Normal Day pt 1

It is a completely normal day!

Tottally.

Which is why you've been summoned by the MUSE OF CEINARA. Well, one of the muses. One of many.

Standing at the city gates, he looks rather roughed up, dirty, and otherwise to be a mess. A slightly overweight human man, he's /staring/ at all of you as you filter in.

"THIS IS URGENT," he says.

"A QUEST OF HOLY IMPORT."

Grush straightens up zealously, filled with righteous purpose

Sarcis glances about between them all, giving a little roll of her wrist before her fingers splay out in the man's direction. She smiles - amused and not all that conerned yet - "So are many quests, and they are all equally important. Why don't you tell us which one this might be, so that we might accomplish it with the alacrity it deserves." The Oruch gives a crinkle of her nose then, amused.

Valkea Sirron, ranger, half-elf. Wielder of the big honking crossbow. She keeps the weapon cradled in her arms. When a potential employer is disheveled and dirty there's always a reason for it and the cause may actually be a ways behind. So it's probably a safe bet to be ready. Dressed in the beginnings of a mix of leather and scale armor, a dark black leather coat and breeches with boots in a soft red leather for comfort. Hints of her armor under neath the coat and at the shoulders.

"Well we're here. Might as well tell the lady what we're doing." she adds flatly and nods to Sarcis and the others.

"They stole it. I spent months perfecting it, testing it. They stole the sacrament! And they took it back to their hideout! THose curs! Those ruffians!" His eyes fix on Valkea. "They're probably enjoying it now, my Sacred Moon's Fire, but if you hurry you can stop them before it's all gone."

Sacred Moon's Fire?

"It's my handmade whiskey. Ceremonial!"

Grush says, "Stealing holy sacraments!!?" Grush's eyes are aflame with anger "What kind of foul hearted creatures would stoop so low!""

Shara is standing there with her bow on a shoulder. "mmm.....what could be this important?" She asks the muse. She then tilts her head. "Wait...whiskey? Ah...ceremonial. that's why it's important...."

Interesting. Sacred Whiskey. "Just how much are we talking about? I'm guessing a cart full?" Valkea asks curiously. Fingers count on one hand. "So looks like we're working for the good of the congregation. You know whom the culprits are? Which direction they went. What pulled any carts?" she inquires in a cheery but relatively serious tone. It is still a job and having details is always handy in a criminal investigation.

Sarcis just stares. Stares at the man and blinks, then just facepalms as the female Oruch grumbles out, "You have got to be kidding me. Seriously? Whiskey?" She sighs and lower her hand, "Fine... Fine. Just-" And she gestures toward Valkea as she voices the questions she was going to ask.

Grush seems far too worked up, apparently taking this very seriously. Shes holding her hammer like shes trying to strangle it and looks ready to charge off immediatly. Despite having absolutly no idea where to go

"It's Sacramental whiskey!" he says, firmly. "Sacramental! And yes, my faithful friend can take you to where they attacked and robbed me. From there, you're going to be have to be on your own. My injuries are severe."

His faithful friend emerges from one of the nearby buildings. It's a.. is that a goat?

Yes, it is. It' sa goat.

He has a goat companion.

GAME: Valkea rolls heal: (11)+6: 17

GAME: Grush rolls 1d20+6: (13)+6: 19

When the priest directs the group to the goat for directions Valkea nods, and reaches for a pouch on her hips and gets to work pulling out a healing kit. "This may sting a bit but we should be able to get you on the way to healing enough someoe can take care of the rest." she says and gets to work. The tone of voice becoming distincty motherly as the diminutive ranger works at cleaning and bandaging any wounds, chuckling at any possible wincing from the male.

Grushkneels before the Goat and respectfully scratches its head "Lead on faithful beast! We will avenge your companion"

Thankful for his tended wounds and accepting of the aid, the Ceinaran muse allows Valkea to tend to him. The goat licks Grush and then bounds off in a specific direction. It's smart enough to stop and see if you're following.

Before too long, within an hour or two, you're out in the woods at the sight of a rat her elaborate still.

It looks like it's been damaged.

This is indeed the site where the BOOZE was stolen from and its priest assaulted.

The goat lets out a rather human sounding scream of triumph. IT FOUND IT.

Shara follows easily enough through the woods, then finds the still. "Well....At least it's not moonshine." She then ponders. "Maybe if we took a drunkenly general direction, we'll find them."

Sarcis strings her bow and follows along with the rest of them. She lets out a snicker and a wide smile as she sees Grush make a new friend. Her hand reaches up, sweeping some of her mane back behind a pointed air. She crinkles and shakes her head, and stops when she finally reaches where the goat is screaming out.

GAME: Valkea rolls perception: (6)+8: 14

"Good goat." Valkea praises with a smile for the critter. Towards the group, she adds a grin. "Did he say who or what robbed him?" the woman doublechecks with everyone while she goes back to watching out with her crossbrow drawn and nocked ready to shoot. The soles of her soft red leather boots crunching lightly as she steps carefully and looks about. Pointed ears twitching at the racket the goat makes.

GAME: Grush rolls survival: (15)+10: 25

GAME: Sarcis rolls survival: (3)+11: 14

The goat, seemingly satisfied that you've found what you need to, turns and bounds off back in the direction of Alexandra with another alltoo humman scream of triumph.

WHAAAA!

It isn't long, too, before Grush stumbles on a good trail to follow, if cautiously, and you're soon well on your way in pursuit of the Whiskey Bandits.

Grush surveys the area, one hand on her hammer. Sniffing unconciously at the air as she tries to make sense of the marks and scuffs in the dirt, building a sequence of events in her head

Shara pulls an arrow from her quiver. "Oh this'll be amusing." She says with a tilt of her head. She actually keeps quiet, otherwise.

There's a sniff and a groan as she looks around. "Goblins, my guess from the footprints. But they're gone. Hopefully you guys can figure out which way. Man that whiskey has some kick. We could probably get drunk on the fumes." she says and chuckles while settling in to follow the folks doing the actual tracking.

Sarcis too pulls out an arrow as she adds her own amusement, "I imagine so. Do you think they'll be drunk?" She lets out a snicker and glances in the direction of Shara for a moment.

GOOD NEWS! You have a trail.

It isn't too long following it, perhaps another hour or two, before you come to the end of it. Seems to be a... is that a well?

Yes, it is. The trail moves up to the well and then.. ends there.

Seriously.

It's a big well, at least.

Grush stops and stares at the Well blankly. This seems to have stumped her momentarily

Shara says, "It's a deep subject." she says looking down the well. "Big well though. I think our oruch friends can make it too.""

Grush says, "I'm not sure how getting out is going to go though""

The well just earns a frown from Valkea. Peeking over the edge and down to the bottom of the well she hmms curiously, trying to guage how deep down it is and how much rope she'll need. "I got rope." she states and starts going for her back, extracting her goblin army knife to start pulling the spidersilk rope line she has packed in it.

"Really?" Sarcis says to Shara, "A well pun? I guess it's about all I could wish for at this point." She tries to step up onto the egde of the well and look down to see if she's able to see inot the depths.

Shara looks at Sarcis. "Goblin go down da hoooooole."

Shara says, "Doesn't get much better than that."

It is dark at the bottom of the well.

You might get eaten by something down there.

Granit was here, honestly. He even got a self-knotting rope and gets to the bottom of the rope. Rangers lead the way, hoo-ah?

The group is working to recover stolen sacramental whiskey. So far the trail via a very helpful goat has led the party on the trail of what might be some goblins to a well. While the others ponder, Valkea, the small blonde half-sil with a huge crossbow on her back unfolds a goblin army knife and sets up the use of some handy rope stored within the knife kit. Finding something solid to tie one end of the rope to. Doublechecking a few tree trunks and other things first, she ties the line off then drops the other down the well into the dark deep hole. Securing her crossbow she grins at the group. "See you at the bottom." she adds a little wave and begins climbing down, blinking as she adjusts to the lack of light with one of the benefits of her elven heritage.So Valkea descends INTO THE DARKNESS.

Rangers lead the way, after all.

As she goes down the large, dark well, she sees that there's... water at the bottom.

A lot of it.

This is a functional well.

If she keeps going down, she's going to just hit the water.

Grush carefully unwraps the rope coiled around her waist and gives it a quick inspection. Then she moves to the edge of the well and waits for Valkeas report, peering down as far as she can see

Granit does, in fact, follow after Valkea, taking his time down the knotted rope. "Looks wet down there," he calls helpfully.

Sarcis hums softly as she waits for the others, giving a slow smile as she finally slides the arrow back in the quiver. She waits, patiently, for the others to descend before she double checks the rope and heads down last.

Valkea isn't happy when she gets low enough to hit water, and soak her boots. She doesn't let go of the rope though, trying to see if it's deep enough she can stand or if even the taller folk above. Even with her elven heritage it does get hard to see below the surface of the water. "The well is in use, trying to figure if we're swimming or not." she calls out from where she descends. Lowering herself into the water she shivers a bit before starting to float and let go, treading water to give the others room and see if they can touch bottom with the height differences.

GAME: Valkea rolls perception: (13)+8: 21

GAME: Granit rolls perception: (3)+17: 20

"Wet?" Grush sounds very concerned "Swimming?... Ahh... that, could be a problem"

GAME: Shara rolls perception: (1)+8: 9 (EPIC FAIL)

Granit scowls, looking around. "Yes, wet. Just a moment, before you come down too fast, unless you like the wet-look." He peers at the walls, then asks Valkea. "Can you see anywhere they could have taken the whiskey?"

"Im just not very boyant" Grush calls back down before groaning and getting ready to remove her armor

Sarcis lets out a chuckle at Grush's comments, shaking her head and giving an amused smile to her. "Oh stop complaining. I'm sure you'll be fine." She reaches up, starting to pull her hair up and into a ponytail, tying it with a bit of leather chord.

Paddling to one side, the half elf hmms and steadies a hand at some of what looks to be brick loose "Interesting. Looks like we found either a bad patchjob or hidden entrance." the waterlogged ranger calls out while tentatively prodding and poking at the brick to see which way it might want to move. Further checking nothing is going to come out and make things more awkward for Valkea.

Shara is bringing up the rear....and doesn't seem to mind the water too much. "More likely a bad patchjob. Sorry excuse for a hidden door......or it was."

Even a tenative poke against the loose brick results in a 'click'.

Then the water Valkea is ins tarts to swiiiiiirl.

Like it's being pulled downards, sucked into a great drain.

Granit holds on to the rope for a moment longer, waiting to see if the water drains, or whether everyone just gets sucked down.

There's an eep as the half elf is about to be flushed. With her feet not touch bottom at the start, Valkea tries to use that loose brick to hang on and not get sucked down with all the water, hopefully when it's drained enough the ranger can set feet down and better brace for the rush of water leaving the well. Just glad she put some fresh wax on the crossbow strings. For now she's practically swimming against the swirling flow.

Shara grabsonto the rope and pulls herself up. "CRAP!" She yelps as she pulls herself out of the water...or tries.

"Are you okay down there?" Grush shouts down, concerened by the loud gurgling noises

The well continues draining entirely, leaving Valkea, Granit, and Shara as well, hanging from the ropes they wattached themselves to. At the bottom of the well seems to be a grate, of course, but above that is a sealed door from the look of it, set into the side of the bottom.

Well, chances are whoever's in there knows you're coming now.

It's a very distinctive sound, that's for sure. Granit drops down to get to the sealed door, regathering his rope.

"What in the hells is going on down there?" Sarcis calls from up top, then she nudges Grush, "Go on, you, head down. I'll be right behind you."

Once she can see where she can get her footing, swinging back into the well wall slowly as water recedes, Valkea groans and shakes her head, flicking blonde hair and water around. "Well c'mon down. We might as well get ready to kick in the door. I'm knee capping the first drunk goblin I see." the ranger states, starting to show her frustration.

Grush looks a little nervous but nods to Sarcis and wraps her rope around her waist, the other end attached to a tree. "Try not to fall on me" she says to Sarcis with a grin before lowering herself over the edge.

Sarcis gives the ropes one last look over, better safe than sorry, before wrapping one end around herself and then repelling slowly down into the well with a call of, "Copper for your thoughts? Or just at the bottom of the well?"

Shara is sliding up to the door herself....with an arrow pointed at the door. "Once everyone's here...."

Everyone is now at the bottom of the well.

There remains a closed door set into the side of it. More of a hatch, really.

Grush hefts her Hammer onto her shoulder "want me to Knock?"

"Why don't we just try opening it?" Sarcis suggests with a shake of her head to Grush.

Grush looks disappointed

Shara says, "You'll get things to hammer. Don't worry. there's likely plenty of nails inside...."

"Then..." Valkea seems to deliberately avoiding using jokes based on the situation. "We might as well open it." the half elf says and moves over to the hatch, looking for the opening mechanism, checking if there's not going to be any other surprises.

GAME: Valkea rolls perception: (13)+8: 21

Granit waits quietly for the group to gather, and check the mechanism.

GAME: Valkea rolls disable device: (10)+3: 13

Grush noting her companions armaments, Grush stows her Hammer on her back, pulling out her longsword and strapping her shield to her arm

Breathes an uneasy sign as she looks at the hatch, hunkering down to try and look at it, being careful and not pushing or probing. "No spikes but that doesn't mean this bugger ain't gonna open the grates beneath us and drop us back in the water." she says while she looks back at the others and begins to tinker. "Try and hang onto the ropes." she says and fiddles.

As predicted it is a trap and in fact it's the grates beneath her that give way and threaten to drop the ranger further down to finish the job the flushing failed at earlier.

GAME: Grush rolls reflex: (9)+2: 11

GAME: Valkea rolls reflex: (5)+7: 12

GAME: Sarcis rolls reflex: (17)+5: 22

GAME: Shara rolls reflex: (19)+6: 25

GAME: Granit rolls ref: (18)+7: 25

Despite their best efforts, they are unable to hold onto the rope and so Grush and Valkea go falllllling.

Sarcis, Granit and Shara hear them both 'sploosh!' down below. It was thankfully not too far a drop and into water.

Grush is busy with her weapons and doesnt have time to react at all except for a brief "FU-" before she plummets down the hole like a cartoon character

Helps that the water was enough that Valkea could float and swim so splashing down just gets more water everywhere and a big miffed frown. At least it seems she figured out what the hatch was for, the switch to get to the proper bottom of the well. Looking around she hears singing and sees somewhere to walk onto solid ground. Raising a hand out of the water and looking up at those still dryer she waves them down and points in the direction of the sound in a 'This way' gesture to guide the party further along.

Ilmig has connected.

An elf's reflexes are notoriously quick.....as in the case of Shara, who deftly gets out of the way of the pit. "Well then."

Going down under the ground, Ilmig can do. Skittering down ropes like some kind of rat, he can't do so well. Will that stop him? Hells no.

Grush grush flails and splashes around a bit before managing to grab hold of the edge and pull herself out of the water

Ilmig calls down.

Ilmig calls down, "Still be breathin down there?"

There's a look downward from Sarcis as she seems them seem to gesture and want them to come down. A frown ans she stares at Ilmig, holding up a finger, "Shh." She says softly, and then looks down again. Another frown, she had avoided falling down but now Valkea seems to be gesturing for them. She shrugs, and she'll hop on down after the other two.

Granit does, in fact, hang on to the rope. Then, he follows Valkea's direction and drops down towards the bottom part of the pit.

Shara is still holding onto the rope herself. but keeps quiet....

Celeste has connected.

Once the others are down and Valkea can wring her hair out again, she makes a better gesture towards the sound of the drunken singing, waiting to make sure everyone can hear it. The crossbow is finally drawn again and a bolt nocked in place ready to shoot. Hopefully the whiskey hasn't completely been consumed, just one more things to annoy the ranger now.

"Oi? Wassat?" Ilmig asks down as he descends, though he does ask quieter than before.

Celeste has left.

There's a drop, of course, where you'll need to hit the water that they did. SPLOOSH. For some of you, this isn't a problem. If your name is 'Ilmig' and you're in heavy ar mor, it might just be.

But he can still walk along the bottom of the pool to get out of it and rejoin the others.

SPLOOSH, though, several times. Now all of you can hear the faint singing, drunken, of goblins somewhere in the distance. FAint light lies ahead as this tunnel widens. A portcullis blocks the way, or so you find, as you approach the tunnel and head deeper into it.

Seems you'll need to deal with this first if you want to get in there.]

Granit looks from face to face, and settles on Grush. "Can you bend these?"

Ilmig doesn't SPLOOSH. It's a KHASPLOOSH. He trumps along, though his armor isn't that heavy. It's getting his beard wet that's more annoying than anything else. Third most annoying'd be the portcullis. Second, in between, is drinkin gobbers, of course.

A wry smile from Sarcis as she turns to look toward the other female Oruch, "Yeah, how about you bend those bars for us, miss 'oh gods, oh gods, not water'?" She lets out a laugh and steps back to watch what will happen next.

Grush blushes and scowls "I grew up on a mountain! There wasn't a lot of water" with a slight pout she goes over to the portcullis and gives it a light pull to test its weight

Valkea lets Grush try and brute force the door this time. No point in a third times the charm attempt. She just doublechecks the crossbow then looks around to make sure the portcullis isn't going to be trap laded. A whispered "Be careful" given to Grush while the half elf backs away towards the water.

GAME: Grush rolls strength: (12)+3: 15

Grush plants her feet and crouches, keeping her back straight and grabbing hold of the portcullis, exhaling heavily she lifts, hefting the portcullis about half of the way up. She holds it, straining heavily, trying to inch it a bit higher

Grinding metal sounds as the portcullis lift are accompanying Grush's efforts.

Then there is a loud *CLICK*.

"Click.....ne-ver.....a good sound." Shara grumbles a bit......

The gate goes up and the click is heard. There's a frown and just because she does have a sense of responsibility she dashes through when she has enough space to and starts looking for any mechanisms that would help open and keep the portcullis. Any traps as would be nice to avoid as well. If what she tripped was technically a trap earlier.

Granit ducks low, and starts moving forward, trying to quietly make space between his elfy self and the click.

Sarcis looks at the other Oruch and gives an ever growing grin - until she hears the click. "Oh crap." And with that, Sarcis moves fast, running forward to help hold the portcullis with Grush, "Quick." She says quietly, "Everyone get through... I hope the click wasn't a bad thing."

GAME: Grush rolls reflex: (14)+2: 16

Ilmig has disconnected.

Grush gives the gate an extra heft before diving through, managing to roll reasonably gracefully though. Her face is ruddy and shes panting a bit but she beams at Sarcis "I know it wasn't quite bending the bars but I hope that was good enough"

As the portcullis comes crashing down behind Grush, there is another grinding sound.

Hey, are the walls closing in on you in this tunnel?

Yes.

Yes, they are.

Grush has disconnected.

Grush has connected.

The half elf ranger keeps looking around one everyone that can get through is through. Valkea's eyes making sure there aren't any extra surprises and if there's anything to mechanically ope the gate to safe such efforts on the way out. Opening might be an issue as the walls themselves start constricting room. Enough the ranger just cuts it for the other end to get through along with the others.

Shara groans as she sees the walls closing in. "CHEESE IT!" And she breaks for the other side...

Granit, too, runs for it. Because, truly, he's an elf. He's skinny enough.

Grush starts running

Sarcis looks back toward Grush and gives a half smile in return. I mean, if Grush is gonna smile at her - least she can do is smile back before they die - "Yeah, well... Gotta run!" And she starts bolting toward the other end too.

Down the tunnel you run, run, run, run...

The walls are getting closer, but you're going to make it. It's not like you're not professional adventurers who don't know how to run, actually. Of course, that's when the next problem occurs: Suddenly, you're hitting slick sections of the floor. It seems that this part is intended to trip you up and let the walls fcatch you, but yoyu're almost to the end of the tunnel.

And all that singing. It's definitely louder now, though it only sounds like a few goblins are doing it.

GAME: Sarcis rolls reflex: (13)+5: 18

GAME: Grush rolls reflex: (11)+2: 13

GAME: Shara rolls reflex: (11)+6: 17

GAME: Granit rolls ref: (16)+7: 23

GAME: Valkea rolls reflex: (9)+7: 16

Granit keeps running, trying to be as fleet-footed as his stereotype. If nothing else, the fear of being a two-dimensional character keeps him moving.

Once the surface gets slippery, Valkea adjusts from sprinting to letting herself slide and skate along, looking at least like she's not too off balance. Once past the slippery ground and away from squishing walls she shuffles aside to let the others leg it through behind her, finding somewhere to scrape any lubricant from her soles while waving the group through to safety.

Grush is running as fast as she can, still puffed from lifting the gate. She hits the slick patch and her legs fly out from underneath her, crashing down on her back and skidding along... This almost seems faster

Shara has reconnected.

Granit has disconnected.

Granit has connected.

Valkea goes home.

Valkea has left.

.... and that's when you finish sliding in, one and all, into the room.

And that's when you see a bunch of (very) drunk goblins on the grtound, singing drunkenly. Standing over themre is a man with the horns of a goat and hooves for feet. He turns to stare at all of you.

"AH," he says, "MORE COMPANY! COME! DRINK WIT HME!"

GULP.