Dungeon Crawling (Day 2)

[Larenxis]

A stone floor stretches out around you; a straight, burrowing staircase in the middle. With persistent searching you know that stepping on the first step will result in a portcullis bursting forth from a slot in the wall of the staircase that will catch your foot and trip you, as well as denying entry.

 

[Blayze]

Luja moves away from the trap, closing the distance between himself and the others to allow for easier conversation.

"Yeah. At least one of the steps is trapped, and if some fool stands on it we won't be able to get past unless someone's capable of dismantling a portcullis. We need to know if there's another way round or if we can go simply go through, in case I trigger the damn thing."

 

[Zemalac]

"So it's just one step?" Zem shrugged. "Simple enough, isn't it? Just watch where you put your feet. Unless you think you can disable it before we go through?" He leaned on his spear and glanced at the others. A portcullis was not a good thing to have at their backs when they might need to escape quickly, or with the very real possibility that someone might think it amusing to trap the others in the catacombs. He smiled at the thought.

 

[Blayze]

"I said at *least* one of the steps. Most likely we'd step over that first one, only to end up triggering another. I've done things like that before. Anyway, I'd have a shot at disarming it, but I'm not really that good and it'll cut us off if I knacker it up."

Luja sighed. Why couldn't he just have been a normal spellcaster? There'd be none of this "The party's life is in your hands!" crap...

"If there's a way we can break through the portcullis itself, we can trigger the trap somehow and stop it from screwing with us if we need to make a speedy escape further down the line. I dunno, can we break - or even melt - metal?"

 

[Larenxis]

"I don't know much about traps," Mavryck said. "But if a simple portcullis stops us, than I doubt we stand a chance against the keeper of the Shard."

 

[Zemalac]

"Pfft." Zem looked disgusted. "Just step over the trapped step and we'll be fine. Look, I'll just..." he trailed off and stepped down into the stairwell towards Luja. "Which one did you say was trapped?"

 

[Blayze]

"That'd be the first one."

 

[Zemalac]

"All right then," Zem said. He stepped over the indicated step and onto the next one in the stairwell. "Now can we continue? This isn't exactly the most difficult of traps to avoid."

 

[Blayze]

"Fair enough," Luja said as he followed Zem's lead, stepping over the trapped step - mindful to only stand on portions of the floor Zem had already stepped on.

 

[Larenxis]

Zem and Luja walk down the stairs uneventfully, the feeling of foreboding only deepening with each step. Mavryck follows them, a queer mix of excitement and anxiousness on his face, not saying a word aloud as the light flickers across his scars.

 

[Zemalac]

So then, what's at the bottom of the stairs?

 

[Larenxis]

(Alright, for the sake of progression, I'm going to force the rest of the party to follow these three down the stairs. Sorry mates.)

Reaching the bottom of the stairs the oiled chain comes to an end, and as you walk down the narrow passageway the quivering fire light grows fainter. You're finding it rather hard to see, and the air seems to be growing more humid.

 

[Saskwach]

(That's cool. I was expecting that I'd just be 'following the party' whenever I decided there was nothing to say or do.)

 

[Zemalac]

"It's getting darker," Zem observed. "Anyone have a torch they'd care to light? I'd do it myself, but I need my hands free. Spells and such, you know how it is." He grinned in the darkness.

 

[Saskwach]

Semong reached into his pack and pulled out a torch.
"Observe. A simple unlit torch. Nothing more than a block of wood."
He gestured with his free hand, twisting it to and fro in the dim.
"As you can see I have nothing in my hand."
He slowly moved to touch the torch, and when he finally did, it burst into incandescence from the base to the tip. Semong smiled around him.
"Gets the villagers every time. And that's just my opening act."

Spoiler

I cast Light on the torch. Semong can't help it; he's a show-off.

 

[Blayze]

"Fantastic. Saves me looking into my pack in this darkness to find something to help us see in this darkness."

 

[Larenxis]

(Haha! I love the "as you can see" part.)

As light fills the space, you come across a queer sight. It's obvious that you are in a man-made structure of masoned stone, but it's easy to believe that you are really in a swamp. The ground is mushy with a traveling haze levitating above it, and vines and roots grow all around. Your steps occasionally make a squelching sound, and more than once you've fallen up to the ankle. You can hear the chittering of insects, and see them whizzing around. There are mushrooms in places that give off a phosphorescent light that gives an early green glow to the space, and hangs in the damp air. If you could stretch your mind to remember this is a room, you would see that it was a large hall, and that at the end of it all there are two doors, side by side on the far wall, through the draping flora and eery mist.

 

[Zemalac]

"Wonderful trick, my friend," Zem said to Semong, slapping at a bug that had landed on his arm. "Now that we have light to see by, I suggest we go find something more interesting to look at than this underground swamp." He gestured to the doorway on the far side of the room. "Luja, you seem to be adept with traps and pitfalls--why don't you go first? Give a shout if anything tries to eat you and we'll be right behind."

 

[Blayze]

"Certainly. Would you like me to daub myself in meat juices as well, to ensure the maximum level of predator-related violence and death?"

 

[Zemalac]

"Hmmm..." Zem pondered theatrically for a moment, then shook his head regretfully. "No, I can't see how we'd do that. It's a good idea, though." He grinned. "Off you go." He waved towards the doorway.