Tribim |
'Crap what has he done?' Trib, very worried about his new friend, runs forward pulling his silk rope out of his pack, "I have a rope, So who's going after him."
Samnell |
A plan hatches swiftly. Dommer strips off his armor while Regin ties a rope about his waist, then the dwarf plunges into the cold oblivion of the pool. All light vanishes as he drags himself into the deep.
Namtar desperately swims upward, his limbs almost frozen stiff. Unseeing, the two men collide with one another. Dommer grabbed tight to Namtar and gave the rope a sharp tug. Up above, Regin hauled on it and both men came out of the pool in a rush, white with cold and shivering. Namtar could barely move at all.
Ok then, lots of things moving at once. Let's say it takes a round for the rope to get sorted. For that time, Namtar is on his own.
Swim DC 5: 1d20 + 4 - 10 ⇒ (11) + 4 - 10 = 5 Namtar ascends to 15 feet below the surface. This is his fifth round of breath. Future rolls at -5 instead of -10.
Fort DC 20: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19
Dex Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 4 yow, Namtar is now at 2 Dex.
Round 2:
Swim DC 5: 1d20 + 4 - 5 ⇒ (10) + 4 - 5 = 9 Namtar ascends to 10 feet below. No penalty on future checks to ascend. Sixth round of air.
Fort DC 20: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21 saved!
Dex Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 1
Dommer hops in, roped up, and swims.
Swim DC 10: 1d20 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 2 + 4 = 24 he's down 5 and adjacent to Namtar
Fort DC 20: 1d20 + 6 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 6 + 4 = 28 he's also fine.
Judgment call. It's pitch black here and they're not actually on top of each other. Do they happen to make contact? Two is yes.
1d2 ⇒ 2 They do! The reeling in can happen next round. So they both need one more fort save.
Namtar: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16
Fort DC 20: 1d20 + 6 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 6 + 4 = 19
Dex Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 1
Both take 1 Dex damage, which puts Namtar at 1 and Dommer at 13.
Dommer |
Dommer falls sideways. Slowly his frog-like features are replaced back with his usual bear ones.
Are you okay, kid? - he asked Namtar. The dwarf was visibly worried, but still recovering himself as well - Don't you know you never go in the well?
Obscure Raphan Attuk reference...
Dommer coughs while laughing now, and stands up.
Thanks for trying something different, though. Hopefully it inspires us. You wouldn't happen to have found or seen anything down there, did 'ya?
Arundel |
As the two come back to the surface, Arundel drapes his retrieved blanket around Namtar, allowing him to use it to dry off and warm up. "It was a good attempt, though we should try to plan such things in the future." Looking at Dommer, he says "Thank you for going in after him. I'm sorry, I have only the one blanket, and he looked like he needed it a bit more."
Tribim |
'Jumped in an evil pond, and is apologizing for not finding anything, gotta like his bravery' Trib pulls out his blanket and tries to use it to dry off and warm up Namtar, speaking to him firmly. "You didn't shame no one and I keep tellin' ya, we ain't yer master."
Namtar |
Namtar nods and curls into the blankets as much as his weakened body would let him move. Thank you, Masters. He's voice is thick with confusion. It's clear he's unaccustomed to such kindnesses.
Tribim |
A vigorous rubbing restored some of Namtar's strength.
yep, always does...
Amarekashu the Bronze |
My wife says the same thing!
"It is good you are safe," Amarekashu said with a small smile. "Your talents do no one any good if you pass to the next realm. A life should be spent on more than plundering a well. But this does leave us with a question...what to do now?"
Amarekashu moved towards one of the arches, and stepped to touch the wall behind, bracing himself for any electrical shock that overwhelmed his ability to resist.
Namtar |
Masters.. are.. are we in the wrong place? I don't mean to second guess you, but.. perhaps we'll find more information about this place, elsewhere?
Tribim |
'Namtar may be right, but if someone put traps here, we must be doing something right.' Tribim pats Namtar on the head, watching what happens to Amarekashu and what he learns. "SShhh, rest, lets wait and see what Amarekashu figures out. And tha names Trib ta my friends."
Namtar |
Namtar instinctively jerks back with a glare at Tribim. Reflexes honed from years in the fighting pits will not allow him to suffer the touch of another. Although, in his weakened condition, he cannot move far, and Trib's hand falls easily on the warrior's head. The slave's glare turns to a look of puzzlement at the apparently gentle gesture, once again speaking volumes of his history.
Master Regin is probably correct. I am a simple gladiator. I should not think to direct freemen.
Dommer |
Dommer nothing says. Instead, the Dwarf shakes, on his own corner, trying to take care of himself at least on a basic way - as much as he feels he'll be in need of some sleep soon, now is probably not the time to stop.
Heal: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 3 = 12 Basic self-care
Samnell |
My wife says the same thing!
"It is good you are safe," Amarekashu said with a small smile. "Your talents do no one any good if you pass to the next realm. A life should be spent on more than plundering a well. But this does leave us with a question...what to do now?"
Amarekashu moved towards one of the arches, and stepped to touch the wall behind, bracing himself for any electrical shock that overwhelmed his ability to resist.
Does he want the one Trib disarmed the hard way, which isn't very active, or one of the other two which are glowy but known trapped still?
Samnell |
Dommer nothing says. Instead, the Dwarf shakes, on his own corner, trying to take care of himself at least on a basic way - as much as he feels he'll be in need of some sleep soon, now is probably not the time to stop.
[dice=Heal]1d20+3 Basic self-care
Dommer heals his point of Dex damage.
Samnell |
I'll take a still glowing one. Might as well disarm them the hard way.
Amarekashu stepped forward and the trap came to life, lightning roused to strike him and left the dragon-turned-man burned. Pressing on, he found a solid wall beyond the glowing arch. When he placed his hand through, the whole arch briefly filled with light. It swirled in a violet chaos that filled his arm with pins and needles for an instant before subsiding.
Damage: 2d8 ⇒ (5, 7) = 12
Amarekashu the Bronze |
Amarekashi grunted as the energy surged through him. It hurt. Tilting his neck for a moment, he murmured a word in draconic, and healed most of the damage.
Cure Light Wounds: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4
Once he felt better, he laid his hand on the wall, waiting to see what happened.
Dommer |
Dommer walked towards Amarekashu and stopped right behind the monk, ready to help him in case he needed anything.
Tribim |
'Well that is one way to deal with a magic trap.' Tribim stops patting Namtar and Follows Dommer over to where Amarekashu has sprung the trap and is not testing the glowing arch, 'Did he just push his hand through the wall?' Getting closer, "Well look at that. Amerekashu, are you ok, do you think we can go through?"
Samnell |
Amarekashi grunted as the energy surged through him. It hurt. Tilting his neck for a moment, he murmured a word in draconic, and healed most of the damage.
[dice=Cure Light Wounds]1d8+1
Once he felt better, he laid his hand on the wall, waiting to see what happened.
The light came and went again as soon as Amarekashu stuck his hand into the arch. The wall behind remained solid.
Amarekashu the Bronze |
"Nothing," the heavily built 'human' replied as he withdrew his hand. It sparked as he stretched an shook it, but that was actually normal for him. "Whatever magic seals them requires something more. I suggest we start looking for answers elsewhere."
Dommer |
Agreed. - finally said a frustrated Dommer - It intrigues me this place is all rigged in traps but takes nowhere, but maybe we're missing something to be able to go ahead.
The Dwarf thinks for a moment.
Well, maybe we should study the map again? For other marks, I mean?
Tribim |
I was thinking that one of the smart characters should figure something out, then I realized that after Arundel @ 18 that Dommer and Trib are it @ 12 ;(
Seeing the light come and go but the wall remain, Trib scratches his head and calls up to Arundel: "Oy! Did anything change up 'air when Amarekashu touched tha glowing arch?"
Not waiting for an answer, Trib goes to Dommer "Studying tha map ain't a bad idea, should we check out tha well and see if'n 'air is anything else attached ta it before we head back up?"
"I wonder if there is anything I missed on the arches.' After Amarekashu springs the trap on the second arch Trib carefully looks at the arch to see if he can tell any difference between it and the arch that has no glow.
@ Samnell:take 20 (27) on perception again looking for any differences on the arches, or anything he missed the first time he looked at them.
@ group: Does anyone see any reason to believe the other arch will do anything different?
@ Group: Should we check the well before we leave?
Arundel |
Unfortunately, smart character doesn't equal smart player. I'm stumped!
Still standing around with the group, but apparently out of Trib's line of sight, the elf speaks up softly "I'm over here, Trib, so I couldn't say if it changed. Given the way things have been going, I'm guessing not."
He goes up to the now-untrapped arch that Amarekashu is examining, and looks at it himself. He walks up to the arch, and touches the wall behind it.
Can I use detect magic to try to determine the properties of this very large magical item? Not sure if that function applies to magical things on this scale. Can that give us any information on how to activate any of this setup? Just in case, I will take 10 on a spellcraft check with detect magic, at a +2 to identify the properties of magic items, for a result of 20.
Samnell |
@ Samnell:take 20 (27) on perception again looking for any differences on the arches, or anything he missed the first time he looked at them.
Tribim marked for himself the tracks that Dommer found beginning and ending at each of the active archways, but save for the glow they appeared identical to him even on the closest examination.
@ Group: Should we check the well before we leave?
Dommer did find tracks that led out to it and the group is fairly sure they're the first through from the top in some time.
Samnell |
Unfortunately, smart character doesn't equal smart player. I'm stumped!
There's a fix for that. :)
Int Check, DC 15: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 4 + 2 = 7 or not. :(Can I use detect magic to try to determine the properties of this very large magical item? Not sure if that function applies to magical things on this scale. Can that give us any information on how to activate any of this setup? Just in case, I will take 10 on a spellcraft check with detect magic, at a +2 to identify the properties of magic items, for a result of 20.
Size isn't really an issue and a check may reveal typical keys or such.
On consideration, Arundel recognizes each of these archways to be the markers for magical gates. In ancient times, the elves built many of them to connect distant cities and realms as closely as two buildings that shared a common wall. A few human civilizations copied or stole that Art, but Arundel hasn't heard of gates created in the past millennium. Gatecraft is widely believed to be a lost art, perhaps no longer even possible as a result of the harm that human workers have done to the Weave. But lost Art has a power all its own. If anyone does know the secrets, they might best keep silent to preserve the advantage or their lives from grasping rivals. Rumors forever abound that someone (ancient elves, liches, the high priests of deities associated with magic...) knows something.
At their most basic, gates simply took anybody who crossed their plane instantly from one place to the next through a standing manipulation of the Weave. But they almost always came locked behind warding magic which restricted their use to those who knew a password or phrase, carried the right tokens, or even possessed the right bloodlines (only elves, only scions of this house...). Sometimes a gate might take all three.
Most gates were invisible even when in use. Custom dictated that one erect some kind of enclosure to mark them, like the archways, but the working did not necessarily depend on one and might be untroubled by its loss. Arundel has heard of gates which remain high in the air, atop mountaintops or in flying castles long gone. But no working of Art stands untouched with the grinding many centuries. Gates might slowly lose their power, fading to nothing or slumbering until fed by some source of Art. They might also decay or twist, making passage dangerous.
A proper elfgate, made by masters of the craft, would go gently but copies or inferior works could drink spells, things that hold their own Art, memories, even lives to fuel themselves. Age might also cause a gate to leak, either from one side to the other or through the planar interstices. Such seepage might come with perils of its own. They may even twist the flesh and minds of those who pass through them. Some gates might do as much by design, trapped by their makers to whisk naked people to one monster-infested place while depositing their belongings elsewhere. Decayed gates would often show a violet radiance, as the ones before them do, but its presence doesn't prove a gate unsafe in itself.
The presence of many gates in close proximity, or gates within or near another powerful spell field increase the risks of instability. Arundel recalls being taught that when elves created many gates, particularly in conjunction with the vast wardings of mythalcraft (another lost art) that once safeguarded their realms, they took special precautions against the thinning of space that such things occasioned lest things from without shoulder their way through. He also believes that using any translocation magic within or in close proximity to a gate is likely to fail, perhaps with deadly consequences, for the interference. If such a spell worked, it might instead do some harm to the gate.
Arundel believes that the three gates lead, or led, to separate places. With significant work (weeks or months) he might be able to puzzle out what keys or words one would need to pass them but that would need experimentation and may not prove especially safe for him. If he had access to a grand library (larger than Zummabu's) he might do better, but none of the sages he knows of in Unther is the sort to just throw open their scrolls to an outsider. He would probably do better to ask in Chessenta, likely in Cimbar or Soorenar, but that's farther still.
Tribim |
Tribim wrote:@ Group: Should we check the well before we leave?Dommer did find tracks that led out to it and the group is fairly sure they're the first through from the top in some time.
could you clarify "the first through from the top in some time"? do you mean that no one came down the 'well' but someone came in through a porthole and exited?
Oh thank's for the gates explanation!
Samnell |
Samnell wrote:could you clarify "the first through from the top in some time"? do you mean that no one came down the 'well' but someone came in through a porthole and exited?Tribim wrote:@ Group: Should we check the well before we leave?Dommer did find tracks that led out to it and the group is fairly sure they're the first through from the top in some time.
I could have written it with more ambiguity, but I would have had to work hard for it. :) Dommer found tracks (not the party's) going to and from the two active gates. Those tracks lead back out to the well, which is where you entered from. But there were no signs of activity up at the well's top when the party went in. So yeah, nobody came down the well before the party did in at least some decades. The tracks are more recent than that. The well also continues down below the level you're now at.
Oh thank's for the gates explanation!
:)
Tribim |
Not waiting for an answer, Trib goes to Dommer "Studying tha map ain't a bad idea, should we check out tha well and see if'n 'air is anything else attached ta it before we head back up?"
'The tracks come from the gates, crap, the tracks come from the gates, Ok, the tracks come from the gates and we didn't see any sign up top, so where did they go? Dommer is our underground expert, good thing he came with us.' Walking closer to Dommer, Trib unintentionally whispers: "They came from tha gates and didn't exit out up top through tha well. We need ta see where tha well leads ta. Your tha underground expert would ya lead us?"
Dommer |
I thought Namtar had just jumped into the well? :) I'm quite lost! GM, would maybe some quick mapping help? I can't visualize much of the scene right now (player has Int 5)
Tribim |
I thought Namtar had just jumped into the well? :) I'm quite lost! GM, would maybe some quick mapping help? I can't visualize much of the scene right now (player has Int 5)
... The well also continues down below the level you're now at.
@ Dommer, Namtar jumped into the black pool of necrotic evil, here in the room we are in. I'm speaking of the well that we uncovered above ground, you saw a change in the well wall that indicated a secret tunnel, the well went deeper, presumably to water. I say we go back the way we came and go down to see if there is anything else.
Arundel |
"The magic of these arches is well beyond me, but my understanding of them is that if you know the proper command words or methods of activation, their use is relatively straightforward." Arundel will give a minor briefing of how the gates work to his companions, perhaps being just a touch more background than they would care to know, but it is obvious he is fascinated by them.
At Trib's question, Arundel nods. "It would be to our benefit to explore further down, I would think. I don't like the idea of returning to the surface when there is obviously activity down here."
Regin Ald |
If we entered through a secret passage then this being one part of a larger complex would make sense. And moving through this place "backwards" may allow us the element of surprise should we encounter anything hostile down here.
Amarekashu the Bronze |
"I guess this is the magical version of a crossroads, if they entered one arch and exited another." Amarekashu waited for the others to deice where they wanted to head next.
Samnell |
I thought Namtar had just jumped into the well? :) I'm quite lost! GM, would maybe some quick mapping help? I can't visualize much of the scene right now (player has Int 5)
I didn't think we would be in the area long enough for it to matter. But then the moving parts kept increasing and I didn't reconsider. So that's fixed now.
Sorry it's a bit rough, but I made some significant changes from the original and then realized Roll20 wasn't going to easily let me to a circle intersecting a rectangle so I had to use the original images and edit them. Also, this is where we'll have the battlemap. Clicking that special link should register you as a player, so when the time comes I can give you control of your token for much murdering fun.
Dommer |
Furtha' down explore the well we go. I'm sure we will understand these mysteries at the right time. - said the Dwarf, already taking the road. He would give passage for Tribim and Namtar, if they wanted to take point again, otherwise would simply continue moving, determined.
The map helps a lot! Thanks!