In reply to Narrator (msg # 780):

Christine will send her light to investigate the wall of worked stone.

In reply to Christine Bjorn (msg # 781):

Emma will use her light to check out the rest of the cave, including the ceiling...

In reply to Emma Wilson (msg # 782):

The ceiling is packed, slightly scorched earth and loose stone and roots

"Did the tracks actually come from here, or did we get distracted?  If they're from here, I wonder if that pool made the trigers invisible?"

What kind of liquid is the pool?  Does it look dangerous?

“Don’t touch that stuff with fire until we know what it is,” he barks.

In reply to Masugatan (msg # 785):

"Crispin, wait here. I don't want you to get too near the water..."

She approaches the pool for a closer inspection, her light right at the surface.

In reply to Christine Bjorn (msg # 786):

Anyone have hazardous materials:magical? Or alchemy -2

In reply to Narrator (msg # 787):

Christine takes a close look at the pool...

[Private to GM: Hazardous Materials (Magical) rolled 5 under...Alchemy, rolled 3 over...]

I sure don’t.  Unfortunately.

In reply to Christine Bjorn (msg # 788):

The pool appears to be runnof froma lanoratory. It is liky very volatile

In reply to Narrator (msg # 790):

"This looks like an Alchemists lab, and seems very volatile. We should probably camp here, while our alchemist investigates..."

She checks the rest of the cave, and prepares to set up a campfire here. Well, we kind of have a living one for now...

She picks up a stone and casts a spell. The stone glows as bright as day...

"Jednessa, can you go and bring the rest of the camp here, perhaps with the frog sister's help, while we will create some food after we recover our strength."

She will then rest for an hour, before going outside ad picking some grass to create ten meals, three for Jednessa.

After that, she will need to rest for another hour to recover her strength...

[Private to GM: Cast Continual Light (As bright as Day), rolled 7 under skill.
10 Rolls to create food between 7 and 13, skill 16.
]

In reply to Christine Bjorn (msg # 791):

Emma meanwhile will got to the pool and pray for a permanent display of sunlight around it before she too will request for rest.

After resting, she too will go with Christine to pray for ten meals out of foliage found, but she will want to save them for later.

[Private to GM: Rolled 9 under skill, continual sunlight (2d days). Then recover energy for an hour, before rolling between 6 and 15 (skill 17) for essential Food, 10 meals.]

"We can't bring the cart inside, can we?  Holy Sister and I would just as soon sleep outside with Jednesa, to keep an eye on the cart -- but it's just now morning.  We've got the whole day ahead of us, after you two rest up."

In reply to Evelina Grattan (msg # 793):

"I appreciate the food, but tit kinda tastes like twigs.

Did you notice the way the pther side of the hill looked? Kinda lumpy."

In reply to Valerie (msg # 794):

Did I miss the morning arrival?

“Sorry if this is a dumb question, but do we really want to camp in here next to the runoff from a crazy alchemist’s lab?  You don’t have to be a genius to figure out this stuff could be poison.”

In reply to Masugatan (msg # 796):

"It could, or it could turn you invisible. But it would be important thing to know, and we could learn a lot from this place that may make the rest of the journey much easier."

OOC:  [RECAP]
Our camp is like, right over there.  Maybe 100 yards away?  We were interrupted during the change over from 3rd to fourth shift, so 2-3am in the morning.  Since everyone was wide awake at that point we skipped returning to sleep, skinned and dressed out one triger (the other is a mess but is still dressable).  Christine might have been the the only person to try to go back to sleep, though how she'd sleep through Jednesa butchering a triger and loudly humming to herself is beyond me...  ;)

At first light, tracks were spotted and followed.  Thus began the second day of the quest to find the Oracle of the Eternal Flame.
[/RECAP]

In reply to Jednesa (msg # 798):

Since rest was interrupted, Christine wanted to have some rest and some do research/dress these critters. As such, she suggests that we stay here in the cave for the day and set out next morning. That gives us a day to research/clean, and the cave is a more secure camp.

OOC:  Also the cave probably has a secret door, that people with Search skills should poke around for.

I mean, I feel the trope just weighing down on us...

In reply to Jednesa (msg # 800):

At 3 yards high, can Jednessa stand up in here? Search skill...don't know anyone with that. Would want to sort out this pool first though...

The troupe weighing down on us? I feel that is a reference I am missing...

"If you insist on staying here, especially for a whole day and night, at least let Holy Sister and me look around the place for trap triggers and set the Watchdog.  We'd really prefer to sleep outside, though.  It smells odd in here."

OOC: It's more than eighty years since a philologist named Tolkien told a story for his son in the form of letters, in which (among other things) a group of dwarves, with a hobbit and wizard, took shelter in a mountain cave that turned out to be a side entrance, via a cunningly hidden door, to goblin tunnels.  Pretty sure Tolkien didn't invent that one, either.

Jednesa finishes tear down of the camp, thoroughly smushes out the fire pit, and brings the cart and goods over to the cave.  She sits down out side and waits pateintly, hummimg and softly singing to herself while everyone else deals with the inside.





OOC:  Not troupe, trope.
Trope; [A] a word or expression used in a figurative sense : FIGURE OF SPEECH
[B] a common or overused theme or device : CLICHÉ the usual horror movie tropes

Going with 'b'.  Cave, weird geometric shaped hill, pool of flammable liquid runoff from a laboratory...  either a traveling alchemist set up shop here and moved on in the last very short while, or there's a secret room and some of the alchemist's wastage is running off/seeping out into this cave.  Of course the 'secret' room could be accessible up top, around the other side, etc.

And everyone has Search, it defaults to Per at -5.  And Extra Time: Taking more time than usual gives +1 for 2x as long, +2 for 4x, +3 for 8x, +4 for 15x, or +5 for 30x as long (the maximum).

So if a 'quick' search takes Y time, then Yx30 gives you a default Search at Perception.

Or, I'm wrong, there is no secret room, someone just dumped a bunch of potions here or there's some weird alchemic brew bubbling up from below, some tigers drank it and became invisible trigers.  But my trope sense is tingling...  and we're only a hard march out of town.  An alchemist set up in a secret lab could be experimenting out here where it's "safe" and making quick trips into Northport for supplies, beer, company, to sell his wares, etc.


And yes, sorting out the pool first is a good idea.  Between you and McNealy you should have the skills and empty bottles, chemicals, etc, to either render it safe, consume it in an inferno, or bottle it.  McNealy probably wants it for study/materials and ingredients.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:38, Sun 29 Nov 2020.

In reply to Jednesa (msg # 803):

[OOC: That is why I am waiting for him to post and check it out. Otherwise, it will be up to Christine...who does have some skills, but the Alchemist is the better choice...Narrator, have we lost the player?]

For the time being, Masugatan helps out by keeping an eye on things outside the cave.  He doesn’t really follow Christine’s logic that they could learn about the cave by camping inside it, or that it’s safer in there with the potentially hazardous magical sludge than it is out here in the great outdoors.  But he doesn’t feel like arguing about it.  He can’t remember the last time he managed to convince anyone of anything without holding a knife to his or her throat.