Nicat Brightluck |
"You still haven't asked him about the tentacle monster..." Nicat nags Eostre. Rolling his eyes, he steps past Conner into the bedroom/study and begins to root through the drawers, waving to Conner to take a look under the mattress.
GM_Runecat |
"Oh, that thing?" Orik scratches his chin. "Apparently, that weird thing was always there. When the goblins first showed up here, a few of them made the mistake of wandering into its territory. It ate quite a few of them before they wised up and left the damn thing alone."
"Some of those goblins had some interesting loot, too..."
Nicat Brightluck |
Having finished his exploration of the room at the end of the hall, Nicat returns to the conversation between Eostre and her new beau. He notes the gleam in the dwarf's eye, and decides it's not all due to Orik's bulging muscles. "Looks like we're going to visit the tentacle monster, eh, gang?"
Ninja DM!
Evelyn Grimley |
"Don't we have anything else left to explore?"
Evelyn turns to Orik. "How to get to Nualia, do we have to pass the tentacle thing?"
Nicat Brightluck |
"Remember, guys " Nicat asks the group, "I found that door after we took down Tsuto and his girlfriend. How about we go take a look down those stairs, then we'll deal with the tentacle monster later?"
Evelyn Grimley |
Evelyn follows Orik as he guides the party to the war room. (I don't know where that is on the map.)
"So where's the secret door, Orik?" she asks while she decides to not spend time waiting for an answer, and starts looking for it.
Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20
Eostre Roldheim |
"I just hope the rest of you lot can pull your weight this time. I've used up my best spells already," Eostre says, clearly not enthused.
GM_Runecat |
I'm back! :)
Evelyn: the war room is Area D14 on the Level One map.
"The secret door should be to the north, off to the west of the war room." Orik says as the party leaves.
As it turns out, the secret door Nicat found earlier must have been the one Orik was talking about: the stairway beyond leads down into the darkness.
Nicat Brightluck |
Nicat peers down the dark stairs a moment, then remarks, "Well, I'd offer to sneak down and take a look, but I'd have to make light to do that, which kind of ruins sneaking. How about Conner leads the way, and we bravely come behind him?"
Raising a hand into the air, the mischievous halfling conjures up a trio of glowing spheres of light and sends them down the stairs to light the way.
Nicat Brightluck |
"We do, when it's not dark," Nicat replies dismissively, "but I can't sneak when I can't see, and if I've got a bright light with me, I'll be pretty easy to spot. So unless we've got a way for me to see in the dark, sneaking won't work here."
Evelyn Grimley |
"Hush hush, boys. Let us go."
Evelyn motions for Conner to go first. while waiting for the others to go before her as well, Evelyn casts light on her buckler.
"I feel more comfortable when I've also got a light," she explains.
Eostre Roldheim |
"I'll make learning a spell to replicate dwarven darkvision for you a priority, Nicat. And maybe invisibility. Come to think of it, can't you learn spells like that yourself?"
Nicat Brightluck |
"Yeah, turning invisible would probably be easy enough to learn," Nicat replies breezily, "especially if I saw someone do it. Well, you know, saw them just before they did it. Because I couldn't see them after, right? Are you following what I'm saying, Eostre?"
After a very brief moment of thought, he adds, "Though I can't even begin to guess how I'd make my eyes see differently. You might have to take care of that bit."
Turns out darkvision isn't on the bard list. But it might be useful for our sneaking.
GM_Runecat |
The way down appears to be free of enemies as the party makes their way down the hewn stone stairs.
The stairs eventually come to a stone door, just around the corner from the steps. It hangs slightly ajar, the detailed carvings that once covered its surface defaced by chisel marks and hammer blows to the extent that only a few remnants of images (mostly of gemstones and crowns) remain. The floor here is slanted downward toward the west.
A little push opens the door more fully to reveal a larger hall beyond. Two pillars support the ceiling in here. In many places the stone walls, floor, and ceiling are caked with ancient grime and soot. Alcoves in the north and south walls contain partially damaged statues of a man in robes clutching a book and a glaive. The entire room is canted toward the west, and whatever ancient upheaval caused the complex to tilt knocked the statues from their bases so that now they lean against the western walls of their alcoves.
Another door sits on the far eastern wall.
Please refer to the Level Two map.
Nicat Brightluck |
Nicat gives Conner a tug on his sleeve and the two companions do an awkward dance in the narrow hallway, eventually switching places so that the halfling can take a look around the room. Still standing in the doorway, he sends his dancing globes of light around the room, looking closely at the floor, the statues, the door at the far end, and anything else that might catch his eye.
He calls quietly over his shoulder to Eostre, "Hey, sis! These statues have a sword on a stick like you! Come take a look and help me figure out what they are."
Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (15) + 9 = 24
Knowledge (religion?): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23
Eostre Roldheim |
"Stop calling me that! I've got enough ACTUAL siblings back in Riddleport, I don't need another bratty little brother! And the proper word for this polearm is "glaive!" I thought you were at least bright enough to understand the different types of polearm, Nicat."
Eostre looks up at the statues Nicat is pointing at, trying to recall if monuments such as these had been depicted in the Lodge's archives...
Knowledge (arcana): 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (19) + 11 = 30
Knowledge (engineering): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10
Knowledge (history): 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (6) + 11 = 17
Knowledge (planes): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11
Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10
GM_Runecat |
Nicat Brightluck |
Paying no mind to Eostre's gentle request to call her by her name, Nicat pauses near the eastern door, then announces in a dramatic, stage whisper sort of voice, "Behind this door, I sense the presence of...magic!"
He focuses on the door more closely, attempting to learn more about it.
Cast detect magic and concentrate on it for 3 rounds, if I can do that through a door.
Eostre Roldheim |
Eostre's eyes widen.
"That...those statues are of Runelord Karzoug, one of the greatest transmuters of all time! Do you realize what this means?! Thistletop is a Thassilonian ruin!"
Academic excitement seems to have trumped annoyance at Nicat for the moment.
Nicat Brightluck |
Nicat turns to Eostre, clearly quite unimpressed by this revelation. "Well, of course, Sis," he says, pointing at the door, "that's why there's transmutation magic on the other side of the door! It's obviously Thassilonian."
After a pause, he adds, "Conner should go first."
Eostre Roldheim |
Eostre glares at Nicat's flippant disregard for history.
"Nicat, you're clearly ignorant as to what significance the different schools of magic had in Thassilonian culture. Transmutation magic was merely the purview of the Runelord of Greed, of whom Karzoug was the last. Other Runelords mastered different schools."
Eostre Roldheim |
Eostre rolls her eyes.
"Probably. When a wizard says they're gonna turn you into a newt, transmutation's usually the magic they're using to do it. I'll take a look at it, ya big babies."
She trundles over to the door and casts her detection spell, looking to see if there's anything about the magic that an AMATEUR like Nicat would have missed.
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (14) + 10 = 24
Eostre Roldheim |
Eostre presses her bulbous nose against the door.
"Aura's concentrated on two points in the next room. Looks like animation spells, likely a sentinel or booby trap. Whatever it is, it's probably gonna look innocuous until it gets up and moves."
She backs away.
"Given how the Thassilonians built things to last, and from similar dwarven-made stuff I saw in Janderhoff as a kid, my money's on walking statues."
Eostre Roldheim |
"Thassilon was an empire built upon magic, and wouldn't you prefer a perfectly loyal, immortal and obedient guard to a potentially bribe-able or lazy mortal? As far as "off-commands" go, there might be, but anyone who'd know such a command is either long-dead or on the opposite side of what those things are guarding, and thus isn't likely to share it with us. They may have a device that controls them or something, but again, we have no clue where such a device might be. So we may have to just do things the old-fashioned way and reduce them to rubble."
Eostre gets a very depressed look on her face.
"What a tragedy. To stand guard for thousands of years only to be smashed by the few people who understand their value."