Artifact Hunters

[BlueWizard]

The cave is big and dark. The party order is ready, and you can easily stand two abreast. This cave wall is not natural, any dungeon-crawler could tell you this, and it is stripped of any decoration or markings.

[Toliudar]

Ramona

Ramona grins up at the big rude man.

Nah. Wolves got their own words fer wolves. They don't need mine.

Sides, I lived in and around woods most a my life. Never had a wolf try ta bite me.

She shifts her axe back into his strap, and pulls out her bow as she steps hesitantly and quietly into the large underground passage.

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Good to go.

[wxdruid]

Arha is ready to go, but she doesn't look very happy about going underground again.

[androgial]

anduran

"they are called carrion crawlers, and there is probably a few more down the tunnel. we should eat first before we enter." anduran cleans off his blades and goes back to the roasting deer.

[BlueWizard]

The roast deer is rich, and dark, and quite filling.

At about 100 feet in the cave the light will just flicker on more piles of rocks some 60 feet ahead. Sounds of more buggy noises squeaking can be heard.
edit:
Sharon will be NPC'd temporarily. DarkLady is just a little busy!

[Ruik]

Valimar Kil'ana

Seeing Arha's discomfort, Valimar moves up next too her and speaks in a low voice. "I know you find the idea of going underground again less than pleasant, but at least you have two Drow with you - the Underdark is our home, and I promise we wont let anything bad happen." He grins, showing that he is kidding, and heads off towards the entrance following the others.

As he hears the buggy sounds, Valimar searches the way ahead, straining his eyes as he draws his wand.

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Spot (1d20=9) to see whats making the noise. Also, if some creature attacks, and is on foot, i'll get him to use Grease to try and make it fall over (if a big lumbering nasty), or to grease the shaft of a weapon (if its carrying a big pointy sharp thing), before using the wand.

[Severedevil]

Tevrier

Tevrier wipes the black ichor off on any convenient facet of the landscape, attempting to keep his scythe and himself clear of aberrant stains for the time being. He frowns at Sonny's comment, leaving Anduran to provide the desired information.

Tevrier grins approvingly at Anduran's roast, and messily devours whatever he's offered. Still, he is eager to continue on to the Black Temple, and again joins the other heavy lifters in rock removal.

[wxdruid]

She looks at Valimar with a little irritation as he talks to her.

Later, Arha leans in close to Sharon and whispers about odd feelings and demons and despite her earlier irritation seems to settle down and seems a bit distracted.

[Roland St. Jude]

Raven

Raven would have liked to proceed before his magic wore off, but shrugs as Anduran suggests one last meal above ground. He thanks Anduran for it and when they are ready he steps eagerly into the tunnel. He keeps Illanee close, trusting her eyesight.

[androgial]

anduran


after the meal is over anduran heads down with the others and sees the next pile of rubble.

"oh great another set like the first."

as he stands gaurd ready to strike whatever attacks the ones removing the rubble from their path he mumbles to himself " well mira looks like i went and got myself into something without you. this war is harsh though, i hope you fare better than i in it if i dont see you again."

[BlueWizard]

Sharon has her ever-burning torch out.

As Sonny approaches the pile of rocks in the center of the cave, he will notice a nasty nesting of about 6 smaller corrupted carrion crawlers in the light from Sharon's torch.

These can be squashed pretty easily, if you are careful, and no battle rounds will take place. These creatures can stun, and do impede the way you clearing the rocks.

Once the gruesome work of smashing the baby Crawlers is done, the pile of rocks can be cleared, there is some sort of stairway straight down beneath this pile.

[Roland St. Jude]

Raven

Raven carefully aids in the crawler smashing and rock clearing. He seems oddly comfortable underground, which surprises him a bit, though you wouldn't know it to look at him. He seems as calm and stoic as ever.

Upon seeing the staircase has asks, "shall we delve a bit deeper?"

[BlueWizard]

The stairway is narrow, and once the rubble is cleared and the baby carrion crawlers are crushed, you can continue single-file down the spiral stair.

[amanodel]

Sonny

The thug is ready to go, and lead the way down, checking for anything unusual

{skill modifiers, if needed for a roll: spot +6, search +8, disable device +5, open lock +11}

[BlueWizard]

The stairwell is dark, and Sharon's light will be much needed.

The approximate marching order, made for the wilderness will be used here, though with Sonny bravely taking point, now that Anduran's tracking skills not as necessary.

[androgial]

anduran

anduran follows sonny down into the depths, well at least down the stairs, with his rusty swords and rickety bow, oh all right all right,with his plain but well crafted swords and mighty bow ready to do war upon the gates of hell, ok i get it no epic prose,well anduran is ready for action against the forces that await at any rate.

[Ruik]

Valimar Kil'ana

Valimar follows Sonny slightly further back in the party, ready to do battle with whatever evil may lie below...

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If we get into combat, the standard response from Valimar will be to use grease to either trip the adversary or make them drop their weapon by making their weapons slippery. If its a caster or other ranged-attacker, he will cast shield first. And of course there is always his wand if it seems more appropriate.

[Roland St. Jude]

Raven

Raven will head into the darkness, careful to stay within the light given off by the everburning torch. Over his time traveling through the underdark his night vision developed quite well, but he was still only human after all. And back then he had been under ground for months. He grips his blade and peers into the dark as they head onward.

[wxdruid]

Arha prefers the middle of the group, as usual. She seems a bit distracted as she walks.

[Toliudar]

Ramona

Ramona follows close behind Sonny, peering ahead into the darkness and blessing - for a change - her orcish heritage.

[BlueWizard]

The stairwell is dark and spirals deep into the earth. The walls are the same black stone that makes up river, lake, and temple rocks above. The walls on the way down are completely scarred, but at times the hint of evil-looking runes and images can be seen. Only Arha can even look at them for too long without getting the feeling they are going crazy. {OOC- Be careful it may involve saving throws! }
Arha, Raven, and Sharon would wonder what seeing the full image or writing would do. It would not be good.
{OOC- I have alignment languages, usually based on some evil language, this one is abyssal. Alignment tongues are old school D&D languages, and not all PCs necessarily speak the language.}

Arha, Sonny, and Sharon get a familiar dark feeling as they sink deeper into the cold rock.

About 50 feet down there is a landing and a stone blocked passageway, the stairwell also continues deeper into the hill. This region is also completely destroyed. In the corner of the room are two mangled human corpses, mostly bone now, but wear chain-mail armor often worn by the King of Zhe's soldiers. Possibly Lady Nerise's husband's men?

Tevrier will spot a glittering ring on the ground near the blocked passageway. An eerie silence comes up from the darkness below, and it seems too quiet.

[wxdruid]

Arha will occasionally talk to Sharon as she looks around at it all. It's a bit interesting...

[Roland St. Jude]

Raven

Raven is sorely tempted to read the runes but is not at all interested in the feelings of madness that seem to flow from them. He averts his eyes and continues downward. At the sight of the dead men, Raven scans the area for any signs of what killed them.

[BlueWizard]

Illanee looks at the blocked door, and down at the great evil darkness below. Then to Sonny, "What does the Mirror say? Either way seems pretty grim. I don't think Carrion Crawlers could hurt whatever lies beyond these two pathways."

Anduran will notice first as he is in the lead, that the stairway down is very undistrubed, and a thick layer of dust and debris coats it.

The bones of the slain looked to have been slashed by something with large sharp claws. Lots of them.

[androgial]

anduran

"no one has go down these stairs in a long long time. id be careful if you clear the blocked passage first go slower and be ready to fight at a moments notice."

[Severedevil]

Tevrier

Following behind the group, Tevrier shivers at the evil runes and represses the urge to draw a weapon for security. Shaking his head, the ranger puts his senses back where they belong; watching for potential attack. He seems unaffected by the grisly human corpses.

Noticing the ring, Tevrier will pick it up gingerly, trusting little in this dark place. He offers it to Sharon, although he speaks for all the spellcasters to hear. "Can you identify this ring?"

[BlueWizard]

Tevrier will see that the ring is jewel encrusted with blue and black gems, and looks to be a valuable signet ring set in a platinum ring and frame.

Sharon {DM action, since she's busy} will cast detect magic and find nothing. She does however notice that the facially destroyed walls around here glow with POWERFUL magic.

[wxdruid]

Arha looks over at the ring curiously, but she pays more attention to what's around her.

[amanodel]

Sonny

The large thug, not schooled in the divine lore, is rather unaffected by the evil runes. "Just markings on a stone wall." - he says to whoever stares too long at one such thing.

When Tevrier offers the ring to Sharon, Sonny snickers loudly.- "Y'gonna be married?" - he asks with his mouth large open with laughter, a clear sign of his poor upbringing.

Upon Ilanee's question, he adresses the mirror of Freya, still in a happy mood, thanks to his own joke. "Mirror mirror in my pocket, should we chose the dust or rocky?"

[Ruik]

Valimar Kil'ana

Valimar displays equal measures of interest and unease at the runes on the walls, and will observe the bodies curiously, trusting the others to keep an eye (and an ear!) out for danger.