Part 9: Plundering the Plunderers' Plunder

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May 3, 2022 5:18 pm
KCC says:
OOC:
Trying to recall where we might need to go to advance! I think Gilly and Mal went down to the ghoul pit and found it a dead end. Did we?

Was there another door after the ogre pit? Something that was all barred up? I can’t recall. Or was that the door that we entered to get to the ogre pit?
OOC:
The only door beyond the Orge room (that the party is aware of) was the small storage room that the Ogre's "toys" were being locked in (the gnome and the two merchants). In the ghoul pit, Gilly and Mal found the room continued on in two directions.
To the east...
https://i.imgur.com/XT9AGeb.gif[/ooc]
OOC:
And off to the south...
https://i.imgur.com/u7k6IGg.gif
OOC:
The party skedaddled without exploring either option.
Mal and Thurig attempt to spot any anomalies or signs of danger in the door leading down through the post, but nothing is evident to their eyes.

LUBAN opts to quaff a Potion of Detect Danger. His belly begins to feel a bit of warmth, that starts to rise up into his chest, almost as a mild case of heartburn. As the sensation rises from his torso, he feels his face go flush and a pressure builds behind his eyes. His mind somehow seems more alert and attuned to the room around him.
OOC:
Because we're in a dungeon, Luban has 3 10-minute Turns to use his potion in any way he likes, and because this is non-combat time right now, that's basically thirty minutes the potion is in effect. However, searching large 10'x10' areas during dungeon exploration time basically takes a full 10-minute Turn, so in theory, he basically has thirty minutes to search three large 10'x10' areas. Searching small areas (like a chest or a door) only takes a single round, which is about ten seconds (60 Rounds in a ten-minute Turn). So you can basically search small things no problem. Searching large things is going to burn up some of your Potion time. Just let me know what you wish to search in the next thirty minutes, and any 10'x10' areas he'd like to focus on at any given time.
https://i.imgur.com/93uFt3j.png
May 3, 2022 9:11 pm
Convinced that the dwarfs had not found anything, Luban opens the doorway and begins his descent into the darkness. The small pile of ghouls at the bottom of the drop gives him some small comfort, as he had been told the party had slain the danger in this coming chamber.
May 3, 2022 9:21 pm
Mal and Thurig follow close behing the rogue, the return to the crypt sending chills down Mal's spine.
May 3, 2022 9:46 pm
Eltrezar moves to the ladderwell with his lantern out, providing light for those without the ability to see in the dark. He makes sure not to be the last one down. And it is noticable that he is uncharacteristically quiet.

KCC

May 4, 2022 12:29 am
Gilly follows down the ladder immediately after Eltrezar, careful not to do anything that might look like she was prodding the wizard. When they reach the door of the ladder, she looks back up at Ora peering down. She’s reminded of looking up as the wizard moved away…

She turns to face the corridor again, and pushes in front of the old wizard by sliding between him and the wall. It would be impossible to see the look that she gave the man beneath her bushy red hair and cloak, but all she says is:

"It’ll be easier for me to see, if the light is behind me!"

A trust building exercise!
May 4, 2022 2:51 am
The wizard frowns in confusion before it dawns on him that Gilly may be trying to bridge the recent gap between them. He nods, before leaning his long arms over the ladderwell with illumination in hand. Hrmph! "Be careful down there, who knows what the dead may do now."

KCC

May 4, 2022 1:57 pm
Ora drops down behind the wizard.

"Oh, it’s a tight fit down here. A bit of a bottleneck, should anything worse than rats show up! Lets move along then!"

She lays a hand on the old magic users back, and pats twice. Onward, good chap…
May 5, 2022 2:44 pm
As the party begins filtering down into the tight hallway, Luban takes the lead with his bow drawn and arrow in hand. He seems oddly at home in the dark belowground, though his stumbling and lack of surety regarding directions tells the dwarfs that this place in particular is new to him. Once he makes it past the hallway of death (as Gilly would have him believe it titled), he suggests that he and the dwarfs take a look around the general proximity while the rest of the party waits in the center.
May 6, 2022 10:26 pm
The party passes through the narrow, 50' corridor, and enters the crypts proper. Though some may have feared that they might meet with a hostile Turuko and Kobort, risen from the dead, and determined to exact revenge for being behind left to rot, their corpses remain on the floor motionless, stripped of flesh and meat on places.

As noted previously but only briefly by Mal and Gilly, this section of the crypts runs north and south, with a second area in the eastern wall continuing on. At the end of this second section of crypts a door continues south.
At the southern end of the first section, where most of the party waits, the back wall of one of the crypts is broken out, revealing a small earthen tunnel, foul and damp and inly about five feet in height, extending onto the darkness beyond.

https://i.imgur.com/GZ7tGy4.png

KCC

May 8, 2022 5:57 am
Gilly peers into the tunnel, as far as the light will allow. She feels for her short sword, and then looks back at the others.

"It’ll be a tight fit for the long legs! We should look for another way, first. And then…" she looks back at the hole in the wall "… we can go down there, if needs be."

She speaks in a questioning tone, rather than authoritative!
May 8, 2022 4:05 pm
The damp, earthen tunnel seems to extend southwards beyond the reach of Gilly's torch.
https://i.imgur.com/UH01BLW.png

Rolls

Secret Roll

May 8, 2022 7:40 pm
"Aye, let's try the Eastern hallway first."

Assuming the others agree, Mal leads the way through the Eastern passage...
May 8, 2022 9:36 pm
OOC:
Assuming the others agree, same marching order as when you descended the stairs?
May 8, 2022 9:41 pm
OOC:
Eltrezar and Luban agree with the dwarf. Same marching order. Luban will also examine the first room they come to.

KCC

May 9, 2022 10:36 am
OOC:
Aye! Let’s go there first! Though I feel like the tunnel is inviting us in…
May 9, 2022 7:18 pm
The party decides to head through the threshold in the eastern wing of the burial crypts, where a short hallway runs south for about 20' before turning eastward. As the group presses forward and takes a glance around the corner, the light of the torches and lanterns reveal the walls, floor, and ceiling extending into darkness. However, beyond the meager reach of the torchbearers' illumination, Luban and the two dwarves see that the hall extends about fifty feet and then stops at a "T" intersection running north and south.
https://i.imgur.com/7dXLQ2h.gif

Cautiously venturing on, the party crosses the 50' distance. With the dwarves' short legs and heavy armor, the process is painstakingly slow, all eyes watching the walls and floors for traps, triggers, clues or signs of danger, and any other elements of interest. At the end and to the south, a set of stairs, about 20' in length, descends deeper into the earth before leveling out. Those with Infravision see that the hallway continues for another 20-30' before turning back westward again.
To the north, the hallway runs on into darkness beyond even the dwarves' and half-orc's vision, though those with Infravision see that at about 35-40' another hall or room runs to the east.

https://i.imgur.com/Mny2xu4.gif
May 9, 2022 7:25 pm
With a degree of practice and comfort that may surprise the dwarfs, Luban retrieves his original gold coin and flips it, muttering "Crowns to the left, asses head right..." The coin is revealed from the back of his hand to show nothing more than a smooth face (with the nearly completely worn face of some regional leader face-down). He looks to the corridor to the right, then back at the group. "Unless any of you have a better idea?"
Last edited May 9, 2022 7:27 pm

Rolls

Direction: Left/Odds, Right/Evens - (1d2)

(2) = 2

KCC

May 10, 2022 12:51 am
Ora pushes up to the front for a moment.

"Which way smells less bad? I’ve heard that’s a good way to know which way to go." she sniffs the air. Not much to go on either way.

"Well… hard to tell really. Let’s follow the coin then! Come what may!" she says with a smile on the dark, and sidles back down to where Gilly is sitting, watching their back.
May 10, 2022 6:44 pm
Taking a chance on the thief's flipped coin, the group descends the stone stairs and continues south. As they advance along the corridor, the party begins to hear the faint sound of lapping water, the noise coming from another hall or room to the right. Continuing cautiously, those in the lead, including the Man-at-Arms, bearing a torch, and Luban, gifted with Infravision, peer around the corner to find an unexpected sight.
https://i.imgur.com/xJITTtq.gif

A 30' x 30' room sits off to the right of the hallway, the center of which contains a large pool of water about 15-20' across. Bones and other litter lay in and around the edges of the pool.

Rolls

Secret Roll

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