The Web of All Torment - IC

[cailano]

The Cellar

With Doorfin re-focused, your group makes its way back to the cellar steps. There, at the bottom, you see the corpse of the demon Venomee.

The ropes you'd used to bind Malice lie in a pile on the floor. Her body is missing.

The cellar is as dark as when you left it, but you know there is a hall or tunnel at the back of the room that leads to the north.

What do you do?

 

** OOC: You're in area 4-2 of the "Below the Kozy Kobweb" map. See the maps topic.

[Cairo]

Shaun

Shaun follows Doørfin's lead down to the cellar, frowning suspiciously at the pile of rope where Malice used to be. He dares not say her name out loud, for fear of calling her forth.

"I refuse to believe she is immortal, or undefeatable, or whatever else she might claim. There must be a way to end her wretched cycle of rejuvenation."

Shaun looks about as he approaches the pile to assess if the rope can still be made use of in the future.

 

---

OOC:
If the rope hasn't been torn to pieces, Shaun will signal for the others to watch over him while he sets Truthsinger down just long enough to coil the rope back up and stash it on him. How much of it is there?

Once that's done he's ready to proceed north with the others if they do so.

[Rakle]

"We have one doorway, so let's go north. " Novia suggests. Assuming Doorfin will take the lead, she waits for dwarven warrior.

 

 

HP 12/12 AC15 Luck 12 Ref+1 Fort+1 Will+2 longsword+2 d8 Sling+2 d4 Spell Check +4 Disapproval: 1

 

[Malkavian Grin]

---

HP 24/24 | AC 16 | R+1 F+2 W+1 | Luck 11/13 (+1) | Init. +0 | Speed 15' | CombatDeed Die +d5 (affects both to hit and damage)
Crit: 1d14 on Table III

Sword and Board: Free shield bash at d14 (d3 dmg)

---

"Thank ye," Doørfin said, clapping Shaun on the shoulder as he stood before the Dwarf. "Th' place knows us, somehow. Ah know t' be wary uh th' illusions... But they we're so real. My family..."

Shaking off the remnants of guilt and hope, the Dwarf made his way into the cellar. Surely more answers were here.

OOC

North i guess. Is there a map? I've long forgotten but i assume there is.

 

[TheMightyDeeEmm]

 

As Shaun sees the ropes of what used to contain the horrid monstrosity, terror begins to swell even more inside of him, a terror even worse than what he'd experienced the first time she transformed... but then there is a snap inside of him, and the terror is slowly drowned out by weariness. She was alive again, and they would have to kill her again. And probably a thousand times more, if that foreboding phrase in their quarters had anything to say about it. And he was also saddened by the thought that he may one day eventually enjoy killing her, if this cycle kept repeating. He stopped his ruminating, and kept a watch as Shaun collected the rope.

"Yes... through the door. We'll slaughter her again if we see her, and anything else that she might send our way."

Edited April 13 by TheMightyDeeEmm (see edit history)

[cailano]

Shaun

Disturbingly, the rope looks like someone pulled it apart. For all her murderous intent, Malice didn't strike you as inhumanly strong, so whoever snapped the rope must be someone you haven't seen yet.

The rope is snapped in several places, but you can salvage a single twelve-foot length. The others are too short to be useful.

As you take up the greatsword again, you wonder about its hidden power. After using the words show me upstairs, you felt a thrum of arcane energy in the blade. You're sure now that those are activation words. But it did not seem to affect whatever it was Doorfin was seeing. Solving the mystery might take a spell, or perhaps you'll figure it out later.

 

[cailano]

Everyone

Doorfin leads your group to the north end of the cellar. There is a tunnel that stretches off into the black. Other than Doorfin himself, none of you will be able to see inside it without a torch or lantern.

** OOC: There are maps of the areas you've explored in the "Maps" topic. You're currently in area 4-2.

[cailano]

You take a few cautious steps into the tunnel. It is narrow, dark, and earthy. The ground is very soft as if the floor has been buried under years' worth of dirt spilling from the sides. When you step into it, you sink halfway to your knees.

If the entire floor is like that, slogging your way down the tunnel will take some time.

Even after you get Shaun's lantern lit, seeing how far the tunnel extends is impossible.

[Rakle]

"I can carry the lantern. " Novia volunteers as she sheaths her sword. She will allow someone to lead since she will have a holy symbol in one hand and the lantern in the other.

 

 

HP 12/12 AC15 Luck 12 Ref+1 Fort+1 Will+2 longsword+2 d8 Sling+2 d4 Spell Check +4 Disapproval: 1

 

[Cairo]

Shaun

Shaun fetches his lantern, lights it up and offers it to Novia before once more wielding the two-handed, curved sword. He peers into the tunnel under the yellow light.

"Doørfin, you take the lead, and I will follow behind you. Novia you follow after me so that Flitwick benefits more from the light at the back."

Shaun looks to the others for any objections, ready to proceed if he finds none.

[TheMightyDeeEmm]

Flickwit nods at Shaun’s plan and takes up the rear, essentially walking sideways so he can keep on eye on anything that might sneak up on them while making sure he doesn’t bump into Shaun or anyone else. He lights his own torch and keeps a dagger at the ready, prepared to strike at anything that moves.

[cailano]

The Graveyard Cavern

The tunnel is less than one hundred feet long but feels endless as you slog through the soft ground on high alert for anything that might try to trap you within its claustrophobic length.

Yet, after a full hour, you emerge from the other side, exhausted but unmolested.

You find yourself in an open cavern, dimly lit by dozens of candles, each mounted to a grave marker. Most of the markers are made of wood but a few of the them are carved in stone. Several of the headstones stand before open graves.

The cavern itself is large, some one hundred feet across. The ceiling is high overhead, although you might be able to use your lantern to illuminate it.

You see several shovels, picks, and other tools leaning against one wall of the cavern. Next to them is a short wooden ladder.

The headstones extend across the cavern without any apparent pattern or order. It's as if the person or creature digging these graves picked a spot at random and went to work. Some of the headstones have writing gouged into them in crudely scrawled letters.

The cavern is silent save for the occasional chittering of rats.

What do you do?

** OOC: You've been underground for one hour and twenty minutes by the time you cross the tunnel and get a rough idea of the graveyard cavern. The lantern only had enough oil for four hours of light, although some of you may have additional lamp oil in your possessions if indicated on your character sheet. If not, you have two hours and forty minutes of light left.

See the updated map. You're in area 4-4.

[cailano]

A Peculiar Grave

Toward the back of the cavern is a peculiar grave with a large, misshapen headstone. It's hard to say why it draws your attention more than the other graves, but it does.

 

** OOC: The peculiar grave is marked with an x in area 4-4.

[Malkavian Grin]

---

HP 24/24 | AC 16 | R+1 F+2 W+1 | Luck 11/13 (+1) | Init. +0 | Speed 15' | CombatDeed Die +d5 (affects both to hit and damage)
Crit: 1d14 on Table III

Sword and Board: Free shield bash at d14 (d3 dmg)

---

"Aye, Ah'll take the fore," Doørfin agreed as he stayed in the front and began to lead the group through the cavern. He hated trudging through such dirt and sand, knowing it was slowing the group down from his stumpy legs.

Finally emptying into the makeshift graveyard, Doørfin looked around. "A very strange place t' bury th' dead, no?" he asked out loud as he strode up to the weird looking headstone.

[Rakle]

Novia holds the lantern high to cast more list about the area. She isn't really surprised by the under ground graveyard. "In this place, tombstones might not mark the location of the buried dead. Just be ready for something awful " replies to Doorfin as she follows him to the strange headstone.

 

 

HP 12/12 AC15 Luck 12 Ref+1 Fort+1 Will+2 longsword+2 d8 Sling+2 d4 Spell Check +4 Disapproval: 1