"A little light would be very handy." she mutters under her breath.

Listen for anything interesting (1d20 6=10).

Unfortunately, she can't seem to hear anything other than the sound of her own heartbeat.

Pendrick c##~% an ear towards the room as well.
10+1=11
'Seems clear' he whispers to Tzu. 'Hang on while I dig out a sunrod for you to carry./
given enough time...
'Here we go. Good thing I forgot I had you on gambling night little feller!' Pendrick offers the sunrod to Tzu with a grin. "Forgive a simple guardsman for assuming you won't need all your pointy bits at the same time?"

This website has a DIRTY mind! What about 'Pendrick pricks up his ears'?

I run into the same problem every time one of my characters c.o.c.k.s a crossbow too... :)

Keiva hesitantly enters the room behind Tzu and Pendrick, unable to keep the old adage "curiosity killed the sprite" out of her mind. She tightens her grip on her ice axe and peers inside.

Spot (1d20+3=22)

It does indeed seem to be a warehouse; barrels and crates have been knocked over and opened, with grain and wine in evidence. There is another door opposite you across the room. The ceiling must be at least 20 feet high.

Ahem. Are we just leaving the thug's victim to bleed to death? That seems a little non-heroic.

The victim is not bleeding to death. He has taken subdual damage and is merely unconscious. Sorry if that was unclear. The thug is also not dying - you may wish to restrain him in some way. Their damage will heal over the course of several minutes.

Ah. Of course. Can I retcon Tzu binding the thug's hands and feet together with strips torn off her strong linen shirt?

That's a very weak shirt! No need to retcon - you're right next to him. You can tie his arms and legs with the shirt. Please make a Use Rope check. You need to get 10 or more to tie a firm knot.

"Get out of that if you can." she chunters, briskly ripping strips off the bottom of her shirt to bind the thug's hands and feet.

"Although if anyone's got anything a bit stronger, it wouldn't go amiss right now. And I don't mean your cat's cradle wool Keiva."

Use rope (1d20 3=13)

The thug drools from the side of his mouth.

'I've got a sling that might work to bind his hands', Pendrick offers. 'Here, ooh, ooh, almost, there you go'. The sling loops around enticingly before flopping down next to Tzu.

"Much better. Do you want to leave a note for the victim saying we'll be back shortly?"

Tzu looks with some distaste at the drooling thug and with more enthusiasm at the warehouse.

"He should be okay," Keiva says. "Just pull him inside the door in case it rains if you don't want to leave him outside."

She wanders over to some of the crates to see what kind of warehouse this is.

Keiva looks at the crates and sees that they have been ransacked as if the culprits were looking for something. It seems to be mostly grain and wine.

"Further in. Follow the broken crates."

There is no trail of broken crates. It's general mess. There is a door in the southern wall.

Pendrick makes his way oh-so-sneakily d20 roll=12 to the door in the south wall. He then listens at the door. d20 roll=9

Pendrick indeed hears nothing untoward.

"Oh for goodness sake Pen, how do you expect to hear anything in a helmet?" whispers Tzu as she joins the guard at the door and place her own delicately furred ear to it.

Listen check at door (1d20 7=23)

Even the delicately placed ear of the group's resident litorian hears nothing.

Shekkebet takes Keiva's suggestion to heart and, attempting to be gentle about it, drags the unconscious man into the warehouse, rather than leave him in the alley. The half-burnt thug that our ferocious feline friend drubbed against the wall can stay where he lies, however...

He otherwise offers no comment, watching the others advance cautiously through black unblinking eyes.

Shekebbet drags the unconscious man into the warehouse.

"Through the door?"

"Through the door!"
After waiting for the rest of the band to arrange themselves thoughtfully in the warehouse, Pendrick opens the latch and then pushes the door open with a foot.
spot roll d20=13

The door opens into a corridor, 5ft wide and 10ft tall (typical giant architecture). In the opposite wall is a door.

To see more, you will need to enter the corridor

"It doesn't look especially menacing..." Tzu looks at Pendrick. "Going on?"

"Go go go!" Pendrick smiles to himself as he mouthes the words. ahh, outside of the law, but doing better work, what a strange and wonderful world!
He makes random, idiotic gestures with his shield before telling Tzu; "you go right, I'll go left" And he does.

Pendrick finds nothing but a wall, which he guesses to be one of the exteriors. That's one end of the corridor found! Turning round, he can see that the corridor is 50 feet long in total, and as well as the door that was previously seen, there is another one in the same wall. At the opposite end of the corridor from him is a ladder going up into a loft.

>>>>MAP<<<<

"Ladders I can deal with." Tzu's eyes light up as she heads towards the tempting steps.

Who has the light source?

Pendrick I think.

You'll need that to explore the loft then.

"Pen - hand me the torch will you?"

Pendrick hands the precious sunrod to Tzu and prepares to follow her up to the loft. I think we're beyond surprising anything in the loft, but I can wait here and guard the door if you'd rather?

Nope. We're adventurers. Onwards and upwards.

Tzu grabs the sunrod and heads up the ladder. Once in the loft she sees a large box, 3ft by 2ft by 3ft high, painted blue, with a glowing white rune on the lid.

"Ooooh."

Sticking her head back down the ladder she reports to Pendrick and the others.

"I'm no magician, but this seems to me to be a job for our fair Witch and my pal Soren". If it comes to blindly pulling the top off the box, I'm your man. Until then, I'll stand here listening and guarding"
listen rolls: 15, 1, 17, 20+1=21!.....we're off to Seattle this week. I hear they have internet access, but I won't be as avid a participant. Back on Friday.

Shekebbet pulls himself carefully to the top of the ladder to examine the rune-scribed box. "Surely, if there were thieves searching for something precious here, a treasure that is warded by magic would top the list. Whatever wards this box must have been adequate to prevent it's theft, so we should exercise caution..."

He examines the chest minutely, but does not touch it.

Various rolls. Shekebbet attempts Knowledge (runes) 11, Decipher Script 29, Knowledge (arcana) 24 and Spellcraft 17 to divine information about the mysterious box. Figures I'd get a natural one trying to use Knowledge (runes). :)

Shekebbet doesn't recognise this particular rune, and as he examines it the rune ceases to glow and the box opens...

A 3ft tall crystalline form stands up and steps out of the box, with obvious intent to attack Shekebbet despite its expressionless face, which (along with its height and build) is suggestive of a faen.

Initiative please!

Tzu's talons (or rather, as she explained to Pendrik, her extra strong nails) extend menacingly and a growl rises in her throat.

"Step back Shekebbet."

Init (1d20 3=22)

initiative roll 19
Pendrick moves so he is close to the ladder, looking at both (unopened) doors, and immediately adjacent to the nearest (unopened)door to the ladder. He prepares to stab any toughs that come through the door.
a fabulous talent for being where the action ain't

Intrigued by the appearance of the crystal faen, Shekebbet only belatedly attempts to step back from it's approach, raising his staff to attempt to ward off any blows.

Init 9, 5 ft. step back on action, fighting defensively.

"Oooh!" Keiva squeals. "A little crystalline faen - how interesting. She peers closely at it, her hand wavering as if she wants to touch it, but not quite willing to take that final step. She is seemingly oblivious to any threat the creature poses.
Initiative (1d20+2=3)

Sorry again for my absence - I promise to be around more from now on!

Initiative

Tzu
Pendrick
Shekebbet
Statue
Keiva

Everyone except Pendrick is next to the box. Pendrick is down in the hall. Tzu's turn.

Still growling, Tzu extends a paw and swats at the crystal faen.

"Don't threaten my friends. Keiva, step back. Right now. I'm telling, not asking."

Swat at the chrystal faen (1d20 3=21, 1d6 3=4). Subdual damage for now. If it's a hit of course.

The statue seems to not be affected by Tzu's blow in the slightest. Perhaps she pulled it too much?

Pendrick hears his litorian friend growling.

Pendrick's turn.

That's bad news. She can't really hit much harder than that.

Tzu looks extremely bewildered by her utter lack of effect on the crystal being.

"Shouldn't it shatter with impact like that?"

You hit it but not in the right way. I suggest if you do wish to inflict damage that you think about how else an oathsworn can use her fists.