Occasionally mods will be allowing a set number of characters to schedule an involved conversation with a mod regarding the discovery of something in game, as announced on the OOC community or on a mod log. Characters who have signed up for the option will be selected via RNG (with preference given to characters who have not yet had a thread like this), and the thread will be conducted on this page.
You can see a sample thread in the comments below, but in essence, this thread is meant to mimic the conversation a tabletop player might have with their DM. The mod will establish the setting, and you may describe your character's actions and decisions. The mod will respond with reactions and any particular consequences, and the mod and player will move throughout the scenario together, until all questions are satisfied and all actions are taken.
After this informational thread is complete, it's assumed that anything learned within is now common knowledge for the rest of the game. You're still welcome to thread out discussion or discovery of this ICly, but if you'd like to skip ahead to any fallout or follow-up action, that's also fine.
As a note, these threads do not have to be limited to one character in the scene. For the ease of moving threads along quickly, we ask that one player take the reins in terms of writing out the actions of all characters involved in the scene. We have a channel reserved in the Discord channel limited to current thread participants to facilitate OOC discussion of who's doing what for this purpose.
Since the last visit into the mines, things have not been going well for the city. Earthquakes are a near regular occurence, and the black substance bubbles up from seemingly every crack and cranny around. But there is a discernable source to it: the earth trembles most violently towards the mines, where everything began. If there’s any hope of stopping the disturbances, it may just be there.
There are two known ways in: the main door, locked magically by Caleb, originally sealed in a fruitless attempt to block off the first instances of the contagion, who knows how many years ago. Last anyone knew, a twisted, misshapen creature lurked within, perhaps not far from this door. It will undoubtedly have a thick surges of ichor to deal with and maneuver around, but there may be enough room for safe passage deeper into the mountain.
The second way is the vents, used as an exit by the escaping previous party. They’re set in a wall toward the back of the caverns, about 10 feet up from the highest point of a plateau set into the cavern wall. The vent was closed behind them, but the way would still be passable. No one has charted any of this area of the mines save for the exact passage the previous group took; it could lead deeper, or it could lead nowhere at all. It’s likely to be safer in terms of monstrous presences and tides of black ichor, but it’s more of an unknown factor.
Our gang of heroes has decided to go in through the vents. Presumably nobody wants to have to tell Jester that they killed Marti thirty seconds into the adventure. Plas will assist in getting anyone down safely if they don't want to make the jump, and the other three have got it in the bag on the visibility front between Crymaria's glow, the reliable Pod, and Caleb's special DnD flashlight.
9S and Plas will be sure to mention that the goop does like light.
The tunnel they emerge into is largely featureless, with only the occassional metal-stripped mining tool dropped and long abandoned. It stretches into the darkness in two directions: left is the way the previous group had come, which this group will know leads eventually back into the main tunnel of the mines (and the original site of the goopening, and our friend Marti, and two yet-unexplored tunnels), and right is an unknown stretch which has not been used yet at all.
Both directions are equally silent, and it’s difficult to tell if the gently rumbling earth leads any particular direction other than down.
Caleb is going to send Frumpkin to explore the right hand tunnel, to check for goop ahead, or Marti ahead, or some other unknown danger/monstrosity/"god why" lurking in that direction. He will not tell the others he is doing this.
Meanwhile Crymaria, 9S and Plas are discussing doing that exact same thing, except the other direction. Plas will stick his neck/head down the left-hand tunnel, accompanied by Pod as a handy source of light. He'll try to get back to the main tunnel if he can, provided he doesn't encounter Marti, or goop, or god-knows-what-else along the way.
To the right, all is quiet and clear for about 40 feet. The tunnel begins to slope gently downward, and so far there are no branches or secondary tunnels.
To the left, Plas-head makes it to about the stripped elevator shaft that the last group had scrambled up with no sign of anything. There, however, he will hear a very faint scraping coming from down the shaft and in the wide room beyond it, out of reach of the light.
Caleb is going to mentally send Frumpkin another 40 feet down.
MEANWHILE, back at the horrorshow, Plas sprouts a second head from his shoulders to inform the group of the mysterious noises down the elevator shaft. Everyone is appropriately horrified, but agree he should find out what it is. So he'll extend his neck a little further so he (and Pod) can look down into the shaft, while he sprouts a third arm (from what is technically his neck yes thank you) to grab a nearby rock and drop it down the elevator shaft.
Another 40 feet, and Frumpkin will find the tunnel beginning to sink noticably. There are a few turns, and two branches off of the main tunnel. Left seems to go up, and right goes deeper still.
As far as Plas’s ingestigation, there is a pause after the rock clatters down. Then a scrambling, louder scraping sound, as something twisted and strangely bulbous claws into the bottom of the shaft. It stops there, large head craning back to peer up at Plas and Pod.
Oh hello new unwelcome friend. Marti, is that you?
Second head will nervously tell the rest of them that they've got some company at the bottom of that shaft. Crymaria and Caleb are going to move into the righthand tunnel after Frumpkin, at least the first 40ft that Frumpkin cleared. Caleb is still not going to tell any of them about Frumpkin. Later, there will be stern words about Caleb's lack of team spirit, count on it.
9S is gonna hang back at the junction and be ready to throw down. If it comes up that shaft and down after them he and Plas are going to make a stand there, where they can defend the other tunnel.
Plas is gonna be ready to rubber-band himself right back on down that tunnel, and he'll take Pod with him. (It's gonna work like- second head will just be the new prime head, and what was prime head will just re-merge with neck-arm, which will be an extra third arm, and he'll grab Pod and snap himself back into shape. I'm describing it now so I don't have to reimagine it again if I need it next tag.)
But first he's going to just double-check, just for Jester's sake: is that you, Marti, buddy, pal, friendo? Is anybody at home in there, anybody at all?
There’s a pause when Plas speaks to the creature; one could read an attempt at comprehension in that pause. But then all at once it’s moving, jabbing long, sharp fingers deep into the rock sides of the shaft to propel itself in an ungainly scramble upward and toward Plas and Pod’s level.
Good thing I wrote all that up then, because Plas and Pod are OUTTIE. He is retracting so goddamn fast, you don't even know.
Caleb and Crymaria won't go any further without the other two. 9S is gonna wait with the rest of Plas' body. When he's finished retracting and brought Pod back to safety they'll wait to see if it made it out of the shaft and come along behind with any sufficient speed or skill to catch up. Or...anything else.
The creature isn’t nearly as fast as Plas, but it does make it to the top of the shaft, clawing its way back onto level ground again. There it heaves itself back up up to its feet again and begins a somewhat laborious scramble down the shaft in the direction Plas-head and Pod went.
Plas and 9S are gonna move back down the lefthand tunnel to intercept it ASAP before it can make it to their junction. Plas will go first; he's gonna expand himself like a big blanket-net, let it run straight into him and then wrap it up in himself too tight to move or make noise. He'll work on smothering/crushing as needed while 9S stabs it. A lot. Until it's dead.
Mary's gonna stay in the wings for additional firepower/shooting if they can't get 'er done between the two of them.
Their combined efforts do seem to be enough. Black ichor spews from the wounds that 9S makes, and it screeches hideously until, with a gurgle, it doesn’t. The creature’s body goes still, leaking black fluid, and the tunnels are again silent.
Having smothered those screeches to Alice-levels by word of mod, Plas proceeds to (quietly) complain about being covered in ichor while he tries to wipe it off (while worrying he just helped kill Marti). 9S feels triumphant, because it's a monster, and also an alien. Caleb fumes about the fact that they killed it when Jester cried about it (maybe, since it might not have been Marti!)
Mary, unfortunately the voice of reason, suggests they make sure they not get flanked down the Frumpkin-tunnels and Caleb demands that Plas stick his head down the downwards right-side tunnel(s) to check for goop. Plas complains about doing everything but will do this anyway, same procedure as before. 9S continues to enjoy his job well done.
Down the other tunnel, and the righthand branch, Plas will find that here and there small cracks do spit up black ichor, but it’s nothing that can’t be carefully sidestepped. The tunnel seems otherwise silent and still, aside from the ever present rumbles — which do seem a little louder at this depth.
Caleb wants Plas to keep stretching to see how far he can go, but Caleb is an asshole and Plas is tired of sticking his neck out this far for them all by himself. The rest of the party will catch up to his...head...and then they'll all proceed down the tunnel.
The way is fairly straight, and largely uneventful, but at least 20 minutes of walking. They sink further and further into the mountain, and the rumbling increases noticably. Eventually a faint sound joins it: a rhythmic thudding, as of metal on metal. The ichor that they step around, previously oozing very slowly from the tunnel walls and floor, seems to jump ever so slightly in time with the thudding.
There’s one last bend in the tunnel, and the noises all are loud enough as to potentially be from something just around the corner.
Around the corner is a fairly circular room, what looks like it may once have been a work room. Shelves and cabinets line the edges, and discarded tools are more prevalent here. At the center is the cause of the thudding: a machine that looks to be some kind of drill, with complex parts ramming the head of it repeatedly into the ground at its base. It’s made almost entirely of metal, but seems untouched by the usual ravages of the rest of the city. Various puddles and streams of ichor in the room jump in time with each thud, as it had outside.
The group is gonna very carefully look for a control console! Plas will take a dive if he absolutely needs to but everyone seems to feel very weird about stepping on him so they'll try...not to need him...to do that...
There is a bank of what looks like controls at one side of the room, with various flashing lights. Caleb should be able to understand OPERATION written above it, although the finer points of its labels will be lost on him.
Okay, 9S and Caleb are going to stay with the control panel and start looking for a plug or a power source they can possibly disconnect. Mary and Plas will start searching the work stations for blueprints or plans, especially if they can find one that looks like it belongs to the foreman.
There are an array of buttons below a non-functional screen at the control panel, and what looks like it may once have been a plug on the machine itself — but the metal has twisted and warped, as it does on the limbs of those who encounter the ichor, and what 9S can guess may once have powered the machine is now ruined. It seems it’s being powered some way other than the way it was originally designed to be.
Neither Mary or Plas find blueprints, but Mary uncovers, amid a cluster of partially eaten away papers, what looks to be a hand drawn map. Caleb will be able to read two words on it: BASTION, next to the vague shape of the city, with no real details drawn on, and: HERE? The latter is joined by an X and placed some distance from the city-shape, with what can be identified as the shape of the ravine outside the wall and several other less easily identified shapes between them. Incomprehensible notes have been scrawled across the rest of the page.
The control panel doesn’t seem to be behaving as it usually should. Commands are blocked or only partially received, or never even register as being input at all. 9S does, however, activate a recording from its message center. Loud static crackles suddenly into the room, and a harried voice sounds over the thudding:
“ —Team in Creation says — sent it, but they— “ More static eats whatever words were there, going on for several seconds. “ —down the damn mountain! We have to get that— —nd a team? I don’t care wh— —this pump— —ly going to hold it off so long. It— “
The rest of the recording is lost to static, and the panel finally stops responding to input altogether.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Deeper Caves
There are two known ways in: the main door, locked magically by Caleb, originally sealed in a fruitless attempt to block off the first instances of the contagion, who knows how many years ago. Last anyone knew, a twisted, misshapen creature lurked within, perhaps not far from this door. It will undoubtedly have a thick surges of ichor to deal with and maneuver around, but there may be enough room for safe passage deeper into the mountain.
The second way is the vents, used as an exit by the escaping previous party. They’re set in a wall toward the back of the caverns, about 10 feet up from the highest point of a plateau set into the cavern wall. The vent was closed behind them, but the way would still be passable. No one has charted any of this area of the mines save for the exact passage the previous group took; it could lead deeper, or it could lead nowhere at all. It’s likely to be safer in terms of monstrous presences and tides of black ichor, but it’s more of an unknown factor.
How does this group proceed?
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9S and Plas will be sure to mention that the goop does like light.
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Both directions are equally silent, and it’s difficult to tell if the gently rumbling earth leads any particular direction other than down.
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Meanwhile Crymaria, 9S and Plas are discussing doing that exact same thing, except the other direction. Plas will stick his neck/head down the left-hand tunnel, accompanied by Pod as a handy source of light. He'll try to get back to the main tunnel if he can, provided he doesn't encounter Marti, or goop, or god-knows-what-else along the way.
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To the left, Plas-head makes it to about the stripped elevator shaft that the last group had scrambled up with no sign of anything. There, however, he will hear a very faint scraping coming from down the shaft and in the wide room beyond it, out of reach of the light.
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MEANWHILE, back at the horrorshow, Plas sprouts a second head from his shoulders to inform the group of the mysterious noises down the elevator shaft. Everyone is appropriately horrified, but agree he should find out what it is. So he'll extend his neck a little further so he (and Pod) can look down into the shaft, while he sprouts a third arm (from what is technically his neck yes thank you) to grab a nearby rock and drop it down the elevator shaft.
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As far as Plas’s ingestigation, there is a pause after the rock clatters down. Then a scrambling, louder scraping sound, as something twisted and strangely bulbous claws into the bottom of the shaft. It stops there, large head craning back to peer up at Plas and Pod.
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Second head will nervously tell the rest of them that they've got some company at the bottom of that shaft. Crymaria and Caleb are going to move into the righthand tunnel after Frumpkin, at least the first 40ft that Frumpkin cleared. Caleb is still not going to tell any of them about Frumpkin. Later, there will be stern words about Caleb's lack of team spirit, count on it.
9S is gonna hang back at the junction and be ready to throw down. If it comes up that shaft and down after them he and Plas are going to make a stand there, where they can defend the other tunnel.
Plas is gonna be ready to rubber-band himself right back on down that tunnel, and he'll take Pod with him. (It's gonna work like- second head will just be the new prime head, and what was prime head will just re-merge with neck-arm, which will be an extra third arm, and he'll grab Pod and snap himself back into shape. I'm describing it now so I don't have to reimagine it again if I need it next tag.)
But first he's going to just double-check, just for Jester's sake: is that you, Marti, buddy, pal, friendo? Is anybody at home in there, anybody at all?
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Caleb and Crymaria won't go any further without the other two. 9S is gonna wait with the rest of Plas' body. When he's finished retracting and brought Pod back to safety they'll wait to see if it made it out of the shaft and come along behind with any sufficient speed or skill to catch up. Or...anything else.
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Mary's gonna stay in the wings for additional firepower/shooting if they can't get 'er done between the two of them.
Caleb is conserving spell slots like a good DnD.
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Having smothered those screeches to Alice-levels by word of mod, Plas proceeds to (quietly) complain about being covered in ichor while he tries to wipe it off (while worrying he just helped kill Marti). 9S feels triumphant, because it's a monster, and also an alien. Caleb fumes about the fact that they killed it when Jester cried about it (maybe, since it might not have been Marti!)
Mary, unfortunately the voice of reason, suggests they make sure they not get flanked down the Frumpkin-tunnels and Caleb demands that Plas stick his head down the downwards right-side tunnel(s) to check for goop. Plas complains about doing everything but will do this anyway, same procedure as before. 9S continues to enjoy his job well done.
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There’s one last bend in the tunnel, and the noises all are loud enough as to potentially be from something just around the corner.
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Neither Mary or Plas find blueprints, but Mary uncovers, amid a cluster of partially eaten away papers, what looks to be a hand drawn map. Caleb will be able to read two words on it: BASTION, next to the vague shape of the city, with no real details drawn on, and: HERE? The latter is joined by an X and placed some distance from the city-shape, with what can be identified as the shape of the ravine outside the wall and several other less easily identified shapes between them. Incomprehensible notes have been scrawled across the rest of the page.
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“ —Team in Creation says — sent it, but they— “ More static eats whatever words were there, going on for several seconds. “ —down the damn mountain! We have to get that— —nd a team? I don’t care wh— —this pump— —ly going to hold it off so long. It— “
The rest of the recording is lost to static, and the panel finally stops responding to input altogether.
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