East it is Mr. Compass! :)
No traps are detected.
You open the door to find several large stuffed animals, including a dozen hawks and leopards, even a ferocious looking owlbear. They have apparently been placed here in storage; leftover decorations from a previous mayor.
There are doors in the WN and EN walls.
Do I notice anything else? If not take the door on WN.
Outside of the fact that the taxidermy work is of top notch quality (the Owlbear is particularly life like) nothing catches your eye.
The door opens up to a 20' hallway ending in a door on the W side.
Check the hallway then open the door to the W.
The hallway appears clear. You advance down it and open the door revealing a room with a few tables and chairs apparently set up for card and board games. There are several sets of board games and dice stacked on a shelf to the west as well as a few books.
There is a door in the NW as well as a door further south on the E wall (you just came in from the E).
Does any of the stuff look valuable? Like 100gp or more?
Check the E door for traps and open.
Nothing of valuable that is cash and carry. The furniture is quite nice and of value, but good luck getting it out.
You do notice that there are three copies of the board game "Pits and Perils" on the shelf.
The door seems safe enough but is locked.
Pick the lock.
~click~
You work the tumblers and the door opens to reveal what appears to be an empty store room with stair leading up into the attic level.
Check the room out, then take the stairs.
Nothing in the mostly empty room catches your eys. You evaluate the stairs and quietly creep up into the attic.
You reach the top of the stairs to find a vast, dusty attic that is cluttered with crates, old furniture and miscellaneous items that have apparently been stored here from the marno's previous occupants. Varying layers of dust lie over each item, indicating how long things may have been in storage. There are many things of value, but again nothing practical for you to take with you.
After surveying the sprawlying mess you find 4 doors to the E and on in the NW.
Check the NW door for traps and then if free from traps listen at door.
The door appears to be trap free and all is quiet behind it.
There is an impressive and complex lock on the door-DC 35
Sweet!
The tricky lock falls prey to your superior skill and past the door you see another large section of attic. The items in here have an even thicker layer of dust than in the previous area. It is a jumbled maze of items and difficult to navigate, but you can see a lone door in the SW area.
Make my way to the door looking for traps.
You cautiously make your way to the door, not finding any traps.
Open the door after listening.
This empty room's walls appear to be horribly scratched, as if by fingernails, although no other clue to this room's original use remains.
Look around the room.
So I have basically hit a deadend? No other doors unless I go back to first room with the 4 doors to the East?
As you seach the nail clawed room to no avail, you realize that you did not thoroughly search the previous room, just were aware of potential traps ala Admiral Ackbar.
Back to previous room. Do I see any disturbance in the force? I mean dust? Tracks or anything other than my own?
You can just barely discern the outlines of a secret door in the middle of the North wall.
Nice! Check it for traps, if no traps then listen at the door, if I don't hear anything then open the door.
Bet I heard a lot with that roll!
You ear falls off... :)
The only feature of this bare room is what appears to be a pair of double doors made of flat gray metal in the northern wall. The surface of the doors seems moist and your reflection in it seems more like a vague shadow, smeared by light.
Check the door for traps, if none detected, listen and then open.
Make a DC 35 reflex save (not v traps).
I hope that's the last of the 1's for a while!
As you examine the strange doors, you get caught up in the reflections and notice that they seem to move and writhe on their own. You slowly drift closer to the door until you are almost touching it with your face. Pulling back suddenly you use your hand to catch yourself and push away from the door.
You feel a sudden sense of vertigo and then...
"A long corridor extends from a pair of dull metal doors. The walls,
floor, and ceiling of this hall are paneled in gray wood, including
several empty alcoves along each wall. No source for the dim
illumination is apparent. Shadows seem to dance at the corner of
the eye in the alcoves, and a soft, barely audible whispering floats
in the air of this strange place. What appears to be a slumpedover
corpse dressed in tattered robes lies heaped on the floor
between the closest alcoves."
Look around the area for threats or anything of interest. Once I feel like nothing is going to jump out from an alcove or something and attack me, I will check out the slumped over corpse thing.
You don't feel any eyes on you and nothing appears particularly unusual, except for the fact that the walls are made out of some type of strange stone you have never seen before.
The figure on the floor is a dead elven man with pale skin, long white hair, old scabs on his fingertips where his nails once grew, and an emaciated frame. He seems to have died from several stab wound to the chest and belly. The elf is dressed in wizardly robes and clutches a scroll in one hand. Two other used magic scrolls, their faces blank and useless, lie nearby, as if used just prior to death, and a well-made and well-used backpack is slung over one shoulder.
I will approach and take the scroll. I will put the scroll inside the elf's backpack and quickly scan the contents while I do so, don't want to spend a long time sitting here, but want to get an idea of what is in there.
After that I will continue down the hall, observing in general and checking for traps. Any doors?
I think I need to change one of my dice, that is the third 1 in 8 rolls!
I will approach and take the scroll. I will put the scroll inside the elf's backpack and quickly scan the contents while I do so, don't want to spend a long time sitting here, but want to get an idea of what is in there.
After that I will continue down the hall, observing in general and checking for traps. Any doors?
[dice=perception]1d20 +16
[dice=findtraps]1d20 +16+1
Grabbing the scroll, you open the back pack and see what appears to be spell components and a few other scrolls. There are some other odds and ends in there, but you can't make them out with such a cursory inspection.
The hallway seems safe enough and continues on about 50' with empty alcoves on either side, ending in a huge set of double doors at the end of the hall.
check the door for traps, then listen at door if not traps, then open door if I don't hear anything
Everything seems OK.
The doors open-
"This wood-paneled hall rises to a height of twenty feet above,
and a single fifteen-foot-high shelf filled sparsely with books
runs along the wall. Eerie wisps of shadowy fog coil and
writhe on the floor, which unlike the walls seems to be made
of polished black stone."
move into the room, any windows or doors?
No windows or doors.
The hall splits 3 ways: straight S, SW, or E. You can see about 20' in the unnatural gloom.
Guess I will move ahead straight S.
You sense something ahead that is trying to avoid your detection. Something is making the air smell like just after a lightning strike and down the hall you can just make out the outline of what you would swear is a huge porcupine.
I will go into stealth mode to try to sneak up on whatever the thing is.
The creature seems unaware of you as it snuffles about the area:
http://www.cranialherbs.com/srd/doc/SRD/img/MonstersH-
I.Howler.jpghttp://www.cranialherbs.com/srd/doc/SRD/img/MonstersH-I.Howler. jpg
http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/20/92/4e/20924e8dec035fe9cde8e037c7b f0ce2.jpg
That thing looks badass. Do I know anything about the creature? Strengths and weaknesses, etc?
I will try to bypass it if possible, otherwise sneak attack if possible.
You have never heard of something like this before, but you would guess that is of an infernal nature.
You quietly slip by the beast.
The passage continues another 50' and then turns back to the NW. You think you can see another passage ahead that heads NE; back to the entry doors to this area or so you guess.
You smell the same scent of ozone in the air ahead.
I'm going to head down whichever passage leads away from the entry doors, from your description I think that is the NW one?
continue to stealth, looking for another of the creatures ahead
You look down the hallway leading NE and spy the form of another one of the creatures lurking. It does not notice you slinking by.
As you move up the hallway you spy a THIRD of the creatures pacing in front of a door at the intersection of the hallway you are in and the one you surmise comes from the entry double doors. This beast seems must more anxious and aware than the other two. Almost as if it KNOWS someone is in its halls that does not belong.
Stealth up and sneak attack the one guarding the door.
Skulking toward your mark, you see its spines twinge a little and it sniffs the air. As its head comes up to sniff you dash in sliding your rapier into its chest whilst you slit its throat with your dagger.
You take of damage from the quills jabbing into your arms as the beast gurgles its last breath and slides to the floor dead.