Dongle the Dungeoneeror--CLOSED--Adventure #52

[Lazlow]

"Were they indeed men, I'd ask the same question," Dongle replied with a hint of disdain, "but I'm certain they were Orcs. Filthy beasts. Still... It doesn't look like it's been used at all, does it? They must have camped elsewhere - perhaps in the upper levels we're supposed to avoid? Hm. A strange circumstance indeed - but at this point we could speculate all day, and that would get us nowhere. Let's finish up this building and move on." With that, he made as thorough a search as the filth and detritus would allow, and then moved on as he said.

 

[Gray Shade]

"The search" it should be noted, is a customary ritual for a dungeoneeror. Even in such settings of detriment and decay as this one, a proper delver will still throw in "the search." As what has gone before in a location cannot always be surmised from simply, "a look" "the search" becomes imperative, and once perfected, habit.

It can uncover a wide array of items which would otherwise be overlooked, including: secret or concealed doors, trap triggers, traps already triggered, eavesdroppers and/or observers, hidden people or creatures, or even treasures (as the reader will remember from the search of the office earlier); the list continues ad nauseum.

In the case of the living quarters of the Black Keep, however, "the search" resulted in its most usual outcome, but an outcome without which no delver would be comfortable to leave an area--that of discovering "nothing of interest."

Therefore, if for nothing less than an eased mind and a comfortable dungeoneeror, "the search" is never in vain.

It was with this sense of comfort, knowing that we'd done what we could (although we found nothing), that we moved back to the main building, where the fire tower had stood.

Once there, we seemed to have several options open to us. I turned to my master and, not to rush him, said, "Sir?"

 

[Lazlow]

"Brabinger, my lad... I'm going to climb this." The Dungeoneeror stated this matter-of-factly as he patted a wall of the fire tower and peered up into the broken walls and floors. "Perhaps a throrough examination of the tower might help tell the story of how it came down - and it's always a good idea to get a different perspective on things. Don't you agree?"

==========

OOC: Takin' out the climbing gear, and will attempt to climb to the highest point possible, then slowly search all over and back down to the ground, looking for "anything of interest".

 

[Gray Shade]

Back in the Fire Tower again

"Brabinger, my lad... I'm going to climb this."

I was not surprised by my lord's faith in his climbing ability.

"Perhaps a throrough examination of the tower might help tell the story of how it came down - and it's always a good idea to get a different perspective on things. Don't you agree?"

"Quite so, sir," I agreed and helped him dig out the climbing gear. Once he had it on I stood back a few steps to get a better view of him climbing and added, "Up you go, sir." Then, sure enough, up he went.

The climbing was most difficult before he reached the first level up, after that, there was more debris against the tower and his climbing became easier. There was the ground floor, the first level, the second level, and with the whole roof destroyed, he could climb no further except by scaling the tower itself, which made me, I will admit, a bit nervous, just because he was getting quite high up by this point and other than the cracks in the stone tower itself, there were no hand holds. Yet, higher he yet climbed, until he'd gone a good twenty feet and stood at the highest point left in the tower wall.

See below for sketches of the levels. The wind was quite gusty at the height he was at (a good 50-60 feet up from the ground) and I could make him out sqautting on the wall to keep his balance, then slowly moving his way around to investigate.

* * *

Okay, this may be a bit difficult, even with drawings. But try to stay with me. I'm only drawing the more stable-looking parts, so use your imagination to fill in a lot of debris. Also, the small square in the middle of the fire tower is the chimney that the Grig mentioned. The mortar on it looks new and repaired, thus it goes up to the very top of the tower, despite the fact that most of the tower is disentigrated for the top couple of levels.

 

[Lazlow]

Securing his Rope of Climbing to the most secure-looking piece of the tower he could find, Dongle then tied the other end around his waist and methodically made his way over the uppermost floor, searching for any signs of unusual activity (in this case, perhaps something that wasn't caused by a fire). When he was satisfied, he made his way down to the next level. He covered the entire above-ground portion of the tower in this manner, securing his enchanted rope to each level as a precaution.

 

[Gray Shade]

Trouble?

Having secured his magic rope, my master began the task of searching the uppermost level. Let me state now, dear reader, that I have never lost faith in Dongle: his skills, tools and natural talent. However, it is still possible for me to feel a butterfly or two of nervousness in my stomach watching him work. In an instance like this, I felt a mixed blessing: On the one hand, I could see him work (except when obscured by a bit of remaining flooring or debris) which made me quite reassured, but on the other: every third step or so of his was met with a portion of floor buckling or bit of stonework giving out, which, were I not so confident in his skill, would have left me fairly shuddering with anxiety. There were several times when the only thing that kept him from falling through a rotted floor was the rope tied around his waist.

For my part, I moved on the ground, trying to keep him in view, while keeping a watch over my shoulder and at whatever was behind him. It was while throwing a glance up to the tower that I saw a small creature, no larger than the Grig we had just met, leaning over the top of the stone wall where the rope was attached. The creature's skin was a pale yellow, splotched with purple and green. I couldn't see much of its detail as it was up so high, but I could tell that it was an ugly little beast, whatever it was. It seemed to be examining the rope.

I considered calling out, but since I could not see my master at the time, I decided to give him the benifit of the doubt and not startle the creature. My master had assuradly seen it already.

* * *

OOC: Indeed, Dongle has seen the creature. You have no idea how long it's been there, upwards of a minute, maybe. It is on the high corner of the tower, where you had originally climbed to and attached the rope. The creature is examing the rope, and follows it with its eyes down to you. It seems to be studying the situation, trying to piece together what's going on. So far, you have (apparently) not given away the fact that you see it. Because of this, you have not gotten a really good look at it--you've only seen it out of the corner of your eye. You can take a good look at it, but that will give away that you've seen it--your choice of what to do here.

When you see the creature, you are out almost 40' onto the mostly rotted and destroyed floor, making your way mostly on larger cross-beams (Balance check, DC 15 every 10', move 10' per round--OR--you can just run (regular move rate) across the floor and beams, but there's a 50% chance of the floor buckling every 10'--Rope of Climbing is keeping you from falling). You have spied what seems to be a wardrobe in the far corner that somehow is still standing (and closed). You're about 10 feet from that.

OH! And, nope, nothing suspicious about the damage: It all seems to have been caused by either the falling tower or the ensuing fire. However, as I noted at the end of the last post, the central fire shaft (leading from what the Grig had said was some sort of lab) looks like it has been repaired recently, as the stonework on it is obviously new (and hence, why it (the box) continues all the way up to the uppermost point of the tower on the map).

 

[Lazlow]

Not wanting to make the creature aware that he knew of its presence, Master Dongle ensured he had stable footing, then nonchalantly commanded his magic rope to unknot itself and make its way over away from the creature, then knot itself again at a point closer to himself. When this was done, he continued to make his way carefully toward the wardrobe.

As he picked his way across the precipous floor of the tower, he called out, "So, are you going to tell me what you're doing, or stay hiding?"

 

[Gray Shade]

The creature's eyes and mouth turned to wide circles when the rope untied itself, moved and retied itself.

When Dongle spoke, its expression did not change. It didn't seem to understand that he was speaking to it.

* * *

Dongle gets to the wardrobe. It has a small lock that could easily be picked or pried out of the half-rotted wood.

 

[Lazlow]

Seeing no need for fancy pickwork, the Dungeoneeror drew his dagger and pried the lock out of the door of the wardrobe. When this was done, he turned to face the gaping creature, but rather than say anything, he simply waved at it (with his empty hand).

 

[Gray Shade]

I could not see my master from where I was, but whatever he did, it caused the creature's expression of awe to turn to fear and it ducked down beside the bit of wall it hid behind. It then leapt, unfurling from behind its shoulderblades small bat-like wings, that did not look like they could possibly lift the creature's tubby little body, but were at least sufficient for it to glide over to the chimney. It scrambled up the side of the chimney and into its opening and out of view.

It must have been the "little one" the Grig saw when entering the lower levels.

* * *

Inside the wardrobe are a lot of water and smoke damaged clothing that appear to have once been very nice. The shirts are embroidered with small blue stones and the buttons are silver and gold. It looks like if you wanted to take the time to strip off all the trimmings you could cash them in for a small sum, but the clothing itself is all ruined, and reeks of mildew and mold. A further quick search reveals nothing special about the wardrobe. There are a few small drawers in it with some baubles and jewelry, which you scoop up and toss in a belt pouch, but nothing exceptional looking.