"So, let's assume it would be better to stay in a group even if it means taking a bit longer." Nicholas mostly whispered it in a hushed tone as he kept one of his daggers ready as he began to hug the wall and stay just a bit out of the torches light just for the off chance of any sudden movements.
As she follows the two men Vi'lea starts mentally smacking herself. I should have gone to the market and bought some supplies. At the very least I should have bought a few torches, or a Scroll of Dark Vision, or whatever they have around here, in order to see in the dark. She pauses to also take a torch, but does not light it yet. Sis has a spell that grants her dark vision for a few hours. I should have learned it when I had the chance... Oh, well, too late to change the past. Lost in thought she manages to ignore the smell until she has gotten somewhat used to it. When her companions go for the door that is ajar she follows them, constantly looking around and behind, just in case someone – or something – tries to surprise the trio from the side or the back.
The next door shuffles open and almost breaks off of its hinges as you push it and the layer of dust out of the way. The next room appears to be instead that of a large hall. On either side, there is a recessed area that looks like at one point it was a storage place for clothing. A metal rod slides across not far from the top of the recess and old hangars hang uselessly there. Some of the clothes remain as simply tatters of cloth hanging from where they were left many years ago. At the far end of the hall, however, are two sets of what looks like priests robes. They appear to be heavily damaged, but definitely intact. Upon stepping into the hall(whoever decides to walk in first), you stumble on a hard object hidden underneath the dust. Digging briefly in the dust, you find a bone and then a whole skeleton hidden under the centuries of dust. The bones are gray and frail and even the act of stumbling into one has caused part of it to break. (This part's probably going to be fairly slow overall since we're exploring rooms. I don't really quite know how else to do a dungeon crawl in this format other than one room at a time)
Nicholas kept his eyes peeled and his ears perked, alert and ready for action. He began to ease off from where he was lurking in the shadows but didn't stray to far into the visible paths. While curious of his surroundings, he was determined not to touch anything without a proper reason to.
Vi'lea is the last to enter the hall. She makes sure to avoid the skeleton in the dust and begins looking around – only to discover that there isn't much to see. The old robes appear to be the only things of any interest, so she moves closer (though not close enough to touch them) and examines them as much as she can, curious to see what – if anything – she will be able to learn from them. Once she has finished her examination the elf starts looking for a way out of the hall.
Outside of a few bones and the robes. There is a door opposite of the one that you had arrived in. Vi'lea, you examine the robes as best as you can without touching them. There appears to be a symbol on the backs of them. As a learned lady, your first reaction was that it was the holy sombol of Pelor, The God of the Sun. However, the sun-shape on the backs of these robes lacks that of the symbolic face that Pelor symbols tend to have. You also cannot tell the color as it has long since been whitewashed with age. The "rays" of the sun is also different. Instead of the wavy swirls on the pelor symbol, this one is more jagged and angular. (I don't know how familiar you all are with the D&D pantheon, but for simplicity's sake i am using the Greyhawk D&D deities for simplicity sake. Plus the more erotic ones that appear in the Book of Erotic Fantasy. I'll try and describe the relevant information for them when they become relevant if you are not familiar with them. It's probably mostly not going to be relevant. Just some flavor here and there.)
(Well, I'm probably going to pronounce this dead unless there's some kind of renewed interest. Perhaps pulling regular D&D stuff into this instead of coming up with my own things or doing something other than dungeon crawls would have been a better idea. I'll have to think about what new thing to do in the future(unless there's some kind of renewed interest as mentinoed)
Priest robes? The symbol seems somewhat similar to Pelor's... but definitely not the same. Still, based on the robes, could this place have been some sort of temple in the past? Vi'lea keeps her thoughts to herself for now and follows her companions out of the room. (OOC: I've had the idea for this post for a while, I just never got around to writing it because I was focused on something else (non-CHYOA related). Figured I should at least finish it. Anyway, this was fun while it lasted. If you decide to either continue it or restart it, or to start something new, I'll definitely take a look (and possibly participate).)
Nicholas thinks in his head. How long had they been wandering this hallway? It seemed like it had been a while but he continued and followed behind Thritch, remaining a few feet back. From what he could tell, there was nothing readily off yet, but he kept ready to react on the off chance of something happening.
It would appear as if the tattered robes were the most interesting things to discover in these wrecked ruins for a vast majority of the trek through it. The layout of the ruined basement is quite linear as if the original structure was built to be much more long than wide. You all pass through a few more rooms and find much the same that you did in the landing: Dust, Bones, and evidence that the place hasn't been used for its intended function for a long while. Unfortunately, any location that may have had anything valuable has already been picked clean. Likely by the centuries of looting the area has suffered. After passing through a half-dozen rooms or so, you all arrive at a door that's different than the others...Or at least it appeared that it *was* different from each other. Much like the door at the entrance, it is made of a heavy metal substance. However, it had been smashed, bent, and crushed. A thin layer of dust covers it and it appears that it has been torn off of its opening mechanism. A couple of dangling chains hang uselessly above the doorframe. They disappear into the wall above. It would appear as if the door was built to be pulled up using said mechanism into a recess above the doorway. The weight and size of the door were made to be somewhat bigger than the doorframe so when it was lowered it created a door that would be quite difficult to open. Next to the door is a recessed panel and while it has been heavily damaged, the shape of the recess similar to the key that was given to Nicholas. (Welcome back everyone! I wasn't expecting everyone to jump back on so quickly...The first part of this dungeon was made to be a big nothingburger and I was thinking over the last couple of days whether I really wanted you all to traverse room by room for a little extra flavor or to get to some more interesting bits. Obviously, I chose the latter. It would have just dragged on and on and to be completely honest; It only really exists to bring the party together and start the plot.)
Vi'lea tries to stay alert and keep an eye out for any sort of danger, but as the small group keeps walking through room after room it becomes clear that there really is nothing of value to find in the ruins. This place really has been picked clean by the looters that came here in the past. A pity, really. Just as the dark elf is starting to get bored the three of them reach something a bit different: A heavy door somewhat similar to the one that led to the inside of the ruins. Only this one is in much worse condition, visibly damaged and looking like someone – or something – tried to get through it, but without much success. And next to the door is a panel... “Is it me, or does this look like the place where we were supposed to use the strange key we were given?” Vi'lea asks as she points at the damaged panel. She then starts looking around, searching for anything of interest, such as something that could help them get the door open. (OOC: Well, if there was nothing of interest to find, then I'd say you made the right choice. Exploring empty rooms would have gotten boring fast. It might have worked if we were all on a table together, in which case the whole thing would likely take only a few minutes, but in a play-by-post game like this one it would needlessly slow things down to explore one room at a time. Also, to make sure I understand correctly: Despite the damage the door is still in its place and blocking the way, right?)
Thritch moves slowly towards the door. "Looks like it... not sure we'll need the key now, but, try it, just in case." He gestures towards the panel.
Nicholas had to agree. "I don't know if this will really work but...seems like a safe bet?" He took the key from where he was holding it to press it towards the panel. He had to take maybe just the slightest step back in case. There was nothing obviously magical at work so he had to assume this was mechanical in nature. Maybe. Whatever the case, it didn't stop him from pressing it into the slot. (Okay. So now that I responded here time to get to work on all the other ones I still need to do.)
Nicholas puts the key into the lock mechanism. It appears as if nothing happens for a moment before it suddenly slides deeper into the recess. You all hear a faint clanking sound as the key begins to slowly turn on its own. The spinning key gradually speeds up to an incredible speed as the clinking sounds of the mechanism within the wall simply become a whirr of noise. A faint purple light glimmers through the cracks and crevasses in the wall as the key spins incredibly fast. The chains rattle and shake fruitlessly and tiny tendrils of the same faint purple coloration snake their way down. Once they reach the end of the chain, they lash forward and link back into their original location on the door. A loud BOOM echoes through the chamber as the door shunts itself back into place. The whole room and likely much of the entire wreckage of a building rumbles and shakes from the force of the worst bends and twists in the door suddenly repair themselves explosively. Dust and particulate fill the air from the quake as the faint purple light continues to shine through it. Over the next several seconds all of the dings and dents on the door along with any kind of rust or wear slowly disappear from it and what's left is what appears to be an impressively pristine vault door compared to the ruins surrounding it. The purple light fades and the spinning key slows to a halt before it begins to turn at a much more reasonable speed in the opposing direction. A mechanical clicking sound emanates from the wall and the door slowly slides up to uncover the entrance to the vault as if it was never damaged in the first place. Once fully lifted, the key stops turning and slips out of the keyhole. The whole front of it is smoking and parts of it are blackened from friction, but it appears as if its structural integrity was unharmed. (I wrote this late at night after a long day of work. I think I changed tenses a few times, but I'm too worn out to go back and fix it.
Vi'lea blinks a few times in surprise as not only there's a reaction to the key, but that reaction greatly surpasses all of her expectations. “Well... that was something... worked even better than I expected...” she admits. Because I expected the mechanism to be broken and unusable. She adds in her mind. With the heavy slab of metal out of the way the dark elf tries to see what is on the other side of the now-open door, searching for any potential dangers or traps that might be waiting for them inside.
The vault that lies on the other side of the doorway is difficult to see from outside the portcullis. It appears to be a whole room to itself and isn't lighted at all making it impossible to see more than a few steps into the room. The narrow path between the protective metal seal and the entrance to the vault does not appear to have any visible traps...Although the thick layer of dust that covers basically everything else in the ruins makes it difficult to see anything that may be on the floor.
"Huh...that worked..." He was kind of surprised that it did, but he wasn't about to complain too much over it. Nicholas wandered in trying to access things cautiously and carefully. His hearing perked at whatever sounds he may or may not catch though it would be difficult to tell in what was supposedly a normally quiet place. He kept light on his feet, and inched in the room slightly, just sticking a toe in and letting it touch the floor to see what the result may be before moving.
