Episode 1: A Helping Hand

Haesh finds that the tunnel to the west descends deeper underground. The rock is worn smooth and there is a small trickle of water that drips from the ceiling and slowly begins to form a tiny stream down into the depths.

Parallel administers a healing potion to Tordek, and the dwarf's eyes flutter open. When he hears the plan to sweep the tunnels for others, Tordek looks to the unconscious humans and says, "Can't leave these people behind. Why don't you all go ahead and I'll get these folk back to the village?"

Tordek nods. "They're all unconscious, anyway. Kinda hard for me to carry 'em all out, and I ain't no pack mule," he says with a wink. Then his tone turns serious. "Good luck."

Haesh and Rhodrick find that the sloping tunnel immediately to the west is too steep to traverse without some form of assistance. It does not seem like this passage sees much foot traffic.

Heading back to the intersection where you first met the tentacled creatures, you proceed westward. You find a side chamber filled with smelly rags and straw bedding, perhaps another sleeping area for the grimlocks. There is a section of cave that seems chiseled out to make a rudimentary storage site where you find piles of large bones and sharp rocks, plus coils of vine and sinew. Your torchlight glints off metal somewhere within the piles.

A small and thin tunnel leads westward, and there is a gentle slope up and beyond.

It is difficult to tell what it is at first, but Naozar wisely uses a tool to push away the sharp rocks to avoid getting himself cut. He reveals a chain shirt that lies seemingly as a rag to hold the other supplies; its metal shines in the light, despite the unwashed and soiled bones that laid upon it.

Underneath the chain shirt is a small shortsword stuck in a warped wooden scabbard. The hilt looks pristine.

The chain shirt certainly seems pristine and well-made.

Rhodrick does not see nor hear anything that catches his attention.