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Author
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Comment
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Tarondor
Madragar
Posts: 83
(11/5/02 9:02 am)
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Re: The Tower
Madragar ties a handkerchief over his mouth and nose before continuing. Then, with torch held high, he approaches the door to attempt to read the runes.
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Jubilex
The Faceless Lord of Chaos
Posts: 437
(11/5/02 9:08 am)
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Re: The Tower
Almost immediately he notices that the runes are part of a single incantation that covered both doors and includes a number of unusual symbols. While he recognizes the characters as Lunar, they are obviously magical in nature.
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Tarondor
Madragar
Posts: 84
(11/5/02 11:16 am)
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Re: The Tower
Luckily, Madragar is prepared for this eventuality. Casting back his hood and raising high his torch, he intones the familiar phrases of the Charm of Revealing. "Ahenomen ydovelae gyorr!"
[Read Magic]
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Jubilex
The Faceless Lord of Chaos
Posts: 438
(11/5/02 11:21 am)
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Re: The Tower
Madragar completes that most familiar of enchantments and stares at the inscriptions. His eyes glow with a soft yellow light and through them is revealed the logic and meaning behind the indecipherable etchings.
[Note to Madragar.]
Ruig moves to the corpse and looks it over without touching it.
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Kenner
Draxim
Posts: 94
(11/5/02 2:06 pm)
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Re: The Tower
Draxim moves to the door and attepts to listen and look beyond it (since it is ajar) with his crossbow reloaded and trained on the opening. (He also ties a kerchief around his face following Madragar's example.) He will not touch the door until Madragar has finished his examination of the runes.
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Jubilex
The Faceless Lord of Chaos
Posts: 442
(11/5/02 2:22 pm)
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Re: The Tower
The door is not open wide enough for Draxim to get a very good look, but what little he can see through the opening disturbs him. Beyond the door is some kind of tunnel, or tube, approximately fifteen feet in diameter. There is no discernable floor or walls as the tube is vaguely circular, running in an uninterupted curve all the way up. In fact, the lip of the doorway stands several feet above the bottom of the tube.
The tunnel itself is far from regular, and bulges in and out at odd intervals. There are no signs of construction however - no blocks, no mortar. There isn't even an impression of digging, or even chewing should such a thing have been made by some massive burrowing creatures. It is simply a smooth, irregular tunnel sloping gently downward into the earth. It reminds Draxim of some enormous throat.
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Kenner
Draxim
Posts: 95
(11/5/02 2:34 pm)
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Re: The Tower
Draxim takes two steps back before reassuring himself that the tunnel surface is really made of stone. [it is right?] As his comrades give him querelous looks, he tosses his head and whispers defensively, "It looks like the inside of a dragon's throat!" He then describes the tunnel to everyone else. He keeps his crossbow pointed at the entrance like a divining rod toward water.
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Jubilex
The Faceless Lord of Chaos
Posts: 443
(11/5/02 2:49 pm)
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Re: The Tower
Draxim cannot tell what the tunnel is made of without getting much closer. His darkvision is good for providing rough outlines, but light is required to pick up details.
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doggius
Kezib Ahitub
Posts: 71
(11/5/02 3:07 pm)
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Re: The Tower
Kezib looks around at the word "dragons throat"
"Can we tell if things came out of the door, or gone in?"
Kezib tries to imagine things going down a dragons throat under their own free will, but cant.
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Kenner
Draxim
Posts: 96
(11/5/02 5:23 pm)
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Re: The Tower
"Madragar, have you been able to decipher the meaning of the magical writings?"
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Tarondor
Madragar
Posts: 85
(11/5/02 6:12 pm)
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Re: The Tower
"Yes," replies Madragar as he moves from his motionless state of deep thought. "See the runes, here and here? They are anchors for a powerful system of magical containment. And these here are...or were...what kept the door shut. When the disk which resided here was removed, both spells were torn asunder."
"Gentlemen," he continues, "this portal was built to contain an ancient evil. The exact nature of the subject is unclear from the context, but based upon the runes Halimo, Urdrufax and Asteeanu which we see repeated across the jamb and lintel, I would venture to say that what we face is born of Chaos, and quite possibly a creature of undeath."
"That assumes that whatever occupied the space within has not fled. The key disk was removed recently. It is possible that a broo shaman did this, but I wonder..."
Edited by: Tarondor at: 11/5/02 3:13:56 pm
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Jubilex
The Faceless Lord of Chaos
Posts: 447
(11/6/02 9:02 am)
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Re: The Tower
Ruig steps forward and tries to peer through the gap between the two doors just as Draxim did. He is careful not to touch the inscriptions, however. Then, turning to Madragar, "well, can we go in?"
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Kenner
Draxim
Posts: 97
(11/6/02 11:26 am)
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Re: The Tower
"Just a moment" says Draxim. He takes some time to examine the door and it's connecting points as well as the lintel and the jamb/floor. [search for traps]
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Jubilex
The Faceless Lord of Chaos
Posts: 455
(11/6/02 11:29 am)
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Re: The Tower
Draxim carefully examines the door and the area around it, but cannot detect any pressure plates or traps of any kind.
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Kenner
Draxim
Posts: 99
(11/6/02 11:37 am)
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Re: The Tower
"There is something very peculiar about that tunnel." Draxim reiterates to Ruig. "I wouldn't just go charging in there. We need to proceed cautiously. If you all agree I will go first and scout as I am able." He begins examining a spot on the door which he intends to grab in order to open it further. He mutters, "Could be contact poisons, moldworms, vicious lichens - can't be too careful"
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Jubilex
The Faceless Lord of Chaos
Posts: 457
(11/6/02 1:20 pm)
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Re: The Tower
Still very careful, Draxim pulls on the left side of the door. At first it doesn't budge. Then, putting a little more muscle into it he gets the thing moving. It is extremely heavy but pivots smoothly and silently. The massive slab glides to about the half-way point of its arc when Draxim decides to stop its motion, but can't. The stone slab continues to swing open until Draxim and Ruig both put their backs against it. Finally the thing comes to rest about a foot from the wall of the basement. The right side of the door is still closed.
Ruig mutters, "heavy."
The tunnel that Draxim described is even more disconcerting when seen altogether. The tube is smooth and undulating, descending into the earth at about a 10 degree angle. It extends beyond Madragar's flickering torchlight but the dwarves can see that it opens up into a larger chamber about fifty feet down the tunnel.
At the lowest point of the tunnel, running from the door down into darkness, are the faint markings of a well used trail. Due to the curvature of the tube it seems that it will be necessary to walk single file.
Above the doorway is a cloud of the foul smelling smoke which is fed by a thin stream of the stuff travelling along the "roof" of the tube from somewhere down below. The cloud has filled the area above the door and leaks into the tower basement at the same rate it is fed from below.
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Tarondor
Madragar
Posts: 86
(11/6/02 2:34 pm)
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Re: The Tower
Madragar pauses to invoke the protections of Sodor's Superior Field of Force by speaking a phrase in ancient Lunar. "Adelehemos naturii ucaru dientan."
[Mage Armor]
For a moment, there is the shining nimbus of ancient Lunar armor descending to enfold the mage, then it is gone, and he proceeds cautiously behind the others, loaded crossbow at the ready.
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Kenner
Draxim
Posts: 100
(11/6/02 3:04 pm)
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Re: The Tower
Draxim carefully examines the wall of the weird tube/tunnel to see if he can discern what it is made of and how it was made.
He is also looking for anything out of the ordinary that might indicate a trap or secret entrance. He motions for the others to remain quiet, so that he can listen, and keep back a bit. If he is satisfied with it's safety he will move slowly down the tunnel, as quietly as possible. Crossbow remains pointed toward the tunnel.
[Do I need to explicity tell other party members about the room in this situation, or am I assumed to have done so because you wrote it for everyone to see?]
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Jubilex
The Faceless Lord of Chaos
Posts: 467
(11/6/02 3:15 pm)
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Re: The Tower
[Ruig will tell them if you don't. Feel free to tell the others anything you want in character.]
With Draxim a few feet ahead (after dropping the three feet from the lip of the doorway to the floor of the tube) the group takes a few tentative steps into the tunnel. Almost immediately Draxim stops, straightens up from his half crouch, and turns back to Ruig, Madragar and Kezib.
He opens his mouth and says something. A split second later - which is much too long of a delay for sound to travel that short distance - the words "can you hear me" reach the others.
The sound in this place is strangely muted.
Edited by: Jubilex at: 11/6/02 12:16:41 pm
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Kenner
Draxim
Posts: 101
(11/6/02 3:52 pm)
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Re: The Tower
Draxim takes out one of his silver "heads" and throws it to Ruig.
"Here catch."
He is trying to notice whether the flight of the coin is odd in any way.
"I thought that perhaps if sound were slowed down that other things might be as well. "
If the coin behaves normally, he proceeds down the corridor QUIETLY after telling the others to stay put. He continues to look for anything odd about the stone of the tube. He also takes time to carefully examine one of the 'bulges' in the tunnel wall.
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