Chapter I: Damring Fortress, Part 2

[Keehnelf]

12 Brightmorn 814 - Turn 7 - A Collapsing Treasure-Chamber

Raizenbrayne struggles through the haze of delirium to attain the focused mental state required to employ his Wizard's Sight (which can be unreliable at the best of times). Eventually, as he stoops atop the mound of tarnished armor plates, brass door knockers, candelabra, chain links and other oddments, he finds himself becoming more relaxed and attuned.

The auras of the objects around him come into general focus, the pale greyish green of mundane objects and the brighter, almost violent, pink of those things touched with great care or love. Seeking an item of religious significance, Raizenbrayne turns first to the massive book to calibrate and finds it the expected cool blue color--all to the good. The amulet should be easy enough to find in this mess with enough time.

He passes across the room, moving objects aside with one hand and peering intently into the pile on hands and knees. After ten long minutes of searching, he sees the telltale sign of something below the mess, and calls Harlan over to help him unearth it. They begin to dig at the metal objects, almost heedless in their anxiety and illness of cuts and scrapes and dings to knuckles and fingernails.

Finally, it is uncovered. A wide, flat disk of metal attached to a leather thong, sticking out of a crack between two of the floorstones but wedged in firmly. As Raizenbrayne and Harlan work to dig the item free of its odd prison, they are deliriously unaware of the ominous creaking and cracking around them. Agrom, for his part, is busy retching once again in the next room, living in his bowels for long, long minutes of waiting and expectation. Finally, with a triumphant shout and flourish, Raizenbrayne wrenches the amulet free, looking skyward just for a moment, until the floor begins to rapidly shift beneath his feet.

The crack into which the amulet had been wedged widens precipitously, splitting the chamber down the middle as the overwhelming weight of the metal load that it has housed for an unknown span finally proves too much for the ancient stonework. The stones tilt and spin, the metal treasure trove spilling into the gap like the room were turned into a giant drain. An unimaginably thick roar rises out of the hole, the sound of hundreds and hundreds of pounds of metal spilling into water far below. In shock, Raizenbrayne drops the amulet as he looks down, and watches it spin crazily into the darkness.

Harlan and Raizenbrayne have only a moment before they, too, are spilled down into the hole with the metal. What do they do?

---

Party Status:
Raizenbrayne, Afraid and Sick with Candle (3 Turns remain) in Hand (2 Checks)
Harlan, Afraid with Candle (2 Turns remain) in Hand (3 Checks)
Agrom, Sick with Sword and Shield in Hand (Dim Light) (1 Check)

[Simon]

At first, the roar and crash of crumbling stone and metal completely occupy Harlan's consciousness. The terror of the sound and the pitching of the ground beneath his feet bring his fear to an almost apocalyptic crescendo, and he feels as if he simply cannot go on, that either his heart or his feet will finally fail him, and he will slip down into whatever darkness lies below.

And then his eyes fix on the amulet, and a series of events flashes before him: the amulet retrieved and returned; Chorko, desperate to possess the amulet, granting them access to the untold riches of Damring's treasury; the three adventurers, now fast friends, returning triumphantly to town, barely able to walk under the weight of the loot; Crobart, begging him forgiveness, asking for a sizeable loan, and accepting a near criminal interest rate; glory everlasting. Suddenly, all is quiet. He hears only the beating of his own heart, sees only the lazy rotation of the amulet through empty space. He leaps. He is in midair, his arms outstretched, hurtling towards the spinning disk. He feels weightless.

[Keehnelf]

Health Test Ob2 for Harlan to avoid the Injured Condition from his sudden weightlessness and the impact that will abruptly follow.

[Keehnelf]

p.s. That is a totally kick-ass embodiment moment, and enjoyable reading to boot. Thanks, Simon

[Starbeard]

Raizenbrayne watches the amulet slip away from his grip as the ground sinks beneath him. From the corner of his eye he sees Harlan falter, flail and then leap, making a hiccupped shout of panic that is quickly swallowed up by the rising sound of the falling floor. Only presently does the wizard's mind process what has just happened, and what is about to happen. He instinctively pulls himself back, but it is too late, and his feet start to go. Harlan's body flies by his face, catching his attention only momentarily. As the halfling's body slides past his vision, the old and mysterious book comes into view, being pushed up and over by a small avalanche of metalwork that is pouring its way down the hole. The sight of the book being slowly toppled over toward the precipice fills him with an irrational dread, as though to let its knowledge slip from their grasp forever would be the doom of them all. He falls forward, arms outstretched to intercept the book, not even thinking beyond simply holding it firmly in his hands.

[Starbeard]

This day just keeps getting better and better!

[Keehnelf]

Haha, I love that both of you went after items rather than safety! Good luck, gentlemen.

Raiz also needs to make an Ob2 health test to avoid injury by falling. Once these are complete it will mark another round of tests and thus move the turn counter ahead one as well.

[sulldawga]

Agrom instinctively hunches his shoulders for a brief moment as he hears the roar from the next room. Is the ceiling collapsing, he wonders. Quickly, he realizes that the tumult is limited to the next room. Harlan! Raiz!

Agrom quickly drops his pack off his shoulders and runs to the door, looking inside to see what happens. When he sees the sinkhole, he turns back to his pack and grabs his rope. Tying one end around his waist, he looks for something sturdy to secure the other end to.

He calls out to his friends. Harlan! Raiz! Are you all right? I'm coming!

[Starbeard]

Alright, with Sick Raiz should be testing Health at 2D instead of 3D. Here goes…

2D vs Ob2: [1d6] = 6, [1d6] = 4

Phew!

[Keehnelf]

Agrom rips his pack open in a panic, knowing he might only have scant moments before something horrible overtakes his companions and they are lost for good--and is horrified to be reminded by the half-empty container that his rope is still dangling from the outside of the keep to guarantee a swift exit.

I'll do the fallen once Harlan makes his health check.

[sulldawga]

Belatedly realizing that his rope is far away at this point, Agrom will grab his pack, throw it into the crow room and then squeeze through after it.

He will approach the sinkhole as close as he dares, so long as his footing feels stable, and call out again for his friends.

Raiz! Harlan! Can you hear me?

[Keehnelf]

Agrom squeezes his way into the room and discovers that three-quarters of the room's floor has disappeared. Along the left wall and the right, several feet of floor remain intact and not dipping toward the hole, indicating that they may be safe at least for now. The left side can be reached via a quick step across a foot-wide gap, but reaching the right side (where a slightly-recessed opening like a doorway is now visible after the metalwork has flooded out of the chamber) would involve crossing an open span of almost ten feet.

Both sides still have some metal left on them, as much as a foot deep toward the outer wall and sloping downward. Below, Agrom can see light reflecting off turbulent water and bits of metal rising from the surface here and there and catching the faint sun, but apart from the remaining sounds of settling metal silence has fallen over the area once again.

After a long moment when the echo of Agrom's cry for his companions has died away, the quiet is split once again by a ruffle of feathers. Agrom looks up suddenly and sees the crows, apparently unfazed by this course of events, still sitting atop the walls of the room as though in silent judgement. One of them looks at Agrom directly from the side of its head, fixing one eye intently on him, and opens its beak as if to speak. Once again, in unmistakable if distorted common, the voice caws "Look out--Bale." And this bird, too, falls dead, landing with a soft thud on the ledge on the far side of the chamber.

[Simon]

Sorry for the delay. Late night at the office. Looks like there was no shortage of action in my absence though! This is kick-ass!

So 3D for Health, plus a Hidden Depths call on (Harlan is a little guy, but tougher than he looks) for 4D vs. Ob2.

[1d6] = 2, [1d6] = 1, [1d6] = 6, [1d6] = 4
Yikes! Close call.

[sulldawga]

Agrom hatches (no pun intended) a plan.

He looks directly at one of the remaining birds and asks it a question.

Is it safe for me to jump down in that hole?

[Keehnelf]

12 Brightmorn, 814 - Turn 8 - A Dark and Hopeless Chamber

Raizenbrayne and Harlan plummet into the darkness, each intent on their own goal, surrounded by the roaring of falling metal and churning water. All they see and all they know is darkness.

After an eternity of drifting through nothingness, weightless and cold, Harlan returns at least somewhat to himself. Something is hard and flat beneath him, and he feels almost as though it is exhaling the icy cold of the depths of the earth directly into his bones as it holds him gently aloft. The world feels unmoored from its familiar foundations. Small specks of color seem to float gently before his eyes, but they are illusions. There may be sunlight somewhere, but Harlan feels a thousand miles from it. As sensation returns to his body, Harlan feels something hard digging into his neck. Not moving from his supine position, he struggles with one hand to adjust it, and finds that somehow in the tumult the flat metal amulet found its way around his neck. In exchange, he has somehow lost his candle. Scanning around the surface nearby, he finds no sign of it.

Raizenbrayne, somewhat worse for wear, takes longer to recover from his fall, and when consciousness returns he starts in fear as water laps gently against his face, threatening to drown him should he slip from his awkward perch atop a shifting mound of broken metal goods. He feels bruised, battered, almost worn out like an old dish-rag, but he is alive. The candle he had just taken from Harlan in better times is nowhere to be found, but one hand rests heavily upon the cover of the leather-bound book, half-immersed in the lapping water itself. Faint light reflects on the dimples of the water's surface and on the metal pile which thrusts upward from it, enough for him to see that he is surrounded in all directions by water, but the light only extends a handful of feet in every direction.

Up above, in the stillness, Agrom watches in unease as all the crows in unison shake their heads.

---

Party status:
Agrom, Sick with Sword and Shield in Hand (Dim Light) (1 Check)
Raizenbrayne, Afraid and Sick with empty hands (Dim Light) (2 Checks)
Harlan, Afraid with empty hands (Dark) (3 Checks)

[sulldawga]

Agrom stands there, momentarily stunned into silence. A god is speaking to me through crows.

Then he remembers his friends and snaps out of his reverie.

Which way do I go to find them?

[Keehnelf]

The crows peer down into the hole in the floor.

[sulldawga]

Agrom shakes his head. This is like 20 Questions. I was never good at that game.

Is there another way down to the bottom besides this hole?

[Keehnelf]

A lone crow flies up to the top of the stairs that are visible over the wall to Agrom's left, perches momentarily, and then flies back to the wall.

[sulldawga]

Agrom

One last question: is the Unbroken Blade close by?

If the Blade is close by, Agrom may pursue it first.

If not, Agrom will pause for a moment to thank the Pilgrim in prayer for his guidance. He'll toss his pack back out the door, squeeze back into the Armory, shoulder his pack, and go to retrieve the rope. Then it'll be time to explore the stairway that the crows pointed out.

Agrom is a whore for magic items, what can I say?