Chapter #1: Introduction to Adventure One: Flick of the Tail

[Storm11]

Jamal after failing his spell will climb into the aqueduct and shine the light of his staff to illuminate the bottom of the well and the tunnel beyond.

He whispered to Alara and she vanishes again, searching for a new spell.

Unseen Servant [1d100] = 41 : [1d6+1] = 1+1 = 2 : [1d6+2] = 3+2 = 5 : [1d100] = 2

[GreyWolfVT]

Down the Well

Everyone else finds their way down the well, be it by means of spell, rope and climbing or using the wooden crank and bucket. Leaving the bandaged unconscious porter with one of the merchants from the bazaar to wait for a healer. Everyone managed to get their gear down to the bottom of the well, some are stuck swimming in the water waiting to crawl down the aqueduct in search of the "genie fish" that Badazadeh lost down this very well. Seeing no sign of the fish at all in the water at the bottom of the well everyone comes to the same conclusion that it must have swam up the aqueduct and off you go to find it.

Some manage to walk somewhat upright (the shorter of the group) the rest crawl on hands and knees pushing packs and gear in front others dragging it behind them as you one by one go up the aqueduct. Some armor is scratched and scuffed in the travel. The aqueduct from the well leads into the top of a cistern, filled with water, it looks to be shallower than the water at the bottom of the well but the water is definitely deeper than 6 feet. There are no ledges or protrusions so everyone will have to tread water to stay afloat. Two underwater tunnels, each 3 feet in diameter, exit the cistern, heading north and east; faint light can be seen filtering through the eastern tunnel. At this point the person in the front of the procession needs to make a decision east or north? Head to the faint light or lead on to the north warning others of the cistern full of water.

The question lies which way to go now? So far no sign of the magical fish has been seen. What does the faint light mean? What is causing the light?

Question being now what?

Actions?

[Storm11]

Jamal will remain in the aqueduct and after a couple of minutes Alara returns successful. The halfling wizard begins his spell but the magic slips from him as he finishes the short summons. The djinnling sighs loudly and shakes her head before rippling from view after a brief word from the halfling. "Hopefully we can use the servant spell to try and discern how long the underwater passageways go on for before we dive to our deaths." the little wizard assures the other companions around him.

3 minutes later the Gen returns again smiling and hovers around the little sha'irs shoulder. "Be careful this time," she grouses in exasperation, and Jamal scowls at her and narrows his eyes in concentration. Casting the spell successfully :

[1d100] = 47 : [1d6+1] = 2+1 = 3 : [1d6+2] = 6+2 = 8 : [1d100] = 92

he summons forth the invisible force and releases his glowing staff, willing it into the darker northern tunnel for 25 feet, watching the light spread along it in hopes of seeing it widen at the other end. He will send the staff the same distance into the underwater eastern passageway doing the same.

[Bluehorse]

Emma Springdawning

Wrinkles her nose at the feel of the cool stone and water on her now booted feet. She so preferred her slippers, but it was better than risking a stubbed toe or worse yet ruining her best footwear. She makes sure to slip into the claustrophobic passage as close to the middle of the group as possible, letting the stronger of their party take up the point and rear of their venture. She keeps her eyes peeled and looking around for anything that may be a clue or otherwise of interest as they continue.

"Just how far do you suppose this goes? Can we even make a guess?"

[Dram]

Anuzal- Will head into the water slowly see if he will be able to tread water safely without dropping any gear. Here fishy fishy. We come to get you your owner is worried.

[Cwreando]

Abrex waits his turn and gets a sense of dealing with his armor in this watery situations. If he sees the others able to manage with their armor on he does also. If not he will take off just enough to manage and put the rest in his back pack. He will keep his backpack above water so his stuff does not get wet if at all possible.

"Well, How is it going up front. Is everything ok? Let's keep moving if so." Use a rope between points to help people move along if we need to friends. The last person can be pulled through.

Abrex takes his turn moving up and dealing with the pool of water once a path is chosen. He feels confident he can manage but accepts any assistance should it be given.

[Scott308]

Benham Iskandar

The human sha'ir will follow the others through the tunnel.

[ravenn4544]

Asad the Lion plunges along keeping his beloved sword free of the tunnel's grip. He shakes his head and wonders about what possible glory could be found in a sewer....

[max_vale]

Rahkeem ibn Hamad al-Qudra


Rahkeem helps the others as they descend in various ways and also gathers gear to ensure that all are in the crawl-way in the well. He then thanks the others for sending down his gear and after re-equipping himself with armor, etc.; he takes the lead with his cutlass and dirk ready, while hoping the passageway will soon get larger…

As they reach the 'cross-roads', he'll yell back to anyone who can't see the tunnels what the situation is. He was about to suggest heading towards the light, when Jamal uses his magic to attempt to discern more about thier two paths….

The corsair nods at the Halfling and says; "Good-thinking my friend".

[Cwreando]

Abrex says, "Let one of the swimmers go first or those confident in swimming with less armor to burden them to take my rope to the other side so that others can pull themselves along the rope with ease to make the swim easier. Anyone else can add a rope to this to double the length if necessary. The last person can bring the rope as they come through. Sound good?"

Abrex gets his rope ready and puts it in the water to be taken through to the other side and uses one hand to hang on the the Aqueduct they crawled through keeping his backpack on the ledge until he can take hold of it. Looks like things are going to get wet inside regardless. Abrex takes his two sacks out and his cloak off. He wraps the backpack in the sack and ties it off then wraps it in the cloak and finally wraps it in the sack again as a triple barrier to water.

Once the rope is secured to the other side he can go through following his friend Rahkeem.

[GreyWolfVT]

Aqueducts & Crossroads:

Using magic to try and see further down the unlit North passage at the cistern it looks like the North passage goes on for a long while, judging by the area of Muluk the North passage would lead you on to potentially come out near the Caravanserai Area 1 on the map of Muluk where as if you go down the slightly lit passage to the East it brings you towards potentially abandoned buildings near the east shore line by the grand bazaar. None of the group can recall what the abandoned building east of the Bazaar even was, though finding that direction has it's own light source does make it interesting.

Suddenly in the back of the marching procession Asad gets bumped into by a dwarf turning his head to figure out who the heck followed them he is releived to see it is Dubb Al-Tabil his dwarven mystic friend, he must have taken a long time to climb down the well and follow the group for Asad doesn't remember hearing anything from behind, perhaps next time he should keep his guard up a bit more. Monsieur Rose you may now post with the others. Asad feeling a little embarassed at the lapse in his attentiveness as rear guard informs the rest in front that their good friend Dubb finally decided to follow them down the well after the initial excitement back in the grand bazaar.

Once more in searching the passages before you and the cistern for what you can see into it there is again no magic fish or even any sign of what way it went. So still your options are East or North? North into darkness for a longer crawl or East to whatever is causing the faintly glowing light?

Actions?

[Monsieur Rose]

Dubb
In the Sewer, sorry, Aqueduct

"Hey Asad, how you been? Took me forever to find you guys."Dubb starts dipping his shoulders and drumming his fingers on the wall as he talks.

"First, there was this great musician at the bazaar, you should have been there. Then some merchant guy comes running by talking about a fish and a thief, complaining about a sha'ir who threatened him."
Dubb looks around and waves to Benham, beating a infectious rhythm on the wall.

"So I went where he pointed, saw the well and a few urchins who spoke of a group of crazy adventures who jumped down it."
"Things started adding up, so I went down and here you all are! Crazy, huh?"
Dubb finally stops drumming, looks around and asks "So. Why ARE we down a well?"

[Storm11]

Strangely dry, Jamal will summon the servant back with his glowing staff.

"Hey Dubb, welcome back. We are down here searching for a talking fish. It's swam off under the well somewhere. I think maybe we should try the shorter tunnel first, just to see what's occurring without putting ourselves in too much danger! What do you think?"

The halfling sha'ir will get out of the way for the more stout members of the group.

He will offer to light the leaders way if they wish it. Is the water clean down here?

He will speak to Alara about fetching another spell. She vanishes quickly.

He asks for burning hands. [1d100] = 40 : [1d6+1] = 4+1 = 5 : [1d6+2] = 2+2 = 4 : [1d100] = 4

[ravenn4544]

Asad shakes his head at the new arrival and snaps in irritation at his sneakiness "Curse you, Tabil. Tabil? Bah - 'Trouble' I say! Tap away, Dwarf - make yourself useful!"

[Monsieur Rose]

Dubb
Treading water in the cistern

Dubb smiles at Asad "Ah, as charming as ever I see. But you have a point."
He takes a moment and gets a sense of things. [1d6] = 5

"Yup, yup. As I thought. We're underground. In water." Dubb winks at Asad.

"You know, Jamal, in my experience telling people to go to the light at the end of the tunnel is not a good thing!"

[Dram]

Anuzal- Dubb I wondered where ya been. Step lightly in this water it may be a bit much for ya friend. To light then it is.

[GreyWolfVT]

North & East Passages:

A bit more details of the passages from the cistern that is filled rough guess around 9' of water these passages both are underwater the water from the cistern is fed from these passages there is perhaps 1' at the top of the passages that is not water. To cross the cistern to reach the passages you all have to swim or as mentioned improvise a rope or two as an aid for those unable to swim, to be able to cross to the passages the passages being only 3' in diameter with 2' of water in them will likely involve more swimming or at least walking/crawling through water to get through either passage. The eastern one is the only one you can see a faint glowing of light from.

[Storm11]

Once the glowing staff returns to the halfling wizards hand he will take out his rope and hand it to the unseen servant and instruct it to dive into the eastern shorter tunnel with one end of the coil and go as far as 30', heading up to the surface of within that range and hold it steady, taking firm hold of the other end. Is there anywhere tie his end of the rope to in the cistern.

[Scott308]

Benham Iskandar

While not able to actually swim, Iskandar is currently remarkably good at floating. He is able to help with getting the rope across the cistern in order to get others across.

[Monsieur Rose]

Dubb
Cistern

Dubb steps up to hold the end of Jamal's rope. "Here, I'll help hold this end. Those who can swim or float across do so."
"It looks like it's bath time for us all." Dubb is reminded of a bathing song he heard in days past, and bursts into song.

"Sing hey! for the bath at close of day
that washes the weary mud away!
A loon is he that will not sing:
O! Water Hot is a noble thing!

O! Sweet is the sound of falling rain,
and the brook that leaps from hill to plain;
but better than rain or rippling streams
is Water Hot that smokes and steams.

O! Water cold we may pour at need
down a thirsty throat and be glad indeed;
but better is Beer if drink we lack,
and Water Hot poured down the back.

O! Water is fair that leaps on high
in a fountain white beneath the sky;
but never did fountain sound so sweet
as splashing Hot Water with my feet!"

Dubb chuckles "I'd suggest holding your pack over your head to try and keep it dry-ish."