Tunnel
[NAME] finds an entrance in the rock wall by the wayside. Do you want to
* investigate or
* leave it be?
It is the entrance to an old mine, and judging from the condition of the supports, it’s been abandoned quite some time ago. Do you
* enter or
* walk on by?
Some paces in, [NAME] kicks something that’s not up to the sudden stress: Behind you, the tunnel collapses with a loud roaring noise. Something similar has happened on the other side long ago, so it looks like you’ll have to dig yourselves out again. How fortunate that it’s no more than a few paces…
The path continues into a canyon with quite steep walls. Occasionally, you have trouble making a headway because rocks and assorted rubble have fallen onto the road from one side or the other… or both.
After about two miles of marching, you are forced to conclude that the whole canyon is blocked by rocks. You have no choice but to turn back.
“You could hire me, you know; once I’m back to strength, I can be one mean customer. Lowangen, the Troll Peaks, Al’Anfa, Maraskan - I’ve done the lot, I have. And for you, I’ll do it half price, that’s normal pay. I get double pay usually, see. Kunchomer contract. All right?”
“Get back!” [NAME] cries and turns around on the spot. In a reflex action, you whirl around, too, and start running. Behind you, a gigantic rockslide thunders downinto the canyon and burries the road under tons of stone. Well, you’ve managedto avoid the rockslide, thank the Gods, but of course, now you have to turn back.
All of a sudden, a gigantic rockslide roars down the mountain side. [NAME] is caughtby the brute force of the rocks and buried alive.
Immediately, you get to work freeing [NAME]. It takes quite a while and a lot of effort, but you manage to get [NAME] out unconsciously.
* your friend
* your friend
The rockslide has completely blocked up the canyon. You cannot go on and areforced to turn back. You will have to carry [NAME].
On a particularly narrow bit of mountain path right by a dizzyingly sheer drop, there’s a rock goat standing right in the middle of the path eyeing your lot suspiciously. It appears singulary unimpressed by your concerted shouting andarm waving.
Do you
* turn around?
* bop it one on the nose?
* or throw it some food?
Who’ll do the throwing?
And what exactly is [NAME] going to throw?
The rock goat charges, throws [NAME] down on [NAME] back and climbs up the steep mountainside.
No less suspicious than before, the animal sniffs your offering and then carefullypicks it up with its mouth. And now, you have the unique opportunity to watcha rock goat trying to free its stuck-together teeth. In contrast to your lot,the animal does not find this amusing, and once it has succeeded, it wandersoff in a huff.
The beast sniffs at it and then throws this, to its eyes unusefull, thing downthe slope by his horns.
Now, will you
Above you, a dark silhouette is visible against the sky: There’s a man standingup there, staring down at you. “To Lowangen,” he shouts, “take it to Lowangen,and you shall be rewarded handsomely!” With that cryptic message, he disappears.
Ahead of you, a hunched-over figure is moving down the road. It is walking veryslowly, so you reach it fairly quickly. The first things you see are a big backpackand an impressive array of weapons; only later do you notice the numerous smallbandages.
The figure must have heard you approaching, for now it turns toward you. “Korbe with you; or Phex, if you are of a peaceful disposition. Mind you, you donot look like it.” The woman looks weak and not altogether secure on her feetright now despite her broad build. She manages a small grin, surprising givenher not altogether favorable condition.
“I have to keep going; in my condition, I can’t afford to stay the night outside.You wouldn’t happen to be interested in buying a two-handed sword, would you?Only 15 ducats for you. I’m a bit short on cash at the moment.”
“No, thanks for the offer, but we have all the equipment we need.”
“We’ll take you up on that two-hander.”
“Why sure, glad to have you aboard. We can always use another skilled sword arm.”
[NAME] notices %d loneberries at the side of the path!
Suddenly, a rock under [NAME] feet gives way, and [NAME] tumbles down into the deep!
The rope catches [NAME] after a short fall, but even so, [NAME] is thrown against therocks a number of times. Still, it could have been much worse.
Nothing breaks the fall, and [NAME] plunges a dozen paces straight down before hittingground with a screech and one leg at a mighty peculiar angle.
[NAME]
With a lot of effort, you manage to get the fall victim back onto the path, butthe leg is definitely broken.
You can haul the fall victim back up onto the path, but by then, Boron has alreadylead [NAME] into His halls.
You notice a lynx sitting in a tree watching you. What are you going to do?
Flee like cowards,
give the tree a wide berth, or
walk on carefully?
The escape succeeds, not that it was a particularly dangerous one. Was it now?
You pass the tree in about 15-paces distance and see the lynx up in the branchessettling down for a nap. It doesn’t appear to be interested in you at all.
When you are about one pace from the tree, the lynx jumps at [NAME] and hurts [NAME]badly in the face. A second lynx jumps up from the undergrowth and attacks [NAME]as well. A savage fight ensues.
But when you manage to kill one of the lynxes, the other takes off in flight.
The collapse of the Dwarven mine has alarmed a number of cave spiders who appeardetermined to take revenge for the destruction of their home.
In some spots of this narrow, dim gorge, the clanking of your metal armor soundsfrighteningly loud; in fact, there are times when the echo seems louder thanthe original noise… But apart from that, there isn’t a sound to be heard asidefrom the soft crackle of the mountains…
Far above you in the sky, a majestic eagle is circling. With all that back-breakingclimbing, a person could get green-eyed with envy, seeing how easily that birdrises higher and higher. Mind you, now that you think about it, that lord ofthe skies up there has been circling above you for a long time, all day really.But then again, there’s really nothing you can do about that, so you might aswell just ignore it.
During the last few minutes, it’s grown awfully quiet. Only the clanking of yourarmor can be heard, and it appears deafeningly loud by now. The mountain seemsto share that impression, actually, as suddenly a rockslide is set off!
You all manage to hide behind a big boulder, but even so, you get hit by thefalling rocks for some impressive bruises.
Behind you, the path is completelyblocked by the fallen rocks, but then, you’re not going that way, are you?
Ahead of you, a proud, daring suspension bridge spans a deep canyon with a foamingwhitewater visible underneath. To everyone’s considerable surprise, the bridgeappears very well cared for and quite trustworthy. That might be the handiworkof the Orcs arrayed on the other side of the canyon, nonchalantly brandishingtheir short bows. Do you
back off and try a different approach or
run across the bridge and risk being shot at?
[NAME] notices %d tarneles by the wayside!
Following the old tracks, you have no problem at all getting across the swamp.
A peculiar, apelike animal, but equipped with sharp claws and verrry pointedteeth, is sitting on the path, watching you. It doesn’t take much to recognizeit as one of the feared swamp rantzies; on the other hand, it is said that theyare only found in packs and are extremely aggressive there. This one, though,just watches you before it disappears again into the bushes.
[NAME] finds two doses of whirlweed, three loneberries and a mandrake root alongthe way!
An old shepherd sits by the side of the roads, knitting a giant sock and smilingto himself. “Peraine bless youse!” he calls, when he sees you.
“Oh well, me sheep want to trek on, and it’s best to let them have their way.Looks like I’ll have to leave youse now.”
“Ho there, youse wouldn’a happen to be carrying an otterskin fer the cure ofme rheumatism, wouldcha? See, I’m too old to go ahunting the little fellows,and me old one split right apart a few days ago.”
“Now, isn’t that grand! Youse have me honest thanks for that. Here now, takethis: it’s a fine strong herbal potion I made meself. Sure it’s a fine cure againstall sorts of things.”
You feel absolutely wonderful. All the annoying little troubles of a long journeysuch as this are nothing at all to you… the way you feel right now.