With a loud crack, the door finally gives way and opens, shattering an ancient wooden chair propped against it on the other side. The room beyond is dark and smells deeply of dust and decay.
In the far corner of the room, dressed in the garb of a blacksmith, lies the mummified corpse of a dwarf. In one hand are the shattered remains of a glass vial while in the other you see a scrap of ancient parchment.
On the parchment, in Dwarven:
Forgive me, dark father of the forge, my toils shall never be enough.
Stepping into the room, Laucian listens to Gilgar read the parchment. Once finished, he turns to scan the room, stopping back at the door and seeing the broken chair that once blocked the door.
"Um guys. Why is it that this room was blocked from the inside. What was he trying to keep out?"
With a distinctly canine yawn, the worg shakes his head. "You must understand - your friend here is the first dwarf I've ever seen in this place. That door's been stuck shut since I got here."
Heal DC 10:
The dwarf has been dead since before the worg's father was a pup.
Sense Motive DC 10:
It appears that he's being straightforward with you.
Looking over the skeleton, I suppose he has been dead awhile now. I don't know that you not knowing about him has anything to do with you not telling us more about what he may have been afraid of.
The worg perks up at the suggestion that you want more information about the critters.
"Well, just step through those double doors and introduce yourselves. They're annoying, but hardly a challenge for an experienced dwarf. They are like black cloaks and drop down from the rafters. It's hard to bite what you can't see."
"This is my den, my lair. Why would I leave? These creatures are annoying, but they stay in this room, so I have tolerated them. But it's my lair and I would prefer to be able to go where I would." He yawns again. "You wanted something I had, I thought you might be able to do something for me in return. But if a party as powerful as yours is afraid to, maybe I should just get used to their presence."
"Do you know where the rest of these mushrooms are, or are you leading us around to fight your battles? The more time we waste with you, the more our quest is failing. We do not have tme for this."
"What really do you want? Do you want the mushrooms or do you want to know what scared the old dry dwarf to death?"
He motions at the south door with his head. "As I told you, I can smell the mushrooms here by the big doors, but I have never been able to open either of these doors. I've been pretty sure there was at least one mushroom in one of these rooms for quite a while. If there wasn't one keeping the dwarf company since the end of the last age, then I would check the other room."
He turns to pad off. "That's all of the mushrooms I know of other than mine. I'll be in my lair - you need seven total, yes? Let me know how many you find and I will give you the rest of what you need. That's the best I can offer."
Unless you stop him, he heads up the hallway to the north.
Gilgar screams viciously at the worg "Dog! Ye need skin in this game. Ye either fight aside us, or yer two b!4ch dogs fight aside us. Either that, or we take all yer mushrooms and go now."
Gilgar screams viciously at the worg "Dog! Ye need skin in this game. Ye either fight aside us, or yer two b!4ch dogs fight aside us. Either that, or we take all yer mushrooms and go now."
The worg sighs, stops, and returns to sit in the entry. "OK, but fight what? That door? I don't think you need to fight the cloak monsters to get your mushrooms - I have never scented any in their chamber. As far as I know, the only remaining mushrooms - other than my meager portion - are behind that door there."
Well, if you want us to do anything else other than take what you have as payment for your b++$@es having attacked us, you will stay and fight anything we come across. If you act in good faith, then perhaps we will help clean out your cloak creatures.
turning to the rest of the group
If my mates agree, that is.....What say ye?...If our host stands with us against whatever we may find, shall we help him clear his den of these fiends?
OOC: B!tches is not a bad word if we are talking about a dog is it? lol
"A proposal rather than formless threats? Intriguing. Fight alongside you in return for you maybe helping me. I did fight the skeletons you woke up, you know. It would seem I've made a payment toward this bargain already..."
He shakes his head. "I'm here, elf. I will fight. But I still lack the hands to open the door or I would have opened it years ago for myself."
"These creatures do not sound like they need to be on this plain however our mission is to save people with these mushrooms. If this alliance helps in that way, I can agree to it." Laucian start to move to the next stuck door.
The door, after the initial resistance, opens easily. It appears there was some debris on the threshold preventing it opening freely.
The room contains many pegs along the walls and a table in the center. Hanging from a few of the pegs are a few moth-eaten rags and laying on a table is a single ancient soiled hat.
The worg sticks his head through the doorway after the door is open. *sniff* *sniff* He nods his head, "The scent is stronger in here. Probably not many mushrooms, but at least one is close."
In the far southeast corner, behind some rags fallen from their peg, stands a healthy, but solitary, mushroom. The worg sniffs around after you've harvested that one, but he doesn't find any more.
Other than the sounds made by the party and the worg, the only sound Laucian hears is from the forest outside -- but those are just what you think are the normal sounds of an undisturbed forest. You know, one that doesn't have a frothing, battleaxe-wielding dwarf marching through...
"I never said there was anything in here - I couldn't open the door, so I had no idea."
Padding out into the hall behind the dwarf, he adds, "I said they were in there." He gestures with his head toward the double doors, slightly open, leading into a dark room that the party has not investigated.
Gilgar:
You believe you can make out the shape of wooden benches or pews in disarray. At the far end of the room is what might be an altar.
Laucian looks over to the door the warg gestures to. "With the sounds we have been making, I am sure if there is something in there, it already knows about us, so if we are to go in there, I can light it up for us. I say we do to get this thing out of the way so we don't run into it on its terms."
If the group is going in the dark room:
Spoiler:
Laucian says a few quick words, and out pops four floating lights that seem to dance around each other. Each one ball giving off light, as much as a torch.
DM
Spoiler:
If the group goes in, the spell cast is Dancing Lights.
I'm not sure what Sylvanis' status is. We have not seen a post from her for quite a while. I can DMPC the character if the someone wants to return to the worg's den to let her know that her services will be needed shortly.
I am of a mind that we should probably have the rest of our party before we purposefully join in battle. Perrin and I will return for our visiting druidic mate
if noone objects, Nox and Perrin will head out the the way they came as quickly as they can quietly
You find Sylvanis in the second room of the den, having apparently made a truce with the formerly aggressive females. She looks up, "Did it work? Did you find the mushrooms? I found the worg's, in here. According to the girls here, he is Graypelt."
Laucian and Gilgar, the worg waits almost eagerly for the druids to return. He is facing the double doors, tail twitching in excitement.
Gilgar shifts his weight from one foot to the other a few times, sighing heavily as he tries to expel some of the frustration that has been building up on him while in this place.
"I think I'm seein' some pews an' an altar in there."
"Well this place is a monastery. That would make since that they would be in there. The problem I foresee is being able to quickly clear the room. With so many things to hide around, we will need to be on our toes."
Laucian turns from Gilgar to look back for the druids, "So where did you meet Sylvanis again?"
We have found some mushrooms, but not all. It has come down to stealing his or addressing the flying beasts he spoke of, so I have come to see if you will stand with us.
I expect that we will be best served to approach at full strength.
She grins and does just that, harvesting four more mushrooms. You notice that the wolves are in better shape than they were earlier. They make no move to stop the female druid.
Mushrooms collected, she calls to Winter and heads out into the other room. Over her shoulder, "Lead on, we will follow."
