
Taking out some (damp) trail mix to snack on, Murtaugh does a fist pump and shouts "I have no idea! But it's ********' sweet! OH YES. THIS IS GOING TO ADD A NEW LEVEL OF TERROR TO THE LEGEND OF MURTAUGH! This just feels... right..."
Turning to Xaines, Chad-for-Short says "So... my money's on that fluid y'all were drinking. You got the urge to throw up for over an hour, while he either got regenerative powers of a troll now, or a dramatically enhanced healing factor."
Between mouthfulls of raisins, Murtaugh says "Let's keep the mystique alive by not cutting my head off to see if I grow a new one. So, which way do we go? Follow the water, or climb the shelf?"  

[Campanula_Monkshoof]

"Let's head out over the water, don't think we should go where those bugs came from."  

[Cowpies77]

Murtaugh, finishing his snack, follows the rest of the group, stopping only to take the skewered beetle. On the way north, he gleefully says "I feel invincible! Man, we should drink that stuff more often. The minor risk of slow, horrifically painful death is totally worth feeling this again!"
"Really?"
"Actually, now that I said it out loud? Not as much, no. It sounded a lot better in my head..."

A shallow creek runs through the middle of this cavern, while to the south a stony bank rises up from the water. Thick carpets of green and gray mold and fungus grow on the bank, particularly around a trio of three-foot-high, foul-smelling mounds.

Covering up his beak, Chad-for-Short says "Hooooooooooo~ Now there's some ripe corpses."
"Where?"
"Mold piles. Dead o' clock. The smell like they've been here like... a week or so? The mold's really speedy here..." Chad-for-Short transfers over his light spell to his Fetish necklace, before the party goes in for a closer look at the three piles. Murtaugh holds the glowing bug corpse up high as well. The mold patches glisten in the light, before moving a bit.
"Very lively for dead people." Murtaugh notes, as everyone takes a half step back. Slime, coming off of the corpses, mold and moss begins to slowly rise up.

Drawing out his sword and shield, Chad-for-short remarks "I am beginning to think that just about every space in here is going to try and kill us."
"They can try all they want." Murtaugh says, slamming his gauntlets together. He doesn't even bother reaching for his greatsword. "They're hungry, and murder's on the menu."

Initiative:
Murtaugh (21)
Chad-for-Short (13)
Slime molds (10)

Round 1
Murtaugh charges in and obliterates a slime mold with a gauntlet'd backhand.

Chad-for-Short also charges. His sword swing hits, splattering the ooze as well.

(Assuming Xaines will roll above a 9, AC to beat is 12. 6 hp. Can you pull off another 1-round KO?!)  

[Campanula_Monkshoof]

((I think I can, I think I can, I THINK I CAN!
Initiative:+4 (first dice).))
Notching an arrow and pulling it back quickly before let it fly at the Slime creatures."Ooze your daddy."
((Attack roll:+4(Second dice).))