All of the young ones had one thing in common, they were taken in by small communities of the fey. Some say their parents died of unfortunate accidents, others would say these accidents were too suspicious and coincidental to be happenstance.
Nevertheless, elevators would descend to the underground with young adults bereft of all memories but the happy community of small fey creatures that raised them and pushed them to be the best at what they did. Then they found themselves waking up at the bottom of the shaft with even their given name lost to them among a community of others that suffered a similar fate.
The children had gotten in the habit of calling those in the first group Aces. The second group were called deuces, the third treys, up to the niners. A barbarian, monk, alchemist, and summoner awoke to find themselves in a strange underground world. This group of niners would find themselves challenged--could they thrive in this crucible of fire or would they be broken like the eight whose names were scratched off the Wall of Remembrance?
The barbarian was the first to awake, the rest of the trio shortly afterwards. The slow hum of the cage as it descended to the bottom of the shaft was relaxing, the vibrations comfortable.
As the elevator halted at the bottom, the doors were opened by a group of anxious strangers. Leading the group seemed to be a dwarf and a Halfling. "The niners are here. Let us see what supplies came down." A burly human with a shock of unruly red hair is the first to stare at you with a suspicious look.
"We don't know if they are going to lose it. How much they know. If they are plants. Or whether they are even sane."
The halfling with the baby face creased by worry lines smiles at you: "If they turn out to have any of the problems you mentioned, we can deal with that later. Right now, show the niners around and see what gifts our fey friends have sent."
The half orc walks forward towards the other group at the bottom of the shaft."Who are you people and more importantly, who am I?"
Gundza (who does not recall his name) desperately searches through his memory for any information, but his efforts are fruitless. He starts scanning the nearby area for the supplies that have been mentioned, seeing as he has next to no gear at all.
A well built man with wild and unkempt features walks out with the others, a hand on his head trying to clear the fog in his mind. "What's going on?
As the door is opened, you find the reception somewhat friendly but guarded. The dwarf says:"You will remember your name in a day or two, Greenie. Now don't mess with the supplies. We got a little initiation planned for you."
You notice there are barrels of supplies, and a dwarf quickly looks over them. He itemizes the barrels: "Plump helmets, cave wheat, pig tails, and sweet pods."
Some strong young men and dwarves enter and begin to carry the barrels away.
As you leave the shaft you notice you are in a large underground cavern. The halfling approaches and looks you over: "Looks you might be runner material. I am Ollie and I am the leader. Dane here is my second and leads the runners."
A large bonfire and celebration await you. Ollie makes the opening statements: "The ninth arrival brings four more to join our merry band. Foundlings of the fey exiled to an underground world. Hopefully our new friends will remember some more details that can get us out of here."
Thin pots of a strong and bitter wine are passed around and a toast is quaffed. Dane yells boisterously:"To the niners, the new greenies. You eighters are no longer greenies."
The Monk Sits quietly still unsure whats going on and trying to piece things together. After the little toast he leans in close to the person next to him. "Who or what are runners? and why are we greenies?"
The Barbarian looks over to the Monk [bold]"We are new here, that must be why we are being called green. Runners most likely run after stuff. Or maybe away from stuff.I don't really know."[/bold]
Ollie quickly shows you the shaft you came down close to what appears to be a closed seemless wall. "This opens every morning and closes every night. The shifting maze we have just begun to know." He points out a list of names neatly scratched on the wall between the shaft and the closed wall. "When you know your names, they will be added to the roster."
The larger human smirks as he stands and flexes his muscles and makes taunting motions to the others: "Greenies you will be until others come. Now who will fight me."
Caught up in the excitement, the large human begins to fight savagely and delivers a crushing two handed slam to a dwarf challenger. Dazed, the dwarf miner is helped to his feet by others.
"Any of you Greenies want a go at me?" The wild man with the fair skin and blues eyes seems to be caught up in the moment.
Ollie looks on, but shrugs. "Fighting can make us strong, as long as no one misses work." He gives the big man a pointed glance.
The Barbarian steps forward You had best be careful with who you challenge tark, you might have others intimidated, but I don't know you or your reputation. So you don't scare me."
The Barbarian might be new here, but he certaintly was not going to be lorded over.
The human smiles and puts up his hands in a fighting stance. "Come on, if you want these beauties to kiss your pretty face."
You notice this seems to be a regular routine--a celebration with wine, a small bonfire, and some blowing off of steam. Some seem to be shaken when the elevator reveals no clue as to why you are hear.
As Gundza advances to meet the challenge, he thinks 'Gundza doesn't have to take this. Hey, I know my name, it is Gundza.'
Ollie seems to be talking to the Dane the dwarf in a whisper.
Gundza hears the Dwarf perfectly. He brushes the comment aside, his eyes locked in on the human who is acting tough.
The monk was about to accept the mans challenge, but was beaten to it by one of the other niners, the half-orc. but even so he is still looking forward to seeing the fight ready to observe the two fight, and study their moves for when he may go up.
And is too focused on them to notice Ollie's whispers.
The moment passes when after the two stare at each other for what seems to be long seconds. When no one else advances on the human, he replies: "King of the bonfire again!"
Your names come to you within a day, and they inscribed upon the wall between the shaft and the maze. You notice eight names have been scratched out, leaving twenty eight names remaining. You also do a rough count, and there are only twenty two in the camp including you.
It is amazing that this group seems to have formed a tight bond. They seem to have only community property. A rack of well made spears, rows of clothes made of tough cloth, high hard boots, crude crossbows with bolts, and a few suits of cured leather armor make up what you would call the armory. You are issued boots and comfortable work clothes the first day.
A week of labor in the fields of the wet caverns harvesting the many plants. There is room for a group of chickens and a room with a few geese. The meals consist of rather bland fibrous plants and eggs. You notice Dane and a wiry half-elf go into the maze every day. They mention running from metal creatures from big to small.
You have grown healthier after your week to recover from what you know is a depleted condition, and Dane asks you: "You runners or workers?"
He produces what appears to be very light sandals that look like shoes that contrast to the boots you have been given. The runners seem to like the shoes for running the maze. There is a minimal cushion in them and the runners seem to run always on top of their feet springing off quickly with their toes after they land.
"What exactly are we running after? I assume more supplies" Gundza says.
Dane puts on his shoes and prepares to enter the maze at dawn of the eighth day you have been down.
"We need to find out of there is a way out of this maze and what makes these mechanical monsters. If you come with me, we may be able to find a way out or where they come from."
Visiting a small lean to, you find coils of crude hemp rope in fifty foot sections. "Take a rope, a spear, a club, and come with me if you want into the maze. The rats and spiders made of metal are dangerous, I will try to avoid them."
Gundza nods and collects the items.
"Can our weapons even damage the mechanical beasts?" Gundza asks
Dane shrugs: "I know bashing the ones I have faced is best."
He indicates the open maze. "We can move and see what has changed."
As you venture into the maze, Dane explains. "I have yet to find a significant pattern to how it is laid out in over nine months. Hopefully we can find something useful.'
You venture into the maze, and the blocks have seams in what appear to be ten foot cubes. The maze is consistently twenty feet wide and forty feet high. As you run through the maze and are told to remember what you see, one feature seems to blur into another. After four hours of exploration you hear a hum and....the maze begins to change.
You find yourself in an open passage as barriers appear that block your retreat--you would have to jump over them or squeeze between them. A set of ledges leads up higher to a long ledge that parallels the passage. To your horror, a mass of mechanical rats of a small size in a large mass appear out of the ground.
It appears you have two real choices besides running toward the rats. (1)running on the ground level back to what you think is the camp or (2) hop up the ledges to get to the high ledge.
Dane looks around and quickly looks at the steps. "Can you make the high ground? If not, that is the quick way back. What do you think?"
You make a quick assessment--the head start should give you a comfortable chance of rushing back to the camp. Running up to the ledge looks riskier. There is no obvious way back from the ledge, you cannot be sure it isn't a dead end.
Zvet remains quiet as they walked along trying to keep not of everything he sees. As the maze shifts, his face becomes more serious. "The high ground may be good for getting away from the rat if we assume they can't climb up but if they can we could just be chased further away from camp and cornered. That said we also have no guarantee that the other way will lead us back. I could probably make it up to the ledge if we decide to go up that way. Can these things climb?"
"Quite the puzzle. But we came here to get supplies. Whats the point of leaving right away?"
Dane begins the run to high ground jumping up the steps. The swarm of mechanical rats rushing towards where you started.
"These metal monsters make it everywhere!! Run for your lives!!"
As you get closer you see the a ledge parallel to the path down below.
Dane begins to leap up the steps in a big running leap.
It takes Dane thirty seconds to get up the steps, the dwarf stumbled twice in his final attempt to navigate the ledge, but keeps from falling. In the half minute it took him to get to the top, the rats at the bottom of the steps up to the ledge!!
Dane gets to the top and points to steeper steps leading under what appears to be a trap door with handholds thirty feet above the ground if you turn left at the top. The hatch is marked 'MAINTENANCE'. If you turn right, the area gets clear for while before a set of jumps back down to the main level.
Round 1:
Round 1:
**Pass
**Pass
**Pass
**Pass
Dane beats you to the stop of the steps and gets stuck and hands you a rope with a carved bone grappling hook. He points to the maintenance hatch on the ceiling.
**FAIL
**FAIL
Dane points to the hatch and the steep climb. It appears the rats can indeed climb up the walls.
"It will be tough climb, even tougher jumping, to get up there. If you can't make it, you better run back and tell everyone where I am."
Round 6
Dane
Zvet
Gundza
Clockwork rats -- moving to O3
Dane attempts the climb up.
**Success
Meanwhile, back on the surface.............
The next load of promising youth is drugged and put in the elevator.
Gundza will attempt to follow Dane
And manages to pull it off and climb up after Dane.
"Wha...What is this" A crippled man groans as the elevator begins to move. He looks around him, and then to himself. He sees his bare feet, his legs, then his hands, and arms - all blackened, made useless, long ago by the painless bite of Linnorm cold. But, he doesn't remember this...
Panicked stricken, he begins to summon a power from somewhere beyond.
Come on...come on he thinks as he stares at the growing hole in the ceiling. Soon, he feels a covering of fur growing around him, like being wrapped in a soft blanket. He looks at his frostbitten, tortured hands as sees them now shielded with white fur as strong, sharp claws extend from where his fingertips use to be.
When the fur reaches his face, it feels as if he has put on a mask. For an instant, he is blinded by the mask, but then, his eyesight and that of the being he summoned mold into one.
With the summoning complete, the man, now monster, stands and looks up calmly at the ever-nearing hole. What ever comes, friend or foe, they will not see him as weak; for this man has become the Yeti.
And the Yeti grins...
Taeren slumbered, dreaming of eating a large dinner. His mum's cooking was so good. But strangely, though surrounded by a table of dining halflings, he couldn't see anyone's face.
He came awake suddenly, feeling a lurch. As his eyes adjusted to the light, he saw a large furry creature. A bear? An ape? The halfling crept backwards slowly, hoping the creature wasn't hungry.
Gundza follows the dwarf with a nimble leap.
**FAIL
**FAIL
**FAIL
**SUCCESS
**FAIL
**FAIL
**SUCCESS
After Zvet is unable to make follow, Dane urges the monk to try moving the other way. Dane manage to make the climb to under the hatch on the second try, while Gundza fails on two consecutive attempts. The horde of mechanical rats swarms up the metal surface by piling on each other and moving with an eery hive precision. The forward elements form a ladder and the following rats quickly follow. Then the bottom rung of the ladder swarms over the others, so it appears as if the mechanical ladder 'retracts' up the face. This process repeats itself as the rats follow.
Updated positions at Start of Round 9
Dane R5
Gundza P5
Zvet N5
rats O5
You watch as the rats cut the two groups off. Zvet will be racing towards the drop back down to ground level as Dane and Gundza rush to the top.
Round 9
Dane whirls the rope and hook and throws it thirty feet up. The grapple hooks around the handles on the first try and he waves for Gundza to join him. He begins to scramble up to rope.
Meanwhile, the halfling and the yeti are removed from the cave. It appears their arrival at the bottom has created another stir as a burly human with a shock of red hair and another smiling halfling are there to greet them.
"Why have they come so early?" Looking through the elevator, five young men and dwarves are disappointed to find no supplies.
They look at Taren and Bjorn: "What happened to the supplies? No weapons, foodstuffs, tools, or magic?"
Taren realizes the yeti seems to not be a threat. But he now must confront the strange reality of his surroundings. All he can offer are questions. "Supplies? What? Where is this? What's going on?"
Zvet nods at Dane and preceded to do as he said.
Round 9:
Round 10:
round 11:
Seeing that he is outnumbered, Bjorn steps between the Halfling and the group, "More to the point, who are you and what do you want with us?"
Meanwhile, in the maze, Zvet stumbles and the mass of rats is just feet behind him. He manages to rush through the open area and put some distance on the metal rats.
Zvet Recap
Round 9 Stuck in N5, rats move to N5 but do not swarm him
Round 10 Moves to M5 just ahead of rats
Round 11 Two squares of movement to K5
Round 12 **Success move to J5
Round 13 Success to make it out.
Zvet quickly loses the rats on the open ground after jumping down just thirty feet ahead of them and sprinting back to camp.
It appears that the Halfling and yeti have forgotten their names. The halfling in the cage's comments are quickly forgotten as the yeti intervenes and takes a protective stance. A large human from the north snarls and steps forward with his fists up. "Back down, or you get a thrashing."
The dwarves and humans step back and are also concerned. It appears the unnatural appearance of the yeti has the group somewhat concerned. With a suspicious look, the halfling named Ollie steps forward: "What manner of creature are you? Do you have blended outsider in your body too?"
The halfling steps up beside the yeti, as it seems to be protecting him.
"We mean you no harm. But I'm afraid we don't know what's going on." He tries to put the group at ease.
The yeti ignores all but the strange, glader Halfling, "What do you know about blending? Tell me....please." As he speaks, he puts his giant paw over Taren's face, gently pushing him out of the way and towards safety.
The two new recruits are hustled out of the cage, and the cage then goes up into the shaft. This time, the tenners are welcomed as the new greenies into the camp in a ceremony of bitter wine and strangely stringy but tasty mushrooms mixed with eggs. Unfortunately your initial impression has made the entire group suspicious of you. The tenners an armed escort of club wielding dwarves watching them as they shown the communal sleeping and eating quarters. A burly dwarf explains in common: "Some come down very disoriented and violent as you have done. I do not think you will spend any time in the pens though."
You realize the group has been anxiously awaiting something. After the evening meal, Zvet returns from the maze with a colorful story about swarms of metal rats and the shifting of the maze. Barriers and sliding rocks creating a new maze in minutes. The evening festivities are subdued as a group waits in vigil outside the entrance into the maze. At a time that surprised no one but the tenners, the maze closes.
Ollie says despondently: "No one has survived a night in the maze. But if anyone can do it, Dane can. I hope he brings out Gundza so he can find out he is no longer a greenie."
"The...maze? You are joking, right?" Bjorn says, hoping that it's some kind of bad joke, but, for some reason, he knows that Ollie is telling the truth.
Gundza pulls himself up and goes after Dane.
The halfling is eager to prove good faith, so he strides forward. "I can help...I'm quiet as a mouse." He pats his belt looking for his trusty knife but finds it missing. "It would help if I had a bow, or a couple of knives though."