Her smile says it all, her expression joyous but incredulous. And when he asks his last question, she just nods, as she doesn't trust herself to speak. It was more than she hoped for, more than she ever believed might be possible.
She squeezes his hand gently, liking the feel of her hand in his.
"You'd do that for me?"
It is almost a whisper, almost as if she cannot believe what she has heard.
DM Ten minutes pass quickly as some tend to their wounds and others tend to their hearts. A different kind of magic is in the air.
But there is work to do and a mission to complete. The map below shows all the posible ways the party could go next. To make our lives easier, let's try to agree on a number.
"Of course, Jaliera... I don't want things to end too." He feels a connection to her that he can not adequately describe in words, and simply returns a big admiring smile to her.
Seeing Bern stand up, he will get up to his feet, helping Jaliera up too, and suggests to all, "When I was a spider I did not realize how well I could see in the dark. I could lead the way safely along the ceiling without lights giving away our position."
The only problem with his plan though is how to communicate back to everyone as a spider. He pauses for a moment and adds, "If I spin a thread of web back to someone to hold, I can do a series of tugs on it to signal you."
He should keep the number of tugs and meanings as simple as possible, but he will wait to see if everyone will agree with his idea first.
That Davroar wants to continue their relationship brings her joy. She feels a deep glow inside as she takes Davroar's hand as they stand ready to continue not just the mission but their journey together. She feels she can face anything now.
"That's a clever idea Davroar. Maybe one tug for help when you need us and two tugs for caution as there is something ahead we should be prepared for?"
She smiles at him.
"We also need to decide which way we are going. Which ever way we choose we are going to leave unexplored paths behind. But so far we have continued to go deeper in so maybe we should continue with that? So left, right or straight on. Straight on (2) might be best."
She shrugs. She has no particular course to champion.
The cleric smiled and nodded slightly as she saw the interplay between Davroar and Jaliera but, after a moment, her hand moved instinctively to her badly scarred left cheek.
Ryssa shook her head and tried to adjust her hair to at least partially conceal the disfigurement.
She turned to Bern and then Luminmorn, eyebrows raised slightly, wondering about their evaluation of Jaliera's plan and Davroar's proposed tactics.
It's his age. He had been seated, propped against the wall, in the middle of eating a piece of quick bread, when he had unexpectedly snoozed off, blowing crumbs on his chest.
He jolts awake when his head rolls to one side. Standing up with a groan, he starts stretching, listening to conversation and inwardly wondering how long he'd slept.
What should their next step be?
"That north-east corridor, I think." He says aloud, "Did not see any ghouls flee that way."
OOC: Of course he did. Ghouls fled to all of 1, 2 and 3. It was difficult to count them in the darkness, but you're all confident that you took care of the vast majority of them.
DM The party leaves their sanctuary after a brief respite to lick their wounds. They continue in the direction that they had originally were headed with the same people holding light. They get to the intersection where the ghouls lie silent now and climb over the bodies to get into the great cavern.
As the light from the torches spills into the area, you need to decide where to go. the ghouls had fled in all directions before.
OOC: It worked well before so let's continue on with Chandan leading the party. I revealed the rest of the chamber in Roll20 and put you in the room. Where to?
"I can hold your thread, Davroar. I point, you scout, together we find our way in no time!" He says.
But Chandan can sense, or thinks he can sense, a reluctance amongst everyone to see Davroar place himself in danger. Not when the druid's romance with Jaliera is only just blossoming. It would be a cruel blow for them to lose one another now, and this quest has already claimed some fine companions.
DM The party traverses the large cavern and follows the monk's lead. He takes them up a set of steps. Some ghouls had fled this way earlier, but they also returned from that exit. They move carefully, some carrying torches to light the way.
At the far end of the cavern is a ten foot wide passageway north. It goes for about twenty feet and Chandan can see that on the other side is a room. He sees just a bit into there. OOC: It's going to be a very busy few days until after Monday. Please excuse terse or slow responses
He crouches at the end of the corridor, sniffing the air and feeling it on his beard. The wizened monk isn't too sure what he's looking for, but it's an old habit from his mountainous days.
Chandan signals to Davroar.
"It is time for Davroar the Spider, my friend." He says, "Onward."
OOC: Dugan, please move your token on Roll20. If you are changing into a spider, let me know because they have Blindsight 10 Ft and Darkvision 60 Ft. The challenge, however, is the inability to communicate with others while in spider mode. Maybe you want to work out some kind of basic signal system so that you can tell the party about the 20 beholders? <gd&r>
If he is going to change into the spider, he will want to maximize his use out of it and will need to communicate to the group. So thinking on what Jaliera said earlier he says, "Ok, I'll spin a thread of web back to you while I go. If I do a single hard tug, then come forward expecting a fight. Two quick tugs then its safe to move forward, two slow tugs then move forward but be quiet about. If the thread is cut and goes slack then I'm probably in deep trouble. I will try to avoid going too far to prevent the thread from getting caught on corners."
He also thinks that sometimes he will need to return back to the group so he adds, "And use the same tugs for me too if you need me to return. Spiders don't have ears, so I can't hear you like normal. If you do need to ask me questions use some of my chalk." He will hand out a couple of pieces, one to Jaliera, the other piece to anyone else that wants it. "I can see pretty good, so if you write questions with simple yes or no answers, I'll tug once for 'no' and twice for a 'yes', or if I'm in sight: one tap of my forward legs for 'no', two times for 'yes'. If the question is about numbers of enemies I'll tap or tug the number I spotted."
He can still hear sounds quite easily with the hairs on his legs, and sense other vibrations in the air too so if a fight or other major commotion happens nearby he shouldn't be surprised at all too much.
"Sound ok?"
If no one has anything to add, then he will shape shift into the spider and make his way up the wall and then to the ceiling.
[ooc: Neptune I moved my position on the RollD20 map for now, but will wait for others to post if they have anything else to add or have questions to Davroar for communicating ]
He nods to Davroar, as if to say Yes, someone else here definitely understood that and takes the thread, his spear ready in his other hand.
The old monk doubts that their anywhere near enemy activity, since they've gone unnoticed for so long, but there might still be apolitical, non-intelligent threats like the stirges and ghouls, lurking in these mines.
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