The Treasure of the Tierra Padre... [Knight Otu Judging]

[El Jefe]

"A hook and some rope sounds like a fine idea", agreed Oirhandir. "Although we'll have to sink that hook deep if it's going to hold any weight."

Oirhandir hadn't gotten much past the mouth of the tunnel, and he backed up to let Almayce out. The two elves climbed the hill together, as Oirhandir reassured his companion in elvish.

Spoiler

"There'll be plenty of rope in the packs.

Rupert

Spoiler

is generous to a fault with supplies, but perhaps he has learned it better to be too generous than too stingy."

 

[Manzanita]

iGGY

"Yes. It is foolish to risk sliding to our doom. Some sort of walking stick might help as well. Something that would get some purchase in the muck."

 

[Pbartender]

A grappling hook is easily sunk into the soft floor of the tunnel for use as an anchor. Is holds steady, and there is ample rope to provide climbling support for the forty foot drop to the bottom of the cramped tunnel.

There, Razir and Gath are releaved to be the first to find a level floor. The room they stand in is roughly and naturally carved out of stone. The ceiling is nearly ten feet high, and the walls stretch around in a ragged circle about sixty feet across. A depression in the floor against the opposite wall holds a sunken pool of water large enough for half a dozen people to bathe in. A handful of small rocks, stalagmites and stalagtites are scattered about.

 

[Manzanita]

Ignatious O'Reilly

"Good job with the hook. We'll leave it here for when we need to climb out. Hmm. There don't appear to be any doors, though. Perhaps we're in the wrong place after all. Rogier, maybe if you can tell which direction the evil is coming from, that would help us." Iggy will light a sunrod and hold it up to help the others see. He'll poke around a bit himself. (Search +4)

 

[El Jefe]

Oirhandir puzzled at the cave-like qualities of the chamber at the end of the cramped, muddy tunnel. He had assumed that this was once the lair of a great wyrm, and that the odd hill in the middle of the swamp was at least partially constructed by such a beast. But how could such a lair grow stalactites? His mind raced back to the black stone tree that surmounted the hill. What was going on here?

Oirhandir joined in the search of the room with his companions. He began to slowly, methodically probe about with both his elven vision and his staff in search of some trace of a great treasure, a hidden opening...something.

OoC: Knowledge (arcana) check +4 on the tree, the hill and the cave, knowledge (geography) check +4 on the hill and the cave, and search +4 on the cave, taking 20 and running the circuit of the walls.

 

[Xael]

After Almayce manages to climb down to the room, he takes a look around. Seeing no obvious doors, he lets out a small sigh. He mumbles

Spoiler

"One's worst guess is usually right."

in elven as he walks to the edge of the pool. He tries to figure out how deep (and dirty) the pool is by looking from the edge, if the water is at least relatively clean (which he doubts).

*I hope we won't have to go swimming.*, he thinks to himself.

 

[Gurdjieff]

"Good job with the hook. We'll leave it here for when we need to climb out. Hmm. There don't appear to be any doors, though. Perhaps we're in the wrong place after all. Rogier, maybe if you can tell which direction the evil is coming from, that would help us." Iggy will light a sunrod and hold it up to help the others see. He'll poke around a bit himself. (Search +4)

Rogier only nods as he concentrates again, trying to find the aura he had sensed earlier.

 

[Pbartender]

Rogier can sense the same evil prescence straight ahead, somewhere behind and through the rock wall on the far side of the pool.

OoC: Knowledge (arcana) check +4 on the tree, the hill and the cave, knowledge (geography) check +4 on the hill and the cave, and search +4 on the cave, taking 20 and running the circuit of the walls.

1d20+4 [17,4] = (21)
1d20+4 [16,4] = (20)

Based on the direction the tunnel took, this cave should be more or less beneaeth the tree on the hill. Considering the amount of moisture seeing into the cave, stalagtites wouldn't be out of the ordinary. The color and texture of the stalagtites, however, bear an odd resemblance to the stony material of the tree above. It difficult to be certain in this light and at this distance, but Oirhandir has a sneaking suspicion that the stalagtites are actually the roots of the black stone tree.

Oirhandir's search turns up no secret passages or hidden caches, but he does find the shards of a broken vial not far from the edge of the pool. The shards lie in the middle of a large patch of stone stained by some thick, dark liquid.

He tries to figure out how deep (and dirty) the pool is by looking from the edge, if the water is at least relatively clean (which he doubts).

The water in the pool is practically crystal clear, having been filtered through rock and stone. The pool appears to be about fifteen or twenty feet deep at its deepest... And if he's not mistaken, Almayce can detect the faint glint of silver coins at the very bottom of the pool.

 

[El Jefe]

Oirhandir knelt and studied the stain carefully, trying to discern what sort of liquid had made it, and how old it might be. He examined the shards, trying to see if some of them could be pieced together.

OoC: Does the pool butt up right against the back wall, or is there a narrow path or ledge between the wall and the edge of the pool? And, is the size of the stain commeasurate with the amount of liquid that the vial could have held, or is it much larger?

 

[Xael]

Almayce raises an eyebrow. "Anybody interested in going swimming? I think there are coins at the bottom of this pool. Which doesn't really make any sense to me, unless of course they're there as a bait.", he says to others.

OOC: Does the pool continue to the other side of the wall near the bottom? Or in any other direction?