Always Ascending

[Nihtgenga]

"Great!" Retiaria filled her waterskin and handed over six silver for three extra waterskins, as well as the five coppers for the refill. Once these were filled as well she placed them in her bag. "Pleasure doing business with you!"

She then hurried back to the group, taking a place just behind Duran, ready to go up the stairs.

[Alice]

Heading up the spiral stair case takes a bit of time.. There is a door at the top, it is moderately thick wood but nothing Duran can't handle. He pushes it open and you enter a wooden walled room. Inside you see an old rotted bow stave and a coil of equally time worn bow string. You think you can hear bird song and the air smells fresher despite the dust in the room.

You all become Level 2

As the last of you climb out leaving the room somewhat crowded you realize there is no door or staircase in the dirt floor of this room. Only one rather flimsy looking door on the north wall of what seems to be a run down shack.

Oric:
Dwarf senses tell you that you are not underground.

[darlingng01]

I look around, confused for a moment "I had thought this would take us much longer... It seems we've already made it outside."

[Roselli]

"I'll take the 'easy' win. Even if it cost me my manhood. But we're out." Gwyn looks back down at the absence of a door on the ground where they came from. "That's disconcerting. But I really wasn't looking to go back."

"Everything look to same to you, Neathra. Emptyish room and a door?" She asks before inspecting the door, not wanting to fall into a pit again. (Perception: 6+3=9  I'll assume that fails.) "Seem legit."

[Ryuforce]

Duran sighs in relief after leading the party to what already shows signs that they finally made it out. "Whew.. bout time... guess we got over prepared for nothing but.. I'm not complaining. We'll be out of here quickly."

)Woot, I can spell! Will update profile when off work)

[Ordos]

Naethra couldn't help but squeeze Gwyn's hand a little tighter as they left the spiral staircase. 

She didn't know what she'd been expecting when they got to the end, but this... this definitely wasn't it. 

"Everything look to same to you, Neathra. Emptyish room and a door?"

"Yes... that sounds like what I'm seeing."  she surveyed the area.  "Is that... a piece of wood and string on the ground there?" 

She couldn't help but smile, despite herself.  They weren't out of this place; it couldn't be that easy, not after that last room.  That's not the sort of trick that would work immediately before an exit... not without something more drastic, at any rate.  But still, this place just... smelled nicer.  It felt less claustraphobic, and...

"Does... does anyone else hear that?  Something like bird song?" she craned her head, letting her eyes linger for a moment on Gwyn.  The previous levels may have cost her her manhood, but she still came out better for that trade.  It was nice to see she was accepting of it; it would have been a tragedy to lose the lovely elf girl she'd become. 

[Nihtgenga]

"Whoo! It's good to be out of that crazy place. But we're not safe yet. We're still fuck knows where out in the Wilds. We need to get back to civilisation, sharpish."

"Is that... a piece of wood and string on the ground there?"

"Looks like a bow. Old though, and kinda fucked."

"Does... does anyone else hear that?  Something like bird song?"

"Yeah. Sounds nice..."

Heading over to the shack door, Retiaria tried to open it, stepping to the side just in case of a trap or ambush.

[Alice]

The swings part way open on leather hinges.. that rip through with the effort of actually moving then the door falls forward with a soft 'wump' onto a dirt path. There are thick trees and undergrowth lineing the dirt path. The sun shines down on you all, catching the pearl and gold of Retaria's head very nicely. The bird song goes quiet as the door falls out with a rustling of branches as they take off. Around the shack is a pile of mossy wood split into wedged sections, but clearly left unused.

Aerin notices on the ground a rotted leather strip with an iron buckle.. Near that is more buckles and a torn strip of silk... Whatever/whomever once wore these clearly has no more use of them.

Finally in the back they can find a rusty ax head. There is only one clear path away from the shack the rest of it being ringed by dark and foreboding wood.

[Nihtgenga]

Retiaria winced as the door thumped down to the ground. "Bloody hell, what a shithole..."

Cautiously stepping outside, she looked around. The shack was in a clearing, surrounded by trees. It was sunny here, but she could see it got dark fast once leaving the clearing. Great. They were in a fucking forest...

"Uh, we should get moving..."

[Roselli]

Gwyn gives a warm smile to Neathra feeling that they are free of the pit and feeling that things could be a path to correct themselves.

She looks to the door and follows Retiaria outside into the sun. She stretches out feeling good to be out of the pit and out into the open.

Looking back at the shack and thinking about what was here, "Clearly no one has been here in ages. How far from a town must we be then? A lot of walking is ahead of us."

[Ryuforce]

Duran looks around the outside area they have now entered with a smile. "Whew... finally but yeah, let's keep moving." Duran stated, continuing to move forward with the group as she felt glad to finally escape that damned dungeon.

"Ya know. I'm not complaining but after everything we encountered, I thought that place was gonna be just a tad longer..."

[Nihtgenga]

"Yeah. And it's weird. Place like that, beneath a shitty little abandoned hut? Doesn't seem right..." Retiaria added, nodding slowly. "And we were able to just leave, so why didn't they?"

[Roselli]

"I  think that if we got hurt bad enough, and didn't have each other to heal us, we'd just be trapped horny women like them." Gwyn tried to perk things up, "But we did escape, and I have a bakery to claim in the town of...." Gwyn pauses reading the deed to see where it's located, "you know, this place. I mean providing it's still open."

[Nihtgenga]

"You do? Huh, I never took you for the baking type..." Retiaria commented with a smile. It was only slightly forced, this place made her uneasy. Too many trees...

[darlingng01]

I step forward, eager to get back to a town where the chairs were always made of wood, and the clothes won't end up wearing you. Walking down the path I keep an eye on the trees, uneasy about our rather rapid escape.