Gritty easy to die in 3.pf dungeon crawl IC thread C

[drack]

You had asked about in the city of Red Feather and found out about several different dungeons. One was a small little mine filled with trolls, another a hollowed knoll filled with wild animals, and yet another, a dangerous, though generally poorly funded, cult had set root in the sewers beneath the town. Still, these dungeons would clearly be suicidal to new adventurers such as yourselves, and the "loot" would really only entice necromancers when put to market. This was the cruel nature of dungeoneering. It was often a suicidal act with very little to be gained... but then you heard a story from that shifty looking rat-faced old man in town.

He was known locally (DC 10 K-local) as being a crazy old beggar. He'd lived in the city since before anyone could remember, but recently his nonsense seems less constrained by common sense. He's been advertising a mystical and ancient dungeon filled with sparkling treasures. He says if someone can enter that dungeon and return with the goblin chieften's head, that his mysterious backer will give 200 gold coins for it. This reward was low enough that no major powers or respectable adventurers paid it much mind, but to amateurs, it was a doubtful fantasy... still, 200 golden coins was worth the venture. Still, while most were hesitant to waste their time, a group still departed.. and vanished... then another, and another.

Now the city lord's decided that, while this doesn't constitute a biog enough threat to invest any militant resources from the city's coffers, he'll at least offer a bounty. If a party of adventurers goes to explore this dungeon and reports back on their investigations, he'll offer a reward of 30 silver pieces per head (per adventurer). Now, all of a sudden five groups have left in the past two weeks to investigate. Speaking with the beggar he's arranged for everyone interested to meet up at the western gate of the city multiple times a week from whence he'll guide and give directions sufficient for the parties to find this dungeon of his. So it was with your party as well. After all, while the reward may go up with time, another party could also report back first and have already claimed the prize, hence there' an element of haste, though not to an extent of encouraging recklessness.

On the journey the old beggar told many tales, wild stories about riches that would reduce the wealthiest kings across the lands into drooling dogs, whining pitifully in envy. Tales about the mighty magical inheritances to be found, and of long lost martial techniques to be unearthed. The way he tells it you'd think it was a mountain made of gold and precious gems filled with any number of magical artifacts just lying around, waiting for any old fool to pick them up and bring them to market. Why then would he still be an old beggar and need adventurers to explore it then? Admittedly the old beggar had seemed to become much wealthier in the last few months, but there were countless explanations for that. Rather, goblins were a common pest in these lands, but they were also an easy target that any young farm boy infected with a lust for wonder might charge out into and sometimes even emerge victorious from, and with more competence and reputation as an adventurer as a result. Tales of such commoners were as common to hear on the streets as frogs are common to see in a pond. Certainly the tales of their premature deaths weren't mentioned as often, but a goblin hole alone was sufficient incentive to draw some adventurers. Why was the old beggar trying so hard to bring adventurers if that was all, and why had the first three groups not returned yet?

After a day of travel through a small woodlands, around a little swamp, over a few gentle hills, and past some overgrown fields which surrounded a small deserted town (DC 10 K-History/Religion) which wouldn't have been left standing long enough to start rotting without some kind of ghosts inhabiting it, your guide informs you that he's taken you as far as he can. Following his directions you pass through a short, yet hidden tunnel/cave, find and follow a sparsely forested river, and through a mountain craves. There you find a hidden path clearly worn with age. A fog hangs in the air swirling faintly in the air around the path, but floating clouds of light bugs give just enough illumination to see the path. The path takes the form of winding stairs scaling the mountain with a moderately treacherous and somewhat worn path alongside it for carts or animals to travel. From your estimations it'd take at least 500gp to repair it properly. (DC 15 appraise) Atop the mountain path you find an approximately 15' wide cave mouth from which a faint prismatic glow favoring a golden hue emanates.

on resources DC 10 dungeoneering
In this world lands are generally owned by the nobility, and any profits made off them are generally kept therein. You get a margin off what you produce, and if you're gonna be working in a dangerous area, like logging in the woods, you'll probably hire a few mercenaries to help protect you, further eating into your earnings. Thus these pre-processed materials have some value. one of the draws of adventuring is that everything you find there will be "given to you by the landlord" as a hazard fee for exploring the dangerous dungeon. Since there's rarely anything of real value in a dungeon, generally the best loot you get is corpses. In mid-evil Europe control over use of fertilizers was one of the major yet unsung powers of nobility. Naturally boosting or lessening productivity of those under your rule controls their proportional wealth, and as you get a fixed percentage of the net wealth they generate, it doesn't particularly effect your finances to do so. Thus these corpses are often purchased by nobles or rarely by struggling families, though they don't particularly fetch enough to let you live like kings even for a day unless your party acts as a cruel and efficient human meat grinder tearing though enemy ranks. Then there's those dungeons which exist as ancient ruins or as inheritance or treasure vaults. These are often profitable, and will be claimed by the state, and cleared by powerful official soldiers, or sometimes even the epic characters who's might allows their nations to continue to exist in this world. When these are accidentally discovered by adventurers, that's where adventurers strike it rich.


Stationed around the cave you find a powerful looking monk leaning against the cave wall, with three mercenaries and a donkey keeping watch from a nearby camp, fingering their weapons as they catch sight of you.

[BelGareth]

Vor looked to his companions, "I reckon that old coot is making rich off all the adventurers going in here and dying, what do you guys think eh?" he said, as he walked along in his Astral Juggernaught, narry a worry about the strain it should have been if he were wearing actual half plate.

He sees the group and nods to them "Oy up, looks like we're not the first here." of course you weren't the first there.

"Hey they, what're we all doing outside?" he says, calling out.

[drack]

Of the three mercs, one looks honest and trustworthy, he replies "My employer's been in this cave for nary a week, I was going to leave, but he's a good employer, and he left this donkey, so I've decided to use it as collateral and stay a while more."

A shifty bandit-like merc nods his head, but his devilish grin gives you the feeling he has bad intentions. The third simply ignores you.

The monk however smiles slightly. I mean, you're pretty sure you saw his eyes flash and him mutter as if questioningly to himself "More servants of evil? I should... no, no..." beforehand, but his smile looks genuine now, so he must be a good guy. :smallbiggrin: "Hello fellow travelers, I'm a humble monk from the sect of the righteous tiger snake fist just several small mountains over. I've come to purchase precious ingredients for healing potions, if you happen to encounter such treasures teeming with the powers of life, well-being, and generally strong vital energies, may you remember your good friend will be waiting here to buy them. I've brought money, precious trade goods, and supplies to trade after all." The monk clearly seems stronger then you, but as most people are not so suicidal as to enter a dungeon, he continues to wait patiently at the entrance.

[PeacefulOak]

Ogrash, a mountain of a man that dwarfs his companions in the same way that the mountain they climb dwarfs the hills they once passed, gives the lounging men a long, cool look. ”Ogrash not care if old fool makes money. Ogrash is here for Ogrash, to grow and be strong... get... more strong.”

To the monk, again the gaze is long and cool, black eyes giving away next to nothing. “You want Ogrash find plants and mushrooms in cave? And... you pay Ogrash for this?Ogrash is OK with this.” One hand comes up with an exaggerated “OK” sign, thumb and index finger touching, the remaining fingers outstretched.

He turns back to the group. “We go in now?”

Throughout this, Ogrash’s strange scaled companion has stalked around the entrance, scanning the surrounds for threats before moving to the tunnel entrance.

[BelGareth]

Kor shrugs has he eyes the mixture of people outside the dungeon, what manner of people stood idle by why others died inside?

Ignoring his own thoughts he moved forward "Sure thing Ogrash" he said, as he moved to the entrance to enter.

[drack]

After giving the entrance a cursory check you carefully venture in only to find not only is there no fog within the cave, but much to your surprise, there's a gigundous pile of treasure! The cave opens after a slight bend into a ginormous room filled with more gold then you ever even imagined could exist in one place. Moreover, swords armors, all manner of equipment made from all sorts of rare and exotic materials. Looking closer you see, even just in the smallest pile in front of you, a couple thousand intricately designed gold coins, an occrotium breast plate, a quiver of adamantine arrows, no, not just adamantine tipped! an ivory-white staff of an almost crystalline material, an amulet made of some dark vine which seems to have grown around twenty fist sized purplish crystals, half of which swirl with a faint greenish mystery hue, a mostly decomposed human skeleton, a bag of red satin with platinum embroidery and several strange leaves and gemstones set in the embroidery itself, perfectly untouched by time, a mantle of midnight blue embroidered with twinkling gold and ruby stars, a seemingly common bow, but given what it's sitting amongst, it certainly couldn't be normal could it? Looking on you see a platinum wand with lettering with some strange mixture of paint that's probably worth serious money, why even the bones of this skeleton, several seem to have turned into clear crystalline gemstones! Given the celerity and rich color of these gems, just taking the four corpses on this pile alone would reap enough profit to buy a huge portion of the city of Red Feather itself! Moving on you see a gem encrusted key, a silver chalice with carefully crafted indentation. Looking at these items, they're probably magical treasures of immense value, why even a handful of gold would be a great profit from this trip. WAIT! Is that... It is! It's the tiara and mantle of Mary Lugona, major artifacts bestowed by the gods! (You recognize them from the statues and pictures in the church with a DC7 knowledge religion)


Truly, the rat faced beggar didn't lie. Rather, it's all so much more then he promised!

The rest of the room, when you manage to peel your eyes away from the treasure for a moment, is at least a mile long, but as most of it is blocked by the endless mounds of treasure, there's only really three paths. Straight ahead there's a path with mounds of treasure piled so high and so closely to it, that if someone were to even breath in it they'd be likely to be crushed to death by all the mounds and mounds of wealth! To the left an ominous cave that gives you shivers sits, twitching faintly around the edges, as if it were a maw of a giant creature impatiently waiting for foolish prey to walk into it. To the right is a pathway which winds around some of the smaller mounds of treasure before eventually disappearing into a cave at the entrance of which you see faint traces of something having passed. Disturbed dirt on the ground, tiny claw marks on the walls. DC8 survival with track to identify&track, or DC 15 survival to notice.

Feel free to use other skills or detection methods to gain more info at any point during the game.

If you have hirelings and want to leave them at some point, base of the mountain, entrance of the cave, ect. Just let me know and tell me how much advance payment you're giving them.

The journey took two days, subtract two days rations, one days water, and two night's lighting from your inventories, as well as two days pay for hirelings&along with their food and daily necessities. That was two days of cautious travel, hurrying and walking somewhat into dark/starting at dawn, you believe the rout could be traveled in a day going in either direction. On your journey you've found that most of the dangerous wildlife seems to have already been hunted, killing a few poisonous snakes and spiders you each earned 60xp. Unfortunately nothing edible.

[BelGareth]

Vor's eyes bulged wide as they entered and were greeted with a hoard.

He raised an eyebrow, and pointed to the pile of treasure with his glaive. "This." he said "Is obviously a trap, lest those outside would not be there, but in town rich as dandies"

He looks to the three tunnels out and peers at the 'quivering' one, "Perhaps this is the best way, it seems like it might be trying to prevent us from going that way, do you have a method to test for dangerous traps?"

[PeacefulOak]

Oversized fingers draw a simple glyph in the air, and Ogrash’s eyes take on the faintest luminescence as he scans the room for magic. Grunk, in turn, begins to carefully examine the floor and surrounds for signs of danger.


Ogrash casts Detect Magic.
[roll0] Ogrash Survival
[roll1] Ogrash Perception
[roll2] Grunk Perception for traps
[roll3] Grunk Survival

[drack]

The gold is indeed enchanted. The coins seem to be enchanted in a fashion very common to several ancient and powerful empires involving ritualistic magic. The intricate design of the coin sets the premise for the magical formation, individually the coins are enchanted via a ritual that expends great arcane or divine energy and a modest blood sacrifice, grinding souls into magical essence. These coins were traded between upper echelons of such empires as the coins themselves were power that could change hands and be used free of worry. The coins would later be consumed in magical rituals, deconstructed for their energies to be used in magical item creation, or sometimes even burned as a universal substitute for spell components. As for the artifacts, the mantle's a defensive artifact, the broach is a healing and speed enhancing artifact. Mary Lugona was a saintess of the church famous for... something that isn't fighting...

The cave seems to be teeming with moderate to overwhelming magical auras. The overwhelming auras come from the two artifacts, an old worn book from the same pile, several other points in various piles. Strong auras come from most of the gear, and the gold, and occasionally a moderate aura pops up here or there, almost as common as the overwhelming auras. Even the air tingles with the auras of strong necromancy, conjuration, and abjuration spells. Rather, what stands out better is the non-magical gear. A ripped bag not too far from the cave to the right which looks to have been dropped in haste by someone fleeing the dungeon, a club, a bow, a priest's garb from some cult, and a suit of leather armor, each left unattended as if their owners had simply vanished into thin air. A small rickety looking trolley set along simple rails reaching from the rightward cave to the main entrance. The other thing that stands out is the skeletons. While most of each of them radiates no aura, the gem encrusted pieces of them radiate a strong aura, and you think you even saw the flicker of one further across the room, a rib cage, remotely casting something with an overwhelming aura. Could these treasures be alive?!? :smalleek:

[Zarthrax]

The ragged Mongrelfolk finally pipes up for the first words he's spoken in days. Possibly longer, even. His shifty eyes take in the surroundings as he scowls.

"This feels far too good to be true..."

[PeacefulOak]

In an awed voice the large man speaks, his hands moving nervously on the shaft of his longspear. ”Everything... is magic. Ogrash is worried, not think... Maybe not safe to touch things here.” He looks to the gaping mouth passage, and gestures again.

In a puff of smoke a glowing dog appears, just within the mouth of the passage.

Uses 1 use of Summon Monster to Summon a Celestial Dog.

[drack]

Your summoning is successful! :smallbiggrin:
Additionally the dog doesn't die upon arrival!

[BelGareth]

Vorn eyes the summoned dog, "Can ye move it further in?"

[PeacefulOak]

Ogrash gestures vehemently to the dog. "Move, dog."

Animal Handling check just in case, I guess? [roll0]

[drack]

The dog walks up to a pile of glittering shiny treasure, and sits down expectantly. You don't know whether to be thrilled or disappointed at the lack of dog-gore-splatter and mysterious and unknowable yet somehow expected other potential dog deaths.

[BelGareth]

Vor shrugs and moves into the quivering entrance, moving down the cave like tunnel.

[PeacefulOak]

Ogrash follows but only to the edge of the cave, not entering the tunnel. As he moves, he guides/pushes the dog back towards the cave, giving it a shove forward to keep up with Vor. Grunk comes up alongside Ogrash and looks further in, seeking for danger.

[roll0] Arcana
[roll1] Dungeoneering

[roll2] Perception (Grunk)

[drack]

The dog happily leaps into the twitchy mouth cave vanishing from sight

The summoning is still active.

As the darkness consumes the party, you see the faint strand of light behind you fade into nothingness... now there's a problem... Without all the light from the treasure, none of you can see anything...
I mean, somehow all that beautiful light didn't really penetrate into the twitchy mouth cave...

Assisted by the wonders of darkvission the party looks around.

You find yourself in a large and somewhat empty room. It's got white walls and green chipping paint on the ceiling. The carpeting is of orange shag, and you see only three objects in this room. The first is a cockroach crawling idly across the floor. The second is a tree, growing seemingly out of the floor as if it were perfectly natural. The third is a red rubber ball, lying motionless as if discarded on the floor. You don't see the entrance you just came from, nor any passageway out. The room itself however seems to be quite big, perhaps even a hundred or two feet across and fifty feet tall.

Ogrash recasts detect magic.

You observe no magical aura from the room as a whole, no magic aura from the cockroach, no magical aura from the tree, and an overwhelming magic aura from the rubber ball.

The shag feels good under your feet, like it could pull you in at any moment, almost like floofy fur, but shag.

“Ball is magic, very much. Nothing else. This is strange.” Ogrash informs the party as he shifts his feet in the rug, and mentally tells Grunk to look for secrets... which the Eidolon does. (rolls 27 search)

Gruck begins his search, but before long, the cockroach seems to notice your party, turning towards you, and scuttling in the direction of the party.

Vor says "um...hello?"

The cockroach pauses slightly at your greeting, and replies in a low baritone "Hello Mr. alien. Why have you invaded my humble home?"
(language->common)

Vor is surprised, but bows low. "my humble apologies, we did not know this was a home, let alone yours. We came from a cave full of strange gold that looked like a trap"

The cockroach doesn't seem to move, but gives the impression of crooking a brow quizzically, almost as if through a suggestion effect, only that no magic is observed by Ogrash's spell.
"A home is where one resides and feels safe and comfortable. If I feel safe and comfortable wherever I go, is that not my home? Are you not invading the homes of others every day?"
Somehow this argument sounds a bit more persuasive coming from a bug...

Ogrash blinks and seriously considers killing everything, as this is clearly a practical joke designed to make him look stupid.

Grunk makes a discovery! You can walk on the walls here!
...but only when walking backwards...

“Where you...” he pauses, then continues with a sidelong glance at his companions. “Where you come from? No see doors.”

"I am from the corner nearer to the tree. A corner, not a door."
The cockroach doesn't seem to find this weird.

“This place strange. Seem non-euclidean in space. See? Friend Grunk walking backward on Wall.” Ogrash comments.

"Euclidean? What do you mean, alien?" the cockroach replies.

"Could you help us leave " Vor inquires

Grunk makes a discovery!
There's a hollow under this section of floor over here! It has a consistence of rotten wood, rather then strangely unidentifiable repellent force.
"Leave?" The cockroach seems upset by this notion. "Why would you want to leave?!?" The cockroach asks.

Grunk digs down into the floor, using his claws if necessary.

The section of flooring breaks away easily, revealing a shaft which descends directly downwards. The shaft is lit on one side by chandilears which seem to hang "down" towards another face of the shaft.

“Not know this place, we seem stuck. Also, that ball very magic. Not sure safe, not safe. Also: what in the name of whichever gods matter is going on here??” Ogrash tries not to show that his speech pattern just dropped.

"That's OK, come to understand it slowly, learn to grow and adapt to your new setting, this will benefit you spiritually." The cockroach calmly replies.
Ogrash makes a discovery!
The shag is growing into his feet, like veins, growing and branching into each other. (veins, not vines)
Presently you can easily pull free as a move action, it seems to have taken two rounds to get to this point.

Ogrash pulls himself free, and begins walking towards the ball.
“My name Ogrash. You are?”

The roach follows, clearly relieved that you're staying (for now), though slightly disappointed at you resisting the shag.
"I'm known as Thorgradsmodathotos, a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
As it speaks its name there seems to be a disjointed click and slurp, the former a sound of bone scraping against bone, like someone's teeth being rearranged, and the latter the slurp of a fish's tail slipping into the water.
As you approach the rubber ball, you feel a slowly building heat. You're still some distance from the rubber ball, but can figure from here that it ought to be hotter than a naked flame.

(Is there a knowledge check to roll for the name or anything?)
(Like a Knowledge-Dafuq check?)

Knowledge checks are made at player discretion, though I doubt you'd have heard of him. :smallconfused:
Knowledge-Dafuq would probably be the right one to be honest...

(rolls 21)

O.o Knowledge-Dafuq seems to actually exist! Moreover, it's common knowledge that such names are common in this world of Dafuq, and that there is nothing particularly noteworthy about this person in the lore books.
( "world of Dafuq" tentative name for this room and rooms sharing similar nonsense)

(I’m taking a rank in that next level.)
“Thorgradsmodathotos, can you help us?” Ogrash continues moving, circling around the totally-not-a-sun towards the tree. Meanwhile, Grunk is carefully peering down the holeway. (rolls 17)

You glimpse three doors at the end of the tunnel, the one in the center a phantasmal beast depicted on it, wisps of dark fog slipping from it seem to stretch into ghastly mouths with sharpened eyes as teeth and a cord of interwoven hearts as tongues. You can't bring yourself to look squarely at the full image after glimpsing the tendril coming off it. The left one has a familiar looking disembodied rib cage printed on it with glistening gemstones, and the third has a blob vaguely resembling a butterfly on it. Each has a short script above the image which you can't make out from this distance.
The tree seems to be a tree at first glance. Has the world of Dafuq taken a turn for the normal? A deep sense of foreboding enters your mind alongside this notion, preventing you from buying into the sanity.
"Sure, I can help you, but why do you keep circling? I'm trying to help you already, settle down and acclimate to this environment first. Don't act so erratically!" He seems edgy with you glancing down holes you shouldn't and such. (GM confirms cockroach is normal cockroach size.)

[Zarthrax]

Winden smirks in a weird way after all the nonsense.

"Who's up for going back to the room with the treasure? Weird balls and strange effects are not normally in my wheelhouse."

[BelGareth]

"Sure, if you can get us back. I say we go down the tree and through one of those doors." Vor says