“I object.  The only entrance to a dungeon is safer than camping out in the open?  How do you figure that?  It sounds like sending written invitations to our own massacre.”

His sense of humor was like a woman he used to know: it had a habit of departing unexpectedly.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:02, Mon 26 Aug 2019.

"We still have plenty of daylight. I think we should check that entrance and whatever is immediately behind it now. We can make a more informed decision of where to camp after that. I doubt we'll be able to investigate this whole... well, whatever it is... in a single day. So we likely will have to camp inside at some point anyway." Cal opines dryly.

Apparently convinced that settled the matter, he shucks his pack higher on his shoulders and starts walking toward the boulders leading up to the entrance.

"What do you think, Trisvyre?" Herodian asks the scout.

"Do we have enough daylight left to reach the cave before dark?"

Ranzarth eyes widened as he took the whole of the object within his view "By the gods, this is ancient, it is buried within the rocks. It looks to be a keep of some shape or form." He walked towards the great door and looked about it, examining it for any markings, signs of operations or signs things have tried to get in or out.

Ranzarth turned to the others "If what Trisvye thinks is true, we would be safer up there than down here if that door opens. I can take the lead if you prefer."

The scout nods. ”We can, provided we move at a steady pace. The slope isn’t as forbidding as it might appear. There are plenty of footholds among the rocks.”

"Let's go," Azad says. "There's no benefit to waiting. Besides, if there's some intelligence directing these attacks, we might be able to draw its attention to us instead of the town."

"Excellent," Herodian replies as he begins making his way up the slope with the rest of the party.

With the aid of his magical boots, Wandreck tries to spring up the slope ahead of the rest of the party.

The company makes their way up the enormous, sloping stones. Although the ascent must be made with care, Trisvyre’s assurance proves to be true; for the most part, footholds can be easily located throughout the climb.

As they reach the steel framed entrance, the adventurers note that silence has settled over the canyon. The wind has died down and there are no sounds from any wildlife that might be hiding among the rocks. All is still.

Looking beyond the opening, the adventurers can see that interior is dark. The floor of the cavern appears to have been crafted from metal, as have the walls and ceiling. Deep within the structure, to the north, a steady, blue tinged illumination is visible, but none of the company members can readily identify the light’s source.

Entering the dark space cautiously, with Ranzarth and Trisvyre in the lead, the party steps into a broad hallway leading northward. The nondescript passage continues for thirty feet before widening into a larger chamber, which shares the same metal walls as the entrance.



In the center of the room is what appears to be a pit. It is partially framed by a pair of curving metal walls to the right and left of it and opens into pitch darkness. Looking closely, the adventurers can see that there are handholds, akin to rungs on a ladder, embedded in two of the walls of the descent, but none can determine how deep the pit is, or if such handholds exist further down.

To the east and west, hallways, each roughly twenty feet wide, branch off of the chamber. Down each corridor, the adventurers see the outlines of doors. Northward, a third passageway leads deeper into the structure, and in that direction, around one hundred feet away, the party can see that hall becomes illuminated by the light they had observed earlier, The steady glow appears to originate from the ceiling, but at this distance, the company members can discern few details.

Behind the adventurers, a steel door slides closed, shutting off the entrance they used to gain access to the structure. It seals with a brief hiss of air. Aside from the door, the party perceives no movement from the rest of their surroundings. For the moment, all is quiet.

The sound of the hiss and movement behind her causes Ella to turn, just in time to watch the door slide closed and seal them in. "Well. That isn't ideal." She draws her sword and murmurs the magic word to light it as she steps closer to the closed door. She uses the flames as a light to examine the doors and the walls near it, looking for a handle or a lever or something that might open it again if they need to leave in a hurry.

Ranzarth kneels down before the pit, looking deep into the darkness. He gathers up a stick and looks into the pit and then shakes his head setting it down, his voice a whisper "Best not to alert further our presence. Though I am curious how far down this goes." turning to Trisvyre "How far have you ventured into here?"

Wandreck descends into the pit using the handholds he can see.  Can he tell if there are more handholds lower down?  And does he hear or smell anything?

A soft gasp escaped Salenth's lips when the doors sealed shut behind the group. As a human, her eyes took a while to adjust to the darkness of the cave until Ella illuminated the chamber with the flame of her sword.

As she scanned her immediate surroundings, Salenth couldn't help but marvel at unique architectural interior. The fact that almost the entire interior was made out of a metal was something she had never seen. And that strange blue glow... what was that?

"Do Dwarves or any other being make entire rooms out of metal? I've never seen anything like this," Salenth whispered with marvel.

Then, as the party walked further in, Salenth realized that the strange blue glow was coming from the ceiling.

"I wonder what is that glow. Magic? Perhaps we should see what that is first before checking out the pit or the other corridors and doors. If it's a magical source, perhaps we can try and discern the type of magic that might be found in this place." she suggested.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 02:26, Fri 30 Aug 2019.

Ranzarth has voiced the question that was forming on Herodian's lips before can utter it. Herodian moves to stand near the pit where he can keep an eye on Wandreck while he listens to Trisvyre's response.

Like Ella, Cal turned on the door that swished shut behind them. Unlike her, he remains there for a while to see if he can get it to open again. He shakes his head as he sees different members of the group start to split off to consider three different directions. "Whatever we investigate first, lets be systematic and stick together." he suggests.

Lumik's eyes go wide at the sheer amount of metal that surrounds them.  He taps the floor with his boot with a low whistle.

"I'll watch the perimeter while you figure things out." he offers, setting his eyes into the outward darkness.

The sudden closing of the entrance caught Harkmur off guard.

"I knew I should have checked better.", he muttered to himself.

As the realization of his situation set in, he paused briefly, taking a long slow breath.  Pulling open his pack, he retrieves a torch and proceeds to light it.  Cautiously he makes his way towards the pit, his head constantly rotating to watch for any movement from each of the corridors.

Azad simply watches everything, without comment or speculation. His eyes dart around the chamber, taking in every detail.

”Myself, I have only come as far as the doorway,” Trisvyre replies to Ranzarth. She points to the north, in the direction of the light. ”Those scouts that proceeded further went northward. From there, I do not know in which direction they explored.”

Wandreck lowers himself into the pit cautiously, grasping one of the handholds. Looking downward, the dwarf sees mostly darkness, though a great distance below, he spies hints of bluish illumination. For a moment, he catches the scent of rotting vegetation, but he sees no evidence of plant life on any of the nearby walls.

Abruptly, the handhold jerks and slides downward, lowering him about two feet, the panel of wall it is attached to moving along with it. The thief can feel the handhold wobbling within his grip, as if it is struggling to hold his weight. Glancing down, the dwarf can see that the lower handhold has descended in the same fashion. Looking up, Wandreck notices that another handhold has appeared above him, close to the lip of the pit.

From inside the confines of the pit, there is the sound of metal straining.

"Having fun down there, Wandrek?" Herodian asks, sarcastically. "Why don't you climb out of there before you get hurt?"

"Rope? We might need some rope here," he calls out to the party as he lays down and extends a hand into the pit for Wandrek to grab on to if he can reach it and is inclined to do so.

Then he tells Wandrek, "I didn't memorize Levitation, today. We're going to have to do this the boring way, ok?"

Azad steps to the edge alongside Herodian, trying to peer down into the depths. "I have a means by which we could all get to the bottom of that shaft quickly, and safely. But it would require me to be able to see our way down, at least far enough to give me time to react, and we would all have to be very close together and jump down at the same time. Probably impossible, with this many of us."

Wandreck reaches for the handhold near the rim and tries to scramble out of the pit.  He does not trust the handhold, however, and tries carefully to retain some control with his other hand.

He’s like to still have something to hang onto if the higher up handhold breaks...

A smile suddenly spreads across Herodian's face. "I almost forgot... We're going to be able to do this with style after all," he says.

Standing at the edge of the pit, his staff held in his right hand with the engraved end pointed down at Wandrek he says, "Gravitus-Denii."

The end of the staff glows with a light that is the color of the sky on a clear day and Wandrek rises up until he is standing in the air in front of Herodian.

Herodian steps back and to the side and makes a sweeping gesture with his left hand indicating that Wandrek can take a step forward onto solid ground if he'd care to.

OOC: Looking down, can I discern whether it's the actual wall peeling away/giving way or does it look different or out of place?