fail = 2 neg levels
"Arrgh! Wish I had known about this sooner but my memory was slow."
With his knowledge of Constructs and their special resistances to spells, Tronar select a spell that indeed does affect objects and therefore should bypass its resistances. He flies invisible to the rear of the party and elevates above his companions heads.
Disintegrate. A green small beam comes out to strike the oversized creature. Tronar is targeting the portion of the creature not in the melee combat and he is flying, so it avoids cover from his companions.
Fort save DC 26, if successful, only takes the first 5d6 of damage.
Tronar is now visible in the back about 3 feet off the ground.
Shaeda's Bless just makes the attack hit its Touch AC
Tronar's blast strikes the statue dead on, and huge chunks of its mass fall off and crumble to dust. It's just barely holding itself together.
Shaeda's up.
Shaeda decides that with the resistances the creature has, she might as well use the shocking feature of her whip and deliver it some damage...
Reach
Electric
Reach
Electric
Reach
Electric
Haste Attack
Reach
Electric
Shaeda's final attack knocks a little chip off the creature.
Shaeda searches the room...
Snarling silently in pain at the ghost's two attacks that struck him, Ziranu fires a barrage of blunt-tipped arrows again, leveraging his Clustered Shots feat to limit any DR to but a single instance...
Looks like only 2 hits, but against against an AC of 39 or higher, with one also a potential critical hit...
Two of Ziranu's arrows strike and finally bring the foul creature down.
As the monster crumbles, the body nailed to it collapses to the floor. The summoned spirit of Ishani Dhatri heaves a sigh of relief and gives you a grateful nod before fading from sight.
Shaeda's search of the room doesn't reveal much.
Ziranu searches the room...
, +2 more if dealing with undead or dragons; +4 more if dealing with evil outsiders; +6 more if dealing with humans; and +7 more if trapfinding is applicable.
Thurrios will take actions to heal people, which probably means just soaking up a bunch of damage through the life link, and then healing, but I'll sort that out once I determine who is injured and how much.
Once that's done...
Thurrios checks out his companions souls, and determines that Tronar could use restoration. "Your soul has been damaged my friend, will you pray with me while I repair it?"
Thurrios borrows Shaeda's CLW wand and hits himself with it a couple times...
"Keep it for now, it is of more use in your hands."
Ziranu finds that some of the torture tools in the room are actually made from valuable materials, apparently in case there was a need to interrogate people with specific vulnerabilities and weaknesses. There are a good amount of silver, cold iron, and even adamantine tipped instruments that will fetch a pretty penny if you can stomach gathering them up and...maybe giving some of them a wash.
More exciting and less sticky is a loose brick in the wall that reveals a little cubbyhole in which someone has secreted a bag of diamond dust, labeled "For accidents".
Searok, not understanding magic, just shakes his head. Think if I had an accident using one of them tools, I would want a bandage instead of glitter!
"Can anyone estimate the value of this diamond dust? Or the value of these materials? We can clean them up and melt them down."
Tronar will gladly take a look at the items and estimate the value.
"And thank you for the restorative magics. I much needed that." And Tronar will once again activate the invisibility ring after pointing to the next right-hand-rule exit for exploration.
Assuming that Tronar determines the tools are worthwhile hauling, Shaeda will create 32 gallons of water above the pile of tools, to give a first attempt at wiping away the majority of the yuckiness. She can do this repeatedly, if needed.
Ziranu nods in appreciation to Thurrios for the healing, then focuses his search on the NE door...
, +2 more if dealing with undead or dragons; +4 more if dealing with evil outsiders; +6 more if dealing with humans; and +7 more if trapfinding is applicable.
The diamond dust is worth 10,000 gp.
The tools are worth a further 2,500 gp.
The north door opens to reveal a hallway with multiple additional doors coming off it (marked on map).
Thurrios quietly scoops up the diamond dust and places it in his pack.
After lining up in a perfect lightning bolt formation, the group assembles around the two doors.
Ziranu checks the door to the East...
, +2 more if dealing with undead or dragons; +4 more if dealing with evil outsiders; +6 more if dealing with humans; and +7 more if trapfinding is applicable.
... and then the one to the West
, +2 more if dealing with undead or dragons; +4 more if dealing with evil outsiders; +6 more if dealing with humans; and +7 more if trapfinding is applicable.
If all is well, and nothing needs unlocked, Searok will toss open the door to the East.
The east door leads to a jailer's room, currently unoccupied.
The west one is cells, none currently occupied although you see some bloodstains and even a tooth on the floor.
Tronar (who is invis and flying just off the ground) will detect magic and search both rooms quickly.
The jailer's office looks like it hasn't been used in a while, a thin layer of dust covers everything.
In the space behind a desk drawer, Tronar finds a journal. It identifies the jailer as Gaveten Veen, a longtime servant of the castle whose career dates back to long before the king died. It's mostly simple notes and memos until Ileosa's reign begins, at which point he starts to get more and more alarmed at how quickly the cells fill up, only to empty again. He seems to be suffering some internal debate about whether to file a formal complaint over the state of things. The journal ends just as he's working up the gumption.
"Sounds about right. He's probably dead himself by now. Poor bastard."
The group moves up to the next doors.
Ziranu considers the fate of still more fallen to this cursed queen before he’s made her the target of his hunt, then focuses his search again on the doors, beginning with the eastern...
, +2 more if dealing with undead or dragons; +4 more if dealing with evil outsiders; +6 more if dealing with humans; and +7 more if trapfinding is applicable.
, +2 more if dealing with undead or dragons; +4 more if dealing with evil outsiders; +6 more if dealing with humans; and +7 more if trapfinding is applicable.
No sign of danger.
The western door opens to more cells. One of them is occupied, or at least was. The body is long starved, with a plate of moldy food and pitcher of water just out of reach beyond the bars. A handwritten note sits on the plate: "A feast for you, who thinks the condemned deserve such luxuries". Seems this was the jailer.
The eastern cell is more interesting. It's an oubliette at the end of a long hallway, kept deliberately far from the others, the better to ignore and forget the occupant. No one dwells there now, but the last prisoner did something impressive with their time there. Using mud from the floor as paint and straw as a brush, the prisoner covered the walls in artwork.
There's a decent sketch of the late king drawn from memory, a few crude maps of the prison (nothing you haven't seen already) to contemplate escape attempts, a prayer to Shelyn for deliverance outlined in roses, and a truly staggering number of cartoons depicting Queen Ileosa in various comically insulting ways. She is drawn as old, fat, a circus clown, a donkey, some variety of ogress, wearing a chamber pot as a crown, and in one as a temperamental child bawling in rage as Blackjack gives her a spanking with a switch.
You think you recognize the art style; this is where Trinia Sabor was imprisoned while awaiting execution.
This realization causes a few other things to occur to you. For one, no one had seen Blackjack for almost a decade before his daring rescue (with your aid of course) of this room's very prisoner; seems an odd coincidence that she should draw him. The second is that Trinia was very thorough in her comical project; barely a brick is not covered in the muddy drawings. Except one, on the far east wall.
Soon you find that it comes loose and reveals a narrow shaft like a chimney beyond leading up and down. Below you can hear the rushing of water, above silence. A rope and basket hang within view, the basket empty but with a bell tied to it. Finally you find torn paper mixed with the hay on the floor. It would take ages to reconstruct, but you are able to find the occasional scrap of text like "keep hope" and "patience" and one scrap signed with a florid "B".
Soon you are able to get some idea of what happened. Sadly, the shaft is not some secret tunnel, it is a garderobe - the "facilities" above depositing their waste down to the water below. It is too narrow for a normal sized person, but at some point before Trinia's execution, Blackjack used the rope and basket to communicate with her, the sound of the bell within the wall leading her to investigate the loose brick. Thus he was able to inform her of his plan to rescue her.
It also occurs to you that this is a possible method to the upper floors without being observed - a small person could probably climb that rope and see where it came from. At least it doesn't look like it was used recently.
Searok knows he isn't stealthy so if that is the only option for this way up, he would rather keep exploring.
The air in this room smells of soap and lavender. A large washbasin dominates the southeastern part of the room, while elsewhere stand numerous racks for drying clothes, dress forms, stools, and tables strewn with sewing notions. A cold fireplace sits against the opposite wall.
Four Gray Maidens are in the room, taking a break. They haven't noticed you peeking in just yet, as they are busy discussing some sort of disturbance in the city that has caused most of their number to be pulled away.
Tronar will help the party by casting wand Haste and preparing to do battle.
Ziranu observes and concurs, disliking the thought of leaving any potential threat behind him and his companions, should the alarm be raised. The Ranger silently stretches his shoulders and sets an arrow to the string, held by a single finger to the central shaft of his longbow, ready to end the threat as fast and decisively as possible...
When the others are ready, Searok will burst into the room and bellow, Disturbance? Sounds like ye all be talkin' bout me!