Chapter Five: Bapdis Orjo's Gift of Reconciliation

Vhezyen cannot make any sense of the diagram.

A reminder, the east passage from the slab room was sealed off by a flat stone door with no handles or markings. It was not clear how to open it; pushing did nothing.

So... I get what you guys are going for here, but the inherent assumption you're making is that we will be able to return to every room/chamber. Also, RP-wise... it doesn't make sense to me to walk around and just tour the dungeon, then revisit each room later for actual investigation.

I'm in no hurry. I enjoy dungeon exploration, and am not keen to miss a 'Wormfellow' type experience. I'd like to fully explore the dungeon, and I'd rather not skip a bunch of stuff, find the elf-mage, and then ask: "Hey Pafthinel, mind if we search your dungeon?"

And really, I don't think we're pressed for time. Maybe I'm wrong... but I don't think so.

Well, you have a fairly generous but limited time here before your ride home leaves without you. It's getting into evening of the first day by now.

What's the plan?

I do think our priority has to be finding Pafthinel, though I feel like we're missing out on lots of interesting things because I know pbo builds incredible stuff. But from an RP perspective, our mission here is (a) time-limited; (b) some of us have people & situations on the mainland that are under pressure/threat and we came here to get some answers and get back with that information.

So I'm kinda viewing the investigative pieces as us trying to get some clues as to Pafthinel's location/activities so that we might find him faster, but not being down out of the sake of simple curiosity. I say we move north and get as much of this dungeon/bunker scouted out as possible before we find a safe place to hunker over night; if he's not here we probably need to head to the smoking hill tomorrow.

I don't think mapping out the entire cave system is necessary right now; maybe just take a peek in all the nearby rooms and then decide what order to explore them more thoroughly, and then move on to the next set of rooms. Take it in chunks.

Is moving north what the party is doing?

Fine with me.

*approval stamp*

Backtracking to the first chamber of this subterranean complex, the party explores the north passage, a 25' descending tunnel that veers slightly to the east, declining steeply. It opens to a vast, somewhat kidney-shaped room, 30' wide and 60' long as it curves further eastward.

This room, lit by fire-bowls like the others, is cluttered with junk along the length of the walls: barrels, amphorae, stools and small tables, shelves full of pottery, a small canoe. None of it looks especially valuable or interesting. There is a passage leading out of this room to the east.

The east exit leads to a short, 15' hallway that opens to a wider hallway running south, veering east and descending after about 30'. To the right of the entrance is an alcove in which a few long-handled tools -- a hook, a net, some poles, a pair of oars -- are leaning.