If he doesn't find any, he will scale the wall. "I may not be good for much," he says, "but there's a pretty good chance that I can climb this wall!"

He will position himself to drop down on any ants that make their way into the room, sword in hand.

OK, ants charging, Kelmos blocking, focusing on not letting them pass. Hildr to light and throw oil, Grimdale will get off an arrow if he can and watch your backs.

The 5 foot tunnel sucks for fighting and arrow shooting. Kelmos' attacks are at -2 and Grimdale can't get a shot through from the third rank. Tossing the oil past Kelmos will be Child's Play (1d6 beneath Hildr's dex of 11, automatic success).

The ant's initiative roll is 6, so they will swarm up to eat Kelmos. Since his intent is to not let them pass and the tunnel is so narrow, we'll say that only one can attack at a time. If he flees, the skinny things may be able to gang up on him better.

Wow, they're so going to kill Kelmos, but (1d20=1!!!) the first in line's dim insect brain believes his shield to be a vital organ and it assiduously gnaws at it while Sir Kelmos attacks (vs. AC 3 needs 16, +1 for Str 13, -2 for cramped, 1d20=3 -1 = 2) and is similarly inept. Meanwhile Hildr shatters a flask of oil beneath the first ant, creating a flaming pool of death. Burning oil does 1d8= 8! Though one leg shrivels and burns and its carapace sears, the thing fights on.

So whichever ant is fighting Kelmos will burn, but will also get to attack Kelmos — or if you win initiative and it dies on your turn, the next one will step up and attack, also burning yes (the oil will last for 10 minutes/rounds), but probably surviving. Same tactics, or what?

Yes, it's a sticky wicket for our adventurers. I'm particularly curious what Hildr will choose to do, so that she may still live to be pleasured by her dark lord.

Any other modifications to your plan? You have until 6:00 pm EST!!!!

Sir Kelmos will move to block the ants, bashing his shield into their antennas and thrusting his sword-point at their eyes, focusing for now on making sure none of them get past him. When he can spare a moment, he glances back at Hildr for an indication of whether to fall back across her oil spill, or make room for her to enter the fray with her mace.

Time passes, then all is still again. All except the falling water and endless roaming of the glowing slugs.

So let's pull back into the lake cave, get in ambush position, and wait ten minutes or so before proceeding down the tunnel again…

OK, down the smooth corridor, about 5 feet diameter. Around the corner, going east, the tunnle goes another 20 feet or so to a T-intersection at a slant. The south bar of the T seems to go down, the north up, at perhaps a 45 degree angle.

Practice with the oil maneuver seems to go smoothly. In these roughly circular tunnels, the oil polls together enough to make a dangerous flame, and stays put since the tunnel is fairly level. What a stink of burning oil you've made! Must be about 1:00 pm now.

I have just made a suspiciously large number of die rolls behind my screen.

What now?

Sir Kelmos is powerfully tempted by those overgrown cavern doors, which speak to him of the unhallowed mysteries he's dimly perceived lurking behind Hildr's litanies, but whatever is behind 30 feet of fungus or whatever is likely to stay put. Since our enemies are out and about right now, dealing with them first is critical.

Let's go down the smooth corridor - if we ignore it and proceed past it to the drain tunnel, we'd run the risk of something coming from this branch and cutting off our line of retreat. If the floor is dry enough to allow a good oil slick, let's repeat our plan from before where Sir Kelmos goes first with sword and shield, Hildr follows with torch and oil, and Grimdale lurks behind with bow; if we contact the enemy, Kelmos will fall back and Hildr will light the oil once he's clear. (The passage sounds quite narrow, so if nothing jumps us when we look around the bend 30' in, we'll try practicing this maneuver and see if there's enough room to make it feasible.)

Continuing along the south wall, within a sort of natural nook in the cavern wall, you come across the remnants of a temporary "camp" — a fire was made here within the last week, though it burned some compact fuel like peat rather than wood. Stones were set around the fire, and mud has been cleared from a couple of patches where someone might have slept.

I'm going to assume that you try to check out the perimeter of the whole cavern. Continuing along the south wall, you come to the west end of the cavern, where another tunnel much like the one you came from drains into the lake.

As you move along the north wall, you discern that a formation you previously assumed was a mass of stalagmites sloping up towards the north wall is in fact not dripstone at all, but some kind of pale fleshy growth, standing perhaps 10 feet high where the floor slopes up to the wall and a yard or so high where the patch begins close to the edge of the lake. High up the slope, just visible peeking above and between the growths, is the carved lintel of a great pair of doors set in the northern cavern wall. The door is surrounded by at least 30 feet of the growth.

The lake has a small rocky island of jumbled fallen fragments of cave ceiling.

I'm assuming that you stop short of the growth, but it seems you've made a complete survey of the cave's main features.

All due caution leads you to an airy open space. At first sight, you think you have somehow been climbing without realizing it because it seems you are faced with the night sky, crammed with stars. But the view resolves to a massive high ceilinged chamber festooned with natural columns and curtains and thousands of spiny ornaments above and below. You've entered at the narrow end of a rough oval some 200 feet long and 80 feet wide. The central floor is a lake, fed by the stream you've followed and many others, as well as a prominent fall of water from the ceiling directly into the lake that fills the cavern with a hiss and roar. The edge of the lake is about 40 feet ahead of you. From where you stand, no obvious exits are apparent, but any number could exist were you to approach them closer.

All this is visible in the dim, multi-colored glow of thousands of fat two-foot long, transparent and luminescent slugs, which crawl along walls, ceiling, and floor, their guts slowly pulsing with changing colors. They leave a thick slime as they move that's likewise sparkling with phosphorescent specks that fade as the slug moves on. Smaller insects, with immense multifaceted eyes that reflect that colors around them, eat up the slime, and larger spidery things eat the insects.

It's all completely horrifying or beautiful, but no one can remain impassive.

There are no obvious gypsum flowers or other portable wealth. I'll assume you enter and begin a cautious search as you've autopiloted. You pick to go (1d6 odd left = 3, left) around the perimeter (this would be south, if you've oriented properly until now). About 40' along, behind a curtain of stone, the raw edges of a hole in the wall are apparent. It's obvious that the roughly circular tunnel is unlike the water-carved passages you've seen so far. Its sides are smooth and regular, and the diameter is a fairly consistent 5 feet. It shoots off into the wall for 30' or so, then turns abruptly east.

Nothing is trying to kill you at the moment. With all the cautious delving, it might be about noon. If you were to turn and RUN screaming back towards the surface, climbing quickly, using the rope you left at the waterfall and the rope around the root outside, which is probably the best idea right now, you'd probably get back up in the sun in about 20 minutes, though you might break a leg along the way.

Now what?

Grimdale is a Thief (with a capital T) but not a thief (with a lowercase t), meaning he survives by his wits, relying on whatever skills he can muster. He is not only Lawful, but noble and just, despite his humble background.

He will stay to the back with his bow ready. If he can see without having to carry a torch or lantern (which would make him a target), he is always willing to scout ahead. He is also willing to use his Thief skills as needed, but, being a vigilante, he is more concerned with rooting out evil and protecting the innocent than collecting treasure.

If we all make it down, it sounds like there's only one way out, following the flowing water. If so we'll follow that passage, Kelmos first with sword and shield, Hildr second with mace and lantern, Grimdale in the back with bow.

Hemsh, having heard your discussion of the horrors, and his wife still scrubbing Sir Kelmos' blood from her best rags, sees you sympathetically to the edge of town (a very short walk). Ogrun's mother looks blankly at you as she nurses her baby on her doorstep. She doesn't understand why you are going back. Vimmy sneaks along after you, trying not to be seen, but turns back before you reach the Meadow of the Hole.

To fast forward a little, we'll say all care is taken in descending. As far as you can tell, all is as you left it. You can go back to the top of the waterfall without incident, though you're welcome to do something else in the entry chamber, or whatever.

So, how to proceed?

Will go first, unless there is someone with superior armor or someone who wants to stealthily take point
Will wield sword and shield as long as he's in the front rank; will hold lantern or bow otherwise
Will fall back if attacked whenever possible, preferably retreating across spilled oil that can be lit on fire, or back to a position where he and several of his allies can simultaneously attack enemies emerging one-by-one from the entry passage
Will always look up, having learned his lesson from the piercers, and also grope ahead with his toe before committing his weight where he can't see his footing clearly, e.g. in water.)

• herself
• disciples
• converts
• superiors in her church- below disciples and her own converts since they should be able to take care of themselves.
• party members who will blaspheme their previous beliefs
• other associates

If she manages to command undead, she may attempt to hold onto them longer than it is safe to do so. Particularly if the numbers are greater than the party. She may re-negotiate previous terms if this happens. Maybe I should chime in if that happens.)

(Whether it's Tuesday morning or Wednesday morning depends on whether Hildr wants to regain the CLWs she used in healing Sir Kelmos - making it Wed. - or push on without those spells - making it Tues. If that passage of time matters, let's wait for clarification from Scott.)

OOC: No worries, Scott! Guys sitting around the table pretending that their alter egos are performing perversions on one another is clearly wrong, but guys sitting at the keyboard doing the same is the foundation upon which this information super-highway is built ;)

Once Kelmos is at full hp, I say we go back and pick up where we left off.

Hildr answers Grimdale sweetly, "By the morrow for certain, friend." Then fixes a baleful stare "Merely insure that no one disturbs my rites" before regaining her composure, "unless… you would like to join?"

That night in her chamber, throwing open the windows to the inky night, Hildr wants to brand Kelmos with a hot knife, "merely as a precaution, to let the visitors who will come as we sleep to know that you are mine alone, as they are indiscriminate and violent with playthings left unclaimed…"

OOC-I'll pray for 2 healing spells tonight, maybe with the condition that it looks like I've been savaged all over by claws and well.. other things-if Kelmos is unfortunate enough to wake up—think Barbara Hershey in the Entity as a price a chaotic priest has to pay to ask for healing spells? Lastly, let me apologize for all the sex i'm putting into this game, I promise to stop or slow it down!!! nm, too graphic…

OOC: Thanks, glad we're rolling on the same page! I yield major points to Grimdale for thinking to spot the piercers, though; "I look up" should be the #1 thing an old-school player's Chatty Cathy doll says when you pull their string, along with "I disbelieve it" and "I search it for treasure."

He was extremely impressed by Hildr's healing powers and is more than willing to pay whatever price he can, and make whatever pact is necessary, in order to continue receiving such healing.

So long as he doesn't need silver on hand immediately for his lodging, Kelmos is not eager to go off to St. Loki's Priory or Mezkith - he is tormented by the thought that someone else might find the sinkhole and loot its treasures, and it is difficult for him to keep still and not re-open his wounds.

The idea of leaving our treasures for our next-of-kin to find if we don't make it back is a good one, but better not to trust this Hemsh Horse and his sons any more than necessary. Kelmos proposes that Grimdale should slip out at night and bury the treasure, with Hildr watching to ensure that there is no trickery on the thief's part.

"What we'll leave with the innkeeper will be just a piece of parchment, a clue for our friends to find it. Tell Mr. Horse it's a cursed scroll so he doesn't get nosy, or try selling it to some wandering mountebank."

(If the party approves this plan, and it later becomes necessary for some other PCs to follow this clue, I'll scan it in and put it into a wiki page).

We'll assume you all already had lodgings at 1 sp a night apiece. You'd liek to leave something secure at the longhouse? The proprietor, Hemsh Horse, is big man with two strong sons — he'll hold it for you if you like.

OOC-IO, draw it with some free graphics software using then post it, so you can cut out the scanning part, maybe?

It seems like just finding a room might the order of things, then. If we can leave our possessions here then, at least there's a legacy for whoever returns to come back to, assuming no one else objects. Also, Kelmos can share my chambers, where he can learn my special prayers to the secret saints.

I'm thinking of either asking for CLW X2 or one detect magic and one CLW.

No particular marks of the boy has been mentioned. Nothing in the recess.

Back at the village, there is a sort of longhouse where guests can stay, and you may find a buyer, but this village, Feesthrun, is much too small for an appraisal. You'd need to go to St. Loki's Priory and the attached town, preferably on a market day, which takes place on Sundays, and it is Monday now (OOC: because it's Monday now). Or you could travel to Mezkith, quite a substantial town visited by many merchants, but 3 days travel away by chancy roads.

Anyone object?

I'm looking for simple way to post simple maps, unfortunately I'm quite obsolete technically. If all else fails, I'll sketch on paper, take a picture, put it on flickr, and link to there. Is there some much easier way to do that via my scanning printer?

My suggestion: return the way we came and attempt to return to the town for the night. At an Inn, I can better supervise Kelmos' recovery. This hole will be here for us tomorrow. We can take back the loot and get it appraised, etc.. I will hold onto the monster stuff, grim will have the flowers

OOC: I will be out for a bit doing other things, I will attempt to draw up some kinda map if I can find my wacom.

The recess is about 1 foot deep and 4 feet high, much like IT.

Our main priority is to secure this lower area where Kelmos dropped to, see where we can defend from, then go from there.

Are there any other strange recesses, outcroppings? Secret doors?

How deep is this recess? Is this something it looks like I can climb into? Or is it so camoflauged by water that I can't tell? All items of the monsters are taken, and I tell someone with an edged weapon to gut the beast so I can see what it has eaten. I'm considering taking the beasts items, quickly washing his fur tunic and wrapping the items in the tunic, sewing it closed.

We'll assume Kelmos will pay any price right now. You're healing him? Roll away.

The recess, you discern after some face soaking exploration, has been chipped out of the rock by some implement, probably no so long ago, judging by the wear on the rock.

Hildr is interested in lowering herself to heal Kelmos' wounds, tho my touch comes with a price and a pact with his flesh. "We going to check the recess this thing was in?" What about Kelmos re-ascending? That darkness is unknown to us, and harder to defend and heal by. If he is unwilling, well, I do have another spell…

I'll be offline for a while, and so will turn over the mantle of Caller.

Well done! Here's two death traps you've evaded, against some mighty die rolling on my part.

It: 10, w/ambush 20 Xp, so 7 fine XP to all (you guys are charged with keeping track of your XP, loot, etc.)
Its body yields no coin, but a Fine Gold Chain and a Ring with Some Reddish Stone. It has an ugly short sword, very worn and common, but with a finely maintained edge, and a serviceable scabbard made of rough sewn skin. He has a whetstone, some odd bits of leather and a crude steel needle, and the half-gnawed finger of a child stuffed in the folds of its disgusting fur tunic.

It continues its attack on Sir Kelmos, lunging from where it hangs, quite ably, within the waterfall, and shrieks, "No sun!!!! Nevermore the sun for you! EEEyyyyeeeyEEYyyyyyyeeee!!!" He plunges his blade into the meat of Sir Kelmos' back.

Kelmos has AC 5, and dangles at a disadvantage, the creature has +2 to hit. d20= 16+2 = 18 hits, damage 1d6 = 6! Sir Kelmos takes a solid stab in the back as he slides down and is at 2 HP. Armored, one-handed, and freshly injured, Kelmos must roll 3d6 beneath his Dex to land on his feet, torch dry.

3d6 = 9 Oh noooo Sir Kelmos has a Dex of only 8! He plunges into the pool, which comes to his knees, and his legs buckle, his torch plunging beneath the water. The only light now comes from the torch Hildr holds above. Sir Kelmos gets to his feet.

Grimdale has an extremely awkward shot at -4, d20 = 16-4=12, needs a 13 to hit AC 6. But wait, +1 for Dex! Leaning out and bracing himself precariously against the tunnel wall, Grimdale draws up on his string and fires home. His shortbow does 1d6 = 4. The arrow sinks deep into the thing's neck, plunging down to pierce its black heart, and it drops twitching into the pool below. Its last breath bubbles up at Sir Kelmos's feet.

Like a hunched man in sodden furs, but with an immense nose like a toucan's beak and a narrow jaw that extends out beneath it filled with tiny sharp yellow teeth, a flash of torchlight glints on a slim gold chain around it's neck and alerts Sir Kelmos at the last second, and as the thing reaches out to drive its blade under the skirt of Kelmos' chain and eviscerate him like a pig hung up for slaughter, Kelmos waves the torch in its disgusting face, and only suffers a gash along his leg.

1d20 = 19+4 = 23 hits AC 4, 1d6X2 damage (backstab) = 2x2=4!
Sir Kelmos' HP = 2d10 (sorry I did not notice before, he is is only 2nd level since he begins with 3000 XP) = 6+6 = 12 Hp, he's down to 8!

Please announce plans for next round, then we'll roll intiative.

Grimdale does not have a clear shot at the thing below the ledge. It's about 1/2 way up. Tehrer is a possibilty of Kelmos's torch being extinguished if it interacts much with the waterfall.

Any chance Grimshaw and Grimsdale are about to enter the cavern to help out their fellow-thief Grimdale?

Roll a d6.

So on two ropes, Kelmos descends (1-3 convenient stalagmite 1d6 = 1, yes, 6, no, so one spike is driven in, please mark off) with sword in one hand and a second lit torch in the other?