Chapter One: Arrival

[ybn1197]

Undermountain. The name alone conjures images of dark hallways cluttered with debris and horrid monsters waiting for the unwary to step into their lair. Far too many treasure hunters who enter the colossal dungeon ever return. Of those who do return half are thankful for their lives. But the other half, they are the ones who have made this den of horrors legendary. They are the ones who have returned with sacks of gold and gems, armfuls of magical items. And stories to delight the masses for years to come.

With those thoughts and images in your heads, your group has come to the Yawning Portal, the well known tavern which hosts the most well known entrance to Undermountain in Waterdeep. You have adventured together in the past and you are all comfortable with the abilities of one another. Together you have made your way through the metropolis that is the city of Waterdeep to Durnan's tavern. Entering, you see the large well in the center of the room, torches encircling the rim of the 40ft wide pit, the only thing keeping drunk and rowdy patrons from falling in is the waist high foot thick stone ring to which the torches are attached.

You each pay Durnan 1GP to be lowered the 140ft to the dungeon below. "Tymora's good luck be with you," Durnan tells you wryly as he takes your coins, "Ye'll surely need it." He nods to one of the men near the well who runs to the side and brings out a harness and attaches it to the rope which hangs over the mouth of the pit. In turn, each of you is lowered down into the waiting maul of Undermountain.

You are lowered to a sand-floored, stone-walled area, its walls decorated with the fragments of many old, rusted, brittle shields. These are useless in any fight, but are very handy as noisemakers when banged upon. This is generally done to alert folk in the taproom above that someone is alive down below and wants to be drawn up. The room is 40ft square with a sand floor and an exit in the southwest corner of the room.

[dmw71]

Celionas, wanting to make sure there will be adequate protection on the landing once he arrives, but also not wanting to go down last, maneuvers to make sure he's the fourth person into the harness for the decent.

Upon reaching the sand floor, he unfastens the harness and removes his backpack. Once his eyes adjust to the lighting conditions down below, he begins rifling through his possessions until he produces a carefully wrapped glass bottle and a scroll case. Kneeling to the floor, he collects a sample of the sand from the entry point into his bottle and examines it for a moment. Satisfied with his find, he re-wraps the bottle into its soft cloth and returns it to his pack.

Then, while he waits for the fighting and sneaky types to explore the room, Celionas unfastens one end of his scroll case and tilts the closed end up, catching an ink well and quill with his free hand as they slide out. He also produces one of many rolled up sheets of paper he had inside the case and, after surveying the room, begins quickly making a rough sketch of the area and jotting down some random notes.

He pretends to improve upon his sketch while he waits for the rest of the group to decide how to proceed.

Map

RoU-001.jpg (27.24 KiB) Viewed 6078 times

---

1 gold piece deducted

[tarlyn]

Tilthig

The Svirfneblin salutes Durnan and adds a wink even as the Innkeeper's man attaches Tilthig to the harness.

Grinning, he allows himself to be lowered to the sandy floor below. His eyes scan the room with a practiced eye,

once his feet touch the floor. Detaching himself, he tugs the rope and harness once so the man above knows to retrieve it.

Tilthig will take his time to look over every part of the room. This includes the floor, walls and door which is the last thing he

looks over.

Nodding once at Celonias he begins his thorough inspection of the room. "Better to be safe than dead",

he utters under his breath as he works.

[ravenn4544]

Jardin, a thin slip of a figure, smiles as his feet hit the sand once again. He grips his mace firmly and raps his shield emblazoned with the Stag in a salute to the exploration to come, "Let Solonor praise us, friends, as we bring balance to the Underdark!"

He advances quickly to the exit of the room to take scan ahead with his keen vision before any torchlight spoils his advantage...

[Rex]

Bingo

The wild eyed halfling seems excited and eager to be lowered into the pit. "Me first!" he excitedly exclaims. Once down in the sandy room below he takes his time scouting around and looking for anything interesting. "I don't mind going second if everyone is fine with that."

[shaidar]

It is quite clear from the look on his face that Thir is not taken with the harness as a means to descending into the dark. However, once on the ground and detached from the harness he seems far happier as he moves out of the way and stands there for a few moments with his eyes closed, letting his senses adjust to the pleasant familiarity of being underground.

His eyes snap open as Jardin's noise echoes through the room, he shakes his head and mutters something under his breath, although a slight smile is on his lips.

He looks around, trying to understand the type of ground they are in and letting his natural dwarven intuition tell him if anything seems out-of-place.

[ybn1197]

Jardin, a thin slip of a figure, smiles as his feet hit the sand once again. He grips his mace firmly and raps his shield emblazoned with the Stag in a salute to the exploration to come, "Let Solonor praise us, friends, as we bring balance to the Underdark!"

He advances quickly to the exit of the room to take scan ahead with his keen vision before any torchlight spoils his advantage...

The exit is 20ft wide and opens into a 10ft wide corridor heading south. From the south wall, it goes 30ft before turning west. There is nothing in the corridor.

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[Rex]

Bingo will have his hooded lantern out when needed, he is second in the marching order.

[dmw71]

"Well, Tilthig, you seem the sneaky type," Celionas says. "What say you check out that southern passage and see what's beyond that bend?"

[tarlyn]

"Well, Tilthig, you seem the sneaky type," Celionas says. "What say you check out that southern passage and see what's beyond that bend?"

Tilthig

Nodding, the gnome exits slowly, looking down the hallway with his infravision, then turns to ask Bingo :

Can you shine a light this way, I am going to inspect this hallway closely for any surprises, booby traps and

the likes. Also, Thir might be better suited for finding secret doors due to the fact he is a Dwarf. I'm not saying i am not good

at it.

Once Bingo illuminates the southern hallway Tilthig will advance slowly, looking for secret doors, traps along the floor, wall

and ceiling.

[Rex]

Bingo

"Yup, here you go." Shines the light for Tilthig and checks himself for anything.


Bingo is a Stout Halfling and has the Dwarf underground detection traits as well as Infravision.

[shaidar]

Thir moves up around 20' behind the gnome

"Don't worry Tilth, I've got your back"

As Tilthig moves forward checking, he'll stay 20' behind keeping his eyes open for shifting walls, stonework traps, etc.

[ybn1197]

Slowly progressing down the 50ft long hall, you find neither secret door nor trap. Your findings seem verified as nothing is triggered by your passing. You have come to the end of your original inspection and see the hall truly does turn to your right. The hall continues west for 50 more feet before turning north ahead of you.

[tarlyn]

Tilthig

The Svirfneblin turns back to the others, giving them a thumbs up sign.

Pointing to the new hallway then himself, he nods and looks that way before repeating his same actions up that way.

He beckons for light and backup at the same time without saying a word, trying to keep silent.

[dmw71]

Celionas continues to follow behind from his spot near the end of the order. Occasionally moving slowly as he jots a note or sketches the progress of the group in his journal.

---

I will update the map from home later and edit this post to include it once done.

[Rex]

Bingo

Bingo fallows along, showing the hooded lanterns light when requested.

[shaidar]

Thir continues to assist

[ybn1197]

Once the hallway turns north, it opens into a much larger hall, 20 ft across to the north and over 60 feet to the west. The hall is long enough that it passes the range of your hooded lantern.

[tarlyn]

Tilthig


Again he gives a thumbs up and motions for light as he moves forward up the large hallway, again repeating his process of looking for traps, secret doors etc,

moving as silently as he can.

OOC: Sorry if it is a bit repetitve but better to be safe than sorry.

[Rex]

Bingo

Once we get a system down it should be easier for ybn1197 to anticipate what we are doing and the exploring can go a bit quicker.

Bingo follows along.