The Fourth Adventure

[ehiker133]

Remembering the weird spidergoat that liked to drop down on hobbets from above, Dougal keeps this sword pointed up in the air until his eyes fully adjust and he can see his surroundings a bit better.

[kipper]

Dame Simonetta is eager to investigate Ursa's research area, and keeps moving forward doggedly. She does, however, pause at the entrance to the larger area to look and listen for any movement.

[acodispo]

Willie remembers the attack that took place just as they crawled out of the tunnel into the larger cave.

"Wait!" he whispers as they reach that point. "Let's all pause here till our eyes adjust, and peek out to make sure nothing's waiting on the wall & ceiling outside the tunnel."

[mgtremaine]

Kiplyn draws his dagger and waits.......

[mushgnome]

Elsewhere in the Space-Time Continuum

At the head of the table sits a balding middle-aged human in a sweat-stained hoodie. Books, maps, and papers are spread out on the table in front of him, but a cardboard screen blocks them from being seen by the other humans at the table. The human reaches into his velveteen dice bag to retrieve his most precious possession: A crimson red d6, with numbers instead of pips. The numerals were once filled in with crayon wax, which has mostly worn away over time. He blows on the die for good luck, shakes it in his cupped hands, and lets it clatter onto the tabletop.

"Dammit! Rolled a 4!" The sadistic human grunts in disappointment and slides a miniature spidergoat figurine back into its box.

The other humans breathe a collective sigh of relief.

Meanwhile in Hobbitopia...

[mushgnome]

Turn 4

Our Hobbet Heroes pause at the mouth of the tunnel to scan for danger. It takes a minute for their eyes to adjust to the strange phosphorescent light that bathes the cavern. The brightness is comparable to being under the Milky Way on a moonless night. The light is not cast by any one specific type of creature, but an entire ecosystem of glow worms, lightning bugs, glitter newts, sparkle moths, laser fleas, and neon spores. Some of the organisms appear as no more than dust motes, twinkling like tiny stars. A gentle, damp breeze moves through the cavern, causing the plankton in the air to move in luminescent ripples. There is a slow and steady dripping of water from the ceiling, creating turbulent trails of light as the drops fall through clouds of star gnats and gleaming midges.

The party is at the southern edge of an irregular natural cavern measuring roughly 40'x60'. The only visible exit, to the northwest, leads to a deep chasm in the earth. The cavern has a high ceiling that is pockmarked with all sorts of interesting cracks and crevices.

The dominant feature of this area is a grove of giant cave puffballs swelling up to 5' in diameter. The spherical fungi are packed tightly together like a flock of sheep. Apart from the puffballs and the harmless cave creatures, all appears to be quiet. The Hobbets do not sense any threats.

Ursa's rope threads between the puffballs, making a taut beeline in the direction of the Grand Chasm. The Hobbet Heroes grab hold of the rope and continue on their way, in search of answers and adventure.

OOC: I'll post a map tomorrow... the "good" computer is tied up rendering something right now. Here's a glow worm for you; visualize this times a million.

[acodispo]

Willie whispers: "Let's follow the rope to Ursa's camp. But keep an eye out left, right -- and especially above!"

Willie peers about, especially keen to see if anything has changed since the last time they were here: the behaviour of the light-bringing fauna? the currents of air? smells or sounds?

Elsewhere in the Space-Time Continuum

Amazing!

[mushgnome]

Willie's first impression is an overwhelming sensation of not getting hit in the face. This Adventure is shaping up to be much more fun than his first!

Willie perks up his keen Hobbet ears and listens for anything unusual. He hears nothing more than the steady dripping of water and the background noise of the harmless cavern fauna: chirping of crickets, ribbitting of frogs, whining of cicadas, all of them pale and sightless variations of their surface-dwelling cousins.

Nothing stands out to Willie as different or unusual from last time (though he would be first to admit this is not his area of expertise). Certainly he is more aware of details he completely missed on his first couple of delves. He suspects that all these little creepy-crawlies have always been here, but they scurry and hide when Adventurers come through with a torch or lantern. He is seeing the dungeon in its natural "resting" state.

Also it should be mentioned that Willie was puffing on Ursa's "magic" pipe the last time he was down here. To what extent that affected his perception is up to you.

Hmmm, Willie isn't a Druid, so he doesn't have any particular insight into ecology.

Hobbets do have improved Listen, so let's start with that. I like to roll secretly for Listen checks.

(d6 behind the screen)

I would certainly allow Willie a MYTHOS check to, uh, cleanse his doors of perception and view the cavern with heightened senses. Does he take that risk?

Anyone else up for a MYTHOS check?

Computer crashed overnight; that's what I get trying to render on a laptop!

[coffee]

Wilbur goggles at the sights. Not only has he never seen such a thing, he's never even dreamed about such a thing!

[mgtremaine]

Kiplyn stops holding his breath and takes a look around. "Now what? I guess we need to find her campsite, but carefully"