Chapter 1a: Mystery of Odlo - The chasm...then the tunnel

[AleBelly]

Lantern: Wenceslas

The bats fly up through the tunnel, battering (but not biting) our brave adventurers. Bobwhite quickly dodges several and deftly finds a small recess in the tunnel to shield him from the swarm. The sturdy Wenceslas plants his feet in the slippery mud, holding his lantern aloft and slides no further. Several bats hit Yarnold's left leg. He recovers his stance, but his flailing arms hit Zygmund square in the chest! It's enough to put the sorcerer's apprentice on his butt. He hits a patch of slick mud and slides down the tunnel, quickly gaining momentum. Xerxes plants his shovel in the mud, and Zygmund reaches for it with his free hand...but it's also now covered in mud and slaps helplessly at the shaft. Rolf, Legless, and Margit fall but are able to recover. They all watch in despair as his torchlight continues down the tunnel. The quick-moving light illuminates the end of the tunnel some 30' ahead. Zygmund zips out of sight, and the light is extinguished!

[Marullus]

Rolf fumbles in the dark, sparking his next torch.

Bobwhite examines their surroundings, as does legless, for anything of interest besides guano and nitre.

[AleBelly]

The party continues down the tunnel, finding it very steep in the last ten feet. Zygmund must have picked up quite a bit of speed as he exited the tunnel. They make their way down with care, and look ahead as they enter another large natural cavern.

You see two things of note in the slimy, guano-covered cavern floor. (Presumably) Odlo's footsteps and a groove in the slime leading to a chasm a dozen or so feet ahead!

The footsteps in the slime lead to a mossy, rotten tree that crosses the 20’ chasm. The tree was obviously placed here as a rough bridge, as the gulf seems too wide to jump, but that was clearly long ago. Outcroppings of rocks jut out from the far side, and you can barely discern— a door?—set into the far wall.

The groove ends at the edge of the chasm. You see Zygmund struggling, his hands dug into the slimy earth, gripping with all his might as his legs dangle over the edge!

[Stirling]

Zygmund

It was either hold on to his firebrand or his Grimoire, he couldn't do both and still grip the precipice edge.

The book won and thus he dangles by own hand in the dark until others illuminate his plight.

Xerxes reaches out with his long shovel, wiped free of slimy mud. "Put the book on the spade end." he calls, trying to offer it as an outstretched tray to the wizard's apprentice who balances the Grimoire tome on top, thus freeing his hand to try and scramble back up.

Xerxes: rescues using his long shovel. [1d20-1]=9-1=8

If safe enough to reach out and pull him up others will otherwise we might need to rope up lest more slip and crash over the edge.

Once up we will examine the tree trunk bridge.

[Marullus]

Bracing himself carefully on the slimy edge, Rolf reaches down to help grab Xygmund and pull him up.
Strength [1d20+1]=12+1=13

[OGRE MAGE]

Legless looks around at the footprints and groove through the slime. Does it appear that the tree was dragged into place, thereby forming the grove? Or is there something else?

He continues to stay in the shadows, using his Highlighted Senses whenever possible to look around for things the others might miss.

[AleBelly]

Zygmund's fellow citizens aid him back to his feet, being careful to not slip on the slick earth. They take stock of their surroundings.

The old rotten tree trunk spanning the chasm must have been in its place for some time...there are no marks indicating it had been recently moved. Legless examines the groove in the slimy mud. It was certainly made by Zygmund's backside as he slid nearly into the chasm.

The party surmises the trunk was sturdy enough for Odlo to cross, as they can see what look like his footprints leading away from the trunk on the other side of the chasm, heading towards the door in the far wall.

As they continue to take in their surroundings, the party hears a faint "help me" from the chasm. Torch- and lantern-light reaches to the floor of the chasm, where they see a robed, human-shaped figure, lying still and in an awkward position among detritus such as stones and old sticks. The figure doesn't move. About two minutes later, they hear "help me" again. Both times the voice is faint, and sounds like it comes from an older man.

Rough map: the party came from the tunnel at the top of the picture. Each square is 5' a side.

Chasm.png (900.86 KiB) Viewed 229 times

[Stirling]

W, X, Y, Z.

Zygmund

Looks down into the chasm towards the groaning old man.

"That is not Odlo is it?" He tries to signal the man to let him know help my be coming.

"Old man we are coming. How do we get down. Are there steps or a ladder? What's your name? Can you walk?" He is a flurry of questions, trying to hold back the thought it could have been him lying there broken and injured on the chasm floor.

Yarnold, holds back his own questions but murmurs to others that "I have a bad feeling about this." He keeps his sword drawn, pointing across the trunk to the door.

"Maybe the old man is a hermit who never paid his rent and got his just desserts being turfed out." he quips.

Xerxes & Wenceslas examine the log and it's sturdiness. An able, unencumbered person might make it across without issue, the dwarf thinks.

"Wipe your boots free of mud. Lessen any slippage risk. Then follow me. Don't look down, you might get vertigo and look out for more bats swooping." Wenceslas advises.

Tunnel dexterity checks vs : Wenceslas [1d20+1]=20+1=21 Xerxes [1d20-1]=15-1=14

The dwarf balances on the trunk and once successful, signals the gravedigger Xerxes to follow. His intent is to get to the door in the wall.

[Marullus]

Rolf looks down into the chasm, standing next to Zygmund, chewing his lip as he tries to think of a plan.

"Oh, hells no," says Bobwhite. He then clambers up onto the log and crosses behind Wenceslas and Xerxes.

Seeing the others dare the log, Rolf concedes to follow. He waits for them to cross safely, then attempts it himself.

[OGRE MAGE]

Finding nothing in the shadows, Legless moves to where the voice is coming from.

"Tie a rope around me and lower me down to him. I don't even want to think about crossing the log with these sticks of mine."

The elf volunteers to be dropped down by rope to aid the fallen man, doing so if anyone has a rope.

[AleBelly]

A quick look at the character sheets suggests none of those in this room have a rope to lower Legless down. Any other ideas?

[AleBelly]

Lantern: Wenceslas. Torch: Rolf

After wiping the soles of their feet, Wenceslas and Xerxes cross the log bridge, judging it sturdy enough. They make it across with little difficulty. Bobwhite, wanting nothing to do with whatever is at the bottom of the chasm, crosses next, followed by Rolf.

Yarnold remains on the other side with Legless, Margit, and a guano- and mud-caked Zygmund. The wizard's apprentice offers succor to the voice below along with questions. None are answered in a direct sense. Instead, the faint "help me" is repeated every minute or two.

Legless looks for a way down into the chasm. Margit is lost in thought.

As Wenceslas and Xerxes make their way to the far door (along with Odlo's footsteps), Yarnold, Zygmund, Legless, and Margit are closer to being plunged into darkness.

[OGRE MAGE]

Sorry, I should have looked through the sheets before suggesting that.

Legless looks up with one eyebrow raised at the same response over and over. He starts to time the intervals by counting out the seconds between the calls for help.

"I will try to climb down to you!" He lies. "What is your name? How did this happen to you?"

[CAI4]

Margit Looks down the chasm before looking to Legless. “This is a damn trap if I’ve ever seen one, may sound gross but I suggest throwing a body down there before you descend to ensure it’s a safe place to enter”

[Stirling]

W, X, Y, Z

Zygmund looks down from whence the voice came, at the crumpled robed figure on the chasm floor below.

He has a idea, (a little tongue of flame icon pings in his memory recall), "Maester Mimm used to snap his fingers and call forth orbs of radiance to illuminate as clouds of Light. I scribbled a few lecture notes but have not yet proved able to replicate his arcane arts.

As good a time as any ..." He tries to flip through his Black Grimoire, tracing runes and scrawlings, muttering arcane glossolalia with his lips while he takes a second torch from his satchel.

If all else fails he will strike the firebrand and hold it shamefully, but first, rubbing his hands over the torch's phosphorous head, kissing the flinty strike cord and adding a flourish of somatic gestures towards the chasm, he tries to invoke a Light spell.

Zygmund: 14 Intelligence: using Black Grimoire: Light spell [1d20]=2

Hoping he hasn't just set himself on fire instead!

Yarnold would stand in agreement with Margit, "Sounds like a broken parrot on repeat. A distraction to draw us in. We should proceed with caution."

Once more light is available, he will go check out the left hand side of the chasm, looking for a more obvious way down than falling over the edge.

Yarnold: searches the Chasm top edge: [1d20]=4

Meanwhile Xerxes & Wenceslas advance to the door. Is it locked?

[Marullus]

Is the door open or closed? Evidence of where and how it was touched when opened? Splatters of blood? Teeth and claw marks?

Bobwhite scoots forward and peers through the doorway into the darkness beyond the lantern light, nonetheless safe behind the legs of Wenceslas and Xerxes.

Rolf lingers guiltily at the rear, letting his torch last what illumination it can across the chasm. "...are you coming?" he asks. He continues on when the others pass through the doorway so as to not lose the foreward group.

[AleBelly]

Lantern: Wenceslas. Torch: Rolf

As before, the voice from the bottom of the chasm continues to be unresponsive to Legless' questions. The elven forester counts the intervals between calls of "help me" and discerns that indeed, they are coming at very regular intervals...about every 90 seconds.

Zygmund thumbs through his grimoire after pulling a torch from his satchel. He speaks an arcane language, moving his hand over the torch head. Nothing. But he is able to ignite the torch the old fashioned way, producing another source of light in the cavernous room! Yarnold looks up and down the chasm for a climbable path down, but the walls are sheer. Lowering one down by rope appears to be the only method at the party's disposal to venture below.

Margit suggests a trap lies below, as Wenceslas, Xerxes, Rolf, and Bobwhite make their way towards the door on the other side of the chasm, following what they presume to be Odlo's footsteps in the muck. The woodcutter's guilt is lessened now that those he's leaving on the other side of the chasm have their own light source.

Upon close inspection, the weathered door appears dry-rotted but sturdy. There are no splatters of blood, nor marks of violence upon it. Crouching under the legs of Xerxes, Bobwhite gives it a push. Rusty hinges creak as it opens easily, revealing an open chamber of smooth marble walls and ornate tile floors covered in dust. Twenty feet ahead in the room, a circular column of water, six feet in diameter, rises from a well in the floor. It stands perfectly placid and still, defying gravity as it reaches all the way from floor to ceiling where it disappears
into another hole above.

Lantern: Wenceslas. Torch: Rolf, Zygmund

[Stirling]

W, X, Y, Z.

Zygmund hides his inability to reproduce the very basics of wizardry behind the bright firebrand flames. He hurries after the more able, concerned that he might be left behind and hearing strange echoes of groans and cries coming from the tunnel they descended. He wonders how the others prosper with the ledge exploration.

Zygmund: crossing the log: [1d20-1]=18-1=17

Yarnold, casts a loose rock towards the robed figure, not trying to hit him but roll it nearby as if to set off a trap or springwire.

Yarnold: throws rock near robed figure: [1d20]=15

After tossing the rock, he hurries after the others and across the log.

Yarnold: log across chasm: [1d20]=17

Inside the room, it is a strange scene. Xerxes tugs on the cloak of Wenceslas .

"I have a bad feeling about this room!" he doomsayeths. He looks for Odlo's boot prints in the dusty surface and checks out the tiles for 'ancient glyphs, runes and wards'. The place gives him a temple or shrine feel, reminiscent of church naves and mausoleums.

Xerxes: Intelligence to inspect the ornate tiles: [1d20]=15

Wenceslas has more interest in the strange waters. The no-flow column is still liquid not ice?

It is a strange phenomenon. He wonders what magic is at play here. He doesn't trespass into the room until Xerxes confirms it safe to cross the tiling. Observing the room and any alcoves, corners and other features of construction.

Wenceslas: Intelligence (15) mining / subterranean check [1d20]=5

[OGRE MAGE]

Legless shakes his head.

“I have no idea what is happening here. Some kind of creature that can mimic our tongue perhaps?”

He awaits the results of Yarnolds rock tossing experiment, lighting a torch of his own, but not tossing it down yet.

“Should we light something on fire and toss it in to see what happens?”

The crippled elf lays on his stomach with his head over the edge, inhaling deeply, trying to ascertain if there is any smell coming from the body.

[Marullus]

Bobwhite and Rolf examine the tiled room with the magical water column.

Rolf sizes the room and looks for other exits, as well as finding where Odlo's footprints lead. If it is 20 feet to the column and it is in the center room then the room is 46 feet across? Is the room square or round? Is it longer in one direction? Are there other doors? Do disturbances in the dust indicate any passage but Odlo?

Bobwhite, on the other hand, curiously observes the water. He unwraps a raw chicken thigh and tosses it in to the water column from a respectful distance. Does it break the surface? Is it corrosive to the raw flesh? Does it flow with a current upwards or downwards? Do piranhas come forth to eat it?