Having spotted an underground grotto in the pond, Mock Ironside had wondered if the missing Dwarves might have ventured inside, given that their tracks had led up to the pool and had not departed from it. Weighted down by his armor, he had found it relatively easy to sink beneath the water's surface, walk for a few yards toward the opening, and enter. Following a short passage, Mock finds himself emerging in what seems to be a half-flooded chamber.

Could Óin and Balin have wandered this way? Had they been transfixed by the bell just as Mock's companions had?

From somewhere comes a fetid smell of dying and rotting things. The air is cold and clammy, the room dark. Mock can tell that the floor is stone, no doubt a remnant of now-sunken buildings of Men.

OOC: Mock finds himself in what seems to be an underground chamber. It is dark, and Mock will need a torch or other light source in order to see here.

Following in Mock's wake, first Gwydian and then Navarre swim a few yards down into the pool's depths and through a small tunnel. They emerge in the same chamber Mock has found himself in, and the dwarf turns at the sound of splashing as the two break the water's surface.

Like Mock, Navarre and Gwydian find themselves in a dark chamber, half-filled with water. The damp room reeks of decaying things, some freshly putrid, and the air is cold and stale.

A match is struck in the darkness, and Mock lights the reservoir of a miner's oil lamp he has strapped onto his helmet. The light reveals a gloomy chamber, waterlogged and long abandoned, covered with slime and algae, with walls of hewn stone. At the far end of the room is a passage stretching into further darkness.

As soon as the light comes and his eyes adjust, Gwydian swims over to Mock and gives the dour Dwarf a strong hug. "I knew you would be safe here.  Our quarry is here.  I feel it."

Then he looks around and tries to understand where they are.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:31, Thu 21 Nov 2019.

In reply to Gwydian (msg # 3):

"Glad to see you could make it. Win I saw the lads wanderin this way and I noticed what seemed to be a hiddin chamber ere,, I thought maybi the other dwarves wandered here as you did."

He dries out his crossbow string, taking it off to do so, and readies his axe and shield.

"This place is none too frindly, I mus say..."

It isn't long before the ranger is rewarded with air.  He is a competent swimmer but if there was not a pocket of air somewhere this rescue mission would be all for naught.  Navarre enters the dark chamber and is further excited to see light.  He smiles and pats the stout dwarf on the shoulder.  Master Mock, I thought we lost ya.”

Kodran looks around the chamber that they stand in.  Suddenly his head whips to the dwarf.  ”Lads??!!  You mean you saw them?”


OOC:
Did I miss something?  Mock is saying he actually saw the messengers walk this way?

Are there any signs here that humanoids either live here or have come this way?

When you say the room is waterlogged, do you mean the water is roughly up to our waist, and the dark tunnel ahead is in the same shape?  Half submerged?

Gwydian shakes his head toward Navarre, signalling that he doesn't believe Mock saw the Dwarves, and even if he did, it wasn't real. "Let them know we're OK," the young man requests of Navarre, likely the better swimmer and not as weighed down.

As soon as he can get his feet on something solid, Gwydian slings off his now water-logged pack. "F#*k," he mumbles. In the moment, he hadn't thought but rather just acted. Packs get wet, but usually not like this. He would have to find a way to squeeze out the water and dry his belongings soon. For now, he needs light. Hoping the torches are well-made, he attempts to pull one out and see if it can still be lit using Mock's lamp.

OOC: I am assuming water up to our waist

In reply to Gwydian (msg # 6):

"Saw the dwarves? Gracis no I saw some of you guys heading this way. If I saw thim I would be next ta thim. But should we check this oot before we call the others, or git them here to help? Not so much room..."

He looks around with his torch...

Navarre chuckles to himself lightly as all the pieces come together. Mock had not seen his brethren but rather thought they might have been lured by the sound of the bell in the same way his companions were.



The ranger nods at the young Mans suggestion. "Be right back.”  He says coolly.


OOC:
Navarre will swim back to give the others an update and urge them to follow me so that we can search the underground submerged ruins for signs of the missing dwarves.  Leave my shield here while I swim back. Look for something to tie this end of the rope onto. If nothing is available ask Gwydian to hold on to it.

The room the three find themselves in has a pool of water at one end, with steps that rise up to a relatively dry area with a floor of stone tiles, though a thin film of stagnant water covers the stone floor. Setting his pack down, Gwydian fishes out a torch, and finding it only a little damp, he lights it using Mock’s lantern.

The torch and lamp light glisten off the damp floor and walls. This place was evidently once a cellar of some kind, but it has long been abandoned to the decay of the marshes. Other than the roots of trees that have grown through the ceiling and walls, no sign of living thing, Dwarf or otherwise, can be seen here.

Divesting himself of his shield, Navarre hands Gwydian the rope and turns to swim back the way he came through the tunnel.

OOC: Water covers about half of the room, but half the room is dry enough that you’re not standing in water.

In reply to Loremaster (msg # 9):

Any signs of exits or anything having been there recently?

Gwydian holds the rope with one hand and the torch with the other, peering vainly into the darkness to see beyond the passage they are in. Once all the others rejoin them, he gives Navarre back his rope.

OOC: Lest I forget to say later...

Before leaving this room, he picks up his pack and carries it in his right hand for the moment, the torch in his left.

OOC: Continued in the "Chapter 1 - The Marsh Bell" main thread.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:42, Tue 26 Nov 2019.