with the light of a few burning lumps starged onfire by errant scorching rays; there is a the light of about a lantern as dried carcasees and webs burn with a flickering orange light; some glint of shiney metal and such can be seen in the lumps.
The battle finished; Gyldyr moves forward to assist Desisdera and free her from the webs; the Drow windes the webbing up like yarn manipulates with his dextrous elven fingers and he saves it in a pouch.
The black orc staggers a bit and sits down.
Putting away his wand and drawing his dagger, Gloisil walks over to the nearest blob of spider silk as he says, "Well let's see if any of Mox's crew have survived, and then let's search the other cocoons and see if there is anything of use that these spiders have inadvertently collected."
Not finding anything interesting or living on his first attempt, Gloisil decides to be more methodical and careful in his search.
You find four goblins; all missing one toe more or less, they are poisoned and very wobbly on their feet, semi conscious. Desidera applies some balm and strong smelling salts and they become more alert in a few minutes.
Gloisil looking about find among the nearby husks; a carved and inscripted rod, a very ornatem, long silver dagger that glows yellow when Gloisil picks it up, 37 gold coins of imperial mint, 112 sliver coins of Celtic mint and one potion that wasn't used.
Carefully laying out all the items he has found on the floor in front of him, Gloisil kneels in front of them and waving his hands over them as he softly chants.
Gloisil finalizes casting the spell saying, "... canfod hud" He then begins to examine the items one by one.
the rod, dagger, and potion are magical; the rod yoiu cannot read as it is clerical in nature in a language you are not familair with; you think maybe Summarian. Dagger has elvish magical writting and seems attuned to you, the potion is labeled Giant Strength.
Gloisil; make a wisdom roll please.
Sunset helps Desidera pick bits of spider silk off her legs/clothes etc.
"So...whut's next?" She asks the question openly, for any one to answer.
"this way" Harold moves off down the opposite hallway; down a chute, leaving the spiders and webs behind; various machines are at work near this access tube with doors and ladders Harold ignores.
the party comes to a opening in the machinists access tub that has catwalks that would be used to access some of the machinery for the lifts, it looks out to a breathtaking view of the center of the Dwarven Hold. Far below, hundreds of feet, are hundreds of fires and perhaps a thousand goblins, many scores of tribes that mostly keep to themselves in little groups; like a salad bar. The center of this area has a live flow of lava that heats the area, it has the look of molten iron. The the area itself is somewhat football shaped; the convex walls have many levels cut into them of houses; shops and such buildings. There are perhaps 20 levels to get to the bottom.
"this chute will lead us to a long ladder that can take us to the area of the temples to the dwarven gods; though these have been defamed and wrecked by the goblinoids; they avoid the area; that is perhaps the least dangerous way to get to where you desire...this way"
dm rolls wandering monster rolls.....nothing.
after a half hour it comes to you that this Hold is immense; once there must have been a lot of dwarves, once in ancient history, but now even 10,000 goblins can't be everywhere, with the size of this area its no wonder yoiu could walk for a half hour and see nothing or hear nothing but machinery and the sound of it. You get to a major accessway; a very large steel ladder going down; yoiu can see it passes many levels and is likely patroled at least a bit; looking up yoiu can see it also goes up farther than you can see. This access tunnel is dark, but glows a bit as some phosflorecent things show the way down for a hundred feet.
The party is tired, you probably want to rest before you start down, but it is up to you.
This is the end of one section; for completion; each person attains 3000 exps.
Gloisil ponders over what these magical items could be, and then follows Harold as he leads them on through the tunnels.
"Desidera, this rod seems to contain some kind of divine magic, but of what kind, I know not. This potion might be of interest to our fine knight or the orc, as it grants the drinker increased strength. The dagger when I picked it up seemed to attune itself to me."
"The coins we can split up between us when next we rest."
After all the walking, and traipsing, and skipping, and wandering about even Sunset's exuberance begins to peter out. As the party comes to the top of another long climb, she sags and leans against the wall.
"Okeys, here seems t'be some where's safe. Whut say we shuck it in fer th' day an' call it a night?" She asks.
if it is enough to level it does, there are some caviates but they dont apply at this level
there are four doors nearby that yoiu could check out for a room to hold up in unless you want to stay out in the maintenance tunnel.
Gloisil; yoiu get hte idea that the dagger helps focus spell casting; so will add a bonus to any spell that requires a to hit roll.; the aura of the item tells a bit about its strength under magical sight; so blue is the weakest; yellow is stronger; so in game terms you would think this is +3 or 4 or such like that with maybe a special ability usually on an item like this it would be to lower the targets resistance; if yoiu could blood the target with this dagger it would likely cut throiugh any magic resistance; stuff like this; +6 is the max bonus for a yellow item with no other abilities; a blue item could be +1 or 2 or +1 with a minor ability. White being the strongest religated to very powerful relics and artifacts. Think of the color spectrum of blue purple as weakest; red as powerful; so yellow is in the middle. This is all basic mage knowledge; clerics have an idea of this as well though their detect magic doesnt work as well as the mage version; lore roll for bards could give this info as well.
"Tis fine with me if we rest for awhile. We could check these doors up ahead and see if one would be suitable to rest in."
Sunset slouches against a wall and nods at Gloisil's suggestion/offer.
"You be careful." She asks her friend.
Sunset concentrates and moves her little floating light effect to help Gloisil in his endeavors.
Gloisil moves towards the closest door and begins checking to see if it is suitable to rest in for awhile.
it is not locked; just long time of non use; str roll to open
if you fail;
Kurg will help
The room has a damaged stone door set on hinges; scrapes along the floor with a grating sound that probably cant be heard more than 40' away.
This room is 20X20; once a store room; has a couple broken wooden crates; some old dried blood on the floor in two splotches. To one side is a skeletal hand, dwarf sized, with part of the forearm it was severed from.
in this room; it is a cool 55 degrees; cooler than the 70 degrees outside in the maintenance tube.
I assume everyone will bed down for the night in the room; refresh spells and heal if needed. 8 hours. Mox and his goblins will stay in another room.
wandering encounter rolls
In the morning Kurg will report on last watch he heard something moving outside; but they passed by.
The Celtic Knight will report.
"During the night; a dwarven spirit briefly came into the room, it showed me a vision, I think it wanted us to come to the Dwarven Temple"
on First watch; am guessing probably Sunset; the floor shakes a bit and there is a bit of booming noise; but faint; doesnt wake anyone up.
Second watch was uneventful for whomever was on that watch if any.
Rested, what does the party do?
Come the 'morning' Sunset uses her 'prestidigitation' effect to help people clean themselves and their gear. Even using the magic to add a touch more flavor to whatever people are preparing for breakfast. (^_^)
All the while regaling people with the things she's seen and heard through the night.
"An' then! There were a 'BOOM" an' th' floor it did shake an' then there were a rumblin' noise an'..."
(^_^)
She does listen intently, her eyes growing large in amazement at the Knight's tale.
"Sir Knight, that is good news indeed for now we have a definite destination."
Turning to Harold, Gloisil says, "Can you lead us to this temple location? As good the news is that our good knight has brought to us, the noise that Sunset heard, no matter how far away, leaves me with a sense of foreboding and a heightened sense of urgency."
Desidera; you have worn the pearls now long enough for it to activate; +4 wisdom; you notice as you gain more bonus spells while wearing it as applicable for such stat increase.
-------
Harold nods; I know a few ways; none safe for your kind. I will show when you are ready master.
Sunset tilts her head at Harold's words,
"Here now, whut d'ye mean 'Your kind'? Whut other kinds are there be?" She asks.
Gloisil eating the fine breakfast that Desidera provided them and them allowing her to fill his water skin for the day's journey. He watches as Desidera laugh and splash water around... just a bit of a smile at the corner of his mouth.
As they finish their meal and get ready to leave, Gloisil sees Desidera fingering the pearl necklace, seemingly lost in thought. Wondering for a moment what she may be thinking, his thoughts turn to his newly acquired dagger, and then he knows what her thoughts are. Gloisil then pulls out the dagger and looks at it once again. Having some idea of what this dagger's capabilities are, but also knowing that the only way to tell for sure is to use it in combat, and that is something he would rather avoid at the moment.
Once everyone is ready to depart, Gloisil says, "Harold, if you would please, take us by the safest path of those you know. We realize that none are completely safe."
Sunset giggles and luaghs happily joining in Desidera's antics as the group gets ready for the new days encounters. Once every one is kitted up, she steps closer and slips an arm through Desidera's. Offering her friend a smile and squeeze of encouragement. (^_^)
those of you born of parents, Mistress Sunset
Sunset tilts her head at Harold's words,
"Here now, whut d'ye mean 'Your kind'? Whut other kinds are there be?" She asks.
Gloisil; I feel your pain; I loose every post it seems that I dont select the whole thing for copy before I submit.
-------
As you hold and examine and consider the dagger; your intuition and magical savy combined with the little you know of weapons provides you with some certainty that while this dagger could be used as a physical weapon; it it doesnt have the look or feel of any other dagger you have held. Your impression from the dagger is that it should be used when casting spells and somehow cut through a targets spell defense or spell resistance which might work well on demons and such. This dagger is better than masterly crafted and worked in minute detail all over its surface with tiny magical writing and glyph. The dagger is elven in nature, probably the work of some Elven Archmagus who probably spent years crafting this item. His name is probably in one of those glyphs.
Gloisil eating the fine breakfast that Desidera provided them and them allowing her to fill his water skin for the day's journey. He watches as Desidera laugh and splash water around... just a bit of a smile at the corner of his mouth.
As they finish their meal and get ready to leave, Gloisil sees Desidera fingering the pearl necklace, seemingly lost in thought. Wondering for a moment what she may be thinking, his thoughts turn to his newly acquired dagger, and then he knows what her thoughts are. Gloisil then pulls out the dagger and looks at it once again. Having some idea of what this dagger's capabilities are, but also knowing that the only way to tell for sure is to use it in combat, and that is something he would rather avoid at the moment.
Once everyone is ready to depart, Gloisil says, "Harold, if you would please, take us by the safest path of those you know. We realize that none are completely safe."
Harold leads the party across the balcony where far below; hundreds if not thousands of goblins are ...well doing what goblins do but at least some are crafting. The discordant sound of hammers can be heard echoing in the vast chamber and the heat from the lava furnaces is like an oppressive wave on one side of your body while hte cool of the stone chills the other half.
The balcony leads to a gallery; once spectacular; with shafts drilled to bring in light filtered through amazingly cut lenses; red; blue; green; yellow; violet light spreds around the room like a prism to fall on crystaline deposits and such. This probably was once breathtaking before the goblins dumped sludge and filth on everything; despoiling most everything; but some light of various hues do come into the room and some things sparkle and glitter with a hint of once past glory.
From the gallery the party enters a residential area and broken signs and burned out buildings for scribes and clerks and other functionaries that keep the general flow of this and that required of big business, upkeep and city life. Jobs so boring, no wonder they had a gallery so close to cheer them up a bit. Dried blood seems everywhere and a huge ile of dwarven bones can be seen in the distance in teh areas central circle (which you won't need to travel through).Perhaps things lurk among these dwelling which go on for some time; but perhaps this area was even to boring for the goblins, more likely this are is now home to the dreaded "Fringers" those creatures that coexist alongside things like goblins as prey or predator.
Harold There is likely a checkpoint up ahead at an intersection, the goblins take turns guarding it; the various tribes, sometimes they forget; sometimes they sleep; sometimes there is an elite force; you never know what is there, how do you wish to proceed?"
----
The party has been walking for hours; good time for lunch and a rest. There is a burned out stable for goats or sheep closeby that looks like a good spot unlikely to have wandering visitors, but is open enough to give the party a good view of the area yet enclosed enough to proved cover.
Sunset looks a little puzzled at the reply she gets.
Wandering across the gallery Sunset spins so as to roast and cool herself evenly.
At the even muted display of lights Sunset slows to a virtual crawl. "Oooo...pretty..." She breathes softly, her large eyes lost in looking at the sparkles.
----
So, we rest. We watch. We work out if we can pay a bribe to be let through? (Cover ourselves in blankets etc to 'hide' from said Gobbies? Other thoughts?
Kurg:
Sweet Sunny Biscuit, deeze Harolds; dey iz just a bunch of parts of all kinds of mongrel creatures n shiite; far as my peeps know butts we only know three of dem. Da Big Brains say dey make by wizzies outta scrap parts and imbued wit life n dey can talk like all da parts dey gots. Dey tuff n shiote, but deys not warriors. Some gots poison or breath o flame and maybe claws or sheet like day.
Mox gives Harold a conteplative look.
Gyldyr: "Basically that is correct, created by wizards, but no one knows why and those wizard are generally considered demented and insane"
Elsdine: I have no personal information about them, but I heard one of the Great Dwarven Lords has one as he personal attendant whom rides with said Dwarf Lord inside the brim of his sheild.
Kurg: <roars in laughter> he must be really small, really really small.
--------
it might strike the more empathic of you to wonder or realize what it might be like to be such a creature with no parents to guide or raise you.
"Harold, you say that you come through here often as a messanger? Would you be able to approach the guards as if you were on one of your errands, and offer them something that you just happened to have."
"I could provide a gallon or two of beer that might get them drunk enough that we could get by them, what do ya think? Would it work?"
Sunset grins and nods in a agreement with Gloisil's way of thinking. Other than a cursory nod Sunset almost ignores Kurg.
Harold: I sometimes go through there and could deliever the beer on your behalf, but if it is the forest goblins, they will drink it as they perfer pharmacuticals. If it is worg or spider riders; there are still the mounts which would attack you. Perhaps you should scout to plan accordingly, my lord wizard.
That is probably a good idea Harold, unfortunately I myself am not good at the sneaking around stuff, and we lost Bob, who was good at such things, some time ago. Perhaps Kurg, Mox, or one of the other goblins might be better suited to scouting ahead."
Mox "I do no scoot! I recruit, co mon boyz letz go meets da new recruits in the Reverant Name of Lady Sara"
in unison; the other goblins chant; eyes aglow with reverance
"Great Mutter Bless US" and one says, "an not dem yet"
Kurg rolls his eyes.
Mox and company moves off down the passage; their heads together which appears quite comic yet disturbing as they discuss their plan.
After a few minutes; you hear Mox speaking Goblinoid Be Holdin, I be Mox, High Shaman of Da Great Mutter Sarah, emisinaryiousnous of da Broken Toe Clan. Yous boys join up or die den join up, weez bees da big bosses now.
Soem other voice: Pizzin'off ya nob, weez Bloody Ironmonger clan; ubber tuff; youse gots pleanty big toll ta pass here
you never heard of Broken Toe Clan? Clear winner of clan war against six utter gobnob clans. Join us or die and join us; right boys.
<growls and snarls of feral beasts can be heard>
Blood and Iron says a voice.
[/b] Broken Toes; Broken Toes {b] chants some feral voices.
a din of clash of arms and steel can be heard.
Harold "Lord Magus Gloisil, it appears they are negotiating"
Sunset sighs and rolls her eyes...
"Well, do we let Mox and his "boys" handle it, or do we go and help them?
Sunset shrugs, "I guess we wait fer th' noise t' die down an' go have a gander?" She suggests. "An' kind'a hope our side won?" Is all she can offer as advice.
After a short while, heeh, the clash of iron dies down; but the growls and squeeks still abound; then a while later that dies down..
Mox and two of his boys return covered in blood, but not apparently wounded. His two goblins are dragging two other bloody stumps of goblins, still in plate and mail armor with arms legs and whatnot; but definately chewed upon. They drag them near Gyldyr and then leave to return to the dark tunnel.
Mox Deezer few you Drow; dey not Broken Toe good.
Mox Four new recruits for Da Mutter Herself, negotiations successful, weez kin move der; but I seez downda way a stopper
what does the paty do?
Elysdyne looks disgusted, Glydyr speculative; Kurg bored.
Sunset kid of manages the 'Icky' factor along with the 'Speculative'.
"Well...um...I guess we go see for our selfs, hey?" She suggests and trots off to where the Goblins had their little 'discussion'.
"Thank you Mox for 'negotiating' for us, let go see what this new 'stopper' is that you are seeing."
Gloisil prepares to head down to where Mox and his boys were fighting. Once everyone is ready he starts down the passageway.
is everyone doing is or just one person or what? how is the party moving out?
The party moves forward to the skirmish area where the goblin boyz of Mox have three of the this other tribe of apparently dead goblins propped up and force feeding some dark syrupy liquid to them, incidentally; it is obvious these new three are missing toes.
further up ahead down the tunnel/hall; you see the commotion;a bugbear is torturing/Bullying several goblins with the bugbear are two very large and ugly and very muscular humans; maybe half breeds and three Norkers; the goblinoids with stonelike skin. The tribe they are torturing are Forest Goblins, about 10 of them, and the forest goblins look like they have just about had enough as you can see two of the large spiders they ride stealthily moving on the cieling to the wall behind the bugbear party.
what does the party do?