Chapter Two: Back into the Mountain

[Lamech]

IC: Steel will do his best to tend to the wounded, not that he can do much. He speaks quitely "Well, it looks like we took out the skeletons. Hopefully that's the last of them but if its not... I probably brought too much junk" he shrugs looking at the fallen bag before continuing. "I think it might be best to leave the armour on the fallen for now. I don't want to make much noise.

OOC: Didn't some people go down? Also sorry about the lack of color. The widgets all vanished in low graphics mode.

[drpete]

The only casualty on your side was the automaton. Everyone else that suffered damage stayed up.

I take it from the fact you didnt much discuss it that Steel doesn't particularly want to save the food, water or torches. If you want to redistribute anything into your bag, let me know. You have constraints from the carrying capacity of the bag (6 stone) and of your movement rate.

[barkman]

Randolpho will grab some chips of the skeletons, (some hand size pieces) and put them in his pack.

[drpete]

Is this just for purposes of identifying what that stuff on the bones it, or to earn money? One "monster part"... a skull here, maybe, would be 2 "items" worth of encumbrance here, and be worth about 20 gp.

[barkman]

A little of everything, some souvenir, maybe something the size of say, a sharks tooth to put on a necklace, some other parts for experimentation, others to sell to people back in town/adamas.

[drpete]

It looks like you can fit up to about 40 gp worth of bones in your pack at the moment. That would be a few handfuls of bones from a couple of them, and qualify as two "monster parts" You could take less, if you want.

This is assuming you still have the two war masks.

Please mark them on your sheet, along with the masks.

[Dogma]

Ranulf picks up a femur and swings it around, testing its weight and possible use as a club, "That black stuff made those skeletons pretty tough..wonder how it would fair if we smack them with their own bones,"

We should definitely try to find someone to figure out what as mede them black...might be a way to negate the extra hardness it gives them.

[drpete]

It looks like Ranulf has about 9 1/2 stone encumbrance at the moment. If you want, he can take a few "items" worth of the bones without falling down to the next lower speed category, but he's pretty full up at the moment. You guys can also reduce some of your carried weight by drinking down your water...

[drpete]

So, ummmm... what's next, guys? Did you want to smash the statues, investigate either the passage the first group came from or the door the second group came from? What's the group's next move?

[Lamech]

OOC: Steel doesn't want to take the time to sort out what would make the most sense. He thinks they should be a retreat with due haste. But not undue haste, that gets you killed.

[Dogma]

Other than Solaine's injuries and a busted automaton we're not in bad shape. I vote we stash some of the stuff the automaton was carrying back in the store room (where all the dust was) and carry on a bit further....maybe the door the first group came from.

We'll just need to keep Solaine out of the front line if we run into anything.

[kalstone]

Solaine says, "I'm doing better now, thanks to Galen. I agree that we should at least check out the rooms the skeletons came from." She looks at the stone dwarves. "I don't think we should take the chance of making more noise though. Their armor isn't going anywhere. We can retrieve it from them next trip."

Solaine will give Galen 10gp to compensate him for the comfrey.

[Zorroroaster]

"Aye, let's leave the hammerin' be, then. I agree, let's scout out down the hall and see where that first bunch of skeletons came from."

[drpete]

Date: Skullmont 9, 1:50 pm
Season: Early Fall
Moon phase: First Quarter
Light Sources: Brother Galen (Lantern, 3 hours, 20 minutes remaining), Climent (Lantern, 3 hours, 20 minutes remaining)
Time since rest: 40 minutes
Location: Moldy Room

After resting from the fight, treating Solaine's wounds, and collecting a few souveniers from the battle, the group decides to go down the southwest passage, to see where the first group of skeletons came from. That hallway continues 20 feet west before turning south, going 10 more feet, then ending at a reinforced oaken door. Torgyr sets to work (as usual) investigating the door, and finds that it has no traps on it, and is not locked. After everyone readies themselves, you enter. The door opens into the northeast corner of a 30x30 room. Another wooden door is in the center of the south wall.

This room smells foul. The room's floor is covered with an ancient, filthy carpet, which is covered with dark bloodstains, and has mostly been overgrown with a sickly orange mold. The room seems to have once been somewhat fancy, and you can see the remains of several tables and chairs that once were of decent quality, but which now just litter the room with broken pieces of wood.

Time that went by... one turn for the fight & aftermath, one turn to go down the corridor, one turn to check for traps

[Zorroroaster]

Torgyr holds one hand close to his nose to block out the stench, muffling the sound of his voice.

"Ugh. Why don't we quietly head back to the statue room and take a breather. Then, assuming we are all still in one piece we can have a look at the other chamber the second group of guardians came from. After that I think it might be wise to retreat to our base camp to regroup. If we run into any more of these skeletons we are going to need better weaponry."

Map updated.

[kalstone]

Solaine agrees. "Let's see that last room and be done with this place for today."

[drpete]

Map updated.

Just a note... the tunnel goes 20 feet, *then* turns south, so 20 feet straight, then a passage south on the 3rd 10 foot square.

[Zorroroaster]

gotcha, thanks. I'll edit it later this eve.

[drpete]

Date: Skullmont 9, 2:10 pm
Season: Early Fall
Moon phase: First Quarter
Light Sources: Brother Galen (Lantern, 3 hours, 0 minutes remaining), Climent (Lantern, 3 hours, 0 minutes remaining)
Time since rest: 10 minutes
Location: Chapel

Grossed out by the moldy room, the group retreats to the room with the statues and has a breather. They then head over to check out the door where the second group of skeletons came from. Torgyr checks it for traps, and listens, finding nothing.

The door opens in the center of the north wall of a 30x30 room, which seems to be a chapel. On the east and west sides of the room are rows of large, decorative marble columns going north to south, each of which has niches on it where a person could stand. There are 3 columns on each side-- they are 5 feet from the walls, and separated from their neighbors by 10 feet. A clear aisle, 20 feet wide, runs down the middle of the room to a marble altar in the center of the south wall. The altar is clearly chipped and damaged.

Solaine instantly recognizes this as a chapel to Mavors. It has, however been desecrated, as the images of Mavors over the altar have had the faces painted over with the beaded face of Turms Termax, who is grinning a big happy grin instead of showing a war face.

[Zorroroaster]

Map fixed and updated.

Torgyr moves to carefully inspect the niches in the walls to see if there is anything of interest in them.

"I can see this Termax really appreciates the value of humility. Something tells me this place isn't big enough to hold his ego."