Journey in the Dark

[RaggedAngel]

Vassi rolls her wrist in a fluid, quick motion, and you catch a glint of steel out of the corner of your eye. If you look again there's nothing there; her hands are empty, and her eyes are focused on the lights. "Our objective, I would assume. Either that or something that's keeping us from our goal. Either way, we should go ahead and climb down; waiting up here's going to do no good." She begins to move down the path, on guard for any loose areas or traps.

[OMG PONIES]

Konig squints as the light meets his eye--no matter how many years he had behind him, he could never quite adjust to the sudden shift from his dwarven darkvision to normal sight. "It has been my experience," he says dryly, "that the things which require light down here have a higher probability of getting eaten than they do of eating us. Nothing to fear, chaps." What looks like a smile almost cracks his stony face, and he follows Vassi down towards the light.

[Daftendirekt]

With that, the motley crew descends to the floor of the cavern, taking care to do so quietly. When they reach the bottom, they see that the cavern's floor is riddled with stalagmites and pock-marked by potholes -- darker shadows than their surroundings in this colorless world-view. They can hear the screeches of bats high above them, and pass -- strangely enough -- a small herd of wild rothé grazing on a large patch of mushrooms as they weave their way towards the mysterious light.

As the group finally approaches, they see that the illumination appears to be coming from some sort of glowing moss set high above a set of large wooden doors banded in wrought iron, arranged here in Dwarven which all can read:

Dûn-Akar, it says. The lettering is imperfect, as a good portion of the moss has either died and stopped glowing or simply fallen off. The wall itself is obviously of worked stone, as it is straight and smooth, and there are no windows. This cavern is far enough away from the lake that it is quite arid, thus the front doors are still in good condition, not having been subjected to rot. One of them is, however, slightly ajar.

[RaggedAngel]

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What does that mean in Common? Vassi speaks/reads Dwarven.

Vassi holds up a hand, requesting the group to pause and for silence. She looks over the door and the walls around it carefully, inspecting them for both traps or signs of observation. She takes her time, about two minutes, and if asked to hurry up she'll reply with nothing but a stern look.

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She'll take 20 on her Search check for a 28.

[Daftendirekt]

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The outer wall is bare except for the doors and the mossy words -- which are far too high up for the little gnome to reach. As she passes the door that is slightly ajar, she gets a glimpse into an entry chamber of sorts, which appears to be empty save for two statues of dwarven figures.

[RaggedAngel]

Vassi looks back to the others, keeping her voice fairly low. She seems much more relaxed, however, and gestures to the doorway with a small smile. "There are no firetraps, tripwires, pits, crossbows, magical ensnarement's, acid sprays, or half-orc ninjas waiting on the other side of the door.

That I could find, anyway. There are, however, two statues. They're dwarves, so I'm not terribly worried; dwarves aren't threatening when they aren't literally made out of stone. So, who's first?" She grins guilelessly.

[Obscurejones]

Glon takes a step forward to inspect the entryway but stops short as Vassi springs into action. While she inspects the area, he in turn inspects her technique. He nods quietly as she does roughly what he would have done. Certainly there are differences in approach but trusting in her thoroughness he steps forward to inspect the statues with no fear of Ninja.

[Daftendirekt]

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I will assume the party heads inside, unless you say otherwise, just to get things moving. I'll allow you to edit ONLY SO YOU CAN PLACE YOURSELVES ON THE MAP. Otherwise, please do not edit it.

MAP KEY

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Light blue -- shallow water, puddles basically.
Dark blue -- deep water, requires swimming.
Black -- unexplored areas.

The party heads inside. The pungent stench of mildew immediately assaults their nostrils and the air is thick as they breathe it in; this place was wet. Puddles in the corner, mold and slime on the walls, and an ever-present sound of water dripping in the distance. They have just enough time to take in their surroundings when a figure appears in the doorway on the other side of the room, a look of utter surprise on its face. He appears to be most human, save for the fact that his eyes are too large to be a human's, and are pure glossy black, with no sign of pupils or irises. He has long, dark hair that is matted and slicked back as if he had just emerged from water. He wears a shirt of chain mail over crude clothing, and wields a trident and a wooden shield.

Recovering from his shock, his mouth splits wide open in a grin full of wicked, pointed teeth as he kicks the door shut.

[OMG PONIES]

"Doesn't seem the chap wants company," Konig grumbles. For a moment, he has half a mind to turn back, but thinks twice. Odd strangers in bars who sing alien songs are not often the type that take kindly to those who go back on their promises. Begrudgingly, he closes his journal and stows it safely in his pack. "I've a feeling we won't get the warmest of receptions," he says to the others.

[Dirac Lotus]

Nysan darts forward, stopping just beyond the threshold into the room. "Well that was, peculiar, to say the least. Can't say he looked like much of a threat though, despite how ugly he looked." With that remark, he glances around the room, looking for anything malicious looking.
"I wonder where that water's coming from..."

After a brief pause, he turns to the others. "So, should we chase him down, or perhaps take our time? If he lives here, he probably knows his way around better than us. Don't think he's taking to kindly to our presence however."

[Obscurejones]

Glon brings a hand to his eyes as the door swings shut, startled at the slight resemblance between his own mutated ocular organs and that of the slammer. He lowers it quickly, hopefully before any can notice.
If we do follow him I'd be careful. There's a chance he can see farther in the darkness than us. I've heard some mutants in the deeps have that ability.

[RaggedAngel]

Vassi thinks for a moment while she walks to the just-closed door, inspecting it to see if it's locked or not. She turns back to the others and whispers, hoping the man can't hear her. "I vote we resort to violence. This is a delicate situation, and I hate to be the one to say it, but if he wanted to talk he would have. I trust nothing this far from the surface, and I don't want to have any of my blood displaced from its usual place of residence." She has an appraising look in her eye. "Does anyone have an issue with that?" As she speaks she seems to wring her hands in a few odd gestures, but they're fairly unobtrusive quick.

Circle of Life:

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"If things go to hell we run. Agreed?"

[OMG PONIES]

Konig frowns for a moment, but then nods. "I agree," he says, "empirical evidence would suggest that this bug-eyed fellow is adverse to parley. Violence may be our only option." Konig grinned at the opportunity; no matter how the fight went, chances are there would be at least one corpse upon which he could experiment.

[Dirac Lotus]

Nysan grins maliciously, eyeing himself in the reflection in his blade. "I was hoping someone would suggest that." No further words are needed than that to demonstrate his opinion, and he glances over the party to see if there are any objections. If not, he loses the grin, a steely look of determination forged from years of fighting for his life and his love settling across his face.

Assuming his punishing stance, he makes his way over to the door. "Mind if I do the honours?"

[RaggedAngel]

"A volunteer to open the door? Nysan, I'm beginning to rather like you." Vassi winks and gestures grandly towards the dirty, worn door. "Just watch out, I may have to slip past you. I do my best work before I'm noticed." She moves behind him, attempting to conceal herself behind his relative bulk.

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People grant (soft) cover, so I'm using that cover to hide.

(1d20+17)[20]

[Dirac Lotus]

"I fear those affections may be rather misplaced, especially considering as I didn't mean to 'open' the door per se." To demonstrate this grand gesture, he grimaces as he heaves his bodyweight towards the door in an attempt to kick it open.

[roll0]
[roll1]

(OOC):

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Unless of course, the door is made of something obviously not kick-openable, like stone or metal. If it is, ignore the above and he will just fling it open.

[Daftendirekt]

Considering the strange figure had not locked the iron-banded wooden door, it flies open easily under Nysan's blow and bangs off the wall, stopping against his outstretched hand. The strange, aquatic-looking figure is nowhere to be seen. Instead, a narrow hallway reeking of mold and lichen stretches perhaps twenty feet or so before turning to the left. Tsal's keen ears hear a slight grinding sound and a click coming from down the hallway, and then silence.

[Dirac Lotus]

"Huh. I was fully expecting him to have barred, locked or barricaded that door. Or to be waiting behind it. Which means either we're being led into a trap, or our amphibious friend is both a coward and an idiot. I don't know which is worse, idiots and cowards tend to be unpredictable." Nysan shrugs, eyeing the corridor ahead and gesturing to the others that it is safe to come forward.

"Doesn't seem like we have much of a choice in the matter though. Unless anyone can see any secret doors or somesuch, I suggest we press on."

[Circle of Life]

"I don't see any alternative, unless we feel like turning back..." Tsal steps out into the hallway, making his view on the matter clear. "Just be wary. I heard something strange this way. Vassi, if you would, be particularly attentive in this hall?"

[RaggedAngel]

Vassi nods and slips out to the front of the group, carefully searching each and every chunk of floor for pitfalls, traps, crossbow tripwires, and half-orc ninjas. She makes her way to the end of the hallway this way before pausing before any door.

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I think her Search mod was 5 ranks + 3 Int, so she should have an 18 while taking 10.

[Daftendirekt]

Vassi notices nothing unusual as she approaches the corner. As she comes to it, she sees that a new hallway extends for perhaps fifty feet before coming to another corner. She thinks she can spot a door of some kind on the left side at the far end of the hallway. This hallway, also, is conspicuously empty and silent, save for the ever-present drip, drip, drip of water.

[Obscurejones]

Glon quietly follows along behind Vassi.

[RaggedAngel]

Vassi waits a moment for everyone to settle in behind her, making sure that they note the doorway at the end of the hallway. After everyone is ready to fight she begins to move down the hallway, taking a few long seconds every five feet or so to check for traps.

[Circle of Life]

Tsal lowers his voice to a whisper, so that it is barely audible to the rest of the party trudging along behind Vassi. As he speaks, he loads a pair of overlarge bolts to his weapon, one just above and slightly to the left of the lower one, both somehow managing to fit without interference thanks to gnomish engineering. "Be ready if there is trouble. I may use a light to blind our foes; do not be surprised, and do not attempt to put it out."

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Tsal loosens the ties on the covering over his liquid sunlight, or whatever else needs doing to make it possible to reveal it as a move action.

[RaggedAngel]

Vassi continues all the way down the hallway to the door that she pointed out to everyone, moving quietly and carefully. She takes her time with the door, inspecting it for locks and traps quietly and cautiously. She looks to the others, and waves them in close, whispering as softly as she can. "That man may very well be behind this door. Be ready to fight." With that she attempts to open the door, assuming that she found no traps.

[Daftendirekt]

Moving her hands and her eyes along the entire door frame and around the doorknob, Vassi notices nothing out of the ordinary. However, when she attempts to turn the door handle, it rattles but fails to turn -- it is quite firmly locked.

[RaggedAngel]

Vassi frowns, takes out her lockpicks, and works on the lock quietly for a few seconds, biting the tip of her tongue and breathing slowly.

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She takes 10 on Open Lock for a 17. If that doesn't work she'll try again for a (1d20+7)[14]. She'll take 20 if that doesn't work.

[Obscurejones]

Miss, if I may, I have some small skill with locks. Mind if I lend a hand?
Glon crouches by the lock to lend a helping hand. Or pick as the case may be.

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Taking ten to aid another.

[Daftendirekt]

Map

Try as she might, Vassi just cannot get the tumblers in the right position at first. Then she takes a deep breath and starts again, and after a minute she finally hears a satisfying click. She tries the handle, and the door swings silently open.

It is readily apparent that this is a dormitory of some kind, as what she can see of it is lined with beds. Unfortunately, the room is occupied -- a section of the far wall seems to have crumbled away, and in the opening stands another of the strange black-eyed humanoids. This one, however, is wearing only a pair of knee-length breeches, although he grips a shortsword in his right hand, its blade glinting slightly in the light cast by more of the strange luminescent moss.

As his eyes land upon the group standing around the doorway, he grins the same wide, sharp-toothed grin.

“Ssrach antach visssya!” he calls over his shoulder.

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Roll initiative. Now that you're getting a better look at one of the, you can make a Knowledge check to identify these people.

[RaggedAngel]

Vassi move forward so quickly she's nearly a blur, going into a swift roll just before she reaches the man. She comes up onto her feet smoothly, and with a strange twist and flick of her wrist she lashes out with a blade. Her body is held perfectly still and poised, her arms counterbalancing each other, her eyes intent and focused. She intends to kill, and she intends to do it quickly.

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Charge attack with Gnomish Quickrazor, using 1 Inspiration v.s. Flatfooted AC: (1d20+12)[31]
Damage, using 1 Inspiration if she hits: (1d3+3)[6] + 4 Iajutsu Focus Damage
Iajutsu Focus: (1d20+9)[14]
Damage: (4d6)[4][6][1][1](12)
10-14: +1d6
15-19: +2d6
20-24: +3d6
25-29: +4d6

Crit confirmation and damage (6)