The party continues down the Old Road. After another two and a half hours 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.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Zak looks over to Hef with a kind of confused look and then raises a hand to signal to the party to stop.
"Wow... spooky."
He will then walk (carefully) to the edge of the ravine and take a peek down. He also will spit down there for amusement if he doesn't see anything odd.
"Cross? No. I think we're descending into the dark." Hef shifts his eyes to Zak, not calling out the warning that his worries raise. "Zak, whatchu see?" he calls absently in Orcish. It's clear Hef doesn't even realize the code-switch happened.
Zak hasn't even had a chance to look down yet and looks over at Hef with another huge Orc teethy smile. "You speak Orc?!" (said in Orc of course). "Let me look....."
Zak: The pillars are worn and broken, and graffiti in the runes from an alphabet you don’t recognize covers most of them. The area in and around the pillars has hosted many small campfires, some of as recent as a month ago. Peering down into the ravine, thanks to your darkvision, you notice a ledge about 50 feet down. 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. The rope seems sturdy enough to climb down with. From the edge of the ravine, older and weathered handholds and footholds can be seen carved into the cliff face. Also, when you spit down, you think you see something move around in the rubble around the ledge...
Martin & Spotty:
The runes on the pillars are Dwarvish. You can read the letters but the words make no sense and are definitely not Dwarvish.
Renny looks around for a bit of rock or something solid that could take an impact. Assuming she finds it, she casts light on it and then simply lets it drop over the edge.
As it falls, she peeks over carefully to see what the light illuminates as it goes.
Martin pulls out his prayer book and using a piece of charcoal from a nearby campfire sketches out the runic symbols on a blank page on at the back of the book. "I do not understand these runes. They look like they are dwarvish but the words are not in the dwarvish tongue. Perhaps someone back at town or something going forward will reveal what they say."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Lord Arunduil will bring death to us all"
Arutha Lvl.2 Human Fighter: Arsenal of the Orc Lord
Milamber Lvl.1 Human Sorcerer: Curse of Strahd
Masque: Lvl.5 Gith Cleric: Age of Death
DM: League of Improbable Adventurers: Chapter 1 of Arunduil's Bane
Gwenant peeks over the edge of the ravine and into the darkness below. The half-elven warrior isn't sure what she expected when they set out from Oakhurst, but she can't help but wonder... She takes a moment to inspect the rope dangling into the darkness, checking to see if it's secure or if it needs to be reinforced with an extra piton or two. Aloud, she says, "Well, they probably call it the Sunless Citadel for a reason... Do we want to check it out?"
Zak looks over to Gwenant, Hef and the others... "The rope seems secure enough to me. I would even trust it with my weight. There is definitely a ledge as well down there say 50 feet or so. Aaaaaaaand I think I saw something moving down there too. I think it was trying to dodge my spit heh heh heh" Zak immaturely says and then feels embarrassed so follows up with:
"Do you want me to go first?
"Wow - cool!" Zak then says to Renny as he sees her ball of light fall down the ravine. He watches on to also see if the light helps with seeing what might've moved ( I mean dodged his spit) down on the ledge earlier.
"Yeah I couldn't understand them either Martin. But great artwork!"
Gwenant takes a moment to stretch her muscles and limber up on the edge of the ravine in preparation for the descent. She grins and says, "I'm not much of a lady, but I'll take the lead here. I won't begrudge some company though, so don't leave me waiting long!" She lets the smile drop and says to the rest of the group, "Unless anyone has a better idea, I'm going to climb down to that ledge and take a closer look. I don't care what order the rest of you come down in, but if whatever Zak saw moving down there is as friendly as those tree things, I'd rather our warriors be on the landing than stuck at the top."
If nobody else adds anything, she stows her weapons and climbs down the rope, and into the ravine. Assuming she makes it down, she will take a careful look around, paying particular attention to any stench of undead or fiendish creatures.
You make your way down the rope. And without too much trouble, reach the ledge. You can see a rough stairwell zigzagging down deeper into what could be a cave, but from your angle, can't quite see where they lead. The sandy ledge is wide but rough. Sand, rocky debris and the bones of small animals cover it. There is also what looks like a ring of stones filled with ashes, that has most likely been used as a fire pit many times.
Divine Sense (Gwenant):
You feel nothing undead, fiendish or celestial in proximity.
After a couple seconds, you notice things moving in the rumble and climbing up the side of the ledge, and 3 Giant Rats(about 3 foot long rats) come out and they look hungry.
Rats' Initiative: 4
ROLL FOR INITIATIVE ! (Anybody with an initiative equal or higher than the rats can take their first turn already, it takes a Movement+Action to climb down the rope carefully, if you want you can make a DC 15 Athletics check to get down using only your movement, leaving your Action available for that turn, on a fail you arrive prone at the bottom and your turn ends)
Hef motions for the others to go ahead of him, not wanting to leave anyone alone at the top of the ledge. "Go on. I'll cover you." As Renny casts, he looks askance at her. It's clear he's torn between helping those below and guarding the sorceress.
If she gives an affirmative, he'll head below, otherwise he's covering her while she's up top.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Initiative: 7
Martin sees the rats moving towards his companions and not wanting to take the time to climb down he says a prayed to his god and a column of flame like power descends from the sky at the D2 rat.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Zak climbs down safely and is now in B4.
Renny fries the rat in E4 with fire bolt.
Hef is waiting for now...
Martin aims some radiant flames at the rat in D2 and..
.. Dex Save: 15 jumps out of the way to avoid the burn!
Gwenant will act after the rats!
Spotty, I’m not sure what you mean? The rope comes straight down against a wall pretty much, not much of a slope, but as I said earlier you can make a DC 15 Athletics check to conserve your action going down. I’ll allow you to use Acrobatics as well if you like, same DC 15. On a fail you land prone and end your turn.
One rat is burnt to crisp. Two remain alive and well: D2 and E6 (they are climbing up the side of the ledge, not on the bottom, just to make it clearer)
The party continues down the Old Road. After another two and a half hours 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.
Dungeon Master – MelGon's Tales from the Yawning Portal
Hawk of the Night (Hawk) – Level 2 Tabaxi Ranger – Swift's Storm King's Thunder
Lavandula Angustia – Level 1 Tiefling Rogue – LMoP campaign, DM: novaskyr
Zak looks over to Hef with a kind of confused look and then raises a hand to signal to the party to stop.
"Wow... spooky."
He will then walk (carefully) to the edge of the ravine and take a peek down. He also will spit down there for amusement if he doesn't see anything odd.
Investigation: 11
Renny frowns at the rope.. and especially the ravine, "Are we meant to cross that?"
"No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow"
"No power in the 'verse can stop me"
"Cross? No. I think we're descending into the dark." Hef shifts his eyes to Zak, not calling out the warning that his worries raise. "Zak, whatchu see?" he calls absently in Orcish. It's clear Hef doesn't even realize the code-switch happened.
Zak hasn't even had a chance to look down yet and looks over at Hef with another huge Orc teethy smile. "You speak Orc?!" (said in Orc of course). "Let me look....."
Zak: The pillars are worn and broken, and graffiti in the runes from an alphabet you don’t recognize covers most of them. The area in and around the pillars has hosted many small campfires, some of as recent as a month ago. Peering down into the ravine, thanks to your darkvision, you notice a ledge about 50 feet down. 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. The rope seems sturdy enough to climb down with. From the edge of the ravine, older and weathered handholds and footholds can be seen carved into the cliff face. Also, when you spit down, you think you see something move around in the rubble around the ledge...
Martin & Spotty:
The runes on the pillars are Dwarvish. You can read the letters but the words make no sense and are definitely not Dwarvish.
Dungeon Master – MelGon's Tales from the Yawning Portal
Hawk of the Night (Hawk) – Level 2 Tabaxi Ranger – Swift's Storm King's Thunder
Lavandula Angustia – Level 1 Tiefling Rogue – LMoP campaign, DM: novaskyr
Renny looks around for a bit of rock or something solid that could take an impact. Assuming she finds it, she casts light on it and then simply lets it drop over the edge.
As it falls, she peeks over carefully to see what the light illuminates as it goes.
"No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow"
"No power in the 'verse can stop me"
Martin pulls out his prayer book and using a piece of charcoal from a nearby campfire sketches out the runic symbols on a blank page on at the back of the book. "I do not understand these runes. They look like they are dwarvish but the words are not in the dwarvish tongue. Perhaps someone back at town or something going forward will reveal what they say."
"Lord Arunduil will bring death to us all"
Arutha Lvl.2 Human Fighter: Arsenal of the Orc Lord
Milamber Lvl.1 Human Sorcerer: Curse of Strahd
Masque: Lvl.5 Gith Cleric: Age of Death
DM: League of Improbable Adventurers: Chapter 1 of Arunduil's Bane
Gwenant peeks over the edge of the ravine and into the darkness below. The half-elven warrior isn't sure what she expected when they set out from Oakhurst, but she can't help but wonder... She takes a moment to inspect the rope dangling into the darkness, checking to see if it's secure or if it needs to be reinforced with an extra piton or two. Aloud, she says, "Well, they probably call it the Sunless Citadel for a reason... Do we want to check it out?"
Zak looks over to Gwenant, Hef and the others... "The rope seems secure enough to me. I would even trust it with my weight. There is definitely a ledge as well down there say 50 feet or so. Aaaaaaaand I think I saw something moving down there too. I think it was trying to dodge my spit heh heh heh" Zak immaturely says and then feels embarrassed so follows up with:
"Do you want me to go first?
"Wow - cool!" Zak then says to Renny as he sees her ball of light fall down the ravine. He watches on to also see if the light helps with seeing what might've moved ( I mean dodged his spit) down on the ledge earlier.
"Yeah I couldn't understand them either Martin. But great artwork!"
Renny: With the light, you pretty much see what Zak could see.
Zak: With the extra lighting you can now see that from the ledge, there seems to be steps leading down into darkness. This time around nothing moves.
Gwenant: The rope seems sturdy as it is.
Dungeon Master – MelGon's Tales from the Yawning Portal
Hawk of the Night (Hawk) – Level 2 Tabaxi Ranger – Swift's Storm King's Thunder
Lavandula Angustia – Level 1 Tiefling Rogue – LMoP campaign, DM: novaskyr
Gwenant takes a moment to stretch her muscles and limber up on the edge of the ravine in preparation for the descent. She grins and says, "I'm not much of a lady, but I'll take the lead here. I won't begrudge some company though, so don't leave me waiting long!" She lets the smile drop and says to the rest of the group, "Unless anyone has a better idea, I'm going to climb down to that ledge and take a closer look. I don't care what order the rest of you come down in, but if whatever Zak saw moving down there is as friendly as those tree things, I'd rather our warriors be on the landing than stuck at the top."
If nobody else adds anything, she stows her weapons and climbs down the rope, and into the ravine. Assuming she makes it down, she will take a careful look around, paying particular attention to any stench of undead or fiendish creatures.
Perception: 12
1 Divine Sense used.
You make your way down the rope. And without too much trouble, reach the ledge. You can see a rough stairwell zigzagging down deeper into what could be a cave, but from your angle, can't quite see where they lead. The sandy ledge is wide but rough. Sand, rocky debris and the bones of small animals cover it. There is also what looks like a ring of stones filled with ashes, that has most likely been used as a fire pit many times.
Divine Sense (Gwenant):
You feel nothing undead, fiendish or celestial in proximity.
After a couple seconds, you notice things moving in the rumble and climbing up the side of the ledge, and 3 Giant Rats (about 3 foot long rats) come out and they look hungry.
Rats' Initiative: 4
ROLL FOR INITIATIVE !
(Anybody with an initiative equal or higher than the rats can take their first turn already, it takes a Movement+Action to climb down the rope carefully, if you want you can make a DC 15 Athletics check to get down using only your movement, leaving your Action available for that turn, on a fail you arrive prone at the bottom and your turn ends)
Encounter map:
Dungeon Master – MelGon's Tales from the Yawning Portal
Hawk of the Night (Hawk) – Level 2 Tabaxi Ranger – Swift's Storm King's Thunder
Lavandula Angustia – Level 1 Tiefling Rogue – LMoP campaign, DM: novaskyr
Zak appreciates Gwenant's initiative and watches her head down the rope. "Ok but I will come down right after you once you've reached the ledge."
Initiative: 21
Zak will carefully climb down the rope and therefore use my movement and action. He's quite big and thinks slow and steady is the best option for him.
Renny is in the process of dropping another stone-as-lightbulb, aiming it specifically so it lands on the ledge when the rats show up.
Initiative: 10
From the top, they're within range for her fire bolt so she lets one go, aiming for the middle rat (E4)
Attack: 12 Fire Damage: 6
"No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow"
"No power in the 'verse can stop me"
Initiative: 10
Hef motions for the others to go ahead of him, not wanting to leave anyone alone at the top of the ledge. "Go on. I'll cover you." As Renny casts, he looks askance at her. It's clear he's torn between helping those below and guarding the sorceress.
If she gives an affirmative, he'll head below, otherwise he's covering her while she's up top.
Move + Standard: Descend
Spotty's initiative: 24
(Can I make a DEX roll to climb down partway, then tuck and roll?)
Initiative: 7
Martin sees the rats moving towards his companions and not wanting to take the time to climb down he says a prayed to his god and a column of flame like power descends from the sky at the D2 rat.
Sacred Flame Dex save 12 DC: 7 damage if fail
"Lord Arunduil will bring death to us all"
Arutha Lvl.2 Human Fighter: Arsenal of the Orc Lord
Milamber Lvl.1 Human Sorcerer: Curse of Strahd
Masque: Lvl.5 Gith Cleric: Age of Death
DM: League of Improbable Adventurers: Chapter 1 of Arunduil's Bane
Gwenant is at first calmed at the lack of any supernatural threats... then she tenses up when she hears the skittering of the rats...
Initiative: 3
Zak climbs down safely and is now in B4.
Renny fries the rat in E4 with fire bolt.
Hef is waiting for now...
Martin aims some radiant flames at the rat in D2 and..
.. Dex Save: 15 jumps out of the way to avoid the burn!
Gwenant will act after the rats!
Spotty, I’m not sure what you mean? The rope comes straight down against a wall pretty much, not much of a slope, but as I said earlier you can make a DC 15 Athletics check to conserve your action going down. I’ll allow you to use Acrobatics as well if you like, same DC 15. On a fail you land prone and end your turn.
One rat is burnt to crisp. Two remain alive and well: D2 and E6 (they are climbing up the side of the ledge, not on the bottom, just to make it clearer)
Dungeon Master – MelGon's Tales from the Yawning Portal
Hawk of the Night (Hawk) – Level 2 Tabaxi Ranger – Swift's Storm King's Thunder
Lavandula Angustia – Level 1 Tiefling Rogue – LMoP campaign, DM: novaskyr