[Game #1] Osan Taan's Thread

[NJWilliam]

Osan Taan

Seeing how fast and aggressive the rats are, Osan regrets not having readied his invisibility spell,
Surrounded, and his aklys not serving him as well as he had hoped, he quickly grabs some mistletoe and makes the arcane gestures for the spell, while doing his best to not be eaten by the rats.

Osan Disease Roll (diseased on 1-5): [1d100] = 71
Osan Disease Roll (diseased on 1-5): [1d100] = 32
Initiative: [1d10] = 1

Yeah, that wasn't the best decision on when to conserve spell resources.

[Landifarne]

Nice initiative roll, however...

Giant Rats' Initiative: [1d10] = 6

Reacting to the rats' attack, Osan leaps over the anvil and puts it between his self and his attackers. Quickly grabbing up some of his mistletoe, the druid chants quickly and manages to envelop his self in magic before the things round the altar's corners.

The rats suddenly stop in their tracks, confused as to where their prey went. Milling about, they fail to detect the druid as he edges by them.

Moving to the side for a minute, the druid wraps strips of his torn tunic around the bites to staunch their bleeding.

Turns out it was fortunate you weren't hasty. He get back 1 HP after the fight.

[NJWilliam]

Osan Taan

Relieved, but knowing that his invisibility will last but 11 minutes, Osan quickly looks more closely at the writing chased on the altar and anvil, and then the rest of the room, looking for any items of interest or use, particularly on the altar or the broken columns. At the pool he will take the beetle gland and drop it in, to see if with its light he can see the bottom and anything else that might be in the pool.

[Landifarne]

Moving rapidly, the druid sees that the anvil is beautifully wrought, if dirty from long exposure. Incredibly large, the thing does not appear to be iron either...or at least not a normal iron allow. With streaks of blue, the object is certainly some kind of Dhurghali artifact.

Flanges stick out at each corner, holes the size of a clenched fist pierced through. Aligned in a way to accept a couple large poles, the massive anvil could perhaps be moved through the combined efforts of a half-dozen strong men. Giving up on the thing, Osan then heads to the pool and quietly drops one of his two beetle glands into it. Sinking down, the water is murky and extends four or five feet down, but reveals little.

To the west, a small trickle heads into a four foot tall crack in the wall. A bit more than two feet wide, the crack seem just big enough for the wilder to squeeze through. To the south, the artificial, eight foot tunnel receives most of the pools overflow and seems to have a number of boulders resting along its floor, the result of some kind of collapse farther in...?

Other than broken rock and dust, the anvil and the (culturally significant) carvings/inscriptions along the walls seem to be the only things of interest in the chamber.

[NJWilliam]

Osan Taan, (hp 7/8)

Leaving further investigation of the pool and the western crack until later for now. Osan quickly heads back to the Southern tunnel, candle and aklys in hand, and climbs up the first boulder hoping the height will allow him to see further in, before proceeding further into the tunnel.

[Landifarne]

OK, now you've got me confuzzled. Doesn't he still have one gland in hand? Or did we lose the third one along the way (one to the spider warren, another in the pool...)?

[NJWilliam]

You're right, he does have one more gland and would use that before the candle. I was confused.

[Landifarne]

Holding the firebeetle gland up, the wilder steps over boulders that indicate a collapse had occurred in the distant past.

As he enterss the main tunnel Osan begins to hear voices emanating from farther in. Unsure of what he is hearing, it seems muffled and indistinct. A tiny bit of light trickles over the top of what seems like a pile of collapsed boulders deeper in...

Map Spoiler-

[NJWilliam]

Osan Taan

Osan imitates the squawk of a grouse and then tosses a pebble - or, if none are immediately at hand, one of his sling bullets - at the seeming pile of collapsed boulders. He throws it hard, but not so hard that it would do actual damage, in his own estimation.

He pauses to listen and watch.
If nothing moves or changes or if he hears nothing further, Osan will head back to the crack in the Western wall and squeeze through it.

[Landifarne]

Appraching the pile, Osan tosses a few pebbles at it to assess whether anything hides amongst the rocks. Seeing no difference, he continues to hear voices from the other side...with the voices becoming louder and more insistant. A slight amount of light trickles over the top of the pile, which is a few handwidths of clearance below the top of tunnel. If he were to climb up the pile Osan would likely be able to get a better view...

[NJWilliam]

Osan Taan

Seeing nothing moving in the rock pile, Osan climbs up the rocks and takes a look through the gap that is allowing light in.

[Landifarne]

As he climbs the pile, being careful to be quiet and not dislodge any rocks, Osan hears the voices intensify and take on an alarming tone. Although he cannot understand what is being said, it is obvious form the pleading and screams that someone is being harmed .

Coming to the top, Osan hears an incredible scream erupt from the person who was pleading just moments before. Then, a gurgling sound, labored breathing and...then nothing. In the distance, rough laughter ensues.

Looking over the crest, Osan gets a quick glimpse of a man sprawled in a shallow pool of water, lying face up, but with what looks like a massive, conical piece of rock jammed into his midsection. Visible because of some light coming off of a campfire, the man is not struggling, and looks like he has been impaled.

Looming in the background, partially blocking the fire from his view are two men, one of them guffawing loudly at the impaled man's misfortune. Both of the standing men are on the pool's bank, and are taking enjoyment from what has transpired.

One of them seems to point directly at Osan, who is sixty or seventy feet away...

"Ye seen a re' ligh' o'er ther', Zerna?"

Shielding his eyes with his hands, the one addressed peers more intently, directly at Osan's position.

"Aye, an i' be shift'in," he responds.

[NJWilliam]

Osan Taan

Osan feels for a solid purchase on the rocks for his feet, trying to lower himself at the same time.
He places the beetle gland down near where he was and backs up from it, hopefully into a niche of some sort, or shadow, readying his aklys to attack, if necessary, when this man or creature approaches the beetle gland.

[Landifarne]

Osan moves down and to the side, away from the crawlspace above the boulders. Waiting for a short while, the druid begins to realize that his spell will wear off shortly and that the three giant rats in the temple will once again become aware of his presence.

The two figures that the wilder saw have become quiet, but neither has crossed over the pool of water that is in the other cavern and approached the other side of the blocked passage.

Map Spoiler-

Dead man is indicated in the shallow water.

[NJWilliam]

Osan Taan

Osan picks up the beetle gland and heads to the crevice in the Western wall, and squeezes through, acting deliberately to get to the crevice before his invisibility to animals wears off.

[Landifarne]

Moving to the western wall, Osan gives the chamber one last glance. Seeing the rats scamper about reminds him that he needs to be moving along- else face the consequences.

Squeezing through the narrow crack, the wilder traipses through a foot of water as he slowly picks his way along a slowly-eroding passageway. Give it a few hundred years and the tunnel will be several feet wider.

Spending what seems to be several hours picking his way along, Osan eventually comes to a section where he begins to hear the faint echoing of his splashes and movement. Slowing, he realizes that a new chamber opens up only forty feet ahead.

[NJWilliam]

Osan Taan

Osan inspects the ceiling, walls, and ground that remains before the entrance to the chamber ahead. Then - the red light of his fire beetle gland having been spotted only recently - he returns the gland to the cover of his belt pouch. Motionless he looks forward to see if there is any light in the chamber before him, and watches waiting for his eyes to adjust as best they can to the new lighting.

[Landifarne]

Working his way to the end of the narrow tunnel, Osan stope just before stepping into the open chamber before him. A trickle of light comes from the right, about forty feet away. Streaming from an eight foot wide passage, the light provides just enough illumination for Osan's darkness-adjusted eyes to make out the immediate shape of the room.

The room terminates to the right, ending in the passage that Osan sees, while it extends farther to the left. The enitre floor of the chamber is covered in water of unknown depth- which the wilder has been moving through the entire time he wormed his way through the narrow tunnel.

Pausing for a minute, the wilder thinks that he sees the light coming in from the passage begin to intensify...and become more reddish in tone. In addition, the wilder can hear a bit of noise accompanying the increasing light...as if something is coming forward.

Map Spoiler-

x = where light seems to be intensifying. Osan is entering from the northern, narrow tunnel. Grey shading is water.

[NJWilliam]

Osan Taan

Osan carefully edges forward to get a better angle on the location the light is coming from.
Fearing the red comes from another fire beetle, the druid drops a bullet into his sling and readies himself.

[Landifarne]

A figure steps forward, with a torch in left hand, and an oversized axe in the other. Glancing about, the person finds a suitable spot in the cavern's wall and jabs the end of the torch into it. Stepping forth, the person, a woman wearing the clothes of a northern barbarian, then prods the water in front of her- testing its depth.

She fails to see Osan, as the light of her torch doesn't quite reach as far as the wilder's entry tunnel.