Hanzo was all but drooling at the thought of all that gold. And for just checking out some ruins? Maybe he should be an adventurer. Money fell out of the sky on them.
"Yeah, sure. Maybe you can tell me what the old wizard said about all this, huh?" Hanzo asked Thomas as he joined them.
Guruthos grumbles at the thought of the delay. Humans are too controlled by their stomachs! After briefly considering venturing into the tower by himself, he dismisses the thought as illogical, and turns to follow the trio back to the inn.
Just then, you all hear a familiar tone calling out to you, "Ah, good! Hello dears! I was afraid I'd be too late."
It's Talia Orem from the Wise Piper, carrying a basket of bread.
"When I saw Lady Origena speaking to you, I assumed you travelers were volunteering to aid her, because you're so kind. And when poor Varyl was trying to keep people safe and distracted, and no one was listening... well, it broke my heart a bit. So I returned to the Piper. You all ran out in such a hurry that you forgot your bread. You know what they say, 'Working on an empty stomach leads to bad decisions.' So...here you go! Thank you for volunteering to help our little town! You better take these and get going."
She hands the basket to Joriannika, turns on her heels, and walks at a brisk pace. Before anyone can even utter thank you, she's at the bottom of the hill.
"What a nice lady." Thomas says, when looking at the retreating Talia. "But I still need my gear. Look at me, I'm basically in my night gown." He wasn't, but he was trying to make a point and needed his armor and spear.
Thomas quickly catches up with Talia and will be back in a few minutes.
Guruthos watches the strange man follow the bartender, then turns towards the tower. Dropping his backpack he removes a loop of silk rope and 2 pitons, then looks for a palm-sized stone with a flat surface to serve as a make-shift hammer. Finding his stone, he pockets it, slides the pitons in his belt and ties the rope to his backpack. He then proceeds up the ramp, using the stick from earlier to test for stability. Once at the top of the ramp, he finds a spot to hammer in the pitons and tie off the rope to aid his companions in climbing.
Guruthos deftly ascends the rubble ramp without knocking a single stone out of place. The silent elf impresses those who watch. He finds a section of the stone floor and uses the stone in his hand to hammer in the pitons.
Joriannika was moved to tears by the reminder of her mother together with an act of kindness. Brushing the slight trickle away with the heel of her hand, she watched Talia leave. "She's been so good to me - to all of us. Don't you worry, Talia, I'll soon be able to pay you back!"
Still, she had left her things behind, as Thomas had. She trotted with him to fetch them, sticky bread in hand, and to thank Talia on the way.
Hanzo, on the other hand, wasn't one to leave valuables lying about, especially when strange events happened. He was already clad in his armor and ready to go. Besides, it didn't look like Guruthos was going, and Hanzo wanted his own chance to pick through the ruins. No reason to give the unfriendly elf first pick!
He nodded to Guruthos when he joined the elf on the ledge, acknowledgement of his good thinking. Then he started looking around - carefully, mindful of shifting stone and broken wood.
When Tomas and Joriannika came back, the two strangers from the inn that apparently are their associates now, have already climbed the ruins and were searching the rubble. They were so nice to leave a rope.
"After you..." He helped her to go up the rope and then followed.
On top, they joined the others in the search for anything suspicious.
"By the way, Hanzo, regarding your earlier question. The wizard wasn't home."
Once inside, Guruthos begins to look around. It's not so bad in here. I could set up camp in such a place for a few days, even.
The elf investigates his surroundings, looking equally for danger (either structural or constructed traps) and for anything of interest.
Open to the sky above, this exposed upper floor contains only some smashed furniture and a sprinkling of rubble. A trap door is set in the floor against the northwest wall, but a stout
timber has fallen across it.
Once the rest of the party has scaled the rubble, Guruthos pulls up the rope with his backpack attached, then coils the rope and places it back in the pack. Seeing nothing of interest in the broken furniture, he turns his attention to the trap door, looking for some kind of leverage point, some spot to loop a rope around, or some other way to move it. I suppose I should just let the musclebound human take care of this.
"Mr Guruthos, may I help you with this?"
"Let's do this together"
Guruthos adds his meager strength to the effort.
Hanzo joins them. "Not home, huh? Think he had anything to do with all this?"
Joriannika helped as well...
...Or at least she tried to, but she couldn't seem to get a good grip.
"Surely a citizen of this village wouldn't contribute to something like this," she rebuked Hanzo, aghast.
You move the stout beam off the dented wooden hatch in the floor. Through its windows you see a ladder leading down to the ground floor. The only light entering what remains of the ground floor seems to be coming from the hatch you’re peering through. Directly beneath the ladder is an iron trap door, presumably leading to whatever remains of the tower’s basement.
The tower's large ground floor has mostly collapsed under the rubble, but along the western portion of the room a section remains clear of debris. An iron trap door set in the floor is directly below the companion door you just came through in the ceiling above. Shattered wooden furniture lies scattered around the corpses of two small, green-scaled creatures.
Thomas, while investigating uses his spear as a tool. He repurposes it for moving and leveraging stuff around, as a walking aid through the rubble and as a lamp as he had cast Light on the tip.
Together they search the corpses for any indication why they were here in the first place.
Thomas, you notice that the two kobold corpses each have a cloth sack slung over their necks, large enough to hold several large items.
Guruthos shimmies down to the floor below, and looks around, searching the shadows of Thomas' light where his vision is sharper than that of his companions; seeking potential dangers, treasures, and clues to the cause of the tower's fall.
(Note: +1 for traps)
Thomas takes the sacks and checks their content.
Thomas, both are empty.
Guruthos silently checks about the half-demolished room as well. He doesn't seem to glean any new information; at least, he doesn't comment on it, which isn't saying much, considering he doesn't say much.
He does check the iron trap door, once everyone is down the ladder, and determines it is not rigged or trapped. But it is pitch black in the level below.
Hanzo frowned. It looked like he'd be sticking with Thomas, and letting Guruthos find all the juicy stuff in the darkness. *At least that way I won't walk into any traps,* he consoled himself.
He took a look around together with the others, but nothing caught his interest.
"Whaddaya say?" he drawled at Thomas with a grin. "Let's go down and see what's in the basement!"
This smacked of the bard stories he loved to listen to, at least a little. There were even foes, if you counted the dead kobolds. Maybe there were some that had survived the collapse below. He drew a previously-hidden long knife from its sheath in his sleeve, flipping it end over end. Hah. Kobolds better not attack him.
Joriannika searched the rubble along with the others, her curiosity leading her to poke in corners and under wreckage to see if there was some explanation for all this.
"Could kobolds have undermined the supports of the whole tower?" she asked doubtfully. "It would have to be deliberate to collapse the whole thing at once. But what would they gain from that? Maybe there are answers here somewhere."
"I'm sorry. No need to be so close together." Thomas cast two more Light spells at whatever Joriannika and Hanzo were holding. Refreshing the spells every 5-10 minutes.
"Yeah, let's go down. These kobolds might have been looking for loot or something..."
Joriannika, you conclude that you've gained all the useful information you can from this this level. You take mental note that the kobold corpses here each had a cloth sack, which Thomas now has, but you also note the absence of weapons. Neither kobold seems to have been armed.
Guruthose moves to the door and opens it, then begins to descend. Before entering completely, he turns to Thomas, points at his glowing spear, then points down into the hole, and waits to make sure the human understands his meaning.
what does he want? Thomas did not have any background to understand specific signs. He whispered "Do you need light?"
Guruthos sighs, and rumbles in a deep, gravely voice, "Hold light here."
I thought so! Thomas lightens the area around the ladder.
Leaning up against the wall directly beneath this iron trapdoor is another ladder. Other than the light from the spear, there is total darkness. And silence.
*Once the party descends into the chamber*
The walls of this chamber have buckled precariously in several places, and masonry and dirt are scattered across the floor- the collapse above plainly caused this structural damage. The dry-rotted frames of five simple beds lie against the north and south walls. To the southwest, the room broadens into a larger chamber. A rusted, grinning iron statue stands in an alcove in the north wall between the two wings of the room
itself, and in the wall to the south is an old iron door.
Thomas' spear is the only source of light.
Once down, Guruthos looks around for any immediate danger. His looks over the iron statue as well as he can see it, then the iron door. He motions for the others to descend, and as they do, he sets his backpack down in a corner, removes a torch, flint & steel, and sets about lighting the torch.
Thomas let's Guruthos who seems to now his way take lead. It feels comforting to follow someone confident.
Wary of the unstable masonry, Joriannika kept close to the others to make sure she was able to warn them if something seemed likely to collapse.
"The kobolds weren't armed. That seems odd, if this was some kind of invasion. But if it wasn't, what were they doing here?" Joriannika mused, speaking with Thomas as Hanzo and Guruthos went ahead.
She regarded the iron statue, wondering who it was of. Perhaps the famed adventurer who'd built the original keep?
Hanzo poked about, knife in hand and ready to stab anything that got grabby. He only gave the statue a perfunctory glance, instead easing into the next chamber to see if there was anything worth picking up there. He was glad Guruthos had lit the torch; he didn't like wandering in the dark. Memories of the bad parts of town back home made him wary of it. Sure, it was a basement and not the docks or slums, but kobolds didn't usually wander the docks or slums, either.
Then he walked headfirst into a spiderweb, and his attention was briefly taken with scraping it off his face in a hurry.
Once the torch is lit, the masked elf begins to look through the room, first examining the beds for any indication of recent use, then examining the statue (particularly for traps), and finally the door.
Note: +1 for traps
Guruthos, torch in hand examines around the old rotted beds in the eastern part of the room, finding nothing but old, ruined scraps of armor or clothing, perhaps part of an old leather boot. All of it ancient looking, but holding no worth for use or salvage. He moves on to inspect the statue in the alcove.
While he's doing that, Hanzo takes advantage of the now centralized source of light to inspect the western wing of the chamber. While stepping over some rubble from a collapsed wall, he walks right into a spider-web. In his frantic to remove it from around his face, he doesn't hear the scuttling coming from nearby. Nor does he see the giant creatures that lunge at him.
Miss!
Hit!
The reddish giant insect lunged but missed its target. It scurried in a small circle and prepared to lash out again. The other one with a slightly greenish hue found a clear opening and bit right onto Hanzo's shoulder. Hanzo immediately knew this thing had injected him with some sort of venom, but his body seemed to be resisting any ill-effects.
Bold may act: Thomas, Guruthos, Joriannika, Hanzo, Creatures
Global Condition: None |Global Condition:
Thomas HP: 10/10 AC: 16/12/14 Status:
Guruthos HP: 8/8 AC: 15/13/12 Status:
Joriannika HP: 9/9 AC: 17/13/14 Status:
Hanzo HP: 6/10 AC: 17/13/14 Status:NPCS:
Creature 1 HP: ? AC: ?
Creature 2 HP: ? AC: ?
Hanzo hissed a curse - he knew better than to yell when there might be nearby foes to alert. Granted, those foes were usually human, but he assumed the principle was sound everywhere.
"Vermin! Giant ones! They're venomous!" he told the others, keeping his voice down. Not wanting to risk being flanked (and hoping he might get a chance to flank one of them in turn), he withdrew a few steps, slashing with his knife to keep them at bay.
Guruthos turns his attention from the horrific device toward more immediate concerns. Seeing no way to move into a more advantageous position, he draws his bow and let's loose an arrow at the hideous vermin.
The rogue swiftly, and wildly withdrew to the western wall in order to get his bearings and a better look at the abomination that just bit him.
Drawn by the sounds of Hanzo's startled yelps, plus snarly insects, the Elf draws his bow and looses an arrow. However, he was so worried about not hitting the human, that he didn't draw the bow back very far. His arrow bounced right of the carapace of the green hued creature.
The reddish-hued insect wasted no time in continuing to attack its initial prey. It scurried over to the injured Hanzo, reared its head, and struck!
Hit!
= 1 damage!
(sorry)
Dex damage
The centipede strikes low, biting Hanzo directly on the thigh. This time, he feels something is wrong. His body can't withstand the poison.
The greener toned creature took notice when the poorly shot arrow bounced off its carapace. It focuses on the masked elf, hissing and growling, then darts forward to take a chunk out of its second victim!
Hit!
fail.
Dex damage
Apparently great Centipedes think alike.. except that they don't think all that much. At any rate, this one attacks in an almost identical fashion to the red one, biting Guruothos in the thigh. The elf lets out a sound that is both haunting and evident of the pain just inflicted upon him.
Bold may act: Thomas, Guruthos, Joriannika, Hanzo.
Global Condition: None |Global Condition:
Thomas HP: 10/10 AC: 16/12/14 Status:
Guruthos HP: 5/8 AC: 15/13/12 Status: Poisoned
Joriannika HP: 9/9 AC: 17/13/14 Status:
Hanzo HP: 5/10 AC: 17/13/14 Status: PoisonedNPCS:
Giant Centipede (red) HP: ? AC: ?
Giant Centipede (green HP: ? AC: ?
[Damage] 1d6-1 ⇒ (1) - 1 = 0 = 1 damage!
Excited from the his allie's screams, Thomas begins to shout: "موجودات انحرافی!"
His spear already in hand, he slowly encircles the creature until reaching the wall behind it. It was now surrounded by him and the elf and had nowhere to go! He examined it closely and thrusted his spear towards it.
Thomas racks his brain but can't recall ever seeing anything like these creatures before. But what he does know, is that right now, they are a threat.
With a thrust of his spear, Thomas breaches the vermin's outer armor-like exoskeleton. It recoils and screeches. But he's not dead yet.
Global Condition: None |Global Condition:
Thomas HP: 10/10 AC: 16/12/14 Status:
Guruthos HP: 5/8 AC: 15/13/12 Status: Poisoned; 1pt Dex dmg
Joriannika HP: 9/9 AC: 17/13/14 Status:
Hanzo HP: 6/10 AC: 17/13/14 Status: Poisoned; 1pt NL dmg, 1pt Dex dmgNPCS:
Giant Centipede (red) HP: ? AC: ?
Giant Centipede (green) HP: -5 AC: 21
Edit: well, maybe not.
** spoiler omitted **
** spoiler omitted **** spoiler omitted **
I posted this, then completely forgot. Sorry!
Thomas uttered something that struck you so off-guard you weren't sure what to do. Did he just utter something in the Abyssal tongue? ...No, it's something else. There are definitely differences in the languages, perhaps one involves the back of the throat or the middle of the tongue, but there are some similarities. Perhaps even some common words between Abyssal and whatever language he shouted in; because you think you just caught the word "Divine".
*Bot for Joriannika*
Joriannika, shocked by a lot of things very quickly, rushed forward, taking action by drawing her Rapier and stabbing at the gigantic critter that just bit the poor masked elf.
Her rapier might as well have been a toothpick, albeit one made of steel, so it doesn't snap in half, but it doesn't do anything else either.
"Sigh. Oh, did I say that out loud? What are these things!"
Bold may act: Hanzo, Guruthos,Thomas, Joriannika, Centipedes
Global Condition: None |Global Condition:
Thomas HP: 10/10 AC: 16/12/14 Status:
Guruthos HP: 5/8 AC: 15/13/12 Status: Poisoned; 1pt Dex dmg
Joriannika HP: 9/9 AC: 17/13/14 Status:
Hanzo HP: 6/10 AC: 17/13/14 Status: Poisoned; 1pt NL dmg, 1pt Dex dmgNPCS:
Giant Centipede (red) HP: ? AC: ?
Giant Centipede (green) HP: -5 AC: ?
The sound of that horrible tongue... the poison coursing through his veins... the site of Hanzo (the closest he has to what he might consider a "friend") fighting, cornered and alone... Guruthos fights to clear his head, and decides to put his own safety aside and take action. I can't concern myself with Thomas now. I must focus.
If he can make it to the bed on opposite side of the green monstrosity attacking him, he might be able to take aim at the other beast, and give Hanzo a chance. Let the others deal with the closer threat.
((tumbling/parkour to the first bed on the far side of the green thing))
((attack +3, -4 firing into melee))
((edit: an attempt was made. Just let me know where I end up.))