[IC] Into the Unknown

[Julius Sleazer]

Cadmus the Confused

Cadmus joins in and begins to search the room, starting with the section of wall directly in front of the unpaired skeleton.

The earth is soft and yielding, but there are many thick, gnarled tree roots. Cadmus determines that a man with a spade, or better yet a trowel, might be able to delve into the wall in search of secrets. He finds no reasonable indication, however, that doing so would yield treasure, other than the fact that digging into the wall of a strange room is likely more probable to result in discovering treasure than digging into the wall of a mundane room.

[Vektunaxa]

Alfius the Aeviternal, Fighter

"Could this be... poison? What would drive these men to self-interment? Alfius carefully lifts the goblet and secures it to the outside of his pack with his rope.

"I see no sign of the bowl; even the most figurative language would not describe this cup using the words that they used. Either it has been taken from here, or it is hidden in a cunning manner. I suspect the latter, and suggest that we probe the walls and floors most thoroughly."

Alfius takes his dagger and begins to dig in the centre of the room.

[thirdkingdom]

Cadmus the Confused

"Wait!" cries the cleric, "do not remove the goblet, yet! I wish to try something!" He hands the torch to Decimus, lets his holy symbol back to dangle against his chest. "Lend me your dagger, friend Alfius!" He makes a cut in his forearm and allows some of his blood to drip into the cup.

[Vektunaxa]

Alfius the Aeviternal, Fighter

Alfius halts his packing, and holds out his dagger. "If this would violate your particular vows, then permit me to make the incision..."

[MonsterMash]

Decimus Numerous

"Indeed there must be more hidden around this room including the bowl that we were tasked with finding." He starts looking around the walls ready to probe with his dagger.

[Julius Sleazer]

3rd Springmonth II, Morning
Hill underneath the Great Tree

Alfius scrabbles in the earth at the chamber's center for a while. After a few minutes of effort, he uncovers a silver coin with words in an unfamiliar language, as well as several worms and grubs. The coin depicts a man with an outlandish hairstyle wearing a crown.

***

Aflius and Cadmus then introduce blood into the goblet. Nothing out of the ordinary occurs.

Please indicate which character cut himself?

EDIT: Never mind! I see it was Cadmus who was cut. Sorry about missing that.

***

Meanwhile, Decimus probes at the walls with his dagger. Aside from a few times when he almost snaps the blade by pushing through soft earth and striking a tough old tree root, nothing of note happens. Decimus notices that one of the skeletons has a dagger lying at its side; the blade was difficult to see from other vantage points due to the particular way in which the dead man was slumped.

The blade itself has rusted away almost to nothing, but the hilt is of gold set with several impressive gems of green and red. Decimus, being a country lad, is unable to gauge the value of the dagger's hilt with great accuracy. He forms a vague yet reasonable impression of the item's value, determining it to be worth at least either several fine horses or several hundred good golden coins.

[Wyzard]

Tacitus the Multiloquent

Tacitus walks around the tree a few times in search of anything interesting.

[thirdkingdom]

Cadmus the Confused

Cadmus scratches his head. "Damn, I was sure that was going to work." He begins to examine the skeletons, starting with the unpaired one, paying close attention to the ground beneath each one, glancing up at the ceiling above them and examining the skeletal joints to see if they appear to be wired together or hinged or otherwise artificial.

[Julius Sleazer]

Tacitus the Multiloquent

Tacitus walks around the tree a few times in search of anything interesting.

The far-faring farm-youth sees little of immediate and pressing interest. He notices that to the north, west, and east, vegetation (in the form of copses of trees or even distribution of shrubs and lone pines and the like) is greater than to the south. The waiting brings tedium, but at least there are no signs of encroaching enemies. A few squirrels chatter at Tactius as they run madly up and down the tree trunk.

[Julius Sleazer]

Cadmus the Confused

Cadmus scratches his head. "Damn, I was sure that was going to work." He begins to examine the skeletons, starting with the unpaired one, paying close attention to the ground beneath each one, glancing up at the ceiling above them and examining the skeletal joints to see if they appear to be wired together or hinged or otherwise artificial.

Any prodding of the skeletons causes them to collapse into more disorganized jumbles. They do not appear to be wired together in any way. As he has had noticed earlier, Cadmus sees that some of the skeletons still have hair on their heads, and in some cases large scraps of their clothing are still intact---although like to crumble further with any prolonged handling.

Try as he might, the voyaging vicar finds no signs of hidden passages of the like. The skeleton he examines most closely yield no clues unseen by Alfius, such as the goblet. The ceiling above is criss-crossed with tree roots, as well as a few wooden support beams which look to have been hewn by human hands.

[thirdkingdom]

Cadmus the Confused

"I guess we dig." Cadmus begins to dig in the spot opposite the unpaired skeleton.

[Julius Sleazer]

3rd Springmonth II, Morning
Hill underneath the Great Tree

Alternately using his mace haft and the butt of an extinguished torch, Cadmus digs for ten minutes. He uncovers numerous worms and grubs. He also finds a few rocks and pebbles, as well as some scraps of decomposing wood.

The questing cleric also uncovers seven silver coins. They depict a variety of crowned men in baroque garb and sporting wild choices in grooming. Cadmus, not the most literate of men, determines that while the script looks familiar, either the language is foreign or the vocabulary on the coinage consists of words too long or esoteric for him to be able to spell.

[thirdkingdom]

Cadmus the Confused

"Maybe we got the wrong tree," Cadmus quips.

[Vektunaxa]

Alfius the Aeviternal, Fighter

"I see no other logical place to dig," Alfius says. "I am pondering two options. The first, is that sediment falling from the ceiling has buried the treasure we seek even deeper than we have already looked. The second, is that drinking from the goblet -- or drinking from this green residue in the cup -- opens one's mind to new vistas that will unlock the secret we seek." Alfius shrugs his shoulders, and continues to dig in the floor of the center of the room.

[MonsterMash]

Decimus Numerous

Decimus takes up the dagger handle and stows it into his pack then looks to see if he can find anything more suitable for digging than his dagger.

[Julius Sleazer]

3rd Springmonth II, Morning
Hill underneath the Great Tree


Aflius continues scrabbling the dirt. He finds rocks, pebbles, worms, grubs, and the like. He finds five more silver coins. Also not being a person well-versed in the art of reading, Aflius is unable to determine whether the writing on the coins consists of words in an unknown tongue, or is simply beyond his very basic abilities of reading comprehension.

Decimus, meanwhile, casts his mind back to several wooden or stone support beams which he saw earlier in the tunnel above. The wooden beams in particular could be removed and perhaps sharpened on one end to make an improvised digging tool which a might man could manipulate manfully. The young spellslinger also reasons that this could have a deleterious effect on the tunnel's structural integrity

[thirdkingdom]

Cadmus the Confused

"I honestly don't know what to do, short of digging up the entire floor. I say we return to the surface and see if we can fashion some more effective digging implements from branches or blades or what have you, and see if we can convince Tacitus to accompany us, to make the process go faster."

[MonsterMash]

Decimus Numerous

"Yes, lets fashion some hoes or digging sticks out of branches up there and then come back and search again".

[Julius Sleazer]

3rd Springmonth II, Morning
Hill underneath the Great Tree

The adventurers return to the surface, moving at the same slow speed at which they entered. Even if a man were to want to eschew caution on the return journey, the cramped quarters of the tunnel would rule out any such speed. Eventually, the filthy, muddy three are back out and blinking in the sunlight. They see that Tacitus looks none the worse for wear.

There are plenty of trees in the copse where y'all've chosen to hide the horses. What exactly are you guys planning as far as digging implements?

[Wyzard]

Tacitus the Multiloquent

"I think it highly likely this barrow has been burgled already, but I will assist in order that none may accuse us of having done less than we swore. My opinion is we should pick some certain amount of time we are willing to spend in excavation, work manfully until that time, and then leave in the knowledge that we have done what could be done."