IV. The Witch Tower

[onlyme]

Fulp blinks twice. Without breaking an eye lash.

[dmw71]

Ciar must have missed Fulp's double-blink protest, because the halfling takes the paralyzed companion's lantern and a flask of oil into his possession and returns to the northeast corner of the room. Once at the entrance, he lights the lantern and disappears into the passage.

The other party lantern, still sitting where Sylvan left it, flickers.

[onlyme]

Fulp thinks to himself.

[dmw71]

Sylvan, noticing his lantern begin to flicker, moves to retrieve it. Checking the oil level, he notices it isn't out yet, but is running low.

[AleBelly]

Sylvan dumps another pint of oil into his lamp, and suddenly feels like he could move just a bit faster…

He will remain with Fulp, ensuring he has light in this otherwise dark place.

[hedgeknight]

"Give a holler, Kassal, if'n the imp's friends come around!" Festus says before he disappears inside the passage behind Ciar.

[dmw71]

Ciar and Festus disappear down the secret passage.

[Storm11]

Kassal will make himself useful and search for any other hidden exits or secret treasure places whilst the scouts are a scouting

[dmw71]

Kassal continues to search the room while the remaining party members wait for Ciar and Festus to return.

15 minutes elapse and the gnome is unable to make any new discoveries.

There is no hint of the scouting party's return.

[dmw71]

Sylvan walks over to the secret door. He lets out a low whistle, hoping to hear a reply.

No return call is heard.

[AleBelly]

"Damn it" he mutters. "Kassel, I think we better go check on them. But if they aren't responding, we better be careful. Do you have a torch? I'd like to throw one down the north passage then peek around using my mirror."

If Kassel doesn't have a torch, he'll look to take one from Fulp. If he needs to do this, he'll whisper "Sorry. I'll pay you back!"

[Storm11]

"I only have candles," says the wizard with a shrug.

He agrees to accompany the druid in search of the others. "Perhaps Sparrow can guard the fallen Fulp?

[dmw71]

Sparrow (see note, below) unwillingly surrenders another light source as Sylvan searches his possessions and discovers their paralyzed companion possesses a lantern and five flasks of oil. After the lantern is lit, Sylvan and Kassal escape through the secret passage to seek out their other two companions, leaving Fulp behind to watch after Sparrow.

The pair step into the secret passage, which 10' feet outside the room of torture, turns north for about 15' more feet before turning due west. The glow from their lantern lights this western hallway, which appears to continue beyond the 60' range of the lantern's illumination, but after traveling a few short feet, it becomes evident that the western passage turns south, and from this southern passage, the pair notice a flickering glow and detect the clinking of chains coming from this southern passage heading north.

After a few tense moments, the pairs of Slyvan and Kassal and Ciar and Festus are reunited at the corner. Ciar and Festus share what they've learned:

---


The southern passage Ciar and Festus returned from continues another 60' or so before turning back east, and the north, west, south, and east turns seem to wrap around the torture chamber.

At the end of the southern passage, as the corridor turns east, the floor drops away except for a seven-inch-wide ledge which continues along the south wall. Opposite this narrow ledge, along the northern wall, is a 5' deep trough filled with foul-smelling, thick green sludge. This slimy substance continues the full length of this eastern passage, which turns south again after 50 feet.

The southern passage, much like the previous passages, runs about 60' before turning west. The floor of this southern passage is complete and eliminates the need to navigate a narrow ledge... but another obstacle presents itself:

The center portion of this southern passage -- a stretch spanning 20' -- is completely coated in the slimy material.

West.png (20.46 KiB) Viewed 444 times

Ciar examined this slime more closely and discovered that the wavy sludge varies in thickness, ranging from as little as two inches to almost half a foot. As soon as his knife touched the slime, it instantly became coated in the heavy, and extremely sticky goo, which is surprisingly fluid, as any section that gets displaced is quickly replaced. The walls where the slime span the passageway are all very smooth and offer few handholds. Scaling the walls will be be extremely difficult and fraught with risk.


Note: This post was in the process of being composed, and was edited after-the-fact to reflect the condition shift between players. It won't be a perfect solution, but we'll just work through the details regarding borrowed possessions.

[onlyme]

edit to remove as related to changes

[dmw71]

Sparrow unwillingly surrenders another light source as Sylvan searches his possessions and discovers their paralyzed companion possesses a lantern and five flasks of oil.

I'm going to revise the above, as follows:

As Sparrow watches over Fulp, the fingers of his paralyzed companion begins to twitch. Slowly, the stiffness Fulp felt throughout his body begins to disappear.

Soon, Fulp is able to rise to a seated position under his own power and, after several minutes of stretching, the temporary paralysis has completely worn off.


I want Sparrow available just in case OGRE changes his mind. If not, I will NPC him to follow along with all group decisions.

[Storm11]

"Is this slime flammable do you think?" asks the gnome to the other proper sized companions?

[Alethan]

Ciar nods, "That's what I was thinking, as well. I can't think of any other way around it, unless we take the time to build a platform of some kind and go over it... After carting it across a 7" wide ledge. I'd rather try fire, first. But I'm sure we'll need to use oil; that slime won't burn on its own."

[AleBelly]

"I had a similar idea, about the platform. Do you have oil? Maybe me and Sparrow can try to take a table out of the torture room and use that. Sparrow?"

If he agrees, Sylvan will head back to the imp room and look for any tabletop or other large flat platform to get across the slime. Failing that, he'll grab some instruments of yorture with the intent of throwing them in the slime.

[Storm11]

"It's possible the slime is covering something significant. Not dealing with it now might be a mistake," the gnome reiterates one last time.

[onlyme]

Fulp thanks the group for being loyal and decides its time to move on and join the others.

assuming we simply meet up in the hallway behind the room...
He then turns his attention to Ciar, the lighting thief. I know not where you come from or believe, but ...if you ever take from me again, I'll beat you down to half the size you already are.