Swords For Venoria

[Imaro]

Link to Character Sheets

It all began on a dark and stormy night...


You've found yourself wandering the moors this night; it's been a long journey from the comforts of home, and though you've come no worse for the wear, you've found yourself beset on all sides by a mighty storm furious enough to wake the sleeping gods. Hail beats down like so many countless gems, and every so often a ribbon of lightning streaks across the sky, followed by the trailing cry of thunder. If you were any less of yourself, you'd swear the wind was the mournful howl of a banshee sweeping over the land. With every plodding step through mud and grass, you find it becomes more difficult to keep your footing, and maybe you find yourself treading water once or twice.

As the thunderclaps increase in frequency, you manage to make out a tor over the horizon, suitable enough to take shelter. A single streak of lightning illuminates its silhouette, revealing the crumbling shape of a tower nested apeak the outcropping. Though climbing the tor in this weather would be a folly, the base of the outcropping seems like it would be the best place to make camp for the night. Trekking through the storm, you find yourself with a choice; do you approach the tor, or do you face the storm in search of other shelter?

[Ichneumon]

"By the great gods! What a storm!", Niobe shouts out loud to herself, in reaction to a thunderclap that sounded way too close.

"I wish I'd listened to the innkeeper and stayed for one more night, instead of trying to face this kind of unholy weather. This is ridiculous."

Niobe was tired. Covered in mud, her clothes soaked with sweat. She really needed a break.

She hesitated going to the tor. Although it would make a perfect shelter and a place to stay for the night, many other travelers would think so too and she wasn't so keen on encountering strangers. Most strangers travelling through this weather at this hour, could only be up to no good, right?

Nevertheless, she didn't feel like she had any other choice, so she marched on to the tor and make the climb.

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Sorry for the tripple posts. Here is the finished sheet:

Niobe

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Race: Human
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Class: Fighter
Level: 1st

Strength: 14
Intelligence: 7
Wisdom: 8
Constitution: 13
Dexterity: 12
Charisma: 12

Experience (XP): 0
Experience bonus: +5% (fighter bonus)
Saving Throw: 14
Hit Points: 7

Gold: 7 cp left (50 gp starting gold)
Weapon: Battle axe
Equipment:
- Battle axe (1d8 damage, 15 lbs weight) 5gp
- Ringmail armor (+3, 40lbs) 30 gp
- Musical Instrument (harp) 5 gp
- Backpack 5 gp
- Cloak, cloth 2sp
- Dress, 9 sp
- Cape, cloth 3 cp
- Hat, straw 7 bp
- Shoes, 1 gp
- Bedroll 1 gp
- Flint and steel 1 gp

Carrying: something between 55-60 lbs, I think.

Armor Class: 6 (Ringmail Armor +3)
Move: 12

Background & concept:

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Niobe is a treasure hunter and adventurer. She is of noble blood, belonging to a respectable human family. Her parents wanted to marry her to a human prince, she however fell in love with an elf bard. Her family didn't like it and had the bard killed. Angered, Niobe walked away from her family, their wealth and their 'kindness'. She now travels from town to town, singing and playing on the harp of her old lover, while trying to make a new name for herself as an adventurer and treasure hunter.

[SCARY WIZARD]

Thianne spits a curse in the Elven tongue after treading water for the umpteenth time. Ye gods, the water was cold! What wood she'd carried with her was expended days prior, and she highly doubted she could find anything worth burning within miles...

"I sincerely hope there's somewhere around I can sleep that isn't wet..." the half-elf murmured to herself. Then, knock on wood, she caught something out of her peripheral vision! It was a tor!

She increased her pace, until she was at the door. What did she have to lose?

[Eulalios]

Bundled in his cloak, weighed down under forty pounds of rust-stinking ring mail and a sodden shoulder-slung sack of equal weight, Eulalios hopes he hasn't wandered too far from the main track to wherever. That hill ahead, with the ruined tower on it, might be a good place from where to look around tomorrow, when the storm lifts. Til then, Never climb a hill in thunder, best in wind to shelter under is one of many rhymes his father taught him.

Eulalios works his way over the slippery grass and among the hopefully frog-rich puddles. Eventually he reaches a sheltered spot where part of the tor has slumped to form a slightly overhung bluff about fifteen feet high. The hard wind coming over the tor drives the rain sideways from the top of the bluff, leaving essentially dry ground in a three or four foot strip at the base.

With cold-aching fingers, Eulalios extracts his bedroll from his sack and lays it wet side down on the ground. Knowing it will take a few rounds to put his armor back on, he nonetheless strips it off, glad to have the wet cold metal away from his skin at least long enough to sleep.

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Eulalios, Male catfolk Fighter-1
Concept
As customary for young adult males of his culture, he's been equipped by his kin (at direction of the matriarch) to go forth and find fortune and a mate who will strengthen the clan. He hopes to return back bearing one or the other, maybe more, within a year or some longer time, when he remembers where his clan was headed next. (See INT score).

Experience 0 xp

Ability scores
INT (3d6)[7] (0 additional languages)
WIS (3d6)[10]
CHA (3d6)[13]+1 (catfolk) = 14 (max 5 special hirelings; +5% XP)
DEX (3d6)[13]+1 (catfolk) = 14 (+1 AC bonus; parry to give -1 penalty to hit; +1 to hit w/missiles)
STR (3d6)[14] (melee +1 to hit; damage +0; open doors 1-2; carry mod +10; +5% XP)
CON (3d6)[15]-2 (catfolk) = 13 (+1 hp mod; 100% res survival)

Starting hit points (1d8+1)[3]
Armor class 5 (naked 8) (parrying 4)
Saving throw 14
Move 15
speciallow light vision

Starting gold (2d6)[6]x10 gp (crowns)
Costs, Equipment, and Weights
-2 gp 30-lb sack (0.5lb)
-1 gp bedroll (8lbs)
-5 sp winter blanket (3lbs)
-1 gp high soft boots (5lbs)
-4 gp breeches (x2) (2lbs)
-1,6 gp,sp tunic (x2) (2lbs)
-8 sp warm cloth cloak (1lb)
-8 gp short sword (3lbs) {1d6 dmg}
-1 gp short sword scabbard (0.5lbs)
-1,5 gp,sp 3 ft light iron chain swordbelt (15lbs) {1d6 dmg as light flail; dual wielding gives +1 to hit in rounds where Eulalios wins initiative}
-30 gp ring mail (40lbs) {+3 bonus AC}
4,7 gp,sp remaining; 82.5 lbs carried

AlignmentNeutral

[Imaro]

Approaching the tor the three of you meet, and with little talk you find yourselves under the shadow of the tor. Individually, you are wary of the others' intentions.

You find yourselves at the door of a great, dark cavern. Within it you are able to find a dry, if cold, shelter. The din of the rain is no less audible in here; in fact, it sounds as though you were still out on the moors. The cavern has a great echo.

A fire would be most suitable to dry your clothes and provide some illumination to see one another better, but do you have any kindling?

Thianne and Eulalios

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You're both able to make out the following:
In the center of the cavern there is an unlit campfire.
The cavern ceiling is rather high, and facilitates sound. That's why the rain sounds so loud.
In every direction the wall gives way to a seemingly cut archway leading further into the cliff.

[Eulalios]

Eulalios has no kindling. Apparently he still wears his ring mail and carries his sack.

What does every direction mean? Are there multiple archways or just one going into the hill side?

Hello, nice to be out of the weather.

[Ichneumon]

As Niobe walks with the others, she makes sure they don't move outside of her line of sight and she makes sure she can easily wield her axe. She also tries to look extra fierce and dangerous.

"Can any of you find some twigs or something? I have flint and steel, so maybe we can get a fire going or something."

[Eulalios]

Noting that the fairly attractive woman holds her axe in a professional way, Eulalios deftly places his heavy sack against the cave wall while keeping his front toward the possible threat.

My name is Eulalios, he says to the woman with the axe, showing empty hands. He keeps the wall at his back. You wear good quality mail, he says. Where did you buy that? I'm sure she dint steal it, she don't look the type. Probably carries a purse.

[Ichneumon]

Niobe eases her posture and calms down. She hasn't had much contact with catfolk before, but she knew they weren't savage beasts and this one seemed very friendly and trustworthy. She smiles. "My name is Niobe. Nice to meet you, Eulalios."

"The armor was a gift from my grandfather, given to me when I joined one of the annual hunting parties for the first time. In my home town of Southgate*, we used to have a Great Hunt, each year to celebrate the coming of spring, you see. This particular mail has been in my family for generations."

As a further sign of good will, she puts all her gear down as well, including her axe, and take her harp out of her bag and start playing (after a camp fire has been set up of course).

Now, I was travelling to the next outpost, but got caught in the storm. What about you, Eulalios? I must confess, I am not that familiar with catfolk culture, but it seems a bit unusual for one of your kin to travel alone?"

* I'm just making up a name now. If the DM minds, he can change it into something that fits his settings. Is there an Out of Character Threat, btw?

[Imaro]

What does every direction mean? Are there multiple archways or just one going into the hill side?

Eulalios/Thianne Cont'd

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Assuming you've taken shelter under the tor, there's a large entryway into the stony hill. The room has all of the smell and feeling of a cavern;
the cavern is semicircular, but at what could be considered the four cardinal directions are large open doorways. You've all entered through the Southernmost doorway, so there are three more tall doorways; one for each direction.

In the center of it all are the remains of a fire pit, which upon closer inspection, still has some dry logs set upon it.

*OOC:

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Southgate* I'm just making up a name now. If the DM minds, he can change it into something that fits his settings. Is there an Out of Character Threat, btw?

To the first: Anything the group comes up with gets added to lore (this includes places, persons, and things). Southgate is now a location.
To the second: I was under the assumption we'd handle any Out-of-Character business right here, double-posting be damned. If you all want an OOC thread, we can have one, though.

[SCARY WIZARD]

Thianne busies herself looking for anything flammable. She takes her sword out of its scabbard in her coat -- just in case.

[Eulalios]

Eulalios still is wearing his sword. He lightly touches its hilt. Before we make light, let's look down the passages into the hill. We don't want to wake anything up. And we should be quiet, I think.

He twitches the tufted tips of his ears, listening. Wrinkles his nose, smelling. Both of the females smell pleasant, one with a layer of oiled leather, the other wet steel -that ring mail is something classy.

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what else does Eulalios smell?

[SCARY WIZARD]

Thianne is somewhat addled from the cold, not to mention mentally water-logged...but she "snaps out of it". "A sound idea." She takes a dart out of her coat, and readies it in her other hand -- another "just in case". She then pauses at the pun she made. "Err, pun not intended. The name's Thianne."

"I'll mark off what paths we've been down, if no one has any objections? I've got some chalk in my coat; hopefully, that hasn't been water-logged..." she looks in the pocket of her coat, hoping - sincerely hoping - that her chalk hasn't dissolved.

Out of Character

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Sooo, do you want us to roll our heary/sneaky rolls, or is that for the GM?

[Eulalios]

Eulalios does not smile at Niobe, he glances at her, blinks, and looks at the ground as is polite among his clan. Quietly, focused more on what he can hear than on what he says, he explains: "We are clannish folk who like to den together. When it is time for a cub to be a man, our mothers push us out. When we find manhood, we may return to the clan."

Turning to Thianne, he adds "I thought we might each go down a passage, listening, until we can just barely see Niobe. If we hear nothing, then will it be safe to get some warmth and sleep?"

[Ichneumon]

While checking him out, she jokes quietly to herself, "Well, as far as I can tell, you certainly don't lack.... manhood, at all.", hoping he didn't hear her.

Niobe listens to the discussion of the others. She's quiet for a while, letting them make up their mind what to do. She continues playing, softly, while gazing outside to the storm. "I wonder how many others are out there, tonight. I have a feeling we aren't alone.", she mumbles, more to herself than to the others.

After hearing Eulalios suggestion to Thianne she gets more seriously involved though: "Are you guys sure it's a good idea to split the group up and go deeper into the tor alone? We have no idea how old these ruins are... what they were used for...*"

*

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Question: Do we know anything about the local history of where we are? Something that might give us a hint about how old the tor is or who/what people might have built it?

Oh and I don't need an OOC-thread, I'm fine with posting here. I just thought it would be a good place to repost the character sheet, for reference. Maybe just post them in our first post here?

[Eulalios]

" That is a good idea about staying together. Every old story about monsters begins with someone wandered alone into the hills. ... Also already we have talked and scuffed our feet, and your harp sounds well. No bad thing has happened. Let's have a fire."

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maybe lmaro could put all our character sheets in a final post on the recruitment thread or in the first post on this one?

[Ichneumon]

"All right, that sounds like a good idea."

Niobe goes sit down and is about to start a fire, using her flint and steel.

"So... does anyone of you know any good ghost stories? If not, I know a few.", she asked, since this seemed to her to be a perfect place to tell them.

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I think the recruitment threads get deleted automatically after a while, that's why I thought it important to save them elsewhere too.

[Eulalios]

"Once I had a cousin who was very lucky. Anything he thought was lost, turned up just when he needed it.

But for a long while my cousin kept waking up in the middle of the night. He thought someone was sitting next to his bedroll, watching him. He began to be frightened by this.

Eventually his mother found a crone and did her a favor. The crone came and stayed with them for ten days. Each night she sat up as long as she could, but she was old and fell asleep. Each night after she fell asleep my cousin would wake up, feeling that someone was sitting next to his bedroll, watching him. Each morning the crone would promise to stay awake the next night.

On the last evening the crone cast three spells. One was to stay awake. A second was for true sight. The third was for speaking with spirits.

That night my cousin slept all night through. In the morning the crone walked away without a word. Every night since then my cousin has slept well.

But now he has no luck."

[SCARY WIZARD]

Thianne decides it may be smart to sit around, and tell stories...

"How sad, it's like being haunted by a dream, yet taking comfort in it. Yet, when you try to understand it, it vanishes from you" Thianne says.

She searches for a story, but gestures to Niobe. "I've got a few, but why don't you tell us some of yours? Do you fancy yourself a Bardess, of sorts?"

[Ichneumon]

Niobe listens and is consumed by Eulalios' story. She still looks slightly pale, when Thianne turned to her.

"Eh.. yes, yes. Sure, I'll tell you mine. I don't seriously intend to become a bard, this harp used to be of an old fellow adventurer..."

She pauzes for a moment, closes her eyes and when she opens them again, there is a fiery twinkle and when she start to speak, she does so with enthusiasm and determination. It's clear she loved telling stories:

"Do you know the story of... the Rosemary Bridge? No? That's good."

"As a small girl, my father's servants used to take me with them when they went to buy food at the market. There, the merchants used to tell me this story. 500 years ago, there was old priest in Southgate, who had served the community well his entire life and he wasn't just loved by the community: the gods loved him as well. When he got too old to work in the church, he retired and married and got a child, a beautiful baby girl."

"I.. I am afraid I don't remember the girl's name, but she was a sweet and playful child, they say, and the old priest loved her more than anything in the world. However, he grew fearful as he was already very old and one day he'd die and wouldn't be able to protect his daughter anymore. "

"The gods wanted to thank him for his years of service and granted him a favor. They made every object in the universe; every rock, every tree, every drop of rain, vow never to hurt her. Every object, except for the rosemary plant. The gods had thought it too unimportant and nonthreatening to bother asking it to make the vow."

"A few miles east of Southgate, there are these large grasslands, hills full of flowers and grass. On her 8th birthday, she went there, to play with the flowers and butterflies, together with some friends. They were playing hide and seek. She searched for the perfect place to hide and found it: a small stone bridge over a little stream. She hid in the shadows under the bridge and between the plants near the edge of water. I don't know how it happened, but somewhere she slipped and her feet got entangled in the roots and vines of the rosemary plants that were growing around the bridge. There, unable to get loose, she drowned in the river, under the bridge, unable to call for help."

She looks at Thianne and Eulalios, and pauzes a few moments, before adding:

"The bridge is still there, you see, a few miles east of Southgate. I've been there. The merchants say that, when you are very quiet, you can sometimes still hear her, softly crying and drowning in the water underneath the bridge. I think those are just rumors. Fairy tales, stories they tell to children. However, on some days, when I walked on the bridge, I clearly smelled the strong scent of rosemary. You might think that's not strange, but, you see, there haven't been growing rosemary plants anywhere near the bridge for at least 250 years."

[Eulalios]

Eulalios sits down bent-legged against the wall between the western and northern archways, quietly adjusting his sword to be easily reachable. He is silent for a while.

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Do we yet have a fire?

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Nice twist on the Baldur tale. Actually did give me chills.

[Imaro]

Ooc:

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sorry, been out of civilization. I see good chemistry has happened while I was away. I'll have a massive infodump for you all incoming. first, some brief answers. Yes, you have a fire roaring, and you've been able to get quite comfortable and dry during this time. As for your sheets, I have them ask saved in a onenote book for easy access. I'll put up some sort of wiki or something later.

Also, @ichneumon, please roll a d20 modified by your int modifier

[Ichneumon]

Niobe becomes silent as well, staring into the fire and thinking about the ghost stories they'd told each other. She's never encountered the undead before; she wondered what they looked like. She wondered what it was like, to be undead. She shivered. Scary thoughts. "I've never encountered undead before and I sincerely hope I never will." , she says with a soft voice, betraying her fear.

OOC:

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Great! Nice to have you back! I was starting to get a little bit worried.

The roll you requested: (1d20-2)[10]. Wow, I only just realised how low my intelligence really is, a 7.

[Imaro]

OOC:

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Link to Character Sheets (also been placed in the OP)

Everyone should be able to access it, but please let me know if you need viewing or editing permissions.

Congratulations! You've successfully gotten this campfire roaring, and have managed to both warm your bones and illuminate the stonemasonry to get a better glimpse of the detail.

The stone cavern measures at least ten paces circular. The peeling paint and broken scrollwork along the walls suggest that it was once decorated with care, but now the carved walls only partially depict a scene of battle, where one figure towers above all the rest. It appears to be an elf in full regalia, directing an army against a swarm of goblins. Three massive archways—one each to the left and right of your campsite, and one directly across from the entrance—lead deeper into the tor. Two of the arches—the one to your left and across from the rainy entrance—are each sealed by an enormous stone door, engraved with flowery, spiraled script.

Niobe
Perhaps you wanted to be a troubadour or bard growing up, for you remember many legends. Of the legends of Bodkin Moor you've heard, you remember the tale of the Scarlet Knight: a royal Elven man who built a castle on the moors. His palace was said to hold great riches the likes of which would make the Sulta'an of Zamora envious. His estate was beset by a local band of brigands, and for months they laid siege to his lands, burning crops and storming the castle walls, but the Elven lord's keep was set above a high tor. While his band of conscripts defended the palace with bravery, they were no match for the goblin brigands' sheer numbers.

Eulalios
Your nose is keen; you smell the enchanting scents of the lovely women, even if the rain has washed away any trace of their makeup. But you also smell something else: you smell the urine of rats, and realize where there is a storm, there are always plump rats lurking in dark, dry corners. Strangely enough, you have not seen nor heard whisker nor whimper of the vermin while you listened to Niobe's tale.

[Eulalios]

you smell the urine of rats, and realize where there is a storm, there are always plump rats lurking in dark, dry corners. Strangely enough, you have not seen nor heard whisker nor whimper of the vermin while you listened to Niobe's tale.

Eulalios' empty stomach floods with hunger. He grins in such a way that the dancing firelight ducks in and out among his sharper-than-human teeth. "We might be able to have roast meat for dinner." He rises smoothly from the wall, and circles the cavern or anteroom. First he listens at the left door, then at the middle door. Then he ventures just a few steps into the open passage, and peers down it, trying to see to the very edge of where the firelight gets dim. The flickering shadows are a nuisance in that regard.

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lmaro, if you want to roll for me, or tell me what rolls to make, I'm fine with either.

[Imaro]

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(3d6)[1][5][4](10); results incoming

Peering down the leftmost doorway, your infravision picks up the sight of a broken altar with some shattered pottery and lots of dust. The smell is stale, and the rat stench is quite weak here.

Moving to the central chamber, you sniff between the cracks of the door and press your ear to the seam. A cold breeze flits through the space, and you hear the sound of falling water, and there's something else...the echoing squeaks of a chattering rat, just beyond the stone door.

[Eulalios]

Eulalios checks the other stone door. Also he looks for handles or other ways to open the doors, but he doesn't yet open them. The whole time he tries to move quietly so that he can keep listening for prey or for threats.

"At least one rat is behind the middle door," he says. " Thianne, Niobe, shall we open it? ... Also, there is some kind of a robbed altar to the left."

[SCARY WIZARD]

"I hope for the child's sake that whatever gods she prayed to collected her from the rosemary...then, it'd just be some sort of sick-minded illusionist making those noises.

Thianne gets a look at the broken pottery, and the altar, examining it for anything unusual... While she was silent as she searched for a story to tell, the pottery caused one to flood back into her memory.

"Hmm. Reminds me of something I saw in a book, one time... Not quite a ghost story, but it was a story about the tomb of a very rich woman."

"She belonged to a culture that buried its dead with their belongings. One of hers happened to be a very ornate item, such as this..." the half-elf taps at the shards. "Made for her by a lover, when she was alive. As time went by, some careless tomb robbers broke it while they made off with everything else on and around her person. As is the case with many of these stories, she came back to some semblance of life, but the robbers were able to leave before she could do anything to them."

"What they didn't count on, was the fact that she would follow them great distances to get what was hers back. By the time she reached them, they'd sold most of her belongings. Hoping for some sort of forgiveness, they gave her a list of everybody they sold the items to...right before she killed them and made them her new servants. For the next decade, this woman went on an adventure, searching for her belongings. Some people relinquished them gladly, while others had to be 'persuaded'. In the end, the woman returned to her tomb with all of her belongings, and some new servants. But, try as she might, she couldn't get over the loss of her most prized piece of pottery. They say that her cries of despair and rage are said to still be heard echoing around her tomb."

[Ichneumon]

Niobe listened with fascination to the half-elf's story. "Good story. I never thought about the existence of 'undead adventuring parties' before.". She looked around, imagining the ghost of the woman with her servants travelling the world, searching for her belongings...

She took a good look at the things in the room, now that it was light.

"Thianne, look at this. These carvings on the wall remind me of the legend of Bodkin Moor, you know that one? Look at the scenes...", she points to one of the walls. "Don't these warriors look like elves? Wasn't there a royal elvish man, a king maybe, called the Scarlet Knight, very long ago, who built a castle on the moors, on a tor such as this, who had gathered many riches? His palace was over run with goblins I think. Maybe this is his palace, or tomb?"

"If it is, we might be able to find great treasures here, or at least learn something about elvish history. Yes, let's open the door, Eulalios, and see what kind of secrets this tor is hiding."

She takes her axe and goes to the door, to help them open it and prepares herself for anything that might be behind it.

[Eulalios]

Eulalios looks at the women and chuckles. "So dinner must wait? Very well."

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What time of the evening?

He draws his sword from the scabbard, does something dextrous with his left hand, and now holds a short sword in his right hand, the scabbard in his left, with three feet of chain scraping the floor.

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Is the floor dirt, paved stone, or natural stone?

"I am ready to enter."