The Caves of Chaos II
Nov 6, 2013 7:23:14 GMT -5
Post by Dom on Nov 6, 2013 7:23:14 GMT -5
You spend the rest of the day relaxing and doing some minor preparations at the Keep. After a good night of "rest" you pack your stuff, get your weapons from the guardhouse and leave in the direction of the Caves. The sky is cloudy this morning with a chilling wind coming from the north. You wrap your cloaks around you as you slowly progress on the road. Encumbered by all you gear, you reach the site of the caravan raid described to you by Lombdas after around 3 hours. Knowing their is nothing for you here you leave the road and head west in the woods.
The forest you have been passing through has been getting more dense, tangled, and gloomier as you progress. The thick, twisted tree trunks, unnaturally misshapen limbs, writhing roots, clutching and grasping thorns and briars all seem to warn and ward you off, but you have forced and hacked your way through regardless. Now the strange growth has suddenly ended - you have stepped out of the thicket into a ravine-like area. The walls rise rather steeply to either side to a height of about 100’ or so - dark,
streaked rock mingled with earth. Clumps of trees grow here and there, both on the floor of the ravine and up the sloping wails of the canyon. The opening you stand in is about 200’ wide. The ravine runs at least 400’ west (actually 440’) to where the western end rises in a steep slope. Here and there, at varying heights on all sides of the ravine, you can see the black mouths of cave-like openings in the rock walls. The sunlight is dim, the air dank, there is an oppressive feeling here - as if something evil is watching and waiting to pounce upon you. There are bare, dead trees here and there, and upon one a vulture perches and gazes hungrily at you. A flock of ravens rise croaking from the ground, the beat of their wings and their cries magnified by the terrain to sound loud and horrible. Amongst the litter of rubble, boulders, and dead wood scattered about on the ravine floor, you can see bits of gleaming ivory and white - closer inspection reveals that these are bones and skulls of men, animals, and other things...
You feel anxious and get a strange feeling of foreboding as you remember the tale of Lombdas' party that was here just a couple of days ago.
((See the Map thread for an overhead map of the area and the caves entrances.))
The forest you have been passing through has been getting more dense, tangled, and gloomier as you progress. The thick, twisted tree trunks, unnaturally misshapen limbs, writhing roots, clutching and grasping thorns and briars all seem to warn and ward you off, but you have forced and hacked your way through regardless. Now the strange growth has suddenly ended - you have stepped out of the thicket into a ravine-like area. The walls rise rather steeply to either side to a height of about 100’ or so - dark,
streaked rock mingled with earth. Clumps of trees grow here and there, both on the floor of the ravine and up the sloping wails of the canyon. The opening you stand in is about 200’ wide. The ravine runs at least 400’ west (actually 440’) to where the western end rises in a steep slope. Here and there, at varying heights on all sides of the ravine, you can see the black mouths of cave-like openings in the rock walls. The sunlight is dim, the air dank, there is an oppressive feeling here - as if something evil is watching and waiting to pounce upon you. There are bare, dead trees here and there, and upon one a vulture perches and gazes hungrily at you. A flock of ravens rise croaking from the ground, the beat of their wings and their cries magnified by the terrain to sound loud and horrible. Amongst the litter of rubble, boulders, and dead wood scattered about on the ravine floor, you can see bits of gleaming ivory and white - closer inspection reveals that these are bones and skulls of men, animals, and other things...
You feel anxious and get a strange feeling of foreboding as you remember the tale of Lombdas' party that was here just a couple of days ago.
((See the Map thread for an overhead map of the area and the caves entrances.))
