[PbF] Funnel World!

Valga
I take a close look at the altar.

Fride
I say "Well, the group seems a mite bit smaller, some others seemed to have wandered off. Where to next Arkif?"

Hafle

Dry stone does not intimidate someone who used to scamper up the mizzen during a storm. It does seem a trifle dark down there. Certainly Aegis will protect me from being buried alive.
*cough* "Lead on, fair friar." *cough*

Illdauga

She stands quietly by, eager to hear what directions Arkif will issue.

Jorda

Wait silently for the group to move. I clutch the amulet I've just found in my pocket.

Brother Thunke, Hafle, and Steini
Undaunted by his injured leg, Brother Thunke makes his way down the steps into the darkness, using his staff and the wall of the stairwell for support. Steini and Hafle follow.

Thunke stops at the bottom of the stairs and waits for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, Steini and Hafle come up behind and peer past him into the room beyond. In the dimness, they can make out a stone chamber, roughly 10' across and 15' deep. The right hand wall is broken by two passages that lead away into pitch blackness, and another, barely discernible, leads away from the far end. The room is cold, and smells of dust.

What do you do?

Valga
As the three men descend the stairs and the dwarf idles nearby, obviously relishing the effects of her whiskey as she turns in place and stares up at the sky, you step closer to the altar.

From your travels, you understand that this cracked stone table has some sort of religious significance, but there is no comparable object in your own practice. Once you step up onto the broad stone platform that supports it, the table reaches to your waist. Unlike the rest of this particular ruin, it's made of dark gray basalt, pocked and worn by the elements, covered in places by patches of yellowish lichen. You reach out with one hand and touch the surface, which feels rough to the touch. A jagged crack runs across its face at an angle, but the altar is still intact.

What do you do?

Ligri
You break off from the rest of the group, stepping over debris and winding your way amongst the vestigal foundations until you reach the base of the slope, then scamper up until you're well above the height of the highest column. From this vantage point on the blackened mountainside, you look back on the scene, scanning the ruins for signs of your father.

The main group still mills about near the place where that one lady found that silver thing. Past a bunch of broken stones you see another bunch of people, some of them climbing down some stairs underground. There's that funny little dwarf over there near them.

The whole flat area that holds the ruins stretches from left to right along the mountainside, surrounded on the other three sides by evergreen trees that descend down the slope into the mist. Somewhere down there is your village. Behind you, Hvitr's Horn rises up steeply toward the gray heavens.

What do you do?

(In case you're wondering, you can;t see Salbja from your position due to ruins in the way.)

Othilde
Heh heh. That was fun to break. I start stomping on the rest of it to watch it crumble. Heh heh.

Gerdga
I mill about the general vicinity of the constable.

Hafle

'While my faith in Aegis may light my way above ground' *cough* 'She needs more material assistance below. Does anyone have a light?'

i'm aware we have no light, but stuff needs to get rolling. Does anyone in the party have a light, or materials to make one?

Brother Thunke; "Agreed, it is darker than i had envisaged down here, does any one have a light? Or should we harvest the dried branches in the ruins above for a torch?"


Ligri; I look up at the mysterious heights of the Horn. Perhaps thats where father went. Im sure the monk will find him if he is below. I start to climb for the peak.

Edit: After posting I realize I need a bit of clarification. I want to toss the stones immediately, should I wait for Jason to tell me I found something or just assume I have and make the toss? If its the latter, Steini also goes right ahead and tosses down each corridor and waits for something to happen each time.

Steini
Keeping relatively quiet, assuming what we are pursuing is as adept as we are at traveling in pitch-darkness and still at least someone near by. I search the ground for some loose stone or anything I can attempt to throw down the passages and bring out some sort of reaction or further knowledge of what lies beyond.

Gera
Still quite unsure how to best help the party, I wait quietly by my brother's side for some opportunity to present itself.

I'm taking over for Stormseeker's characters .... so here we go

Thorgana:

The stairs descending into the ground awaken an anticipation I haven't felt in years. Not one of excitement, but rather one of relief. Underground has always been the only place where I don't feel a physical compulsion to drink my spirits. I know that the creeping sense of dread is emotional battle I will have to wage myself to not drink my stock out of pleasure instead of need -- at least on the surface there is a "physical excuse". But, who knows, maybe there is an ancient stockpile of spirits of even higher potency down below. Now that I think about it, I am sure that is the case...eagerly following down the stairs, allowing for my natural vision to help navigate.


Gunnva

This aimless wandering about is pointless when there is fish to be caught, and more importantly ate and traded. Deep in thought on the finer points of fish, I realize that I have been loudly sucking on my oily, fish scented fingers.

Brother Thunke, Steini, Hafle, and Thorgana
Brother Thunke's words echo down the dark passages and he pauses, one hand on the wall and one hand clutching his staff, waiting to see if his eyes will adjust further. Steini and Hafle step into the room after him, with Thorgana bringing up the rear. Steini gathers up a handful of pebbles, moves past the monk, and tosses one into the first passageway.

Against all expectation, the rock bounces back from the opening and skips across the floor of the chamber. At the same time there is a dim flare of red light from a spot on the stone jamb that frames the passageway, at about shoulder height. The glow fades quickly, but the sudden bright light leaves a brief imprint on the vision of all who saw it: some sort of rune or sigil.

Steini, unsure of what just happened, takes another pebble and tosses it toward the passage. The same thing happens—the stone rebounds and a mark on the stone glows red for a moment. Thorgana shoulders her way forward and examines the mark. It appears to have been chiseled into the stone. Surely some devilry is at work here!

What do you do?

Ligri
You turn and begin to hike up the blackened mountainside. Scrabbling across the smoother parts, finding hand and footholds here and there, higher into the mist. Your clothes grow damp, and soon the ruins have faded into the whiteness. Higher you go.