The Deepest Shadows Lie Longest (Inactive)
Game Master Dreaming Warforged

Hmmmm... ask me in a minute, he says examining the door curiously, almost distracted by it. Bring that light closer.

He examines it minutely looking for something... runes, wires or unusual features.

Perception (incl. Trap Finding) 1d20 + 12 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 12 + 3 = 35

Grigor is thorought, but finds no trap. The lock is a complex system.

Valiard leans close, looking over Grigor's shoulder with interest.

"I didn't get to see you breaking and entering last time..." Valiard whispers, watching Grigor examine the lock.

I hope he can open it...I am not really interested in working the lock with this many people looking...and the Crow..."

It doesn't look as if it's been opened in years, Mireza opines. There are still open corridors we haven't searched. No reason for the Crow to batter himself against the door again if the Asylum Keeper isn't behind it.

Now here I am hoping I can take 20?

Necessary skill, Grigor grunts sourly. Not all villains leave their doors open for us to come in, and the noise of breaking a door down can leave them enough time to leg it.

Grigor works on the lock with extreme care.

That would be 20 + 10 + 2 + 3 = 35 inclusive of the Trapfinder class feature bonus and the bonus from the Cats Grace assuming the initial charge is still active from when I picked the lock on the gate as it lasts 30 minutes

"I concur with your attempt, Grigor. It is possible that Hyve wishes us to think this has not been disturbed in some time so as to discourage our interest in it. There may instead be something back here that he himself did not wish to disturb...which is itself interesting."

The lock surrenders to Grigor after two minutes. It can now be opened. From the look of it, it will be a squealing one...

Anyone got any oil? This is gonna be a loud one... lock and hinges are badly rusted

"None with me now."

"You know. I think I do. I have some oil that I use for tinctures in my kit. Hold on."

I am going to say that I have a small bottle of oil that I keep in my thieves tools. Valiard likes olive oil, because it can be explained away.

Valiard rummages in his pack for a moment before extracting a small bottle, which he hands to Grigor.

"Please don't use it all."

Grigor grunts thanks and then applies the oil as carefully as he can... he waits a minute to let the oil settle in before opening the door as carefully as he can and requesting Valiard, the closest by virtue of hovering around watching Grigor work and waiting for the oil vial, to help him support the weight of the door away from the hinges as much as possible.

Stealth1d20 + 10 ⇒ (20) + 10 = 30

The door opens without a peep, revealing, sadly, a short corridor of thirty feet leading to another steel door, in a worse shape than the first...

The ceiling is leaking in numerous places and a heavy scent of wet plaster, aggressive molds and old rust fills your nostrils. The hair on your arms rises slightly from the sharp drop in temperature.

Windle puts a hand to his holy symbol and concentrates, looking down the short hallway. Starting with detect chaos and switching to detect evil.

"That was anticlimactic." Valiard says as the door swings open.

How dusty is it down here? Any chance that there are tracks on the floor in the hallway? Or in front of any of the doors?

Looking for tracks (not ours) Perception1d20 + 11 ⇒ (5) + 11 = 16

Valiard, the floor is so damp and uneven, it's hard to tell whether someone, or something, walked those halls recently.

"Well, we've managed to find ourselves in another corridor. Fantastic." He states plainly.

"Bide a moment. There is something there, and I am not certain what."

"Whatever it is, its aura is pure chaos, untainted by any shred of morality. Knowing that, I advise that we quietly close the door and return to the mission...I doubt whatever is behind that door would be a help to us."

"Is that not what we have been looking for?" Mireza wonders, showing interest for the first time since descending into the basement. "That which crushes and flays and swallows whole buildings without caring?"

At this Grigor goes still and mumbling, sometimes faltering, casts a spell of his own.

Deimus

"I have not been close enough to the creature to determine this for certain, but its actions indicate a level of malevolence I do not sense here."

She smiles at the inquisitor. "Have you ever bent down to see what an beetle looks like after you've idly trodden on it? And how much malevolence did you bear the beetle?"

"You know, I was mildly anxious before...but all this talk of being squashed like beetles is not doing me any good. Aren't we trying to find the master of this asylum so we can...end him before the slime-beast does? If what Windle says is accurate, then I doubt that he is down this corridor."

The Apocrathy may have a point here... these doors may not have been used and if some thing comes out of this relic, we'll likely hear... we can always swing back here after we search the rest of the place

So? Heading back? Then where?

The Apocrathy may have a point here... these doors may not have been used and if some thing comes out of this relic, we'll likely hear... we can always swing back here after we search the rest of the place

"I said that," Mireza points out reproachfully, glaring at the Crow, "and no one paid attention. Old Priest, what are we to do with the creature at last? If we slay the last Keeper, will we not still have to defeat it? Or do we hope that, without its callers here to anchor it, it will simply wander away from Carrion Hill to menace people we don't know and don't care about? Do we know of a way to return it whence it came?"

So? Heading back? Then where?

That's one of the three doors off of the main chamber we've searched, leaving two doors and four corridors. Might be safe to assume the opposite door to the one we just opened leads to a similar hallway, so let's try the third door in the north wall, or one of the four corridors?

"I said that," Mireza points out reproachfully, glaring at the Crow, "and no one paid attention

I love the interplay we have :)

"Look. We don't have time for this. Let's keep moving. At the very least we can open the rest of these doors and make a better decision about where to go. Right now, we are just staring at a bunch of closed doors."

"Let's go try that door we passed on the way here. I think I remember it being on the left as we passed." Valiard says, motioning for Grigor to take the lead.

The steel door, inspected, seems in better shape and its hinges oiled.

Windle has the grace to look slightly abashed at Mireza's comment. "You did at that. I should have tried to sense what was past the doorway the first time, though I am not certain the aura would have been detectable through both doors."

Door is in better nick than I thought, Grigor says peering at it in the dim light. Clearly used but it can wait for now - door on the left you say?

Grigor shoulders himself out of the room and down the corridor.

That's the door that was suggested.

That's the door that was suggested.

Ooops

Grigor checks if it is locked.

It is not.

Grigor readies both his swords and gestures to someone to open the door for him.

Mireza folds her arms deliberately and stares back at the Crow.

Watching the scene between the two unfold, Iozef sighs and rolls his eyes. "Oh, for the love of...!" He says with obvious frustration in his voice as he moves up and opens the door.

Grigor gives Mireza a glare of his own before moving swiftly into the room, swords ready.

The door, unfortunately, reveals another damp hallway, with a door at its end, some thirty feet further... There is a sliver of light escaping from under the door...

Moving as quietly as possible Grigor moves to the door... eyes sweeping the floor for caltrops, tripwires and such.

Stealth1d20 + 12 ⇒ (17) + 12 = 29
Perception1d20 + 12 ⇒ (5) + 12 = 17

Valiard watches Grigor's mincing approach to the door, impressed by the Crow's silent movements.

Well, I certainly don't want to have him sneaking up on me in a dark alley. I would have to get the drop on him first if it ever came to that.

As Grigor approaches the door, Windle hangs back and again tries to sense auras beyond it. Start w/checking for chaos, then evil, then (if there's time) good.

The inquisitor murmurs, "I sense nothing of chaos, evil, or good beyond the door."

"Do you sense anything at all? Because something is probably behind that door, otherwise, why the light?" Valiard whispers back.

"I can only sense strong alignment auras, so a weaker creature would not appear. Nor am I able to detect something that was neither good nor evil, neither lawful nor chaotic."

"Well?" Iozef looks to them all. "Are we to enter and find out or are we to stand out here and discuss it all day?"

Grigor sheathes his blades and works on the door rapidly with his tools.

1d20 + 10 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 10 + 3 = 23