scotland ♔ yet how the wind revives us here

[untethered]

♬ Presentiment - Manami Kiyota

WHO || Belle, Gold, Emma, Hook, Lila [closed]
WHAT || Several Knights take a secret journey to try to help Amara...
WHERE || Oakhurst, Scotland
WHEN || January 15th, 2014 [forward dated]
HOW || Actionspam

It's probably a very good thing that Gold sweet-talked them a car in the nearby tiny Scottish village of Oakhurst, because it is freezing cold out and snow blankets almost everything around. Walking the seven miles up the Old Road to the ruins would be a bitch and a half.

Instead, they comfortably drove past rocky downs, near stands of old-growth oak covered in snow, and past two farms that looked abandoned. No other travelers were visible on the lonely road, which finally curves, passing east of a narrow ravine. Belle signals for them to pull over here, where, at the road's closest approach to the cleft, several broken pillars jut from the earth where the ravine widens and opens into something akin to more of a deep, but narrow, cavern. Two of the pillars stand straight, but most of them lean against the sloped earth. Others are broken and several have apparently fallen into the darkness-shrouded depths. A few similar pillars are visible on the opposite side of the ravine.

Comments

[untethered]

I don't really think this would be anyone's destination of choice. [ it's murmured back to him, quietly, hoping that emma doesn't hear, because she gets the feeling hook doesn't give a fuq what anyone thinks about them. anyways, the tunnel starts to narrow out down this way as if it's going to dead end again... but suddenly it opens up into a small empty room, where the wall seems to have caved in on the side they emerge from to create the opening that allows them access. one door lies closed across the small expanse of the room. ]

[uncurse]

[ emma goes for the door handle as they reach the room, then stops short and pulls her hand back. she points to it decisively. ] Last time I tried to open something, I got poisoned. You try. [ it's vaguely directed at gold and hook because she likes lila and belle too much tbh. and erky is here out of the goodness of his heart he doesn't deserve poison. i 100% rolled to determine if emma learned from her horrible luck. ]

[unhand]

[Hook gives her a smirk that's half-amused by her caution (though he can't deny it's well-earned) and half annoyed. Well, maybe only an eighth annoyed. He's happy to open the door first.

So he's... gonna do try and do that. But first, looking for trap things! (spot 20)]

[untethered]

[ trap free! beyond the door, two rows of dragon-carved marble columns march the length of a long hall, though most are completely smothered in luminescent fungus. the cobbled floor is cracked and stained with much use, and it holds many small wooden tables. table contents include mortars and pestles, and bowls. five other doors lead off this hall, that are partly ajar, and a listen check of 10+ can hear sounds audible from all of them. far to the left, is another door that anyone with a navigate check of 17+ can guess probably leads back to the room they slept in. ]

[uncurse]

[ with a listen of 18, emma gets distracted by the sounds coming from those five doors. she tries to approach without standing in the path of the doorway in case someone is ... looking down it from whatever is on the other side. better not to lose the surprise (hide 20 total). ]

[undealt]

[Gold's apparently over whatever partial deafness overtook him while he was asleep (listen 19), so good news everyone.]

Grand. We haven't had a fight in a full five minutes. [He is going to be rolling in experience points. Maybe hellfire will happen.]

[bittersweeter]

[ lila hears nothing i guess, rocking another dismal listen check. to make up for gold getting his shit together. anypoodle, since she's running this selective hearing thing into the ground, she peers at the tables, picking up a mortar and pestle and sniffing it delicately, swirling the pestle around the bottom of the bowl. as one does. ]

[sternshield]

[ the bowls contain mashed leaves, fungus of a variety of types, bark, and powdered roots. erky hushes them all, speaking in a whisper and gesturing for them all to do so: ] Maybe we can avoid some of them. Which way do we think it likely we should go?

[uncurse]

Let's check here first. [ with her navigate of 6 she has no idea where the door to the far left leads, but she can figure out that the doors that are alongside them are safe and small, given that they walked past the space. ] There might be something we can use. [ like ... fire. idk. so she'll gesture to the two doors immediately to their left (probably d&e?). ]

[unhand]

[Hook can't hear anything so he's not sure who all they're trying to avoid (listen 4), but he does have an idea of where the door goes (nav 19).]

Bet that'll take us back. [He points at the door.] So let's go for a different door.

[He'll try the door immediately across from them.]

[undealt]

[Gold stays on Hook's left, so he can see inside, but hopefully avoid any immediate attack. There are no heroes here. Except Emma, and she keeps getting poisoned.]

[untethered]

[ room e contains ... a few racks of extra weapons, battered short swords and about thirty javelins. there's also another door on the right hand wall, way in the far corner. ] That looks promising.

[unhand]

[Oooh, Hook likes the sound of promising. He moves to try the door, since Emma's probably still squeamish about them. Anyway, he'd happily take a poisoned dart for her #truelove.]

Let's see how promising.

[He glances around for traps (spot 15). If nothing looks amiss, he'll try the door...]

[uncurse]

[ emma will peer around room e with vague disappointment, because they came fuckin' prepared and don't need any y'all's goblin shit. and not touch anything because if she's learned anything about goblins on this trip it's that everywhere is a bathroom for them. so she'll just vaguely wander with hook towards what i guess is room d, but allow him to take the lead. ]

[untethered]

[ actually what hook is approaching is the door to the north-east of room e which is untrapped both to his eye and when he opens it. it leads into ... a very small room, about 10 feet by 10 feet, completely empty. another door stands on the opposite side. ]

[unhand]

[WHAT'S BEHIND DOOR NUMBER 2....

or in front of it (spot 20).]

[untethered]

[ trap-free, and i'm gonna assume that he means he opens it too. nodules of luminescent fungus hang from the ceiling and walls, and grow in clumps upon the flagged floor. the vaguely nauseous light illuminates portions of grand bas-relief carvings on the stone walls that are not covered with the self-same fungus. the carvings all consist of dragons in various stages of raining fire down upon terrified humans, elves, dwarves, and other people. soil and compost cover half of the chamber's floor, which allows a variety of wan grasses to grow. a bench containing simple gardening implements stands along the west wall. there is a door immediately to their left, on the north wall, as well as one very far down to their right, on the southern wall, and a third on the eastern wall about halfway down. belle wanders in cautiously, sword out now, just in case. ] Someone is trying to make a garden here...?

[uncurse]

I'll take that as a sign we're close to our druid. [ but she crouches by the gardening tools, considering them with a shake of her head. ] Why bother with this stuff? This far down, the only way to make anything grow has to be magic, right? [ she glances back at gold for confirmation. ]

[bittersweeter]

Not all plants need a lot of sunlight to grow. [ she says it absently, peering at the carvings. man, she wants a dragon... ] Biolumescence is a chemical reaction, usually to oxygen, not light. [ knowledge: biology/life sciences 18, anything to counter magic with science, i guess. ]

[undealt]

And the sulfur likely helps. [He glances around, headed towards the farthest door. He's a bit anxious- this maze could easily lead into a trap.] I'd wager this is a side project.

[He stops in front of the southernmost door and sweeps it for traps as well (spot 21). And to streamline- if it looks clear, he'll open it.]

[untethered]

[ the door seems clear and so gold opens it, belle creeping up behind him, just in case. luminescent mists blur the edge of the octagonal chamber beyond. nodules of glowing fungus dot both the stone walls and ceiling, as well as the caps of toadstools and mushrooms, small polyps, puffballs, lichen and less identifiable growths. the humid air reeks with rot.

four goblins appear to be gathering fungus in baskets when gold opens the door. amazingly, none of them spot him in the open doorway yet, their backs all to him. there are no other visible exits. ]

[unhand]

[Hook, meanwhile, ambles over to the Northern door and after doing the usual spot check (21) opens it... provided he doesn't see a trap, obviously. He does cast a glance over at Gold and Belle but presumably they can take care of themselves and if not hopefully Gold will die I mean what who said that.]

[sternshield]

[ erky follows hook over to this door, which opens into a second gallery, like the one they're in currently. except that this one has a bugbear in it. gardening. yep. he has a large scythe and is busily fertilizing and harvesting crops with tender care. he looks up immediately when hook enters, however, and scowls, hoisting the scythe up in preparation to attack.

"No place for human!" it snarls. ]

Hey! Watch who you're calling a human.

[undealt]

[Gold puts a hand out behind him to steer Belle out of the way as he steps forward into the room and casts a magic missile on three of the goblins (dmg 5, dmg 3, and dmg 5)]

[unhand]

Aye, there's a particularly unwelcoming-to-humans stench here, I've noticed. Yet here we are.

[Hook draws his gun and shoots at the approaching bugbear, though the bullet flies wide (atk 16).]