Lair of the Lamb (group B)

[SlyJohnny]

You awaken into darkness. Feeling sore, groggy, and badly dehydrated, your throat parched. The heat of other bodies, lying beside you, breathing shallowly. Rope, tightly wound around your bare wrists and ankles. You're unclothed and bound, your body curved into a drunk's impression of a crescent moon, by the concave stone you're lying on.

As you start trying to piece together what might have happened to you, there is movement from the gloom. The sound of something very heavy, dragging across stone. A distant, but sudden stink of ammonia.

Something is coming.

--

Vanin, Nia, Ophelia, Bertram

There are four of you in total, all lying next to each other in the dark. The bodies of these other people are bent at the head and feet the same as yours, resting along the upward curves of the surface beneath you. They have started to stir alongside you.

You have managed to free yourselves and are no longer restrained, but you are badly dehydrated, weak with thirst. You are at disadvantage to all ability checks, attack rolls and saving throws until you drink water. Without water, you will all be dead within 24 hours.

It is pitch black. There is no light. You can't see the source of the smell or the ponderous dragging noise, but it's coming from somewhere to the east. There's a strange, rhythmic rasping sound. The way the sound seems to surround you suggests that you're in an enclosed space, possibly indoors, or inside a cave.

The movement from the dark appears to be growing closer, headed in your direction.

Please check this image and confirm I've copied over your peasant stats accurately.

https://i.imgur.com/K8PDlPY.png

You all start with no equipment, except for [roll0] (1 Vanin, 2 Nia, 3 Ophelia, 4 Bertram), who has somehow managed to keep a small knife (stats as a dagger) hidden on their person.

You begin controlling your PC character only; your other peasants are still restrained elsewhere. They are all trying to be as quiet as possible.

[Luccan]

Ophelia begins sawing at the rope binding her hands with the knife, trying not to make too obvious a sound despite the feeling her heartbeat must be echoing through the room from how loud it is in her ears. She tries to listen and determine how close the sound of the approaching creature is


Rules for rolls have not been set out. Please let me know if I'm good to roll when it seems appropriate to me or if you would prefer to call for them first

Perception: [roll0]

[Metastachydium]

Finally free of her bonds, Nia rolls onto her belly with a muffled grunt as the stone rubs against her skin and begins to wordlessly crawl westwards, away from the source of the noise and smell.


Stealth at disadvantage: [roll0], [roll1]

[SlyJohnny]

Ophelia has managed to cut herself free just before the creature entered the room. It's 15 or 20 feet away to the east, she thinks.

Nia turns and orients her body to the strange, smooth gradient she's resting on, creeping away to the west, in the opposite direction to the approaching sounds and stench.

After several feet moving up, her questing fingers come into contact with some kind of ledge, or edge, or lip, extending about a foot thick and curving gently like the edge of a circle, before the slope falls off and curves back towards her. As she tries to find purchase on this long, narrow ledge, the arced surface you're all resting on shifts beneath her, pitching her forward and see-sawing underneath herunsteadily, as if this entire strange, sloped ground you're all on is thrown off-balance by Nia's attempts to climb. You hear the soft grinding of stone on stone, in time with the teetering of the ground beneath you.

Vanin, Bertram:

The ground you're lying on shifts, seems to rise up, and turn partly on it's side. You roll west, into the back of someone's feet.

[Kvard51]

Vanin uses the roll of the ground to spin to his feet, which he begins to shuffle, trying to find a sharp edge to saw through his ropes. The sounds coming towards him turn his bowels to water, but he won’t let panic take hold. He remembers hearing his brother often saying, “fear is the mind-killer”. He keeps moving away from whatever is coming, making sure to put as many other bodies in between it and him. If it’s hungry, he wants as many mooks as possible.

[Metastachydium]

Nia grunts as the ground below her starts moving, and instinctively kicks at the body touching her feet. She knows she must get out of here and is determined to do everything within her power to do so. Right now, this means little more than slowly turning around and trying to climb out of the… Whatever the thing she's found herself in is, hoping there's a floor somewhere down there.


Athletics at disadvantage: [roll0], [roll1]

[SlyJohnny]

The four of you are free of your bonds, either having been cut free by Ophelia or having wiggled your way loose just as the sounds and stench entered the room.

Nia and Vanin move west, together. Their hands come into contact with hard stone ground, and whatever receptacle they just crawled out of swings back up as they leave it. Ophelia and Bertram roll back to the east as whatever they're lying in settles back to stability.

15 feet to the west, and Nia and Vanin's hands come into contact with a stone wall, running north-to-south.

[Metastachydium]

Nia nervously drums on the wall with her fingers for a moment, before whispering to whoever came along for the ride. "Check that way. Look for door. I'll go the other way." She gently pushes Vanin northwards and not waiting for an answer, she presses herself against the wall and begins moving south, running her palm along the surface of the stone, trying to determine if it can be climbed.
They entered here somehow. There has to be a door.


Investigation at disadvantage: [roll0], [roll1]
Please also tell me if she finds moisture.

[SlyJohnny]

Nia is finding it hard to concentrate, but this isn't the first time she's had to create a mental map of a room while navigating it in the dark, and her burglar experiences serves her well. The walls are rough-hewn stone, definitely climbable, although in her weakened state she might fall.

She moves 15 feet to the south before she reaches a corner, with a wall that heads away to the east. Based on the sounds she's heard and what she's explored so far, she thinks she's in the southwest corner of a 30x30ft square room. There is some kind of entrance on the east side of the room, where she heard the creature enter. The creature is moving sluggishly towards the centre of the room.

There is no moisture here. Not so much as a drop to relieve the dry cracking of her lips and tongue.

[Kvard51]

Vanin, keeping his hand on the wall, begins to walk north. He tries to be as silent as possible, knowing he is in no shape to fight whatever entered the chamber.

Stealth - [roll0]

[Luccan]

Ophelia moves away from the creature to the east, towards the western edge until she finds a wall or exit. She keeps the dagger pointed out in the creature's general direction, hoping to keep it at bay if it comes near her. She whispers to the others "Find anything? I've a knife"

[SlyJohnny]

Vanin moves north for about 15 feet before his hands touch a northwest corner, the wall stretching back to the east.

Ophelia creeps 15 feet in the dark, until her hands come into contact with a rough stone wall to the west. Vanin and Nia can just hear her whispered mumblings just as they move away to the north and south, respectively.

[Metastachydium]

Nia shudders as what she's just realised sinks in. She'll have to move by that. Still clinging to the wall, she slips back to stand close by Ophelia. "Square room." she whispers. "This side, no door." she gently lifts Ophelia's hand to point towards the eastern half of the chamber. "Over there, I'm afraid."

[SlyJohnny]

All

The shuffling movements from the dark grow louder. There is a shifting of stone on stone, as the creature lifts it's weight and mounts some other object in the room. There is a snuffling sound, like that of a pig rooting for truffles followed by two near-simultaneous startled gasps.

Bite [roll0] attack, [roll1] piercing damage
Crush [roll2] attack, [roll3] bludgeoning damage

[SlyJohnny]

All

There is a short, loud scream in the dark. A thrashing, and a wet ripping sound. There is a brief period of absolute silence and stillness, before the air becomes full of the sounds of a sedate, laboured chewing and tearing.

(Malec is dead)

[Metastachydium]

Nia instinctively tries to gulp, but her mouth is as dry as her throat. Her body begins trembling uncontrollably. Whatever that is, it's here for them. They were supposed to get eaten. She must get out of here.
She grabs Ophelia's arm (she has a knife; she's too useful to die yet) with a still shaking hand and, hoping she's quiet enough not to draw its attention, but loud enough for Vanin to hear she whispers "Move." before starting for the corner she just came from and then, pressing herself against the wall again, further on eastwards.


Nia moves and dashes, sticking to the wall.
Stealth at disadvantage, if applicable: [roll0], [roll1]

[SlyJohnny]

Nia tries to quicken her pace, but this is perilous in this unfamiliar pitch-black environment. As she strides east, her left knee and shin collide painfully with a stone outcropping at about waist height, just to the north of the wall she's following. Whatever she just hit shifts and rocks backward, with the sound stone of stone grinding on stone coming from beneath. With that sound, she also hears a sharp intake of breath and a panicked sob, quickly stifled, coming from whatever obstacle she just struck.

At this unintended noise (which seems deafeningly loud in this room of people creeping along and breathing very softly), there's an answering snarl from something just to the north, where the chewing and tearing sounds were coming from; the sounds of stone rocking against stone, as something shifts it's weight around against whatever it's resting against. But the eating sounds soon resume, and the moment seems to pass.

[Luccan]

Ophelia follows Nia, unsure where else to go. The sounds of death and eating cause her to grip the knife tighter and move slower.


[roll0]

[Metastachydium]

Nia freezes when she manages to draw its attention, but the moment passes soon (if not as soon as Nia would have liked it). She knows danger. Her chosen profession comes with risks. But never in her life was she so afraid as now, in the darkness with that chewing on someone who could have been her.
Still, termbling with horror, she forces herself to come to her senses for long enough to nudge Ophelia, whispering "Found more folks. You cut 'em loose." just as she reaches into… Whatever these rocking bowls of stone are, to pull whoever's inside closer to the knife.

[SlyJohnny]

Nia reaches into the bowl (and she's sure it is a bowl, from the way it curves away underneath her and seems to rest on a base that's not as wide as it's brim), and her arms touch the shoulders of a naked woman. She initially flinches away at Nia's touch, but seems to decide to trust her, writhing up the ends of the bowl like a snake or slug to get closer to Nia and the knife; her wrists and ankles are bound.

[Luccan]

Ophelia begins cutting the woman's bonds, careful to avoid accidentally harming her. The rat catcher then moves to see if there are more captives nearby

[SlyJohnny]

Ophelia cuts the woman loose and helps her out of the bowl.

There are three other people in the bowl, all breathing shallowly. One seems to be trying to clamber out of the bowl despite being bound, and might cause a noise if they tip the bowl. Another stirs at Ophelia's touch.

The chewing and tearing sounds from the north continue. There is a loud snapping sound, like kindling being broken down for a fire. The creature sounds gluttonous. Ophelia wonders how fast it eats and how much time she might have.

[Metastachydium]

Sensing that the bowl starts shaking, Nia grabs onto its brim and flexes her muscles, trying to hold it still. The last thing they need is noise.


Strength check at disadvantage to keep the bowl steady: [roll0], [roll1]

[Luccan]

Ophelia whispers to the other captives "Be quiet. I'll cut you loose, but if we tip the bowl we'll be caught" She'll begin to work the bonds faster, concerned the beast might turn on them at any moment

[Kvard51]

Vanin realizes there must be an exit behind the cruncher. He keeps his fingers trAiling against the wall and moves slowly and quietly down the north face, looking for an opening.

Stealth [roll0]

[SlyJohnny]

Nia and Ophelia free another captive, who scrambles silently out of the bowl, rubbing the circulation back into their sore wrists and ankles.

Vanin moves for 30 feet to the east before he reaches another corner, with a wall running south.

[Kvard51]

Reaching the southerly turn of the wall, Vanin considers everything he has discovered, both by touch and hearing. Listening carefully to attempt to discern the relative location of whatever keeps crunching and squelching, he continues his silent trek along the wall.

Stealth: [roll0]
Perception: [roll1]

[SlyJohnny]

Vanin moves south for 10 feet before the stone wall drops away, replaced by wood. The square wood frame shifts outward at his light touch but holds it's orientation, like a door. The passage behind it seems to lead away to the east.

(All rolls are at disadvantage, you have to roll twice and pick the worst, but no rolls needed for this bit.)

[Kvard51]

Vanin slips out into the passage going east, looking for either a light source, a weapon, or the soft glow of an exit.

[SPOILER=Rolls]Perception: [roll0] [roll1]
Stealth: [/[roll2] [roll3] SPOILER]

[Metastachydium]

Nia grows ever more nervous with every passing second. "How many more?" she whispers, mainly to Ophelia.

[SlyJohnny]

Vanin heads down the east passage. It's wide enough that he can't feel the south wall without moving away from the north wall. After about 15 feet, his nostrils detect a strong barnyard smell coming from the east. 15 feet further on, and he arrives at another wooden door.

Nia can feel there are two more people bound here, in the bowl, with two having been freed.

[Metastachydium]

"Worm over here. Now." Nia hisses to the two still in, not letting go of the bowl just yet. In the meantime she listens intently to the noises coming from the north, trying to estimate how much time do they still have.


Perception at disadvantage: [roll0], [roll1]

[SlyJohnny]

Nia is finding it hard to separate out the eating noises into individual sounds. She thinks the fleshy wet sounds have been replaced with rhythmic snapping noises, like a man methodically breaking kindling into small pieces. There's the occasional slurping, lapping sound. She isn't sure how much the creature has left of it's current meal.

One of the bound people squirms up to the rim of the bowl like a slug, and presses their mouth against Nia's ear. "Where are we? What's happening?" he breathes.

[Metastachydium]

Nia bites her lip before whispering back a terse "In a hurry. We are food." She doesn't like the slurping sounds at all.

[SlyJohnny]

Nia and Ophelia cut the last two people in the bowl free, increasing the size of their huddled group to six.

Abruptly, the eating sounds to the north stop. There is the sound of stone grinding on stone as something shifts it's mass and moves away, back to the east. Some weight comes into contact with the bowl that Nia and Ophelia just finished extracting people from, and it is shoved towards them, almost knocking them over.

The mass slithers away to the east. You hear the sounds of something moving, the soft creak of hinges. Then silence, except for the soft breathing of those you have just freed.

While Vanin is deciding what to do, he hears the doors back to his west swing open, tapping against the walls softly as some large creature huffs and whickers, and pulls itself down the corridor. It comes very close to Vanin, and for a moment he thinks it's going to corner him, but it doesn't seem to notice he's there. It moves 15 feet towards him before the sounds begin to recede, as the creature appears to turn away and head south.

[Metastachydium]

Nia swallows up a sigh of relief as she waits for the noises of the alien mass moving away to die down. Once she can't hear them anymore and the erratic pounding of her heart becomes more even, she turns around to press herself against the wall once again and she whispers a quick "It's gone. We follow. Only exit." to everyone close enough to hear, as she begins to proceed eastwards, hoping the others are not too scared to follow suit.
There's a certain irony to this: she always worked alone and did her best not to find anyone in the various dark rooms she entered. But now, she doesn't want to be alone.

[SlyJohnny]

Nia shuffles eastward. The others have linked hands to follow her, and she can hear their soft footfalls behind her in the dark, the room has gotten so quiet now.

She moves a total of 30 feet from the corner she left earlier, and comes into contact with a wall running north to south; the opposite corner of the room. She thinks whatever door the creature left by is just a short way to the north. She and Ophelia and their little band could follow it out along the right hand wall, if they liked.

[Metastachydium]

Nia can appreciate this silence. It means no shuffling and chewing and slurping – the lack of that. She takes a deep breath and continues northwards. They have to get out of here.

[Kvard51]

Vanin waits until he can no longer hear the slurper, the returns to the exit he has just passed through. ”This way,” he whispers loudly, “The beast has sated itself and returned to its lair.”

[SlyJohnny]

Nia reaches a set of swinging saloon doors, 10 feet to the north. They are 10 feet wide, taking up a third of the wall. They shift outwards at her gentle, questing touch. Then, Vanin's voice from behind them.

The corridor is wide and dark, but Nia could follow the north or south wall by touch.

[Metastachydium]

Nia reaches out and grabs the hand of whoever's coming pulling them onwards and past the gate, where she gives Vanin's arm a friendly squeeze before pushing close to the man. "Where did it go?"