You have come to the Mines of Madness in search of the Forever Stone, a powerful artifact rumored to have many great powers, first among them the power to grant eternal life. According to half-forgotten lore, the stone was hidden from the world long ago by evil wizards and greedy dwarves who coveted its power. They are said to have perished in an orgy of magic and bloodshed after turning on one another. You don’t expect all the rumors to be true, but one thing is certain: Over the years, many adventurers have tried to claim the Forever Stone, but none have succeeded.
To survive the Mines of Madness would be a feather in the cap of any adventurer, but to retrieve the Forever Stone would catapult you into the annals of awesomeness. And so here you are, on the brink of greatness, ready to descend into the depths in search of glory, infamy, and immortality…
A ramshackle wooden outhouse stands about 30 feet from the entrance to the mine. Carved into the door are the words “KEEP OUT!” in Common.
As curious as ever, Dervel approaches the outhouse.
He opens the door.
" I guess there may be something of note in there. " Randal says as Dervel heads to the outhouse. Randal follows Dervel but stays about five feet back as Dervel opens the door.
Alton follows the other two over to the outhouse, but he keeps about 15 feet away from Dervel.
Milo will continue on to the mines for a short while, not realizing everyone else has stopped for the outside. Why didn't he take of business before leaving the tavern? He quickly shuffles over to Alton, a fellow Halfling, and pulls two axes off his bandolier and prepares for the worst.
Alton pulls out his bow and knocks an arrow after seeing Milo draw his weapons. Might as well be ready, eh?
Vasayo steps away from the group about 30ft before they reach the small building, trying to circle around back unnoticed. He is not expecting anything unusual, it's more like a bad habit. Never approach a building's front door if you can avoid it.
Inside the outhouse is a wooden bench with a hole cut into it. Flickering orange light shows through the hole, emanating from somewhere deep below.
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What do you see, eh?
Finding nothing of interest around back, Vasayo circles back to the front door.
"You guys find anything? "
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Grith stands around and waits for the party at the outhouse to finish without him as such things are considered improper in dwarven culture.
"Woah, don't eat the carrots round here." Dervel backs away, closing the door quickly without slamming it.
"There's a flickering orange light coming up from the toilet seat, like it's coming from deep below. Let's leave it alone."
Don't feel like dropping a rope down to explore that way, eh? Alton gives Milo a friendly jab in the ribs, and wink at his own cleverness.
Milo turns to Alton, casting a stern look void of amusement, then cracks a smile. Perhaps he doesn't like the idea of a rear entry. Satisfied with their tandem cleverness, Milo turns to head towards the mines, holstering his two axes.
'Curiosity's a b@~~&,' Vasayo thinks, slipping past Dervel into the small house. Carefully he leans over the bench, peaking down the whole, into the strange orange light.
" Like a fire? In a toilet? "
Randal moves off towards the mine entrance.
Suddenly the ground swells and explodes outward as a giant purple worm rises from the ground beneath the outhouse. Vasayo is unable to escape the jaws of the beast as it bites down, destroying the outhouse along with him inside it.
Miraculously, his limp body falls to the ground next to the worm. He is bleeding and unconscious.
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Vasayo 21
Anton 20
Randal 14
Purple Worm 12
Derval 9
Grith 7
Milo 6
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Alton will move 25 feet away from the worm, up to the first range of his shortbow (80 feet). Then he will fire an arrow at the beast.
Nasty slug, eh? He'll say to the general vicinity of his voice.
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Alton's arrow flies true and strikes the quivering mass of the worm. But it hardly seems to notice as it continues crunching on the remains of the outhouse.
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After seeing the worm ignore his arrow, Alton gets uneasy Maybe we best make for the mines and hope it don't follow us, eh?
Randal turns at the huge noise. He sees the prone form of Vasayo. " Yes get to the mines I'll get Vasayo! " He yells and immediately begins sprinting back dodging the raining debrie of the purple worms outhouse feast, cursing all the way.
He ducks down and grabs Vasayos ankle. " What was it again... Right, right. " Randal chants and a white glowing light builds on his hands and passes into Vasayo's body.
"Who or what in the nine levels of hell has Vasayo offended? Alton is right, Run for your lives!"
Dervel bravely makes for the mines as fast as he can, his religious fervour overtaking him.
Vasayo comes back to a world of pain. He sees his lag snap back into place and a large wound closing. Without any delay he jumps to his feet and makes for the mine.
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Randal is able to get to Vasayo's side and brings him back to consciousness with healing magic. Just then the purple worm crunches down on the last of the outhouse, swallowing it whole and covering Randal and Vasayo in flinders, detritus and the Gods alone know what else.
It then lets out a loud, earth shaking moan and begins to return to the depths from which it came.
Dervel meanwhile runs headlong into the mines and doesn't notice the magical rune sitting under a thin layer of dust, nor the crushed remnants of goblin corpses. The rune flashes brightly and triggers a tunnel collapse.
The elf manages to just barely jump backwards avoiding the falling rocks.
Vasayo jumps to his feet, deftly moves out of reach of the worm with a quick roll and fires an arrow at the creature with his now drawn shortbow.
Grith fires a fire bolt at the creature while attempting to further the gap between them without falling through the tunnel floor just freshly opened.
,
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Alton will move up to where Dervel is. If he has an action left after that, he'll take a shot at the worm.
Randal let's out a disbelieving laugh as the worm retreats " Ha ha! "
He backs away from the sinking worm and calls down flames on the beast.
"Was this in one of those cleric lessons I missed? What the hell happened here?"
Dervel stands, dusts himself off, and looks at the rubble.
The purple worm shrugs off the radiant damage. But shrieks as the fire bolt burns a chunk of his bulk. And arrows fired from Alton and Vasayo, sink deep into his flesh.
The purple worm finally burrows into the ground, leaving a cavernous opening where once there was an outhouse.
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Vasayo has been run through pretty hard. He won't be of any help digging out the entrance. He takes a rest for about an hour to compose himself.
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"Let me put it this way," Vasayo starts. "My curiosity is sated."
With that he walks a bit closer to the cave and sits down on a small rock that has just found its new resting place there.
Well, if you get too sated, there's a big hole over there you can use for an outhouse. Eh? Eh? Ha ha ha.
"I just feel sorry for whatever fellow passed that in the first place." Grith says as he begins to clear out rubble.
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Alton is almost finished laughing at his own joke when Grith's comment sinks in. He laughs a while longer, then starts helping to clear the rubble.