Tier 4 Dungeon

[Rizban]

Five people find themselves standing in a massive square room, 170 feet to a side. Light suffuses the room, apparently emanating from nowhere. Every wall is elaborately adorned with frescoes painted to represent the gods of many pantheons. Each and every god appears to be intensely watching the room. Their eyes seem to follow you as you move about the room. The room is mostly devoid of objects, though there are a few large statues of more powerful deities, which also seem to be watching you.

There are four obvious exits: one east, one west, and two south. The east and one of the south exits have doors while the other two are open archways.

[dangerprawn]

Holley

The young man blinks his eyes, then drops the tool bag in his right hand to the floor. He shakes his head and rubs his face, blinks some more. He clears his throat as he looks around the room. "I don't remember dieing..." He mutters.

He glances at the other people standing in the room and gives them a shrug. "So...uh...hi." He moves leans left, then right, all the while watching the statues and frescoes. "Hmm. Does it bother anyone else that the gods seem to be watching us." He pauses. "Well, I mean, they look like gods. Or what gods would look like. Never actually met one, you know."

The soft leather armor he wears bends without creaking as he picks up the tool bag and slings it on his back, one strap over his shoulder. The brown leather satchel rests against the black duster coat he wears that stops just short of mid-calf.

[javcs]

Jagadhi

This ... is odd. Let me check for magical auras. Could someone check around for traps, anything hidden, and/or anything that might tell us something?
Anybody know anything about this place?
I don't think we died. If I had died, I would hope that I would remember something like that. Unless, of course, we all died in our sleep.
Greetings, by the way. I'm Jagadhi.

As he blinked, his eyes went solid black then faded back to their normal blueish grey. He then started looking around the room.

OOC:

Actives Detect Magic, and starts looking for magical auras. Upon detecting one or more, will pause to obtain all information possible and relay that information to everyone else, then continue the sweep. If he needs to move, he remains within areas that are safe to move around in.

Knowledge (Arcana) - [roll0]
Knowledge (The Planes) - [roll1]
Knowledge (Religion) - [roll2]
Does Jagadhi have any information about this place?

[Mavian]

Miles

"I really need to stop drinking, this waking up in strange places is getting old fast. At least I still have my pants this time."

Stretching out he glances around before shrugging back at Holley

"Aren't the gods always watching us? Thats what the wise ones always tell us. Although I don't think they meant it quite this way."

[dangerprawn]

Holley

The thief smirks at the rapid fire questions of his apparently magical endowed companion. Holley looks around the room for a second, then turns back Jagadhi. "Nope. Don't see any traps." He says, winking to the warrior with the long tail. "Names Holley, by the way. I'd come over and shake your hand...but I really don't feel compelled to walk across this strange floor where I might be killed by some horrible unknown death trap so the gods can have their laugh."

He looks at the ground for a moment, frowning. "Though I suppose we'll have to go somewhere if we want to get out of here." He smiles. "Tell you what, I'll look around me first, then if it's clear I can walk over to you and have a look. Don't worry, won't be a minute." Securing the bag over his shoulders, he pulls a pair of goggles out of an inside pocket of his duster and slips them on his head. He squats down and stares intently at the ground around him.


Searching for traps in his adjacent squares.
[roll0]

[Rizban]

Upon trying to detect magic, Jagadhi discovers a kind of background magic that seems to pervade the room yet is barely noticeable. It's akin to lighting a candle in a room brightly lit by natural sunlight. Sure, it makes things a little brighter, but it isn't immediately noticeable. After a few moments, the aura begins to give Jagadhi a slight headache. He detects no other magics in the room.

Holley notices that the floor is made of fine flagstones fitted together seamlessly in most places and tightly cemented together in the few places the stones aren't flush with one another. He finds nothing else around him.

[dangerprawn]

Holley

"There we go!" He says, standing up and cracking his back. "This place looks pretty clear." He wanders over to one of the statues and peers up at it. "Ugly feller, aren't you?" He says. Turning back to the group he says, "I don't know about you all, but I'd prefer not to hang around for whatever these guys have planned." He jerks his head, motion over his shoulder to the statues.

"We've got 4 ways to go. I always say start with the doors." He shrugs his shoulders and walks over to the door in south. He sets his bag down on the floor and gives the door a once over, appraising it, before slipping out a thin wire from his duster pocket. "Let's see if you've got any surprises for me." he mutters.


Search check on the door [roll0]

[Sallera]

Sirra

Blinking slowly, the halfling looks about the room. "Ech... how long was I out? What is this place, some sort of test?" Noticing a thin coating of sand on the front of her loose-fitting vest and pants, she brushes it off with a confused expression, then pulls a light suit of leather armour from one of the saddlebags of the large dog behind her. "Still have this, at least. And Mer. Where was I?"

Shaking her head with a sigh, she starts strapping on the armour. "My name's Sirra, by the way. You?"

[Rizban]

Holley finds the wooden door to be locked. There are three small holes, each about the diameter of a human finger, where a door handle can normally be found. He finds nothing else of note.

[javcs]

Jagadhi

There's some sort of background magic everywhere here.
He grimaces and rubs his temples.
Before poking at the doors, why don't we see if we can see anything through the open archways?

OOC:

Spellcraft to ID the kind of magic (school, etc) [roll0].

[Rizban]

The background magic cannot be identified. It is more like ambient radiation than any sort of spell. However, it feels as if it would be more closely related to abjuration than any other particular school, or perhaps illusion.

[Weezer]

Jori

Slowly waking from a daze Jori looks about and says confusedly "]"Where am I" He rises to his feet, swaying slightly, "Ye gods this is strange", catching sight of the statues he does a double take The gods indeed" he mutters under his breath.

Turning to his comrades he says Ahh, I appear not to be alone in this desolate room, I'm Jori, who might you be?

[Mavian]

Miles

"Names Miles, sword for hire." He tips a nonexistent hat in the halflings direction before turning towards the Jagadhi

"If its behind a door, its much more likely to be important than if its not behind a door. Because who leaves interesting things out in the open. Just don't make any sense."

[dangerprawn]

Holley

"Nice to meet ya, the name's Holley." He says over his shoulder without looking. "Looks like someone doesn't want this door opened right now. Kinda missing a handle." He rests on a knee, turns back to the group. "I suppose we could go through the archways..." He shrugs. "I've usually found that the places people want you to go, they make it easy and it's only when you're caught in a giant steel trap through your leg and they set some big, vicious dogs on you that you realize maybe you've should gone another way."

He smiles. "Well, not that it's ever happened to me, you know. I just heard this fella tell a story one time." He pauses. "Did I mention how big those dogs were?"

[javcs]

Jagadhi

I'm Jagadhi.
While true, the apparently easier way is likely to be trapped. It is also possible that what lies beyond the apparently difficult path is nothing, since it is commonly known that the easy path is trapped whilst the difficult path leads to important valuables.
And, given the architecture ... and the radiant background magic that is unfamiliar to me yet has some similarities to abjuration, it is unlikely that anything here is what it appears to be.
We can at least look through the other archways and the other door, see which ways look the easiest and look the hardest, and then pick one of the other two.


OOC:

Rizban, what about my Knowledge rolls on the area?
Knowledge(Arcana) [roll0] on the background magical radiation

[Rizban]

javcsYou don't know anything about this place in particular, but you are capable of identifying most, but not quite all, of the deities depicted.

The background magic is unlike anything you have encountered before, but you get the impression that it's a beneficial magic to protect you and the others from something.

[Sallera]

Sirra

Fastening the last of her armour, the halfling takes a few steps forward, then a few more back, moving her arms back and forth as she checks the fitting. Noticing the not-quite-still gaze of the statues, she shakes her head with a sigh. "Ech, all these watching eyes are creepy. Anyway, I'd say all the paths are equally likely to be trapped, guarded, or otherwise dangerous. I mean, we've no guarantee that where we ended up is the entrance, after all."

[Weezer]

Jori

"I agree with Sera, we're just grasping at straws trying to think which way is most dangerous, we know nothing." Moving up beside Holley Jori examines the door, noticing the three holes. Perhaps these holes are the handle He glances over at Holley, You look like you've got some proddy things in that bag, how about trying to stick something in these holes?

[dangerprawn]

Holley

"I like your attitude lady. Cautious. Thinking two steps ahead. Not quite so sure of the dog though. He's never had a history of attacking innocent people caught in an unfortunate circumstance, right?" Holley says, slightly leaning over to put Jori in between him and the dog. "They do that sometimes, you know."

He stands up and moves next to Jori. "Well, you're right. I can probably open it. Problem is, don't know exactly what's on the other side. Might not be too friendly with us." He turns towards Jagadi. "That glowing eye business and your apparently superior grasp of our magical surroundings lead me to believe you might be a mage of some kind. Yes? How's about some protection, you know, a little pick you up for all of us before I go mucking about with this thing here?"

[javcs]

Jagadhi

The background magical radiation is some sort of ward around us. What it's warding against, I've no idea. But it troubles me.
Jagadhi walked over towards the door, to stand near the others examining it, and looks it over.

My talents are not defensively oriented. I could no doubt destroy the door or the locking mechanism, but that would alert anything on the other side.

Before we go about opening this door, perhaps we ought to examine the other door and see what we can see from the archways. If we don't like what we see, we can always come back to this door and open it then. And, no matter which entrance or exit we choose to go through, we will merely have spent some time, and possibly gained information.


OOC:

Does my Detect Magic pick up anything other than the background?
I'm going to also take the opportunity to catalog the magical auras on everyone here, so as to be aware when something new arrives.

[Rizban]

javcs:No. You don't detect anything else in the room. If there is anything else here, then it is fairly weak, and the background magic is obscuring it.

[Mavian]

"Thats true, doesn't make sense to put all our eggs behind one door. That one could just be the bloody garbage chute for all we know. I'm gonna go see whats over here."

Miles reaches down and pulls out his weapons before wandering over to peer through the southern arch.

[Rizban]

About ten feet from the southern door, the light emanating from the room fades to darkness. Nothing can be seen beyond without an alternate source of light.

[dangerprawn]

Holley

"Right. No sense running off into the great unknown when we're already in the slightly less unknown." Holley says, smiling. It's hard to determine whether he's being sarcastic or not, though he picks up his bag and walks towards the other door. He skirts wide around Sirra and her dog.

"Nothing personal, lady." He says, half-bowing to her as he goes around. "Just don't like to take unnecessary risks. Play it safe. That's my motto." He pauses a moment. "Well, if I had a motto."


What's this door look like? The same style or something else?

[Rizban]

The second door is identical to the first: wooden with iron banding, three holes about the size of a human finger where the handle of most doors is found.

[Mavian]

"Any of you gotta torch? I got flint to start a fire, but nothing to burn, and this hallway gets dark really fast."

[Sallera]

Sirra

There is a tinkling of vials as the halfling digs through Mer's saddlebags, but she comes up empty-handed. "Nothing, I'm afraid. I was sure there'd be a lantern in there, but I seem to have been caught without. I could cast a light spell, but I'd rather save it if I can." She grins at Holley as he passes by. "Mer's not going to bite you. I mean, he is combat-trained, but he's nice and quiet the rest of the time. Almost shy, unless someone attacks me."

[dangerprawn]

Holley

He glances back towards Sirra, staring at the dog for a moment. He coughs. "Ah, well, that is sound advice. I would hope never to find myself in a situation where I would be forced to attack a wise and pretty lady such as yourself." He grins and turns back to the door, stands closer and examines it.


Search, Search, Search for traps.
[roll0]

[Rizban]

Holley finds that at the back inside each of the holes is hidden a small button. A small slit is visible just inside the lip of each hole, just large enough for a small blade to slip through.

[dangerprawn]

Holley

"Whoa ho!" the thief says. "What do we have here? Looks like someone is playing nasty." He steps back from the door a pace, frowns a moment, then takes two more big steps back. "Found something over here. Looks like you'd get you're finger sliced if you tried to poke it in there." He glances back at the other door. "My guess is they're both rigged the same." He sniffs, wiggling his nose. "Don't worry none, though. I've spotted their technique; should be easier to find the rest of their surprises. How's that hallway looking?"


Woot. He found a trap, which activates Trap Engineer for the dungeon, which grants him a +2 bonus to Search and Disable Device while in the dungeon, along with a bonus to Reflex & AC versus traps.

[Mavian]

"Dark.... happen to have a torch on you? Otherwise we're just staring into nothing. I guess I could just light my cloak on fire, it's not like I'm gonna be needing it down here."

[Weezer]

Jori

Swinging his pack off of his back Jori pulls out a bullseye lantern and a jug of oil. He carefully fills and lights it. Rising to his feet he walks over to Miles and shines the light down the corridor. "Here we go, this should help"

[Rizban]

The light reveals that the hallway opens up into a smaller room. You can't see any exits from outside of the room. What you can see of the room appears empty.

[Mavian]

"Looks like we've got an empty room over here. From what I can see. Although there could be something I can't see."

[Rizban]

((You haven't actually entered the room yet, so you can't see the far east wall or most of that side of the room.))

[javcs]

Jagadhi

He pulls forth an everburning torch.
I find one of these handy. I'm gonna go check the other arch.
If most of the other rooms are not lit like this place, we're going to want multiple light sources. Anybody else packing one?

He walks over to the western arch and looks through it.

[Rizban]

Jagadhi discovers a hallway which extends some 30 feet before turning south.

((Any time I describe a new part of the map, I'm going to update the image. So, I'm not going to keep mentioning that I updated it after this. Though I may point it out specifically if someone gets confused on locations.))

[dangerprawn]

Holley

The thief backs up from the trapped door, eyes glancing over it. "So it looks like.." He says, without looking where he's going "...we've got two unfriendly doors, another room and a hallway leading to points unknown." He stops walking and turns around, finds himself standing next to Sirra and Mer. He jumps a little and leans back, then straightens up and eyes the dog. "Umm...how do you recommend we proceed, my illustrious and stout-hearted companions?"

[javcs]

Jagadhi

Not sure. Since you seem to have an aptitude at finding traps, perhaps you should examine the archways as well.
Do you have some idea how one might open the doors, if they're actually doors?
I do have a suggestion on what we do before we pass through whichever arpeture we choose. I can summon any number of swarms at short distances, but sufficient distance such that we can use them to check for traps or hostile creatures.

[Sallera]

Sirra

Clambering up into the dog's saddle, Sirra guides him in the direction of the southern arch. "Those doors probably aren't that likely to open from the other side, right? 'Cause, well, if you put a trap on a door that people use a lot, someone's going to set it off eventually. So if we go this way, we're less likely to have something sneak up behind us." She halts just behind Miles and Jori, leaving the lead to someone with sharper eyes.

[Rizban]

An elf seems to have entered the room at some point without anyone noticing. He looks a bit disoriented but strangely calm.

[Mavian]

"Well, I guess I should probably go first... unless anyone else wants the honour?"

If nobody says anything, Miles is going to step just inside the southern arch, ready to bounce back into the main room if anything happens.

[Rizban]

Miles steps through the southern arch and sees the room beyond. A large stone casket, approximately 10'x5', is positioned against the far wall. A set of stone steps surround the coffin leading up to it. The stairs rise 3 feet from the floor, and the lid of the coffin is another 3 feet above that. The lid of the coffin is slightly off center, allowing one to see inside if nearby but not quite enough to fit a hand through the gap.

[javcs]

Jagadhi

As nothing appears to have happened to Miles, Jagadhi follows him through teh doorway. Upon seeing the coffin, he stops. That's ... not a good sign.
He summons a swarm of bats on top of the coffin, to see if it is inhabited or trapped.
OOC:

How big is this room? What's the scale on the map?

[Rizban]

The bats flutter around the stone coffin, even landing on it. Nothing happens.

((The map is 5 ft squares))

[Kumo]

Soru

Soru rubbed the side of his head as he stared at the coffin. "Any idea what's inside?" He asked, slowly making his way over as his eyes darted around the room. He bent himself over slightly, to minimize the target an unseen foe would have, and to keep as quiet as possible, just in case there were enemies he could not see and could not see him.



Spot Check
[roll0]+6

Move Silently
[roll1]+10

oh, and +1 trapsense

[Rizban]

Soru notes that the coffin is carved from a dark green stone, with elaborate carvings around the sides depicting a young man as he travels through youth, adolescence, and young manhood. Sadly, it seems as if his life's tale cuts off there, with most of the remaining side still blank.

Soru also notes a door in the west wall which was once concealed but has been made visible by the passing of time. The flaking plaster reveals what appears to be a wooden portcullis once hidden within the wall. The remaining plaster would need to be chipped away in order to use this door.

[dangerprawn]

Holley

The thief shuffles over to the entrance, shifting the weight of his bag from one shoulder to another. He pauses, then shuffles closer to Sirra. "Go forth, brave companions! I'll be right here, keep guard." He sticks his hand out toward the dog for a moment, then thinks better of it and edges closer to the archway. "Nice doggie..." He says, peering around the corner.

When the elf walks by he jumps up. "Ah! Where'd you come from?"

[Mavian]

"Hey Holley, whats more likely to be trapped? A door thats just locked, or a door that looks like its been plastered over and forgotten?"

Miles is going to wander over to the portcullis and run the blade of Kursari-Gama along the plaster

"Cause it looks like we could get through here pretty easily if we take down this stuff"

[dangerprawn]

Holley

Holley blinks a few times at the elf, then peers around the corner again to see Miles. "Uh...I would say they're all trapped." He coughs. "In my experience if someone went to the trouble hiding an entrance, then they really had an issue with you trying to go through it." He pauses. "But, uh...go ahead and pick at it. Clear it out some." He shuffles away from the arch. "I'll be over here. Holler if you need anything."

[Rizban]

As Miles digs at the plaster, large chunks begin to fall away. As the plaster crumbles, so too does what is left of the portcullis. It appears that the crumbling plaster was all that was still holding the rotted wood in place. An open hallway, the entrance made uneven by the rubble from the portcullis, stretches out into the distance.

((Hey, uh, I just realized I said the squares on the map are 5 feet, but I've been describing them as 10ft each... so, they're actually 10ft squares. I've edited the coffin square to represent its actual size.))

[Mavian]

Miles jumps back from the wall as it starts to crumble.

"Well, I'm pretty sure this wall has seen better days. Although if the rest of this place is in this bad of condition, I'm not so sure we actually have to worry about traps."

[Weezer]

Jori

Peering over Miles' shoulder into the newly revealed passageway , Jori looks to see if there's anything interesting to be seen. Holley my good man, would you be so kind as to check out this entrance way, after seeing those nasty finger cutters I dont feel like stepping through an unfriendly doorway such as this.

[Sallera]

Sirra

The halfling starts as the elf walks by, being momentarily very grateful for the fine construction of the saddle. "Ack! So much for not having people sneak up behind us..." She shrugs at Holley as the elf continues by without a word. "Silent type, apparently," she mutters, before moving forward into the room to get a better look around.

[Kumo]

Soru ignored the others and went closer to the coffin to get a better look at the story of the man's life. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, still keeping an ear out for traps and any other nasty creature. He ran his hands along the carvings. "Guy must've been loaded." He muttered. "Pretty smooth carvings."


Listen check
[roll0]+4

[dangerprawn]

Holley

"I wasn't fully in guard alert mode yet, love." he says to Sirra, following her into the room. "When on I'm duty, nothing gets by. Not a pip, nor a squeak, nor a slithering snake beast thing that creeps up and decides to get friendly with some sleeping companions." Holley pauses before the rubble. "It was their time to go, really. Can't fight nature on these things sometimes." He peers into the hallway then turns back. "Jagadhi, isn't it? Right. Could you mind holding that torch closer? Don't see too well in the dark." He says before setting his bag down on the floor and turning to Mer. "Guard dog, right? Watch my bag; if I find a treat I'll share it with you."


Holley will go into the hallway, checking for traps as moves. If it continues past the available light he'll stop. Or if he finds a trap he'll stop.
[roll0]

[javcs]

Jagadhi

Of course.
He dismisses the swarm and follows a few paces behind Holley, to ensure he's got light.

Since it appears that the coffin is neither trapped nor inhabited, someone should check inside it.

[Rizban]

Soru hears nothing near the coffin; however, he spots a glint of metal through the small opening.

The hallway is bare stone and filled with cobwebs. Jagadhi encounters no traps. He can tell that the hallways extends at least a good 60 feet, but the light from the torch runs out long before that.

[Mavian]

Miles looks back over his shoulder and shrugs.

"The elf seems interested in it at least, let him deal with it."

Turning back to the tunnel he motions down it.

"So, Holley in front scouting for traps, me right behind him in case of monsters, then the guy with the light? That would seem to be the safest way to go about this, as long as the elf doesn't end up managing to summon some kind of zombie while he's playing with the coffin behind us."

[Rizban]

The hall is not trapped. It extends 80 feet before terminating in a stucco wall. The ceiling is heavily cobwebbed, and the floor slightly slick with mildew. It's obvious this passageway has not been used in quite some time.

[javcs]

Jagadhi

Well ... Since there's nothing apparent here, I'll leave you two checking for hidden passageways with the torch whilst I examine the contents of the coffin.

[Rizban]

Casual observation of the coffin reveals nothing new. A glint of metal can still be seen through the slightly open lid.

[javcs]

Jagadhi

Seeing the glint of metal, and suspecting a trap, he uses his amulet to generate a mage hand to attempt to shove the coffin lid further open.

[Sallera]

Sirra

Leaving the elf and the warlock to their fiddling with the coffin, Sirra rides down the hall with the others. "Nothing here, huh? Think that wall's another sealed-up door?"

[Kumo]

Soru

Soru frowned at the glint of metal. It was most likely a trap. Perhaps they should try and disable it before they-

A mage hand appeared and tried to shove the lid of the coffin open. Soru jumped back with surprise, one hand already reaching for his dagger, but he stopped when he realized it was the warlock. He sighed, let his hand relax, and took a few steps back from the coffin.

((I just realized i forgot a feat... put in quick draw))

[Weezer]

Jori

Following Holley to the end of the passageway Jori shines his lantern around, looking to see if he can find another passageway. After a moment he seems to pause and think about something. If we're going to be stuck here for a long period of time, I'm going to run out of oil sometime soon, I we need to rely on Jagadhi's torch for the time being. After speaking he extinguishes the lantern, packing it away in his bag.

search: [roll0]

[Rizban]

Jagadhi's mage hand strains for a moment but does not shift the lid, as it is made of stone and weighs nearly 100 pounds.

Jori finds nothing in the hallway.

[dangerprawn]

Holley

The cob-web and dust filled hallway give Holley the sneezes. "I don't kn - achoo! - know what someone expects to hid - achoo! - hide back here, unless perhaps they were storing dust." He stops and rubs his nose. He takes out his dagger and begins tapping it along the wall, listening for changes in pitch. "Maybe they hid a back entrance that grants exclusive ac - achoo! - access to this web and dust treasure house."


Searching for a secret door - [roll0]
Listen check (if needed) - [roll1]

[Rizban]

Holley finds that a door has been hidden under the stucco at the end of the tunnel. It seems as if this whole passageway was walled over at some point and forgotten.

[Mavian]

"Wait... don't turn that lamp out yet."

Running back down the hallway to the portcullis Miles digs through the rubble hoping to find a stick of wood he can turn wrap some fabric around to make a torch.

[Rizban]

Miles finds enough wood to make 10 very, very poor torches, approximately the equivalent of an candle. Without pitch, the makeshift torches would last more than a minute each.

[javcs]

Jagadhi

Oi! Before we open up that door down there, lets deal with the coffin here. There's something inside it, not sure what, and I don't know if this thing is trapped or not.

OOC:

According to the map, I think we're likely to come out into that hallway (or a connected chamber) from the western exit of the entrance.

[dangerprawn]

Holley

Backing out of the slick hallway Holley sneezes one last time. "Achoo!" He sniffles and rubs his nose. "Don't worry mates, it's only temporary. I have a natural aversion to creeping along in dark, dank passages." He wiggles his nose again. "Don't mind it so much; I stay away and am generally healthier for it."

He grimaces as his picks up his bag and hefts it over a shoulder. "Nice job doggie. Sorry, no treats this time. Now what's that you said about some coffin?"

[javcs]

Jagadhi

Check to see if the coffin is safe to open. Meanwhile, I'm going to try something else.
He attempts to use a mage hand to pull out the metal object visible within the coffin.

OOC:

Using the amulet, using mage hand to try to pull the glinting metal object out.

[Rizban]

The mage hand pulls a gold ingot out of the coffin. Nothing happens.

[Sallera]

Sirra

The halfling raises an eyebrow as the ingot floats out of the coffin. "Pretty, but unless one of you knows the alchemical process for creating sunrods, not much use." She glances back at the entrance hall nervously. "And, well, I'm still not convinced this isn't some sort of test; that room back there does seem to be constructed solely to give you the sensation of being watched. So perhaps we should leave off looting the grave gifts and continue on in search of something more useful?"

[Weezer]

Jori
I think we should see what else is in that tomb, perhaps we may find something of more use than some gold. Another lantern perhaps? Jori says as he walks up to the coffin, I should be able to shatter this cover which would avoid or destroy any traps connected to moving the lid.

[Mavian]

"Well, that was useless."

Miles stands up from the pile of rubble and dusts of his hands.

"Everything in here seems to be rotted, you guys find anything interesting?"

[javcs]

Jagadhi

Upon seeing ignot, he arches an eyebrow, Intriguing. I do not suggest shattering the lid unless necessary, on the chance that halfling is correct. Opening coffin to see what is within is one thing, damaging it is another.
Also, on the chance that the coffin is that of a vampire, with the lid unharmed, we can seal the coffin, with it destroyed, not so much.
Depends on how you define interesting, Miles.
Here, someone help me shift this lid further open.
The warlock attempts to slide the coffin lid further open.

OOC:

Strength check if required:

Also, Knowledge Checks on the carvings
Arcana - [roll1]
The Planes - [rolls]1d20+7
Religion - [roll2]

[Rizban]

Jagadhi recognizes nothing special about the carvings. They are simple carvings representing the life of some young noble who died too early in life.

The lid slides easily without even catching, retracting into the wall. It turns out to be on smoothly carved guides for ease of opening. Perhaps the carvings are not of a dead noble but of a noble who still lives, as the coffin shows no signs of ever having been sealed.

Inside is a large number of gold ingots, each approximately 5 pounds in weight. The entire floor of the coffin is packed with the ingots, except for the one empty gap where an ingot has just been removed, though ingots can be seen below it. Strangely, it seems as if the top of the level of ingots is even with or slightly below the top of the steps. The coffin seems to be set into the floor with the steps built around it rather than simply set on a dais as most cheaply made coffins are.

[javcs]

Jagadhi

That ... is an unusual use for a coffin. I wonder if there's anything hidden underneath the gold. Even if there isn't, figuring out how much there is might give us some idea about how just how fancily this place might be trapped. There is likely not much point taking any of it with us when we leave, however, so we should probably replace it once we've checked for hidden chambers.
He starts extracting and restacking the ingots next to the coffin, keeping a running tally of how much he's shifted, and placing any anomalous ingots into a separate set of stacks to be more closely examined.

[Mavian]

"You do realize that we don't have the time to go through every single ingot? We've only got some many torches and oil for the lamp, and once those are gone, we're stuck here in the dark. If this coffin isn't gonna kill us, and we're not taking the gold with us, I say we get a move on."

[Kumo]

Soru

Soru was whistling as he took the gold out, placing it in the pack of one of his companions. "We can get a look at them when we finally get out of here." He pointed out. "If a trap is sprung, well, if we survive, we know there's something in this place worth protecting."

[javcs]

Jagadhi

Everburning torch. Lasts forever.

OOC:

I'm using mage hand via the amulet.

[Rizban]

((Since he's not online at the moment...))

[roll0]

As the ingots are removed, a trap is triggered. The change in weight causes a catch to release. Soru barely manages to pull back away from the coffin as the floor rams upwards and into the ceiling, pulverizing the majority of the gold ingots. The few that remain are cracked and broken, revealing the ingots to be merely gold plated lead.

[Mavian]

"Well, that was educational. Next time lets just leave the gold where we find it eh?"

Miles is going to pick up his weapons and point back down the hallway.

"We could use some light down here."

[javcs]

Jagadhi

Stepping back from the trap, Well ... that was interesting. A trick intended to play on greed, that we triggered with curiosity.
The plastered over doorway or the open hallway that, if my calculations are correct, the doorway lines up with?

[Sallera]

Sirra

As the coffin rises, Sirra almost instinctively reaches out a hand, an incantation forming behind her lips. Only after her conscious mind registers the elf's swift backpedal does she allow her hand to drop, with a small sigh. "A little too simple, wasn't it? Seems like whoever designed this place knew the mind of the average wanderer rather well. Now can we resume our progress? Even if this passage is rather dusty, it's looking to be slightly less hazardous."

[Weezer]

Jori

Jori jumps back startled by the sudden trap, That was close Soru Turning to the others I think we should go through the dusty passage, it seems best to avoid more well traveled areas, less of a chance to find whomsoever is laying these traps.

[Kumo]

Soru

Soru sighed and dusted himself off as if the trap had not affected him at all. Oddly enough, it had not. "Well, we know there's something here worth protectin' with murder, at least." He looked around at the ground, noticing the distinct lack of bones. "And it also seems nobody else has been here before." He added, frowning. Even if the bones were gone, the armor or something would remain.

[dangerprawn]

Holley

The glint from the ingols catches the thief's eye. "Ah, now that seems more like it. I'm starting to appreciate the fellow that put us here a little more. What's a little danger with a reward like that-" He's cut off as the coffin slams up and smashes the ingols, revealing their true nature.

"Harummph." He says, backing away and leaning against the wall by the web filled hallway. "Nasty tricks like that won't get you anywhere with me." He says, eyes looking towards the ceiling. "Sirra, love, you need but lead and I will follow." He smiles at the halfing and bows. "Onward, then?"

[Mavian]

Miles is going to wander after Holley to the end of the tunnel.

"So.. This door got any tricks to it, or should I carve out the plaster so you can get a better look at it?"

[Sallera]

Sirra

Sirra giggles and waves Holley onward. "You've the lead here. I'm the one who follows behind to patch you up in case you miss a trigger and something nasty happens." A brief pause, then she smiles and adds, "Which is not to say that I expect you to miss one, of course."

[javcs]

Jagadhi

Feh.
He grabs a few of the most intact bars and starts blasting them down into finger width rods.
Just in case we run into any more doors like back there, waving at the entryway, we can use these to poke into the holes and not risk our fingers.

[dangerprawn]

Holley

He raises an eyebrow at Sirra. "I never inspected the coffin, dear miss. That wasn't my touch." He tries to maintain the hard look, but frowns, and shrugs. "Always back to work..." Trudging down the hallway, Holley set down his bag and takes out his dagger. Tapping it on various places of the walled entrance, he flicks a few pieces of plaster off.


Search for traps on the walled up doorway [roll0]

[Rizban]

As plaster flakes away, it reveals a three hole door, just like the others encountered so far. Holley finds no traps on the door.

[javcs]

Jagadhi

So ... do we want to try poking these freshly repurposed bars into the holes or do we want to fall back and take the other archway?

[dangerprawn]

Holley

"It looks like we'll have to figure how to open these doors sometime or another." He says, setting his bag down on the ground. "Might as well start learning now, instead of later when we're being chased by a hungry three-headed dog." He turns back over his shoulder. "Can you bring that neverending torch closer? Need more light." He squats down and picks out some long, thin metal tools from the inside of his coat. He begins to hum a little tune, way off key, as he probes the lock.


Open Lock [roll0]

[Mavian]

"Well, we could always go with another time honoured door open tactic... kicking the bloody thing down. Considering the condition of the previous one in this hallway, I can't see how big of a challenge it would be."

[Sallera]

Sirra

"Could set something off, though. And whoever did the kicking wouldn't be in much of a position to avoid it." She shrugs, then smiles and indicates the other end of the hallway with a vague wave. "Of course, if any hungry three-headed dogs do show up, that could be a good time to use the method; for now, we may as well let Holley open it, and keep the place relatively intact."

[Rizban]

As Holley probes the leftmost of the three holes, a blade slices down destroying the lockpick inserted into the hole.

[javcs]

Jagadhi

Well, that first door wasn't one of these doors.
And it seems like we're not opening this doorway by conventional means anytime soon. That leaves us with the options of attempting to break or destroy the door or taking another route - which would be the other archway.

OOC:

Is the blade now covering the hole or has it withdrawn?

[Weezer]

Jori

Thats not good, perhaps you should try Jagadhi's jead rods, maybe those'll work

[dangerprawn]

Holley

"Uh oh." Holley says as his pick snaps in half. He takes it out of the hole and stares at it for a moment, then shrugs and places it back inside his coat. "Well...either of you fine young magical gents have a way to grant us ingress?"

[javcs]

Jagadhi

Well ... it's possible that it is not actually a real door.
It might be, it might not be. As it is evidently trapped, is it possible to disable the trap before attempting to poke around inside the holes?
Assuming, of course, that we want to continue trying to take this route.
If we cannot disable the trap and still wish to continue with this route, before we try destroying the door, here, he tosses the the freshly made lead rods to Holley. These things are expendable. Your tools might not be something we can replace.

Then again, we could always see what lies beyond the second archway. There was a hallway that turned in this direction, that if it continued, this doorway would open onto.

[Rizban]

OOC:

Is the blade now covering the hole or has it withdrawn?
It has withdrawn.

[dangerprawn]

Holley

Catching the lead weights in both hands, the thief shrugs and says, "I think these hunks are a little bit too big to do the job here." He holds the fist sized ingot up to the finger size hole and shakes his head. "Any other ideas?"


edit: disregard roll. Forgot how big the hunks were.
Disable Device? [roll0]

[Sallera]

Sirra

Pulling out a couple sling bullets, Sirra tosses them to Holley. "These ones small enough? Should keep your fingers safe, I hope."

[javcs]

Jagadhi

If we have too much trouble with this door, we can always go around.

OOC:

Jagadhi had trimmed the ingots down to finger width ... so they're not really that wide anymore.
Lead is fairly easy to work with. We might even have been able to take a couple unmodified bars and had Miles pound them (or parts of them) in.

[dangerprawn]

Holley

He glances at the mangled lead ingot, squashed down to a smaller size. "I'll just give it another go with my tools. Sticking strange metal in deadly holes often has surprisingly odd and not so happy results." He turns back to the door and fiddles with the lock again.


Disable Device [roll0]

[Rizban]

Holley fails to disable the trap, though the luckily is playing with the middle hole. He hears a click as the button inside causes the door to unlock.

OOC, you just have to push the correct button to unlock the doors. The other two contain finger slicing traps. The correct hole is random for each door...

[Weezer]

Jori

Good work my friend, now shall we pass through this quite annoying portal? Leaning forward he quietly pushes the door open a few inches peering through to see what lays on the other side.

[Rizban]

The next room appears to be a 30'x30'x30' cube. Another of the obnoxious 3-hole doors is in the far corner. To the right of the door you entered is what appears to be a very lifelike owlbear statue. The feathers even seem to be real.

[javcs]

Jagadhi

An extremely lifelike statue? Some sort of petrification magic, perhaps. Or an extremely dedicated and skilled sculptor, but I wouldn't assume that.

OOC:

Scanning room with detect magic for anomalies.

[Rizban]

Jagadhi's detect magic comes up against a barrier around the owlbear statue. It is as if there is a null zone where magic simply does not exist in that part of the room.

[javcs]

Jagadhi

Odd ... there's an area of null magic around that statue.

[Sallera]

Sirra

Sirra rides a short distance into the room, keeping her distance from the owlbear. "Null magic? I wonder if it's some sort of construct?"

Heal: [roll0] - does it look like it is/was ever alive?

[Rizban]

On closer inspection, appears more like taxidermy than statuary.

[javcs]

Jagadhi

I don't know ... but I'm not sure I want to find out.
I am dubious about encountering whatever entity is responsible for it, waving a hand at the owlbear. Given that it is within a null magic area, we should leave it where it is. Given prior experiences in here, I think attempting to move it is likely to be a bad idea.

[Mavian]

"Well, it looks like we got another hallway to explore after all. No way that other one connects to this room, must make another turn after awhile."

Miles takes a long slow look at the owlbear before turning to Jag.

"How big is this null magic area? If I need to start fighting, I don't want to be stepping into it by mistake. Although we might be able to use it to our advantage if someone does come after us with spells."

[javcs]

Jagadhi

The null magic area exists only around the statue. Using it would likely be of only limited use, and it is quite possible that the statue itself, or the area within the null magic field is trapped by non-magical means, but I'll leave Holley to determine that.

[dangerprawn]

Holley

Holley watches as the ingot sticks into the hole and the door unlucks. "Huh." He says, then shrugs. "Another job well done, I say." He stands up and grabs his bag and follows into the room. "That's....a very peculiar owlbear." He says as he looks it over. "Don't particularly mind it though, it being all not alive and trying to eat us. Suppose I could give it a closer look though." He sets his bag down near the door and approaches the statue.


Search [roll0]
If the null magic shuts down his goggles...Search [roll1]
edit: or just subtract 5 from the first roll. I guess that would have worked too.

[Kumo]

SORU

He frowned. "I'm not sure that's a good idea." He warned, keeping his eyes fixed on the statue. "Magic can help one set some pretty crazy traps." Oddly, Soru could not for the life of him remember ever seeing one magical trap in his life (considering he was pretty small time, it was possible) but he had heard rumors, and he had seen enough spellcasting to believe half of them. He kept his ears open for even the slightest sound. Granted, he wasn't the best but he figured he could do better listening for danger than staring at the statue.


Listen
[roll0]+4

+1 trapsense... i really need to look up what that applies to

[Rizban]

The moment that Holley's hands pass through the barrier of the antimagic field to begin his search, a loud snap! fills the room followed by a quick gust of wind as air fills the gap that had been a void within the field. The owlbear, which had been suspended in time behind the field snaps to attention... and is hungry. He takes a swipe at Holley.

[roll0]
[roll1]

Holley is hit, taking 6 damage. Roll for initiative.

[Sallera]

Sirra

Having ridden away from the owlbear to look at the other door, Sirra turns back at the sound, the swift motion combining with the sudden wind to send her short copper braid whipping across the side of her face. Blinking several times to clear her eyes, she urges Mer around to face the owlbear as it lashes out.

Init: [roll0]

[Rizban]

((Yeah... To speed this up, I'm just going to roll initiative for everyone else.))

Initiative (In order)
Weezer: [roll2]
[roll5]
dangerprawn: [roll0]
Kumosabe: [roll4]
Mavian: [roll1]
Sallera: Sirra - 9
Javcs: [roll3]


This makes it Jori's turn.

[Weezer]

Jori
Reacting quickly to the sudden danger Jori lifts his hand and a reddish blast springs from his hand and splashes against the owlbear.


eldrich blast
ranged touch attack
attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]
dc 17 will save or shaken

[Rizban]

The eldritch blast (barely) hits the owlbear, [roll0] which becomes slightly fearful after the blow.

[Rizban]

Seeing the warlock as the greatest threat, able even to inspire a sense of dread in the owlbear, it turns to attack him, taking a 5-ft step in that direction and swiping at him with his two claws but biting at Holley. Only one of the claws connects with the warlock, but the bite attack manages to clamp onto the still flat-footed Holley.

Owlbear:
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]

Character Status:
Owlbear - 5 damage, shaken 10 rounds

Jori - HP: 11/17
Holley - HP: 6/20


Holley's turn.

[dangerprawn]

Holley

The thief stops in his tracks as the Owlbear comes to life and swipes at him. He grunts as the claw leaves deep, red furrows in his arm. "Hey guys, the owl-" Holley tries to shout but is cut off as the monstrous beak tries to take off his head. Bleeding from the vicious cut Holley throws up both hands to ward off the creatures attacks and covers his head. He ducks and tries to back away from the deadly claws.


Total defense as a standard action, then Tumble to try and get 25ft away without provoking an attack of opportunity.

AC: 19
Tumble DC 15: [roll0]

[Rizban]

Holley gets the hell out of there safely.

Soru's turn.

[Mavian]

I'll just leave this here in a spoiler till Soru finishes his turn, since we both go on 12.

Miles

Miles is going to charge and attack

Attack 1: [roll]1d20+8[roll] Damage: [roll0]
Attack 2: [roll]1d20+8[roll] Damage: [roll1]
Attack 3: [roll]1d20+8[roll] Damage: [roll2]

[Mavian]

Bah, forgot a slashie

Attack 1: [roll0]
Attack 2: [roll1]
Attack 3: [roll2]


@Edit, Okay, I give up on the silly roller.

[Kumo]

Soru

Soru swore and quickly drew a dart from a hidden location near his daggers as Holley tumbled away from the owlbear. Aiming for the creature's massive torso, he threw the dart at the massive half-owl half-bear with considerable force. He didn't expect to do much: his dart was more of an annyoance than a hindrance for a creature that size.

Had he an extra dart he would have had time to throw a second, but he did not, so he could not.

Attack
[roll0]+6

Damage
[roll1]

[Rizban]

The dart fails to pierce the Owlbear's thick feathers.

Miles' turn. ((Might want to try those attack rolls again :smallwink:)

[Mavian]

Attacks Damage
1: [roll0] : 9
2: [roll1] : 5
3: [roll2] : 5

[Rizban]

Two of Miles' hits connect with the Owlbear.

Character Status:
Owlbear - 15 damage, shaken 10 rounds

Jori - HP: 11/17
Holley - HP: 6/20

Sirra's turn.

[Sallera]

Sirra

Sirra chants softly as Mer carries her toward Holley, reaching out a hand and grasping his shoulder. "No pain for the undeserving... and Mer for the deserving." She winks at Holley as she guides the dog toward the owlbear, stopping just outside its reach and taking her spear from its rest on the saddle.

Move next to Holley, CLW for [roll0], then move to 10ft away from the owlbear and draw spear.

[Rizban]

Character Status:
Owlbear - 15 damage, shaken 10 rounds

Jori - HP: 11/17
Holley - HP: 20/20

Jagadhi's turn.[/QUOTE]

[javcs]

Jagadhi

Thrusting his hand out, a swarm of bats erupted into being around the owlbear
Fall back down the hallway! Let it and the swarm occupy one another while we withdraw and shut the door on them - even if it kills the swarm, it will still bleed out.
He moves back into the hallway, leaving room for the others to get in and shut the door.


Swarm damage is a measly [roll0] plus wounding - looses 1hp per round until a DC10 Heal check or healing magic is applied.
The distraction is a lowly Fort DC 11.

[Rizban]

[roll0]

Character Status:
Owlbear - 21 damage, shaken 9 rounds

Jori - HP: 11/17

Jori's turn.

[Weezer]

Backing slowly towards the door Jori fires another blast at the monster.


5 foot step back towards the door
attack: [roll0]
damage: [roll1]

[Rizban]

The owlbear staggers from the blast, but it keeps coming... sort of. It looks confused by all the bats swarming around it, striking out fiercely at them as they attack it. His first swipe managed to knock several bats out of the air, their mangled corpses falling to the ground, but the bats nimbly avoid his other attacks.

Claw 1
[roll0]
[roll1]
Claw 2
[roll2]
[roll3]
Bite
[roll4]
[roll5]


Character Status:
Owlbear - 31 damage, shaken 9 rounds

Jori - HP: 11/17


Holley's turn.

[dangerprawn]

Holley

"Thanks love." Holley says as Sirra's magic heals him. "If you can send Mer around the other side of that nasty, we can soon send it on it's way to that great mouse hunt in the sky." Holley takes out his bow and knocks an arrow.


Move action - draw bow
Ready a Standard action - waiting for the owlbear to be flanked, and then shoot!

[Rizban]

Soru's turn.

[Kumo]

Soru

"... Great mousehunt in the sky?" Soru repeated as he charged the animal, dagger gleaming. He leaped forward and slashed with both daggers, aiming for the chest, then without checking to see if he hit, slashed a second time.

((Before you protest, he has two weapons, he used both in both attacks, and he has two attacks, one +6 and one +1, then -4/-8 respectively for wielding two light weapons without the feat))


Attack:[roll0]+2
Damage: [roll1]

Attack:[roll2]+2
Damage: [roll3]

Attack:[roll4]-7
Damage: [roll5]

Attack: [roll6]-7
Damage: [roll7]


((... man i suck O_O))

[Rizban]

Soru flails at the owlbear, but his weapons fail to find purchase.

Miles' turn.

[Mavian]

If its possible for Miles to move to flank with a five foot step, he'll do so. Otherwise he just goes into a spin.


If I managed to flank, add 2 to the rolls.
Attack 1: [roll0] Damage: [roll1]
Attack 2: [roll2] Damage: [roll3]
Attack 3: [roll4] Damage: [roll5]

Oooh, Triple 7's, did I hit the jackpot


"That's how you do it boy, although, how much control over these bats does that guy have?"

[Rizban]

Miles' weapons bite deep through the owlbear's feathers. It looks like it's barely standing and hardly even tries to fight off the bats.

Character Status:
Owlbear - 52 damage, shaken 9 rounds

Jori - HP: 11/17


Sirra's turn.

[Sallera]

Sirra

Mer leaps forward on Sirra's signal, jaws darting toward the owlbear's leg. Balancing in the saddle, Sirra takes hold of the spear in both hands and jabs it upward under the creature's ribs.

Riding dog's attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]
Trip, if attack hits: [roll2]

Ride check, DC10: [roll3]
If that succeeds, attack: [roll4]
Damage: [roll5]

[Rizban]

The owlbear falls to the ground, bleeding profusely. You can almost see the life fading before you.

Jagadhi's turn.

Owlbear is at -8, will take 1d6 damage from swarm on the swarms 2, and 2 the turn after from bleeding wound and bleeding out. He's done for guys. Play it out if you want, but he's toast.

[javcs]

Jagadhi

He lets the swarm dissipate after finishing off the Owlbear.

He arches an eyebrow, Well ... that was interesting. Turning to Holley, Is there are least anything interesting left by where it was?

OOC:

Swarm attack [roll0].
Question - when the owlbear reanimated, did the null magic disappear or is it still there?

[Rizban]

The null magic was just outside of and masking the magic that suspended the owlbear in place. It disappeared the same time the suspension spell broke.

[Kumo]

Soru

Soru stared at the dying owlbear, watching as it finally succumbed and it's final bits of light vanished from it's eyes. He kept ready in case it moved again, then started searching around the owlbear for his dart without looking at any of his companions.

Spot Check... just in case
[roll0]

[Weezer]

Jori

Looking down at the dead beast Jori saysThat was...strange, now I'm sure that whoever put us here are really out to kill us. He glances down at the gash in his arm and calls out to Sirra Do you think you could heal my arm, it looks like a rather nasty cut.

[javcs]

Jagadhi

Perhaps we should completely destroy the body, so that it cannot be reanimated against us in the future. At the very least, we should dismember it and see if there is anything in its stomach or intestinal tract that may be of value.

OOC:

Detect Magic on the corpse and the corner of the room that was behind the null magic.

[Rizban]

Jagadhi detects a faint aura coming from within the owlbear.

[Sallera]

Sirra

The halfling nods, and a faint red glow surrounds the wound as she prods it, sealing the cut. "Cut it open? It must have been put here deliberately, and some time ago, too, given the state of the passages... I don't really think someone that could do that would..." She shakes her head slightly, then turns away.

"Well, I've no interest in watching that, anyway. Shall we get this other door open, Holley?" Sirra offers Holley another thin sling bullet to test the holes with.

[javcs]

Jagadhi

Wait. Let's finish with this room before moving on - don't want to bite off more than we can chew.
I don't think any of us can reanimate and control it as an undead creature - but it is likely that at least something in this place could. I'd prefer to not have that happen.
Jagadhi starts cutting and burning away the owlbear's corpse to locate the source of the magical aura, and any other interesting contents of the owlbear's innards.
Also, there's a distinct magical aura coming from within the owlbear's corpse. That is reason enough to examine it more closely.

OOC:

Attempting to gain more information about the aura inside the Owlbear.
Spellcraft [roll0]
Knowledge Arcana [roll1]

[Rizban]

Jagadhi fails to recognize the aura.

Upon slicing open the owlbear's gizzard, pieces of a human skeleton fall out. Among the bones is a small, slight dented and scratched amulet. It seems as if the aura is emanating from it.

[javcs]

Jagadhi

He picks up the amulet, And that, my dear halfling, is why you always dissect carnivorous or predatory creatures of limited intellect. Whenever they eat someone, they near invariably eat at least some of what that person it wearing, and if it has managed to survive, it is likely potentially useful and/or magical.
He hands the amulet to Jori and begins to destroy the rest of the owlbear corpse, Jori, could you take a shot at identifying the aura on this thing, it's slipped my mind.

[Kumo]

Soru

Soru took up his dart and looked at the owlbear's corpse. It looked so positively burnable. He stared at it for a few moments, then looked up and around at his companions by circumstance. He had noticed that he'd been left with nothing but his weapons, and everybody else had something with them. He wanted to watch this owlbear burn. "Anybody got a flint i could borrow?" He asked as he replaced his dagger in it's usual spot.


To stop himself from lighting it on fire...
[roll0]
What would be the DC for the owlbear?

[Rizban]

The owlbear's feathers begin to smolder. The blood soaking them prevents a blaze from catching, but the smoldering starts to spread and the occasional flame flickers up. If not stopped, the owlbear will smolder for awhile. Though its feathers and fur will burn off quickly, the rest will not burn. There's simply not enough fuel to get things hot enough to set the flesh on fire.

[Sallera]

Sirra

"Ugh, now what are you doing? That smells bad enough as it is without setting it on fire."

[Kumo]

Soru

Soru looked at Sira, a small pout on his face. "Sorry, I thought it would burn better than that." He looked at the owlbear, dissapointment etched on his features. "Thought there'd be a nice big blaze... owlbears are pretty big after all..."

[javcs]

Jagadhi

It would appear that owlbears aren't good firestarters. Sure, they're big, but organs and meat usually doesn't burn very well of its own volition - too wet.
They may have another use, though. Anybody know how good they taste?

OOC:

Check on the edibility of owlbear meat: Knowledge(arcana) [roll0]

[Kumo]

Jagadhi

It would appear that owlbears aren't good firestarters. Sure, they're big, but organs and meat usually doesn't burn very well of its own volition - too wet.
They may have another use, though. Anybody know how good they taste?

OOC:

Check on the edibility of owlbear meat: Knowledge(arcana) [roll0]


"I doubt anything petrified for an extended period - particularly something that ate a crapload of humanoid meat - tastes good at all. Bears taste best when they've had a lot of berries and honey recently." He pointed out. "And nasty as crap when they've eaten a lot of meat."

[javcs]

Jagadhi

If it's between bad tasting food and starvation, I'll take the bad tasting food. If you'd prefer not, then, well, I won't ask you to, but I will remind you when you're starving.
Also, it was held in temporal suspension, not petrified.
We have a limited food supply, and unless this place sustains us without the need for food, or we acquire food supplies regularly, we will starve without another option. Personally, I would rather not starve to death.

[Rizban]

You can eat owlbear, but it's not very tasty. If smoked thoroughly, it makes decent jerky. Unfortunately, you don't have a smokehouse to smoke the meat.

[dangerprawn]

Holley

Bow drawn and arrow knocked, Holley stands ready for action, his legs spread and knees bent. "Get around him and we can-" He says, then cuts himself off as the owlbear dies. "Huh. Well, at least I got to save my arrow." He says, placing it back into his quiver. He nudges the corpse with the toe of his boot and then jumps back as the elf sets the thing on fire. "Hey! Watch out there mate." He glares at Soru for a moment, then frowns. "Who are you, anyway?"

[Weezer]

Jori

I'll take a look at that. Jori says as he accepts the amulet. Looking over at the dismembered corpse We might as well take the meat, however distasteful we may need the food.


detect magic
spellcraft: [roll0]

[Mavian]

"Well, that was a good workout, I wonder what else this place has in store for us."

Miles is going to clean and inspect his weapons before putting them back on his belt, before turning his attention back to the owlbear.

"Really? Attempting to light it on fire without any form of kindling? Are you an idiot?"

[Kumo]

Soru

Soru stared at him, then looked at the floor. "All the kindling i keep spare is gone, I figured using anyone's packs wasn't acceptable..." He ran his eyes over everyone. "And your clothing won't burn long enough to do anything before you kill me for leaving you naked." He pointedly ignored Holley's question.

[javcs]

Jagadhi

Tell me something. What do you do, exactly? I mean, besides trying to set things on fire - what was the point of that anyways?
He puts out the smoldering owlbear and starts butchering it as best he can.

[Kumo]

Soru looked back at him. "Why all the interest?" He asked. "I haven't asked about any of you, nor do i intend to." He stood up. "And i like watching things burn, particularly if the blaze would be really big." He gestured to the owlbear. "I midjudged how easily it would burn."

[javcs]

Jagadhi

I care little for what you do or have done outside of this place. I am interested in what your skills are, however. You may possess useful skills that can increase our chances of survival. You may possess skills that affect how we can approach various obstacles. If you don't tell us what you can do, we cannot account for your abilities in planning how we go through this place, which could well kill us all. The five of us are roughly aware of each others capabilities and combat styles. But you are an unknown, and unknowns are potential risks. In this case, avoidable risk.

[Kumo]

Soru sighed and stood up. "My skills are for getting into, and breaking out of, jail, to be frank. I can sneak around quiet as an owl, put on a poker face like no one else i've met, lasso and hog-tie people, and - my personal favorite - take what i want and never let you see." He finished and looked him right in the eye. "Great, you know me well enough. Now maybe you can explain what you all can do and why anyone would want to put us in this deathtrap."

He didn't mention he knew a few people who would've been happy to put him there.

[javcs]

Jagadhi

So you can be useful, if we can persuade you to help reliably. Excellent.
As for what the rest of us can do, had you been paying attention, you would just have seen. Nonetheless, a brief summary. The halfling can heal, the tailed human cuts things to pieces, the human wielding the bow has been the one checking for traps and playing with locks, while the remaining human and myself have certain ... similarities in our magical capabilities. No offense to you four. He nods to Sirra, Miles, Holley, and Jori in turn.

As for why we're here ... the running theory is that the Gods have some involvement ... partially due to the entryway, which was frescoed with more gods and pantheons than I can put names to.

[Kumo]

Soru

Soru blinked. "You guys must have a high opinion of yourselves if the gods were your first idea." He rolled his eyes. "Puh-lease. And i fail to see how any of my skills can really help," he waved his arm around to indicate the dungeon, "in this setting. Most of them involve dealing with actual sentience, not stone walls and magical traps."

[Sallera]

Sirra

The halfling shrugs, fiddling with a wisp of hair that's escaped her braid. "I'm sure the gods get bored too, at times. And this place seems more like a test than a 'deathtrap.' What sort of person with the power to pull a group of strangers here like this would bother with the whole thing unless they had some purpose in mind for us?"

[javcs]

Jagadhi

We are most likely here for their amusement or as some sort of experiment. It is the likeliest explanation for the room we appeared in. That or some bizzaro cult, organization, or other entity with rather impressive magical capabilities. As to the detailed reasoning behind our presence here I doubt that any of us can say.

You can be useful, if, of course, you weren't lying to us when you said you could be stealthy. You can scout ahead.

[Weezer]

Jori

Aye a scout would be very useful, if there are more creatures like that owlbear lurking about I would be very nice to have some warning. Walking over to examine the door he says Perhaps we should continue onwards, Holley work your magic if you would be so king

[Kumo]

Soru

Soru sighed and muttered something in elvish.

"Great. i get to be the first person to get my legs chopped off... well at least they're better than my last group."

He looked up and said "Alright, though quiet movement ain't gonna mean much to magical traps." in common.

[Mavian]

"Then don't set them off, seems like the easiest way not to get hit, but if you don't want to be helpful, you can always just go back and sit on your butt. I ain't stickin my neck out for anyone who won't stick theres out for me."

Turning, he glances over at Holley.

"So, How we doing on that next door?"

[javcs]

Jagadhi

It may not ... but your skillset is of otherwise limited utility here.

Wait. Let us search the room first - there may be something we can learn here.
He examines the back side of the door and moves to aid in searching the rest of the room as well.

OOC:

Takes 10 on Aid Another Searching the Room for a 12 - successfully aiding Holley in searching the room. Since Holley is the best, we should all use Aid Another - and unless you have a negative Int modifier, you can just take 10 and succeed, each person doing so gives Holley a +2.
Detect Magic is up for the Searching as well - also, checking Soru for magical auras.

[dangerprawn]

Holley

Listening to the talk, Holley puts bow back. He nudges the owlbear with his toe. Satisfied, he glances around the room. "It looks pretty empty to me mates. But a second go round never hurts." He nods his head and the goggles fall back over his eyes.


Searching the room [roll0]
Add however many +2's from whoever is doing aid another

[Kumo]

Soru rolled his eyes and helped look around the room, bored out of his mind. Hopefully they'd be out of that place soon. As he searched, he pondered his abmysal performance against the owlbear.

takes ten on helping Holley search the room.

[Weezer]

Jori

He gives the room one last look over and moves towards the door.



take 10 on search

[Sallera]

Sirra

The halfling shrugs and rides a half-hearted circle around the room. "What exactly are we looking for? Seems a pretty empty room."

[javcs]

Jagadhi

Anything. There could be inscriptions, concealed apertures - there are any number of possible things that are not immediately apparent that we should take the time to check for. It will often result in nothing, but it will no doubt occasionally result in something that makes the effort worthwhile, much like cutting open the owlbear - you didn't want to, but there was a magical amulet inside. Speaking of which, Jori, what was your opinion on it?

OOC:

Trying again to learn about the amulet via detect magic.
What strength aura is it?
Spellcraft again [roll0] - doesn't exclude trying again, so, here's hoping for a better roll than last time.

Edit: Fail ... it was worse. I'll try again and take 10 this time, because the roller hates me right now. Spellcraft check of 22.

[Weezer]

OOC:

just waiting for word from rizban

[Rizban]

On the wall behind where the owlbear stood, large claw marks are visible. Poking around there (and rolling a nat 20 on search) reveals a secret room, barely 10'x 5'. Inside is an empty barrel, an empty oil lamp, and a spinning wheel with a bit of thread still on the bobbin. A faint glint from that direction catches your eye.

[dangerprawn]

Holley

"Huh. There is something back here. One moment...there's something shiny..." He says, stepping into the room and giving the glint a close look.


Don't know if it's needed... Search [roll0]

[Rizban]

You find that there is a bit of straw near where the yarn feeds into the spinning wheel but that the thread on the bobbin is pure gold.

[Mavian]

"Sweet, another lamp. That'll be useful. Now we just need some oil to keep the bloody things lit. I wonder what was in the barrel"

[dangerprawn]

Holley

Walking over to the spinning wheel Holley plucks at the gold thread, seeing if it will come loose. "That's not something you see everyday. I wonder if we had more thread, we could make more gold."

[Kumo]

Soru

Soru's eyes were instantly fixed on the lamp, unblinking. He then looked to the hay and and spinning wheel, then back. There was a slight glint in his eye. "If only we had some oil..." he said both thoughtfully and wistfully.

[Weezer]

Jori

Standing by Holley and examining the wheel he remarks It looks like it takes straw and turns it into gold thread, a rather useful machine. Upon hearing Soru's comment Jori turns to him and says Do you ever see anything without your first thought being to light it on fire?

[Kumo]

Soru

Soru looked up, raising an eyebrow. "Who says i wanna light it on fire?" he asked, sounding genuinely confused. "It's not like I'm gonna try and burn everything we see, i just thought the owlbear would make a nice fire." He gestured to the lamp. "That would have been good for here but it's useless without oil."

"And to be perfectly frank, last time we saw gold in this place it tried to kill us."


Bluff
[roll0]

((woot! natural 20! =D))

[javcs]

Jagadhi

You are a self-professed pyrophiliac, with apparent pyromanic tendencies. It was a valid question, though possibly rhetorical.
It also makes me reconsider asking you to scout for us.

A spinning wheel, hay/straw, and gold thread? It's probably magical, and probably not very mobile.

OOC:
Detect Magic! If an aura is of faint or moderate strength, I'll take 10 on Spellcraft - giving me a 22, which means I'll identify anything that's a 7th level spell or caster level 14th. If it is Strong I'll take 10, for the 22 Spellcraft, if that fails or if it is overwhelming, I'll go with [roll0]

[Sallera]

Sirra

Sirra peers in from the door, but makes no move to approach the wheel. "Well, I can't say I like the idea of touching it. I'm starting to get the feeling that most things in here probably shouldn't be fiddled with."

[Kumo]

Soru

"Pyrophilia?" He repeated, a shocked look in his eye, though his voice remained calm. "I'm a pyromaniac, yes, but fire doesn't turn me on. Now, can we get back to the question," He pointed at the thread. "Of why we're still here when the last time we dealt with gold - albeit gold plate around lead - it tried to kill us?"

[javcs]

Jagadhi

Pyrophiliac not in a sexual sense. Pyromania is merely a few steps past pyrophilia and includes pyrophilia. Learn what your own disorder includes.

Jagadhi muttered in Draconic
Imbecile. Liable to get us all killed.
After a breath, he resumed in Common, As for why we examine it still, is to gain information. There exists the possibility that it may be of value or use to us. That is, admittedly neither certain nor especially likely given our location, it is not one we should ignore. So we examine it to determine its function. If it is of no use or a threat to us, we will leave it be.

[Rizban]

OOC:Sorry about disappearing like that. I ended up getting a bit sick, then my fiance had a few days off, then it was her birthday, then it was my best friend's birthday, and then yesterday was my birthday. Combine that with my university starting back this morning and having to get my stuff moved back from my parents' house to my apartment, and I just plain haven't had time to even turn on my computer, let alone update the game.

I'll get back to doing updates after I get done with class for the day. Shouldn't be too bad, since it's first day syllabus time. What really sucks is that 3 of the classes I still need to graduate are all offered on the same day at the same time, so I'm stuck with only 3 measly classes this semester... which pushes my graduation date back another semester... :smallmad:

The string of gold thread between the wheel and bobbin is stretched tight and makes a soft twanging sound as it is plucked. It appears that the only way to remove the thread is to cut it or to remove the bobbin.


((Does anyone actually pick up the lamp or examine the barrel? Just curious...

Also note that this spinning wheel room isn't actually on the map. I tend to throw in random new things if someone rolls awesome.))

[dangerprawn]

Holley

"Don't know much about sewing, I'm afraid. Rather leave the thread where it is, in case we find more and decide we'd like a new shirt of gold." He leaves the thread and bobbin where it is and moves over to the lamp. "This looks it could be useful." He says, picking up the lamp.

[Weezer]

Jori

Useful indeed Jori says as he steps over to the barrel. I wonder whats inside here He says as he tries to open up the lid.

[Rizban]

The lamp is empty. Closer examination reveals that there was once an engraving on the side that has been rubbed away over the years. What letters remain legible appear something like this:

R me
3 Wi s
ew rd if d


The barrel lid comes off only reluctantly. The inside is empty, but the walls of the barrel are coated with globs of a thick, gummy, blue slime. Some of the globs seem to be slowly drying and crystallizing into dark blue gem like structures.

[dangerprawn]

Holley

"Huh. There's something written on here...can't quite make it out. Anybody got any oil? It's empty." He says, wiping the dirt off the lamp, rubbing it with the hem of his shirt.

[Rizban]

dangerprawnYou hear what seems to be a light cough, too quiet to be heard by anyone else. A small cloud of dust issues forth from the mouth of the lamp.

A small puff of dust billows away from the lamp as Holley dusts it off.

[Weezer]

Jori

Yeah I've got a pint, here you go Jori reaches into his pack and hands a jar of oil over to Holley.

[dangerprawn]

Holley

The thief freezes, the lamp held still in his hands. "Uh..ah, thanks for the oil. I..uh..think I need to clean it some more before we use it. Very dusty and...flammable these old things can be." He mutters, rubbing the lamp again, harder this time.

[javcs]

Jagadhi

Writing on a lamp? That's not really typical of a regular lamp.
What's in the barrel?

OOC:

Detect Magic - scanning all contents of the secret room.

[Mavian]

Miles wanders over and looks into the barrel.

You think that stuffs edible?

[Weezer]

Jori

I wouldn't think so, it looks rather unappetizing to me.

[Rizban]

Holley rubs the lamp really hard, and bits of the corrosion come off on his hand, leaving dark marks on his skin. Nothing happens.

Jagadhi detects nothing magical in the room.

[Sallera]

Sirra

The halfling looks slightly bemused by the flurry of searching and prodding of what appears to be a lost storage room, but offers no comment. Clearly someone here must know what they're doing. "Do you want some water to clean that off? I can always make more if we run out."

[Weezer]

Jori

I can't make heads nor tails of that writing, too much has been obscured Jori shrugs and turns back into the room If you're done in there, seems like its time to get moving again.

[javcs]

Jagadhi

He shrugs and says, Nothing in there is detecting as magical. Though, I do wonder if it is worth seeing if we could possibly make a couple more torches out of the barrel.

[dangerprawn]

Holley

Frowning down at the lamp and markings on his hands, Holley shrugs and hands off the lamp to Sirra as he leaves the room. "Just a dirty old lamp, love. Have at it."

[Sallera]

Sirra

Taking the lamp, Sirra tries half-heartedly to clean it off with a spare bandage, but gives up after a few seconds. Wrapping it up, she places it in one of the saddlebags before following Holley toward the closed door.

[Kumo]

Soru

Soru slipped out the door as well, eyes scanning the room in case something had come in since they had gone into the room with the spinner.

[roll0]

[Rizban]

Except for the group and a dead owlbear, the room remains empty.

[dangerprawn]

Holley

Wiping the smudge on his pants Holley whistles a tune as he walks over to the far door. He turns and smiles. "What would you care to bet that this door is trapped as well?" He turns back and sets his bag on the floor, bends close to examine the door.


Search [roll0]

[Rizban]

Holley notices the same familiar three hole setup. Nothing else seems unusual.

[dangerprawn]

Holley

"You won't get my fingers this time." Holley says, chuckling as he takes a can out of his bag. He puts the spout near the holes and squirts some dark liquid in them. "That should do the trick!".


Disable Device (Using dose of Lockslip Oil for +2 bonus) [roll0]

[javcs]

Jagadhi

I might have saved that, since we can just use a lead rod to poke at the buttons until we poke the correct one.

[Rizban]

The locking mechanism on the door is successfully disabled. The lock is now wedged into place, and the only means of ingress through this doorway is now to break down the door... or to somehow repair the now apparently broken mechanism.