Ch. 1: Rescue Penelope Primrose!

[GreyWolfVT]

Dax goes over to where the boy is peeing into the pool "Ey aint anyone told ya not ta pee in tha pool lad?"

[Rusty Tincanne]

Twiddle starts to enter the room too, but stops when he sees Dax's keen interest in naked children. He throws a chunk of the ubiquitous stone into the pool of water. Oi, Dax! You can come back and check out the anatomical accuracy of the naked child later. After we find the fully developed woman we're meant to be saving. Right?

Too bawdy?

[Zhym]

The stone plops into the water with a sound like a stone hitting water. It doesn't even skip once.

Too bawdy?

I thought it was funny.

[Starbeard]

Geoff tries to catch Montague before he leaves. "Hey," he brandishes a gold coin from his pocket, "I'll give you a gold coin to have your mule drink from that well before you go. Deal?"

[GreyWolfVT]

Dax stops and goes off with Twiddle "Ifin yah say so Twiddle, Tweedle eh whoe're yah are at tha moment."

[Rusty Tincanne]

damn it! I screwed that up again !?

[The_Wanderer]

Cy

Cy takes another swig and starts chuckling. "What if we plugged up that drain...we could flush them out with a little plumbing damage. I hate plumbing repairs."

[Zhym]

Geoff goes back into the previous room to try to catch Montague.

Montague still around? (1-4=yes): [1d6] = 2

"Hey," he says, brandishing a a gold coin from his pocket, "I'll give you a gold coin to have your mule drink from that well before you go. Deal?"

Reaction to Geoff's offer: [2d6-2] = 7-2 = 5

"One measly gold piece to have Delmar here drink who knows what?" responds Montague. "No thanks. Best of luck to you." With that, he leaves for good.

Meanwhile, Cy takes a swig (of what?) and considers stopping up the drain. Homeowners across the world who've never even met him silently curse his name.

-----
Status: Finn (½1): 5/5; Grond (F1): 7/7; Twiddle (½1): 4/4; Molly (½1): 3/3; Cy (C1): 2/5; Geoff (T1): 4/4; Iliro (E1): 6/6; Dax (D1): 9/9
Light Sources: Lantern (Finn, carried by Twiddle): 21 turns

[Starbeard]

Geoff shrugs. "Your loss."

He heads back into the room with the pool and tries twisting limbs on the statues. Then he pulls out his knife and dips it into the pool.

[Captain Kinkajou]

Molly

As the various torches sputter and go out, the company is plunged into shadowy gloom. Only the glow from the lantern held by Twiddle still casts its light about them. Twiddle slowly turns and the beam plays across the room, catching Dax looking at the human boy statue's privates and Geoff inspecting the other statues rather too closely, fiddling with their limbs and such. Dwarves are known for their interest in stonework and Geoff could be a mason of some sort? She's not convinced though. Molly looks askance at the two of them and lights her lantern, then she snorts, hocks up a big gob of phlegm and spits it into the water, watching it float on the surface and drift towards the centre le of the pool.

"I'm with Twiddle," she states matter-of-factly. "Penelope isn't here. Let's keep moving."

[GreyWolfVT]

Dax waves off the merchant agreeing his loss. "Aye lets keep movin'."

[Rex]

Finn

"I am fine with moving along, we do need to find Penelope."

[Rusty Tincanne]

Let's go the way that trader-guy came from. He was probably lying about what he knows. Twiddle walks to wherever that was, leaving the porta-potty-pool in darkness, and uses the lantern to look into the new room.

[Rex]

Finn

Finn will back up Twiddle.

[Zhym]

Twiddle walks to wherever that was, leaving the porta-potty-pool in darkness, and uses the lantern to look into the new room.

Where do you suppose that was? You encountered him in a room you were already in. He didn't leave bread crumbs, as far as you can see.

[Rusty Tincanne]

At the top of the 30' stairs, you find yourself at the southeast end of another large stone room. The far wall is 50' in front of you; the north end is 90' to your right. Simple wooden but sturdy-looking doors stand in the north and south walls, with two similar doors in the west wall. A metal-bound door is in the middle of the west wall.

The far end of the hall is lit by a torch carried by a shaggy-looking man in shaggier-looking furs. He has curly hair and a curly black beard.

The western door then. Between the two sets of stairs.

[Zhym]

At the top of the 30' stairs, you find yourself at the southeast end of another large stone room. The far wall is 50' in front of you; the north end is 90' to your right. Simple wooden but sturdy-looking doors stand in the north and south walls, with two similar doors in the west wall. A metal-bound door is in the middle of the west wall.

The far end of the hall is lit by a torch carried by a shaggy-looking man in shaggier-looking furs. He has curly hair and a curly black beard.

The western door then. Between the two sets of stairs.

Do you mean the eastern door? There are two doors in the western wall.

[Rusty Tincanne]

Dang! I am so dyslexic for east-west! Yes. I meant East.

[Zhym]

Wary of the water feature and aware of your mission, you abandon the pool to continue your explorations. Twiddle decides to follow the path the merchant came from, even though he has no idea where that was. The metal-bound door in the center of the eastern wall looks as likely a place as any, so he tries that.

Open Door (Twiddle): [1d6] = 2

The door opens into a hallway that leads straight ahead as far as your lights reach. The floor is a polished granite with flecks of gold and silver. The walls are also granite, but rough, with small alcoves about waist-high every ten feet. Each alcove contains a bas-relief carving, formed out of the wall itself, depicting the head of a dwarf who was once of some importance—at least so you would assume. The expressions on their faces suggest that they are used to being treated as important, anyway.

Moments after you open the door, the dwarf-head immediately to your left cries out in dwarvish. The booming words echo loudly from the stones. Dax translates them:

"ATTENTION! VISITORS HAVE ARRIVED TO THE ROYAL CHAMBERS!"

At least you know where you're headed. Of course, so does everyone else within a quarter mile, probably.

-----
Status: Finn (½1): 5/5; Grond (F1): 7/7; Twiddle (½1): 4/4; Molly (½1): 3/3; Cy (C1): 2/5; Geoff (T1): 4/4; Iliro (E1): 6/6; Dax (D1): 9/9
Light Sources: Lantern (Finn, carried by Twiddle): 20 turns

[Starbeard]

"Well he didn't go this way," muses Geoff. He casually runs a finger over the talking dwarf head carving—avoiding the mouth—then saunters on down the hall toward the Royal Chambers. "If all we see are the heads, how do we know these carvings are of dwarves? Oh right, the language I guess."