The Threshold IC (D&D E6, low-op, story based)

[Kaptin Keen]

Spoiler: OOC

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Two natural 1's in a row. Now I know you guys again =)

Listening carefully, Bobin decides that there are two separate sources of noise: That particular murmering of a group of people talking - distant and indistinct, and another, two voices in conversation, closer, but not close enough to make out words.

[iTookUrNick]

Having concluded his search with disappointing results, Jack gets to the door with Bobin, trying to see if they can do better on their next part of the plan. He listens attentively and sneaks a quick peek.

Spoiler: Roll

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spot - (1d20+5)[16], listen - (1d20+11)[18]

[Kaptin Keen]

You are in one wing - the eastern, as it were - of the compound. Outside the door is a corridor with four doors, one of which you're peeking through. Presumably, the other doors lead to rooms like the one you're in. At one end of the corridor is a balcony or something, at the other a stained glass window.

If you're not mistaken, a couple of voices are somewhere out of sight on the balcony - and more voices below, slightly echoing.

[Woggle]

Bobin ducks back inside. In a low voice, he whispers "Two or more by the balcony, but I think that's more or less where we want to go. The hall must be somewhere below, surely. We could check the other end of the corridor just to be sure, though. Shall I?" Bobin hesitates a few moments, then begins to slowly make his way toward the stained glass window end of the corridor.

[WalkingTheShade]

Jon approaches and nods to Bobin. He stays behind the door, ready to intervene in case the halfling runs into an issue.

[Kaptin Keen]

The corridor ends blind, the window overlooking a small garden between the inner keep and the outer wall. It doesn't open, so it's only a potential exit at the cost of some rather severe cuts.

[iTookUrNick]

Jack's checks the other rooms of the corridor through the keyholes.

[Kaptin Keen]

The four rooms are largely identical - they are guestrooms, richly appointed, but with little plunder for the prospective rogue.

Spoiler: OOC - Jack and Bobin

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You may roll some Listen - one roll, two different DC's =)

[iTookUrNick]

Spoiler: Ooc

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How did you know I was looking for plunder? :D
listen - (1d20+11)[27]

[Kaptin Keen]

Spoiler: Jack

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The two guys on the balcony aren't just talking - they're patrolling. And they're on their way back.

What you pick up of their conversation goes like this:
Guy1: ... well, if it were up to me - he's still an ogre, you know, one hell of a fighter, surely that's worth something ...
Guy2: ... true, but also a liability, as present circumstances illuminate ...

[iTookUrNick]

Hearing the patrol approaching, Jack gestures to Bobin to duck into one of the rooms, as he does the same.

[Kaptin Keen]

It is a firm rule among the Baltraine household that guestrooms, when not in use, are to be locked at all times. This, primarily, to keep the guards and servants from using them for ... fraternizing. Right this instant, the reasons are trivial to Jack and Bobin. The doors are very slightly recessed, and provide the sort of cover only the suicidal or desperately naive would rely on - or those who have no other cover.

Spoiler: OOC

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Roll some hide and move silent. It might also be possible to meld in with the stained glass window - this is no less optimistic than hiding behind the door jamb.

[Woggle]

With no other option but desperation and trust in his small stature, Bobin presses himself into the nearest alcove and remains stock still, barely even breathing. He lowers his gaze so as not to reflect and light from his eyes.

Spoiler: OOC

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Hide - (1d20+9)[29]
MoveSilently - (1d20+10)[20]

[iTookUrNick]

Spoiler: Roll

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casting compression (3pp).
hide - (1d20+17)[28], MS - (1d20+13)[27]

Jack decides to literally make himself small and hide in one of the alcoves. He will wait for the guards to pass, then go forward and check their next step.

[Kaptin Keen]

The two guards, engaged in their discussion - which has now moved on to which of the tavern wenches they each consider the more attractive - don't even spare a sideways glance down the corridor as they walk past.

You have a moment to look them over: Burly men in decent armor, carrying halberds. At a guess, they are experienced fighting men - propably not king's lancers or anything so gallant, but mercenaries, or something similar.

[WalkingTheShade]

Oblivious to all that has just transpired, Jon waits behind the door of the first room, throwing, from time to time, an icy glance towards Toby and the Gnawed Slipper of Hapiness. Toby answers with a swift look towards his master, as if daring him to come get the slipper, and goes back to the gnawing.

Spoiler: OOC

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Is it a masterwork slipper?

[Kaptin Keen]

Toby, sensing that Jon is perhaps not entirely happy, ducks back under the bed - a moment later, he emerges with another slipper, which he places at Jon's feet. There you go - don't be sad.

Then he goes back to happily savaging his own.

Spoiler: OOC

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Oh yes. Silver and gold thread, all that jazz.

[WalkingTheShade]

Jon blinks a few times, looking a the slipper. He mumbles something vaguely ressembling, "you shtoopid dog". He bends and grabs the Offered Slipper of Friendship (Masterwork), rolls it into a ball he shoves into his backpack.

He then resumes waiting at the door, not looking at Toby anymore, lest the pest get other strange ideas.

[Kaptin Keen]

There's something small and hard in the slipper. Upon inspection, it turns out to be a very small silver key.

[WalkingTheShade]

After shoving the slippers into his bag, Jon scratches his head while looking at the key. Somehow, this seems important. An iron key, or a brass key, that'd look forgetable. A silver key, though... It's not like Jon wants to steal anything. It's more like his curiosity and short attention span toward their current predicament finally get the better of him.

Jon gives a cursory look around himself, followed by a quick look under the bed, for a chest, safe or any kind of lock this key could fit in.

Spoiler: OOC

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Would that be a Spot (-1) or a Search (-3)? (1d20)[15]

[Kaptin Keen]

Under the bed is a flat box made from beautifully crafted, polished hardwood. It has a very small silver lock. Supposing Jon's curiosity holds out, he will discover upon unlocking it that it is a chess set, gold for black and platinum for white. Chessboard carved from ebony and ivory. This is the wet dream of a master craftsman, a literal work of art.

[WalkingTheShade]

"Wow," whispers Jon to himself. He lays the chest set on the bed, intimidated by its details and design, and very much less that certain what it actually is.

"How did it go," whispers Jon, still to himself, while waving a hand above the chest, "ah yeah, Spe͐͌ͭ̐ͧ̈ct͂̇ȑͬ̾ͪumͧ̒."

As his eyes shine with golden glimmers, Jon glares over the chest and looks around himself, afraid someone will jump in and call him a thief.

Spoiler: OOC

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Arcane Spell Failure - (1d100)[89] > 10%, Detect Magic spell completed.

Has the chess set an aura? What about the rest of the room, does Jon pick an aura?

[Kaptin Keen]

Jon looks over the chessboard, noting it has a very faint magical aura - not hidden, just quite weak. Looking around the room, it's entirely unmagical, with the exception of a small brass bell standing on a sideboard beside the bed.

[WalkingTheShade]

Jon delicately packs up board and pieces into their chest and puts everything back where he found it. The golden hue in Jon's gaze seems to flicker more intensely, as he approches the bell and concentrates on its aura.

Spoiler: OOC

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I don't know how you want to play this, but by RAW over one round of concentration on a specific aura could give him more information. The limitation here is that for now Jon has no skill rank in Knowledge (Arcana), thus what he may not be able to undestand what he perceives. (He got hold of that book from Ma Gertrude however, and I intend to use that to invest a rank in Arcana at some point in the future.)

Anyway, I'm going to wait here for other players to advance their plot line too.

[Kaptin Keen]

Spoiler: OOC

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Well - it's a book. It's like google, just before the internet: You can look things up in it =D

So it'll take a little while, but Jon can certainly use the book the try and figure out the little bell. Roll it, if you want.

Jon stares intently at the bell - which, for it's part, remains entirely unimpressed, and sits there on the endtable, smug and content. Jon ransacks his memory, words half remembered and barely understood: Illusion, that one isn't too hard, something with sight and sound. And Conjuration. Jon is less sure about that one, something about crossing distances - or calling creatures? Or something.

[iTookUrNick]

Jack exales softly: he had not even realized he was holding his breath. He's getting too old for this kind of thing, he thinks. He considers tiptoeing to the end of the hallway to see where the two guards are heading, but in the end he decides not to. Instead, he goes back to fetch Jon.

As he enters, he finds him staring at a bell, as if under an enchantment spell. What are you doing? he ventures, tentatively "What did you find? The guards just passed this corridor, we should move now if we want to avoid confronting them." He is reminded once again that it would be great if they could dampen their footsteps: he resolves to look into it later on.

[WalkingTheShade]

"Huh, what?" Jon shakes if head, as if trying to shake off an enchantment spell. "Oh, guards. A'ight. Huh, the bell, it's, like, somewhat magic or somethin'. I think it calls people. I think we can't ring it. 'Cause of th'noise. An' it brings people or stuff." Jon frowns, and thinks of the spell in the wand he got from th'market. His eyes shine as if he's just found the answer he'd been looking for. "Like an alarm spell or stuff."

As he's saying all that, Jon takes out the Offered Slipper of Friendship out of his backpack, delicately takes the Calling Bell, then muffles the hammer with a corner of the slipper before wrapping the rest of it around the bell. He puts the bundle on the top of his backpack.

"Come Toby." Toby comes, without letting go of his prize.

Jon follows Jack, suddenly remembering: "Oh and there's some pieces an' board an' stuff in a chest wit' a silver key und'r th'bed, but it ain't toooo magic."

[iTookUrNick]

"What?" asks Jack, momentarily confused. Then he pieces together the words chest, silver and magic. His eyes glisten of all the hues of precious metals and knows immediately what to do. "Dear Jon, you did very well. What you found could be of immense value... in completing our mission, I mean. What if we encounter a door that can only be bypassed by solving a complex riddle involving that game board? We must take it with us." That said, he encourage the biger man to bag the thing and follow him onwards towards their objective.

[Kaptin Keen]

A brief scouting excursion reveals that the balcony goes all around an open central area. The top floor has rooms, all around as far as you can easily make out (making it possibly 12 rooms in all). Below, the very center of the room is dominated by a large fireplace. Around this are tables, chairs, cupboards, carpets, candlesticks, and so on - a large room, dedicated to the comfort of many.

Seated in one corner is Ogg, merrily munching on a haunch of meat, while a couple of liveried servants wait on him, serving more meat and wine. A trio of guards stand by, looking not exactly highly alert, and a man - dressed as a noble - stands with his back to you. There is a steady murmur of conversation, with occasional outbursts of laughter from Ogg.

You have no idea how the lower level is laid out (except for the room you're looking into), but from where the servants go, you guess the kitchens are at the far end from where you are.

[WalkingTheShade]

Jon nods. "A'ight Capt'n!" He then goes back to the chest and takes the board game, leaving the key in the chest. Before stepping out of the room, he pauses and turns back. "Huh, sorry fo' takin' th'bell and th'game board, but Capt'n says we need it," Jon says for the benefit of the empty room.

---

One King Ogg is in sight, Jon visibly hesitates to walk straight to him, taking a tentative step towards the banquet. Yet, as he opens his mouth in greetings, his brain registers the guards. Jon freezes, closes his mouth, and takes a few steps back, waiting for the others to take the lead.

Spoiler: OOC

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Really, I think our best play here is to greet Ogg like everything's fine, and say we've missed him thus come to call on him for dinner/lunch/super/whatever that banquet is. (I wouldn't be surprised he's been eating 23/24; with the rest of the time spent drinking and breathing.)

Either the guards attack us, proving our point that he's a prisonner. Or they don't, which leaves us the option to partake, be well-fed and convince the King that he's not allowed to leave.