NPX: Gates of the Shadowkeep

[Knubs]

Kavri - Town Group

Kavri watches the boy disappear into the distance. He faintly hears the tinge of urgency in the boy's voice, but doesn't think too much of it. They must not get many travelers in these parts, I guess. That runt is pretty excitable anyway... The elf shrugs off this odd behavior and stays his course.

[Naleh]

Retay (approaching the town)

"Oh, good," Retay says, "they'll know we're here. They'll have time to prepare us a well-cooked meal," he adds with a little longing.

[Tanaar]

Darros (Approaching Town)

Leading "his" group down the mountain, Darros walks from person to person, chatting amiably with everyone. One thing he talks about with each member of the little party is their homelands, and the circumstances under which they got there.

Approaching the village, Darros is puzzled by the shepherd boy's reaction. Perhaps they have had people disappear from up there too, and aren't used to people coming down from the summit...curious. "I don't think that boy was running to roll out the welcome carpet...it might be best if we approach cautiously and present as little threat as possible."

[Knubs]

Kavri - Town Group

"Who's presenting a threat? My weapons are sheathed, and my gear isn't anything a common hunter wouldn't carry. You worry too much elf."

[Tanaar]

Darros (Town)

The eladrin glances at Kavri. "No such thing. There's only worrying too little and just enough. You're either prepared or not prepared enough." Darros takes the orb from his pocket, holding it casually, ready to bring to bear at a moment's notice.

[Knubs]

Kavri - Town Group

Kavri looks over at Darros and gives a short condescending laugh. "Ha! Right, so I guess you should be prepared for, say, a massive flood suddenly enveloping the world, lasting for a few days. Now, you could spend a lot of time preparing a boat and gathering the necessary equipment to outlast this flood, or you could just admit that, maybe, just maybe, some things aren't probable. Your choice." Elves can be so frustrating. Of course if he's right...no sense not being prepared. Kavri's hand runs down to the hilt of his longsword, but then goes limp. Still, no sense in looking threatening either.

[Rodrick_the_Red]

Patash (Dragonborn Cleric) Fizahn's Group

Patash takes in the great room then gestures to the fire place, "Shall I see about lighting a fire?" he asks Fizahn.

[Koji]

Kazz

Kazz curses her lack of shoes more than once on the trip down the hill, but manages the climb about as well as the boys. She stays toward the back of the group not because she is the slowest, but because suddenly, in broad daylight, performing strenuous physical activity with ill-fitting clothing and an all male audience is a lot more of a concern than it had previously been.

Kazz's thin tail flicks back and forth nervously under her robe. She blows a feather out of her face and looks at the others somewhat nervously.

[Erikkin]

Fizahn: (Fizahn's tower)

Fizahn shrugs. "Yeah. Go ahead and light it." The gnome moves to the table, and examines it. "Guess this is my dining room from now on. The next objective is to find bedrooms." Fizahn says walking to the stairs. He draws his short sword as he gets to the stairs, though. "I hope there's nothing here I have to prove my ownership to."

[Matticus]

Grynde (following the midget)

Taking in the room at a glance, he moves across to the stairwell and readies his heavier flail. "I've said it before, and I say it now. You hesitate too much", he says as he walks past Fizahn and up the stairs.

[King_of_GRiffins]

Elthan

Fizahns Group

"There's nothing wrong with erring to caution on a world we've been on for less than a day. Elthan steps forward into the hall, seeing nothing immediately wrong. He steps towards the fireplace soon to be lit to enjoy just a bit of warmth. There's not telling what could happen, or what important yet subtle information has yet to be discovered. Perhaps everyone on this world are plants, and we've already offended their bushes and flowers. Undoubtedly, the bee's will be out to get you Grynde.

"That clearly isn't the case, I'm sure, but you should know to be careful Grynde. Not that I mind, but you've been abducted once already by errant plantlife. No reason it might not happen twice."

[kuja.girl]

Tiriel - minotaur hall-

Tiriel feels the rope tighten in her hand. She looks at the rest of the group.
"Are we following him in or should I haul him back in?"

[blackfox]

Ginevra -- Minotaur Hall

Ginevra clutches at the rope with her left hand and holds her unsheathed sword in her right. "...I thought he was following us..." She takes a deep breath to still her nervous jitteriness.

[Rodrick_the_Red]

Patash (Dragonborn Cleric) Fizahn's Group

Patash lights a fire quickly then follows the others up the stairs.

[Dr._Bob]

Inside the minotaur doors ...

Davek lights a torch and follows the limp rope around two corners until he finds the torn end of the rope lying in a dead end.

Within the labyrinth ...

Callos, Evendur, Tiriel and Ginevra follow the narrow passage. It twists and turns but neither forks nor has side branchings. The rope goes taut behind them, as though Davek is pulling backward, but then the rope goes limp.

As Tiriel pulls the rope, its frayed end suddenly appears. The rope appears to be about 20 feet too short and, more importantly, lacks Davek holding on to its end.

Backtracking, you find that the passageway seems unfamiliar, as though it turns right instead of left, or maybe vice versa ...

In the mountain keep ...

Elthan and Harsk remain behind in the greatroom, while Patash starts a fire in the massive hearth.

Grynde and Fizahn race up the stairs to find a hallway leading to four rooms, one at each corner of the second level. Each room is spacious but sparsely furnished with a bed, a desk, a chest. A narrow window pierces the two exterior walls of each room, allowing light in through leaded glass panes.

In the valley ...

The village stirs, aroused by the cries of the goatherd.

Doors and shutters are slammed shut. A cloaked figure darts from behind one small cottage and disappears behind another.

An unseen dog barks twice, then is silent.

The dozen or so cottages that form the village more or less encircle the low earthen wall, which once likely served as a small fort. As you get closer to the village you can see that time and neglect have left the "fort" essentially useless as a defensive construction. The ring of frozen dirt stands only a couple of feet high, crowned by a flimsy fence made up of crooked twigs.

You halt about 10 yards from the outermost cottage. The windows that face towards you are shuttered.

From somewhere behind you a goat bleats ...

[shaddy_24]

Evendur

Evendur stares at the broken rope nervously. He turns to Callose and says, What's going on here? Where did Davek go?" He carefully looks around the next corner, while staying within line of sight to the rest of the group.

[Nahal]

Davek

Hadar's fangs, Davek curses to himself, This isn't good. Reasoning that the labyrinth has shifted somehow, Davek quickly runs back to check whether his direction markings still make sense. Either way, he will follow the rope back to its end and call out to the others.

Can any of you hear me? Davek shouts. It looks like the passage has shifted on us. We can either wait for it to shift again, or you all can try to find a way through while I do the same.

Next he listens keenly, both for any reply and to the sounds of the maze itself. Interesting defense mechanism, he thinks to himself. I wonder what else this place has in store for us.

[Koji]

Kazz

Kazz directs a puzzled glance to her companions, but meets only raised eyebrows. Perhaps fleeing in terror at the drop of a hat is some local custom.

Though I suppose Retay is a pretty big hat.

She scowls at the locked doors. By locking themselves in, the peasants have gained the upper hand. Short of burning down the huts or smashing down the doors, there is no way to get them to come out other than asking, or worse, downright pleading.

"If they won't come out and greet us at least as equals, how are we going to get anything out of them?" She asks.

[blackfox]

Ginevra

If Ginevra hears Davek, she shouts back, "We're over here... follow my voice, but if the maze would turn you away from where we are, don't walk away!"

If not, then she calls out, "...Davek? Are you there?"

[Durendal]

Harsk

Harsk watches as the impetuous gnome and human race up the stairs. I wonder if it is pertinent to start a fire everywhere we go. It's quite an obvious clue to our whereabouts.

"Hopefully those two don't run into any trouble. Elthan, Patash help me search this hall for anything out of the ordinary."

Spoiler

Perception(1d20+7)[24]

[Knubs]

Kavri - Town Group

Kavri looks around for awhile, still not convinced that the group is what the town is in panic about. What is wrong with these people? "Good question. I guess we knock?" The elf goes over to a cottage and raps on the door a few times not expecting any success. "I guess no one is home even though I saw someone rush in here a few seconds ago..."

[King_of_GRiffins]

Elthan

"I'm sure they're fine running about for now. Fizahn will make sure nothing erupts into flames, and Grynde can bludgeon whatever they run into before falling back."

Spoiler

Perception - (1d20+2)[18]

[Dr._Bob]

Within the labyrinth ...

Evendur peers around the corner cautiously. The passage twists and turns out of sight.

Ginevra presses herself up against a stone wall that she is pretty sure wasn't there a minute ago. She can hear metal scratching against stone and a muffled voice that might be Davek's.

She shouts back, and Davek (doing the exact same thing on the other side of the wall) can barely make out her words.

The shouting back and forth is laborious, but communication is possible.

In the mountain keep ...

Elthan and Harsk examine the fireplace as Patash kindles a blaze using more wood scavenged from the armory within the temple complex.

Harsk finds a hidden latch beneath the massive stone mantel. The wall behind the fire swings open (much to Patash's surprise), revealing a hidden chamber behind the flames.

In the village ...

Kazz shifts uncomfortably from side to side, her bare feet chilled to the bone.

Kavri shrugs at the villagers' unfriendly welcome. He knocks dramatically at the nearest door and feigns surprise when no one answers.

"What do you want?" shouts a young woman peeping around the corner of a nearby cottage. She has a heavy crossbow cocked and loaded. She leans up against the side of the cottage to steady her aim.

The young woman has bright auburn hair that catches some of the morning light. Her threadbare cloak is a faded green.

[Erikkin]

Fizahn:

Fizahn carefully searches all the bedrooms. "Four rooms. Spacious rooms. Better than nothing." After searching each of the rooms, the gnome looks for stairs to a third floor.

Perception: - (1d20+5)[10]

[Rodrick_the_Red]

Patash (Dragonborn Cleric) Moutain Keep

"Fizahn! Grynde! Come down Harsk found something you should see." Patash bellows after he recovers from his surprise. Then he pushes the fire to oneside away from the opening.

[Tanaar]

Darros

Darros pockets his orb, seeing only scared villagers defending their homes. He smiles and holds his hands up before him, palms out. "Greetings. We mean you no harm, we are travelers who have found ourselves in a strange land. We are simply visiting you in search of some basic information. I suppose the answer to our first question is a positive one, as we appear to share a language. Perhaps you could help me with the second, where exactly are we?"

[Durendal]

Harsk

"These towers are indeed filled with more than meets the eye. Plant monsters, hidden passages, glowing, petrifying eyes; I can only wonder what we will find next. Patash grab a torch and let us see what we have found."

Ever the cautious adventurer, Harsk pulls out his crossbow and waits for Fizahn and Grynde to rejoin them before proceeding further. However, if they do not respond to Patash's call in a timely manner, he will cautiously enter the hidden passage.

[Rodrick_the_Red]

Patash (Dragonborn Cleric) Mountain Keep

Patash shrugs at Harsk saying, "I have no torches, but I can use a sunrod, unless someone else has a torch." and digs through his pack for a sunrod. Once he finds it he will ready his mace and wait with Harsk.

[King_of_GRiffins]

Elthan, Mountain Keep

Elthan summons up his ghostly, translucent hand, having it hold up his frosted orb as it turns into a glowing point of light, illuminating the darkness briefly down the passage. "Another hidden passage. Maybe there'll be more clues for us to digest within."

Orb floating in front of him, he walks slowly forward into the fireplace passage, waiting for Patash and Harsk to catch up. Fizahn and Grynde will catch up soon enough.

[blackfox]

Ginevra

Ginevra turns around to talk to Callos, keeping her off hand, the one holding the rope, against the new stone wall behind her. "I know how to get through mazes... but only when the walls stay put. Any ideas?" The tension in her voice belies her nonchalant words.