Anauroch - The Great Desert

[McPoyo]

On the Surface

Isul glanced deeper into the oasis, looking for an opening leading underground [Spot 22] before continuing "I question the responsibility of leaving you alone again. The bugbears might return, or worse could find you. The desert is full of interesting creatures, sandworms for instance, that can swallow a man or three whole. Perhaps I can find a way to widen the tunnel entrance for you, so at least you are out of visible sight by any predators which may come this way. Oases are natural meeting grounds for the desert dwellers."

Locating the hole, Isul carefully moved over to inspect it after pulling a rod nearly as long as he from a strap on the rear of his bandolier, and softly speaking a few words that sounded less like speaking, and more like rocks shifting around.

[Brainpiercing - Ooc]

I am assuming a 22 locates the hole, if not let me know and I will edit.

If Devanar understands Terran, Isul said "Steinn, look around this hole, let me know if you can see any way to widen the narrow parts without collapsing it entirely."

Don't forget I have Truesight, so darkness (magical or not) is irrelevant to me.

Also, what are the walls of the tunnel made from? Is it densely packed sand? Stone? A combination of both? Would Steinn be able to push some of the more offending outcroppings from the wall so Devanar could at least be lowered down without needing to climb? I know he was reluctant to explore down there, but after the ordeal with the bugbears, I imagine it might be easier to convince him to at least wait near the tunnel entrance to avoid other nasties.

[Brainpiercing]

[ooc]

It's stone shaped rock, IIRC, or sandstone bricks. The hole is a smooth narrow tube, 50-60ft long or so, going vertically down, a little less than three feet across.

[McPoyo]

[Ooc]

is it just one layer thick or the bricks with just sand behind, or could one layer be pushed out?

[Brainpiercing]

[ooc]

It's one layer of fairly large, curved bricks with sand, earth and (lower down) solid rock behind it. The bricks come with protrusions and nobs to interlock and strengthen the shaft against the press of the earth around it. The length is 70ft, with a 30ft high cavern below. Considering it's probably a thousand years old it's in excellent condition.

Your elemental could probably widen the shaft, but it would take some time to do so, and you would have to create new supports on the sides or else the sand and earth will press inwards and fill it - to a degree.

[McPoyo]

[Ooc]

So unless I am willing to shove him in, then jump on his head a la cartoon plunger style, trying to get him down would be fairly useless. Hmm. That's a great mental image, though.

I think I'm going to leave it there and not physically progress until Raith0 catches up. Quite a bit eaiser to bring a party together when it's two groups, not three.

On the surface

Isul looked skeptically at the hole. According to Steinn, it wasn't widenable. It was also nearly half again as wide as he was tall. Glancing back towards the panting and miserably sweating priest, he thought to himself that description was also apt for the priest's middle. Without the armor and his hands held over his head, Devanar should fit, but it would be pretty tight.

Tapping the rod he carried into his palm, almost like a jackbooted thug with a club, Isul briefly entertained the idea of just knocking Devanar in, then jumping on him until he squeezed all the way down. The thought brought a smile to his face before dismissing it. No, this would require more finesse than brute force to handle. Luckily, he thought he had the perfect tool for that job.

Stowing the rod, the Beguiler wandered back over to where Devanar was sitting. "It looks tight, but if you suck in your belly and raise your arms over your head like an oasis dancing girl you should fit, and I have a way to get you down. I also have a way to get you back up again. It would really be much safer and cooler down there, and I would feel better about chasing after your friends in that case," the beguiler reasoned, sitting down near the priest [Diplo  15, ugh]. As if to accentuate that point, he slowly let the powers of the wastes he had been holding back flow from him, allowing the temperature of the area rise above even its considerable norms. "I've been told by many humans it feels much hotter than it really is when you are dehydrated. Make sure you drink plenty of water, Devanar," Isul finished after a few seconds pause while handing the man a spare waterskin.

[Ooc]

I'm going to slowly bring the temperature from whatever it is now (somewhere in the low hundreds, I would imagine) to in the 140s using my Local Drought ability over the course of 10-15 minutes. That puts the temperature above even the Endure Elements spell's capabilities. I'm also going to keep an eye on Devanar (taking 10 on heal for a 15) to make sure he doesn't go too far into physical distress from the heat. I'm trying too force him to suck it up and squeeze down the hole to hide, not put him on a hospital cot from dehydration and heat stroke. If he empties either his waterskin or mine, I'll refill it from the oasis, assuming the water is fine (Survival 20, I am disliking my dice this morning >.<), otherwise I'll give him my other waterskin and refill them all with Create Water when they are all empty.

In other news, most of the parts are in for repairing my legitimate computer, so I hope to have my character post up soon. It'll be nice not posting from my phone, this took over an hour to write including editing the damned thing because of limitations with not having a mouse. Copy-paste is a bigger pain than erasing a paragraph and then rewriting it.

Also, the boards ate the post the first time.

[Brainpiercing]

[ooc]

I think that's exactly the image Devanar has in mind, which is just why he doesn't want to get into the hole.

Devanar grumbled.
'I disagree. It would be best if you were to just go down by yourself. Unless you are a powerful wizard and could reduce my size or change me into a.... something... else, I am best up here.'

He sat back in the shade, and began sweating immediately as the temperature rose around him - the bugbears had dispelled his magical protection against the heat at first instance. And he hadn't prepared any more. 
He accepted the water bottle after emptying his own.
'It does seem to be getting hotter', he grumbled after a while. 'When it should be getting cooler in the afternoon, should it not?'

[McPoyo]

"The desert doesn't always behave predictably," Isul smply said, and continued sitting in silence.

[Ooc]

As it gets closer to dusk, I'll start pulling back on the temperature until it hits the colder temperatures of a normal desert night. If the party hasn't returned by morning, I'll go into the hole alone to look for them. Otherwise, I'll keep watch overnight since I only need two hours sleep thanks to the ring. Steinn, not needing sleep, will do the same. I'll sleep undercover so as to hide myself.

[Thistledown Thurbertaut]

The halfling followed into the mausoleum, curious to see the dwarf appropriate various items under the nose of the quick-to-anger construct. He had little interest in items that would weigh him down - he was slow enough as it was.

"You must have known them?" he asks the Marc.

"Perhaps."  The construct -who had retracted it's body as easily as it had expanded it down to only about 10 feet in height- mused distractedly.

"Their time is over.  And mine is not."   he added.

Stomping loudly over to the large statue of the dragon idol, Marc looked up at it then down at one arm which extracted the Dragon-headed flamethrower from before.


"Have you found what you need?"  it asked the Dwarf.

[Sohala]

Within the crypt

The dwarf turned enough to see the now smaller construct, his eyes seemed sad, but his jaw was set firm, "I fear there appears to be a lack of raw supplies I can make trinkets from, but there is more yet to see." With that the dwarf turned back to the chest and cabinet.

[Brainpiercing]

[ooc]

Torgthen: Please make the rolls for the scrolls you are collecting, and pick the spells yourself.

Also, no non-magical books surived, only the spellbook. This is also a direct consequence of Thistle not wanting to look into his background any further - we'll just let it fade away into obscurity:).

Do you need anything more from me? If not, just collect what you will, and then we'll move on.

The cabinet and chests contained personal items - most old clothes in varying states of decay. Some personal trinkets were there, too. [worth maybe 100gp to a collector.]

Cat cautiously followed after the dwarf and the machine, after winking at Daelric.
Dead bodies and wrotten paper..., he conferred to him privately after following the proceedings for a while.

Mag was not interested in the crypt. He was silent, honouring his brief companionship with the half-dragon who had died.

[Sohala]

The dwarfed grabbed the small trinkets, and then gave the room a last look over and then returned to the hallway. He went on a little farther, coming upon the store room next. Careful not to break anything, and his heart growing heavier with each item, the dwarf placed the items into his bag.

The next room proved to be his breaking point though, as he discovered that nearly all of the civilization’s history had been lost with the passage of time. "A loss of life is terrible...but this; this is...a loss to the world." He made his way around the room and picked up one of the books, which almost instantly fell apart in his hands. "What might have been in these books could have changed the world...but now, it is all lost." His voice seemed to waver towards the end of his statement, at which point he turned his back to the group, becoming silent and going back to his search. He didn't touch any other objects, save the obviously intact ones. Those he did pick up where stashed away without a word.

Again, the dwarf returned to the hallway, and made his way sluggishly into the last room. What he saw in the last room seemed to animate him again. He hurried between each one, looking them over and then hurrying off to the next. His face seemed to become more and more discouraged with each entombment he left, but then he let out a small exclamation and rushed a few rows forward.

Kneeled beside one of the coffins, the dwarf had a piece of parchment on the side and was running some chalk over it. "Maybe not all is lost. Even if they only recorded the deeds of a few of their comrades, it is still something that can be saved." When he finished, the parchment had the symbols from tomb copied on it, he did the same to the three other tombs he could find, along with the pedestal of the huge statue. Appearing better than he had since he had entered the crypt, the dwarf gave a short bow to the statue, and then whisper his thanks. He then turned to leave.

Not going to try and read the runes, just felt better that way.

Stuff picked up:

Scrolls

Blank - 13

Specified

Ray of Resurgence x4 (1d LEoF 29)
Know Bloodline (3d LEoF 29)
Sakkratar's Triple Strike (5a LEoF 30)

Rolled

Level 1 - 6
Protection from evil x2 (a)
Feather Fall x4 (a)

Level 2-3 - 5
Silence x2 (d)
Spectral Hand (a)
Touch of Idiocy (a)
Blindness/Deafness (a)

Level 4 - 2
Solid Fog (a)
Bestow Curse (a)

Level 5 - 3
Wall of Stone x3 (a)

Level 6 - 2
Chain Lightning (a)
Disintegrate (a)

Spellbook – 30 spells (assuming a decent break down, 1-7 2-6 3-5 3-4 4-4 4-3 4-2 4-1 5-0, 4550)

4 jars of ink

Holy symbols x2 (100)
Statue (500)
Mw silver dagger x4
Assorted religion items (2100)

[Brainpiercing]

[PRIVATE for Daelric]

A Message reached Daelric's mind.
The desert is crawling with demons. We are laying low for a while. Meet us again at the meeting point in 15 days. The goods are hidden until then.

[Sohala]

The dwarf continued on in his, newly found, chipper mood until he spied the halfling and golem again, at which point, his face returned to its usual dower appearance. “Are you able seal this place again? They deserve that much.” Spoke the dwarf, addressing MARC.

[raith0]

   Weary from the heat and days of travel Doyle slowly approaches the Oasis leading his horse on foot keeping eyes keen to signs of struggle or the small group that had headed this way originally [Spot - 15].  After removing barding and supplies from the horses back Doyle lets it water itself. 
 
 

assuming that the 15 spot finds those above ground

    After seeing those around Doyle Approaches the rag tag band with a flamboyant sweeping bow.  Well met Im Doyle.  I had heard from the soldiers in Lundeth that a group came out this way.

   Taking a few minutes to let those around know the current state of things concerning the demons and Baulders Gate, Doyle offers to join them in thier next venture witch ever way the road leads.

[Brainpiercing]

[ooc for Doyle]

Time scale would have been simpler to keep if you had been faster.... well.... skewed time is the least of my worries. Let's just say you spent two days to get here.

On the Surface

Devanar raised his eyes from their droop, and then his eyebrows at the flamboyand bow, and most interesting appearance of the newcomer.
'Greetings, honoured Doyle, I am Devanar, Priest of Lathander from Lundeth. Yes, indeed, we are the group who came out here to find clues in the desert.'
Upon hearing the news, he remained thoughtful for a while.
'The demons are close to here. During the time you spent coming here I am sure the preparations have progressed. If that is so... the warmachines from Baldur's gate can't be too long out. Constructs don't tire. But if an army drives through here what clues we might find will be ruined. I am at a loss.'

He cleared his throat.
'Honoured Isul... I must take you up on your suggestion, after all. If we can somehow make this tube easier to climb...'

[McPoyo]

On The Surface

Isul cleared his throat as he walked over to the tunnel opening. "If you would remove your armor, this will be much easier. Just raise your hands straight up over your head," Isul modeled this, looking like a ballerina in rodent form, "and just step off into the hole, my companion will lower you down the tunnel, obviating the need to climb." Again, Isul modeled his instructions, stepping off into the empty air of the hole, only to have an earthy arm sweep out of the side wall and support his feet before he had stepped farther than a few inches in.

Stepping back onto the desert surface, Isul pulled a bag larger than himself out of one of the pouches of his bandolier, and proceeded to place the pieces of armor that Devanar took off into it. "I'll lower the bag down to you after you reach the bottom, don't forget to step out from under the hole."

[OOC]

Isul will follow down after using his rod of ropes, bringing the bag of armor with him hanging from the lower hook and standing on it. Steinn has a strength score of 21, so unless Devanar weighs over 460 lbs (and if so, maybe Steinn should let him fall so some excess weight explodes off him when he reaches the bottom, oy), Steinn will have no problems lowering him down similar to what Isul demonstrated. The bottom will be tricky, but seeing as how Steinn is an 8 foot tall earth elemental, with Devanar's hands at full extension, it shouldn't be a problem to lower him down from the full extension and drop him for minimal damage (10 ft for Steinn + the 7 or 8 that Devanar is with arms over his head). Probably 1 or 2 dice of damage, tops, which isn't enough to really matter in Isul's mind.

If Devanar balks, I'll just tell Steinn to grab and drag him down instead, without his buff spells, I don't imagine Devanar would win against my Elemental's grapple mod, and Isul is slowly beginning to lose patience with Devanar's pandering and wishy-washy-ness.

[OOC for Doyle]

Do you have any illusions, concealing effects, or alternate form type effects up that I hould know about? I have True Seeing active and would be able to see through them, if so.

[raith0]

[OOC]

nothing at the moment.

Glancing over the edge of the hole and sizing up the distance to the bottom. (by description my wings shouldnt be usable) 
Turning to Isul "Do you have room in the bag for my armor as well.  it would give me a little more wiggle room on the way down. im sure i can handle the landing.

[OOC]

i believe you said it was 100ft to the bottom and i can dimentional hop for 25 feet of it so i shouldnt need a roll if i finish the spell towards the bottom of the fall. 

[Thistledown Thurbertaut]

The dwarf continued on in his, newly found, chipper mood until he spied the halfling and golem again, at which point, his face returned to its usual dower appearance. “Are you able seal this place again? They deserve that much.” Spoke the dwarf, addressing MARC.

"Aye." The MARC said, agreeing to both. "The dead shall not mis their trinkets.  Perhaps the living will have more use.  Let us leave the bodies in dignity."

[McPoyo]

On The Surface

Isul glanced up at the moth-man, and wordlessly held open the mouth of his sack, as if to say "Put it in".

[Sohala]

The dwarf gave a nod to MARC and then exited the tomb. He moved out just enough to not get in the way and then waited in respectful silence.