Aubrey:
After casting her spell and concentrating for a few moments, Gil shakes her head. "No good. I think the structure must be shielded against such magic. I might as well be looking inside solid rock -- I might get more information from a rock."
Janosz comes back from the camp shaking his head. "Nobody in heavy armour, but that's all I can say, really. Now, how do we open that door?"
The doors are big, heavy and metallic - some sort of alloy, probably including adamantine, and seem to open by retracting into the concrete walls. There seems to some sort of control panel under a metal flap to one side.
Gil will approach and examine the control panel, looking for traps.
Perception vs traps
Assuming she feels it safe to raise the flap, what does she see?
"Janosz, you didn't find any documentation they might have left behind, did you? A combination of letters or numbers or symbols that doesn't make sense by itself?"
My ideas are: try to do the control panel, or.....wait until somebody comes out and sneak in?........I know, pretty bad....
Gil finds no traps. Under the panel is some sort of numeric key panel, but it has been smashed up. However, the doesn't mean it can't be fixed up enough to open the doors...
"Ez? This looks like your area of expertise....."
"Uh,.....sorry.....I didn't think women did.....mechanical....uh,......good show!"
Gil smirks at the cleric. Her features shift from the 'city elf' to mirror Rodergo, but her clothes match Janosz'. "Is this better, Father Xativa?"
She, er, he turns back to the panel and studies it.
Use Magic Device or Disable Device
she will sigh in frustration and mutter, "I need a little time. Don't let me take an arrow while I'm not looking, right?"
While Matilda is looking at the control panel, Lightbringer examines the doors themselves, trying to see if there is anywhere he can get a grip on them to try to force them open.
Gil smirks at the cleric. Her features shift from the 'city elf' to mirror Rodergo, but her clothes match Janosz'. "Is this better, Father Xativa?"
She, er, he turns back to the panel and studies it.
Use Magic Device or Disable Device 1d20 + 18
she will sigh in frustration and mutter, "I need a little time. Don't let me take an arrow while I'm not looking, right?"
Gil tinkers with the panel for several minutes, examining the keypad and patching up severed connections. Bypassing the actual combination code, (s)he manages to activate the elemental motors powering door mechanism. With a grinding rumble, the doors retract left and right to open a gap ten feet wide.
Beyond in the darkness lies a large open space, like a warehouse. The exterior part of the building is only really the entrance and exit to the surface, with most of it buried underground. The chamber is lit with integral everbright lamps, but many of these seem to be damaged. Some are burnt-out and blackened while others are dim and flicker erratically. Piles of crates, neatly stacked, sit on the floor and cast their own shadows to deepen the gloom. At the far end, perhaps thirty yards away, sits a glass-fronted office. Next to that is a tunnel, with some sort of flat-bed carriage on a single rail that heads away deeper into the complex.
Looking satisfied with himself, Rod-Jan looks up and says, "I think I've got it. Mind where you stand, Lightbringer. Just one more connection..." Touching two contacts together, he is rewarded with the sound of the doors grinding back.
As he watches the doors open, Rod-Jan's features melt and reform to those of the half-elf Cassandra, her Janosz clothes adjusting to fit her new shape. "Ah, much better. Really, Rodergo, you'll have to take my word for it, but your body is not the most comfortable shape to be in. If you have a choice, of course." She winks at the cleric to let him know it's all in fun.
Players' schematic map of the facility. This is not to scale.
Giving the room a once over from outside;
perception
+5=16
The darkened chamber refuses to yield its secrets.
"Well, that's the doors. What now?" Cassandra studies the entrance from where she stands at the control panel.
Perception
Runzyl seems agitated by the inactivity, looking between Gil, Ezreal, Rod, and Lightbringer in the hopes that someone had an idea.
After a minute or so of idle speculation, the Valenar unshoulders Falla Caesenri and steps boldly through the doorway, heedless of any traps or enchantments that may be in place.
"Come," the elf states coolly, his eyes adjusting to the darkness.
"I think we need to consider our stategy going forward. Remember that Father Xativa's ability to call on his god to heal us is severly hampered here. He must be approaching his limit on acting as a direct conduit for that energy after the ambush. From here it will be much more important to avoid serious injury in the first place. Fight smart."
"Now- regarding the plague bearing guardian... If the thing is a full construct, pure machine rather than sentient like your standard warforged, it will probably be immune to nearly everything Cassandra and I can throw at it. Spells will roll right off it; it has no mind to be toyed with. If that is the case both of us will need to stay out of reach and focus on enhancing the brute force approach. Once we see it I may have a better idea of its capabilities.
Truly though- mindless or not if you find yourself taking the brute force route with a warmachine something has gone wrong. I have prepared another force wall to hopefully lock it down long enough for us to pass. If that isn't possible and the construct is mindless it may be unable to effectively distinguish between illusion and reality. In that case Cassandra should be able to draw it out or simply hide our passage by creating something to block it's ability to perceive us. Getting by that thing while minimizing contact and expending as few resources as possible should be our goal. Don't rush in until we have tried to bypass it."
"The quori are potentially a bigger problem. I have been researching how to trap them, bind them, or send them back to their own plane, but I am not ready to make an attempt yet. Today we focus on pure destruction and remember that they may try to seize a new form if they can. We will want to ward those of us less experienced with erecting mental barriers against such influence. Before Father Xativa attempts to drove the spirit out of the host we can work together to weaken it. Rolund- if you are able to throw it off guard I will siphon off some of its life force. Then Xativa should try to seize control. But all of that comes later. First the plague machine."
"If the 'Caretaker', whatever it is, infects its targets with... um... a machine plague of sorts? Ah, if that's what it does, perhaps it would make sense that Lightbringer and Basher engages it in melee. They should be unaffected by that kind of affliction, shouldn't they? Now, let's check this room out before we move onwards."
I got darkvision.
"Nothing but to go for it I suppose. We've come this far."
Looks at Runzyl....
"We've got this razor blade on our side, after all."
Ezreal begins casting a few spells in preparation.
As his casting draws to a close, he whispers "Okay. Let's do this." and each member of the band hears him clearly as if he stood next to them leaning in to whisper.
There's a sharp report of a crossbow string and then a shout of "Attack!"
Initiative
init
Rolund
Basher
Bor