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Jubilex
The Faceless Lord of Chaos
Posts: 470
(11/6/02 4:11 pm)
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Re: The Tower
The coin flies in a normal fashion, but the sound of Ruig catching it is muffled. The air is very stale and heavy as well, almost to the point of being suffocating.
The tube appears to be made of a single piece of stone, though Draxim cannot conceive of how such a thing could be constructed. A huge, hollowed out slab of stone? It's an absurd notion, yet the tunnel is here and is not natural. The odd undulations seem to have no purpose whatsoever and only serve to make everyone's footing uncertain.
The group moves slowly down the tube until they reach a point where the tunnel opens into a much larger chamber. The tunnel seamlessly enters the cavern about twenty feet above the floor, and the floor of the tube continues downward until it reaches the ground. The odd, undulating pattern of the tunnel is continued in this cavern as there seem to be no straight lines at all in the architecture.
In the light of Madragar's torch a cluster of motionless bodies lay at the base of the ramp. It looks as if there was a battle here in the distant past. Six corpses, dry and dessicated, lay about the base of the tunnel ramp. They are in simple, commoner's clothing but have been brutally hacked. Each lays in a wide patch of dried, dark brown blood.
Against the north wall, to the left of the ramp where the floor of the large cavern dips downward, is a large pool of dark liquid. It is entirely still.
The cavern spreads outward from the tunnel. The dwarves can see that another tube stands to the south about forty feet away, and the cavern disappears into darkness to the east. The ubiquitous smoke leaks into the tube from a hovering cloud at the top of the cavern.
www.jubilex.com/moagara/pit1.gif
Edited by: Jubilex at: 11/6/02 1:12:07 pm
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Tarondor
Madragar
Posts: 87
(11/6/02 5:35 pm)
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Re: The Tower
[OOC - I assume that I don't need to call for Knowledge (Chaos) checks, and that you'll tell me when I figure something out, Scott, but Madragar wonders if the tube could have been made by something living and large.]
[Very OOC - WARNING- Scott thinks water is "always bad"!] 
Madragar observes the room carefully, then moves to one of the nearby corpses in an attempt to learn something of the identity of the deceased. He is mindful, however, of the warning of the runes, and pokes a corpse first with the tip of his crossbow.
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Jubilex
The Faceless Lord of Chaos
Posts: 472
(11/6/02 6:04 pm)
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Re: The Tower
[Correct concerning the knowledge checks. Madragar wonders but cannot determine if the tunnel was created by some living creature. There are no bite marks, no digging, nothing but smooth, irregular, and seamless stone.]
The corpse does not, in fact, jump up and attack Madragar. The thing is stone dead. It appears to be a human killed a long time ago by repeated sword or axe strikes. It is unarmed and unarmored.
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Kenner
Draxim
Posts: 102
(11/7/02 12:19 am)
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Re: The Tower
Draxim examines a couple of the bodies. "Do you think these will come to life like the creatures at Del's farm Ruig?" He laughs the nervous laugh of someone who is only half joking. He continues on to examine the walls to see if their construction matches that of the odd throat tunnel. "Some sort of magic " he marvels. The ever present crossbow is now pointing vaguely in the direction of the water.
[OOC "All water is evil and contains creatures of unspeakable power" ~ Nolan's rules of gaming Chapter 3]
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Tarondor
Madragar
Posts: 88
(11/7/02 1:32 am)
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Re: The Tower
[OOC - that is not one of mine. It's definitely Mr. Stricklin's. But...I'll admit that there is some empirical evidence that he might be right.]
Edited by: Tarondor at: 11/6/02 10:33:11 pm
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Jubilex
The Faceless Lord of Chaos
Posts: 475
(11/7/02 6:57 am)
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Re: The Tower
[Well, if you would throw in some regular, non-lethal water every so often...]
To Draxim it seems that this whole place is carved/melted/molded from a single piece of stone, and the odd undulations continue throughout. The floor and ceiling of the large cavern are not as misshapen as the walls or the "throat", but they are still uneven. There appears to be another tunnel similar in size to the first one to the south. The cavern stretches on to the east.
In that direction the dwarves can see that the pool continues along the north wall for another sixty feet or so, just to the edge of their vision. The south wall is marked by a couple odd alcoves.
Edited by: Jubilex at: 11/7/02 4:24:31 am
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Tarondor
Madragar
Posts: 89
(11/7/02 11:14 am)
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Re: The Tower
Torch lifted high, Madragar moves to the alcoves in the south wall.
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Kenner
Draxim
Posts: 106
(11/7/02 11:23 am)
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Re: The Tower
Draxim moves with Madragar toward the alcoves after completing his (ahem) thorough inspection of the bodies. He continues to keep an eye out for any irregularities in the smooth stone, and an ear for odd noises.
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doggius
Kezib Ahitub
Posts: 72
(11/7/02 12:15 pm)
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Re: The Tower
Without being noticed, Kezib silently moves to a darker part of the room and hides, intently watching and listening for anything.
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Jubilex
The Faceless Lord of Chaos
Posts: 485
(11/7/02 12:32 pm)
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Re: The Tower
As Draxim, Ruig and Madragar approach the southern alcoves they discover that the cavern ends not far to the east in a wide, almost spherical depression. About thirty feet in diameter, this bowl-shaped alcove is comprised of particularly irregular stone. At the bottom of the bowl is a pit about ten feet in diameter, disappearing into darkness. Beside the pit, in the direction of the main cavern, is a spike of stone that appears to jut straight out of the floor. Again, this piece of stone is completely smooth except for its sharp tip and seems to be connected seamlessly with the surrounding stone. The pit itself is issuing a thin column of the foul smelling smoke.
[Note to Madragar.]
The western most alcove appears to be empty, but the eastern alcove draws everyone's attention. Around most of the semi-circular alcove are scrawled dozens of strange carvings. Like the Lunar inscriptions on the tower door, these are some combination of writings and enigmatic symbols. However, they are not Lunar in origin, at least as far as Madragar can tell.
www.jubilex.com/moagara/pit2a.gif
[So, Kezib, where do you plan on hiding?]
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Kenner
Draxim
Posts: 107
(11/7/02 2:19 pm)
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Re: The Tower
Draxim has a dead eye aim on the stinky pit. He will let Madragar and Ruig examine the inscriptions. He takes a closer look at the spike, particularly the top. Is there anything on the ceiling that the spike is pointing at?
[If the magic types start to take a while looking at the inscriptions, he will suggest that he and Kezib examine the southern tunnel]
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Tarondor
Madragar
Posts: 91
(11/7/02 4:14 pm)
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Re: The Tower
"An altar to Chaos!" hisses Madragar, examining the spire and pit. "Here would have been chained the sacrificial victims of the dread priests, food to whatever beast inhabited the pit."
[OOC - Scott, can we see the bottom of the pit?]
Madragar then goes to examine the runes near the alcove.
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Jubilex
The Faceless Lord of Chaos
Posts: 491
(11/7/02 5:14 pm)
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Re: The Tower
Again, Madragar's words are muffled by the stale air of the place. It is entirely unnatural.
Madragar and Ruig go to inspect the inscriptions. They cover an area about eight feet high and thirty feet long on the cave wall. At first the symbols and characters appear to have been chiselled out of the smooth stone of the cavern, but Ruig gets up close and mumbles "hmm, no marks... no tools made this. At least, not a mason's tools."
Draxim approaches the spike within the shallow bowl at the end of the cavern. The smokey pit is just a few feet away and the dwarf snatches a glance into it, but there is nothing but smoke and the shear walls of the pit extending downward. The spike itself is stained with dried blood, as is the entire area at the bottom of the bowl. The cavern floor seems to all slope gently word the pit, perhaps to ensure that the victim's blood drains into it.
Edited by: Jubilex at: 11/7/02 2:15:41 pm
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Kenner
Draxim
Posts: 110
(11/7/02 5:23 pm)
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Re: The Tower
Draxim suddenly realizing the purpose of the pit backs away quickly.
"How can we destory this horrible thing?"
He then meanders over toward the south tunnel in quiet mode and peeks around the corner to see and hear what he can. He will try to do so in a fasion tht would minimize the chance of his being seen by someone that might be looking up the tunnel.
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Jubilex
The Faceless Lord of Chaos
Posts: 492
(11/7/02 5:50 pm)
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Re: The Tower
This tunnel appears just like the first: irregular, undulating walls, ceiling and floor descending down into darkness. With Draxim's darkvision he can see that the tube goes about thirty feet and then turns sharply to the right.
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Tarondor
Madragar
Posts: 92
(11/7/02 8:50 pm)
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Re: The Tower
Can any sense be made of the inscriptions? Do they seem as though written in magical script?
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Jubilex
The Faceless Lord of Chaos
Posts: 494
(11/7/02 9:25 pm)
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Re: The Tower
The inscriptions are total nonsense to Madragar. He does not recognize the language, and they don't appear to be magical in nature.
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Kenner
Draxim
Posts: 112
(11/7/02 11:39 pm)
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Re: The Tower
Draxim suddenly walks over to the two studying the inscriptions.
"Ruig can I have my head back?" he asks sheepishly.
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Jubilex
The Faceless Lord of Chaos
Posts: 496
(11/8/02 8:23 am)
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Re: The Tower
Ruig looks at Draxim quizically. "What are you talking about boy?"
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Kenner
Draxim
Posts: 113
(11/8/02 8:50 am)
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Re: The Tower
Draxim looks embarassed. "My head. Remember i threw it to you to see if this weird air would affect its flight? I wouldn't ask but as you know I'm a bit short these days." He flushes.
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