(048) The Undercroft

Waysoftheearth's Hinterlands PBP

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Location: Melbourne, Australia

Post by waysoftheearth » Tue Feb 19, 2013 10:05 pm

(048) The Undercroft

waysoftheearth wrote:
Jan Haaker, your adventure begins... now!

As an apprentice scribe and ledgerman to the modestly successful mercantile House of Klewge, you have had numerous opportunities to visit the Traders Concourse of Ket during your eduction, and indeed -- learned much secret lore in the bowels of its deep library archives.

On this particular occasion, while your master's third son -- one Jerred Klewge, a proud and cruel young man who has no particular fondness for you -- attends a tiresome debate on proposed tariffs and injunctions against several "Snork" traders (who seem to be cornering the market in recent times), you take leave of your official studies and descend to the vaults below the concourse library once more...

Way, way down in the deepest corner of the archives, where you have hidden your spell book, you begin your work in earnest -- you suspect that the library still has potent answers to yield; if only you can find them.

And so you continue your "other eduction" in your usual secret fashion...


Time passes and your candle begins to burn low.... when all all of a sudden, the bookshelf you are leaning on swivels about its vertical axis, and with a great groan and a plume of dust it makes way for you to tumble wholesale into a dark chute beyond.

Your candle winks out immediately and you slide uncontrollably into the darkness! You bump and bounce and frantically slide, until you momentarily seems to hang in complete blackness.

And then you slam into a wall. And then a floor.

And you lie in the cool darkness, dazed, for a moment regaining your breath...

After a minute or two, you realise that by some miracle you are largely unhurt, and that you'd better do something about your plight. The only question is... what to do?
[f=32]Golgildir the Elf Medium (MV 12", AC 9, HD 1, hp 1/1, AL N) great cloak, lantern; spells: color spray; scrolls: sleep, sleep, charm person
Hirelings: Georges; torch[/f]

Posts: 16902
Joined: Thu Sep 05, 2013 1:15 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Post by waysoftheearth » Tue Feb 19, 2013 10:24 pm

(048) The Undercroft

Green Lama wrote:
Jan Haaker
(Yes an adventurer is me! First as he was working in Ket, not expecting trouble, but expecting a chance to sneak to the library Jan memorized The Effable Apperception and The Exigent Secernment.)

Jan fears he has gone blind until he realizes he is simply in total darkness. Given the amount of dust in his nose, old total darkness.
To self, "Oof! Ow.. Hachoo! The old man said that section was dangerous but I didn't think he meant it would collapse. Dark.... not good"


Carefully moving and feeling his way Jan takes inventory of both his person and his gear. If the Iridesence survived the fall Jan will open it and see where he is and more importantly where The Abstruse Litterateur is.
[f=32]Golgildir the Elf Medium (MV 12", AC 9, HD 1, hp 1/1, AL N) great cloak, lantern; spells: color spray; scrolls: sleep, sleep, charm person
Hirelings: Georges; torch[/f]

Posts: 16902
Joined: Thu Sep 05, 2013 1:15 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Post by waysoftheearth » Wed Feb 20, 2013 12:50 pm

(048) The Undercroft

waysoftheearth wrote:
Green Lama wrote:expecting a chance to sneak to the library Jan memorized The Effable Apperception and The Exigent Secernment.
Very well.
[f=32]Golgildir the Elf Medium (MV 12", AC 9, HD 1, hp 1/1, AL N) great cloak, lantern; spells: color spray; scrolls: sleep, sleep, charm person
Hirelings: Georges; torch[/f]

Posts: 16902
Joined: Thu Sep 05, 2013 1:15 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Post by waysoftheearth » Wed Feb 20, 2013 12:56 pm

(048) The Undercroft

waysoftheearth wrote:
Jan painfully rises onto his knees and gropes about himself in the dark, eventually finding his pack, and (thankfully) his spellbook.

After few minutes he locates the Entomological Iridescence and twists the leather case to peal it back. The insects within are agitated by their recent ordeal, and buzzing about madly, thumping into the interior of the glass and emitting a pale green phosphorescence into the surrounds.

He finds himself in a plain, 10ft wide stone passage, accompanied by his full inventory. The passage is littered with old debris and extends into darkness to his left and right. All is cool and quiet... for now.

What next?
[f=32]Golgildir the Elf Medium (MV 12", AC 9, HD 1, hp 1/1, AL N) great cloak, lantern; spells: color spray; scrolls: sleep, sleep, charm person
Hirelings: Georges; torch[/f]

Posts: 16902
Joined: Thu Sep 05, 2013 1:15 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Post by waysoftheearth » Wed Feb 20, 2013 5:15 pm

(048) The Undercroft

Green Lama wrote:
Jan Haaker
Cinching the strap of the Iridescence tight to his chest, more for confidence as it was quite unlikely to fall off, Jan inspects his surroundings. Finding little more than junk, rat mess, and a {hole? Chute?} in the ceiling Jan reaches into his purse removes a coin and flips it.

"Heads. Guess that means right" Jan says returning the coin to his pouch. Jan shapes some debris into a crude arrow pointing right and starts walking his staff held before him.
"Calm down guys," Jan talks to the bugs in a soft reassuring voice, "we'll be fine. The air is pretty clear so there must be some way out of here. Somewhere..."
[f=32]Golgildir the Elf Medium (MV 12", AC 9, HD 1, hp 1/1, AL N) great cloak, lantern; spells: color spray; scrolls: sleep, sleep, charm person
Hirelings: Georges; torch[/f]

Posts: 16902
Joined: Thu Sep 05, 2013 1:15 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Post by waysoftheearth » Wed Feb 20, 2013 10:39 pm

(048) The Undercroft

waysoftheearth wrote:
Jan observes the tail of the chute by which he arrived above him -- a gaping dark maw in the ceiling and wall that tunnels upward at a steep incline.

Realising the difficultly he would have reaching it (let alone clambering up it) he collects his belongings and turns right (relative to facing away from the chute).

The passage ahead is uneven and somewhat twisted. Broken flags, missing stones, scattered debris speaks of the great age of this place, and the green glow makes it all the more eerie to Jan's eyes.

At length (pushing ahead cautiously for ten minutes or more), Jan begins to hear something like an echo of trickling of water ahead, and soon after he sees that the passage comes to an abrupt end; not at a flat wall, but instead opening into a vast, dim cavern...
[f=32]Golgildir the Elf Medium (MV 12", AC 9, HD 1, hp 1/1, AL N) great cloak, lantern; spells: color spray; scrolls: sleep, sleep, charm person
Hirelings: Georges; torch[/f]

Posts: 16902
Joined: Thu Sep 05, 2013 1:15 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Post by waysoftheearth » Wed Feb 20, 2013 11:11 pm

(048) The Undercroft

Green Lama wrote:
Jan
(Does the corridor continue into the cavern as a clear path or stair etc. Or does it look like something collapsed creating the cavern?)
(You mentioned water, Can Jan smell it?)

"Oh my....this is big..." the odd boy mutters at the darkness swallows the light. He quietly strains eyes and ears trying to gain a hint of a draft or a faint glow.

(If there is a purposeful way into the cavern, a path or stair or suchlike anything that shows this place was used or shaped by people, Jan will follow it. If however there is no clear track to follow then Jan will reverse and follow the corridor back past the entry hole to whatever waits there.)
[f=32]Golgildir the Elf Medium (MV 12", AC 9, HD 1, hp 1/1, AL N) great cloak, lantern; spells: color spray; scrolls: sleep, sleep, charm person
Hirelings: Georges; torch[/f]

Posts: 16902
Joined: Thu Sep 05, 2013 1:15 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Post by waysoftheearth » Thu Feb 21, 2013 10:34 pm

(048) The Undercroft

waysoftheearth wrote:
As Jan approaches the end of the passage proper he realises -- with a sudden sense of vertigo -- that in culminates in a modest ledge overlooking a bottomless chasm. The extent of the deep, dark, cool cavern before him is unknowable, but judging from the distant echoes of trickling water it must be vast. He backs off from the edge somewhat, guessing that the fall must be very deep indeed.

There is a rickety look rope and timber-slat bridge anchored to his ledge, which dips alarmingly down before vanishing into the dark. Jan guesses it must be quiet lengthy... and scary.

Aside from that, there is also a very steep and slick "stair" (more like a ladder) carved into the rock face, descending madly to the left of the little ledge.

As he takes all this in, Jan thinks he discerns an intermittent echo; a distant tapping or clicking sound.

What now?
[f=32]Golgildir the Elf Medium (MV 12", AC 9, HD 1, hp 1/1, AL N) great cloak, lantern; spells: color spray; scrolls: sleep, sleep, charm person
Hirelings: Georges; torch[/f]

Posts: 16902
Joined: Thu Sep 05, 2013 1:15 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Post by waysoftheearth » Thu Feb 21, 2013 11:15 pm

(048) The Undercroft

Green Lama wrote:
Jan contemplates the bridge.

Thinking "Three ways to go, back, down, or across. Which to do? That bridge looks shaky but the way down looks worse. So.. back or across?" Jan listens for a time....

"Sound..... Could be water? Or maybe someone... Someone made this bridge anyway.. So across it is I guess. But first a test"

Jan raises his staff and brings it down hard on one of the ropes supporting the bridge. "If it holds for this it will hold for me.."
[f=32]Golgildir the Elf Medium (MV 12", AC 9, HD 1, hp 1/1, AL N) great cloak, lantern; spells: color spray; scrolls: sleep, sleep, charm person
Hirelings: Georges; torch[/f]

Posts: 16902
Joined: Thu Sep 05, 2013 1:15 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Post by waysoftheearth » Sun Feb 24, 2013 11:58 am

(048) The Undercroft

waysoftheearth wrote:
Jan gives the old rope bridge a sharp rap with his staff, disturbing a cloud of sediment that is engulfed by the darkness as the bridge itself quivers in response. It seems resilient enough..
[f=32]Golgildir the Elf Medium (MV 12", AC 9, HD 1, hp 1/1, AL N) great cloak, lantern; spells: color spray; scrolls: sleep, sleep, charm person
Hirelings: Georges; torch[/f]

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