Dungeon Master Forum

Westian had never heard about the practice of shouting at screamers, partly because he was not fully sure what screamers were. He was almost certain that the tree-like thing they had seen in Soorec's room was one, but he did not want to risk looking stupid.

Not sure whether the half-orc was right or not he simply made a very faint nod of the head, and a non-committal but vaguely positive noise.

Westian looked as if they never taught him how to give a good War Cry at school. Surely he wasn't brought up with all books, meditation and hit the unbelievers over the head lessons. He was quite proud of his taunting and intimidating techniques and felt the orcs had taught him well there. Still, the cleric seemed pretty pleased with his new staff, and had quite an austere aura about him as he wielded it.

He sniffed and checked over to Ameena. He had assumed that she didn't have enough time to check the room fully with her nose to the ground, but at least they had acquired a new toy, or was it two? "You were the right choice to get the stuff. I've never seen anything move between broken planks so quickly. Your arrival was perfect timing, well done."

Haynuus concentrated then on what was ahead.

OOC - Sounds like that staff might be of interest to Ameena, were she to find out it has a "nature" feel to it - that being her general location of origin. Plus, should she ever attempt/manage to use any magic, it would be Priesty spells she'd use - those murafu who can use magic tend to use it for healing and little else (not necessarily because they can't, but because they don't want to or don't consider trying anything else). Of course, a staff that's longer than she is might be a bit tricky to handle so would only be useful when she's standing still. That's if she even ever gets to using it.

BIC - Ameena watches Westian as he begins to explore the feel of the staff, waving it around and so forth. She perks up her ears and gives the murafu equivalent of a pleased smile at Haynuus's words.
"Thanks." she says, with a happy little whisker-twitch.
As Haynuus then directs his attention to the grak-grak-crafted hole in the wall, Ameena turns to Westian. She remains upright but takes a step toward the hole, to demonstrate to the grak-gaks that she's moving on as well. Meanwhile she speaks to Westian.
"So, does it do anything, then?" she asks politely. "The stick, I mean. It certainly smells of magic. Can you tell if it has magic inside it?"

The staff is lightweight compared to its size, not something she really noticed when handling it, but partially explains the ease of getting it through the door.


As the party spoke, the grak-graks moved with purpose. The torchlight ebbed and flowed around the craggy crack in the rock they found themselves in. While it was never uncomfortably, there was a feeling that the rock around them was pressing in top and sides. The fact there were loose stones underfoot or floor-level jutting areas made the going unpleasant. The two grak-graks blocked too much sight infront, and since Ameena chose to stay in the main body of the party it wasn't clear where the party were going. However, it became clear that there was something unusual the grak-graks were leading them towards.

The air smelled of mold and musk, but there was also some very strange refreshing tang below all that. More importantly, was the very strange wide and low roaring sound. Only as the air become wetter, and the sounds of droplets were heard clearer and cleaer, could the party begin to suspect what they were coming towards.

All of a sudden, the two grak-graks parted. This indicated that there was a sudden space up ahead that allowed them to part. A relief from the cramped tunnel of rock. Their parting also allowed the strange light up ahead to suddenly be revealed in all its glory.

As the party emerged into the cavern opening, a wonderous sight presented itself. A huge cavern exploded into view. It soared above the party's head meaning it at least cleared the dungeon level above them, and dove downwards to a watery end at least a dungeon level below them too. There seemed to be a set of paths or ledges on the outer wall at this level, and the hint that there were perhaps caves or openings scattered around above and below the party roughly in line with - presumably - the dungeon levels this cavern must intersect with. The cavern was only a few hundred feet wide, but stretched across a watery void for many hundreds of feet. Far ahead of them, where the cavern finally curved back on itself to some form of ending, was the source of the noise. A waterfall shimmered and skipped along the far wall, glittering with an internal light that cast radiant spiked illumination and created strange shadows back towards the party.

The grak-graks, for the moment, seemed to pause - one either side of the party - as if assumign they needed a moment to take it in. Or, more worryingly, perhaps they needed to wait for something to happen.



So there we go, happy new area for you all. Ever wonder where the water went after level 9? Now you know...you are literally off the map right now, and into a secret 'little' area that must have existed even during the original DM dungeon I tried to get you a nice visual for the area, but the results are...well, let's just say, I'm not expecting you to click on the link if you do not want to be disappointed http://www.dmjump.net/waterfall.htm (and http://www.dmjump.net/waterfallsound.wav aswell if you don't use IE)

At the moment you are in no danger of being pushed into the water (and funny story, if you had messed up with Soorec, that is exactly what he would have ordered the grak-graks to do. Just so you know!) So yeah, let me know what your characters do - look left, look right, look up, look down, look at the waterfall, look at the rocks close to you, look behind you, try to figure out the source of the smells, try to figure out the source of the light, or somethign else.

Roll some dice, ask some questions, take in the sights, and once you guys have a feel for the area, I'll see if I can't do somethign obnoxious too you

OOC - Since Ameena started speaking to Westian before they actually went through the crack, I'll wait for his response before I make another post, to give him time to have done so before they get to the waterfall chamber .

Westian was glad that Haynuus had not quizzed him further and ran the risk of exposing the large gaps in his knowledge.

As they walked on he chatted with Ameena. "Well it certainly is magical. I cannot tell much more than that, other than the fact that I can feel myself drawing more mana - magical energy - from the world when I hold it. It could be a good point to start if you ever wanted to try to tap your mana reserves."

"Also I would guess that it is linked to some sort of nature domain. The wood still looks fresh and vibrant, despite being in this dungeon for some time. That shine is not varnish, it is the true shine coming off the wood."

As they reached the cavern Westian's eyes opened in wonder. He was not expecting this in such a dark dungeon. At the same time he felt very exposed - with his armour on his mobility was highly reduced, and coming so close to a large drop was rather scary. The thought of falling into the water while so encumbered was not a pleasant one.

He gingerly edged closer to the ledge. He scanned the current level they were on, looking to see if there was any exit from the path other than the waterfall at the end.

Ameena listens with interest as Westian explains his discoveries about the stick. She recalls that races such as his tend to use the word "nature" to describe things outside of their own settlements - that is, places with trees and grass and streams and rocks...generally the kinds of places the Murafu have always called home.
"So you mean...it feels sort of like...like the outside world?" she asks with a vague sense of awe. "It seems so long since I was out there..."
She falls silent for a few moments as they walk along the rocky tunnel, then continues.
"I don't normally mind being underground...well, as long as there's some way out. But this place is...different, somehow, to places I've been before. It has a different...feel to it. Probably from all the creatures and things down here, and...and people like the umm...mages and others we've met. But if that stick is actually from outside...if it feels like it's from outside..."
She trails off, wondering whether she'll be able to feel the same things as Westian, feel as though she can regain some kind of contact with the realms she's been unable to return to for what feels like such a long time now. But she supposes that requires magic. She wonders how people tell whether they have magic inside them - murafu usually discover theirs by accident when trying to help someone who's been injured in some way.
Meanwhile the noise they've been heading toward has been steadily growing louder. Ameena can definitely smell water in the air now, and the rumbling noise vaguely reminds her of places she's been. Places with lots of water, all moving around a lot. Maybe it's some kind of underground river.
Since her exchange with Westian seems to be done for now, she drops back to all-fours in order to move more quickly and easily along the tunnel. When the tunnel suddenly widens out into a gargantuan cavern with a very visible waterfall at the far end and what looks like a drop-off not too far ahead, Ameena freezes in place for a moment in order to take it all in, then scampers over to the edge and sticks her head over it, first looking down at the water below and then moving her head around to take in everything else that can currently be seen.
"Ooooooohhh..." she says quietly, but with a tone of barely-suppressed excitement.

OOC - Lol hmm yes, Perception might be a good idea, mightn't it, lol...weird how I suddenly managed to forget that, despite (I think) generally rolling what I'm supposed to roll most of the time. So anyway...Perception roll = 24 (14+10) .

OOC - Hehe yeah, for now it's kind of an "Oooooh, big new pretty place!!!". Were Ameena to be kicked up the arse right now, she'd go right over the edge - she's standing with her head out over the drop, looking around excitedly that way rats do when they find an interesting thing you don't want them to jump off .

As Ameena explains at how different she feels this place is, Haynuus agrees to every word. Normally when beholden to such a wonderful sight, Haynuus would strip off and leap into the water. Things here were very much more different, and the half-orc's childish nature was somewhat tainted by this place. He approached the water and with care edged to it's side. There were so many horrible things that inhabited this place he had to give the edge of the water and what was in it a good looking over. (1d20+2=8) All he wanted was a drink of sweet, sweet water to quench his thirst. The beautiful sheen on the water caused by dancing light was truly an attractive sight to the half-orc's mind. This was nature at it's finest, and thus far it seemed untainted by what was within Mount Anaias. Or was it?

Westian caution was well placed, as he tried small movements he was sudden'y very conscious of how restricted each movement was, and how heavy each of his limbs were. Even though the armour was finely crafted, there were simply things it was designed to do well, and things it was not designed for at all. Aiding floatation, and even manouvering around any tricky areas here, were not of prime concern.

Looking around, the cleric tried to orient himself to where he had left. The left hand curving wall seemed shallower in its parabola, and it seemed intuitively that much of its length probably remained close to the normal dungeon until the rapid curve to the waterfall many hundreds of feet away. Although the illumination fro mthe distant waterwall was not as good as full torchlight, Westian's elven eyes drank in the sights as if he were standing in the day. He could see that the oddly artificial ledge that ran to the left was broken in places, though it was as least five feet wide even there, so hopefully not too dangerous to traverse. No, the worse was that not too far away a miniature cascade flowed from the level above, hitting the pathway on this level strangly and continuing down. Surely, that area would be trcherously slippery.

However, Westian was certain he could see the occasional dark recess in the walls alone this left side. Surely one of those was the destination? If not, the right hand pathway that disappeared into gloom, then back to brightness closer to the main waterfall, was much larger. It seemed to be liek a natural cliff, and it rose higher and lower as it meandered. The right hand path seemed safe enough, if the waterfall at the end was the destination. However, the right hand path also seemed much, much longer. And Westian would swear he occasionally caught movement there that had nothign to do with light and shadows playing with each other.

Westian's checking of the surroundings came to a halt when he heard the hiss of the grak-graks. They did not seem to be warning him from getting too close (after all, Ameena and Haynuus were darting ahead too), though it was hard to tell with those otherwise silent horrors. Westian noted that the grak-grak to his left was infact looking down towards something close to the cascade on the level below.

Ameena got right to the edge, and looked down and around apparently eagerly. The strange 'voices' Ameena had heard earlier when the roaring had been dull were now somethign that could not be distinguished - if they had existed at all - in the general cacophany of the falls and the echoes. The unpleasant smell of mold seemed to come from several crops of small fungus clinging to the walls, all roots and little green caps. Some memory of Ameena's stirred, and she knew there were the smaller stages of the Screamer plants that Haynuus had been eating earlier. They could cling to anything, grow quite large, and then finally move under their own roots, and more importantly drop down on the unwary.

However, the smell of mold could not overpower the fresh smell of water, and more importantly the fungus could not strange all life. Here and there dotted on the walls down were little colourful red flowers - Snapdragons, some humans called them - and they were growing strong and proudly. The scent of them was faint, but was a pleasant odour that reached into Ameena's nostrils from time to time.

Perhaps drawn by the flowers, Ameena could spot in the distance along the right hand wall down by the water's edge a clump of red and yellow flowers. They were stunted, but seemed to grow well. They the yellow of the flower moved, and Ameena realised that the yellow was, infact, a small wasp. Then the distances of the cavern resolved themselves, and Ameena realised that it was infact a giant wasp. The thing disappeared from view in the level below, though Ameena could swear she heard the buzz. All this was then interrupted when the grak-graks made a hissing noise. Ameena also caught some form of movement, and looking left realised perhaps the source of the concern. Emerging from a wet area on the left and on the level below were some blue figures. Quite wbroad and bulky blue figures, peppered with green over them. She recognised them well enough - these were Trolins.

Haynuus looked downwards, perhaps with good reason to be nervous. Although he, at least, only possessed a half-falling off breastplate easily discardable. He could probably swim quite well if it came to it, with his broad arms. As long as he employed the time-honoured technique of not thinking about what was happening, he would be fine.

With sadness Haynuus looked at the water a level below, too far from simply reach. He could perhaps dive down, but there was no indication that the water didn't contain something foul. Or, of course, the water could be a foot deep and he could break his legs. The water, at least, seemed calm, so he doubted their were rocks down there in the shallows. However, the water - especially after being dazzled by the waterfalls' illumination - seemed very, very black. And sadly, Anaias made Haynuus assume the worst of the dark liquid. Still, there was hope. The twinkling lights on the black surface was like a bright star filled sky, as if Haynuus were looking up instead of down, and as if they stars were close enough to touch instead of so far away.

"Up there. Fire and noise" said a voice in crude orcish. Haynuus blinked, as if the voices in his head were finally starting. Then with relief, he realised he had entirely failed to look further around, and had not spotted the Trolins far down below until they had started to speak. And apparently, they had started to speak because they had spotted at the very least Haynuus, his bobbing head, and his giant flaming torch!


And so there we do - with some more descriptions, some signs of life, and - oh yes, Trolins under you guys and off to the side - I shall leave you all for the weekend. Unless you cna all post over the weekend If Westian can post a good perception roll (I rolled a middling 16 for him) there might be one tiny bit of info he can get.

Anyway, have a good weekend all!

Ameena looks around, taking in all she can see and smell from her new vantage point.
"Flowers!" she exclaims happily, upon seeing the small red growths. "I can't remember the last time I saw plants! I mean, actual plants. Growing ones. Not umm...big long sticks that used to be part of a plant at some point and then got chopped off and had magic put inside them. And..."
At this point she pauses, peering more closely in the direction of the flowers.
"Hey...that's a big insect." she says, still addressing no-one in particular. "One of those with a big sting. I mean, it looks like ones I've seen. I think...didn't we meet some of those big ones at some point? I don't think we should be going near them..."
Then she continues to look around, in case there's anything else worth spotting. Down below and off to the left she notices a number of blue creatures. These she immediately recognised.
"Hmm, some of those blue, troll-creatures we've met before." she comments. "I mean, I seem to recall we've met them on several occasions - I recognise them, but I don't recall ever meeting them outside this underground place, so I suppose we must have met them down here. I think they were trying to bash our heads in with large pieces of wood..."

OOC - Hmm...an apparent choice between Giant Wasps, Blue Trolls, or a load of water? You say we're off the map, but having just thought of that connection somehow I only partially believe you now .
I don't think it would be a good idea to go swimming right now, chaps .

OOC - Woohoo . Recommend we go left .

Haynuus cursed. "Trolins" he hissed. His torch that he was holding, had become a beacon to attract the evil that inhabited the cavern (OOC - And nice description Beo, btw.). Ameena had fortunately noticed a giant wasp in the other direction, it had become twisted and gargantuan inhabiting this place. Were it not for her he would have headed immediately away from the Trolin's into yet another danger. "And Ameena, you've just spotted some hideous wasp in the other direction." He looked to the others for some kind of consensus. Perhaps it was unnecessary, as they needed to follow the grak-grak's anyway. The murafu indicated left, but he had no strong preference for now.

He still had that tightness in the stomach from being poisoned, and it made him feel yet more nervous for it. "Which way grak-grak fiends?" he asked.

It was then he noticed the proto-screamers clinging to the wall. While he waited for the undead to reply he sidled on over with fascination and suddenly became somewhat absorbed by these things. What if... What if you could harvest these things? Farm them? A simple half-orc like him would be set for life. He was exactly the sort of person that could become a shepherd, an apiarist or a screamerist. For all the gold and gems that were strewn around this place, to come out with a trade or a means to make a decent living excited Haynuus even more. He rooted for their source, their roots, seeds, any indication as to how the propagated. (1d20+2=19). All danger had been forgotten for just a few moments, and the contents of his backpack was filled with damp and mushy materials.

This, Haynuus decided, could be what changed his fortunes from a brute and mercenary hire to someone with a reasonable and almost respectable trade!

A quick update for Haynuus's rolls, I guess Ameena's info doens't need expanded upon. And Lol, Haynuus now has ickle screamers in waiting in his bag, congrats

Haynuus's floating memory seemed to recollect things, and he also noted a little more. Yummy screamers tended to choke up his nose when they attacked, because their 'screaming' wasn't their weapon of choice. They could make little gashes painfully with their roots, but mainly they spat out invisible spore clouds at you that irriated skin and bunged up noses and mouths. Haynuus seemed to recall this was a bad thing, and that those spores spouted best best in living things (plant or animal). Otherwise, they seemed to flourish where you'd expect any fungus to grow. Another interesting thing he recalled, something he'd seen somewhere (but when?) was that those giant strange Oitu things actually harvested screamers. They seemed to eat them to thicken up their natural mucus to build structures, and would then leave some of the trace spores (that for some reason their own body neutralised) in victims or on plants to create new crops to harvest. Nature was a strange thing.

Of course, none of this helped avoiding Trolins, but would be very useful for his farming career. Perhaps if he could capture an Oitu or two, and harvest some of these red snapdragons, he could get a bumper crop of Screamers!


Haynuus's farm would be both a beuatiful miracle of nature, and one of the most dangerous places on earth once he also captures some couatyls to fend of the foxes.

OOC - Lol suddenly I'm somehow reminded vaguely of Hagrid...

The warning from the grak-graks, and confirmation from Ameena and Haynuus, was enough to alert even the distracted Westian to the presence of the Trolins. And distracted really summed up his current state of mind as he took in the heights, the pool of water and the wet stone.

"Ah, Trolins. I imagine if we get off this cavern we should be able to avoid them." In truth he wanted to get out of this cavern regardless. He gulped nervously as he saw Ameena and Haynuus venture horribly close to the edge. "Please be careful! This does not look like a safe place. Maybe we should just move on as soon as possible. Yes, I think it would be best if we went through whatever exit we need to take. We don't want those Trolins finding us. Or those wasps you mentioned Ameena. They could fly up here if they see us. Come on guides, lead the way. Everyone walk quickly but be very careful with your steps" he babbled nervously.

Perception was an uninspiring 2 + 6 = 8

Oitu.... He rolled the word around on his tongue... What I need is a pet Oitu he thought. One with a couple of broken legs, make him more... Manageable. So as somebody once told him that just as you can't grow cows without herding the grass, these things probably appeared with a bit of help from the Oitu and in turn return the favour by defecating or spewing the spores later. Haynuus never knew what a symbiotic or mutualistic relationship was but he understood that you can't generally have one without the other. He stared at the mush and miniature screamers shoved in the folds of his tarpaulin and thought for just a moment that he could read his own future as if it were a teabag.

The guttural goinking of a trolin woke him up from his deep thinking (which as it was Haynuus was not very profound at all) and he tied off the top of the tarpaulin into a makeshift sack. With that and his backpack hoisted over his shoulder he said.

"So on the way back, Mister Westian, you can help me catch one of these Oitu. Consider it my payment." The priest would probably have thought that some kind of mental meteorite had just struck his head, coming out with a statement like that at a time like this.

Once again the half-orc had surprised Westian, and once again all he could do was stare in confusion for a few seconds while his brain tried to process the random information he was getting.

"You want...an Oitu." He had processed that much. But this created a question of its own, namely: what is an Oitu? Did they even exist, or had Haynuus simply dreamed them up while they had been walking?

"Umm...okay. We will see what we can do. I don't know how easy Oitus are to find. But we will see." He was still staring wide-eyed at the half-orc as he finished speaking.

It wasn't until it was too late that Westian realised that the grak-graks were focused on the trolins, not the route onwards. The grak-grak to the right moved across in a deliberate stalk, fixated on the creatures below. That distracted Westian from seeign that the closest grak-grak to the Trolin had expanded a little, and turned blue. The hideous grak-grak had become merely a disgusting Trolin, a twin of one of the creature below.

Haynuus had failed to pass on what the Trolins below had said - that the group had been spotted. One of the Trolins flicked an arm, and on the stone just below Haynuus's feet, a small projectile took a chip out of the rock. The second one took a moment to scream out something else - to Haynuus it sounded like 'what is that???' - and then very obviously drew his arm back and then threw it forward. It appeared that this Trolin had carried two weapons - probably some form of battle clubs. It now appeared that the Trolin had thrown one of these. It was hard to know who the Trolin had aimed at, for the club got close to the group, hovered in the air for a moment, and then dropped downwards without ever reaching the party. The black water below did not spash noticeably when the club hit the water, it just seemed to swallow the club. Certainly, a cursory glance could not see the thrown item float to the surface.

Westian urged the creatures to be guides, but the grak-graks seemed to have other plans. The Trolin look-alike moved swiftly along the ledge to the left, certainly, and as it got into line with the start of the cavern floor below, it simply jumped.

The two Trolins looks in shock as a copy of the club thrower roared abiove their heads, rushing towards their general position from above. There for a very audible, echoing crack of bones as the grak-grak hit the lower cave floor. However, it was the club throwing Trolin who spat Ichor and collapsed. It was, in the context of this strange encounter, very likely dead.

The other Trolin took a step back shocked. This was not a surprise, his companion had collapsed, and the suicidal twin was now a hideous grak-grak, which lay unmoving on the floor closeby.

The other grak-grak still with the party made a hissing noise. It was already turning into the bolt-firing Trolin, as far as Trolin individuality could be established. The real Trolin looked up and down, apparently terrified and yet uncertain what to do.


Hey, you guys are in combat without knowing it! Isn't that nice Anyway, yeah, grak-graks make bad guides. I won't get you lot to roll initiative yet, because it's very possible you might stay out of it. Simply state what you want to do - wait, keep watch, look around, interceed, use this chance to ditch your guide and move of right, move off left while the Trolin below is being kept busy, or do some knitting. Not all are recommended, but most are possible

Haynuus witnessed the whole event and dared to repeat the word that every hardened warrior in this dimension feared to their very core.

"Ohhh.... Telefragged."

It didn't matter how tough you were, how many fiends you had defeated in your lifetime, all you needed was one gnome to surreptitiously step into a blue-haze teleporter directed at your position and you were nothing but dust billowing around a now smiling shortarse. Or in this case, an undead fiend with a lust for dust to jump on your head. The effects were pretty instant.

Ameena half-listens to the exchange between Westian and Haynuus as she watches the troll-creatures moving about below and off to the left. As one of the grak-graks takes on the form of one of the blue creatures, she wonders how it will use its power - knowing what grak-graks are capable of, she supposes that the other grak-grak might now bite it or hit it, or something, in order to hurt the troll-creature down below.
But no. Instead the troll-creature-grak-grak moves over and...
Ameena realises what's likely to happen just before the creature jumps. Not being particularly keen on seeing a body impact stone like that, even if it is undead (albeit masquerading as a living creature, at least for the moment), she averts her gaze and peers back down at the water for the moment. Somehow, though, the substance makes her feel slightly uneasy. Something about it...
A definite thud sound draws her attention back toward the troll-creatures. Sure enough, one of them is now lying motionless, in a similar fashion to the grak-grak now sharing their ledge. She isn't too surprised to see that the remaining troll-creature seems suddenly rather nervous and unsure of itself. She isn't feeling too good herself - the grak-graks could do that to any of her friends, or to her, at any moment, should Soorec choose to have them do so. She wonders how he tracks their progress, whether he can see what they can see. Or perhaps they have simply been told to use their powers to attack any creatures they come across.
As the other grak-grak takes on the shape of the surviving troll-creature, Ameena backs away from the edge a little, turns so that she can see both Haynuus and Westian, and stands upright. She keeps her tail positioned so that its tip is just over the edge of the ledge - this way she knows how far back it is without having to turn.
"Umm...what should we do?" she asks. "I think the grak-graks are umm...dealing with those troll-creatures. But there might be more of them - that's usually the case, isn't it? Maybe...maybe the grak-graks will both destroy themselves fighting. It looks like one of them might have already..."
She glances over to the part of the ledge that the first grak-grak jumped off, then returns her attention to her friends.
"I don't know whether it would be a good idea to go near those large insect creatures," she continues, "and I don't like the look of that water. Oh!"
This last exclamation comes as Ameena remembers something she'd been meaning to do, and now has the perfect opportunity to do so since the grak-graks are most definitely occupied. She reaches inside a pouch.
"I found this in that room." she said. "The umm...occupant was...holding it. Sort of. Well, I mean, his hand was sort of...around it. Umm...well, there wasn't much of a hand left, but still..."
She produces the small metal object, handing it up to Westian.
"If the magic stick was...well, magic, maybe this is too, somehow. Although it doesn't smell like it. But...well, maybe you know something about it? If the dead person was holding it when he...well, died, maybe it was important in some way. Or maybe he just liked it. Well, he might have even been a she. It was difficult to tell. Umm...I didn't want to show you this right after I found it, in case...he...was interested. But it looks as though we have a moment. You can hide it if they come back."
She instinctively gestures toward the nearby grak-grak to indicate who she means by "they", though she's pretty sure Westian could have figured that out.

Westian almost jumps with surprise when the shape-shifted grak-grak jumps over the ledge. He almost forgot his fear of falling as he leaned forward to see what had happened, and stared with a grim fascination at the moment of impact. He grimaced at the sickening sound of smashing bones and looked away.

"I thought I saw some movement to the right also, that might be a dangerous route. So what should we do? Wait for the fight to end, or move off? If we do move, I would vote for left...but..." Still Westian was not sure whether things would be better or worse without their guides. True, they were dangerous, evil and he would not trust a single word that fell from the hateful gnomes mouth. But without them they did not know where they were going. Perhaps they were his best link to Deephold.

He then looked at what Ameena had produced from her pouch."Thank you" he smiled as he took hold of it. At first it seemed not very impressive, but then the symbol engraved grabbed his attention.

OOC - Yeah, I realised that's what had happened with the gral-grak 20 mins after sending the post!

Haynuus was somewhat unsure as to what to do. To be fair, he'd like to push the other one off as well.

"We should wait to see what our other escort wants us to do, perhaps?" He glanced across the water, as Ameena had perceived danger there. "OK, I'm happy to go in the opposite direction to the big bug." He waved his direction the other way, the way possibly towards more Trolins. "Maybe they only want to shower us with gifts and weapons, hmm?"

He hated the Trolins, truly. But with his party he felt much more comfortable.