|
Post by Spwack on Nov 5, 2021 2:24:21 GMT
Heading south from Cell Block Zero, the air rapidly becomes more and more humid, with splotches of mud appearing underfoot. You can hearing mournful croaking from up ahead, that sounds like... the word, "woe", in a deep throaty bass?
As you turn the corner, you see the source of the croaking: tremendous frogs, the size of small cows, wallowing about in great pools of mud. Swarms of bugs flitter about everywhere, and in the centre of the room sits a huge green tree of some sort, punching up into the stone roof above, and sinking great roots into the mud below. There are exits to the south-west and south-east, as well as narrow passages up and down following the roots or trunk of the bizarre tree. The gigantic amphibians turn to look at you with only vague curiosity.
|
|
|
Post by Spwack on Nov 5, 2021 2:27:55 GMT
Picking your way through the mud, staying to the stony outcroppings as best you can, you follow the south-west route and reach drier ground in no time. The short passage ends in a large hallway stretching to the west further than your torch can illuminate. There are tremendous and mysterious machines perched over a large metal conveyer belt in the middle of the room, and the walls of the hallway are scored and scratched like it's been savaged by a giant cat with diamond claws.
The passage you are in continues straight south, and you can hear the faint sound of water coming from beyond.
What do you do?
|
|
|
Post by fifthdragon on Nov 5, 2021 6:17:27 GMT
Pops turns around and heads back the way they originally intended, muttering about the mud in his nice ass-kicking boots. Back into the frog room, then south-east. One day we'll check out Seymour, but not today.
|
|
|
Post by hellboundheart on Nov 5, 2021 10:57:39 GMT
Bridges follows Pops down the south east path. As they walk they fumble at the pouch on their side feeling around for their pipe and tobacco. They hadn't noticed it's absence initially due to the shock of waking up in Cell Block Zero, with a bitter sigh they press onward. "Pops" bridges asked" so what were you doing before you wound up here?"
|
|
|
Post by fifthdragon on Nov 5, 2021 17:33:10 GMT
Pop's face is turned from the rest as he walks to the front again.
"A long time ago, there was a kind man with a wife and four children, who lived in a small village as a thatcher and farmer. He harvested grass and wheat and kept cows and horses and ducks. I murdered him and ate his corpse. Then I gathered a band of other murderers and went across the land spreading death. Now I'm here."
|
|
|
Post by catdragon on Nov 5, 2021 23:31:56 GMT
Bogg goes south and stares into the eyes of the giant frogs for a few seconds. It ribbits. He responds in kind. Then, before heading southeast to join Pops and Bridges, he tries to start a new congregation of insects. Does he see any insects? If so, they gather in a vague aura around him as he heads southeast.
|
|
|
Post by Spwack on Nov 6, 2021 5:48:58 GMT
Bogg: The giant frog ribbits "woe is me", and hops away. You've got quite a plentiful supply of bugs following you now, mostly midges and mosquitoes.
Pops: ((Whoops! Misread your original directions, my bad))
As you head south-east, you walk up a very slight slope. A trickle of water runs by you, towards the frogs and their tiny swamp. You can see what looks to have been a sturdy metal door at some point, but it has been battered, smashed, shredded, dismantled and the complex internal pieces scattered about and looted. Beyond the no-longer-door, you can see a bare stone room, with the stream trickling down from the roof and moving over the threshold. You can also see a narrow tunnel in the corner, leading south, you'd have to crawl on hands and knees to go down it.
|
|
|
Post by fifthdragon on Nov 6, 2021 17:32:17 GMT
Pops enters the stone room beyond the broken door. What sort of opening is the stream coming through and how wide is it? Is there any sort of salvageable material in the no-longer-door? Are there any non-visual interesting things in the room such as smells or sounds? Is the stone natural, blocks, or carved, or something else?
|
|
|
Post by catdragon on Nov 7, 2021 3:04:48 GMT
((OK, so now I'm curious about the frogs.))
Bogg makes his way back to the frogs, and, since apparently they can speak Common, starts a conversation with one, trying to learn as much as he can. Bogg has always preferred the company of animals since the death of his wife, so he is prepared to listen to the frog vent or whine or whatever.
((I want to try and learn any lore I can about the frogs so I can become friends with them.))
|
|
|
Post by Spwack on Nov 7, 2021 12:39:13 GMT
Pops: - A collection of fist-sized holes in the ceiling - Do you count rusty metal as salvageable material? - Mildew, and strange echoes. You're relatively sure this room was water-tight at some point - Carved, as if a cave has been hollowed out and smoothed
Bogg: Apart from expressions of woe and misery, the frogs aren't particularly keen conversationalists. You do get a few more words out of them, but usually just one word at a time. They don't seem against your presence, or rather, they seem equally mournful about your being there as the rest of the world existing. What do you want to ask them?
|
|
|
Post by fifthdragon on Nov 7, 2021 17:45:26 GMT
Moving on into the crawl-space south then. Pops will go first but make sure Blade follows close afterwards.
|
|
|
Post by catdragon on Nov 8, 2021 0:18:43 GMT
Bogg asks the frogs three questions: - Why are you sad?
- How can I help you become not sad?
- Is their anything special about the green tree over there?
Bogg listens patiently, also keeping an ear open to any shouts of distress coming from the southeast corridor.
|
|
|
Post by Spwack on Nov 8, 2021 14:22:04 GMT
Pops: You scuttle down the tunnel, but are soon thwarted - thick metal bars form a grill, blocking your way forward. The metal rods are sunk deep into the stone on both ends, and you think you can hear the sound of more flowing water coming from ahead.
Bogg: - "Ribbit. Woe. Everything is, woe. Ribbit. Woe is me." - "Woe. Don't know. Woe. Woe is me." - "Woe. Big bean stalk. Name is Saint (woe) Seymour. Ribbit. Mag-ic. Big. Bring bug. Bug bug bug. Tasty. Woe is me."
|
|
|
Post by fifthdragon on Nov 8, 2021 22:21:59 GMT
Pops grunts at the impediment. "Back up, Blade, I'm going to need some space." Backing up a bit, he turns so that he is laying on the stone floor, hands braced to either side. He knocks his boots together a few times and then calls out to Bogg and the others. "Don't mind the noise. I will tell you if I require help."
Then I'd like to use my Havoc Boots to try and kick the grate in. I don't assume they'll come loose but perhaps bend them enough to wiggle through.
If I succeed, I want to stick my head through and try and get a better view, continue on if I fit, and return to the frog room otherwise.
|
|
|
Post by fifthdragon on Nov 8, 2021 22:23:22 GMT
f78Ma4hR1-20 unsure if I need to roll but just in case. 1-20
|
|
|
Post by catdragon on Nov 9, 2021 3:52:00 GMT
I send some of my bugs into the frog's mouth and, if the frog says nothing of importance, leave and head towards Pops and Bridges.
|
|
|
Post by hellboundheart on Nov 9, 2021 8:02:53 GMT
Bridges kneels down peering into the crawlspace pops has entered. They will wait until they are needed and keep an eye out for anything that might come following us.
|
|
|
Post by Spwack on Nov 9, 2021 11:05:59 GMT
Bogg: The frog snaps up the bugs quite happily, uh, I mean, mournfully and with great woe. You feel the faintest of outcry from your little swarm, but they still follow your orders, flying to their tasty deaths.
Bridges: It's quiet. Too quiet. Then - SBRONG.
Pops: It's a bit cramped, but you line up a tremendous kick. The metal rods ring like a badly tuned bell, and you feel like your bones are vibrating as well. You've scraped a line through the corrosion, revealing shiny metal underneath, but apart from that, you haven't made much progress.
These a thick metal rods, sunk into stone, and you're trying to chop through them while in a cramped tunnel. If you could line up a really good couple kicks, your Havoc Boots would actually be a really good tool for this job... but right now, it's hard to get a proper angle on it, if that makes sense.
Back to the frogs and Bogg? Where to from there?
|
|
|
Post by fifthdragon on Nov 10, 2021 1:47:16 GMT
Pops grumbles again and exits the tunnel. "Too tight for a proper kick. We'll come back later with some proper tools. Meanwhile, lets round up our frog-loving friend here and move on.
Leaving for the room with the machines and levers, quickly through that, across the bridge, into the cave, and straight south. Exploring the unmapped reaches. Bogg, will you join us?
|
|
|
Post by catdragon on Nov 10, 2021 3:25:32 GMT
Bogg joins Pops and Bridges as they venture south through the factory, the ravine bridge, and into the southern reaches of the cave. He is busily scrawling a hasty map onto a grubby piece of parchment.
|
|
|
Post by Spwack on Nov 10, 2021 7:27:01 GMT
Back to the frogs, back to the machine room, and further south. The sound of rushing water gets louder and louder, until you leave the stone hallways to stand looking over an chasm. A river runs far below, just in sight of your lit torch. Ahead of you is a... bridge? It's a slither of stone less than two hand-spans wide, twitching and snaking back and forth from this side of the chasm to the other. It's climbable, but a pretty monstrous climb at that. Do you all head across?
|
|
|
Post by fifthdragon on Nov 10, 2021 21:57:21 GMT
Pops asks Blade, Porter, Bridges, and Boggs if anyone has rope. If they do, he ties himself to each person in turn and begins crossing very carefully. If not, he'll go back to CB0 and look around for some, or ask the vending machine if they know where some is.
|
|
|
Post by catdragon on Nov 11, 2021 4:18:50 GMT
Sadly, Bogg has no rope. He goes and meditates next to Saint Seymour as his companions head to Cell Block Zero. He is trying to have a divine vision.
|
|
|
Post by Spwack on Nov 11, 2021 8:18:59 GMT
You don't have a vision, but you do have a bunch of frogs sitting around you, snapping up more of the bugs sitting in your personal swarm. However, you spot some of the vines of Saint Seymour dangling down from up above. Maybe you could use those as rope?
|
|
|
Post by catdragon on Nov 11, 2021 23:12:28 GMT
Bogg tries to climb up the vines and branches of Saint Seymour.
In case I need to roll nOhfoJ|A1d20+11d20+1
|
|
|
Post by Spwack on Nov 13, 2021 5:04:05 GMT
You scurry up rapidly. What are you doing once you are up there?
((Two points - If you aren't in any rush and there isn't any pressing danger, no need to roll. Forum posts can be quite slow, if you want to take multiple actions one after the other, just go for it))
|
|
|
Post by catdragon on Nov 14, 2021 3:47:51 GMT
I guess Bogg looks around. Does he sense he is on another floor?
|
|
|
Post by fifthdragon on Nov 14, 2021 8:12:54 GMT
(Bogg were you getting vines for us to cross the ravine or exploring on your own? I was waiting for vines, but I can move on if you're content on your own.)
|
|
|
Post by Spwack on Nov 14, 2021 9:34:02 GMT
Pops: If you need vines, you can get them easily with the help of your followers without too much worry. I'll assume the characters do whatever makes sense, and are generally communicating such things.
I will also assume that once you have the vines, you carefully make your way across the Bridge Of Incredible Awkwardness, safely, if not particularly quickly. Time for the first encounter check! ((1 = encounter, 2 = trace, 5/6 = torch degrades))
rpBN2QqS1d6
The path across is hair-raising, but uneventful. Scurrying south away from the river running below, you enter a gnarled and whorled cave. There are small tunnels leading east and west, and a large extension of the cave going south. To the north-east is a charred hole in the ground.
Bogg: You can climb Saint Seymour quite easily, but he seems to go up a long way indeed. If you want, we can start a new thread of you going upwards, but you'll be on your own and perhaps in more potential danger. What would you like to do?1d6
|
|
|
Post by catdragon on Nov 15, 2021 2:06:46 GMT
Bogg would like to rejoin his fellow compatriots past the bridge, going with them if that is possible.
|
|