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Dave gives him his best sympathetic look, which is mostly just staring at him slightly longer then usual, maintaining a look of impassiveness. "Hopefully someone that won't try to kill us once we're out of the city limits. That's generally a plus in my book. Seriously though," He adjusts his belt buckle, which displays a tiger in some sort of easternized style. "This thing is really weird. I feel all tingly and stuff. Is that supposed to happen."
Hearing Dave speak, Joey nods and adds, "I don't know, man - seems to me like trouble always finds us. Either means we're doing something right, or we're just grossly unlucky... And you know. Now that you mention it, when I grabbed my gun, I felt something too. I just associated that with this dreaded jetlag though. It's not a bad thing though, it was just... different. Magic is so fascinating!"
"Speaking of which, I can sorta do that now. Heads up if I suddenly disappear, cause yeah. That can happen."
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"Oh! So you have something that permits you witchery too? Maria has been helping me understand magic - I believe I can channel it through this cat of mine apparently! She's my 'familiar' as it's called." Beginning to pet his pet's head, he coos, "And she's just the prettiest familiar there ever was! Yes she is, isn't she!" Joey ends his affectionate tone as he looks back to Dave.
"She channels magic from a more powerful source.. What that source is, though, I have no idea yet. I call her Blackfur 'Hellcat' Adams though because it all seems... Hellish, really.. And she's a cat. And her fur is Black. And she's my baby."
The Jeep gets there as expected, give or take an hour. A young Serbian man with shaved hair and slightly crossed dark eyes helps you with your bags. "Hm. Think we're going to need another Jeep," he says, seeing the size of the group.
After a phone call, another Jeep shows up after about 20 minutes, and you head out. (one of you will have to drive the other Jeep).
You're heading South-East toward the Southern Carpathian mountains. The guide, Anto, warns you the roads get iffy once you leave the highways.
The sky is overcast as you wind into the mountains a couple hours later.
I need a drive check from someone, and perception. First perception that's high enough will get the response.
It should be known, that Dave is bloody fantastic at driving.
Dave maneuvers through the rain-slick roads of the mountain pass, deftly avoiding huge pot-holes and several fallen rocks.
At one turn, Valda notices a truck traveling the road behind you by a few hundred yards. Other than that vehicle and your two Jeeps, it's been deserted since shortly after you left the highway.
Sitting in the back seat, Joey tries resting his eyes for a moment but cannot find himself becoming comfortable enough despite Dave's superb driving.
"Driven like a natural Serb, Dave! You sure you haven't been here before?" He mutters as he leans back in seat.
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"Pretty sure on that man. I think I would've noticed getting into a plane and flying a billion miles to a place where I couldn't talk to anyone."
Presumably at this point, Valda informs everyone of the truck she's seen following in the distance.
Valda does indeed do that.
"Shit, we're being followed? I could try to loose them if you want me to."
"Why bother? We know they're there now. If we loose them they might tail us with someone we don't spot. Let them follow, and when we get bored, we can go see what they want." Valda smiled slightly.
Joey mumbles to himself before rubbing his eyes and saying, "We don't even know if they're following us in particular... They could just be associates to the Isagoras or just causals driving around... in the middle of nowhere." The more he thinks about it, the more suspicious it does seem, but Joey is too miserable to think too hard on the matter at the moment.
"Alright, but if they try to ram us off the road I'm holding you responsible Valda."
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"The" Isagoras frowns. "Were it representatives of my guild, I would have gained word of such penundrums at the most recent communication. I can assure you with penultimate satiety that those are -not- friendlies.
Are you certain you do not want them destroyed? I could send a murder of crows to, ironically, crash through the forward windscreen and murder the driver."
Isagoras chuckles at his little joke. He doesn't know who named them a murder of crows but they must have been a hit at all the parties.
"Let's not kill anyone we don't have to..."
After about an hour of slow driving, you turn down a muddy, unpaved path covered over in grass. Dave would have not recognized it as a path if the lead Jeep had not turned down it first. The truck that may have been following you did not turn down the path after you, but continued on.
The path slopes down steeply into a valley, and at the end of it, there is an ancient roadblock that has been there so long a tree has grown around it.
Your guide stops the lead jeep and hops out. "We're here," he says, apprehension obvious in his voice, as if he doesn't even want to be near here for long. Just past the road block is an even steeper slope that fades into what can only be described as a giant funnel into the earth. The trees stop part way down, and a rock stair can dimly be seen around the inside of the tube.
"Well, we're here, and we haven't been murdered. So that's a bonus." Valda glanced at the tunnel. "I don't suppose not going down the dark funnel is an option, is it?" Sighing, Valda checked to make sure the non-lethal salt rounds were loaded, and headed down the stairs.
"I'm going to be bugged about that car behind us for awhile now." He wasn't so great at the whole non-lethal approach, it's hard to break out of years of practice. But he's certainly going to make some attempts. Besides, some of those new poisons he's experimenting with could prove useful in that regard.
Getting down to the stairs proves to be no easy task. Make a climb check. You have rope, which will lower the DC significantly, but you might consider adding an Action Point if you roll < 10.
"Great..." He debates the merits of simply trying to roll down, but concedes to using the rope.
Watching Dave descend, Joey sighs nervously as he chews on his lip some before reaching out to attempt working his way down. "Oh boy... This... may not end well.."
Though through some divine, zen focus, Joey's hands are practically glowing as he steadies himself.
Dave and Joey have reached the ledge. The stairs are sunken into the wall of the funnel, so that the top of the rock wall overhangs them. They are supported by pillars from stairs to rock overhang and rock struts below. They seem sturdy enough. Dropping down onto a balcony, you are free to walk under the overhang and onto the stairs.
The stairs do not go very far. They wind about 100' down the spiral before ending at a cave in the wall of the funnel.
Climb checks pending for Valda, Isagoras and Maria.
... and she falls. Ouch.
Dave spends an Action Point in order to use his quick reflexes, and save Maria before she hurts herself too much.
Fortunately the rope was tied. Maria has a little trouble toward the end, but Dave manages to pull the line as Maria falls, and she awkwardly stumbles onto the balcony overlooking a very long fall.
Turning back to look at Maria while simultaneously giving Dave a thumbs-up, he asks worried yet relieved at the same time, "Are you alright, Maria?? That was a close one.."
"To be honest, I was expecting to do that for you, not her. But yeah, you alright there?"
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"How is it we can kick so much ass and still have trouble with a damned gym class basic?" Valda muttered as they headed down.
"I'll get back to you when I've thought of an appropriate trope. Izzy, your the last one up."
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Isagoras frowns a bit. He's unsure just he's going to manage it. Long nights poring over lost tomes of pusceint lore gave little time for pushups.
He reaches out, tentatively, his fingers hesitant to make contact with the thing as if he were waiting for it to turn into a a serpent at any moment. At last he takes a grip on it and...
Isagoras clambers down like a monkey on performance-enhancing drugs. He reaches the bottom with a double-swirl somersault. He looks around. "What?"
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Dave starts clapping.
The steps are somewhat mossy, but by climbing down slowly and hugging the wall, you manage to reach the cave entrance without a problem. The entrance is a relatively small room of rough-hewn stone. There is a doorway opposite, leading further into the wall.
I need to know the order you proceed forward, and who's holding a light source, as well as any precautions before you enter either the outer chamber or the one beyond.
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Isagoras begins a running Detect Magic, just in case. He then unlimbers and fills his oil lantern. Then he gets out flint and steel, strikes a spark, and lights it. He holds it aloft. "What? The olde ways are oftimes best. Never have I worried about running out of batteries or matches."
Yes, somehow he really does say 'olde'.
"I like how you always preemptively say 'what' every time you do something that may be perceived as weird, as if expecting us to comment on it in the first place. Whatever works, works, though. Just hope there aren't any gas leeks down here." Dave will stay near the front, feeling as though he's the best one to handle a frontal assault, as weird as that is.
Isagoras detects no magic (other than the special items of his comrades) in the immediate vicinity.
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"I usually spent gym class making out behind the bleachers. Maybe I should have paid more attention, huh? Thanks for helping me though." she says with a slight laugh.
He shoots Maria a thumbs up, "Always happy to make sure you don't fall down a bottomless pit."
Valda paused for a moment. "No," Valda replied in a thoughtful voice, "No, in fairness, that's probably what I would have done too. If I'd been able to find girls willing to make out in high school."
"Not like you'd have much luck with that now either."
"True," Valda agreed, "I have no idea where the nearest high school is."
"I'll check google maps once we have signal again for you."
Joey thinks back to his days in gym class and how he was always able to sit-out to do being so frail and sickly. Coughing a bit and smiling, he holds his hands out to the side and says, "Yeah, I know right? Man, all those times I should've been exercising wasted because of all the make-out sessions! Boy, o' boy! The stories I could tell - too bad we're busy with an important mission right now!"
He shifts his eyes from side to side, as he waits for the others, planning to stick close to the back.
Joeys eyes shift more drastically and he glances to the left, visibly sweating and beginning to shake under Dave's intense scrutiny.
"W-what... I-I've made-out with girls in gym class too....."
He could break at any moment.
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"Sure, buddy. I believe you." He says, while giving you a look. He even accompanies it with a short shoulder pat. "A real ladykiller."
Joey hangs his head down and pouts, pooching out his bottom lip as he's faced with the truth of his high school shenanigans. His shoulders slump and he leans forward, sulking as he confesses, "...Girls never showed interest in me because I was shy and reclusive... I was uncool because I couldn't get around like the others or play sports. I just studied and played video games a lot.. I finally got a kiss once in college when a drunk girl approached me at a bar.. It was on the cheek; I panicked and left immediately... I'm a loser."
Crouching to his knees, the investigator begins drawing circles with his finger in the ground like an angst-y pre-teen.