[No changes in suspicious movement. The castle is very aesthetically pleasing, though.
With their combined efforts, the grate swings open! The small amount of moonlight filtering through the opening on the ground allows them to see a staircase carved from stone. It descends into the murky darkness of the tunnel, and they can't tell how far down it goes.]
[ praises the team because he is in fact the twink of the function and that's the best he can do here. once the grate is set down, taair checks the map once more, thoughtful. ]
The tunnel itself goes under the sea and to the castle, as far as our information goes. It is likely we will need light once we get down.
[ and then smiles, twinkle of adventure in his eyes. ] Shall we?
[ with little fanfare, he will easily be the first sacrifice onto the stairs, immediately beginning to descend once he's sure the others will follow. ]
[ TAAIR... Afolphe bites back a sigh, strikes the flint stones together to make a fire for a torch and hands it to next person going after Taair. Then another. Then himself. He'll give Taair his torch when he gets down. Adolphe will drop down last. ]
[Taair is so brave. I'll be nice and say he doesn't lose his footing by descending without a torch, but he will find that the air feels incredibly damp down here. Gross and musty. Faintly of decay. Also, something skitters over Taair's foot.
Once the rest of the gang descends with their lit torches, they will see they've entered a long, winding stone tunnel. Right away, they notice that it grows more narrow further down, but the light from the torches isn't enough to illuminate the whole of it.
There are faint noises coming from further down the tunnel. Rustling and echoey drip drops.
The inky black darkness stares down at them from about a few dozen paces away. They will have to keep going to see what else the tunnel holds.]
[ he does in fact make a startled eek! when something skitters across his foot and pulls it back, surprised - however, all critters are friends so it's fine! probably...!
torch in hand, he gives adolphe a grateful smile, turning it briefly after whatever skittered on him just to see if he can see what it was, but after that, he just kind of shakes out his boot and glances down the tunnel, torch held aloft.
the narrowness... great! hate that. he frowns, listening for the noises, and then steps down onto the flat section, making room for everyone else to make their way. ]
...Well... it does seem fairly likely we won't be seen this way. [ he says softly: ] I cannot imagine many have taken this route.
[ cause it's gross in here gang. he doesn't hesitate much, but starts to walk forward if the others do as well, keeping an alert eye on their surroundings and leading the charge. ]
A big one. Very juicy rat. Maybe she works as a stripper to feed her three children after her husband abandoned them for a horrible purple man. But it's okay, because she found love again in the arms of a revolutionary rat with a cute flower accessory.
Anyway, the rat walked over Taair's foot and now squeaks adorably at him while holding something in its mouth. But he's moving forward, so goodbye rat.
This is not the only rat they'll see. There are many, many more of them as they move forward. Cockroaches, too. The occasional drop of water lands on their shoulders as they traverse the tunnels, the droplets coming from a series of pipes and sealed openings on the ceiling. As they progress, they will find that the tunnel grows narrow enough that they are forced to march forward one at a time. None of that standing side-by-side shit here.
Eventually, they will come across other things.
Skeletons. Distinctly human. Adult sized cadavers curled protectively around decidedly child sized remains. Some even about the size of a newborn. There are enough of them littering the ground that stepping on some of the bones is, unfortunately, inevitable. A spider about the size of Hawke's fist crawls out of one of the skulls, through the eyehole, and stares up at the gang with its many, many eyes.
They still can't see the end of the tunnel. Keep going.]
[ MISS RATABELLA I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!! can he see what was in its mouth with his animal handling eyes if not its okay
for the most part, taair walks carefully - avoiding stepping on any critters no matter what size they are. he's always been relatively light on his feet, which is the absolute only reason he has not been murdered as a mercenary so far, actually, and this is no exception. though, as things start to get tighter, the sense of unease and dread grows and grows.
his breath catches when they pass the remains and skeletons, particularly at the sight of the children. innocent people, who died in these tunnels. innocent babies, innocent children. horrifying. is there any like - indication as to how they died? taair winces if he steps on a bone, drawing his mouth into a tight line as he proceeds forward, mentally saying a silent prayer for those lost souls that must haunt this sort of place. ]
... a demon indeed. [ softly. he does not like how narrow this tunnel is OR how full of death it is, actually. everything is bad. ]
[ Adolphe is most likely, still, the kind of person who would balk at seeing cockroaches--not because he's scared of them. No. It means it's because somewhere around eating food is so fuckin dirty that bugs have to populate. They're in the sewers, so it's expected to see rats and pests here. He steps on any that dares to come close to him. Die.
But then they come across cadavers and remains of people. He's surprised of the amount here, but mostly not surprised by the remains just rotting in this place. Everything stinks. Christ. There's a tinge of sympathy for the babies and children, and not much else for the adults. Humanity is restored upon seeing sacrifices for the children, even if it didn't quite work out.
Adolphe still stays in the back, though he wonders if he should gone to the front when the place started to get narrow. He lost his chance now. Tch. ]
An actual demon might have been kinder.
[ There's a crunch of bone under his foot as he continues onward. ]
[ thanks everything it's dark enough no one has to witness BUT WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE (HUGE FUCKING) SPIDERS expression. ooooghgh it's fine. IT'S FINE!!!!! he might kill it without mercy if it comes nearer to him. who needs demons when you've got mortal enemies, right?? ]
Charming.
[ see? he's fine.
anyway. the skeletons just tell him they're on the right path at least. he takes a moment to silently promise them justice before moving onwards. there's no use lingering here.
if he also nudges a rat towards richie, no one can prove it. ]
He'll stop running his hand on the wall once he perceives the roaches, though. Doesn't seem worth it. Trying his best to avoid the vermin but clearly displeased, feeling a funny sense of deja vu.
Which intensifies in the worst way when the torchlight hits the corpses. Even he shuts up for that.]
Oh, shit... [He's not one for prayers, but fucking hell. Those are the bones of children curled up tight, locked in by a motherly clutch of bare humerus and metacarpals. No doubt the rats and roaches picked them clean, and that's after a hopeless scrabble to survive in darkness and shit.
Richie holds a moment in front of them, stomach turning. Nods to his fellow sellswords with a grim line for a mouth.]
Well, any hesitation I may have had has evaporated. Let's stick this pig.
[Ahead they go...what wonders lie in the great beyond?]
With his animal handling eyes, Taair can see that our beloved Ratabella (or is this her ancestor??) is holding... a distal phalanx! An itty bitty bone, from the tip of someone's finger. This one is especially tiny, indicating that perhaps its former owner was just as small.
Looking over the skeletons, there is no clear indication of how these people died. Their skeletons are strangely intact, aside from signs that they've been gnawed on here and there. But that is very much a postmortem thing.
Hawke may try to crush the spider if he likes! Unfortunately, this spider is fast as fuck and it also jumps! Horrifying! It leaps at his leg when he tries to kill after it skitters close, crawling up his thigh, hip, and getting all the way to his ribs before it leaps toward the wall and disappears into the inky darkness. Goodbye.
The rat Hawke nudges at Richie is startled. Enough to think that it's under attack when it's flung towards this white man who believes himself to be a samurai in 17th century Japan. In a bid to defend itself from The Whites, it chomps down on Richie's left ankle hard enough to pierce through cloth. Ouch!
Adolphe does not engage in any of these shenanigans so he is safe, aside from perhaps having to peel a few pieces of bone from under his shoes later.
Luckily, they will then reach the end of the tunnel. The group comes face to face with a big, iron door, equipped with heavy hinges, spikes along its edges and a single keyhole on its leftmost side.]
[ cool! i regret looking! he lets out a little shiver when he notices, involuntarily, and shakes his head quickly to try and clear it away, to try not to think about it too much. the twist of guilt and sorrow in his stomach is not an unusual one at the sight of this much devastation, and he tries to focus his light forward for now, though then all hell is breaking loose (vermin edition) behind them.
normally this is where we would sing a happy little working song to get them to be nice (?) but seeing as how he too believes he is a 17th century samurai as opposed to a 15th century (mumbles in questionable middle eastern origins) princess he does not do that and instead looks back to the boys who are dealing with vermin upon reaching the door. ]
[ Adolphe merely looks on with dead eyes at the rest of the group. Being last in this train of idiods means he can see everything that's happening in real time and he does nothing to stop any of it. Cool. ]
When you stop screaming, can you get to unlocking the door?
[ Is Richie screaming? He's saying this anyway regardless of what he'll do. ]
[ the high glass breaking shriek hawke makes, maybe it'll clear the area out at least. that, or the absolute wiggle he does in full body horror. AUGH sPIDERS
does he even notice richie getting eaten behind him? hard 2 say
taair I hope you don't mind getting a cloak of 6 foot misery covering you while he quietly bemoans about sewers. he'll notice the door next tag, maybe ]
[Okay he yelps but he's not shrieking like their big strong boy over here.]
Ow! Fuck! [HIS ANKLE. Is this rat named Brimstone because it sure wants to bite him for no reason.] I swear if I catch some goddamn disease down here...
[Do they have any sort of medicines or poultices he can rub on that. Please don't give me rabies. Otherwise he will give Adolphe an exasperated look.]
Easy, easy, I'm on it.
[Sheesh. Going up and getting to work on this lock, mindful again of any other oddities around the door. None booby traps, s'il vous plait.]
Richie starts working on the lock. With a roll of 17, he makes very good progress on it! It feels like he's aaaaaaalmost got it, when suddenly — something goes click on the door, and it's not the fucking lock. There's the thud of something thumping into place, a rushing of water heard overhead...
And then, from behind them, they hear a series of pop pop pops as the sealed openings they spotted earlier burst open, allowing a flood of seawater to rush into the tunnel. Wuh-oh! Better brace yourselves, gang, because with a roll of 6 Richie does not get the door open in time before the tunnel floods completely and the seawater slams into the gang with all the brute force of a stampede.
Hawke and Adolphe both roll a hecking nat 20 and don't get swept away by the current! Rather, they're slammed into the door but manage to stay there. Taair, on the other hand, rolls a 13 and does get swept away by the current, but not so much that he can't swim his way back to the group if he puts some muscle into it. Good luck, buddy.
The current knocks the lock picking tools out of Richie's hands, though. He will need to, uh, grab those and quickly before the current sweeps them away forever. They are too far down to tunnel to escape the way they came from before they run out of air. Their only option is to finish unlocking the door and get the fuck out of here.
Good luck, gang.
Please roll again for 1) how well you hold your breath and 2) any action you may be attempting in this next round.]
taair hears the pop pops and looks straight back, but it is way too late - one second, hawke is rying to drape over him and the next, the water comes rushing in their direction. taair has exactly enough time to gasp in a breath, and somehow i rolled a 15 to not drown (yay) and then a 4 to swim back.
so
yeah man he's a scrawny little guy, and the power of the current is enough to knock him right off of his feet. taair has enough brains and instinct to suck in a huge breath of air before he's swept under water, but the swimming does not appear to be going well - his foot catches on something when he's trying to get his bearings. at least he's holding his breath! ]
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holyspirits) wrote2025-03-23 03:12 pm
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Hawke. We're opening it on three.
[ help him
One... two... ]
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... did that work? ]
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Also glancing up to the castle any suspicious change in movement up there?]
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With their combined efforts, the grate swings open! The small amount of moonlight filtering through the opening on the ground allows them to see a staircase carved from stone. It descends into the murky darkness of the tunnel, and they can't tell how far down it goes.]
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[ praises the team because he is in fact the twink of the function and that's the best he can do here. once the grate is set down, taair checks the map once more, thoughtful. ]
The tunnel itself goes under the sea and to the castle, as far as our information goes. It is likely we will need light once we get down.
[ and then smiles, twinkle of adventure in his eyes. ] Shall we?
[ with little fanfare, he will easily be the first sacrifice onto the stairs, immediately beginning to descend once he's sure the others will follow. ]
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Watch your footing.
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Here we go.
[ waddles in after taair, ready to `smack` if any demons or animals or talking demon turtles are laying in wait. ]
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Will do.
[Watch his footing. He'll file in after Hawke, letting Adolphe bring up the rear. Keeping a sharp eye and ear out for anything amiss.]
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Once the rest of the gang descends with their lit torches, they will see they've entered a long, winding stone tunnel. Right away, they notice that it grows more narrow further down, but the light from the torches isn't enough to illuminate the whole of it.
There are faint noises coming from further down the tunnel. Rustling and echoey drip drops.
The inky black darkness stares down at them from about a few dozen paces away. They will have to keep going to see what else the tunnel holds.]
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torch in hand, he gives adolphe a grateful smile, turning it briefly after whatever skittered on him just to see if he can see what it was, but after that, he just kind of shakes out his boot and glances down the tunnel, torch held aloft.
the narrowness... great! hate that. he frowns, listening for the noises, and then steps down onto the flat section, making room for everyone else to make their way. ]
...Well... it does seem fairly likely we won't be seen this way. [ he says softly: ] I cannot imagine many have taken this route.
[ cause it's gross in here gang. he doesn't hesitate much, but starts to walk forward if the others do as well, keeping an alert eye on their surroundings and leading the charge. ]
Come. There's only forward.
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Anyway, he has his own lit torch, the stones go back in the bag and... damn, it's fuckin dank in here. ]
Walking a little faster won't hurt us, but keep your wits about you.
[ He's not going to say that Taair's "eek" sound startled the fuck out of him. ]
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[ he's not too worried with the group of them here but he is eyeing the space warily. he doesn't have swinging room down here, does he?
well, it'll be fine probably. taair will scare off any potential problems with more cute squeaks from the front ]
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Walking deep into dank holes...by the way, how is your mother doing, Hawke?
[Runs a hand along the wall as they go, in case of secret doors. What do they find up ahead?]
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a rat!
A big one. Very juicy rat. Maybe she works as a stripper to feed her three children after her husband abandoned them for a horrible purple man. But it's okay, because she found love again in the arms of a revolutionary rat with a cute flower accessory.
Anyway, the rat walked over Taair's foot and now squeaks adorably at him while holding something in its mouth. But he's moving forward, so goodbye rat.
This is not the only rat they'll see. There are many, many more of them as they move forward. Cockroaches, too. The occasional drop of water lands on their shoulders as they traverse the tunnels, the droplets coming from a series of pipes and sealed openings on the ceiling. As they progress, they will find that the tunnel grows narrow enough that they are forced to march forward one at a time. None of that standing side-by-side shit here.
Eventually, they will come across other things.
Skeletons. Distinctly human. Adult sized cadavers curled protectively around decidedly child sized remains. Some even about the size of a newborn. There are enough of them littering the ground that stepping on some of the bones is, unfortunately, inevitable. A spider about the size of Hawke's fist crawls out of one of the skulls, through the eyehole, and stares up at the gang with its many, many eyes.
They still can't see the end of the tunnel. Keep going.]
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for the most part, taair walks carefully - avoiding stepping on any critters no matter what size they are. he's always been relatively light on his feet, which is the absolute only reason he has not been murdered as a mercenary so far, actually, and this is no exception. though, as things start to get tighter, the sense of unease and dread grows and grows.
his breath catches when they pass the remains and skeletons, particularly at the sight of the children. innocent people, who died in these tunnels. innocent babies, innocent children. horrifying. is there any like - indication as to how they died? taair winces if he steps on a bone, drawing his mouth into a tight line as he proceeds forward, mentally saying a silent prayer for those lost souls that must haunt this sort of place. ]
... a demon indeed. [ softly. he does not like how narrow this tunnel is OR how full of death it is, actually. everything is bad. ]
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But then they come across cadavers and remains of people. He's surprised of the amount here, but mostly not surprised by the remains just rotting in this place. Everything stinks. Christ. There's a tinge of sympathy for the babies and children, and not much else for the adults. Humanity is restored upon seeing sacrifices for the children, even if it didn't quite work out.
Adolphe still stays in the back, though he wonders if he should gone to the front when the place started to get narrow. He lost his chance now. Tch. ]
An actual demon might have been kinder.
[ There's a crunch of bone under his foot as he continues onward. ]
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Charming.
[ see? he's fine.
anyway. the skeletons just tell him they're on the right path at least. he takes a moment to silently promise them justice before moving onwards. there's no use lingering here.
if he also nudges a rat towards richie, no one can prove it. ]
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[Why are there extra rats coming for him?!
He'll stop running his hand on the wall once he perceives the roaches, though. Doesn't seem worth it. Trying his best to avoid the vermin but clearly displeased, feeling a funny sense of deja vu.
Which intensifies in the worst way when the torchlight hits the corpses. Even he shuts up for that.]
Oh, shit... [He's not one for prayers, but fucking hell. Those are the bones of children curled up tight, locked in by a motherly clutch of bare humerus and metacarpals. No doubt the rats and roaches picked them clean, and that's after a hopeless scrabble to survive in darkness and shit.
Richie holds a moment in front of them, stomach turning. Nods to his fellow sellswords with a grim line for a mouth.]
Well, any hesitation I may have had has evaporated. Let's stick this pig.
[Ahead they go...what wonders lie in the great beyond?]
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With his animal handling eyes, Taair can see that our beloved Ratabella (or is this her ancestor??) is holding... a distal phalanx! An itty bitty bone, from the tip of someone's finger. This one is especially tiny, indicating that perhaps its former owner was just as small.
Looking over the skeletons, there is no clear indication of how these people died. Their skeletons are strangely intact, aside from signs that they've been gnawed on here and there. But that is very much a postmortem thing.
Hawke may try to crush the spider if he likes! Unfortunately, this spider is fast as fuck and it also jumps! Horrifying! It leaps at his leg when he tries to kill after it skitters close, crawling up his thigh, hip, and getting all the way to his ribs before it leaps toward the wall and disappears into the inky darkness. Goodbye.
The rat Hawke nudges at Richie is startled. Enough to think that it's under attack when it's flung towards this white man who believes himself to be a samurai in 17th century Japan. In a bid to defend itself from The Whites, it chomps down on Richie's left ankle hard enough to pierce through cloth. Ouch!
Adolphe does not engage in any of these shenanigans so he is safe, aside from perhaps having to peel a few pieces of bone from under his shoes later.
Luckily, they will then reach the end of the tunnel. The group comes face to face with a big, iron door, equipped with heavy hinges, spikes along its edges and a single keyhole on its leftmost side.]
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normally this is where we would sing a happy little working song to get them to be nice (?) but seeing as how he too believes he is a 17th century samurai as opposed to a 15th century (mumbles in questionable middle eastern origins) princess he does not do that and instead looks back to the boys who are dealing with vermin upon reaching the door. ]
There's a - [ ?! ] ... is everyone alright?
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When you stop screaming, can you get to unlocking the door?
[ Is Richie screaming? He's saying this anyway regardless of what he'll do. ]
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does he even notice richie getting eaten behind him? hard 2 say
taair I hope you don't mind getting a cloak of 6 foot misery covering you while he quietly bemoans about sewers. he'll notice the door next tag, maybe ]
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Ow! Fuck! [HIS ANKLE. Is this rat named Brimstone because it sure wants to bite him for no reason.] I swear if I catch some goddamn disease down here...
[Do they have any sort of medicines or poultices he can rub on that. Please don't give me rabies. Otherwise he will give Adolphe an exasperated look.]
Easy, easy, I'm on it.
[Sheesh. Going up and getting to work on this lock, mindful again of any other oddities around the door. None booby traps, s'il vous plait.]
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Richie starts working on the lock. With a roll of 17, he makes very good progress on it! It feels like he's aaaaaaalmost got it, when suddenly — something goes click on the door, and it's not the fucking lock. There's the thud of something thumping into place, a rushing of water heard overhead...
And then, from behind them, they hear a series of pop pop pops as the sealed openings they spotted earlier burst open, allowing a flood of seawater to rush into the tunnel. Wuh-oh! Better brace yourselves, gang, because with a roll of 6 Richie does not get the door open in time before the tunnel floods completely and the seawater slams into the gang with all the brute force of a stampede.
Hawke and Adolphe both roll a hecking nat 20 and don't get swept away by the current! Rather, they're slammed into the door but manage to stay there. Taair, on the other hand, rolls a 13 and does get swept away by the current, but not so much that he can't swim his way back to the group if he puts some muscle into it. Good luck, buddy.
The current knocks the lock picking tools out of Richie's hands, though. He will need to, uh, grab those and quickly before the current sweeps them away forever. They are too far down to tunnel to escape the way they came from before they run out of air. Their only option is to finish unlocking the door and get the fuck out of here.
Good luck, gang.
Please roll again for 1) how well you hold your breath and 2) any action you may be attempting in this next round.]
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taair hears the pop pops and looks straight back, but it is way too late - one second, hawke is rying to drape over him and the next, the water comes rushing in their direction. taair has exactly enough time to gasp in a breath, and somehow i rolled a 15 to not drown (yay) and then a 4 to swim back.
so
yeah man he's a scrawny little guy, and the power of the current is enough to knock him right off of his feet. taair has enough brains and instinct to suck in a huge breath of air before he's swept under water, but the swimming does not appear to be going well - his foot catches on something when he's trying to get his bearings. at least he's holding his breath! ]
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