Alice emerges from the tent, rested but cold, even after donning all her clothes. She scratches her head seeing that Ashley has not returned.
I don't like this! Where could she have gone for so long? Back to Phandalin?
Alice looks for the whistle among Ashley's stuff, remembering Ashley had it last, then follows Cat outside to look for signs of that Mecha-Panther or its even more troublesome human form.
You know I had my issues with Ashley, but I won't accept her just taking the easy way out to heaven. Plus demigods - like demons - are all crazy. Even Ashley had more commonsese then that mecha-goddess. We gotta get the real Ashley back, Cat!



Alice proceeds to inspect the cave. She collects the net, ball bearings and caltrops. Then she scoops the acidic treasure into a miner's helmet and washes it in the bucket of water on the other platform and investigates what was there inside the ooze.

With Cat's help she makes an inventory of all stuff that is lying around in the cave. She re-dresses in another miner's overall, with helmet, boots and gloves.
Don't want to get my wofl cloak dirty in here, or my warm boots dissolved further!

Whether Ashley is back or not, she gets the Thieves tools from her backpack and has a re-match with the treasure chest.
Watch out, Cat! It already got me once. If it acts up again just smash it with your crowbar!

Finally Alice taks another look at the explosive component A.
What about it, Cat? Do you think we can set up a camp fire outside and cook this stuff to a poison goo? We gotta be careful about the wind and fumes. If we mix it with the binding agent, it should be easier to get some sticky stuff to coat arrows. Perhaps in a water bath. We don't want it to ignite.
I'm not sure about the acid. It might be useful but where do we put it? All we have is an empty potion bottle from the one Yulya used on me, bless her! We could make just enough for that, unless we find other containers. We left our glass vials on the cart.

Unless Cat objects, Alice carefully begins to boil down component A for arrow poison and adds binder until it's sticky enough to coat poison. A container is needed as there are no more glass vials.

Cat looks around, her ears rotating in all directions
Nyaa isn't it odd Nya? Since we arrived Nya we heard nothing from down there Nya! Even if the mine is deep Nya, how deep does it have to be for no sound to come up here Nya? And the bandit who escaped Nya? Where did he go Nya?

Small Bugbear Pouch has two agates worth 10gp each.
Large Bugbear Pouch has 146 silver, 14 copper
The Bugbear Commander Pouch has 13 electrum pieces, and 15 copper.
[Electrum is worth 1/2x gold so 13 ep equivalent is 65 silver, it was common currency many ages ago, probably looted from old corpses deep in the mine.][/color]

Cat is disappointed by their gear but at least they carry something of value
Nyahaha no equipment Nya but money Nya! At least something Nya!

Cat inspects the shelves South of W5 one more time and brings Ashley's shield to the platform.

What about the chest Alice Nya?

You can deduce that the 40-foot long, roughly 6x6 square wood lined tunnel (W3) is a clean and ore-dust free method of ingress and egress from the bedrooms. Passing the dead and desiccated goblin at the entrance, you note that its skull is different than the one in the ooze. Checking it reveals that under its dusty rags it's wearing a vest in new condition, which is odd at first glance but further investigation shows it's a:
Vest of Protection +1 AC/Saving throws 1lb, New, 500gp

Cat is baffled by the goblin's equipment
Nyaa who would have thought Nya I wonder how old this is Nya! Didn't save him in the end Nya. You better wear this Alice Nya!

Remnants of old wood and iron indicate the entrance was sealed at some point and for what looks like a very long time, this wood is much older than the relatively new palisades and other wooden platforms. A door is leaned against the wall, in scribed on it in Dwarvish, Halfing and common writing, "The way is sealed, [undecipherable] far too powerful to [indecipherable] Watcher [splintered] too great. Abandon your hopes and dreams if you dare to enter." The phrase seems to have colloquial meaning but it is lost on you in the common translation.

Cat clumsily reads out in Common what she can understand to Alice though half of it consists of Nyas in various pitches.
Nyaa we better ask Yulya Nya what that means Nya I'm not good at reading Nya let alone this ancient stuff Nya! But weird nobody said anything about this Nya! Not Sildar Nya Gundren's brothers Nya, Master Edermath Nya or the bandits Nya! Maybe that watcher thing Nya was there a long time ago Nya?

It's cloudy outside, and there is a stiff Southerly wind, it's biting cold, -10C, and the wind chill is even worse, even with your current gear, it's too cold to travel far. Cat easily sees large prints in the snow and then a large swath of blood trailing over the wall and up onto the southern platform where the remains of a bear cub lay open to the elements with a light frost on them, not quite frozen solid. There's about 20lbs if meat left on it, all the organs save the intestines have been removed as well as the eyes, muzzle and ears. The hide is cut with surgical precision in the jagged shape of metallic razor sharp teeth. Following a few drops of blood you find the large metallic beast that is {Ashley} Panther curled up under the southern platform, motionless but curled around a strange dark violet crystal that reflects no light, about a hand's length, it glows and sparkles faintly from some unknown inner light. Though it's freezing outside, there is no snow or frost within a foot of her, and she's warm.

Cat is relieved to find the Mechatherial Panther apparently unharmed but still is bewildered and shakes her head.
Nyaah why is she sleeping outside in the cold here Nya? I get she's part of a machine Nya but that's wasting energy for heating Nya! We could have used that warmth at the platform Nya!



Cat does not dare to touch her prey or crystal.
Let's not disturb her sleep Nya! The meat is well preserved in the cold Nya I hope she can explain later Nya! Maybe Nya...

Cat tries to lock the gate or barricade it in a way it cannot be opened from outside.

What about it, Cat? Do you think we can set up a camp fire outside and cook this stuff to a poison goo? We gotta be careful about the wind and fumes. If we mix it with the binding agent, it should be easier to get some sticky stuff to coat arrows. Perhaps in a water bath. We don't want it to ignite.
I'm not sure about the acid. It might be useful but where do we put it? All we have is an empty potion bottle from the one Yulya used on me, bless her! We could make just enough for that, unless we find other containers. We left our glass vials on the cart.

Cat's tail sways back and forth while she Nyas to herself.
Nya Nya, you're the alchemist here Nya!
If you decide it's reasonable Nya we'll do it Nya!

Cat checks the wind for a place to set up a fire so the wind does not carry fumes into the cave or to Ashley Panther. She looks at the large metallic structure in the NW corner. Alice Nya is that a furnace Nya? Maybe we use this Nya? It has a chimney that would protect us from the smoke Nya!

If suitable, Cat sets up a fire in there.
We still need a suitable cooking vessle Nya! Not my precious pot Nya!
[The poison cooking pot is on the cart in Phandalin]

Cat looks around, her ears rotating in all directions
Nyaa isn't it odd Nya? Since we arrived Nya we heard nothing from down there Nya! Even if the mine is deep Nya, how deep does it have to be for no sound to come up here Nya? And the bandit who escaped Nya? Where did he go Nya?

Alice shrugs.
Well, I hope whoever's down there is dead already - or soon. We should just wait for a month before we go down. Oh wait, there's that missing girls, right? Not sure I want to know what they're doing with them down there, if they haven't fed them to the monsters up here...

Alice and Cat search the level again, looking for anything of value.

Like Cat, Alice notes the bugbear money with certain satisfaction.
Ah well, at least they weren't completely useless. I wonder what a bugbear does with money anyway.

Alice takes a look at the agates
Pretty but no different from quartz. I'm sure we can sell this as jewellery.

Alice deposits the 2 agates in the lolibank and withdraws (spits out) 2gp instead to make room, handing them to Cat.
You take the rest! I'm not confident of storing this electrum stuff. Might get corroded!

With dismay Alice notices Cat setting aside 2 gold 53 silver, 5 copper for Ashley and placing them neatly in her coin purse among her clothes.
I still think dead people shouldn't get any money! What's next, letting them vote?

Alice fishes out the ore chunks and coins from the ooze, there are 8 gold, several high quality ores and a bandit brooch among human remains.

Alice lets out a laugh concluding the ooze got one bandit
Haa, too bad we couldn't become friends, Mr. Ooze! Hey Cat, you think this was the guy who escaped us?

Looking through the objects, Alice misses several items she had seen after the ooze's defeat
Hey wait a minute!
Wasn't there a hand-axe and some rings? What happened to them? Let's look again!

In the North bedroom the chest still sits unopened, mocking your pathetic attempt to open it.
Alice finds the whistle and tools... and then finds herself several feet away, walking toward Cat. Confused and disoriented she thinks about the chest again and realizes she doesn't have the tools. She vaguely remembers looking for the whistle but can't find that on her person either. Turning 180, she marches back toward Ashley's pack... and then finds herself several feet away, walking toward Cat, once again confused and disoriented.

Alice shakes her head and slaps her cheeks
What's the matter with me? Am I going senile? I rested! What's with this pathetic body?
No wait, It's her! She probably did this before but this time it was too obvious! Well at least I hope it's her and not...

Alice follows Cat outside to look for signs of that Mecha-Panther or its even more troublesome human form. Again she realizes she has neither tools nor whistle on her.

You can deduce that the 40-foot long, roughly 6x6 square wood lined tunnel (W3) is a clean and ore-dust free method of ingress and egress from the bedrooms.

We should set up a trap here in case we get visitors! Can you make traps, Cat? I'd usually use my Artificial Trees so I have no idea.

Passing the dead and desiccated goblin at the entrance, you note that its skull is different than the one in the ooze. Checking it reveals that under its dusty rags it's wearing a vest in new condition, which is odd at first glance but further investigation shows it's a:
Vest of Protection +1 AC/Saving throws 1lb, New, 500gp

Like Cat, Alice is surprised by the seemingly new vest on a mummified corpse. Without hesitation Alice takes it from the goblin, undresses and dons it under her Miner's overall. With gentle Phagocytosis, the vest is clean, soft and fresh.
Hey not bad!
I'm not fond of wearing clothes in general but this seems helpful! Nice find, Cat!

Remnants of old wood and iron indicate the entrance was sealed at some point and for what looks like a very long time, this wood is much older than the relatively new palisades and other wooden platforms. A door is leaned against the wall, in scribed on it in Dwarvish, Halfing and common writing, "The way is sealed, [undecipherable] far too powerful to [indecipherable] Watcher [splintered] too great. Abandon your hopes and dreams if you dare to enter." The phrase seems to have colloquial meaning but it is lost on you in the common translation.

Cat clumsily reads out in Common what she can understand to Alice though half of it consists of Nyas in various pitches.
Nyaa we better ask Yulya Nya what that means Nya I'm not good at reading Nya let alone this ancient stuff Nya! But weird nobody said anything about this Nya! Not Sildar Nya Gundren's brothers Nya, Master Edermath Nya or the bandits Nya! Maybe that watcher thing Nya was there a long time ago Nya?

Alice can barely follow Cat's translation but it does not sound good. She mutters to herself:
I just hope it was some Greater Demon and not an artifact from them. That would be - troublesome.
I guess you're right. Nobody said anything but then again this falls into a pattern, remember? Nobody said there was a dragon on the High Road. Or a goblin den - a goblin den full off wolves neat Triboar Trail. Or a mine full of bugbears, trolls and a bandit supervilliain organization trying to take over the world. So I wouldn't bet anything on that. Let's just hope whatever's down there is currently doing the dirty work for us and diminishing the guys down there.

It's cloudy outside, and there is a stiff Southerly wind, it's biting cold, -10C, and the wind chill is even worse, even with your current gear, it's too cold to travel far.
Alice immediately turns back and gets Alric's cloak that was stored in the barrel.

Quote from: Joy on Yesterday at 09:15:45 pm

Cat easily sees large prints in the snow and then a large swath of blood trailing over the wall and up onto the southern platform where the remains of a bear cub lay open to the elements with a light frost on them, not quite frozen solid. There's about 20lbs if meat left on it, all the organs save the intestines have been removed as well as the eyes, muzzle and ears. The hide is cut with surgical precision.

Even a monster like Alice is creeped out
Whoa! Was that...
I've seen them do this to cattle!

Quote from: Joy on Yesterday at 09:15:45 pm

Following a few drops of blood you find the large metallic beast that is {Ashley} Panther curled up under the southern platform, motionless but curled around a strange dark violet crystal that reflects no light, about a hand's length, it glows and sparkles faintly from some unknown inner light. Though it's freezing outside, there is no snow or frost within a foot of her, and she's warm.[/i]

Alice is visibly relieved it's Ashley and not cow-mutilating aliens.
Ohh, it's you!
Are you crazy? Cat is right, it's fuckin cold out here! I know you think you're some goddess but this body is not!
Also what's with this crystal? We should show it to Yulya and...

Alice spots something on the palisade walkway South of the gate
...owo what's this, looks interesting!

Alice climbs the ladder to see what the round spiked object up there could be. She's disappointed to find it's just a broken gate mechanism
Oh man, I hoped it was a morningstar or something...

Quote from: Cat on Today at 06:27:07 am

Cat checks the wind for a place to set up a fire so the wind does not carry fumes into the cave or to Ashley Panther. She looks at the large metallic structure in the NW corner. Alice Nya is that a furnace Nya? Maybe we use this Nya? It has a chimney that would protect us from the smoke Nya!

Alice inspects the furnace and shakes her head. No idea how this works but we can't cook in there. We gotta find another  well sheltered spot - like that old fireplace over there- and a pot and a container for the poison! Let's go inside to look!

Quote from: Cat on Today at 06:27:07 am

What about the chest Alice Nya?

Alice again holds her head, unable to comprehend why she had forgotten about it.
Oh yeah, before we start cooking out here I want to deal with that goddamn chest!
Cat, can you get the Thieve's tools from Ashley's backpack and also the whistle? And check on Yulya! We don't want her to get eaten by some monster sneaking by!

Alice observes Cat from a distance to see what happens as she tries to obtain the thieves tools and whistle.