CH 9: To the Walls of Pax Tharkas

[JadedDM]

"Well," Eben says, looking between Goldmoon and Tika. "I'll be damned. Now that you mention it, I do remember hearing stories of the old days, when people could heal with a touch with the blessings of the gods. Damn, we sure could have used someone like that in the Resistance," he says.

As Laurana speaks the words, the door to the Sla-Mori slowly opens, revealing the passage within. It is pure darkness inside.

So intent on looking within, the party is surprised to hear a distant but terrible, inhuman scream coming from behind them. Eben immediately draws his blade and whirls around. "What in the Abyss was that?"

Caramon draws his sword, as well, as a second scream comes from another location. "Trolls. Two of them." There's a third scream. "Wait...three. And they're heading this way. Everybody better get inside, now!"

[Jenara]

"Trolls!" Laurana shouts, "Inside!" She tries to be brave, echoing Caramon. "Could you cover us?" She asks sturm and caramon, letting Tas take point she leads the others inside.

[Kafen]

Taking point, Tas sneaks ahead and scouts out the path for obvious traps as they move. He stays ahead of the group by ten feet. Silent, Tas is running in stealth mode.

[Jenara]

"Me follow?" Magpie asks, taking Lauranas hand, as the pair walk in the Dwarf is surprisingly quiet.

[Breila]

Goldmoon hurries inside as soon as there is room, taking out the stone she had cast the continual light on earlier. Good that they didn't need time lighting torches!

[Jenara]

(Laurana keeps a distance from the stone, so her infravison works)

[Nuke]

Riverwind turns and faces the sounds, and back into the entrance last, covering their rear.

"Hurry in, and get that door closed."

[Breila]

"Those who can see in the dark, go in front. The others, gather around me" Goldmoon says, holding the stone high.

[JadedDM]

The party rushes inside. The three trolls leap from the brush and charge, screaming at the party. Laurana speaks the proper phrase, and the door begins to close again. It closes completely just as the trolls reach it. Despite the thickness of the wall, the party can still hear the trolls screaming in outrage as they claw and bang on the door in vain.

"Well...guess there's no turning back then," Eben comments.

Thanks to Goldmoon's blessed stone, the only source of light in here, everyone can see quite well. A thick coat of dust layers the floor and cobwebs hang loosely from the ceiling nearly fifteen feet above. The tunnel is 20 feet wide.

The tunnel is obviously ancient. Whether it was carved by hand or created by the flowing of water is impossible to determine. Loose chunks of rock litter the floor and the walls and ceiling are crumbling. The dust on the floor looks like it has not been disturbed since the Cataclysm.

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(OOC: Note that the light given from Goldmoon's stone has a radius of sixty feet. So if you want your character to be outside of the light, you need to be sixty feet ahead of the party--that's really far. Far enough that you'd have to shout back directions to those in the light. Far enough that, should you run into trouble, those in the light might not catch up to you within the first round.

Tasslehoff has 30 feet of infravision, Laurana and Magpie have 60 feet of infravision. Everyone else is blind without light.

The tunnels are at least 20 feet wide, meaning at least four people can stand side-by-side while walking.

Keep all this in mind when deciding the marching order for this dungeon.)

[Breila]

"Right" Goldmoon says, once the doors have closed. "We are safe for the moment, let me try something"

(OOC: assuming the sling is a piece of leather to accept the stone, with strings to whirl it around, and not the type "fork of a branch" which needs elastic bands to funcion)

Using her sling, she ties the enchanted stone to the top of her staff, it now should give off light mostly in one direction and allow her to carry it more conveniently, without needing to hold her arm up high for hours.

"If I hold it with most of the light going to the back, can you three still use your infravision when you're closer to the rest of us?" she asks.

[HorizonsDream]

"Goldmoon, that light is almost as bright as the sun," Tika points out. "They are going to have to go a long way ahead of us to actually see in the dark. I think it is best that we all stick together."

[Jerrard]

"Indeed Tika, the light is very bright, but needed." He keeps his blade drawn, walking by Caramon. "Shall we move onwards?"

[Jenara]

"Tas move on as far as you can, let us know what you see, Magpie and I will follow behind, with the others nearby." She looks directly at the Kender. "If you see anything wrong, stop, come back." Laurana's hands shakes, grasping her sword hilt she tries to stay calm. Why had the Knight asked her to lead??

[Kafen]

Leading, Tas moves fast enough to stay ahead thirty-five feet of the group. He calls back to the group as he positions himself, "I suppose that we should look for spiders. I bet there are spiders." He pauses and looks up. "Big spiders, I mean. Who else would live in this place?" Poking the dust, he suggests. "We are not being sneaky, either. I bet the bad guys could see us coming a mile away with this cloud of dust around us. We are going to leave lots of footprints, too."

[Breila]

"And of course, we're announcing ourselves with the light, especially to creatures used to living in the dark" Goldmoon sighs. "Let us stick together, since stealth is not possible."

(OOC:
My suggested marching order:
Tas, Laurana and Sturm in front
Magpie, Riverwind and Goldmoon in the middle
Tika, Eben and Caramon in the rear)