Hi,
You explored the rest of the shrine before leaving. The statue where Granny Greedclaws had hidden was that of Xentha; a tall, thin, humanoid granite figure; neither troll nor human nor anything else recognizable; in sweeping robes. The other intact alcove held a statue of a rotund, long-tusked female Uzuz, proudly gesturing with her right hand gesturing downward and her left hand raised above her, and bearing inscribed tattoo-like runes of Darkness, Dark Earth, Cold and Mastery. This was Halldempu, “Victor Over Water”- the Great Uz Ancestress of Hallikiv who led the trolls over the Rockwoods in the Darkness to defeat the Oslir River. In Ralios she dug out a birthing cavern and bore the first generation of the Uz for the Surface World/Hurtplace there; as ancestor to all Hallikiv trolls. She was powerful in the magics of Xentha, able to turn water black, destroy undines and drink water magics to fuel her power; as a demigod mistress of dark powers extending from the Night Sky to the upper underground world. Granny the Hag and her both fought water powers (the former using Fire and Earth; not water).
Back to the “shadowtroll” cave, Bog was distracted by his fallen foe's remains and nearly stumbled into the gaping abyss but Fraud caught him just in time. You spotted an enchanted lead mace lying amidst the bones that Bog was happy to claim (does 1d8+2 damage; all damage counts as magical; and hosts the obscure Folk Magic spell of Farflung Frostflail: when cast, the next blow of the blunt weapon blessed with it is extended as a swath of freezing, crushing darkness that can reach up to the caster's POW in metres and acts as Cold (magical) damage; it may be parried or Evaded (as per a thrown weapon; but the weapon itself is not thrown). Beings immune to cold, darkness or blunt weapons might not be harmed.) You passed through the other chambers where the coal-floors had cooled, the Xentha-blessed cavern felt more friendly, and finally the great shade Dejurruzz greeted you, feeling more itself again and ready to take on the mantle of guarding this place again for Xentha, until its worshippers returned someday; now that it knew Granny had left at least for some time. You felt good about finishing the Xentha part of the quest and climbed back down into the canyon with no more incident.
By the pool and the palm tree, you planned your ascent to the waterfall-tunnel, but two giant ticks leapt from the tree as you approached; one landed harmlessly by Boamund and was soon slain. The other clung onto Bog's back until Fraud pushed it off, and it envenomed Bog with paralytic numbing poison but he toughed it out without further harm. You climbed the submerged stairs under the waterfall at first without incident, but then Miguel had a terrible time repeatedly slipping and falling. Boamund and Fraud had walked or swam up the internal tunnel but then Fraud realized Bog faced some trouble proceeding and had to be dragged ashore; Miguel, too, had some help once he struggled into the flooded tunnel, almost having drowned. You saw a great cavern there: the left side was more expansive and had a series of ledges leading up to a higher level where a pool split the cave into two shores; and a twin waterfall descended from great heights into that pool. Down on your level, the stream proceeded from a single waterfall that descended from the pool above, and divided the cave into two shores as well; a smaller one to your right and a larger one with a great stony column to your left; an arching natural stone bridge connected the two shores. It was very pleasant to realize that Iphara's Mist did not extend into this cave complex; the waters blocked it. But Bog still had no insight into who this Nameless One was that he represented, or what he must do, except that there was Chaos here and he must smash it!
You attempted to climb ashore on the right side when three shadowy lizard-things, each with two heads and flicking immaterial tongues, leapt out of the shadows by a pile of mineralized troll skeletons. They fought hard but you defeated them. The Uzko skeletons had nothing of interest on them, so you explored the other shore via the bridge. The column there, you ascertained, was not natural: it quivered like flesh, and indeed when you hit it, sensing that it was chaotic (Bog, by now, felt that this place had been chaos-tainted), it soon fell and you all had to dive and roll to safety. More cautious now about the local rock formations, you approached the ledges and got an advance warning as a strange grey serpent lashed out of a burrow there; Boamund dispatched it in one fell swipe. You saw no more, and so climbed up to the top level. There was a huge curtain-column rising to the ceiling but it seemed more natural. The pool, though, was not, and you recognized the pungent odor as that of “chocolatl”-the Brown Vadeli had cursed this place! Bog did not understand and was intrigued, approaching the shore and its crusty-to-mushy border, when five rotting, chocolatl-caked zombie dark trolls rose from the depths, hungrily clawing for your delicious warm flesh! They were not nice, but with Fraud's iron blade and some good teamwork you cut them down and hewed them into bits to cast into the stream with the hopes of cleansing them.
You didn't like the idea of crossing the pool to the far shore, and the waterfalls looked impossible to ascend, so, spotting a tunnel back on the lower level that curved from parallel to the cliff face and then deeper into the cliff again, you tried going there. It was a tight crawlspace that was unpleasant to traverse, with numerous tricky squeezes and acrid smells but you all passed through OK. The crawlspace finally opened into a great volcanic cavern with many molten spires of rock from prior magma eruptions, some connecting floor to ceiling; others stopping short and capped with caldera-like openings. The extent of the cavern was difficult to gauge- it seemed to vary in height and width, and ash particles hanging in the air obscured even Darksight- but it was easily 100m on a side and sometimes 20m high. By one large ashen column that reached the ceiling, a natural stone bridge extended across a sludgy grey pool that divided the cavern in half. You inspected the pool and saw something maybe moving in there. Approaching the column and bridge, you saw movement and four Krarshtkids- multi-limbed, arthropod-like, ravenous burrowing Chaotic enemies of Uz and everyone else- leapt out of their hidey holes and attacked!
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