Vapourware [Play-by-post] Lamentations in Averoigne

[nikolokolus]

Exploring the Barrows

You can put little notes on the Roll20 map to indicate which ones are of interest to you and feel free to discuss there or here what you want to do and in what order. Once you've got a plan, Madeline, as leader should post the final call (or your back-up leader Ganelon if SoupNazi is not available.

Addendum

I feel I should add that I highly encourage you all to make your own notes on the surface map, which will come in very handy when it comes to return trips and trying to remember which one's you've been too. I'm keeping track of this stuff independently, but I can guarantee it will help with your planning and reduce back-tracking

 

[AdamReith]

Spoiler

No worries, we will see where the officers lead us so!

 

[Madeline]

Madeline surveys the area carefully and compares it with the map, looking over Jacques' shoulder for it. Because she's smart as fuck, she almost immediately understands where the troupe is located, thanks to the hunter's references. With a painted fingernail, she draws a path from their current location towards the X on the map, and then points out the mounds that should be on the way.

"I suggest we follow the path set out by the map, but stop by each mound that is more-or-less on our way to take a gander and mark them with chalk. If we can't exactly get inside, we can break off a piece of chalk and try to toss it inside. According to Daphne's map, we should have roughly six areas to check, with the X being the seventh. I have a sack of chalk, we can cut it up and use them to mark the graves as numbers based on the amount of chalk we throw in, or we just draw somewhere inside."

She does not even remotely bother to explain anything to Jacques.

 

[L'ennui]

Guillemin is fidgeting with a small twig he picked up along the way, occasionally batting away the annoying mosquitoes. "Sounds like a plan."

 

[Grimgravy]

"Its provenance is unknown to us. The product of a night out drinking, sir." Ganelon says without any hint of judgment in his voice.

 

[nikolokolus]

With shrugs and no strenuous objections, the company sets out over the gently undulating ground between the hillocks and after a short walk of about 30 paces, comes to the first barrow on their path, in a generally northeast direction from the barrow previously explored. This mound is significantly smaller, perhaps a mere 15 paces wide and only about as tall as a man, relative to the surrounding ground. You walk around, and discover an open passage. An ancient seal stone has been broken into dozens of small pieces and they are covered with many lchens and moss -- this wasn't recent. Peering down into the darkened opening, reveals a short stairwell that is still faintly illuminated by the mid-morning sun which casts a thin shaft of light down into the depths. Perhaps fifteen feet below the surface you can see the glint sunlight reflecting off of still waters. This barrow looks to be at least partially flooded.

 

[L'ennui]

Guillemin carefully goes down the stairs to see if there is anything noteworthy beyond water, minding his step and keeping a close eye on the walls.

 

[nikolokolus]

The stairs are slick with slime and he must pick his way down the steps with great care, by bracing one arm out to the side of the narrow passage down. He stops descending about 2 feet above the water's edge and can barely make out the sloping walls of the chamber in the gloomy light reflected off of the surface of the water. It appears to be a hemispherical, vaulted room about 10 paces wide, with a wide central pillar of rough, mortared stone 5 paces away. Looking down you can see nothing but dark, peaty water filling the passage opening about half-way. You guess that the water is perhaps as deep as your waist.

 

[L'ennui]

Curious to see more clearly into the darkness, Guillemin lights a torch and holds it out in front of him. He calls out to the others: "There may be a path down here... If you don't mind getting wet." Unsure about that prospect himself, he stays out of the water.

 

[nikolokolus]

Wanting for a little bit of light, Guillemin sparks his flint against the oily surface of his torch and takes it back down to the water's edge to get a better look. The chamber lights up and from what Guillemin can see now, it seems that the smallish 30 feet-wide chamber is completely flooded. Your initial hunch that the floor is flooded to about waist-deep seems supported by four man-sized statues of stone stationed a few feet away from the walls at equidistant points, looking inward toward the central pillar. Their stylized armor and bodies look slightly "dysmorphic" or exaggerated somehow -- heads too large, torsos too long, and limbs too spindly to be Roman. If there is something behind the pillar in front of you, it's impossible to tell from your current vantage point; the support column five paces away is nearly twice as wide as 2 men standing side by side. You look down and your torchlight barely penetrates the water's surface and it smells very strongly of peat or swamp water down here.

 

[L'ennui]

"Eh, merde. Might as well check out that first room while we're here." Guillemin ascends the stairs and takes out his trusty rope, tying it around his waist while he describes what he has seen to the others. When he is done, he hands the end of the rope to Vandal and says: "If you hear me scream, or if there's a hard tug, pour l'amour de Dieu, man, please get me out of there. I'll try to be quick about it, not exactly a welcoming place anyways. Just a quick look."

Coming back down the stairs and making sure not to slip, he hesitantly wades into the waist-high water. He intends to turn left into the room, advancing until he can see what lies behind the central pillar. One hand holding his torch high up, his other hand will be using the butt of his spear to prod the submerged floor as he advances.

Spoiler

I am presuming Vandal will agree to the deal and will even be willing to go partway down the stairs as to give Guillemin enough rope... hopefully not to proverbially hang himself. If not, I will edit this post or we can proceed however you like Niko.

 

[Grimgravy]

"Do take care with your footing! I can patch a wound but it was disease that did in poor Vincent. Try not inhale any of that water."

Spoiler

Ganelon will help with the rope in the unlikely event Vandal wont.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Vandal takes the proffered rope and looks for a likely spot to brace himself to facilitate a speedy tug should the occasion arise.

 

[nikolokolus]

Guillemin takes two very tentative steps forward and lets the freezing cold water fill his boots and drench his breeches. Fortunately he never takes his eyes off of the sweep of the chamber and notices the two tiny ripples of water barely disturb the surface of the water at near the back of the chamber. The ripple grows in size and a "something" appears to barely breach the surface and begin moving toward you rapidly.

Roll Initiative!

If you win, then Guillemin can retreat up the stairs if he likes before engagement and/or anybody else actively helping him on the stairs (Ganelon and Vandal) can move forward to engage/block/pull him out, whatever. If you lose initiative, then we'll see . . .

 

[nikolokolus]

Fortunately Guillemin gives 2 sharp tugs on the rope and backpedals quickly before two monstrously large frogs swim rapidly toward the stairs. Vandal and Ganelon are able to aid his flight and he is at back outside the mouth of the barrow. The two mastiff-sized frogs must be hungry because they are at the bottom of the stairs and it looks like they're still coming . . .

Spoiler

You all have the initiative and can act however you wish. No one is engaged, so ranged weapons are certainly a valid tactic at this point. They are about 15' away. All of your actions in this first round are assumed to be coordinated, so you're not stepping on each other's dicks and messing up somebody else's ranged attack by closing for melee first, etc.

 

[AdamReith]

Grima attacks w/ short bow.

 

[nikolokolus]

Grima's shot is true and an arrow plants itself in one of the massive frog's back. Meanwhile Maddie draws her rapier and stands at the ready outside of the narrow stairwell, Ganelon lines up a shot with his sling, but the bullet sails wide and hits the water with a heavy *plonk*. Vandal braces himself for the charge up the stairs and it never quite materializes. Instead the frogs stop at the bottom of the stairs, open up their massive maws and two long, sticky pink tongues flick out over the 15-feet long span. One of the tongues settles on Vandal and he struggles to break free . . .

Save vs. Paralysis

ERYFKRAD rolls and succeeds

Vandal shakes off the sticky tongue from his calf with a swift jerk backward of his leg.
Next Round!

 

[nikolokolus]

A volley of sling bullets, arrows and thrown daggers are hurtled down the narrow stairway as Vandal braces himself for the next attack of the giant frogs. The frogs rock back and forth, split their maws and shoot their long prehensile tongues at Vandal again who has dropped his sword and grabs one of the pink protuberances with his giant hands and seizes it in a vise-like grip; the frog thrashes about in the water letting out high pitched squeaks and croaks, utterly helpless and unable to reel its tongue back in. Grima and Ganelon strike the other frog with missile weapons and; it writhes in pain and dives into the murky black water and disappears, leaving a cone-shaped wake behind it. The hulking mountainman, then yanks the beast out of the water and up the stairwell as he walks backward. Once at the top his companions quickly cut the thing down.

In the aftermath of the fight, Maddie and Vandal can't help but wonder if the thing might be worth something cut up and hauled back to town, either for its massive frog-legs for meat, or some of the glands under its tongue. Either way, neither shows much skill filleting and flensing the meat from the creature's bones and thick, copious gobs of a tar like ichor flow out of it in a rush and cover the two in gore. The stench is putrid beyond belief - easily as pungent as a skunk's musk, but like rotted meat. Horrified, Madeline walks down into the water with a bar of soap, lent to her by Daphne. She spends minutes scrubbing the lye soap on her arms and face and though she makes a little progress, the dead frog's mate returns to the stairs to finish what it started. The thing latches its long tongue on to the young woman and would have hauled her into its gaping maw if not for the forethought of tying a rope around her waist and having Vandal hold on to the other end. The barabaric warrior, plays the most bizarred game of tug-of-war anyone is ever likely to see, with poor Maddie nearly crushed by the rope and tongue pulling her in two different directions. Grima, the acrobat, sensing a moment to shine rushes forward with his sword held high, mere moments after another of the company smacks the beast with a sling stone. He skewers the creature and it expires, in a bloom of black ichor in the nearly black, peaty waters of the flooded barrow.

Feeling fortunate that no one is injured the troupe wring themselves out and decide what to do next.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

. The stench is putrid beyond belief - easily as pungent as a skunk's musk, but like rotted meat.

Spoiler

Wait a minute these frogs are undead too?!

 

[L'ennui]

"Ugh. Some critters!" With the path now seemingly clear and Maddie finishing her interrupted cleaning routine, Guillemin hands his comrades the safety rope tied around his waist once more and goes back into the water, intent on seeing what the other end of the room looks like before coming back to the group.

 

[nikolokolus]

. The stench is putrid beyond belief - easily as pungent as a skunk's musk, but like rotted meat.

Spoiler

Wait a minute these frogs are undead too?!

Something is not quite right here . . .

They seemed alive enough when they attacked you, and they had organs. Of course they were cold, because they are amphibians, but there's something foul about them. For one thing, you've never heard of a frog growing to the size of a pony. And their blood was black as pitch and tarry.

Bushcraft

Vandal can make a bushcraft roll to see if he thinks their flesh is dead, similar to that of the walking corpses you encountered earlier

 

[nikolokolus]

Guillemin returns to the inky black, bone-chilling water and inspects the room more carefully with the full aid of a torch. Each of the statues appears to be holding ancient brass candle sticks in their right hands. Two of the statues are youths holding their candles aloft, the others are maids, holding their candleticks pointed down. Guillemin, carefully suspends his open pack by its straps on the arms of each statue and walks back a couple of paces before topping each candlestick into the waiting satchel; all four topple harmlessly into his bag. While searching one of the last statues, his eye also catches a glint of something shiny a few inches below the water line; a tiny thumb-sized almond shaped stone reflecting his torchlight. He reaches down and plucks the stone from the edge of the graven belt on the statue and holds it up to the light - a small polished garnet! Looking around he judges that it must have once been placed in the hollow eye socket of the statue. He looks around and notices that all of the other statues have empy eye sockets, so either looted long ago, or fallen off into the rank water. Not wantint to dally too long, he pockets the stone and returns to the surface.

No worse for wear, and possibly a little more enriched by ancient booty yielded up by the earth, the group continues in a northeasterly track until they come to the next barrow mound a mere 30 paces away; the next in a long sinuous line of at least a half-a-dozen barrows that extend to the edge of their vision in the dense mist. When they walk around the barrow of similar scope and dimeion to the last one they explored they discover that there is no apparent entrance, only a little slump in the south face it that suggests its seal stone was perhaps covered over with earth long ago.

Do you try to excavate or do you move on?

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Vandal will follow the norms of civilized socializing and acquaint the south face with his mining pick should we choose to explore.

 

[Grimgravy]

"We are lower hanging fruit. If this mound is sealed, I say it can wait."

 

[Madeline]

Before leaving the murky-watered mound, Maddie finds a spot well above the water but inside, and marks it with a "I.", then calls for continuing the trip.

Once they arrive at the second burial site on the way, Madeline touches her hand to rock face concealing a potential entry, then theatrically knocks, and perks her ear to it as if expecting a reply. Assuming there isn't one...

"Ouias, the mound is unlikely to spring legs and walk away. Though it feels barely anything could surprise us now, that would still do. We've come for the end of the map, so let's continue."

She uses her chalk to mark the rock with a roman II before they move on.