Quest #1 - The Search for Fonkin

[Nemesis]

From Nemesis' description, I think the door is facing the wrong direction. He said "south-facing", although facing north-facing, like you have it, makes more sense.

Clarification, please.

Balto's party position and surrounding doors on the map are correct

[Nemesis]

What's the move gentlemen?

[Eris]

Richard

Richard will check the floor again, hunting for any other small footprints, and a hint of the direction they went.

Quinn again steps forward and holds the torch at an angle to give Richard a better view of the floor, "Do you see any more footprints? If you don't see them going west, then we need to try this door on the eastern wall."

"Miranda will you check this door for traps and see if you can get it open for us?" Quinn asks.

[Nemesis]

Miranda slid a hand across the large, metal frame of the eastern door and
tapped the doorknob. Nothing.

She dropped to the floor, trying to peak through whatever slit of
space the door allowed from the floor. Darkness.

She grabbed the door handle and pulled. The door didn't budge. She
dropped her bag with a huff and crouched. She reached into the
sack and retrieved two, thin metallic-looking tools: lock picks.

She fiddled with the locking mechanism with the rake and applied
just enough pressure to turn the lock. She breathed slowly, listening for
the elusive click. Someone coughed behind her.

"Shhh!" she said, in a hiss. The party stayed silent.

Miranda groaned. Was it frustration or satisfaction? No one knew.
Then, after a few minutes, click. She jumped to her feet and grabbed
the handle, pulling the door open slowly and peaking her head through the
thin threshold. She exhaled in relief.

Shine this room up, mage," Miranda instructed Quinn.

[Eris]

Quinn stepped forward and held the torch out and up into the open doorway, being careful to keep his body out of any direct lines of fire from inside. What can he see from his vantage point?

[archolewa]

"His name is Quinn," said Richard in a low voice to Miranda, while keeping an eye on the dark doorway. "Or should we start calling you *bandit*?"

[BaltoBruiser]

Gurkidd

Watches the party's rear to ensure they are not surprised by anything or anyone coming down the halls.

[Nemesis]

Miranda smirked at Richard.

"I see no point in remembering names, knight", she said,
"You all might end up dead."

The light from Quinn's torch poured into the room, revealing a holding
cell. Chains and manacles hung from the walls. Large pieces of straw
and hay lay scattered on the floor; it seemed to have been a place for
someone imprisoned in this room slept.

A foul order hung in the corner of a cell where a metal pan stood.

[archolewa]

"I'm thinking perhaps we should send our illustrious bandit over there to investigate the metal pot." Richard returned the smirk. "There might be treasure in there. Or Fonkin."

[Nemesis]

Miranda pulled out her bow and knocked an arrow; the party drew back in
alarm. She took a half-second breath and loosed the arrow. It flew
across the room and crashed into the jug, splitting the receptacle into
a dozen pieces. Dark sludge poured onto the floor.

Miranda scrunched her nose from the stench and squinted her eyes.

"There's something in that sludge," she said.

[archolewa]

"We do not trust each other enough to be whipping out weapons without a warning," grumbled Richard. "Damn near stabbed you."

Richard will tie a rag around his nose and mouth, and approach the sludge. He will flip his polearm over and search around in the sludge with the butt for whatever Miranda spied.

[Eris]

"We do not trust each other enough to be whipping out weapons without a warning," grumbled Richard. "Damn near stabbed you."

Richard will tie a rag around his nose and mouth, and approach the sludge. He will flip his polearm over and search around in the sludge with the butt for whatever Miranda spied.

Quinn stays just inside the room with his arm up over his nose while holding the torch high. While Richard is probing around in the sludge, Quinn is looking around the room to see if there are any clues as to who was kept here, for how long, and where they went.

[Nemesis]

Miranda ignored Richard. She sheathed her bow and stepped out of the
room.

With a rag covering his face, Richard approached the sludge. The closer
he got, the stronger the smell; the rag barely filtering the stench. His
eyes started to water, and he felt a creeping sense of dizziness.

Richard quickly poked through the sludge with his pole arm, hitting a
small, glass tube in the muck. He maneuvered the weapon to pull the tube
toward his feet. He bent down, grabbed the item, and shuffled himself
back to the door. The dizziness subsided, and he suspected that had he
stayed near to the sludge, he would've passed out.

Richard raised the tube to the nearest light source and saw a piece of
parchment inside.

Quinn, noticing the stench also impacted him, backed away from the
sludge.

Richard broke the top of the tube and removed the parchment, holding the
paper to the light and reading the faint and scratchy message aloud:

To whomever finds this:

My name is Fonkin Loudmantle. I have been locked in this cell for ... an
untold number of days, held by a group of nefarious characters. I have
been kidnapped from my home in Dale.

If you are reading this, one of three things may have happened to me:

1. I have escaped from this place. You may have seen a yellow triangle
etched near the floor at the entrance of this place. That was my signal,
and you are free from your mission to find me, if that is what
originally brought you here.

2. These fools have taken me deeper into this hole, where I might
still be alive.

3. I am dead, and my corpse lies rotting in this room. Please relay this
most unfortunate news to the current mayor of Dale.

Yours in truth,
Fonkin

[BaltoBruiser]

Gurkidd

Despite not entering the room, the noxious fumes from the tube still make him light headed and a.

1. I have escaped from this place. You may have seen a yellow triangle
etched near the floor at the entrance of this place.

I saw no such symbol when we entered either before Miranda joined us nor after. Fonkin must still be here but deeper in the dungeon since there is no rotting corpse.

[Eris]

Quinn leaves the foul room and closes the door as quickly as he can, "I saw no yellow triangle nor Fonkin's corpse inside ,either, so you must be correct Gurkidd."

"So, we press on?" Quinn resumes his position as the party prepares to continue.

[BaltoBruiser]

Gurkidd

Shall we move west and check the door on the north wall?

I have updated the map.

[Eris]

Gurkidd

Shall we move west and check the door on the north wall?

I have updated the map.

"Before we do, we need to backtrack." says Quinn, "We left a door unexplored back down the corridor and to the west, and I'd much rather not leave any unexplored areas behind us as we move deeper."

The room in the eastern corridor on the southern wall behind us hasn't been explored yet. The corridor looked like a dead end, but there was a door back there. Right?

[archolewa]

Richard

Richard grunts as he rolls up the message and tucks it into his pack. "Half a mind to leave him here, just for making me root around in his crap for that damnable note. Hide it under your pallet next time you crazy gnome!"

"Probably a good idea, Quinn." He throws a side-eye at Miranda. "I don't suppose you know anything about these 'nefarious characters' who kidnapped Fonkin? Rival bandit gang?"

[Nemesis]

The room in the eastern corridor on the southern wall behind us hasn't been explored yet. The corridor looked like a dead end, but there was a door back there. Right?

That's correct. On Balto's map, it's the door between 5 and 7. Seems like you all want to double back to the door?

***

Miranda pondered Richard's question for a moment.

"It must be the work of a rival gang," she said. "Which one ... I am not sure. If we get our hands on one of these brigands, I won't have an issue extracting the information we need."

[archolewa]

The room in the eastern corridor on the southern wall behind us hasn't been explored yet. The corridor looked like a dead end, but there was a door back there. Right?

That's correct. On Balto's map, it's the door between 5 and 7. Seems like you all want to double back to the door?

Yes.

Miranda pondered Richard's question for a moment.

"It must be the work of a rival gang," she said. "Which one ... I am not sure. If we get our hands on one of these brigands, I won't have an issue extracting the information we need."

"Hmm." He shook his head. "And here I thought getting out of the guards would keep me out of these pointless gang wars."

Richard hesitates a moment, as something occurs to him. He reaches into his pack and pulls out the note. "Hey, Quinn. Want to take a second to shine that glowing orb thing of yours on Fonkin's note? I don't know if he'd be able to do his invisible ink trick in a prison cell, but maybe he can."