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Post by fifthdragon on Dec 16, 2021 9:02:12 GMT
oh! scratch all that, let's investigate the hatch. whats inside? and could we go to the river to clean off once we've fully moved the ...debris from on top of the hatch?
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Post by Spwack on Dec 17, 2021 3:31:18 GMT
It's a rather gross experience, and some of the "debris"... splashes. Ew. Eventually you managed to heave up the incredibly rusty hatch with an ear-splitting screech, revealing a narrow tunnel leading north-west. As you finagle your way through the tunnel (getting even more filth-laden in the process), you come to the other end of the tunnel with another hatch. This one opens much more easily, and looks like the other side of it has a faux-stone covering. A hidden door! It leads out onto a pair of small tracks, about the same width as the minecart tracks near Cell Block Zero. The tracks run roughly East-West, and vibrate gently as you watch.
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Post by fifthdragon on Dec 17, 2021 3:37:14 GMT
How fast do minecarts move, to my understanding? Is there anything suggesting one might stop here or am I in the middle of a subway tunnel, so to speak? If I don't think an oncoming minecart will kill me on impact, I'd like to instruct Porter to get in between me and Blade and then have us walk down Eastward, marking the secret door to be able to find again, with a smear of debris in a noticeable large door outline if there's nothing else we can use to do so. Maybe torch charcoal from expended torches?
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Post by Spwack on Dec 17, 2021 10:32:34 GMT
Quite fast indeed. You're in the middle of the subway tunnel, that is for sure. There's just enough room to step off the tracks should one come through, and you can hear them clearly enough. The hatch is marked with charcoal from the torch, you might have trouble seeing it as you whoosh past in a cart, but walking past makes it very obvious.
Heading east, it only takes you a little while before you find another exit to the north. It leads to a massive steel "door", closer to a vault, with no easy way to open it as far as you can tell. While checking it out, an empty cart clickety-clacks past, heading the same direction you were going. It's moving as fast as you could sprint, or thereabouts.
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Post by fifthdragon on Dec 17, 2021 18:11:54 GMT
The exit to the north is similarly in the middle of the subway tunnel? Pops gives the vault a few experimental kicks with his boots- any different sounds/ weak spots/ potential gas leaks ie cracks what air can pass through?
If I wanted to go find Jax and trade them for their single 7-league boot, is it reasonable for me to know where they are and that they'd have that? I'm thinking of using the take1-improve1 on my havoc boots but I'd need another boot as impressive as these so I'm not off balance.
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Post by Spwack on Dec 18, 2021 8:54:42 GMT
Indeed it is. The "vault door" is a block of steel, seemingly merged with the stone somehow. It is suspiciously well-sealed. Maybe made by magic, rather than engineering? Perhaps someone dropped a Wall of Iron spell in this passage for some reason or another.
It is reasonable that you would know they'd have it, and also reasonable to know that they are currently out in the middle of the ocean with their boot. You'd have to chat with them when they get back.
((I would recommend leaving an @ message in the Cell Block Zero thread as a note you left for them when they get back))
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Post by fifthdragon on Dec 19, 2021 4:24:49 GMT
Continuing on Eastward, then. If I run into something known by the map before I run into something interesting, we'll head to the Blade Staircase instead.
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Post by Spwack on Dec 19, 2021 6:34:51 GMT
First, an encounter check (1 is an encounter, 2 is traces, 5/6 is a torch gutters) 1VIx9juP1d6
It's a long journey, marching on the railroad, and one of your torches is halfway burned. The tracks lead round and around and around, corkscrewing downwards. Porter seems a bit miffed about something, but doesn't pipe up unless you ask.
Blade says: "So... boss. What are we looking for down here, if you don't mind me asking? I know it's all new 'n that, but I figure I can keep an eye out as well."1d6
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Post by fifthdragon on Dec 19, 2021 7:01:44 GMT
"Well, Blade, the maps seem to indicate that to escape, we need to reach the surface, upwards. But it also seems to say that treasure, money, and the things we need to survive against the dangers of that upwards trek are mostly downwards. I'm primarily trying to get us some money, something valuable, to buy more supplies, like acid and armor and more weapons and some scrolls. Though, if you have an idea, I'm willing to hear it at this point."
To Porter- "Speak up boy- anger is a seed that grows ugly flowers."
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Post by Spwack on Dec 20, 2021 10:10:56 GMT
Blade: "Makes sense. I was having a poke through some of the maps before. Lotta people talking about the Drow and how dangerous and useful they are. My thought is, maybe we can get ourselves a piece of that?"
Porter: "... It sure does. You should be careful, calling me boy like that." Woah, this is the first time you remmeber Porter actually saying anything that brazen. "Back there, on the bridge, you called me a coward, but you could've died as well if it hadn't caught us again. Then what?"
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Post by fifthdragon on Dec 20, 2021 18:30:36 GMT
"Then I would have died, and thought about it not at all. I call you boy because you are one. Prove me wrong and I will call you something else. You follow me because you have nothing else, Porter, not because I demand it of you. If you think yourself a man, fight like one, and give Blade a turn with the packs. If you hate me, then leave, and go find someone who gives a damn. Otherwise, pull your weight and let me focus on keeping us all alive and fed, as you always have, and I always have done. You're right- we could have died if that Bridge had wanted to kill us. But the coward is the one who showed it fear. Give them a glimpse of weakness and they will take everything we have and leave us as nothing more than scraps on the dungeon floor.
Good idea, Blade. We'll chalk that up as our next destination, but I'd like to find some money before we tackle that danger. I feel underprepared for a whole civilization quite yet- let's handle individual skeletons first."
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Post by Spwack on Dec 21, 2021 9:01:59 GMT
Porter seems pretty abashed. "No no, I'll- I'll stay. Sorry. I don't hate you. I'm just so, always so..." he doesn't finish the sentence, just staring ahead into the darkness, and keeping on walking.
Blade: "Oh, ha! No, I wasn't planning on taking on the whole of them. Just maybe popping in for a bit of fun, you know? This place seems pretty dreary is all. Might do young Porter here a bit of good as well, take his mind off the troubles."
The rest of the walk is uneventful. It can't be called peaceful, and you can't talk much to pass the time since you are constantly listening out for the sound of approaching minecarts (though none come), but it's a safe walk. You don't know how far you are down now, but it must be a long way deep.
"How much food did we bring, Porter?" asks Blade, and they have a quick bite to eat by the side of the tracks. They've got enough amongst the two of themselves, for now.
Eventually, the track stops: Some kind of tremendous force has wrenched the tracks in half, and left a sizeable canyon in between this side and the other. Any minecart coming down here would've plummeted even further into the depths. Yikes! What are you going to do? You think you can see faint lights coming from further down the tunnel, but it might just be a reflection off a shiny bolt in the track.
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Post by fifthdragon on Dec 21, 2021 18:06:31 GMT
Is the canyon anything like the Abyss I've read about in the maps, or is it too small for that?
How possible would it be , with a crowbar, havoc boots, and three pairs of hands, to rip up the end of the track and add a bumper right after the Wall of Iron that stops minecarts before they plummet?
After that's done, I'd like to return to Block 0 to let Blade and Porter rest a bit in safety and talk to the vending machines about food and where we might find some as a higher priority than money. If there's no easy recommendation, we head back down and explore the other way of the cart tracks, as this clearly isnt the cart track I'm aware of unless there was a recent earthquake.
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Post by Spwack on Dec 22, 2021 6:55:06 GMT
Much too small for that, this is just an obstacle, the Abyss fills a third of an entire floor ((and is on Floor +1)). You could potentially jump over this gap, though the shattered track on the other side looks rather flimsy as well. ((This is a new section, not explored yet))
Bumper: Done! It'll be a bone-rattling stop, but at least they won't be immediately killed. There's a pretty big distance between this block you've made and the sudden drop, but at least they've got somewhere else to go once they are stopped.
After you finish curling up the track into a "safety rail" you walk back to the hatch leading to the Bridge when you hear a weird sound. Or rather, an assortment of sounds. The ringing of tiny bells, the gentle grinding of gears, the tapping of metal on metal, and the sound of wheels turning. It's coming slowly towards, from further up the rails. What do you want to do?
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Post by fifthdragon on Dec 22, 2021 7:23:22 GMT
I'll shoo Blade and Porter into the tunnel and pull out the Subtle Violin, then begin to play. It sounds like whistling wind-filled caverns and a campfire with only one person warming themselves by it. Then, I'll walk a little further down the rails and check out what's making the noises. I'm optimistically hoping for an old-fashioned railway pump car, what like two people pull up and down to go down the track, but covered in tiny contraptions and with many many dun and grey mice scurrying over it and tinkering on it and keeping the complicated machinery that pumps the cart running and wiping tiny mouse sweat with tiny mouse aprons. Realistically, Pops is gritting himself for a terrible robotic monstrosity like he's heard experiments on adventurers from the machine room on Floor 0.
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Post by Spwack on Dec 24, 2021 6:16:12 GMT
((That sounds amazing! I'll be filing away that bit of descriptiveness))
Trundling down the rails is something more like the latter than the former, but it doesn't seem too threatening. It's a minecart that has had some kind of spider-like construction attached to it, spindly arms stretching out with hisses of steam and sliding pistons to gently tap the rails ahead, the rails behind, the walls and ceiling. Occasionally another tool comes out and gently taps down or slightly prise up one of the bolts connecting the rails. Weird lights flash on and off, bells ring, and wires seem to buzz and writhe inside the cart itself.
It doesn't seem to have noticed you, as far as you can tell, even with the violin playing (so beautifully as well, I might add). What do you want to do?
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Post by fifthdragon on Dec 24, 2021 6:56:03 GMT
Pops squishes into the tunnel with the other two, a good number of feet back, lets it pass, then clambers out again after its passed by to watch what it does when it gets to the bumper at the end. Blade and Porter I'll have stay behind, in case I need to run.
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Post by Spwack on Dec 24, 2021 9:26:34 GMT
The machine trundles past, tap-tap-tapping away, bells ringing and at one point, letting out a small jet of steam. When it reaches the bumper, it slides the slender arms along it, attempts to unroll it slightly (failing completely, you've done a good job), and generally seems to be checking to see what has happened. All the lights turn red. It then folds up all the limbs and chugs at roughly three times the original speed back the way it came. It was going pretty slowly, so you can easily get out of the way.
What do you want to do?
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Post by fifthdragon on Dec 24, 2021 22:10:01 GMT
Hurriedly motion for Blade and Porter and run after it- maybe there's some people to talk to and explain what we've done before we anger someone unnecessarily. And besides, they may want to hire us.
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Post by Spwack on Dec 26, 2021 1:12:41 GMT
You can easily catch up to it, with Blade clanking along behind you, but it doesn't seem to be slowing. You can try and run along behind it, but who knows how far along and worse, how far up this thing will be going.
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Post by fifthdragon on Dec 26, 2021 23:44:13 GMT
I'll follow it for a maximum of two hours or until one of the other two asks us to stop, in which case we'll rest and then follow the tracks that direction until we find something interesting.
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Post by Spwack on Dec 28, 2021 11:56:07 GMT
"Geez huff boss huff I huff don't huff..." says Blade, who eventually has to stop. Chainmail is heavy, and you've been going for ages up a slope behind this thing.
You rest for a while: yQ3fwGzG1d6, and fully burn out the torch, starting a new one with the embers. Keeping on climbing, the track switchbacks past a bunch of oddly coloured rock. Clearly the track moves around, over, under the hardest stone, taking the easiest path to dig. You've been climbing up for a very very long time, but Porter seems to be in almost better spirits than Blade. His job is to lug stuff after you in every direction, and that is what he's doing! Blade is a tiny bit miffed, but she's got a steady head on her shoulders. "Just no more of those uphill marathons yeah boss? I'm still wearing full gear, I can sprint and jump all you want though."
You eventually wind up facing a large portcullis, cutting off the tracks continuation. Beyond the metal grating you can see multiple sets of tracks, some kind of switching area? A patch of the wall high up spins around, revealing a glass and steel orb. The orb turns and twitches, focusing on a lens of some kind on the three of you.
What do you do?1d6
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Post by fifthdragon on Dec 29, 2021 8:51:00 GMT
Pops waves and says in a loud, slow, clear voice: "We saw the track robot try and fix the tracks, we're here to report the issue! There's a big chasm that breaks the tracks, we put a temporary bumper to stop minecarts from falling into the chasm! Can we come in?"
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Post by Spwack on Dec 31, 2021 3:23:28 GMT
There's silence. The glass orb swivels, focuses, refocuses, swivels again, and then clonks back into the stone wall. Slowly, grudgingly, the gate rises up to let you in, but you have to duck.
Heading into the hall, you see a chunk of track on a large turntable, allowing access to a number of smaller shunting areas. All of them are blocked by similar gates, but most of them are empty. One of the smaller chambers contains the spider-like minecart you chased after, now folded up and with some kind of refueling cables plugged into it. There is one other cart, two more that seem to have completely broken down, one of them that appears to have exploded, denting the wrought-steel gate, and another five that are completely empty.
The track proper continues further south from here. Even with regular rests, your legs all ache, it has been a brutal climb following the track all the way up here.
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Post by fifthdragon on Dec 31, 2021 18:34:56 GMT
If we can get one of the gates to a working minecart open through either muscles or asking politely, we'll ride one further and spare the walking. Particularly I'd like to get the dented gate open if possible so we could use the exploded minecart, even if just the wheels function. If that's not possible, a yoga break to stretch out tired muscles, then we press on. If either Blade or Porter complain, I'll take their packs or weapons but we're moving anyways.
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Post by Spwack on Jan 7, 2022 6:19:31 GMT
Sadly the gates all seem to be locked very tight. You'd have to smash a gate open to get at it, and they must have been strong to contain the destruction of the carts. Even asking politely doesn't seem to get you let in, but you can still feel the watchful gaze prickling the back of your necks.
A few moments later though, your politeness and efforts are rewarded. A small bell rings and a red lamp hidden in the wall lights up. A patch of track flips entirely upside down, revealing a hefty block of metal, a set of springs and a large lever. There's a quick clackety-clack, clackety-clack and a cart swooshes into the room, pushing down the springs and locking the lever back with a creak of steel. Your ride is here!
You all clamber into the cart, it's a little cramped but with Porter's pack balancing between him and Blade, you manage to squeeze in. The lever goes CLUNK and you shoot off down the track. "This is the way to travel," smiles Blade. Ahead, you can see a large bridge lowering down to connect this section of track to another. The transition is a bit of a jolt, but you go careening down the track, tacking back and forth, until you come to a bone-rattling (but relatively safe) halt at another spring-block. Your legs are a little numb, but you can see... you're back in the room with the Professor in it, directly next to Cell Block Zero!
Delve complete!
((That was a lot of stuff happening at once. If you have any questions about the track connections, let me know. Otherwise, we can continue back in the CB0 thread))
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