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The Test of the Faithful - 3.

Posted by DM HeathFor group 0
DM Heath
GM, 5363 posts
Wed 10 Dec 2014
at 23:04
  • msg #64

Re: The Test of the Faithful - 3

Kahan finds that many of the bones have been broken and, apparently, gnawed on by something with sharp teeth.

Shae opens the old sack and finds a stone tablet and a stone knife.  Dusting it off, she sees words carved into the tablet, which state:


Weeks without food. Wandering. Running. It comes. It kills us. It is immortal. It cannot leave.  We cannot leave.  We are the lost and dying.  Playthings of the priests. They put us here.  If you read this, we are dead.  May the gods protect you.  It comes.  It comes. I run no more.

Tahldar of Tyrannia
player, 276 posts
Thu 11 Dec 2014
at 14:48
  • msg #65

Re: The Test of the Faithful - 3

"I don't like this one bit." Tahldar says upon reading the stone tablet.  "But there's nothing we can do about it but keep moving and try to find a way out of here.  However I think we should take the cube out as it has interacted with every test we've encountered so far.  Maybe it will fire up again while we wander around in this maze."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:56, Thu 11 Dec 2014.
Shae Shadowglen
player, 120 posts
Thu 11 Dec 2014
at 20:12
  • msg #66

Re: The Test of the Faithful - 3

Shae will examine all the scratching on the walls to see if she can make sense of it. "There's got to be some way to survive the test.  I just hope those gnomes aren't stuck up there alone for weeks while we wander down here."
Kahan Singh
player, 1713 posts
Fri 12 Dec 2014
at 02:43
  • msg #67

Re: The Test of the Faithful - 3

"It doesn't seem to do much, but I suppose it wouldn't hurt. We just have to ensure that whoever is holding it does not, under any circumstance, drop the cube inside the mist, because it will be nearly impossible to ever find it again," the priest agrees, moving to the door on the 'western' side and trying to listen against it before opening it. "Regardless of what we plan on doing to get out, the first step is to move. We will never find the way out if we stay here forever, as much as I feel like this is probably the safest place we can be if we are being chased by invincible monsters," he adds, and after opening the door, Kahan marks both sides with a 2.
DM Heath
GM, 5364 posts
Sat 13 Dec 2014
at 01:14
  • msg #68

Re: The Test of the Faithful - 3

Shae is going around looking at the scratches.

Meanwhile, Kahan opens the door on the left and marks it with a "2."  It opens onto a short hall exactly the same as the hall you came in from (that you marked with a "1").

Shae finds that the scratches are primarily markings of apparently how many times the people had been here or gone through here as they became lost and confused.  The word "NORTH?" is etched into the wall straight ahead of you.  The word "IT" is scratched into the wall by the door to your right.  The words "LIFE WATER" are scratched into the door on your left (near where Kahan marked the "2").  The word "LEVERS?" is marked on the wall near the door where you just entered.  The scratchings are ancient and worn and hardly appear to be words at all until you look at them closely.
Borimer
player, 2556 posts
Ac 0 Hp 72/90
Thac0 12 Mvt18"
Sat 13 Dec 2014
at 07:01
  • msg #69

Re: The Test of the Faithful - 3

"Life water? Isn't that what we're looking for to find our dragon?  Maybe someone found it long ago and marked it."
Tahldar of Tyrannia
player, 277 posts
Sun 14 Dec 2014
at 00:17
  • msg #70

Re: The Test of the Faithful - 3

"I think the Life Water refers to the healing water we've found earlier and is what the dragon sits in.  We're looking for berries which unfortunately only seem to grow near the giant worm." Tahldar says in reply to his burly companion.

"It would probably be wise to investigate the water first and make sure we have a healing source prior to taking on whatever resides down the "IT" path."
DM Heath
GM, 5365 posts
Mon 15 Dec 2014
at 17:39
  • msg #71

Re: The Test of the Faithful - 3

The golden box does not seem to do anything.  It still has the word "CONFUSION" lit up, as well as "DARKNESS."

You go through the left door (marked with a 2 by Kahan), and go the short distance through the open corridor, entering the mists once more.

You are not sure how much time is passed or if the corridor turns or goes straight, due to the confusion of the sulfuric magic mist and the smooth curves of the walls, but the mist eventually parts again.

The mists part to reveal a 10 foot by 30 foot section of clear corridor with mists filling the archways at both ends.  Archways lead out from the center of both side walls and are also filled with mists.  (You entered from one of the side wall arches, not from one of the long ends of the room.)

A leather sack, covered with dust and rotting with age, lays near the archway to your right.  Something is in it, and a skeletal hand is still attached to it, apparently severed while still alive and holding the sack.
Tahldar of Tyrannia
player, 278 posts
Wed 17 Dec 2014
at 02:09
  • msg #72

Re: The Test of the Faithful - 3

Tahldar uses his dagger to open up the sack and poke around to see what lay within.

OOC:  Tahldar will hold the cube in his left hand, his dagger with his right.

Borimer
player, 2557 posts
Ac 0 Hp 72/90
Thac0 12 Mvt18"
Wed 17 Dec 2014
at 12:36
  • msg #73

Re: The Test of the Faithful - 3

Borimer grumbles about not looking for traps and tricks first while following after Tahldar to keep an eye out for anything attackable.  "It could be a trap that caused that, or it could be a trap itself..." he warns his comrade with growing paranoia.
Kahan Singh
player, 1714 posts
Wed 17 Dec 2014
at 18:24
  • msg #74

Re: The Test of the Faithful - 3

Kahan looks around at the walls and floors, wondering if there are any signs as to which way leads where. He takes his chalk and writes a 2 on the doorway that they just came through, getting ready to mark whichever door they leave through with a 3.
DM Heath
GM, 5367 posts
Wed 17 Dec 2014
at 19:11
  • msg #75

Re: The Test of the Faithful - 3

Kahan marks with chalk, and Tahldar checks the sack.  It is not trapped in any way.  Instead, it holds a bunch of golden coins.  The coins are not stamped with any sigil or emblem you recognize, and have probably been here a long time.  Counting them out, you find there are 510 coins total.  They each have the marking "1 G" on each side, along with the profile of a man with a rays coming out of his head like the sun, and a pyramid on the back side.
Shapfren Diditlew
player, 171 posts
Thu 18 Dec 2014
at 02:43
  • msg #76

Re: The Test of the Faithful - 3

"Could they be part of the riddle?" inquired Didit "A sword and a few coins... What else comes next?"
Shae Shadowglen
player, 121 posts
Thu 18 Dec 2014
at 17:51
  • msg #77

Re: The Test of the Faithful - 3

Shae takes the coins and says, "I kind of get the feeling these coins were dropped by someone running to escape the whatever it is immortal creature wandering these halls.  I don't see a riddle here, but we need to keep moving.  I say we go through one of the arches on the long side of the hall, right or left.  How about right?"
DM Heath
GM, 5370 posts
Thu 18 Dec 2014
at 22:32
  • msg #78

Re: The Test of the Faithful - 3

You gather the coins and go to the right through the long end of the 30 foot by 10 foot corridor.  Entering the mist again, you once more lose track of time and direction and become disoriented until it opens up again.

Then the mists part to reveal a 10 foot by 30 foot section of clear corridor with mists filling the archways at both ends.  Archways lead out from the center of both side walls and are also filled with mists.  (It is structurally identical to the last corridor you were just in.)

On the floor in the center of the area is a ring that appears to be made of fine silver.  It is still attached to a skeletal finger that once wore it.  The rest of a skeletal hand and forearm are also there on the ground, covered in dust.

(You can exit back where you came, forward at the far end of the 30 foot long corridor, or at the left or right archways in the center of the 10 foot wide hall.)
Lukas Rimshank
player, 60 posts
Gnomish Locksmith
Thu 18 Dec 2014
at 23:38
  • msg #79

Re: The Test of the Faithful - 3

(DM NPC POST)

As you walk into the hall and look at the ring attached to the bones, Lukas mentions to you that he feels a very light cool breeze coming from the archway to the left.  His gnome instincts and sensitivities can feel such things in the deep caves.

In case you are having a hard time picturing it, these passages are 10x30 breaks in the mist, like this with four archways going back into the mist:

 ----| |----
|           |
 ----| |----
In this diagram, for example, you entered from one of the long ends (let's say the left side).  SO "left" would take you "north" and "right" would take you south.
Borimer
player, 2560 posts
Ac 0 Hp 72/90
Thac0 12 Mvt18"
Fri 19 Dec 2014
at 16:10
  • msg #80

Re: The Test of the Faithful - 3

is this hand the opposite of the one in the other room? (could they be two hands of the same person?)
Kahan Singh
player, 1715 posts
Fri 19 Dec 2014
at 16:20
  • msg #81

Re: The Test of the Faithful - 3

After marking the doorway they came through with a 3, Kahan looks down the corridor on the 'left', wondering where the breeze was coming from and whether or not it was disrupting the mists. He also wonders the same thing Borimer was, looking at the placement of the thumb to see if he could remember which hand was holding the bag of coins.
DM Heath
GM, 5371 posts
Fri 19 Dec 2014
at 16:47
  • msg #82

Re: The Test of the Faithful - 3

They are both the left hand.  Upon scrutiny, you see what appear to be either blade or tooth marks on the bones.

The breeze does not seem to disturb the mists.  In fact, no one but Lukas even felt a breeze at all.  It was merely his keen senses that detected it.
Tahldar of Tyrannia
player, 281 posts
Fri 19 Dec 2014
at 18:15
  • msg #83

Re: The Test of the Faithful - 3

"Shall we investigate this breeze?" Tahldar asks the group after collecting the ring and giving it to Kahan for safe keeping.
Shae Shadowglen
player, 122 posts
Fri 19 Dec 2014
at 18:29
  • msg #84

Re: The Test of the Faithful - 3

Shae nods, getting her ancestral spear ready for battle as she follows Borimer and the others.
Borimer
player, 2561 posts
Ac 0 Hp 72/90
Thac0 12 Mvt18"
Fri 19 Dec 2014
at 19:14
  • msg #85

Re: The Test of the Faithful - 3

Borimer will follow Lukas to investigate the breeze in the orange mist.
DM Heath
GM, 5372 posts
Fri 19 Dec 2014
at 22:26
  • msg #86

Re: The Test of the Faithful - 3

You go through another corridor of disorienting mist, and then it opens up onto a 10 foot square section of clear corridor with mists filling the archways in all four directions (where you entered, straight ahead, left or right).

The breeze is slightly stronger here and feels to be coming from your right.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:28, Fri 19 Dec 2014.
Borimer
player, 2562 posts
Ac 0 Hp 72/90
Thac0 12 Mvt18"
Sat 20 Dec 2014
at 01:21
  • msg #87

Re: The Test of the Faithful - 3

If Borimer can now feel the breeze as well, and the others wish to continue, he will take the lead when everyone has decided which direction to go.
Kahan Singh
player, 1716 posts
Sat 20 Dec 2014
at 04:43
  • msg #88

Re: The Test of the Faithful - 3

Kahan will mark the arches that they came through with 4's, using 5's on whatever arches they go through next. "Following the breeze will hopefully get us somewhere. I wonder if the people who were here before had a gnome or dwarf with them who was accustomed to being underground."
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