Stillness in the dark

[tomcat]

Gumbo moved silently down the passage, his ears straining to hear anything beyond his limited sight, but all was quiet. A cold, damp draft blew into his face and the smell of mold and rot was evident.

"Unclean creatures, orcs," he thought to himself.

Behind him, Vári trotted along. The dwarf could just barely see his smaller companion moving ahead of him, but then Gumbo became more clear as Vári realized he had stopped. Catching up, the dwarf saw Gumbo standing at the top of a set of stairs! Looking down both could see large shadows littering the distorted stairwell, but both were excited and hoped that this may be their first clue.

Yet, the smell of rot and death became more apparent as they stood there, making the path down more ominous.

[Telcontar]

Gumbo swollowed hard as the dwarf came up. "Well here is our next challenge. There are no other side passages that I have seen." Gumbo looks down the stairs, "Well 42 is the number..." He looks at Vari and then crinkles his noise, "Orcs, they great deeps of the earth must stink something foul." He looks around again and tried to peer forward into the gloom. "42..." With a sigh and a look into the darkness he plungs ahead and starts counting.

[sdrotar]

Vári stood, axe in hand, barely breathing. He knew that in moments, either the brave Hobbit would return, or he would be headed back to his companions, ready to make a last stand.

[tomcat]

Gumbo began to go down the stairs, counting as he did. He marvelled how each step that had been crafted by dwarves, was level and consistant in height and depth. Still, time had taken its toll along with heavy, iron-shod boots, for chips and loose fragments were felt through his tough soled feet.

Thirty-two.

Gumbo came to the last step - not because he had reached the bottom of the stairwell, but because there before him were tumbled many pieces of broken rock. The halfling could see that the tumbled stone had broken all of the slated stairs between the one he stood on, and two that still made landing to the bottom. He tried to calculate the number of stairs that would have been there, but he could not be sure. What he did see was the serpent face in one of the large broken stones. It was somewhat like the horrible etching on the wall above, except carved into a now-broken stone totem.

But why was it shattered??

Peering harder into the darkness, Gumbo tried to see more, but could only discern what looked like piles of sticks and stones. The only other thing that was certain was the smell of rot.

[Jingo]

Idhriel watched as the party stopped, and one of their number--the smaller one --descend down a set of foreboding stairs. She wrinkled her nose at the familiar smell of decay. It was one she always associated with orcs and their ilk; for nothing but death and decay ever came from the creatures of the shadow. Straining her senses for any sign of danger, and her bow at the ready, she settled down to see what direction the company would take next.

[Telcontar]

This wasnt the way ahead, nor was it necessarily a dead end either. Gumbo looked around again and decided that Vari maybe a better judge of things, he was after all a Dwarf. He thought about calling out to him, but then he started getting the feeling that something lived there and was not quite sure that he was there yet. The smell might be the den of some creature. Suddenly the idea of scouting ahead so not such a good one as he thought. there were older things in the deeps of the world that were worse than orcs, that not even Hobbit stories told about. Not wanting to turn his back to the wreckage he took a couple of steps back up the stairs towards Vari to tell him what he found.

[tomcat]

You heading all the way back up, Tom? Or are you going to wait for Vari to come down?

[Telcontar]

  I am going to head back to VARI, i dont want to wake anyhting up by calling to him. Its a short distance but I dont want to get gumbo eaten. that the rest of the party may close up on him in the meanttime so that we everyone esle can get invovled in the debate as well.

[tomcat]

Vári stood at the top of the stairs waiting when Gumbo returned. The two stood there discussing the situation of the stairs below, as the remainder of the company arrived - again the halfling gave a quick synopsis of what he saw.

"Did you go no further than the broken stair?" asked Kori. With Gumbo's shake of his head, Kori continued. "Perhaps we should go beyond the break to see what lays beyond the stairwell?"

[sdrotar]

Vári replied softly, "Gumbo brings ill news from the stair. There are so many other places to explore... Unless you know that this is the way," he said as he looked to the elder with a quizzical glance, "might we wish to try other rooms first?"

Their company was already weakened; Vári did not wish to weaken it any more so quickly unless it was necessary to accomplish what they set out to do.

[Telcontar]

"We must proceed, we cant double back later or we havent begun anything. The truth be told I did not want to try and cross it alone. We have already seen alarms....but the smell...i think something is living beneath the stairs. If I could see a bit further I could approximate the remaining distance to see if 42 stairs would fit as they are uniform in length, but another set of hands and eyes would be appreciated. we must proceed here, I only thought that the party should be present until we better know the ways of these halls."

[sdrotar]

Vári shrugged his shoulders. "So be it," he whispered. He hefted his axe and prepared to face the darkness.

[donimator]

Turumarth nodded his acceptance, words stuck in his dry throat. The dim light masked the gestures of his friends, but he knew they could at least see him. He grew surprised at how quickly his other senses aided his lack of vision, but was far from comfortable with what they told him. The rank smells, the faint echoes and distant dripping of water, the stale taste of the air. His hands shook as he took a small sip from his waterskin, the desire to unveil his staff and bathe in the light was strong, but he checked that emotion and nodded again to lead on as he hefted his gear once more. 

[tomcat]

As a group, the companions followed Gumbo back down the stairs. The halfling counted each step until he once more came to stair thirty-two and the broken patch that lay beyond. The dwarves all fumbled forward to make their analysis of how many stairs were missing, but there was only so much room and the broken shards of rock made the congestion dangerous.

The end result was to cause the normally dexterous halfling to slip and tumble down the broken slabs of rock to land hard and loud at the base of the stairs. Gumbo rose to his feet to look around. The first thing he noticed was the large broken rocks around him and how some were carved. He also noticed the other sticks and stones, but now close up realized that they were bones and skulls.



Nimbleness test to keep from falling
TN 12 Nim (by PC)
-------------------------
Gumbo (+2) Roll(2d6)+2: 2,6,+2 Total:10 FAILED [3 Damage, but armor absorbs it]
Vári (+2) Roll(2d6)+2: 5,5,+2 Total:12 SUCCESS
Nori (+2) Roll(2d6)+2: 6,5,+2 Total:13 SUCCESS
Kori (+1) Roll(2d6)+1: 4,4,+1 Total:9 (+3 Courage) SUCCESS

[sdrotar]

Vári inhaled sharply when he saw Gumbo fall. He was relieved to see that the Hobbit seemed uninjured, but the thump he had made as he landed made Vári nervous. Moreso after he saw the look on Gumbo's face as he surveyed his surroundings.