Author Topic: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 4)  (Read 48263 times)

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 4)
« Reply #30 on: August 11, 2011, 04:40:53 AM »
>Draw closer to that side tunnel and listen. Don't expose ourself to the opening, but get close to it.
>Be ready to make a jabbing weapon of that torch.

>You move closer to the tunnel. After a few more steps, the sound stops entirely.
>You get ready to jab with the torch if anything emerges.

>Speaking of that torch, are we capable of carrying it in our tail?

>It might be a bit on the heavy side given how you'd have to hold it, but you think you could probably manage.

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Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 4)
« Reply #31 on: August 11, 2011, 04:49:40 AM »
>How small is this tunnel? And what did those noises sound like?

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 4)
« Reply #32 on: August 11, 2011, 05:04:26 AM »
>How small is this tunnel? And what did those noises sound like?

>It looks smaller than the one you are in - perhaps 2 feet in diameter or so - although your position allows you only a view of the opening at a fairly severe angle. The noises sounded like skittering movement against rock - quite possible a smaller spider.

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Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 4)
« Reply #33 on: August 11, 2011, 05:17:14 AM »
>Get fairly close to the edge of the smaller hole, and extend the torch into it. Keep a good grip on onto it, and be ready to shove it into a spider's face.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 4)
« Reply #34 on: August 11, 2011, 05:28:51 AM »
>Get fairly close to the edge of the smaller hole, and extend the torch into it. Keep a good grip on onto it, and be ready to shove it into a spider's face.

>You put your back up against the wall next to the side tunnel, then reach the torch out and into it. You hear a small high-pitched squawk, followed by sounds of scurried movement in the opposite direction.

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Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 4)
« Reply #35 on: August 11, 2011, 05:36:29 AM »
>Are we familiar enough with spider noises to guess what that one might have been?

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 4)
« Reply #36 on: August 11, 2011, 05:38:33 AM »
>Are we familiar enough with spider noises to guess what that one might have been?

>The tunnel is far too small for the larger of the spiders, and arguably too small for the spitter you encountered, although you don't know how uniform the size of the species might be. The sound was somewhat different than those you'd heard the smaller spiders make, though not so much as to rule them out.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 4)
« Reply #37 on: August 11, 2011, 05:44:11 AM »
>Shift torch to off hand, draw knife in main hand.
>Stick our neck out to have a look in, see just what's squaked in there.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 4)
« Reply #38 on: August 11, 2011, 05:50:05 AM »
>Shift torch to off hand, draw knife in main hand.
>Stick our neck out to have a look in, see just what's squaked in there.

>You shift the torch to your other hand, and replace it with the hunting knife.
>Then you stick your neck  out and peer into the tunnel. You catch only the tiniest flash of dull gray legs before their owner disappears around a bend and out of sight.
>The tunnel itself is similar in appearance to the one you're currently in, though much smaller; you could only manage it with a prone crawl, and even then it would be tight. You can see about 8 or so feet down it before it twists aside.

Hello Purvis

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Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 4)
« Reply #39 on: August 11, 2011, 05:59:40 AM »
Best to pass it. As long as we have a source of fire, we can probably keep spiders off of us.  There is a chance of being surrounded, but worse comes to worst we can step over small spiders.

Another possibility might be to collapse the side tunnel entrance. But that is a very bad idea; it'd take time and is likely to drop the roof on us, too.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 4)
« Reply #40 on: August 11, 2011, 06:02:51 AM »
Another possibility might be to collapse the side tunnel entrance. But that is a very bad idea; it'd take time and is likely to drop the roof on us, too.

My thoughts exactly. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't anything else at least close by to shank us as we went past or just after.

>Continue down the tunnel.
>Sheathe knife, place torch in tail, and grip pitchfork with both hands.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 4)
« Reply #41 on: August 11, 2011, 06:18:49 AM »
>Sheathe knife, place torch in tail, and grip pitchfork with both hands.
>Continue down the tunnel.

>You adjust your gear once more, sheathing the knife and transferring the torch to your tail. It takes a couple moments to get the balance of it right, but you feel comfortable enough with it after that. Then you grip the pitchfork firmly with both hands and proceed.
>A fair bit more distance passes without event. You other side tunnels, every now and again, each similarly small to the first one though nothing appears to be moving in them at this moment. In one, you see a small scrap of material against a protrusion of rock by the entrance. It looks rather like the webbing-like substance that you encountered in the woods earlier in the day. You see nothing beyond this one piece, however, peering as far into the tunnel as you can see.

Hello Purvis

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Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 4)
« Reply #42 on: August 11, 2011, 06:22:33 AM »
>Don't lead with the pitchfork, and hold the torch like before. Spiders are going to be much more afraid of fire than pitchfork tines. Not to mention the benefits of having the fire where we can see it to prevent accidentally brushing against something flammable.
>Proceed.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 4)
« Reply #43 on: August 11, 2011, 06:51:02 AM »
>Don't lead with the pitchfork, and hold the torch like before. Spiders are going to be much more afraid of fire than pitchfork tines. Not to mention the benefits of having the fire where we can see it to prevent accidentally brushing against something flammable.
>Proceed.

>You continue playing musical equipment, shifting the torch back to your main hand while keeping the pitchfork in the other.
>You continue onward. More time passes; you think you have easily descended 100 feet by this point. Eventually the tunnel emerges into a larger chamber, perhaps 20 feet tall. Small stalactites dot the ceiling, and there are a few hints of stalagmites on the ground, though you would be apt to simply call the floor 'lumpy'. You step out into the chamber and stretch. Oh, it feels nice to be able to stand again.
>The room is large enough that the opposite walls are poorly illuminated by your torch, though you can see well enough to spot several more tunnels branching off of it. There is a tunnel of similar size to this one along the southeast corner and taller, but somewhat rougher looking one several feet up the western wall. Towards the south, you see a significantly larger passage, nearly as high as the chamber itself. Scattered about are also several smaller tunnels, not unlike the ones you passed earlier. There are at least three of them, two in the southwest and one to the north. The tunnel you just exited from is in the northeastern corner.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 4)
« Reply #44 on: August 11, 2011, 07:00:45 AM »
>Is there something near the tunnel we just exited we can tie a bit of twine to, to mark our passing? Place is twisty enough to lose track of that. If there is, do so.
>Assess the scents and sounds here.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 4)
« Reply #45 on: August 11, 2011, 07:23:57 AM »
>Is there something near the tunnel we just exited we can tie a bit of twine to, to mark our passing? Place is twisty enough to lose track of that. If there is, do so.
>Assess the scents and sounds here.

>You find a small nub of protruding rock near the tunnel you just exited and affix a small segment of twine to it.
>You take a moment to assess the scents and sounds in the chamber. On the acoustic front, the area seems quite quiet aside a faint hint of water slowly dripping. Scent is a somewhat different matter. The air in this whole place is thick with the scent of spider, and while it varies somewhat from tunnel to tunnel, it doesn't necessarily do it in a way that is immediately helpful to you. Moving about the room, you're quite confident spiders have moved through all these tunnels, though some seem more traveled than others. The western tunnel smells less of spider than some of the others, though you also catch a hint of that acrid scent you have come to associate with spitter acid. In one of the smaller tunnels in the southwest, you detect a somewhat different scent; it smells vaguely like carrion. Beyond the large tunnel to the south are several vague new smells that you cannot readily identify.

Hello Purvis

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Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 4)
« Reply #46 on: August 11, 2011, 07:48:47 AM »
Vague new smells intrigue me.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 4)
« Reply #47 on: August 11, 2011, 08:17:01 AM »
>Approach the large tunnel. Slowly and carefully.
>Would we be able to determine the scent of dead cow from other decaying flesh?

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 4)
« Reply #48 on: August 11, 2011, 08:23:15 AM »
>Approach the large tunnel. Slowly and carefully.
>Would we be able to determine the scent of dead cow from other decaying flesh?

>You approach the large tunnel slowly and carefully. Fortunately, this caution seems to be unnecessary; for the moment, the passage seems unoccupied, at least as far as you can see. It is straighter than the tunnel you came from, extending off into the darkness beyond the limits of your light. The floor here also has a pronounced downward slope.
>You suspect not.

Hello Purvis

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  • Hello Jerry
Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 4)
« Reply #49 on: August 11, 2011, 08:33:42 AM »
>Into the tunnel. Stay wary for spiders.

[Y]oukai [J]esus

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Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 4)
« Reply #50 on: August 11, 2011, 08:44:09 AM »
>Toss a small rock into the tunnel before proceeding, listen for anything. If not, continue on. Try not to breathe too heavily.

<Nietz> Anyway, sex toys alone won't come up to 11k.
[18:48] <Warma> There must have been a new depth, where you've sunk as a person. Then you dug through that.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 4)
« Reply #51 on: August 11, 2011, 09:11:17 AM »
>Toss a small rock into the tunnel before proceeding, listen for anything. If not, continue on. Try not to breathe too heavily.

>You pick up a small rock and throw it into the tunnel. It sails past the limit of your sight, then you hear it clatter against the floor and skid to a stop. No sounds answer it but its own echo.

>Into the tunnel. Stay wary for spiders.

>You head into the tunnel. By this point, you're almost having a harder time remembering when you weren't keeping wary of spiders. Might be nice to get back to some peace and safety after this is all said and done...
>You walk for what grows to feel like a very long time, though you think your vigilance is making the moments stretch. The hall is too wide to be well-illuminated by your light and intermittent limestone columns further block your sight lines. While you think you could catch sound of one moving from a fair distance, this would do nothing to detect any that might be lurking motionless nearby. It is a somewhat disquieting thought. Somewhere in the distance, you hear the slow and steady drip of water continue without end.
>You catch a glimmer of light in the corner of your eye, towards the ceiling.

Hello Purvis

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  • Hello Jerry
Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 4)
« Reply #52 on: August 11, 2011, 09:16:40 AM »
>Glance toward the light.

[Y]oukai [J]esus

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Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 4)
« Reply #53 on: August 11, 2011, 09:32:12 AM »
>Knock one of the limestone pillars before glancing towards the light.
>Attempt to find the source of water.
>Be on guard, living things drink water.

<Nietz> Anyway, sex toys alone won't come up to 11k.
[18:48] <Warma> There must have been a new depth, where you've sunk as a person. Then you dug through that.

Hello Purvis

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  • Hello Jerry
Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 4)
« Reply #54 on: August 11, 2011, 09:35:01 AM »
>Knock one of the limestone pillars before glancing towards the light.

>Don't do this until we confirm the light isn't a threatening thing.


Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 4)
« Reply #55 on: August 11, 2011, 09:38:54 AM »
>Glance toward the light.

>You look up towards the glimmer. Along the ceiling there, spanning between a pair of limestone columns, is a very large spiderweb. The light from your torch casts flickering shadows upon its threads, while other strands seem almost to gleam in its reflection. At first you think the web must be unoccupied, but you eventually notice a pair of dull yellow limbs drawn into a shadow behind a stalactite. You can't see the rest of it from this angle.

Hello Purvis

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  • Hello Jerry
Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 4)
« Reply #56 on: August 11, 2011, 09:43:17 AM »
>Look around the ground, and ascertain it is free of spiders as near as we can tell.
>If the coast is clear, look back up toward the yellowish legs.  Then try to move so we can get a better view of it.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 4)
« Reply #57 on: August 11, 2011, 09:50:25 AM »
>Can we still smell the unfamiliar scent that we picked up before we saw Yellow up there?
>Glance around for the dripping source.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 4)
« Reply #58 on: August 11, 2011, 09:58:36 AM »
>Look around the ground, and ascertain it is free of spiders as near as we can tell.
>If the coast is clear, look back up toward the yellowish legs.  Then try to move so we can get a better view of it.

>You look around, but see no spiders lurking about.
>You look back up at the spider limbs hiding in the corner of the web then try to move to get a better view. As you circle around to the other side, they pull back further behind the stalactite, however it offers increasingly poor cover as you shift your vantage. Soon enough you catch a glimpse of the spider they belong to. Its long thing limbs are drawn close and almost curled around it, making it hard to gauge its size. Its body - at least what you can see of it - seems small compared to its legs, but you guess that it might have at least a five foot leg span if it didn't appear to be trying to hide.

>Can we still smell the unfamiliar scent that we picked up before we saw Yellow up there?
>Glance around for the dripping source.

>You can. It isn't a great deal stronger, and no more identifiable, but still present.
>There is the occasional drip of water running down along some of the stalactites, but you've seen no large concentrations of water in this hall. You suspect it may be coming from an adjoining area, or possibly a tunnel running alongside this one; echoes make it harder to pinpoint.

Re: (Skyseas of Gensokyo) Nazrin Quest (Part 4)
« Reply #59 on: August 11, 2011, 10:24:35 AM »
>Are there any other signs of webbing about?
>Can we ascertain where the unfamiliar scent is coming from?
>Guesstimate how high Yellow and his web are above us.