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"By all means, then we should go! I heard that the man can be quite unpleasant when put to wait too long," Heryn says while putting up the last mug that was washed. With a whistle, the woman makes it known to the twins that she needs those they were talking to. The twins smile and look at Zarah and Grimnir with satisfaction, "If you ever need us for anything involving smashin' things, let us know!" With one last cheer, they start to usher the others out of the tavern for the evening.
Motioning for the group go gather close to her, Heryn Gale looks at Ezren with a slight twinkle in her eye, "The Wisp may be quite old, but she still has one of the best wine cellars around! The parcel should be down there, so if everyone could follow me, we can find it quickly, and I can get to tending to the mess the twins made. I want to warn you though, after the earthquake so many years ago, the basemen had gotten a nice crack in the floor, so be careful."
Leading the group down into the basement, everyone notices that there is no light, which is standard in a wine cellar as to keep the temperature stable. In the middle of the main room, there is a deep fissure in the floor with a board lying across the narrowest portion of the deep crack. One could walk across using the board, or attempt to jump across.
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Kareem nods politely to the man, as his call for duty arrives sooner than he anticipated. He leaves the table and follows Heryn to the wine cellar.
The deep fissure on the floor of the cellar baffles Kareem. "Rebuilding the floor cannot be that expensive, why haven't you done anything about this?" he asks bluntly, "this crack could be a sign of something more sinister. The structural integrity is compromised, at least."
Kareem waits for others, or Heryn, to walk over the board. Who in their right mind would risk jumping over a fissure? Albeit small, a small misstep and one could lose a limb!
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Zarah descends into the dark, off to see the wine racks. Entering a land of black and white thanks to her fine night vision, the sudden change still gives her pause--reminding her of her first job--clearing rats out of basements.
"Miss Gale?" She calls, suddenly unsure of were she is to go, but somehow realizing the woman won't follow her down this deep without a light. Even then Mrs. Gale would probably only come down here to wait out some terrific storm or tornado given the cellar's general air of creepiness .
"Ezo, I don't think we're in Absalom anymore."
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Kareem is visibly amazed by Zarah's sudden change in character. The very dim light emerging from staircase is not enough, though, so he pulls a torch and a flint and steel from his backpack and lights a fire . Now with adequate lighting he turns to the half-orc woman.
"What are you on about? What makes you believe we somehow teleported into another location?" Kareem asks, genuinely confused. He seeks reassurance from Heryn Gale, turning to her with an inquiring look.
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Grimnir sends the half-orcs off with a hearty clap on the back.
"Ye nae be dwarves, but I'll share a drink wit' ye anytime!" he says, once again overly loud.
The dwarf takes his tankard of ale with him down the stairs. He seems a big wobbly on his feet.
"A volunteer ta cross...first? A finer...volunteer...ye won' find in all Absalom...than Grimnir th' dwarf!" he says as he staggers forward.
"Though a dwarf prefers...more...stable ground," he slurs. "Best take...it slow," he says as he tests the planks.
He begins laughing as he crosses, mostly because he is trying not to spill his ale, and he is walking so slowly that he is nearly inching his way across. Even so, the ale sloshes around in his tankard precariously.
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Grimnir, slowly making his way across the board, creaking and shifting under his weight, manages to make it across the chasm! As he moves over the gap in the ground, he notices that the drop is about ten feet before a ledge appears, yet to its side, darkness. Gasping at herself, Heryn remembers something and mutters a spell as four lights start to fly from her, lighting up the basement.
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Remembering that Ezren had asked her about the parcel, the woman turns around and smiles. "If I recall, it's a special vintage of wine. Mister Dreng seems to enjoy our finer selection, and has as time, sent some of the newer members of the society to grab him a bottle or two."
"Any specific bottle, milady?"
As nobody have a rope, Ezren will try to walk through the board, and as Grimnir, he will cross it slowly and cautiously.
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Heryn laughs a bit at the dwarf as she slowly follows Ezren over the board. "Oh, I recall the bottle being from 4306. Supposedly it's our last bottle, and has been a part of the Wisp's collection since!" she exclaims as she makes her way across the board. When she makes it across the chasm, the woman starts to look for the bottle.
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Kareem figures the board might break under his total weight—it did creak under Grimnir after all—and he sees no reason to follow Heryn all the way to the bottles. He stands watch at the door, leaning against the wall, and folds his arms.
From a merchant's point of view he would never take paying customers to the wine cellar. Seeing it in such a sorry state would not encourage clients to continue purchasing products from a poorly maintained establishment.
"Say, Heryn," Kareem interrupts from the door, "how come you hold such vast wine collections in your tavern? Pardon me for saying, but the Wounded Wisp does not give an impression of high quality."
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"The Wisp may not look of high quality, but we try to do our best to serve the customers, no matter their background. Sometimes, that means keeping stock of wines. As for repairing the board, generally no one comes down here for weeks at a time, so the repair or replacing of the board gets forgotten until the next time someone comes down," Heryn, responds with a sheepish grin.
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Looking amongst the dusty bottle, Ezren finds the "parcel" and attempts to pull it from its rack. As soon as the bottle is moved, one of the wine racks shudders slightly and moves forward before sliding away, revealing a hidden door. Heryn steps to the side and looks down the corridor into the small room. "Father never mentioned this to me...."
A sturdy silver chain jutting from the ceiling ends in a glowing orb that radiates yellow light across the rectangular room. A simple desk of polished wood, stacked with documents and scattered notes, shelters a pair of wooden chests against the south wall. A series of cracks along the eastern and western walls form makeshift entrances into exposed caverns.
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As the rack slides away to reveal the secret door, Grimnir laughs as if he has seen the most hilarious thing. The dwarf is clearly tipsy, if not outright drunk.
"A secret door!" he bellows. Finishing off his tankard, he attaches it to his belt and peers into the room. "A desk? Which...one o' ye left a desk down 'ere?" he asks as he enters.
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Grimnir notices the desk with papers and a lockbox as he enters the room, with the only answer coming in from behind as a loud crack comes from the back of the group. The plank stresses until Kareem is a few feet from the edge when the weight of the paladin snaps the board in half! The man fall ten feet, landing on his back with a loud thud, rushing the air out of his lungs.
From the ledge, Kareem notices handholds on the wall up, signifying that this may not have been the first time that someone has fallen into the chasm.
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Ezren casts light in his cane and enters the room, just behind of Grimnir.
As soon as he sees the papers, he moves fast to them. "This is what I was talking about! Probably a lost knowledge", the wizard looks very excited with this new discovery.
"Grimnir, could you take these chests for us?", Ezren tells while catches all the notes he can see there.
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Kareem looks at Vires for a moment, only to shake his head and move on. The paladin holds his neck as it is understandably sore and achy.
"So this is what it was all about," Kareem says once he sees the secret room. He looks around the room, curious about how this place has never before been discovered, and how Drandle Dreng knew of its existence. "Ezren, this doesn't look to be lost. A well-maintained desk, lots of entrances to different locations." Kareem points at the multiple corridors leaving somewhere. "Regardless, Dreng wanted his parcel, so I'm assuming we'll bring him these papers."
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As Ezren takes a look over the paperwork with the drunken dwarf and slightly upset paladin near by when the sounds of clicking comes from the multiple tunnels leading into the room.
The group in the room hears the clicking getting louder with slight chattering starting to come from the tunnels. The noise grabs the elderly wizard's attention as he notices giant arachnids in the eastern and western tunnels! Hearing the loud dwarf as hit comes from the tunnels, a large blue hued spider comes out of the darkness and tries to bite at the loud thing, its mandible scraping the top of Grimnir's helmet!
--Round 1--
====Bold May Go====
Blue Spider
Kareem
Grimnir
Vires
Green Spider
Zarah
Ezren
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Grimnir's happy countenance changes to one of surprise as the clicking spider approaches.
"Oy! Beastie! Back!" he yells.
Though the dwarf has had too much to drink, it does not stop him from retrieving his weapon, a 10-foot-long, heavy metal chain weighted at the end by a round ball of solid iron about the size of a large fist.
He swings it over his head and then launches the ball at the spider.
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The green spider makes its way through the tunnel, finding a delicious looking morsel at the end of the tunnel. Keeping back, the spider starts to emit silk at a hurried pace and goes after Ezren by shooting the net of web at the wizard! Still looking through the hallway, Heryn shrieks at the sight of the giant spiders, and hides around the corner while still looking through the doorway shouting at the pathfinder, "We don't need those coming up! Take care of them!"
--Round 1--
====Bold May Go====
Blue Spider (-7 HP)
Kareem
Grimnir
Vires
Green Spider
Zarah
Ezren *Entangled*