The Planewalkers' Journies

[Idran1701]

Mines of Marsellin

"Here, not many. Vermin and metal-eaters mostly. Rust monsters, rust dragons, hook spiders, a few achaierai. Unlucky for us, natives don't have to worry about turning to iron, so they've got an upper hand already."

[NamagomiMk0]

"Yes, there is," Vance started, still glaring. "Tell me who the hell made you captain of us, or else don't try to order me around like that again. Otherwise, I can't be held responsible for what I do."

[Jak Snide]

Zant cast a sideways glance towards his companion, a sinking feeling suddenly present in the pit of his stomach.

"Thank you for your assistence, sirs, but I feel the tides have shifted and now is the time for us to move on."

He turned to the warrior and the scholar, smiling pleasantly as he spoke.

"Shall we take a look for ourselves, friends?"

[Besyanteo]

Lorraine nodded after Zant spoke.

"Yes, we should be on our way... Thank you very much for you help."

She dismounted swiftly.

"And I can't thank you enough for watching the animals... I don't think poor Paul here could handle running into any of the natives not wearing a harness."

She pats the horse affectionately, and goes to join the others once more. She's giving Vance and Lux a look, but doesn't say anything just yet.

[Justice Augustus]

Bemused amusement swept across Lux's face at Vance's vow. "Captain Lux Grevran, eh? Mmm...that does have a nice ring to it. But where on this plane would one find military decorations suitable of that rank? Perhaps a naval captaincy then, as we are naught but souls tossed on the interplanal ocean voyaging from one port of safety to another. If that was the case it could be denoted by nothing more than a fancy hat, but," he says, tugging at the brow of his own headgear, "I've grown rather fond of this item of apparel. Once we find an artisan of reasonable skill - and by reasonable I mean both adequate and not too dear - I'll have some medals made up."

This whole time Lux has been standing no more than two feet away from Vance, rubbing his chin and talking just loud enough for those nearby to make out what he was saying, although it is clear that this is nothing more than a poorly contained internal monologue. Lux snaps his gaze upwards to meet Vance's stare, his blue eyes locking with those opposite him. "Tell you what, how about nobody gives anyone any advice or prodding whatsoever and we all just stand around dithering about who's going take point and see how long it takes for petrification to root us here permenently." Lux smirks in the face of his larger companion, clearly enjoying himself, allowing his weight to rest on his left leg and leaning slightly towards Vance.

"In case you've forgotten, we're on a schedule here and I have no intention to allow this haunting landscape to gain a Lux-shaped statue. If you want to join the debris around here I can probably find you an ornamental pool and a fishing rod so at least you'll have some sort of ascetic value, if only to dotty old mothers. Now, if you have a problem with journeying in the company of others, I'm sure you can find your own way back to base, but you might want to reconsider your membership in an explorer's guild known for the groups of people it employs. Oh, and watch out for the leashed beasty over there, it considers armour like yours to be a four course banquet with accompanying wines in the form of polearms."

[Idran1701]

Mines of Marsellin

"...Yes, good luck in the tunnels."

He offers a parting nod to Lorraine as she and Zant return to the party, where Lux and Vance begin to have words. The group of Mercykillers seem to have had their interest drawn as well, watching the proceedings with an interested eye. All those here get a definite "town guard" feeling from the group, as they watch disapprovingly at both of the arguing explorers, seemingly waiting for an excuse to step in themselves.

[Besyanteo]

Now that they were a bit further from the mining group, Lorraine threw in her two coppers, with a strange (strained?) smile on her lips.

"Lux has a point, Vance. The statement was innocuous, fairly standard and intelligent practice. For the love of Ti'Ana, grow some thicker skin and stop whining, please."

[Geesi]

Gulrd, in the meantime, was busy quietly observing the Modrons. Not that the Mercykillers were less interesting than a lot of semi-ntelligent ambulatory polyhedrals, but things like 'polite formality,' 'unnecessary hostility' and 'telling party members off' seemed to have been covered in spades by the rest of his companions. All for the best, really.

[NamagomiMk0]

Vance glared back downward at the smaller, blond-haired blue-eyed man, not quite phased by his words, and replying irritatedly, though calmly, in turn; "Do not be mistaken; I know well enough of our objectives in this world, and you have already mentioned the petri-whatever thing that this place does. I am fully aware of this," he states, not backing off after Lux leaned forward smugly, "However, it is not the motion to move onward that I object to, as much as it seems that way to you and everyone else. What I do object to, however, is people that have no reason to forcibly place me in our marching order, attempting to do so. Especially since you seem to know that certain things like to eat the kind of metal that my weaponry is made of." motioning to the halberd and poleaxe slung across his back for emphasis.

Folding his arms over his chest, he continued, an irritated furrow over his brow forming, "What I am trying to say is simply that I choose where the hell I stand in the marching order. I'm fine with point or rear as long as the place isn't filled with fucking metal-eaters like that thing. But as it stands, Hell. No. I'm not even going to try it in this sphere. And as for the bug, if it gets close to me, it'll be seeing the business end of my boot." he finished, tapping his foot on the cube's face for the while, before drawing his cloak together, and motioning to everyone in the group,

"Well, are we done here? If so, let's move."

[Geesi]

That said, this was just too much. "Sorry, I'm hearing a lot of overlong speeches that amount to 'you're not the boss of me.' Fine fine, you're your own man, but Thrym's frozen teat, I'll bleeding stand in front if you don't want nicks in your plate or something. Long as it stops these tantrums."

Not bothering to look at Vance but making it clear by expression that he expected better, he proceeds to take point and continue. He, at least, wasn't encased in an (assumably) delicious tin can.

[Jak Snide]

Zant followed swiftly after Gulrd, muttering his first whole-hearted prayer of the week to Istishia and imploring him to watch over the choppy sea that lay between Vance and Lux.

[NamagomiMk0]

Vance then followed, muttering something under his breath about "blasted sphere" and "damnable creatures"...

[Justice Augustus]

With a glance at the Modrons, which he would have liked to have seen closer, Lux falls into step, humming softly the music of the chorus to "The Bard and the Barbarian," a popular tavern song in Waterdeep.

[Idran1701]

Mines of Marsellin

The group heads for the tunnel entrance, Shawn leaving Misty to wait alongside Paul while they explore the cube interior. The Mercykillers relax upon seeing things not leading to violence, going back to their own concerns, though that group of spined fiends does seem to be paying more notice to the sixsome now.

Those matters aside, the walk is long and a bit boring, with nothing in the way of scenery besides rusted-out pits and the sight of an occasional new group of miners. Mostly humanoids as the Mercykillers, and each group does include one or two of that number, but the majority appear to be chain gangs. Prisoners of the Mercykillers, by all appearances, carting out chunks of iron from the occasional hole in the cube and taking them gods-know-where. Some appear weary, others resigned, and a slight few have great focus on their job, looking for all the world that it is the most important thing on the Planes to them.

After around 25 minutes' travel, however, the presence of other miners thin, and the party first catches sight of the hole in the cube face spoken of by Trevor. It appears long-since-abandoned, with nary a sign of use in years; must be the right place from how he'd described it, Lorraine and Zant are certain. Directly below the pit lies a tunnel extending outwards in either direction: a perfect circle 15 feet across and dark as pitch, with only the light that fills the void of the plane shining in to illuminate the cube's innards to any degree. The inside is completely empty from what little they can make out, and dead silent, the only sound any can hear being the occasional muffled clanging from the cubes overhead.

[Besyanteo]

Lorraine looked down the hole with a look of very mild annoyance. It made perfect sense it would be dark, of course, but that didn't change that if they were going in they needed to be able to see. So, she turned to the others:

"Anyone have a torch?"

[Jak Snide]

Zant didn't comment immediately, instead relying on his darkvision to discern what lay within the inky darkness.

[Idran1701]

Mines of Marsellin

Zant:

Spoiler:

The floor of the tunnel appears clear, but the ceiling isn't nearly as smooth, dotted with a collection of lumps on either side. Though it takes him a bit, after a little thought he realizes the shape of these lumps resembles a group of old mining carts, since merged with the tunnel's ceiling in various orientations.

[Shinigori V2]

"First rule of exploring-" Shawn began, pulling her torch out. "Always have a torch."

[Besyanteo]

Lorraine couldn't help but smile in spite of her chagrin. If Shawn really was a child, then she was still obviously wiser than Lorraine was. Or at the very least had been better prepared by someone. She did her best to speak her next words as neutrally as possible. As a child, she hadn't liked being talked down to any more than she did now.

"Well, since you seem to be the only one who thought to bring one, would you like to march up front with me?"

[Jak Snide]

"Well, that is interesting. I didn't know cave ceilings absorbed carts. The floor is clear of obstruction, though."

[Shinigori V2]

"Second rule of exploring." Shawn continued. "Never let anything surprise you, or you'll get eaten."

With that, she took the lead, glancing over her shoulder at Vance.

"Hey, um...Vance. Could you come up front for a second?"

[NamagomiMk0]

"Yeah, what for?" he replied. Vance was not taking any chances in here, not with the possibility of more metal-eating things about. Hell no, not at all. Screw being anywhere near point without a damn good reason.

The moment I get back, I'm getting a sharp pointy stick. Made of wood. Then they couldn't eat that. Ever!

...Vance will likely be despising beaver hordes later, it seemed...

[Shinigori V2]

"So that I don't have to yell at you infront of everyone else and make you look silly for being berated by a little girl?" Shawn replied, quickly losing her patience.

[Jak Snide]

Zant senses a storm brewing behind him but decided to try and ignore it for now, instead walking towards the drop, eyes and ears open and alert. Once there he'd take a good look down it, kneeling at the edge of the hole.

[Idran1701]

Mines of Marsellin

Zant takes a closer look from the edge of the hole, but he neither sees nor hears anything new from his better vantage point. There doesn't appear to be any convenient way of entering the tunnel; perhaps whatever once was here was taken when it was abandoned.

[Jak Snide]

Zant once again found himself wishing his current location was filled with easily navigable water.

"A fair drop. Does anyone have rope, or perhaps even a ladder?"

[Besyanteo]

Lorraine retrieved a long coiled length of fine, sturdy looking rope from her pack.

"I didn't come totally unprepared. We'll need something to secure it onto, though. ... And there's always the chance when we get back that it'll be made of steel."

[NamagomiMk0]

Vance stared back at Shawn, before responding a bit apathetically; "Go right ahead. Or even better, ask the one who looks like he's never heard of a city. You'll get better results, and he has nothing that anything around here can eat."

Upon hearing Zant's statement about rope, though, he headed towards the genasi, digging through his pack;

"Sure, got some here."

[Jak Snide]

"Superb." he replied, now looking for something to fasten the line around.

[Idran1701]

Mines of Marsellin

Unfortunately for Zant, metal cubes don't tend to have much in the way of scenery; especially not scenery suitable for tying a rope. It looks like for now he's stuck with either having someone else hold it for him, or making his own fasten point.

[Shinigori V2]

Shawn sighed, narrowing her eyes at Vance.

"Alright. Listen. Now's not the time to argue about who's in charge around here, because it's a good way to get yourself hurt. Or killed. For right now, I'm in charge because I'm the only one with any sort of experiance and the best prepared. If you want to figure out who the leader of this little party is, do it when we're not in the middle of something, okay?"

[Jak Snide]

Zant turned around, adding an "Indeed." to Shawn's statement, before addressing her properly.

"For now we need to find a way down there. How did you deal with such obstacles in your infancy, little pearl?

[Shinigori V2]

"That's easy." Shawn said. "Give me a rope, and lower me. I'm the lightest, so you shouldn't have any problem."

[Jak Snide]

Zant simply nodded and then looked to Lorraine.

[Besyanteo]

She'd shown remarkable maturity thus far, and she certainly didn't disagree with her. So, despite all better judgment, she uncoils about 5 loops of the rope, and hands it off to Zant and Shawn.

[Jak Snide]

Zant took the line and steadied himself, ready to lower their de-facto leader down.

[Idran1701]

Mines of Marsellin

Shawn grabs the rope, ready to lower herself through the hole to the tunnel floor below. She heads to the hole's side, dropping through as Zant stands nearby. Keeping an eye out, she's ready for just about anything...

...Except falling into the ceiling. She sits up, her odd situation fully visible to the rest of the party and the hole open in the floor in front of her. Her torch lights up the tunnel, revealing lumps of iron vaguely reminiscent of mining equipment all around her. Streaks line the tunnel walls, the last signs of its original excavation. Further down, more piles of junk can be seen, trinkets and talismans in varying states of ferrification. No obvious sign of inhabitants in either direction, but Shawn's torch only shines so far...

Shawn:

Spoiler:

You think you might be hearing scratching in here, but you can't be sure, it's very faint.

[Jak Snide]

"That wasn't quite what I was expecting."

Zant, still holding onto the rope, started to advance slowly, his free hand held outstretched to detect the edge of the reverse gravity zone.

[Idran1701]

Mines of Marsellin

The gravity seems to take hold as soon as his arm passes through the hole, tugging it just slightly "upwards" against the tunnel "ceiling". Getting through might be tricky, but he thinks it would be safe enough to manage.

[Jak Snide]

The chosen soul backed away, muttering a swift prayer to his god, slightly intimidated by the existence of such an effect. His father had told him stories of such things, but to encounter one in person was quite jarring.

"I think we will have to climb "up" the shaft." he said and then dropped the rope, knelt down and had a go at doing just that, the trepidation he felt being replaced by the exhilaration of encountering something new.