• NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.

The Jade Frontier, part 2 (DM: THB, Judge: Lord Sessadore)


log in or register to remove this ad

Before we get too comfortable, says Firete, I think we should settle who is taking the watches. We are concealed here, but it is not perfect and bad things tend to happen to people who don't take precautions. We won't get much rest in before sunrise, though.
 
Last edited:

I suggest Miranna, Chey, Firete, myself, and Brenwar go in that order. Nothing particularly logical about it, other than letting our most battered friends get long stretches of sleep.[sblock=OOC]In terms of watch I'm totally willing to do it randomly as the DM can think of almost any time to throw a set of monsters at us...[/sblock]
 

"That's fine by me."
After eating with the others Brenwar spends some time in prayer before calling it a night.
[sblock=OOC]
It may be time to fast forward THB. We always seem to bog down outside of dungeons.
[/sblock]
 

[sblock= OOC] That watch order is fine for me. I have finished Miranna's level updates and submitted her for approval- but I understand there is a bit of a backlog at the moment as far as submissions are concerned. [/sblock]
 

To your joy, and perhaps surprise, nobody even attempts to murder you while you sleep. The following day is overcast, and it feels like it might rain soon. Not that this will necessarily affect you as you delve into the bowels of the earth.

[sblock=Perception 18]As you make your way back to the keep, you notice a new set of footprints leading to the structure using the same path you had taken before.[/sblock]

You repeat your path from the previous day through the ruins of the keep. You can't help but notice that some of the corpses have been moved, or removed. The cause of this is nowhere to be seen; everything is incredibly still. Before long you move past the hobgoblin barracks and find yourselves in a peculiar room. The chamber itself is fairly small, about the size of Takeshi's tomb. The only feature is the ten foot wide hole in the center of the floor. The opening leads to an even larger room about thirty feat below, from which you can see light and hear hushed voices. Apparently someone smashed through the stones to gain access to what lies beneath. Or, it occurs to you, someone could have smashed up from below.

There are a number of chains attached to nearby stones that lead down to the lower room's floor. It looks like even the less athletically inclined of you could slide down the chains with some discomfort but minimal pain.
 


Yes, I saw those tracks too, Brenwar, says Firete. As for heading down there, perhaps this could be another use for Yishim's ingenious floating disc.

Firete examines the floor, trying to determine which way the break in occured.

[sblock=Skill rolls]
Nature (1d20+8=18)
Dungeoneering (1d20+4=13) Query, would not it be fairly easy (or at least possible) to determine whether the break in was up or down by the amount and direction of the rubble?[/sblock]
 

Unfortunately the disk wouldn't work here. As soon as it would pass over the hole it would drop like a stone stopping a few feet from the floor. It would be little different than simply jumping down.

While the chains look easy enough to climb, my concern is our inability to defend against attacks while we descend. I wonder if we could jury rig a rappeling harness to descend with greater speed.


Yishim calls on his learnings of the underground to see if he can recall any tidbit of information which might help.
[sblock=ooc]Dungeoneering (1d20+7=18) to see whether the chains can be used in any way other than a slow climb down. Also to determine whether the hole was made from above or below.[/sblock]
 

Miranna crouched at the edge of the pit, peering downwards- she seemed more concerned with the current challenge than with how the stone cover had been broken. The hints of sound and light indicated that something was waiting for them down below, but she couldn't hear enough to be sure just what was down there. Still, she had some guesses...

"They have to know we're coming, and since we can hear them I'd guess it is more goblins... If it were undead they would just be waiting. I think we just have to go down there and get them- I don't think we'll find a secret way in or anything." She kept her voice low, little more than a whisper, and the raspy growl did not carry far. "I don't think we want to trust these chains, though. Does anyone have some rope? I'd say that Brenwar and I ought to go first- whatever is down there, the two of us can hold them back until the rest of you can get down."
 

Into the Woods

Remove ads

Top