The cave in, cont., the snake
Subject: The cave in, cont
That's a good question. Salix was just about to ask if there was an alternate route to the other side, so he'll just nod when this is said.
From: Porter
Subject: The snake
"Hey, Alley, do you think your Sissy-Snake could climb inside all that rubble?"
From: Mark
Subject: The cave in, cont
OODM: I guess I was not clear. The tunnel has been cleared with the rubble being moved to the sides. The area is open now. Just a 50 foot long or so section of the tunnel collapsed. All of the rock that fell has been moved to the sides out of the way. The rubble field is several hundred feet long on either side of the tunnel, probably 7-8 feet high and 5 feet or so wide.
From: Derek
Subject: The cave in, cont
"Agrana, when they were searching for the body of the king, do you know if they used animals with an acute sense of smell to help locate any bodies? My friend here should be able to do that if it hasn't been done before." Allistair pulls out Sysyphys and introduces him to Agrana, and will let her hold him if she desires so.
From: Derek
Subject: The snake
"I think so, and if he can find something in there I can use a spell to turn into mist and go inside the rubble myself."
From: Mark
Subject: The cave in, cont
"I do not know. I was not involved with the search. I would hope they did. However, I see nothing wrong with your having your animal search." The druid takes the snake and starts hissing at it. A few seconds later the little creature heads back to Ally and hisses "I likkkke her."
Ally then tells the snake to take a smell in the rubble. He lets the snake down and he slithers off to the rubble. He spends the next half an hour crawling in and out of the rubble before returning.
OODM: I will let Derek know what the snake found.
From: Porter
Subject: The cave in, cont
"Woah. Y'all have already cleared out all the rubble. If'n your king was here, how's it possible that he wasn't found?"
From: Mark
Subject: The cave in, cont
"Well that is basically what the disagreement is about. No body was ever found. Barden believes that either the king was injured and crawled off somewhere we can not find and died or he was grabbed by some creature down here and devoured. Several dwarvs were killed by creatures during the search of the out lying areas.
OODM: I want to make somethig clear. None of the dwarves involved with the cleanup of the cave in were killed but other dwarves where went out to search the surrounding area.
From: Derek
Subject: The snake
Allistair lets Sysyphys slither around the area for an hour so. After retrieving him, he hisses with him in conversation for a few minutes. "He can tell that some people died here a few months ago, but there is definately not a dead body in the area. So I think we can be pretty sure whatever happened to the king, his body is not here."
From: Derek
Subject: The cave in, cont
"That still doesn't make sense. If he were injured and crawled off, surely there are dwarven trackers who would have found some traces. It isn't like the wind and water will wash away traces of his passing. Tha is... unless he has something like this." Allistair holds up the leaf brooch that each of them were given by the Druids. "This doesn't look like something a Dwarven king would be likely to have though." He returns the brooch to his cloak.
"Is this area well mapped? Could there be small side-passages that were covered up in the cave-in that haven't been found? Also, was anything else of the king's recovered, or just the axe?"
From: Derek
Subject: The cave in, cont
What about any side passages that could be covered up by the cave-in?
From: Derek
Subject: The cave in, cont
"Well, let's look around a bit. I doubt we'll find a big sign that says 'dead king this way', but we might see something of note."
Allistair will first look around for anything that looks like a spell might have caused the cave-in, like a fireball or something.
After that, Allistair will say to the group, "I'm going to use some magic and take a closer look. This will take a few minutes." Then Allistair will cast detect magic and then cast gaseos form. He will drift into the rubble and work his way down the passageway, looking for anything magical or any passageways that may be obscured by all the rubble to each side. If he can't finish the investigation in one casting, he will finish it tomorrow after having memorized it again (up to more times if he needs to).
From: Karl
Subject: The cave in, cont
Salix will look around also. He will be using all his knowledge to spot anything unusual or suspicious.
From: Mark
Subject: In the rubble
The party spends about half an hour looking through the rubble. They are not able to find much that sheds light on what might have cuased the cave in. Agrana gives a disgusted sigh "I don't know how much these rocks can tell us. I wonder what the rocks up in the ceiling could tell us. Or maybe something that knows more about rocks. GreenBrother Salix, in our days of travel you and your friends have told me of your adventures in those Testing Grounds. You said you encounted some Xorn. I do not remember if you learned their names. Did you?"