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Team Arda-Nuff have been staying at the Dripstone Inn for the six days it took for Moffa's new items to be created.
When she returns, the cowled figure of Es Sarch raises a bony finger to beckon you all over for a quiet conversation with him.
"You call yourselves Team Arda-Nuff and have proven yourselves worthy of that name by defeating the self-styled Talon of Tiamat. I do not know your plans for the future but if you are starting to feel bored, I have a small task you might like to undertake for someone I sometimes do business with; one might even consider him a friend of mine.
"There is a cave below one of the old warehouses in the city that is a natural focus of the forces that cause all matter to decay over time. Some call it a Decay Node, if that means anything to you. My friend wishes to have access to that node as any cleric spending a number of hours there can gain access to an additional divine domain – the Decay Domain. Anyone who is not a cleric would also gain some affinity with that domain from spending time there; my friend called it a 'Touch of Decay', but I am unsure what that would entail.
"Unfortunately, a drow priestess named Esmar'ra has commandeered that cave and refuses to allow anyone else access to the Decay Node. She is a priestess of Lolth, so there are few in Pedestal who would wish to be seen opposing her will. But I suspect that would not be a particular for visitors from the sun-poisoned skin of the world, such as yourselves.
"Would you be interested in taking on such a mission? Your reward would be access to the Decay Node itself, of course, as well as whatever valuable items Esmar'ra has down there with her."
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"I am pleased that you will look into this matter for us," Es Sarch responded emotionlessly.
"From the few reports we have received to date there do seem to be some puzzling things happening there. The reports of a low barricade across the entry to the antechamber are, perhaps, not surprising, but the heat and glow of firelight from the antechamber certainly do not belong there. I shall await your report with great interest, when you return. It is possible that the weeks the priestess has already spent in the Decay Node is longer than is wise.
"However, there is no particular urgency. If you wish to rest and make any preparations before you undertake this mission that will be perfectly satisfactory, and I understand you would need to spend at least eight hours in the Decay Node to benefit from it. Speak to me again when you are ready to go and I will arrange a guide to show you the way there."
After a good rest and a chance for the team's spellcasters to prepare new spells for this mission Team Arda-Nuff meets again at the Dripstone Inn and are met by a pair of duegar guards who have been assigned to show them the way to the old warehouse where the entrance to the Decay Node is to be found.
Half an hour's walk through the dimly lit streets of Pedestal brings the team safely to the old warehouse and the two duegar show them where a 5-foot trapdoor behind a stack of crates in a back corner of the warehouse leads to a long staircase leading down 100 feet to the Decay Node.
The duegar guards say that is as far as they will go but they will wait up here in the warehouse until the team returns (or until the drow priestess emerges, if that happens first). Their orders then are to report back to Es Sarch, either way.
So Team Arda-Nuff descends the stairs and reaches the bottom without incident. A natural tunnel winds away to the left from the base of the stairs. There is a narrow line of sight from the southern edge of that tunnel near the stairs that allows the team to see that the tunnel runs for about 50 feet before opening out into a larger chamber. There is a 3-foot high barricade of stones piled across the entrance to that chamber and that chamber is brightly lit by firelight and flames within a widen central area of that chamber can be seen reaching higher than the barricade. The warmth of the flames can already be felt at the foot of the stairs and the crackle of the fire is softly heard as well.
There is no sign of any guards at the barricade and no sign of life in that chamber can be seen from this distance. Indeed, you would need to get quite close to the barricade to be able to see the floor of that chamber beyond the barricade.
OOC: The noise of the fire does not affect conversation at this distance but if you want to withdraw back up the stairs at all to make any preparations or to speak to the duergar guards before moving closer that option is still available.
OOC: Main Game Map updated.