August 23, Year 3488 (SE 118)
As the party prepare their weapons, the two shapes emerge from the murky water and reveal themselves to be two giant toads - either the same ones that party avoided earlier, or two more of the same type. The party get the drop on them and attack. Warned that the toads are large enough to swallow halflings or gnomes whole, the smaller members of the party attack with ranged weapons and retreat around the corner after attacking. The first toad is struck by several sling bullets and a javelin, and Flossaria moves up and finishes it with her sword before it even has a chance to attack. With the smaller party members safely around the corner, the second toad lashes out at Flossaria with its tongue. It grabs her and pulls her into its mouth, and Flossaria immediately falls into convulsions, evidently from sort sort of poison. As the toad attempts to choke her down into its gullet, P'hla unleashes a Sleep spell, which takes both the toad and Flossaria, allowing the rest of the party to easily finish the creature off and extract her from its mouth.
Iriellis takes the Rope of Climbing and swims through the passage, confirming that the other end emerges into the room where they first saw the giant toads. Adokas searches the remains of the toads, hoping to identify and preserve whatever gland produced the poison, but is unsuccessful. Checking up on Flossaria, Tamat identifies the poison from the toad as a contact poison that will cause periodic convulsions, which will intensify over the next few days, potentially leading to death within the week. The party opt not to continue with Flossaria in this state, instead retreating from the dungeon in order to find help for her.
Tamat takes her to his Druidic circle and begins searching from the herbs and ingredients he'll need to make a salve that should help against the poison. Adokas comes with him, hoping that his knowledge of poisons will allow him to help. The rest of the party return to Barar and ask around town. Unfortunately, the town herbalist has none of the ingredients that Tamat requires, and none of the clerics in town are powerful enough to deal with the poison magically. The party decide to give Tamat time to create his remedy, and if he isn't successful, they'll evaluate whether they need to return to Viskha.
August 24, Year 3488 (SE 118)
Having had no success during the previous day, Tamat and Adokas continue their efforts, while the rest of the party rest up in town. Eventually, by the end of the day, Tamat announces that his salves are having the desired effect, and the poison is in remission. By the next day, Flossaria should be back to full health and ready to continue adventuring.
August 25, Year 3488 (SE 118)
The next morning, the party purchase some additional pickaxes to help them break through the rubble that they encountered in their last expedition to the caves. They return to the dungeon, make their way to the blocked passage, and begin clearing a path through it. The process is long and noisy; it takes about 40 minutes for them to clear a path that's large enough to allow them to continue, and in the process they create enough noise to surely alert any creatures that are beyond.
Past the rubble is the ledge running over a pool of water that Adokas had previously attempted. The party prepare to cross. P'hla casts a Light spell on the Rope of Climbing and Flossaria takes the lead, using the rope to light the way ahead of her. She is followed by Tamat, then Zedlyn and Sharla, who are tied together in case Sharla falls, then P'hla, Adokas, and Iriellis. As they cross, they hear the same siren song as before, coming from further down the ledge. Sharla and Iriellis both sing in an attempt to drown out the hypnotic song, and they are successful - the party are able to resist its effects. They continue making their way along the ledge.
Soon, however, disaster strikes - simultaneously, both Zedlyn and Sharla slip and fall! Zedlyn tries to grab the ledge as he falls, but he's tied to Sharla, and her weight sends him falling down. The rest of the party immediately throw down ropes; Flossaria and Tamat hold the Rope of Climbing, while P'hla, Adokas and Iriellis throw down a non-magical rope. Despite his heavy armor, Zedlyn manages to keep himself above the water and grab the ropes, but Sharla is drowning below him. To make matters worse, a trio of javelin-wielding lizardfolk appear at the far end of the ledge and attack Flossaria!
Just as the rest of the party start having some success in lifting Zedlyn and Sharla out of the water, Flossaria is struck by a javelin, loses her balance, and goes tumbling in as well. Tamat manages to hold on to the Rope of Climbing, while P'hla and Adokas leave Iriellis with the other rope and move to engage the lizardfolk. P'hla casts a Sleep spell at them and all three go down, as Adokas moves in to finish them off. At the point, Zedlyn has climbed back up on top of the ledge, so Tamat puts down his rope and goes to help Adokas, and Iriellis drops her rope to heal Zedlyn. Flossaria, meanwhile, manages to overcome the weight of her armour and swim to the cavern wall, where she can safely hold on the side.
As Adokas and Tamat move to kill the sleeping lizardfolk, they reach the end of the ledge, which leads to a larger, open area. Waiting for them are three more lizardfolk. Tamat charges them while Adokas stays behind to kill their sleeping companions. However, in the three-against-one fight, Tamat is struck several times and is badly wounded. P'hla and Iriellis both make their way across the ledge and move in to help, while Zedlyn pulls Sharla up then tosses the Rope of Climbing to Flossaria.
P'hla unleashes a second Sleep spell at this next group of lizardfolk, which drops two of the three, while Adokas strikes the third with a stunning blow, and Iriellis heals Tamat with her divine magic. Tamat finshes off the stunned creature with his sword, just as Zedlyn finishes lifting Flossaria back up to the ledge. Zedlyn and Flossaria then make their way to the rest of the party. They are now all past the ledge, and the six lizardfolk that attacked them are dead - but they know the harpy is still somewhere further into the cave.
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