Zeig reflects on some of the reading material he had copied from the library at Elfheim.

"The dark elves lived down here and were not known for their craftsmanship, especially with stone. The keep that Vestus was residing in, that was a dwarven structure. This is something different. Drow? The twisted creatures that serve Astos? It's too soon to tell. We'll just have to look around a bit and see what we can discover."

Zeig takes out his lantern and lights it, then takes a peek in the nearest stone building.
30' bright light, 60' dim-light. Putting the staff on my back for now.

DAI stays near to offer magical aid or help someone search a building, but otherwise is not feeling particularly adventurous right about now- given that their last ghost town turned out to be the real deal.

ZEIG lights up his lamp and holds it in lieu of his staff while DAI pulls out his wand of Lock.

The inside of the "house" is as fuddled as the outside. The roughshod walls are doubly as thick at the bottom as they are at the top, giving the inside of the room an odd shape. There is a pile of soiled and torn textiles, more vines like are in the roof, and what might be old feathers of some kind piled up in one corner as bedding.

MILO sniffs the air but doesn't seem immediately worried or agitated. To everyone else the odor is that of a very dusty and oily taste that accumulates on the back of your tongue more than it is a smell. The group of survivalists can easily determine the bedding has not been slept in for at least the last four or five days.

There's a glint of something shiny in the pile of muss. Poking around reveals two gold coins and the tang of a silver knife. The sharp end and the handle have long been torn off.

2 gold coins and 7sp worth of silver. I imagine this king's bounty is SILI's since he's the one looking in, if he wants to pick it up.

The brighter light from ZEIG's lamp and stepping forward a bit more lights up what looks to be the rest of the buildings for SILI and Garus. A clear path through this "settlement" can also be seen, stretching forward through the cavern.

Occasionally the very faint sound of a drip of water falling onto stone can be heard by the more observant party members.

ZEIG's lamp has six hours of oil left to burn inside of it. It can of course be extinguished to save the oil. Otherwise it will burn out at 2:30pm.

Just going to look through all of them (dozen or so)? Pass through the place and continue on?
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:16, Mon 26 Nov 2012.

Sili picks up the silver and gold and moves on. "Let's check through the buildings. There might be an ambush waiting." He says as he slips the gold into his pouch.

Zeig follows along with his lantern.

Yea, at least a blanket check through the houses unless we find a ton more.

The next six huts are the same story. One or two clumps of bedding on the ground that have not been used in nearly a week and random crap scattered all about.

You find:

3x empty potion vials
dozens of smashed vials
11 gold pieces
55 silver pieces
countless copper pieces (I'm assuming you wouldn't pick these up, but there's at least ten pounds of them (and that's only worth 5gp))
An old and expensive-looking leather-bound tome... but with all the pages ripped out

The two-story structure is up next, with another five smaller ones after it.

The larger one actually has what could, possibly, be called a door. A large metal plate which was ripped up from some platform or stairway somewhere you've yet to see is leaning up against the outside. It's basically entirely blocking what is probably the hole in the wall to get in. By the looks of it, it weighs at least five hundred pounds. Moving it would be a non-trivial matter that would involve two people or one person levering it off of the side of the structure.

Levering it off as opposed to having JAGA and Garus move it, however, would cause a good bit of ruckus, and there's a decent chance it would damage the large structure as well as a nearby smaller one that it would fall into.

Anyone, even if they're not Garus or JAGA, can decide to move on, pick this plate up and move it, or simply knock it down.

Garus keeps up with the group watching what is happening. When they get to something that muscle can help with he steps up and moves it out of the way.

Garus and JAGA move to either side of the massive metal plate, lift it up a few inches, stagger a bit, then lay it on the stone floor with an incredibly loud but dull *CLUNG*.

ZEIG moves closer to the doorway to shed light from his lantern inside.

There are four brick support "columns", perhaps "piles" would be a better word, to help support the second story of the structure. No stair or ladder is visible up to the second story.

Anyone standing directly outside for a moment can catch a hint of movement from the back of the room. Garus, who could see clearly if there weren't support piles, cobwebs, and an odd shadow cast in the back of the room blocking his view, is pretty sure he sees a glint of metal. SILI budges in and relates that it's obviously a sword or something in the hand of a humanoid shape, which is just standing there, gently swaying back and forth.
14:14, Today: teslas, on behalf of SILI, rolled 23 using 1d20+4. Spot.
14:14, Today: teslas, on behalf of Garus, rolled 8 using 1d20+2. Spot.

o = brick pile up to ceiling, hard corners.
@ = source of movement, humanoid

----------

....@...

..o..o..

........

........

..o..o..

........

------ ---
     GSJ
     DZM

We are not in initiative, but do not take more than one turn's worth of actions at a time. ZEIG is your only source of light at the moment. He is giving off 30' bright and 60' shadowy (60'/120' for Garus, SILI, and the animals).

edit-
DM error correction.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:25, Thu 29 Nov 2012.

Zeig will kindly hand Jaga his lantern and aim him towards the doorway.

"Yay." Jaga says as he takes the lantern from Sili. "Why do I always get to go in first."

Without waiting for a reply, Jaga takes the first few steps into the structure. Moving carefully towards the figure Sili pointed out, holding the lantern ahead of him.

Garus steps in front of Jaga and leads in with his tower sheild out in front of him to provide some cover. "I think ill go first this time." Leaves his weapon put away and watches the movement.

Once inside and around the pillar a bit, Garus and JAGA get a good look at the thing.

It could best be described as a skeleton with a layer of skin dried and stretched over it as tightly as possible. It is holding a falchion in one hand, and the other is bracing it up against the wall behind it. It is wearing what was at one time probably mithral plate mail, but it is badly, badly damaged. One of the legs is completely unarmored, and the chest piece is dangling by a single strap so that the protection it provides is significantly reduced. Neither arm has any plating on it, though it still wears a single gauntlet on the hand braced up against the wall. It is facing away from you at a 90 degree angle (what would be "west" on this map (I think it's actually north at this point, but no matter)).

The side of its head facing you is completely smashed in, including one of the eye sockets. The helmet it was wearing is still on its head, dented in with a gaping hole and nearly a third of it simply torn off. It would probably be nearly impossible to remove the fused and dented object from its owner at this point. There appears to be a faintly glowing dagger or small shortsword deeply wedged into the other remaining eye socket.

A black yet translucent mist is pouring out of the darkness of its open skull and settles to surround it. Looking at it makes your eyes strain a bit. Rubbing them and trying to refocus does not help. Briefly, at times, there is a moment of clarity which allows you to observe detail, though there doesn't seem to be a pattern to when this occurs.

Looking around, there is no sign of the pieces of the armor that are missing. JAGA and Garus take a quick look at the dust that has settled on the floor of this room and it seems as if it has not been disturbed in weeks; no sure way to tell quickly, but maybe even months.

It gently sways back and forth rhythmically. It does not react to your presence in any discernible way.

o = brick pile up to ceiling, hard corners.
@ = skeleton

----------

....@...

..o..o..

........

........

..o.Go..

....J...

------ ---
     DSZ
       M

Same as before, no more than one turn's worth of actions, please. JAGA is now holding the light source. Much of the outside is now cast in darkness after he goes inside.

edit-
JAGA's know(religion).
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:54, Fri 30 Nov 2012.

"Well? Let's just leave it be. It's not attacking us anyway."

"Yea, best to let sleeping dogs lie."

Does the path continue after the village?

Zeig steps in to get a closer look at the creature before moving on.
20:01, Today: ZEIG rolled 28 using 1d20+10. know (religion).

ZEIG steps inside far enough to get a decent view. The creature doesn't react.

o = brick pile up to ceiling, hard corners.
@ = skeleton

----------

....@...

..o..o..

........

........

..o.Go..

...ZJ...

------ ---
     DS
       M
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:27, Sat 01 Dec 2012.

DAI decides to take a look as well, and pauses a moment when he notices the fancy dagger and precious, if worn metal making up his armor. "Oooo...why do sleeping dogs always have the best toys?" He shrugs it off and watches the collapsed body from the doorway, wondering if it was actually ready to move or if it was merely the last shmuck to find his way here.

It's not collapsed, it's standing.

DAI moves inside, seeing what there is to see.
20:05, Today: Secret Roll: teslas, on behalf of DAI, rolled 25 using 1d20+14. spellcraft.
20:04, Today: teslas, on behalf of DAI, rolled 19 using 1d20+8. know (relig).

o = brick pile up to ceiling, hard corners.
@ = skeleton

----------

....@...

..o..o..

........

........

..oDGo..

...ZJ...

------ ---
      SM
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:14, Sat 01 Dec 2012.

On one hand, evil skeleton that is probably retarded powerful. On the other hand...shiny!

"We should probably make finding the crown our top priority. If we are capable then we can lay him to rest on our way out."

Does the main path proceed beyond this 'village'? More exploring to do.

Zeig moves on to another stone building.

No reason we know of for not checking them all before moving on.

"Hmm...that thing seems to be imbued with a shroud of magical darkness, among other things that means it's constantly repairing itself- might even harm those that get too close beyond claws and blades." DAI moves on with the others, wanting to come back and take care of this thing at some point.

The rest of the huts are empty, save the last.

There's a slightly rotten-looking spider corpse slumped into one corner. It is rather massive, and looks as if it had fallen off of the wall and collapsed front-first onto the ground. Its large silk glands are sticking nearly straight up toward the ceiling.

A discolored and deflated humanoid arm sticks out from underneath the spider starting just above the elbow. In its hand is an especially long arrow, though the arrow appears unremarkable in its own right. Most of the fletching is badly damaged.


The worn path on the stone floor continues out into the cavern's darkness on the other side of the village.

DAI Detects Magic on the room just to be sure, before looking toward the others. "Anyone know how to extract silk...? That stuff's gotta be worth something to someone."

Garus moves slowly over to the spider to examine it. Doing his best to figure out if it is worth trying to get the silk.

"Don't look at me."

After someone tries to extract the silk, which is probably a survival check based on past experiences, Zeig will usher the party down the path into the darkest darkness.