Caves & Caverns
From Aput's journal
Year of the Eagle
 
Ophiuchus, 2 Scorpius: We returned to our camp near the waterfall, calling our explorations of the caverns deep into the mountain to an end for the day. Zik was severely injured during our delve, so we felt that returning to camp would be for the best. What transpired that led to this event? Read on & find out…
***
It occurs to me that now might be a time to ‘introduce’ our band of explorers. Its size ebbs & flows, as with the tides, but I’ll try to describe us, for later readers of this journal. Best to start with me.
          Aput – a middle-aged Esquimaux man from the frozen tundra. Trained as a skinner of beasts, but learning the ways of ice magics gleaned from Ythaqqa’s whispers on the winds pushed him to explore far from the lands of ice & snow.
          Hebear Eobrakra – another tundra Esquimaux, a hunter. He has hidden knowledge of the natural world & is a mighty foe in combat.
          Hallr Oddison – A Viking youth armed with eldritch powers & battle skills. He claims he’s a warlock & has several followers serving him.
          Tonrar – a young Esquimaux man from the Esquimaux Bay who was lost at sea during a hunt until he was rescued by a merchant ship from a wandering iceberg. He melds the light touch of a thief with icy magics. He’s also mastered a strange gauntlet that shoots fire beams to great effect.
          Zotis Pontos – an Atlantean youth. He’s either the worst kind of scoundrel or the best, a scoundrel who believes his activities are sanctioned by his god.  A follower of Rel who knows the ways of turning aside the undead. He also knows a thing or two about traps as well.
          Yullock – the Skeleton Smasher – a lizardfolk shaman with powers over both the living & the dead. He swings a mighty blade as well.
          Yoxly & Zik – a pair of lizardfolk fighters. They’re battle-capable but quiet beyond that.
***
   We’d paused to consider our options in the room where we discovered the Viking explorer’s remains – should we press on toward the North, head South to fight the fire beetles or circumvent them to explore the southern caverns beyond the beetles’ lair? We headed South (r) & tried to slip past the beetles but ended up dispatching them after all. They proved no match for our blades & while I worked to harvest their glowing glands (for later alchemical use), Zotis chose to hang back to examine the scroll we’d discovered on the Viking while he provided our crew with a rear guard, relieving Hebear so that he could shift toward the front as we wandered.
   The passage sloped down & our senses were assailed with a stench that combined rotten flesh with the miasma you'd find in a swamp. According to Zotis he'd heard squelching sounds further along this passage when he checked earlier in our exploration. In the middle of the cavern beyond we discovered a heap of fleshy husks, like something shed & left behind. As we moved along to search in the next chamber the source of the husks attacked us, materializing from within the walls. A mucus-dripping mess of maggoty monstrosities manifested in our midst mumbled misunderstood mouthings, & mauled with their massive mandibles. Though the toxic ichor dripping from their mandibles was somewhat acidic, we escaped with minor injuries. I’ve added an image above.
   In the chamber beyond lay a nest full of eggs – nearly 3 dozen – yellow with white spots & covered in goo. While they weren’t especially flammable, judicious coating them with lamp oil made them burn that much quicker. I hate to comment, but the smell of the burning eggs, while horrible, was somewhat better than what assailed our nostrils earlier. We also discovered a cache of amber stones (12) & a finely crafted charm of two snakes twined around a staff. Hebear has a similar charm & says that it protects him from all manner of diseases, either magical or mundane.
   A warband of worm-men attacked from the upper tunnels while we explored the lower caverns, but thrown rocks proved ineffective against us, leaving most of their band dying while a sole survivor fled back to the northern caves. We gave chase through the winding passages & eventually moved into a wide cavern whose floor sloped down from the Southeast to the Northwest – luminescent blue fungi covered the walls & most of the floor. A strong saurian smell came from the far exit. Many worm-men attacked us as we crossed the room. I had the feeling that we’d moved deep into their territory, as they fought with the desperation of creatures defending their home. Several of our crew took heavy wounds & Zik fell when struck in the head by a well-thrown rock. Even so, the worm-men fought to the bitter end & all perished – even the squirming mass of malformed worm-spawn we discovered in the next hall.
   Over time they’d amassed a collection of ancient coins, mixed gold & electrum (1900 gold, 400 electrum) stamped with either Constantine II’s profile (or maybe Constantine I ?) on one side & an eagle on the reverse & half a dozen gem-studded bracelets cast in silver. We collected them all in our magic crate (along with Zik) & trekked up the long winding staircase to our camp.

   We have a few places remaining that we haven’t fully explored yet – a walled-off area in the worm-men’s territory could prove interesting – we need excavating tools for that task.