The Fourth Adventure

[acodispo]

Sorry guys. I had a computer crash last week and, rather than deal with it, I just went outside and enjoyed the nice spring weather!

Condolences on the crash, but "yay!" on the getting outside! It's been lovely.

But I am just about to post a map-less update for y'all. Text-only, like the good old days of Zork. Stay tuned...

If it is going to be like Zork, then Willie changes his vote: let's definitely put the lights on.

[mushgnome]

Turns 1-6

It takes our Heroes about an hour to retrace their steps through familiar territory. Navigating the Grand Chasm area by lantern light is a totally different experience; all the little bioluminescent creatures scurry away into the shadows, and the natural wonders of the cavern are mostly hidden from view. The Hobbets are on edge as they hear all sorts of mysterious noises coming from the darkness, but fortunately they pass through the puffball area unmolested. Next they pass through a series of three secret doors that are activated by speaking the correct pass-phrases. Then it's up through a corkscrew tunnel, past the abandoned copper mine, past the rats nest, scramble down a rocky slope, and then fork right instead of left, to avoid the cave fennec lair.

At the edge of lantern light to their north, our Heroes can sense a rank, dripping chamber that is dominated by a slick natural well of unknown depth. They can hear a damp, wheezing noise. It sounds like an adult tried to cool down in a kiddie swimming pool, but they broke the pool, they got the wind knocked out of them, and now they're lying in the puddle gasping for breath.

This seems like a good check point to ask how everybody is doing, and what the Hobbets are thinking as they approach the mysterious thing-down-the-well? Your DM seems to recall that the party is heading toward the Tahini Beetle lair, which is north of the well room. Are you tiptoeing past the well? Do you risk your sanity and say hello to your "friend"? What's next, please?

Thank you all for your patience. My files are fully restored thanks to rsync.

Since the party has already mapped this area, I will give them extra movement rate, and they cover the distance in 6 turns.

There are no wandering monsters.

[acodispo]

"Shh!" whispers Willie as they enter the well chamber. "Let's just sneak by, maybe it won't wake up..."

Willie proceeds in the manner he's suggested, not quite ready to deal with the well creature at this time -- he creeps around the chamber, sticking to the wall and away from the well.

It sounds like an adult tried to cool down in a kiddie swimming pool, but they broke the pool, they got the wind knocked out of them, and now they're lying in the puddle gasping for breath.

[kipper]

Dame Simonetta shrugs and follows Willie's example. There's nothing we can do to help the thing-in-the-pit at the moment.

[mgtremaine]

Kiplyn also has/had no desire to deal with the well-beast and was moving as quietly as a hobbit can move......

[mushgnome]

Turns 7-8

Our Heroes tiptoe around the lip of the well. There is a dark, crunchy layer underfoot, like creosote or lichen, and the Hobbets are terrified the sound of their footsteps will awaken the Beast. Luckily for everybody's sanity, there is no reaction from down in the well. The alternating inhale/exhale sounds continue in wet, choking rhythm, almost like a cross between snoring and sobbing.

The party passes through a medium sized chamber with several exits, continues to the north, and finally reaches the Tahini Beetle lair. (The spot of the red @ on the map.)

Despite everyone being on high alert, the beetle battle is a bust! The lair is totally empty. Not just normal "empty cave" empty, but meticulously devoid of any dust, debris, or organic matter. It almost looks like when a tenant moves out of an apartment, and wants to makes sure they get their full security deposit back.

The mysterious Creature Down The Well gets a Listen check to detect the party: 1d6=1, fails miserably.

[kipper]

"Where could they have gotten to?" Dame Simonetta asks rhetorically. "Likely not too far, let's keep alert."

I think we should head to the large chamber just outside (north of the pit) and explore the other entrances. We could either check out the narrow tunnels to the south-east, or the larger tunnels to the north-west. I think the south-eastern tunnels look too narrow for the beetles' preference (based on their past lair location), but on the other hand exploring it would fill in the map between some known areas. I'd vote for the south-east tunnels.

[mushgnome]

Turn 9

Dame Simonetta's curiosity motivates her to peek around the corner to the southeast. She sees a small, bare cave with two partly-decomposed corpses on the floor. The bodies are of Hobbet adventurers clad in leather armor. It looks like they died embracing each other, with one of them maybe kissing the other on the neck. (The other Heroes are right behind Dame Simonetta, I presume.)

[kipper]

"I wonder how long they have been here?" Dame Simonetta ponders aloud, "And more importantly, how did they die?"

She cautiously makes her way into the room, pausing every few steps to look around and listen, until she reaches the dead hobbets.

[mushgnome]

Dame Simonetta moves closer and sees that the bodies are at different stages of decomposition: The one on bottom looks a few weeks old, while the one on top looks like it's been down here for months. As she moves in for a closer look, the top one raises its face from the other's neck to look at her. As it does so, there is a ripping sound, and it comes away with a mouthful of flesh. They weren't "kissing" at all!

The fresher corpse on the bottom releases its arms clutched round the other and opens its eyes for the first time as an Undead. It seems oblivious to the missing chunk from its neck, and there is no fresh blood from the wound. There is only one thought in what used to be its brain: Hobbets on the menu!

The two undead are lurching to their feet, with hunger in their eyes. Quick, what do you do?

Surprise rolls: 3, 4. Neither side is surprised.