Chapter Three: The Last Dream of Mirza Horgul

Shamush hands Zangua his torch and lights one of his own, an eye kept on the dark tunnel before him. He glances around for signs of recent passage. He asks quietly, "Who's first? One of you better at sniffing out tracks?"

Does the 'room' seem to be naturally formed?

Feb 29, 2016 3:51 pm

Mordred offers to scout down the passage in the dark a ways, if the party is interested in him doing that. He would be sure to make minimal disruptions to the tracks already there.

I'll add some rolls in case we agree that it's a good approach, otherwise ignore.

EDIT: I've got to improve my Perception.

Last edited February 29, 2016 3:52 pm

Rolls

Stealth - (1d20+5)

(8) + 5 = 13

Stealth (Advantage for darkness?) - (1d20+5)

(19) + 5 = 24

Nature/Investigation (same modifier) for tracking - (1d20)

(13) = 13

Perception - (1d20)

(4) = 4

Feb 29, 2016 5:00 pm

To Shamush's eyes, the room is too smooth and symmetrical to be naturally formed.

Feb 29, 2016 5:07 pm

thedandyman Inactive forever!

OOC:

I have a decent Survival skill for tracking but having the stealthier guy go first seems good. Seems like there's only one exit and the tracks go that way - we'd only need to be careful of erasing them if we get to a junction with multiple paths.

Leth Everwood

Feb 29, 2016 8:17 pm

Leth gives a worried glance down the hole, then shrugs and begins his attempt to climb down the rope.

Rolls

Athletics - (1d20+3)

(7) + 3 = 10

Mar 1, 2016 4:31 pm

Mordred scouts about 40' down the passage, at which point it curves sharply to the south. Narrow ridges in the ground provide a foothold as the passage declines. The muddy footprints soon fade.

Mar 1, 2016 5:52 pm

Mordred goes back to report to the party and then continues to scout the passage around the corner.

Rolls

Stealth - (1d20+5)

(16) + 5 = 21

Perception - (1d20)

(20) = 20

Mar 1, 2016 6:35 pm

The passage curves back around to the east in a U-bend about 30' long, then veers south, widening a bit, still descending.

There are some scratches on the outer wall of the bend.

Mar 1, 2016 6:50 pm

Mordred again circles back to the rest of the party, then rushes ahead to investigate the scratches, attempting to tell what they were made by/with, when they were made, and if they are intended to pass on some sort of message or information.

Rolls

Investigation - (1d20)

(17) = 17

Zangua

CancerMan

Mar 1, 2016 6:56 pm

Zangua keeps moving along, content to let the tiefling scout the passageway. He stops when the group stops, and proceeds when the group proceeds.

He does manage to work his way towards the front of the main group, using the first torch picked up by Shamush to light another from his pack.

Mar 1, 2016 7:11 pm

Mordred is not sure what to make of the scratches. There are about two dozen of them, all about 5" long, in varying orientations. They don't form any kind of recognizable pattern.

Mar 2, 2016 12:29 am

OOC:

I assume the party is following some distance behind Mordred?

Felor feels at home in the dark tunnels - he'd spent a good deal of time in mountain caverns back in Jerma, and made the occasional visit to dwarvern settlements. He's interested to hear of the strange scratches on the wall - from Mordred's description they don't seem to be runes, or an attempt at communication, nor the regular, methodical marks of a pick or chisel. As the party advances, he inspects them in the light from his spear, running his hand over the surface. Could some creature have made these? Or a person?

What is the tunnel wall made of, dirt?
Nature check - do they seem like claw or fingernail scratches?
Edit: I Am A Nature Priest, Yep

Last edited March 2, 2016 12:30 am

Rolls

Nature check - (1d20+3)

(1) + 3 = 4

Mar 2, 2016 3:56 am

The surfaces here are hard packed earth. The scratches...something sharp made them.

Mar 2, 2016 12:07 pm

Felor puzzles over the scratches. "These don't seem like fingernail marks. Nor are they where something scraped the sides as it was moved through the tunnel - they'd be aligned in the same direction. We should be cautious, all manner of creatures may inhabit these tunnels."

Mar 2, 2016 1:08 pm

Mordred will continue his approach of scouting ahead and then returning to the party, at least until we come upon a junction or something else requiring party input.

I'll give you a few Stealth/Perception rolls. Use them as you see fit.

Rolls

Stealth 1 - (1d20+5)

(16) + 5 = 21

Stealth 2 - (1d20+5)

(9) + 5 = 14

Stealth 3 - (1d20+5)

(19) + 5 = 24

Perception 1 - (1d20)

(16) = 16

Perception 2 - (1d20)

(9) = 9

Perception 3 - (1d20)

(20) = 20

Mar 2, 2016 1:12 pm

Here's a map I've started. I'll update it as we go. Let me know if I get something wrong, Octo.

Zangua

CancerMan

Mar 2, 2016 3:50 pm

Zangua briefly looks over the scratches that everyone else was studying, mostly to see if anything remotely recognizable stands out. He goes so far as to squint like he is trying to discern whether there is a sailboat in the middle of all of it.

Rolls

Investigation - (1d20)

(19) = 19

Mar 2, 2016 4:03 pm

A schooner is a sailboat, Zangua.

Mar 2, 2016 4:12 pm

The map looks good.

Zangua examines the scratches. Nothing looks recognizable to him, but his gut tells him there's something deliberate about them.

Mordred continues on, emerging from the widening of the passage into another oval chamber, 50'x20' (dimensions will always be given in x, y axis order on whatever your map orientation is), with a higher ceiling than the first, about 15'. There are tunnel entrances at the east and west ends, and near those, tunnels leading southwest and southeast.

This chamber has a sour, musty smell. Bits of detritus crunch under your feet. In the center of the chamber is a stone block about 3' wide, covered in markings. On closer inspection, Mordred can see that the markings are writing in an archaic dialect of thieves' cant. He can make out a few words: "happy," "goblin," "three," "road," but the gestalt of it is not immediately clear.

Mordred will need to make an Insight check to decipher this further, unless anyone else knows thieves' cant.

Mar 2, 2016 4:19 pm