The player called Silent Mountain brazenly crashes through the western door, almost bowling over head first as he is surprised by how little resistance it actually offered. The rest of the party follows tentatively behind, rightfully expecting danger ahead. This is not the case this time though, and the room they have entered could almost be described as comfortable, if it still had a ceiling. Most importantly, This room seems to be perfectly safe. More of the ceiling in the room behind them can be heard crashing down, but a cursory glance behind will show that the path is still mostly clear.

the floor is auspiciously clear of any debris, and signs of short-term habitation can be seen in the form of a long unused fire pit, a stack of damp, moss covered and clearly unusable firewood, and a few tatters of canvas that are all that remain of some sort of makeshift shelter. Besides the door the group entered this squat and upside down L shaped room their are two more doors. One door opens to the south, and is in the south-western corner of the room, and the other is in the south eastern corner and is oriented to the east. Both of these doors are heavily barricaded, and it will take some time to open either.

Most notable is an ornate chest to the groups left. It looks as if has survived several failed attempts to open the safe by force. Strangely, a series of scorches and burns on the wall and floor surround the chest, suggesting that opening the container may turn out to be a dangerous affair. The chest seems to open by way of some sort of puzzle.

Hidden: chest

"What is always in Adecus Forest and Portmont at the same time?"
There is no lock, but instead a four by four grid of buttons, each with a single letter
SCVE
GKWU
REPT
LMAO

Hidden: Map

1 SE Door
2 SW door
3 Fire ring
4 chest
5 Place where group be at

@Merkaba @Roland Rutledge @Silent Mountain @Aaron Marone

 

Roland cautiously entered the room once it was clear that Silent Mountain was not under attack. Angrily he sheathed his other remaining sword, sauntering close to the man, "That was unbelievably reckless, I'm not going to stop you from dying, but if you're feeling suicidal just jump off a cliff." He would stare at the man, unsure why he wouldn't get a verbal response before giving up with a huff and focusing his attention on the room.

The path forward seemed to be blocked off; neither option seemed appealing. At least not compared to the treasure chest. Roland's mouth was practically salivating at the opportunity for some previous treasure. Rushing over, Roland took careful note of the various scorch marks around it. It was clearly booby-trapped in at least some manner. Acting more cautiously he bent over to look at the puzzle on its face. "What is always in Adecus Forest and Portmont at the same time?" Roland mumbled out loud, while he inspected the four by four grid underneath it. "The SUN? No there is no N, Borders with Brisshal? No there is no B. Hmmm T-R-E-E-S would work though..." Tapping his foot, Roland stood up shooting a quick email to The Admiral. Suddenly a voice rings in his ear, he quickly pressed a button playing it for all to hear,

"It seems I got your message and I hope that I'm not late-
Or that on my genius your party had to wait.
It's nice you found some treasure in box that's got a trap,
But we'll figure it together with our Puzzle Open Ra-"

Roland shut off the message suddenly, "Whatever he was going to wouldn't have been worth listening to that." After a quick few button had pressed he was able to turn the bard's song into a readable format, and after another few moments of reading he bent back down, pausing as he did so turning over his should and saying, "I'm not exactly sure this is right, so I'd make away from this immediate area." After waiting long enough for them to comply, or not too, he reached up and tapped O followed by R as they were the only letters in common with the two names.

Beyond what happens with the chest, he would help whoever clear whichever door was declared as the 'right' door. However, if he failed with the chest, he would not stand by during any other attempts, rather he'd wait behind the corner.

 

The group had moved on to a new room. The Silent Mountain, another nonsense name but at least not Alphabet Chocolate ugh, had busted open the door like a barbarian. Well he made himself useful in the only way he probably could so it worked for the witch. Merkaba had followed them into the room. Returning to a rear position. Her hand resting on her scythe as always. Her eyes caught the chest as quickly as Roland had but she made no immediate attempt to head anywhere near it. Better to let others indulge foolish greed and if calamity befalls them she can reap the rewards.

The puzzle from what she could tell was a riddle with a answer hidden in a set of letters allocated to buttons on the chest. Wonderful, another idiot puzzle like the memorization one from some time ago. Why could it not be something that opened by playing a dark melody like the bell tower chest? Sigh it cannot always be pleasant or require true skill she supposed. The man, Roland tried to contact a friend but the sound of the most ridiculous thing she had heard in weeks... yes more ridiculous than Alphabet, hard to believe but true, intruded into her ears. What in the name of that was unholy was that? Urgh utter trash.

Roland would cut off the horrible sound thank the dark gods... even a idiot knows that much at least. He would begin to decipher the code alone. Merkaba watched his hand and tried to see which buttons he was pressing. It was fairly hard from this distance however. As for the doors. That was fine and good. The fate that awaited a man's greed was more interesting to the dark witch at the moment.

@Silent Mountain @Aaron Marone

 

Aaron sighed with heavy relief when he entered the room to learn that there was no threat. He relaxed and sheathed his weaponry. He made his way over to the fire pit and sat down at it. Sure, there wasn't a fire in it, and he didn't plan on making one, but still, it was a place where it made sense to rest. He watched as Roland fiddled with a chest, and Merkaba didn't seem like she was too impatient to rush off to death quiet yet. FInally, people were done being idiots.

"Alright, listen up," he called. "We're going to rest here, recover our health and energy. Anyone who tries to leave this room before we're all rested up is not going to get healed when they come crawling back, chased by a horde of monsters. We need to be smart, we need teamwork." He sighed again and rubbed his temples. "Silent, please. Don't rush off like this. It worked out fine this time, but you can never know. Merkaba, when we get into a fight, it is not beneath you. You need to help us fight. I will admit, I don't know much about your dark gods, but I know that deities typically don't like lazy servants." He turned toward Roland. "And Roland... when your healer is already injured and exhausted, rushing toward a chest that is obviously rigged with some form of a trap isn't smart. You couldn't have waited... five minutes?" He asked.

He rubbed his face. "I'm not trying to be a stick in the mud here. I understand that, sure, this is technically just a 'game', that none of us are actually here. But as someone who has died in this world and nearly died multiple more times, I can say for certain there is something real about all that. I'm not treating this world like a game because for the people who live here, it's not. And we're not doing this because it's fun, or anything like that. We're doing this to help the people that the creatures in these caves are hurting. You all elected me to be the leader, the one in front. Fine. I'm asking us all to be smart, to put our survival at the foremost, so that none of us leave here with any death afflictions. I can only do so much with my healing."

 

Silent Mountain looked around the room, surprised to see nothing more than a chest and a used fireplace. Lowering his guard, he approached the chest in the room. Before he could reach it, however, Roland spat verbal venom at him and went to work on the chest. It appeared to be some form of puzzle.

Silent smiled to himself, remembering the last time he'd thought he figured out a puzzle. He briefly wondered what kind of trap was connected to the chest, though by the looks of those scorch marks, it was obviously something fire-related. Opting to not be burned alive, Silent walked over to the fire pit and sat down, staring at the ashes left in the pit.

Roland seemed to be phoning in, attempting to enlist his other friends to assist him in the puzzle. Silent wished him luck, and turned to the paladin who'd begun to speak. He had a good head on his shoulders, and he seemed to genuinely want to help the group succeed, though perhaps this task may be comparable to herding cats. Still, it was incredibly foolish for Silent to enter the room as he did. There wasn't any reason for him to sacrifice himself in this dungeon.

 

All eyes are on Roland for one reason or another as he tentatively reaches for the button pad that unlocks the ornate chest at his feet. he reaches out and pressed the O, then the R button. At first, nothing happens, then a soft scraping sound followed by an audible click. The timing is almost perfect; As soon as Aaron speaks the words "...a chest that is obviously rigged..." Roland realizes a trap has been sprung, but he is too late to respond.

Roland is not bathed in flames or peppered with poison darts. Instead, whomever engineered this particular trap decided on confetti. Faded bits of green and yellow paper burst into the air, and flutter to the ground harmlessly. After taking a moment to recover from the heart stopping surprise, he investigates further. The chest is completely empty except for a cracked and yellow note.

Hidden: The note

​

Roland is covered in a few odd bits of confetti, but otherwise unharmed besides possibly a bruised ego.

This room seems as safe as it's going to get for the time being, and even if nobody wants to admit it, it would be good to take a breather.

@Merkaba @Roland Rutledge @Silent Mountain @Aaron Marone

((I'll add a slight boost to the groups loot roll once the dungeon has been cleared, but I wanted to do that way too badly))

 

Roland rolled back onto his heel, slamming his butt into the ground with a thud. He had expected some flame trap if he had gotten the puzzle wrong, he did not expect a handful of confetti to spring into his face. Stunned he remained sitting for several moments before regaining his composure as he vainly tried to ignore Aarons rant, "Well all right then. Rest? Yes, a rest sounds pleasant." Roland moved over to the unlit firepit, producing a small manner of flint as he did so. Rather than light it, however, he checked the area determining whether there was a place for the smoke to travel too. After a few moments of investigation, Roland concluded that with the state of decay the building was in there was a very low chance he could reliably start a fire due to the fact that he likely could never light the logs in the first place.Instead, he resigned himself to trying to lounge on one of the few tatters of canvas available to him, trying to stay as warm as he could without a source of heat.

As he sat there he pondered on the chest, the contents tugging at the edges of his mind. Of course, the name Emery Reid could be a throwaway and there was never any real indication that the chest held anything significant its location as well as this room's set up bothered him. Where had the rock beasts come from, and why had they invaded this fort? Pondering the answers to these questions, Roland would stare at the ceiling in silence for some time until someone had decided it was time to move again.

 

((This room has no ceiling >.> like, if you look up you can see trees n birds n clouds n shit))

 

((Whoops, edited))

 

Aaron sighed with relief that Roland's only punishment for going after the treasure chest was to be covered in confetti. Still, it was a bit sad there wasn't anything worth the risk in there. "I suppose we should be thankful it wasn't anything dangerous, but it is a shame you found nothing in there," he said. "Good job on figuring out that puzzle, though," he complimented.

He looked around at the party. "I'll take first watch. Roland will take second. Merkaba and Silent, you'll take third watch together," he said. He wasn't particularly sure he trusted Merkaba to watch alone, and he didn't think Silent could handle it alone, especially with the man's inability to speak. Hopefully, the two would keep each other in some degree of... usefulness. He sighed, and pulled up his palm menu to send a private message to Silent Mountain. "Your main job will be to keep an eye on Merkaba. Wake me if she tries anything." Once that was sent off, he opened another to send to Merkaba. "I don't trust his survival instincts or his lack of communications skills to prove useful as a solitary lookout. I'm trusting you on this."

With that message sent as well, he let out a steady breath. "Alright, everyone get some sleep."

 

@Merkaba @Roland Rutledge @Silent Mountain @Aaron Marone
((Im extending the time limit to 48 hrs for posts in this thread, HOWEVER hostile actions will "occur" at the 24 hour mark, so it is still in your best interest to post sooner than later for teh sake of acting before the enemy does, or responding to dangerous situations before they happen))

 

The chest was some sort of prank. Merkaba resist the urge to eye roll. Well at least she was not made to look like the fool. There may be a annoying thief running about snagging treasures though... as long as he was unable to handle her level of exploration there should be little trouble. The thought of leaving a hexed chest for the culprit was very enticing however for the future. If only for the fun of fooling a fool. Elizabeth really did not get many chances to enjoy a good bit of torment lately.

The group had decided to rest. That was fast. Why? Merkaba had not even reached 50% of her limits. Wretched weaklings and morons always slowing her down. Well, she would take this time to analyze some things. She had little else to do here. Moving onward alone was a option of course... Then the Paladin gave her commands. A Paladin giving her commands? This was amusing indeed. She was to keep watch with the idiot named one.

"It goes to show how much trust you have in me."

The witch would fold her arms and wait around. If the hammer swinging man was thought to be enough to keep them safe from her power... she really was around fools. Sigh. There was no reason to harm them, they were her meat shields after all.

 

Silent nodded at Aaron, and began fixing his backpack as a pillow next to the fireplace. "Sleeping, huh..." he thought. "Is such a feat possible in this game? Is it the only way to recover energy?"

He drifted off into a troubled sleep, dreaming of his real life outside of the game. He dreamed of his clients, angry with him for various accounting errors easily overlooked. He dreamed of losing his job, winding up on the streets and eventually dying cold and alone. Cold and alone...

Once it was his turn to take watch, he would walk over and sit on the chest, using it as a bench of sorts. He could only pray that him sitting on it wouldn't trigger the trap inside.

Aaron had tasked him with watching this Merkaba character. True, it was hard to believe she would do anything to her team, lest she brave the dungeon alone, but it indeed was hard to trust her not to do anything while they slept. Plus, in case of emergency, it would be better to have a voice that actually worked. Silent hoped it wouldn't come to that.

 

The group woke in the morning feeling revitalized and ready to explore the last bit of the challenge ahead of them. It was early, and the sun was still low in the sky. A particularly excited songbird had perched atop the crumbling structure, and it's song was irritating to the group at this early hour. Having little to eat quite possibly set the group in a foul mood as they packed their makeshift camp and made ready. Merkaba and Sielnt Mountain had not slept well though, and a full recovery of their energies seemed to be beyond their grasp from such a short and restless nights sleep.

The two unexplored doorways to the south stood as they had through the night, offering the promise of challenges to come, and also the threat of concealed danger. the group had come here to kill a pack of rock beasts that had nested in the abandoned structure, but as of yet hadn't seen the slightest traces of their quarry. The four adventurers gathered in the chilly dawn morning and began to discuss their next course of action.

Hidden: Player Status

Aaron Marone

100% HP

MAX HP

100% EN

MAX EN

Roland Rutledge

100% HP

MAX HP

100% EN

MAX EN

Merkaba

100% HP

MAX HP

90% EN

MAX EN

Silent Mountain

100% HP

MAX HP

90% EN

MAX EN

@Aaron Marone @Roland Rutledge @Silent Mountain @Merkaba

 

Silent had little to contribute. Not only was he unsure of which door to go through, but he also had proven to be too reckless for his level. If he planned on living through the end of the dungeon, he'd need to put more effort towards his own survival. That meant doing as the paladin suggested, as he was the only person to have demonstrated healing capabilities.

Silent would wait close to the doors, inspecting them both but not making any move to open one. If the party decided on a route, he would gladly follow behind, but it was obvious that he wouldn't be taking any more risks.

(Sorry for short post, kinda behind in a few threads)