The plateau (DM MikeK) Saturday August 26th, 2023 9:46:17 AM
The Shields reach a compromise of sorts.
Delia, Armalad, and Bartomus get back in the boat. Hawky glides over to ensure her companion is ok.
Zanderallen, Stohp, and Stock remain underwater. The trio head off in the direction indicated by Kar-tiss, indicating their direction of movement by occasionally tugging on a line Hasan knots together so as to reach the lake bottom.
The lake bed remains silt, broken up by occasional lichen encrusted bedrock.
After about 10 minutes of swimming/movement, Zanderallen spots a low plateau rising from the sea floor. The paladin brings everyone to a halt about 150’ from the structure.
It is not all that impressive. The basalt plateau rises about 50’ above the sea floor and is roughly circular, measuring some 300’ in diameter.
With the top of the plateau still 450’ below the water’s surface, it is not visible from the longship.
Bartomus(Rod) HP: 123/123 AC 21; Glv +16 2d8+2 Slng +14 CMD 11 Melee 12/7/2;Perc+16;Heal+11 d20+16=26 ; Saturday August 26th, 2023 10:03:38 AM "Well," Bartomus started as he got comfortable with his usual form. "That was a heck of a first meeting with Kar-Tiss. Not a fan of that lizard man, not at a fan."
The taur went silent and then took a few deep breaths. For the next minute or two, Bartomus was lost to the waves and the sun as he sat silently.
Perception to get sense of where on the lake they are - 26; then Bartomus is casting his Commune with Nature spell. Link sent via email.
Bartomus(Rod) HP: 123/123 AC 21; Glv +16 2d8+2 Slng +14 CMD 11 Melee 12/7/2;Perc+16;Heal+11 Saturday August 26th, 2023 10:09:19 AM PS - Bartomus stays lost in his meditative, trance like thoughts for ten minutes.
Armalad (Hugh) HP 95/134 AC 25 / Touch 19/ Flat 18 CMD 27 Sunday August 27th, 2023 9:24:39 PM
Armalad tells Joker, "You need to stay back next time we get into a conflict with Kartiss and company. I mean good job staying back this time but I think one hit like that on you and you'd need fast healing"
Stohp (Mitch) HP: 111/111 AC: 27/15/23 CMD: 26 (+4 vs grapple,+6 disarm, trip) Monday August 28th, 2023 8:03:44 AM
Stohp will go up and let the others know what has been found and that Bart seems to be casting a spell to gather more information.
Stock (JonM) HP: 232/238; AC: 29/26/16; DR 4/-; CMD: 38; Rage: 1/41 used d20+27=35 ; d20+11=28 ; Monday August 28th, 2023 9:12:50 AM Effects: Water Breathing (hours), Heroism (50 min), Freedom of Movement (150 min), Resist Energy - Electricity (30 min); all durations -10 min
"Is that basalt? That crazy lizardman said it was...I guess it's basalt. Not really impressive though."
Stock watches Stohp head upwards and continues forward. He scans the plateau, trying to get a sense of what they were facing. =========== Is there an actual structure? or just a plateau? Perception 35 or 37 if dwarven stonecunning is of any use; Just trying to get a sense of the overall layout Knowledge Nature 28 - Does the plateau seem like a naturally formed feature of the lakebed? Is basalt a reasonably common stone in the area, especially for a lakebed?
Delia (Hannah) HP: 120/120; AC 30/18/24; CMD 41 Monday August 28th, 2023 12:41:24 PM
Delia will spend some time with her bottle of air and her rope trying to rig something to keep her hands free. Her initial thought it something like a horse's nose bag, but that seems unwieldy in practice. She settles for making a harness/carrier/loop that she attaches to her belt with enough slack that she can hold it to her mouth. That way, she can let go of it without losing it when she needs both hands.
She'll stretch, double and triple checking her bow and arrows for any ill effects of underwater use and then be ready to submerge as soon as Bart's spell is done. Just before submerging, she will cast Barkskin on herself.
Zanderallen (Zachary H) 193/200 AC: 32 T: 13 FF: 31 CMD: 33 LoH 11/14 SE 6/6 Monday August 28th, 2023 2:13:26 PM "Why are you asking if it's basalt? Can't dwarves just tell what stone is, or do you need to go bite it?" Zander grins broadly at Stock, laughing at his humor. He takes in the size of the place, thinking there could be a whole lot of tunnels inside that rock.
Mmmm, good basalt (DM MikeK) Monday August 28th, 2023 8:52:51 PM
Bartmous tries to figure out where the are. As best as he can determine, they are right about at the red dot. Fountain Location
He takes the next 10 minutes to cast a spell.
This gives the Shields time to observe and prepare. Delia and Armalad wait on the ship, diving down as Bart’s casting completes.
Stock moves forward, getting to within 60’ of the plateau wall. He can tell it is basalt, which is not out of line with the rest of the lakebed. The portion of the wall he can see appears natural, with your standard plateauy folds, cracks, and crevices.
At the end of the casting period, Bartomus knows (and probably relays) the following: You are underwater with a basalt plateau as the only terrain item of interest. A stone door sits on the north side of the plateau. The party is on the south side. There are a series of tunnels inside the plateau There are two people inside the plateau. There are plant golems inside the plateau.
Armalad (Hugh) HP 95/134 AC 25 / Touch 19/ Flat 18 CMD 27 Monday August 28th, 2023 11:16:22 PM
Armalad says when she hears Bart's news "so there are 2 people and a mess of plant golems in there? Well I guess if we want to stop that assault we need to take them out right?"
Stohp (Mitch) HP: 111/111 AC: 27/15/23 CMD: 26 (+4 vs grapple,+6 disarm, trip) Tuesday August 29th, 2023 5:02:03 AM "Well going through the front door will mean fighting our way through all their defenses. I'm guessing no one has a way for us to make our own back door?"
Stock (JonM) HP: 232/238; AC: 29/26/16; DR 4/-; CMD: 38; Rage: 1/41 used Tuesday August 29th, 2023 9:02:43 AM Effects: Water Breathing (hours), Heroism (50 min), Freedom of Movement (150 min), Resist Energy - Electricity (30 min); all durations -10 min
Stock nods at Stohp's question and says, "You know, it's at times like this that I miss some of our more magically inclined members...like Dorbin. He'd have a magical answer here.
Bart - Do you have anything for this situation? Anything that allows you to take the STONE and SHAPE it however you want?"
Assuming there are no answers, Stock leads the way in a circuit around the plateau to where the door probably is.
[i]====
Bartomus(Rod) HP: 123/123 AC 21; Glv +16 2d8+2 Slng +14 CMD 11 Melee 12/7/2;Perc+16;Heal+11 Tuesday August 29th, 2023 10:23:41 AM
When he was done with his spell, he worked to commit what he had learned to memory. He then slipped back into the form of huge water elemental
"Well, my meditations had me thinking of softening stone and we could cut the clay out." Bart looked at the dwarf. He recalled the flow of the tunneling he had gotten a sense of and gave some thought as to where he could try such a thing. "Such an approach could flood a tunnel or two, signaling where we are coming from, but worth the thought."
"Delia, if the breathing gets a challenge, I can also recast the spell to allow you to breathe without the bottle."
Delia (Hannah) HP: 120/120; AC 30/18/24; CMD 41 Tuesday August 29th, 2023 11:56:02 AM
Delia would shrug in response to Bart, "It'd be better to save it for if someone else's gets dispelled too."
She's excited about the prospect of fighting constructs. She's studied them. Knows what their normal weak spots are.
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