Turn 23 - The Quiet AlleyGronok, delightfully prompted by the imprisoned people, launches into an explanation of God's true nature and power.
"Mo'kar is the only god there is, a benevolent overlord who gifts his followers with knowledge. You worship him by teaching things, learning something new, or revealing the truth. There's no need to torture those who stray from the correct path when your god can show you that the reason you strayed was wrong. Remain faithful to Him, and He will reveal secrets of great power to you. And once we know all there is to know, we will ascend to His side, ready at last to Teach his new children."
"So how's that sound? If you all agree to worship the rightful cause of Mo'kar, I'll set about freeing you.""Sounds like a good enough deity to worship. We agree to this conversion. Freedom does sound awfully tempting."Gronok, having received this affirmative and acceptable answer, sets about freeing these miserable individuals.
Unfortunately, they are placed behind bars. And the door is locked.
[Dungeon lack of security roll: 1-->3]
And the key is nowhere in sight or, indeed, easy reach. It appears that this place, contrary to most impressions, is not staffed primarily by fools. Hm. Well, at least Gronok can spend this time looking very thoughtful and composing a mental map of the area.
Maze of Cells - Locked Door - Dungeon
l
Room of Trials
Truly a high-quality map, no?
* * * * *
Shashari judges the cave as quite unlikely to hold anything and politely excuses herself.
"Em, well, good day to you then," she says, turning to leave.
"I think it's just a bear.""Indeed.""You're right, though, something's not right with those stones."The group then follows the tracks right back to the witch-stones and, upon witnessing their frightening semi-lifelike visage once more, decides to try once more. They are wasting daylight, after all, and the night is unlikely to be a good period to be outside in the witch-infested woods.
[Woodsmanship roll: 2]
Shashari attempts to follow the tracks once again, but this proves to be an ultimately fruitless task. She just manages to follow them back to the cave again.
"Obviously, the witch must be a bear as well. Their power knows no bounds."* * * * *
Phiali, as the next step in his investigation, tries to explore the various tunnels in a counterclockwise fashion while remaining as stealthy and inconspicuous as possible.
[Stealth roll: 3]
He strolls down the front-left tunnel, only to find three branching paths - one leads to a set of metallic bars in the shape of a door, the others are wooden doors. There seems to be some noise coming from within the right one.
[People attention roll: 6-->4]
Suddenly, the room audibly quiets down!
"Say, did you hear that? That doesn't sound like one of us.""True. Too sneaky.""Let us check it out!"That is rather... not good.
[Quick disappearance roll: 6-->2]
He quickly tiptoes into the room opposite the one with the people, closing the door as quietly as possible. He finds himself in a room full of swords, spears and a whole lot of other deadly implements of dastardly violence. They are, to tell the truth, quite shiny. And sharp. Phiali is almost tempted to handle one, but he is interrupted by the sound of voices again.
"I don't see anyone around.""Let us arm ourselves anyway. Better to be safe, no?"He hears lazily approaching steps.
Ground Floor:
?
llll
Guards!
? ------ Main Hall ------ ?
Main Hall
Locked Room! ------ Main Hall ------ ?
Main Hall
Room With People Main Hall
l Main Hall
Barred Door - Branching Paths ----- Main Hall ------ ?
l Main Hall
Armory llll
Entrance!
* * * * *
Sejena, after pondering her dream and shaking the lung-destroying amounts of dust pervading the house off herself, seeks out the roof-climbing man she saw earlier in order to gauge his manner and temperament. There has to be someone amiable in this area, right?
[Search roll: 1-->1]
Upon reaching the area outside, she notices that it is absolutely empty. There is nobody around at all, curiously enough. Not that Minozan fellow, not Naphezim, not even his mother, who seemed very much like a permanent fixture of the area when she first met her. Everybody's just up and disappeared all of a sudden. Cutthroat Alley is emptied of all visible life.
Gronok: 0 MP
Shashari: 5 MP
Phiali: 1 MP
Sejena: 2 MP
Elizas: 3 MP]
Okay, I will push the schedule back a bit some more - now I shall update once per three days. I keep feeling like I'm being a bit too overbearing on you guys.