By sacred tradition, borne out of the propensity of pushy salesmen for having "accidents", merchants and solicitors don't get too close to the Gilded Hole itself. They do, however, crowd around the periphery, forming a gauntlet of salesmanship between the city and the hole.
One man in particular, with a waxy complexion and an ugly yellow suit, is making great efforts to get your attention as you push your way through the crowds.
"Friends! Are you certain you are adequately prepared for the expedition you are about to embark on? You'll need food, equipment, material components, resurrection insurance... frankly if you step into the Gilded Hole without resurrection insurance you're just engaging in especially fancy suicide my friends."
Eventually you hustle through the mob and come to the edge of Dead Hero's Drop. Several past adventurers have hammered large stakes into the ground all around the hole, leaving convenient places to dangle ropes from.
The drop down to the cavern level is about 200 ft. Getting down is easier than it looks, it's getting back up alive that's the tricky part.
A handsome tattooed man who is noticeably barefoot walks up to the edge of the cliff face and peers over the edge. He wears loose fitting pants that only extend to below his knees, and a well worn leather vest, leaving much if his tattooed skin exposed. 'Hero of the beach' is scralwed across a knife on the left shoulder, and his back is covered in what he swears is a map to dry land. His long black hair (that he claims is the envy of even the prettiest girls back home) hangs down to about his shoulders, framing the many different earings dangling in his ears. His charming face is seemingly permanantly covered in several days stubble. Various bits of leather and beads and such hang off his ankles and wrists.
He adjusts his pack and slowly lets a string of spit fall down over the edge, an assumed smile dancing across his face as he does so. He turns back and says in a raspy voice:
"well, doctor, whadda ya think? Think there's some weird things down this hole?
A tall handsome drow with a commanding presence stares into Dead Man Drop. His red eyes squinting as the ever present light bites at his face. He smiles as he thinks of getting out of this ever present light into the cool darkness of the tunnel. His rage however is building as a little ugly man keeps bothering him and his minions as they near what these surface dwellers believe a deep hole. Drovic pushes through the crowd his poorly made armor rubbing on his chest. His cheap clothing barely keeping the metal off of his skin. Only the fact that the little man obviously has has nothing of value on him stays his hand. He carefully takes in every ounce of the mans appearance so he can find him latter hopefully at home with his family. Drovic's smile widens as he imagines serving his new god the mans family. Then the world breaks in to his daydream. His minions start to gabble at each in common and the colorful one spits over the edge.
I heard it is totally safe, this whole thing is a big scam they tricked a bunch of dwarfs into paying tribute and we can just walk in and take as much treasure as we can carry.
Drovic is obvious in this lie rolling his eyes and pitching his voice to show how he felt about such a question.
Unlike the others, Jamako has little trouble weaving through the crowd as he approaches the hole. Barely scraping 3 foot tall, the kobold was used to receiving questionable looks as he sauntered gracefully about. His black robe was mundane, aside from peculiar looking stones, scales, and bones littered about as 'decoration'. For such a small, underwhelming creature it might strike a person as odd however that the robe was emaculately clean and 'dragged' behind him an inch above the ground. The mighty Jamako wasn't eager to soil his precious robe, after all.
Standing near the edge and peering down the red-skinned lets out a puff of smoke from his nostrils before glancing over to the others talking. A hand reaches up to scritch behind one of his horns idly. He grins widely at the drows comment.
In that case what're we waiting for? Lets get rich already! He grumbles to himself more quietly as he moves to the edge, evidently preparing to descend. Sooner I gets rich and famous, sooner I gets life of luxury.. worshippers.. breeders.. The sniveling little nut chuckles gleefully.
"Aye, there is much and more below this ground ...some perhaps coming from up above, beyond any of your feeble imaginations!" The doctor's hand emerges from his robes and points to the sky with a long finger.
"I am going to regret this" Drovic murmurs, sighs and turns to the DR. "Well then Dr. we should get underground as soon as we can". He does a quick visual inventory at his minions then stops looking at Jamako. "Jammy I seem to have a math problem" Drovic says in a soft almost friendly voice. "It is 200 feet down there are 4 of us but I only see 150 feet of rope why is that" He says as he steps over and squats to in front of the kobald, cracking his scarred knuckles one hand at a time.
Luckily for you all you aren't the first adventurers to fail to bring sufficient rope to make the descent. There are a variety of badly overpriced ropes available for sale by the nearby merchants. From where you stand you can see a display of 200 ft. hemp ropes (for the low-low price of just 25 GP).
bah! These buggers want an arm an a leg for extra rope... he turns to the kobold, so, my fine scaled spell caster, how would you like to whip up a diversion, eh? Then maybe I can manage to... Distance some extra rope from that vender there.
Jamako harumphs at the accusation, dismissing it with a pompous shrug as he turns his gaze back to the crowds for a solution. One would think these wretches would've made me a set of stairs by now, or a lift. Of course I don't carry such a length of rope. I'm a sorcerer, not a pack mule.
The little red kobold grins slyly at Scotty's suggestion, nodding. With a few mumbles and a gesture of his claws the tiny spellcaster conjures a noisy distraction at the far side of the stall Scotty had referenced, made to sound like 3 kids arguing over how to rob the owner of the stall.
Will Save
Stealth
Sleight of Hand
The canny merchant knows a petty glamor when he fails to see one, and snaps his neck around in the direction of Jamako. The merchant points to his own eyes, then to Jamako's eyes, then back to his own, then to Jamakos, so that the kobold would understand that he was being watched.
While this back and forth went on Scotty slipped unseen into the crowd, deftly lifted one of the ropes, and slid away.
Sneaking back to the group, Scotty casually bends in and whispers:
"Rope problem solved, shall we get on down there before these fools are any the wiser?"
The fiery little kobold returns the hard look in kind, sticking his nose up and spouting nostrils of smoke as he had earlier. After the sneak had finished his business Jamako smirks, pulling down on an eyelid and sticking out his slithering tongue briefly before sauntering off back to the hole. Well done human, with such a masterful distraction that must've been as easy as it looked! He chuckles triumphantly, nodding in agreement. He waits for somebody more apt to deal with the ropes, not quite in the mood for dying today.
"Let us leave these paltry moneychangers and delve into destiny. AND LET GRAVITY BEHAVE AS ON ANOTHER SMALLER WORLD!" The Dr. invokes the outer powers and steps right into the hole, slowly drifting down, as if only a feather.
It takes mere minutes to loop your new ill-gotten-rope to one of the sturdier looking posts. Climbing down is easy enough that you can just take 10, it's getting back up with a pack full of loot that's the tricky part. Someone might have to carry Jamako; his Strength makes him ill-suited to even taking 10. Or he can roll, that might be fun.
Scotty stands holding his shiny new rope, blankly staring at The Doctor as he floats downward.
Showoff... He thinks to himself. And then he calls down,
"Doctor! Is it bigger down there inside than it is on the outside?"
He then finishes looping up the rope and climbs his way down.
Jamako nods and grins as the Doc begins speaking rather poetically, right up his alley. The little reds eyes widen as it dawns on him the clerics intentions, and he immediately lunges for a chance to clutch to his pack for a ride to the bottom.
Why do people keep asking me things like that?
Dr. Silver and his passenger make footfall in the cavern first, followed not too shortly thereafter by Scotty. It is almost pitch black down here, by the light of the crack above you can just barely make out a few feet in front of you. The ground is covered in sticky filth and other things best left undiscovered. A lingering stink of death mostly covers the fresh smell of the cave.
As far ahead as you can see, you seem to be on some kind of street with squat stone buildings on either side of you.
That is all.
Scotty's face gives a disturbed look as he catches a whiff of the stench here in the darkness.
"Hmm.... hold on a moment gents..."
He starts to sort of blindly rummage in his pack for a minute, until he finds what he is looking for: a deck of cards. Peering through in what small light he has available, he finds and pulls out one of the jokers. He gives the card a lick, and then sticks it right onto Jamako's forehead.
"There ya go buddy, go ahead and throw a light spell on that and you can be our own little lantern!"
Jamako grins gleefully all the way down, head craning back as his power-addled mind escapes reality. As they land and reality floods back he scampers back to the ground to look around, giving the Doc a pat on the leg (almost like one might thank a horse for its day ride) before wandering a few steps away.
Stinks like death. A lot of stupids probably in such a rush they splashed at the bottom. He nods, confident in his assumption, then blinks oddly at the card on his forehead. He peels it off and hands it back with a chuckle. As much as I would love to be a glowing target, I don't cast "Light"He mentions the spellname with some measure of contempt.I'm the kin of dragons! I have no need for such paltry spells. He harumphs, a jet of smoke from his nostrils once more. I can see just fine. Place looks like s!*+.
While you are all occupied making big decisions related to light sources, Drovic leaps down the last foot or so and lands beside you all.
"Well... pardon me friend. I could have sworn you know how to cast a light spell, I mean, any dragon I met could do it. No problem. And since you are such a mighty dragon ancestor.... you know. Ah, well, never mind."
With a somewhat downtrodden look at his amazing idea being rejected, Scotty fumbles about as he puts the card back.
Another time my friend. We'll show them how useful you can be!
He will pull out a sunrod and activate it, scanning about. (glows for 6 hours)
He will then tuck the sunrod into his belt, freeing his hands for when he whips out his knives. Which he does right now. *flip flip flip*
It takes Scotty's eyes a second to adjust to the light of the sunrod, but as soon as he does his pirate's instinct (or maybe this one is his thieves instinct; he has too many criminal instincts to always accurately categorize them) makes him realize he's being watched.
There is a shadowy little creature perched on the ledge of the building to your immediate right. The stone dwelling is a few heads taller than a large man. The little beast has the look about it of an ugly rat, but the way it is just fearlessly leering at your group gives you a bad feeling in the pit of your bandit's instinct.
Jamako's gaze returns to the apologetic human, eyes widening somewhat at the mention of dragons he had met before. You've met my kin? He quickly scampers over and up, making himself comfortable on top of the rogues backpack. If that's the case I may have to learn this 'light' spell afterall.. tell me more human. I never knew you met dragons! You must tell me everything! He begins puffing gouts of smoke from his nostrils, practicing making twin rings.
Oh yes! And lets go... He stiffens an arm out to the side, very much at random, pointing down one of the roads. This way!
Observant as a sack of onions, the kobold is clueless to their observer.
Noticing the creature, Scotty quickly diverts his eyes so as to seem that he did not notice it. He will casually walk away a little bit, putting distance between himself and the creature (or was it the party between him and the creature?)
"Well, it looks like nothing here but muck and grime..."
Edit: responding to my kobold buddy.
"Dragon? BAH, I've met tons of them! Used to run with a pretty rough crew, ya know. We used to steal treasure from all sorts of dragon lairs.... I mean uh, we used to make very good friends with them. So they could... tell us stories of all the great battles they fought and maybe give us some clues as where to find treasure. I mean they love treasure so I always thought 'yano dragons probably will tell ya where some is if you're nice cause dragons are the best....'"
He sort of starts rambling, hoping not to offend the sorcerer.
Drovic jumps back from the sunrod. He looks at scotty and says "Drow + bright light =blind be careful in the future." glaring at scotty.
Scotty continues to watch out of the corner of his eye as the rat-thing makes small adjustments to it's position so as to keep the party entirely within it's field of vision.
Jamakos head shifts as he mentions stealing from dragon lairs, about to question him before he corrected himself. The kobold is left smiling dumbly as his mind wanders. Can't wait to meet one. Hear its stories, have it teach me how to fly. At this point he was practically entranced, it would be effortless for Scotty to lie himself the grandest of dragon tales.
"Sorry, Drovic. I forgot you was here! All you weirdos... seeing in the dark and stuff. I'll make sure to have you avert your eyes in the future"
He thinks to himself: Oh sweet lord, that big ranger is going to eat me!.
"Doctor, looks like us normal vision folks should stick together so as not to disturb these fine gentlemen with our light...."
Trying to catch the doctor's eye and casually alert him they are not alone. Hopefully he will get the idea.
And just as quickly as he was talking to the doctor, he bounces back and starts chatting up the kobold. A true social butterfly kind of a pirate.
"There was this one dragon I know, called himself Siriothrax. Big red bastard. Thousands of teeth as long and beautiful as crysknives! He lived in this old volcano see, and had for hundreds and hundreds of years. And he had sort of taken a real fancy to knitting. Bugger loved to knit, but you know, its hard to do that sorta thing as a dragon, and he had long ago traded his ability to shape shift, so I took it upon myself to help the poor guy out, and had to get some mermaids to go find some magic giant knitting needles down at the bottom of the ocean. And boy that was a whole other story but basically, all ya need to know, is I taught a big ol mean dragon to knit, and know we have tea once a year and he gives me a nice hat he made that says BFFF."
Drovic rubs his burning eyes What is going on I can't see anything. Drovic stretches his senses trying to listen to anything that might be going on.
Big red? He could've been one of my ancestors! I've never heard of a dragon trying to knit before. The clueless kobold seems puzzled as the story unfolds. Nonthewiser, and with his blinding desire for dragonkin granting him epic naivete, his eyes practically sparkle as Scotty weaves his lies without skipping a beat.
It's dark here you should be able to see fine... why so noisy, pointy-ears? I'm trying to listen!
Drovic rubs his burning eyes What is going on I can't see anything. Drovic stretches his senses trying to listen to anything that might be going on.
Drovic, still blinking at the sudden brightness, fails to notice the rat-thing, as it scuttles and jumps across to the roof of another building, never losing sight of the group.
Drovic's eyes ease and he sees the little creature staring at them. He tries to track the shadows to find the overconfident creature.
Drovic's eyes ease and he sees the little creature staring at them. He tries to track the shadows to find the overconfident creature.
"Yeah you know, now that you mention it, you guys really do look a like. I bet he like, is your great great brother uncle or something".
Still eyeing the creature out of the corner of my eye, I will try and remember if I heard anything back up in town about what this may be?
Really? You think so? Where is he now? I wanna meet him once we're done getting our riches here. The little red continues puffing his gouts of smoke, toying with the rings and still unaware of the viewer they had.
The cavern level is a massive cave system that forms the uppermost level of the ancient dwarven hall. The level resembles a human town rather than a dwarf settlement, with the exception of the fact that exists entirely within the cavern and is made of stone. Many stalactites and stalagmites have been hollowed out and converted into buildings. Many sets of stairs and other passageways on this level lead into the dwarf hall proper, but most of these are concealed inside buildings.
Directly above you is, of course, the Gilded Hole which is the only source of light in the caverns. Aside from this crack there is an unbroken ceiling.
Where you are now is a residential area, but presumably there are other sections of the slum. It is, however, usually the goal of most adventurers to get to the lower levels (and the treasure hoards found there) as fast as possible.
Still eyeing the creature out of the corner of my eye, I will try and remember if I heard anything back up in town about what this may be?
[dice=Knowledge Local]1d20 + 6
The caverns are full of horrible monstrous vermin, such as giant centipedes, maggots, flies and all manner of mutated and magic-tainted rats. They're all considered to have the intelligence of animals, if that, so if this rat is really up to something it likely has a master calling the shots.
Who knows though, it could be some weird magic rat that talks. Wouldn't be the strangest thing down here.
"well, little buddy, maybe one day I'll take you to get your own special knitted hat from the giant volcano dragon. I promise."
You have a pretty good line of sight for the rat, and you estimate it's about 20 ft. from where you're standing.
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I casually slip my knives away *flip flip* and pull out the boomerang hanging from my pack.
Then I gasp as if I had just seen something as throw the boomerang at it.
"oh dear god what is that did ya see tem shadows move oh man I totally am just seeing this for the first time woah!"
I casually slip my knives away *flip flip* and pull out the boomerang hanging from my pack.
Then I gasp as if I had just seen something as throw the boomerang at it.
"oh dear god what is that did ya see tem shadows move oh man I totally am just seeing this for the first time woah!"
[dice=attack]1d20
[dice=damage]1d6 + 2
The boomerang flies wild, bouncing off the edge of the rooftop and falling to the ground. The rat-thing screams, a horrible human-like scream, and tries to flee to the shadows.
"Parlay! Parlay!" it seems to shriek. No, that's definitely the rat-thing. "Parlay!"
"Didya see that? It was coming right for us! That lil' monster has been following us since we got down here... Don't let him get away! Nobody follows me without my consent, unless they are much pretty than that thing."
With another couple *flippity flips*, Scotty's blades flash open and into his hands.
Jamako blinks as he is suddenly wretched from his perch by Scottys movements, following his movements to notice the rat-thing at last. Oh christ, is that my mother in law? KILL IT! He lashes out with a claw and a bark, aiming a Ray of Frost at the fleeing, screaming wretch.
Drovic screams in rage at missing the rat thing. He draws his sword and he glares at it with all the hate in his soul allowing the power of his terrible god to flow through him. Dark sparkles of force fill him as he trys to break his enemies will.
I will also move to the edge of the building this thing is on, preparing to climb up there next turn. (Move action, standard to pull out knives)