Hearing Anneth words of finders keepers, Mort decided that there is no one to object to him helping himself to one of the heat-less fire torches.

When Tom call out shall we continue, he nodded and joined the front rank moving down the hallway.  His ear twitched listening for any extra noise or sound.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:03, Wed 23 Dec 2015.

"Hello, pretty..." Anneth puts her new mace away, and falls back in line, following her companions and listening.  Her bow is taken out again, and an arrow is prepared.

The hall seems to go on forever. As you pass other openings and glance in, you can see that each of these rooms is set up as some sort of living quarters--table, chair, single bed, wardrobe. None show any signs of having been lived in. However, every room has two entrances/exits into the hall.


You've got around 200 yards before you start to hear sound. At first, it's just a faint noise of indeterminate nature. A little farther, it starts to sound like the sounds of battle. A little farther still, it finally resolves itself into the sound of water.

It isn't until you've gone another 100 feet before you can tell it's the sound of a waterfall.

That's when the hallway ends at a spectacular chamber. It's about 500 feet across, mostly circular, goes upward another 60 feet, but goes downward about 150 feet.

Durek can tell this great cavern is partly natural but has had significant extra excavation done. It also isn't Dwarven, yet it doesn't seem like it was Human-made, either.

The noise is coming from a waterfall across the cavern that starts about 20 feet higher than where you are, and drops to the cavern floor below.

There is a fairly wide ledge that runs around the cavern at this level, but also has ramps down to other levels. You can see six additional ledges before the ramps reach the bottom.

There are other openings around the ledges, too. Where the ramp would block the ledge, an archway has been cut into it to give access to the other parts of the ledge.

Only after this has all registered do you realize that the place is lit, which you now realize is coming from above. There appear to be the equivalent of 7 deck prisms set at an angle around the ceiling. It can't be determined if these are emitting light or if there is a shaft to the outside behind each one.

"Help me...

It has to repeat a second time before you realize it isn't just a trick of the waterfall's sound.

A third time lets you locate the approximate source... the floor of the cavern, though no particular source can be spotted from up here.
This message was last updated by the GM at 17:42, Tue 05 Jan 2016.

Hearing a call for help, the paladin hefts his flail and heads for the ramp. "Looks like a long way down. Let's get a move on!" he calls back to the others.

In reply to Elwood (msg # 85):

OOC: How's the footing around where the waterfall is splashing water as we try to make our way down after Elwood?"

I continue to look around mostly to make sure I have good footing as I follow Elwood.

Elwood be careful.  We don't want to have to rescue you too.

"Let's see who needs help," says Aaron as he follows Elwood and Tom down.

"I'm going to remain up here until you either give me the 'all clear', or need me..."

The circular path downward does wind around the cave a good three times. When it passes under the waterfall, there is an arch or short tunnel to keep the water off the path. So it doesn't get very slippery.

You all pass several dozen openings on your way to the bottom. All the openings are dark and silent. Peeking into one of them reveals a living quarters area... single room, with table, chairs, what is probably a kitchen area, and three sleeping niches in the wall. Sporadically checking other openings reveals the same.


At the bottom, the floor of the cavern is smooth but not completely flat. There appear to be paths worn into the stone... more about where to avoid the slight rises than any particular direction.

There is only one opening on the walls of this lowest level, and that is at the far end of the cavern. That appears to be where the voice is coming from.

Heading down that way, you can see as you approach the opening that it is more elaborate than any of the others you've seen. It has been carved as an arch, and the design matches that which you saw in the upper hallway. There is no door, but a number of arcane symbols have been written on the sides and top of the arch.

In addition, you can see that more such symbols have been written on the floor inside the room beyond. You can tell there's a room by the echoes of both your footsteps and the voice. The room, however, is dark.

"I shall remain up here with you, Anneth," Kareth offers. "There does not appear to be any danger, but no one should be left alone. It's safer that way."

He scans the surrounding walls of the cavern, including the ceiling, looking for any possible threats. He could feel the air of abandonment that seemed to permeate the place. That didn't mean there couldn't be something still lurking in the dark.

He made it a point to keep track of the rest of the group as they wend their way to the bottom.

Anneth keeps a watchful eye out behind the remaining group.

"Hello in there. We have come to help you..." calls out Aaron. "How can we help you? Who are you?"

Mort followed the others down to find out where this voice was coming from.

Once at the opening and still hearing the voice, Mort held out the heat-less torch that he had helped himself to on the upper level, to have a better look into this dark room.  "This place has an evil feel to it"
This message was last edited by the player at 17:45, Tue 05 Jan 2016.

Although he's anxious to get to whoever needs help, Elwood stops and takes a good look at the glyphs and symbols surrounding the door frame and floor to see if he can recognize any of them. He'd rather not walk into an obvious trap, even if someone needs help. "Murlynd, help us. This does not look good."

"Help me..."

The voice sounds stronger, or maybe just louder because you are closer. It is clearly coming from the room beyond the doorway.


Elwood isn't an expert on runes and symbols by any means, but he does recognize a few as being wards... or protections... perhaps to keep people out, or maybe to keep something in. Possibly even both.

From the torchlight and the cavern glow, you can see that the room goes in a bit and then expands out to the right. Whoever or whatever is in there is off in this side area and can't be seen from the door.

But is it this place or just where the voice is coming from?  Tom draws his sword as Mort's words trigger a sense of danger.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:21, Wed 06 Jan 2016.

"What's your problem, there is no one here.  You chained to a wall or something?"

"Who's... there? Will... you... help me?" the voice calls out again.

OOC:  Is the voice familiar to any of us or a different familiar voice to all of us?

The voice doesn't sound familiar, but even though it is speaking in Common, it sounds like it might not be human. It's certainly not the gruff, gravely sound of a Dwarf or the melodic voice of an Elf.

It.  also isn't the raspy voice of an Orc or similar type creature. The pronunciation is too precise for them.

Unfortunately that still leaves it open for lots of creatures. It's not like any of you are familiar with the more exotic creatures out there. It could even be an evil human, but it just doesn't sound like that.

Although closer, the voice still sounds weak, just not so weak that it can't enunciate the words clearly. That may be the part that makes it sound like it isn't human. A human in a weakened state wouldn't be able to speak that clearly.

Mort snorts, "Could be a criminal, we could just leave em to rot."

Elwood shakes his head. "I can't do that until I know it is a criminal of some sort. I wish Fando had come down here with us. I can't make out enough of these symbols to know if it's dangerous for us to pass or not. So I'll assume it is. I'm willing to risk it to find out if whoever's in there really is in trouble or not."

The wizard-sage had been quiet during the trek through the hall and down the spiral ramp to the bottom. He wasn't really the adventuring type, and the whole way down, he thought something would jump out at them.

"Harrumph," Fando said, clearly disdainful of Mort's suggestion.

"Is that how minotaurs do it? We're a bit more civilized. If someone is suffering, we help them, not just stand by and watch them die."

"I did come with you!" he responded to Elwood's comment. "What? Have I suddenly turned invisble?!"

"I don't recognize these symbols any more than the rest of you, but trapping someone and then making them suffer does not sit well with me."

"I'm going in!"

With that, Fando strides through the doorway.

"Oh. Oh, my. Oh, you poor thing!" Fando says after looking to his right. He then steps over that way.

OOC: Don't remember Fando coming down the ramp wih us. Anyway...

As soon as Fando starts theugh the door, Elwood is right behind him.

In reply to Elwood (msg # 104):

Tom mutters a curse under his breath.  Old man somethings are better left alone at times.  And I have a feeling this may be one of those things and times.

I follow a few feet behind Elwood and Fando with my sword drawn.

Mort stood there chewing on Fando words had offered him as the others decided to enter.  "Hummm... Civilized"  He just grinned to himself at the wizard's notion of what was civilized.