As the group begins discussing a plan, Amelia circles around the rubble to the left hand side and begins climbing the wall.
Seeing Amelia peal away from the group Iraonar follows her.
As he climbs, he looks around at everything. He takes in every view, except the rubble he is walking on.
The tower stands 80 feet tall and it's exterior walls are amazingly smooth.
You can climb the crumbling east wall to reach the second, third, and even fourth floors which are all exposed.
There are two doorways on the ground floor that can be explored.
Lysander has moved carefully up towards the south doorway on the ground floor and peers around the wall to look inside.
Sighing as the group begins to separate and crawl over the ruins like ants, Daubeny moves forward, polearm resting casually on his shoulder. The knight follows Lysander.
Lysander looks into the room but can only see a few feet before his view is completely blocked by rubble. It extends from the floor to about a foot from the ceiling.
Lysander moves quietly back to Daubeny and speaks in a low voice to his companions.
There appears to be an obstruction blocking the path. Rubble has fallen into the passage and there remains only a foot of space between the top of the rubble and the ceiling. This suggests to me the exterior of this building may be as structurally unsound as the interior.
He nods deferentially over to the climbers.
Perhaps we should unite in exploring this passage? I, for one, would hate to climb anywhere or pass through any gaps without a companion to aid me should need arise while I remain in a compromising position.
Inwardly, Lysander's mind turns mechanically to the subject of the history and aging of man-made structures, wishing he were more informed on the subject and pledging to himself he will pick up relevant literature at his soonest convenience.
Might I suggest that her highness provides lighting while this stout fellow stands by to render me aid as I creep over the pile? I am less sure as to the particular talents of you two noble companions but your aid would be appreciated.
Amelia, seeing that the east wall is easier to climb, will move to it and begin climbing.
Amelia climbs up to the second floor where she finds two doors that seem to lead into the interior of the tower.
Lysander's inspection of the show that it is impossible to move through the room without first removing some of the rubble.
Listening to the quite verbose royal of Wetenschap work towards a plan, the knight catches sight of Ameilia scaling the wall. Holding up his armored hand, Daubeny points a metallic finger towards the energetic young woman. "An easier way perhaps. Rope?"A simple solution is often the easiest. Better to cut the knot and get this handled quickly.
Giving a chuckle, the Thoreand warrior begins to loosen his joints with a cacophony of pops as he moves towards the east side. "Amelia, hand?" Finished yelling skywards, the knight waits below the east wall. Perhaps there's a way to lighten my armor's load for the climb?
Lysander reaches into his handy haversack and retrieves a silk rope which he holds out to Daubeny.
Upon further examination, my proposed means of ingress appears excessively time consuming. Might I offer some tensile aid in this more tenable plan?
"As wonderful as the rope plan sounds looking at the forth floor I think I see the top of a stare case maybe it reaches the ground floor. If nothing else we should make sure nothing dangerous lives in the base level that could follow us up."
As Iraonar suggests this he looks through the door opposite Lysander.
Alexandra summons more lights that bob around her in a 10ft square.
While her companions discuss options she approaches what she thought was the obvious second option; the second ground floor door.
"Using big, academic words might be practical for you, Prince Lysander, but if no one understands what your saying you might as well be speaking Orc for all the good it does" she says as she walks by them.
Always tailor your speech to your audience. It's like Conversation 101
Amelia will catch the tossed up rope and help pull people up one at a time.
Iraonar steps into the doorway as Alexandra comes up behind him to provide some light for the dark room.
The room seems to have escaped any damage from the collapse of the east wing. Rubble litters the floor and everything is covered in a think layer of stone dust. Thick cobwebs cloak the ceiling and hang down like gossamer tapestries. A single archway stands open in the southwest wall.
From out of the darkness comes sticky glob of web that lands just short of Iraonar.
Alexandra stares at the gooey mess that was just fired at them. She sees the spider and cringes.
Ick, spiders. If this is all we need to face, then retrieving the orb shouldn't be an issue.
She steps back a little, to allow the others access to the room.
"It appears we have a little arachnid problem.' she calls to the other two men standing by the opposite entrance.
"My spells take too long to cast so could you go help Iraonar before he does something?"
As she saying this, she stops and begins making arcane signs and reciting an incantation.
No way I'm going any farther without some kind of armor
"In the name of the lord of Justice, bring us victory against evil!" shouts Amelia as she bestows the Blessings of her god on the party.
Iraonar: 12
Alexandra: 20
Amelia: 12
Daubeny: 20
Lysander: 13
Spider: 18
Another glob of web flies past Iraonar. Iraonar and Alexandra watch as a giant spider move across the ceiling.
"Guards!"Prince Dynisius squeaks instinctively before running behind Daubeny.
Fascinating! A most rare and intriguing specimen!
Lysander scurries over to the doorway and squeezes past Alexandra to get inside the next room and keep the doorway clear.
Pardon me, m'lady. A most exquisite specimen indeed. The chelicerae, in particular, are quite remarkable. And those spinnerets seem adapted to launching extruded fluid!
While dashing over and examining the fascinating creature, Lysander's hands flash back and forth in and out of various pockets. He then throws a small, smoking vial at the creature.
against touch AC
if bomb misses spider takes 7 splash damage can make DC 15 reflect save for half damage.
Placing a hand on Iranonar, the knight pushes the prince out of the way. "Time to fight."
Moving up towards the door, Daubeny stands at the ready, his glinting bardiche promising pain for the arachnid. "Come beast."
With a blast that shacks dust from the ceiling Lysander's bomb nearly does the creature in but it is not done yet.
Alexandra is not amused.
I can't believe I'm about to do this. I must be bored...
Alexandra awkwardly steps over the rubble and gets as close as she can.
"Brilliant place to stop, Sander! Would you like the spider all to yourself because you're more than welcome to it!"
Alexandra looks at the muddied trims of her winter coat.
This is winter wolf fur! Now I need a new outfit. If I'd know I was going to be walking I would've worn a parka."
Alexandra gracefully stumbles into a empty space next to the Prince of Doorways, giving him a glare before straightening up and pointing at the spider and begins to cast, the air around her outstretched arm gained a misty quality and swirling around her hand.
"You better hope it attacks you. I've got to concentrate."
Alexandra realises she can't get close enough to hit the spider without running the risk of hitting her new... ally? Stuck behind Lysander, she makes the last minute decision to keep walking, leaning up against the wall of the crumbling tower's wall.
"Give him a whack for me, Sir Daubeny."
Whether she was referring to Lysander or the spider, she left that up to Daubeny.
Apologies, your highness. I appear to have miscalculated my ending location due to the unforeseen effect of the terrain upon my velocity. I was so focused on constructing and deploying my improvised device that I relied on my presumed velocity to extrapolate the my ending position by the time the mixture was complete.
Lysander continues prattling on about kinematics though, thankfully, under his breath.
"You talk a lot."
Your not the only one who cam day a bunch of words no one understands
"I stopped listening after he apologised."
It's a range touch attack though. Like archery I can't shoot around someone. Though I did want to just shoot over his shoulder, I didn't think that was allowed.
If it is, then can I just do that?
Also apparently if a spell has a cast time of 1 standard action it takes affect in the same round, much like if an attack takes 1 standard action it gets done in that round. So I am a derp.
I'll roll for them both and you can decide if I do it or if my derp lands me leaning on a tower wall, not understanding my own magic lol.
OMG!
Wow... well at least I still hit.
So there we go. That was a rollercoaster ride.
As Lysander tries to explain himself Alexandra waves her hand towards the spider. With the sound of icicles snapping a blue ray flashes past Lysander's right ear and hits the spider.
The spider stiffens and then falls to the ground dead.
Lysander looks around the room he finds himself standing in the doorway of while brushing some odd chemical residues from his hands.
He speaks back over his shoulder to Daubeny and Alexandra
Do we pursue this ground floor means of entry, presumably cleared of active hazards, or the higher alternative of which our liturgical friend appears to be so fond? Personally, I would vastly enjoy an opportunity to procure several small samples representative of the size of our Brobdingnagian opponent. Perhaps such a sample would provide some clues as the natural history surrounding such extreme growth.
He gestures eagerly towards the giant spider.
Alexandra looks at the now dead spider, kinda shocked that one of her lowest level spells killed it.
She doesn't show it though. Of course she did it. She could do anything if she really wanted to. Having the Alchemy Prince nearly bring down the tower with the bomb earlier probably didn't hurt either. Well, did hurt.
"It's dead. Lysander and I killed it. There seems to be a door on the other side of the room that isn't blocked as well.
Sir Daubeny, would you like to take the lead? I think I've had enough of the front lines." she calls out, not sure if Amelia can hear her.
"Do as you please, Prince Lysander. If anything can be useful to you you should seize the opportunity. Who knows when we will encounter another, or when it's resources could be useful."
She dismisses her dancing lights, sending the edges of the room into temporary darkness, before reconjuring them and renewing their duration.
[b]Indeed the specimen appears largely still intact![\b]
Lysander attempts to harvest venom from the spider into some empty vials, as well as taking a few samples of silk, a claw, and some other parts for his own interest, wrapping them carefully in cloth before stowing them carefully in his handy haversack.
Lysander also checks the room for anything useful or interesting.
Indeed the specimen appears largely still intact!
Lysander attempts to harvest venom from the spider into some empty vials, as well as taking a few samples of silk, a claw, and some other parts for his own interest, wrapping them carefully in cloth before stowing them carefully in his handy haversack.
Lysander also checks the room for anything useful or interesting.
Indeed the specimen appears largely still intact!
Lysander attempts to harvest venom from the spider into some empty vials, as well as taking a few samples of silk, a claw, and some other parts for his own interest, wrapping them meticulously in cloth before stowing them carefully in his handy haversack.
Lysander also checks the room for anything useful or interesting.
As the group is entering on the ground floor, Amelia will climb down with an almost dejected look and then rejoin the group.
"Is anyone injured?" she asked while looking over each group member.
Iraonar gives Lysander a quizzical look before saying,"Sorry to disappoint you prince Lysander but that's not unusually large. It's just your average giant spider. Heck its not even the size of a boat. We have like, a gazillion of these back home."
As he says this he looks around for the gem and anything else valuable.
Hearing Iraonar's claim, Amelia will gasp and say "Why haven't you declared war on these creatures? they are clearly a danger to your populace."
"You can't declare war on something that lacks sentience. What you're talking about is extermination. We don't have insects in the north, much too cold.
But whatever is there deserves to live.
Unless your country celebrates in the active extinction of dangerous creatures.
Back home, if you get eaten something else lives. Everything fights to survive.
My personal opinion is if you get eaten the gene pool gets stronger.
"My house's... ugh... sigil... is the most dangerous naturAL predator in the country. To tame one is seen as a great accomplishment. If you suggested we kill them all because they eat people, well, I wouldn't suggest it."
She steps her way over the to the spider to try and peek through the door, not wanting to be involved in another unexpected discovery.
The smell of the dead spider is an unexpected one though, and once Lysander brings his work, the sounds and smells get worse, distracting her from having a better look.
"But spiders are just big bullies. And they're icky." says Amelia as it that explains everything.
The next room is empty. There is a door but it will only open a few inches. What you can make out is that there is a stairway in the center of the tower and it is filled with rubble at this level.
"I think you have been misinformed. These noble creatures do wonders to keep the fiendish mosquito population in check. Besides My grandfather swore an oath to the fairys that we would protect Thee Swamp and all its denozens and a war with the fairys, we would loose."Iraonar corrects Amelia. then continues in an after thought "As for there ickyness, there silk and well kept webs more than make up for that. They are true artists. Which incidentally princess Alexanddra disproves your theory on mindlessness."
Fascinating! I have never encountered such a creature before. Surely, however, the apellation "giant" is still appropriate as the number of individuals of the smaller species must be far higher. The large mass of prey consumed by these "giant" arachnids must preclude their occurrence in high densities relative to that of their smaller kin. And indeed the webbing does appear to be a true engineering masterpiece.
Lysander examines the door that is cracked open.
Perhaps we should force this door open and examine the room beyond? But it does appear that structural decay has presented us with yet another dead end.
"I said they lack sentience. There is a difference between lacking self-awareness and being mindless.
Also, I feel it would be faster to just get in through the second floor. We have no idea what disturbing the rubble might do to the rest of the building. Best play it safe and head back out out."
A sound structural consideration! Lysander exclaims. He hands the end of his silk rope to Amelia.
You seem eminently qualified and enthused to pursue a vertical trajectory for our incursions. Would you be so kind as to affix this tensile device to a fixed point of the storey immediately superior to the one we are currently occupying such as to enable us other members of this band to pursue the same trajectory as yourself?
He smiles politely and inquisitively while holding out the rope.