DM Ithuriel |
Belegorn - no. Didn't see anything but bookshelves and fungal growths. When you said you were opening it just enough to get a look at the room before quietly closing it I assumed that you didn't open the door very wide.
No one has Kn Dungeoneering after all.
Jake throws the door wide just in time to see a giant violet mushroom nearly as tall as him contracting to draw in air. It unleashes another deafening shriek by the time the door is fully open. The thick humid air rolls out of the archives heavy with the scent of organic decay. Strangely it is also unnaturally cold in the room and that chill bleeds through to the warriors gathered around the door.
Off to the left a wide shaft opens into darkness. Stairs spiral around the outer rim of the shaft descending like a corkscrew covered in a fur of mold.
Slimy fungal carpet = difficult terrain. Marked in green on the map.
Don't bother with init. Just post what you would like to do with rolls.
DM Ithuriel |
Omrax the Bold |
Do those in the doorway take any damage or other affect from the noise or cold? I am assuming we can hear the noise even with the wax. Can Omrax see the other growth to the north? If not he will move in and hack at the noisy purple mushroom.
perception : 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
sword : 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18
damage : 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4
DM Ithuriel |
The sword hacks the giant mushroom in half and the shriek tapers off like a rapidly deflating balloon.
No damage at the moment. The northern growth doesn't really stand out. The entire bookcase and floor there is covered in brownish fungal growths, but I marked it because it gets colder the more you move in that direction.
Noamuth PFS |
"Well struck, Om..! Oh, he can't hear me. Someone gi' me some rope; You're walking in slime, an' those stairs go down a long way."
If given rope, Noa will look for a crate that won't fit through the door, or some combination (small crate for rope, wedged by two larger ones?) to tie off a rope to.
Marchello Aria PFS |
Marchello enters the room, following Jake. He very carefully begins to see what he can from where he is, using Sift to see farther into the shaft or down the length of the room without having to tread very far or coming in contact with much of the mold/decay.
Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (13) + 10 = 23
Omrax the Bold |
With the noise gone, Omrax looks around for other opponents. Otherwise (if out of combat) - will sheath his sword, unplug the wax from his ears and lend a hand getting ropes or whatever the party suggests next.
"If not for all of the old books and shelves, I would suggest just burning all this slime and coming back later. At least it would warm this place up. But I am sure we would burn some valuable tome in the process...and that cannot be good for the mission. I wonder how long this room has been like this? "
He does his best to avoid slime and wipe off any that splashed upon him.
DM Ithuriel |
Marchello> Have to choose either across the room or down the shaft for your spell target for me to know which to describe.
Omrax> nothing visibly menacing, but this much fungus growing wild probably isn't healthy.
You can clearly see now that the other door enters the same room a bit further up and the floor looks to be at least dry over there if not free of the infestation spread throughout the room.
Omrax the Bold |
Omrax will get Jake's attention when an opportunity presents...quietly...
"Sir Jake, before we leave this special library room, I believe we should check the books incase they hold any clues to our mission. I am not sure if we will have the opportunity to pass this way again."
DM Ithuriel |
Standing near the edge of the shaft Marchello motions for Noa to bring over some light and extends his senses down into the corkscrew stairwell. Even some thirty feet below the stairs are slick with a sludge-like growth. The light is dim, but he can see that the stairs end in an alcove just another ten feet or so beyond his extended sight and it appears to be free of the fungal white fur and brown sludge. Most human eyes wouldn't be able to register it, but Marchello picks up a faint flicker of light periodically in the alcove- most likely a reflection from elsewhere.
Acrobatics DC 10 to move at half speed.
Acrobatics DC 15 to move more than half speed.
Fail = fall
Total distance 40 feet so:
If your speed is 30, 3 checks to reach the bottom.
If you speed is 20, 4 checks to reach the bottom.
If your speed is 15 (Mordecai), 5 checks to reach the bottom.
DM Ithuriel |
Jump straight down is definitely possible. The center is empty space and no rails. 40 feet down.
Crawling is a speed of 5 feet, so 8 checks, but there is no specific rule on reducing the DC for crawling down slimy stairs. How about 2 checks and you only fall on a 1? That and you are going to be nasty by the time you get to the bottom.
Noamuth PFS |
Noa is working on the "Babe-rarian's Feather Fall". It uses a rope. But let me have her make this in-character observation:
"Is' a long way down. And no fas' way up. 'Less maybe we use the same ropes, both ways? Or the shelves? We got muscle, if we got time..."
Jake Hargrove |
Jake nods knowingly at Omrax.
I agree with both Noa and Belegorn. Noa, feel free to start rigging the ropes for a climb down without using those nasty stairs to find purchase. Belegorn, come, I will help you search the stacks. Give a holler if you need a strong arm, Noa.
Perception throughout stacks.: 1d20 ⇒ 8
Omrax the Bold |
perception: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 1 = 17 looking through books with Jake.
Noamuth PFS |
Noa will take the offered ropes, and begin making a knotted line with the intention of it reaching to the floor below, secured on the door mountings of the door to the plant room. A heavy crate is positioned at hand as a makeshift spool, against the possible scenario of having to winch a person up.
She will solicit openly for someone to check her knots, engineering, and plan.
DM Ithuriel |
While the others huddle around the open hole securing their ropes, Belegorn begins thumbing through the archive brushing away thick sheets of mold where necessary, but steering clear of the brown mold radiating an unnatural chill. In the central part of the room two giant candelabras hang high above draped with fungus like swamp moss. Even without the candles lit the room has a sort of half light from the slowly pulsing purple phosphorescence of certain mold blooms.
Among the shelves the dwarf picks out a couple of items of interest including a series of detailed log books chronicling the Blackros family's smuggling network of contraband as well as slaves throughout the Inner Sea Region. Additionally a series of maps mark secret trade routes across the Taldor-Qadira border for use in avoiding authorities.
Moving on in one corner he spots a pack covered in furry growth and scanning around notes that it has been dropped with a few books pulled loose from the shelves to reveal a lever currently in the down position.
Kicking the pack free from the infestation several items tumble out like a gilded Osirion death mask, several funerary relics in the style of ancient Osirion. Intrigued the dwarf kneels down and empties the rest of the pack. In addition to more relics a scrap of paper flutters out and he grabs it reading, "The Eye is Always Vigilant" written in Common.
Kn Local or History for more info about the Osirion items.
Jake Hargrove |
Having shown nothing for his search efforts, jake notices that Belegorn seems to have stumbled across something.
Omrax, come, let us see what our dwarf friend has uncovered. What have you there, Belegorn?
Omrax the Bold |
If his own search for trade records was unfruitful, Omrax will move to check the log books the dwarf has uncovered. Especially interested in those detailing slaving and contraband.
"Sir Jake, I believe our good dwarf has uncovered some evidence of criminal activities."
Omrax will carefully brush off any mold and stow these in his backpack. After that he will head back towards the pit and stairs to check on progress.
"Lady Noa, how are you with the rope work? I am not skilled with ropes, but will lend what assistance I can."
Noamuth PFS |
"I only know five knots. But a hand only also has five fingers, and tha' seem to be enough.", Noa says philosophically. "My plan is no' perfec', but simple. Knotted rope, we can avoid the slimy stairs, if we want, while the later ones have weapons ready from above. Then the first ones, weapons ready, below, while the rest come. We will no' be able to rush back, but when we want to, the knotted rope will mean even if we fall, we do it more gently. An' if we fin' the lady, an' she has to be carried, we will want that gentleness."
Jake Hargrove |
Seeing Omrax stash the necessary documents, he turns to Belegorn.
Good find, Belegorn. As you can imagine the documents involving slavery hold a particular interest to Omrax an myself. Such an obvious afront to the freedoms that all should enjoy si greatly distressing.
Noamuth PFS |
"You go' to wonder, why anyone wi' a secret would even let Pathfinders in their house. And these Blackro's, they got so many. Secrets, I mean. I guess, they go' houses, too..."
Marchello Aria PFS |
Any chance that they may be religious in nature? ie funerary relics ...
Marchello looks at the items for a moment, pondering their significance.
Knowledge (religion): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18
Omrax the Bold |
Omrax look around again and is growing anxious spending too much time around all this mold and goo.
"Well, Sir Belegorn, if we do not know anything about the items, maybe we take them with us and ask the lady when we find her...assuming she is able to answer questions for us."
Noamuth PFS |
"Might be a good idea jus' to hol' your breath in general, wi' all these slime an' fungust."
Tugging severely to test her knots and engineering, Noa makes for the edge of the hole. "I'll go first? 'Cause if it's really bad, you migh' pull up the woman, faster than the dwarf, eh?"
DM Ithuriel |
The collection of little statues are known as ushabti in Osirion and the stories claim that the death of very important personages sometimes lead to the ritual sacrifice of his household, binding their souls to small objects and interring them with the body that they might continue to serve him in Pharasma's graveyard. One is a canopic jar, used to preserve the organs in the afterlife. It is smaller, but it definitely matches the design of the one Imrizade was carrying and had sketched in her journal.
While testing her ropes Noa realizes that the shaft has a mechanism built in that would slide two stone panels back into place sealing the floor tight and hiding the stairwell entirely. Presumably the lever hidden on the bookshelf that Belegorn recovered would open or close the secret door.
You have an extra 10 feet of rope to work with so I'm assuming Noa tied knots down its length reducing the Climb DC to 5. You can take 10 to climb down. Remember your ACP. I think everyone should be fine except Mordecai who has a -10 ACP due to heavy encumbrance. If someone can carry his shield or something down or he just throws it to the bottom he will drop to -4 ACP and -2 str for -6. One Aid Another will let him get by with taking 10.
DM Ithuriel |
Noa shimmies down the rope like a professional descending deeper into the mold colony faintly glowing down the length of the stairwell. She touches down lightly in an alcove that opens onto a large antechamber. The simple clean lines of the basalt walls above give way to a disturbing organic style of architecture. She can't help but shake the feeling that the alcove opens into the gullet of some kind of monstrous behemoth. At the far end of the hall a large ornate arch that looks disconcertingly like it would be the toothed maw of this beast stands in the wall. The maw is covered by a heavy black curtain with sickly green light shining through around the edges from whatever lies beyond. Roughly in the center of the antechamber as the segmented bands of stone crest to an uneven slope is a simple iron box.
Noamuth PFS |
"I don' like that door. Wha' if there's another lever? Well, we go' to go on, so... I'll go firs'; if I scream, pull me up. Then if i' looks okay, lower heavy gear, an' maybe Mordecai, an' then the rest climb down? Oh, and if the doors star' to close, slide down the stairs, or jump, or whatever. Don' get split up."
Omrax the Bold |
Omrax will take 10 on his turn climbing down. He will motion for Mordecai or Marchello to go first if they like.
Omrax the Bold |
Omrax will assist Mordecai in any way that he requires (including dropping his shield down to him once he reaches bottom if that is all it takes).
"Here you go, Sir Mordecai, let me give you a hand getting down. Coming up could be another matter."
Noamuth PFS |
"Do you think our hosts have lef' gifts for us? So many traps, and this you think is not? If we have all finished our prescribed... lootings? ...rescues? ...investigations? Then there is only the girl. We have no proper improper sort, or we could ask them,but I say, we pass so many boxes already,we pass this one,too" She grins,"Now, if i' were a TARP..."