[Compled] Expedition - Bromric/Demon - 30 April, 1 VC

[Keehnelf]

May 5, 1 VC - 7:20pm

Bromric welcomes Seadu back to the earthly realm and sets about investigating the outer chamber. He moves first to the still-warm bronze statue, now crusted in flakes of soot and char. The whole thing seems cast of a single piece of bronze, and he finds no sign of any hidden compartments or the like either on the statue or on its base.

He then moves to the collapsed tunnel, and discovers signs that the basilisk likely came through the remaining opening. After some careful consideration and inspection, he can discern that the tunnel has collapsed from above and is likely blocked ahead, though it must have created an opening through which the basilisk would have entered the complex proper from within the recesses of the native stone. With some time and effort, it is likely that the group could excavate sufficiently to uncover the tunnels the basilisk used to enter this chamber. Bromric's estimate is that the opening can't be more than twenty feet in, and likely far less, so he would expect it to take less than six hours of dedicated (but noisy) work to clear at least to the breach in the tunnel.

Most of the basilisk's body is dangerous to handle, and Bromric finds its eyes, remaining horn (one was broken by the blow that slew the creature) and its fangs to be especially inviting trophies. He takes a few minutes to safely remove all of them, but the acidic blood makes storage difficult. He thinks that another hour or so will render the remaining blood inert enough for them to be stowed within a sack or backpack without destroying the container and other objects it contacted.

[Zhym]

Melvin watches with wide eyes and open mouth as Seadu breaks out of Constance's stony remains. Regaining his composure, he smirks and asks the cleric of Veles, "What happened? Did they throw you out of death club for trying to sneak in too soon? I don't suppose they sent you back with a full set of spells ready, did they?"

[Marullus]

Bromric lays down his prized basilisk teeth and cracks his knuckles dramatically. "Excavation is the Wardigger Clan specialty. You fragile wizard types take a nap. We'll clear this by the time you wake up." He grins.

I assume we don't all need a nap? Also, everyone okay with the plan to take time and find the basilisk hoard?

[Keehnelf]

If you dig through the night, you'll be skipping your sleep for sure which isn't great for one's well-being.

[Marullus]

Okay, just didn't know how much time we've spent. Sleep shifts first then work shifts, and we hope for the best. Objections?

[Keehnelf]

You haven't yet rested inside the mountain apart from brief respites, you've been traveling since 7am or so and it's almost 7:30--and you've had (iirc) 4 combats today. Everyone is at least a bit tired. Shift mining would work though.

[Marullus]

If nobody objects to the extended stay, just do something sensible. We all rest, the casters memorize spells, we unblock the basilisk's crawlway, we bag up the Basilisk bits once safe. If we have a random encounter, being in the thrice-locked safe-room which kills anyone opening a door is about as safe as we can get. If not, then we' move forward to completion, I hope.

[Keehnelf]

May 5, 1 VC - 2:10am

Bromric lays out his supply of tools and considers the excavation work that lays before him while the rest of the party prepares camp. It is a slow process of getting to sleep, with the intermittent sound of rock hammer and pick filling the enclosed space while the dwarf works. Soon after camp is established, the last of Constance's lamp oil is consumed, and the party refills the lantern.

Several hours into their rest, several members of the party wake abruptly as they hear a powerful rattling of metal on metal and stone from above--something large and powerful seems to be intent on lifting the portcullis. The party gathers and prepares weapons, but after a few minutes the sound abates and there is no sign of anyone or anything descending the stairs.

Sleep comes again, but fitfully, and Bromric is nearly ready to prepare the next shift of workers when he knocks a stone loose and uncovers the short stretch of open hall beyond that terminates in a full-on collapse ten feet further in. Excavating beyond that would take days, if not weeks, based on his estimate of their current depth. He peers around the hall and sees the venue through which the basilisk must have entered--a crack perhaps three feet wide and nearly as high formed in the wall of the corridor, exposing an irregular narrow cavern-chute beyond that seems like it might be navigable, though not with the coffer from the Thrice-Locked chamber. As he approaches the entrance and looks inside, he hears a faint and echoing voice call out as if for assistance. The words are faint enough and distorted by echoes so as not to be intelligible, but it is coming from deeper within or beyond the natural fissure.

[Marullus]

Male, female? Language spoken?

What is the slope/grade of the "chute"? Is it slick or with handholds?

Does everyone have enough rest now, or do we need to wait?

[Keehnelf]

Nobody has a full night's rest yet--it's just after 2am.

The chute goes up at about a 70 degree angle, with a lot of irregularities that would make it possible to climb up. The rock there is dry.

The voice is so garbled that you can't make out any details except that it seems on the lower end of the register, so likely male.

[Zhym]

7:30 to 2:10 is 6:40 of sleep. That ought to be enough time for the casters to study spells, right?

[Keehnelf]

It took you until 8:00pm to set up camp and start sleeping, so we're at 6:10 now--but LL rules say 8 hours of rest is needed to regain spells.

[Zhym]

Melvin stirs awake and groans. "I don't suppose you could go rescue whoever that is without me?" he asks.

"Hope whoever it is doesn't try to keep us from taking all this stuff," he mumbles as he tries to get back to sleep.

[Starbeard]

I don't think Seadu actually cast his spells, but in light of recent events my assumption is that his spell slots have been wiped clean. He'll have to keep resting with Melvin to get his spells back.

Seadu tries to describe what he can of his experience to Melvin as they try to ignore the noise of Bromric's excavation nearby.

'It was a strange experience. You float around in a bit of nothing; a lot like you'd expect, really. I was waylaid by another entity, a god who once watched over the dwarves in this part of the world, but is now forgotten. Apparently I had caught his attention when I took the time to perform death rites on his people. He seized the opportunity to exercise his right and snatched up my soul before it passed from his realm into the realm of my own god Veles. Gave me a second chance at a haggard life by serving him as a cleric. My answer must be obvious.

'Now here I am! Bald as a vulture and stuck making payments to a temple back in Vaul I don't even need anymore! Seadu Erana, Dwarf-priest, servant of Falles: at your service!'

–––––

Later, as they are wakened by the cry for help, Seadu listens. 'What do you think, Bromric? I doubt a basilisk would drag a living person back to its lair as a prisoner.'

[Zhym]

"Who would say no to such a deal?" asks Melvin with the barest hint of a smile. "Still, one imagines your former 'employer' must not be too pleased with the circumstances of your change in position."

[Starbeard]

Seadu lifts his eyebrows in agreement and concern. 'Yes. I wonder how long it will be before I have to start worrying about that. Falles has assured me that he has dibs on my soul since I passed through his realm first, but you never know with these gods. He seems a good sort, though. Although now I have to be careful about looting the dead for personal gain; it seems to be one of the few things he finds distasteful. A fair enough trade, in the end.'

He seems distracted in thought and adds, 'Say, you wouldn't happen to know anything about "The bones of the Ashen King's child", would you? I wasn't aware that Fangir had family. Falles can be awfully cryptic in his speech, I'm not sure it is his best quality.'

[Zhym]

Melvin smirks. "A fair trade indeed. And that little restriction should make you quite popular among adventuring groups," he says. "More loot for everyone else. Unless your new god expects you to enforce that rule on others?"

When Seadu brings up "the bones of the Ashen King's child," Melvin responds, "Why do you ask? Are they important?"

Oh, man. There's something that requires digging to figure out who knows what. Bertram, of course, knows Fangir had a son and what happened to the son. Seadu was on the expedition with Bertram in the aftermath of the son's death and Fangir going cuckoo clock, but I don't know if Bertram ever said anything about Fangir's son, although it would have made sense to do so to explain why that one burial chamber was protected. Melvin would only know what he heard from the others. We left town before Orrin returned, so we missed that story.

Boy, what a complicated game.

[Marullus]

Bromric is awed by the story, his mouth hanging open. "You really ARE an honorary dwarf then, aren't ya? Wow... When Martin came back worshipping Feels, the visitors wasn't impressed... He didn't understand why people got so googly-eyed over fellas from the those planes possessing people and snatching souls in transit but angsty when he did it." He scratches the scar mark on his arm. "Tried to get him to realize it was because he was a lying, body-snatching, arse face, bit he didn't get the point." He straightens up. "Pleased to be traveling with TWO priests talking to dwarven gods, though. When we get out of here, you got to share what he tells of our forefathers and such. Perhaps we need a temple and records and such," he muses.

"Let's finish resting. Then then scout the tinnel, eh?"

[Marullus]

I would like to get this sleep issue handled. Then Bromric will volunteer to go up the chute first tied to a rope to scout with infravision. We can decide further once we know what's there. If there's trouble, he can scoot downslope easily or they can pull the rope.

[Keehnelf]

I've been thinking about this all night and day and I've come to the conclusion that what Incare most about is getting folks off the sidelines and back into the game--given where you are, this could in fact take ages before you get out of the mountain with more and more stuff that can happen, and you could still all end up dead even after succeeding at your quest.

That being said: is there anyone who would very strongly object to me fast-forwarding, returning the party safely to town, and leaving the mysterious voice a mystery for another time?