Chapter 1a: Mystery of Odlo - The chasm...then the tunnel

[OGRE MAGE]

"The bag contains a few oddities. Chicken feet and such. Probably stuff for spells, since the dead man appeared to be a wizard type."

Legless listens at the grate before trying to remove it.

Random D20 [1d20]=10 (+2 = 12)

"I notice fresh air is coming from the chasm and passing through into this next room. Could this be an air vent and not a drain as I first imagined?"

[Rex]

Wenyld

"Maybe, no reason it couldn't be I suppose. Best to see what is on the other side either way."

[CAI4]

My intent was to have Radahn remain at the chasm with rope in hand to let Legless, Wenyld, and Bilberta come up if they need to evacuate.

If she gets a chance, Bilberta sees the grate ahead. "Let me give this a whirl."

Strength check [1d20]=1

I hope the grate doesn't crush her!

[AleBelly]

My intent was to have Radahn remain at the chasm with rope in hand to let Legless, Wenyld, and Bilberta come up if they need to evacuate.

Ah, right. My bad. OK, I have Radahn back in the chasm. All alone.

On another note, I have Legless' strength bonus at +1, not +2. So all strength checks will fail unless Legless wants to spend a Luck point to boost his roll.

[OGRE MAGE]

Ooops!!! Looking at the wrong PC.

Yes, I think this calls for the use of one Luck point, hopefully.

[AleBelly]

For Radahn:

Radahn watches Legless, Wenyld, and Bilberta enter and proceed down the tunnel. The light fades, and it dawns on the confidence man that he has no light source. He stands alone in the chilly cavernous room, which is now pitch black. He hears the intermittent flittering of bat wings high above him.

In the tunnel:

Legless, being directly under the grate, listens for a couple minutes. Hearing nothing, he rolls over on his back and pushes on the grate, benchpress style. He grunts as the grate begins to give way, but he can't quite get it high enough to clear the floor above. Just then, a strong gust of air comes from the tunnel entrance, giving him just enough help to lift the grate and clear it enough to move it! -1 Luck point.

The trio carefully climbs into the opening above them, and find themselves in a tiny room, as long and wide as a normal sized man. The walls are bare orange/brown rock, typical for the area. There appear to be loose stones in one of the walls.

In the middle of the room stands a small stone altar. Atop it rests a peculiar item: a massive four-fingered hand (not of human origin) affixed to the end of an oaken branch. It would make a sturdy club, about 3' long. All are covered in a layer of dust. It's a good thing the group is so small...the room could accommodate only one or two others.

[OGRE MAGE]

Is the hand grasping the narrow handle end, or is it around the business end?

Legless looks at the others with concern.

“What could this be? A hidden shrine of some kind? With an industrial size drain?”

He blows the dust off the cudgel without touching it yet, taking a closer look. “That’s oak! I would know! Very sturdy weapon, but just sitting here for the taking?”

Moving to inspect the loose stones next, he listens for a moment before trying to see through any possible gaps.

[CAI4]

Bilberta is a dwarf, and is immediately interested in the loose stones. "Let's see if there's anything behind these!", excited at the prospect of treasure. She will begin to move the rocks.

[Rex]

Wenyld

"There must be another way in here."

She searches for a secret door. Checks the loose stone to see if it opens something up.

[OGRE MAGE]

If it's too small for 3 of us to search the loose rocks, Legless will inspect the club instead.

[AleBelly]

Legless blows the dust off the oak-hand hybrid and takes a closer look. The branch appears to have been cut at both ends, so it's more or less symmetrical. Bilberta is immediately drawn to the loose stones, and begins moving them as Wenyld scans the tiny room for a secret door.

There's no secret door, but the loose stones do reveal another 2'x2' wide passage at floor level. Just as the last, it leads into darkness.

While they are examining the club and stones,

Luck-based target [1d263]=61 Bilberta 1-20, Legless 21-128, Wenyld 129-263

Legless feels movement at his feet. Party is surprised! An amorphous, slimy, green-brown mass slithers out from under the altar and attacks!

Blob attacks Legless [1d20+2]=18+2=20 damage [1d4]=1

The blob reaches out with two lamellipodea and grabs one of Legless' spindly legs. The hapless elf feels it give way and he falls to the ground - his face immediately engulfed by the apparently hungry slime. Sorry, OM! The period cries of "help me" from the stick located in his robes is particularly ironic.

As he falls, Legless drops his torch and leather bag.

Extinguish torch 1-yes 2-no [1d2]=2

The torch remains burning, and the slime appears to be avoiding the flame.

The staff can be removed from his back without much risk, but pulling off his backpack will probably risk an attack from the slime. The slime seems content to feed on poor Legless' corpse, but can one really discern the motives of a sentient blob? Regardless Bilberta and Wenyld feel pretty confident they can get out of the room with little trouble via the secret passage (or tunnel from which they came) if they move quickly.

[Rex]

Wenyld

Wenyld grabs up the torch and attacks the blob with it.

Grab Torch (16 Dex) [1d20+2]=6+2=8
Initiative [1d20+2]=8+2=10
Torch [1d20]=7 to hit [1d4]=1 damage

Wasn't sure what rolls I needed so just included anything I might need, use as you will.

[CAI4]

Bilberta yells "We should get out of here" but seeing Wenyld go on the attack, she tries to hit it with her cudgel.

Attack with Cudgel [1d20]=8, damage [1d4]=1

[AleBelly]

The slimy blob recoils from Wenyld's torch attack, and immediately slithers away, retreating into the tunnel through which our party just arrived. Bilberta swings with her cudgel but misses.

Left behind is Legless' corpse, the flesh dissolved with pockets of gore in the recesses of the bone. A bloody, gelatinous trail is left in the wake of the retreating slime.

The room is quiet now. The club with a huge hand at one end remains on the altar, as do Legless' possessions.

[Rex]

Wenyld

"Keep an eye on that grate in case it come back."

She closes Legless' eyes and says a brief prayer over him before searching through what he was carrying that wasn't destroyed by the blob.

"We are going to have to crawl through that tunnel I think."

[AleBelly]

Keeping a watchful eye on the slime's escape route, the party looks through Legless' belongings:

They find:
Backpack containing

• 6 candles
  2 chalk sticks
  1 flask (of water)
  2 days rations
  Flint/steel
  5 torches

Wizardly robes, in one of the pockets is the stick that repeats "help me" every 90 seconds
Dirty leather satchel containing old dried ravens' feet, dessicated toads, and a snakeskin rolled up and tied with a ribbon
Legless' staff

[Rex]

Wenyld

"I could use the staff, water flask, and rations. Anyone else want them instead?"

Sheet updated for now.

[CAI4]

Bilberta “I could use a torch or two, especially with how these strange creatures are reacting to them”

[AleBelly]

Wenyld picks up the staff, flask of water, and rations.

Bilberta expresses interest in a couple torches.

Actions?

[Rex]

Wenyld

"Someone should take the weird hand club thing. Anyone want it? I took some stuff already."

If no one will take it she does. Once that is settled, "Lets get out of here before the blob comes back." She starts crawling down the tunnel.