The Quest Begins

[saalaria]

OOC - Ah well I thought so but worth a try

Kytan will watch the doors whilst the others are investigating the statue

[max_vale]

Durin finishes hooking the rope and returns to Atticus' side with an omni-present eager look on his face. "Okay; wanta try to pull it now?" he asks the Cleric.

[Distorted Humor]

Atticus pulls, gently at first, then a little firmer, testing to see what happens.

[Xaxyx]

"A test of strength? This is a task for Boldus!" Boldus will stride over, grasp the rope, and pull firmly as well as his strength allows.

[acererak]

Boldus and Atticus start pulling the rope, slowly at first,then with ever increasing strength. Sweat begins to pour down Atticus' brow and the veins on Boldus' neck begin to swell. The statue is beginning to move a bit, but it appears as if a little more assistance might be needed.

[max_vale]

"That's almost got it!", Durin cries excitedly. Grabbing a bit of the slack end of the rope; Durin throws his puny self into the effort with a huge grin on his face.

[acererak]

The statue twists slightly and jerks to its right ( your left as you are facing it). Finally you drag the whole thing a few feet towards you. The base of the cauldron is no longer flush against the wall and you can clearly see a three foot diameter hole in the wall. The statue appears to have bent slightly where you hooked it, leading you to believe that the copper may have been molded around a frame of some sort.

[max_vale]

"Allright! We've found a way down into the dungeons....this is GREAT!" Durin is practically dancing in excitement as he digs out a torch and his tinderbox from his backpack and lights it. After that's done he goes over to the hole and shines the torch down to see what can be seen through the hole...

[acererak]

Durin's torch illuminates the space beyond the opening. There is a narrow passageway just large enough to fit a crawling human. The passage angles slightly downward and, just at the edge of the torchlight you see an opening at the other side.

[dmw71]

"Allright! We've found a way down into the dungeons....this is GREAT!" Durin is practically dancing in excitement as he digs out a torch and his tinderbox from his backpack and lights it. After that's done he goes over to the hole and shines the torch down to see what can be seen through the hole...

Eugene evacuates his current post and saunters up to Durin. "Well, alright, my excitable friend." he says. "What have we found here?" He gets low and tries to get a good look into the opening. "I wonder what treasures lay beyond? What say we find out?"

Eugene turns to the rest of the group.

"Shall we? Boldus, I presume you want to go first." he says, gesturing with his hands towards the newly exposed passageway.

[Alethan]

Caby looks around...

"So... No need to check the rooms coming off of this one, then?"

thought we were in the first level of the "dungeon" now! You guys seem awfully eager to get to level 2, where the stakes are higher and the steaks are generally tougher.

[Distorted Humor]

Atticus points to the doors "Shouldn't we secure the top floors first?"

Also, he checks the statue, as it appears to be hollow, and people hide things in statues...

[saalaria]

"I agree we should check through the doors first. Durin can you take the torch when we move off?"

Kytan proffers the torch, then grips his mace more tightly waiting for the group to pick a door.

[Alethan]

"West sounds as good a direction as any," Caby says, heading towards that door.

Does the door open into the room? Or out?

[acererak]

Atticus examines the statue as Kytan hands his torch to Durin. Atticus doesn't notice anything else unusual about the statue other than the fact that it bent slightly. Caby observes the western door and determines that it opens out of the room and not towards her.

[dmw71]

"West sounds as good a direction as any," Caby says, heading towards that door.

"Hey, if you all want to head west, we head west. Makes no difference to me. I'm sure there is much loot to be had whichever direction we go." Eugene concedes.

[max_vale]

Durin finds himself suddenly holding two torches; shrugging his shoulders, he extingushes the one he just lit and sets it on the ground and carries the one Kytan just handed to him.

Following the rest of the party, Durin happily says; "Well...we can always come back and exampine this passage we just discovered"; and then follows the party towards the doors they passed earlier.

[acererak]

I am assuming we are going with the door to the west so let me know what actions you guys wish to take. If you want to adopt a standard protocol for doors let me know and we can use that unless otherwise noted.

[Alethan]

"You look like a big brute of a lad," Caby says to Boldus. "Care to try your hand at this door?"
(Going off the assumption that this is old-school, where every door is stuck and must be forced.)

[Distorted Humor]

I will be following up the rear and spiking doors open.