Strange Aeons 2: The Thrushmoor Terror [IC]

[silphael]

Looking around in the newly liberated cavern, Maeni states :

"Once the corpse will have been ... removed, that should make a good place for a camp, I think ?"

She hesitated after talking about the corpse.

[Blackhawk101]

“I agree. If someone will assist, we can strip the sorceress of her valuables and conceal the corpses outside in the brush. After, we can set up camp in the “lab” and explore.” Dorn says in his normal straight forward manner. He casts a spell on his hammer so that it glows with the light of a torch even though he doesn’t seem to need or use it.

[digiman619]

Flair nodded "I'll assist you with that. Jens, can you use your earthen powers to dig us some graves? While Dorn will probably want to say some words for the woman, our main concern is getting them deep enough that their scent won't attract any predators."

[bcool999]

Jens

”Cairns are easier with my abilities, and shall serve just as well.” Jens says before using his abilities to entomb the bodies after the valuables have been taken from the witch.

[lostsole31]

Alright, then. You can make a cairn outside the cave in the grotto. The body was already stripped of valuables.

Dorn, Flair, Maeni, and Jens .... are you exploring more today, or camping?

[digiman619]

Flair motions deeper into the cave; best give it a once over, lest they get a nasty surprise in the middle of the night.

[silphael]

Thinking a little, Maeni simply says :

"If that's what you are afraid of, I can go there invisible, give it an eye, and come back if there is trouble ?"

[digiman619]

Flair took a second or three to think, but eventually nodded. "Yeah, that should be sufficient. Just give it a once over and report back. We can make decisions based on what you find. Focus on the main area; we can always clog off the small offshoot that the woman was hiding in later."

[lostsole31]

Okay, Maeni, tell me what you do and how.

[silphael]

Pointing the last wooden screen, Maeni says as she gets ready :

"That might be the biggest issue : opening doors might reveal my presence."

[digiman619]

Flair nodded. "Then just report back their presence. You're only going in there for reconnaissance, after all."

[silphael]

"I mean, we open this door together, take care of whatever might be behind, and I go scout a little."

[digiman619]

Flair nods. "Okay, let's do it." He then goes with Maeni to open the remaining slat.

[lostsole31]

Dorn and Jens can likewise aid in removing the last slat. It is half the size of the other, weighing only 200 pounds.

Twenty feet across at its widest, this rounded cave contains a scattered pallet of blankets, a wooden washbasin of clean water, and a sturdy chest. The floor in this room is less muddy than the rest of the cave system, and the witch's pallet is set up on a mound of straw to keep it dry.

[digiman619]

Flair inspects the chest; judging from the woman's other defenses, there's a decent chance that it's trapped, and if there's a bypass on this thing, he'd like to find it rather than go in blindly and get hit by it.

[lostsole31]

Sure enough, Flair determines that true to his intuition, the chest appears to be trapped.

[digiman619]

Flair will turn to his compatriots. "Yep, it's trapped. Anyone handy with those, or do we just break the top off this thing?"

[lostsole31]

Flair is the only one in the party who even has a chance at disarming traps (without necessarily setting them off). The only other member of your number that you know of that had any skill at this (and better than Flair's own), is Corbin .... who is healing at New Chapel right now.

[digiman619]

Upon seeing the lack of anyone rushing forward, he stepped back. "Okay, you know what? Let's finish checking the perimeter before we worry about this. The only other entrance in this cave is the one the woman and the wolves were hiding in, and if that one goes deeper, we can just have Jens block that off with rocks."

[lostsole31]

Maeni can stand just inside the choke of the western cave and describe the dimensions (see Discord). This dark limestone chamber smells like wet mulch and is bare aside from a scattering of animal bones.

[digiman619]

With the remaining cave outlet clear, Flair returns to the chest. Giving it a visual once over, he begins to wonder aloud how to best deal with it. "Well, judging from the size of the chest and its previous owner's proclivities, chances are that the trap will try and poison me somehow." He turns to his compatriots. "Do any of you have any spells that can steady my hand while I try to deactivate this, or at least will boost my immune system if it does get me with some poison?"

[silphael]

Taking out a prism, Maeni makes sure no trap is magical before preparing to cast guidance on Flair.

"That's the best I can do."

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Casting Detect Magic just in case, then guidance as often as necessary to help Flair.

[digiman619]

Flair nods. "Here's hoping it's enough." And with that, he attempts to disarm the trap on the chest.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Disable Device check on the chest, spending an Inspiration, and using Daring Insight. (1d20+3)[23] + (1d6)[6] (1d6)[5] = 29
If I trigger the trap, I use the guidance and get +1 to the save. I'll leave the roll to you, but I will use my Deductive Leap ability, so my saves are effectively +14 Fort (4 base + 8 for using INT, +1 from ABP, +1 competence w/*guidance*), +13 Reflex (same as before, but with a 3 base) and +14 Will (same as Fort).

[Blackhawk101]

St. Dorn will stand by; ready to smite evil if such evil were to appear and in do doing, need smiting.

Spoiler: Spoon!

Show

sorry. Rewatching the Tick.

[lostsole31]

Flair is pretty sure he disabled the trap, and like a surgeon breaks off at the base (carefully) and pulls forth a needle that has some type of residue at the business end.

Now what?

[digiman619]

Flair breathes a sigh of relief. He smiles at Maeni "That seemed to do the trick. Thanks." He then opens the chest.

Once its contents are revealed, he will turn to the rest of the party. "I think that's everything. We should probably make camp and wait until we get picked up in the morning."

[lostsole31]

This sizeable chest once held the equipment that sits on the worktable. Now, it is nearly empty as it holds a few changes of clothes, a clay jar with a "substance", and a large leather pouch containing gold. A lot of gold. A lot of gold.

Assuming Flair will take some time to do a proper analysis with the fully stocked alchemy lab .... which now has a means of being crated back up, btw, so that is solved .... and after a bit of chem work Flair determines that the substance in the clay jars is 4 doses of "muscaria."

Spoiler: Muscaria

Show

Named for the mushrooms from which a more distilled substance of the same name is called, these small mushrooms, grown in dark forests, have red caps dotted with white spots. Able to induce strong hallucinogenic states, they have long been used by shamans and other spiritual leaders to enter trances to seek flashes of insight.

Meanwhile, others count out the gold and find that there is a whopping 1,694 gp.

[bcool999]

Jens

”Alright. If we are done exploring, I will go tend to Jaume. I can sleep later.” Jens says as he makes his way back to the fallen friar.

Jens then makes do with what is around him to tend to Jaume. Making sure he has proper rest and otherwise tending to him for 8 hours.

Spoiler: Ooc

Show

Long term care on Jaume. Taking 10 if possible otherwise I think this is rolled secret and I find out in 8 hours if it didn’t help.

[lostsole31]

Please post all camp-related setup and precautions. Which chamber you sleep in? Which screens (if any) you put up? (It will likely be a major task for the larger, 400' screen.) Source of light? Etc.

[digiman619]

"Well, at least we know how we're paying for the boat ride back" Flair said with a chuckle. He stepped outside to look at the sun, judging the remaining time in the day. He then walked back, his face pensive. "Okay." he says after a moment. "I figure we have roughly 16 hours before our ride arrives. The caves are clear, but we should probably still set up a watch just to be safe."

He began to pace a bit as he did the math in his head. "Jens and Maeni both require an uninterrupted sleep for their manifesting and cast to recharge, so we have to juggle the schedule so that both of them get their sleep, but preferably one that minimizes the strain on Dorn and myself. If we go to sleep 6 hours from now, we can have Jens keep watch for the first two hours before waking up Dorn. That will give him time for his 8 hours of sleep. If Dorn wakes me three hours after that and I wake Maeni in another three hours, which will have given her the 8 hours she needs. That way, we can bet the maximum sleep with the most safety."

Dorn raised a hand. "Or we could just sleep in this chamber and put the screen back up."

Flair raised a finger, but quickly dropped it, sighing. "Or we could just sleep in this chamber and put the screen back up." He turned to Jens. "Unless you can also set up some stone on the other side of this thing, I think that's all the precautions we need to take then. Let's just relax until bed time and then return here and close ourselves in then."