Previous -- NextThus we move out of this area. For the most part. As a reminder, I've started using double-spaced arrows on the map to indicate a double-long tunnel. So ordinarily you'd be marching from morning to afternoon, but now you're about to march to evening. Go overnight and you'll have to eat again.
Overseer (FallacyofUrist) has remained behind. I refuse to play the game across two different time periods, so you'd better get a move on after this point . . . !
Dustan's insight roll: 5, Succeed greatly!
Overseer's inner peace roll: 5, Succeed greatly!
Okay!
The group begins to pick up person after person in a general progression toward movement. Dustan pushes a wheelbarrow, but is distracted. You are still thinking about the medical applications of healthstone. Can it, perhaps, be applied to wounds directly? That's what happens with packaged vitality! Except . . . no, no it isn't; applying directly to an injury would be like applying a layer of meat. Or maybe sugar. Technically helpful with preparing jam, but . . . ew, no. Packaged vitality is magic. Best ask in town.
You roll northeast-ward, beyond that strange mineral vein. Dwain takes a closer look. And . . . it's like you're looking at emptiness. Mined-out emptiness. It's a contradiction in your eyes, and you find yourself blinking away little sparks as though your eyelids had been forced closed for too long. Weird.
And then the team of exiles departs down the east-facing tunnel. Well, mostly. Overseer has remained in the chamber in the east with all the blood and dirt. You are having better luck pinning down an understanding of the caves using only the mystical power of your own mind. So cool.
What you feel most clearly is that from here on out you would be leaving the parts of the underground where the limited rules you have discerned hold sway. Just as when the hoarding wastrel was alive, there is an oppressive force. And there is a "path," for lack of a better word, north and east of you; perhaps a literal tunnel through the rock (hint, hint), where the force rises. Very much like stepping into the waters at the shore, waiting for them to rise over your head . . .
Day 14, EveningResult: 1, Fail terribly!
Result: 2, Fail!
Result: 6, Fail by succeeding!
Result: 5, Succeed greatly!
Result: 5, Succeed greatly!
Hours pass, noon turns to evening, and the four of you achieve eastness. Huh, four? Well, at least there's still enough people to push all the wheelbarrows.
As seems to be standard for these caves now, things get interesting again when the shale makes a sharp turn.The group halts when Alyssa Alpine and John, in the back, think they hear distant sounds. Talking! Singing? Is it singing? Alyssa thinks it's arguing, but John thinks there's enough of a pattern for a chant.
With the wheelbarrows stopped and the lanterns no longer swaying, Dustan in the lead thinks that the lighting is strange. There's a new glow from ahead; it's faint, but since it's also magenta that makes it clear you're not the ones making it.GM note: I tried depicting colored light on the map and it was just a bad idea. Recall that Rock Bottom is lit in many places by the colored fires of
glowstone, and still I depicted it as plain light. So, here, I'll just draw anything you see as plain.
And
Overseer (FallacyofUrist): if you believe that you would head out after your meditation, then you can arrive next turn. If there's anything else first, well, then that'll be another turn. But please oh please don't try to play over different time periods.