Sewer Search

As far as guild jobs go, the idea of searching the sewers for black ichor... or water?... that may or may not be responsible for the death of a half-ourch is not a particularly fun job. But here you are anyways, headed into the sewers waiting for the expected stench and the unforgettable sights that you already wish you could forget to hit your senses.

Neither of these things come however. Instead you walk into the sewers and are greeted with clean smooth stone. You breathe in fresh air not unlike what you were breathing above ground. Sure it’s a little damp down here, but there's no sign of the things you expect to find in the sewers. Not even the rats.

Gregor is in the sewers, his horse left at the stables, so he's afoot, shield out, flail ready, waiting to see what happens, and supporting the group as best he can.

"Now that you have been being volunteering to come down here with us..." begins Lysa. "We have been having a Half-Orouch who came to the Soldier's Defense, sick. He was being saying that he began feeling sick after he was being finding a black liquid down in the sewers, and he was being drinking it for some reason." she admits, "We are not being knowing -where- in the sewers that he found it. But.. he did not survive it."

The Gobbo at Lysa's side makes a face at her mentioning of drinking the black liquid. "I wish he had not. And if we do find the liquid..." Acedia raises her voice for the others, "Do not touch it! It is death in liquid form. If we have to bury one of you, I'm going to go to whatever afterworld you go to, drag you back here, and smack you. Mark my words!"

Braelnoir seems vaguely bewildered by the cleanliness within the sewer. She busies herself with her pack, tucking an everburning torch into her belt, without turning it on just yet, then slips her pack back in place, "Why'd anyone be thick enough t'drink black gunk'e found in a damned sewer?"

"He was being saying that he had been being sampling something similar with good results from a past experience involving some magic potion.... or something to that effect." admits Lysa. "He said that it was being looking identical, so he was being trying it."

GAME: Gregor rolls survival: (5)+7: 12
GAME: Braelnoir rolls knowledge/dungeoneering: (7)+5: 12
GAME: Acedia rolls survival: (4)+1: 5
GAME: Lysa rolls survival: (2)+2: 4

The sewers look all the same clean like this, and worse there's no real sense of where you are down here. Somewhere up there is a city, but down here there are only endless tunnels. So you very quickly find yourselves lost.

GAME: Gregor rolls Profession/Guide: (7)+6: 13

Acedia sighs at length. "This is the fourth time we've walked past that rock. And yes, it does look like an elephant. Long flexible arm for a nose, see? And giant ears. And it can apparently play piano, whatever that is." The Gobbo tugs at Lysa's sleeve. "Are we there yet?"

"I am being a Sunblade of Daeus. We were being gathering volunteers to help us. I do not know -where- we are being at right now." Lysa admits to Acedia.

Braelnoir still seems vaguely discombobulated by the relative cleanliness of the sewers they're wandering in, "Why's it so clean down here?" As she drifts toward a wall and draws a cruel looking dagger to scratch a symbol that looks like an upside down question mark crossed by a checkmark into the elephant stone.

An hour later of traversing the sewer and you've stopped finding the elephant-shaped stone on the ground. Perhaps because you've started marking your direction you're having a better time finding where you're going. But it's still nearly impossible to find your way down here. Around hour two you'll find an odd square stone block sitting in the middle of the sewer tunnel. Just sitting there. You can hear a soft 'thump-thump' coming from inside it.

"I miss the elephant stone.", the Gobbo complains, dragging her feet as she dawdles along beside the Paladin. "This is the cleanest sewer I could imagine. You could practically eat off the ground. How on earth did Kruulvog... wait. That looks weird?" Acedia runs up to the square stone, and fishes a small metal cup from her back pack. She presses the cup to the stone and listens at the other end. "Someone's knocking!", she whispers loudly.

"Patience is being a part of hunting." suggests Lysa, who is starting to feel the drain on her own mental energy. But she does her best to keep herself sharp and alert. But when the thumping stone is found, she moves forward and advises, "Best to be being not touching that yet." but that's about as far as she'll go. She fights and heals. This is soooo outside her wheelhouse.

Gregor peers at this thing we've found, and stays clear, leaving this to our investigatory people. He's just here to ... find the way, apparently. He's not doing super great, but we've found ... something.

Braelnoir considers the....rock for a few beats and shoulders her scythe, "Unless there's air holes we ain't seein', whatever's in there can stay put."

Acedia listens for a time at the knocking, before standing and huffing. "Well, unless someone can melt rock or something, I guess we'll move along?"

Unsure what to do at this point, Lysa inclines her head and just stays back. "Are we being knowing what is making that sound?" she asks softly.

"Burned up all m'acid a while ago, sugar, sorry." Noir replies with a shrug, still a bit back from the stone. Not shying away as much as simply not closing more than a couple paces from it.

GAME: Gregor rolls perception: (10)+7: 17
GAME: Lysa rolls perception: (14)+6: 20
GAME: Acedia rolls perception: (4)+9: 13
GAME: Braelnoir rolls perception: (7)+0: 7

Just as folks are starting to give up, Lysa glances back at a sound. Then her blue eyes widen. "Nobody be being touching anything." she says harshly. Then she gestures at the stone. "Is that being what we seek?" she asks as she indicates a small seam or crack, or whatever, with some thick black liquid pouring out of the stone block.

Gregor turns back as we walk off, acks, "We need to get moving, I think," he declares. He peers at Lysa. "I think that's the stuff that killed the other guy?"

The Gobbo peers at the liquid and makes a face, her nose wrinkling. "Well, heh. He wandered through the cleanest sewers in the world and licked the only oddity in it, then died." She huffs. "Well, I dunno if we wanna find out what the knocking is."

Reaching down into her haversack, Lysa withdraws her meadskin. "I hate to be being wasting my brew." she remarks, "Would anyone care to be being helping me empty this?" she asks. She is planning to try to take a sample of the gunk.

Braelnoir fixes the goblinne with a 'duh' sort of look, and switches her scythe to the other shoulder, "Bet it's some cursed corpse leakin' death stew."

The Gobbo reaches up to take the meadskin from Lysa, and guzzles it down in relatively short order. She returns the skin to Lysa, and then offers up a small glass vial and stopper. "Should use this. You dunno if that black stuff can eat through leather or not. Since it is not exactly eating through the stone at a prodigious rate... I think glass is safer." Acedia belches at length. "Good mead though! Thanks!"

GAME: Acedia casts Detect Magic. Caster Level: 3 DC: 12
GAME: Acedia rolls will: (20)+4: 24 (CRITICAL SUCCESS)

Acedia stares at the rock a bit longer, and begins muttering words under her breath, and then gestures at the rock. "Ow!", she exclaims, and covers her eyes. "Well, that is definitely the most magic thing I've cast a spell at..."

The skin emptied, Lysa says, "Thank you Acedia." And she steps over, crouching down to try to scoop some of the gunk up on her dagger blade to deposit within the skin.

GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+11: (6)+11: 17

Suddenly there's a distinct sucking noise as the ooze pours itself out of the crack. It suddenly towers in the sewer. Way larger than it has any right to be. It lurches out at Lysa who reached out to gather some of its body onto her dagger. It fails to grab her up, but it certainly just tried.

GAME: Gregor rolls 1d20+7: (20)+7: 27
GAME: Gregor rolls 1d8+3: (6)+3: 9

Gregor makes a face as he sees what we're up against. But that's why he's here, so bracing his shield, he whacks at the slime with his flail.

GAME: Braelnoir rolls weapon3-1: (20)+5+-1: 24 (THREAT)
GAME: Braelnoir rolls 2d4+6: (7)+6: 13

Braelnoir's eyebrow quirks upward as the slime forms, and, being perhaps overtrained, brings her scythe to hand and crosses the blob at a diagonal so as not to hit her allies. And there there was two. Grrr, "KOR's SOPPING WAKE!!!"

GAME: Gregor rolls 1d20+7: (6)+7: 13
GAME: Gregor rolls 1d8+3: (1)+3: 4

Gregor takes another swing, scoring a glancing blow against the slime, creating a small amount of splatter as the flail connects. He's not sure what good it's doing."

GAME: Acedia casts Summon Instrument. Caster Level: 3 DC: 12

The Gobbo backs away as the creature appears, and mutters as the thing is split into twain... and becomes two slime-like creatures. "Oh great, that's just fantastic. Anyone got any fire?", Acedia wonders. "Hey diddle diddle, bring me my FIDDLE!", she says above the din of battle, and snapping her fingers. A bright flash later, and she bears a small violin, which she puts to her chin and begins to play. "Once they start followin' me, try not to hit them."

"I do!" Noir returns, bemused at the results of her beloved scythe. She pulls a small ampoule from her bandolier and shifts her stance to something more wary, weaving a bit and keeping the volatile hand turned away from the nasties.

GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+11: (3)+11: 14
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+11: (2)+11: 13

The... thing lashes out at Lysa again, squelching forward to chase after her.

GAME: Gregor rolls 1d20+7: (9)+7: 16
GAME: Gregor rolls 1d8+3: (3)+3: 6

Gregor winds up with his flail, and smacks one of the slime things. There is yuck. It's hard to tell how much use it is.

"Alright you slimes, listen up!" What follows is a watershed in slapstick comedy, but is wasted because the slimes' field of fucks to give is barren. "I have no idea why this isn't working..."

GAME: Braelnoir rolls ranged: (4)+4: 8
GAME: Braelnoir rolls 1d6: (1): 1

Shaking her head at the mess's downward spiral, Braelnoir shouts, "Cover up, gonna be hot!" and she overhands the ampoule at one of the slimes. Woof!

GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+11: (1)+11: 12 (EPIC FAIL)
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+11: (8)+11: 19

"Anyone got a weapon I can use that does not have a blade?" asks Lysa as she just stands there, surrounded by Oozes. "Please?" She even holds a hand out.

The oozes menace Lysa, but her armor keeps them at bay.

GAME: Gregor rolls 1d20+7: (17)+7: 24
GAME: Gregor rolls 1d8+3: (7)+3: 10

Gregor keeps on fighting furiously, slamming his flail into the slime over and over. There is slattery goodness.

GAME: Acedia rolls 1d20-4: (5)+-4: 1

The music stops with a rather discordant tone. "No.", the Gobbo says to Lysa, "I only have stabby and shooty things." She suddenly stares at the violin, and takes a violent swing at one of the slimes. Wooshing past it. "Gimme a second."

GAME: Braelnoir rolls weapon1-1: (5)+5+-1: 9

Braelnoir blinks as the woman comes out of the flashover with her eyebrows and moves to back her up a little more martially. The scythe falls from her fingers as she defrogs her warhammer. As she twists to jab a spikey punch into the slime, the other hand holds the hammer her way with a, "Here!"

GAME: Braelnoir rolls 1d4+5: (2)+5: 7
GAME: Lysa rolls melee: (10)+8: 18
GAME: Lysa rolls 1d8+10: (6)+10: 16

Ever heard of those strongman hammer games at carnivals with a bell at the top of the pole? Well, that bell just rang. Lysa's hand closed about the grip of the warhammer, and she smiled to Braelnoir. "You are being having my thanks." She says before turning and gripping the hammer with both hands. She brings it down, and grunts with the effort of putting her entire body's weight into the swing... she smashes it into the ooze and there's ooze EVERYWHERE.

GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d4: (4): 4
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+11: (8)+11: 19

There's only one of these fel things left, but it still can't grasp ahold of Lysa in any meaningful way.

GAME: Gregor rolls 1d20+7: (12)+7: 19
GAME: Gregor rolls 1d8+3: (5)+3: 8

Gregor sees the first one down, takes a swing at the other. He gives the flail a whirl and smacks it a glancing blow.

GAME: Acedia rolls ranged: (2)+7: 9
GAME: Acedia rolls 1d8: (2): 2
GAME: Braelnoir rolls weapon1-1: (8)+5+-1: 12
GAME: Braelnoir rolls 1d4+5: (4)+5: 9

The Gobbo squeaks at the messy explosion the slime makes when it gets thwacked by Lysa, and she covers part of her face. "GAAAAH! My eye!" She reaches for the 'spitter at her side and pulls it free of the holster, and begins to fan the hammer, a bright gout of fire erupting from the business end of the weapon.

GAME: Lysa rolls melee: (17)+8: 25
GAME: Lysa rolls 1d8+10: (2)+10: 12
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+11: (1)+11: 12 (EPIC FAIL)

Well, that was unexpected. Noir gets doused in caustic foulness, prompting a yelp of pain, before the merc grins at the woman, "Sure thing, sugar. Whoop-!" She jukes away from a failed lunge by the other slime and gives a chuckling, "Kor's ire, girl, it wants you -bad-" and with that she drives her fist into the slime once more.

The lumbering ooze thing leans over Lysa, then falls on top of her with all the grace of a wave of water. Exploding. Everywhere.

GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d4: (2): 2

"Nice weapon. It is being having good balance." offers Lysa as she reaches into her haversack and pulls out a cloth before she starts to clean the hammer. THEN she will return it to the other woman, "Now. That thing came out of that stone." she remarks as she calls upon the power of Daeus to summon healing energy to her hands... but then inclines her head and changes her mind, "Be being gathering close." she suggests before she sends the healing energy outward in a burst.

Acedia will simply stumble forward and lean against the Paladin's leg. "I can help with this if you need.", she says to Lysa. "Yeah... it came out of that stone, and split into two. Stings like hell."

GAME: Lysa rolls 1d6: (3): 3
GAME: Lysa rolls 1d6: (3): 3

Smiling down to Acedia, Lysa shakes her head, "Save your healing magic. This can be being healing everyone at once. Yours will be being necessary when someone is in desperate need of avoiding death." she offers the Gobbo, "You did great there though." That said, she finishes cleaning the warhamer and hands it over to Noir. No sense handing an ooze covered weapon back. "I think..." she says, "That there are being plenty of samples for us to take to Zeke."

Not in a position to ward away the splash, Noir hisses pain through her teeth, and takes a breath before shaking slime off her gauntlet. With the hammer returning her way, she grins a, "Thanks, love. Best weapon I ever bought." She shivers under the healing waves, and so reinvigorated, fairly skips over to reclaim her scythe.

-End