"The poor souls that worked in this place seemed to have prayed to any deity that thought would listen to them."
Nigel moves forward 10 feet and looks about with the careful eyes of a longtime hunter. While he is scanning the area he pulls Prudence from the Haversack and removes the wrappings. He then kneels down to get a closer look at the ground. He also examines the mine construction.
Once finished looking around he gives Prudence the once over.
"There, there old girl your out of that nasty blowing dust now. And don't you worry I get the feeling you'll get to do a little talking soon."
"Whats her name mentioned that these little constructs of hers were walking back to here right? Anyone see any tracks?" Isavara asks as she scours the area for tracks.
Simo will examine the door for traps.
Simo does not locate any traps protecting the door.
Nigel takes in the scene and notices several things. First, he sees a rotting animal carcass. Paradoxically, a large emerald is laying near it.
In the immediate area there are tracks coming to and from the mine in the form of extremely heavy boot prints. The tracks move northward from the entrance.
Nigel can determine that the mine is mostly safe, though there appears to be some weak places here and there. There seems to be some major damage to the northeast.
"Think we should check behind this door before we go in any deeper. Don't like to leave potential threats at my back. Didn't see any traps on it, but I'm no expert. "
"I agree, it's best we investigate thoroughly as we descend into this place." Cole says.
Isavara nods as she approaches the door and gives it a once over before checking to see if it's locked. "Since I'm the slow one, I guess I better go first. Tatsumi, you wanna bring up the rear?"
"I gotcha covered." Tatsumi says as he takes his place in the back, ready for whatever comes.
Nigel stands up and says. "Traps you say, yes I quite agree let's check out that door after all we want all of our surprises in front of us. Now I am not an expert but I have had a few encounters with devices left by the ruddy locals from time to time. I'll have a look."
The door does not appear to have a lock on it, but it is quite swollen from leaking water.
"Just give a moment to get out of the way before one of your has a go at the door. The old gal and me don't much like getting wet." Says Nigel as he is backing away from the door and climbing into one of the mine carts. Then he levels Prudence to cover the others.
Isavara sheathes her sword, moves up to the door, and tries to force it open.
The door pops open with a muffled cracking sound. The furniture in these sizable living quarters has mostly rotted, but the thick wool curtain in the western corner and the furry beast hide taking up most of the floor remain in better condition. A flat portion of the northwestern wall appears to have served as a writing surface, and it bears numerous names as well as dates.
Isavara enters the room while drawing her greatsword out and resting the blade on her shoulder as she approaches the wool curtain. She moves cautiously as she looks about, anxious of what could be on the other side.
Nigel watches the Half-Orc pull the door open and enter the room. After a few seconds when there is no instant deluge of water or any other obvious threat, the Gnome will climb out of the cart and walk cautiously toward the animal carcus to see exactly what it is. With the secondary intent of recovering the emerald. He carries Prudence at Port Arms.
The carcus is extremely decayed and bloat flies swarm it. The remains are in an odd position. As an experienced hunter, you can tell instantly that it was not killed here at all, but placed here. Your keen eyes notice a thin metal cable strung taught near it.
"Does anyone recognize these names? I'm no local, so they don't mean much to me. "
Cole looks over the names that Simo found and tries to recollect anything notable about them.
"Nothing stands out to me ..." he says.
Nigel makes no moves toward the carcus or the trip wire, he does however study the device for a moment.
Taking note of the others conversation he says. "I'll have a look at the names in a moment. Maybe one is the person who left us a little surprise. Take care chaps I've spotted a trap out here. And where's there's likely another."
"Since there doesn't appear to be any other threats in here other than the trap, perhaps we should just move on. We just checked the room to make sure we were secure to the rear. "
Avoiding the tripwire that Nigel pointed out, Cole steps over to see what's behind the wool curtain in the western corner.
"Let's just make sure that there isn't a door or something obscured behind that wool curtain before we move on."
Behind the curtain is a small pedestal, atop which rests a golden idol with tiny gears, moving components, and perfectly etched runes carved into it.
"We have a bunch of marksmen here, couldn't someone just trip the wire from afar?
"Well this looks interesting, and surprising that it would be abandoned in this place." Cole says over his shoulder.
"For all we know cutting that wire could collapse the entrance and trap us inside. How about he just keep it in mind and leave it alone?"
looking at the odd device "Ok, now that's not something I've seen before. "
Cole is able to determine that the idol represents Brigh, the goddess of invention.
"It's an alter to Brigh, the patron of inventors. Seems like an appropriate goddess for someone who dwelt in this place. I think it's strange that it was left behind and that it has not been disturbed."
"Perhaps any interlopers that have come here have feared the wrath of the goddess if they defiled it."
Nigel perks up at the mention of the alter. He backs away from the carcus and scurries over to the others to peer at the idol. Then says.
"Yes that's Birgh for sure. I've always said that religion is a fine thing... taken in moderation that is.
Then quickly loosing interest in the idol he has a look at the list of names.
"Simo's right. I don't think we should mess with the trip wire. Collapsing the mine before we complete our objective isn't a good way to start our mission. The door was stuck shut, the room is trapped, and an expensive appearing idol sits undisturbed. I say we move on. The constructs we seek aren't in this room. Think we should write down the names? I'm no miner, but maybe it's just the crew roster." Isavara begins to move back towards the door way.
It isn't uncommon for miner's to memorialize their fallen comrades, and Nigel is familiar enough with such practices to recognize the names as likely being exactly that. Each is accompanied by a location and a date, which you surmise is the place and day they died, except, that last three names. These names have no date, merely a note saying, "Abandoned eastern mining tunnel, upper level."
"I say we ignore the trap and move forward. Do you think the gem is meant to be bait for the trap? It seems a strange place to see a random emerald laying about."
Nigel looks up at the tall folk, shakes his head and says. "Well chaps the traps been double baited. The carcus for the dumb animals and the emerald for the ones who only think they're not dumb. Right! lets be off then."
"Right. Let's keep moving. "
Isavara nods in agreement and heads farther into the mine. Sword out and head on a swivel, she continues to look around expecting trouble. "Why set a trap for an animal? All I can think of is for food. If that is the case, it's not likely the trap will collapse the mine. What do you think?"
Isavara takes a moment to cast detect magic and looks around for magical auras, paying particular attention to the carcass and emerald.
"I think we all should get going, nothing but bad things will happen if we just stay here." Tatsumi waits for everybody to continue down the mine, taking up his position in the back.
Pots and vases are strewn about in front of the collapsed wall of the dead end to the east, and the remnants of dead flowers droop down the sides of the containers. Several mining picks lean against the crumbled stone to the east. Cart tracks show where the mine forks to the north and west.
PC Perception DC=14
Everyone hears soft grunting from the northwest and you catch movement out of the corner of your eye. A large creature is trying to hide in the darkness. It is tall and orange and quite hideous.
"That doesn't look like a miner. " he comments as he takes a couple of quick shots at the critter.
deadly aim, rapid shot, point blank shot, sharpshoot, clustered shots
these are touch attacks
3 critical threats
"That doesn't look like a miner. " he comments as he takes a couple of quick shots at the critter.
deadly aim, rapid shot, point blank shot, sharpshoot, clustered shots
these are touch attacks
[dice=to hit]1d20+16 [dice=damage]1d8+18
[dice=to hit]1d20+16 [dice=damage]1d8+18
[dice=to hit]1d20+11 [dice=damage]1d8+18
[dice=to hit]1d20+6 [dice=damage]1d8+183 critical threats
[dice=confirm]1d20+16 [dice=damage]2d8+36
[dice=confirm]1d20+16 [dice=damage]2d8+36
[dice=confirm]1d20+11 [dice=damage]2d8+36
Well actually it does for firearms. As I am using a crossbow in a firearm like capacity as a gunslinger I imagine it would. However I suppose it is up to the GM. I didn't even consider that interpretation when I made the build. Had I though of that I likely would have just used a gun.
From Ultimate Combat:
When firing an early firearm, the attack resolves against the target’s touch AC when the target is within the first range increment of the weapon, but this type of attack is not considered a touch attack for the purposes of feats and abilities such as Deadly Aim.