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]

[ 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).]

[untethered]

[ gold's attacks knock two of the goblins to the ground instantly, while the one who's standing turns and hucks a javelin at him (atk 16, dmg 2) with a defensive, terrified squeal. ]

[undealt]

[WELL, BITCH. Gold hisses in pain and casts another magic missile, two of them hitting the goblin that threw the javelin for 6 dmg and the other finishing off the other goblin for 5 dmg)]

[untethered]

[ she seems about to congratulate him on the murder or some such but she's distracted by hook firing at something else way behind them, and turns to look that way. they're about 75 feet away from the doorway to the bugbear room, so she starts running that way, and it'll take her whole turn to reach them.

erky, in the meantime, charges past hook and smashes his morningstar at the bugbear (atk 25, dmg 5), yelling "To arms!" ]

[unhand]

[Hook moves forward after Erky, only rolling his eyes a little at the call when obviously they're going to arms if the shooting and fighting wasn't clue enough. He swings his hook upward at the bugbear (atk 20, dmg 3 if it hits), grinning viciously.]

[undealt]

Belle! [DON'T RUN INTO DANGER. HE JUST SAVED YOU FROM DANGER. Also bleeding. Yeah, he's just going to limp over. That's it. That's his round.]

[untethered]

[ well she stays out of danger, but plays a trick on the bugbear from a distance (int check 25), distracting him for yet another round. i'm the worst roleplayer ever but these are hard to come up with. i'm sure it's amazing. erky, however, misses the bugbear with his swing (atk 7) :( ]

[bittersweeter]

[ oh look, complete chaos. and lila is slowest ever on the uptake, but ukw? girl makes up for it, moving forward to get a clear shot through the doorway. she raises her gun and fires two quick shots (double tap atk 23 & 20 total; dmg 10 & 9) to make up for being a space case. ]

[uncurse]

[ this is what happens when you crit fail.

emma shows up 15 minutes late with starbucks in the bugbear room in a hurry and finds it ... already down. thanks lila. ]

I'm gonna go ahead and make a vote against splitting our searching again. [ because goblins and bugbears and init oh my. ]

[undealt]

It was a simple enough matter. [Gold flicks some dirt off his suit that is... probably covered in dirt, really, but whatever. He's a priss.] At any rate, we really must be getting close. [He calls into the bugbear room.] Is there another door in there?

[sternshield]

Ay, two! [ erky checks over the bugbear gardener, but finds nothing on him beyond gardening implements. ] Another to the north, and one to the east.

[bittersweeter]

[ while erky is checking the bear, lila pokes it gently with her boot. such a classy broad over here. ] Do you really mean north and east or just straight and to the left?

[ what, she's curious! ]

[sternshield]

Right, girl. To the right.

And I mean what I said. The moss seems to favor one side of the cavern even here, away from the sun. Magic about.

[bittersweeter]

[ she holds her hands up in front of her and make an "L" with each hand before shrugging with a sheepish smile, WHAT ARE DIRECTIONS. this is why gps was invented. ] Right. [ she glances between both doors. ] I vote north.

[untethered]

[ belle moves to gold's side to make sure he's ok after all that being stabbed by a javelin, while erky throws open the door to the north... revealing an arboretum identical to the one where rumbelle found the goblins to the south, except that there's another door directly to their left, and another bugbear gardener, clearing scorched plants with a scythe. guess what? initiative again, bitches. no i almost feel bad this time ]

[bittersweeter]

[ ANOTHER GARDENING BEAR WHY HOW DOES THE CREEPY RUINS HAVE A GARDENING BEAR BEACON???? lila moves around her brand new gnome bff and bang. (atk 22; dmg 16) ] Next time, let's go east.

[undealt]

They wouldn't be here if we weren't headed in the right direction. [Gold walks in and tries to take a swing at it with his cane and... misses. Go team!

Thankfully his 21 reflex save keeps him from falling on his ass when he goes too wide on that swing.]