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Post by dtspurrier on Nov 19, 2021 22:49:54 GMT
Hour-man yells " no I cannot make them go away. Bart, Bart you still here? Snake leader the best thing once this has been completed to come with us to Washington to meet with our leaders and see if a peaceful treaty can be made."
( promoting what the 1970's Superfriends show would try to do)
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Post by Adminenkainen on Nov 20, 2021 5:35:11 GMT
Though the majority of the heroes are either still stunned into inaction, or share Hour-Man's willingness to still trust the snake men, the Sandman and Hawkgirl turn hostile.
"Liars!" Hawkgirl says as she attacks with her knife ((lightly injuring one for 3 dmg)).
The Sandman hasn't fired yet, but he has both guns trained on the snake men.
Their reward for quick action are more snake bites ((sigh)), envenoming each of them ((2 and 3 dmg respectively)).
Just then, everyone hears Bart. "Hey! Hey! I'm over here!"
Hour-Man's flashlight shines on the tunnel they came in from and everyone sees Bart peeking around the cave entrance, apparently buck naked.
Which turns out to not be entirely true. Bart is enticed into reentering the cavern, and all can see he still has his boxers and socks on. "Darnest thing!" he says. "One minute I'm drinking snake juice, and the next I'm back outside!"
((To be continued))
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Post by dtspurrier on Nov 20, 2021 15:19:33 GMT
Hour-man stops between hawkgirl and the snake people, " bart is right over there. These people do not trust humans but by the same token are trying to assist with the venom. Like I said tensions are high and some of us lost people we care about from the ratmen. Once we we de venomized we can assist both people by stopping the ratmen and their leader. Then we can meet with our leaders together or go our own separate ways. "
( trying persuasion here)
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Post by Adminenkainen on Nov 21, 2021 22:56:51 GMT
"Not ssso fassst," the snake man ssspokesman -- er, spokesman -- said. "You attacked usss during a truce. We renegotiate now. One of you will remain with usss as our prisssoner until the ressst of you have slain the golden haired one. Which of you will it be?"
((Pausing to see if Hour-Man volunteers!))
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Post by Adminenkainen on Nov 23, 2021 17:18:11 GMT
"As soon as I get my clothes on, I'll show you attacking during a truce..." Bart muttered as he hastily re-donned his combat fatigues.
"Wait!" Zatara said. "I'll stay behind. The rest of you, press on. Try to find your way back to that room where Hour-Man saw the shadowless man and see if he's still there. If we can take him prisoner, we may be able to end this before any more fighting happens."
"Well...I don't like it, but it does seem like the best plan we've got..." Doris said.
The five heroes were shown to a cave mouth leading to another tunnel on the south end of the cavern...
((Proposed marching order?))
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Post by dtspurrier on Nov 23, 2021 18:34:20 GMT
Hour-man says, " zatarra we will be back for you." Once Bart gets dressed. He advises using some first aid to get some health back then the party leaves. He asks Sandman to take point since he is good at noticing things ( traps) then Hourman , Shiara, then Doris and bart guarding the rear.
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Post by Adminenkainen on Nov 26, 2021 2:44:25 GMT
"Your face has changed..." Hawkgirl said to Zatara. It was true; the painful affliction had changed his features, shifting them slightly into a more pleasing arrangement to the eye.
"This drink is a magic elixir," Zatara explained. "It suggests to me these snake men are not modified humans, but visitors from some magical dimension."
"Not ssso," the snake man said. "We have alwaysss lived in thessse cavesss."
The debate was tabled, as there were other more important things to take care of.
Hawkgirl and Sandman also had to partake of more of the magic elixir. Hawkgirl said she felt a little better after drinking it and Sandman said it gave him clarity of thought.
"Great. So I'm the only one who got pranked by it..." Bart complained, while then fully dressed again.
The suggestion of first aid was well appreciated. Hour-Man was the only one to have brought a first aid kit, which he used on Sandman, who seemed to be the most injured of the five of them leaving.
Sandman, in turn, administered first aid to Hawkgirl.
Everyone listened to Hour-Man's suggested marching order, but Doris protested. "It looks like I was least hurt here. I am going up front beside you, Hour-Man."
No one argued with her. The second rank would then be Sandman and Hawkgirl, with Bart bringing up the rear.
The five were escorted into a second cavern with three more snake men in it.
"I'm glad we didn't try to keep fighting them all now..." Hawkgirl whispered.
The black stone of the cavern walls glistened with moisture and were half-covered in lichen. It looked to be a natural cavern, but there was a stone statue standing on the cavern floor. The statue was 7' tall, carved of the same black rock, and looked to be a human male wearing 18th century clothing and pointing forward with both hands.
"A statue...of who? Whoever brought the snake men here?" Sandman asked.
The English-speaking snake man bobbed his head from side by side, as if shaking it for no. "We do not know. The statue was here when we found this cave. You are at the edge of our lair," he continued as three other snake men rolled a boulder away from a concealed cave mouth. "Go through there. Follow the walls. Always follow this hand," he said, holding up his right hand. "Watch the floor closely. If you survive, you will find your way to a shaft up to the rat men's level."
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Post by dtspurrier on Nov 26, 2021 17:43:00 GMT
Hourman listened and also see if he remembers this statue from history classes. If not following the right wall they moved into the passage. Using flashlights and also trying to be careful
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Post by Adminenkainen on Nov 27, 2021 2:44:33 GMT
Hour-Man did not recognize the statue.
Everyone took the snake man literally and hugged the right wall as they followed the tunnel east for 30' to an intersection of tunnels. At the tunnel they turned right, heading south for 20' before reaching a cave mouth to the right (west). The cave mouth looked like it opened into a small cave.
"The snake men said to keep going right, but they didn't say anything about caves," Doris whispered to Hour-Man. "Do you think we should go in, or go past?"
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Post by dtspurrier on Nov 27, 2021 16:39:33 GMT
Hourman whispers, " lets look around for a second and see if this cave has an exit. If it does not then we can bypass it."
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Post by Adminenkainen on Nov 28, 2021 3:53:21 GMT
Hour-Man and Doris detoured into the side cave, while signaling to the others to wait for them.
The side cave was small, about 15' wide x 20' long x 8' high. There were all kinds of nooks and crannies to look into, but none of them appeared big enough to be a way out, and there were no inhabitants in the cave.
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Post by dtspurrier on Nov 29, 2021 21:33:01 GMT
Leaving this chamber Hour-man continues on following the right wall
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Post by Adminenkainen on Nov 30, 2021 14:52:04 GMT
Following the right wall, they ignored a side tunnel heading east (as their compasses told them) and continued southwest. This tunnel began to veer south and then southeast until it came to a familiar intersection of two tunnels -- the bottom of the shaft where Hawkman and Sandy Kean had died.
There was no sign of violence here now, nor noise from the top of the pit above. There was also no easy way up, and perhaps worse, there was a length of secured chain dangling maddeningly out of reach, 15' above the tunnel floor, out of everyone's reach.
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Post by dtspurrier on Nov 30, 2021 22:05:06 GMT
Hourman examines if the walls are smooth or handholds to try to climb up. If that is not safe then since Doris is light he will suggest having her get on Hourman shoulders to lift her to the chain.
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Post by Adminenkainen on Dec 1, 2021 4:43:11 GMT
There were plenty of handholds in the rocky tunnel up to the entrance to the shaft, but the walls of the shaft itself above the tunnel were smoother. ((So it would be possible for Hour-Man to try and climb up, but not likely to succeed. Which, I suppose, qualified as "not safe"...))
Doris immediately went along with Hour-Man's suggestion, until she was stopped.
"Hold it," the Sandman said. "I think I would have an easier time getting up to that chain with your boost."
Doris hopped off of Hour-Man's back and the Sandman was ready to climb up. "Rather than stand on your shoulders, can I step into your hands and you throw me up into the air as high as you can?" ((And if you do do it, would you want to do this with normal strength or buffed with a power?))
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