Act 2, Scene 2: "To Crush the Wetrocks" (Main Game Thread)

[TristenC]

[Ooc] Yes, Dran would be able to follow her down if she wishes. It is awkward footing but he can manage. [/ooc]

[Styrius]

Findalsip pulls out some tools and marks faintly on the hinge side of the door on the wall where the door is located. It resembles a bald man with a large nose peeking over a wall. "I made a mark should the occasion arise we need to find the door. I understand your trepidation as I felt just as uncomfortable away from the darkness and solemnity of my rock home. You and your companions show bravery in the face of the unknown. You have my respect. I will not let you stay trapped here. we will make it back to the entrance to your world."

[TristenC]

Fin marks the area near the secret door discretely.

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-what marching order do we want
-are they closing the secret door?
-is dran coming?

[Styrius]

Findalasip suggests that the draw take the lead and he will take rear guard to keep the others from getting left behind. After inscribing the location, Findalsip makes sure everyone is on the correct side of the door before proceeding to close it, if everyone is in agreement to proceed.

[Nocturno]

Nocturno will take second last. Helping with Jordek.

[Dargon Lonewolf]

Bull

Well thank you for clearing all this out for me. Do any of you Mage types have the Enlarge Spell? Maybe I can learn it and reverse its effects to help in these situations.


OOC- Sorry I have been away so long. Getting overrun at work carrying all the slackers weight. Might be time to find a new job.

And does anyone know why my computer IP address might be banned from this sight? Can not post from it. Have to use my phone.

[Nocturno]

OOC
I've had that. They must use a blacklist for spammers.
My ISP assigned me a different IP in the past to get around.

[TristenC]

[Yeah, the IP thing seems to be automatic, not sure what conditions trigger it. It happened to me once as well, I think i used a similar fix to Nocturno]

Jordek and Linar shake their heads, Neither of us have anything to enlarge or reduce a person's size. Linar begins to lead the group onward once marking the secret door is settled. The Drow leads them up the side of one of the mounds, an uneven and somewhat steep but manageable proposition.

Once to the top, much more of the area comes into view. The size of the cavern is almost staggering at first, stretching on far beyond the range of their infravision in every direction save the wall behind from which they emerged through the secret door.

Grand arches and architecture cling to the roof and walls in places, but great rents in them speak of terrific earthen tremors that must have weakened and compromised the structure. Though it was many decades before his time, Fin recalls accounts of how earthquakes wracked the underdark nearly 200 years earlier. Even so, the decimated city-scape before them shows signs of abandonment long before that. In fact, nothing seems to have been moved in centuries. Surely if the Dwarves had still been here they would have at least cleared some of the rubble...

Crushed and collapsed structures hunch everywhere, piled high with sheared rock and rubble from the once-proud arches and natural earth. The bedrock beneath in the few clear areas bears signs of tectonic fissure as well. Some of the structures are partly whole, but buried in mounds of stone, others lie only partially exposed or broken.

Fin's Local History mentioned something about a collapsed Dwarven city-state, Dorinkak.

Bullock realizes this too must be the place that the surface dwarves were directing him to, where a record of all the Dwarven weaves were kept... which might help him identify his mentor's killer.

Welcome to Dorinkak. Linar days quietly. the Dwarves collapsed the entrances and half the city after evacuating to prevent the orcs and trogs from overruning... but that was something like a Milenia ago... Inside what must be the city hall I found a lock with some sort of code, but I couldn't crack it then. Whatever the orcs are looking for might be in there.

[Styrius]

Findalsip is impressed with the degree of craftsmanship displayed amongst the ruins and a tad bittersweet with the same. "What Calladuran provides in the way of stone, the dwarves mis-shape the stone and at the same time make something oddly attractive. If they could only live in harmony with the native rock." He lets out a tiny sigh. "Let us press on to the city hall" he quietly expresses.

[Nocturno]

Nocturno will nod in agreement.

[Styrius]

Findalsip twiddles his thumbs while waiting on the rest of the group to overcome inertia.

[TristenC]

We should be cautious. Just because I didn't stir any notice passing through a little while ago doesn't mean that there aren't things to disturb in this rubble. The Drow says, as he leads on towards the 'city center'. He makes a silent sign of protection that Nocturno would recognize as that of Corellon.

Linar begins a circuit through the nearby areas of the city, which appear to be mainly residential along this edge. A fair number of them seem to be carved into the earth itself, or built up from natural formations. Many are engulfed or sealed off by large portions of rock, but not all. He points several out to his allies, describing them as being generally in fair order, but eerily vacant. Plates, bowls, tableware, furniture and the accoutrements of daily life lay placed about just as if it were any other day. Here an empty stein sits beside an ash-tray, though the pipe is absent. There a full table is set, but no food waits. Each tells a similar story, as if the owners simply got up and left. Cabinets remain occupied with dishes and pots, some wardrobes still contain a few clothes, though many are nowhere near full as if the family had packed what was needed for a journey of indeterminate length and little more. Most portable valuables appear to have been taken as well, though some finely wrought carvings, furniture and bulky or heavy items have obviously been left behind.

Linar leads the others through the town, constrained somewhat by the paths available through the rubble. The meandering path crosses plainly carved streets, small plazas, even wading through the wake of eradicated buildings in some instances. By any casual estimation, they have gone at least a couple of 'blocks' before seeing buildings that appear to be much more than residential or small workshops. Grander structures stand around, and those not familiar with Dwarven architecture per se, may note that many have the look of import to them. Here and there carved keystones advertise the function of a smithy, armory, wagoner or herbalist. Other signs are not so plain in their meaning, with crests or symbols that perhaps pertain to Dwarven clans or functionaries of government or society. Most are engulfed in rubble or collapsed into rents in the bedrock itself, but no few remain untouched in the aftermath of disaster.

The sound of running water comes to his ears eventually, the various mounds of debris blocking or casting the sound oddly depending on his position among them. Gradually they find the source, a natural waterway runs through the community; having eroded a channel in the bedrock itself over the last several hundred years. The water looks fresh and clean.

And this, Linar points to one particularly well-constructed building which seems to have suffered the collapse better than most, Seems to me like some government building, like a Town hall or some such. It was where I found the strange 'lock' and perhaps where the
record of Dwarven weaves is kept. He adds, significantly to Bullock
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Bullock seems to be the only one that can speak or read Dwarven, so we're going mostly from observation here (unless I missed something)