In the Halls of the Mad Mage (D&D; Undermountain)

[B4UTRUST]

"There's a few things I'm sure I could use, but I've got the basics of what I'll need."

[LadyTevar]

Rauri put the sunrod back in her pack, within easy reach. "I've six rods... that's three days, if they work as advertised," she told Kergan, annoyed by his sudden unpreparedness. "Buy the lantern and oil fer when they run out, or fer usin' against a beastie that might need burnin', I care not. Either way, do it and do it now, so we can get below."

[B4UTRUST]

Etvar shrugged.
"As I said, I'm good to go. I'm sure there's something else I could use, but that's always the case. I'll be able to make do well enough with my provisions for now. Of course having said that, as soon as we're down the well I'm going to suddenly remember I left the lantern aflame at my dwelling..."

[Comrade Tortoise]

"I can supplement our sunrods torches and lamps with spells, so that is not a problem for me"

[LadyTevar]

Rauri looked to Etvar, then to Elias with a smile and approving nod, but that faded when she looked over to Kergan. "Best be buyin' a lantern and oil, Kergan, and be quick about it so we can head down now."

[rhoenix]

Nodding once, Kergan moved swiftly out the door, looking for an traveler's equipment shop nearby. Finding one, he remembered just how much he didn't like haggling, though did get a few of the sunrods Rauri had mentioned, as well as trail rations for a week.

Arriving back, he walked toward the entrance to the Undermountain. "Right, that's done - anyone else have pressing business that doesn't involve going underground?"

[LadyTevar]

Rauri, annoyed at waiting, grabbed Kergan by the shoulder and gave him a shove towards the hole. "Fer makin' us wait, yer goin' first."

[rhoenix]

Rauri, annoyed at waiting, grabbed Kergan by the shoulder and gave him a shove towards the hole. "Fer makin' us wait, yer goin' first."

Kergan glanced at Rauri, and chuckled. "I thought you'd never ask."

Turning to look Durgan in the eyes, Kergan nodded. "Alright, we're ready. Would you mind doing the honors?"

[Rogue 9]

Durnan came back out from behind the bar and took his place at the crank that operated the winch. "All right, load up," he said, pulling the end of the hugely thick rope over. At the end of the rope was a hook with a large bucket, and just above it were two stout leather loops big enough to sit in. Above that, wooden crossbars were lashed through the weaving of the rope at two foot intervals. "You can all get on at once if you'd like, or if you prefer not to risk hanging on, I can send you two at a time sitting in the loops. As you like."

Bar patrons started enthusiastically exchanging bets on the outcome of the expedition as the adventurers approached the hoist.

[Comrade Tortoise]

"I'll go on one of the loops, I am not about to risk falling to my untimely death"

[Jason_Firewalker]

"Send me in first. If there are any beasties there I will squish them with me hammer" The dwarf drew the sixty pound two handed hammer with was enormous in his hands and hefted it under one arm. He climbed into the loop and held on.

[rhoenix]

Shrugging, Kergan walked into the lift, unlooping the bottom catch of his greatsword as he did, though still left it sheathed, for now. "Ever forward," he murmured quietly to himself.

[LadyTevar]

Rauri looked to Eralis. "Best we all go at once, I'm thinkin'. What say you?"

[B4UTRUST]

"If anyone else has some rope we can probably temp rig some slings if safety is an issue. Otherwise I'd say step out and grab on for dear life."

[LadyTevar]

With a chuckle, Rauri does as Etvar suggests

[Rogue 9]

Durnan laughed. "If you don't think you can hold onto some ladder rungs, you won't last five minutes down there," he said. "But best of luck to you all the same."

[B4UTRUST]

Etvar grinned.
"I'm not worried so much for myself, but some of the others seem a bit skeptical as to the safety of such a journey."

Etvar grabbed on and held on for dear life, waiting for the descent into the mountain.

[Comrade Tortoise]

"Bah!" Said the gnome as he stepped out and into the mechanism and held on for dear life. "It is always the little things that kill you. Tripping in the mud and not being able to get out of it and drowning in your armor, a stingray, nosebleeds while passed out drunk..."



OOC: Barbarosa, Stever Irwin, Attilla The Hun

[Jason_Firewalker]

"Lets stop discussing wether or not we will die, cause we all die sometime. Lets get down this shaft and kill some things! You and I will go first gnome." The dwarf was getting impatient of all the arguing and discussion. He wanted to go get treasure.

[Rogue 9]

"Well, let's get your good priest on the rope, and I can lower you," Durnan said.

[General Havoc]

Eralis was already making his way onto the rope when the barkeep asked that. A whispered prayer to Tyr was all that was required to ensure a safe drop, in his case.

And if not, then it was clearly Tyr's will.

[Rogue 9]

Durnan chuckled. "All holding on? Good. Here you go."

He began turning the winch handle. The cogs designed to prevent the rope from slipping clicked as they released the rope in time with the turns of the handle, and the adventurers slowly descended into the depths of the well, inexorably entering the vast labyrinth of Undermountain.
___________________

The last echoes of the crowd's toasts and betting whisper about you as you descend into the well. As the flickering light from the torches above fades, a chill overtakes you, and you find yourself still sinking with no end in sight. You drop slowly and steadily deeper on the rope, almost as if you were the bait on an unweighted fishing line in placid waters, but the cold and the quiet of the well that surrounds you is anything but peaceful. The silence has more of a threatening quality to it.

After being lowered for what seems like too long a time, you at last see the bottom. Below you stretches sand-covered ground and whatever fate awaits you in Undermountain.

Several inches of sand cover the floor of the roughly square room at the bottom. Broken and dented shields hang on stone walls covered with chalk and charcoal graffiti. The ceiling looms a mere ten feet above you - as it does in the hallway that leads out of the room to the south - but the 30 foot diameter hole in the ceiling from which you descended leads back into the chimney of the Entry Well, rising up over a hundred feet.

It is dark here. You are likely to be eaten by a grue. [ ]

[rhoenix]

"Torch," said Kergan, shortly before activating his sunrod, illuminating the darkness surrounding them with a pale, cold yellowish light. With his other hand, he casually unsnapped the last strap tying down his greatsword, and preventing it from being swung free. For now, it would stay in its sheath still. For now.

"Well, lady and gentlemen," he said with a grin and a glint in his eyes not entirely due to the sunrod, "shall we?"

[Comrade Tortoise]

"Indeed we shall." said the gnomes, his eyes adjusting to the light and allowing him to see farther than the others. "We should probably march in some sane order so I dont have to use my Transposition spell too early..."

[B4UTRUST]

Etvar released his hold on the bar and let his feet gratefully stand on solid ground. He looked around in the pale light created by Kergan's sunrod, eyeing the battered shields and graffeti of those who had come before him.
"Alright, lets figure out who's playing ambush bait and get a move on, we're wasting light and standing still around here doesn't seem like a good idea."