Chapter 1: Welcome to Stonespear Province

[GreyWolfVT]

Galot heads off in the direction of the wedding party hoping to catch them and rest in the same area they are bound for.

[Nate]

Gurzubar follows

[Pulpatoon]

Operation: Unfathomable! Day Two, Night
The weary party, stomachs rumbling, begin to trek east, seeking their friends, the Grey Humanoids.

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The eastern passage slopes gradually down. There are signs of the wedding party's passage, but almost an hour later, you have not encountered them yet.

Each member of the party is now Exhausted. This condition takes up one Item Slot. Cedric, Anurak, Galot, Bubba, and Oothu must all drop one item from your inventory to keep moving.

Ahead, you can see that the passage curves to the north, while yet another smaller passage branches off to the east.
In the gloom ahead, near the mouth of the eastern passage, you notice a large, hairy creature attempting to move furtively.

Dice:

[1d20] = 15
Underworld Events: [1d12] = 8 [1d8] = 2

ACTIONS?!
Next Update: Wednesday Evening, EST!

[Nate]

Just realized I had an empty slot because I gave my hourglass as a wedding gift

[Captain Kinkajou]

Anurak

Anurak slumps to the floor exhausted.

"It's no good," he all but sobs."I just can't go a step further. What are we to do?"

He starts forlornly rummaging through his possessions, seeing if there's anything he can off-load. "Grandma's Cleaver? No, Paella Pan? No, Zanzibar Valentine's "Rare and Wondrous Dishes of the Eleven Kingdoms"? Definitely no, Herbs & spices? No, Cooking pots? No, And I do believe I've found this cloak rather useful. I wouldn't really want to part with it. Ancient charm? No" Absentmindedly he chews on some rations. He finds the whistle, tries it and it emits a shrill PEEP PEEP PEEEEEEEEEP!!! He looks at it fondly and then tosses it away. "I guess I should have given it to Queen Yoothrandra as a wedding present," he comments sadly to no one in particular. Then, at the bottom, he finds the wand of magic missile. "Wait, what's this?" He quickly hops up and retrieves the whistle, laying the wand carefully by the side of the tunnel. Maybe someone else will find a use for it, he thinks and writes a little note to leave next to it.

Code: Select all

To whoever finds this wand,
I hope you find it more useful than I did.
Fondest wishes,
Anurak Punyaa Poonsong Orm

Once he's finished, he gathers himself and prepares to set off again."Okay, I'm ready for one last push. Come on," he urges, more hopefully than in truth he feels. "We may still catch them yet."

[Zhym]

"Hey, guys, I've got a great idea!" says Bubba. "Let's make camp right here! One bit of rock's as good as another when you're dead tired, right? At least we aren't dead!"

[GreyWolfVT]

Galot sighs and just agrees with Bubba "Guess so hope them hell hounds don't run through here I can't stand to burn again."

[Nate]

Gurzubar: "I'll keep first watch!"

[Pulpatoon]

Operation: Unfathomable! Day Two: Night
The party plops down in the gently-sloping passage and decides to set up camp. After a quick meal of barely-warmed rations, the bedrolls are unfurled and everyone goes to sleep, leaving Gurzubar on watch. He settles in and smokes the last of his herbal cigarettes.

Everyone:
Please subtract one ration. I notice that Galot doesn't have any rations. Anyone willing to share?
Gurzubar:

Turns out those were medicinal cigs! Gain 1 hit point, permanently.

Lulled by the soothing smoke and the gentle rhythm of Krodok's sleep apnea, Gurzubar misses the stealthy approach of the hairy creature previously noted until it is nearly upon the party. Suddenly, out of the blue-green gloom emerges a bear! A bear in the torn remains of an off-the-rack gabardine suit! A bear wearing a tie and a wristwatch and an anxious expression! A bear holding a pistol!

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"Hands up," growls the bear. "I mean you no ill will, but I'm in rather dire straits. Have you seen Professor Gormontine pass this way? And... erm... do I smell hardtack and potted meat?"

Dice:

Gurzubar on Watch: [1d20+1] = 13+1 = 14

Actions?!
Next update: since Gurzubar is the only one awake at the moment, I'll update as soon as I see his response.

[Nate]

Gurzubar puts his hands up: "Wow, a talking bear! Is this how bears greet each other? Who is Professor Gormontine?"
Gurzubar to his sleeping companions: "Ya'll gotta check this out, it's a cute talking bear!"
Gurzubar to the bear again: "Do I put my hands back down now? Sorry, I don't know bear customs."

[Pulpatoon]

Gurzubar wakes his companions and, hands aloft, greets the talking bear, who looks sheepishly at the pistol he brandishing. "I'm sorry. I'm not a... brigand, or anything. Really. But it is absolutely urgent that I find Professor Gormontine before he... well, I think he is pursuing a very grave line of action with potentially disastrous repercussions for... uhm, that is, the world. To say nothing of his tenure case."

The bear gestures with the gun. "I see you have weapons. Could you scoot them away as evidence that you are not hostile? And could you spare any food? I'm afraid I've become separated from my stores."

To Krodok's dismay, the bear's twitching nose is particularly drawn to his mammoth jerky. "Oh, that does smell bracing, doesn't it?"

Finally, he remembers his social niceties. "Dr. Ephram Thontorius, of the Omni-Cosmic University’s Department of Cosmology. How do you do?"

ACTIONS?!
Next Update: Friday Evening, EST!

[Nate]

Gurzubar scoots his sword away and whispers to his companions: "Hold your hands up a little bit, it's a kind of bear greeting"
To the bear: "So what's this professor look like, Doc? Does he wear fancy robes and hang out with newts?"

[Captain Kinkajou]

Anurak

Slightly bleary-eyed, Anurak awakens, wipes a strand of drool from his chin, and dutifully holds his hands up in bear-greeting. He fixes a smile to his face and endeavours to look as non-threatening as he possibly can... which is, to be fair, pretty non-threatening.

[GreyWolfVT]

Galot wakes and tries to remain at ease upon seeing the strange situation with the bear holding a gun.... "Uh yes what does this professor look like exactly?"

[Pulpatoon]

Dr. Ephram Thontorius tucks his pistol in an inside-pocket in his jacket and slumps down to the ground to sit among you. He takes a piece of jerky from Krodok, who is in no way gracious about it. "Krodok need that to eat, you know. Mammoth jerky only food Krodok can eat. Not like huu-mans, who eat all things."

Thontorius answers you questions: "Newts? No, Gormontine had no interest in herpetology, so far as I know, nor zoology of any stripe. What does he look like? Human, I'd guess, about yea tall," he holds one paw about five feet off the ground, "with a bald head like a melon, and these little goggles he always wore. He was always a cold one—rigid in his attitudes, you mights say—robotic, even. Do you know about robots? Automatons that simulate the forms and processes of organic life through mechanical means? Gears and silicone and sparks and positronic jellies and what-not?

"Anyway, Zabon Gormontine was my colleague in the Department of Cosmology. We shared an office, and if we were never the sort of chums who'd share a honeycomb or anything, we were collegial. We had many spirited debates, I tell you, on everything from the variable nature of the cosmic constant to the ethics of quantum entanglement. But... well, sometimes he had this gleam in his eye, and the ideas he'd hint at... I was worried.

"So I snooped through his e-mail. Do you have encephalaglyphic mail service, yet? No, too early by a far stretch, I should think. Well, he was obsessed with some ancient artifact from the hugely, incredibly, fantastically distant past. He felt that it was one of those lynch-pins in history—do you know about lynchpins? It's a pin that you pass through, say, an axle to keep a wheel in place, although, of course, here I am using in figuratively—a lynch-pin that, if put in the right hands—or, rather, the wrong hands, from my perspective—would result in a cascade of consequence completely eliminating the present world—your future, of course—as I know it, in favor of..."

The bear hangs his head, chewing on another piece of Krodok's jerky, building up the courage to complete his thought. "A... oh my stars and garters, the man is mad! It must be the stress of promotion and tenure! He has plotted out an absurdly complex series of events that ultimately result in the elimination of magical forces from the universe and the establishment of immutable physical laws, which in turn will ensure the rise of science and Gormontine’s objective—the eventual triumph of the robots after a generations-long struggle, ending in the total extermination of all organic life!

"I checked his math. I double checked and triple-mod-seventy checked it. I think he could actually do it, if he can get his hands on this blasted thing. So, I—and I didn't take this on lightly, I know I'm also risking the established order of the space-time-continuum by traveling so far in the past, but what choice did I have? I had to do something, didn't I? I illegally souped up my flying saucer—that is, my saucer, which flies—and crashed it through the time barrier to these coordinates!

"Unfortunately, this subterranean complex has proven too confined to pilot my saucer, and I have had to abandon it for foot travel. I've been wandering around for days, now. It has been pretty miserable."

He reaches for more jerky, but finds that Krodok has moves his bag and is now sitting on it.

"Erm, rather a longer answer than I imagine you were looking for, but it feels good to get it off my chest. Thanks awfully for letting me vent a little."

CONVERSE?!
Next update: Monday Evening, EST!

[Nate]

Gurzubar:"I think I only understood about %10 of what you just said but you're crazy friend is looking for an artifact? WE are looking for an artifact! It's called the Nul-Rod and we aren't allowed out of here until we find it. Maybe it's the same thing your bud is after? You could travel with us and help us find it!"

[Captain Kinkajou]

Anurak

Anurak sits among the others and listens in bewilderment to Doctor Thontorius's account. He catches something about au-tomato-ns and jellies, which doesn't sound too bad, but also gleans that Thontorius is trying to prevent Professor Gormontine from following a course of action that will change time, cause the row-bots to rise, and result in the total extermination of all organic life, which seems to Anurak like quite a concern.

"Um.. That sounds... well... really bad," he offers sympathetically. "Can we maybe help out somehow? I mean, I think we should probably pitch in and try and do something about this Professor Gormontine." He looks round at the others for support.

"Like Gurzubar says, this fantastic artefact might be the same Nul-Rod we're looking for and, even if it isn't, I don't much like the sound of this Gormontine's diabolical plan to help the row-bots take control. I've never been very fond of sculling and boats and such. Doctor Thontorius here seems like an upstanding fellow and it feels like the right thing to do, to try and help stop him ... Gormontine that is. I mean, preventing the extermination of all organic life seems like a pretty worthy cause, don't you think?"

Anurak feels a little heroic and kind of proud of his speech. He's sort of energized by the prospect.

"Maybe, I could rustle us up a little something to perk us up a bit and get us started," he suggests, starting to rummage through his gear. Jerky soup? Ration broth? There had to be something.

[GreyWolfVT]

Galot lost for most of that conversation acts normally and responds "I don't recall seeing any five foot tall bald man with goggles as of yet. However this pin or rod I think is the same artifact we seek. I'm a bit curious as to how you are a talking bear but then again the things we've seen down here anything I figure is possible."

[mjulius]

Ollan raises his hand energetically, a single finger outstretched, sure he’s about to counterpoint this bear. He pauses, repeating this action several times.

Then, the chink in the argument dawns on him...

Ahah! You come from the future? Then everything is just dandy. It all turns out fine! Null rod or not...null...(not null?)...rod.

He saunters in a slow circle, chin outstretched, thumbs tucked in his tunic, surveying the admiring rocks. Then pauses, confused, as he works out the possibilities of time.

Perhaps we should help you find this goggle man. But what of us? If we don’t have it ourselves, we’re doomed anyway.

[Pulpatoon]

Thontorius: "Null-rod?! Yes, that's the very thing! It absolutely must be destroyed! There is, I gather, so manner of Sorcerer-King in this era, and Gormontine's plan is to return this Rod of Nullification to his hands. And this simple act of retrieval is what sets off the causality-sequence that results in a relentless march of murderous machines across galaxies!"

The bear seems delighted to have found some company in this strange environment, and happily chatters away as Anurak busies himself over a cook-fire. He shares a few stories of his life in a far-distant science fantasy world, mostly focused on the internecine squabbles of various academic committees. He is much more keen to ask the party about their lives. He interrupts any attempt to tell him a story with questions about the most quotidian details, all of which seem to amuse him deeply. "And the room was it by candles? Tallow candles with wicks and open flames? Oh, my giddy aunt!"

Anurak, his joy in cooking having recovered somewhat, finds a way to turn meagre rations into little crispy pancakes stuffed with fungus and shavings of mammoth jerky. They're delicious, and everyone eats a little too much. Afterwards, the party settles into a restful sleep, with Oothu and Krodok on watch.

As your second day in the Underworld comes to a close, I think it's time to start a new thread. And that means everyone gets to level up!

When a PC gains a level, they roll a number of d8s equal to their new level to find their new HP maximum. If the result is less than their previous maximum, their maximum HP increases by 1. They also raise the defense and bonus scores of 3 different abilities of their choice by 1 point. Abilities may never be raised higher than 20/+10.

Feel free to finish up any business you might have in this thread, and to discuss leveling in the OOC thread. On Wednesday, we'll wake up in
Operation: Underworld! Chapter Two: Hell's Back Road