Old Ways IC

[MeanMrsMustard]

Alanna practically skips up to the cavern, her plate armor clanking all the while. She even sings a bit. "I'm going on an adventure, I'm going on an adventure..."
When they reach the cave entrance, she eagerly says, "Ooh! Ooh! Let me go next!" and rushes in right behind Ash, perhaps a bit closer than Ash is comfortable with.

[Roland St. Jude]

Eyes do peek out from the tents as the explorers head up the hill. Some remain watchful as Ash disappears into the cave mouth with the young cleric right behind her.

Between the slight overhang and direction of the cave mouth, the space inside is dreadfully dark. Cut gray stones, worn and broken, line the entrance and can be seen embedded in the earth in places throughout the wall and floor of the cavern. In some places it's more stone than earth and in others the opposite.

Talsarios' lantern sheds light in a 30' radius, just barely far enough to see the wall on either side of the entrance, but what lies ahead is less clear.

Spoiler

It would be useful to know all the light sources as well as a marching order.

And, of course, whatever activities like searching around and such should be carefully described.

[Koren n'Rhys]

"Wait!," shouts Mycah as the excited young cleric pushes past. "You'll get yourself killed that way, you need to just slow down a little, OK?" He moves to catch up, and keep the girls from rushing ahead alone.

"Maybe I should go ahead and just scout things out a bit. You can follow at a safe distance and if I see anything, I'll fall back so you warriors can handle it. Let me get a torch lit, too."

Spoiler

Mycah will dig a torch out of his pack and light it from the lantern, then see how the others respond to his offer.
He'll scout ahead, carefully checking the floor with his staff as he goes, glancing at the ceiling occasionally and looking for anything that seems out of place. Tripwires, pits, that sort of thing.

[MeanMrsMustard]

Alanna stops and sighs when Mycah runs up to her and Ash.
"Fine," she says, and allows him to pass.
"Hey, what are you doing?" she asks as she watches him search.

Spoiler

EDIT:
Marching order? I haven't given much thought to that... Alanna is kind of Leeroy Jenkins-y, so I'd imagine she would want to rush ahead near the front.

[Koren n'Rhys]

"Just trying to be careful. I mean, two people are already missing, right? Look at the walls - this isn't just a natural cave. There could be hidden traps, or all sorts of nasties hiding in the dark. We just don't want to stumble into trouble by being over -eager."
Mycah pauses and glances back past the Ash and Alanna to be sure the others are all following. "Plus we don't want to get too far ahead of the others."

[Altair_the_Vexed]

Alastor Talsarios
"I say, look! Carved steps... old, and well-used by the look of them. This isn't a natural cave, is it Nathros?" The scholar, apparently pleased with his observation, points out the steps to the dwarf, with no hint of irony.

[Frivolous]

Brandon Bor


Brandon positions himself at the head of the party. He looks calm, but hidden from view, his left hand grips his shield quite tightly.

"We could either make a lot of noise to draw the lost miners to us, if they wander in the dark. Or we could try to be quiet, so that whatever may have attacked the miners does not hear us."

"Which is it to be?"

[Nevaera]

Ash is watchful with her eyes and ears and proceeds cautiously. She is at the ready to fight so long as a trap does not find her first. Beside Brandon, she follows Mycah approximately ten feet behind with Alanna just behind or beside her.

"You're a cleric, right? Perhaps you should fall back a little further until need for healing rises. Let Brandon and Nathros a little closer. We do no know what lurks within, but our first impressions of this place need not be your head at our feet."

With that, she proceeds ahead a little ways further.

Spoiler

I've rolled my alertness for this already, keeping eyes out for signs of the two lost men or anything which may have lead to their demise and what not.

Spoiler

Oops, sorry. Didn't read correctly what Brandon was doing. Edited post accordingly with little change.

[Koren n'Rhys]

Mycah clears his throat, loudly, as Brandon goes past.
"Brandon? Did you want to take the lead or let me scout ahead for traps as we go? We can't all go first."

[Frivolous]

Originally Posted by Koren n'Rhys

Mycah clears his throat, loudly, as Brandon goes past.
"Brandon? Did you want to take the lead or let me scout ahead for traps as we go? We can't all go first."

Bran stops and looks backwards, his expression a bit uncertain.

"I'm willing for you to go in front to look for traps, but..."

"Our last trapfinder, um, died in such circumstances. Skewered by gobbos."

He glances briefly at Talsarios, then looks away again.

"So it's a matter of priorities. Traps versus critters."

[MeanMrsMustard]

Alanna sighs, then heeds Ash's words. She stands aside as Nathros and Brandon walk past her, then resumes walking near the back. She knows that it's probably important that they listen, but she really wants to talk to someone.
I hope nobody gets hurt, she thinks. I only have one spell, and my skills at healing without magic aren't too hot. We'll just go in until we find Dirk and Max, and then we'll be right back out. Easy as anything.

[Roland St. Jude]

Ash remains alert as she sifts through the sounds of the others arranging themselves and watches the edges of the torchlight for signs of movement. The walls to the right and left seem, as Talsarios says, not a natural cave, though not entirely manmade either. Large swaths of earth surround patches of bricks. To Nathros, it is clear that this is either a cave shored up brick or a brick structure reclaimed somewhat by the earth around it. The walls that he can see seem solid enough and unlikely to cave in.

Sticking to the area lit by torchlight, neither Brandon nor Mycah spy anything out of the ordinary, for a dark cave of this kind anyway.

Spoiler

So... Mycah/Brandon, then Ash, Talsarios, and Alanna who's been sent back near Nathros?

Ash's alertness will prevent her from being surprises, for a while at least.

I'll make rolls for Mycah's Find Traps and Nathros' racial trap detection (assuming he checks for them), giving you notice if you make the check and there's something to find.

[Matthew]

Nathros chuckles at the thought of living in the darkened holes in the earth Mycah evidently envisions dwarf holds to be and takes his position in the rear, prudently distant from the fighters and their flasks of oil.

Spoiler

I figure the marching order to be:

Mycah
Brandon | Ashala
Talsarios
Nathros |Alanna

[Altair_the_Vexed]

Alastor Talsarios

The scholar doesn't meet Brandon's glance. "If Mycah doesn't go out of sight, surely we can help him if trouble arises..."
He gestures onward with the lantern, and smiles a little weakly to Alanna as she joins the rear of the group.

Spoiler

Talsarios follows the party onwards, keeping the lantern close enough to the front to illuminate the group - except for anyone who is striking out forwards to scout, like Mycah with his torch.

[Koren n'Rhys]

With the confusion apparently sorted out behind him, and everyone in place, Mycah begins to work his way deeper into the cavern. As he goes, he pokes ahead with his staff, feeling at the floor tiles (if any), odd colored patches of dirt, stones and spots on the wall... basically anything his admittedly wilderness-trained senses tell him may be dangerous. I hope I'm doing this right, he mutters to himself under his breath...

Spoiler

Unless Frivolous says otherwise, Matthew's marching order is what I see.

[Nevaera]

Ash cautiously continues onward.

Spoiler

I concur with the marching order last stated.

[Frivolous]

Spoiler

Also concur.

[MeanMrsMustard]

Alanna smiles back at Talsarios.
Dang it. My first adventure, and I'm in the back where there isn't any action. And I think I'm standing next to the quiet guy.
"So," she whispers, trying to start a conversation, "How much adventuring have you guys done?"

Spoiler

I concur with marching order as well. Has everyone agreed?

[Roland St. Jude]

Talsarios' lantern fills the first thirty feet or so of the cavern and Mycah, torch in hand presses forward. The far end of his staff taps on solid earth and sometimes rock, but suddenly slips as it hits a section of floor covered in, well, something, and sloped down at a steep angle into a outright hole in the floor.

[Matthew]

Nathros keeps to the rear, watching for possible ambushers. "Enough to know when to keep my eyes open and when to keep my mouth shut," he responds to Alanna. "No offence intended, but unpleasant things lurk in the dark, and by necessity they have sharper ears than we."

[Altair_the_Vexed]

Maintaining pace with the party and holding the lantern up high, Talsarios keeps his voice down when he answers Alanna: "We all cleared out a keep of goblins together a week or so ago, but before that I came here from Thyatis to gather field notes on the goblin races. I'm a scholar, you know. I study monsters."
He nods at Nathros's comment. "Just stay quiet, stay alert."

[MeanMrsMustard]

Alanna nods. "Gotcha," she whispers. She twists her fingers by the corner of her mouth, "locking" her lips.
After a few moments, she "unlocks" her lips and taps Talsarios on the shoulder. "Do you think I should keep my mace out? Just in case?" she mouths, holding up the mace in case he can't read lips.

[Koren n'Rhys]

As his staff slips into the hidden pit, Mycah stops in his tracks and throws a hand up in warning to those behind. Laying his staff down across the passage just before the edge of the pit as a marker, he retreats to the others and reports his discovery.
"It seems we were smart to take precautions. I found a covered pit just ahead. Bring the lantern up and we can see just how big it is, and what we'll need to do to get past. This is why I didn't want you running ahead Alanna. Come see what I mean." He pauses, looking at the young cleric. "No sign of our missing workers, though. It bothers me that the pit is still hidden as it is. That means they either got past this point OK, or something has covered it up again after they were caught in it."

[Nevaera]

Ash waits a few paces before the pit while the others go about handling the situation.

[Roland St. Jude]

Standing behind his staff, Mycah takes in the scene. Within the range of his torchlight, the back wall of the cavern can be seen. No apparent exit to this room can be seen, except the hole in the floor. It is covered, although the more he looks at it, the more it seems to be a natural layer of earth rather than any contrivance. (A thing Nathros can confirm just by casual observation.)

The slope is roughly three feet wide and slightly farther to the far side and it slopes down steeply. A close look under torchlight shows there to be a thin layer of slippery slime or moss on the surface, and several gouges in the greenish layer run from top to bottom before disappearing into the darkness.

[Koren n'Rhys]

Mycah ponders the hole and it's implications.
"Looking closer, it does seem like someone has fallen in already, so maybe that does our missing men. Should we check the end of the tunnel beyond, just to be sure there's nothing else hidden there? I can jump it easily."

Spoiler

How much room is there between the far edge of the pit and the wall beyond? Enough to get a running start in order to jump back this way if Mycah goes across?
And I guess I'm having trouble envisioning a pit that could be covered by natural earth. Do you mean it's an open hole now, but had been covered before someone fell through? Like it was dug from below and left a thin layer that collapsed when it was walked on? Oh wait - on rereading, did you mean the sloped pit is open, but the slimy layer is covered in dirt/dust?

[Altair_the_Vexed]

Alastor smiles and nods to Alanna. "Keep it handy - but I imagine we're about to do some climbing here," he whispers.

[MeanMrsMustard]

Alanna steps forward a bit to take a look. Not knowing enough about caves, vegetation, or vegetation growing in caves, she backs up again after a few seconds.
"Climbing?" she whispers, not sure if it's OK to start talking normally again. "I guess I should just keep it by my side, for now."

[Matthew]

Nathros remains on his guard. "I like not the prospect of exploring the pit, so further on gets my vote, if we are voting that is."

[Frivolous]

Brandon Bor


Brandon asks, "Can't we pull the pit cover off so we can see if anyone fell in? Even if they're not there anymore, the pit might contain clues. If a miner did fall in, he might have left a tool or something else down there."

"And we can probably get some of the miners to fill the pit in, so no one can fall into it."