Expedition #1 (Mouth of Doom)

[archolewa]

Randall and Anker approach the closest door on the left. The stone above this door's alcove has a wolf's head carved into it. They spend some time carefully studying the alcove, studying, gingerly poking and prodding, gently breathing across the stone, studying the walls and ceiling.

Randall lets out a breath, and murmurs something to Anker. He points up to the alcove just under the wolf's head. The two study it for a moment, then return to the others.

"That door's got a trap looks like," says Randall. "Not sure exactly, but the entire floor of the alcove's a pressure plate. There's also a relatively narrow slit in the alcove archway. Looks like some dull steel spikes up there, like you might see on the bottom of a portcullis."

"I wonder if maybe when you step on the plate, the portcullis comes down and traps you in the alcove," says Anker.

[Rex]

Ingulfr

"Be careful, but check all the alcoves for traps before doing entering any."

[Edeldhur]

Hektor and Tulius

"Good idea" - Hektor agreed - "Then we can perhaps try to trigger that one by pressuring the floor from outside the alcove, before proceeding"

[archolewa]

Torch: 55 minutes

"Does anyone have anything we can use to try to trigger the pressure plate?" asks Anker. "Something you wouldn't mind losing."

Randall frowns. "I'm really not sure it's worth it. It might just lower the portcullis. But it might do something else instead or in addition. Something nastier. Why not just avoid that door for now? We can figure out the trap if that's our only option."

"It would mean nobody will get confused and stumble into the wrong alcove," says Anker. "And it might give us a sense of what we're dealing with down here, while we still have easy access to an escape route."

"Assuming we'll still have easy access once the trap goes off," says Randall.

[Rex]

Ingulfr

"Leave it for now and move to the next one. We will some rocks from outside later if need be."

[archolewa]

Randall and Anker nod. They move on to the door straight in front of the stairs. As they approach, the archway shapes itself into a sinister mouth with razor sharp, rotten teeth. A hideous voice that reverberates in your chest echoes through the room. "You stand at the threshold of the Rappan Athuk, the Dungeon of Graves. Turn back, trespassers, for you will find nothing but your death in these dark halls."

The stone whirls back into its original position.

Randall and Anker stand frozen for a moment. Then they cautiously approach the alcove and spend about ten minutes carefully inspecting it for any traps or other nastiness.

They return to the others.

"Except for that mouth thing, we didn't find anything," says Randall. "Do we want to inspect every door, or try our luck through this one? It'll probably take about an hour to inspect every door."


Torch: 45 minutes

[Rex]

Ingulfr

"If we search the rest of the doors our torches will be used up, I say we try this one and see what happens. What does everyone else think?"

[rredmond]

Martin

I agree, let us take the path straight ahead and begin, sayeth the MU.

[archolewa]

Torch: 40 minutes

Randall and Anker carefully open the door straight in front of the stairs. The door swings open silently, beckoning the team on. They make their careful way down the corridor, Randall and Anker scouting ahead, while the others follow in the same order they came down the stairs. They come to an empty room, not quite 15 ft' wide, and a little more than 15' feet long. There's a door to their right, a corridor immediately upon their left as they enter the room, and a corridor to their left at the far end of the room. The nearest corridor runs in a diagonal back and to the right of the stair room. The far corridor goes straight to their left.

[Rex]

Ingulfr

"Lets look down each passage and then check the doors."

[Edeldhur]

Hektor and Tulius

Ok, so we headed through the corridor North right archolewa? Trying to get a 'sort' of a map going

"Agreed"

[rredmond]

Martin and Iacchus

We can look for secret compartments or doors in this room while you check, Martin offers nodding at Iacchus.

[archolewa]

Torch: 30 minutes

Martin heads to the north side of the room, allowing his torch to light a fair ways down the northern corridor, and being searching the northern wall for secret doors, while Iacchus searches other parts of the room.

The others go most of the way down the far corridor. Though they can't be certain, right at the edge of the torchlight, they get the sense of openness, likely the corridor opens into another room there. They retreat back to the room with Martin and Iacchus, and check the corridor closer to the door they came through. They follow that corridor a bit, until they come to a y intersection. Their corridor is one of the "arms" off the y. The other arm slants diagonally away and to their right, possibly to intersect with the same room as the northern corridor. The corridor to their left is the "base" of the "y" and goes straight.

There is a door nestled between the arms of the "y."

They retreat back to the main room, where Martin and Iacchus are searching. They have found no signs of secret doors.

[Edeldhur]

Hektor and Tulius

I guess it is only a matter of choosing a direction - I vote left. Follow the corridor and check the door.

Is the map something like this?

Rappan Athuk Map.png (452.11 KiB) Viewed 171 times

[archolewa]

The corridor that leads to the door is at 45 degree angle from your current room down and to the left, rather than straight left, and the top corridor doesn't terminate two squares in, but otherwise yes.

[Rex]

Ingulfr

"We should at least look down the upper passage first, then we can go down the other one if you want."

Ingulfr moves up and looks down the northern passageway that currently shows ending in 2 squares.

[Edeldhur]

Hektor and Tulius

So more like this?

Rappan Athuk Map.png (238.96 KiB) Viewed 132 times

Ingulfr

"We should at least look down the upper passage first, then we can go down the other one if you want."

Ingulfr moves up and looks down the northern passageway that currently shows ending in 2 squares.

"Makes sense"

[archolewa]

Torch: 25 minutes

Hektor and Tulius

So more like this?

Yes.

Ingulfr

"We should at least look down the upper passage first, then we can go down the other one if you want."

Ingulfr moves up and looks down the northern passageway that currently shows ending in 2 squares.

"Makes sense"

The group makes their careful way down the far corridor. They come into a rectangular room, with nothing of note.

Bah! I'm tired of trying to clearly describe these weirdly shaped rooms. Especially since Gygax in his infinite wisdom decided to give dwarves "I know what direction I'm facing" as a special power, so I can't just use north-south-east-west. Here's a picture. The picture is drawn from the perspective of the party entering the room, with the corridor they just came through behind them. Up is not necessarily north.

Mouth of Doom - page 1.png (66.31 KiB) Viewed 125 times

[Rex]

Ingulfr

Ingulfr moves east to the 2 passages and looks as far down each one as he can see with his torch.

[archolewa]

Torch: 23 minutes

Ingulfr heads to the straight passage on his left first and peers as far as he can. At first, he sees nothing but another empty room. But then something glimmers in his torchlight, and he sees a suit of perfectly clean suit of chainmail, a spear, some coins, a gem and some arrows, all suspended in midair. The air around them almost seem to ripple in Ingulfr's torchlight.

Mouth of Doom - page 1.png (83.84 KiB) Viewed 73 times