Chapter 1: All I Ever Hear About is A Marsh. A Marsh! A Marsh! A Marsh!

[Edeldhur]

Ellith

(That was cool TheMyth!)

The elf smiles at Faron, then turns back to Myrrh - "Faron has caught the scent of a dwarf, and a live one - probably here, under this trapdoor" - he explained.

[Darithe]

Lia

"A dwarf you say?" looking quizzically at Ellith. Her eyes drawn to the elf's companion she wondered if that was a good or bad thing.

[TheMyth]

"Any idea how to open it?" Brinna asks the crowd.

[Rex]

Myrrh

Myrrh will kneel down and inspect where the trap door is. Seeing if he can get it open.

Open doors (13) [1d6]=1

"I think it opens like this."

[TheMyth]

Myrrh

Myrrh will kneel down and inspect where the trap door is. Seeing if he can get it open.

Open doors (13) [1d6]=1

"I think it opens like this."

Myrrh puts pressure on where the trap door is, and it flings open! Myrrh manages to pull back before he falls in.

Beneath the doors is revealed a pit, 10' by 10' by 10' deep. At the bottom is a dwarf in platemail. Everybody recognizes him from the Daisy Inn...

It's hard to forget a face like the one on Gromp Stoneskull.

[Rex]

Myrrh

"I think we have met before. I am Myrrh."

Is there a ladder for him to get out? If not: "Pass me your rope please Brondulm and we can help this fellow out of the dungeon."

[TheMyth]

My bad...

The dwarf is unconscious and lying down on the ground. Is that snoring?

No ladder, no stairs, no existing way in or out.

[BaltoBruiser]

Brondulm

Pulls out his rope. I suppose one of us is going to have to go down and wake the poor bugger up. If he is injured maybe Myrhh you should head down there in case he needs healing.

[Rex]

Myrrh

"I can go down, can a couple of you anchor the rope off, I am pretty heavy with my plate armor on."

[TheMyth]

Myrrh climbs down the rope easily enough...in his platemail.

The Cleric looks over the Dwarf, but sees no wounds or trauma. He tries to rouse him from what appears to be a deep slumber.

Dicey: *TAG* You're in!

[Dicey]

The dwarf groggily came to. “By Rump’s hairy arse - where am I?!” he exclaimed. He got up unsteadily.

“Oh, ah, thank you,” Gromp said gruffly. “I’m Gromp Stoneskull.” The dwarf was not easy to look at. Scarred, mottled, his head a tad misshapen, an ingrained irritable look on his face even as he flashed a quick smile. Large for his race, a little bent over, a slight limp. The stench of body odor, blood, and spilled ale.

Gromp struggled up the rope to the top and regarded a motley crew. The comely blond woman was a sight for his sore eyes. Leather and hammer - maybe a cleric. He’d let her lay those healing hands on him anytime.

The plated swordsman - someone he could relate to. The leather guy with short sword - maybe a rogue? Have to watch him. And a pointy ears - no doubt he’d be spouting poetry about nature soon. The dog was good to see. If things got desperate down here, at least there’d be food.

Gromp shook his bruised head as if to clear it of cobwebs. He grumbled gruffly: “I don’t remember how in Gehenna I got here. I was hired by that Spooner woman at the inn to find a book. Me and two others… Argh they’ve skipped out of me head! A swamp, then underground, then here wherever here is.”

He adjusted his scratched and dented plate armor and broke a mighty wind. “Ugh, sorry.” It was an unpleasant smell.

“Not much to look at I know, and I ain’t pretty on the inside either,” he gruffly admitted. “But I can fight.”

“Safety in numbers I say. I can provide my sword to your cause, if cause be finding gold, and the book,” he finished. Gruffly.

[Rex]

Myrrh

"I am Myrrh, cleric of Muriel. Anything broken, hard to tell looking at you."

[TheMyth]

Intro-ing the NPCs

"Hey, I know you! I'm Cinders. We had a drinking contest at fhe Bark & Byte Tavern," says the slender half-orc woman wielding a strange curved sword.

"And I am Vali," says a little gnome, uglier than Gromp has ever seen.

"I am Brinna Birget," announces a statuesque human woman with long black hair. "I have met the Spooner woman. She is arrogant beyond her means."

[BaltoBruiser]

Brondulm

Gromp, I am Brondulm. I agree there is strength in numbers. We too are searching for something, actually someones. Baladar enlisted our assistance in finding the group of tourist who were pretending to be adventurers and got lost down here in the ruins by the swamp. I am not from these parts...who is Spooner?

[TheMyth]

Brondulm

Gromp, I am Brondulm. I agree there is strength in numbers. We too are searching for something, actually someones. Baladar enlisted our assistance in finding the group of tourist who were pretending to be adventurers and got lost down here in the ruins by the swamp. I am not from these parts...who is Spooner?

Cinders speaks: "Mrs. Glynnis Spooner is an old maid of a woman who married the personal secretary of Riparian Rump, a famous barrister and litigation trickster from Specularum, just before he died. She is a pinch-faced, snooty social climber who took her dead husband's job and now serves as Riparian's personal secretary. She usually stays in town to look after the family's interests hereabouts. Wel!, that and lord her station over anyone who crosses her path at the inn."

Cinders spits, "I'd stab her just to watch her bleed."

[Edeldhur]

Ellith

"Well met master Stoneskull" - Ellith nodded - "Welcome to our mottled assembly - I am Ellith"

Faron sniffed in the general direction of Gromp, then crinkled his nose and stayed away.

[Dicey]

Gromp Stoneskull, dwarf

“Good to meet you all,”grunted Gromp.

“A cleric with a sword?” Gromp grinned at Myrhh. “Haven’t seen that before.”

“Ah, right, Cinders, at the tavern, I remember,”Grump lied. “We’ll have to do that again.”

“Vali, at last I can look down on someone!” he said to the gnome.

The dwarf, trying not to stare at the statuesque woman’s bosom, nodded at Brinna’s comment about Spooner’s arrogance. “Aye!”

“Well met Brondulm. Tourists you say?” Gromp laughed. “We’ll find their corpses somewhere down here.”

“Ellith, that’s a big dog you have there.” Grump cautiously held his palm out. “Good boy. You’d make a fine steed.”

With introductions done, “Lead the way.”

[TheMyth]

Ah, a proper old school welcome.... Hey, how are ya? Let's go kill things and take their stuff!

There are three ways out:

1/Back north out the door entered.
2/Check the southern door in the alcove.
3/Down the stairs to the east.

[Rex]

Myrrh

"Someone else should try and open that door in the alcove. I didn't have any luck."

[TheMyth]

Myrrh

"Someone else should try and open that door in the alcove. I didn't have any luck."

Also, the trap door/pit is directly in front of it.