2. The First Delve

"Not interested. They can come and fight for it later." she says while enjoying the fire's heat. She obviously isn't in taking any bully for an unseen group.

Fallen Shrine of St. Ras

Fenwick’s forensic analysis of the technicalities of the Ghost Beggars’ demands is apparently wasted, as no reply is forthcoming from the darkness of the trees. Before long, you see the lights from four torches winding their way back up towards the top of the canyon to the southwest.

The rest of the night passes largely uneventfully. On a couple of occasions, those on watch are disturbed by bird-like creatures encircling the shrine, but they soon leave, flying away to the east.

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So, unless you would like to do anything else during the night, we can fast-forward to the following morning. What’s the plan?

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Day 2, 8:00 am
Bea, Thief 1: 3/3
Fenwick, Elf 1: 5/5
Gabbro, Elf 1: 7/7
Ricard, Fighter 1: 7/7
Swan, Fighter 1: 5/6


Link to Gabbro's mega-maps ...

Fenwick is nonplussed by their lack of response.

"Had a feeling they'd flee in the face of requests for clarification to contractual details."

She gets what rest she can while keeping her weapons and armor within reach.

"They are just common thugs. I had hopes that my wounds I had would heal over the night but hasn't. I really need another day's rest. I have no plans to join Druin just yet."

"World is run by thugs," sighs Ricard as he finishes the last of his ration.

"Only fools think to bravery, those who would be wealthy know the value of bargaining."

Ricard rolls his eyes at the mention of another days downtime, but holds his tongue. He hadn't brought enough rations to occupy the valley for long, come sunrise he would be seeking greater fortunes one way or the other.

Gabbro sees Ricard's eyeroll and shares his impatience, but also doesn't want to continue with one less hand. "What do you think?" he asks the fighter, "Should we try to bag a goat for some food? There's plenty of them that come down to the pool for a drink, judging by the tracks."

If we do decide to linger for a day, we will try to kill, clean, and cook a goat. We don't have a way to preserve the meat, but if we catch one, we can eat well today and tomorrow morning. Gabbro will also try to surreptitiously see if he can tell whether there are tracks of four people, or more than four, from the group that approached them last night.

It’s up to you of course, but as a kind and benevolent DM I will point out that you’re taking quite a gamble with wandering monster rolls for the sake of 1 character gaining 1 hit point if you decide to rest up for the day in the canyon. A character needs uninterrupted rest for a complete day to see any recovery. Any hostile wandering monster encounter would constitute such an interruption. And you may collectively end up losing more than 1 hit point in such an encounter.

The only safe way to naturally heal is to return to town.

Anyway, let me have your final decision on this.

Think of it more like "missing in action". It wasn't uncommon in the kind of old school game we are emulating for characters to drop in and out depending on the availability of their associated players. I'm not going to get hung up on character continuity issues.

It's half a day's march back to town. So that would take a minimum of two days in total - half a day there, one day of rest, half a day back again.

Sounds like a plan.

Well, let's see if that's the group consensus. I'll wait for feedback from the others before updating.

So we seem to be 3:1 in favour of returning to the dungeon on the morning of Day 2. I will proceed along those lines.

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Day 2, 8:00 am
Bea, Thief 1: 3/3
Fenwick, Elf 1: 5/5
Gabbro, Elf 1: 7/7
Ricard, Fighter 1: 7/7
Swan, Fighter 1: 5/6
Tiberious, Magic-User 1: 5/5


Link to Gabbro's mega-maps ...

The Hellions, boosted by the arrival of Bea and Tiberious, retrace their steps back to Stonehell’s Grand Foyer at the bottom of the spiral entrance staircase.

I suggest you refer to Gabbro’s map (link below) to plan your next phase of exploration.

Please update your marching order in the "Marching Order" thread. And who is now carrying the lantern?

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Day 2, 8:20 am
Bea, Thief 1: 3/3
Fenwick, Elf 1: 5/5
Gabbro, Elf 1: 7/7
Ricard, Fighter 1: 7/7
Swan, Fighter 1: 5/6
Tiberious, Magic-User 1: 5/5

Link to Gabbro's mega-maps ...

"I think we should be careful to avoid the pit trap where I, err, met you all and explore the area on the other side. We should probably mark the safe passage through there somehow..."

"I'm game," Gabbro agrees. To Fenwick, he explains as they are heading back into the dungeon: "We heard another group coming through the Grand Foyer shortly after we arrived. Did you hear anything, before? If you didn't, that probably means that they went to the north, through those mouths...or they came from there, and went up the stairs." To the rest of the group, the elf adds: "It only just occurred to me that the people we heard down here might've been the 'tax collectors' who paid us that little visit last night." Assuming we don't run into any surprises, Gabbro will poke the ground ahead with the spear to find the edge of the pit trap, and then make a scrape on the wall there to show where we have to skirt the walls to avoid falling in. "Seeing the beetles come down the corridor from those mouths makes me less inclined to go that way - who wants to deal with more beetles? - but it reassures me that the mouths aren't some chomping trap. What do you think, Swan? Ricard? About those mouths, and whether we should go north or south now that we've crossed past the pit?"