Side Trek

[Legendary Sidekick]

Baldhart

"Who said anything about binding and gagging? Oh, wait... I did. But I'm not going to try to hog tie a guy in battle. I was thinking more like wrenching the caster's arm behind his back while I bash his face with my fist, or more likely the cave wall. I haven't forgotten how things work on the mountain... there's no forgiving a man who goes after children."

Nissa says, "They're going after their souls."

She says it in a tone of disbelief, and it sounds like bullshit to me too. You can't take a kid's soul...!

 

[Nihal]

A greater darkness. I run the fingers through my braid in an attempt to force the stray strands of hair to their places, recalling what I know of the darkness spell. It's hardly an effort for me, not me who always dreamt of learning this spell, who dug up every bit of information about it when I was back at home in the vain hope I'd stumble upon the components and rituals, and mayhaps learn it by myself before I was deemed worthy learning it. I don't need to remember its requirements either. If I did not knew them better than my name I would have them fresh in my mind anyway after stealing this spell only few days ago. It's a greater darkness I contemplate. I don't recall such thing. I would love to learn it.

My eyes wander back to Baldhart and I realize she expected an answer. "Some spells require visual contact," I recover fairly quickly from my momentary deviation. "Some, physical touch." I shake my head in a soft motion, one side to another, as I evaluate what is safe to tell. "Darkness requires a verbal component, and some variants movement as well. You are not trained to recognize spells. My advice? If your opponent is moving his hands and lips, duck out of the way. Preferentially behind a thick, very solid obstacle.

"If you do not mind his demise and is close enough, chopping his head off should be enough," I finally answer with a wave of my hand.

 

[Steerpike]

((Everyone is back in the main thread. You can continue conversation here to represent what was said as you walked, if you like, or else take it all to the Act IV thread)).

 

[SeverinR]

Aliron in the cavern of the stream

Aliron moves as quietly as possible in the water, listening for any sound ahead or behind.(such as a battle with the group)
The passage is a potential ambush from behind.
He pushes on through the icy cold stream.

 

[Steerpike]

Travel through the stream is cold, though luckily the stream is small enough that the current doesn't present much of a problem. In many places, the only way to proceed is by crawling through water that ranges anywhere from an inch or two deep to pockets of water nearly a foot in depth. The darkness is absolute, absent a light source, though a chunk of the luminescent rock provides enough illumination to see the rough walls around the stream and the black opening stretching out ahead.

Aliron crawls through the stream for a few minutes before emerging into an area that is almost large enough to sit up in. The space smells damp and musty, and the bones of at least one small animal are decaying against one wall. It looks as though some animal dragged its prey into the space to eat, though how long ago is hard to say. The area is cold enough that decay of the bones would be slowed, so it looks like it has been a while.

The stream disappears downward at this point, almost seeming to bubble up from the floor before flowing down the passage Aliron climbed through. Aliron can detect a faint illumination from beneath the walls - maybe more rocks like the ones the party is using. The opening in the rock through which the stream rises is large enough for a person to enter, but it would require complete submersion - swimming down through the cold water to whatever lays beyond.

 

[SeverinR]

Aliron
I stand silent for a minute, listening for any unusual sounds.
If nothing, Aliron will go back.
There is a possible path to follow but at this point he will not go any further.
There is no obvious path of attack and no signs of possible ambush.

 

[Steerpike]

Aliron hears nothing unusual. Except for the sound of trickling water, there is not much to hear. It doesn't look likely that the group could be threatened from this direction, unless someone or something emerges from the water or whatever lays beyond. By time Aliron gets back to the group, he's pretty wet.