Doom of the Savage Kings - IC

[cailano]

As the flood roars through the tunnel, Lyra and Helge manage to get a firm grip on the stone slabs along the floor and hold their breath for what seems like minutes (actually only 20 seconds) until the water subsides, leaving everything dripping wet. Thugnar initially can't hold on, but as he is washed down the hall, his boot slams into a slab that some fortunate turn of the geology has forced up. Thus braced, he comes to a halt.

Molly cannot catch hold and goes tumbling end over end down the hall until he is washed into the corridor beyond. The floor there is slick from condensation and slopes sharply downward.

The Minstrel hears a tiny voice in his head scream, "Trap!" and with the reaction speed of a started alley cat, he twists and sprawls out, just as the floor comes to an abrupt end over the mouth of a pit! Molly slams his feet into the far side and braces his hands against the near wall, just barely catching himself before he falls in.

You're all soaking wet and battered, and Molly is suspended over a pit, but you're otherwise intact.

 

[cailano]

Tabitha and Bernard

You find all your companions save Molly in the long hall. They are wet and bruised but don't seem seriously injured. Molly is missing and must have gotten washed into the room at the end.

In the evening light coming from outside, you can just make out the spiral patterns etched on the stone ceiling of the corridor.

[cailano]

Molly

The chamber around you is dark, as is the pit below. Above you, you can see faint light, which must be from the daylight your companions let in when they moved the boulder.

You're holding yourself above the pit by the strength of your body. You've wedged between the walls by pressing your boots hard into the far side of the pit. Unfortunately, those walls are slick; it is all you can do to stop your fall. Climbing out seems very difficult, made more so because you can't see anything.

[Excior]

" I AM OK, I SEEM TO HAVE FOUND A PIT TRAP, I CAN JUST MAKE OUT WHAT LOOKS LIKE LOTS OF BRONZE SPEARS." Molly tries his best to hold on but his wet hands and soaked boots do not want to lend a hand. his boots skid a few inches down. " DID I MENTION THAT I AM SUSPENDED OVER IT AND SLIPPNG DOWN, CAN I GET A LITTLE HELP HERE?"

[Draidden]

 

Lyra, Level 1 Thief, Ostler, Chaotic

AC: 15, HP: 5/5, Speed: 30, Initiative: +3

 

STATS

Abilities

	Strength:	12 (+0)		Personality:	14 (+1)
	Agility:	18 (+3)		Intelligence:	14 (+1)
	Stamina:	8 (-1)		Luck:	18 (+0)Base is 10 for Thief purposes.

Saving Throws

	Reflex:	+4
	Fortitude:	+0
	Willpower:	+1

Weapons

Weapons	Attack Bonus	Damage
Staff	+0	1d4
Shortbow	+3	1d6
Short Sword	+0	1d6

Equipment: See Character Sheet

Trade good: Bridle
Money: 6 gp, 7 sp, 25 cp
Lucky sign: Resisted temptation (Willpower saving throws) (+0)
Languages: Common, Kobold
 

Lyra coughs and sputters a bit as she picks herself up. She then digs into her backpack and pulls out the lantern and flint and steel and proceeds to get the lamp lit. Then grabbing her rope she is ready to head down further into the tomb and try to rescue Molly. As they move down the passage she hands the rope to Thugnar.

If I am holding it then most likely I will be pulled into this pit after him as he weighs more than I do. I can try to tie the other end around him while you and the others hold the other end and prepare to pull him out of the pit.

 

 

Edited September 26, 2023 by Draidden (see edit history)

[cailano]

It takes a few minutes for Lyra to get her lantern lit. In the meantime, Molly is still calling for help.

[Tecumseh]

Helge Haisley

Helge has little strength to contribute to Molly's rescue, but she does have body weight.

Following Lyra's instructions, she loops the rope around her waist, then sees if she can loop it another time around a rock or other protrusion to help brace it.

"Quickly, Thugnar!" she encourages the dwarf. "Molly needs our help! Your eyes may see where ours cannot!"

 

[cailano]

Within a few minutes, Lyra gets her lantern lit, and a few of you help Helge to extract Molly from the pit.

Llore also cautiously enters the tomb, holding a lit torch. He is still wide-eyed from the spectacle of the Water Serpent.

After that, you're able to look around.

There isn't a lot of interest in the entrance corridor other than the spiral markings on the ceiling, which none of you can decipher the meaning of. The pit chamber, which was clearly meant as a trap to eliminate intruders en masse, is your focal point.

The floors on all sides of this room are slick from condensation and covered in slime mold. The center of the room is a pit, the bottom of which is a circular room. A score of bronze spears are mounted into the floor of that chamber, pointing up.

As slick as the floor is, there is a ledge of level surface around the edge of the room, so it shouldn't be too hard to circumvent the pit if you're careful. There is an exit to the north.

Molly

After Lyra brought her lantern in and before your companions lowered a rope to you, you had ample opportunity to inspect the pit. Other than the ancient but still-pointy-looking spears (which were a bit distracting), you noticed a pool of dried blood on the pit floor. There were also two daggers down there. Rather common looking, but still curious.

There also appeared to be an exit from the pit leading east.

** OOC: There is a map of the areas you've explored in the Maps tab, which I will keep updated as you go. You'll see a hall that looks like it leads to the east, and that's the hall that Molly noticed. It's not accessible from the pit chamber. You'd have to go into the pit itself to get to it.

Time underground: Twenty minutes (including the time it took to rescue Molly and look around.)

[Dixi]

"Good to have you back, lad." Thugnar clapped Molly on the shoulder, collected the rope and returned it to Lyra.

He very carefully, using the wall and all available griping rocks, approached the ledge to get on the other side. Thugnar was fully satisfied with the look of the spears at the bottom and did not waste time studying the pit. Should the path on the side look climbable alone without outside help, he would even try to cross it to get to the northern exit.

"Let us move, the night is near. If the next chamber is drier, we can get some rest there." He smelled the air and added thoughtfully. "Do not smell dead bodies, just the mouldy rock. Guess no one died here recently."

[Shocker]

 

Bernard D'Ambresi

---

 Level 1 Warrior/ Noble

AC: 15, HP 14/14, speed 25 Initiative +1

Bernards Stats

Strength:	12(0)		Personality	13(+1)
Agility:	10 (0)		Intelligence	11 (0)
Stamina:	13 (+1)		Luck:	9 (-1)

saving throws

Ref.	Fort.	Will
1	1	0

Weapon: Longsword 0 (1d8)

Chainmail AC +5

Deed Die: d3 applicable on each roll to attck and damage roles.

Mighty deed of arms: succeeds on d3 roll better than 2

Critical hit: occuring on natural 19 and 20

Weapon training, battle axe, club, crossbow, dagger, dart, ail, hand axe, javelin, longbow, long swrod, mace, polearm, short bow, short sweord, sling, spear, staff, two-handed sword and warhammer.

Equipment: Chain 10' (30 gp)
Trade good: Gold ring worth 10 gp
Starting Funds: 43 cp, 7sp, 6,gp
Lucky sign: Pack hunter (Attack/damage rolls for 0-level weapon) (+0)
Languages: Common

Bernard is the never do well second son of Count Dargolin, and has sent to manage his father’s estate in an out of the way village. In the counts words to stop him from getting into duels with other men all the times, especially not over the wenches. 

He still isn't the shining Champion his father would wish for, but the experiences in the starless sea, have increased his martial skills and sensibilities.

 

---

Bernard carefully moved his way down towards the pit, the pole still in his left hand, but feeling he would have to abandon it soon, as moving in the cave with it would be difficult. Looking down into the pit he commented “We pick the most charming of places to hang around. Is anybody hurt? Also is that a path down there?” He points into the pit.

[Draidden]

 

Lyra, Level 1 Thief, Ostler, Chaotic

AC: 15, HP: 5/5, Speed: 30, Initiative: +3

 

STATS

Abilities

	Strength:	12 (+0)		Personality:	14 (+1)
	Agility:	18 (+3)		Intelligence:	14 (+1)
	Stamina:	8 (-1)		Luck:	18 (+0)Base is 10 for Thief purposes.

Saving Throws

	Reflex:	+4
	Fortitude:	+0
	Willpower:	+1

Weapons

Weapons	Attack Bonus	Damage
Staff	+0	1d4
Shortbow	+3	1d6
Short Sword	+0	1d6

Equipment: See Character Sheet

Trade good: Bridle
Money: 6 gp, 7 sp, 25 cp
Lucky sign: Resisted temptation (Willpower saving throws) (+0)
Languages: Common, Kobold
 

Lyra joins Thugnar on the other side of the pit room and shines her lantern down the hallway.

If there is a passage down there, there might be a safer way of getting down to it further in. If not, then we can always look into it once we clear out this level.

 

 

[Malkavian Grin]

HP 10/10 | AC 17 | Init. +1 | CP -6
Ref. +2 | Fort. +1 | Will +0

Tabitha had braced for the blast of water, but it bypassed her and Bernard. Rushing into the next chamber with a wet patter of footsteps, she looked to see that everyone was safe.

 

Molly's words brought the help he needed and the once-jeweler felt a bit of shame in having not helped. She could barely heft her shield; how was she to help drag a man out of a pit?

 

Deciding to focus on the task at hand, Tabitha looked up at the ceiling curiously. "Do you suppose these are stars? Or something to do with the night sky? Why else carve them?" she asked aloud.

 

Seeing people begin to move further ahead into the tomb, Tabitha took one last glance over her shoulder at the retreating daylight, then moved with her companions around the pit carefully. She'd remove her shield to make it easier if necessary. "Much like the tower from whence we came, where poor Eli lost his life, I think this pit may be best left alone..." she said quietly.

[Excior]

“It’s good to be back friend Thugnar.”  Molly places his hand on the dwarf’s shoulder as well. The bard had not had time to recognize the room properly as he had spent a good portion of his time in the room staring down at a pit full of bronze spears. “While suspended as I was over the pit full of spears, I had time to think, mostly about not dying, but that’s beside the point.” He moves away from the edge of the pit as he speaks “As the light from Lyra’s lantern and the torch our fiend Llore brought into the room,” He acknowledges the would-be adventurer “I could see a pool of dried blood on the floor of the pit and two daggers were there as well.” He looks back toward the pit “There was a tunnel leading away from the pit down there” He turns to his companions once more. “Who builds a way out of a trap in the tomb of a lost king?”

 

[Tecumseh]

Helge Haisley

"We must take it as a lesson," Helge says. "This was the first trap; it will not be the last. We should assume danger at every turn."

She considers the pit.

"We know that the guests of the flophouse were here. That blood and those daggers may be theirs. We know they did not come in through the front entrance but rather the side. Most likely that led them to the door of the pit. Should we wish to escape without disturbing the serpent, we may be able to do so that way."

Tabitha's words bring Helge's eyes up to the ceiling.

"Remember that we are underground. There is a mound above us. But why? Why not simply dig a tomb into the earth? I would think that it is because there are things above us. Perhaps traps, like deadfalls, but perhaps also things meant to remain hidden. The pit indicates a certain cynicism with the ways of men, acknowledgement that the greedy will not honor the dead. We must now think with such cynicism ourselves."

If she can reach, Helge will tap the ceiling with Justicia's warhammer to look for hollow spots. She'll continue doing this as the group advances. If she cannot reach, she'll try to recruit Bernard to use his most excellent pole to do the same.

As for navigating the edge of the pit, she will suggest that someone more nimble go first, then string Lyra's rope so that the person on the ledge has something to hold onto should they lose their footing. Perhaps Bernard's pole can be used similarly.

 

[Shocker]

 

Bernard D'Ambresi

---

 Level 1 Warrior/ Noble

AC: 15, HP 14/14, speed 25 Initiative +1

Bernards Stats

Strength:	12(0)		Personality	13(+1)
Agility:	10 (0)		Intelligence	11 (0)
Stamina:	13 (+1)		Luck:	9 (-1)

saving throws

Ref.	Fort.	Will
1	1	0

Weapon: Longsword 0 (1d8)

Chainmail AC +5

Deed Die: d3 applicable on each roll to attck and damage roles.

Mighty deed of arms: succeeds on d3 roll better than 2

Critical hit: occuring on natural 19 and 20

Weapon training, battle axe, club, crossbow, dagger, dart, ail, hand axe, javelin, longbow, long swrod, mace, polearm, short bow, short sweord, sling, spear, staff, two-handed sword and warhammer.

Equipment: Chain 10' (30 gp)
Trade good: Gold ring worth 10 gp
Starting Funds: 43 cp, 7sp, 6,gp
Lucky sign: Pack hunter (Attack/damage rolls for 0-level weapon) (+0)
Languages: Common

Bernard is the never do well second son of Count Dargolin, and has sent to manage his father’s estate in an out of the way village. In the counts words to stop him from getting into duels with other men all the times, especially not over the wenches. 

He still isn't the shining Champion his father would wish for, but the experiences in the starless sea, have increased his martial skills and sensibilities.

 

---

Bernard listens to the others discussing the pit “There is something missing here. There is dried blood on the spears, but where are the bodies that have shed it? So let’s be careful we might not be alone in here.”