There's time for some small talk and introductions as the part continues the descent. After 5 or 6 circuits around the mineshaft, they come to a lever where the rails branch off. As it appears to be set, the cart will divert to the right into another tunnel, through the cloying darkness. Were you to pull the lever back it would apparently push the tracks left, so the Regdoc and Sasar Express could keep following its present course and roll downwards to their certain doom access to freedom.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:37, Tue 30 Apr 2019.

"Which way do we go? Left or right?"

Einhard moved between the two paths and held the torch in front of each to see if either tunnel showed more air movement than the other. He called out to the dwarf and asked "Can you tell if either of these paths slope up?"

Brodd, being nosy, looks with Einhard, but can't make out slope either, it needed the hand of a dwarf to figure that out perhaps.

Manaku, who is watching near the cart with his nostrils flared, stops and smells the air from both entrances to see if either tells him anything of importance.

Not to mention his Infravision.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:06, Wed 01 May 2019.

Thud hangs back a bit  with the torch.

"Which way do we go? Which way? Left? Or right?"

Manaku sees no heat signatures, but there's a distinct stench of filth wafting from the tunnel on the right.

"What you smell Manaku? I know that look in your face. Something down one or t'other tunnel?"

I would guess that we know where the mine car last came from ...

"Two wrongs do not make a right," the aged Seeker began in a preachy sort of way, "but three lefts do..." It was a joke from his days as an acolyte, many, many, many dusty miles ago.

"We go left."

"Regdoc decrees, do we hear from Dwarghar? You been down here before?"

Manaku points down the right tunnel. "The distinct smell of filth down that way. We probably want to go there second."



Manaku nods. "Yes, I agree with Regdar. Dwarghar, what say you?"

Thud waits and listens quietly....

Einhard shrugged and said "Matters not to me. Left it is." He grabbed Dora's reigns in his free hand and started down the tunnel on the left.

Brodd leads the mule behind Einhard down the left tunnel. "Good, a decision without two days of debate."

Sasar sits back down beside Regdoc and continues the ride through the mountain, "Easy enough journey this way, ehh Regdoc. Too bad we can't take it everywhere." and he chuckles.

Einhard called back to the others "Make sure to push the lever to switch the tracks!"

Amalrik can push the lever. Unless it is locked in place, corroded by time or is one of those complicated gnomish creations ...

"Yes, Sasar, I suppose so, though walking is sort of a large part of my faith after all... I just sincerely feel that we're going to need this cart at some point..."

But Regdoc made no effort to get out of the cart, and was lounging quite comfortably against the sloped side.

Despite the Barbarian's innate distrust of complicated machines, he leans down to examine the lever by torchlight. It doesn't seem to be locked, nor is it especially corroded. As for Gnomish? He couldn't say, but it does seem built for someone Thud's size or smaller to pull.

Hmmm ...Amalrik then squats down after examining the mechanism and gives it a test push / pull / whatever. Wiggles and jiggles it along.

Dwarghar shakes his head and comes back to reality

"Apologies, friends. That fall may have knocked something loose. I'll have to talk to someone the next time we're in a town. Regardless, I would imagine this tunnel to our right would slope downward. There just likely isn't enough room otherwise. I would think."

"Well, you're the Dwarf," says Creston. "You tell us whether there's a slope."

Manaku frowns. "Let me get this straight: we want to go down the direction that smells foul? Why?"

Left.

Einhard yells back from the left tunnel "Are you guys coming or not?!" and then mumbles under his breath to Dora "I swear it probably takes them an hour just to figure out if they should shit or piss first."

Dwarghar shrugs and starts making his way towards Einhard

"WE're coming Einhard, hold your horses, errr, horse."

The lever won't budge further away. It seems that it's already in the PUSH position.

However, when the Barbarian pulls the lever towards him there's a loud CLACK, and a section of rails at the base of the lever switch from the right side to the left.

As the party argues the sound of wheels rolling from the left side gets louder.

[Amalrik, make a save vs. Petrification please]
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:48, Mon 06 May 2019.

Einhard comes to a stop and rests his arm on Dora. "OK, we're holding." Then he heard the clanking of the tracks. "Finally," he mumbled under his breath.

Saving throw to resist turning to stone ...

20:43, Today: Amalrik rolled 19 using 1d20.  Petrification save.

Drat, saved from becoming a statue in an unknown mine in the middle of no-where ...

Manaku finally shrugs and starts heading to the left as well, apparently unaware of the danger headed his way.

Not quite the threat you're expecting, Amalrik.

Something falls from above and lands just in front of the Barbarian with a large SPLAT.

Amalrik blinks in confusion. It's the statue of Yagi! Still pulling at her magic stick! But it's mostly upside down and leaning a strange angle, sort of floating a foot in the air. You also see a few shiny baubles glittering in the torchlight, floating by her stone frame like stars.

[Amalrik, roll percentile please.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:25, Tue 07 May 2019.

20:53, Today: Amalrik rolled 90 using 1d100.  Amalrik - Percentage roll.

Amalrik stands very still, scratching his head as Yagi makes another appearance - upside down and floating ... And a stone statute at that.

Amalrik slowly realizes from the way Yagi's statue and other objects and quivering slightly that they're all in some kind of clear jelly, like the kind his mother made from calf brains when he was but a small (but still ferocious) child.

But this jelly doesn't seem to be wiggling just because it fell from a ledge higher up. It's advancing towards him.

[Amalrik, roll initiative]

Meanwhile, the squealing and clacking of wheels from below gets louder, along with a chorus of angry barking and yapping sounds.

Brodd, seeing something going after Amalrik, grabs a rock and throws it at a quivering 'thing' advancing.


15:00, Today: Brother Brodd rolled 6 using 1d6. initiative.
14:58, Today: Brother Brodd rolled 3 using 1d4. damage.
14:58, Today: Brother Brodd rolled 6 using 1d20. to hit.

Judging from the abrupt change of the arc, the rock bounces off the transparent surface and falls over the ledge.

"Great gods of grog!   What the *hell* is that?"  queried Alietra, from nowhere near the front of the party.

"Are we just going to throw stones, and hope it stops?  Isn't this a time for magic?"   she glanced toward the party's robed wizard, in the hope of something spectacular.

With a 20:19, Today: Amalrik rolled 0 using 1d20-1.  Amalrik - Initiative. (assuming a -1 Dex applies), Dear Amalrik suddenly feels that a mound of calf brain jam would be a real nice treat right about now ... Ahhh, dear old mom, when she called you in for dinner, last one there got leftovers - licking the cooking pots ...

"I don't think Plant Growth or Charm Person will help here. What do we do?" Sasar looks for a plant to grow up to fight the cube.

[d6 But fine]

12:00, Today: DM rolled 2,6 using D20,2d4.  Cube wants a hug.

The cube inches forward and oozes against the sharp point of Amalrik’s weapon, then lurches back.

"I don't suppose anybody brought a net?"

Meanwhile, at the front of the expedition, Sir Einhard spots a ray of light in the pit below, like a bullseye lantern but ten times as bright, spiraling upwards quickly. The mechanical racket and yapping sounds seem to be accompanying it.

Brodd looks on with a feeling of helplessness for Amalrik, not knowing what to do, then the sound starts to pick up and the thing starts to shine from underneath!

Manaku, walking forward, draws his weapon. "Almarik! Ho! What's happening?"

Dumbfounded, Einhard stared at the beam of light. Unable to piece together the yipping and light, he called back to the group "Seems you've delayed enough that the welcoming committee is heading our way."

He moved Dora back a bit, and jammed the torch between a rock and the wall. Stepping forward, he slid his shield off his back and raised his weapon. "Prepare yourselves!" he yelled to the group.

Soft-serve calf brain jam Manatu. One of mom's best home-made deserts. Amalrik starts poking around for his barbarian sized civilized folk soup spoon ... Did he have some wine to help wash it down with ... ?? Hmmm ...

Regdoc glanced at Chomper, trusting the beast's instincts.

"Can't fight from in here," the oldster grunted as he hoisted himself once more from the cart. He drew his mace, lamented the loss of his shield, and stepped toward the wall of the tunnel somewhat behind the front-liners.

In reply to Regdoc (msg # 51):

Chomped looks frightened and confused. He’s terrified of the loud thing below but won’t get near the cube.

Sasar climbed out of the cart too, not wanting to be caught IN the cart.

Regdoc followed Chomper's frantic barking. He'd learned to react quickly to it!

Finding something of an alcove, he pressed himself into it! At least until he could see what was coming their way!

Dwarghar is very unsure of what precisely has fallen upon his new friends at this point. But draws his warhammer and steps forward to accompany Sir Einhard.

As the dwarf moved up beside him, the yapping grew closer. Einhard looked at Dwarghar and asked "Any idea what beast makes that sort of sound?"

An inhuman howling, like a storm whistling through the trees, adds to the motion as the lamplight flows across the cavern wall and the clanging nears a deafening pitch!

[If you haven't already stated you're hugging the walls, make a save vs. Petrification]

In reply to DM (msg # 57):

12:56, Today: Creston Fairwood rolled 18 using 1d20 ((18)).

See OOC--Thud would have gotten out of the way. Even if I hadn't rolled poorly.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:40, Mon 13 May 2019.

Success.
17:37, Today: Manaku rolled 14 using 1d20.  Save vs. petrifaction.

Finally awakening to the loud noises coming forth, Amalrik moves to place the calf brain cube between him and the onrushing sound.

[And by the way you can use Hide in Shadows or a racial hiding ability to get to cover first, if that fails or you don't have those abilities you get a DEX bonus on your Petrification throw]

Listed so far:

Regdoc & Chomper: Early cover
Brodd: Early cover
Creston: Successful
Manaku: Successful
Amalrick: Shield of Brains
Einhard & Steed: Rushed behind Amalrick
Thud: Failed
Dwarghar: Failed
Sasar: Failed
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:14, Wed 15 May 2019.

I am doomed. :-)

14:26, Today: Thud rolled 3 using 1d6.  Chance to hide?
17:37, Yesterday: Thud rolled 7 using 1d20.  Save vs. petrifaction.

DOUBLE KILL

18:46, Today: Dwarghar Stoneblood rolled 4 using 1d20. Save v. Petrification.

Sasar, standing against the wall, freezes from fear!

09:05, Today: Sasar rolled 3 using 1d20. save vs. petrification.
12:10, Today: Sasar rolled 12 using 1d20.  save vs. death.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:10, Wed 15 May 2019.

Alietra rolled 67 using 1d100.  hide in shadows.
Alietra rolled 6 +1 dex = 7 using 1d20.  save petrify.  Or not save more actually...

OOC Brodd plays taps for all of the soon to be dead.

[Everyone who failed their Petrifications saves, Alietra and Dwarghar and Harald this point I believe, you all have one last chance. Each of you make a Save vs. Death]
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:06, Thu 16 May 2019.

Bye-bye, Thud.
13:09, Today: Thud rolled 2 using 1d20.  Save vs. Death.

The inhuman roar follows the trembling earth and blazing light as the massive brass engine barrels up the rails. In a moment of panic and a mercifully short blink of an eye, Sasar the Magic User and Thud the Halfling are...gone.

Time seems to stand still as the Thief, the Dwarf, and the Bard desperately dive for cover...

Alietra rolled 15 using 1d20.  save vs. the big D. -- 16 total, if we're still getting +1 for dex.    Think I may have made it?   

Alietra, using her acrobatic skills learned from the Thieves' Guild, leaps into the air just before  the contraption slams into her and lands in the cart behind the engine, where three small, dark blue scaly creatures are hanging on for dear life. One has wrapped itself around a lever pulled backwards and the other pair are clutching the sides of the cart, their little clawed toes dangling in the air behind them as they bark and yip in terror.

Just so I'm clear on what's going on....this cart is hooked up behind the train, and we're traveling with it?   

Amalrik watches  .. as .. a .. metallic .. dragon .. swooshes by. A frightful roar causes him to stand very still, even his eyes don't blink.

Einhard presses his back against the wall as the train rushed by. As the dwarfed rolled, or was that a tumble, out of the way, Einhard asked "What the hell is that thing?" Once the train had passed, he turned to follow it and make sure everyone got out of the way safely.

Does meeting my death save count as dying or surviving?
19:47, Today: Dwarghar Stoneblood rolled 8 using 1d20. Save v. death.

OOC - meeting it usually saves.

Dwarghar realizes it's too late to jump out of the way. What does a professional Trapper do when faced with a stampede?

They get low. The dwarf drops to the floor between the rails just before the metal monstrosity thunders over him.

C R A S H

The train smashes headlong into the cart Regdoc and Sasar were riding, denting the engine and sending the cart catapulting over Alietra's head and down into the darkness of the shaft.

S P L A T

A moment later the engine slams into the gelatinous cube, sending a spray of acidic goo everwhere and knocking Yagi's statue free to fall on its side in the seventh and final cart.

The large uncellular organism silently contemplates the repercussions of the use of combustion engines for the Underdark as its carried upward towards the blocked mountaintop entrance.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:22, Fri 17 May 2019.

"PUSH THE LEVER ALIETRA!!!"
This message was last edited by the player at 13:12, Fri 17 May 2019.

Alieta was momentarily frozen, jaw agape at the sheer spectacle of all this -- doing the absolute best that she could with her low-average intellect to make sense of it all, and failing.

But Brother Brodd's command cut through her mental mash and spurred her to action:

"Right!  Got it!!"   

Alietra pushes the level...

Fighting the velocity that's pinned the small humanoids, Alietra strains to reach the lever and wraps her hand around the stubby-horned skull of the kobold wrapped around it...now if she can only manage to push...

[Roll under Strength please]

Alietra rolled 17 using 1d20.  strength roll.

Nope...

As g-forces pull at Alietra's face and her lithe muscles shudder in protest, a magic missile lashes out from behind her and strikes the kobold. Alietra flinches as the kobold goes flying.

"Just push de stick already!"

[Try again]

Alietra rolled 17 using 1d20.  strength roll.

Nope...

Gritting her teeth, she pushed for all she was worth, but to no avail!

Same thing that happened when I joined, and was taking out zombies...only now it's not a good thing...

The circular crack of sunlight ahead starts looming larger where the party was first entombed.

"Me dunno bout you but me gonna jump!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:07, Fri 17 May 2019.

Brodd begins to chase after the train, heading back up the tunnel, stopping long enough to check Thud, Sasar, and Dwarghar. Seeing the first two beyond help, and the third unharmed, he goes after Alietra.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:11, Fri 17 May 2019.

She squinted at her scaly traveling companion, blinking several times against the wind.   Then looked about, noting how fast this thing was going.   Then  back at him.

"Okay!  I'll go after you!"  hoping to get an idea from his fate whether doing so was survivable.

She also gave the lever another push, but man that thing just would not budge!

Alietra rolled 20 using 1d20.  strength roll.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:25, Fri 17 May 2019.

The lever breaks off in Alietra's hands.

There's a bunch of scaly things, but was that a red dress Alietra saw spill out of the back cab?

[Roll DEX]

Alietra rolled 18 using 1d20.  dex roll.   Fail!    Again!

I *never* roll consecutively this high...what a laugh!  It wants me dead!  But I've known that for years. 

A dress??   This was all some weird dream, she was sure.   Any moment now, she'd wake up, hung over, back at the tavern...

[Roll d4 damage]

Brodd doubled down to reach Alietra! Running and huffing and puffing up the slope to reach her side.

Alietra rolled 3 using 1d4.  damage.

Well, that does it for me, only got three...

OOC - you're alive, you're at 0! Knocked out.

As Brodd runs as fast as his tabard will allow, his eyes widen as he sees the goblin pull herself up and begin brushing the cement-like goop off of her dress.

"Is all good. You check on de hoo-mahn girl...don' mind me..."

Brodd started in his step and stopped for 1 second, then continued huffing and puffing to Alietra's side, where, upon arriving, he dropped to his knees to check for life.

The entire dungeon shakes as the train careens into the massive boulder blocking the mountaintop escape. A plume of fire illuminates the darkness in reddish hues, and huge winged shadows and falling kobold silhouettes dance against the height of the mineshaft before fading again, revealing only the rays of the setting sun through the aperture.

Brodd checks Alietra for signs of life and checks her injuries.

The goblin rests her hand on the cleric's shoulder as she peers over him.

"Yep. She still livin'. Whaz goin' on?"

Brodd casts Cure Minor Wounds on her.

"Yagi, what happened? We thought you were turned to stone!"

She wipes some more goop off of her and ponders.

"No...de lizzie bit Mistah Wong an' he turn to stone an 'den...'den...[she taps the bony skull with her crusted fingernails]...'den I wake up on the 'de cart o' 'screamin' kobbles!"

"Uhhh..." 

She raised her head, peered at Yagi a moment, briefly believing there'd been a mistake, that she ended up where goblins go when they die, till realizing they were both alive.

"Thanks," she told the two.  Three, counting Mistah Wong.  After understanding that it was Brother Brodd who'd healed her, Ali regarded him in a different way.   She'd heard about the miraculous power of the gods, but never felt it before.   Religion, like many other things, had been mostly a joke to her.  But, now...

Chomper had pressed into the old man in some instinctive, or perhaps divinely inspired, fashion, keeping the two of them just back from the hurtling metallic centipede as it rushed through the tunnel. A look of horror showed on Regdoc's face when the mad thing struck the cart he'd shared with Sasar, then turning to shock as he watched the old wizard get smashed. He stood numbly for a bit, his mind taking it all in. Then with deliberate steps, the Seeker of the Wandering God plodded haltingly forward to see if he could help any of his less-fortunate companions.

"The Way is perilous Wanderer... Will You Bless these wretches, will You make Your Steps known, Your Path clear from the dangers of this mountain?"

It was a humble prayer, for Regdoc was a humble sort of fellow when it came to his faith.

"You old fool..." was all he could say to Sasar. "This was not your Path. You should have stuck with your books and scrolls and finger-wagglings..."

Commanding Chomper to drag the bodies to a proper resting spot, the old cleric began the laborious task of covering them with stones fallen from the ceiling in all the commotion.

"It'll be me one of these days Chomper... one of these days my Trail will reach a certain juncture and I will embark on that final leg of my Journey... And what will you do then? Probably eat my stringy carcass is what you'll do..."

Regdoc scratched the huge hound affectionately.

While Regdoc begins the funerary rites for the fallen below, Amalrik wondering what was going on with the lever and the gelatin, and Brodd tends to the thief and the restored goblin at the smashed entrance, you make a head count and find that Harald is neither among the living nor the dead.

Amalrik finally realizes that the flying dragon (or whatever it was) has passed him by ... He shakes his head and moves to Brother B's side. He helps Alietra up, nods to Yagi and takes a long drink from his water skin.

Manaku steps out of his niche and surveys the remains of the chaotic situation. He grimly then walks over to the others.

"We are fortunate to have survived that. Some of us were not so lucky. Now, I suppose we should determine what to do next.  Press on down & In?"

After tending to Alietra, he begins heading back down the tunnel where he checks on the kobold who jumped from the train too to see how he is.

"Did anybody happen to notice where the pieces of that contraption fell?"

Creston goes and has a look. Maybe he'll find something useful.

The kobold stumbles to his feet and looks around, seeing the wreckage spread around the entrance and the long-legs running amok in his dungeon, with an elf striding towards him...

He squints at the sunset through the mountaintop entrance and makes a break for it.

"He's running, I guess he's all right." Brodd then continues to escort Alietra back down to the rest of the party.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:07, Mon 20 May 2019.

"At least until he becomes breakfast for the manticore..." Regdoc grunted.

"As much as we'd all like to rest and... recover, I suggest we move onward to a more sensible and secure spot before we do. Who knows what further monstrosities may come forth." He glanced over at the wreckage of the minecart and sighed.

"Sir Knight, lead on if you would."

Do you regroup by the lever or by the train wreckage?

OOC - I'm regrouping by the lever.

Once the train had past, Einhard made his way back toward the lever to check on his horse... oh, and the party. As everyone reconvened, "Lead on to where? I just want to go which ever way gets us to Braunstein to kill that insolent Minotaur and rescue my niece. Seems the cave entrance is open once again, and we know that will get us there. But, I am guessing we will need to deal with that flying lion thing if we go that way."

He slung his shield over his shoulder and bent over to pickup the torch he wedged between the stones earlier. "Going deeper in to the mountain is unclear where it will lead, if anywhere at all. Down likely has more of those dog-men and the other tunnel smells really bad."

Manaku stops. "Wait. I hear Harald calling out from somewhere down in the side tunnel." He moves and points down the tunnel he means.

Einhard starts off in the direction that Manaku pointed. "Well, I guess we will go get him first."

She thanked Amalrik and Brodd for their help.  There was a sleight difference in Alietra;  a somewhat more sober demeanor, a reduction in her sarcasm and insouciance.    From time to time, she glanced to Brodd's or Regdoc's holy symbols.

Though it would be lost on the party, their thief was verging on turning over a new leaf, becoming more of a true member.    Which wasn't to say she'd gone totally serious or become Polly Purebread, exactly.

'Wretches,' she reflected, observing Regdoc's rites for the smished, If I'd popped off, would I have been a wretch, too?  Huh!

"Yes, let's go, we must aid our comrade," she agreed with Einhard, nodding and following.    Even if he was the quietest bard she'd ever known.

Amalrik will stand guard at the lever. Watching the rear can be as dangerous as being in front. He stretches a bit, getting the kinks out. Again.

Manaku prepares to head in right after Einhard.

Brodd follows Einhard, leading his mule to find and retrieve Harald.

Creston also follows Einhard.