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Ameena is relieved to see the green petal-dancer - she had almsot forgotten the little creature in the tense "negotiations" with the reptile-creatures and in dealing with the grak-grak. At Haynuus's apparent request that Deephold make more potions, she look up at him and puts her head to one side, wincing slightly as she remembers she could do with drinking the other potion she carries - somehow drinking the first one didn't seem to help her a great deal. It must be the strange magic here, she supposes, messing things around.
"I think we'd better wait before anyone tries any more magic." she suggests. "I think it might not be a very good idea to try it here."
So saying, she starts to move off, limping slightly as the painlessness of fear ebbs and her body reminds her it really could do with a nice rest some time pretty soon.

Petal flies down to the group, relieved tahta everyone is unharmed. She watches the odd animals fuss over each other on the opposite bank for a second and smiles to herself. Perhaps they werent chaos-corrputed after all. Perhaps they were just odd beings she has never heard of.

"Go we should, now, before happens anything else. To leave this magic tainted area, a good idea, it is." ahe says to everyone as she gathers up her rope the party was using and again winds it around herself as a harness. As she works, she notices the green butterfly flitting around Ameena's head.

"Your friend, a place it wants us to go?" she asks the murafu. "Regardless, out of here we should go. Now."

The aorceress again rubs the odd crystals seemingly stuck to her. They werent embedded in her flesh, but seemingly stuck to her skin. No amount of scratching or rubbing would remove them, however.
"And these things, to get them off, of me i would like a way to find how." she says in annoyance as she glares at the glittering things. "My magic, afraid I am, they will affect."

"So you feel okay Petal? Perhaps one of Mister Deephold special IronBru Potions(*) could help? It's a VI potion plus some special Dwarvern ingredients." He could remember cleaning coins in a few of the dwarvern beverages he'd consumed once. 20 Minutes of the coins soaking in his drink and his money came out shiny and new again! He assumed at the time that it must have really beneficial effects for his stomach, but by the morning after he wasn't so sure!

(*) A joke for the DM.

Ameena looks up at Petal.
"The sparkles are pretty." she says. "But I suppose they may not be a good thing. Well, maybe they'll...fall off, or something, as we move from this area. Or maybe they'll just fade with time. At least they don't seem to be harming you - I mean...I know what it's like to have someone else put bad magic in you and...make you do things...but...these don't seem like that. Maybe it'll be alright as long as you don't try to use any magic. At least not till we're out of this place of strange magic."
She turns and continues to move onward, slowly, keeping her senses alert for anything more which might be worth noting. Such as more of those creatures.

OOC - Can't remember when I last rolled a general Perception check, so here's another one in case the last one has run out...27 (16+11).

Ameena created a germ of an idea in Haynuus's head... Maybe we could ask Deephold to use his hammer on Petal! If it worked on the evil stone in Ameena... He looks over to the somewhat crestfallen pixies and it's then the circlet suggests to him not even to mouth his idea to the rest.

Deephold had nodded silently and distracted about creating potions once out of the area. Whether his agreement was focused on the healing or the getting out wasn't certain, although he was not fully paying attention to the wounds of the party. He looks up at Ameena's words though. "Agreed, this place is a reminder of the corruption of Chaos. The quicker we leave it, the better we shall be for it." He at least shot Petal a sympathetic look at her sparkling decor as the group commented upon it.

The group continue onwards, thankfully deprived of Haynuus's idea on curing Petal's condition. They settle back in to the routine of moving, with Ameena leading the way confidently. Now that the horrible smell of the grak-grak was dissipating, and now that the strongest smell of the swan-lizard things was behind her, she could tell much better what was ahead of them without having to keep so focused on the group. Perhaps she was just getting used to the scents.

However, the scent of swan-creatures was still ahead. And oddly, she found as they walked forwards she could not pin-point it. Also, as she moved forwrads, there seemed to be a fresh scent. Not a new scent, just a scent of freshness in the air.

The mystery of both was solved soonafter when they came to a small split in the river. A tiny delta - no bigger than a ten foot triange - had formed, with a small channel cutting across their path and going diagonally backwards into the rock face of the wall, making some pleasant music as the water's passage echoed around the low ceiling. The main river - and the bank - seemed to continue just across. The gap was no wider than ten feet, perhaps jumpable. The water was clear enough to see the bottom, and it looked no worse than knee high to a normal human. Perhaps a little faster flowing than the main river.

The swan-creature smell was diffused for a very good reason. Another of these creatures - with a neck taller, if that was possible, than the ones previously seen - was drifting across the central river. It made for the river's split. It eyed the group suspiciously, its long neck lifting up to be eye level with them. It gave a hiss and a hoot like an owl as it passed, and its neck twisted to keep them in view. However, it drifted along the new channel, and at the last minute lowered its head to enter the rock face.

Just on the edge of sight, on the opposite bank of the main river, another group of swan creatures could be seen. Two or three seemed to be sitting on the bank itself. Three more were in the water. Not floating on it, but actually in the water so their bodies we all but submerged. They held their necks out high in the air, shaking their heads back and forth while looking to the ceiling. Once in a while, one would call out for no reason. At other times, one would suddenly dive their head int othe river, so their body became a green, scaly lump. After more moments than it should be possible for an air-breathing creature to stay submerged, the head would come back out. After shaking itself dry, the creature would go back to standing tall, head back, shaking.

For the moment, none of this group of creatures seem to care about the group as they advanced forwards.

The green butterfly happily flew across the small channel, dancing on the other side and awaiting the party, apparently.


Wow, gone over my lunch time! Oops Anyway, leave it there. You have a minor inconvenience to deal with in the new little channel, and you've also got some interesting fauna to worry about or happily ignore. Technically you could explore the channel's direction, or the immediate area too, of course.

Edited: Too many banks!

Ameena's natural curiosity finally finds another outlet as the group arrives at the small water-junction. She sniffs around interestedly at anything nearby, and watches the reptile-creatures with fascination. The reaction of the one that swims past them seems to be one of, perhaps, wary curiosity. And the group of creatures don't seem to have noticed them yet. Ameena wonders whether she could pick up their body language and vocal sounds enough to be able to communicate with them some day. They don't seem anything like rats or their kin, but still...she has had some luck at communicating with some of the creatures in this subterranean realm...
The behaviour of these ones reminds her of birds she's seen, ones which float on water and dive beneath it occasionally to grab...whatever kind of food it is they eat. She's never found out for sure because they always seem to swim away from approaching murafu, probably because they don't want to be disturbed or are just wary of furry creatures larger than they are. Well, she supposes, she can't blame them, considering the kind of creatures she knows to hunt them.
She wonders whether these strange reptile-creatures have any predators. These ones here seem happy enough, just going about their business. And none of them are on the same bank the group is following, so hopefully there won't be any problem. Of course, it may turn out that these creatures are aggressive, and that the pair the group has left behind only allowed Ameena and her friends to pass because the two of them placed a higher priority on each other's attentions.
She looks around and up at the group, standing upright so as to better speak to them, and voices some of her thoughts.
"I hope that these creatures won't try to attack us if we go past." she says. "It might be that those other ones didn't because they were too busy with each other, but...well, I suppose we'd best still be careful. I think if we just try to move quickly and go past, maybe they won't get too angry with us. There are more of them than us, so I think we should probably not try to fight them if they seem aggressive..."
This last part is aimed mainly at Haynuus and, to a slightly lesser extent, Deephold - she knows that the two of them seem to like hitting things that seem to want to hit them, but she also knows that such tactics can have disastrous results, and many a misunderstanding, injury, or worse.
"I'll go first, if you like." she says. "The water's not deep here - I could jump or just swim across it..."

Is the area we are in now still tainted by Chaos? EDIT: redid post so now it makes sense with where everything is. I had just woke when I wrote the 1st one.


Petal warily watches the swan creatures across the river. They dont seem interested in the party, instead doing an odd looking-up dance-thing.

"If quiet we are,by them we can go, I think. Move silently we should, and since over here we are attention they should pay not to us." the pixie says quietly.

"Yes, we should follow the way of the butterfly..." Haynuus paused for a moment. Wasn't the Way of the Butterfly an eastern fighting style practised by unarmed monks? He looks across the water to the swannies on the other bank. "We'll just follow you Ameena. What could possibly go wrong?" And with that he would be practising his don't look at me walk, trying to make his frame as unintimidating as possible. The water itself looked okay... But he had a good look first! (1d20+2=18)

OOC - Yeah, the critters are on the opposite bank of the river - what we're hving to cross is a small tributary which comes out of the wall to our left and joins the main waterway. Does my latest Perception roll also buy me an appraisal of the water? Does it look like anything dodgy might happen if I try swimming across the smaller stream?

OOC - Ahh, so the smaller stream branches off from the larger river, rather than joining it as a tributary. Okay, just got a bit confused there, lol.

BIC - Having now dropped back onto all-fours, Ameena peers into the stream, watching the movement of the water and sniffing at it. Then she looks across to the nearby bank, wondering whether she can jump it without her tail accidentally trailing down into it when she lands. Well, she supposes, that will depend on how well she manages to jump it. But really, for a rattish creature such as herself, a little hop across a gap should be no problem. At least, it isn't usually - she isn't normally injured and surrounded by what she'd probably describe as "unnuatural" magic.
Still, she won't find out if she doesn't try.
She looks down into the water one more time, then backs away slightly, preparing herself for the run-up which should hopefully allow her to jump further. After a few moments, flexing her legs to make sure she can move them all without causing herself too much pain (fortunately what little the health potion did seems to have taken the worst edge off her injuries), she darts forward and attempts to clear the stream in one long leap.

OOC - Athletics roll = 12 (3+9). Oops, wish Jump used Acrobatics instead, lol. Oh well, maybe the water isn't too bad. In the probbaly-quite-unlikely event that Ameena makes it to the far side, assume she moves over enough to allow others to try jumping if they wish, though I suppose that might be difficult fo those in armour, and of course Petal doesn't need to bother . Actually, if Ameena fails the jump and doesn't get eaten by the water or whatever, here is a Swim roll...33 (17+16)...damn, see, why can't that have been my Jump roll, lol. Anyway, assuming no bad joojoo in the water, and assuming the jump was bad enough that Ameena doesn't clear the gap (takes off badly due to injury or slippery/unstable surface, doesn't quite catch the far side as it's further than she thought, or whatever), she'll get to the far side by swimming instead and pull herself out as long as she bank permits it (ie it's not too steep/high, etc).

Ameena's nosing around shows a few strange little shapes buried deep in to the mud of the small delat just at the split of the river. Some parts seem to be hard slivers of something, not rock and not grass. And not some chaos-fused mixture. The are about rhe size of her fingernail at best, and remind her of such material, aside from being opaque. There is a slight curve to them, and they smell of the swan-creatures. Are these shedscales? Are they shed claws? Perhaps its even the fragments of egg-shell, if such creatures come from eggs.

The only other consistent thing are strange round balls, about the same size as the other fragments she found. They seemed like pourous stones, except much lighter. There was a honeycomb structure to them. They smelled of the muck, and faintly of rock, but were otherwise a strange quirk.

The delta, saturated as it was with water, seemed to be immune to the strange cross-contamination Chaos's magic evoked. Still, the ground was soft, there was no reason to risk standing around it, and so Ameena took upt the task of making the running jump across the channel. The ground around the channel was loose and sloped, but the run up helped, and Ameena mostly made it across. She scrambled a little on the other side, and her tail flicked in to the water. Other than a slight coldshiver from its temperature, and the twinge from her injured back, Ameena seemed to suffer no ill effects.

Haynuus looked deep in to the water, moving his head back and forth at the insistance of the circlet. He started making out the bottom well enough, apparently there was not enough much at the bottom to dirty the flow. There seemed to be many smoothed rocks, and patches of green weed waving in the direction of the current.

Not heeding the water as Ameena had, Deephold gingerly placed his toes into the water, waggling them around. He shivered, but otherwise seemed to enjoy himself. "Keep hold of the rope," said Deephold, and he slowly pushed himself in to the channel. He then waded across slowly, stopping half way to look around.

"Seems ok," he said.


Lol, and hopefully much to everyone's surprise, I'll leave it there with nothing bad happening! Ameena, feel to retcon a little more investigation, or she can always pocket some samples.

Otherwise, do you guys just cross, or are you still paranoiad about such an innocent seeming interruption to your journey?

OOC - Oh, I had assumed I'd found everything that needed to be fond in my "investigate the area" Perception check that happened when they arrived. Oh well...from the description it sounds a bit like eggs and pooh or something, and anyway I think Ameena probably wouldn't want to disturb stuff that's lying around here in case it riles the local critters or has some weird nasty Chaos effect to it (or both). I'll leave her as she is, on the opposite bank of the little stream waiting to see what the others do.

OOC - Ah well, when I asked about whether my Perception roll let me check out the water, I thought you might mention it then, since she was sort of looking at both the water and what was nearby...especially her nose being as close to the ground as it is, I thought she might have noticed that stuff . Oh well...she would have left it as-is anyway .

After watching the dwarf patter through the water it was Haynuus's turn. His superior goblin-soled sandals were once more an advantage to the terrain. Some adventurers liked sturdy boots but when they got wet, they stayed wet. And Haynuus also noted that when some hapless soul got an axe embedded in his boot, it was murder to take it off again. So he happily splashed through the water, with a dwarf-on-a-rope[*] in front of him. The cold water was bracing yet enlivening.

He would then attempt to scramble up the other side of the bank, behind Ameena and Deephold. "Sshh! We shouldn't start shouting and waving our arms around now." and points to the wildlife close by.

[*] Don't you just hate it when you find a hair on your soap?... Or even a beard.

Ameena looks across in mild amusement at the creatures as Haynuus needlessly points them out.
"I know." she says, looking up at him with whiskers twitching. "Let's move on as quickly as we can, but without making too much noise or attracting attention to ourselves."

OOC - You can assume Ameena does just that, once Petal has caught up too, unless anything else happens which might cause her to...well, to not move on quietly .

Petal winces at Ameena's abortive attempt at jumping across the rive, afraid of what might be lurking within the water. But, just as she is about to fly out over the river to aid the murafu, Ameena clambers to the far bank, just a little cold and wet for her efforts. Once Ameena is safely across, the pixie turns her attention to the odd things the murafu was nosing on the bank of the river.

"See you these?" she calls to the party. "They are what?" Taking her dagger, the pixie expirimentally pokes lightly at one. She also searches her memory for what the things could be. Was it an eggshell? Perception, Knowledge arc (1d20+5=21, 1d20+8=19)

Ameena notes Petal's movements, and goes over to see what it is the pixie is indicating.
"I'm not sure we should touch them." she says, casting a wary eye in the direction of the creatures. "They might be eggs. Or they might just be...whatever you call...you know, I think it has something to do with eating...but afterwards, when you get this feeling like you're a bit full up inside, and...umm...dispose of...little brown things..."
She trails off, knowing that many creatures seem to find talking about such things distasteful, and also that different species have many different names for the little brown pellets they expel from their rear ends every now and then. Well, not all species discharge it in the form of pellets as hers does, but it's all the same kind of substance, really. Some species even eat it afterwards.
She warily watches Petal's dagger - if any of these things are eggs, poking them is probably a very bad idea, and not just because it might anger the ones who laid them...

By the way Ian, I forgot to say all the way back - loved the Irn Bru reference

Deephold regretfully continued to the other bank, finding it a struggle in his armour and with his reduced stature. Mostly the wet and slippery mud was the thing not helping, of course. Still, with a very hands-on half-orc behind him, the problems of the dwarf were solved as easily as the dwarf himself was propelled up the opposing bank. Famed dwarf stability saw him remain upright.

After that splashing, and Haynuus's own splashing as he emerged, it was perhaps redundant for Ameena to suggest quiet movement. Indeed, two of the standing creatures, and one of the sitting creatures, both looked across at the noise. There was a moment of silence, and then the two water bound creatures went back to their strange head shaking activities. Only the sitting creature continued to give the lazy to the group.

Ameena's advice was probably still very sound. Perhaps more so than before.

Meanwhile, of course, Petal had to wait for the disturbance to die down to try and ask her own questions at the other side of the channel. Of course, even before Ameena begins to give her own thoughts and concenrs, Petal herself had already started her investigations.

The hard and sharp items indeed seemed like eggshells, that was certain. However, they were certainly the remnants of old eggs and nothign recent. They were brittle enough when poked to break apart. Recalling the chaos-twisted area the children would have probably been born in to, and recalling the impervious scales of the parents, Petal regarded the shells closely. They did have a strange translucent surface to them, and there was an odd quiet when she tried to listen to their song, as if they were somehow being held lower down than they actually were.

She had heard of some strange ingredients being used in potions and pastes. Eggshells of certain creatures were favoured for the benficial properties they sometimes contained, that the powers of magic could leech out. Petal felt certain that with some time, and the ability to grind them down, thee shells could help make something that might be magic resistant. At least, it was a theory that felt right, somehow, as if she were half-recalling an old piece of schooling.

Meanwhile, the round nuggets were softer, and fibrous to her dagger point. Certainly they seemed very...organic. Once more, Ameena could be very right about that. Compared to many spoor Petal had observed in the forest, these items were quite benign. If the pellets were really waste, then they seemed very neutral in scent and texture. They raised the question of what the creatures actually ate to produce such droppings. Still, it seemed more likely that whatever it was was plant-like not meaty!


Yeah, Ameena basically called it. I'll add that to the list. Still, that doens't mean they are without merit... after all, Haynuus might be able to use prize swam-crap for his screamers Ok, ok, and anti-magic potions might be good too later on. Petal can feel free to grab and secret a handful of either.

There you go - the channel was apparently really just a benign little occurence. Now, you can imagine if you'd been on the other bank, and disturbed the swan-things, and tried to fall back to the other bank, the channel - with the swan-things abilitiy to quickly swim down it and therefore surround you guys - might have suddenly becoome less benign.

Anyway, you chose to push ahead on this bank, so it's all good Is everyone ready to move on?


Edit: Oh, double posted with Ameena. Ok, will make a couple of changes to reflect Ameena's advice. Ok, I'm lazy, maybe I'll barely make any, since Raixel's rolls were good enough to work all that out anyway!

Petal nods at Ameena, not seemingly disgusted or offended by the discussion of the fact that living creatures take shits. She points to the "organic" substance. "Yes, krat this does appear to be. Perhaps the creatures it is from. A nesting site, this is, thinks I."

As the group moves across the water, Petal quietly scoops up some of the eggshells, while leaving the stuff that appears to be monster crap. She moves carefully, while keeping a close eye on the creatures across the bank. If they appear to take offense to her messing with the shells, she will put them back down and move away from the area. But if the creatures dont care, she will pick up the shells and put them in her satchel for study and potential use later.

After picking up the shells, Petal follows the group, hovering a foot or two above and to the right of whoever is in the middle of the party.

Since everyone else seems ready to move on, Ameena does so, moving ahead and casting about with all senses in the usual manner. She hopes the nearby creatures won't mind the party getting closer to them in the course of moving past their area of the opposite bank, but figures that the group can always just move on faster and quickly get out of the way. She makes sure she keeps alert for any sign that there may be more ahead on this bank, so that the group will have time to cross to the opposite bank, or something, before coming upon them. Unless there are even more of the creatures ahead, covering both banks. Then there might be a problem. But Ameena fervently hopes not - she doesn't want to fight with these creatures, but nor does she think certain members of the group will be willing to simply backtrack and climb back up the rope.

OOC - Yeah, you guessed it - Perception check for general Sensory Awareness of Everything - 16 (5+11).

Out half-orc is generally finding the back of Deephold's neck fascinating and attempts to make no noise or aggressive movement whatsoever. His concentration in the task, to follow Deephold and not give these swanny things a you look'in at me? confrontation, was 100%.

OOC - Shortest Post! Ever!

OOC - Bugger, not any more now that you include the OOC stuff.

Lol, well it was certainly the shortest ever time in a post that a player managed to contradict themself. Woohoo!


The group moved onwards, as quickly and quietly as they can. Once more they have fallen in line to the arrangement with Ameena in front. Haynuus's determination to walk slowly and concentrate on Deephold's neck allows him to notice that the dwarf is being incredibly quiet, simply looking to his unadorned feet and ground infront. He does not seem to notice or remark on Petal hovering close, acting a strange bodyguard.

Meanwhile, the creatures do not move in the direction of the party. One of the swan-lizard things walks back up on to the opposite bank to sit down. It is apparently a ponderous affair accompanied by much splashing and rocking. The creature looking at the party, and another sitting on the bank move over and then decide to enter the water themselves. However, neither pay the group any more attention, both starting to enter in to the strange ritual of presumeably feeding themselves.

One of the original water-bound creatures does turn around, watching the party walk off in between dredging a new area of the river just up from its fellows. The head shaking and staring seem an ominous farewell, but a farewell nonetheless.


Ameena finds that her senses are possibly being overwhelmed by the area. The scent of the creatures - while around - lessens as they move onwards. Similarly, the various mixed scents of the rocks and grass and plantlife is less and less offensive to her nose, which feels numb.

It is perhaps up to Petal to spot that the pressure in her mind, that she has been pushing again, is lessening. Slowly Petal realises the mana feels less harsh. She still does not trust it yet, but it feels as if they are getting close to the edge of the blasted area. Perhaps around the next twist or turn of the river, Chaos's pollution might finally relent.

Haynuus has a brief distraction looking to the walls of the place. There appear to be tiny spores - like screamers, but more mushroom-like and therefore boring - hanging from the wall in one patch. They were dark grey, and it was unknown whether they were rock thinkign they were plant, or plant thinking they were rock. The green butterfly briefly chooses to land on one, and it instantly dissolved in to grey dust. Not dust like spore dust, but just a downward fall like wet dirt.

With Haynuus at the back with the torch, it is up to Haynuus to perhaps spot best what is up ahead. To Ameena, the way forwards smells more 'planty' than it has in some time, although more like a compost heap - dead and decaying plants combined with healthy growth. To Petal, her sharp Sylvian eyes spotted that the way ahead did indeed seem to curve around - the river leaning left, widening the at the same time, and yet some obstruction ahead blocking half the bank so they had about the same space to move around.

To Haynuus though, the black and white profile of the obstruction up ahead - combined with the whispering of his circlet - suggested only one thing. A burial mound. Like those holding some old king on a hill.


And there we'll stop. You guys are almost out of the Chaos place, and infact almost there in terms of 'aimless' wandering (just to let you guys know metagame wise things are going to pick up again).

Just one last little point of interest on the way. Do you want to ignore it and skirt around it, or do you want to stop by it and explore it? Ameena's perception roll just buys you the information it smells like both living and dead plants.

OOC - Well if it just looks like a low hill/mound to those unfamiliar with the concept of burying the dead in such a way, Ameena won't give it any more attention than the rest of the area .

Haynuus points to the mound and says "Somebody dead probably died in there."

The thing with his circlet (gained a +2 intelligence for him) was that sometimes Haynuus spoke, before he thought.