CB's The Sunless Citadel v3.5

[CanadienneBacon]

Marching order: Grotz, Karl, Rogue, Elyan, Kiaphas, Korgrave. Let me know if this is not acceptable.

The switchbacking stairs are 5 feet wide and narrow in places to half that, making side-by-side progress impossible. With Rogue out front to guide him, Elyan keeps a hand on the wall whenever possible and follows after Grotz and Karl. Running looks to be dangerous but as long as a walking pace is kept, the stairs are passable. During the descent, Karl, Korgrave, and Grotz note a plentitude of crevisses, niches, and small darkened caves across the way from the stair. The ravine gradually widens from 40 feet to an expanse that drops into darkness not penetrable by the half-orcs' vision.

After passing down three switchbacks and across a second and third sandy landing, albeit smaller than the first sandy ledge, a fortress top emerges in darkness at the edge of the three-half orcs' sight. If the lightless windows, cracked crenellations, and leaning towers are any indication, the subterranean citadel, though impressive, seems long forgotten. All is quiet, though a cold breeze blows up from below, bringing with it hte scent of dust and a faint tracery of rot.

The narrow stairs empty into a small courtyard, apparently the top of what was once a crenellated battlement. The buried citadel has sunk so far into the earth that the battlement is now level with the surrounding cavern floor. The floor stretches away to the north and south, and is composed of a layer of treacherous crumbled masonry that reaches to an unknown depth. To the west looms the surviving structure of what must be the Citadel. A tower stands on the west side of the courtyard. The expanse of crumbled masonry surrounds the remains of the entire keep. Small rats can be seen fleeing from the light shed by Kiaphas's sunrod.

 

[Strahd_Von_Zarovich]

Grotzkoshter

Grotzkoshter stops on the last ledge and stare into the darkness
Wow, it's amazing, never knew there is a ruined fortress down here, I thought there is an underground river over here when I heard about this ravine a couple of weeks ago.
He then continue until they reach the small courtyard
Do you see anything?
He turns to Karl and whisper
What about your dog Elyan, maybe he can sniff around?

Grotz is nervous, he holds his greataxe so tightly, leaving red marks on his palms, the encounter with the soul sucking bat thing left him quite concerned.

 

[hafrogman]

Karl gazes around in astonishment at the fortress hidden at the bottom of the ravine. He takes a few steps forward, treading carefully. He can only shrug at Grotz's question. But the door tempts him. Who knows what might lie beyond it?

"I'm going to . . . investigate."

Unless anyone speaks up or anything new appears, Karl will creep forward to get a closer look at the door.

 

[CanadienneBacon]

Karl creeps forward toward the door to investigate. As Karl steps into the ten-foot section of flagstone flooring directly in front of the wooden door to the tower, the floor gives way. Karl's arms flail but find no purchase and the half-orc falls ten feet into a pit below and suffering 4 points of damage.

2 on a Reflex save roll and not a good enough Tumble check to avoid the falling damage.

The trap door remains open up top. Karl finds himself at the bottom of the pit face to face with a live dire rat who looks up from feasting on the rotting remains of what might have once been a goblin. The rat leaves off tugging at the dead goblin's nose cartilage in favor of rounding on Karl with a vehement hissing growl.

Initiative
Korgrave 18
Kiaphas 11
Grotzkoshter 11
Dire Rat
Elyan 8
Karl 4

 

[Boddynock]

"A fortress, buried deep beneath the earth, destroyed in who knows what cataclysm of the distant past. What must it have been like for those inhabitants of the castle, so long ago, when the earth shook and the ground opened beneath them? Did their screams echo in stone walls once solid and now fearfully fluid, sinking into an unforgiving grave? Or were their tiny voices lost in the awful scream of a noble structure suddenly buried deep, transformed in an instant into a sunless citadel?"

Elyan shook his head in awe at the image he had conjured. "Wow!" he said. "This will be a song to end all songs. I'm really glad I came."

"Yes, Karl, check the door. We want to know what lies behind it."

"Oh!" Elyan pauses at the creak of something opening, like a large door, but low down, and the sound of Karl's grunt of surprise and then the crash of his fall. "What's happened? Is he all right? Rogue, guide."

Rogue, who has been growling, eagerly leads Elyan to the edge of the pit.

 

[hafrogman]

Karl HP: 4/8

Groggy from the fall, Karl faces off against the rat warily. He holds his blade in front of him, trying to keep it between him and those snapping jaws.



[ooc: fighting defensively. Attack +0, 1d6+3. AC 16.

P.S. Roll of 2 on a reflex save. Failed tumble roll. Rolled 3 for initiative. . . I DEMAND NEW DICE!]

 

[Finley DaDum]

Kiaphas

Kiaphas moves to the farthest square south of the pit (the one just south of the goblin carcass) and fires his bow at the dire rat.

He calls out to Elyan as he moves. "Karl has fallen into a pit and another of the monstrous rats that seems to infest this place is down there with him."

Longbow +4 Ranged (1d8+1)

 

[Strahd_Von_Zarovich]

Grotzkoshter

Grotz quickly kneels near the opening, placing the basket and his greataxe on the floor
Grab my hand Karl
He reaches his hand and hope that his friend will take it, if he'll do he wil try to pull him up.

 

[Boddynock]

"Rogue, where's the basket? Basket, Rogue. Rogue, guide."

When Rogue leads him to the basket, Elyan will kneel down and quickly sort through its contents, looking for the rope he thinks must be in there. As he does so, he says to the druid, "Korgrave, can you do anything about that rat?"

 

[zilonox]

Korgrave is awed by the bard's words. He did indeed conjure up a fantastice image. He can just imaging the earth becoming angry at whatever imagined attrosities might have take place here and opened up to swallow the fortress whole. He's amazed, though, that the gap did not re-close and crush the blight into dust and rubble.

His reprieve is broken, though by the sudden rush of action. Blinkning and looking around, he realizes Karl is nowhere to be seen. He notices Grotz and Kiephas rushing towards the main entrance, and draws his sling while following, even as the Elyan shouts out for him to do so. Stepping up to the pit's edge, he can see Karl facing off against another giant rat and attempts to put a quick end to it.

OOC: Not sure if I can move, load, and fire in one round. If not, then he'll accomplish as much of that as he can. Stats in case he does get to attack this round...

Sling Attack +2 <base> - 4 <firing into melee> for 1d4+2 <str>