Six From Gate Pass - Chapter 3: Shelter From The Storm

[fromage67]

Seaquen

His friends are still missing, so Lars decides to go scouting. He rummages through his backpack, and fishes out the trusty grapple and hook he has been lugging around half a continent. He dresses in his black clothes, and ties his sword down to his thigh with a supple leather thong. He doubles back and also takes a thin wand and tucks it in his waistband.

He heads out to Baba Gerty and orders a large lamb with yogurt.

When it is nice and dark out, Lars crosses town to get near the Bronze Trident. From there he casually strolls to the warehouse, and careful not to be seen, he spends half an hour checking out the building. He tries to notice any entrances, signs that people might be around, etc.

 

[Bannock]

Bannock advances with his glaive held out in front of him as if to ward off evil.

"Oh I'm fine. Just stuck in a cave with what's probably a giant spider, is all."

Motioning at the huge pit in the centre of the room, he says, "So should we draw straws to see who gets to look down the hole first?"

 

[Adjuntive]

Alric rolls his shoulders and stretches his neck muscles in an effort to both check his well-being and display it to others. His blood-crusted and savagely dented armor chinks quietly as he does this.

"Tis a strange thing to be beaten nearly to the gates of the abyss and only moments later be fit enough to fight another battle, but that is so with me." He nods appreciatively to the rest of the group in saying this. "Though I mislike spiders. Revolting creatures! I will go in since mine armor will protect me more than you are protected, but I'd prefer you had your mage-fire ready in case any arachnids come from the rafters."

Alric slides his sword free of its sheathe and edges carefully into the room about 10ft in and stops waiting for anything untoward to happen or a comrade to give him guidance on what to do next.

 

[Gregor]

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Caves (burial chamber)

Alric, you stand at the edge of Arnir's light, having only dim illumination for most of the room. The closer you stand to the sink hole, the more you smell the unmistakable stench of rotting flesh and something acrid, earthy and damp. The dried corpses of the goblins stare up at you with empty eye sockets.

GM: For the purposes of exploring this dungeon, I am going to set a marching order (who is where as you move through the dungeon) that I will use when/if anything happens. This is purely so I can fairly adjudicate the effects of something. I will constantly use this order since Arnir is holding the light: Front Row: Alric and Kirio Middle: Arnir Back Row: Hrimr and Bannock I will modify on the fly if people say they have gone off alone, stepped out ahead (as per Alric right now), etc. I just want to mark this down now so that when/if anything happens, you all know the order and we don't have to discuss who was where.

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South Harbour

Lars, you find the warehouse that Nathan Lowduke is supposedly occupying without any trouble. It is perhaps a 5 minute stroll from the Bronze Trident, along the waterfront boardwalk. It sits nested between a fish monger and a rope maker, just as Marion explained to you.

You hide easily in the shadows across the street, managing to avoid most of the constant rain by an overhang from a nearby building. The warehouse has a broad set of heavy wooden double doors as its front entrance - a thick iron lock fastens them into place. The boardwalk runs along the side of the warehouse, towards the rear of the structure which appears to be suspended over the ocean on barnacle-crusted stilts. The building stands about 25 feet high and has a few windows running along its boardwalked sides (maybe one every 20 feet, and 5 feet off the ground). Some windows have been boarded up, but one or two have plate glass panes that have been opened slightly to let in fresh air.

Nobody comes or goes while you watch, but you can see dim lantern light spilling out from the open windows.

 

[The Bashar]

Hrimr moves up behind Alric and has a look at the room. He also looks at the webbing and the size of the hole. He thinks of all the spiders he knows.

OOC: Knoweldge Nature check on which kind of spiders would be of the size to kill goblins and live underground. If successful I share the information with the party.

 

[Gregor]

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Caves (burial chamber)

Hrimr, you don't see anything of interest beyond what is plainly obvious to you.

Given the thickness and amount of webbing, combined with the fact that humanoids were the victims, it is highly probable that monstrous spiders are the culprits. These vermin can be found anywhere and can range in size from a small dog to larger than an elephant. Some species favour the deep places of the world. Many of these species that live underground, in caves or in the Underdark are hunters rather than web-spinners and use their webbing more for territorial or lair building purposes, for affixing prey in place to consume later and for chasing down and hampering a fresh meal.

 

[The Bashar]

Hrimr whispers to Alric:

"This is likely the spider's lair. We should retreat for now and explore the rest of these ruins for the decanter."

He turns to the party and repeats what he said to Alric and motions towards the door.

 

[Adjuntive]

Alric winces at the completion of Hrimr's nature lesson on spiders, "Pleasant..."

Seeing no present danger Alric looks back and motions for the rest of the party to come into the room to illuminate it. He then circles the sink hole to the sarcophagus and in the spirit of looting the dead which was precedented in the tower, attempts to open it.

OOC: strength check coming...

 

[funkmamagoat]

Kirio readies his bow as Alric moves towards the sarcophagus, keeping a close eye on the hole in the middle of the room...

 

[Gregor]

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Caves (burial chamber)

Alric, surprisingly you do not need to put much strength into opening the standing sarcophagus; the door-lid swings open quietly on grooved stone hinges. The ancient corpse of a half-man, half-serpent tumbles outward towards you in a cloud of dust, disintegrated fabric and mealy bones. You jump back slightly with a startle as the body crumbles around you and a large heavy tarnished metal key, which was hung around the corpse's neck, clangs noisily to the floor.