Dario considered the dwarves words and offered, ”Well.. we find ourselves a bit short handed at the moment with the ill timed departure of our companions.” He cleared his throat and continued, ”urhum… excuse me … if Muziel would like to join us I’m sure we can accommodate him.”
"Let's be honest, the people we were sent to find were part of that first adventuring party! Simplifies things if you don't think we're looking for a third, well, fourth, group." Ionatan hesitates for a second, then points at the dwarves before adjusting his count.
"I'm Ionatan. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, especially under the 'dire' circumstances, as it were." The wink doesn't make the pun any better, but it does assure you that it was intentional.
”Well met, we are looking for two lads that have gone missing in these ruins,” the bard replied. We, ourselves, we’re also attacked by some shrubbery but I’ve never heard of trees under ground. He stroked his mustache as he wondered aloud, ”Are ther any dwarven tales of such creatures?”
"Mebbe they're more like shrubs than trees. Still 'orrible, though!" Muziel seems a bit embarrassed by his overreaction.
Dario considered the dwarves words and offered, ”Well.. we find ourselves a bit short handed at the moment with the ill timed departure of our companions.” He cleared his throat and continued, ”urhum… excuse me … if Muziel would like to join us I’m sure we can accommodate him.”
"Yeesh, yer own folk leavin' on ya too?" When Digg and Dugg look at him askance, he waves them off. "Nah, ah know, ye must do yer duty," he says with disappointment in his voice, before turning back to the group. "If ye wouldn't mind 'avin' an archaeologist with ye, ah'd love the chance!"
"Let's be honest, the people we were sent to find were part of that first adventuring party! Simplifies things if you don't think we're looking for a third, well, fourth, group." Ionatan hesitates for a second, then points at the dwarves before adjusting his count.
"I'm Ionatan. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, especially under the 'dire' circumstances, as it were." The wink doesn't make the pun any better, but it does assure you that it was intentional.
Muziel looks back, stonefaced. Either he didn't get it or he didn't find it funny. "Well, 'aven't 'eard from the first group came 'ere, but wouldn't surprise me if they took some money 'n ran. If ye already took care o' the walkin' shrubbery, ah'm sure we'll be fine."
He looked toward their leader, ”What do you say Bryndís?”
“Wow Muziel that’s quite an offer. Sounds like you might get a chance to explore the place after all. Well, once everyone is finished climbing down, we could head down to our small camp and talk a bit before me and Dugg have to head out.”
“Ugh, more talking. Just what we need.” After putting away his pickaxe he begins pulling out a hooded lantern.
“Good idea Dugg. This light spell won’t last much longer, and I don’t think these humans can see very well in the dark.”
After the twins both prep their lanterns, they wait patiently for everyone to climb down the rope. Once everyone is gathered, they lead the way down the rough stone stairs that run along the ravine’s wall. The stairs descend a little over twenty-five feet before ending at another landing. At the edge of sight, a fortress top emerges from the darkness. The subterranean citadel, though impressive, seems long forgotten, if the lightless windows, cracked crenellations, and leaning towers are any indication. All is quiet, though a cold breeze blows up from below, bringing with it the scent of dust and a faint trace of rot.
After the group safely reaches the landing, the two brothers begin walking towards another set of stairs leading further down the ravines wall, but in the opposite direction. “Isn’t too much further.” Digg states while holding up his hooded lantern. The stairs continue down about another twenty-five feet before emptying into a small courtyard, apparently the top of what was once a crenellated battlement. The buried citadel has sunk so far into the earth that the battlement is now level with the surrounding cavern floor. The floor stretches away to the north and south, and it is apparently composed of a layer of treacherous, crumbled masonry, which reaches to an unknown depth. To the east looms the surviving structure of what must be the Sunless Citadel .
Gathered closely together at the bottom of the stairs is a small camp. A couple bedrolls along with a few backpacks sit scattered about. Sitting quietly off to one side of the camp, a slender elf in light armor appears to be closely observing the group as you make your way down the stairs. Once the group safely makes it down the stairs, Digg turns to face everyone. “Welcome to the Sunless Citadel, or at least that’s what we've been calling it. Quite a sight isn’t she. The whole damn thing sank into the earth some time ago and has continued to sink for a very, very long time. A couple of the boys back in camp believe the place use to belong to some sort of dragon cult, making it a secret worshiping place, if you know what I mean. Granted the boys like to make up crap, so I don’t put much stalk in their derelict opinions.”
When first laying sight on the Sunless Citadel, Wayilant let out a low whistle of appreciation.
The cleric greeted the observing elf from a distance, in case of skittishness.
"Have you seen any evidence of the previous group: old campfires, discarded bed rolls and the like?"
”Or what direction they were heading?”
Digg looks over at Dugg for a moment while considering the question, then looks back at the group. "The only evidence I have seen so far are some fresh boot prints along the sandy stairs. We haven't gotten any closer to the citadel then we are right now, but those boot prints had to be theirs. Assuming that be true, they made it this fare at least and likely headed inside the citadel."
"Before we enter, does anyone require healing?" the cleric asks, checking his gear one more time.
Muziel starts following in line with the other adventurers, clearly staying toward the back of the group. "If any o' them rats bit ya, better watch out fer disease. Rats are filthy, ya know. Might find yerself with Filth Fever a day or three later."
A small creature crawls out from beneath Muziel's robes and screeches in complaint. It's a tiny rat! "Oh, nae, na you, Nibs. Only the best for ye." Muziel offers the rat a nibble of food, which it takes before scurrying back into folds of clothing.
As he beholds the Sunless Citadel again, Muziel smiles. "Ain't she a beaut? Who knows what 'istory we'll uncover inside!"
With the fight ended, Bryndís gets caught up in goodbyes to Taki and Ceru, as well as splitting some gear. She takes the rope, the grappling hook, and some of the apples, for the sake of meal variety. She lowers the rest of the stuff, then comes down herself.
By the time she arrives, the conversation between her own party and the dwarves has progressed to one of them staying on with them, while the others leave for something or other.
She doesn't mind, they are short-handed now, and she has nothing against dwarves. That's not to say she knows much about them, but in Karlsgard the general opinion of them is of decent, "what you see is what you get" types.
She gives the one staying with them, Muziel, a nod and tells him "I am Bryndís." More will have to wait since she needs to armor up and and get situated with her gear.
Bryndís does take a few moments to look over the fort, and her appraisal isn't as glowing as Muziel's.
"Looks like a dump, must be very old."
"I'm good, Way, thank you for asking."
He gives the dwarf a confused look as he describes his perceived beauty of this continually sinking keep. When Bryndis provides the contradictory opinion, he quietly notes "Bry, you are absolutely not wrong, but, for now, I guess it is our little dump. We should try to adopt Muzy's optimistic take if we can."
He gathers his things, hanging his pack over one shoulder so it will be easier to drop if something else happens.
Bryndis shrugs. "I don't care it is a dump. I am not thinking about living in it."
More generally she asks "Are we ready to go?"
Bryndis shrugs. "I don't care it is a dump. I am not thinking about living in it."
More generally she asks "Are we ready to go?"
Although he agreed with Brynis’s observation Dario held his tongue. He shifted the pack on his back, adjusting the weight, nodded his head and responded, ”I’m ready. Do you want me in front?”
“Well Digg, I think that’s our que.” Dugg states after rolling up his bed roll and then strapping it to his pack.
“Eye Dugg, I agree. The rest of you take care of Muziel. He’s good company once you get to know him. He’s also a bit handy when it comes to knowing things.”
After the twins' finish gathering their things, they both look over at the elf. “OK, we be ready,” one of them states. In response, the elf stands up, dusts himself off, and then begins working his way down to the ravine’s floor. Once all three of them climb down, they begin heading South, following the Ravine. “You know where our camp is Muziel, if you need anything.” One of them shouts from the ravine's stony floor. As the trio move into the darkness, you can hear one of the dwarves shout at the elf. “Damn elf, slow down! We dwarves can’t move like that.” A bit later, the same voice submits another complaint. “Gods damn long-legged elf. Slow down! Soon the voices fade into the distance.
To the East, the citadel awaits. The stone rubble that separates your group from the structure’s wooden door, looks like it might be a bit challenging to navigate. Loos stones and broken masonry literally sit in heaps throughout the half-buried battlement.
"Um, does 'the elf' have a name, or does he prefer to be referred to by race?" Wayilant asked pointedly.
Dario attempted to navigate over the rumble pile but found the going slow, ”Someone give me a hand here.”
Bryndís demonstrates more agility and sure-footedness than her size might suggest. She picks her way up through the rubble and also helps Dario when he runs into problems.
"Mebbe the team could fix the place up when we're done explorin'--then ye would see what ah'm seeing 'ere!"
Muziel lets his imagination wander a bit as he tries to go over the rocks.
The sight of the Sunless Citadel seems to inspire the old dwarf forward.
Ionatan begins scrambling over the debris, but the loose arm strap from his pack catches on something, and he gets pulled over sideways as he tries to move forward.
PC Health | Conditions | Buffs
Wayilant: HP 10/10 | NL: 0/10 | Conditions: 0 | Buffs: 0
Dario: HP 10/10 | NL: 0/8| Conditions: 0 | Buffs: 0
Ionatan: HP 11/11 | NL: 0/9 | Conditions: 0 | Buffs: 0
Bryndis: HP 13/13 | NL: 0/10 | Conditions: 0 | Buffs: 0
Muziel: HM 10/10 | NL: 0/10 | Conditions: 0 | Buffs: 0
Group Buffs: +1 Temporary HP from being well nourished.
With the departure of the two dwarven archeologists, so to goes their lanterns. The area becomes consumed by darkness as the walls of the ravine blackout any light from reaching deep into it.
Eager to reach the citadel’s entrance, the group begins navigating over the dust covered masonry that separates the citadel from the ravine’s stairs. Broken chunks of material reach deep into the reinforced battlement. With each handhold it becomes more apparent that the loose material is unstable. The sound of rubble sliding down the side of the refuge goes silent after a short distance, leaving concerns about how deep the trench could possibly be. Dario, being the first to attempt the balancing act, begins feeling around in the dark for handholds as he navigates over the ruble. Unable to visually size up the stability of the debris, he manages to catch a large piece of stone just right, sending it sprawling down into a deep crevasse. Just before falling in himself, Bryndis catches the bard by his collar keeping him from plummeting down the same path as the stone.
After struggling with the weight of his pack, Ionatan slips, sending a large amount of debris into a deep cavity. Almost immediately after, the stone under him shifts, sending him sliding down right behind the debris.
With little effort, most the group manages to balance their way across the obstacles. After closing in on the citadel’s tower. A thick layer of dust can be seen covering the buildings walkway. The tower’s outer shell sports four narrow windows that reach far above its thick wooden door. The door displays iron inlays with hand forged rivets speckled randomly over its surface. Massive iron henges firmly grasp the door’s exterior, which are held in place by multiple dark metal studs. The structure’s exterior is riddled with cracks and chips denoting the frailty of its current condition. The group now stands approximately ten feet from the entrance, where you can see booted outlines of disturbed dust scattered around its door.
Perception
Dario
Muziel
Upon seeing Ionatan‘s plight he suggested, ”Hold on we will throw you down some rope. Once the rope is passed down and secured he tried to help his companion clear the cavity by pulling on the rope, ”Tie it around your waist and we will help pull you up.” He looked to his other companions, ”Altogether now…. Pull”
”Let me go first,” Dario offered once the party was ready. He drew his starknife and cast light on the weapon to illuminate his way. When the arrived at the door he pointed out, ”Others have passed through here but the structure looks compromised. Let’s proceed through the doorway in single file with some space between us.” He stroked his mustache and advised, [b]”Stay back while I take a closer look at the door and see if it can bee opened
With that said he cast detect magic, and if none is detected, he approached the door checking for traps. If it appeared safe he will open the door and enter.
The cleric assists Dario in pulling Ionatan out of his predicament.
At the door, Wayilant looks for the disturbed dust of an opened door on the flagstones.
Using the rope, Ionatan is able to extract himself from the cavity and make his way across the debris safely. Once on the other side, Dario pulls out his starknife and enchants it with a light spell, which cuts through the ravine’s darkness and clearly illuminates the area twenty feet across. After making a few suggestions to the group he carefully begins approaching the citadel’s door.
After progressing less than five feet, he notices a distinct outline disturbing the dust on the floor. The disturbance is less than an inch from his boot and is so faint that he is amazed that he seen it in time . After visually following the ultra-fine disturbance in the floor’s dust, he pieces together the outline of a trap door that had been strategically placed in front of the citadel’s entrance. During his inspection, he also notices a much-diminished sound coming from beyond the trap door. It is hard to place the sound, but it kind of sounds like someone chewing. Along the side of the trap door, a one-foot-wide catwalk looks like it would circumvent the trap and allow safe passage to the door.
Sitting at the end of the scree slide, Ionatan takes a few moments to collect himself, carefully NOT looking over the side at the fall he could have taken. As he starts bringing his pack around to reach inside of it, Dario tosses him the end of a rope.
"Thank you." Loud enough to be heard, but far more subdued than you are used to from Ionatan about pretty much anything.
After working his way back out of the hole, he carefully coils and binds the rope before handing it back to Dario.
While waiting for Dario to do his safety checking for the doors, Bryndís asks the dwarf Muziel about the boot marks around the entrance. She has noticed them and wonders what they may mean for the other side of the doors.
"Did you and your friends make those boot marks? Have you been through the doors?"
Muziel shakes his head. "Nae, lass. Farthest we got was our camp at the bottom o' the big stairway. We were plannin' on headin' in when that elf showed up. Said that Digg and Dugg were needed back at their base camp 'cause o' some goblin attack."
He takes a look at the boot tracks, staying well clear of the area that Dario is inspecting. "Not sure I know, but those boot tracks could be those adventurers in the first group that got lost."
After taking a closer look at the boot tracks, Muziel notes that they look very similar to the ones he seen on the stairs.
”Trap”, Dario announced. He goes on to explain, ”Looks like some sort of pit trap but we can get around it by following this catwalk. Be careful I hear chewing noises coming from the pit.”
With that said he made his way around the trap and attempted to open the door.
The heavy wooden door opens with only a moderate amount of effort. Its thick iron hinges squeal in defiance as the door moves to your beckoning command. The light, shedding from Dario’s starknife, floods across a circular area that is cobbled with cracked granite, upon which sprawl four goblins, all apparently slain in combat. One stands with its back against the Eastern wall, the killing spear still skewering it and holding it upright. Three wooden doors lead off from this area. Above, a hollow tower of loose masonry reaches 30 feet, but the intervening floors and stairs are gone, except for a couple of crumbled ledges.
”Looks like we’re on the right path,” Dario commented while he pointed out the dead goblins. He moved over to examine the door on he left, ”Check the bodies while take a look at this door.”
You move in and begin inspecting the door to your left. The door seems void of traps and doesn't appear to be locked.
Bryndís considers the dead goblins a good sign, better than dead people they have come looking for. But... "You heard chewing under the floor? What is that?"
She checks the bodies.
"Chewin' noises?" mentions Muziel uncertainly. "Ah'm thinkin' we oughta take a look down the pit. Could be centuries o' folks fallin' inside. Mebbe there be valuable artefacts down in there! We could just roll a big stone o'er 'n let the thing open up."
If anyone else shows interest in this idea, Muziel helps them with the boulder or other trigger to try and open the trap.
The bard turned back towards his companions and answered Bryndis, ”I don’t know… the kind of chewing that left me unsettled and reluctant to find out more.”
To Muziel he suggested, ”Perhaps, but any artifacts will still be there when we leave. We can explore a bit and then come back after we find the missing lads.”
"We're looking for living, breathing people. If they are dead, well, we can check those spaces later. Let's move on."
Bryndis carefully roots through the dead goblins, looking for anything useful or informative. During her inspection, she notes that the bodies are not fresh, guessing somewhere between three or four weeks old. They display obvious bite marks where rats have been gnawing at them over the course of that time. It appears that most valuables have been stripped from them with the exception of one short sword each and a spear that is currently pinning one of the goblins to the wall.
"But long dead things'r precisely why we're 'ere, right?" He looks around. "Right?
Realizing that might not be a commonly shared opinion, he contents himself with entering the tower. He looks around to see if the building appears to be stable and able to permit their safe passage.
He also tries to understand the origins of this place.
Wayilant keeps looking around, taking it all in.
Looking around the room you see signs that would weren’t serious concern, from an engineer’s perspective anyway. Your gut, on the other hand, is telling you something entirely different. Your experience with the surrounding dirt, and how it tends to reinforce things that are tightly buried, leaves you to believe the building is quite secure. You believe the dirt is acting like a mortar in the fact that it is holding everything tightly together. At least for now.
Considering the citadel and its location you don’t seem to recall anything historically that stands out. In fact, the sheer lack of history about a building this size is more than a bit concerning.
”Don't worry Muziel by the looks of things we will find many old and interesting things,” Dario reassured the dwarf before he pushed the door open.
The inner door, being less reinforced than the citadel’s entrance, opens with fare less protest. The masonry walls of this 20-foot-wide hall are in poor repair. The far end is especially bad, as it has completely collapsed, filling the northern section with rubble. The eastern wall is in much better shape than the other walls, and it holds a stone door with a rearing dragon carved in relief upon it. The door contains a single keyhole, which is situated in the rearing dragon’s open mouth.
"Ah cannae think o' anythin' in the 'ist'ry books tha' tell o' this place. Methinks it must be very old indeed."
As Dario opens the door, the sight of deteriorating walls seems to confirm his obvious thought.
"Another interes'in' hall indeed, lad!" he responds, his enthusiasm undiminished.
"észleli a mágiát!" He speaks an incantation and starts looking around.
After scanning around a bit, Muziel doesn't detect anything in the way of magic in the circular room except for Dario's starknife, which is enchanted with light. Once Muziel gets past the enchanted weapon’s interference, he manages to pick up a magical aura coming from the room beyond the door that Dario just opened. After moving over to the room’s entrance, Muziel can determine that the aura is coming from the lock on the stone door that is across the room. After concentrating on the lock for a moment he can determine that there is only one faint aura.
Once Bryndís realizes how long the goblins have been dead, she switches to her dagger for a poking and prodding search. Touching a goblin is icky under the best circumstances. A goblin plus a period of decomposition is more than she's up for using fingers.
She decides the short swords are hardly worth their carrying weight and leaves them where they are. If things are lean enough to need that level of scrounging by the they're finished here, the swords can be picked up on the way out.
She proceeds on into the next room with the others.
.
"There be a bit o' magic o'er on the lock on tha' stone door," Muziel notes, after focusing his magical gaze. He tries to figure out what it might be and will share if he figures it out.
Muziel concentrates on the door's lock and can tell that the aura is abjuration . After concentrating a bit longer, he is able to piece together enough details about the spell's aura to tell that it is Arcane Lock .
"Magic lock o'er on tha' one door," mentions Muziel. "Could take a fuss ta open it up. Mebbe we oughta try this 'ere other door," he suggests, heading to the next door in the circular room. He gives it a quick gander.
After deciding that the magickly locked door would prove fruitless, Muziel heads back into the circular room to inspect the other door. After a detailed inspection he finds no lock nor trap on the door but notices a slight impression on the wall behind the goblin that is spiked to the wall.