Not to worry, I'll go take a look high and low and see if I can see anything!
With a brief crouch, Vi powers in to the sky, revelling in the feel of the air beneath her wings. She takes a long look around from high up to see if there's anything out of place, then swoops low in to the ravine to scour it for clues as well, before landing back with the other ponies.
"It seems something with claws passed
Across and along the path.
We should arm and prepare to battle something strange and weird,
In case our ponies met not what we hoped, but what we feared."
Zophio, having explained his findings, readies a spear in his mouth.
Virtuous Heart swoops down into the ravine... the signs that the knotted rope has been climbed within the last few days are quite clear... but the scuffmarks are only consistent with a downwards journey, not the more difficult scrabble of an ascent. As she nears the bottom twenty feet, the ravine widens out into cave some twenty feet across. On the left, it has a solid floor forming a ledge, for on the right it plunges down into a much larger, darker cavern below. There are a few bones scattering the ledge, seemingly those of incautious animals who've fallen to their deaths, but, somehow, the pattern of their scattering seems strange. You notice hoof-prints, and, as you fly closer, you notice the bones bear the gnaw-marks of sharp, sizeable teeth... you hear chittering, and beady eyes gleam in the darkness... suddenly, the rats - huge, hulking rats the size of a foal with teeth as long as knives and just as sharp, leap and attack!
Bite +1 damage grapple
Bite +3 damage grapple
Bite +1 damage grapple
Only one rat makes its strike true, opening a nasty wound on Virtuous's forehoof... but, fortunately, it's unable to sink its teeth in, and falls, squeaking, back to the ledge, to join its less-successfully ratpackmates...
Get me you horrible little rodent! shouts Vi, in a voice that might have caused an avalanche if you were in snowier climes.
Vi whips her head to her right, grasping the mouthwield handle of her lance and dragging it down across her saddle and in to position.
She charges the rats, flying down to impale one with extreme eagerness.
Completely overshooting her target, she admonishes herself. Her instructors would have scolded her for losing her temper like that, and now she's had her first real taste of why...
"Wait! Get back here!" Shubshi yells, peering down the ravine. Upon seeing Vi engage the rats, he turns to the others. "Just help how you can."
Shubshi then leaps straight down into the ravine, using his wings to buffer his descent as he aims to skewer the nearest rat in his charge.
for
for
for
Zophio shouts at one of the other rats (any rat not threatened),
"By my spear shall you fall,
by the Moon, leave us all!" He quickly draws a spear . He does a twisting motion and lets loose the spear at the challenged rat.
Midnight Dove grabbed her moonstar. The darkness didn't bother her as much as her partners, (she was already used to it) but the terrain would make attack difficult.
"I'll do my best."
Based on Virtuous Heart's scream and the rats' squeaking noises, she teleported herself next to the paladin.
"Hi! Came to help!"
But her hit missed completely.
"Whoops! Maybe not..."
Perhaps unsurprisingly, only Shubshi, the natural predator, has any success at all, catching one of the huge rats with his claws and virtually disembowelling it... the flesh has a hint of rancor about it... likely its been living on carrion a long time.
The remaining rats hiss and snarl, darting around the superior predator to bite at the hindquarters of the other ponies...
Attack vs. Midnight Dove
Attack vs. Virtuous Heart
...but neither manages to make their attack good against the swift moving ponies...
Midnight Dove attacked once more.
"Moon, may you give me strength!
Moonstar drops down, casting a cone of fire on her way, just before landing on top of one of them.
Shubshi takes advantage of the opening the rats give, stepping to the back of one rat and striking at its vital organs.
Midnight Dove's moonstar crushes a rat's skull, whilst Moonstar Eclipse's wave of fire burns another. Squeaking with fear and fury, the blazing creature flees Shubshi's slashing claws, running in panic over the edge of the ledge on which you're fighting...
It falls like a blazing meteor, like a shooting star, but even that light doesn't touch the edges of the cavern stretching out below. It falls forty, fifty, sixty feet, until the flickering shadows touch peaked towers and crenellated battlements, half-ruined by age or disaster... then it strikes the broken, rubble-strewn ground some eighty feet below, and the flames go out, plunging the castle and cavern once again into darkness.
Watching the flaming, falling rat as it squeaks its final despair in the gloom of the ravine, Vi cocks her head.
Well that was sudden...and unusual...and disturbing...
she shakes her head as if to clear it of the thoughts that had piled up.
It doesn't look as if our friends fell afoul of these things, they appeared to be starving.
she glances across as Shubshi with respect in her eyes
Well fought..I..that was a very different experience than practice dummies and sparring partners...
she flicks back her head to reset the lance in its place, then turns and looks about
So did anyone find any tracks before those things sidetracked us?
A brief search reveals a rough-hewn stairway descending from the side of the ledge. Three sets of hoofprints can be seen leading to and descending down it. Half-hidden amidst the rubble, you identify a ring of stones containing a quantity of ash, and amongst it are mixed crudely-manufactured spearheads...
A cold, dusty breeze blows from below, bringing with it the faint trace of rot...
Zophio replaces his spear, and thinks, Naturally, as he descends the staircase into the dark, rancid ravine.
It grows increasingly dark as you descend into the cavern. After twenty feet, the stairs switchback, and you can barely see the pony ahead of you. By the second, forty feet down, you can only just see your hoof in front of your face. The chiselled steps are worn and broken, and to continue further without light - or vision that functions without it - would be the height of folly...
Shubshi wipes off the viscera from his claws and beak on a dirty cloth he keeps handy for these situations before Virtuous Heart. "Real combat's a whole different mentality."
On the hoofprints they find, he says, "Well, looks like they passed through here for some reason. M'not familiar with the area so I can't tell you why." He follows Zophio close behind, ready to use his wings if needed.
Frowning at the encroaching darkness, Vi ventures
Whilst I do have some torches in my bags, would it please be possible for some kind pony to use that spell you have to light the way? It's more convenient that carrying a smoky torch is all...
she continues to stare in to the black, scrutinizing it.
No-pony has come this way in a long while, I wonder what's down here and how long it has been lost...
"This will only last about 20 minutes, so let us not take our time down here." Moonstar levitates a small bit of rubble and it starts to glow brilliantly. She then levitates it up front near whoever is in the lead.
Midnight Dove stopped Moonstar Eclipse for using her spell.
"Wait, Moonstar. Don't waste your powers. I can create lights at will."
Her horn glowed, and four glowing spheres which resembled to a full moon appeared around her, and separated to illuminate the ponies' path.
"Despite my deficient sight, the darkness doesn't bother me. Maybe I should lead the way...", the oracle suggested.
Zophio happily allows Midnight to lead him into the darkness.
Ah thank you, and four to light our way no less! Very pretty! beams Vi.
Her expression of joy gives way to a stern and disapproving look as she stares at the ponies destination. Shaking her saddlebag a little to ensure her sword is loose in its sheath, she sets her head down and follows Zophio.
At the edge of sight, illuminated by the dancing flickers of Midnight's light, the towertops of the subterranean cidadel soon emerge from the darkness below. Though impressive, it seems half-ruined and long forgotten, its windows dark, its crenelations cracked and broken, many of its towers leaning drunkenly against the cavern walls.
Knowledge (engineering) DC5
After descending two more switchbacks, eighty feet down from the ledge at the bottom of the ravine, the narrow stair empties into a small courtyard, apparently at the summit of what was once a battlement, now level with the surrounding cavern floor. The cavern floor stretches away north and south, between the cavern and castle walls, composed of cracked and broken stonework, the hoofing treacherous. Presumably, these are the rubble of whatever buildings once stood near the great castle. Ahead of you stands a tower, its door gaping wide, dangling drunkenly on its hinges...
Shubshi keeps an eye out for traps which may have survived the fortification's fall, as well as any traces of their quarry.
Her free heart balking slightly at the close confines, Vi snorts at the dust covering everything.
Keep an eye out, anything could have made its lair here since the place sank in to the ground, and dark hearts love dark places...
she drags her sword from its scabbard and moves forward slowly, letting the magical lights lead the way and moving at a sedate pace so the ponies don't miss anything in the surrounding environment.
Through careful observation, Shubshi realises that, whilst the door of the tower hangs askew, the flagstone beneath it has been cunningly rigged to conceal a deadfall. You can just hear the soft sounds of something alive moving around down there...
Shubshi points out the trap. "There's a deadfall there, and I hear something moving around inside."
You can carefully pick your way past it with a DC5 acrobatics check, or jump over it with a DC5 athletics check. Or it can be disarmed with a DC20 disable device check. Or you can poke it with a stick or throw a rock to trigger it... but then you'd still have to step past or jump over.
Shubshi outlines the options to the party. "Easy enough but a stumble would be bad. Course, I could carry you over it, but 's not a good idea when we'd need to go past it if we're leaving the place in a hurry. Up to ya folks, but I suggest having me take care of it."
Hmm...yes that sounds a good idea Shubshi! Thank you for volunteering!
Vi takes a prudent step back. Then another two.
Midnight Dove looked at Virtuous Heart with a bit of surprise.
Didn't she said that she was a "Knight-Errant"?
The oracle shook her head. The glowing lights got closer to the griffon.
"Taking care of it sounds indeed like the best choice, if you don't mind," she replied to the ranger. "I'll make sure that you have enough light to work."
Shubshi pulls his tools out and works on disabling the deadfall.
As she watches Shubshi get to work, Vi notices Midnight's shake of her head, presumably at her backing away from the gryphon whilst he works on the dangerous mechanism.
Just because I am a champion of good does not make me immune to spiked metal and crushing stone. The courtly ideal of a knight-errant is a wonder to behold, felling every foe, foiling every evil plot, and receiving only the slightest of injuries, unless of course a dramatic wound might advance a romance plot!
She shakes her mane slightly
As we have just seen with the rats, chivalric tales do not bear much similarity to the realities of a quest. I'd venture to say that those heroic ponies we tell our favorite stories about are around to have those stories told because they were prudent and not simply champing at the bit to be first in on the action!
she drops her bright and bubbly demeanor for a moment, adding
Besides...if that trap goes off and incapacitates everyone standing around, and enemies were to fall upon us, I would rather be away from the trigger so I can defend my brave comrade instead of trapped with him...how are you getting on Shubshi?
she calls, concern in her voice.
"While you're down there, why don't you add a quick release, so if we are being chased out of here we can re arm it to catch our pursuers." Moonstar suggests matter of factly. Not quite a commanding tone, but not far from it.
With some deft and delicate work, Shubshi disable's the deadfall's springs. Adding a quick release would require a further, more difficult effort...
To a casual glance, the tower ahead is cobbled with cracked granite, though the hoofing seems sure enough for practical purposes. The rat-nibbled corpses of a pony and two poblins (crude mockeries of equinity twisted by generations of foul acts and exposure to dark magics) sprawl upon the floor, and fourth stands skewered to the western portion of the by a powerfully-thrown spear, almost equidistant between a pair of wooden doors, one leading northwest, the other, southwest. Above, the tower rises some thirty feet, but any stairs or upper floors have long since crumbled, leaving ledges fit only for bats or birds...
Engineering DC 6
Shubshi shakes his head at Moonstar's suggestion. "That would be difficult work and not something I can do in a hurry. Best leave it where it is."
Further in, Shubshi scouts, investigating the corpses and trying to see if the pony is any of their quarry and if they have anything of use on them. He listens also for any sign of whatever he heard move earlier.
"Standing back can be the best option," Midnight Dove nodded. "I just have the feeling that this trap may not be the most dangerous thing that we will have to face... I'm much more concerned about these corpses."
The oracle knelt, trying to determinate when, and how the poor ponies died.
"Virtuous Heart, do you still suffer from your wound? Do you want me to cure it?"
Dove's investigation reveals that the poblins and the pony all died around a month ago, though they've kept quite fresh in the cool darkness of the cavern... something the rats have appreciated. Besides his Brand of Destiny, the pony bears another - that of a murderer, and a thief. All four wore crude leather armour bearing the same crudely-daubed symbol - a snarling poblin face - which has been slit and ruined in the search for any valuables they might've had - though each still possesses a small blade of no particular quality. None of the ponies, obviously, are those you are searching for.
Shubshi's careful investigation reveals some runes carved into the wall, largely obscured by the poblin corpse pinned against them.
Shubshi's careful investigation also reveals a hidden door leading immediately south... unfortunately, he fails to notice the needle protruding from it, dealing himself a nasty scratch...
Observing the room and its contents, Vi snorts
Bandit ponies and poblins, how disturbing such things lie such a short distance from the gentleponies of the local village she frowns, concerned.
As Shubshi reacts to being stuck with the needle, Vi trots over to look at the wound.
No adverse effects? We are blessed by Luna in this place...
she gestures with a hoof at the concealed door
I'll go first if you like, bear the brunt of anything else the building cares to throw at us
She pushes the door with a hoof, sword clamped tightly in her mouth.
The door is stiff, and requires a good hoofful of force to open, grinding against dried hinges and shoving aside an array of scattered rubble as it does so. The chamber beyond is tiny, no more than nine feet in diameter. Three skeletons are scattered and broken amidst the rubble, and more may lie crushed beneath it. They bear the decaying trappings of archery, and its pretty easy to deduce that this would've once been an archer's redoubt, though the arrowslits have collapsed in upon them, sealing their tomb. These poor pony souls were probably the duty guards when whatsoever cataclysm that engulfed the fortress occurred, and they weren't lucky enough to survive it. There's a thick layer of undisturbed masonry dust, and the gleam of light from a scattering of silver coins and old playing cards gone yellowed and mouldy with age, spread amongst the ruins of a crushed table. You'll have to pick your way carefully amidst the rubble if you wish to enter the room...
Moonstar carefully picks her way around the room while trying to think of any stories of old coats of arms, nobles losing castles, or other history that might tell her about this castle.
Moonstar can't recall any specific knowledge about this castle... likely, it predates Garrick's unification of Valorein, a fastness built by some local lord to demonstrate his prestige, control trade, cow his vassals and intimidate his enemies. Its fall probably occurred some sixty of seventy years ago, around the beginning of Garrick's conquests, and the story lost in the general turmoil of the time.
Shubshi doesn't look too happy about his momentary lapse but continues on, keeping watch as he follows Moonstar Eclipse with whatever she's doing.
Midnight Dove got up, and grabbed her moonstar.
"Stay on your guard, everyone... Who knows what hides in the darkness."
She followed the group cautiously.
I agree Midnight, we should be alert from this point onwards. Ancient this place may be, but it appears to have had recent visitors...
Vi speaks slowly and carefully around the hilt of her sword, unwilling to put it down just to talk right at this moment.
She proceeds carefully through the rubble.
Its pretty clear, almost as soon as you enter it, that there's no other exits from the archers redoubt - though there's certain a tithe of treasure to be recovered. For mere archerponies to have such gold and silver, this must once have been a wealthy Lord's fief indeed.
You grow more certain in your earlier summation, observing it's consistent with the thickness of the dust, the ageing of the masonry, and the condition of the skeletons themselves...
...whose skull-sockets begin to glow with an eerie light, their bones bouncing and clattering across the masonry to retake their pony forms, the bone-bared teeth and hooves sharp as knives and just as dangerous...
Virtuous heart's eyes narrow as the unholy abominations make their presence known. Splaying her hooves to provide good stability, she whips her sword around, aiming to carve the animated bones next to her in to dust before they have a chance to completely reform.
Unfortunately her blade passes through a section of skeleton not completely reconnected, the bones are rattled but undamaged as they complete their reconstruction.