"Thanks... you're pretty handy with that thing. I've seen those used to much less effect. Shall we press on then? Maybe check out the rubble and bones before we open any doors?"
TOrric moves closer and examines the bones, his weapon in hand in case anything jumps out of the pile of rubble... or worse, if the bones animate.
Tam looks at the wand and shrugs. [b]"I guess that Sarenrae is looking on me favourably today. Or perhaps she's just bored and seeing what's going on,"[b] Tam says with a grin.
As you approach the bones do animate, forming a skeleton of some sort of hulking beast with a huge beak and formidable claws.
Roll for initiative. Map is coming.
With the oversized bug-thing down, Zababa resumes his sketching of the ruins. Following the others through the gate into the mountain proper, he 'oohs' and 'aahs' at the thought of being inside the Castle proper.
When he hears a sudden clattering noise, he looks up to see a skeleton coming together and roaring soundlessly.
Tyros thanks Tam for the healing. As the party enters the mountainside the arcane warrior hefts his fauchard in preparation of encountering any hostile creatures.
Before you have time to react, the monster lunges at Torric with its enormous teeth and claws, tearing at him for 15 points of damage.
You are all up. So is the map.
Torric takes a 5 foot step back from the creature and throws a bomb at it.
Round One:
Tyros takes a step to the side and slashes his fauchard at the monstrous skeleton.
Round 1
Zababa looks at his dagger, then at the skeleton, then back at his dagger - and his shoulders slump to realize he likely wouldn't be able to harm the thing at all with his small weapon. Sheathing it, his hand passed over his club which he'd been tripping over for the past two days... maybe he'd have better luck breaking some of the bones with it than in trying to stab its nonexistent tissues.
Scuttling around the edge of the room, he took up a place to make his attempt when the monster's attention was elsewhere.
Tam moves to Torric's side and invokes taps him with the wand of cure light wounds.
"Thanks, Tam," he says as he reaches for something at his belt... another bomb, perhaps... or something else.
The skeleton is weakened by Torric's bomb and Tyros's blow smashes it to pieces. It collapses into an inert pile of bones.
Perception 20:
"Wait, there's a chest in here in the rubble. Zababa, maybe you could check it over for traps, see if you can open the lock, that sort of thing."
"Oh, my, yes!" said Zababa, scurrying over to check out the chest.
Looking it over carefully,
Tyros peers about for more dangers while Zababa inspects the chest in the rubble.
The chest is trapped with a poison needle. The door to the east is locked, and there are no other immediate dangers.
"Oh, my-my-my, there's a needle hidden on the latch: it's probably poisoned! Good thing, I'm being careful," he says, digging into his belt pouch for this tools.
Later on, he'll make his way over to the locked door and open it as well
Zababa manages to set off the trap, but fortunately the needle misses his finger. The chest contains 550 gp and 7 pieces of minor jewelry: 3 x 25 gp, 2 x 50 gp, 75 gp, and 1 x 100 gp. Among the coins you also find the key to the eastern door.
Torric runs his fingers through the pile of coins and jewelry as if sifting it.. then smiles. "A nice start to the day. We'll have to figure out what our individual splits are later... for now, let's just bag it up and take it with us."
"Ah-ha!" Zababa practically shouted, holding up the key.
Do you want to try the door or try anything else?
Zababa will try the key on the door.
The key fits and the door swings open, revealing a set of stairs leading deep into the mountain. Melima is suddenly very nervous and offers to guard the entrance together with Hector.
"Maybe we should lock this door again, and check out the unlocked doors first. FInish up checking things on this level before we go down."
"Agreed, Master Torric. That sounds like a good plan," Tyros says, stepping over to the southern doors and listening for sounds on the other side of the portal.
No sound is coming from the portals, so you carefully open them. The double doors reveal a wide hallway about 20 feet wide with a 20-foot ceiling. The floor is covered with the rotting remains of once-fine carpeting. Stone pedestals, each about two feet high, are spaced along the walls. However, the hall ends after about 35 feet in a massive pile of rubble.
"I guess NOW it's finally time for that key, Zababa. We're done up here."
"Yes, it appears that it's time to descend into the depths," Tyros agrees with Torric.
"Actually, I'm fine... Tam healed me up with that wand of his."
As you make your way down the stairs, Tyros spots a tripwire glisteni before the stairs end in a room below.
"Master Zababa? I appear to have found a tripwire here near the bottom of the stairs. Would you care to examine it?" Tyros whispers to the halfling behind him.
"Oh, of course, Tyros," replied Zababa, who stepped around him to inspect the wire.
As you continue descending Tyros notices something in the last minute. There is another tripwire that Zababa missed, a little lower than the first. You cut that one too and emerge in the chamber below.
This chamber is perhaps 50 feet wide and 40 feet long. There is a door centered in the east wall and another door located on the south wall. A table with four battered chairs is along the north wall. A three-foot-high haphazard pile of rocks forms a crude wall about 20 feet long
positioned in the southeast corner of the room.
Half a dozen bestial humanoids with porcine features rush to defend the room. Their skin is pasty white and they have unkempt white-gray hair. Three advance with glaives while the other three take positions behind the makeshift wall.
Roll for initiative.
The orcs go on 15, so Tyros and Zababa are free to act, as is anyone that beats 15.
Round One:
Tyros steps into the chamber and calls upon his mystical heritage to cause a cone of searing flame to shoot from his fingertips, striking the two closest orcs before him. The half-elf then draws his fauchard to threaten any enemies that may approach.
Round 1
Zababa hugs the wall, hoping for Torric or some of the bigger and more heavily-armored people to engage the creatures head-on (sort-of like Tyros) and create an opportunity for him to strike.