Old Ways IC

[Altair_the_Vexed]

"I think the only way onwards is into the hole - is this not just the back of the cave?" Talsarios says, coming forward with the lantern to inspect the wall beyond the hole - treading careful to avoid the weak floor.
As he peers at the dirt walls he adds: "Unless you can see something I can't, Nathros."

[Roland St. Jude]

Spoiler

Originally Posted by Roland St. Jude

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.)

Between Mycah's torch and Talsarios' lantern, the far end of the room around the pit can be well illuminated. The room ends a mere ten or so feet beyond the pit in a stone and earth wall much like the others.

[MeanMrsMustard]

Pointing at the clearly visible back end, Alanna whispers, "Unless this is an illusion of some sort, I'm pretty sure that we'll have to go in." She tries to breathe deeply -- somehow, when she imagined adventuring, it seemed to be more fun and less tense.

[Nevaera]

ASHALA

"Shall I prod at the ground for you and press on until some results reveal themselves to us?" She seems a little impatient, but not particularly rude.

Truly, there must be a more active way to deal with strange situations...

[Matthew]

Nathros mutters something about not being able to see all the way at the back, but ventures "Secret door, maybe? Well, in any case if we are going to lower somebody into a covered pit let us get to it."

[Nevaera]

ASHALA

"Does anyone have some rope to lower one of us down then?
Mycah or myself could probably scout if there's anything beyond the bottom. Perhaps a long drop."

[MeanMrsMustard]

"I think Mycah has some rope..." says Alanna quietly. She's feeling quite apprehensive about the prospect of going down there. In fact, if she didn't know better, she might say she was nervous, or even afraid.
C'mon, Alanna! she thinks. Isn't this what you've always wanted? To go on an adventure?

[Altair_the_Vexed]

"I say, might I suggest that Nathros goes first?" asks Talsarios, actually raising his hand as if in an academy when he makes the suggestion. "I'm right in believing you can see in the dark, yes?"

[Frivolous]

Brandon Bor

"Let's get the workmen to fashion us a ladder. I don't like to depend on ropes. Ropes break."

Unless someone objects, Brandon goes to the miners and asks them for a ladder.

[Nevaera]

ASHALA

"And if time is of the essence? What if they're trapped somewhere with little to no air? For one person to scout, I think a rope is sufficient.

If they have a ladder, there's no harm in fetching it while one of us gets the rope ready and descends. Perhaps there's no where to go, but if there's some sort of expanse beneath, a ladder would just fall straight to the bottom."

[Altair_the_Vexed]

"Yes, a ladder would be a good idea, but let's get someone down the hole to scout while we wait," Talsarios agrees.

[MeanMrsMustard]

"I'm with Ash and Talsarios. We should send someone down with a rope, then we can follow them down on a ladder. I don't mind waiting for the ladder, though..."

[Roland St. Jude]

A rope can be lowered down the steep slope and then down into the vertical shaft of the the pit below, though a ladder lacks the flexibility to do so.

How deep the vertical shaft goes cannot be seen from the topside, but it seems wide enough around to fit a person or two.

The room contains nothing natural to tie off the rope to, though the earth is soft enough to allow for a spike or grappling hook to be pounded into it.

Spoiler

I suppose maybe I will have to look into some rudimentary drawing program. I'm not sure how else to describe this, but the general acceptance that one could fit a ladder down this hole means that I'm not describing it well enough. Let's try again:

There lies before you an approximately three-foot by three-foot square on the floor. In it, there is a steep slope that goes from even with the floor at the edge nearest you to several feet deep at the far edge. At that far edge, there is vertical shaft of unknown dimension. That shaft is not accessible from directly above (it is well-below the level of the floor in this room), hence the earlier description of it as "covered" which is sort of accurate.

To go down the shaft, one would have to go down the steep slope and then down the shaft.

Oh, and the slope is covered in mossy slime or something.

[Nevaera]

ASHALA

If Mycah is not interested and no one else volunteers, she'll start tying his rope around her waist and give Brandon and Nathros the other end to hold.

Spoiler

See OOC thread page 21 for any clearification needed.

[Matthew]

"Sure, I can see better than humans in the dark, but to really see we need light. I am willing to go first, but perhaps somebody less weighed down with metal would be better for our initial foray, since it will be quicker to pull them back up!"

[Frivolous]

Brandon Bor


Brandon tells Ashala, "Wait."

Brandon lights a torch and drops it down the shaft. He waits until the torch stops moving, then looks to see and estimate how deep it goes.

[Altair_the_Vexed]

"It appears that we're operating on the 'ladies first' principle," says Talsarios, stepping away from the hole. "I shall hold the lantern - as svelte as you are Ashala, I know the limits of my strength. I doubt that I'm strong enough to even carry your armour, let alone with you in it!"

[Koren n'Rhys]

"OK, now, don't be silly. You can't lower Ash down there in all that metal armor. It needs to be me, that just makes the most sense. Just be ready to haul me back up really fast if I yell."
Mycah takes off his pack and gets out the coil of rope he has inside, then ties it securely about his waist. He leave the staff where it lies and pulls a dagger from his belt. Walking to the edge, he looks down into the pit, trying to see if the light of the torch Brandon threw in is visible at all. Then, with a deep breath, he turns to the others.
"I'm ready as I'll ever be. just don't drop me, alright?"

Spoiler

Sorry, been away from my desk more than I expected the last couple of days.

[MeanMrsMustard]

Alanna grimaces a little when she hears Talsarios say "Ladies first," but manages to control herself. Be tough, Alanna! she tells herself. This isn't about you. You need to be there for the other party members. If they want you to go down, you'll go down.
"Uh, guys?" she says. "If we need to be lowered on a rope, how will the one holding the rope get down?"

[Altair_the_Vexed]

Alastor blinks and stares in surprise at Alanna. "Gosh, yes, that is a good point," he says, nodding. "I suppose whoever comes down last needs to be confident in their climbing ability."

[Nevaera]

ASHALA

Ash smirks to herself, "Don't worry guys, we're still in the 'scouting' stage. Perhaps it'll be Mycah down last as we can easily pull him back up to tell us what he's seen... and I have faith in his abilities."

While speaking, she slings part of the rope around her upper arm and grips it firmly. She positions herself beside the cave wall to lean on it if she must. She also takes a stance with her legs for security. Brandon and Nathros should still have plenty of rope left to hold onto.

"Better hold on tight, boys. That slimy slope looks the most like the trap." With that, she gives Mycah a nod of good luck when all's ready for him to go down.

[Roland St. Jude]

Brandon lights a torch easily enough off the one in Mycah's hand and tosses it down the shaft. It bounces once on the slope, slides quickly down to the vertical shaft and its glow fades until a quiet "thump!" can be heard from below. Maybe a couple stories down, maybe a little more. If the torch still burns below, it can't be seen from the edge of the hole, perhaps due to the depth or the angle or both.

Mycah begins to slide into the pit, torch in one hand and rope in the other. The slimy mold seems harmless enough and he scrapes more tracks in it as he descends. Inside the shaft, the mold continues down the near wall. A bloody patch can be seen on the far wall, streaking down the side of the shaft. Below, the Brandon's torch gutters and dims.

Slowly, Mycah descends into the pit. Brandon's torch dies out. The floor of the room below seems damp and puddles lie here and there. The shaft opens up about fifteen feet before the puddled floor. Once he reaches the floor, Mycah gets a good look at the room: fifteen feet tall, thirty wide, and deeper than his torchlight can see. Behind him, the wall is much closer, less than ten feet way.

A rustling sound can be heard from ahead and overhead. After a moment of careful observation, the writhing cloud of darkness reveals itself to be a colony of bats.

[MeanMrsMustard]

Alanna paces about, nervously chattering away as quietly as she can.
"Hey, do you need me to help with that rope?" she asks.
"When'll I go down?"
"Will Mycah be OK?"
"I think I heard something..."

[Matthew]

Nathros grimaces when he feels the rope go slack, "Is he down?"

[Koren n'Rhys]

Upon reaching the solid floor, Mycah lets go of the rope and draws a dagger as he begins to examine the area around him. Not seeing any immediate danger, or signs of life beyond the resident bats, he calls back up the shaft in a low voice.
"I'm down safely - no signs of the men yet. Big cave down here though. Lots of bats so don't disturb them. Send down Nathros next, will you. Oh, and drop down my staff."

He'll step clear of the shaft and try to catch the staff as it falls so it doesn't clatter to the floor.

Spoiler

DEX check to catch the staff: (1d20)[18]

As he waits for Nathros, or whoever comes down next, Mycah looks at the floor and surrounding area of signs of the missing men: drag marks, footprints, blood smears- anything which might indicated which way they went, or were taken.

[Nevaera]

ASHALA

After someone tosses the staff down to Mycah, Ash braces with the rope again as Nathros ties off and goes down.

Seeing Alanna's anxiousness, she says, "Alanna, would you be a dear and fetch a big pike or something? We can tie the rope to it and jam it into the earth. It'll improve our odds of leaving later."

[Frivolous]

Brandon Bor

Brandon peers over and listens to what Mycah says, then tells the others, "We'll need help. Obviously someone will have to be here to hold onto the rope while the last party member climbs down."

While Ashala and/or other party members go down, Bran goes to the miners and asks for their help in holding onto the rope.

He adds, "And can you set up a sort of hook so that the rope hang securely without anyone waiting for us? It looks like the downward shaft is not straight, so a ladder would not work."

"You are miners and have experience in this, so if you have any suggestions, we'd love to hear them."

[Roland St. Jude]

Brandon makes his way back to the cave mouth, and Alanna, too if she heads out in search of a pike.

Nathros is only just preparing to make a descent.

Mycah fails to catch the staff cleaning, but corrals it as if falls to the wet floor.

As he looks back up, he spies two figures shambling across the room toward him. Heavy breaths escape from their rotting faces and they wear work clothes that are wet and dirty but otherwise relatively intact.

The man-like figures have the pallor of death and the stench of the grave about them, but they shamble forward with malice in their dead eyes.

Spoiler

Two missed Hear Noise checks by Mycah allowed them to close to the edge of the torchlight undetected. They've moved to within fifteen feet of the thief in the surprise round.

They do lose initiative, though, so PCs may act as they desire.

[MeanMrsMustard]

Alanna turns to fetch a pike when Ash asks her to, but stops when she sees Brandon is about to do something similar. She goes back to where Ash, Nathros, and Talsarios are.
"Mycah's good at this kind of stuff, right? He'll be safe?" she asks. Even though she doesn't know Mycah well enough to judge his abilities, she trusts her party members and is pretty sure they know what they're doing.

[Matthew]

Nathros begins his descent, "Throw down an extra rope, we might need to pull Mycah back up!"