====== The Dig ======
===== Initial Brief =====

Professor of Linguistics Cornelia Chol of the Circle seeks competent citizens to serve as guards on an expedition into the Wastes. Ability to remain calm in cramped spaces desirable. The Professor offers her gratitude for assistance given in this way.

===== PCs =====

  * [[user:declan:pc:peleus_perin|Peleus]] - Declan
  * [[user:chaos:pc:rekha|Rekha]] - Chaos
  * [[user:iain:pc:mabel_bembrooke|Mabel]] - Iain
  * [[user:g_b:pc:sato_cross|Sato]] - George
  * [[user:florencew:pc:magda_nylund|Magda]] - Florence

=====Summary=====
  * The party head into the wastes fighting past various mutated creatures to reach a hole sloping down into the ground.
  * After making it down into the pit the party are assailed by moles and viscous shadows but manage to prevail.
  * At the bottom they find another expedition led by Thaddeus Grim a professor of artifacture who seems ro be somewhat of a rival of Cornelias. 
  * Going onward the party are attacked by large mouths floating in the air. They manage to destroy them all but not before Peleus is slowly eaten by one of them. He spills out of ones guts at the end.
  * Venturing onwards the party find a room covered in strange writing with a door at one end. A voice begins to intone a story but when the party are uncertain what to do they are assailed by pictures which rip themselves from the walls.
  * Peleus does a ritual to attempt to understand what the room is attempting to communicate which goes slightly awry. He understands they have to act out the story but also gains the delusion that he is the character in it repeatedly hitting himself in the head trying to separate it in two.
  * With this the rest of the party catch on eventually the story is acted out correctly and the door at the end of the room creaks open.
  * Venturing inside the party find some sort of crypt weirdly proportioned two headed skeletons lying upon stone slabs. As they venture within however these skeletons slowly climb to their feet and begin to attack the party.
  * Having driven of the skeletal assault off the party search the room for anything of interest and find: a set of stones which appear to switch the bodies of those who hold them; a musical instrument which produces the sweetest songs even when played by an amateur; a scroll of archaic writing; and a rudimentary telescope. 
  * As they leave the room the party are confronted by Thaddeus and his party. He offers to buy any artifacts the party may have found and offers a scroll in trade. Cornelia proves difficult to deal with however and in the end the only deal which is made is that Magda gives him the instrument in return for a favour.
  * As the debate is ongoing however something dread appears to have sneaked up on the party and they are assailed by several large chitinous creatures and strange figments of the mind. 
  * Surrounded and outnumbered the party swiftly fall in the dark. Mable successfully revives Sato and Rekha allowing them to flee but Magda and Peleus die in the dark.
  * Sato flees to a side room with Rekha and attempts to regroup finding to his surprise that Magda and Peleus appear to have come back to life. Together the four of them launch a counter attack and eventually break out to the surface but are forced to leave Cornelia's dead corpse behind.
  * Mable meanwhile flees lost through miles of dark passages before eventually following a breeze and emerging unscathed from a well on the Telemere district.


===== Debrief =====
  * The party eventually meet up at the circle surprised to find Mable there as well.
  * They report to the prefect that the professor is unfortunately dead to which they seem surprised given they just saw them at lunch. Going her office the party find Cornelia alive she seems a bit out of it but agrees to pay them their favour for keeping her safe on the expedition as she does appear to have come back alive.
  * Oddly she declined to buy the scroll of ancient writing however.
  * On there way out the party bump into Thaddeus who offers to purchase anything of interest they found as he lost all off his stuff on a wild flight to the surface. The party decline to sell him anything.
  * They do however report on Cornelia's strange behavior worried she might now be a changeling Magda contacts the forester's Guild who send an expert to assess the matter. After a close examination the expert however determines she is not touched by the forest.
  * Sato talked to Thaddeus encounraging him to publish his findings telling him the throne would approve. Sato elected not to tell goldenrod anything about this. 
  * Thaddeus made a single speech about his findings detailing how he believed there was evidence of a non-human civilisation once in existence in the area. After this he refuses to make any more however and several colleagues publish work deriding the theory. People may have heard of it if they wish however.
  * Peleus purchases the research notes and scroll found in the crypt and visits the bazaar in Rom to try to find out more about them. There he meets Isabella who agrees to have a look for him. She tells him that she believes the writing is non human in origin and that if he wishes she could open a door within to connection to a region connected to the writing and see what they find.
  * Mable makes her way back to the dorm and sneaks back in leaving everyone guessing where she has been.

==== Consequences ====
===All===
  * Gain 1 favour
  * 
===Peleus===
  * Has Claudias research notes and an intact old scroll,he currently can't decipher.
  * Paid Mable two favour for the scroll.
  * Has an agreement with Isabella of Rom that if she opens a gate in connection he will have first option to walk through.
  * Has dies once.

===Magda===
  * 1 additional favour for giving the musical instrument to Thaddeus.
  * Has dies on time

===Sato===
  * Is in possession of two stones. If the stones are held by two separate people they switch bodies the moment one of them drops a stone they switch back.

===Retha===

  * Has a rudimetry spyglass. This is an instilled item and is better and viewing distant objects than its design should allow.

===Mable===
  * Two additional favour from Peleus ?



{{tag>"the dig" adventure peleus_perin rekha mabel_bembrooke sato_cross magda_nylund}}