Red Dead Annihilation: Campaign Thread

The ground turns to liquid at your feet, and tons of dirt, rocks and plant life is sucked into the darkness of the underground.  Hew, Meili and Mica vanish with it.  You catch sight of Ran, desperately holding onto a tree root, a look of shock on his face.  But then the mud his feet were planted in slides away and he loses his grip, following the others into doom.

Velan, you find yourself falling, then standing at the edge, only for the edge to fall away beneath you… before Inete pulls you back onto solid ground.  A loud gurgle reverberates through the jungle, louder even then the storm.  And then it dissipates and all you hear is just the constant patter of heavy rain and the distant rumble of thunder.

Danica, Velan and Inete are all that remain.  Before you gapes a 30’ diameter hole in the jungle.  It drops down 10’ to wet mud and rock, where a smaller, 15’ diameter hole drains off from there into darkness.  Rainwater and wet mud continue to pour down the 15’ hole in rivulets.  The tree with the Grung sign has toppled over, lying across the top of the hole, suspended by its long branches at a 15 degree angle.  There is no sign of Ran, Hew, Meili or Mica.  Around you, the jungle feels that much more potent and endless, exposed as you are without a guide or the warriors of your party....

The firm ground under your feet turns to liquid in an instant, and then even that is pulled away from you.  You feel yourselves sucked down into darkness.  Ran alone is able to grab hold of something… the roots of the Grung tree.  As he tries to pull himself up, however, the mud at his feet gives way and cascades down, costing him his grip and his chance of escape.

All light disappears as you are buried, smothered in thick mud, pulled down and crashed into unseen rocks and debris.  You have the vague sensation of falling down, impacting a huge object, then pulled sideways, then down again.  And then you smash into something hard, sprawling out onto a flat surface as the mud drains away from you, at least enough to expose your faces.  You each take 15 bludgeoning damage.

You suck in breaths of damp, heavy air that smells of earth and decay.  The mud around your limbs almost immediately starts to firm up.  Around you, you hear the moans of some of your comrades.  It is completely dark.  From somewhere nearby, you hear Hew’s voice.  “(cough) Ow.  Damn it all.  Ow.  (cough) It’s alright, I can see… aw shite.  Nobody move!" he shouts, panic audible in his voice for perhaps the first time on this journey.  "There’s a deep drop right alongside of us.  Can’t none of you see?  Blast it all.  Hold tight (cough cough) and I’ll get you all loose.  I see you Meili, and Mica and Ran.  Is anyone else here?  Can anyone else hear me?”  His question is met with silence, except for the sound of thick running mud and water.

Over the next minute, each of you feels Hew approach and help you free your limbs from the thick mud, then he guides you to stand, ankle deep in muck, next to a hard, rocky surface.

Meili was hugging some thick brunch (she hoped it was a branch and not some snake. Not that matted during tumbling, of course) when the noise of the rushing down earth, rocks and water quieted down and Hew's voice got through. She nodded, unsure whether or not the dwarf could see it, and waited for him to guide her to the safe spot, where she froze again until all others were collected.

"I am quite beaten." It was not a complaint, she merely stated the fact. "Nothing is broken, I think, but it's a bit hard to move. I can not see anything, but would assume everyone got it as bad." She moved carefully, taking her backpack off (thank goodness there was nothing fragile in it, the thing even softened some blows) and trying to find inside of it the healing kit. "There were a few herbs that can take off some pain at least." She did not add "in case we fall again" or " in case something attacks us" - that was obvious.

Should the kit survive, anyone willing to get the medicine can get 1d6 + 4 hit points + 3 (maximum number of Hit Dice). (If allowed, Meili restores: 8 HP)

"What is this place?" Hew would probably say it already if he knew, but keeping silent in this darkness was difficult. "You think it's safe to light a torch?" Somewhere in backpack, there had to be a few torches as well.

Ran sits quietly in the dark for a few moments. He takes a few deep breaths, moves his fingers then his toes. 

"Feels like everything that was there before I went into the hole is still there," Ran says.

When Hew mentions the drop, Ran gets to his feet, and that's when he feels the whole body ache from his neck all the way down his back. 

"Oy, yeah. That hurts. If you've enough of those herbs to spare, I won't say no," Ran adds.

He then does pull a torch out and proceeds to strike the flint from the tinderbox to get it lit.

Danica stood staring at the gaping hole where most of her crew had suddenly been swallowed into, breathing hard from the adrenaline of escaping the same fate herself before looking up and seeing that Velan and Inete had been equally quick on their feet. Cursing under her breath repeatedly, the elf stalks around the edge of the sinkhole, attempting to peer down into it to try and see any sign of their companions or their fate. "Velan." She barks, not looking at the wizard as she asks, "Can you send Ninlil down to survey?" Pointing to the smaller hole furthest down before looking away from the chasm and up at the two casters she admits, "I could turn into a spider and maybe get down there myself, but I don't have any way of getting anyone else down there or back up safely right now. Short of some rope and a prayer." 

Mica lays in the darkness for a moment, catching his breath and listening to Hew.  He struggles to his feet with Hew’s help and spits out a gob of mud and muck he almost swallowed on the way down.  He takes the herbs and bandages Meili offers to take the edge off of his pains. “Thank you. That was quite a tumble.  Everyone all right?  Where are we and more importantly, how do we get out of here?” 

He managed to keep hold of his handaxes and pack as they tumbled down, and he reaches inside for his own torch and tinderbox, adding his light to Ran’s. He peers through the torchlight, trying to find out where they are and how they can return to the surface.  Perception: 4.

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Velan had always liked the rain. The way it brought the smells of the world, that blocked the often relentless sun, its sound. It brought peace and made the warm of a hearth all the more comfortable. One of the few conforts, few pleasures, he had rowing up. Yet, then and there, he would have preferred to be under clear skies. Ground became mud soon enough and even to Ninlil watching their surroundings had turned into something more challenging. The bright side, he thought to himself, is that our supplies should make for good bargaining chip. An idea he had thanks to Hew.

The wizard is brought back to reality when their guide stops. The dwarven ranger starts explaining the marks he found and the danger surrounding them, their liking for traps, when mudwater starts to splash all around the Seekers. Bloody Hells, the hexblood curses with the voice of his mind as the ground itself becomes liquid under his feet. At the distance Ran tries to hold into some tree.

There was not time to worry about the fighter, the chronurgist realized as he found himself falling. Not so fast, he decided expanding his consciousness. First it touches the Weave, then it feels, through the source of magic, time itself. He wills its flow to change, bringing about a different possibility, balancing himself slightly better and getting some footing on an edge. Unforntunately for Velan, the edge fall behind his back, but fortunately and before he could start to feel the fall, Inete pulls him into safety.

“I owe you one.” And he had a good idea of how to pay his debt. Something he already intended to do from the moment the party left Port Nyanzaru. “And just a moment.” He said to Danica while calling Ninlil and pulling his dagger. When the familiar arrived he was cutting a lock of his hair, soon tied it on itself. “I will see through her eyes for a while and that means I won’t be able to see or hear anything around my body. Anything happens, anyone appears, one of you tap my arm and I will be back.”

Velan hand the Eerie Token to his owl and telepathically commands her to dive into the hole, looking for the other half of their party. As the raptor takes flight he slips into her mind.

Notes: Velan creates and Eerie Token and sends Ninlil to look for team Mica-Meilin-Ran. If the owl finds them she has order to deliver one of them the token. Preferably Ran, who is more likely to udentfy what the hair is.

Perception Check (Keen Eyes): 11

Watching as Velan cuts some of his hair before giving it to his familiar, the druidic cleric nods at his request, "Aye." And immediately put her back to him, scanning the foliage nearby and keeping pointed ears trained. "Stay vigilant." She cautioned Inete. Taking the guard duty of their wizard fairly seriously due to their diminished numbers. Those spiders earlier might have been easy to take care of them, but she didn't want to know how they'd fair with just the three of them. She murmured a prayer to Selûne to help guide the Seekers to the proper path. 

Perception:  13
Guidance:  2

Velan, you send Ninlil down into the hole but her journey is a short one.  The 15’ diameter sinkhole quickly narrows and turns sideways and then drops again. At the bottom is a puddle of water and mud.  Debris and rainwater from above pool here, before – with a loud squelch – a bubble from below rises up and most of the mud drains down.  Then it begins to pool again before – squelch – another batch of mud is exchanged with air from somewhere underground.  The narrow confines and lack of perch make it dangerous for the little owl to fly here.  It makes several tight circles and, not seeing any sign of the rest of your party here, returns to the surface.

Velan, you could order the owl down into the mud, but it doesn’t have the ability to swim and could easily be destroyed in the process.

Danica, you do your best to keep watch.  The rain limits visibility… in all directions you see curtains of grey rain and shadows. 

Your gear and belongings, including the healer’s kit, survived the journey through the sinkhole, though like you it is wet and dirty.  Meili is able to expend 3 uses of the Healer’s Kit to restore 10hp to herself, Mica and Ran.  Hew begs off any healing, for now.

Without delay, Ran and Mica wipe the mud from their flint and light torches, illuminating your surroundings.  You are inside a natural earthen hollow, 40’ long, 10’ high and 10’ wide.  The bottom below your feet is uneven, lumpy bedrock, but the wall along your left side is made of blocks of cut stone.  To the right, the floor falls away into a chasm of unknown depth.  Water and mud from the sinkhole pour over the side and down into darkness.  The sinkhole you fell through continues to discharge mud and water, along with the occasional lump of clay or surface plant.  The is a squelching sound as bubbles of air from your subterranean prison move up the sinkhole and are exchanged for discharged of wet soil and mud from above. 

It is uncertain if getting back up is possible.  It would require holding your breath and somehow swimming or finding a way to climb uphill through mud.

The cut stone wall is partially collapsed near the far end of the room, and there is a cavity on the other side.  It looks like a lot of mud has poured through the opening already, but Mica is able to clear enough dirt and rock away to get his torch and head through the opening.  On the other side, he sees a 5’ wide, 5’ high passageway.  It is filled knee high with wet mud, and stretches in both directions beyond the reach of your torchlight.

Ran tries yelling up through the mud when it does one of it air for mud exchanges.

"Hey" he shouts as loud as he can, "can you hear us?"

If there's no response, Ran will take more interest in Mica's discovery.

"Is that worked stone?" Ran asks. "Do those jungle frog goblins live underground?"

He looks at the others for a moment longer.

"I don't think we've got much choice," Ran says. "Unless they've a way to lower us a rope and haul us up through this giant dunny, we're going to have to find another exit."

Meili packed back all the herbs (the stock was getting low but not critical yet) and carefully studied the surroundings with the others, following the light-bearers. "Do hope the others are fine up here! Spiders could be not the only threat." Spiders were by far not the only threat and there was no point to dwell on it right now.

"Even with the rope... How far down are we? I mean... ropes are probably not long enough anyway." Mica's discovery indeed looked the most promising now. She turned to Hew with the same question Ran asked. "Who built this? Is there some legend of what "this" even is?" (There was for the Temple of the Crocodile, who knows, maybe they can get lucky again)

Whether or not Hew could tell anything about that stonecraft, the most important question was where to go. "Does it look like one passage is going up?"

Mica lets his hands slide along the stone wall “Yes, worked stone.  Strange to see this far underground” He slides through the grime and muck and works his way through a narrow opening in the wall, looking left and right as the passageway stretches into the distance. “There is a passage here,  not well used and full of mud, but it must lead to the surface.”  He pushes loose stone away to widen the opening to make room for the group to enter the passage. “But which way should we go, left or right?”  He looks around the passage, looking for any clue which direction leads up toward the surface.  Survival: 11.

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