Pink of Doom (IC)

[Pink]

You've finally arrived at the Tomb of Evinrood the Water Mage. You and your fellow adventurers all pooled up your good or ill gotten gains in order to purchase the map to the legendary mage's tomb, eager to find what treasure, secrets and wonders are contained within, and eager for the glory associated with such an undertaking. Normally you would not consider such an action as buying a map, however this one came from a mage who was acclaimed in the art of restoring lost documents and made his living selling clues to treasures instead of risking his life looking for them.

So now you and your fellow party members stand on a grim, dark moor overlooking the sea. Soaring sea birds seem to cry his lament, as well as a forlorn warning. In front of you is the large graven capstone, ten feet long and wide, set nearly flush with the ground, in a collar ring of stone work. With care the following inscription can be read:

"This is the last resting place of EVINROOD the Water Mage
He did battle with Selgolub the Master of Daemons
In the year of the Bitter Wyvern, Sixth year of the Reign of the Death Empress
He failed to overthrow the daemon lord and was Accursed
EVINROOD, Savior of Karthaki, friend of the dwarves, and kobolds
MASTER OF THE ELEMENTS THEMSELVES
Rests herein with his great treasure disturb them at your peril!"

[HellFencer]

Dances with Sand

The desert dwarf stood before the capstone, one hand stroking his beard. "Friend of the dwarves, it says. I hope that's true; feels like we'll need all the luck we can take," he said, his voice deep and gruff with a gravel-like quality. He shivered once, taking note of the sun's position.

Reaching into his pack, Dances with Sand removed a crowbar and walked to one side of the slab. He knelt and looked carefully upon the stone without touching it.

[Pink]

The sun is more than halfway risen to its noon position. It's taken about 2 hours of walking across deserted wasteland from the small village of Scrubrush, and another hour of trying to find the capstone that marks the tomb's entrance.

[stupnick]

Looking around at his companions Slisseth hisses a little. Wellsss, we have ssspent half a day walking, and we arrived at thisss tomb. A water mage, hrm... Guessss i might have the upper hand here.

Well, why don't sssomeone check this door for trapsss and letsss get on with thisss little quesssst.

[Telemont]

His skin somewhat ruddy from the three hour journey where they last paid for an inn, Tolbin Spencer quietly gazed from the Capstone to the ocean that sat no further than a brisk fall down a nearby cliff. The dashing looking figure took in the last deep breath of fresh air he imagined he would take for some time.

"It seems odd to imagine nobody has ever come by to investigate this place. Surely we are not the first to have been sold the clues the old wizard offered. Would it be safe to assume that since this Capstone looks mostly undisturbed that either some great work is afoot, or more likely something continues to make this place it's home?" The question was rhetorical, but relevant all the same.

Additionally, lets have started the day with... Tenebrous and Geryon!
[roll0] Versus 21 for Tenebrous.
[roll1] Versus 25 for Geryon.

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

Drawing up quietly behind the other members, Oloren laughs briefly and humorlessly at Father Tolbin's remark. "In the tomb of such a powerful mage, the only assumption likely to hold up for long is that we are always mere moments from an ingeniously imagined and difficult to avoid death." He then studies the capstone briefly but thoroughly, his blue eyes seeming to have a faint glow to them.
Each of your characters has probably settled on whether they call me Oloren or Alan by this point (Alan being the option for those who have trouble with languages, as it has an Elven schwa to it that can be difficult to pronounce).
Additional note for the DM: I have Arcane Sight (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/arcaneSight.htm) permanencied on myself.

[Pink]

No magical aura can be discerned at the entrance of the tomb.

The desert dwarf's glance at the capstone reveals it to be made of several inches of high quality granite. The collar itself is only a couple inches thick and there only seems enough space between the collar and the capstone to insert a thin leveraging item.

[Telemont]

Father Tolbin Spencer

With a thoughtful nod to Oloren's words, the robed figure twists about to wander over next to the giant Capstone. "If nothing is amiss, perhaps we can nudge it over a bit and I can take a peek to see what there is to be seen."

To this offer, Tolbin makes the motion of glancing around to peer at everyone to be sure of their opinions on the matter. It is an unnecessary thing, for the good father actually possesses a literal pair of eyes in the back of his head. For the most part, they are obscured by the curly locks of blonde hair, and it's certainly no more unusual than the Lizardman in their midst.

[HellFencer]

Dances with Sand

Sitting back a bit onto his haunches, the dwarf gives a quick nod of approval to the Father.

[BurntOfferings]

Wellby

The halfling looks up from where he had been resting. "One moment, one moment. Give a poor soul a moment to catch his breath."

Rising, he makes a slow circle around the capstone, looking for telltale clues of pressure plates, trip wires, and other hidden hazards. As he works, he comments, "Does anyone else find it a bit odd that the tomb of a 'water mage' would be in a desert?"

Wellby will take his time and make two Search checks, each on opposite sides of the capstone.

Check 1: [roll0]
Check 2: [roll1]

[Telemont]

Father Tolbin

With a thoughtful chuckle, Tolbin peers over the halflings shoulder to the hours-long desert trek that they had overcome. Why, sand was still in one of the good father's boots!

"I'm afraid I don't know very much about the way nature works, but the oddest thing to me is that there is a sea not a mile over that cliff and a desert hardly a mile the opposite way. I'd think all the water would make this place rolling fields of grass or some such thing. I wonder if we should knock? Either way, crowbaring this thing an inch or so if it turns out to be harmless seems the best course of action."

And with that, he awaits Wellby's all-clear signal, or any alternative suggestions of course.

[Pink]

OOC: here's hoping Reptilius shows up soon...Also, anyone is free to do a know:history check if you want some background on the entombed man.

Wellby's search reveals that the seal formed by the capstone and collar seems to be airtight. However nothing seems dangerous or odd about the capstone from any side, nor the collar.

[Reptilius]

Thomas

Thomas continues standing. Long walks never really bother him, even if though it was always either blazing hot or freezing cold in the desert.

"Well, deserts usually form when mountains are standing along a coastline. Clouds coming from over the ocean can't pass over the mountains, so they rain along the shore. The inland side gets far less rain, and becomes a desert. This is a pretty high cliff, so maybe that works, but it's a stretch. Rather, Evinrood probably siphoned water out of the land around his tomb with a powerful pump or some sort of spell. He could have done it for the sheer irony, but maybe the water is used to fuel the traps he obviously installed.

What? I know things."

[HellFencer]

Dances with Sand

Halfway into Thomas' explanation, Dances with Sand looked up at him and listened with intent. He nodded a bit and stroked his long beard, causing his jewelry to jingle. He leaned onto his crowbar, and tried not to think about all the dangers powered by the diverted water.

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

The robed elf snorted quietly to himself. Knowing things was no reason to blurt them out willy-nilly. As he silently watched their efforts to move the capstone, he pulled a thin tome from his pack and began to page through it, carefully bringing to mind all he knew of Evinrood, hoping his study had been enough to successfully pit their party's skill against that of the late mage.
Knowledge (history) check is 32 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1573240/). Also, considering the head of Oloren's university was a long-time rival of Evinrood's, which has been a part of the character's life for a while and an obsession of his for the last few years, which caused him to be here at all, it seems that he might be eligible for a circumstance bonus on the check.

[BurntOfferings]

Wellby

Wellby steps back from the entrance, absent-mindedly adjustng his few visible possessions while peering at the capstone suspiciously. He meanders back to the group; his more observant companions may notice that he places them between himself and the entrance.

"Well, there's no obvious trap here; just a capstone and collar. But I must admit I'm a bit concerned about how tightly these stones are fitted together. Any number of malign vapors may be trapped under that rock. Whoever cracks open the portal might do well to hold his breath."

[stupnick]

Slisseth

Well it ssseemssss that i would have the upper hand, asssss i can breath water. Hopefully there won't be to many trapssss in there.

If no one esssle wantsss i will open that door, jusssst let me know

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

After another moment of silence, the elf steps forward. "Well now, let's not dither all day. There's no magic aura and our searches have turned up nothing; unless someone would like to search again, the next step is to set hand to crowbar and actually open the lid of this hole. While someone attends to that, I will scout ahead slightly - I cannot detect harmful vapors, but knowing what waits on the other side of that capstone should be useful all the same."

Assuming no one moves or speaks to stop him, he steps a few feet to the side of the group. Bending down, he traces a large circle in the earth, several feet in diameter. Standing in front of it, he sketches a single symbol in the middle of it and speaks a few authoritative words. With a slight rumbling, a small earth elemental rises out of the ground and stands before Oloren, who smirks. "Master of the Elements, indeed, Evinrood."

He turns toward the elemental, and says "Nash griz'tul gembal; izg lik'tor sund'kusg. Arkeln terntak!"* The elemental immediately moves toward the capstone, sinking into the ground again as it goes.

I gather from your description that the capstone is horizontal, right?

Using Summon Elemental to summon a Small Earth (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/elemental.htm) Elemental (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/typesSubtypes.htm#elementalType). It lasts for 30 seconds (6 rounds). It has earth glide and darkvision and does not breathe, among other traits. It will first try to look through the capstone without moving entirely through, since Oloren doesn't know if there are stairs under there. If that fails, or if there are no stairs, the elemental will earth glide a few feet down next to the capstone, and try to look through into whatever space is below it in the next round. First priority is not to disturb or bump anything if it's there. It should report back by the second or third round, which would give time for another trip of similar length before the duration expires.

*Look under the stone; tell me what you see. Disturb nothing!

Elemental looks like this:
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/MM35_gallery/MM35_PG98.jpg

[HellFencer]

Dances with Sand

The dwarf leaned off of his crowbar once again, and readjusted his kneeling position. "If no one objects..." he said, motioning to the capstone. He waited a couple of seconds before jamming his crowbar between the capstone and the collar.

[roll0]

EDIT: Curses, my roll didn't go through, AGAIN... I'll roll it OOC

[Telemont]

Father Tolbin

While Father Tolbin certainly is observant enough to catch Wellby's position, it's nothing worth getting upset over. In the past several days each of them has had to get used to the extremely odd personalities quirks of the other adventurers. If self-preservation was the worst Wellby had to offer, then Father Tolbin counted his lucky stars. After all, sleeping within 10 feet of the Lizardman each night carried the unique danger of 'Death by Nasty Smell'.

"I like your style. One sure fire way to break into the home of a mage that fancies himself a master of the elemental, is with another mage that is also a master of the elemental. How is that crowbar coming? Do we need more people on the lid?"

Father Tolbin will certainly be glad to lend a hand in the stone-moving project, but if it can get done with fewer people at risk then all the better.

[Pink]

Earth Elemental: Round 1

The summoned living clod of sand and pebbles nods to its master's orders and moves over the capstone and sticks its head in a couple inches...and then pulls out a moment later, now trying to sink its entire body in, but again it only goes in several inches before coming back to the top. Turning to the summoner it says one word in terran. 'Metal'

With some grunting and groaning and a bit of swearing, the dwarf is able to pry the capstone off the collar. With a slightly audible rush of air, the seal of the tomb is broken, and though the air seems tense, there's no sudden thunder in the background, or any sign of significance. However, with the leverage of the crowbar it seems it's only possible to lift the stone an inch or two from the stone collar, more traditional lifting methods will have to be used to budge it.

[Telemont]

Father Tolbin

Just like that, the lid is budged a couple of inches. A respectful nod of thanks is delivered to Dances with Sand, before he takes matters into his own hands for a moment, the fellow steps towards the capstone and peers into the crack that was created to discern anything that could be discernible. Failing that, he gestures Wellby over to take a look as well, for two heads are better than one.

"I'd also say that if there is no trap we'd be feeling very foolish, but even so, better living fools than dead by arrogance."

[roll0] Spot Check through the small opening. I see perfectly in complete darkness.
[roll1] Listen Check, just to be curious about it.

[Pink]

Father Tolbin's Search finds that the entrance of the tomb continues straight down, down, down, a couple hundred feet at least, until it seems to reach a pool of water. However, he's also able to glance that there is a long length of rope, somehow having withstood the ravages of time, wrapped under the bottom of the capstone, probably enough to get to the pool.

He does not hear anything.

[stupnick]

Slisseth

Seeing that the dwarf needs help lifting the lid off, he proccedes over to help him do so.

[BurntOfferings]

Wellby

Wellby returns to the entrance, thrusting his torch into the darkness to get a good look. He takes note of the rope and examines it closely to make sure it's still usable, while checking the area under the capstone for anything suspicious.

Search: [roll0]

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

The elf inclines his head slightly at the compliment, then turning back to the elemental, he instructs it further in Terran. 'Go down next to the stone, and look into the shaft from the side. What is on the underside of the stone? Disturb nothing.' Raising his voice to the rest of the group, then, he comments "Paranoia will be no fault in this tomb. A friend to both kobold trap cunning and dwarven craftsmanship will have had mighty resources indeed with which to build. Metal and rope sounds like a precaution to safeguard the door - a fortuitous rope to slide down on seems more helpful than anything we're likely to find in this place. Better not shift the stone further until we've had a better chance to examine it from the other side."

The instruction to try to earthglide down a few feet next to the capstone was contained in my first post with the elemental - I don't know if you chose to have him not respond to it, or just missed it.

Mainly continuing to be paranoid because if the Spot check missed the metal, there may be other stuff under the door it missed as well, I'm thinking.

[Pink]

OOC: Burnt, for some reason I can't open your character sheet, says the page doesn't exist. So you know. And as for the elemental not doing the second action, I wanted to know if you'd change the command after you knew he couldn't go through the capstone because of metal blocking his movement.

Wellby's examination of the inside of the crack, though difficult with the light of his torch scarcely going through the crack, reveals something alarming. First, the underside of the capstone is covered with a thin layer of copper plate. This plating goes all the way to the edge. In the center of the underside of the capstone is an axle on which is mounted a 5 foot copper-coated stone disk in such a way that it will spin freely. Out from the axle is fixed a long thin copper brush making a radius of the copper disk and just touching it. Wound around the axle is long length of rope that has somehow withstood the ravages of time. This rope passes over a pulley also mounted on the bottom of the capstone, and thence on to a stone weight set in an alcove carved 4 feet below the lip of the stone collar. Also fastened to the same peg as the pulley is a thin piece of thread which runs with very little slack to a ring bolt set in a tiny wedge that prevents the stone weight from falling into the long dark shaft below. There is one last little item, fastened to the bottom of the capstone. On the opposite side from the pulley
there is, fastened by a copper pin, a thin copper thread. This tread trails into the depths about 7 feet where it is fastened to the wall with another copper peg.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v247/pink_lugia/Trap1.jpg

The tomb descends straight down, past the view of your vision, and is a circular opening ten feet in diameter.

Round 2 of Elemental Earthy fun

The Elemental again nods as Wellby is searching at the opening between capstone and collar, and then sinks into the ground. Wellby can see it's head poke through the wall of the tomb entrance as it seems to peer about, and then it's gone. Popping from the ground beside Oloren, the earth elemental again speaks only a couple words. "Under stone: Rope, Metal, Metal-loving stone."

OOC: I am being somewhat vague with it's answers. It has an intelligence of 4 and Rarely speaks afterall.

[HellFencer]

Dances with Sand

After his face had turned red, Dances with Sand managed to spurt out, "A little assistance here..." His hands were beginning to hurt a little from the crowbar digging into his palms. Seeing the lizardman walk over, Dances with Sand cringed a little but it was mostly undiscernable due to the strain from the capstone.

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

Nodding sagely at the elemental's words, the mage says "As I thought - a trap." Wellby, can you make out any further details?" He waits for the rogue's response, not yet dismissing the elemental in case it was further needed.

That's fine, pink. I expected about as much.

Int check to decide what it means by "metal-loving stone": [roll0], factoring in that he speaks the language and has dealt with elementals a fair bit before this.

[Pink]

I'm afraid even with past experience with elementals, a 13 just doesn't cut the mustard. It's a rather rare substance to have been brought up before I think.

[BurntOfferings]

Wellby

"Well, it would appear that once the capstone is moved more than a few inches, a stone weight will be dislodged, causing the stone disk to spin. I'm not sure what that will do, but it would probably not be healthy.

"I believe that I can disable it by cutting the thread that will pull the wedge loose, but even so, we shouldn't move the capstone more than necessary. Who knows what will happen if that copper wire is severed?"

If no one objects, Wellby will carefully reach through the gap and sever the thread connecting the capstone to the wedge.

Disable Device with masterwork thieves' tools: [roll0]

( P.S. Fixed my character sheet links. TTW moved things around. )

[Pink]

Wellby succesfully cuts the thread. He thinks that it's disarmed.

OOC: as a head's up so you guys aren't waiting for it, this is a heavy stone and will probably require nearly every +1 you guys can contribute to a str check, whether that's through magic or having additional people help out. However you can't move it with the crowbar, you will have to grasp onto the stone to move it if you're helping, unless you can think of a more ingenious way of moving it.

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

Okay, DM intervention if this is at any point metagaming. There no statted skill for Knowledge (physical sciences), but I'm going to assume that a character who has spent the majority of his life at a university, maxing most of the Knowledge skills that exist, has a passing knowledge of relevant stuff.

On that note: I failed the Int check (understandably), so I don't get to have the DM hand me the answer. May I still presume it without confirmation? I think Oloren would reasonably conjecture uncertainly that the elemental spotted a magnet, and it certainly fits the bill. If failing the Int check means that I have to play it completely dumb, let me know.
Relatedly, if you think it inappropriate for my character to think "copper wire...electricity? Maybe magnet + copper wire...ack stay away!", also let me know, and I'll fix the post.

"Don't cut that wire. Copper, you said? Let me look, and if you would, describe to me what you saw?" He just barely remembers politeness as he asks "It would be helpful if I could use your torch as well." As he strides over to the stone, Oloren speaks in comfortably accented Terran, instructing to elemental to wedge a few rocks in the gap already created, so that the dwarf won't tire while they investigate.

Looking specifically for magnets or anything conforming to the description of "Metal-loving rock".
[roll0]
[roll1]

BurntOfferings, I'm assuming you could do something like "I tell him", rather than retyping that huge description - if you wanted.
(Oh, and clarification: Oloren's not objecting to the cutting of the thread, just of the copper wire, which you haven't touched yet.)

Round 3 of the elemental.

[Telemont]

Father Tolbin

The robed fellow puts his hands upon the crowbar to lend a little relief to Dances with Sand. It's certainly not enough strength to push the stone further but perhaps it gives the dwarf some momentary relaxation.

"There is a certain academic benefit to disassembling the trap, but for the sake of making our supplies last longer is there any way we could simply shatter this lid into rubble and let it be the first to descend to any traps that might lie far below?"

[Reptilius]

Thomas

"Wait, cutting the thread seems like the weight could still fall. We should cut the rope connecting the weight and the axle. If the weight can't pull, nothing will burn or dismember or whatever this thing does."

Thomas lies on his stomach and peers under the capstone to inspect the current state of the trap.

[Pink]

No, I see nothing wrong with the current conjecture going around, it's not like a wild barbarian is spouting off the laws of physics or something. For the most part your characters are quite intelligent. I'm actually counting on you guys to be able to put two and two together in some occasions as I may be necessarily vague on certain details of traps that would just be impossible to know or obtain knowledge of. Afterall, it wouldn't be fun otherwise if you guys didn't get to fret about a silly little dart trap only that's distracting you from the time released poison in the room.

Also, as a note, the book considers this one of the more ingenious nonmagical electric traps ever made. Fun eh?

The elemental gathers a large stone from under the ground and places it as a suitable wedge to hold up the capstone and taking the weight off the shoulders of Dances with sand and the good father.

Oloren is able to see enough of the trap to understand what Wellby is describing, even if it is quite dark and difficult to see properly through the angles available looking through the tiny slit.

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

Thinking on the possibilities for a moment, the elf concludes with authority. "Let's cut the rope as well, since it seems to provide motive power for what appears to be an electricity engine. I cannot fathom what hidden purpose the copper thread may yet have, however. If we can, let's see if we can pivot the capstone to the side without breaking or disturbing it." If others agree, he instructs the elemental to aid them in moving the stone, stepping behind the main group so as not to obscure their efforts (which is exactly what he'd say if you challenged him for moving out of harm's way).
Two rounds left on elemental.
Strength check for elemental: [roll0]

[Telemont]

Father Tolbin

With an absent shrug, and deferring to the leader (funder) of their little organization, Father Tolbin lets Dances with Sand have the full range of the Crowbar, and he simply props his hands upon the stone and throws his back into the heaving of the thing!

"Rrgh, grunt, huff!"

[roll0] DC10 to Aid Another on the Elemental's ability check. Success = +2 to its roll.

[HellFencer]

Dances with Sand

Glad to have the help, Dances with Sand had let up on the crowbar while Father Tolbin helped. After a few moments, it seemed the group was ready to open the lid. "I don't claim to know much about this kind of thing, but why don't we just cut whatever won't fall," the dwarf asked.

As the father and the elemental both began to push on the lid, so too did Dances with Sand push.


Strength check to aid the elemental. [roll0]

[BurntOfferings]

Wellby

(( Let's assume that Wellby always describes to the others whatever he sees in situations like this. ))

"Well.... We could cut the rope as well, of course, but what if this is all a clever ruse? Maybe the rope and weight is all that's keeping the disk from spinning on its own. You know, springs and things. I don't mean to be paranoid or seem a craven, it's just... the things we read about this place...." Wellby visibly shudders as he finishes speaking.

"Perhaps I can jam the disk itself so that it can't spin. Oh, for a scroll of disintegration...."

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

"A worthy thought, but unlikely. The rope and thread had some, if not much, slack in them, no? If they were anything except taut, they can't currently be exerting any significant force on the contraption, inhibitory or otherwise. I'm comfortable that it's primary obfuscation was not to appear to be something it is not, but mostly to be sprung before we were even aware of it." Pausing for a moment, he adds, "I'm not one to do anything but praise the virtue of paranoia in this place, but past a certain extent it will cease to be helpful. There could always be another layer of trickery behind all that we are able to find, but no matter the precautions we are able to take, we will have to move forward eventually, which will always carry the risk of something we have not anticipated. Evinrood was powerful and crafty, and though I am confident in setting my power and our craft against his, he had the luxury of time and resources to dream up defenses against every power and trick he encountered in his lifetime. At each juncture, we will eventually have to move on, have to choose to decide that we may not have found everything, but that we are prepared to defend against and overcome that which is still hidden from us. I say this not to be inspiring, but because this is perhaps the last moment in which turning back in relative safety will be possible, should anyone be thinking of doing so." He falls silent, eager to open the tomb and begin their journey.

Summary: Long-winded speech, cliffs = "'Let's rock and roll."

[BurntOfferings]

Wellby

With a grimace and a sigh, Wellby once again reaches under the slab to cut the rope. Anyone peeking underneath would also see him push a few small wedges of wood between the disk and the capstone.


Disable Device with masterwork thieves' tools: (1d20+20)[29]

And just in case Pink wants separate rolls for jamming the disk and cutting the rope (in that order):

Disable Device with masterwork thieves' tools: (1d20+20)[27]

(Original post with official rolls is here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4233721&postcount=24).)

[Pink]

As Wellby Disables the trap further (each attempt also successful...he thinks...) the dwarf, binder and elemental struggle and heave and after a couple seconds, are able to shift it aside, just as the elemental disappears.

[stupnick]

[OOC]not sure it really mattesr, but i did say i was helping...but that's ok : )[ooc]

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

Ignoring the disappearance of the elemental, the elf bends slightly to look at the underside of the disk and announces that without the weight for motive power, the rest of the device should be unable to generate electricity, and therefore harmless. Straightening, he eyes the rope under the stone and asks "Prodigious feats of climbing aside, is anyone else able to fly? Failing in a more elegant solution, do we have enough rope between us for that depth?" As he speaks, he walks to the edge and drops a small rock down the shaft, counting seconds until he hears a splash.
How much rope is coiled under the capstone?
How rough (climbable) are the walls of the shaft?
Would you allow a very high Int character to determine the depth by counting seconds until the splash? It requires the character to be aware of gravitational acceleration, but that's it - the rest is simple math. (4.9*numbers of seconds squared gives the answer in meters, if my calculations are correct)

[BurntOfferings]

Wellby

"Yes, I can grant one of us the ability to fly for a few minutes. I can also enable us all to float safely down to the bottom as a group, provided we all jump down the shaft together." Wellby scratches his chin as his continues. "Experience has taught me not to rely overmuch on magic, however. Even if you choose to use magic to enter the dungeon, I suggest we first establish a mundane method of exiting. A knotted rope of sufficient length should suffice." He then returns to examining the device on the bottom of the capstone while waiting for the others to decide on a course of action.

Wellby has prepared both feather fall (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/featherFall.htm) and fly (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/fly.htm), but only one of each. He can cast fly on the strongest member, who would then carry everyone down to the bottom of the shaft, but this leaves us with no way out. Alternatively, he can cast feather fall on everyone, saving the fly spell in case we need to retreat to the surface, but we would have a problem if the shaft is deeper than 540 feet.

I vote knotted rope, assuming we have enough or reach. Wellby is carrying 50 ft. of silk rope.

[Reptilius]

Thomas

"Well, I can fall a good distance without harm. But that all depends on how deep this shaft is. We could drop a rock and see how long it takes for it to hit bottom."

[Telemont]

Father Tolbin

The kindly fellow looks to the left, then looks to the right, and finally reaches down to scoop up a sturdy looking rock. Something more substantial than a clod of dirt. He turns about and gestures it out to the group in general.

"I've got a wee bit of a plan. Do any of you with a mastery of the arcane or the like have the ability to conjure light upon this stone? I understand it's not a terribly taxing spell, and it could come in very handy in the near future."

[HellFencer]

Dances with Sand

Wiping his brow, Dances with Sand stood up and stretched his back. He looked down into the hole trying to see things in the dark. Slowly, he slipped his crowbar back into his pack. "I have nothing in the realm of flying, but I do have rope," he said, pulling out a long length of silk rope.

[Pink]

I'm afraid I have to disallow the use of that knowledge. You can get a rough estimate but not exact. This is partly cause I didn't allow it to the other group either XP

After a brief pause, the sound of a splash can be heard from the objects sent into the Tomb, and the scholars of the group are able to figure the length of the fall to be a couple hundred feet. At a glance there appears to be around 200 feet of rope, of the same quality as the silk rope brought by other party members, however knotting it would reduce it's length to 175.

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

Listening to the rock fall, and eying the rope coiled under the capstone, the elf grimaces. To Father Tolbin, he says "I can manage it, but I'd rather not have to if we don't need to. What's your plan?" Turning to the rest, he says "Well, with the amount you two have, added to the rope under that stone, we'll have a few hundred feet already. Knotting it will make it easier to climb, but shorten it slightly. Think you that that will be enough to reach the bottom?"

[HellFencer]

Dances with Sand

Looking around at the others, Dances with Sand spoke up and said, "I've two hundred feet of this silken stuff. I don't mind knotting it, but I'd rather not cut it, so be careful." As he arranged the rope he looked around again, quickly this time, and added, "So, who's in the tank first?"

[Reptilius]

Thomas

"Well, I don't need to climb all the way down, but I'd rather fall as short a distance as possible. I'd rather not fall screaming into a tank full of demon sharks with wands grafted onto their heads. That being said, I still volunteer."

[stupnick]

Slisseth

Well Sssinsse i can ssswim, i might asssss well go firsssst. i can help keep otherssss afloat, and i won't drowned at all.

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

"Well, whoever goes down will need rope to do so. We have enough that we may as well knot it to make it easier. And with a few hundred feet of rope, many hands will make the job go much faster." Oloren makes no immediate move to be the first to dirty his hands, but if no one else stirs after ten seconds or so, he gives a sigh and begins putting a knot in the rope they have, every two feet or so. He also strongly considers conjuring a flight spell. "Just make a decision, before we've no light left."

[BurntOfferings]

Wellby

Seeing Oloren doing something useful, Wellby leaves the mechanism and joins him. He pulls a 50' coil of silk rope out of his backpack and proceeds to knot it, following Oloren's example.

[Reptilius]

Thomas

"Well, I already volunteered. The halfling should come too; we're both sneaky, and could scout out the path ahead."

[BurntOfferings]

Wellby

The halfling's eyes widen a bit as Thomas volunteers him for exploratory duty. He continues to help with the rope-knotting while looking up at the rest of the group. "Um, well, of course I can go, I mean I'm here to deal with traps, right, so of course it makes sense for me to go first. Or maybe second. Whatever works." He quickly looks back down.

[HellFencer]

Dances with Sand

Much with the same sigh that Oloren gave, Dances with Sand began to help knot the rope. Once done, he double checks everything to make sure it is secure and will hold plenty of weight before grabbing the rope and stepping to the edge of the hole. "I'll go first since I can see in the dark. I want you to be the second down there in case there are surprises," he said, pointing at Welby. "That ok?" he asked tentatively. Without waiting for much of an answer, the dwarf began the trek down the rope...

[BurntOfferings]

Wellby

As the dwarf descends into the darkness, Wellby makes a show of examining the rope. He eventually moves to the opening and looking down, calls, "Alright, let me know when I should start down." He then prepares himself for the descent.

How much weight can a rope hold?

[Pink]

Information I'd like

Use rope checks from those who helped. I'll use highest result and consider all others as aid attempts.

Also, You've knotted the rope from the mechanism, so you have 175 of rope. How much more have you added to that length?

Also, what is used to support the rope? has the dwarf just grabbed a piece of rope that is connected only to a twenty pound weight?

Also, Climb checks.

As for weight capacity of rope...Let's say 500 lbs unless someone can find me a better value elsewhere, and the weight supported by a new piece of rope tied to another piece of rope will vary on the use rope check.

[BurntOfferings]

Wellby

Various rolls:
Use Rope (only one?): [roll0]

EDIT: I hope Wellby didn't tie any important knots. :smalleek:
Taking 10 on Climb checks == a check of 15.

Climb checks: Wellby isn't going to do any accelerated climbing, and he isn't going to touch the wall (at least not intentionally). One-quarter his normal speed is 5', so he has to make a check for every 5' of movement. I'm pretty sure that it was situations like this that led to the "take 10" rule. :smallwink:

These rolls should get Wellby down the first 100', barring failures. He's got feather fall prepared and isn't afraid to use it, but since he can't see in the dark, that may not be much help for anyone else.


Climb check #1: [roll1]
Climb check #2: [roll2]
Climb check #3: [roll3]
Climb check #4: [roll4]
Climb check #5: [roll5]
Climb check #6: [roll6]
Climb check #7: [roll7]
Climb check #8: [roll8]
Climb check #9: [roll9]
Climb check #10: [roll10]
Climb check #11: [roll11]
Climb check #12: [roll12]
Climb check #13: [roll13]
Climb check #14: [roll14]
Climb check #15: [roll15]
Climb check #16: [roll16]
Climb check #17: [roll17]
Climb check #18: [roll18]
Climb check #19: [roll19]
Climb check #20: [roll20]

[Pink]

>.< Sure, you can take ten on climb, is alot of climbing.

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

Before Dances begins down the rope, Oloren approaches him and asks politely "May I cast a spell to allow me to see through your eyes? It's a minor thing, but it'll give us an extra level of expertise on anything you might see." He then checks briefly to make sure the capstone will hold their weight.

If Dances agrees, Oloren casts Chain of Eyes on him, duration 9 hours. Then he checks to see if the capstone is heavy enough to hold both of them.
Use Rope check: [roll0]

[HellFencer]

Dances with Sand

Having already offered up his two hundred feet of rope for use, and secured it to something sturdy up top, the dwarf nodded quickly to Oloren before descending into the hole.

[roll0]

Do you want a roll to secure it to something sturdy?

[Pink]

OOC: Remind me what sort've vision you guys have please. my mind's a little fuzzled right now with the two games at the same time and relatively same pace. :P

There is a splash from as the rope as it's tossed down the shaft, signifying that it is sufficient to reach the bottom.

Descending carefully, not daring to touch the wall, Merrik and Wellby slowly descend into the darkness of the shaft. The rope and capstone groan initially, however they seem more than sturdy enough to hold the weight. Deeper they go, and the shaft appears unchanging, only the light disappearing from above mark a change in location. As they reach the 175 foot mark, marked by the end of the original rope and the large knot connecting it to the next piece of rope, Dances with Sand is able to see below a pool of water, fifty feet below, into which the rope descends. He's also able to see a pair of double doors that at a glance seem half submerged beneath the water.

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

As the minutes pass, the elf stands still, watching through Dances' eyes with growing impatience. Chafing at the thought of just waiting, he seizes the opportunity. Having seen that thus far, no malignant magic has attempted to tear at his comrades, he steps to the edge and calls down "Hold a moment."

He glances at the sun briefly. That should suffice - the day is far enough along for these spells to last until evening camp. Then he stands for a few moments, tracing sigils in the air in front of him. With a small whoosh, they glow brightly before fading, and the palpable sense of magic in the air around him increases. The faint glow of his blue eyes has deepened, turning them purple (though it would take an observant glance to notice such a detail). Prepared with all the power his magic can bring to bear, he lifts lightly off the ground and descends into the darkness. Halting a few feet above his two comrades, he scans the tunnel as far as he can see before saying "I believe it is safe to proceed - I am prepared in the event that our knots do not hold."

He'll be looking around as he flies down the shaft - his vision includes both Arcane Sight and darkvision out to 90 feet. As an elf, he should notice if he passes any secret doors.

When he reaches them, he makes another scan as far as his vision can penetrate, but not yet passing his comrades. Ready to cast Earth Lock and close the tunnel if the rope gives way.

Current spells active:
Arcane Sight (permanent)
Anticipate Teleportation (20/24 hours remaining)
Mage Armor (14/18 hrs remaining)
Deeper Darkvision (9/9 hrs remaining)
Overland Flight (9/9 hrs remaining)
Chain of Eyes (9/9 hrs remaining; current target = Dances with Sand)

[Reptilius]

Thomas

Thomas climbs down the rope, then falls the last 20 ft., landing easily on his feet. He joins up with the scouting group.

Took 10 on Climb.
Normal vision.

[HellFencer]

Dances with Sand

Reaching into his pack carefully, Dances with Sand removed a piece of his trail rations and dropped it into the water below. He waited a moment to see if it reacted at all before descending the rest of the way down.

He was hoping to see a dry ledge somewhere nearby to land on. In the event there would be none, he instead would look into the water to see its depth. "I hope you are right, Father," he said, looking up for a moment at Oloren. "Ready little buddy?" he asked Welby. Should it look non-threatening, Dances with Sand would drop into the water.

Darkvision here, 60 ft.

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

As his companions neared the end of the rope, Oloren followed and called to them. "Probably best to stay clear of what's at the bottom of the tunnel until we're sure it's not trapped. See anything, Wellby?" he asked as he looked around.

Woahhhh....I realllly think we should stay on the rope and have a look-see before hopping into the water like that, especially after such an ingenious electrical trap. If the water was electrified, I don't think dropping trail rations into the water would make it apparent.

Also...how many people do we trust to be on this rope at the same time, especially below our knot?

Sorry for the paranoia, but I really want our entire group to at least enter the dungeon before one of us bites it. :D

Oh, and Oloren is not Father anything. :P Father Tolbin is up at the top, still.

[Pink]

OOC: I will need to know if more than one person is climbing down that bottom part of the rope at a time. Also, unless there is a lightsource down there of some sort, Burnt just admitted that he couldn't exactly hold it an climb at the same time, It is pitch black down there for normal and light vision folks and you should probably be taking penalties for climbing since you can't actually see the rope in front of you. And i think the father may have left us...

As Thomas begins to climb down the rope he notices that it seems to strain even more, as he is the third person holding onto it. However it does seem to be holding for the moment if he dares...

Wellby and Dances with sand begin to notice that the rope seems to get more taut, and moves as if another person has begun to descend. The dwarf's trail ration test seems to prove that it is ordinary water, and beginning to descend the last length of rope, of which the knot seems to hold for his weight, He can guess that the water is roughly 4 feet deep, and completely covers the floor. He also finds that there is a set of two five-foot wide, ten-foot tall doors. ((Search check on doors if you wish, and I'll await confirmation on going into the water))

Oloren is able to confirm what Dances has seen with his own magically induced darkvision, and is also able to sense a low-level abjuration spell on the doors.

[HellFencer]

Yes, I'll go ahead and drop in.

[BurntOfferings]

Wellby

I wasn't sure how far I could descend before the light from above became too dim to work with.

Wellby climbs down until the darkness around him becomes too pressing. Nervously, he holds on tightly with one hand, with the rope wrapped around one leg and pinned between his feet, just as his first companions taught him. With his free hand, he reaches back into his magical haversack and brings forth his trusty torch. Light immediately fills the chamber, and Wellby looks down just in time to see Dances with Sand go completely under the water. "Oh no no no no that is not good, not good at all." Noticing the elf flying nearby, he says, "I believe you have the right idea, Oloren. I had hoped to save this spell in case we needed to make a hasty exit, but...." Returning the torch to his backpack (and plunging the well back into darkness), Wellby waves his free hand about in intricate gestures while muttering arcane phrases. Once finished, he let's go of the rope and retrieves his torch from his backpack. "I do home Dances can swim...."

Casting fly (which also confers damage reduction, but I doubt that will come up). Duration is 9 minutes. Unless Dances is clearly in distress, Wellby will start searching for traps on the doors. I don't know how tall Dances is; if he's well above average height for a dwarf, he might be able to keep his nose above the water. :smallwink:

Search: [roll0] (37 if Oloren has trapfinding, thanks to his Aid Another action below)

[HellFencer]

Dances with Sand

The desert dwarf let go of the rope gently, thinking he'd plunge into the shallows. Instead, as he let go, he floated just as gently as he'd let go. In the time it took to get slightly annoyed at his forgetfulness, Dances with Sand remembered he had recently purchased a ring of feather fall. With a sigh, and hearing Welby's comment, the dwarf responded, "A little, but I think I can manage, thank you."

There was but a small splash.

*splash*

Wonderful. I hate being submerged.

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

The elf smiles at the halfling's nervousness. "Not to fear, Wellby; with the right words, moving people around is no more difficult than moving pieces on a chessboard, though far more interesting. I doubt getting *out* of here will be a significant problem compared to what we currently attempt." If Dances is untouched, he floats lower with Wellby, pointing out any parts of the doors, water or floor below that may look suspicious. He contemplates the many ideas of dealing with the doors that float through his mind, and waits to see if his friends' more mundane efforts show any promise before unleashing his arcane might on the doors.

Aid Another on Wellby's Search check: [roll0]

[Pink]

Dances with Sand is now dancing with the water as it covers all but the top inch of his head. However, nothing horrible seems to happen to him, the water does not spring to life as a sleeping water elemental, not does he begin to light up like a creature struck by a lightning bolt. At least, not yet...

The search of the door by the two flying arcanists reveals, to Wellby's trap sensitive mind at least, that it is airtight and built in a rather strange way. There is no lock or handles on the stone doors, the arcane lock seeming to be the thing that's keeping it together. However, the doors also seem to be built a very strange way, the hinges attached wrong, so that actually opening the door would require quite a bit of strength. Overall, it seems that the doors are not built to be opened.

[BurntOfferings]

Wellby

Wellby examines the doors carefully, flying around to get a better look at interesting features, even holding his breath and sticking his head underwater to get a good look at the submerged sections of the doors.

"These doors are passing strange. If they're really doors, and it's at all possible to open them, it's going to take several of us working together to budge them. But I have a niggling suspicion that there's another way.

"Oloren, would you consent to assist me in searching for a hidden entrance? Dances with Sand, since you're already in the water anyway, what can you tell me about the floor of this shaft?"

The halfling then starts floating slowly along the curved wall of the shaft, searching for cracks or unexpected air flows.

Okay, so I think these doors are a pair of big red herrings. Wellby has some ranks in Knowledge (architecture and engineering); would that shed any more light on the doors' unusual construction?

Dances won't be able to find any complicated traps (even if they're built in the stone, since desert dwarves don't have stonecunning), so Wellby will probably need to do some diving if he doesn't find anything above the water.

I'm assuming that the bottom of the shaft is still circular, with a 10' diameter, so let me know if that's not the case.

One Search check covers a 10'x10' section, and the room is just over 31' around, so four search checks will cover one sweep without leaving any gaps. Wellby will search twice at each section, first for traps, then for secret doors or compartments. He'll start at the doors and move clockwise. Once he's completed a sweep, he'll fly up 10' and do it again. He'll spend up to four minutes searching, which will cover everything from the surface of the water to 50' above. He'll stop sooner if he finds anything.

First sweep (water level to 10' above):Search for traps: [roll0], [roll1], [roll2], [roll3]
Search for secret doors: [roll4], [roll5], [roll6], [roll7] (+2 if Oloren assists)
Second sweep (10' to 20'):Search for traps: [roll8], [roll9], [roll10], [roll11]
Search for secret doors: [roll12], [roll13], [roll14], [roll15] (+2 if Oloren assists)
Third sweep (20' to 30'):Search for traps: [roll16], [roll17], [roll18], [roll19]
Search for secret doors: [roll20], [roll21], [roll22], [roll23] (+2 if Oloren assists)
Fourth sweep (30' to 40'):Search for traps: [roll24], [roll25], [roll26], [roll27]
Search for secret doors: [roll28], [roll29], [roll30], [roll31] (+2 if Oloren assists)
Fifth sweep (40' to 50'):Search for traps: [roll32], [roll33], [roll34], [roll35]
Search for secret doors: [roll36], [roll37], [roll38], [roll39] (+2 if Oloren assists)

This will take four minutes, so Wellby will have a bit less that five minutes of flight left.

[Pink]

Wellby's search of the door seems to further confirm that it was not made to be opened, or at least not opened easily, however it does seem possible that they could be opened if that spell wasn't holding it closed, provided enough strength was there.

His search of the tomb's entrance shaft however is unsuccessful for any hidden doors, small cracks, shifts in air currents, or anything particularly out of the ordinary.

Not actually saying if the doors are fake or not, but this is exactly the kind of thinking I want here. Your search checks will reveal clues and I'm hoping you're able to draw conclusions from them. Good job and all that praise.

[HellFencer]

Dances with Sand

Seeing two of his companions float near him, and watching Welby examine the doors, Dances with Sand swims just enough to let his ears out of the water. Hearing Welby's instruction, the dwarf sinks to the bottom again, and begins to search the pair of doors for anything suspicious, without touching them. After the doors, he comes back up for air, and begins to search the floor.

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

He lowers himself slowly until he feet trail bare inches above the harmless water, then makes a few slow and thorough circuits of the walls as he follows Wellby, eying them carefully for any cracks or suspiciously even lines or deformities in the rock. He then makes a second circuit, looking at the walls below the water this time for the same irregularities. Aside from his natural aptitude at noticing hidden doors, he hopes any there might be below the water will be less than airtight, and give themselves away by a slow sucking of water, or minuscule rivulets of escaping air.

As he searches, his brain keeps catching on the strange construction of the doors. "Passing strange indeed, Wellby. It's not in character for Evinrood to simply try to block our path, especially with an easy retreat this near behind us. The doors could simply be made sturdy, not to be opened again, since a tomb is not designed for travelers, but that is also unlike Evinrood, who knew seekers would come, and, in arrogance, would want his brilliance more apparent than in a simple blockade." He glares at the doors once more, then concludes "It's too simple. I do not believe our way lies through those doors, or if it does, there are much more complex protections on them than merely being hard to open and sealed with a spell little better than a cantrip."

Not sure how many Search checks that makes, but with a +10 Search modifier, Oloren auto-succeeds on Aid Another checks, as well as automatically knowing if he passes within 5 feet of any secret doors.

[BurntOfferings]

Wellby

Mindful of the limited duration of his spell, Wellby gives up his search of the walls (at least for now). "Oloren, could I impose on you once again? I'll need to search the floor, and I'd rather not fill by haversack with water. Would you hold it for me?" That taken care of, he floats gently down to the water. Once again taking the rope in his free hand (the everburning torch still in his other), he takes several deep breaths.

I'll probably be attacked by an invisible crocodile.

Readying himself, he dives under the water and begins searching the floor, first for traps, then for secret entrances.

I don't know if he'll need to make a Swim check or not; I had thought he'd just shuffle along the bottom, and use the rope to pull himself out of the water once he was done. I'll make one anyway, though, just in case.

Swim check (just in case): [roll0]
Search check (traps): [roll1]
Search check (secret doors): [roll2]
Climb check to get back out of the water: [roll3]
EDIT: Gah! Worst rolls ever!

[Pink]

OOC: *DM snicker*

Rope in hand, torch in the other, wellby plunges into the oversized puddle. However, it seems that swimming with both hand's occupied, is a bit tricky for the halfling and he ends up smacking his head against the stone wall of the shaft.
[roll0]
After a wince at the pain, Wellby is able to get a hold of himself and searches under the water. However he is unable to find any sign of a trap or a secret door.

[BurntOfferings]

Wellby

Sputtering and rubbing his head, the halfling says, "I found nothing, but I was a bit... distracted. I will search one more time, just to be safe." He goes back under, attempting to be a bit more careful this time.

Swim check (just in case): [roll0]
Search check (traps): [roll1]
Search check (secret doors): [roll2]
Climb check to get back out of the water: [roll3]
EDIT: Now that's more like it. :smallcool:

[Pink]

OOC: Aww, you guys are too careful, let me set off some traps :P

Wellby's second dive and search is able to show him that the entire floor is actually a carefully designed trapdoor that is nearly airtight, except for those bubbles that gave it away.

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

((Assuming Wellby shares his hard-won info))

Absently handing back the halfling's pack, the elf's eyes narrow in frustration. "There's no trigger mechanism to open it. Unless...ah, Evinrood, you are fiendish indeed!" He floats over to the left-hand door. "If these doors were not made to be opened, and there is a trapdoor beneath us, and we have found NOTHING else in this tunnel, then there are only a limited number of options to explore, the first and crudest of which would be to break the trap door. However...perhaps the doors serve another purpose entirely. You might wish to climb clear of the floor in case this works, Dances." He stares fixedly at the door for a moment, reviewing his stored magic. Wheels within wheels...what if the trap door is a dummy, and these doors hide death to the unwary. No, paranoia can be healthy, but must not become paralyzing. "I think the mechanism to open that door may be behind one of these doors, which have unfortunately been strengthened by arcane locks. However..."

Checking to see that both his friends have cleared the water, he casts his spells. "A minor spell to counter a minor spell, Evinrood." Despising dispelling or unlocking magics in the fear that they may be too expected, he casts a simpler spell. His hand immediately begins trailing mist, a moment before he plunges it into the door, hoping to open a small hole to see what compartment or switch may lay behind it.

Casting Corrosive Grasp (Extended), which allows Oloren to make touch attacks that deal 1d8 acid damage for the next 18 rounds. He's putting his hand on the door, which should be an auto-hit, and sizzling his way through, ready to jerk away at the faintest "give" that may signal having broken through. He's keeping his body off to the side, and placing his hand on the exact middle of the door, as close as he can gauge.

He'll break off if anyone speaks to stop him, especially if they do before he casts the spell.

Damage:[roll0]I think that should show individual rolls - he's only making as many as it takes to get through the door for now. If the rolls don't display individually, I'll reroll in the OOC thread.

[BurntOfferings]

Wellby

Seeing what Oloren has in mind, Wellby decides it might be a good time to update the others on their progress. It has been several minutes, after all, and they were probably getting worried.

(OOC: Thomas is down here, too. Don't forget about him! )

[Pink]

OOC: I await to know if all of them try to climb up that rope at the same time...

[HellFencer]

Dances with Sand

The dwarf, having absolutely no luck in finding anything, decides to swim to the edge, and climb back out. (Assuming there is no way to climb out, he will merely swim the edge, grab his crowbar, and try to wedge it in something to have a grip.)

"I'm ready when you are," he said to Oloren. To welby he turned, and asked, "So, there's something on the floor, and I was standing on it the whole time? I don't think I'm going to like this place very much." The dwarf sighed.

[Reptilius]

Thomas

"Well, I can barely swim, especially with my armor. Perhaps I should get to higher ground before we all drown." Thomas wades over to the rope, and grabs hold of it.

((OOC: Anyone is free to make an interjection.))

[Pink]

OOC: Okay, just since this is one of those things that's hard to regulate pbp without taking days, I'm going to assume you climbed up the rope one at a time. Might as well also tell you that, if more than one person is on the bottom part of the rope at a time, the knot will not be able to hold their weight unless it's two very light people.

With the others safely away, and now all by himself in the tomb of a master magician and trapsmith, Oloren begins his method of finding a way in. Hand channeling arcane acidic energies, he begins to melt through the stone. After a half a minute, he finishes breaking through, his success only met by a clicking sound, followed by the trap door giving way as gallons of water fall downwards., After the water clears, Oloren can see that the shaft extends a further 75 feet or so before the water rests once again at the bottom.

[BurntOfferings]

Wellby

Torch in hand, Wellby zips down to the surface of the water and carefully examines the walls. He then peers at the water, checking for pointy objects before diving under to examine the floor.

Wellby's kind of rushing here to get the most out of his fly spell. Hopefully that won't come back to bite him. :smalleek:

Searching the walls as before (or doors, if there are obvious doors down here).
Search for traps: [roll0], [roll1], [roll2], [roll3]
Search for secret doors (if there are no non-secret doors): [roll4], [roll5], [roll6], [roll7]
Searching the floor, also as before. If the water is deeper than 5 feet, Wellby won't risk it.
Search for traps: [roll8]
Search for secret doors: [roll9]
Swim check: [roll10]

[Pink]

To Wellby's eye the set up seems very similar to the first 'bottom' so to speak, four feet of water, a set of stone doubledoors. However, after a careful examination he's able to find a couple differences. First of all, this door opens outwards and unlike the previous door, should open easily with a light pressure on it, though for some reason it stays closed with the weight of the water pressing against it. Secondly, Wellby seems to be unable to find a trapdoor underneath the water.

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

The elf watches Wellby's descent toward the next door, then turns and continues while his spell lasts, attempting to enlarge the hole and discover the mechanism behind the door, and how he had triggered. He moves back directly in front of the hole he has created so as to see better. He calls to whoever is highest on the rope ((Thomas??)) "Go ahead and climb down - I'll go up in a moment and tell the others it's safe to come down."

[Pink]

Oloren's creation of a hole through the door reveal that the door is attached to a series of chains, chains that are also held together by the arcane lock. Uneducated in trapcrafting as he is, Oloren may guess that it's carefully rigged to release the trap door if the arcane lock were dispelled or the door moved or it's weight changed, via destruction, or some of the chains severed. However some chains are still moving in the background as he looks through the hole.

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

Fascinating. With a quick glance* at the organization of the chains, the elf reaches into the hole and grasps the chains that are moving, as the acid finally sputters and its sheen fades from his hand. As he rises away from the door, he extracts a pearl from his belt pouch with two long fingers and squeezes it with a small smile. Reaching the top, he looks around at the waiting party members. "Should be clear all the way to the bottom now. Make sure to come only one on the rope at a time - we can't be sure how firmly the rope is tied."

Floating back down to the bottom, he asks Wellby "How does everything look down here?"

*Int check to determine which chains seem to be most important in the knot: [roll0]

Using a Pearl of Power to retrieve the acid spell.

[Pink]

Oloren is unable to figure out which of the many chains are the most important to the mechanism. However he thinks that one skilled in mechanical workings of traps would have no problem figuring it out.

[harmonictempest]

((Oh, I don't care if he has a good idea or not - he's just reaching in and using up the rest of the spell before it fades, and trying to make an educated guess as to the best chains to pick. If he doesn't have a good idea, then he's going for the ones that are moving.))

[Pink]

Oloren proceeds to mess up the trap with some unhealthy creaking and snapping as chains are severed. Eventually they stop moving and he has the sense of accomplishment that this hasn't resulted in something worse happening. yet.

[HellFencer]

Dances with Sand

The dwarf, having already been down once before, makes his way down the rope again. He took his time so as to not fall, and looked to find an edge to stand on. "Ah, looks like another door. If that one is trapped too, I think Evinrood has some mental problems," he said, looking to Oloren.

[BurntOfferings]

Wellby

Flying back up to the first pair of doors, Wellby peers through the hole Oleren made. "What have we here? Interesting...."

I'm not sure what to roll here, so I'll fall back on Search. Let me know if I should roll something else.

Search: [roll0]

[Pink]

OOC: I think I should probably rule that your fly spell will run out after you get to the bottom again.

IC: Wellby sees that it is indeed a complex trap mechanism...However unfortunately it seems like somebody has well, melted many parts of the mechanism. Though he's unable to study it like he might have, he is able to determine that it is now inactive and unless it has someway to be rebuilt, will stay inactive.

[BurntOfferings]

Wellby

After examining the remaining chains through the acid-created hole, Wellby declares, "Well, whatever this did before, it isn't going to do it again. Which is probably good.

"As for the door below, it's similar to this one, but without the trapdoor underneath. In fact, since my spell will expire soon, it would be most convenient if we open it soon."

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

Then, by all means, let's open it. Since your searches found nothing, let's hope Evinrood contented himself with only a single trap here. Scribing a complex circular sigil which glows blue in the air before him, Oloren, inserts his hand into it and turns it as he speaks a few words. I trust you have a similar spell prepared, should we encounter any more locked doors?

Curses, boards lost my first post. Casting knock on the door.

Train of thought: If they open inwards and don't have handles, it's just the arcane lock holding them there, and we're all far enough away to be okay, I think. He won't cast unless everyone is at least 30 feet away (which I think we all are).

[Pink]

With the lock dispelled, the doors are pushed open as the water floods into the room, leaving the floor of the shaft visible.

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

The elf settles slowly down to about a foot above the ground, just low enough to see through the doors, and five feet away from them, in the center of the shaft. He scans whatever passageway or opening has been revealed, his eyes glowing a soft, luminescent purple.

Darkvision out to 90 feet, seeing magical auras within 120 feet.
[roll0]
[roll1]

....and if I'm lucky, that'll be good enough to see the end of my nose and hear my own breathing.

[Pink]

Oloren peers into a room forty feet wide and thirty feet deep. The water has washed over the cobbled stone floor and has slowly began to seep into the cracks. The walls of the room are covered in stucco and painted on them are a variety of scenes involving a vague robed figure wielding powerful magic and doing mighty deeds, several of which are deeds that Evinrood was supposed to have performed.

Six feet from the wall opposite from the entrance into the room lies a raised stone pedestal, upon which rests undisturbed, a coffin of pale stone, ornately carved with geometric patterns. For a moment Oloren seems to think he sees something strange about the area, however it's...very strange. Though it appears to have no magicical auras something still draws Oloren's arcane site to the coffin and the area five feet around it. (Spellcraft check)

Peering into the actual tomb, Oloren is able to sense a disturbingly heavy presence of magic. Though it lies in the background, seemingly in the walls and foundations of the tomb, it is still apparent, like a musty stench to his arcane senses. It cannot be identified as being produced from any one school of the arcane.

Also, looking in, Oloren notices above the coffin a roundel painted upon the ceiling's stucco. Unlike the walls however, this is clearly animated and shows a person dying in various horrible ways. However something looks very familiar about this person...why, it is Oloren himself!

Yes, right now the Elf sees himself being pierced by a score of crossbow bolts, blood trickling from countless wounds. Then the scene changes, this time to him falling, endlessly, his face pale with fright, mouth open with wordless screams, before impacting on something solid, skeleton visibly shattering beneath the flesh. The next image has the image of Oloren floating and gasping underneath some large pool of water, as forms undefined seem to dart past, biting pasts of him off bit by bit, his blood mixing with the water until it covers the entire roundel, only for a more gruesome scene to start showing.

[HellFencer]

Dances with Sand

The dwarf watched carefully as Oloren made his way into the next room. "What can you see, Oloren? Is there solid and stable ground?" he called from the first trapped door.

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

"Hmm, threats so soon, Evinrood?", he says to no one in particular. He remains where he is for the moment, trying to learn what he can of the room from a distance before venturing inside.

When Dances speaks:
"I'm not in the next room just yet," the elf replies testily. "Come and see for yourself. I suspect someone should go first with a better eye for traps - just because I can see every magical aura in this hole doesn't mean all the traps are magical.

The floor under me at the bottom of this shaft looks safe enough - after all, Wellby certainly didn't get hurt when he was down here. I haven't seen anything in the room yet that makes me particularly trust its floor, though. It's...strangely drenched in magic, though I can't immmediately locate a single spell or even a type of magic it falls under. Best to proceed slowly, and with caution."

Waiting for my check results to do anything more exciting then stand and blather on.

Also, I think we're down to Wellby, Dances, and Oloren - can't really blame the others, though, after that long of waiting topside.

Edit: I'm adding a little bit, hoping to speed this up a bit. Please assume that you can fit actions in before this if you want.

As the dwarf and halfling reach the bottom of the shaft, the elf gestures inside. "Look there, if you're not too easily intimidated. Evinrood would have a had time making me fall like that, that's for sure. This is a fake tomb for certain, and perhaps the first of many.

In any case, I think you carefully trained eyes should go first, to look for traps, Wellby. But just to make sure it's safe enough for searching, I think I'll send someone a little more expendable in first, if no one objects."

He raises both hands in a few gestures of conjuration.

Summon a Small Earth Elemental and instruct it in Terran to walk around the coffin once and return. If it survives, instruct it to walk around the room next to the wall once, and return. Its duration is up by then for sure.

[HellFencer]

Dances with Sand

Having found his way to the bottom, Dances with Sand stood beside Oloren. "Magic everywhere, you say? Perhaps this was not the best of places to delve into, but we are already here, so we may as well give it everything we have, eh Father?" he said, nudging the man with his elbow.

[Pink]

For a moment the background magic seems to pry away Oloren's concentration on his summoning, however he quickly regains it and summons the small clod of moving dirt. Following it's master's orders, it completes the circuit, to no apparent adverse effect, before once again settling into the ground.

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

With a smile, the elf responds "I'm not a Father in any sense of the word. The good Father Tolbin remained above, and has probably thought better of the expedition and left by this point."

He focuses again for a moment. "Childish. He's cast masking spells over the central area so that divinations cannot penetrate it. Still, if the elemental survived, then you at least should be all right. You're about the same weight as it - would you care to go first and check for more mundane traps? Following the path it took should be safest."

A moment later he adds, "I do not think we can be too careful about a floor through which water seeps so quickly."

There, Wellby, don't you just feel nice and cozy walking into that room now? I'm right behind you, really I am.:smallbiggrin:

Questions galore.
Are there any obvious exits from the room?
Is there a pair of doors opposite us on the other side of the shaft that we have not explored? (I guess not, but I had this funny feeling there was, after your first description - probably some confusion between "double doors" and "two sets of doors". Silly English.
The elemental counts as a living creature for the purposes of triggering any trap, I think.

And lastly, Knowledge (architecture) to spot anything strange about the room: [roll0]

[Pink]

Answers

1. There are no obvious exits from the room.
2. No, there are not any unexplored doors in the shaft. I'm trying to work on descriptions but I think I suck at them a little :P
3. I think I'm going to have to rule against the elementals counting as living seeing as they don't breathe, eat, sleep, and don't really have a pulse. The only thing they have is that they're infused with a soul, which even some undead have going for them.

Oloren, after tearing his eyes away from the ghastly display and studying the room more architecturally, notices that in a small corner it seems the stucco has come off, revealing a stone wall. The stucco is only a couple centimeters thick and could be easily taken off the walls.

[HellFencer]

Dances with Sand

"Ah, sorry then. I must have been a bit confused. My mind is a bit preoccupied with the idea of death," the dwarf replied to Oloren. Turning his attention back to the room, Dances with Sand squatted down and drew a knife. Slowly, he pried at the floor, trying to discern any qualities about it. If nothing happened immediately, he would tap the tip of the blade on all the different surfaces.

After several moments of nothing happening, Dances with Sand would press down on the floor with his hand.

[Pink]

As Dances with Sand steps into the room, the art on the ceiling changes, this time the person in agony is the dwarf. Currently he seems to be pumping those short legs, running up an endless flight of stairs. At the same time the ceiling seems to be closing in on him and as his legs tire, it seems something is biting at the back of his heels, eating through his boots and then beginning to draw blood. Eventually it seems the trap is to much and the dwarf is quickly ground up by whatever it was that was chasing him right as the ceiling hits the ground and crushing his remains. Then the next scene starts...

Ignoring the ghastly images of the horrors happening to his likeness, Dances with Sand investigates the floor. It seems to be carved stone held together by a seemingly porous mortor that has allowed the water to drain away slowly. Currently it's more fragile than it would be dry. The taps of the knife and pushing weight do not seem to cause any changes.

[BurntOfferings]

Wellby

Wellby flies down and lands softly on the wet stones just inside the door. Holding out his torch, he peers into the dark room, looking for trouble. He then begins a slow circuit of the room, peering at the floor and paying special attention to any stains or cracks. He then gives the walls and coffin the same treatment.

Sorry for the delay. :smallfrown:

Spot and Listen, just in case.
Spot: [roll0]
Listen: [roll1]

Now checking the floor for traps. It'll take 12 checks to do the entire floor. Wellby will do the outer 10'x10' sections first, moving clockwise, then do the two remaining inner sections. Then he'll do the walls, then the coffin.

Search the floor for traps: [roll2], [roll3], [roll4], [roll5], [roll6], [roll7], [roll8], [roll9], [roll10], [roll11], [roll12], [roll13]

Search the walls for traps: [roll14], [roll15], [roll16], [roll17], [roll18], [roll19], [roll20], [roll21], [roll22], [roll23], [roll24], [roll25], [roll26], [roll27]

Search the coffin for traps: [roll28]

And now for secret doors!

Search the walls for secret doors: [roll29], [roll30], [roll31], [roll32], [roll33], [roll34], [roll35], [roll36], [roll37], [roll38], [roll39], [roll40], [roll41], [roll42]

[Pink]

Wellby's Search of the front of the coffin reveals that, amidst the geometric designs is cleverly hidden a thin slit along the middle of the coffin that runs seven feet in length. Peering in he's able to see that something glints faintly from the light of the everlasting torch, a blade three and a half feet in length that currently rests on the left of the coffin. On the other side he's able to spot some large looking springs inside the coffin that connect to the lid, as well as connecting to some contraption of gears that connect to the blade.

Wellby's search of the walls and the room reveal no other traps and he does not find any signs of a secret door from the surface of the stucco murals.

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

When the floor and walls have been checked by Wellby, the elf strides in casually, looking around. "I'm inclined to think that there's a secret door in that coffin, as we have only just entered the tomb, and it would be ludicrous to think that we were so soon done. You didn't see any other possible exits, did you?" As he waits for the halfling's reply, he walks over to the corner that he saw the loose stucco in. Pulling at it idly, he tries to see how loose it has become. "Not quite as eternal as you had hoped, perhaps, Evinrood?"

Overly specific question: he's trying to determine if a very weak...thing (with Str 2, to be exact) could successfully pry off any stucco. I can explain why he's likely to be able to tell, if I must (but isn't being surprised so much more fun?).

OOC: stucco that "could be easily taken off the walls" makes me curious. :smallbiggrin:

[Pink]

OOC: Stucco is stucco. While str 2 might be a bit too low, it is reasonably easy to take off, especially if you have certain tools to help, though it might take a while to do so manually.

[BurntOfferings]

Wellby

Wellby wrings his small hands as he considers the coffin. "The coffin is trapped. I'm sure everyone is shocked to learn that. A very large nasty blade is set to relieve explorers of any excess height should they disturb the lid. At least, that's the way it appears." Wellby then steps away from the coffin and peers up into the roundel, watching the gruesome images as they are displayed, one after the other.

"Oloren, I hate to ask this, but I'm a bit too far from that roundel to make a good examination of it. Could I get a lift?" The halfling is clearly embarrassed about asking, but it is equally clear that he prefers embarrassment to grisly death from above.

Assuming Oleren consents:
Search for traps: [roll0]
Search for secret doors: [roll1]

[Pink]

OOC: Whoops, forgot a grisly image of death

As Wellby looks up, the image he sees now is that of himself, carefully approaching a vague door. He seems to thoroughly examine it and then opens it, only to have it swing together from the middle, squishing him into a pile of gore.

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

The elf is taken aback, and nearly begins casting a spell before decidng on the foolishness of wasting the energy on such a trivial task. Looking more uncomfortable than you have seen the normally aloof mage yet look, he hoists the halfling up while he searches, then puts him down again and steps away.

"Well, if you have found nothing, then I see no obvious way out aside from opening that coffin. I would apologize for putting you in danger, but we have all been in danger from the moment we entered this place. The only other possibility I see is for there to be another hidden door somewhere, and the most likely place to hide one would be behind this stucco, which seems to already be cracking in some places. However, I'm not sure where to begin, and it would certainly take some time. Dances, as the strongest, perhaps you could begin and see how fast it will go? Then, if it appears it will take some time, we could think again on the coffin."

He waits for their responses, ready to aid either of them.

[Pink]

Wellby's search of the roundel only reveals another grisly image of death, the halfling swinging by a chain into some inconveniently placed spikes, and no threat of it falling or any secret entrances further into the tomb, if there is a further.

[BurntOfferings]

Wellby

I wonder if those images ever repeat.

Back on the ground, he sighs. "I found nothing, and I was extremely thorough. We could try dispelling the illusion, just to see what happens, but for now I'll see to the coffin. I suggest you stand back."

Taking out his tools once again, Wellby sets to work disarming the trap, disconnecting a spring here, snipping a wire there, jamming an mechanism somewhere else. His eyes dart to the hidden blade for a moment, and a bead of sweat rolls slowly down his forehead.

Disable Device with masterwork thieves tools: [roll0]

[Pink]

After his tinkering and carefully jamming the blade so that it shouldn't move, Wellby thinks that it should be safe to open the coffin. At least, that it shouldn't trigger the swinging blade.

[BurntOfferings]

Wellby

Wellby collects his tools. "There, that should do it." He then places his small hands on the lid and pushes*.

(( * Or pulls, lifts, twists, pries, etc. Whatever's necessary. ))

[Pink]

Wellby's strength seems insufficient to open the heavy stone lid of the coffin.

OOC: Please tell me where you're standing if you're helping to open, the front (where the trap could theoretically still swing out if it's not fully disabled) or the sides. I know there is a lack of people right now so for now if you need the extra strength and manpower you can assume Stupnick and Reptilius character's will help if you give an IC direction to them. I should pm them.

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

Half a moment there - let's try it a slightly less dangerous way.

Oloren summons another earth elemental, and directs it to take the lid off the coffin, if it can, while he and Wellby stand back.

Small Earth Elemental = Str 17. If that is insufficient, he will lend elementals to aiding whomever does remove it. Then, he'll turn to summoning elementals one after the other to remove stucco from the walls in whatever way seems most efficient. He's generally compliant, and most actions that don't require much of him or put him in great overt danger (he will *not* help move the lid, for instance), you can assume he does if you ask him, if that helps speed IC along while I'm gone.

Last post for at least 50 hours.

[BurntOfferings]

Wellby

"Here, use this to pry up the lid." Wellby reaches into his backpack and pulls out a crowbar, which he offers to the elemental. He then steps back out of the way, knowing that his small frame won't be much help where raw strength is needed.

[Pink]

The Earth elemental, along with the help of the lizardman and Thomas Weaver, are able to exert enough muscle power to open the lid of the coffin. However when they first start lifting it a groaning noise comes from inside the coffin as it fights to spring the trap that Wellby has disabled. Eventually it stops and they're able to lift the coffin completely open, revealing inside two large springs, the blade that was meant to swing out and some gears and other mechanical workings.

[BurntOfferings]

Wellby

The halfling steps forward to examine the contents of the coffin. "Well, it appears that that was a waste of time and effort. I suppose that we can try removing the stucco, as Oleren suggested." And Wellby begins to do just that, after retrieving and storing his crowbar.

Search check, inside the coffin: [roll0]

[Pink]

Wellby's look into the coffin finds that the trap was more devious than a simple swinging blade. Rather, upon opening the coffin, it would swing to the other side, then, some seconds later it would swing again, and reset to go off all over again when the coffin was opened again. However, he also spots some gears and springs on the inside of the back of the coffin that seem to have no connection to the trap's mechanism.

[BurntOfferings]

Wellby

"Hold on, there may be something of interest here after all...."

Wellby takes a closer look at the gears at the back of the coffin.

Searching again where the gears are: [roll0]

[Pink]

Examining the back of the coffin, Wellby finds a small irregularity within the vast geometrical patterns closer inspection reveals that it should be possible to push this irregularity and cause some sort of activation of the mechanism inside the coffin that isn't related to the swinging blade trap.

[BurntOfferings]

Wellby

Holding his breath in fear and anticipation, Wellby pushes the irregularity. :smalleek:

[HellFencer]

Dances with Sand

The desert dwarf stepped further into the room and looked all around. "If there are no visible exits, how about invisible ones? Or perhaps ones we wouldn't normally be walking past, like the ceiling or something..."

Ok, is this room cobblestones? Its friday and I can't remember... :(

[Pink]

OOC: Cobblestone more or less.

IC: As Wellby presses the hidden button, he hears the sound of the gears in the coffin turning and then a sharp cracking from behind him. Turning around he sees the stucco is cracking in a ten foot by ten foot area of the wall directly behind the coffin. For a moment he just stares at this, and then the stucco flies off as two sections of the wall, each five feet wide and ten feet tall, swing open to reveal what appears to be a set of double doors, each ten feet tall and ten feet wide, the right door having three holes at the waist height of a normal human that seem to be the only way of opening the door.

By this time, Oloren's summoning of earth elementals has also cause the stucco to be taken off to reveal stone walls and, in the middle of the left and right walls, worked stone. After the stucco has been pulled off these areas it reveals that each side has a set of double doors identical to those that were revealed by the swinging secret door discovered by Wellby.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v247/pink_lugia/DoDDoor.jpgNote: The doors you've found only have three holes on the right side.

[HellFencer]

Dances with Sand

The dwarf stood there, staring blankly at the three sets of doors revealed, all without his help. "Well, there goes my idea..." he said flatly. He walked up within five feet of the set of doors behind the coffin, giving Shelby plenty of room to look around. Were he tall enough, he would look through the holes in the door. "Looks like we need the handle. Probably be something with three prongs on the end. Might be in one of those other rooms?"

[Pink]

All three doors have the same three holes, and they are certainly are at a height that anyone could look through them, though whether from standing on tip toes or bending in half depends on who is looking.

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

"I wouldn't stare in quite so rashly. In fact, in this dungeon, I'd say that the first part of anyone's body to do anything shouldn't be one you terribly mind losing. Does anyone have a small stick of some sort we could poke into the holes to see if there's a button or a trap there? We could start with the back door, as it seems to have been the hardest to find."

Thanks to all for being patient with my absence.

Detect Magic doesn't turn anything up when he looks carefulyl all around the room, does it?

[Pink]

Looking through the hole with his darkvision, Merric can see that each hole ends in a flat end about two inches in or so. They seem the perfect size to put most humanoids fingers inside.

Oloren's permanent magic vision reveals nothing inside this room besides the foggy presence of the background magic and that strage aura of undetection. He does notice that this aura extends to seem to cover the back door of the room, if there is anything magical about it the aura probably covers it.

[BurntOfferings]

Wellby

"Oh dear. It's never simple, is it?" Wellby carefully examines each door in turn, paying particular attention to the hinges and the strange holes in the front.

Searching the doors behind the coffin: [roll0]
Searching the doors to the left of the coffin: [roll1]
Searching the doors to the right of the coffin: [roll2]

[Pink]

All the doors seem held closed by some sort've lock mechanism.

On each door, Wellby is able to find that the holes seem to end in stone caps two or so inches in that appear to be pushed in. However in each hole there is also, from the top, a slit from which he can see a small metal glint. It's possible that the button at the end of each hole either opens the door, or causes something else to happen.

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

Standing back a little, Oloren summons a water elemental, directing it toward the left door. He tells it to form fingers and push them into the holes visible on the door.

With three holes, there should be seven possible combinations for the door. Here's hoping we find the right one before we trigger the trap.

[HellFencer]

Dances with Sand

The desert dwarf stood back away from the door, watching the water elemental tinker at it. He began to look around the edges of the doorway for signs of damage or inconsistencies, indicating a sort of trap. Or so he hoped.

[Pink]

((Is there any one button you press, or do you press them all? Or what combination you want to try first?))

Finger holes as follows for explaining order being pressed.

(1) (2) (3)

[harmonictempest]

Attempted order:
1
2
3
12
23
13
123

[Pink]

As the water elemental pushes it's 'finger' into the first hole, there is a brief clicking noise. However this is barely heard as with incredible noise the doors spring forward, utterly smashing the summoned water elemental into a puddle of water (26 damage). The reason for the force behind the doors becomes apparent as, after opening, six spring shoot out the door and begin to bounce around the room. However it is quickly noticed that the springs themselves are sharp as they slash past the rooms occupants before finally coming to a stop.

Oloren: 5 damage
Dances with Sand: 5 damage
Wellby: 18 damage

As the spring settle and the delvers regain the wits and feel their wounds, it is revealed that behind the opened doors is a short hallway leading to a staircase going up.

[BurntOfferings]

Wellby

(( Ouch! But Wellby has trap sense! And uncanny dodge! Not to mention evasion! :smalleek: ))

Clutching the wound in his shoulder, Wellby limps forward to examine the newly-revealed stairway.

"Do you suppose the other doors also have stairways behind them? We have no guarantee that this one leads anywhere we want to go." He checks the passageway and stairway carefully, then limps back into the main room. Armed with the knowledge of how door #1 behaved, he reexamines the other doors, looking for clues to their combination.

I don't know how short "short" is, so I'll do two checks for the hallway, and one for the stair. If they overlap, so be it.

Search for traps in the hallway: [roll0]
Search for traps in the hallway: [roll1]
Search for traps on the stairway: [roll2]

Searching door #2 for clues: [roll3]
Searching door #3 for clues: [roll4]

Wellby has 5 ranks in Knowledge (architecture and engineering) if that helps any.

I can't help but notice that if you don't have either spellcasting ability or trapfinding and Search/Disable Device, there's not much to do here. No wonder the others have been quiet/dropped out. Well, we can't say we weren't warned. We may yet find a trap that's best defeated by beating on it.

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

The mage reacts little when the spring strikes him, aside from wincing. Tearing a small strip of cloth from the hem of his robe, he quietly ties it around his bleeding forearm while Wellby searches the hallway and other two doors. When the halfling is finished, he calls to him and Dances: I'm going to use the same method to set off the other two doors. You two are both welcome to go back into the hallway, or even climb up the rope a little if you feel the need to be farther out of the way.

After they move, he summons another water elemental, giving it the same instructions. As it begins to move toward the door, he floats away from it down the hallway.

It seems evident that we would have seen how far the springs bounced and would know about how far to retreat.

[HellFencer]

Dances with Sand

"GAH!" called out the dwarf. Nursing his new wound, Dances with Sand fled to the safety of the hallway before Oloren attempted his trick once more. "Alright, I'm ready. Go ahead!"

[BurntOfferings]

Wellby

The halfling seeks refuge in the hallway, getting as far away from the coffin room as he can.

"Uh, o-o-okay...."

[Pink]

As none of the springs seem to be angled in a way that they could somehow exit the room unless by outside intervention, Oloren deems that standing outside the entrance of the room is enough to avoid a similar trap, even from the other doors.

The water elemental approaches the doors on the right of the room and begins to proceed through the order as instructed by it's master. After the first hole is pushed however, there is a slicing sound and the water elemental pulls back it's 'hand' and seems to get much thinner (7 damage). The next holw however meets with a clicking sound and the door opening. Flush to the door is a staircase descending 50 feet.

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

Excellent. Would you like to search that now, or after we get the third one open, Wellby?

In either case, he'll move on to the same method with the third door; after Wellby's searching if the halfling elects to search now rather than later.

[BurntOfferings]

Wellby

"I'll wait, thanks. No need to waste an elemental," says Wellby, peeking around Dances with Sand to look into the room.

[harmonictempest]

OOC: Same method with third (middle) door; summon another elemental if first one dies from button blade damage.

[Pink]

The water elemental approaches the last closed door and inserts its digit into the first hole. Suddenly, three two and a half foot steel spikes, one from each finger hole, shoot out, piercing through the water elemental and finding purchase deep in the stone of the coffin with the loud sound of stone being pierced. The water elemental splashes to the floor, no longer alive.

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

The elf whistles softly, summoning another elemental to continue the sequence.

OOC: He's going to continue until every combination has been tried. IF he gets through more than four or five combinations and still hasn't found it, he say:

Well, Dances and Wellby, it may be that every combination to this door sprins the trap. Do you think there might be another way to open it?

Despite any conversation, he will continue trying different combinations.

[HellFencer]

Dances with Sand

"The name's Dances with Sand, thank you. And I'd hate to be attempting these traps myself," the dwarf said. He noticed Welby peeking around him to look into the room and smiled. "Ah, I see I've become something of a wall. Worry not, I'll stay in front," he added, nudging the halfling with his elbow.

[Pink]

The next summoned elemental goes through the standard routine that Oloren has now been able to master teaching to the simple minded elementals. However, none of them seems to trigger either the door opening, or the trap going off once again. After going through the sequence the elemental turns to look at the elf for its next command, just as the duration of the summoning runs out and it returns to its plane.

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

He purses his lips thoughtfully as he walks back into the room. Well, there's a number of things that could have caused that, and a number of ways to get around it. Unfortunately, most of the useful spells require me to be touching the door for them to work, and I am not exactly keen on that, nor on teleporting through the door and hoping that it's safe, though it would be easy. And the fact that there is magic specifically preventing us from using any divinations on the door worries me greatly.

What are your preferences?

[HellFencer]

Dances with Sand

"Perhaps we should simply try one of the staircases for now?" he said, looking at his companions. He shrugged finally and added, "The watery thing was able to touch the door without further death-like effects, so I would think you'd be alright to touch it yourself. Or I could simply try to bash it down."

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

Right. My worry is mainly for what may be behind the door, should I try to create a hole in it in some way. Wellby, you don't happen to have a door-opening spell, similar to the one I cast at the base of the shaft, prepared, do you?

While he waits to figure it out, he idly summons an earth elemental, instructing it to go through the door and come back, telling him if there is a passage there.

[Pink]

The earth elemental seems to only be able to stick a part of it's hand into the door, before giving the reply that Oloren has heard before, that there is metal beyond this stone door preventing the elemental from going any further.

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

Right then, the elf says in annoyance. Bashing may be best after all - I can try to melt through it again, but unlike my spells, your axe doesn't have limited uses. Do you think it can break through that door without being damaged?

Regardless of the dwarf's answer, he continues I cannot help but think that the middle is the most important door - in addition to being hidden behind the stucco, it was obscured until we found an additional catch. We should be wary in our assumption of what purpose the metal behind it may be serving. Wellby, if Dances with Sand's axe does not suffice, do you think you could open the door by any other means - removing the hinges, perhaps?

[BurntOfferings]

Wellby

The halfling shudders as he imagines several feet of steel sliding under his fingernails and then out the back of his hand (and probably into his face). He first examines the staircase behind the newly-opened door, then moves carefully to the last pair of unopened doors.

"I may have something, but let me take a closer look first."


Searching the stairway for traps: [roll0]
Searching the stairway for traps again, because this place is #@%#$ dangerous: [roll1]

Searching the last pair of doors for (more) traps: [roll2]
Searching the last pair of doors for (more) traps again (see above): [roll3]

Searching the last pair of doors for any clues as to their nature, or how they might be opened: [roll4]
Wellby's got 5 ranks in Knowledge (architecture and engineering), if that helps with this one.

[Pink]

OOC: I noticed I failed to responded to Wellby's initial search. Stupid me. Sorry folks.

The stairs going up: THe 'hallway' is little more than a distance of ten feet before the stairs begin up. A cursory look reveals no traps that Wellby can sense. Likewise, the staircase seems without any mechanical device or magical ward. However it is at some distance and the light only goes so far before it becomes shadowy.

The stairs going down: The stairs descend fifty feet and are flush with the door, leaving no landing. At the bottom it can be glimsped in the shadowy light of Wellby's everburning torch, at the bottom is a familiar pair of double doors with three holes barely visible in the low-light, at waist height of a human on the right door. Wellby can find no traps along this staircase as well, however it suffers from the same uncertainy.

The remaining door: Both Wellby and Oloren, upon further examination of the doors, think that something is odd about them. As Oloren approaches he feels a certain tingle upon his skin (Search check for secret doors). Meanwhile, Wellby examines the holes that had previously held the spikes which are now deeply embedded in the stone of the coffin, and notices that now he can see that there's only a layer of stone before the bronze takes over, suggesting a stone layer over bronze that may very likely not be capable of being opened at all.

[BurntOfferings]

Wellby

Examining the middle door, Wellby declares, "I think it's a fake. A red herring. My personal opinion is that the stairs leading down are the correct route, but that is based purely on supposition.

"We've been relying rather heavily on your summoning abilities, Oloren. Should we press on, or would you like time to recover your magic?"

(( If we choose to rest, Wellby will use his offensive spells to try to blast a hole through the last door, just to be sure. ))

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

The elf chuckles dryly at those words. Despite the many elementals, I have used less than a sixth of the spells I prepared this morning. All spells hold residual energy in the mind as they wait to be cast after being prepared. At my university, they have perfected techniques to draw upon this energy, techniques I have studied carefully. I prepared this morning the most powerful summoning spell I currently know, and as long as it remains uncast, I can summon smaller creatures by drawing on its energy, to virtually limitless effect.

Now, while I'd rather have as much of my magic as possible available in case of a true emergency, it would be folish to use that philosophy and leave unused the whole day long. Let's see what we can't do about that door, and if it is real or a sham.

First, he instructs the earth elemental already summoned to enter the wall to the left of the door, go a few feet in, and turn right, then come back the way it came and tell him if there is a passage there. If necessary, he will do the same from the right side of the door.

If results are inconclusive, he will cast Spectral Hand, and instruct the other two to retreat to the safety of the shaft. Then, he will cast Corrosive Grasp, Extended on the hand, and send it to melt through the door as before.


The hand is incorporeal and thus cannot be harmed by normal weapons. It has improved evasion (half damage on a failed Reflex save and no damage on a successful save), your save bonuses, and an AC of at least 22. Your Intelligence modifier applies to the hand’s AC as if it were the hand’s Dexterity modifier. The hand has 1 to 4 hit points, the same number that you lost in creating it.
My Intelligence modifier is +8, and my save bonuses are 6/7/10.
HP lost: [roll0]
Corrosive Grasp does damage as before - 1d8 acid dam/round for 18 rounds.

[Pink]

OOC: I think I'll intervene whilst Oloren is in the middle of summoning. Just because I can :P

Suddenly, there is a clicking from inside the coffin and all three of you spot from inside it a tiny mirror suddenly being revealed from a hidden compartment. Before anyone can react the mechanism, supported by a stone rod, shoots up and the light of the everburning torch is reflected by the angle of the mirror straight up into the roundel. At first nothing seems to happen, and then suddenly everything goes white.

When you can see again, for the most part things seem the same, but then you notice the differences. The mirror from the coffin and the stone rod that supported it have now disappeared. And you quickly noticed that you are no longer the only people in this room.

OOC2: Please give a moment for the introductionary post from the 1-2 people who will be joining before letting all chaos break loose.

[Kesnit]

Theresa

The humanoid woman staggers as she lands unexpectly. She flaps her wings slightly to regain her balance.

As she looks around, her eyes open with shock. I was here... But I wasn't... What happened? Her eyes fall on the one person she recognized. Gunnar, what did you do?

[Maurkov]

Gunnar

The heavily armored dwarf addressed as Gunnar looks up from the casket. He takes in the room, and one hand falls to his axe. "Planeshifted. You guys speak common?"

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

Among other things, yes. May we assume you have a similar purpose here to us? The elf, clearly, interrupted in the middle of a few spellcasting gestures, speaks calmly and confidently.

[Maurkov]

Gunnar

"Most likely. Even shares?"

[harmonictempest]

Oloren (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheets/view.php?id=48857)

Fair enough, the elf said dryly, arching an eyebrow. Let's see to this last door, then. We were just discussing methods to bypass it - unless you'd already figured it out before appearing?

We've got the first two doors open, and are working on the middle (secret) one.

OOC suggestion - if everyone wants to link their character sheet into their next post, getting to know each other will go a bit faster.

Oloren's description, copied from the sheet:
This elf of medium height wears soft and comfortable robes of a type seemingly inappropriate for strenuous travel. A small gem is bound to his forehead by a rich band of cloth, and a well-made pack matches the several belt pouches he wears. He goes by Alan Moonwhisper to those who have trouble pronouncing the lilting syllables of his name. He has jet black hair and deep green eyes, and stands just over five feet tall. He is a devout follower of Boccob and a former student (current assistant professor) at Xiloscient (Goldpetal) Academy, whose dean was a professional rival of Evinrood's. Going on sabbatical this year, Oloren has chosen to pit his learning against the late wizard's, hoping to best his traps and stratagems, proving his and his master's learning superior to Evinrood's, and hopefully learning a few extra arcane secrets along the way.

[Maurkov]

Gunnar

"I'm Gunnar Mac Rory. This is Theresa. There were others, but they seem to have evaded the spell that brought us. My homunculus... did not. Curious. It is near."

"We hadn't opened that door yet, but even if we had, I'd want to check it again in case there differences between our planes. I should ask, does beer-- the fermented extract of malted grain-- exist in this continuum?"

"Tell me about these other doors you opened. We were saving them until all other avenues had been exhausted."

"Now then, to be earning my share." Gunnar moves to examine the revealed doors. He checks the seams and the pitch and cant. He feels for air motion and the faint pricklings of abjurative magic. He examines the finger holes.

Character sheet is linked in sig.

[roll0] ignore for non-stonework
[roll1] -2 for non-stonework

[Pink]

What is this beer you speak of?

also, darn those twenties. You find the ancient red dragon waiting to eat you twenty stories below.
I'm kidding of course.

Gunnar's examination of the door reveals that there seems to be no way of opening them, as they are actually one solid false stone veneer. Examining the fingerholes, He can see that the holes go far deeper than expected, nearly three feet. What's more, through the finger holes Gunnar can see that there is a layer of metal, bronze it seems, under the stone veneer, and it is also bronze at the end of each deep finger hole. As far as he can search, Gunnar finds no new implements of death.

A casual observer will also note the malicious roundel on the ceiling has gone blank since the arrival of the new party members. ((and the disappearance of the old ones))

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

Beer does in fact exist in this "continuum", as you put it, as I imagine most things would. The top four current theories as to the physical mechanisms utilized by the magical energies manipulated by any known transportation spell or effect all predict a collapse of any possible parallel continua due to the overwhelming stabilizing effect of magical quanta on the physical probability complexes, resulting in a single instance of the Prime Material, despite any intuition to the contrary, which is a fortunate result, given the necessary subplanar interactions required to keep the Great Wheel properly balanced in its current configuration. The more likely possibility is that you have been dragged from a nearby point in the future or past. Any location in time more distant would likely have released even more energy than your arrival did. We can doubtless ascertain how large the offset has been when we return after finishing here.

With regard to the doors, we used the crude but efficient technique of summoned, and therefore completely expendable, elementals to spring the traps and open the doors for us, eschewing greater expertise in favor of speed. The left crushed the elemental that opened it between the two halves of the door, releasing sharp springs into the room that we were not entirely able to avoid. The right sent sharp spikes into the crudely formed finger of the elemental in question, but caused no further trouble. This last door sent long spikes through the elemental that tried to open it, causing the marks you can see on the coffin. After that, no combination of the holes we tried either caused the trap to be set off again, or opened the door. We were preparing to use further methods to scout past the door before deciding whether to simply break it down or not, though indications were beginning to indicate that the door might be a sham. Oloren watches Gunnar's searches with interest.

[HellFencer]

Ok, my girlfriend is having labor induced so posting will be erratic for a little bit. I'm not sure when I'll have a chance to get online next, cause I don't think the hospital has internet. I'm only just at the house to pick up things...

Pink, can you NPC me til then? Cautious and eager to show my skills is my style. Remember, I don't use axes... I use scimitars! Dancing dwarf, ho!

[Pink]

Dude! Congrats in advance. Go go, take whatever time you need. You'll be welcomed back and I'll try and keep Dances with Sand up and active.

Hmm...odd though...today a co-worker's niece was having labor induced...Coincidence eh?

[Maurkov]

Gunnar

Gunnar stares at the elf through the long-winded exposition. He knows better than to argue knots with a boy scout and lets Oloren's planar theory ride. "The tomb must be self-repairing, then. You would have seen the marks of our passage, or we yours. Lets not trust the traps to remain disarmed.

"This door is indeed false. Lets try the stairs."

He moves to the right staircase* and examines the first few steps, looking for pressure plates, trip wires, articulation, magical triggers, or the like.

'Grats, Hellfencer. Kids are awsome.

*On the right as we first entered, 'south' on my ascii maps.

Stone only: [roll0]
[roll1] -2 for non-stonework

Gunnar's Skill Enhancement infusion lasts 80 minutes. How much time has elapsed since he entered the coffin room?

[Kesnit]

Oloren

[COLOR="Blue"][FONT="Comic Sans MS"]Beer does in fact exist in this "continuum", as you put it, as I imagine most things would. The top four current theories as to the physical mechanisms utilized by the magical energies manipulated by any known transportation spell or effect all predict a collapse of any possible parallel continua due to the overwhelming stabilizing effect of magical quanta on the physical probability complexes, resulting in a single instance of the Prime Material, despite any intuition to the contrary, which is a fortunate result, given the necessary subplanar interactions required to keep the Great Wheel properly balanced in its current configuration. The more likely possibility is that you have been dragged from a nearby point in the future or past. Any location in time more distant would likely have released even more energy than your arrival did. We can doubtless ascertain how large the offset has been when we return after finishing here.

Theresa's eyes bulged out as the elf rambled on about the space-time continuium. The she shook her head, as if trying to recover from shock.

So the door is fake. Hmm...

With a flap of her wings, she takes off and glides until she is behind Gunnar.

It seems campaign-blog is not up any more. I have a hard-copy of my character sheet and will post a link once I rebuild it somewhere else.

[Pink]

I think...20 minutes elapsed should work fine enough.

"My name is Dances with Sand, a pleasure to meet your aquantance and the wordy Elf is Oloren, the one who brought us together for this expedition. And this is...Wellby? Where did he...Oloren, I think we lost Wellby during that flash!" Says the desert dwarf.

Gunnar's examination of the steps reveals that, the very first step in fact, is a pressure plate. Scrutinizing them, he is able to see the small cracks and lines that would suggest the stairs capable of collapsing into a flat surface, a slide if you will.

[Kesnit]

Gunnar's examination of the steps reveals that, the very first step in fact, is a pressure plate. Scrutinizing them, he is able to see the small cracks and lines that would suggest the stairs capable of collapsing into a flat surface, a slide if you will.

I'm assuming Gunnar tells us this.

Is it just the top step, or are all of them like that? If it's just the top, I might be able to help you past it.

[Kesnit]

Gunnar's examination of the steps reveals that, the very first step in fact, is a pressure plate. Scrutinizing them, he is able to see the small cracks and lines that would suggest the stairs capable of collapsing into a flat surface, a slide if you will.

I'm assuming Gunnar tells us this.

Is it just the top step, or are all of them like that? If it's just the top, I might be able to help you past it.

[HellFencer]

Will get a post up soon; new baby has slowed my week down.

[HellFencer]

Dances with Sand

"Pressure plates eh? Wonder what devious trap they hide... Welby can you... oh wait, I forgot the little guy isn't here anymore. Sad really, I liked him," Dances with Sand says, stepping just to one side of the doorway being examined.

I am ten feet away from the door, in case it explodes or something, but am against the wall, with it to my back.

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

Well, shall we try to disable it, or just send something expendable down first?

[Maurkov]

Gunnar

"The first step is the only trigger I can see from here. I'll keep looking further down. Theresa, do you see any magical auras down there?"

Gunnar steps sideways up onto the left wall and descends, trusting his spiderclimb boots to keep him off any more pressure plates, and his dwarven senses to spot danger.

Can Gunnar see the end of the stairs with 60' darkvision?

He will head down [roll0], check out the the landing [roll1], and return [roll2]. -2/no autosearch for non-stonework traps.

[Kesnit]

Theresa

Theresa makes a motion with her hand as her eyes unfocus. Flapping her wings a little so she raises above Gunnar, she looks into the staircase.

Detect Magic

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

It's worth noting that in addition to his description, the elf's feet have been about a foot off the floor since you arrived, and his eyes glow a soft, luminous purple.
If you'll allow me..., the elf says with a hint of formal politeness - he realizes his initial academic jargon may have been offputting, and doesn't wish to further annoy their new comrades. But only because they need to work together. When Theresa is done, he'll float behind Gunnar down the passage and not going quite as far, looking as far as he can to see any magical auras or indications of the next room beyond the stairway.

Darkvision 90, magical auras 120 (which I assume I'd see a glow of even if I couldn't see anything around them).
Hmm, shouldn't take a Spot check just to see the layout, but for anything special: [roll0]

[Pink]

Oh bugger, vacation backlash.

Gunnar can see the full 50' stairway and the door at the bottom with his darkvision. It can be seen that they're the same ten foot wide pair of double doors as found in the entrance room of the tomb, with three finger holes on the right door. His excursion down to the landing reveals that the entire walls are covered in stucco through the stairway, and that the last step of the staircase also seems to be sensitive to weight.

Nothing magical lights up, nor is there anything strange about the arrangement that can be seen.

[Kesnit]

Theresa

Would you all like the stucco removed?

[HellFencer]

Dances with Sand

"Sure, why not?" he said, peering down the staircase to the landing. "Anyone mind if I test the rest of these stairs?" Dances with Sand asked, pointing to the ones past the weight sensitive step.

[Kesnit]

Theresa

Stand back for a moment.

Arcane energies began blasting out of Theresa's hands and hitting the stucco. She continues doing this until all the covering is removed.

[Pink]

OOC: If I were really mean I'd have the falling stucco set off those weight sensitive stairs. Can't recall how eight sensitive they are at the moment so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.

Theresa is able to clear off all the stucco relatively easily, though the dust that fills the air may cause one or two of her companions to have a small coughing fit (Though Dances with Sand probably feels at home for a moment). When it's all off, it's revealed that beneath it are the same smooth stone walls and ceilings, except in one part. On the right side, exactly halfway down the stairs, There is a ten foot gap in the stone wall. Looking inside, it can be seen some contraption with a circular jagged metal blade, ten feet in diameter, was hidden behind the stucco. The blade is positioned horizontally about two feet above the stairs.

[Maurkov]

Gunnar

Gunnar stands back as dust flies from Theresa's demolition.

"Nicely done. Now then. If we skip the first and last steps, we should be fine. Oloren, I would like to see your technique for opening these doors."

[HellFencer]

Dances with Sand

With a nod of approval, the desert dwarf made his way down the stairs, careful not to step on the weight sensitive stairs. He takes a moment to take in the new set of doors, looking inside the finger holes and around the edges of the door for signs of use or hinges or even slight cracks.

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

((Ack! Action overlap! Oloren would prefer to have his elemental go first, in case there's a trap next to the door, but he will certainly wait for Dances with Sand to finish before summoning.))

Oloren allows himself a chuckle. Gladly. I think I'll skip all the stairs, though, just to be safe. He floats down the stairs until just before the halfway point, then summons a water elemental in front of the door, giving it the same directions as before with regard to trying the holes.

For reference, the pattern was:
1
2
3
12
13
23
123

[Pink]

The water elemental's first two attempts at opening the door bring about it's demise. However, after another is summoned, the third attempt results in a successful click and the doors separating enough to show that they are now unlocked.

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

Allowing it to slosh back onto the ground, Oloren retreats back up the stairs, allowing those more skilled at detecting mundane trickery to go past him toward the new door.

[Maurkov]

Gunnar

"This one opened when the elemental put its... appendage in the third hole? I wonder if there is a pattern to these locks." Gunnar takes a moment to study the door at the top of the stairs compared to the one at the bottom. Is there a visual or tactile clue (perhaps a decorative flourish?) that might indicate the correct trigger?

After that he'll examine the newly unlocked door, and if untrapped, beyond.

[roll0] [roll1]

If they open into the stairwell, he'll make sure the swinging door won't touch any pressure plates or pull any tripwires. If they open out into the next area, he'll crack them just far enough to peer inside, and then open them slowly enough to feel for a trigger mechanism. [roll2] [roll3] ignore/-2 for non-stonework traps.

[roll4] [roll5] ignore/-2 for non-stonework traps.

[Pink]

Gunnar's examination of the doors reveals no hints as to which finger hole is the trigger. Perhaps there is some random mechanism, perhaps it's simply a different fingerhole in each door. Cracking them open and examining the contents might give some clue.

The doors open into the room. Opening them just a crack reveals that the room beyond the doors is 20 wide, 50 feet long and ten feet tall. Like the entry room the walls are covered in frescos over the stucco. There does not appear to be any visible exit or furnishing except for in the far left corner where there is a small stack of dust-covered sacks. The cloth is old and time-worn, so that some of the contents can be seen from the entrance. Inside the bags seems to be a glint of gold.

Gunnar finds no traps hindering the opening of the doors into the room, or in the immediate area of the entrance into the room.

[Maurkov]

Gunnar

With the others at least 20' from the doors, Gunnar opens one side wide enough for burly dwarven shoulders to pass unhindered.

Gunnar laughs and shakes his head. "Really. There they are, constructing a tomb, and they accidentally leave a few bags of treasure behind? I guess fools might make it this far by brute force alone. Unless we need the gold, you know, to buy things deeper inside the tomb, I'd like to leave those bags undisturbed."

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

Well. Any trouble waiting in this room? You want I should have an elemental heft those bags over this way to see if they're trapped?

[Pink]

OOC: Maur's on vacation it seems. Looks like you'll have to take your own initiatives. Anyway *poke pokes everybody* Come on, take initiative!!! Be brave and bold and meet your do...I mean destiny. :P

IC: The door pushes open with little resistance and no obvious trap mechanism seems to go off or is set by it's movement. There does not appear to be any danger in the room to the naked eye. Aside from the fact that's it's located in the Tomb of Evinrood of course, and even an ogre could figure that out for being trouble.

[Kesnit]

Theresa

I assume the doors are fully open.

Theresa flaps her way to the doorway, but does not pass through. Let's see what the walls and floors are like.

She blasts a hole in each wall (except the wall with the door, since she does not enter the room).

[Pink]

OOC: Just blasting one hole in roughly the center of each wall right?

IC: The blasts once again remove the stucco on the walls and show the stonework beneath, however thus far it seems the same stonework that has been uncovered thus far, nothing different.

[Kesnit]

OOC: Just blasting one hole in roughly the center of each wall right?

Yes, I was just testing to see if the walls would explode or the floor collapse from pressure. :smallbiggrin:


IC: The blasts once again remove the stucco on the walls and show the stonework beneath, however thus far it seems the same stonework that has been uncovered thus far, nothing different.

Hmm... It seems that did not cause the room to collapse on itself... She turns to Oloren. Could you send an elemental to walk into the room, please?

[HellFencer]

Dances with Sand

Taking initiative, the desert dwarf made his way into the center of the room and looked all around. He took in the details of the walls, including the seams where they met the ceiling and floor. He was certain something was amiss in here, he'd just not found it yet.

[Maurkov]

Gunnar

Gunnar returns from upstairs, still adjusting his belt.

"Now then, what did I miss? No exits yet? Let me check the floors before Theresa scours the walls. It's hard to spot traps (or trapdoors) through the rubble, sometimes."

Gunnar navigates the perimeter of the room, for now avoiding the left corner.

Gunnar is looking for pressure plates foremost. He'll also keep an eye out for stucko that is different from that in neighboring areas. [roll0], [roll1]

[Pink]

Dances with sand's walk into the center of the room produces no ill effects, or, for that matter, any effect at all. Aside from the areas uncovered by the eldritch blasts of Theresa, the walls and ceiling are covered with stucco and there is no obvious abnormalities in construction.

As Gunnar walks into the room and further than Dances with Sand, he is able to find that some of the stonework doesn't match up. It seems that forty feet into the room there is a five foot slab the runs the width of the room that is, Gunnar can conclude, an 1/8th of an inch higher than the rest of the floor on the side towards the door, and a 1/8th of an inch lower than the floor on the side of the room with the gold.

[Maurkov]

Gunnar

"Beware," says the dwarf, indicating the suspect stones. Collecting a bit of rubble (thanks, Theresa.), Gunnar carefully jams enough into the seam to freeze the rocker.

"Someone want to check my handiwork?"

I'm assuming from the description that the stone in question probably teeters forward or back, and that immobilizing it will disable the trigger [roll0]

[Pink]

You guess right.

Gunnar is able to use the stucco rubble to, hopefully, disable to trigger.

[Maurkov]

Gunnar

Gunnar moves past the 40' mark, edging around the sacks. As he begins his return along the other wall*, he calls out to Theresa, "The exit's probably back there." He points at the back wall. "Blast it when you're ready." As he reaches the other end of the pressure plate, he avoids it by stepping up onto and traversing the wall. His modification would probably hold, but he doesn't risk it.

*assumes he finds no reason to stop before hand.

[roll0], [roll1]

[Kesnit]

Gunnar

As he begins his return along the other wall*, he calls out to Theresa, "The exit's probably back there." He points at the back wall. "Blast it when you're ready."

Your wish is my command, Theresa says with a laugh. Waving her hands, she sends a blast of energy to the point directed by Gunnar.

[Pink]

OOC: I'm assuming back wall is wall opposite entrance.

Theresa blasts and blasts and blasts and succeeds...in making enough rubble that Gunnar can probably secure the 'wobble' panel to more comforts of security. The wall behind the stucco appears to be normal stone with no signs of a door.

[HellFencer]

Dances with Sand

Watching Gunnar, Dances with Sand was careful to follow suit along the path he had taken. There was no need to set off a trap that was quite obviously, well, a trap.

*sigh* Wish there was more for me to say or do here. I haven't had a chance to re-make Dances into a scout.

[Maurkov]

Gunnar

Gunnar lifts his visor so he can rub his chin while Theresa weaves magical destruction. "That looks like fun.

"I haven't quite gotten inside the Architect's head, it seems. Kobolds must have built this part. Go ahead and skin the walls as far back as the 40' mark-- since I can't imagine putting a door on this side of the trap."

When Theresa has done so and the dust settles somewhat, Gunnar will refresh his skill enhancement infusion (search) and make another circuit of that side of the room. He'll study the walls for signs of a secret door, and then he'll traverse floor and ceiling looking for trapdoors.
[roll0][roll1]

[Pink]

Theresa's blasts start to show, from what she's able to hit without disturbing the gold pile, the beginnings of a door on the wall behind the gold (On Maurkov's map, the wall left of the gold pile).

Gunnar is also able to find, as he's walking on the ceiling, that there is a strange deformity in the stucco. It seems to be just a thin distrubance in the stucco that forms a twenty feet by twenty feet square outline that is centered in the middle of the ceiling.

[Maurkov]

Gunnar

"I advise against anyone passing beneath this section. That pressure plate was probably designed to drop a rather excessive stone block here, and there may be additional triggers."

As Theresa discoveres the door, Gunnar sighs. "They really want us to take that gold. It's probably holding down another pressure plate. Or it's covered in contact poison. I'll look for the former. Can someone magically detect the latter?"

Without disturbing the sacks, Gunnar approaches and carefully inspects that area.

[roll0] [roll1] [roll2] [roll3]

If nobody volunteers with the spell, he'll burn an infusion to create a Spell Storing Item of Detect Poison (belt). [roll=Store UMD]1d20+15[/url], 4 xp.

[roll4]. I'm not sure whether I get a +2 artisan bonus to activate it.

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

Having hovered near the entrance while the mundane tasks of cleaning and searching were carried out, Oloren soars a little closer at Gunnar's request ("Allow me.") and eyes the sacks more closely, looking for anything that may indicate lurking spellwork. He traces a tiny movement with his hand and mumbles a syllable under his breath, and his luminous purple eyes glow green for a moment. "Of course, if they are trapped, there are more than enough ways to move them without actually having to be in the room at the time."

Arcane Sight reveals all magical auras.
Cast Detect Poison on the sacks. (Requires DC 20 Wis check to determine poison type if it is poisoned.)
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]

[Pink]

Gunnar is able to find underneath the gold sacks, the tell tale signs of a weight sensitive panel. However, no poison is sensed from the sacks.

[Maurkov]

Gunnar

Gunnar furrows his brow. "I don't know how sensitive this plate might be. It will almost certainly trigger if whe remove the weight. It may trigger if we add too much more."

Gunnar takes a closer look the door. If necessary, he'll use his axe to pry off more stucco, catching it on his shield.

((Does the door swing into the room? Does it have a 6-hole lock?))

[Pink]

OOC: note here I forgot to correct, the gold is on a 10 by 10 square, not 5 by 5. it's alot of gold.

IC: From what's available to be seen, the door does indeed seem to be the same fingertrap type doubledoor that has been encountered thus far. They seem to open outwards, into the next room.

[Maurkov]

Gunnar

"I might be able to immobilize this plate, but the door.... Oloren, elemental reinforcements, please?

"I'd like to see whether adding weight will set it off, whether it can open the door, and whether adding weight creates a new set-point; Something might happen when it steps off again.

"We should retire to the stairway."

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

Certainly. With a nod, Oloren retreats to the door along with the others. With another gesture and set of esoteric syllables, he summons another water elemental, sending it to the door as before.

Sorry the post isn't detailed - figured it'd be better to move the action along rather than worry about fancy.

Pattern: 1 2 3 12 23 13 123.
Which combinations worked before on each door? I don't believe it was explicitly stated, but Oloren would have been paying close attention to note any patterns. :-)

[Pink]

OOC: Assuming everyone is in the stairwell. As a note, the fingerholes are not revealed yet. That would require either very precise eldritch blasting or moving the gold out of the way, as the gold is effectively blocking the way. Sorry if I didn't make this entirely clear, but I did try with "Beginnings of a door." and such. Also,All of the previous doors have been opened within the first three tries, meaning thus far all of them have simply been a one button opening mechanism, not a combination. But they have been different.

The Water elemental steps (or rather, sloshes) onto some of the area occupied by the weight sensitive tiles beneath the gold, and is even able to squeeze it's way through to where the door is (being water and all) without disturbing any of the gold sacks or setting off any obvious reaction. However it seems unable to continue it's orders as the fingerholes are not yet revealed.

[Maurkov]

Gunnar

"If the water elemental isn't strong enough to strip off the stucco, maybe an earth elemental would work? Or Theresa could...."

[Pink]

OOC: Actually, small water elementals have decent strength. However, unless you're going to climb over the gold pile, you guys aren't going to be able to squeeze through like the elemental.

After some effort, the stucco is taken off and the first button does the trick, opening the door towards the next room. At a glance it appears to be another staircase, leading further down.

[Maurkov]

Gunnar

"Very good.

"The plate is relatively stable. It took the weight of the elemental, and wasn't affected by jarring from the falling stucco. Please, have the elemental step off. I'm sure a trap triggers when the plate is unloaded, but I'd like to see if it has a variable set point."

[Pink]

When ordered the elemental will step off the plate and...and will not set off any visible traps.

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

Dismissing the elemental, Oloren says I know Gunnar, Theresa and I have easy ways of getting around without using the floor, but will anyone else have trouble getting through the door with the gold bags still in place? I'd suggest moving them from a distance with another elemental, but I fear a cave-in would make the tunnel inaccessible.

[Maurkov]

Gunnar

"Alright, alright. It's just finding them's a lot easier than disarming them."

Gunnar re-enters the room and goes about seeing if he can prevent the pressure plate from raising. Then he takes a closer look at the gold along the furthest (northern?) wall, seeing if he can discern whether disturbing it would have repercussions.

Right now the assumption is that removing the gold would unweight the plate, triggering a trap. Gunnar's checking for more. Smaller, inset pressure plates? Wires? He'll slowly slit a bag or two to see if they contain something dangerous under a layer of gold. He'll try to clear a path to the door.

[roll0]

[roll1] assuming non-stonework
[roll2]
next square
[roll3]
[roll4]

[Kesnit]

Theresa

Hold on a moment, she says to Gunnar. The idea is just to hold the plate down, correct? She looks around. There's a lot of rocks and broken stucco in this room and the previous ones. We could pile that on to keep the plate down. She thought for a moment. Or could we push the bags aside a little to make a small path? I doubt anyone wants to try to lug all that gold with us at the moment.

[Maurkov]

Gunnar

"I want to make sure there's not more to do in addition to holding the plate down. But yes, I'll make just such a path."

[Pink]

Gunnar seems unable to find a way to find a unique way to stop the panel from serving its purpose as a trigger, in part due to it's large size, and part due to it's sensitive nature. However he spots no further traps about the gold that would lead one to second guess.

As for the gold itself, it seems to be pure gold dust and the age-eaten bags give easily. In fact, they give too easily. It's possible that attempts to move them too much may cause them simply to turn into a mass of gold dust and threads, and could possibly overspill off the panel. However it would not be impossible to create a very small path, to the door, however it would bring the gold very close to the edge of the panel, if it would be managed without distrubing and breaking too many of the bags at all.

OOC: Dex check required to begin moving the bags, and if you make a path I'll need balance checks to make your way without bumping the bags off. Also, Gunnar is the only one in the room right now right?

[Maurkov]

Gunnar

Gunnar studies the gold dust and the degraded sacks. "Can you summon a glue elemental?"

Could Gunnar pile on enough rubble that even will spillage of gold dust, the plate would remain over-weight?

"Dances, can you jump it?"

If the answers are no, no, and no, Gunnar will cross, check the stairs for traps, then pass his boots back to Dances with Sand. He's the only non-flier/spiderclimber, right?

[roll0]
[roll1]

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

Looking slightly bored, the wizard responds "There are any number of spells that would effectively contain the gold dust, but it seems trivial to take such care for it when we can simply bypass it entirely. I have at least three spells prepared that would suffice to move one of our number past this door, and I will gladly use any of them if there are no suggestions for a simpler solution."

:smallredface: Huh. Oloren actually doesn't have a single spell at the ready that would easily contain the gold sacks. Now, he can summon any spell he wants, so that's no difficulty, but still...embarrassing.

So, we can share the boots around (Oloren has no reason to suspect it's anything but a spell you've cast on yourself at this point), or he can cast Spider Climb. Or Fly. Or Dimension Door, if we're feeling like a splurge. I haven't really burned that many spell slots, so I'm not fussed about using one or two.

[HellFencer]

Dances with Sand

Looking at the bags of gold dust and the length of pressure plate, Dances with Sand replied, "No, I don't think I'll be able to make it across. Though my armor is light, I haven't the skill in making leaps. Perhaps I could tumble over top of them?"

[Maurkov]

Gunnar

"That seems risky," he says to Dances with Sand.

"Oloren, lets save spell casting for if we find ourselves in a hurry. My boots will fit another dwarf."

Gunnar walks the wall, past the pile, and to the stairs. He unlaces and tosses the boots over the pile back to Dances. Focusing his attention down the stairs he waits for the others to join him.

Gunnar already rolled searches for the first few steps. Once he gets his boots back he'll continue his search of the stairs.

[roll0]
[roll1]

[Pink]

Gunnar's strategy of walking on the walls seems to be perfect for avoiding the troublesome pile of gold altogether and they are then tossed over the pile for the next party member to try.

Looking down the stairs, they seem at first similar to the set that took them down to this room. They are 50 feet long, 10 feet wide and 15 feet tall. Each of the stairs is plated in metal, and the edges of each stair seem incredibly sharp. Gunnar gets a foreboding feeling, however he does not spot anything that would like like a trap mechanism or trigger. The stairs end directly at a stucco covered wall.

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

Hovering over the sacks, and not yet having entered the stairway, Oloren immediately frowns. That can not be a good sign, Gunnar. It must be either a dead end or a trap, and if the latter, you may wish to be not on the stairs until we discover a trigger mechanism.

[Kesnit]

Theresa

Theresa looks at the stucco and holds up her glowing hands. Do you want me to find out if this is a dead end?

[Maurkov]

Gunnar

"Yes, please. Dances, is there room for you to stand back from the top step? Lets make sure everyone keeps their feet above that top step."

He moves forward a little, climbing the left wall so as to keep out of Theresa's way and to stay above the highest step.

Is there any kind of landing, or is the first step past the gold dust a step down? If there's no room, Gunnar will send Dances back into the last room with another relay of boots.

In case Theresa's bolt triggers a trap, we'd like to not be in front of the stair blades in case the stab forward, nor on them in case they tip and form a ramp.

[Pink]

There is no landing at either the top or bottom of the staircase, merely the stairs. At a blast from Theresa's powers shoots down it, it reveals yes, yet another door. This is only a single door, though it still shows three fingerholes to unlock or open it.

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

Well, this is proving uninteresting so far, and that alone makes me suspect another device at work here. Gunnar, if you'll step out of that hallway, I'll send an elemental in to check that door, it being more expendable. As he sends another water elemental toward this next door, he ponders the combinations that have worked so far, setting them in array against the facing direction, size, and surroundings of each door, hoping that an overarching and predictable pattern will emerge from the coalescent data.

He starts flying toward he hallway, then stops. I seem to be getting hasty and forgetful (he looks annoyed). Gunnar, if you would not mind searching the staircase somewhat first? The range on this spell is short enough that I need to be within it for the elemental to reach the door, and I would rather not be squashed if the hallway is trapped.

Ho-hum, another door. :-) He'll need to be near the opening to get the range to send the elemental down the staircase.
He's pondering the combinations, trying to find a pattern. Dunno if that wants an Int check. I feel like it's a little silly to roll it, because while he's literally about ten times as smart as anyone else in the room, he only has about a 75% chance of rolling higher than them at all, let alone significantly, know what I'm sayin'? I'll roll it in case it's relevant and let our wise DM decide.
1d20+8 <-- Oops, see OOC.

[Maurkov]

Gunnar

"Perhaps we should rest soon. Oloren, I believe you are mistaking the spell range for the limit of its extent. Summoned creatures are free to move beyond the range at which they can be summoned."

SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicOverview/spellDescriptions.htm#conjuration), The creature or object must appear within the spell’s range, but it does not have to remain within the range.

"I'd be happy to search, but I'd be more comfortable disarming these stairs as I go. Do you mind waiting?"

If Oloren still wants Gunnar to search and doesn't mind waiting, Gunnar will use his axe to chop and pry the blade-like surface off each step as he descends, search, and repeat.

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]

[Pink]

He's not using a spell, he's using a reserve feat, which indeed (I looked it up after harmonic mentioned it) does have a range on how far the summon can move and not be dispelled.

Also, those are some pretty shoddy rolls, but i can't argue with the method and the obvious.

Question, You have boots(slippers) of spiderclimb no? that's 10 minutes a day and you'd have already used up quite a bit. Are you standing on the steps to remove the bladed parts?

As Gunnar descends the staircase, very slowly and painstakingly removing the edged metal, which seems like they'd each make excellent if a bit clumsy sword blades, His sharp eyes are able to notice something about the stonework. The stairs are not attached or worked into the walls beside them. As this discovery leads him to further searching, he's also able to spot that the ceiling also seems to not be exactly attached in anyway to the walls, which brings up the question, of what is holding it up.
This is assuming say, three steps down. And may I say it looks very long and very labour intensive indeed. Normally I'd have you roll str checks for this but I'll just assume you'll take twenty because you'd need fairly high as well.

[HellFencer]

Dances with Sand

The desert dwarf crossed his arms and watched the group from behind the giant pile of gold dust. "Everything alright over there?" he asked, getting a it antsy. His eyes wandered around the room and the ceiling, having paid little mind to it in the previous rooms.

[harmonictempest]

Oloren

Eyebrows raised, Oloren responds. An impressive knowledge of the arcane, mac Rory. I am somewhat beyond normal summoning spells, however. The method I use here is to prepare a single powerful summoning conjuration, then siphon the latent power of that preparation in small increments into these individual summons you see. The obvious benefit is that I can summon these small elementals as often as I wish throughout the day, though the technique will only allow one at a time. The drawback is that the summoned creature, drawing on the power of my prepared conjuration to remain here, cannot venture as far from me without vanishing to whence it came.

Congratulations - you've impressed him enough that he won't be snide to you. :P Also, what pink said above - if they go more than 30 feet from me, they vanish at the end of their turn.