OEPT4: Deeper Than It Looks

[greentongue]

Your party winds its way to the Blue Towers gate and on through the Foreign Quarter.
The press of people make a small passage for your party to squeeze your way through.
In turn you made way for palanquins carrying nobles through the crowd without their guards having to push you back.

It was hard to take in all the sights as your remote island had nothing like this.
Stone building towering overhead all painted with bright colors.
Some faded, some freshly painted. All proclaiming the glory of one clan or another and how what it made was the best in the world.

Though the shadows of the narrow alleys beckoned its relief from the sun, the smell of open toilets was strong.

After a time you came to another wall and a well manned gate.
Here Huntsman Chodo presented a paper and showed the clan chop around his neck.
You also noticed that the few coins included with the paper were not returned with it.
The guards were courteous and pass everyone through.

Crossing easily through the gate opening you entered what looked and felt like a different city.
Here there were even more palanquins but the people moved at a more stately pace.
Everything was clean and stainless.

Huntsman Chodo whispered to the two of you, "Don't look directly at anyone and don't say anything unless questioned."
"Insults are expensive here and easily given."

[greentongue]

Kumahl nods at Huntsman Chodo's comment.

[Private to GM: Kumahl is making mental notes of where there are accesses to the aqueducts and wether the streets slope up towards their destination or down.]


Huruyan hears Chodo, but still can't keep from looking up at all the brightly painted buildings. He does however carefully avoid watching the people to closely.

[greentongue]

Blocking the way were two palanquins.
The occupants were talking to each other while the bearers stood in the heat supporting their heavy load.

Huntsman Chodo:
"This may be a good time to clear up some misunderstanding."

"Our clan was returning a male Kuruku which was a pet for Grand Administrator of the Armory Ibash of the Iron Fist when it slipped its leash."
"He is a senior member of Iron Fist and had desired the Kuruku to be trained."

"The Kuruku grabbed a bracelet and while we were trying to catch it, it jumped in the well."
"I guess it thought it was a burrow but either way both were lost."

"We can replace the Kuruku but the bracelet is another matter."
"From the stir it raised, it is not just any bracelet and has to be returned."

"We are going to the clan house of Iron Fist so must watch our manners carefully."

[greentongue]

Kumahl nods at Huntsman Chodo's comment.
[Private to GM: Kumahl is making mental notes of where there are accesses to the aqueducts and wether the streets slope up towards their destination or down.]

Huruyan hears Chodo, but still can't keep from looking up at all the brightly painted buildings. He does however carefully avoid watching the people to closely.

[greentongue]

Blocking the way were two palanquins.
The occupants were talking to each other while the bearers stood in the heat supporting their heavy load.

Huntsman Chodo:
"This may be a good time to clear up some misunderstanding."

"Our clan was returning a male Kuruku which was a pet for Grand Administrator of the Armory Ibash of the Iron Fist when it slipped its leash."
"He is a senior member of Iron Fist and had desired the Kuruku to be trained."

"The Kuruku grabbed a bracelet and while we were trying to catch it, it jumped in the well."
"I guess it thought it was a burrow but either way both were lost."

"We can replace the Kuruku but the bracelet is another matter."
"From the stir it raised, it is not just any bracelet and has to be returned."

"We are going to the clan house of Iron Fist so must watch our manners carefully."

[greentongue]

Huruyan:
"I understand, thank you for the information."

Kumahl looks at the Huntsman, nods and continues to survey the environment.

[greentongue]

"There it is," said Huntsman Chodo as he led the group past the front of a tall wall.
"We will be going in the back entrance."

The building presented an imposing facade. The bas-relief on the building was enhanced by gold.
Scenes in a classical style showed warriors defeating their enemies.
There was a clear indication that the warriors were followers of Chiteng from the cruel acts captured in the carvings.

Around the corner you arrived at the entrance where the unofficial business of the clan came and went.
Guards watched your approach. All had the Iron Fist emblem and were wearing expensive and elaborate plate armor.
Many had the stylized two-handed sword of Chiteng displayed as well.

One of the guards stopped you and Huntsman Chodo presented the silver tube with the document.

The guards called the on duty officer to review the document and authorize your entrance.

After quick discussion with Huntsman Chodo, a servant was summoned to lead you to the well.

[greentongue]

As you passed into the building you determined that even the servants had a better lot than what you were used to back on the island.
All had simple clothes but of good material. Your's looked shabby and faded in comparison.

There were ceiling sweeps being operated by slaves that kept the air moving. The oppressive heat from outside was lessened here.
The rooms were spacious with expensive decorations along the walls.
The storage containers and pots that people were using to do the household chores were first rate, as were the tables.

There was plenty of room with no feeling of crowding even in the working area of the clanhouse.

Following a hallway you passed out into a courtyard that was surrounded on all sides by balconies three floors high.
There were large and small well maintained potted plants artfully placed around the courtyard.
On the side you entered from was an opening in the pavement with a low stone rim.

It was the well, you confirmed, as you arrived at it.

Well dressed men and women with coiffured hair were at ease on the scattered benches.
They looked at you with mild interest but continued about their business.

[greentongue]

The courtyard looks to be 150 feet wide by 300 feet long with the well opening 30 feet from the center of the back side.
The one foot high and wide rim of the well is marble and encloses a hole that is 5 feet in diameter.
Near where you entered there is shelving with assorted size buckets and hung coils of rope.
There is a slight wear pattern on the floor that indicates the well has used frequently and for long.

It is clear that though the well is often used, the aesthetics are more important than the function.

Looking down, the bricked shaft goes about 30 feet and then widens suddenly.
About 50 feet down you see the glint of roiling water.
From 30 feet down to the water the sides can't be seen.

[greentongue]

Kumahl approaches the well and waits for the porters to set the equipment down.

Looking to Huruyan and pointing into the well, "We might need to weigh you down, the water is moving very swiftly."

Huruyan:
"I agree," turning to Chodo, "our apologies for not anticipating this issue, but we will need some weights to keep me from being washed away, they can be as simple as rocks."

Huntsman Chodo:
"That is unfortunate, as is not bringing a scribe and a messenger so that we can request something be delivered."

"It is unprofessional that we will have to ask our employer to provide materials."
He looks truly embarrassed.

"What specifically do I need to request?"

Kumahl:
"Maybe we could use some old pots filled with water and tied to Huruyan's waist, that he could drag along the aqueduct's floor.

[greentongue]

Huntsman Chodo speaks with the guard that is standing back by the hallway you entered from.
They shake a rattle to summon the caretaker of the atrium and talk to him for a bit.

The caretaker in turn summons a couple of younger clansmen and they in turn summon a few of the servant clansmen.

The younger clansmen herd the servants as they carry a small statue from a back corner to the well.

Huntsman Chodo is there to meet them and thanks them profusely for taking the time and providing a work of art for our purposes.

Once all the grovelling is over and the clansmen go back to what they were doing, Huntsman Chodo turns to you.

"Well cousins, they didn't have any old pots."
"They wouldn't keep such around or if they did they wouldn't admit it."
"They have provided this. Hopefully it will do?"
"If not we may have to come back later with all the gear we need."
"I have no desire to ask them for more things."
He looks at the two of you sternly.

The statue is of a man sitting in a lotus position and is carved from soapstone.
From the way it was carried it looks like it may weigh close to 50 pounds.
There is a layer of dust on it and you can see the hand prints of the servants.

[greentongue]

Kumahl unpacks the basket. One of the 100 foot ropes he loops one around the statue, ties it off, and lifts up to test his knot. Kumahl then lifts the statue into the empty basket. The handles of the basket Kumahl ties together, then fashions a harness so that Huruyan could slip out of the weight if he needs to.

Kumahl assembles the pulley system, using the poles and his tripod setup. Before attaching the pulley he strings the rope tied around the statue through it. His other rope he sets to the right side of the well.

Looking to Huruyan, he hands him a leather helmet. "I will try and keep my comments limited. And i should be able to hear what you are thinking. The range is limited, so there will be a point without communications."

Huruyan:
"I'm not sure how that works, but I trust you." Huruyan takes the Drop of Sunlight and puts it into the small net he had fashioned for it and ties it securely around his neck so the stone would shine out in front of him. Unhappy with the way the light moved he tied an additional line around his chest to keep it tight. When that was secured to his satisfaction he took the Eye and in similar fashion tied it around his waist where it was convenient but unlikely to get in the way.After all of this he then starts to get into the harness that will attach him to the weighted basket. When he was done he turned to Kumahl and asked,"What do you think, are our preparations the best we can do?"

[greentongue]

Kumahl:
To show Huruyan how the helmet works, he uses his telepathy I believe we are. I shall hoist the statue to relieve the weight until you are safely in the water.

Turning to the Huntsman, "We are ready to get under way. Blessing of Thumis to us all."

Kumahl begins hoisting the excess line until the statue is off the ground and Huruyan can move to the well.

Huruyan:
Huruyan thinks back at Kumahl, communicating this way is very strange.

[greentongue]

Huruyan grabs the rope under the statue and swings out over the well.
Carefully he starts to lower himself down the rope slack under the statue.
He is about ten feet under the hanging statue when the slack runs out and he is ready for Kumahl to begin lowering both of them.

Using the gem, Huruyan can see that there is a lip along the water channel about two feet wide on each side.

The water enters through one wall and flows across a small ten foot wide chamber and out through the wall on the other side.
Huruyan can see three of the sides but orientated towards the back side of the atrium is an opening as wide as this chamber.

This lip is close to a foot above the water and on the side without the walls, the floor continues as far as you can see into the darkness.

[greentongue]

Huruyan communicates what he is seeing to Kumahl.
He checks carefully everywhere there is a possible place for the bracelet to have fallen in hopes that entering the water with all it's dangers and problems might not be necessary.

Kumahl continues to listen and maintain tension in the ropes around the statue, and waits for Huruyan to make his next move. "Be careful brother."

While Kumahl waits for Huruyan to request to be lowered, Huruyan is noticing the scent of some kind of animal in the air.
It is more pervasive than he as a hunter would expect for a single animal, even a smelly one.

[greentongue]

Huruyan thinks to Kumahl, The animal that jumped down here might have climbed out of the water and be in this tunnel. We might be wasting our time looking in the water but, since we are all set up for going into the water I think we should check. If you agree I am ready to be lowered into the water.

Kumahl gives two tugs on the rope with the statue and then gives a foot worth of slack to signal he is ready to lower away.
"Understood. Check Tunnel Second."

With the signal given, Huruyan continued his slow spin as Kumahl lowered him towards the water.

As he dropped from ten feet to five feet above the water, the light from the Gem passed across the opening.
The Gem clearly lighted close to thirty feet of a stone passageway that looked well traveled.

It extended much farther off into the darkness and deep in the distance Huruyan saw the glint of a couple of pairs of eyes.

One set, that Huruyan guessed would be close to man height, blinked as the light from the Gem passed.

[greentongue]

Huruyan:
The tunnel appears to be well traveled and it seems to be occupied at this very moment. At least one seems to be man height.

The water entering through the wall tugged at Huruyan as he was lowered into it.
It was chill but clear and the current drug Huruyan towards the other wall as the statue also went into the water.

From the slack between him and the statue, Huruyan drifted into the downstream wall.
He felt the outgoing exit was triangular, at the top, and that there was an inch of air space just above the water's surface.

Before the weight of the statue drug him under, he heard the faint shuffle of clawed feet and some grunts from the corridor.

[greentongue]

Huruyan brings Kumahl up to date on all he has seen and heard.

Eventually Kumahl feels the rope go slack except for the gentle tug of the current.
Looking down he can see the glow of the Gem on Huruyan's chest lighting the statue as it sat contemplating its situation.

Huruyan starts looking around everywhere for the bracelet he was sent to find.

Keeping steady hands on the ropes, Kumahl peers down and keeps an eye out on Huruyan and the tunnel as best as he can.
"Brother. Anything?"

[greentongue]

As Huruyan moves downstream at the end of his tether to the statue, he sees a glint of gold and a sparkle of red on the bottom.

While he watches Huruyan's light fade down the tunnel, Kumahl hears some grunts from below.
From his angle, nothing can be seen of the passageway or its occupants.

[greentongue]

I think I see the bracelet, Huruyan almost shouts his thought to Kumahl. He then moves to try to retrieve it.

Dragging the statue behind him Huruyan reaches for the bracelet.
[Private to Huruyan: www.galeriegolconda.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/165.jpg]

Kumahl feels the tug as Huruyan drags the statue downstream then a sudden jerk as a heavy weight is added to the rope.
[Private to Kumahl: Roll a D20 to determine if the rope slips your grasp.]

[greentongue]

Kumahl:
"Not Good. Be careful."

Private to GM: As Kumahl staggers back a bit, he looks to Huntsman Chodo "Brother, any reward for reclaiming the lost pet? I could use your assistance on the ropes."

There is a whirrrr of the rope through the pulleys as it is jerked from Kumahl's hands followed by the splash of a large body hitting the water.

Kumahl stops the remaining forty feet from being pulled down into the well by the weight of the hanging rope.

A chorus of grunts and squawks echo up the well shaft along with the sound of splashing.

Kumahl's voice in his head startles Huntsman Chodo.
He glances around for a second then recovers and faces Kumahl.
"The pet? Ummm... sure. If we could get it back that would be even better."

"What would you have me do with the ropes?", asked Chodo.

[greentongue]

Huruyan hearing all the splashing looks up and around to find the source. Is something happening Kumahl?

Kumahl:
To Huruyan, Something heavy, jumped the ropes. The lost pet may have come to us.

Private to GM: To Chodo, "I have the ropes. Check on the activity in the well. Something heavy has jerked on the line."

Kumahl attempts to take the slack out of the line as quickly as possible. Kumahl makes a note to himself, to consider installing a device to prevent rope slippage.

Back to Huruyan, Get the bracelet. Stay alert.

[greentongue]

As Huruyan swings around and brings the light of the Gem to bear, a furred creature of roughly humanoid size and shape splashes its way to the stone lip on the corridor side and pulls itself out of the water.

At Kumahl's prompting Huntsman Chodo moved to the side of the well and looked in.
"There was something splashing the water," he said.
"I can see the light from Huruyan but other than some furry legs that are gone now, that's all."

A chorus of grunts and squawks echo up the well shaft.

Huruyan picks up the bracelet and slips it on to keep from dropping it, then he thinks to Kumahl, Ask Chodo what the Kuruku looks like and how dangerous it is.

[greentongue]

Kumahl:
Pauses to follow up

"Huntsman Chodo, The Kuruku. How dangerous? How big? Can we capture it?"

Huntsman Chodo:
"The Kuruku? I'm sorry, I thought you knew."
"A Kuruku is about the size of two babies end to end since it has six legs and two arms."
"They are not dangerous at all but they are amazing quick and hard to grab."

Huruyan:
I have the bracelet, I think you should pull me up so I can give it to Chodo, then maybe try to get the Kuruku.

[greentongue]

Kumahl:
To Huruyan, Come Back to the Well Mouth. Then release the Statue Harness.

Looking to Chodo, "We have a tunnel and the lost pet seems to be cornered in that tunnel. Time to hunt, brother."

Kumahl begins pulling back on the ropes, focusing solely on bringing the statue and Huruyan back to beneath the well mouth. Kumahl will wait for Huruyan to let him know when to stop.

Kumahl intends to tie off the rope for the statue and not bring it back up just yet. The statue rope will act as a means for those in the well to climb back out of the well.

[greentongue]

Huntsman Chodo:
"If you think we can capture the Kuruku that would be a nice bonus."

Motioning to the Emerald Fisher guardsmen, "Looks like we have more for you to do than just stand around," he said.

The guardsmen look nervously at the well opening.
"You want us to go down there? There is no light down there. How will we see where we are going?"

At Kumahl's reeling in of the rope the statue slowly slides back towards where it was dropped in.

Huruyan is lead back along with it.

As Huruyan is framed in the opening of the drain side with the glowing Gem on his chest, three crude spears plunge into the water at him.
Two completely miss but one gets horribly lucky and skewers his arm.
[Private to Huruyan: You take 3 points of damage from the spear.]

[greentongue]

Holding onto the line, Kumahl looks over the ledge of the well to see what is delaying Huruyan. When he sees the blood in the water, Kumahl says very loudly to the other Emerald Fishers, "Brethren, Brother Huruyan has light and has been wounded by something from the tunnel. Let us do our part and defend ourselves. Quickly now."

Making another check, Kumahl secures the first line securely to the statue and prepares himself to quickly haul Huruyan out once he gets a status update.

To Huruyan, "Time to move quickly, brother. Use the statue's rope to climb out."

[greentongue]

Huruyan:
As quickly as he can Huruyan starts climbing out using the rope. Kumahl, they have spears, be careful and get some help.

Huntsman Chodo grabed the other rope and looped it around the well's ledge fastening it tight then throwing the other end into the well.

As Huruyan gets near the surface of the water the Gem on his chest provides enough light to cause the water to glow.
This glow reflects off of the eyes of a crowd of furry humanoids clustered near the water.

They can almost touch him with their clubs and spears.

Beside Huruyan, the other rope hits the water and with startled grunts the humanoids surged back from the water's edge.

[greentongue]

Kumahl:
"Huruyan, let me know when you are close to the tunnels. Kumahl shouts into the well.

"I will tie you off with some lead rope. Then join you if need be."

Huruyan:
"There are way to many for just me," Huruyan shouts back. "Just pull me out and then later we can try to get the Kuruku."

Kumahl's shout caused a stir among the humanoids. They shuffled back and forth while hooting, grunting and looking up.

Huruyan's reply from the water seemed to focus their attention back on him.
Those in front tried to reach him with their clubs but couldn't without losing their balance, so just splashed the water near his head.
Others in the crowd with spears pushed their way forward.
They will all be able to reach him as soon as he is hanging like a piñata above the water.

Huntsman Chodo tried to follow Huruyan's suggestion and reached for the rope Kumahl had, while the guardsmen milled about not sure what to do.

[greentongue]

Huruyan:
"Hurry, more with spears are coming!"Huruyan yells, then realizing the magnitude of the problem he drops down into the water again.
Kumahl, there are too many of them and most have spears. I'm dropping back into the water and letting the current carry me far enough to be unseen.

Kumahl wastes no more time. With mighty heaves he hauls the line several feet at a time to get Huruyan clear of the well.

"Chodo!? What is your assessment?"

Huntsman Chodo:
Looking down into the well he saw the light on Huruyan starting to fade down the drain tunnel.
The statue was just visible at the surface of the water.


"I'm concerned that something has happened to Huruyan."
"I can climb down far enough to look around but I didn't bring any light so I'm not sure I'll be able to see much."

"Is Huruyan still tied to the rope? If so, we can pull his body up and hope he can be healed."

"If he is limp he may not present a threat to the creatures and they may ignore him."