The Colony - Turn 6 - Descent

Man, there are a lot of players in this group! Chicken herding at its finest! The party plans and executes its first descent into the so-called old city, the ruins beneath New Kavlin.



Start Date: July 20, 1027, Morning
Start Status: Into the Depths
Start Location: The White Tulip's Cellar

The Turn

After dinner at the Tipsy Spoon, the party returns to the White Tuilp. There's still no sign of Sim, Maarek, or Kessel, but no one seems particularly concerned. The group sets watches for the night, once again paying particular attention to the well and barred alcove in the cellar. This time, there are no rats or other disturbances. After breakfast and a brief discussion of how to open the grate, the explorers, Rennard, Hagan, Javiera, Smoke, Aaron, Candle, and Brigg, head for the basement. Several other members of the group follow. They plan on keeping watch while the grate is open. Brigg attempts to pick the lock with no success, but Shade manages to open it after applying some oil to the rusted mechanism. The grill swings open with a rusty shriek, exposing a cramped alcove that's 2 feet high, 3 feet wide and about 6 feet deep (it leads away to the north).

Rennard's knee cracks as he gets down on the floor and starts crawling into the opening, sword in hand. "Smells dusty in here," he mutters, then "There's an opening to the left, a little wider and taller, sloping down." From the opening, Javiera can see Rennard twist and turn, then disappear around the bend.

Javiera motions to Nogg, "Follow Rennard, Nogg." The big man nods and crawls through the opening. Brigg hesitates a moment and then follows, slithering quietly over the packed earth and rock. As Aaron starts to crawl into the opening, Brigg sticks his head around the corner. "It opens up further down. Room to stand up," then he disappears again. A few minutes later, Smoke, the last of the group, disappears around the bend, leaving Jinx, One-eye and Shade in the cellar to keep watch.

Around the corner, the crevice-like passage descends as a series of rocky shelves and steps, some natural, some worked stone. It heads generally west, dropping a good 20 feet, before bending north and widening to a 5-foot passage tall enough to stand in. The west wall is rough stone and earth, but the east wall is made from smooth stone blocks, each over 3 feet wide."It looks like some sort of foundation, doesn't it?" says Aaron.

"Move up," grumbles Smoke, still hunched over in the smaller passage.

Rennard continues north, and the passage opens into an L-shaped chamber. It's about 15 feet east-west and 40 feet north-south with a 20-foot leg leading west at the north end. The walls here are made from a mix of large and small stone blocks. Several dark openings lead off the narrow chamber, two west, two north, one east, and one, the tunnel the party entered, south.

Nogg wanders into the nearby western door, "Sure is dark in here," he mutters, "Lots of rocks, too," he adds, as he trips over a loose stone. Brigg takes a careful look into the same room, a squarish chamber about 30 x 30. Piles of earth and rock litter the floor, and several huge half-rotten wooden beams block off the southwest corner. The east and two north exits lead to similar rooms, all between 20 and 30 feet in size. The east room has an opening in the north wall, and the east room in the north wall has a similar gap. The other west exit, at the foot of the upside-down L, leads into another narrow passage that heads straight west.

The dirt and rock floors throughout this space are damp and cool. Hard-packed trails wind their way around dirt piles and heaps of boulders, and the tracks of some small animal can be seen here and there. Rats, perhaps? They wind through the entire area, but no one spots any rats or tunnels with a casual inspection.

The ceiling is an irregular mass of stone supported by thick stone pillars or thick beams of wood that look like they've seen better days. Fresh mounds of earth here and there indicate recent falls. Smoke says, "Better not mess around with things in here. Don't want to start a cave-in."

"I can see why the city engineers don't want people down here," says Aaron. "A collapse could destroy an entire section of the city. I wonder how extensive these tunnels are."