Elohir prods the trap door, grinning contentedly to himself for some reason. As usual, his leather book remains firmly in his grasp, though he currently holds it against his chest.
"Oh my, but I DO wonder what is down there. I hope it is something nice."
All:
[ooc]I have never felt more sorry for Hasnett than I do right now. :)
Just to let you all know, Pat is incommunicado. It seems his hotel had an estrangement with their wifi provider. He'll be back in circulation at the weekend.
If there are still some burning timbers nearby, then Elohir will blast them away with his magic, likely snuffing out the fires if they aren't too big.
If the fire's larger than that, could I make some kind of skill check to try and find a key place to collapse the building to help put it out? I'd prefer to leave the trap door clear but I'll do what needs to be done.
Elohir begins hurling eldritch energy at the smoldering timbers in the area of the trap door, breaking them up. In some cases, this causes flaring, but that quickly subsides for lack of fuel.
While his efforts do help extinguish the flames, they seem less than appreciated by many of the nearby citizens, whose immediate reactions range from shouts of surprise to shrieks of fear.
Elohir looks confusedly at Hasnett for a moment before the reactions of the citizens are finally noticed by him. He looks pitifully regretful at once and stops.
"Sorry....I...I thought they might be used to magic. It is working though."
The crowd begins to settle, though many continue to look askance at Elohir -- and Aden. Several of the bucket brigade seem to decide their efforts are not needed and watch the warlock at work.
In other words, Hasnett successfully defused the situation.
Elohir:
Spoiler:
Sorry to surprise Elohir. I reasoned that warlock magic is inherently creepier than wizard magic, in such a way that even a fantasy populace caught by surprise would react negatively.
Hoku:
Spoiler:
The watcher seems to be shifting further into the alley, perhaps to avoid public attention.
Elohir reluctantly goes back to work, blasting timbers away with his eldritch powers, which leave an acrid smoke in the air that mingles with the smoke from the fire.
When it is done, he approaches the trap door again, helping to clear any debris that may have fallen over the opening while he was working.
"Hoku...Hoku? She should probably look at this first," says Elohir after realizing she has disappeared.
"Thank you for allowing us to explore the latest techniques in fire control."
Hasnett beams at the crowd. "I'd suggest you all go home now and allow the heat to die down. We'll take care of the cleaning up."
Aside to Elohir, Aden and Irawaru, she adds - "Better not to have an audience while we're opening that door. I'd like to find out why that watcher is watching us as well."
"This watcher should not concern us. Perhaps that is what Hoku is taking care of," remarks Elohir as he once against scans his surroundings with squinting eyes.
"I doubt there is anyone in this small town to get in our business. Plus you're from the temple, they will probably let us do anything we want around here. If the constabulary was not willing to show up during the fire (or did they?) then I doubt they will bother us for searching someone's fruit cellar. Just tell everyone we are looking for survivors."
Taking Elohir's suggestion, she turns to any lingerers. "We're looking for any survivors and examining the cause of the blaze. Just let us through if you would."
The watcher is still there, but seems to be making a stronger effort to hide.
Failure:
Spoiler:
No sign of the watcher
Perception DC24 (separate roll):
Spoiler:
Hoku is hovering in an alley a building down from the wreck, watching the proceedings from a vantage where she can probably see where the watcher was.
Locals know the watch has probably already been and gone. This is the clean-up stage; the fire's been burning for hours.
With the fire mostly extinguished after Elohir's efforts, large parts of the crowd have begun to drift away, but there are still at least a score of onlookers watching you expectantly. They do, however, let you through.
There is still a great deal of residual heat. Entering a square of the ruin is difficult terrain. Entering the zone at all or beginning your turn there causes 1d4 fire damage; roll it yourselves. Two squares must be traversed to reach the trap door.
1d20 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 4 = 22 Perception 1
1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24 Perception 2 Haha, what are the odds? :)
Elohir follows Hasnett, unmindful of the fire that licks at his rumpled, travel-stained clothes. The burns end up being somewhat severe, but Elohir hardly seems to notice for the first few step until he looks down at his singed and blistering legs.
"Well that will simply not do," says the warlock.
Elohirs eyes go black for a moment as he moves in hands and fingers in arcane rhythm. With a downward gesture, Elohir summons frigid cold out of the depths of the outer planes and brings in down on the trapped door, hoping to cool the surrounding area enough to pass through.
Using Frigid Darkness as it's the only cold spell I have. It's not area of effect, but since it's a smoldering building and not a creature I can probably be a bit more creative with how it's dispersed since I'm trying to cool something off rather than damage something.
It's a hellfire trap. Meaning it will blast anybody who opens the door (and anybody around them) who is not of a specific faith. It can be disabled with either Thievery of Religion, no assist permissible.