Elwood comes down to the sky dock with the others. "Do we still have the papers of ownership from the innkeeper? I don't reckon we'll encounter any claimants for the ship here, but it could happen I suppose. Y'all ready to explore this here complex?"

Hey, Mort! Great picture! I didn't visualize the ship as having that many masts nor that many courses of sail. But it still looks neat!


Once standing on the ledge and heading toward the door, a couple of things finally register with everyone, mostly because they seem to contradict each other.

The first is that the ledge is clean. There is no dust, dirt or debris on it, no weeds growing out of cracks and crevasses. In fact, there are no cracks.

Secondly, when you get to the gate, you can see that the entrance has numerous cobwebs on it and the ceiling. The iron gate is meant to swing outward. The iron-bound wooden door is set in a few feet.


Those remaining on the ship are: Anya, Gierdon, Rukao and Talis.

Those going exploring are: Aaron, Anneth, Durek, Elwood, Fando, Kareth, Mort, Rodrigo and Tom.

Mort asked as they approached the gate, "Should we be expecting a fight?"

He looked the gate over (did it appear to be locked or closed to visitors?  Was there any sort of bell or chain to pull on to announce the group's arrival)

In reply to Mort (msg # 59):

It is better to be prepared for a fight than not.

Tom makes sure his sword is in easy reach.

Apologies once again for the delay. The holidays got the best of me again... well, it was mostly other people's plans impacting my time and energy.


There is no bell for signaling someone's arrival and the wrought iron gate, while closed, appears to only be held in place by a simple latch. Neither the gate or latch look to be rusted, though cobwebs are strung all over the gate and the short tunnel beyond that leads to the door.

"Lots of webbing, in there, we should burn them away if we go in"  Mort looked to the others to see if that was the general consensis about going in.  He placed his hand on the latch making ready to open the gate and go inside

"I don't have much experience with spider webs," Kareth offered, "but these don't look like they were made by some huge monstrous spider. Not that I would know. And it looks like the work of years."

"Still, the spiders could be poisonous, so, yeah, burning the webs as we go would probably be a good idea."

Kareth then pulls a torch from his backpack and proceeds to light it.

"So, who wants to go first?"

He wasn't asking about who had the courage, but who might have the talents necessary.

In reply to Kareth Melphis (msg # 63):

Well someone has to go first.  It might as well be me.  I operate the latch and open the gate. Then proceed down the tunnel to the door.

"I'll be right behind you," Anneth offers, drawing her bow and nocking an arrow.

Aaron readies his sword and enters.

"There may be no one at home, but what they left behind could tell us something."

Elwood proceeds in twith the group.

Mort will ready his weapon and take up a forward position with Aaron, "So do we say hi first or just start swinging?"  He sniffed the air, seeing it he could pick up any tell tale signs.

(OOC: how well is the lighting?  Will torches be required?)
This message was last edited by the player at 05:36, Tue 15 Dec 2015.

Anneth blurts out, "No, we do not start swinging first!"

Tom chuckles at Anneth's reply.  Well now swinging first can be fun.  However, for the moment I agree a little patience is a good thing.

I open the door.

Elwood smiles. "My policy is let them swing first, but make sure I swing last. It's worked so far."

The door swings open with only a slight creak, but the sound echoes down the long 10--foot wide hallway beyond. Twenty feet in, there is an opening on both the left and the right.

The hallway is lit by a torch set in a wall sconce about every 100 feet, alternating on the left and right walls. It stretches into the distance. There are a few small cobwebs in the upper corners of the hall, but not nearly as many as were outside.

Gierdon can tell that the hallway was carved out of the mountain rock, but it's not Dwarven work, though the general design seems to be Dwarven inspired, possibly engineered by a Dwarf. There are faux half-columns embossed on the walls about every 50 feet, 'supporting' faux beams across the ceiling. The carvings are fairly plain but still decorative.

Once eyes adjust to the different level of light, you can see that there additional openings about every 100 feet--coinciding with the torches.

"Big place"  Mort will take the time to take a look both left and right at the first openings that the group encountered.

"Should we call out to see if anyone answers?"

In reply to Mort (msg # 73):

No, lets not announce our presence.  Someone or something has lit these torches.   Lets continue down the first passage to the right.  I hope someone is making a map so we can find our way out.

OOC: I don't have any thing to make a map with.

When they get close enough to one of the lit torches, Mort will wave his hand over the flame seeing if it has heat.

OOC: of the lit torches in the hallway, is it possible to easily remove them.  (free torches, lol)

The first two openings don't have torches near them, but there is enough light from the open door to see that the first two rooms were either guard rooms or armories. There are weapons racks on the walls, benches and a table. There are still a few weapons hanging in the racks--maces and axes.


Checking out the nearest torch, Mort finds that it lifts out of the sconce easily enough, and the flame does not give off any heat.

While still keeping her arrow and short bow in her hand, Anneth examines one of the maces.  She picks it up and hefts it.  "Finders, keepers!" she mumbles, putting it in the harness that once held her old mace.

Aaron wipes his over the bench, seeing how much dust has accumulated.

The maces were all flange-style ones, with four flanges at the top of the long rod-handle. Each flange has edges on them, though they aren't blade edges. The handle is a style that allows for one-handed or two-handed wielding.

When Anneth picks up one, it appears to be newer than the others; the others have a few significant nicks and scratches. It is quite well balanced.


Aaron finds a thin layer of dust on the bench, but that's not much of an indicator of time. The air in the hallway and armories isn't particularly stagnant, though, considering that there doesn't seem to be any air circulation through the place... a bit now that the door is open.

In reply to Mysterion (msg # 79):

Shall we continue?

Tom starts down the hall slowly.  Looking for anything unusual that could be a trap.

"Well, this place is cheery," Elwood deadpans. He takes an axe from the armory. When they get to the first torch, he inspects it for any military insignia, a smith's mark, or the like.