Scene: Race Among The Ruins (Pantry)

[DinbinFanfoom]

Crashing pushes past Damelon and enters what appears to be the pantry of the complex. If there were any food items on the shelves, they've long since rotted away, though a few empty clay pots still sit on some of the unbroken shelves. As Crashing shuffles through the dust, his foot uncovers something that looks like paper.

[Shiz]

Use my perception roll on that paper thing then.

[DinbinFanfoom]

Damelon searches the dusty floor as well and finds another partial page.

[Greebo]

Is that paper thing an arcana paper thing?

[Shiz]

Pick it up and hand it to KT.

[DinbinFanfoom]

Crashing and Damelon hand their respective finds to KT who gingerly takes the crumbling papers from them and squints. The writing is very faint, and the pages very brittle and yellowed. He mentally flexes, preparing to decipher a difficult text when... he quickly realizes that the writing is in common. He can make out two small paragraphs:
Where are they? Where are they? Where are they? Where Where Where"
The High One walked around a bit today, which is good, but his mind seems to be shaken somehow... which is not good. A few times he stopped talking mid-sentence and seemed to stare off at something far away. We had to make a noise to get his attention again. Very strange. It may be the stress of the illness he just endured.

[Shiz]

Why would notes like this be in a room off the kitchen?

Regardless, this suggests there is a large complex

[EricStratton]

And crazy people.

[Greebo]

Any exits from the pantry?

Anything especially interesting in here? (Search +4) = 20 perception

[DinbinFanfoom]

KT looks around the room, picking through the broken pottery shards. He finds nothing of interest, and no exits.

[Shiz]

Let's check out the bat room more thoroughly.

[Greebo]

Agreed - TO THE BAT CAVE!

[DinbinFanfoom]

The party tromps back to the dining hall. The bat and rat corpses from the previous day are still here. A few harmless stray rats skitter away at your approach, it appears they were cannibalizing the bodies. The hall is indeed long... and there is another wooden door in the north end of it.

[Shiz]

Damelon will have a gander, Perception +5 = 12 < Passive 15.

[Asharad]

Also looking around. (20)

[DinbinFanfoom]

Nothing new. The etchnigs on the walls and planks. The door north. The dead critters.

[Shiz]

Damelon will once again gently pull/push the door open.

[DinbinFanfoom]

Damelon approaches the northern doorway and pushes on it. It is also a bit stuck. He pushes harder and the door groans open, right into a nice, shallow alcove for it in the right side of the corridor beyond. Said corridor only proceeds 10' forward before turning to the left, the party can see the bottom step of a stone staircase leading up.

[Shiz]

I like up.

Shine a torch in here.

[Lycos]

Let's head down the hall if there is no apparent danger here.

[Shiz]

Yup, enter and upward.

[DinbinFanfoom]

The party moves forward into the corridor, Damelon leading. Turning the corner, he starts his way up the cobwebbed stairs. The top opens up into a very large room... it appears to be some sort of balcony overlooking the lower level.

The stone parapet is ahead of you (the balcony is the wooden part), about 10 feet. Even with the torchlight spilling into the room, you can tell it's a larger chamber. The whole party hears the sound of what seems to be water... falling a great distance... and landing nearby.

[Greebo]

Is the balcony safe?

Seems so *stomp stomp stomp stomp*

[DinbinFanfoom]

Is the balcony safe?
Seems so *stomp stomp stomp stomp*
KT hops around on the balcony near the eastern wall. The stone doesn't even rattle.
Where y'all movin' to?

[Shiz]

Damelon to F3.

[EricStratton]

Erik moves forward with the group. Then he'll sidestep carefully (I hope!) to G2 to let those behind him out.

[Greebo]

Do we have a map?

[EricStratton]

Do we have a map?

Same one as before

http://www.primeaxiom.com/rpgt/scene.asp?ID=w2ti7okinetyoy51nuez4on8k6r3get9cwv7c q8ytyl7izogdz7jdgqi136hgz93

[DinbinFanfoom]

Damelon and Erik move out onto the balcony. As the rogue approaches the parapet, he hears a loud crack behind him. Erik jumps back as a large section of the balcony breaks off and falls into the dim room below. The area underfoot is safe enough, though.

Peering forward, Damelon sees the outline of some sort of pool on the floor of the room below... and the source of the noise. A thin stream of liquid is coming out of an ornamented hole in the ceiling far above, and landing in the pool. It does not seem to be accumulating, though.

To his southwest, he can see that the balcony curves around the room, but part of it has collapsed into the room below (the rubbly looking stuff). He could walk to the other side, if he were careful. The only other opening they see exiting the room is a corridor similar to the one they just exited, but on the other side of the room, on this level.

[Shiz]

How far down?

[DinbinFanfoom]

How far down?
About 20 feet.

[Greebo]

Move to G9 - should I infer anything from the blackness to my south?

Perception+4 - searching

[DinbinFanfoom]

Move to G9 - should I infer anything from the blackness to my south?
Perception+4 - searching
Woops, yes, missed some stuff on the map.

KT notes that there is another corridor stairway leading down from their ledge to the south, and the opening across the room to the west is indeed yet another. Down on his hands and knees, KT searches through the dust and comes up with another piece of paper... rightly assuming it to be common, he reads:

"A stranger came from the jungle today. Not one of the regulars. he was tall and thin, but friendly enough. We made him welcome anyway, and it turns out he had some interesting wares to sell, and was happy to see the bustling bazaar. We gave him lodging for the night in the surrounding village and he made a sizeable contribution to the shrine. Very nikce man!"

[Shiz]

Let's take the south stairs down.

[Lycos]

Something tells me that we need to keep these pieces of paper on a separate thread, so that we can reference them later.

[Asharad]

I gotta bad feelin bout whatever dis tall fella brought to dem

[Lycos]

I would also say that now that we see a pattern with these notes, we'll be looking for them more often.

How do you want to handle this action?

[Greebo]

A temple eh? Ghostly voices in the night... restless spirits with divine powers?

[Lycos]

A stranger comes... All of a sudden the leader is sick?

[DinbinFanfoom]

Let's take the south stairs down.
The group moves down the stairs. At the bottom, the corridor turns sharply right (east) and comes out onto the landing that you saw a bit of when you initially entered yesterday.

There is a large stone object resting in the middle of the landing. The six-foot-tall obelisk looks to be placed by hand, and quite heavy.

[Shiz]

I am open to suggestions. I would ignore the obelisk for now and explore the other door off the balcony before we go deeper.

[Lycos]

Yeah, checking out a single floor at a time usually works best.

[EricStratton]

"One second, please." Erik takes a quick moment to see if the obelisk is magical.

Arcana 15+5 = 20

[DinbinFanfoom]

"One second, please." Erik takes a quick moment to see if the obelisk is magical.
Arcana 15+5 = 20Erik examines the obelisk. Definitely has some mystic properties. He is slowly circling it when he steps in front of it, between the stairs going up to the entrance, and the obelisk itself.

A deep, booming voice eminates from the stone.

"Turn back now! Only madness remains here!"

[Shiz]

"Sounds like an adventure in the making! Maybe we should just proceed down these main stairs and look for the "madness"?

[EricStratton]

"It said we should turn back. Maybe...we should listen to it?"

[DinbinFanfoom]

Erik notes that there is writing etched into the obelisk...

".all of t.. Tw. Wate.."

[Greebo]

Where did the voice come from, I wonder? Is this some kind of illusion? Magic Mouth? My curiosity is piqued now.

Arcana +7

[Greebo]

"It said we should turn back. Maybe...we should listen to it?"

"Don't be such a girl!"

[DinbinFanfoom]

KT looks all around for the source of the noise (Arcana: 9). Erik sees him looking around and raises an eyebrow. "The voice came from the obelisk..."

Erik surmises that the MM on the obelisk was triggered when it was approached.

[Shiz]

Vote:

1 - back to balcony
2 - down the stairs from here
3 - leave


Damelon says 2.

[Asharad]

Anybody try to ask the obelisk anything?

"Who you be?"

[Greebo]

I vote for balcony first and explore the room below - simply because we've already been there and we'll be leaving it behind us.

[DinbinFanfoom]

Anybody try to ask the obelisk anything?
"Who you be?"
Crashing steps up to the obelisk and makes his query. It does not respond.

[EricStratton]

Erik votes to leave.

Erik's player votes for the balcony.

:D

[Lycos]

"Don't be such a girl!"

Sigurd turns to Lamsi. He means no offense Lamsi. Present company excluded of course. :D

[Lycos]

Any more papers lying about?

Perception +4

Oooooo. 7. Sigurd is standing on an entire 3" notebook binder. :D

[DinbinFanfoom]

Any more papers lying about?

Perception +4
nope

[Asharad]

I notice anything interesting about the obelisk? (19)

[DinbinFanfoom]

I notice anything interesting about the obelisk? (19)
Not really. Aside from the etched writing, the stone is the same as the rest of this place.

[EricStratton]

Ok, let's head for the balcony.

[Asharad]

Balcony is fine with me.

[Shiz]

Back up then.

[DinbinFanfoom]

The group backtracks up to the balcony. As mentioned before, it continues to the west, but you'll have to traverse a narrow, broken part of it to get to the western doorway. Crashing also notes that there appears to be a third tier... a thinner balcony up above this one, 20 feet further up. This definitely some kind of viewing chamber... probably for that small pool below.

[Asharad]

Can we see anything in the pool? The pool seems to be the central focus of this whole place.

[DinbinFanfoom]

Can we see anything in the pool? The pool seems to be the central focus of this whole place.The pool is 20'-25' a way (at the edge of your torchlight) but from this distance appears to be both shallow and empty... the pool is itself just a recessed area of the floor with some shallow steps leading down into it, but there appears to be no water in it, which is odd, considering the thin flow that is continually dropping from the ceiling. At each corner of the pool is a strong pillar that runs all the way to the ceiling, high above. You suspect that yes, this is a key room in this structure.

[Shiz]

Best if we just make our way down there. With a waterfall smashing down from above, the froth will be hard to see through.

Now, since Damelon is the most Acrobatic, he will cross the iffy place first and take a rope with him.

Sigurd will stand at H8 with the gang behind him anchoring the rope. Damelon will attempt to cross to A8 from F8 and secure the rope over there. He will tie it around himself and pay it out as he moves.

[DinbinFanfoom]

Acro, please.

[Shiz]

And he jumps, he spins, he....

22

[DinbinFanfoom]

Quick as a cat, Damelon traverses the narrow bit of surviving balcony floor and quickly gains the other side. He notes that the crumbled bits below him (on the south side) have covered the main entrance to the hall on that side of this room... which probably should line up with the wide stairs below the obelisk.

He wastes no time in affixing his "safety-rope" to a piece of protruding wall carving, and urges the others across (+3 to Acro rolls for the rest of you using the rope). Probably tying the rope to your waist would be a good idea, if you can't handle a jarring fall on it.

[Greebo]

Never mind....

So we're not going down to investigate?

[DinbinFanfoom]

Do we have any rope?
Yeah, sure. It'd make sense if you were on a "spelunking" mission.

[Greebo]

Yeah, sure. It'd make sense if you were on a "spelunking" mission.

Where'd we get it?

[Asharad]

I'll tie myself up and cross then.


aiiiiieeeeeeeeee


splat

[DinbinFanfoom]

Where'd we get it?
The village. They didn't send you out empty handed.

OK everyone BUT KT has a length of woven-vine-rope. Better? :D

[Greebo]

The village. They didn't send you out empty handed.

OK everyone BUT KT has a length of woven-vine-rope. Better? :D

No, I want an adventurers kit and some freaking sun rods, dammit!!!

[Shiz]

Damelon reacts and tries to keep Crashing from, uh, crashing...

17

[Greebo]

Using my ROPE, acro roll + 0

[DinbinFanfoom]

No, I want an adventurers kit and some freaking sun rods, dammit!!!
I'm making all these basic assumptions only because I know there will come a time when someone will do something that requires me to ask "OK who had the torches again?" and some hilarity will ensue.

Crashing: Did you tie the rope around your waist, or are you holding it in your hands?

[Asharad]

I bet Greebo was ****loads of fun as a kid. :)

"We're going to play cowboys!"
"Awesome!"
"Hooray!"
"Yipee!"
"Let's get on our horses and find some Indians!"
"Wait, where did we get horses?"
"Uh..what?"
"I mean, did we purchase them from a livery stable? We here did we get the money for them? Are the tamed horses? Do we have saddles?"
"I don't...know? We just have horses?"
"That's ridiculous. We should at least pretend that we all get jobs in order to make the money to buy the horses. That'll be about two week's worth of pretending assuming that we all have skills that can get us decent jobs. Really, given the time period there is no real guaretnee we will have such skills so let's say three weeks plus another week for our saddles and such. I'm going to pretend to be a stable hand!"
"Wait...so in a month we can play cowboys and indians?"
"About that, yeah. What jobs are you guys going to have?"
"I think Greebo is the indian!"
"YEAHHHHHH! Get him!"

[Asharad]

I'm making all these basic assumptions only because I know there will come a time when someone will do something that requires me to ask "OK who had the torches again?" and some hilarity will ensue.

Crashing: Did you tie the rope around your waist, or are you holding it in your hands?

waist. I know I am no monkey.

[Greebo]

If I fall, I try to land on Crashing.

[Asharad]

I'd have to change my name to Catching.

Which is sorta hot.

[Lycos]

Acro +0 for Sigurd.

17 +3 for the rope, 20.

[Lycos]

I'd have to change my name to Catching.

Which is sorta hot.

Unless your last name is "da Swine Flu". :D

[Lycos]

I bet Greebo was ****loads of fun as a kid. :)

:rotflmao:

[DinbinFanfoom]

"We're going to play cowboys!"
"Awesome!"
"Hooray!"
"Yipee!"
"Let's get on our horses and find some Indians!"
"Wait, where did we get horses?"
"Uh..what?"
"I mean, did we purchase them from a livery stable? We here did we get the money for them? Are the tamed horses? Do we have saddles?"
"I don't...know? We just have horses?"
"That's ridiculous. We should at least pretend that we all get jobs in order to make the money to buy the horses. That'll be about two week's worth of pretending assuming that we all have skills that can get us decent jobs. Really, given the time period there is no real guaretnee we will have such skills so let's say three weeks plus another week for our saddles and such. I'm going to pretend to be a stable hand!"
"Wait...so in a month we can play cowboys and indians?"
"About that, yeah. What jobs are you guys going to have?"
"I think Greebo is the indian!"
"YEAHHHHHH! Get him!" Love it. :D
waist. I know I am no monkey. More of a "desk-cannibal" then? Gotcha. Mental picture: Crashing sitting at a desk in a hut with a conch shell to his ear with a taut string running out the window. "Twenty gourds of guava juice by Friday? Unpossible! Best I can do is Monday morning. Unless you want to go Priority-Canoe or Hang-glider-Ex and pay the delivery charge premium?"

From his dangly vantage-point 5 feet below the ledge, Crashing is thankful he tied the rope around his waist. (5+3 vs DC 10: fail)

Thankfully, Damelon picks up the slack (literally) and (athletics: success) hauls Crashing back up to his side. Crashing unties the rope and tosses the end back over to the next in line.

KT seems to ignore this and ties HIS rope onto his waist and holds the other end in his hand. He crosses (acro 11: success) but with a bit of skittering. He unties the rope from his waist. The rest of the party look at him, curiously.

[Asharad]

I was in charge of the spiritual development of my people. I let the knuckle draggers climb stuff!

[Shiz]

I'll tie myself up and cross then.


Din see above

[DinbinFanfoom]

Sigurd picks up the end of the rope that KT ignored and ties it to his waist. He crosses easily, wondering what all the fuss was about.

[Greebo]

I still think we should check out the pool below but ... whatever ;)

[Lycos]

I still think we should check out the pool below but ... whatever ;)

I agree. Its probably just a hole in the pool and if we plug it up, this place comes back to life again with magic. ;)

[Shiz]

I expect we are headed down there eventually by an alternate route.

[DinbinFanfoom]

Lamsi skips across the gap with little trouble.

She turns and looks back at Erik, tossing him the rope-end.

[EricStratton]

Erik ties the rope around his waist and....

Acro 7+2 + 3 for the rope = 12

[DinbinFanfoom]

Erik ties the rope around his waist and....
Acro 7+2 + 3 for the rope = 12
Within a few moments, the entire party is on the western side of the crumbly bit.

Where to? West?

[Lycos]

Yup.

[DinbinFanfoom]

Damelon leads the group down the stairs about 20'. They appear to turn south at the bottom.

[Shiz]

Are we on stone or wood steps?

[DinbinFanfoom]

Are we on stone or wood steps?
They look like wood on the map, but the whole structure thusfar is stone.

[Greebo]

Ok I know we're off the map now...

[DinbinFanfoom]

Ok I know we're off the map now...
I'm at work and lunch is over... not as easy to update now. Bear with me.

[Shiz]

Stone is good. Follow the stairs.

[Greebo]

I'm at work and lunch is over... not as easy to update now. Bear with me.

Thats cool I just like a mental picture. :)