Chapter 2: Back to the Barrows!

[ybn1197]

Moony

I'm for the new secret door.

[Fingolwyn]

As you are about to open the southwest door, Fingolwyn notices something he hadn't noticed before... this little corridor has yet another secret door in it, heading to the north.

Go ahead with the southwest door, or investigate this new secret door?

Lhainor

Investigate the secret door, of course. Hidden things usually are better than obvious things.

What say the rest of you?

[Rex]

Nimh

Secret door is good.

[drpete]

The secret door opens into an east-west corridor. The corridor goes east only 10 feet before coming to a dead end, while the western corridor goes 20 feet before opening up into a T intersection, with branches going north and south.

[Rex]

Nimh

Nimh will search the dead end for secret doors etc. Being very careful to look out for a pit trap.

[Fingolwyn]

Lhainor

Lhainor will cautiously and quietly walk down to the T intersection, sword in hand, and listen. If he doesn't hear anything, he will put his back to the south wall and look (at an angle) up the north corridor a bit. Depending on what he sees (or actually doesn't see), he will move to the north wall and repeat this process to look down the south corridor.

[snake_hunter]

Theglid will go with Lhainor, close enough to provide support if something jumps out but far enough back to not interfere with his scouting

[ybn1197]

Moony will try to keep an equal amount of distance between the groups and himself, the better to respond to either one should something happen.

[drpete]

Date: June 2, 5:20 pm, Tuesday
Season: Early Summer
Light: Nimh's Torch (Expires 5:30 pm), Moony's torch (Expires 5:30 pm)
Moon phase: New Moon
Time since rest: 0 Turns
Location: T Intersection

While Nimh searches the eastern end of the hall for secret doors, Lhainor moves west to check out the intersection, with support from Theglid and Moony.

Lhainor finds that the north fork is actually a triangular alcove. It's west wall extends 10 feet north, and a diagonal wall extends northwest to meet it. In the center of this diagonal wall is a door, heading north-east.

The south branch of the T intersection extends 10 feet before ending in a south door.

Nimh finishes her search, finding nothing unusual in the eastern end of this little space. Feeling somewhat secure, the group takes a short rest before continuing...

Where to next?

[Rex]

Nimh

"Try the weird angled door?"

[Fingolwyn]

Nimh

"Try the weird angled door?"

Lhainor

Sounds good to me. It's the closest door, and we probably shouldn't leave it behind us if we head down to the south door. I'll open it...I'm probably the closest.

[Rex]

Nimh

"I will back you up." Nimh moves to cover Lhainor.

[drpete]

Technically, there are now two angled doors, one behind you going southwest and one ahead of you going northeast... I'm understanding you to mean the southwest one back behind you?

[Fingolwyn]

Technically, there are now two angled doors, one behind you going southwest and one ahead of you going northeast... I'm understanding you to mean the southwest one back behind you?

Lhainor

No, I meant the new one in the T intersection going NE. Even though we rested, Lhainor probably is still standing a few feet from it.

But I am fine with either.

[Must be a trap on or behind one of them. ]

[drpete]

Ah, ok, cool...

You open the door to the northeast in the north branch of the T intersection. You find that this door opens in the southwest corner of a 30'x30' room. The room is bare if decoration.

You see a door in the center of the north wall, and one on the southern end of the east wall. A corridor heads east from the room from the northern end of the east wall.

[Rex]

Nimh

Look down each of the open corridors, then search the room.

[Fingolwyn]

Lhainor

Lhainor will stand in the diagonal doorway and keep an eye back down the T intersection, especially on the south door we haven't opened yet.

Our torches are about to burn out. Do we have enough to light two more?

[drpete]

Entering the room to explore, you note that in the first 10 feet of the hallway to the east, there is a slimy, bloody corpse being chewed on by rats and another door going north. The rats see you and hesitate. The east hallway continues beyond the limits of your torchlight.

You guys actually still have a good number of light sources, since almost everyone brought light. I've been assuming that you continue using Theglid and Kohrek's torches, and they have a couple left each. Lhainor still has all of his torches, and Moony has a lantern and 3 flasks of oil. Per your original instructions, Moony and Theglid are carrying the torches, I think...

A note about time... with combat turns and exploration turns being different lengths in Blueholme, I've been tracking both the "time" and the number of turns independently. A combat turn results in you tiring more quickly, but hasn't been advancing the torch burning time (I'm assuming the next exploration turn is just 9 minutes instead of 10 minutes). This means that the need for resting gets out of synch with wm checks and needing to refresh the torches.

[Fingolwyn]

Lhainor

We heard the sound of combat from somewhere down here not long ago. How fresh is the corpse, and how was it killed? Can we tell without disturbing the rats? We probably should leave the rats (thus the corridor) alone, at least for now. Someone should check the north door, and the east door. I've got the door we came in and the passage behind us.

[Rex]

Nimh

"I will check the north door."