IC1: Two Miles West of Dead Tree...

[Antman9]

[Himmel Soothtel – Human Magic-User] (HP: 3/3) (AC: 10)
Status: Waits in suspense

Himmel waits, impatiently, as Loman listens to the door. "Oh man," he whispers to himself. "Too many doors in this place." Then he gets brave ans whispers a little louder to Loman, "Loman...Loman, what do you hear?"

[Antman9]

[Werhas Brownbeard – Dwarf Fighter/Thief] (HP: 4/4) (AC: 14)
Status: Waddles up to see what's happening

Werhas waddles up to the door where Lomas is listening intently, "Whut you hear thar lad? you gonna open that door or what? Them Elvens went udder way."

[FlightlessScotsman]

Loman whispers back loudly to Himmel and Werhas, "Nothing . . . I don't like it one bit!"

Arnthorr rolls his eyes and hisses. "Open the damn door you coward. We don't have all day."

Loman tries to think of something clever to say but merely stammers, shrugs, and then pushes against the door.

[dok-el]

Loman gives the door a good shove with his shoulder. It, however, remains firmly closed.

[Zorroroaster]

Marcus stows his bow and runs over to Loman's side, kneeling down to inspect the door.

"Is it locked, or merely stuck in place?"

He will inspect the door to see if it's locked, and check for traps while he's there.

Katarina maintains her position, occasionally looking behind her.

[FlightlessScotsman]

Loman also searches the door for some mechanism or a lock

[dok-el]

Marcus and Loman both set about examining the door. Neither one of them is able to discern any traps. They are, however, able to confirm that the door is not locked, merely swollen with age, and thus stuck firmly in place.

[FlightlessScotsman]

Loman pulls his pack off and rummages for his prybar. Arnthorr comes forward, spits in his palms and barks at his pudgy employer, "Here. Give me that thing." He grabs the prybar and puts all of his strength into it.

open doors check [1d6] = 3 vs. 4 in 6 chance

There.

[dok-el]

Loman works the door with the pry bar and it reluctantly creaks open.

Behind the door is an empty room approximately 20ft by 30ft. There is some more broken wooden furniture in here as well as some fragments of glass and fine pottery. The remaining closed door from the large hall leads into the north end of this room.

Recessed into the back wall of this room is a large walk-in fireplace with a rusted iron spit, suggesting that this might once have been a kitchen.

In the northwest corner of the room is another stairwell, with spiral stairs leading down into the unknown.

[Zorroroaster]

Marcus walks over to the spiral staircase and peers down into the darkness below. "It strikes me as a little odd there would be two separate staircases so close to each other. Do you think these lead down to the same place as the other stairs?"

Katarina kicks through the fireplace with a booted toe, looking for anything that might have been dropped or left behind.

[dok-el]

Marcus' words echo slightly off the cold stone walls, as he peers down into the shadows.

Katarina discovers nothing but the dust of ages, in this gloomy desolate place.

An eerie quiet descends.

[Antman9]

[Werhas Brownbeard – Dwarf Fighter/Thief] (HP: 4/4) (AC: 14)
Status: Peers down the stairwell

Werhas, never scared of a challenge, despite himself, looks down the stairwell and says, "Looks like a stairway to I. We should spectate it." He looks up at he rest of the party with a confident yet quizzical look on his face waiting for a reply.

[Antman9]

[Himmel Soothtel – Human Magic-User] (HP: 3/3) (AC: 10)
Status: Waits patiently

Himmel waits patiently as the others pry the door and search the fireplace. "Nothing of interest to a wizard here. Looks like we have to descent option now though. Hmm. If we trust the Elves take the first. If we feel frisky then take the second." Himmel peers down the stairwell. "Doesn't look used at all, that bodes well for us. I vote the unknown dusty no. 2 option."

[FlightlessScotsman]

Arnthorr shrugs, "One hole in the dark is as good as any other I suppose. What say you oh, fearless leader?" He levels his gaze at Loman. "Yes! Jolly good, down, down, down we go. Master dwarf (to Werhas) does the stonework look odd to your expert eyes? Any traps underfoot?"

[triplehappiness]

Herbert and Crenshaw enter the room to see the others searching. Crenshaw is initially somewhat disappointed to see Katarina searching the fireplace because he had intended to do just that as soon as he saw it. But she beat him to it. So when he sees she finds nothing, he is somewhat relieved. None the less, he still casually walks by it eyeballing the piles of soot and cracked coals out of some strange sense of compulsion. He knows there's nothing there but he had to look himself. It would have bothered him if he hadn't. He's careful not to let anyone notice him as he walks by. Even Herbert barely notices and he's more than familiar with Crenshaws obsessive ways. They both walk through the room taking it in as they move to the stairwell and prepare to descend. Herbert takes up his mace and Crenshaw stows his bow and unsheathes his dagger for defense in the close quarters leading down.

[Zorroroaster]

Lord of Mercy, hear me. Protect and guide us as we step out of your light and into darkness and shadow. Katarina whispers a quiet prayer for the party as she looks down the stairwell.

"Valadon watches over us. I am ready to descend."

Marcus conceals his exasperation at Katarina's relentless piety and simply stands ready.

[dok-el]

Werhas gives the staircase a quick lookover, making sure that the ancient stonework holds no surprises for the unwary. He satisfies himself that there are no tricks or traps here. None built into the masonry anyway...

Loman boldly leads the way forward, with only the occasional shove in the back from Arnthorr, as the party descends into the darkness below.

Katarina offers up a prayer to Lord Valadon.

The stairs lead down about a 15 feet to the level immediately below the surface ruins. At the bottom, the party find themselves in a semi-open space approx 30ft square with two corridors running off it, one leading north and the other leading east.

There are shelves on the walls to the south and west. Small sacks and barrels are stacked on the shelves, all are rotten and encrusted with yellowing mold. The smell of decay hangs in the air.

The two corridors both extend at least 60ft but the encroaching darkness makes it impossible to see anything beyond that distance.

The north corridor appears to have a turning, leading east, about 40ft along it.

There is a closed door about 20ft along the east corridor.

Otherwise both corridors are empty.

Yay!!! The party has made it to level 1 50 bonus xp for everyone.

[FlightlessScotsman]

"Eenie, meenie, miney, moe? . . ." Loman shrugs and points to the right. He pads quietly up to the door and carefully inspects it for wires, levers, or any other oddities that might indicate traps and then spends a round listening, but he keeps his crossbow out with a bolt half-loaded.

Arnthorr nocks an arrow into his longbow and waits for Loman to give him the signal for "all clear."

[Antman9]

[Werhas Brownbeard – Dwarf Fighter/Thief] (HP: 4/4) (AC: 14)
Status: Follows his new companions

After lighting a torch Werhas descends the stairwell following Loman and Katarina. He taps the stonework thoughtfully as he descends, curious who might have crafted the walls and footings, while running a finger across the courses of stone, feeling for any tell-tale sign of the crafter's tool marks.

Reaching the bottom he stands in the middle of the intersection and looks on patiently as Loman does his thing, watching Loman’s skills as a thief, while thinking to himself, Keeps an eye on this one. Don’t need some pesky Human showsing us up now. He relieves his longsword form its scabbard carefully and waits for some kind of action to ensue.

[Himmel Soothtel – Human Magic-User] (HP: 3/3) (AC: 10)
Status: Descends with the others and waits while Loman checks the door. He keeps a wary eye on the other passage while crinkling his nose. “What in Flintlock’s larder is that smell,” he whispers, while keeping a firm grasp on his staff.

[Zhym]

Reginald and Zanzibar proceed down the stairs with the other. Reginald keeps his eyes open for any threats. Zanzibar, as usual, hides behind his hired muscle.