The Black Shingle Fiasco II: Electric Boogaloo

[Marlowe]

Avita gives Sarrazin a look. "I have oil. I mean, technically Sarim has the oil. But it's still my oil. You know; in case I should have to start an inferno for completely ethical and above-board reasons and yes let's get going. I'll carry the concealed torch and do the chalking."

[YossarianLives]

You part ways to make your last minute preparations for the trials ahead.

~

An hour later, you meet in a quiet spot just outside the barracks' stables. Corporal Kremp is waiting for you, her civilian clothes exchanged for a rugged suit and helmet of studded leather and tall boots that have been heavily stained with some unknown liquid. If it wasn't for the badge on her chest, you might think her a mercenary, not a city guardsman. "Ready to go?" she asks. "Follow me." She gestures to a rusty manhole cover a few paces away. Kneeling down by it, she pulls a long metal hook from her rucksack, and with a grunt of effort pries the cover up and onto the cobblestones. The stench of garbage and human waste rises up to greet you. Kremp mutters "Ladies first" and lowers herself into the blackness, holding onto the rim as long as possible until... she lets go, and plunges down out of sight. You hear a splash, then the Corporal's voice. "All clear!"

You follow, one by one lowering yourselves down into the sewers. It is not pleasant. By the time you've reached the floor, you're all sufficiently grimy, not to mention being ankle-deep in feculence. Kremp has lit a small oil lamp, illuminating your surroundings. They are broad, for a sewer, and wide, enough for two of you to walk abreast, and even Fion need not bend over. The stonework itself is old, visibly crumbling and covered in all manner of moss, stains, and other strange growths that you find yourself unable to put a name to. "Follow me," repeats Kremp, and strides confidently down the circular tunnel, her bobbing lantern the only source of light. And once again, you follow.

Kremp knows her way, that much is clear. Each intersection causes her only a moment's hesitation. She walks with skill and purpose, moving through the muck like it is nothing. Occasionally you pass a grate, giving you a brief blast of sunlight, a patch of old graffiti, some rats - but nothing that strikes you as unusual. Still, you get the feeling you are gradually moving downwards - a feeling compounded by the occasional stream of running water, the occasional rusted ladder or flight of stairs. Glimpses of the surface become rarer and rarer. You begin hearing noises, splashes, dripping water, the chittering of rats and insects, the echoes of some disturbance far down the tunnel. Otherwise, silence and darkness reign supreme. Corporal Kremp says nothing, guiding you only with gestures and nods.

Finally, you come to your destination. In the darkness, you can not say how long it took you to arrive - but certainly longer than you would have liked to spend in this dank hole. An ancient wooden door has been built into the wall here, no more than four feet high and partially submerged. Looking at the door itself, it is a miracle the thing is still intact. Made of some rotten, mossy, moist material that is probably wood, it is without a doubt very, very, old. The metal braces, which are somehow in a state of corrosion past rust, are likely all that is keeping it intact. Kremp whirls around to face you. "Listen up," she growls in barely above a whisper. "This is the entrance to the tunnels I told you about. I have no idea what's been living down there since I left, and honestly I don't want to know. Stay sharp, and try not to get stuck. We'll have to crawl most of the way, and there won't be enough room to turn around or switch positions."

[YossarianLives]

You squelch around in the muck for a minute, getting into formation. Corporal Kremp is the pointman, followed by Fion, Sarim, Pamela, Avita, and finally with Sarrazin bringing up the rear. Kremp pulls a loop with many, many keys off her belt and unlocks the door. As soon as it opens, filthy water pours down into the tunnel.

The tunnel, an ancient construction dug straight through the bedrock. It is very tight, no more than four feet tall and perhaps half that in width. No breeze wafts up from the depths. There is no dripping water or skittering animals. Only dead, stale air. Kremp gives you all a nod, and slides herself through into the jagged doorway. You follow. The shorter among you, Avita and Pamela, are able to travel at an uncomfortable crouch, but the rest are left crawling on your hands, slipping and sliding on the newly-wetted stones. The blackness is absolute, thicker - if that is possible - than it was in the sewers. Your only source of light is Kremp's little, bobbing lamp. You seem to be going deeper, downwards into the earth. The good Corporal still seems to know her way impeccably. There are less turns down here in the tunnels, but none of them are cause for delay. "Not far now," Kremp mutters.

The group rounds a sharp bend that keeps those in front of you momentarily out of sight, and when they come back into view, you suddenly realize that Pamela is no longer with you. Kremp has not yet noticed.

[rax]

"Corporal! Hold your position!" Sarrazin whispers fiercely. "Seems we just lost Pamela... Avita? She was right in front of you. Did you notice anything?"

[YossarianLives]

Kremp stops dead, looking back at you as much as is possible. "What?" she says incredulously. That is when you all hear it, a noise coming from up ahead. It starts as a high-pitched screeching, which grows louder and louder into the smack of running feet, and what sounds like a blade being dragged along the stone. A small piece of rock falls from the ceiling.

Kremp shouts "Move!" and starts scrambling forward down as the tunnel as fast as possible. "There's an opening just ahead."

[rax]

"You heard the woman, let's go!" Sarrazin says urgently, pushing his compatriots towards the opening.

[Kushina43]

Sarim tries to crawl ahead with haste following Fion and Kremp, him and his axe feeling very cramped in the tight space. "Pamela, missing? ****..! Go, go, we gotta save 'er!"

[Marlowe]

"She was right around the corner from me and she didn't turn up" rasps Avita, slapping a decisive "X" against the wall in a flurry of chalk. "Not her keeper. Follow the Corporal." She skins her teeth as she moves to follow her own advice.

[Blackhawk748]

Fion says nothing, partly because he doesnt want to disturb the bandana he has tied across his lower face and under his helmet, and partly because he is too focused on following to corporal to care. Pamela was behind him, how the others behind her had lost the woman was their problem to figure out for the moment.

[YossarianLives]

You scramble forwards down the tunnel, the sounds getting louder and closer. You nearly slip on shards of loose rock in your haste. Suddenly, you are out of the tunnel's tight confines, and have emerged into a roughly hexagonal chamber, tall enough for all of you to stand up, but with barely the breadth to contain all of you. On the chamber's other side, two narrow tunnels veer off in different directions. Kremp has set her lamp on the ground and drawn her sword, watching the two tunnels for any sign of movement, feet planted apart. You see none. The sound is all around you now, in the walls and beneath the floor. A frantic tapping.

Spoiler: Sarim's Eyes Only

Show

Sarim notices something - a brief flash of light in the tunnel you just crawled out of. But...

(1d20+1)[12]

he has a strong feeling he shouldn't tell his companions about it.

[Kushina43]

Sarim glances back toward the tunnel, briefly considers mentioning the light he saw, but decides against it. He makes a quick head count to be sure no one else is missing, then asks Kremp while looking through both new tunnels from right to left. "Which way from here? We must get moving."

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Rolling Spot for both new tunnels separately
(1d20+2)[4]
(1d20+2)[16]

[rax]

Drawing his sword, Sarrazin takes up a defensive stance. "Any idea what's coming Corporal? And do we fight or flee?"

[Blackhawk748]

Fion readies his sword into an Ochs guard as he waited for someone to make a call.

[Marlowe]

Avita marks the wall next to her with some sharp, dramatic chalk strokes. Then speaks low; "Gentlemen, I don't wish to be alarmist but the last time we saw somebody vanish into thin air was right before a massive horde of Handymen appeared OUT of thin air and tried to kill everyone so...yes. Direction would be good."

[YossarianLives]

"Hold your ground," orders Kremp. "They'll just-" she is interrupted as something large and furry leaps out of the darkness towards you. It lands in the mouth of one of the forward tunnels, and straightens up to reveal itself. Seven feet tall, it has the basic form of a man but covered head to toe in long, sharp quills. Two heads burst from its shoulders, one bald and disturbingly human, the other that of a battle-scarred camel. Both heads laugh slowly, a deep, disdainful chuckle. As it does, a small burst of fire spurts from the camel's nostrils. The other head speaks, its voice high, clear, and laced with the accents of nobility. "I am Queel'af'sckosf the Annihilator," it says "We have come to destroy you." In one of its four arms, it carries an enormous greatsword wreathed in blue fire. In another a spiked flail, and another has a curved, double-bladed sword dripping with poison. The final arm ends in a massive, grafted metal spike. The monster wears a skirt made of what seems to be human bones. Suddenly, its stomach begins to... part. The flesh pulls back to reveal not bones and organs, but some kind of horrible entity living within the two-headed abomination. This second creature is a horrible, boneless, slimy thing, with one central, fish-like eye fixed upon you and a gaping, gnashing maw with three rows of razor sharp teeth. There is a slurping sound, and a long, blue tentacle wends its way out of this mouth. The tentacle, ending in an insectoid stinger, waves and undulates, pointing in your direction.

Then, before you can react, another creature comes down the second tunnel! This thing has no apt comparison to the creatures of the earth. It is an amorphous blob of boiling, liquid meat, enough to almost completely fill the tunnel it is coming from. On the ground behind it, the thing leaves a trail of bubbling, caustic acid. On the front, a puckering orifice sprays a deluge of the same substance at an alarming rate, the burning rain only missing you by a few inches. One large and very muscular human arm protrudes from the top of the blob, swinging an enormous battleaxe. Thousands of small spiders, impervious to the acid, frantically skitter on and around the monster. Each of you recognize a few from your own homeland, and that they are very, very poisonous. Similarly, a swarm of large and very angry hornets buzz around it. Near the axe-arm, a wooden post sticks out of the meat at an odd angle. Fixed on it is the severed head of a woman covered in strange, runic tattoos. The eyes are glowing blue, and as the monsters comes out of the tunnel, the head pivots to face you. Its mouth splits in a blood-stained smile, and beams of searing white light shoot from its eyes, missing you by inches and burning a hole several inches deep into the stone wall.

It looks like, perhaps, Corporal Kremp is rethinking her earlier statement.

[rax]

Suddenly, Sarrazin straightens, chuckling. Keeping his weapons in hand, he smiles warmly at the first monster and replies: "Greetings, Queel'af'sckosf the Annihilator, my name is Sarrazin Montayne. You are a most well-mannered destroyer. May I inquire as to the name of your companion and also, why? Why have you come to destroy us?"

OOC: No one said "Roll for initiative" so why not try diplomacy first? Sarrazin is still ready to fight at the drop of a hat, though.

[YossarianLives]

The two-headed monster, Queel'af'sckosf, flexes and rattles its weapons, the camel gnashing its teeth. "Enough talk!" yells the human head. "Now you die!" It takes one heavy step forward, cracking the stone beneath its foot. The blob just oozes, pulsates, and keeps spraying acid while the severed head glares at you.

[Kushina43]

Sarim looks between the two and, deciding Queel is the easier target, pulls out his weapon and charges, letting out a battle cry as he brings his mighty axe down on their heads.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Attack: (1d20+8)[26]
Damage: (3d6+4)[10]

Spoiler: On 28

Show

Damage: (3d6+4)[16]+(3d6+4)[15]

[YossarianLives]

Sarim charges heroically forward, axe raised and... passes right through the monster as if it isn't there. The blob's acid sprays toward him in a deadly volley, and goes right through Sarim as if the dworc himself were made of air. Queel'af'sckosf stomps its feet and growls, but makes no move to attack back.

[rax]

Sarrazin laughs out loud. "Well that went as well as could be expected! Sarim, you have slaughtered thin air - bravo! Now, whoever's playing about with illusions out there, won't you come out and say hello? We're just passing through, but we wouldn't mind a little chat."

[Marlowe]

Avita initially braces for a fight. Then sees what Sarim does and visibly relaxes. She breathes a sotto voice whisper to whoever's next to her; "Did Pamela have any Illusion powers? Does anyone know? Is this someone using her?". Then addresses the nameless blob with the severed head. "You look familiar. I've read things. Are you supposed to be Abyssal Nightfall or something?

"The woman's head, I must say, is both more and less creepier than the original. It's meant to be a full upper body rising out of the rest of you, naked, tattooed, blindfolded, gagged and bound by chains. You know. Style. Do you speak it?"

[Kushina43]

Sarim mutters and puts away his axe, first annoyed his blow was for naught, then remembers Pamela's disappearance and becomes enraged. "Enough of these cursed tricks! Where did you take her?!"

[YossarianLives]

The two monsters continue to posture for a couple seconds, and then vanish without a trace. With them goes the damage inflicted on the cave walls and floor. Kremp steps forward, sword still in hand, looking thoroughly put out. Your questions and greetings echo down the tunnels. There is no response.

Eventually, the Corporal relaxes and sheathes her sword. "I don't like this," she says. "But I see no alternative: we keep going."

[Marlowe]

Avita lifts an eyelid. "Oh, you've gone. I'm sorry. Were we rude? Did we hurt your feelings?" Then slashes the words "waste of time" onto the wall next to her and turns to Kremp.

"Someone's onto us, and they're weak. Let's move fast now."

[rax]

"Corporal, I take it from your reaction that these illusions weren't here the last time you came this way? That would indicate that whoever's responsible is a more recent occupant of these tunnels. Have you encountered any intelligent beings with such capabilities down here before?" Sarrazin asks while wrapping his sword about his waist once more.

[YossarianLives]

Kremp emphatically shakes her head. "I was expecting some overgrown vermin, maybe a few kobolds. This..." She makes a disgruntled noise. "Let's get moving." She indicates the right entrance, and sheathes her sword.

You scramble up the tunnel ahead. The ceiling grows gradually higher, and soon even Fion can walk mostly upright. Darkness is still overwhelming. The passage twists and turns, enough that you start to doubt whether you are even making forward progress. Each moment crawls by, and you have soon lost all measure of time. You see no sign that someone else has been here recently. Then, Corporal Kremp holds up her hand to stop you.

She is standing at the edge of precipice, looking forward transfixed. Up ahead the tunnel widens out into a rectangular chamber wider than a city street. The floor immediately falls off into a sheer cliff that leads down into some dark, bottomless pit. A single stone pillar stands in the middle of the pit, ten feet from either end of the chamber and wide enough for one person to stand on.

On the other side of the abyss, is a small ledge and a wooden door that seems to have seen recent use. "This was definitely not here last time," Kremp growls.

[Marlowe]

Avita looks. And shrugs. And pulls out her grappling-hook and rope. "Very well, this might be time-consuming and generally twitchy, but we should be able to hook onto the pillar, get one sufficiently ripped guy onto it, get HIM to hook onto the ledge and swing over there, have the rest of us hold the rope at this end while he gets the door open. Or...." She runs a thumb across her lips.

"Or I could just summon a skeleton over there to open the door before we start. It's not that far."

[rax]

Sarrazin grins in the darkness. "Corporal, I assume you mean that the pit wasn't here before? Even without examining the pit, the presence of yonder pillar would indicate that this isn't some sort of natural collapse. But still, a bottomless pit appears in the sewers and there's no noticeable effect on the city above? Decidedly odd."

Kneeling down, Sarrazin rummages about on the floor of the tunnel for some loose stones and gravel. "If the intent here was to prevent passage to the door beyond, the easiest option would have been to block the door itself or collapse the tunnel behind it. So I surmise that whoever did this wanted to retain the ability to move from here to there. The pit makes passage almost impossible for earthbound folk like ourselves, but would be no hindrance to those who can fly or otherwise transport themselves without touching the ground. But if they can fly, then the pillar at the centre of the pit serves no useful purpose either. I wonder then, if there's a means of passage on foot that we simply haven't discovered yet?"

"First, let's find out if the pit has a bottom." Taking some of the larger stones, Sarrazin drops them into the pit and listens to hear if there's any indication of them hitting a solid or fluid surface. "Second, let's find out if there are more illusions at play here." Taking handfuls of gravel, he stands opposite the pillar and tosses them over the pit to see if any of the gravel lands on a solid surface between the passage and the pillar. "And if none of this works, summoning a skeleton to open yonder door seems like a fine plan," he finally responds to Avita.

OOC: Step back! Indiana Montayne's on the job! And if the whole thing's an illusion, this should at least count as interacting with it, offering a Will save to disbelieve.

[YossarianLives]

"This pit wasn't here, period," says Kremp. She turns to Avita, starting to say something more, but then cuts off as she sees what happens with Sarrazin's gravel. The stones fly forward, and land right on nothing in the middle of the pit. To your eyes, they are floating in the air at roughly ground level, some slightly higher than others.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Sarrazin makes a will save and... fails. But this is one of those cases where he clearly knows illusions are on the table and they seem like the most likely answer to this. So I'm not gonna hold you to it.

[Marlowe]

Avita carefully puts down the torch-wrapped in cloak, and draws her small steel mirror and one arrow. She cautiously turns the mirror to inspect the ceiling above the pit, then uses the arrow to prod over the edge, into the space of the "pit" where the pebbles are now resting.