Chapter 2: Fell Tunnels

"Mmm, hemmorahgic fever."

Hrafe was all for getting dirty, but if it looked and smelled like a corpse pile...

"We aren't going to risk defiling ourselves in the necrotic corpse pile? Are we?"

"Yeah better to leave and give them the opportunity to escape and wreck havoc in the countryside," Edgar says with a shrug.

"Can we not simply burn everything?" Ylliane asks while holding up her tinderbox. "It would seem the most prudent thing to do. If anything moves afterwards, we will know we have more to cleanse."

"I want to make sure there's no one... living... down there who needs our help," Makasi suggests, pressing forward with the torch. "If not, yes, burning it makes sense."

You walk forward, torch lit, and find yourself in a natural cave. The tunnel is narrow and slimy, yet somehow not wet. It seems the walls are covered in some kind of mold, or worse, that only makes the smell here worse. As you progress forward, you find the source of the eating sounds you heard. Four reptilian creatures are ripping 2 dead humanoids apart and eating them. Due to the torch, the creatures suddenly pause and turn around to look at you. Blood is dripping from your mouths. They pick up very crudely made clubs and javelins and make a low, guttural noise as they begin standing up and looking at you, a snarl on each of their faces.

"These things aren't stupid. They're reacting like we'd react if someone came into our space. But... do they make this stench themselves?" Ylliane sounds incredulous.

Being by far the largest of the party, Hrafe reasoned that the saurian creatures were intelligent, even reasonable as they had not yet attacked.

He put Glaezentorg down, and reached slowly into his food pouch removing some jerky. Raised it too his mouth, took a bite, chewing methodically as he extended his hand to the nearest lizard, offering food in the mostuniversal gesture of friendship he could think of.

Edgar tenses as Hrafe puts down his weapon. He grips his dagger tightly, ready for them to pounce his companion. But he steels himself, and makes sure to not make any sudden movements despite his fear.

The creature sees that it has the texture of meat, but is darker and harder looking than expected. Hrafe, please give me a DC 15 Charisma check. You can add a background if it means Hrafe has training in de-escalation or something similar.

Hrafe being a temple acolyte had faith in the power of hospitality.

You take the opportunity to slowly walk away from the creatures as they devour the contents of Hrafe's bag. In the torchlight, you all non-verbally agree to continue deeper. You'll have to decide what to do about those things later. You walk forward and find a fork in the road. A quick glance sees one fork leads to water and the other seems to have changing in an unknown language.

A quick peek into the water area reveals that this is likely where the creatures bathe, as the water looks and smells rancid. However, you see something reflecting back. It seems there is a necklace at the bottom of the water. it seems untarnished, despite being in that water, leading you to believe it is magic. However, swimming in that water may be sickening.

Does anyone want to attempt to get the necklace? If so, I'll need a DC 18 Con check to resist the sickening water, with a background that means you have endured such filth before being allowed. On a failure, you can either swim back up and refuse to go back in, or get the necklace but you'll have -2 to all d20 rolls as you feel sick until you leave the dungeon and rest.

Hrafehad endured all manner of poisons and filthy environments as he became a renowned warrior poet. He didn't even slow as he entered confidently to retrieve the necklace.

Makasi winces as Hrafe dives into the water. "I probably could have reached it with the halberd..." she says to the others. "But guess he wanted a dip."

Hrafe manages to dive into the deep end of the pool, far beyond the reach of Makasi's weapon, and comes back up with the weapon in hand. Aside from a lingering odor that will be easy to fix with clean water, it seems untarnished. With some examination, it appears the necklace is a Necklace of Waterbreathing.You also take this time to look over the boots from earlier and determine they are Adventurer Tier Boots of Furious Charge