Cavern of Arugal (IC)

[Linguz]

OOC (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=14106946) - The Floors, 1 floor per sheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AiZcaAqLuX0TdFhyeGg2bjBubnlCOUJZakZLVFJZM 1E#gid=0) - Also, don't forget that there's a chat on the far right of the sheet, if you see "# other viewers".

The group stands five minutes down the road from Arugal. Some of you are here to reclaim a lost son, others to explore the depths, maybe you're here for gold, or to better yourself, or for some other reason. You have all decided to work together back at Arugal and now stand before a purple glowing portal. You can't see what's on the other side, but you still step through it.

You find yourself in a room with masonry walls, stone piled on top of stone. The floor is even and the air clean. There's a doorway on the other side, and the purple light of the portal behind you. If you try to touch the portal behind you, it feels smooth and warm, but solid.

The maps I will always use are Google Documents. Please tell me roughly what the formation you will travel in is, unless there is no formation and you're all just walking around as you see fit, then tell me that. The map's boundaries will expand as the area is seen, to stop you from knowing the approximate dimensions of the map.

[Pathrogas]

The small hooded Kobold takes a look around and starts to inspects the floor, walls, ceiling and - if he doesn't see something that catches his interest - the door.

DM:
Search check: 18 if he can take 10, 28 if he has the time to take 20 a couple of times.
If he has to roll: [roll0]

Ipsens thoughts on formation:
Normally, Ipsen will try to lurk around somewhere in the middle or in the back of the group, where he's protected by the rest of the party. But since he's probably the sneakiest of the lot, he'll be sneaking ahead from time to time to scout the area.

[Linguz]

My slightly-edited rules for taking 10:
As long as there are no enemies in sight and aren't distracted, you are allowed to take 10. People who you plan to attack but aren't hostile aren't enemies. So you can take 10 on attack checks in those situations.

It takes you just under a minute to search the small room.

Looking around the room, you find nothing of interest. It's a pretty bare room, just the floor, walls, and the stone ceiling.

Inspecting the door, you find nothing that your race is famous for, that is, no traps.

By the way: Don't need to color in your entire text, just speech.

[Pathrogas]

Ipsen turns to the rest of the party. It's not trapped, he says in a low voice and takes a few steps away from the door to inspect the glowing portal.


Again he takes 10 (or 20, since we don't appear to be in any rush).

Also: could Ipsen see any light coming from behind/beneath the door? Does it seem to have a lock?

[J-H]

The absence of any noticeable marks or bloodstains lends credence to the kobold's declaration that the door is safe. Rufus walks over to stand next to the door and, after listening for a little while, motions towards it. "After you, Ipsen."


(Assuming I don't hear anything, of course)... taking 10 on Listen check with no skill points and bonuses for a 10.

[Pathrogas]

The kobold doesn't look too happy about it (though most likely, nobody will notice it under his hood), but moves to the door. He gives it another, quick inspection and listens for any sounds coming from behind it. If he doesn't find or hear anything, he'll try to open it.

Listen check, taking ten for a total of 12.
Also, if he could see light coming from behind the door, he'll let the rest of the party know.

[Linguz]

The glowing portal feels kind of like glass and there doesn't seem to be anything special about it other than it being the entrance.

Neither of you are able to hear anything from the other room. When you open the door, you see a larger room up ahead past a hallway, and no living, or nonliving, thing that could be called an enemy. There's also no light coming from the below the door.

The room past is pretty much identical in terms of floor and walls to the first. There is a torch across from the door on the wall. If you care to cross the short hallway and look into the room, it has three doors and three passage ways. The passage ways are dark, so you can't see past them.

The map has been updated.

EDIT: Updated the map again, I forgot about the hallway.

[ShadowySilence]

Tyrick hangs out at the back of the party as he usually does, not being a front-line fighter when he doesn't need to be, and not wanting to walk into traps. ith His hand is resting on his morningstar in case trouble should come their way. He watches as the kobold slowly opens the door, and waits to see what he says about what's in the room, or if he gives them any sort of indication to move forward.

[Pathrogas]

Ipsen slowly sneaks through the short hallway, taking his sweet time searching for traps and other things of potential interest.

He sticks his head into the room for a moment to see if anyone's in it before he enters. Then he swiftly disappears around the corner to the left to sneak to the first dark passage, carefully looking around on his way. After a short time of inspecting the passage, he sneaks to the other side of the room to inspect the other two.

Taking 20 for Search (28 total) in the hallway.
Hide for [roll0]
Move silently for [roll1]
Taking 20 for Search in the room.
Listen for 12 in front of every hallway.

Nobody can see it, since he's around the corners, but he'll of course take a close look at the walls and the ceiling too. Can't forget the ceiling.

Ipsen has Low-light as well as Darkvision 60 ft. Can he see something in the passages?

[J-H]

Rufus walks into the larger room and stands there, looking around.
moving to I11

[Electrobolt]

Steven follows the current group into the larger room and looked around as well. In case any creeps would come out and try to attack, he had his longsword and heavy wooden shield pulled out.

Considering how Steven is an armored fighter, he would pretty much be in the front. I mean, he has 20 AC when not flatfooted, but 17 when he is. Not bad :P

Also, go ahead and position him at I13

[Linguz]

Searching the hallway reveals nothing but dust and hallway.

Searching the following rooms reveals 3 purple mushrooms with blue dots. Knowledge (Nature) will reveal what they are and Craft (Poisonmaking) will reveal what they are if they're poisonous.

Other than that, the northern passage leads through a small hallway and to a door. The southern passageways lead into a conjoined room and then two separate doors.

I have assumed that the entire group has moved into the second room by now.

It took Ipsen a total of 92 minutes to search the whole area. Unless he also searched the new areas. If so, add 64 minutes to the time.

[Pathrogas]

No traps, but there are two doors here, Ipsen whispers and points to the southern passages, and one the other way (points to the northern passage). The kobold then cowers down to take a closer look at some blue mushrooms.

Knowledge (nature): [roll0]
Craft (poisonmaking): [roll1]
92 minutes! Holy moly, I forgot how long taking 20 took :/
Ipsen takes 10 to search the floor in the new areas, taking 20 only for the doors to see if they are trapped. He also listens at each door:
North: [roll2]
Southwest (G23): [roll3]
Southeast (L23): [roll4]
If he finds and hears nothing out of the ordinary, you can place him where the mushrooms are.

[J-H]

Rufus spins around slowly, surveying the empty room. "This place is too clean. If everyone who enters the Cavern passes through here, there would be marks... bloodstains, chips in the wall, small bits of splintered armor, and such... if there was a threat here or just on the other side of any of these doors."

To explore a maze, always go left or right and you will eventually find your way onwards. Most would go right, so we should go left - I say we start with the hall to the northwest as soon as Ipsen is done with his plants."

[hoverfrog]

Echevaria follows the group cautiously into the room, staying close to the wall in case something bad happens. Taking note of Rufus' comment he reaches into his pack and pulls out his chalk. Carefully avoiding the gaps in the flagstones on the floor he makes his way over to the north west corridor. There he writes in clear letters on the wall "TRIED FIRST"

"Its as good a place to start as any, I suppose," he shrugs.

[Linguz]

Ipsen knows: Ingesting this mushroom causes burning in the throat and stomach, harming the eater.

If refined slightly, the mushroom turns into a stronger poison that burns when it enters a body. You know if given the right tools (alchemy table, or the like. At the least, Artisan's Tools (Alchemy/Poisonmaking) is needed), you can make it into this.

1 mushroom can fill 1 vial.

Ipsen hears: Nothing of interest, in any of the doors.

There is now a note on the corner of the northern hallway, with the words that were written there.

[Pathrogas]

Ipsen nods, while carefully collecting the mushrooms. Rufus is right, it's the best plan we can get in this situation. Closing his backpack, the kobold goes back to the northern door. Stay behind the corner for now, I'll see if there's anything waiting for us, he says and disappears into the dark passage to open the door - not without giving it a last quick check about traps though.

He takes 10 and finds nothing new, since he already took 20 on all the doors.
If the door isn't locked, he will open it very slowly and quietly, in case someone (or something) is in the area behind it. He'll open it just a tiny bit, enough to see what's behind it and if it's safe, before he opens it further and goes through it.

[Linguz]

Ipsen opens the door away from him and inside, you can see an orange beetle with red glows over each of its eyes. There's no light in the room besides that, which illuminate a roughly 10 foot region around it. From the lighting, you can tell that there's another one, which slams into the door soon after you opened it.

Bull Rush: [roll0]
Roll a strength check (at a -4 penalty for being small) and if you equal or beat the roll, you don't move back and can keep the door open. You can, of course, decide not to fight back and let it ram the door closed.

[Pathrogas]

These guys must have good eyes... or some sort of blindsense/sight. Hm!
Knowledge (nature) check to see if Ipsen can identify the things (IF they are animals/vermins, that is): [roll0]
If he knows something about them, I'll change what he tells the party of course, so they know what we're up against.

Ipsen lets the beetle ram the door closed and runs back to the party. Two glowing beetles, he tells the group. One of them shut the door closed. Not sure if they'll try to follow me.

Move to L10.

[Linguz]

Unfortunately, you've never seen this creature in books nor in person. They're a mystery to you. Everyone else with Knowledge (Nature) can do a check at a -2 penalty due to second hand knowledge, though.

[hoverfrog]

Echevaria loads his crossbow, "Do you think that they can break down the door?"

[ShadowySilence]

Tyrick tries to remember anything he might know about the beetles.

Knowledge Check Nature:

[roll0]

[Linguz]

Tyrick has read about these creatures. They are called Giant Fire Beetles (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/giantFireBeetle.htm) and he knows that they are vermin. He knows that they can see in the dark, don't have a mind, have a good amount of armor, don't move very fast nor are they strong, and they shouldn't be too hard to kill. The glands above their eyes glow for up to 6 days after being removed, illuminating a 10 foot region around them (5 feet bright, 5 more feet shadowy). Within that time, if the gland is treated properly, they can be made into a type of extract that when added to a weapon, makes it light up and burn (created by Craft (Alchemy)).

Tyrick is allowed to look at the Giant Fire Beetle page and know that stuff, as he surpassed the DC by enough.

[ShadowySilence]

Tyrick puts a finger to his head for a moment as he focuses harder, then it comes back to him, he spews off his words like water from a faucet "I read about these creatures in my studies, a time ago back in the Styllorian Library in Trovax. It was an interesting tome all about various forms of... oh I'll just get to the point, they're Giant Fire Beetles! Seeing in the dark, stupid as can be, well armored, slightly slow, yet fairly strong. Overall, not hard to kill, but they can be pesky. After we kill them, cut off the glands above their eyes, we can use them for light and to apply to our weapons with the right use of alchemy."

And as quickly as his words spewed out, he stops, slightly out of breath.

[The Zoat]

This may seem rather silly, but these things don't seem all that dangerous to me. I feel we should be able to ignore them safely. I mean, they're just beetles! I'm all for some killing though. Oasurn casts magic weapon.

[hoverfrog]

Echevaria Strata

Echevaria lights a torch and places it in the corner of the corridor (K8) "If the room had no exits and they can't get out why don't we just leave them alone and explore the next room? Unless we plan on using their remains as light sources. Ipsen is the only one who can see in the dark as far as I know." Hearing only silence as an answer Var shrugs, "I'll open the door on the count of 10 and then we shoot anything glowing that comes out. OK?

He prepares to form an Astral Construct (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/astralConstruct.htm) with the Buff and Improved Bull Rush abilities (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/monsters/astralConstruct.htm) in the corridor and order it to bash open the door. "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Go!"

Ectoplasm from the Astral Plane begins to form into a squat, dwarf like figure. Its silvery skin reflects the torchlight for a moment as it bends its horned head and charges at the door.

Bull rush the door [roll0] +4 for Improved Bull Rush, +2 for Str 15

[Linguz]

The construct breaks down the door, but the beetle had already moved away from said door so it didn't get splattered. That was the Construct's move for the turn.

Order: Echevaria/Construct (no more rounds left, disappears when it goes next without acting)
Tyrick
Beetle 1
Rufus
Steven
Ipsen
Oasurn
Beetle 2

What do the rest of you do? You can't see the beetles, but you all heard the door break down.

[J-H]

"I may not be able to see in the dark, but it sounds like the fire beetles don't count as dark!" Rufus advances towards the door and stops 5' away from it, so that he can attack the beetles if they come through, without having to block the door himself.reach weapon-set up for aoo, anyone want to go past me?

[Electrobolt]

Steven takes this knowledge into mind, as he holds his shield tight and proceeds through the tunnel. Stopping right behind the construct and assuming a defensive position, he now waited for a chance to strike.

Yeah, I do :P 20 AC, taken up to 24 with the Total Defense move... How tank-like is that to you guys? :P But yeah, I'm between Rufus and the Astral Construct, assuming a Total Defensive pose

[ShadowySilence]

Tyrick draws his morningingstar and approaches the door (five feet away or closest he can get with others there) without going through it and tries to see what's going on in the other room.

[The Zoat]

Oasurn sidles up behind Tyrick.

[hoverfrog]

As his astral construct fades away Echevaria joins the rear of the line. Once he passes the corner he stops to pick up his torch, holding his light crossbow in the other hand.

[Pathrogas]

Ipsen moves to the left and draws his bow, ready to shoot anything hostile that might come out of one of the other doors. He keeps looking into the passage to see how the rest of the group is doing.

Move to J10.

[Linguz]

ROUND 1, Enemy Actions

Beetle One attacked the dwarf construct. Attack: [roll0]
Check: [roll1]
Damage: [roll2] x2 if crit But it misses!

Beetle Two attacked the dwarf construct or, if it was already down, Steven. Attack: [roll3]
Check: [roll4]
Damage: [roll5] x2 if crit And it hits!

Currently: Steven and Beetle Two have cover relative each other.

As the new round starts, the astral construct dissolves into nothingness.

@Hoverfrog: Now you can act.

[hoverfrog]

"We should either pull back so that they follow or force our way in." Var announces from the back.

[Electrobolt]

Longsword and shield in hand, Steven took one single step forward. Then, turning around to face the beetle on his left, he took a swing at the monster.

Attacking normally this time round lol

Attack: [roll0]
Threat check (on nat 19 or nat 20): [roll1]
Damage: [roll2]

[J-H]

Waiting until Steven moves forward, Rufus steps up and attacks the other beetle.


Readied action to step to I8, then attack Beetle 2. Steven is in the way, so the Beetle gets +4ac from cover.
Attack: [roll0]
Crit confirmation: [roll1] on a 20
Damage: [roll2]

[The Zoat]

Follow the flow of streaming into the room. If possible, whack one of the beetles with my ranseur.

[hoverfrog]

Unable to enter the room or get into position for a clear shot Echevaria keeps an eye and an ear out behind us in case anything is attracted to the sounds of battle.

Spot [roll0]
Listen [roll1]

[Pathrogas]

Ipsen stays behind with Echevaria, guarding the party's back and keeping eyes and ears open for possible enemies.

Spot: [roll0]
Listen: [roll1]

[Linguz]

After 2 days, Tyrick has been autoed into inactivity. Also, to speed things up, I'll be rolling for the enemy's via d20srd.com now.

- Round 2 -

Beetle one attacks Steven, going full out and straight for where it hurts. But the beetle's jaws don't find anything as they clamp down.

Steven's swing finds the hard carapace of the beetles too hard to get through.

Fortunately, Rufus's swing finds a gap between the beetle's plates and strikes it down, now bleeding out.

- New Round -

[J-H]

"That's one down."
Right after Steven moves and strikes, Rufus stabs at the beetle that's still standing with his Guisarme, and then steps into the room to let someone move behind him.


My initiative was changed to just after Steven's move last round by my use of a readied action.

[roll0]Guisarme attack
[roll1]Confirmation roll
[roll2]Shortspear damage
--this needs to be re-rolled technically, but since I rolled a 15 and Steven missed with a 15 last round, it doesn't matter.--
5' step after attacking to H9, or to H8 if I can't step right around the corner.

[Electrobolt]

After the beetle he attacked - and failed to damage - went down due to the spear, Steven stepped over it as he then turned around to face the still-alive beetle. He then slashed at the living creature in an attempt to kill it.

Beetle 2 is already dead :P Beetle 1 is the live one, so yeah... Speaking of, I'm directly below Beetle 1 now, aka G9

Attack: [roll0]
Threat check: [roll1]
Damage: [roll2]

[Linguz]

Steven moves around the beetle and strikes at it as the beetle retaliates, but both fail to harm the other sufficiently. Rufus attacks and then closes the distance.

After Rufus closed the distance to the beetle, it turned around and jumped at him, failing to encounter his body.

[Electrobolt]

*Why are my attacks not striking...?* pondered Steven, before he gripped his sword tight. Then, with his might, he struck down on the beetle.

Attack: [roll0]
Threat check: [roll1]
Damage: [roll2]

[J-H]

Rufus moves his Guisarme to one arm, and pulls out one of his shortspears, stabbing at the beetle as he draws it.


Steven and I both took 5' steps - neither of us provoked an AOO in round 3.
[roll0] spear attack
[roll1] crit confirm, x2 on 20
[roll2] spear damage

[Linguz]

((You can't five foot step through an enemy, nor into a space with a defeated enemy (they count as difficult terrain).))

After Rufus' swing, the beetle went down, defeated. You can now choose to let them bleed out and perish on their own or end their suffering, among other things. Their glowing glands are still illuminating the room nicely.

Total XP: 600 xp
Per person: 100 xp

[J-H]

Rufus puts his shortspear through the joint between each beetle's head and abdomen, to make sure that the energy released at their moment of death is not released and wasted by another.

Holding up the spear tip and his guisearm's blade, he looks at the ichor on both. "Nothing to clean my blades off with. I knew I was forgetting something.

He walks over to the other side of the room and raps the two weapons' hafts together smartly several times, dislodging most of the liquid and bits, with only a small amount remaining to be cleaned off later. He then re-sheaths his shortspear.

"Who knows how to turn those glowing bits into something easier to carry and handle?"

[Pathrogas]

After the fighting noises have settled down, Ipsen makes his way to the dead beetles and inspects their glands, trying to figure out what he could do with them.

Craft (alchemy) for [roll0] to see if he can find a way to work with them and make them more useful for the party.

[Linguz]

You're not sure what you could make them into. You know that they can be turned into something to use as weapons (from what Tyrick told you). You could try asking him or experimentation.

[Pathrogas]

Hmm, not too sure, Ipsen mumbles and turns to his allies in the passageway. Can you help me with these glands, tyrick? You mentioned some alchemical use for them?

[ShadowySilence]

Tyrick, always glad to impart his knowledge to others answers Ipsen "Yes, indeed, their glands have quite useful alchemical usages. Each gland will continue to glow for possibly up to six days after the creature dies, if the gland is left whole and unharmed, after the allotted amount of time the light dies out and it is useless, you know when they will die because the day before the enzymes reactions begin to decelerate and the light dims slightly. They aren't as useful for lighting areas as a torch or lantern, but they do the trick. Another use for them is to prepare them a certain way so as to release the caustic enzymes hidden within them that cause the glowing, those enzymes can then be rubbed onto a weapon or projectile to cause burning damage. The preparation must be completed before the enzymes stop reacting however, which is when the lights go out. If anyone wishes to do so, I can describe the process of preparation later, it is a long process to describe but easy to utilize. The burning enzymes only last for about 2 to 3 hours after applying them to a weapon however, so they must be used wisely."

[J-H]

"That could be good if we run into any trolls. For now, let's take them as a backup light source for any dark areas. Tyrick, can you remove them intact?"

Rufus slides past the beetle corpses back towards the door of the room as he speaks.

[ShadowySilence]

"I can, but my guess is so can anyone in our party. You just simply grip them and give a twist, anyone with a modest dexterity should do just fine giving the needed movements."

[hoverfrog]

Echevaria picks up his torch, enters the room and gives it a cursory examination in case there is a pile of treasure in a corner or another door that we'd missed at first glance.

Search check [roll0]

[Pathrogas]

Ipsen nods and grips the glands of the beetles, twisting and pulling them until they come off. He holds them in an offering manner to the rest of the party to see if anyone wants to take them. (If not, he wraps them in a sack to dampen the glow and puts them into his backpack) Then he moves to take a closer look at the walls, searching for hidden doors or similar things, until the party moves out again.

Search: [roll0]

[Linguz]

Ipsen yanks them out and soon after, one from each of the two beetles dims slightly. Other than that, they seem to be in perfect condition.

It takes both of you two minutes each to search the walls and floor of this chamber, but unfortunately, you find no hidden pathways or compartments.

[J-H]

With nothing left to do in the room, Rufus heads back out to the big room and waits near the next door (N9) until the rest of the party joins him. Once everyone's there, he opens it, guisarme at the ready.

[hoverfrog]

Echevaria joins Rufus in the main room (M13), crossbow at the ready, and waits for the others.

[The Zoat]

Well, that was a waste of magic...

Follow everyone.

[Pathrogas]

Ipsen follows Rufus into the mainroom (to L12) and draws his bow.

[Linguz]

You all crowd around the door and open it, which reveals a circular room with a pathway on the other side. There's a table the same shape as the room in the center, with 4 chairs around it. There's some dried red liquid on the table, which plenty of you can recognize as dried blood. There's no other blood around the room, though, and the pathway further ahead splits off into a T intersection.

[Map Updated]

[J-H]

Rufus peers at the room.
"Hmm... Ipsen, what do you think? This looks suspicious."

[hoverfrog]

Var keeps his crossbow ready but leaves the job of exploring the room to the experts.

[Pathrogas]

Ipsen takes a good look around before he enters the room, to see if he can spot something out of the ordinary on the walls, ceiling or floor. Then he slowly moves in to the table, constantly looking for traps. He inspects the table, the chairs and the blood before he searches the rest of the room for traps.

As soon as he's sure that there are no traps that would be triggered by someone just walking on the floor or touching the table or chairs, he gives the rest of the group a signal to come in and returns to his search, always keeping an eye on the northern passage.

If he can spot something from outside, before he enters: [roll0] for spot.
For the trapfinding, he first takes ten for every 5x5 ft. area in the room and then makes a check for search, to be sure (so, he'll automatically finds everything with DC 18 or lower). He starts at M18 and surrounds the table counter-clockwise. Checks:
M18 [roll1]
Table/Chairs: [roll2]
N18 [roll3]
N17 [roll4]
N16 [roll5]
M16 [roll6]
L16 [roll7]
L17 [roll8]
L18 [roll9]
Listen/Spot to see if he can hear/see something coming from there: [roll10] / [roll11]

[Linguz]

As you search the floor, you don't find anything of particular interest besides that this place could be used as a place to eat relatively comfortably, what with chairs and all. For 4 people. Unless you bring your own chairs.

From the northern passage, you don't hear anything, save for the dripping of some liquid from the left passageway.

[J-H]

Rufus steps into the room, walking slowly and carefully as he moves to the left of the table and up to the intersection. He pauses and listens, and then steps out into the T and looks around, assuming he can see.


[roll0]Listen
If nothing seems "off" he moves up to M13 - if there's enough illumination. Any torches up here?

[hoverfrog]

Echevaria Strata

Var remembers to chalk the wall to indicate that we've explored this room. "ROOM 2" on the wall at L19.

[Linguz]

@Rufus: Someone has a torch in your party, so it's illuminating a bit of the area down the passage ways. You can't see very much past the left hallway, but the right one comes up to a dead end 10 feet past.

[J-H]

Rufus pauses as he has a thought, and turns towards the rest of the group. "I know Ipsen checked the bloody table room for traps, but can anyone tell if the table or chairs are magical somehow? It's very strange...."

[hoverfrog]

"Not I," Var replies, "It is curious. It looks as though people or something more ghoulish sat at the table to devour a particularly bloody meal or perhaps someone in a chair had their head beaten into the table. Either way I would stay clear of it. Blood carries all kinds of diseases you know."

[J-H]

Rufus goes back to the table and walks partway around it, so that he's not immediately next to any of the party members (N17). Pulling out one of his shortspears, he uses the butt of the spear to poke the table and a couple of chairs, shifting them if he can.

[Pathrogas]

Ipsen moves near the exit of the room, in case Rufus triggers something, keeping an eye on the table and the chairs.

[Linguz]

The table and chairs get shifted, but nothing springs out to attack you, nor does anything like a trap (or not like a trap) triggers.

[J-H]

"Hmph. Just in case there was something under the table we didn't see." Rufus walks back to the T-intersection. "Nobody builds a hallway to nowhere. Ipsen, can you see if there's a hidden doorway or trap door or something? This doesn't make sense."

[hoverfrog]

Var stays clear while the experts work but keeps an eye on where we've come from in case something tries to cut us off.

[Pathrogas]

Ipsen nods and follows Rufus to the intersection, looking around the corner to the left to see if he can spot anything. Cautiously he walks to the dead end, checking walls, floor and ceiling (if he can) while he goes. Here and there he looks back, to see if something happens in the left passage.

Same procedure as in the room. Takes ten for 18 and then rolls once for every 5x5x5 segment.
N13: [roll0]
O13: [roll1]
Listen: [roll2]
Spot: [roll3]

[Linguz]

(Can't update map until I get home, but I do remember what was here.)

After a few seconds of searching, Ipsen finds a switch which, after flicking, allows the stone wall to be lifted up and into a hidden area. In the room, there is a pile of bones right next to the entrance with a few pieces around the rest of the room. Across the room, there's a stone wall which looks like it could be moved. There is a narrow opening between the wall and the floor. The same thing happens at each edge, the wall and the false-wall don't meet each other perfectly.

If I'm not mistaken, this is a 10 by 15 room before meeting the block. 10 feet in, 15 feet wide. With the doorway in the center of the 15 feet.

[Pathrogas]

"A hidden room. Seems like there could be another exit behind one of the walls." Ipsen begins to search the entrance of the room for traps. "There's also a bunch of bones here, so it might be trapped. Keep an eye on the other passageway."

Can Ipsen recognize something about the bones? Did they belong to a humanoid creature? How big? Are the bones damaged? etc.
Then the searching game. Taking ten and making one roll for each square as usual. When he's done, he'll give the party a sign that it's safe and take a closer look at the stone wall that might be moveable.
P13: [roll0]
P12: [roll1]
P14: [roll2]
Q13: [roll3]
Q12: [roll4]
Q14: [roll5]
R12: [roll6]
R13: [roll7]
R14: [roll8]
R15: [roll9]
Q15: [roll10]
P15: [roll11]

[Linguz]

You can recognize the skull of a wolf, so you might assume that the bones are of a wolf.

When you're looking at the floor of the moveable wall and looking through the gap between the floor and the wall, you notice that the mechanism under the wall can lock... and you see a pressure plate that looks to be able to be triggered if the wall locks.

You also make out two handholds in the stone, which were cleverly camouflaged. Apparently, this wall can be moved with brute strength.

[hoverfrog]

"I'm not very strong but it looks as if it can just be lifted up. Maybe a chair leg might be useful as a lever once it's lifted up enough." Var stand in the corner (P12) with his crossbow at the ready.

[Pathrogas]

After a bit of trying around at the moveable part of the wall, Ipsen gives up and returns to the group. "There are no traps, but we've got a secret door with some sort of mechanism beneath it that I can't reach. It's impossible to say what it will do or if opening the door will trigger it. But I'm sure we can get the door open if we want to." He sneaks towards the eastern passageway to see if he can make something out without moving too far from the group in case they decide to open the secret door.

Move to K13.

[J-H]

"Yes, but do we want to?" Rufus looks at the hidden room. "It was a one-way trip for the owner of those bones, and there are passages at our back. I can leave some caltrops in front of the doorway so that we'll have warning if anything tries to sneak up on us."

[Linguz]

You can't see much farther in because of the walls, but the tunnel turns south before turning back east. After 10 feet of that, you can't see it from your position.

[Pathrogas]

"I'll explore the other way" Ipsen says to whoever is next to him at the moment. "Open the door if you want, but stay near this room." Then he disappears into the darkness.

He listens carefully while he sneaks down the passageway, using his little steel mirror to peak around corners. Of course, he looks for traps, alarm mechanisms and other unusual things the whole time.
Listen: [roll0]
Move silently: [roll1]
Hide: [roll2]
Search (again, taking ten before every check):
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]
[roll6]
[roll7]
[roll8]
[roll9]
[roll10]
[roll11]
(Don't know how long the way will be. If he needs to make more search checks, just roll them for him and let me know if he finds something.)

[Linguz]

IPSENYou sneak the other way and eventually come up to an open door. Past the door, you see a square table near a corner of a room and two dead spiders, both rotting, at the opposite corner. There are two exits out of this room.

[hoverfrog]

Var will follow Ipsen to keep an eye out in case he is attacked while searching everywhere. He will remain at the corner of the corridor behind him or at the doorway of the room so that he is always in sight. So at the moment Echevaria has moved to K11 and will move to I11 when Ipsen enters the room to search.

He'll take 20 to move silently and hide each time (+3 on each). There is plenty of time given that Ipsen is searching.

I think that the others should do the same and we should probably swap around who is "on support" at any given time.

[Linguz]

You can't take 20 on move silent or hide. Seeing as taking 20 basically has you go from 1 to 20 in 20 actions, and a 1 would make you heard (most likely).

Also, you don't have darkvision, so you wouldn't be able to see anything.

[J-H]

Rufus decides to hold off on the caltrops for now, and waits for Ipsen to bring some news back.

[Pathrogas]

DM:
Ipsen moves to the nearest door, checks it for traps and listens. If it has a keyhole, he looks through it - if he can see through the space under it, he does that.
If he doesn't find, hear or see anything, he'll moves to the second floor and repeats the procedure. He avoids the dead spiders and the table as well as anything else that's out of the ordinary - also he hugs the walls.

(If he finds a trap, he'll disable it *after* listening. If he hears something, it depends: could it be that something has noticed him and might come through the door any moment? He'll run into the passage. Does it not sound like that? He'll check the next door while being extra sneaky [making move silently checks])

[Pathrogas]

Screwed up the rolls.

-Door 1-
Search [roll0]
Listen [roll1]
Spot (if needed) [roll2]

-Door 2-
Search [roll3]
Listen [roll4]
Spot (if needed) [roll5]

He takes ten for searching the floor on his path.

[Linguz]

IPSEN
In the southern room (down is south), you can see things that look like buckets through the keyhole. Through the western room, you only see more stone after a bit. You don't hear anything coming from either room.

You hug the north and western walls, to keep away from the dead spiders and find no traps.

[Pathrogas]

Ipsen goes for the southern door, opening it as quietly as he can and just enough to see into the room behind it. If he doesn't see anything unusual (besides the buckets), he'll check the other door the same way.

If he sees someone, he'll try to close the door again without being noticed. Failing that, he'll run back into the passage from where he came - hugging the wall again, if time allows it.

Assuming he can check both doors without anything bad happening, he'll check the rest of the room for traps (except for the dead spiders) and then return to the party to tell them about the area.

[Linguz]

IPSEN
The south door opens up to a cleaning room or something similar, it seems. Cabinets, buckets, mobs, the works.

The western door opens up to a hallway, which goes for a bit before turning left.

The only 3 squares you didn't search in the room are K14, J15, and K15. Nothing out of the ordinary anywhere. When you were searching the area closer to the spiders, you saw that there's a mushroom in the corner (K15).

[Pathrogas]

Hmm, can't let the passage be, now can I?
Ipsen sneaks to the west and takes a swift look around the corner. He wants to see where it leads before he calls the guys with the torches and armor in here. He looks for traps and sneaks.
Move silently [roll0]
Hide [roll1]
Search [roll2]
Search [roll3]
Search [roll4]
Search [roll5]

[Linguz]

(Map will be updated soon, when I get home.)

IPSENAfter you walk through the little pathway and look down the pathway, you see a larger room. At the far end is a throne, with nothing on it. Along both sides of the room there are unlit braziers. There are two doors on the same wall as the throne, one to either side of it.

[Pathrogas]

Ipsen sneaks back to the party.
"We have three rooms over there. The first one, for whatever reason, has two dead spiders in it. I searched for traps but found nothing so far. South of that, there's some sort of cleaning room. Cabinets, buckets, what you'd expect. There's also something like a throne room. Or at least it probably was one a while ago. There are more doors in there, maybe we can find something of interest back there. I haven't searched the room yet, but the way to it is clear."

[J-H]

"Let's go. I wonder what a throne is doing here?" Rufus eagerly follows Ipsen down the hall.

[hoverfrog]

Echevaria follows the others. He loads his crossbow on the way and stretches out as he walks.

[The Zoat]

Oasurn eagerly follows.

[Pathrogas]

Ipsen leads the party into the passageway to the throne room. "Don't go near the spiders" he says as they pass them, and then rushes a bit ahead to clear the path to the throne for the party while they follow him.

Search
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]
[roll6]

[Linguz]

(I am assuming that everyone is following him soon after, and they're still in the hallway. The front half are in the front X, the back half are in the back X.)

When you step into the room, the braziers all light up and a figure that you hadn't seen before becomes apparent on the throne, now that you can see color. It's in the shape of a halfling, but it's constructed out of grey smoke.

---

Ipsen and the creature get a surprise round since the rest of the party doesn't know about the creature.

Initiative! Creature: [roll0]
Steven: [roll1]
Tyrick: [roll2]
Ipsen: [roll3]
Rufus: [roll4]
Oasurn: [roll5]
Echevaria: [roll6]

---

The creature charges Ipsen, moving forward quickly and trying to slam him with a fist. But the blow goes too high and misses the kobold.

[Pathrogas]

"Enemy!" Ipsen shouts and immediately falls back. "Some sort of small smoke creature!"

He uses Withdraw, so no AoO, and moves to I13.

If he can, Ipsen makes a Knowledge check (roll for me, so I don't know what category, etc.) to see what the thing is. If he knows something, he'll let the party know while he falls back.

[Linguz]

As soon as Ipsen leaves the room, those in the front (if they peer past the corner) can see the figure going back to the throne and the braziers begin to turn off.

--

Everyone can act now. And then I'll do a post summarizing what happened.

[ShadowySilence]

OOC (DM):
Roll knowledge checks for me as well to try to determine what the creature might be, so I don't know what to go off of.

[Linguz]

@Tyrick: Total: 10
You know it's an elemental. What type you can only guess, and you don't know anything about them besides that it's made out of an element.

@Ipsen: You've never read or learned anything about something like this.

[J-H]

Rufus grins, obviously eager for combat. "So, it doesn't follow us. We could get ready to fight it, step in, and then back away if it's too much for us to handle."

[hoverfrog]

I have knowledge dungeoneering +10 and psionics +7 if that helps? If I learn anything about the creature I tell the others.

"Why don't we just shoot it from the doorway? Better yet, we could talk to it."

Var steps into the room with his hands up and says in a loud, clear voice, "We mean you no harm. Will you speak with us?"

Diplomacy [roll0]

[Linguz]

Neither dungeoneering nor psionics help here.

The wind does not answer and the braziers all get relit.

On the map, > means you have yet to go. - means you moved, but you can move again before I make my post since you didn't use up your full round. Once there are no more >s left, I'll make my post.

[Pathrogas]

Ipsen draws his bow and an arrow and waits just around the corner, so he can go around and shoot if Var's diplomacy fails and the thing attacks again.

[J-H]

Rufus moves up behind Var with his weapon at the ready.

[The Zoat]

Well, if I got a little closer I could maybe stab it if it rushed at us, though I doubt it would do very much.
Oasurn edges up behind Rufus.

[hoverfrog]

Var edges closer to the throne, all the while talking and offering reassurances as to our peaceful intentions. He has the psicrystal, Glitz, hop up onto his shoulder, looking like some artificial spider. If there is still no response he switches to draconic, then undercommon, elven, goblin and finally quor. If there is still nothing he asks if anyone knows how to speak halfling.

[Linguz]

It doesn't respond to any of those, and you see it get ready to attack. You might suspect that it would, if its action hadn't already been used up.

Steven and Tyrick are left. Will continue tomorrow if they don't post today.

[Linguz]

(And so I'm going to pretend that Tyrick and Steven never entered the cavern.)

The elemental storms past the room and strikes at you, slamming its fist into your chest and doing 3 damage before retreating halfway through the room.

[hoverfrog]

Echevaria retreats out of the room, wheezing from his bruised chest, "I-I think it broke some ribs."

[J-H]

Rufus stabs at the elemental as it backs away, then follows it and swings his guisarme again.

Attack of opportunity - Rufus was right behind Var, and thus threatened the square that the elemental stepped in to, unless the elemental has reach.
Attack: [roll0] (Elemental has cover from Var)
Crit confirm, if needed: [roll1]
Damage: [roll2]

Followed by move and attack.
Attack: [roll3]
Crit confirm, if needed: [roll4]
Damage: [roll5]