Planescape - Dead God Rising

[Deuce Traveler]

Upon hearing his name, Noch comes forward out of the shadows and smiles. He gives a low bow to his companions and employer, nods, and lifts the manhole cover. Bending down he looks at the party, crosses his fingers, and says, "Luck." He climbs down as quietly as possible and allows his special vision to focus in on his surroundings.

 

[Nalfeshnee]

[sblock=Noch]Move Silently
Hide
Listen/Spot

You head down into the darkness, your eyes adjusting quickly to the change in atmosphere. The first thing you notice as you peer down the ladder is the air. Not only is the place obviously filled with streams of effluvium and bodily waste, but the rank smell of decay and rotten rocks fills your nostrils, adding to the nauseous effect.

The sewers seem well-built, like those of an advanced material-plane city, though they are obviosuly old. The masonry walls are covered in moss and grease and grime and other, less instantly recogniseable substances. Small adjoining pipes spill sewage into the main tunnel, splashing dirty water over the walls.

Eerie sounds echo in the distance, the sound bouncing off walls, reverberating, concealing their true source. Water drips from craked pipes, faling into the thick waste that flows grudgingly down a narrow depression in the tunnel, leaving a narrow ledge on either side for cutters desperate enough to want to go down into the depths...

You see the tunnel go on into the distance for around 120 feet both before and behind you, though your vision falter beyond that, though the tunnel up ahead is blocked by what appears to be a cave-in some 110 feet away. The area that Llyra mentioned containing a strange network of though is bare and without any defininf features. Behind you, the tunnel splits into a crossroads some 100 feet away, each tunnel leading off in darkness[/sblock]

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Noch the Shadowswyft

DM
[sblock]
Noch lifts his shirt up to his nose and continues down the passageway that leads towards the cave-in and investigates its cause. Then he scouts the crossroads and looks down both tunnels, making sure to press his back against the side of the wall and not fully expose himself as he spies down each direction.
[/sblock]

 

[Nalfeshnee]

[sblock=Noch]You head down the sewer towards the cave-in, but before you get there, you feel a presence intrude in your head and -

Biped, leave this place now. It is not your own to wander

tread further and feel the consequence of the action

turn round and forget you saw this place go. NOW

The voices grate at your thoughts, scratching at your mind with its words. though... in ways it felt as more than one voice, like a multitude of creatures speaking at you at the same time. NO, not at the same time, but slightly out-of-sync.[/sblock]

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Noch the Shadowswyft

DM
[sblock]
Noch allows his thoughts to flow from his mind as he questions the presence mentally, "Aah... you are cranium rats. Brothers of the dark and wit. Maybe help me, maybe not. Barmies gone missing, and I seek out. Must find the lost. They are taken for reasons I know not. Is my job. Is what they pay me for. I will leave, but I must ask, who is taking barmies. I hunt the men who take men."
[/sblock]

 

[Nalfeshnee]

[SBLOCK=noch]You feel the intrusion in your mind once more.

Your job is not our concern

We seek not to harm you biped, but this is not your place to haunt

the bipeds here are dangerous

You would best leave

Diplomacy !
[/sblock]

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Noch the Shadowswyft

DM
[sblock]

"Understand yes. Still hunt I must and can hunt these bipeds. You need not fear them. My allies will stay from your nests. Point me away from you, friends. Point me to the bipeds, another route maybe if trust me not. They will molest not further. Noch of the Shadowswyft also has teeth and mind."

[/sblock]

 

[Nalfeshnee]

[sblock=Noch]In the darkness around you, you begin to see dozens of twin red pinpricks slowly emerging from cracks and grilles in the floor. each pair belongs to a dark-furred rat. But these are no rats, for the brain of each creature is exposed, pulsating gently in an unspoken rhythm.

The creatures poor forth from their hideholes, filling the ledges on both sides of the sewer. The swarm seems numberless, with undeds upon hundreds of eyes filling the darkness, their heavy tails slapping against each other. Every pair of eyes is fixed intently on yours, starign at you

Then turn around.

Those you seek are behind you[/sblock]

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Noch the Shadowswyft

DM
[sblock]
Noch turns around, following the directions of the swarm, the thrill of knowing he may die here with a false move making his blood flow excitedly. "Ahh... danger. I'm alive."
[/sblock]

 

[Nalfeshnee]

[sblock=Noch]You head back down the other way, hearing the rats receeding into their holes behind you.

You come to the crossroads and see that the passages that lead ahead and to the right are also blocked off. The masonry around the tunnels seemed to have caved in some time ago. Moss and other subterranean growths make their home on the rubble, and a slow gurgle of sewage seeps thorugh the debris, amking its way through the sewers. A faint flicker of light can be seen down the left tunnel - orange light flickers distantly agianst the walls illuminating the area just enough for you to make out the colours in the area - dull grey masonry and dull green mosses.[/sblock]