Ch.14a. Inheritance (Alex & Ivy)

[Silver Priest]

Alex lands roughly. "Ouch! Damn it..." He looks towards his companion, face blanching slightly. "Excuse. my language, Ms. Ripley." He rubs his leg. "But that hurt. I don't think it's broken though, and I should still be able to walk on it."

[jp1885]

"Given the circumstances, I think 'damn it' is putting it mildly." Ivy replies tartly.

"Hold the flashlight still and I'll take a look at your leg," she orders as she fusses about Alex's bruised limb.

[64] = 64
First aid 65 1d100: [ 64 ] = 64

[Silver Priest]

Alex does so, glad to have the wound looked at.

[Philulhu]

Tearing strips of material from Alex’s trousers, Ivy was able to bind his ankle, at the cost of one of his legs being bare to the elements…

1 HP regained as the expense of any sartorial elegance and pride.

[Silver Priest]

"Thank you," Alex tells his partner. "I feel a lot better already. I should be able to walk without too much trouble." He rises to his feet, happy to have this confirmed.

"Ms. Ripley, you will one day make some lucky man very happy." He offers, reasoning that was what any unattached woman wants to hear. He himself would have gladly pursued a courtship of her but that would not have been fair to her, given his lack of interest in the fairer sex. "Shall we continue on, then?"

[jp1885]

“Lucky man - hmph!” is Ivy’s sharp reply. “Yes, you press on while I wash the dishes!”

Snatching the lantern, she marches forward.

“Keep up!”

[Silver Priest]

Alex gets the sinking feeling he said something wrong while trying to pay Ivy a compliment. He will never understand women. But at least he waited to offend her until after she treated his wound.

He slinks after her.

[Philulhu]

The tunnel stretched ahead of them for another 50 feet or so before it appeared to open into a bigger area, which glowed with the same unholy lichen-light as one of the previous caverns.

[jp1885]

Despite her earlier burst of prickliness, Ivy slows at the cavern entrance and motions Alex to proceed cautiously. Who knows what creatures lurk ahead?

Shielding the lantern so as not to herald their presence, she cautiously peers into the chamber.

[Philulhu]

Ok, need to pause while I determine what else is happening in the cavern.

It’s also a lantern, not a flashlight

[jp1885]

Ah, missed that! Will edit posts above.

[Philulhu]

It shouldn’t matter unless you drop it, tbh. If you drop a torch there’s a chance the light will go out; if you drop a lantern there’s a chance the light will spread across the floor and up your leg…

[Philulhu]

Emerging from the tunnel, Alex and Ivy entered into a wider tunnel than ran perpendicular to their own. To the right, the light from the lantern illuminated some old, long-abandoned workings but to their left, this new tunnel stretched away into the darkness, with fresh tunnels going off to both sides.

From somewhere in front of them a low moan, like the wind, could be heard.

[jp1885]

Ivy pauses, looking to Alex.

“I would assume our gunman would have taken the newer tunnel. Where they went after that; I suppose we’ll find out.”

[Silver Priest]

"That would strike me as a logical assumption," Alex nods. "Let's head down the newer tunnel, then."

[Philulhu]

Moving down the tunnel, Alex and Ivy could see a tunnel to their right, followed by a tunnel to the left. The tunnel to the right seemed to be the source of the moaning sound.

[Silver Priest]

Alex continues heading right, worried someone may be hurt-- and even more worried the sound is one of those ape creatures.

[jp1885]

Ivy does likewise.

[Philulhu]

A short passage opened into wide grotto beyond. There was none of the phosphorescing lichen in here but crystal deposits on the walls glittered in the light from the lantern Ivy held. The ceiling was high up above their heads but their attention was drawn to a bizarre twisted structure spread across the wall to their left ahead of them.

It was fashioned from interlaced bronze pipes and studded with crystals of various sizes and colors. The pipes pierced the wall in numerous places while the other ends ultimately end in spikes. Upon the spikes, there were a score of human heads, from which the moaning sound emerged, in a soft ululating chorus. The heads had been preserved, with sinuous runes carved into their leathery flesh. Their eyelids were closed, and their mouths and the muscles of their throats moved as they sang. Some of the heads belonged to men of European descent, while others belonged to men and women of African descent.

A rock formation sat 20 feet in front of it, carved into a sort of seat, although it didn’t look like it was designed for anyone of human size to sit upon…

SAN check, please (1/1d4)

[jp1885]

[14] = 14
SAN 70 1d100: [ 14 ] = 14
-1 SAN

“Good God!” exclaims Ivy.

While her subterranean tribulations have left her somewhat inured to the bizarre, this is something on a different plane.

The sheer horror of the whole construction is enough to send one mad, but if one thinks about it clearly, the use of Human heads indicates that the prehistoric serpent people are not so prehistoric after all…

She forces herself to inspect the heads. Do any of them look particularly fresh? Are there any contemporary hairstyles, jewellery etc.?