[IC] SOLO - Toot's Adventure

[DM Surranó]

OOC - let's pretend Toot speaks Terran and has the Extended Spell feat
"Shurrr, Massterrr" the elementals reply in unison and they enter the ground, leaving in three different directions.

Only one returns before the spell would end, reporting from shouting distance,
"Dig here, north-northwest, steep slope, hundred feet."
That's all it could say before the spell expires.
Having a bit of insight into elementals' figures of speech, the jermlaine guesses the "steep slope" means about sixty degrees.

[Toot]

What Toot lacked in courage he made up for in sheer tenacity and stubbornness.  He once again stretches and twists his body until it bloats to a furry medium sized creature that looked similar to the small Badger but this form was much larger and more savage looking. 

[OoC: Toot turns into a Dire Badger.  A dire badger usually leaves behind a usable tunnel 5 feet in diameter when burrowing unless the material it’s moving through is very loose.]

He then sets off digging in the direction and slope the elemental told him to dig.  He makes quick work of the 100' [10' per round= 1 minute] he was told to dig and will continue to burrow until he finds caves or hits something.

[DM Surranó]

Toot finds some form of cavity on the indicated space and manages to squeeze through a softer part. He finds himself in a rocky cave that's nice and wide in Jermlaine standards, and tight but passable for a dire badger (turning around may be a feat that takes some time). As much as Toot can tell the tunnel runs northwest and east.

[Toot]

Toot squeaks happily to himself and in an instant his body shrinks down to his original tiny self. 

"Diss cavern maybe doo tight for man in tower.  Need find big dunnel to explore.  See first where diss goes.  Den go deeper, yes, deeeeeper... deep! deep!  deepity deep..." Toot continued to squeak the word 'deep' to himself then snickers, "Dees doomans speak funny words.  Jermlaine words much bedder.  Squeak for everyding.  Silly... silly..."

Toot then starts off in the direction that would maneuver him closest in the direction of the tower.  Currently moving half speed so he can hide [Size plus Dex equals +10 or +11.  At work so I can't look at my sheet.] Move silently and allow his companion to catch up to him.

[OoC: the last direction given for the tower was South-East so I guess the closest route would be East?]

[DM Surranó]

Ooc yes it was SE.

Much to his dismay the tunnel leans northeast after about half a mile, but given the zigzags all along it's hard to tell if it will ever turn SE. However, Toot can hear echoes of footsteps. Several bipedal creatures according to him. Whether the sounds came from the tunnel ahead or echoing through solid rock from another one nearby is hard to tell.

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[Toot]

Toot will continue to move half speed [20'] and keep himself hidden [+11].  He will take every chance to hide behind rocks and roots, etc, to give himself added cover and stealth.  Toot hoped he could track down where this noise was coming from.  He supposed he could summon another squad of Earth Elementals to swim undetected through the earth but for now he would use his mundane skills to try to track where the noise is coming from.

[DM Surranó]

Toot learns soon that the steps come from another tunnel below his feet in a direction that is the generic direction of the farm. Of course, it's hours away so it's not necessarily the destination of that squad but Toot can think of no other meaningful destination in that direction, at least not aboveground.

[Toot]

[OoC: Sorry, I'm a little confused.  The noise is coming from under my feet.  How can it be coming from the farm when I'm underground?   Or do you mean the sounds seem to be under my feet but moving in the direction of the farm?   If that is the case then...]

Toot grumbles in frustration.  "Making tings more hard.  Always more hard!  Why not more easy?  Never more easy!"   While scratching at a flea on his chin, Toot's expression brightens a little.  While snatching the pest from his chin and eating it, he suddenly snaps his fingers then summons a rod from his Haversack.  Toot begins chanting words to a spell.  As the words of power escape his lips one of his most powerful spells is burnt from his mind and replaced with another summoning spell.  The words of his chant change from a plea to repeating a single word over and over until suddenly a glowing worm like creature begins to materialize in front of him.  "Thoqqua... Thoqqua... Thoqqua!" 

[OoC: Im at work so I can't choose which Level 3 spell to swap but I'm casting an Extended Summon Nature's Ally 3 [Using Rod of Extend] to summon a Thoqqua; Duration: 14 rounds.  Thoqqua can burrow at 20' per round through solid rock and in the MM1 it states that it leaves behind a small useable tunnel with blistering hot walls.]

"Go!  Burrow!  Find caves hiding beneath us!  Comeback when found!"  [Spoken in Terran or Ignan]

[OoC: Thoqqua can burrow at 20' per round so that's 280' in 14 rounds.]

[DM Surranó]

Ooc yep you got it right.
Ooc 280ft is unidirectional so it's 140ft bidirectional but it's more than sufficient as you will see.

The magma worm does a good job and presents a nice hot tunnel, almost vertical and about 100 ft deep. Through the tunnel Toot can hear the clanking footsteps dying as they are getting farther.

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[Toot]

Toot watches as it melts through to the other cavern and then waits for it to return as asked.  If it tries to travel up the same hole it made, Toot will loudly Squeak in its language, "New Hole!  New Hole!  Beside old hole.  Make hole wider!!  Wiiiiiider!"  Then, while the Thoqqua burrows back to Toot, the little Jermalaine begins to roll around in the dirt at the opening of the hole and then takes a piss on the tunnel to help cool it down.  If a person were to see the spectacle they might think Toot as crazy as his old master, but really he just wanted to mark this area with his scent so his companion won't have any trouble finding him.