"Let me listen at both doors first." Vartan says.
First he listens at the north door. "Nothing". Then he walks around Bess, who is crowding the passageway (it is a tight fit for three of you and a horse), and listens at the south door. "I don't hear anything in here either. Go ahead and open the north door Thimble. We will be right behind you."
Vartan hands the torch to Asther and puts an arrow in his bow.
Thimble tries to open the door, but it seems stuck. He then gives it a hard shove and it opens into the room with a loud crack of something breaking. The room beyond is dark and smell rotten and musty.
By the light of the torch you see the broken remains of an ancient chair that looks like it was holding the door shut. In the center of the room you can make out the mummified remains of a dwarf wearing what looks like a blacksmith's apron.
The room is small, about ten feet wide and ten feet long. You do not see any other doors in it, or anything else besides the body.
"Lets check the body"
Asther puts out the torch and casts light on her scimitar.
Dena screeches for she does not like the suddenness of the bright light.
The firefoot peeks his head out of the saddle bag,to see what the bright light came from.
Thimble draws out his axe and slowly walks over to the body.
When you get closer to the body you see that it has an old vial in one hand and an ancient piece of parchment in the other.
Thimble stares down at the body "Hope this ones dead too" Thimble then taps the body with his shoe while drawing out his axe.
Thimble kicks at the body, and it doesn't move. It's quite dead. Thimble seems to have a paranoia about undead, since he distrusts the dead state of every dead humanoid he encounters.
Vartan reaches down and grabs the piece of parchment, then reaches at the body's belt and pulls out something on a chain. He looks at the parchment and says "I think it is written in Dwarven, which I do not read. Do either of you?"
He then begins to examine the thing he found on the chain.
Thimble coughs uneasily.He's extreamly tired.
"What do you think?" Vartan asks as he hands the thing he found to Asther. Its a little silver hammer with a symbol carved on its head.
"Are you well Thimble?" he asks seeing Thimble seems a little unsteady on his feet.
"I'm fine" Thimble says," Just a little tired, thats all."
"It's a Dwarf's hammer. Maybe something they use religiously. Usually everything, for my religion, The Green Faith, has a certain carving or symbol of A face made of leaves. Do you guys have a religion?" Asther looks at Vartain and Thimble.
"My parents were worshippers of Abadar, the god of merchants. I personally do not worship a deity, but I certainly appreciate the Green Faith."
Thimble:
"Very nice Vartan."
"This might sound odd, but Dena has a religion too. She told me in town one day. I casted my spell "Talk to Animal" and she said that she believes in Alkor, a great bird legend. She told me the story. She said that once there was an eaglet born name Alk. Alk wanted to preserve bird rights for all eternity. Alk tried his hardest to stop poachers but failed. Alks perseverance led him to sacrificing himself. He today still lives in the bird heavens and watches over birds. She said that her father told her this story. When were done with this journey I'll switch over to that spell and we can ask the fox some questions if you guys want?"
"I would like to hear what the fox has to say. Shall we move on, or do you want to rest here for a bit?"
DMD aka Dungeon Master Dad
"I don't really have one" Thimble says. Thimble then turns to Asther "So you can talk to animals?"
Thimble:
For being a half-orc you get orc ferocity, which means once per day when you are brought below 0 hp but not killed, you can fight on for 1 more round as if disabled.
Your 1st level feat is Overhand Chop, which means your damage modifier for using a 2-handed weapon is 2x your Strength bonus (instead of 1.5x)
"Lets go on and open the other door. After you thimble."
Thimble listens at the door.
You hear nothing but rain and thunder.
"Hey Thim, I think your father belived in something...oh what was that called again...ummm...oh yeah, i think he belived in something called Ortharsa, but I don't know. When I was 8 your dad was taking to my dad. And your dad mentioned a religion called Ortharsa."
Thimble doesn't hear anything so he opens the door. Beyond the door is another small room. There is a small table in the center of it and a dirty hat sits on the table. Tattered rotting cloaks and coats hang from pegs on the walls.
Asther looks around.
Asther:
BBCode
Look Around (1d20+10=15)
Besides the old clothes and the hat, Asther finds, hidden in the corner of the room, a single ironbloom mushroom.
Thimble puts on the hat and looks at the mushroom. Thimble sighs "Where did you say that dog is again?"
"Where did you say that dog is again?"
"You mean the worg, Graypelt? I don't know where he is. I just heard rumors he was around this part of Darkmoon wood."
Vartan picks the mushroom. "Here is one. Now we need to find six more. Don't worry about Graypelt - let us find those mushrooms and leave this place as soon as we can."
"Maybe we can talk to him and ask him why he did that?"
To break to long stream of silence Asther said "Thimble..."
Just then the light goes out. It is completely dark in the room, but the hallway outside has shadowy illumination from the partially open door to the outside.
Asther:
"Maybe we can talk to him and ask him why he did that?"
"You want to know why he killed my family? I need not ask him to know. He did it because he is an evil vicious creature, and he hates all of our kind."
You have never heard Vartan speak like this. His tone is always gentle and reassurring, but now his voice is filled with venom and hate.
"Just like I hate his."
Then his voice becomes sad.
"Can you please make your weapon glow again, Asther? We should not speak of such things in the dark"
"Oh, sure Vartan." Asther cast light on her scimitar. "Don't worry, if we find this thing, we'll kill it for sure, especially with Thimble and his Axing." Asther smiled.
You leave the room and go back into the hallway.
Vartan asks Thimble: "Thimble would you mind looking both ways down that hallway? You can see better than us in this light. Then you can look through those doors." pointing to the double doors about 10 feet west of you. "I'll be right behind you." He has his sword in his hand.
Thimble walks up and listens at the doors 10 feet ahead.
Thimble doesn't hear anything. The doors are halfway open, so he takes a peek inside.
Thimble:
"It's safe." Thimble says looking at Vartan and Asther. He then opens the dorrs completely and takes a step inside.
Asther follows Thimble.
Vartan follows Asther and Thimble into the room, leading Bess.
"We ought to look around a bit. There might be some mushrooms in here."
Beyond the doors is a large room (about 30 feet long by 30 feet wide). Inside you see two rows of wooden benches, some of them tipped over and all of them covered with dust. At the far end of the room you see what looks like a huge anvil on top of a stone pedestal, its surface defaced and ruined. It looks like it used to be a shrine of some kind.
There is a door on the south wall.