CF - Volo's Adventurers' Guild - PbP Campaign

Serena sleeps very comfortably in the soft bed, dreaming again of adventures in The Sunless Citadel, fighting goblins and plant abominations with Flappy and her new friends by her side. She wakes up early and washes herself up a bit before sitting down by the table and enjoying the breakfast. "Hope everyone slept well, it´s a long day ahead of us." She says to the others as she eats. After breakfast she readies herself for adventure. "Ready when you are adventurers." She says with a wide smile.

Tresvar puts on her armor and heads to breakfast, where she eats heartily, and quickly.   She seems excited to get on the road.  

Banjo rises and performs a long stretch, accompanied by several loud pops and a twang.  Once satisfied that everything is back where it should be, he scampers out for breakfast.

He will take a moment to gaze out a window at the morning sunshine, the dew covering the tree branches, and sigh.  "Yes.  I am ready."  Grinning from ear to ear, Banjo is ready to face the Sunless Citadel.

Refreshed, equipped and with full stomachs, the adventurers sally forth, out of Oakhurst, back to the intersection, then along the Old Road.

The overgrown Old Road winds through rocky downs, near stands of old-growth oak, and past abandoned farms. For seven miles the companions walk along this lonely path. 

The Old Road passes to the east of a narrow ravine. At the road’s closest approach to the cleft, several broken pillars jut from the earth where the ravine widens. Two of the pillars stand straight, but most lean atop sloped earth. Others are broken, and several have apparently fallen into the dark depths. A few similar pillars are visible on the opposite side of the ravine.

A sturdy, knotted rope is tied to one of the leaning pillars on this side of the ravine.

Serena checks on the rope to see if it seems sturdy enough even for Tresvar and then she moves over to the edge of the ravine, looking down to spot any threats to their decent.
Perception:21
Unless she spots anything dangerous she turns to the others. "So this is where it all starts. Tresvar, how would you feel about taking the lead with that mighty shield of yours. You will decide in which order we will investigate the Sunless Citadel. I could come in second followed by Livia and Banjo taking rear guard. Would that be ok with everyone?" She says smiling with her hands at her hips.

The rope tied to one of the leaning pillars hangs down into the darkness of the ravine. Judging by its good condition, the rope couldn’t have been tied there any longer than two or three weeks ago. From the edge of the ravine, older and weathered handholds and footholds can be seen carved into the cliff face. 

Adventurers can easily climb down the knotted rope, using the wall to brace themselves. Using the carved indentations is slower but only slightly harder. The descent is 50 feet to the ledge.

Where does it look like this leads?  "Are we certain this is the entrance?  I wasn't expecting a sign proclaiming "Here lies the Sunless Citadel"... but I thought it might be a bit more obvious than this, I suppose."

Banjo wants to take a good long look around.  Perception 15

"Well the actual ruins would be somewhere down in this ravine I´d expect, but I think we should be prepared for trouble from here on." Serena answers.

Quote from Bartjeebus >>

Where does it look like this leads?  "Are we certain this is the entrance?  I wasn't expecting a sign proclaiming "Here lies the Sunless Citadel"... but I thought it might be a bit more obvious than this, I suppose."

Banjo wants to take a good long look around.  Perception 17

((It would actually be more of an investigation check, but since your Investigation bonus is higher than your perception bonus, you readily see: ))

Livia is very exited about all this, but also fearful. Guarding caravans seemed simple enough, and other than those giants, she wasn't close to any real danger. Not like Tresvar and Banjo were, anyway. Here, in the unknown part of the unknown outside world, and with all those warnings, stories and precautions everyone took, some doubts begin to form. Perhaps, after all, staying in the safe house as always was the best choice?

No. She will brave through this. Remembering Serena's words, Livia regains her confidence. She'll go down, find Kerowyn's children and climb back up. She can do it. "I don't know what the entrance for such a place would look like, but they said the Sunless Citadel is underground, right? Going down sounds logical." In her words, a remnant of fair is audible, but all the while, she looks ready to climb down; after the others.

"Yes Livia, when you put it that way it makes a lot of sense."  Banjo feels a bit silly for not considering that the sunken fortress would be underground.  "However, have a look at this.  There is graffiti in a language unfamiliar... do any of you recognize it?  If not, spare me 10 minutes and I can perform a ritual ( comprehend languages ) that will allow me to read it.  It's likely nothing... but just in case it says "DON'T CLIMB THE ROPE!" I'd rather waste a little time now than feel foolish... or dead... later."

Banjo ponders why someone might want to hide old campfires....

"Go ahead Banjo, we´re in no hurry." Serena says, still keeping a lookout down the ravine.

Tresvar says”yes. No rush.  It might be worthwhile to know what they say”.  She checks the rope to see if it is sturdy enough to use for our group.  

In that case, Banjo will draw his wand and sit down cross-legged in front of one of the graffitied pillars and closes his eyes.  Over the next ten minutes we will slowly trace symbols in the dirt around him… circles, crescent moons, alphabetic characters, some symbols strange and unknown.  When he is done, he is sitting inside a semi-circle of arcane symbols.  He then lays his hands on the pillar. 

Opening his eyes, he attempts to read the writing.  He needs to be touching the surface, so he will move on to each pillar with graffiti to try and determine what it says.

None of the party knows the alphabet the graffiti is written in.

Banjo performs the ritual to cast comprehend languages on himself. 

As he completes the ritual, the letters first form themselves into phonetic sounds in his head. At first they are just meaningless sounds, then it clicks into a language Banjo does know. The messages are written in Goblin, but using a non-goblin alphabet... odd... 

Banjo deciphers the inscriptions as warnings and threats against potential trespassers.

“Goblins, eh?  Well we were warned about them.   I guess this is the way down?  Does this rope look sturdy enough or do we want to use one of ours.  Maybe should check take sure they don’t have it rigged or anything?” Tresvar says.  

Quote from Tesservett >>

“Goblins, eh?  Well we were warned about them.   I guess this is the way down?  Does this rope look sturdy enough or do we want to use one of ours.  Maybe should check take sure they don’t have it rigged or anything?” Tresvar says.  

"Goblins have a reputation for traps..." Banjo says as he eyes the rope, noting that it appears secure.  "These markings are so curious... Writing goblin words but using the alphabet of another language to spell them out... Who posts what amounts to a 'no trespassing' sign, but writes it in a combination no one is likely to be able to read?"  He smiles.  "I cannot wait to unravel this particular mystery.  Shall we?"

Assuming no one objects, Banjo will start to climb down.  

((DM: Need Order of climbing, and are you all going down the rope or some going to use the hand and footholds? All roll Dexterity check))

Tresvar says “I’ll watch from here and then go down right afterwards, so we don’t put too much weight on the rope.”   With her longbow out and an arrow ready, She anxiously watches Banjo go down, and once he’s safe she climbs down the rope herself.