GM Ietsuna's Crypt of the Everflame (Inactive)

Game Master Ietsuna

Sure, people can assist to spot traps.

So SOP will be, Guidance on the gnome, Perception to find traps (with aids from the group), and the gnome to attempt to disable if we find anything. That’s fine by me.

Va bene per me

Ok, lets get moving again. Party is heading east. No doors to open just yet. Map revealed.

This large chamber contains a maze of pillars that obscure the far side of the room. Next to the door is a pile of empty saddlebags and three brooms.

"I've always wanted a flying broom," says the witch, casting detect magic and looking around to see if she sees anything unusual.

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (14) + 10 = 24

Pinch pokes around the saddlebags being stealthy and looking for stuff that his master might find useful.

Stealth: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (19) + 15 = 34
Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (3) + 9 = 12

I have moved you just inside the room Neer.

Neerduwyl and Pinch take a look around but do not see anything out of the ordinary. Pinch looks inside the saddle bags, but they are indeed empty.

Glok looks around too but shrugs.
"Should we go onward!"

Roland follows the two into the room. ”Let’s get to it then. There doesn’t seem to be anything of note in here,” he calls out as he moves to inspect the saddlebags.

"Hmm, strange place. What purpose for such a room. Too many pillars; they get in the way."

The Armenian Man decides to wander the perimeter, cautious to look out for traps as he goes.

Projected path in dashed line. Feel free to roll any additional Perception checks if more are required. Would recommend that one or more party members join me so that we can aid each other on Perception.

Perception, elixir of treasure seeking: 1d20 + 8 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 8 + 2 = 18

Pull you back Armenian. We'll assume that you don't want to go forward from here for now

The Armenian Man stops in his tracks. There is something not quite right about the floor here infront of him. It looks like this piece of floor is not fully connected to the ones around it.

I thought you could fly with just your ego he retorts to the witch as he laughs at her.

Oh, I wonder if it is a trap? Should I go take a look? he asks
1d20 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 4 + 1 = 24 Perception

Yup, it's a pit trap

Do I have to disable it?

1d20 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 5 + 1 = 24 disable device

Just in case

I moved The Armenian Man back a square, and moved Gnicky's token to where The Armenian Man was, to allow Gnicky to disable the trap.

Gnickey disables the pit trap making it safe to walk across. As he does so he spots a pile of pillows in the bottom of the pit.

The gnome made himself useful for once, thinks Ne'erduwyl to herself, though she doesn't vocalize the compliment.

"Strange, a pit with a soft landing, says Ne'erduwyl.

Ne'erduwyl casts detect magic into the pit to see if anything down there might be of value.

Ne'erduwyl does not detect any magic emanating from the pit.

Before the party finds itself in more trouble, Ne'erduwyl pulls out a wand and casts mage armor on herself.

"Who wants to lead the way?" she says, pointing toward the maze of pillars at the end of the room. "There's certainly something odd going on here, between the brooms and the pillows."

That was awful nice of them to leave pillows. I think it is funny, maybe they wanted to catch the witch's ego in case she fell he says as he busts out in laughter.

"Hmmmm." Neerduwyl's comment tugged at something in his mind. "Maybe we can use the brooms. Magdh thinks of everything, though sometimes she's sneaky, and you don't know why she did what she did until after." The Armenian Man will go back to the entrance and grab a broom. He'll use the handle to tap the floor in advance of where he walks.

The Armenian Man might have the best Perception now, at +10 with the elixir boon. If nobody else can beat that, he'll lead that way as the group continues to explore this strange room.

Perception, elixir of treasure seeking: 1d20 + 8 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 8 + 2 = 20

Now that we know there are pits in here, he'll also tap the floor to the sides of the projected path, and add a detour in the middle, so that we can explore every square.

Roland will follow TAM as he conducts his exploration. No reason for all of us to fall into a pit, obviously!

Graktul moves forward while taking a moment to scratch his side and looking at his companions.

What is going on here seems like everyone is losing their mind a little at a time...The Armenian man has always been a little out there but almost feeling like this isn't a real quest but more a prank with illusion orcs and pillows at the bottom of a pit trap...Then again there were the skeletons and the dead horses??? ??? ??? Where is something else to fight?

Those skeletons were real back there right and not puppets or something else...Just doesn't feel serious while providing a safe landing to a trap.

Maybe those are the remains of people the witch has bored to death with her posturing? They all came back! he says as he covers his wouth to keep from laughing outloud.

Going to roll Gnicky's disable device on the pits TAM finds, just to keep us moving forward and not bog us down. Grey squares are pits, green are disabled pits, red are open pits.

Disable Device 1: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8

Gnicky attempt to disarm this trap but something goes wrong and the pit just opens in front of him.

We are at a point where TAM cannot fail to notice these traps so I'll reveal all of them and you can choose a route.

The Armenian Man also notices 3 switches around the room. Yellow S on the map

Hmm...So who wants to pull some switches? Maybe they will actually release something to fight instead of this skulking around and worrying about traps.

Seeing the gnome open the next pit trap.

Just curious are there more pillows in the bottom of that one or did it actually mean business?

”What a strange place...if one of you can get me to the levers, I’d be happy to flip some of them to see what happens. But I’d fall into a pit on he way without some guidance.”

"It Seems this is not safe? We can use a rope to pull the lever?"

The newly revealed pit also has a mound of pillows at the bottom.

Can Glok froggy crawl on the walls and get to the other side? the gnome asks.

"Will I try".
Glok uses his climb speed to get to the other side.

Where is Glok? Which pit is he climbing around? His token is still at the entrance. Hekran and Roland are also still in the first room.

The Armenian Man pulls on the first switch, trusting Magdh to protect him. Pillows at bottoms of pits, but deadly skeletons run around. This truly a maze of fate! Magdh, what is your plan for this switch? For good or for ill? "Show me!"

The Armenian Man pulls the lever, but nothing seems to happen.

Ne'erduwyl arches an eyebrow at the gnome."Perhaps, you could shut your trap, and go about disabling the ones in our way".

Ne'erduwyl follows behind the Armenian Man carefully as they work their way through the maze.

Ok, so we are slowing down. I would like to get us moving again. This room can slow a group down in PbP because there are so many traps to disarm. The Armenian Man found all of the traps so you can navigate safely to the door with no trouble. The door is locked however.

Glok loves forward and tries the door.
"Locked! Do we need to open the door!"

Gnickygnack also checks the door for traps, finding none.

”Well, someone try to pick the lock then. Or stand aside and let the rest of us bust the door down!”

Hmm...have we pulled all the switches?

So saying Graktul goes and pulls the south lever.

Someone go and pull the other one and then check the door if not then lets try pulling all of them at the same time before we start breaking it down.

Graktul pulls the lever and again nothing happens.

Ne'erduwyl stands aside, pulls out a nail file, and shapes her nails while waiting for the party muscle to break the door down.

"If you're bored, Pinch, you can slip under the crack in the door and see what's in the next room."

Always a good soldier, Pinch tries to slip under the door to get a preview of what the party might be up against next.

Stealth: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (10) + 15 = 25
Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (17) + 9 = 26

Pinch sees passages is several directions. He does not see any creatures moving about, but does hear the wailing louder from the south.

More map opened up

Roland moves to the door and examines it, looking for a weak point. If no one stops him, he begins pounding on the door with his iron bound book, trying to force it open.

Strength check 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 3 = 12

He will try to pick the lock
1d20 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 5 + 1 = 23

The door does not give way before the pounding of Roland. Likewise, the lock resists Gnickygnack's attempts to pick the lock.

"Well, can we open the door now, we can try another one!"

The Armenian Man positions himself to try his lever in time with Graktul. "Creative, orc-man. Magdh bless us all for your wisdom. Somebody have the last lever? Let's go!"

He'll pull his lever when everyone is in position and someone gives the signal.