DM Carbide's Through a Cracked Mirror: The Dark Road
Game Master John Woodford

Darc shrugs his shoulders at what he sees, with no foes obvious he says quietly, "Clear". Then joins Sami by the hole, looking down he asks "Rope, lower me?"

Xavier looks down the hole and doesn't see much, though he offers to hold Darc's rope.

Sami looks down at Darc's girth and armor, then raises an eyebrow. Will you fit?. He looks at the hole to see if he can answer his own question. If not, then I should go. Without armor, I would be much lighter, so more easy to pull up should I find difficulty. Plus...I'd not get stuck.. He says the last with a grin, hoping Darc sees it as a jest and not as mockig his stout warrior's figure.

Darc condiders the monks request, then nods. "Go Sami no weapon", he offers Sami the end of the rope and with Xavier braces himself to let the man down.

The hole extends down several hundred feet, its walls scored deeply with claw marks. It ends in a bare rock face, and a pile of gravel.

ETA: There are a few places where the hole either runs into previous open volumes, or open volumes were excavated in the same manner as the hole itself was.

Sami looks at the pile of gravel with a perplexed look, having fully expected to find a lair of the beasts down in this hole. He reaches down and pushes aside some of the gravel, to see if anything lay underneath. If his search proves fruitless, he tugs on the rope to indicate his readiness to go up, but he scans some of the new excavations to see if any lead into a side tunnel.

Perception1d20 + 11 ⇒ (10) + 11 = 21

Sami, the gravel appears to be fragments of rock from the walls, with nothing under it. The rock face has extensive claw marks, and the claw spacing matches that of the large akata.

Recieving the signal, Xavier, along with Darc, begin to pull the monk out of the hole.
Bloody hells, keep count, this thing is DEEP......14, 15, 16..

Sami relays his findings when once again topside.

I apologize for my ignorance, but what do you mean by volumes? Do you mean open caverns extending off of the main? If so, were any wide enough to fit said large Akata?

The hole will spiral for a while--twenty or thirty feet--at a width between three and four feet, then flare into a space between six and ten feet across, then narrow back down. Sometimes these spaces are dug in the same way as the rest of the hole, sometimes they're partially or completely finished stonework, isolated from the rest of whatever complex they were originally part of by collapses.

Eretria seems in thought a moment as she listens to Sami's findings. " Supposedly there is a city underneath Cassomir... it's entirely likely they are using it if it does exist and perhaps this was their attempt to find it?" She kneels down beside the hole looking down in, "I'll bet some of the side tunnels lead elsewhere if we investigated them further.

Rashun replies, "I hope the city is not full of these those things we just dealt with. By Saranae's grace maybe we can find the oracle an be on our way."

He then looks towards Xavier.

"You did a great job in that fight. I am proud of you." saying it as if he is a father talking to a son even though Xavier is at least 5 years old.

Keep in mind that the aberrant oracle you're talking about was killed by the previous party. Luntz offered to build a boat for you to travel up the Sellen if you kill the large akata.

Sami nods at the assessment, his confidence in his new companions having grown a great deal since they first met. Add to that the fact that Darc was an obviously stalwart ally, and the Nagaji suddenly had a reasonable confidence in the fact that this odd group could actually do what the scholar had asked of them.

Many of the spaces dug into the sides were large enough for the Akata to fit, but whatever passages they led into seem to have been covered up by rock and debris. I think that we may have cleared out the nest that was here; we should advise Luntz and see if he has any more need of us before we travel upriver.

Not that I'm one to drop hints, or anything like that, but is anyone going to check out the side chambers in more detail while Sami is down the hole?

Not Darc, nothing to hit in them as far as he could see ....

Rashun goes to check out the other chambers, casting light on his scimitar if needed
Perception check(s) for the side chambers(taking 20)=35

The debris in the one chamber looks to be the remains of a shrine to Asmodeus, the chamber with the collapsed entrance appears to have a shrine to Zon-Kuthon, and the intact shrine is (as noted before) to Norgorber. There are akata tracks in the rock dust on the floor of the room with the former shrine to Asmodeus, but there are none on the floor of the shrine to Norgorber--the dust is undisturbed there. There's what looks like a fine chain on the floor across the doorway, under the dust; it looks like it's around forty feet long, but it's hard to tell because it's coiled back and forth multiple times.

Always pleased when someone notes his great skill in battle, Xavier tries hard to supress a smile. "Ahh, just haven't had a worthy enemy yet."

Darc follows Rashun, his weapons to hand, but his muscles are relaxed as he sees no enemy. On hearing Xavier, he looks across at the man, his nostrils flair as a quiet snort of derision escapes.

"It is strange that only Norgorber is not disturbed. I guess we will find out why eventually."

Darc stops as Rashun points out the religious symbol. Taking his time, he runs his index finger up and down the drawing on the floor. Inside pray forms asking for divine guidance as to the meaning of all they see.

Knowledge religion 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23

Darc, the chain on the floor moves easily. Regarding Norgorber, it comes to mind that the aspect enshrined here is mainly worshiped by spies and politicians as a deity of secrets, and the seeking out of hidden things. For all that they're evil, members of the cult of Norgorber have to trust each other to some extent, each one working to better him/her/itself while following the divine plan. The worship of Norgorber is outlawed everywhere in the Inner Sea region except Absalom, where it's tolerated; the three shrines down here are hidden for good reason.

"Secrets!" the half-orc exclaims. "Have secrets, have magic." The half-orc prayers once more, this time he asks for divine guidance to detect those things of the arcane and divine that hold the essence of magics. He especially focuses on the chain and the floor.

He turns round to the others, "Come, what is for? Is worth much?"

To clarify--Darc, you're casting detect magic?

Sorry, yes

Darc, the chain is magical; arcane, illusion aura.

Darc pulls the chain towards himself and picks it up from the floor, pointedly he speaks, "Illusions, who know magic? can help."

Holding his hand out Rashun address Darc
"Allow me to see the chain Darc. I may be able to figure out how it works."

spellcraft(identify magic item):1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11

"It's function is beyond me. Eretria would you like to examine it?"

This all assumes he hands the item over

Always curious, Xavier peers over Rashun's shoulder, wide eyed, hoping the chain will dissappear or explode or something

Eretria thinks a moment before backing away.

"Guys... Illusions hide things... And fabricate other things... something could be attached to that chain..."

I disbellieve! If there is a dc for something on this >_>

1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19 spellcraft to see if it really is what I a think it is ( a trap)

Sami darts into action at Eretria's words. He follows the chain to the end at which something would come out should they pull it and stands ready to attack anything that might be tethered to the other end. He seems unconcerned with how ridiculous he may look should nothing be at the other end.

Eretria, the chain itself seems to be a magical item; Sami follows it to its end, and there is nothing there.

Eretria examines the length of the chain more closely to see if there are signs of use... perhaps if its meant to be attached or connected to anything.

Seeing everyone tense again, Xavier draws his weapon and looks around, Better to just keepit in hand, I think

Darc picks the chain up from the floor, using his skill to further understand the chain. "So?" he questions the others, handing the chain over to Eretria, who seems to know more about such things. He goes over to study the altar.

Sami looks on in puzzlement, not understanding this place more than any of the others. The chain crosses the doorway, and the interior is undisturbed...seems an unlikely concidence. Eretria, is there any way this chain could have been enchanted as a barrier of sorts to keep others out? Perhaps it created the illusion of a wall here, so no one could actually get into the shrine within unless they defeated the illusion.

Eretria, the two ends of the chain have clasps, so that the ends could be joined to each other. Except for the dust on it, it looks new--there are no visible signs of wear. Darc, there's undisturbed dust on the altar as well. Next to it are an assortment of simple masks on sticks, decorated with faces with exaggerated expressions--anger, laughter, sadness. You recall that Norgorber's worshipers prefer to go masked, even among each other, and some will carry masks like this to indicate their emotional state so they can keep their voices low and hard to recognize.

Rashun, as you continue to examine the room you find a scrap of paper in among the masks. Written on it in block letters is the message: "I leave it for you. It passed the test."

Eretria nods, "It's exactly still about what I think... it's meant to hide something... I'll bet this ends connect either to each other or something else and this would go across that doorway there to hide this room... seeing as it still gives off a magical aura we could possibly make use of it if we figure out it's exact purpose though someone else will have to carry it... I... I am not very strong after all." She admits softly as she blushes.

Eretria, did you mean to use detect magic in conjunction with your Spellcraft roll above?

Using detect magic with spellcraft with detect magic is the only way to identify an item at this level of than the identify spell. Speaking for myself whenever I use spellcraft to identify/examine an item I am always using detect magic. My last roll was so low it did not matter, but I did assume it was in use.

Eretria, you are unable to determine the properties of the item.

Darc motions to Rushun, "Masks to worship the evil." he points to the masks on ground.

Darc--there's something about you, something...different.

My spellcraft roll was pretty low, and they already told me it was illusion magic I didn't think I would need my own casting of it?

Sami looks about at the others, all in their armor, then looks back at Eretria and shrugs. I think that I could take it, if that's what we want to do; I don't appear to be as weighed down as the rest of you.

lol she isn't weighted down she's a weak lil sorceress ;)
Eretria smiles passing the chain over to Sami, "When we have more time I will investigate its purpose further as I said before we could possibly put it to use."

"I say we move on then unless something was overlooked.", Rashun says sounding disappointed, possibly about the chain.

Xavier, now having lost all interest in the chain, which apparently was NOT going to do anything exciting.

Yes, let's go. If we keep this up the worlds will have ended and we'll still be playing with Magic chains that don't do anything. He breaks into a huge grin. We should be mowing down monsters and finding the villains behind it all. And making our names and fortunes while we're at it! Then we can get to the taverns, the drink and the whor...women

He blushes a bit, hoping he hasn't offended Eretria.
Well done, Moron!