Post by Adminenkainen on Dec 4, 2017 4:28:57 GMT
February 7, 1942.
The “Southland.”
The Heroes uncovered the trap doors that led back down into the hideout. They took the stairs, but stopped at the landing and opened the secret door to the tunnel they had discovered last time. Now they explored the tunnel and found it led up into a cave-like room with just a small pile of treasure in it. There were 138 gold coins, a strange revolver of unknown make, and a silver ring in the pile. The White Knight had been concerned that the pile was trapped in some way, but it was safe and the Heroes gathered and distributed the goods.
Backtracking (after finding no secret doors out), the Heroes returned to the science lab and then headed south. They mapped more carefully the long hallway with the ferret rooms off to the west side of it. They ignored the ferrets and, whenever the Heroes peeked in to observe the large ferrets, the ferrets pretty much ignored them back.
To the south of that, they tried a new passageway to the east and found it connected into the giant chamber outside the Asian-themed ceremonial chamber (which they had, in the past, only explored from a north entrance). The Heroes arrived in the chamber just before a patrol of six bloodthirsty hoodlums turned up. The two groups saw each other’s light sources, switched off their lights, and waited for the other side to make a move. White Knight ended the stalemate by shouting to them.
Batman put three to sleep, Gracie shot one, the fifth got beaten up after bloodying Dark Lash with his machete (Dark Lash had been taking point), and the sixth surrendered.
The prisoner said the Lieutenant had disappeared after his earlier defeat and, without the Lieutenant, the hoodlums were in chaos down here. This hoodlum claimed to know of a room of prostitutes on the west side of the hideout -- prostitutes under the protection of Mr. Gould (the same Mr. Gould who met recently with the Wizard of the Burning Tower, Carl Alsher), but said it was a maze over there and was not sure how to get to it. The Heroes locked the prisoners into the ceremonial chamber and moved on.
But not west -- despite initially thinking that the two missing women might have been moved in with the prostitutes, the Heroes decided to head east because there was an exit there they had not explored before. They found some narrow hallways that led to a very suspicious room (6” long insects were hanging from webs on the ceiling) with some furry mounds on the floor. Batman decided to check out the nearest furry mound -- but it was a giant spider and it jumped up to attack him. It bite him just as Batman shot it -- both survived. Two other giant spiders raced towards Batman, who ran to the door and White Knight shut it behind him in the spiders’ faces. Batman cast Cure Light Wounds on himself, but was still seriously injured by the bite and the poison.
Bravely moving on, the Heroes found a new hall with murals of an apple orchard, and doors leading out. Batman and the White Knight were trying to get the northeast door open (it was stuck really tight) while Blaze opened the southeast door. Then something opened the northeast door from the other side. It was a monstrous, brutish giant, 9’ tall, with spiked brass knuckles on its huge hands.
White Knight tried to talk their way out of combat by claiming to be sent by Lt. Hershel (a favorite tactic in the recent past). The giant, who called itself Theo, seemed skeptical. It wanted White Knight to come back into its room alone so they could talk (though Theo was making it pretty clear he planned to eat White Knight). Instead, the Heroes attacked. Theo was tough -- he shrugged off a fiery blast from Blaze -- but Gracie came up with her shotgun and started pouring rounds into the giant Sarah Conner-style. The giant, surprisingly, fainted from the blood loss.
The Heroes were searching the rooms to the east -- finding pickles and silk rope, as well as $600 in cash and a gold necklace -- when Theo started to come around. Again, Theo shrugged off everything except for Gracie’s devastating power punch that knocked Theo out for good. But the real surprise was in the room to the southeast. There, in the corner, was a shaft leading up. White Knight leaped up to the top of the shaft and grabbed on to the bottom side of a trap door. Agilely managing to swing himself through the door, White Knight found himself above ground -- but in some woods south of the Fog Wall. He tied silk rope to the trapdoor and rappelled down so he could discuss this new puzzle. It was a shocking development -- had they been somehow teleported to the woods at the north end of the Southland? Or…
Blaze did some mental calculations and realized there was a shocking other possibility -- they had actually gone under the Fog Wall south of the Southland by going under it through the hideout. So now they all climbed the rope so they could see the outside world again.
Except, what they found was an abandoned road and, following it east, they reached what appeared at first to be the abandoned Douglas Aircraft Factory south of Des Plaines. White Knight was trying to steal a car when they were “captured” by the inhabitants of the factory -- 40 workers of the factory night shift that were trapped there for five weeks.
The factory had been without power for all or most of those five weeks and the men there had turned the factory into a fortress to defend themselves from the hoodlums who poured out from the woods and had taken over nearby Orchard Place (a small farming village). The men described a giant seen amongst the hoodlums that sounded a lot like Theo. The factory workers were all impressed by the Heroes’ tales of their exploits and agreed to a rescue mission.
The factory was locked up and all the car keys taken from the parking lot. It was a 20 minute march back to where the Heroes had come in. It was not easy lowering 40 people down the shaft to the hideout one at a time, but with guide ropes they managed to lose no one on the 30’ drop. Miraculously, they were able to backtrack through the hideout, single file sometimes with a line of 45 noisy people, and never got attacked.
The workers were all from Des Plaines and were eager to go home. The Heroes were eager to go to Des Plaines too. They wanted to talk to Mayor Garland! Mayor Garland agreed to see them, then agreed to convene a special emergency council meeting to discuss the possible rescue of Orchard Place.
And the Heroes wanted to see the jeweler in Des Plaines too. He appraised Theo’s gold necklace as being worth $600. The silver ring from the secret treasure cave was worth only $100 – but it had a secret compartment with a mystery pill inside it! The gold coins from the treasure cave were the biggest part of their haul – they were all rare coins and worth $5,000 in total!
[After XP was awarded, Batman became a level 2 fighter/level 3 magic-user, Blaze became a level 3 superhero, and White Knight became a level 2 fighter/level 3 mysteryman.]
The “Southland.”
The Heroes uncovered the trap doors that led back down into the hideout. They took the stairs, but stopped at the landing and opened the secret door to the tunnel they had discovered last time. Now they explored the tunnel and found it led up into a cave-like room with just a small pile of treasure in it. There were 138 gold coins, a strange revolver of unknown make, and a silver ring in the pile. The White Knight had been concerned that the pile was trapped in some way, but it was safe and the Heroes gathered and distributed the goods.
Backtracking (after finding no secret doors out), the Heroes returned to the science lab and then headed south. They mapped more carefully the long hallway with the ferret rooms off to the west side of it. They ignored the ferrets and, whenever the Heroes peeked in to observe the large ferrets, the ferrets pretty much ignored them back.
To the south of that, they tried a new passageway to the east and found it connected into the giant chamber outside the Asian-themed ceremonial chamber (which they had, in the past, only explored from a north entrance). The Heroes arrived in the chamber just before a patrol of six bloodthirsty hoodlums turned up. The two groups saw each other’s light sources, switched off their lights, and waited for the other side to make a move. White Knight ended the stalemate by shouting to them.
Batman put three to sleep, Gracie shot one, the fifth got beaten up after bloodying Dark Lash with his machete (Dark Lash had been taking point), and the sixth surrendered.
The prisoner said the Lieutenant had disappeared after his earlier defeat and, without the Lieutenant, the hoodlums were in chaos down here. This hoodlum claimed to know of a room of prostitutes on the west side of the hideout -- prostitutes under the protection of Mr. Gould (the same Mr. Gould who met recently with the Wizard of the Burning Tower, Carl Alsher), but said it was a maze over there and was not sure how to get to it. The Heroes locked the prisoners into the ceremonial chamber and moved on.
But not west -- despite initially thinking that the two missing women might have been moved in with the prostitutes, the Heroes decided to head east because there was an exit there they had not explored before. They found some narrow hallways that led to a very suspicious room (6” long insects were hanging from webs on the ceiling) with some furry mounds on the floor. Batman decided to check out the nearest furry mound -- but it was a giant spider and it jumped up to attack him. It bite him just as Batman shot it -- both survived. Two other giant spiders raced towards Batman, who ran to the door and White Knight shut it behind him in the spiders’ faces. Batman cast Cure Light Wounds on himself, but was still seriously injured by the bite and the poison.
Bravely moving on, the Heroes found a new hall with murals of an apple orchard, and doors leading out. Batman and the White Knight were trying to get the northeast door open (it was stuck really tight) while Blaze opened the southeast door. Then something opened the northeast door from the other side. It was a monstrous, brutish giant, 9’ tall, with spiked brass knuckles on its huge hands.
White Knight tried to talk their way out of combat by claiming to be sent by Lt. Hershel (a favorite tactic in the recent past). The giant, who called itself Theo, seemed skeptical. It wanted White Knight to come back into its room alone so they could talk (though Theo was making it pretty clear he planned to eat White Knight). Instead, the Heroes attacked. Theo was tough -- he shrugged off a fiery blast from Blaze -- but Gracie came up with her shotgun and started pouring rounds into the giant Sarah Conner-style. The giant, surprisingly, fainted from the blood loss.
The Heroes were searching the rooms to the east -- finding pickles and silk rope, as well as $600 in cash and a gold necklace -- when Theo started to come around. Again, Theo shrugged off everything except for Gracie’s devastating power punch that knocked Theo out for good. But the real surprise was in the room to the southeast. There, in the corner, was a shaft leading up. White Knight leaped up to the top of the shaft and grabbed on to the bottom side of a trap door. Agilely managing to swing himself through the door, White Knight found himself above ground -- but in some woods south of the Fog Wall. He tied silk rope to the trapdoor and rappelled down so he could discuss this new puzzle. It was a shocking development -- had they been somehow teleported to the woods at the north end of the Southland? Or…
Blaze did some mental calculations and realized there was a shocking other possibility -- they had actually gone under the Fog Wall south of the Southland by going under it through the hideout. So now they all climbed the rope so they could see the outside world again.
Except, what they found was an abandoned road and, following it east, they reached what appeared at first to be the abandoned Douglas Aircraft Factory south of Des Plaines. White Knight was trying to steal a car when they were “captured” by the inhabitants of the factory -- 40 workers of the factory night shift that were trapped there for five weeks.
The factory had been without power for all or most of those five weeks and the men there had turned the factory into a fortress to defend themselves from the hoodlums who poured out from the woods and had taken over nearby Orchard Place (a small farming village). The men described a giant seen amongst the hoodlums that sounded a lot like Theo. The factory workers were all impressed by the Heroes’ tales of their exploits and agreed to a rescue mission.
The factory was locked up and all the car keys taken from the parking lot. It was a 20 minute march back to where the Heroes had come in. It was not easy lowering 40 people down the shaft to the hideout one at a time, but with guide ropes they managed to lose no one on the 30’ drop. Miraculously, they were able to backtrack through the hideout, single file sometimes with a line of 45 noisy people, and never got attacked.
The workers were all from Des Plaines and were eager to go home. The Heroes were eager to go to Des Plaines too. They wanted to talk to Mayor Garland! Mayor Garland agreed to see them, then agreed to convene a special emergency council meeting to discuss the possible rescue of Orchard Place.
And the Heroes wanted to see the jeweler in Des Plaines too. He appraised Theo’s gold necklace as being worth $600. The silver ring from the secret treasure cave was worth only $100 – but it had a secret compartment with a mystery pill inside it! The gold coins from the treasure cave were the biggest part of their haul – they were all rare coins and worth $5,000 in total!
[After XP was awarded, Batman became a level 2 fighter/level 3 magic-user, Blaze became a level 3 superhero, and White Knight became a level 2 fighter/level 3 mysteryman.]