RQG 190 - Mind The Gap

## Content Warnings

Injury, memory loss & loss of time, tunnels & underground. Mentions of: falling, the void & space, fire (inc. SFX), drowning, intrusive telepathy. SFX: rumbling, high frequency sounds, water & dripping, repetitive clicking, fire.

## Summary

Join Alex, Helen, Bryn, Lydia, and Ben as they take a whirlwind tour of existence itself!
This week Azu makes a call, Cel plays percussion, Zolf takes a plunge, and Hamid suggests they move away from the clicking.

## Synopsis

The party are flung into disparate elemental shards by the tentacle beast. Hamid catches a last glimpse of Cel smashing into a shard before he falls into his own. The shard is unbearably hot and appears to be full of flames. Hamid and Azu immediately fall out the other side, after being burned by the elemental fire. Hamid tries to cast Fly, but fails as they fall through a shard of boulders and are bludgeoned.

Cel falls through a shard of clockwork and gears and is injured from cutting and bludgeoning. They careen out, take an extract of cure light wounds, and are flung into a shard of pure darkness and are injured further. They fall out of the darkness and through a shard of snow and are hurt by the cold.

Zolf falls through a shard of crackling electricity and is injured by the lightning. He sees he's falling towards an Outer plane and that he will probably take some sort of force damage. He casts protection from energy (sonic), but falls through the plane and takes force damage, followed by a shard of darkness taking further damage. He falls through a plane of blinding white light and hears choirs singing, and is slightly healed.

Azu and Hamid come to in a completely dark, semi-industrial tunnel with the sounds of distant machinery and running water. The last memory they have is of the boulder shard. Azu thinks they're in an underground tunnel. Hamid feels around to get his bearings, but before he can do much Topaz appears suddenly next to them in the tunnel; at the same time Hamid starts flying, and Dancing Lights appear around them in the tunnel *(these were the spells cast by Hamid and Azu in episodes 188-189)*. Azu greets Topaz, who seems fine, as Hamid is flustered. Azu gives Topaz a big hug, and sends her back to the celestial plane. Hamid asks where they are. Azu doesn't know, but asks how Hamid is; he says he's fine, and wonders where they are. Azu takes out a mobile stone and calls for Zolf, forgetting that Hamid is the only other party member that has one. Hamid tells her this, and adds that Einstein, Emeka and Vesseek (and Ishaq) are the only other ones with them. A voice answers... It's Einstein's voice. He says that 'we all' thought they were dead (but does not specify who 'we' is). Hamid says that they're probably alive, and Einstein asks how the others are. Hamid says he doesn't know, and asks Einstein if he's alive too. Einstein says it's complicated, and that he's in the middle of something right now. He asks them is they're 'evil and veiny' yet, and when Hamid asks him the same question, he hangs. up. Hamid suggests they head in a direction and wonders if they should keep the lights on, and in a slightly faltering voice, wonders whether since Azu is so noisy, lights won't matter much if there's something that wants to hurt them. Azu lays hands on Hamid and herself as they're both hurt, but as she does, they hear a horrible clicking noise from down the tunnel.

Cel comes to stood inside a derelict inn, apparently in the middle of a task. They are no longer in beast form. They're apparently taking an inventory of their stock or prepping their alchemy equipment. The inn is windowless and the architecture is western European in style. They're in what looks like a two-storey space with a balcony, but it is damaged. The room has two doorways; the one behind Cel has a trap set up on their side of the door, and the other door (that looks like it may lead to a kitchen) is barricaded. There is no natural light. Cel calls for Hamid and the others and gets no response. They look at their inventory, and the appear to have used a large number of bomb reagents, telling them that they appear to have made and used a number of bombs, implying they've been in a fight they don't remember. At the moment they appear to have used six bombs, and now no longer have any left. The inn doesn't look bombed.

Zolf comes to plunging into pitch black, rather familiar-smelling, muck. Zolf swims to the surface and makes his way to the side. There is a current towards a grate that he avoids. He finds a ladder and climbs it. There are a number of pipes leading in and out, and grates. There are several walkways crisscrossing the chamber.

**Break**

In the tunnel, Hamid suggests they move away from the clicking, and they decide together to keep the lights on for the moment. After a while, the clicking following them, they reach a service door that's slightly ajar. Hamid dismisses the lights, and settles his hands on Azu's shoulders so that she can walk and he can fly along, guided, behind her. Azu sees, with Darkvision, a few trampled market stalls in a large, retrofitted, underground space. There are brickwork arches and dripping from the ceiling. Hamid, unable to see, knows he's in a large space, and sees a very very faint blue glow at the very far end of the cavern. Hamid casts dancing lights again and sends them around the space to get a feeling for it. This space is where the party were jumped by Barret's gang in episode 9. Hamid informs Azu that they're in Other London.

Zolf is in a series of sewerage service tunnels that he doesn't recognise. He manages to navigate successfully enough and concludes that he's in Other London. He comes to a junction, where in one direction is a stairway that leads up to London or down further, and in the other direction is a blue glow that is reminiscent of the blue of the veins and of Yerlik.

Cel listens at the door for sounds of a fight. The trap on the doorway is a suspended alchemist fire. they open a door into a tunnel that could be used for an underground train *(Cel would not be familiar with this, though)* but lined with ramshackle buildings*.* Cel erroneously believes that they are underwater in a ramshackle base not unlike Shoin's. They grab a torch and walk out. Heading upwards along the densely- packed shanty-tunnel, they hear a clanging rhythm on a pipe back towards the inn (it's not Morse code), and they tap a pipe back. They call out but get no answer. After a minute, there is a tapping reply. They try to ask if the tapper understands them (one tap for yes, two taps for no.... wait... two taps for no?) They get no response, but are suddenly approached by an enormous hulking figure. They greet the figure, who shushes them. A huge, dirty hand puts up a finger, then points down.

Hamid suggests to Azu that they look around, but the clicking is moving closer. They hear a second clicking coming from the marketplace with a lower tone, and Hamid suggests they find a defensible position. They find an overturned market stall to hide behind. He then sends the dancing lights back to the tunnel entrance, and hides. They see an approaching blue glow from the corridor. Azu sharply asks Hamid if they should go, and he says (in a faltering voice) he's not sure where else they can go, given that they heard a similar clicking nearby. Azu is asking, in a worried voice, what if it's a veiny thing. Hamid sounds like he's scared, and talks about going to the surface, although it might be overrun, but where else can they go? Hamid starts to panic. He then suddenly receives a telepathic message, and identifies it as a sending spell. The message says: *"Avoid the tunnel. Head away from the lights."* Hamid thanks the mystery sender and asks who they are (Azu replies as if he's talking to her as she hasn't heard the message). He relays the message to Azu, dismisses the dancing lights, grabs Azu's shoulders, and suggests they move away from the lights. At that moment, a large (not mechanically), blue glowing clawed hand grips the side of the doorway, large chunks of wood tearing away from the doors. The hand is covered in thick, bulging, blue veins.

## Quotes

**Alex**: "Give me a perception check, before we get any further."
**Helen**: (groaning) "Fine."
**Bryn**: "24."
**Helen**: "Oh."
**Alex**: (laughs) "I'm not sure that's a number, but I'm willing to roll with it!"
―Perception check as half of the party are flung through the void.

**Einstein**: "Hello?"
**Azu**: "Oh! Einstein!"
**Hamid**: "Oh Professor, hello!"
**Einstein**: "He- uh, Hamid? Hello!"
**Hamid**: "This is unexpected, we didn't- how- how are you?"
**Einstein**: "I thought we weren't meant to be talking, hello"
**Hamid**: "Probably not..."
**Azu**: (overlapping) "No, we're not!"
**Einstein**: (overlapping) "[Glad to?] hear you're alive, we all thought you were dead!"
**Azu**: "What?"
**Hamid**: (overlapping) "We're alive, probably!"
**Einstein**: "How are the others?"
**Hamid**: "We don't know... How are you? You're alive too?"
**Einstein**: "...It's kinda complicated. Um, can I call you back? I'm in the middle of something......"
**Einstein**: "Are you all evil and veiny yet?"
**Hamid**: "No..."
**Azu**: "No, are you?"
**Einstein**: "Good to know! Ok, bye!"
―Hamid and Azu talk to Einstein on the mobile stone.

**Alex**: "[Zolf] plunges into very cold, very dark muck of some kind."
**Ben**: (sarcastically) "Cool."
**Alex**: (forcefully) "Splosh."
**Lydia**: "It's full circle, man! It's sewer time!"
**Players**: (cheering)
**Helen**: "Back in the poo..."
**Ben**: "Yeeeup"
**Players**: (laughter)
**Alex**: "I must confess, it does have a reminiscent smell, now you think on it..."
―Zolf apparently wakes up in a sewer.

**Mystery hissing voice**: "*Avoid the tunnel. Head away from the lights.*"
**Hamid**: "Oh! OK, thank you! um..."
**Azu**: (who has not heard) "What? I didn't do anything"
**Hamid**: "Who are you?"
**Azu**: "I'm Azu"
**Hamid**: "I got a message, Azu"
**Azu**: "...Oh."
―Hamid receives a telepathic message and Azu is confused.

## Dice rolls & mechanics

* Hamid still has +4 AC from mage armor.
* Numbers to determine how many shards are fallen through: 3 (Azu & Hamid), 5 (Zolf), 4 (Cel), 1 (Wilde), 6 (Skraak), (Sumutnyerl's number is not given)
* Hamid and Azu make a Perception check before smashing into the shards: Hamid (24), Azu (17)
* Hamid's shard damage: 4 fire damage (fire shard), 13 bludgeoning damage (boulder shard)
* Azu's shard damage: 14 fire damage (fire shard), 13 bludgeoning damage (boulder shard)
* Cel's shard damage: 4 bludgeoning damage (mechanical shard), 8 necromantic damage (darkness shard), 12 cold damage (snow shard)
* Zolf's shard damage: 9 lightning damage (lightning shard), 12 force damage (outer plane shard), 6 necromantic damage (darkness shard), 6 healing (celestial shard)
* Hamid fails to cast fly.
* Cel casts cure light wounds and heals 11 hit points.
* Zolf makes a Knowledge (planes) check to know what plane he will fall through: 24
* Zolf casts Protection from Energy (sonic): The spell works
* Skraak takes both of his healing potions as he falls through the shards.
* Perception check for what is in the tunnels: Hamid (Nat 1), Azu (19)
* Azu uses lay on hands on Hamid and herself; Hamid heals 17 and Azu heals 15.
* Zolf makes a swim check: 20 (pass)
* Perception checks for the room beyond the tunnel: Azu (18), Hamid (33)
* Hamid casts dancing lights
* Zolf makes a Survival check to navigate the sewers: 21
* Cel makes a Perception check to listen at the door of the inn: Nat 1
* Stealth check to hide from the clicking: Azu (14), Hamid (21)
* Hamid makes a Knowledge (arcana) check to identify the telepathic message as a sending spell: 24.
* Saves from episode 188 that presumably affected how the characters arrived in Other London:
	+ Will save: Zolf (32), Cel (8), Azu (23), Hamid (17), Skraak (18)
	+ Fort save: Zolf (22), Cel (Nat 1), Azu (17), Hamid (13), Skraak (11)