Despite her companions' apparent superstitions, Verrin proceeds confidently through the (presumably) abandoned streets and down the ladder. She has her dagger drawn.
See those plain grey bits of wall? Yeah, well you think they're doors, though there's no door handle or anything. But that's irrelevant, because Zoggie says we go down.
The next floor down appears, from what you can see to look a lot like the previous. The ladder continues further down, or you can explore this floor.
I swear, there's interesting stuff in here, you just haven't found it yet...
Xeran points at various pieces of walls. "It would seem that these panels are also doors. Though I have not been able to locate a handle that would open such a device. Verrin, perhaps you would be able to perform a similar action to orchestrate the opening process you demonstrated earlier?"
Zoggie is situated by the ladder, impatiently waiting for the party. She does seem intrigued by the sheer number of doors, however.
We're going to be on split-spoilers now, since part of the party has gone down the stairs and part has not. Waynab and Rhaegar have gone down the ladder, with Cildad presumably following Waynab. Xeran and Verrin have stayed up top, and I'll let Xeran decide about Zoggie. Teyth is also in an indeterminate state; he is neither upstairs nor down until we observe his state by his posting. He should choose one and only read that spoiler]
Up top:
You see no traps, but the door fails to open.
Down low:
Still waiting to hear if you continue down the ladder or explore the second floor.
Too slow:
You're still on the Penelope, since you weren't fast enough to get onto the island before it descended. Roll to see if the Penelope was dragged down or whether the rope snapped.
"Hmm, that didn't work. Let's try this..." Verrin lightly touches her nose to the door, hoping that it works on the same principle as the previous one.
The door slides into the wall and you step into the room. It's mostly empty, but for the ruins of some furniture long since decayed. A light layer of dust covers everything.
Up: Craft woodworking, carpentry, etc. DC 15:
You don't think the furniture's been used in hundreds of years, though it's remarkably well-preserved for that.
Up: Perception DC 15:
There are faint footprints in the dust and some evidence that the furniture has been moved since the dust settled.
Up: Survival DC 24 if you made the perception:
The tracks are made by a medium sized biped, but with clawed, webbed feet.
Xeran notes, "I suppose your nose continues to serve as a more adequate lockpicking device than your tools."
He scans the room, particularly taking note of the furniture.
"Hmmm... If you would note the furniture, Verrin... It has not seen any use in centuries, yet it remains remarkably well-preserved. However, look over here. These slight footprints suggest that the furniture has been moved and this place has been recently inhabited. Sadly, I am not a skilled tracker, so I cannot ascertain any more information."
"Yeah, I see them too, Xeran. Problem is, I'm not an expert on tracking either," Verrin says wearily. "Two conclusions present themselves - either we are not the first recent explorers of this structure, or something non-native to the original culture lives here.
DM, can I attempt to identify the footprints (not trying to follow them, so survival shouldn't be a factor)? Knowledge (Nature):1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18
"Unfortunately, I am not familiar with any kind of creature that would make this kind of footprint... my years of studies have focused much more substantially on aquatic specimens rather than subterranean ones."
"I wonder... should I call for Zoggie and the others to see what they can do with this information? Or do we want to proceed without them?"
"Let's see what's in these other rooms first. I'd like to see if we can get a better idea of what's going on without running to those two..." Verrin says as she strolls outside and down the hall to the next door. Assuming nothing untoward happens, she presses her nose against the door. She is definitely on guard now that she knows something else is in the area, and she has her dagger drawn.
Xeran/Zoggie Sense Motive DC 15:
It is obvious that she dislikes relying on Teyth and Rhaegar to lead the way through this ruin.
Xeran Sense Motive:1d20 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14
Zoggie Sense Motive:1d20 + 9 - 10 ⇒ (14) + 9 - 10 = 13Zoggie isn't here so I'm giving her a massive penalty to her check
Xeran nods. "Good idea. Let's continue our search up here before calling for the others."
Noting the potential for danger, Xeran mutters an incantation and casts a spell on himself.
Up, Spellcraft 19:
Xeran has cast Spite on himself, infused with the spell Vampiric Touch.
Down:
1d2 ⇒ 1
Zoggie says, "Zoggie think we should explore this floor!"
Question: does the hallway extend south, or does it just end there? If it extends, can Verrin see any more doors or objects of interest further along? She has her Ioun Torch active, so she has light as a torch.
"I fail to see any traces of prints in this room. There also seems to be a thicker layer of dust... this room was not explored by the previous specimens. I wonder if there's anything of interest in here."
Zoggie approaches the nearest door and tries to press her nose against it in the same fashion that Verrin did. "Zoggie want to try trick bossy Verrin used earlier!"
[b]"These blasted things don't seem to want open"[b]
Rhaegar is going to attempt to crouch down and yank the door open from the bottom.
Str:1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15
"Well done Zoggie! What a dull room. Let's see if there is anything in the other rooms round." With that, Waynab begins putting his nose up against doors and poking his head in. Unless there is anything that looks alive, moving, or machine like, he continues doing so down halls and to all the doors he can find on the west side of the 2nd floor. Take 10 on perception at each door, perception 10 since I still haven't done my skills
Unless anything happens to stop us, Xeran will continue down the hallway, allowing Verrin to use the same method to open up the doors. In each room, Xeran will take a look around for anything of interest.
Ugh. Sorry guys. I'm thinking I may have bitten off more than I can chew with this adventure, unless we want it to stretch on for years and years and consume all of my hard drive with maps. Cities are fricken' big, and I should have accounted for an adventurer's desire to open EVERY door. But I didn't. And so now every time I open this thread and map tools, I just psyche myself out. So I'm looking into seeing how I can contract the adventure a bit without ruining verisimilitude.
I mean, you could just tell us that all of the rooms are empty. We don't need maps of every empty room we enter, nor do we need information about each specific room. A general description of what we find in a few rooms or the general impression we get about the rooms would be fine. If we were in a hotel, you wouldn't need to describe each new hotel painting above the door, nor would you need to draw a map of every one.