You pass through the door and find yourself in a large, rectangular room. The walls and floor are bare stone and there is a door in the opposite wall. Although it initially appears deserted, you notice an odd arrangement on the ceiling, some twenty feet above the floor. There is a large section of the roof which is covered with a number of wicked looking spears of various designs, thrusting directly out of the stone at all kinds of skew angles.
In the centre of the forest of spears, seemingly glued to the roof, is a simple wooden chest.
Continues to rummage thru the backpack "Where food? Gotta eat human meguess"
Wish I had chosen natural instead of afflicted Lycanthope, then I could keep biting our pursuers and then run away til they change for and kill each other.
Drifting closer to the ceiling, you see nothing unusual about the chest. It has a simple looking lock and is reinforced at the corners, the only unusual thing about it is that it is perched quite comfortably twenty feet above the floor. Investigating the spears, they seem firmly embedded in the rock, well made and very sharp.
As Grakl goes through the backpack he recovered he discovers a few days worth of trail rations, a small coil of rope and a journal together with quills and ink. Suddenly, Milaniel rejoins the rest of you, drifting through the wooden door to hover before the group.
"A peculiar arrangement awaits you beyond the door," the ghost says, looking amused. "A plain room, or so it seems at first, but a chest rests on the ceiling, and is surrounded by vicious-looking spears all around. It looks a trap to me, but I can't prove it." She chuckles. "No doubt one of you will find a way to find out... one way or the other."
Behind you, the high pitched squeal from the room containing the statues abruptly cuts off. The darkened corridor falls quiet, the silence broken by the occasional muffled scrapes, bangs and other noises of Undermountain. Beneath it all, you catch snatches of an almost indiscernible murmur - tantalisingly close, yet faint and indistinct.
Cenciach is still looking through the spellbook, paging through. Then it occurs to him that humans seem to start at the beginning of the book, rather than the back, so he checks there.
After a few moments, the faint sound you can hear recedes, leaving the dungeon silent and still. As you stand before the door Grakl is digging through the backpacks you found, whilst Cenciach is paging through the wizard's spellbook. Any other plans?
Cenciach:
Spoiler:
The book contains half a dozen first level spells plus a few second and third level. You will need to rest in order to study and prepare any for the day - in the meantime if you have a strong opinion about how you want to develop and would like to select three of the first level and one second level you have found, you would be very welcome. Alternatively, if you're happy to leave it to me I'll provide a complete list.
The door swings open in the darkness revealing a large rectangular room. It is around forty by fifty feet with a high, twenty foor ceiling. Initially it appears bare and deserted, however in the centre of the room there is a forest of spears jutting from the roof at odd angles. In the centre of the spears sits a small chest, perched impossibly on the ceiling. Opposite the place you came in is another plain, wooden door.
As Yuhm Yuhm curls up in the corner, Saamasal glides across the room to the door on the opposite wall. Opening it reveals a long, straight corridor stretching off into the darkness.
"No time to sleep, We still need run run run, huamns kill us too easy we sleeping..."
"Chest on ceiling? Sound like trap, magic make you fall up...get impaled on spears..."
Sneakily eats some of the food...then hands out a little.
Cenciach looks up from is spellbook in surprise. "Wow, Grackal! I didn't expect you to be able to figure that out!" He seems to mean this as a compliment. "Yeah, I bet you're right. The chest probably isn't that important, it might even be empty.
He hesitates. "Hey, I have an idea! How about you guys all leave the room, then I fly up and take a look? That way, I can fly, so I'll probably be fine, and you guys will be safe!" He grinned a toothy serpent's smile.
It makes most sense if you decide the spells in the book, Monty. It's more realistic. But since I only have one conjurer level, wouldn't I be incapable of 2nd or 3rd level spells?
You are currently spaced around the edges of the room - Yuhm Yuhm stubbornly trying to sleep in one corner, Saamasal in the open doorway opposite the one you came in whilst Grakl, Milaniel and Cenciach wait by the door you entered from.
Cenciach:
Spoiler:
Cenciach wrote:
It makes most sense if you decide the spells in the book, Monty. It's more realistic. But since I only have one conjurer level, wouldn't I be incapable of 2nd or 3rd level spells?
Given the constraints spell selection I wanted you to have the chance at a "wishlist" if you like - you may have found it annoying to play a spellcaster and get stuck with a bunch of spells you have no interest in. Nonetheless, I agree - if you're happy to take what you find along the way that's great. It is going to take you some time to decipher them all (you'll need to rest before you're able to use read magic). Also, although you will only be able to cast 1st level spells at the moment (and I know levelling in PBP takes a while), nonetheless I was just thinking ahead... :)
You are currently spaced around the edges of the room - Yuhm Yuhm stubbornly trying to sleep in one corner, Saamasal in the open doorway opposite the one you came in whilst Grakl, Milaniel and Cenciach wait by the door you entered from.
OK OK, if we not flee, then let me look and see what trigger trap...
1d20 +9=28
Disable Trap: +16 disable, you roll so it's secret.
Grakl spends a few moments skirting the area beneath the forest of spears. Despite the menacing look of the roof above, the goblin finds no sign of any trap. It appears to him to be safe, though somewhat disturbing to walk underneath them.
"All of you will require physical rest soon," Milaniel says dryly, "and I will not recover my healing abilities without some time to relax in my former residence. If there is no one behind us at the moment, perhaps the hobgoblin's choice is the right one."
Milaniel smiles, showing teeth. Without a word, she drifts toward the skull that Grakl has been carrying; her form becomes smoky, and she seems to collapse into the brain cavity. As she does so, however, bright green flames ignite in the skull's eyes - flames that move and focus on Saamasal as though they were pupils.
Exhausted, the four of you find places around the edge of the room to sleep as Milaniel's skull keeps a silent vigil, the green flames dancing in its eyesockets casting an eerie, dim light through the room. Your sleep is fitfull and uncomfortable on the cold, stone floor. From time to time, distant sounds echo through the passages and you hear the unmistakeable noises of far off battles and snatches of conversation.
Nonetheless, you are able to rest for several hours, sharing the rations you managed to plunder from the wounded adventurers and healing any damage you have sustained. As a group, you begin to stir. The room you have been resting in has been unditurbed for several hours - given the traffic through this level of Undermountain, that is hardly likely to continue.
Given the stop-start nature and rather chaotic beginning, I'll set everyone at full hit points here with replenished spells/abilities and so on.
Turns the pages of the spell book for the little dragon
"Pull down spears, so we can throws them! We got go soon Dragon." Grakl's stomach rumbles. "Me sure could eat some ooman 'bout now." "We must find lower levels."
Milaniel, having drifted back out of her skull and reformed into her usual humanoid appearance, looks vaguely wistful at the idea of food, and not nearly as shocked by the concept of eating "'ooman" as she should. "Indeed," she murmurs. "Time is wasting, and even I do not have as much of that as I would prefer..."
Turns the pages of the spell book for the little dragon
"Pull down spears, so we can throws them! We got go soon Dragon." Grakl's stomach rumbles. "Me sure could eat some ooman 'bout now." "We must find lower levels."
"Okay, I'm done! Thanks, Grakl!" Cenciach grins. "Alright, you guys go on, I'm just gonna check that chest. It's been bugging me all night!" He flies up to the chest and waits there, hovering.
Fly check to hover 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (5) + 13 = 18
Also, chose my spells. DM, tell me if I put too many 2nd or 3rd level spells in there, you just said 'a few'.