Afina vs the lich (Afina)

[Anastasia]

The two begin to work and widen. As they begin, Mei approaches and gently tugs on your wing.

[Ebiris]

"Hm?" Afina looks up towards Mei at that tugging.

[Anastasia]

Mei points to them and shakes her head vigorously. Meanwhile Dana doesn't seem to care, following along.

[Ebiris]

"Really?" Afina asks. "They're our only way of getting through this without climbing over the entire mountain, and it's not as if they can be causing mischief elsewhere while I've got them here."

[Anastasia]

Mei stands firm, shaking her head again.

Dana looks back and rolls her eyes, "Oh, put on your big girl pants and deal. It's not even a real fiend or a fucking devil."

[Ebiris]

She's not thrilled about it, not by a longshot, but forcing a volunteer to go against her moral codes isn't something that'll end well for them. "No, if she's truly so uncomfortable with it it'll affect our teamwork. That's more important than an easier path through this place." Calling the umber hulks back she says, "Your services are complete, return whence you came."

She's already wasted spells and time on getting them here, she's not going to waste any on killing them.

[Anastasia]

Like that, the umber hulks are gone. Mei smiles and draws Afina into a hug, while Dana rolls her eyes. "That's great and all, but how in the crusty old goatfuck are we going to continue on now? Go back out and do more climbing?"

[Ebiris]

This is why she doesn't like inflexible moral codes. At least Mei's cute enough to make it hard to bear a grudge. "That's exactly it. Sorry Smrgol, we'll be relying on you some more," she says as they backtrack, not lingering in that hug.

[Anastasia]

You return back out. The party clambers on Smrgol and then...

> roll 1d100
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 70 > [d100=70]

You wander up another 1000ft. The air is even thinner up here as...

> roll 1d20 Fort save Mei, only fails on a 1
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 12 > [d20=12]
> roll 1d20 Fort save Dana, only fails on a 1
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 19 > [d20=19]

Still no tops in sight, but about 500ft up, you can see a cleft in the mountain. Some sort of gap, perhaps a natural pass, riverway or the like?

[Ebiris]

Hopefully it's Smrgol-sized! "Aim for that cleft, Smrgol," Afina points up from atop the dragon's head.

[Anastasia]

Up he goes. Indeed, you find it to be a narrow, V shaped pass into the mountain. It's colder up here, not quite snow cold, but you're getting up there. The ancient, cracked rock ahead is rough and the mountains above largely cast the way ahead in shadow.

[Ebiris]

"This looks fine, lets go," Afina says, climbing off Smrgol and checking for traps along the way.

Taking 10 for 53 on search

[Anastasia]

No traps this way. You go a little distance as...

Spot check, Afina. You're the only one good enough to have a shot here.

[Ebiris]

[20:17] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+41
[20:17] <Serith> Ebiris roll for Serith < 49 > [d20=8]

[Anastasia]

You glance up. High above, about 500ft to 600ft up you see the glint of metal on crags far above, the tiny glittering points of arrowheads.