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Post by waysoftheearth on Jul 17, 2012 17:47:12 GMT -6
[1d6]
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Post by sulldawga on Jul 17, 2012 19:58:54 GMT -6
OOC: Did Dorgan find anything in the other boxes?
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Post by danhem on Jul 17, 2012 20:28:21 GMT -6
"Check all of the crates then we can haul it out of here and try to make sense of it above."
Ulric moves over to the pit. He tries his best to shine his lantern down the dark hole to see if there is any sign of a floor below.
"Maybe the pedestal was part of a device to haul heavy things up or send them down this pit?"
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Post by waysoftheearth on Jul 17, 2012 20:31:38 GMT -6
None too convinced, Dorgan opens a second and a third crate with similar effort.
The second crate contains similar, but differently shaped plates of steel. The third contains what could only be described as half a huge steel, gauntlet? If one can call a claw-like mitt limited to two thick fingers (each missing a joint) with no thumb and no wrist a "gauntlet". Curious...
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Post by waysoftheearth on Jul 17, 2012 20:33:31 GMT -6
"Check all of the crates then we can haul it out of here and try to make sense of it above." There are perhaps more than a score of crates -- many of them bigger than the ones Dorgan has opened thus far. Opening them all will take some industry, and some time. Getting even the smaller ones up the tiny crawl-stairs will be geometrically impossible. |
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Post by ehiker133 on Jul 17, 2012 20:53:53 GMT -6
"Maybe we'll find more answers down below? Or... do we want to try and get rid of the vermin we know to be in these holes first?"
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Post by waysoftheearth on Jul 19, 2012 5:19:19 GMT -6
Yeeaaahhss?
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Post by sulldawga on Jul 19, 2012 10:43:33 GMT -6
Dorgan will examine the pedestal, the steel plate and rivets attached to it, and the metal plates found in the boxes.
Can he make any sense of a connection between all of them?
Do any of the plates have any indents or connections where it seems they would attach to the rivets?
OOC: If Dorgan can't make heads nor tails of it, I say we tie a rope to the pedestal, tie the other end around somebody and head down the ladder.
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eris
Level 4 Theurgist
Posts: 150
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Post by eris on Jul 19, 2012 12:30:13 GMT -6
Olaf keeps glancing at the others tinkering with the metal plates and the pedestal and then back at the vermin holes.
"We're getting off track here." he says, "We came down here to rid the basement of vermin, secure the place, and then we were going to go do something about the Abbey of the Sisters of Mercy."
"Why don't you put some boards across that pit and pile a couple of those heavy boxes atop it?" Olaf suggests, "That will keep anything down there from coming up here while we're gone. Then let's deal with whatever vermin is inside these holes and get going."
"We can always come back down here in a few days, with a good stout ladder and go down that hole if we want." Olaf takes a quick look around at his friend's faces, "What do you say?"
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Post by sulldawga on Jul 19, 2012 15:31:52 GMT -6
Dorgan looks back at Olaf. "What if the vermin live in the pit, and this hole ain't the only way out?"
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Post by tonneau on Jul 19, 2012 16:17:35 GMT -6
"I think our man Olaf is rather keen to get back to the "ministrations" of the Sisters", quips Gustave with a grin.
"We can hardly leave this unexplored", he adds, nodding toward the gaping maw of the pit, "and in any case, I am yet to see any vermin worthy of the tip of my sword, and I have had enough of squeezing myself through tiny gaps already this morning without trying my luck in one of those", he finishes, indicating one of the mucus-lipped receptacles.
"Right then", he says, turning to assist Dorgan, "someone mentioned some rope?"
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Post by coffee on Jul 20, 2012 0:23:23 GMT -6
"I think Olaf is right," Dieter says. "What have we got to cover this pit?"
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Post by ehiker133 on Jul 20, 2012 15:03:13 GMT -6
Desmond eyes the large opening dubiously.
"So... putting a few boards over the pit passes for... securing it?"
He shrugs.
"If that works for you guys..." He looks around near the crates for any large boards that might be used to cover the pit opening.
As he looks around for boards, he asks, of no one in particular, "Assuming those crates filled with the steel plates are heavy, how were they moved to their current location? The passageways below the pit have to be pretty sizable. Maybe there was some mechanical way of lifting them up? Like a block and tackle system?" He also looks to see if there are any remains of a block and tackle system laying about.
OOC Question for WOTE: How big IS the opening, say, relative to the crates?
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Post by doctorx on Jul 20, 2012 15:18:47 GMT -6
Josiane glances down at the ominous hole.
"The presence of the ladder offers some hope that this is man-made," she speculates; "Or at least man-used. It might help if we had some idea of how deep it is and what lies at the bottom. A dropped or lowered torch, perhaps?"
This said, she returns her attention to the walls and ceiling.
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Post by mushgnome on Jul 20, 2012 16:05:50 GMT -6
Highbough's lantern shines brightly.
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Post by doctorx on Jul 20, 2012 16:17:09 GMT -6
"Or lantern," Josiane adds as an afterthought.  |
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Post by mushgnome on Jul 20, 2012 19:51:07 GMT -6
Highbough doesn't drop his lantern, but he shines it brightly down the hole.
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Post by danhem on Jul 20, 2012 20:11:05 GMT -6
"I do not wish to leave this mystery unsolved," Ulric says to Olaf and Dieter. "We can invest at least part of a day trying to find out what we are sleeping on top of each night."
"Olaf, do you have your rope? Tie the end to my lantern and we'll lower it down."
"As far as the vermin that dwell in the walls here, some poisoned food left behind could do the trick."
"Perhaps we could unpack these crates and move what we can upstairs to examine in better light?"
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Post by sulldawga on Jul 21, 2012 19:32:59 GMT -6
"The question is, are we gonna figure out what lives down here, or are we gonna poke around for 15 minutes and then leave town?"
Dorgan looks back at everyone else. "I don't care either way. But we're all here now, and the staff is gone fer the day. Now's as good a time as any in my book."
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Post by tonneau on Jul 21, 2012 20:24:03 GMT -6
"Well I for one am ready to descend", replies Gustave, backing the dwarfs keenness to explore, "I did not just put my armour on twice just to open a crate and go home".
"However", he continues, kneeling to examine the integrity of the ladder more closely, "if no-one has a rope with them, our decision may already be made for us I fear"
He stands again and faces the group, "If one of you does have a rope, then do proffer it with all speed - I will take a lantern and go down myself", he concludes, brows raised in anticipation.
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Post by ehiker133 on Jul 21, 2012 21:38:50 GMT -6
Desmond shrugs and says, "I have none. But if anyone has any, just up in their room instead of with them, I'd be happy to run get it."
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Post by coffee on Jul 22, 2012 2:59:17 GMT -6
"I have rope in my room," Dieter says. "It has a grappling hook attached, bring that as well."
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Post by waysoftheearth on Jul 22, 2012 3:18:20 GMT -6
Dorgan will examine the pedestal, the steel plate and rivets attached to it, and the metal plates found in the boxes. Can he make any sense of a connection between all of them? Do any of the plates have any indents or connections where it seems they would attach to the rivets? spends a good while examining the pedestal (without touching it). If there is any association between the content of the crates and the pedestal, it is a very obscure one. The pedestal is of stone. It was clean, efficient stone masonry when it was built, probably fewer than a score years ago. But now it is grimy with misuse. But it is still solid as any rock. The metal plate that stands a chest height looks to be mostly iron. It is basic; functional but and artless, and beginning to show tinges of rust around the edges -- Completely unlike the metal in the creates. The two big rivets a fist-sized, round face elevated off the metal plate by some half-inch. The temptation is to push one, or other, or both of them. |
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Post by waysoftheearth on Jul 22, 2012 3:21:37 GMT -6
He also looks to see if there are any remains of a block and tackle system laying about. and Mondes scan the place for any pulley or tackle system -- the dual headed Hobbit searching doubly efficiently! Desmond doesn't see anything resembling a mechanical system laying about the cellar, but Mondes happens to looks up when the light is just so, and says "Oi! What's that there?". The others look up too, and it is clear now that the ceiling above the pit is different. It is not solid stone; but perhaps a great wooden trapdoor the same size as the pit cut into a purpose built, circular opening in the stone. OOC Question for WOTE: How big IS the opening, say, relative to the crates? The pit is much larger than the crates, which are roughly 3ft to 4ft squares. The pit might be 10 or 12 ft radius. You would need to do some serious carpentry to make a "cover" from all the crates, but it might be "plausible", given ample time and the proper tools. |
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Post by waysoftheearth on Jul 22, 2012 3:33:29 GMT -6
Highbough casts the light of his lantern into the pit, and -- with almost everyone now standing around the edge of the pit -- it becomes clear that the pit is some 30ft or so deep.
The circular "well" of the pit descend some 20ft, before opening out into another cavern below, which might itself have a ceiling height of some 10ft.
In the chamber below, a circular dais can dimly be seen, directly beneath the pit. Another pile of the wooden crates can be seen (from above) atop it.
The untrustworthy ladder runs all the way down the wall, to the floor below.
All is still and quiet.
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Post by waysoftheearth on Jul 22, 2012 3:34:36 GMT -6
Is Desmond going to run up to Dieter's room for the rope and grappling?
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Post by mushgnome on Jul 22, 2012 6:33:39 GMT -6
The obvious question (perhaps a question for the dwarf if it's not apparent to Highbough?) is whether the trap door in the ceiling is below our house, or some other property.
Highbough taps his foot and waits for someone impulsive to push the button...
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Post by ehiker133 on Jul 22, 2012 7:43:32 GMT -6
Is Desmond going to run up to Dieter's room for the rope and grappling? Yes! |
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Post by sulldawga on Jul 22, 2012 19:51:24 GMT -6
The obvious question (perhaps a question for the dwarf if it's not apparent to Highbough?) is whether the trap door in the ceiling is below our house, or some other property. is not so impulsive as to push any buttons but he will venture his professional opinion, as a card-carrying Dwarf, as to the location of the chamber relative to their manse. |
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Post by waysoftheearth on Jul 22, 2012 21:41:49 GMT -6
Dorgan is not so impulsive as to push any buttons but he will venture his professional opinion, as a card-carrying Dwarf, as to the location of the chamber relative to their manse. It's so obvious to Dorgan that he hadn't thought to point it out to any of the others; the cellar begins under the manse, and extends out to the yard behind it. The trap door in the cellar ceiling likely opens some 20ft away from the manse itself. In the back garden. |
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