As the party prepares to carry the body of the young man to the entrance, Zelra squeezes into the chamber beyond the stone door.
The room inside is roughly circular and approximately 30 feet across. Numerous niches about a foot in length are carved into the wall in staggered rows. Most of them have small trinkets of gold or colored glass or stone, but not all; some are empty. The walls are decorated with faded wall-paintings of blues, greens and blacks.
A few burlap sacks on the ground are full of objects similar to the trinkets in the niches.
Four human men and women are sitting dejected along the wall of the room, all wearing the uniform of the Black Fist and looking hungry and miserable. Another Black Fist man wearing splint armor is pacing back and forth, ruffling his tangled and dirtied hair. He looks at Zelra with shock. "Fair play. Here is your big scary trap," he says, throwing his arms wide sarcastically.
Zelra rolls her eyes and crosses her arms. "Says the ones who were too scared to leave this room. Look, I just want to know how to turn on the beacon. Do you know or not?"
"Scared? One of my men was killed by those things and we've been stuck down here in the dark for two days with nothing but muddy water to drink and no food or dry clothing and we ran out of lamp oil yesterday, you're damn right we're scared," Grim says. The others seem to be content to allow him to do the talking.
"If you can help get us out of here, we can talk about lighting the beacon. There's a tunnel up there, we've tried to leave that way but the fall on the other side is too high, and we just can't try it without a light source."
He points Zelra in the direction of one of the niches, which she can now see is in fact a 3-foot-wide tunnel of sorts about 30 feet above the ground.
Zelra sighs before taking out her hooded lantern and rope. She ties the rope to the handle of the lantern and heads to the tunnel, looking up at it from below. "How the hells do you get up there?"
(Did the entrance we come from close behind us or do we not know yet since we haven't checked? Also, how long have we been down here?)
OOC: Correct, Sylyra is already walking back and will be the first to know the status of your way out. Uragum and Ola are also making their way back with the body in tow, with Arnald close behind them.
"It took some doing," Grim admits, holding up hands that are badly scarred from the attempted climbing. "I eventually got up there and crawled forward. I believe it connects to the sinkhole room, but without light I could not be sure."
One of the other guards releases a sigh of pent up tension. "Do you really think it's safe out there? To leave through the undead, I mean?" she asks. Grim and the others look to Zelra.
"I mean, yeah. We killed everything that was out there. If there's more undead, I'm pretty sure both of our groups combined could kill them all easily." Zelra raises her brow with an amused smirk. "Squeezing through that tiny entrance is a lot better than having to climb up to that tunnel and then falling into who knows where. But, if you really want to, then be my guest. I'll give you my rope and lantern."
Continuing to wring his hands through his hair, Grim throws them up with a resigned sigh. "Forgive me for not believing you sooner. The darkness does strange things to a man," he says.
"If you think the coast to be clear, then I see no need for...that," he points toward the tunnel, displaying his raw hands again. "Do you know the path out, then? Can we follow you?"
"Yeeep. Follow me." Zelra squeezes through the entrance again and waits for the group to follow her before leading them back to the entrance. She'll also put away her lantern and rope. As she's leading them back, she asks them, "So, do any of you know how to turn on the beacon?"
Guard Sergeant Grim is the first guard out of the room behind Zelra, and the others follow suit, trudging warily behind as she leads them back through the ascending, spiraling corridors.
"What do you mean by 'turn on' the beacon. You are telling me it is off? As in, gone dark?" Grim answers along the way. His eyes dart through the shadows of each room, as if the undead are going to emerge again at any moment.
After a few minutes, the rest of the party sees Zelra leading the rescued Black Fist contingent into the first room of this cavern, where they have been waiting. The exit above has been sealed, but the underside of the slab contains the same handprint as above, and the ladder along the wall provides easy access to the slab.
"Obviously, or else we wouldn't have come here. So you didn't know? Huh. Its been off for a while now. The question I'm most interested in is how to turn it back on. Please tell me you know how to or I might just throw myself off the top of the lighthouse."
OOC: If you want to have moved on without Zelra, you are welcome to. For narrative purposes, since the party was becoming scattered and this doesn't seem like the type of party that would forge ahead and leave their rogue to navigate a dungeon alone, I thought it better to keep things simple and just bring everyone together again, since we're coming to the conclusion of this adventure.
OOC: Np, especially considering Uragum's encumbrance with the dead body (he and Ola should move slowly, I think?). It's just Sylyra looked determined to leave and you said he will be first to know something about the entrance. Plus those inside wanted to use another exit... Never mind me.
Arnald looks at where Sylyra went and then looks to where Zelra went. After a moment of thought he follows Sylyra.
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DM - Waterdeep Dragon Heist PbP
Sylyra continues back toward the entrance.
"I gotta make sure. I need to know how to turn on the beacon and these guys are the best bet. It'll be fine. I'll be back in a sec."
As the party prepares to carry the body of the young man to the entrance, Zelra squeezes into the chamber beyond the stone door.
The room inside is roughly circular and approximately 30 feet across. Numerous niches about a foot in length are carved into the wall in staggered rows. Most of them have small trinkets of gold or colored glass or stone, but not all; some are empty. The walls are decorated with faded wall-paintings of blues, greens and blacks.
A few burlap sacks on the ground are full of objects similar to the trinkets in the niches.
Four human men and women are sitting dejected along the wall of the room, all wearing the uniform of the Black Fist and looking hungry and miserable. Another Black Fist man wearing splint armor is pacing back and forth, ruffling his tangled and dirtied hair. He looks at Zelra with shock. "Fair play. Here is your big scary trap," he says, throwing his arms wide sarcastically.
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Zelra rolls her eyes and crosses her arms. "Says the ones who were too scared to leave this room. Look, I just want to know how to turn on the beacon. Do you know or not?"
"Scared? One of my men was killed by those things and we've been stuck down here in the dark for two days with nothing but muddy water to drink and no food or dry clothing and we ran out of lamp oil yesterday, you're damn right we're scared," Grim says. The others seem to be content to allow him to do the talking.
"If you can help get us out of here, we can talk about lighting the beacon. There's a tunnel up there, we've tried to leave that way but the fall on the other side is too high, and we just can't try it without a light source."
He points Zelra in the direction of one of the niches, which she can now see is in fact a 3-foot-wide tunnel of sorts about 30 feet above the ground.
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Zelra sighs before taking out her hooded lantern and rope. She ties the rope to the handle of the lantern and heads to the tunnel, looking up at it from below. "How the hells do you get up there?"
(Did the entrance we come from close behind us or do we not know yet since we haven't checked? Also, how long have we been down here?)
ooc: i think there was a little tunnel back in the room with the sink hole that we didn't explore maybe thats where it comes out?
Sylyra's on his way back to the entrance. He'll find out before too long.
OOC: Correct, Sylyra is already walking back and will be the first to know the status of your way out. Uragum and Ola are also making their way back with the body in tow, with Arnald close behind them.
"It took some doing," Grim admits, holding up hands that are badly scarred from the attempted climbing. "I eventually got up there and crawled forward. I believe it connects to the sinkhole room, but without light I could not be sure."
One of the other guards releases a sigh of pent up tension. "Do you really think it's safe out there? To leave through the undead, I mean?" she asks. Grim and the others look to Zelra.
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"I mean, yeah. We killed everything that was out there. If there's more undead, I'm pretty sure both of our groups combined could kill them all easily." Zelra raises her brow with an amused smirk. "Squeezing through that tiny entrance is a lot better than having to climb up to that tunnel and then falling into who knows where. But, if you really want to, then be my guest. I'll give you my rope and lantern."
Continuing to wring his hands through his hair, Grim throws them up with a resigned sigh. "Forgive me for not believing you sooner. The darkness does strange things to a man," he says.
"If you think the coast to be clear, then I see no need for...that," he points toward the tunnel, displaying his raw hands again. "Do you know the path out, then? Can we follow you?"
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"Yeeep. Follow me." Zelra squeezes through the entrance again and waits for the group to follow her before leading them back to the entrance. She'll also put away her lantern and rope. As she's leading them back, she asks them, "So, do any of you know how to turn on the beacon?"
Guard Sergeant Grim is the first guard out of the room behind Zelra, and the others follow suit, trudging warily behind as she leads them back through the ascending, spiraling corridors.
"What do you mean by 'turn on' the beacon. You are telling me it is off? As in, gone dark?" Grim answers along the way. His eyes dart through the shadows of each room, as if the undead are going to emerge again at any moment.
After a few minutes, the rest of the party sees Zelra leading the rescued Black Fist contingent into the first room of this cavern, where they have been waiting. The exit above has been sealed, but the underside of the slab contains the same handprint as above, and the ladder along the wall provides easy access to the slab.
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"Obviously, or else we wouldn't have come here. So you didn't know? Huh. Its been off for a while now. The question I'm most interested in is how to turn it back on. Please tell me you know how to or I might just throw myself off the top of the lighthouse."
" ... where they have been waiting"
We were? I mean, would not we open the entrance by now?
Meili Liang Lvl 5 Monk
Dice
OOC: If you want to have moved on without Zelra, you are welcome to. For narrative purposes, since the party was becoming scattered and this doesn't seem like the type of party that would forge ahead and leave their rogue to navigate a dungeon alone, I thought it better to keep things simple and just bring everyone together again, since we're coming to the conclusion of this adventure.
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OOC: Np, especially considering Uragum's encumbrance with the dead body (he and Ola should move slowly, I think?). It's just Sylyra looked determined to leave and you said he will be first to know something about the entrance. Plus those inside wanted to use another exit... Never mind me.
Meili Liang Lvl 5 Monk
Dice
OOC: No worries at all, just let me know if anybody left before Zelra arrived and we can RP that appropriately.
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If Sylyra could get out, he would have. He's not waiting around for Grim.