The addition of Rock's sunrod fully illuminates the eldritch concoction, showing the pit to be positively enormous. A pipe presumably fed something into it, although it, like everything else, seems to be offline. A table to the west is loaded with large capsules of some kind, all stacked neatly into a large pyramid shape.

Rock glances at the table, but isn't quite interested in those kind of things. He circles the machinery to see what's north of the contraption.

Outside the noxious fumes, Rock can see a set of stairs leading upwards. He can't see what's at the top of them from where he is.

While the shifter heads north, the dwarf wanders around the south side of the eerie glowing machinery, trying to illuminate any other passages, before stopping to take a good look at whatever is covering the table.

Kadol's torch illuminates a wall, as there is nothing to find behind the machinery. Toddling behind, the dragon sniffs at the capsules inquisitively as Kadol inspects them.

All of the are about half a foot in size and as transparent as glass. Inside is a clear liquid that bears some resemblance to the alchemist's fire derivative you found earlier. They seem solid enough in spite of the curious wyrmling's prodding, and from the few samples laying on the floor, they're likely stable enough to not combust due to a little trauma.

Shrugging, Kadol takes four capsules of the stuff and stores them in her bag of holding, before attempting to herd the rest of the group towards the stairs Rock found. Idly, she uses her spare time to identify the potions she had hastily dumped in her bag earlier.

Walala notices the mixtures and, despite the overwhelming nausea of approaching the vat, decides to examine them.
take 10 on arcana

Arcana : This appears to be the same sort of alchemist's fire that you found before, except more pure. The capsule encasing it is solid enough, but it's made of a material that will harmlessly melt under the right conditions. In this state, it's unlikely that they'd be used as weapons.

Rock glares at the rest of the group (or in their general direction) impatiently. "F'r a buncha guys on the run for an incoming army you guys sure do love your delays!"

After gathering up some of the items, save for the bolts (leaving those to Walala), she equips them all, looking slightly weirder. Before the Barbarian can finish the words out of his latest sentence, Lia is over the bridge (carefully, might I add), and looking at the pit from a distance, trying to fight all instincts to flee at once from this thing. Somehow managing to form an intelligent thought, she walks over to Kadol before writing on a small piece of torn off paper, almost writing it in some sort of mix of common and Elven, cause of being so frightened,"Isn't there some way we can safely destroy or shut down that foul eldritch pit?"

At Kadol's urging, the party crosses the bridge without incident. The group meets at the stairs, but from what they can see it looks like a dead end. On the lone table inhabiting this nook is a single scrap of paper.

You can make a Perception check to see if there are any secret passages here.

>>888
Walala's not particularly keen on the paper after what the party's seen here, so she peers around for an exit.
Perception check: http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3213046/

Reading Lia's message, Kadol looks over at the rather unsightly device behind the group and says, "Ah wish I knew how... just messin' with it seems kinda risky." She looks over to the bard and the artificer, and suggest, "Maybe one o' yas who's learned well in arcane can tell us wha ye make o' tha big toothy hole o'er there?"

For her own part, Kadol takes a good, long look around the cavern surrounding the strange portal device, the stairs, and the alcove at the top of the stairs.

Perception (21) http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3213049/

Walala and Kadol comb the area, and both notice an opening in the eastern wall beneath the table. It looks like a small tunnel, just barely big enough for a dwarf to fit through. Wherever it goes, it extends past the range of Kadol's torch.

Rock crosses his arms while he watches the rest of the louts hang around doing... something... or another... whatever it is, it ain't getting them outta there.

Kadol shrugs at the portal, apparently unable to determine anything about it. She moves over to the dwarf-sized hole and attempts to use her everburning torch to illuminate it a bit.

Untrained Arcana (9) http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3214232/

>>899
The tunnel extends onward for a distance before branching northward, outside the range of illumination. The walls of the tunnel are slightly damp, and the surfaces are smooth and well worn.

Quickly Fays doubles back to the giant cauldron of stewing eyeballs to learn what he may make of it before running back to the party to inform them.

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3216236/

Upon returning to the group and informing them, he dons his newly found reading spectacles, walks up to the book and attempts to read it.

>>910
Arcana : This appears to be some sort of creation ritual, like the sort used to create golems. Besides the standard spell components, the parts composing it that you can see are gold with bits of residuum speckled in it, bones of various dragons, and a large amount of beholder's blood and other aberrations mixed together, giving it the purple color and the other horrific qualities. Incomplete as it is, it will continue emitting toxic fumes for several days, but has less than a forty percent chance of bringing forth any sort of abomination on its own before going inert. Neutralizing it would require applying intense heat to the the concoction for an extended period of time, which a flaming arrow by itself cannot do.

After Fays relays what he knows about the ritual to the party, he examines the parchment on the table. The writing on the paper keeps shifting around into strange and terrible symbols, but his reading spectacles are able to decipher them readily. :

The Archmagus bestows upon our first disciples the following message,

For your continued services to our cause, we will grant you the revenge you seek against the scum of Moradin. Our rituals will make your weapon unstoppable, and their nations shall crumble beneath its mighty wings. We only require you to retrieve the most crucial ingredient yourselves tomorrow night, while the master of the den is out. If you succeed, our agents of the fraternity shall trap our hated nemesis, and remove their accursed spell from our [soul cage]. Worry not about their scrying, for they shall not find you until it is too late, and true immortality will be ours once more.

Be quick, be silent, and be unseen. We will not tolerate failure. Your immortal souls shall be forfeit if you cannot succeed at your task. Do not disappoint us.

Upon hearing Fays's explanation of the ritual, Kadol takes out one of the capsules of modified alchemist's fire and says, "Ye reckon we could set a few o' these alight an' toss 'em in tha goop? Think that'd solve tha problem?"

Mimicking the dwarf, Fays replies "Ay' fire n' thunder n'd be your thing, feel free to chuck em' in and lets see what comes of it."

Assuming his normal tone, he again replies "What do you lovely group of gents an' ladies think of this archmagus? Seems like a little ol' chump to me."

Rock simply shakes his head. "We're wastin' time, ain't we? Let's just find a way outta this place already."

>>914
Lia shakes her head in response to Rock as if to say no. She takes out another piece of paper and writes on it, then holds it up for anyone to see,"We might be on the run, but to leave something like this active is stupid, considering what we were just told about it. We have to find some way to stop it."

By now, the invoker has figured out that the barbarian isn't going say anything useful, so Kadol ignores his comment and walks over to the table where the rest of the capsules are, and takes out the three she picked up earlier. She takes out her standard-issue adventurer's kit set of flint and tender, and gets to trying to set one of the capsules alight with her flint and tender. If that is successful, she will use that capsule to spread the fire to a few others, and start tossing the flaming capsules into the goo.

>>916
The moment the the capsule is exposed to the flame, it swiftly begins to melt. The contents spill down the steps and ignite from Kadol's tinder, creating a small blaze. The oil runs from the bottom of the stairs to the edge of the pit, a tiny red flame the only indication that it's still burning.

"Okay... thas not gonna work," Kadol comments dryly. She then takes one of the capsules and tosses it into the pool of goo to see what happens.

>>919
The capsule lands in the goop with a splash, bobbing to the surface after a moment. The teeth and fangs that swirl around the mixture gnaw at the casing around it, biting holes in the protective shell. The clear substance trickles out, pooling at the top of the vat like oil, giving it a rainbow-like sheen. Once the capsule dissolves completely, the muck seems to 'calm down', the fuel swirling around on the top.

Satisfied that this new measure should work, Kadol goes ahead and adds three more capsules to the mix. She prepares to ignite the resulting mixture with a blast of lightning.

Readied action: lightning's revelation on the fuel when the three capsules have been broken up. Then start a short rest.

>>921
At Kadol's command, lightning lances from her stave and ignites the oil in the vat. There is a loud screeching noise as the mixture starts to churn, bubble and froth angrily. The fire as towers out of the vat with more heat and power than one would expect from such a small source of ignition. All the while the mixture screams its cacophonous cries, its contents being broiled into a fine soup.

The wyrmling hides behind Kadol, obviously terrified at the spectacle.

"I know it's harsh, but we're gettin' rid of this thing. Can't be lettin' someone else make use o' it, even if that dwarves be gone," Kadol says in a focused tone. She continues to watch the mixture froth and boil, and if it ever seems like it will cease to burn before the scary teeth and eyes are completely erased, she will add another capsule.

It takes a few minutes, but eventually the cries die down completely, the vat completely silent. The smog seems to have stopped.

"Um, um... Can we go now?" the little dragon queries, "I'm worried about mommy."

As if on cue, the text from the letter that Fays read scatter across the paper angrily. The wording shifts before his eyes into something different.

A group of meddlers was chased through the southern woods of the Gray Forest. They managed to subdue some of our scouts and one of our brutes. If you find them, show them no mercy.

Finish short rest to recharge lightning's revelation.

Kadol, satisfied that the gaping maw to a literal embodiment of wailing and gnashing of teeth is quite sealed up, nods to the wyrmling and says "I agree. We've spent enough time 'ere now." Walking up the stairs, Kadol notes the paper with the words that are changing and comments, "Best take tha with us. Could prove useful, and I'd rather not leave it for others tae find." With that, the invoker walks into the dwarf-sized tunnel, and attempts to light up the area around the far corner.

>>928
Kadol heads into the small dark opening and around the corner, looking beyond to see what lies ahead. What she is able to find is that there is still nothing but darkness up ahead, but the path continues straight for as far as the everburning torch will illuminate. From up ahead the sounds of rushing water grow louder, much like they did when the group encountered the rapids.

"Clear so far," Kadol calls back to the rest of the group. She then moves on ahead towards the sound of the water, carefully, content that if the tunnel wasn't already flooded it wasn't going to.

It doesn't take very long for Kadol to find the end of the tunnel. It opens up into a much larger cavern, and a convenient pier at the end of the tunnel overlooking it. The currents are running swiftly beneath, the surrounding walls pitch black even under the light of the everburning torch. Oddly enough, there's nothing even resembling a boat to be found here.

Well, isn't that convenient. Or inconvenient, depending on how you want to look at it. "An empty pier up 'ere," Kadol announces loudly to the group that she hopes is following her. "We'll need a boat or somethin' tae cross." She's not so subtly hinting at something here.

Yagi's hands crackle with lightning, unleashes immeasurable arcane energy from the stone and etc. Ship rises from huge portal or something.

The stone crumbles to dust in Yagi's fist, arcane power gathering in the air before the group. A faint silhouette of something very large fades into existence, hovering a foot above the water. Cracks of coloration spread over the shadow, the sound of splintering wood and twisting metal drowning out the roar of the river below. Bits of rope lash out and tie onto parts of the craft like a giant spiderweb. The cannons appear in a fiery explosion. And stitch by stitch the sails rise up the masts.

It takes a minute or so, but soon, a fully formed sailing ship drop into the water, anchored just a few feet away from the dock.

Uneasily, Kadol tries to find a way to board the boat. Dwarves and seacraft... they don't mix. Scowling she looks back to the group and comments, "I hope one o' ye knows how tae steer this thing."

Following Kadol and unphased by her comment, Fays calls out to the rest of the group "All aboard! We've got ourselves a nice lookin' ship!"

The barbarian follows the rest of the group, quietly growling and mumbling to himself about how much of a time-wasters the lot of them are and if they'd hurried up some heroes would deal with whatever monstrosities.

He's long since stopped thinking himself smart for taking up this job. Quitting at first sight, yes sir.

Whistling noises pass through Walala's eyeslits and she climbs aboard.

>>934
Eyeing the boat suspiciously, and left with no other real choice at this time, Lia steps on the boat while thinking,"Oh great, more underground rivers."

"...close enough," Kadol mumbles as the party boards, then goes over to pull up the anchor so they can set off already.

Yagi boards, wondering where the crew went.

With the anchor pulled, the boat lurches forward, cutting through the waters like a butcher's knife. Though the trip is slow, the current is much calmer and easier to handle than it was earlier. But at the speed they travel, it'll take a couple of days to reach their destination.

At the very least, they make it out of the cave and back outside before dusk. The wyrmling, in the meantime, sits at the bow of the ship and watches anxiously for a familiar landmark.

Not amused by the vacant posts, the knight takes the captain's hat hanging by the wheel and places it upon his helm, before manning the helm himself.

Walala outstretches her rocky hand to the wyrmling, amused by its presence and power. Becoming friends would be great.

Kadol finds a nice, quiet corner to herself so that she can pray and offer thanks to Moradin in peace.

In spite of its enormous size, the ship flows smoothly downstream. There is no indication as to why it was unmanned at the time it was brought over, but the river providing its own current makes the sails unnecessary and steering easy enough that only one person need man the helm at a time. The voyage is rather slow, but with no signs of pursuit, it's much less stressful than the past few days.

The wrymling seems much happier to be out of the cave, proving to be friendly and amiable, if naive and childish. The dragon does keep mentioning its mother, though, and wondering if she is in trouble. Despite protests from some parts of the party, it claims that she knows a great deal - enough, perhaps, to help them deal with the cultists and collect their pay without any further hassle. After a few more rounds of questioning, the dissenters reluctantly agree to accompany it to its cave. If nothing else, it could provide a place to hide for a time. And, of course, the dragon does give a name to itself, and says that it is called "Errol".

The adventure continues:
>>956