[Ptolus/AD&D] IC Thread #3 - Back to the Surface

Benoist · March 18, 2011, 05:21:02 PM

Smeads finds himself blinded by the lights around him. He is lying on a pile of animal furs, on the ground of a room furnished with many chairs and round tables. He can make out the curved shape of the large counter behind and the coloured rays of morning light filtered by the stained glass windows above.

The Gold Ladder.

Just by the door of the main room, Smeads notices a monk entirely clad in black cloth looking at a group of people likely standing right besides the opening in the ground that leads to the underworld. The half-elf can hear some chatter coming from there without being able to make out the words these people are using. He cannot see the group: the counter is standing right in his line of sight. He throws another look above at the stained glass of the large alcove and the mess of ropes hanging from the ceiling which supports the weight of the platform down below.

Smeads turns his head back towards the monk by reflex. Gareth loudly inhales as blood spills upward out of his mouth. He seems to recognize the place as well and, for a brief moment, tries to hang on and stay conscious, but collapses just as Cadfan the dwarf rushes to his side. "There, there now, you’re going to be alright!"

DM: Gareth, click on this link.

Smeads stays there, conscious, dumbstruck for a moment, when he hears the echo of another voice coming out of the well, as if someone shouted something from the depths of the earth. He cannot make out what it says, but the answer of one of the fellows by the hole soon follows, loud and clear: "ARE THE REST OF YOU SAFE DOWN THERE? WHY ARE YOU NOT ANSWERING THE BELL'S CALL?"

DM: Smeads slowly gets over his dizziness. He is still very much injured from the earlier fight against the creature by the candles earlier on, but can otherwise, with some difficulty, stand up and move if he wishes.
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Ptolus/AD&D Threads on the RPG Site
Pre-game Chat
Player Characters
Experience Points
Out-of-character thread #1
People and Places of Ptolus
In-character thread #1 - The Gold Ladder
In-character thread #1a - Delbaeth
In-character thread #2 - Underground (part 1)
In-character thread #2b - Limbus Sanguineum
In-character thread #3 - Back to the Surface

Lilaxe · March 24, 2011, 04:25:08 PM

"huh...am I back amongst the living....or did you all join Gareth and I in the dream world? although.......as I'm in The Gold Ladder I am thinking you healed me and woke me up..."

Benoist · March 25, 2011, 02:59:14 PM

Quote from: Lilaxe;447999"huh...am I back amongst the living....or did you all join Gareth and I in the dream world? although.......as I'm in The Gold Ladder I am thinking you healed me and woke me up..."

Cadfan nods. "You are here with us, son. You just woke up. You were brought up here a little earlier. We administered what potions we could, and waited for the others to join you, but apparently they are not decided to come back up right this minute." He nods in the direction of the activity taking place around the hole behind the counter Smeads cannot see from his position.

The dwarf is kneeling at Gareth's side. The thief is lying on your right. On your left, you notice Rissthil Tanlithrin, lying there just as unconscious.

From the other side of the counter you hear the same voice shouting again: "NO MORE ROPE. LOWERING THE PLATFORM NOW. WAIT FOR ME. I'M COMING DOWN."

DM: Smeads is currently at 2 HP (from his original -4 HP).

Lilaxe · March 25, 2011, 03:51:18 PM

Cadfan.....I dont know what to make of this....The last I remember was charging the amorphous blob creature, hoping that my attack would interrupt its control of the zombie creatures...the next think I knew I was waking up in a shadow of this world...an exact copy in which we could interact...but in which only the unconscious, or dead, were in. We even met a halfling monk...now...what was his name..It'll come to me...."

"But, the thing most disturbing is that in that dream world there is a painting, and from that painting a creature was missing....the blob creature I attacked! So that creature entered this world through that dream world...I have to warn everyone...all the creatures in that painting reacted to our interference with the painting...which means they all might be waking up and waiting to enter this world!"

Benoist · March 28, 2011, 01:15:07 AM

Cadfan stays at Gareth's side, and brings a finger to his lips. He whispers: "That is quite a story, son, but I'm not sure the monk behind me by the door would like to hear about it. This one's from the Black Abbey, and he's looking over these Brothers of the Sword," as he nods towards the entrance to the underworld beyond the counter, "making sure they're doing their job as their supposed to, or some such. I don't think he needs to know all that going on down there, if you see what I mean."

"The Sword folks don't like the Black Abbey very much. They'd be content if they weren't chaperoned by old crows wandering about in the world while unable to figure out by which end to hold a blade if their lives depended on it."

He winks. There is a large fellow wearing a suit of mail over his black robes that comes walking towards you from behind the counter. The dwarf adds quickly: "This one's Udo. He's a bit of an oaf, but a good guy at heart. He's kind of a healer himself."

Then much louder, to Udo: "Ah. Brother! I was about to call for you. Smeads here just walk up. Gareth doesn't seem to be too good, though. Could I borrow more of that ointment of yours?"

The large brother stops at Smeads' feet. He throws a look at the sinister elder monk from the Black Abbey standing by the door, stiff and attentive, as if rendered uncomfortable by his very presence in this room. Udo dismisses whatever thought came to his mind as he looked to then answer the dwarf: "That is not a problem. I will get more in a moment. Mundel is going down to check on the others."

The large brown eyes of the monk turn to look at Smeads. There is something stern, and yet very peaceful about his gaze. "How are you feeling, Smeads?"

DM: Interrogation mark on the map means Smeads doesn't have a line of sight to what's going on there at the moment, but this is where he heard the shouting voice come from.

Lilaxe · April 02, 2011, 10:35:46 AM

"Uhhh...Im feeling better now, thanks."

"Cadfan, do you have any idea how the others are? Did they kill the blob creature?"

Benoist · April 03, 2011, 01:49:08 AM

Quote from: Lilaxe;449382"Uhhh...Im feeling better now, thanks."

"Cadfan, do you have any idea how the others are? Did they kill the blob creature?"

The Dwarf shrugs as he stands up: "I have no idea. Your companions just sent you - the wounded, I mean - back to the surface, and when we checked on them by ringing the bell, they wouldn't answer."

The brother cuts in: "Apparently they are alright, though they will not come back up at the moment, for some reason."

Udo checks on Smeads' chest. There is a surge of pain, but nowhere as intense as Smeads expected, remembering the loud cracking sound which instantly followed the creature's tentacle crushing his rib cage. "I'm sure they are fine." He smiles.

Lilaxe · April 11, 2011, 03:59:35 PM

Smeads will wait for the Brother to move away, then will ask Cadfan:

"Should I tell the brother? Or is he also better off not knowing...."

Benoist · April 11, 2011, 05:00:53 PM

Quote from: Lilaxe;451231"Should I tell the brother? Or is he also better off not knowing...."

"Nah, I think you can talk with Udo around. He's a good fellow, like Mundel who's down there at the moment. The only one that might become a problem is the Black Monk at the door. The folks from the Black Abbey, they ain't the tolerant sort. They'd love nothing more than 'fix' the Brothers of the Sword. Whatever Ptolus needs comes before the Abbot's wishes, as far as the Sword's concerned. The folks of the Abbey, that rubs them the wrong way..."

Lilaxe · April 11, 2011, 08:07:24 PM

Cadfan, I've just had a thought. Iif we bring up the statue of the halfling I saw in the dreamworld, is there someone around that might be able to turn him back to flesh? That might answer a lot of questions and give us some good leads.

Benoist · April 11, 2011, 08:31:14 PM

"Oooh you found someone turned to stone, did ya? That brings back memories from the old days, that's for sure! Well. What you'd need is someone like Delbaeth. I'm not sure the elf would be able to do anything for you at this point, but there might be other mages in town he'd know about. You could talk to him about that. What d'ya think?"

Lilaxe · April 11, 2011, 09:46:43 PM

Yes that sounds perfect...is he around?

Benoist · April 11, 2011, 10:19:45 PM

The dwarf nods. "He is still in his room, but he is doing a little bit better. He might be awake right now. We could go check if you feel strong enough to stand on your own feet. The potion I gave you earlier might have done its work by now. Here: I will give you a hand."

Smeads can stand up and walk if he wants to.

Lilaxe · April 21, 2011, 11:00:00 AM

I'll get up and go to Delbereths (sp?) room.

"Good Sir, we have found a monk turned to stone - is it within your power to turn him back to flesh?"

"His insight to what happened would be invaluable to our current explorations"

Benoist · April 22, 2011, 02:08:49 PM

Quote from: Lilaxe;452836I'll get up and go to Delbereths (sp?) room.

DM: *grins* Delbaeth.

When Smeads gets up and walks towards the door of the main room leading to the stairs that will lead lead him to Delbaeth, he can see what is going on behind the counter: there are two other Brothers of the Sword there. One of them is operating the system that will lower the second down in the hole. Angharad is standing a bit farther away, looking a little bit nervous. The larger of the two brothers, the one who is operating the pulley system, advises the second one: "You will do what they tell you to do. Don't look at me like that. The collapse was significant and they'll need your help to rescue Bertold."

The black monk standing by the door leading to the Gold Ladder's kitchen doesn't seem to like the comment very much.

You then step into a small lobby with a set of stairs that lead you to the upper levels of the inn. There, you finally reach the room where the grievously burned elf is resting. You find him awake, but still quite feeble, resting uneasily on his bed to try and recover from his wounds.

Quote from: Lilaxe;452836"Good Sir, we have found a monk turned to stone - is it within your power to turn him back to flesh?"

"His insight to what happened would be invaluable to our current explorations"

The elf is quite agitated by the news. He tries first to get all the news he can out of you, asking whether you found Bertold, what is happening down there, who your companions are, what experience you have in these sorts of rescue missions... but is forced to give up on Cadfan's insistance.

He finally answers your question: "This sort of feat is well beyond my capabilities. I can only think of a handful of practitioners of the art who would be able to help you."

"One would be the Commissar's first mage, but he is quite a shoddy character, unworthy of anyone's trust, let alone the Emperor's." He sighs, coughs, and adds: "I guess the Commissar likes to keep his enemies closer to him than his own friends. That, or the man is a fool; he will end up killed, sooner or later, once he is of no use to his allies."

He waves that thought away as he swallows painfully. "In any case. There is an elf at Iridithil's home, one of my mentors, who would be able to assist you. Be wary, however: the elves will expect you to stand by your word. If you seek their help, they will want your help in return."

"There may be more masters in and around town. I heard rumors of practitioners of the art hiding from the Church's eyes in the slums along the city walls, but I cannot confirm them, one way or the other."