The Fourth Adventure

[coffee]

"I thought that toboggan thing was crazy, too," Wilbur thinks. "But that worked out well enough. I guess I'll follow along."

[mushgnome]

Adventure 4
Day 1, Turn 1
4 days light, 7 days food, 1 day water

Climbing in the darkness is nerve-wracking, and makes the descent seem longer than it really is. Dame Simonetta finds that her new plate armor makes the climb exhausting. Her steel greaves clank against each ladder rung as she transfers her weight right foot, left foot, right foot.

At long last our good Dame is first to reach the bottom of the ladder. As she expected, it's pitch black down here. The air is dry, still, and quiet. She hears her comrades huffing and puffing and clanking above her.

Each Hobbet should probably step aside when they get to the bottom of the ladder, or else everyone will get stacked up in a big tangle of limbs! What is your process for navigating in the darkness as a group, without getting lost or separated? Help our audience understand what's preventing these Hobbetses from walking into walls, falling into a pit, or cracking their noggins.

Current Map:

Two minor administrative details:

1st, that's our new "armor in tight spaces" house rule, in action! Simply put the entirety of our new rule is, "Encumbered characters have a slower movement rate than unencumbered characters. Let's play!"

2nd, I did some quick math, and the party is carrying enough torches and lanterns for 96 turns or 4 days! So, I'm simply going to hand-wave it and keep track of light sources at the 'macro' level. If your lantern gets smashed, or you burn up all your oil flasks as weapons, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. A lantern full of oil lasts 24 turns, so every 6 flasks of oil you burn up in combat would cost you a day's supply of light.

And you're not currently using any light, so there's that.

[kipper]

Are the ropes still set up from our previous trip? If so, we can just follow them.

[mushgnome]

Dame Simonetta reaches down near the floor, and does, indeed, feel a rope. One end of the rope is tied to the bottom rung of the ladder. She holds on to the rope and takes a step forward, so she isn't standing directly under the ladder. The other Hobbets follow suit.

Good thinking!

Does anyone use the long ladder climb to give the new guy a quick orientation of Adventure Club protocol?

[mgtremaine]

Current Map ...+static+

[mgtremaine]

Kiplyn says "It's awful dark down here didn't we use light for part of the way last time... I mean it sure is dark"

[acodispo]

As they climb down, Willie lays out the Rules for Wilbur:

"Now that you're a member of Adventure Club, you should know the rules!

"1st Rule: You do not talk about ADVENTURE CLUB.

"See, we have rules we all have to follow as members of the club. Let's see...

"2nd Rule: You DO NOT talk about ADVENTURE CLUB!!

"Which, as I take it, is very similar to rule number one. But it's a good one!

"3rd Rule: ESPECIALLY not to the HUMANS!!!

"Meaning don't talk to them about Adventure Club. It makes more sense if you say them all at once in a row. Anyway, Rule 3 -- that's just common sense!

"Now 4th Rule is: NO SPOILERS for new members of the Club.

"I won't say anything more about that because... well, you know!

"Let's see, the 5th Rule: No snooping around town or causing trouble with the humans. 6th Rule: Do not give in to Chaos! Not sure what that means..."

He trails off, lost in some uncomfortable thought. After a moment:

"Oh! and the 7th Rule: If this is your first time at ADVENTURE CLUB, you MUST enter the dungeon! You're doing it now! Well done, Wilbur!"

When he gets to the bottom he puts his hand on the rope and prepares to follow Dame S once everybody is off the ladder.

[coffee]

"Um, okay," Wilbur says. "I think I understand. Thanks! I am now enlightened."

He blinks and looks around.

"Although I still can't see anything."

[mgtremaine]

Kiplyn feels around in the dark trying to get his hands on the rope that was left behind. "This isn't as fun as the toboggan.."

[mushgnome]

Turns 1-3

Wilbur's introduction to dungeoneering is quite an ordeal, the most physically uncomfortable 30 minutes of his life. Not only is the darkness absolute, but it soon becomes apparent that it's quite a tight squeeze down here. He is forced to crawl on his hands and knees, cursing to himself each time he knocks his head on the low ceiling. In some places it's such tight quarters that he has to wriggle on his belly like a worm, pushing his equipment through ahead of him. At least it's dry and not that cold down here, he thinks to himself, but as if Hornpipe Hill is mocking him, dampness creeps into the air, and every surface is clammy to the touch. Wilbur clings to the rope as his life-line, worried that if he lets go, he might vanish without a trace and the others would never find him.

Meanwhile at the front of the Hobbet train, Dame Simonetta begins to detect faint phosphorescent motes dancing in the air. If she didn't know better, she might think it was "floaters" in her eyes, or her brain playing tricks on her, but she knows from experience that the tight-squeeze tunnel is about to open up into a larger area teeming with underground flora and fauna. What is running through her mind as she approaches the site of past spoiley spoilers?

Are our Heroes doing anything special to protect themselves as they emerge from the claustrophobic tunnel into the yawning cavern?