In reply to Ardenas Barehand (msg # 87):

The four armed celestial descends carefully, lighting the steps as she goes.

Oly Follows Kalima, admiring her backside as she goes down... but pays close attention to the stairs when he starts down.



[Private to GM:    14:53, Today: Oly rolled 11 using 3d6.  DX. made by 4]
This message was last edited by the player at 21:54, Fri 23 Nov 2018.

Ardenas takes the rear, closing the door to the alley before starting down the stair.

[Private to GM: 08:06, Today: Ardenas Barehand rolled 7 using 3d6.  DX to avoid runes on steps (15).]

In reply to Oly (msg # 89):

Oly is impressed by her musculature,  if not her overall grace in movement.


At the base of the stairs is a storeroom that smells of old fish and rot.
A partially covered barrel is in one corner, next to a number of hooks in the wall, bearing some hooded robes. All but one are undyed homespun,  one is a deep brownish black. To one side is a door with a sigil marked over it

https://drive.google.com/file/...WA/view?usp=drivesdk

In reply to Narrator (msg # 91):

Aoife checks out the barrels...

Evil zign on da door  Oly points at the mark.

Mancini observes the situation with the robes and the opened barrel. He quickly puts two and two together and realizes the cuttlefish were being fermented and used as some sort of dye for their robes.

"This must be the room where they dye their robes. I fear we may have to dye the rest of these in order to progress any further in this den of iniquity. They'll allow us to blend in, at least for a bit."

After Oly mentioned the evil symbol, Mancini scratches his head. "Kalima, do you have any idea what it means, or to what demon these idiots worship?"

(Ooc: Observation roll passes.)

In reply to Mancini (msg # 94):

"Robes or not, I doubt I will blend in. Enough to drive me batty..."

She shakes her head, but as she does so, black hair grows, and she transforms into a bat!

[Private to GM: Rolled 7 under skill this time, Shapeshift (bat)]

Ardenas smiles as Aoife transforms.  "You'll fit in down here now, and you shouldn't need the lights so much, either."

Turning to Mancini, "I doubt dyeing robes would help us much -- they'll have other means of recognition like signs and countersigns or password sequences.  Only one way out, anyway.  Do we have any way to know which way when we come to a choice?"

In reply to Aoife (msg # 95):

In the barrels are rotting cuttlefish, and some uncertain looking dead furry creatures. the brine smells of decaying fish and flesh.

The goddess spawn looks at the pitifully small robes
"I may have to render myself invisable, though it does make my ears buzz.
 I know that mark! It is the sigil of Chronos, the Devourer of Time.  He is not of my
consortium of divinities, but something related to the gods the Hades Priests acknowledge,
 although something older, and best left forgotten.  The Hellspawn I hunt have some dealings
 with it, although his existence precedes Hell as it is known. He is a creature of the void,
 perhaps one of the very first that had dealings with the gods of this place."

"Is the sign likely to carry a magical protection or ward?  Or is it just for recognition?"

In reply to Ardenas Barehand (msg # 98):

"I can see if someone is possessed, and offer a shield against evil, but I cannot detect evil runes. Perhaps..."
She takes her spear and scrapes at the sigil with the tip, and flakes away some of the soot it is marked with without anything happening.

In reply to Kalima (msg # 99):

Batty Aoife flutters around and observes.

"That seems to suggest the sigil is just a marker.  There's only the one door; the longer we wait, the further ahead the two men will be, and the more likely they'll gather others."

In reply to Ardenas Barehand (msg # 101):

The door has no lock, and there are supports for a bar on this side... but no bar.

Ardenas works the latch and pulls the door -- just enough to see if there's something else holding it shut.

In reply to Ardenas Barehand (msg # 103):

Beyond the door is a largish space you can't quite make out, but there is nothing holding the door.

In reply to Narrator (msg # 104):

Once the door is sufficiently open, Aoife will flutter through and look around.

In reply to Aoife (msg # 105):

The room sounds to be about eight yards by twelve, with numerous alcoves or doorways, and an openwork gate at one narrow end...there is a trench running down the center.

Ardenas allows Aoife a few seconds to move around the room, then pulls the door fully open.

"I wish there were some way to make sure this door can't be barred after we pass.  This seems too easy, like there ought to be a hidden door the Saturnines used and this one is a trap."

After shining his headlamp through the door to be sure nothing is attacking (or waiting to attack), Ardenas examines the bolt brackets on the door and frame and their attachment to the wood or stone.

[Private to GM: No relevant construction or engineering skills.
18:49, Today: Ardenas Barehand rolled 8 using 3d6.  Percaption (10) examining bolt brackets.]

In reply to Narrator (msg # 106):

Aoife flys around looking for anything that moves, or any exits.

In reply to Aoife (msg # 108):

The brackets on this side of the door seem to be quite old... there are none on the interior of the door.


Aoife can tell that there is an openwork gate at one end of the  long room, and four doorways or alcoves on each side, including the door you came through.

In reply to Narrator (msg # 109):

Aoife will continue to scout up ahead, flying through any openwork gate she can get through.

"Mistress Kalima -- is your strength commensurate with your stature?  Could you break or bend these brackets so they can't hold a bar?"

In reply to Ardenas Barehand (msg # 111):

"I may be stronger than any in our party, save perhaps the little one's hairy friend, but I doubt I can do that. Had I an axe, it might be so, but I wield a spear."