Hi everybody,
Exploring Kal-Arath - Episode 9
The Decision
Mal-Shui (PC) - Str = 1, Tou = 2, Agi = 1, Int = -1, Pre = 1. Fate Point =1.
Male Human. Age = 24. Brown eyes and hair, 6'1" tall.
Personality: Friendly, Moody, Hp = 7 out of 7. Xp=1.
Equipment
Longsword, (Att +1, Dam +1), Staff, Dagger. Leather Armour, after being cleaned and adjusted.
15 days' rations in a sack.Tarnak Berries R=1 (Sc=3), Waterskin and strap. Tinder and flint.
Rough blue tunic, an animal fur cloak. Terradon Tooth necklace with Tribal Totem carving.
Burvin's Journal in a water-resistant pouch. Speckled Eggshell serving bowl.
In pouch around neck - Gold Coins = 1. Silver Coins = 13.
Threads
1) Scaleel or Goritan Village Member, 2) Wizard - Jis-Kel, 3) Khainar Yak Folk,
4) Ref Sodrav, Tan Muen and Cazen Goorte.5) Hermit, 6).Mad Folk,
7) Melek-Kesh Symbol.
Yamil-Torl - Str = 1, Tou = 1, Agi = -1, Int = 2, Presence = 1.Fate Point =1.
Male Human. Age =34. Green eyes, Black hair. 5'11" tall.
Personality: Independent, Opinionated.
Goal: Wants to visit the jungle. Hp. = 4 out of 6. Xp = 1
.
Equipment
Sling, Staff, Club, (Att+0, Damage d6/disadvantage).Rough clothes. Bronze helmet.
Hand Axe. Dagger. Silver Coins in pouch around neck = 17), 1 sack.
Rations = 7 in a sack, including Burvin's supplies. Tarnak Berries/ 1 Ration.
Sword and Shield (Melek-Kesh Symbol).
It is still the afternoon of day four. Weather - Cool and Cloudy.
Everybody was keen to hear about the mine and the magical skeleton that guarded it. "This is its armour, shield and sword. Does anyone recognise the House sign?" They all shook their heads.
Deramisk said that the elders would want a proper report on the mine, not a half-completed one, which is all that could be given at the moment, since they did not know all of the details.
"Then split your forces, half takes the food back to the village, and the other half can explore the mine with us, or as much as we can in a few days, and then we will come back with you. As far as we know, there are only a few rooms left to explore, but there is at least one part not on the map, so there might be more. We will not be able to explore the lower level in any event. It is your choice as leader of the hunt."
Boki applied fresh salve to Yamil's leg while they ate and rested."Thank you." Boki nodded, "It is healing nicely."
After lunch, they packed their camping gear away.
Deramisk spoke, "I have thought on what you said, Boki, Shemba and Kudu will come with me to the mine, the rest will go to the village."
Farind asked, "What about me?"
"Not this time, but you will come with me on my next visit."
"Yes, Deramisk."
"Nandak, you will lead the hunters on the way home. No detours unless you have to, you have enough meat, and you must see it gets to the village."
"Yes, Deramisk."
"Garamu protect you."
"And you"
With that farewell, they started back to their village, and the other group retraced their steps back to the mine.
Mel and Yamil chatted to everyone about the game in the area and assorted tracks when they came to them. The time passed quickly, but Yamil was annoyed that he was slowing the group down.
"We are not worried, the others have bundles of food and will be assured of a good welcome when they arrive back home. It is good not to have to worry about the hunt, but we do have to worry about things hunting us, so we still have the scouts checking the path ahead."
The trail through the forest was mostly uphill. The two scouts were returning at intervals to report and be replaced by the other two hunters.
Boki explained, "By swapping men scouting the front, you do not get very tired or slip in your concentration. You get a break from being on high alert, although you are never really safe in these woods. We do not normally hunt in this area, but we had to follow the beast where it led us. It must have hoped to put us off its trail. But the snow and rain helped to preserve its tracks, and we were able to get ahead of it and ambush it."
"You did well to bring down a beast of that size."
"Yes, we are a good team."
(? Q - Get lost? 3 No)
The trees are beginning to thin out, and the going gets easier as the slope begins to flatten.
(?Q - Mishap? 6 - Yes)
A stone gives way under Mal's foot, and he slips, "Ahhh." and rolls down the slope a few yards. His pack had spilt its contents on the ground. His Tarnak berries have been squashed in amongst his tinder bundle and ruined it. The bung had come out of his waterskin, and half of the remaining liquid had leaked out. He took a long drink and then stoppered the waterskin again.
He picks up the rest of his gear and the flint. "They will be fine once they are washed, but my tinder is just a sticky mess."
Yamil reminds him, "These things happen on the trail."
"So they do," agreed Boki.
"We must be getting closer now."
Within a few minutes, they had arrived at the larger of the two mine entrances.
Yamil cried, "At last, I was wondering if we had missed a turning and would be wandering all night."
He did not show it, but his leg was itching fiercely.
Mal asked, "Do you want to camp inside or outside?"
(? D6 1-3 Inside, 4-6 Outside. 6 Outside)
"We shall camp outside tonight, and treat the mine as a hostile lair for now. We will camp around the corner, so that if anything wants to go in or out of there, it can do so without us getting in its way. But no doubt, it would catch our scent."
Mal added, "We did not see any creature tracks inside or at the entrance last time we were here, but we should stand watch at camp during the night to be safe."
They found a suitable spot protected from the wind by a rock outcrop, cleared the ground of snow and soon had a fire going. Mal melted some snow and refilled his waterskin. He plans to search for tinder materials in the mine in the morning. They took turns on watch duty.
(?D Yamil's healing roll - 2 + 1 Failed)
(D: Night encounter = 03 Nothing.)
Day Five - Heavy rain began during the night.
"It's too damp to get a fire going out here; we can have a cold breakfast, pack up and get warm in the mine", suggested Mal.
Yamil stated, "You are just eager to see what else is in there."
Mal admitted, "That's true enough" he grinned, "Anybody disagree with the idea?"
Nobody did. They started with dried Terraton leg and nuts for breakfast, then broke camp.
Once they got to the mine entrance, Mal instructed, "Stick to the right wall, it's about 40 feet to where there is a left-hand bend, that is where we have left some torches. After that, there is a pool on the left and further up, there is a pit trap. Use the boards on the right edge."
"I will go first, Yamil will follow next. Oh, keep your spears up so you can find the low rocks in the roof. It will get easier when we can get the torches lit. Yamil, is your Tinder dry?"
"Yes, Mal"
"Right then, head down, spears up, right hand following the right wall. The scratching will be our helmets being bumped by the ceiling rocks. Let's go."
 |
| Mine map 3 - Entrance South, Vent NW, Exit East, Down Tunnel Central. |
NOTE: Coming in from the East exit.
They entered in single file, getting used to the rock surface underfoot and overhead
Thunk, Mal's staff had hit wood.
"A crossbeam in the roof coming up. I think that was where the roof gets higher for a bit. Yes, it does."
A few paces forward.
Clunk.
"Ah, that must have been a bit further on."
A few more paces forward.
Mal announced, "I think we have come to the junction, wait there, and I will get a torch."
He soon returned with a torch, which Yamil proceeded to light, "That's better. We would have been quicker with just the two of us. "
"Oh well, it's done now."
The others looked around at the different colours of the rock veins.
Mal pointed to the white rock overhead, "We think that is what they were digging out, but we do not know what they were after. It does look pretty with all of those different coloured specks in it."
They picked up a spare torch and continued at a better pace past the pool, over the pit trap and under the net trap into the communal room. Mal pointed to the other tunnel way out.
"It's left, straight on, right through the other chamber and out. You would have to curve left of the main path to get to your camp from the entrance."
"We have not done up this small passage, but it may lead to somewhere new. Be prepared."
Mal took the lead with his sword drawn, and Yamil came next with the torch and the staff prodding in front of Mal. After fifteen feet, they came to the chamber with the decapitated skeleton.
"That was our opponent, guarding the passageway; there may be more."
Yamil pointed to the symbol carved on the wall, "This may be who they worship, Melek-Kesh."
They moved around the central pillar of rock and examined the entrance to the tunnel before entering, just in case more traps were waiting for them, but it looked clear.
Mal was about to proceed, but Yamil stopped him. "My turn in front for a bit."
Mal shrugged and let him proceed first down the new passage.
After about five feet, the passage began to rise slowly, with occasional planks of wood on the floor.
Yamil paused, "That beam looks as it is at an odd angle, I don't like it. Back up a bit."
They did so while he picked up a small rock, which he threw at the plank.
Chunk, it bounced off the plank to the side.
Suddenly, a spear dropped down, splitting the plank where someone would have been standing on the plank.
"Another tripwire trap. They made a groove in the wall and covered it with mud, which pulled away the plug or whatever was holding the spear in place. It could have been nasty. The mud preserved it from rotting, and they put animal grease on it too."
"It's like hunting in reverse."
"Exactly, not something we are usually a part of, except when a terradon comes calling.at our home.or raiding our livestock."
"Let's keep going."
Ten feet along the passage, they saw a torch propped up against the left hand wall. Mal said, "That is not one of ours. If we did not get this far before, it is much more neatly made. Possibly another welcome gift for visitors."
Another rock flew straight, knocking the torch over, and another spear came out of the roof to the right of the torch and clattered on the stone floor.
"They certainly had a liking for nasty stuff; this is no place for youngsters to go exploring just yet."
"No", Boki replied, "And I am not too keen either", he admitted.
Another ten feet and it opened up into a large chamber with three pillars, probably from the original excavation. They could see three normally sized exits and a large carved out alcove instead of a left wall, with an altar placed in front of it.
Yamil peeked around the left corner, "There's a central pillar, probably from the mining and I can make out something else as well."
"What is it? What can you see?" asked Mal.
End of Episode 9.
,
Mal-Shui (PC) - Str = 1, Tou = 2, Agi = 1, Int = -1, Pre = 1. Fate Point =1.
Male Human. Age = 24. Brown eyes and hair, 6'1" tall.
Personality: Friendly, Moody, Hp = 7 out of 7. Xp=1.
Equipment
Longsword, (Att +1, Dam +1), Staff, Dagger. Leather Armour
14 days' rations in a sack.Waterskin and strap. Flint.
Rough blue tunic, an animal fur cloak. Terradon Tooth necklace with Tribal Totem carving.
Burvin's Journal in a water-resistant pouch. Speckled Eggshell serving bowl.
In pouch around neck - Gold Coins = 1. Silver Coins = 13.
Threads
1) Scaleel or Goritan Village Member, 2) Wizard - Jis-Kel, 3) Khainar Yak Folk,
4) Ref Sodrav, Tan Muen and Cazen Goorte.5) Hermit, 6).Mad Folk,
7) Melek-Kesh symbol
Yamil-Torl - Str = 1, Tou = 1, Agi = -1, Int = 2, Presence = 1.Fate Point =1.
Male Human. Age =34. Green eyes, Black hair. 5'11" tall.
Personality: Independent, Opinionated.
Goal: Wants to visit the jungle. Hp. = 4 out of 6. Xp = 1
.
Equipment
Sling, Staff, Club, (Att+0, Damage d6 / disadvantage).Rough clothes. Bronze helmet.
Hand Axe. Dagger. Silver Coins in pouch = 17! sack.
Rations = 7 in a sack, including Burvins supplies. Tarnak Berries/ 1 Ration.
Sword and Shield (After being cleaned in the stream.
Deramask and the Hunters Str = 1, Tou = 1, Agi = -1, Int = 2, Presence = 1.Fate Point =1.
Male Human. Age = 18. Green eyes, Black hair. 5'11" tall.
Personality: Independent, Willing to listen.
Goal: Wants to keep his tribe safe. Hp. = 6 out of 6. Xp = 0
.
Equipment
Sling, Spear, Hand Axe, Dagger, (Att+0, Damage d6/disadvantage).Rough clothes.
Tinder and flint in a pouch. Waterskin, clay bowl. 1 Food sack. Tribal necklace. Hammock and sheet.
Bedroll, Rations = 7 in a sack.