TapTap |
Are we bandits now Jack? Next you will want to board a trading vessel. Tap claps Jack on the back, and picks another body to search.
Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 23
TapTap |
I suppose you are right, Kerruk. But we are not so well equipped as to ignore an opportunity to be so.
Tap inspects Kerruks cut. We should heal up before we continue, perhaps.
GM Nayr |
Indeed, the grindylows had been quite busy looting and hoarding. It seemed as if they didn't even know what they had taken, perhaps seeing such baubles as worthless since they didn't glitter like gold.
Among the countless smaller skeletal fetishes about the bodies, you find first a scrimshawed hammerhead shark skull with a piece of driftwood marked with runes thrust through it. There is also an ivory walrus tusk set with gold with a scrimshawed map of the Shackles, and a curious harp made from the jaw of a n orca, set with pearls.
At a guess, Jack puts the worth of the haul at over a thousand gold, though perhaps he's just being optimistic.
After clearing out the grindylow chambers, you continue to the southeast. All along the way, the hooks in the seaweed bed prove to be a nuisance as they grab at whatever passes them by. They're an inconvenience now, but should they grab someone in the wrong situation, then...
You do some small bit of exploring to map out the caverns and find that most of them meet and circle around. However, one seems to continue on further into the complex. The walls of the cavern display strangely ribbed markings, but it seems as if they're simply the result of the action of the waves. The water looks to be deeper here, and the cavern itself looks to be mostly unused and uninhabited.
GM Nayr |
The part that continues on heads to the northeast from your location. The other paths merely loop about in a circle. Do you want to go back to where you fought and take the northeasterly route?
Rush's spell makes the least assuming piece of the treasure glow - the driftwood.
Spellcraft check to identify
TapTap |
SpellCraft: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10
Hmm.. Looks like magic driftwood.
TapTap |
Wow! That is a nice spell. I was thinking about learning that one for myself
Looking east at the deepening water, Tap grimaces. I've had my share of underwater fighting.
Tap readjusts his equipment, loosening his spear. We either go this way, or we back to entrance, and take the alternate pah underwater
TapTap |
let's give the North East a try
Tap starts out, gingerly stepping over the grisly Grindylows.
Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24
TapTap |
Tap nods. and I'm out of spells, so will use my bow from behind the line. Belliot up front, Kerruk, then Jack. Rush has rear.
TapTap |
Stealth: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (12) + 11 = 23
Tap stealthily tiptoes forward in the midsts of a sloshy storm of footsteps.
GM Nayr |
The group attempts stealth into the next chamber, but the very fact of the water being an unnatural environment for most causes the attempt to fail. Still, you're able to wade/waddle/slosh into the next large chamber without meeting any more enemies.
This broad cave is quiet and empty, save for some gently swaying seaweed fronts and some large barnacles and hanging sea plants on the cavern ceiling.
TapTap |
perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9
Whu?
Tack screeches.
TapTap |
Is it a vein in the rock, or is it a made by beings?
Tap looks again, wondeeing if there are traps.
GM Nayr |
After Jack points out the metal, and upon closer examination, you find a heavy, spiked iron grille, cleverly disguised with barnacles and aquatic plants. It hangs from the ceiling from chains that run down the sides of the cavern from pulleys - all also disguised - to sink down underneath the water in the cavern. The grille is nearly twenty feet in width and length.
TapTap |
Tap takes a closer look.
clarification: Is this like a portcullis to lock people in or out, or is this like an area trap, where spikes can fall down?
GM Nayr |
In your professional opinion as an avoider-of-death, you can safely assume that this metal grate is a spiked ceiling that could fall when triggered by something - probably in the water. It would provide a most gruesome death - being crushed, impaled, then drowned in the shallow water. The ceiling is so large that one would have to skirt around the slick edges of rock to avoid being underneath it as one traverses the room.
A quick magical detection shows no auras around the thing - it appears to be mechanical.
TapTap |
I see where your mind is going Jack, but I am sure our enemies here are aware of this trap. Best we just disarm it, and proceed.
Tap looks about. Does it look to you that severing this chain here will release the spiked grill? Belliott, why don't you take a whack at it?
TapTap |
Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22 Taptap and TackTack scan the room for signs of a trigger.
I do think it is this chain that hold its up. Severing it could probably disarm the trap.
TapTap |
As Belliott fumbles for his axe, Tap sings a quiet song conjuring a mage hand. I am not sure this is enough to trigger the trap, but we can give it a try
Tap directs the hand to move through the water in a grid-like pattern.
I see that hardness means subtract the hardness score from the damage roll. Thus damage roll needs to be 11 or more to cause any damage to chain...
TapTap |
Since I am assuming that the water is pretty deep here, Tap is thinking that the trigger isn't a pressure plate on the submerged floor, but probably a rope or net submerged just under water. He's having the hand move through the water, perhaps about 3 feet under water, trawling each square of the room.
Tap concentrates as he has the mage hand systematically trawl through the water.
GM Nayr |
Tap's spell brings into a being a hand of pure energy, and the spectral appendage follows its maker's ever motion or thought. It dives into the water without apprehension, and skims through, creating a slight ripple as it does.
Within second, the trap triggers, and with a sound only dwarfed by the howling winds of a hurricane, the metal grate above slams down into the water with a splash and the further squeals of heavy metal on stone. Were one under that, they'd have difficulty ever getting out.
About the periphery of the chamber, the group collectively lets out a held breath.
400 XP, and the way is clear:) The trigger was indeed a fine net, at just under the surface.
TapTap |
Tap screams sharply in pain! Then casting Ghost Sound produces moaning and gurgling sounds through the hall..
Bluff: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16
xeyed-jack |
Jack heart thumps in shock. Was something in the water? He turns, and sees Tap grinning at him. Oh.
Good thinking Tap. Now they'll sure to be here to eat what they've trapped. I do not relish the thought of being surrounded in this large chamber.
What is the ideal defensive posture we can take here? Retreat to a more narrow corridor and wait?