[CLOSED] DON'T DUMAT OPEN INSIDE

[katabasis]

WHO: Adrasteia, Laura, Ellis, Tony, Val & Holden
WHAT: Exploration of the Temple of Dumat
WHEN: Drakonis
WHERE: Northern Orlais, Ghislain, ...The Temple of Dumat
NOTES: Mild horror; content warn as necessary; OOC Plot Information; Original Investigation Report

Though the end of winter is hardly the most pleasant time to go trekking through old ruins, returning to the excavated Shrine of Dumat in the heart of the Ghislain region of Orlais is simple enough. Thanks to the collapse of the Venatori-Ander force's hold on the region, they face no opposition and will easily find their way there. While a small contingent of Exalter Marchers has been tasked with keeping tabs on the ruin to make sure no enemy return to it, they've been wary of digging too deep into the sanctum's lowest levels. So congrats: you all get to pick up right where the last group of Riftwatchers left off (or finish what you started in the first place, Tony).

The team has been tasked with two primary objectives:

• Follow up on the first team's work. Explore the ritual chamber of the shrine where the rumored "gate" is located; recover any artifacts or clues therein and retrieve as much data about the rift as possible. If anything isn't safe to bring back to the Gallows (like, say, a certain blighted Venatori mage's corpse), conduct a thorough study and then destroy whatever can't be recovered lest it fall into enemy hands. If you can figure out how to close the gate, then all the better.
  
  
• Thoroughly explore the remainder of the ruin. Verify that there are no ancillary shenanigans on site beyond those found in the ritual chamber. Collect any additional information or traces of Venatori activity on site.

How This Works:
Objective One, which features the exploration of the ritual chamber with its tainted rift and the miscellaneous clues which can be found there are a free-for-all mingle zone. The whole group can interact with that area.

Objective Two, the detailed exploration of the additional chambers, will consist of two branching paths. Look for the header with your character's name in it. These sections will consist of a series of dungeon rooms featuring good old fashioned traps, puzzles, with general exploration hi-jinks encouraged.

Each chamber will be described upon entry and have its own conditions for solving the area and allowing characters to progress through the dungeon, but don't worry if you're not big on puzzles. The ruins have seen better days and what may have once been problems with definitive solutions may now be a little less rigid.

As your characters explore and attempt to solve the puzzles they come across or wander across taps, I will interject here and there with relevant updates. If at any point you get stuck, you can attempt a Perception Check by bolding the relevant section of your tag (i.e. 'She studies the runes on the doors and [blah blah blah insert the rest of the tag here.]') and putting CHECK in the subject line of your comment. I will then roll to see how much information your character manages to glean in order to provide additional hints and clues.

These clues will be oocly visible to everyone, but icly known only to the character who made the check.

If the group as a whole at any point decides they're done playing with puzzles and want the cheat codes for the current room, have the next player put SKELETON KEY in the subject line of their comment and I'll provide you with the solution. I'd much rather we have a satisfying narrative adventure than trap anyone in rooms just because folks aren't feeling a particular puzzle.

If you have any questions, ASK ME HERE.

Comments

[heorte]

"I'm not worried about me," is a predictable answer, even if Ellis softens it with a slight smile. "I'm worried about what we'll find in there."

And more importantly: whether they're well enough equipped to be dealing with it.

But he has no doubts that Adrasteia shares those concerns. She takes a lighter approach to it, certainly, but—

"They're not the type to run if something goes wrong," Ellis says, before reconsidering as he looks back at them. "Well, the Orlesian might. But the others..."

If something goes wrong, they'll try to see it through. That isn't as reassuring as it might have been in other scenarios.

[kantikoy]

Just because Ellis isn't worried about himself doesn't mean he shouldn't be, or that she won't, honestly, but that is not worthy of speaking into the air as it were; either way, her eyes follow his gaze upon the group and she nods, swallowing once.

"As long as it's neither Old God nor Broodmother, I think we'll be alright."

A shudder. They're too small a group of an Old God and Broodmothers are just... viscerally upsetting for Adrasteia, honestly.

(Famous last words, and all that.)

"But at what point do we decide it's worth dragging them out, even if they're kicking and screaming?" She tilts her head and raises and eyebrow. "Do we need a safeword?"

She might be just trying to make him laugh, now, in her own way.

[heorte]

It's a good joke. And he does try, registering it with a low chuckle before he shakes his head.

"I think we both know when things have gone wrong enough that we'd need to get them out," Ellis points out. With everything else they don't quite agree on, they both have more than enough experience reading a situation gone too far sideways to salvage. "And from what I understand, we won't hear anything too easily down there."

So relying on instinct alone. An approach that certainly won't go wrong.

"You get them up the stairs. I'll be right behind all of you."

That's the approach isn't it? That's what their specialties lend themselves to?

[kantikoy]

A chuckle; she'll take it.

"True enough." A breath in, out, and then she nods. He's right — they've more than enough experience between them of things going sideways to recognize when it's time to leave, though she would, still, prefer a safeword.

"Alright. Take care, Ellis."

Don't make her have to haul you out, too, is the unspoken bit there.