|
You have been dispatched by Venture-Captain Ambrus Valsin to a training location outside of Absalom, known as the Red Redoubt of Karamoss. Another group of Pathfinders were sent to the location to set up an obstacle course, including both physical and mental challenges. You are to test their success, and yourselves, by completing the obstacle course.
The noonday sun shines brightly in a cloudless sky, but the rugged landscape diffuses the light as if through a stained glass window composed entirely of crimson panes. Deep red metal walls, broken but mostly untouched by rust even after a millennium, form an obstacle course through the landscape. Clearly, when the Red Redoubt of Karamoss was named, it was not done ironically.
The marked path through the siege castle's ruins leads to a large central chamber open to the sky above. Aside from the metal flooring, walls and rubble, nothing remains of the so-called "machine mage" Karamoss or his lost armies. Refuse, old campfire rings, and other signs of life attest to the place being a haven for scavengers and vagabonds.
The chamber is filled with a large, circular shaft in the metal floor, with smoothly rolled edges that demonstrate superbly uniform craftsmanship. A rope ladder descends into the pit, anchored by pitons hammers into the floor panels.
|
A half elf strides into the room. His neck and right cheek bear what look like ritualistic scars mixed with some sort of tattoo, a whirling pattern of blue and black. On his back is a worn, but deadly looking hand and a half sword, and a large round wooden shield. Both bear the marks of combat, such as chinks, dents, and gashes (in the case of the shield.)
His scale mail looks equally worn down, and bears many decorations, animal furs, decorative buckles, and the like.
He sizes up the members of the group so far, and nods.
Well met. I am Elric, of the Woodsborne clan in the Land of the Linnorm Kings. Are we the only ones or are there more?
The last question was directed at the Venture Captain, if indicated only by the slight tilt of his head toward the man when he spoke it.
Behind the Ulfen Half Elf strides his companion, a massive tiger, who sidles up next to him, and then flops onto the floor with his head resting on his two front paws. Even laying down, Anto is large enough that Elroc can rest his hand on the Cat's head.
The tiger looks at the two gnomes, and then with a hopeful look sniffs them. Not recieving the smell he wants, the cat lets out a Wauff! sounding sigh, and closes its eyes.
|
A tall, lean human male dressed in scale armor carries a finely-crafted polearm, his long black cloak trailing behind him. In fact, all his clothing is black. He squints as if in bright sunlight despite overcast sky.
His eyes appear to mask a much older soul than his forty or so years might suggest.
He nods solemnly as he considers their task.
"I am Telos Phane," he says by way of introduction.
"I have some skill of arms...I will take the front line if there are no objections. Let us see what obstacles we face here, shall we?" he says.
|
|
Not sniffles, my friend. Back home, Anto and I were more often than not in the group's sent out to hunt down threats to our towns and kingdoms. A lot of the time, we would find malicious fey allied with winter witches. I'm afraid Anto developed quite a taste for them...
He chuckles and smiles at the gnome.
You have naught to fear, my friend. You only bear resemblance to the cursed things we fought. Anto will help protect you as you cast your spells at our backs, not attempt to eat you.
|
|
"Blast it, you were supposed to be out in the field already," he mutters, rummaging through a desk filled with papers. He withdraws a parchment and hands it to the nearest of you.
"Fortunate I still had one lying around," he continues, before motioning towards the parchment, "Go on, get moving."
After reading Valsin's letter, and making your way to the Red Redoubt, you find yourself in the central chamber staring at the shaft and the rope ladder that leads down into it. You can tell that the shaft is approximately thirty feet in diameter and thirty feet deep. It also appears to be perfectly circular.
|
Ghaenk gives a tug on the rope ladder, checking that the pitons are secure and the ladder looks otherwise safe to decsend. Then turns his attention to the massive pit. With a subtle flick of his wrist, the magical energies pick up a small nearby stone and toss it into the pit. Ghaenk leans in listening for the stone to hit the bottom.
|
|
Telos descends into the shaft without incident. The rope ladder remains firm. As he descends, he sees the following:
The entrance shaft opens into the center of a red steel chamber. The floor beneath the shaft is canted at a slight angle; it seems to have originally been a circular platform that fit flush with the rest of the room but at some point unevenly sank a foot or so. The floors around the room’s perimeter are solid and even, with a textured surface to give better footing on the smooth metal. The walls are riveted metal plates, fallen or torn off in places to reveal solid rock behind. Recessed slabs of metal with adjacent panels, presumably exits, are centered on each wall. The northern panel glows dimly, illuminating scorch marks and glistening red stains around it.
As you step off the ladder onto the platform, you see that four of the recesses are marked with the 'do not enter' sign left by the Pathfinders who set up the obstacle course. The only recess that doesn't is the northern one.
Anto climbs off of Elric's back, and patiently waits for the rope to be untied, and then walks a circle around the room, sniffing for anything out of the ordinary.
It is impossible to miss, that near the one door that isn't marked Do Not Enter that red dye has been dumped everywhere. There are footprints in the dye leading into the doorway.
The door is slightly ajar.
|
|
Ghaenk examines the footprints in front of the door.
There appears to be six different sets of footprints, here. Peering round the door, he continues, They lead down the hallway. Um... who wants to open the door and go first?
Ghaenk takes a couples steps back and pulls up his sleeves and cracks a few knuckles as though he is preparing to take on a challenge.
|
|
Elric hefts his shield and his sword, and looks down at Anto.
Ready, Anto? Looks like it's about to begin...
The tiger replies by assuming the normal "stalking" stance cats do, in which he lowers himself close to the floor, flattened out and all of his power in his haunches.
Elric then speaks to the group.
Would someone like to make sure it isn't trapped before we open it all the way? That trail is too easy to follow...
After Telos searches the door for traps, he finds that there had been one, set with an invisible shelf that has clearly been set off and the red dye splatter is the result of said trap. On the other side of the door, things are fair easy to follow.