Seeing the reaction in Ya'Bo's face, or lack thereof, Ore grabs the door handle and calls out in pain, falling to the floor and rolling about with a look of terror. When he gets the chance, he winks at Theo.
Theo's eyes roll of their own accord, but the smile never leaves his face. He steps over Ore and opens the door.
"Well, children. Shall we?"
The door opens into a long corridor going north. Ten feet down the corridor, a pair of alcoves are on either side and the corridor continues beyond that point.
Even to Theo's elven eyes, the corridor is dimly lit. He figures Ya'Bo may be fairing better, given the gnome's experience navigating urban areas at night. A city's artificial lighting and tightly packed structures create starker shadows than those cast by moonlight in spread out villages or in the wilds.
"But Ore likely can't see half as far as either of us. And I can't make out enough detail to feel confident moving forward into such a confined space." Theo thinks to himself, fishing something out of his pocket. "Easy enough fix, I suppose."
Without any undue ceremony, Theo tosses a copper piece, freshly enchanted with the Light cantrip, about halfway down the hallway. As the coin flies, Theo cycles the color of the spell a couple of times in an attempt to highlight any reflective materials. Tripwires are his primary concern, but even avoiding a face full of webs would make the effort worthwhile in his eyes.
Perception:
Ore holds the draco-were-chicken maybe up to his face and fixes it in place. Then he smiles, and falls in behind Ya'Bo.
"Okay, let's do this then."
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You proceed down the corridor, coming to the aforementioned alcoves. They are unremarkable, being ten feet deep and also ten feet wide. After another 60 feet, the corridor again features two alcoves, ten feet wide and ten feet deep and continues forward beyond that point. As you continue on, you find a third set of alcoves after another 50 feet, and a crossroads can be seen ahead. However, your attention is drawn to a pair of statues in these alcoves.
The statues depict armed and armored men in a fighting pose, facing one another across the corridor. Suddenly, the eastern statue speaks, it's mouth moving with the words. "WHO DARES ENTER THIS PLACE AND INTRUDE UPON THE SANCTITY OF IT'S INHABITANTS?"
Before you can respond, the west statue answers the question. "ONLY A GROUP OF FOOLHARDY EXPLORERS DOOMED TO CERTAIN DEATH!"
Both statues then shout in unison, "WOE TO ANY WHO PASS THIS PLACE--THE WRATH OF ZELLIGAR AND ROGAHN WILL BE UPON THEM!" Both statues then begin loud and raucous laughter, which fades in intensity as their mouths close once more. The statues then step down from their pedestals and block the passage, moving threateningly forward.
INITIATIVE
Ore
Ya'Bo
Theo
Statue 2
Statue 1
Ore laughs, as Ya'Bo's lightning crackles down the hallway. He takes a defensive step in front of the wizard, and adds:
"And the wrath of the Were-Chicken!"
"Careful not to sever the stream, Ore!"
Theo angles the head of his staff over top his friends and launches his own arcane assault at Ya'Bo's target.
Magic Missle:
"We need to get out of the hallway. We are negating our own numbers advantage." Theo says, taking his own advice and retreating the moment his arcane projectiles take flight.
As he moves, he tries to start the outline of a plan. First step, know your enemy. It's been a while since he's studied something
so fundamental, yet so nuanced. Magical constructs run the gambit of arcane craftsmanship. Though these are clearly on a different level than your average mage's familiar. Not some pile of stones or a clockwork animal enchanted for menial tasks.
"Their speech is clear and articulate. Could be an audible illusion. But if not...we may be dealing with highly intelligent constructs." Theo thinks to himself. Illusion and Enchamtmemt have been his bread and butter. Emotionless constructs with keen senses could be his undoing.
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Ore breathes a gout of fire onto the statues, leaving them blackened, but still very much active. Ya'Bo adds his efforts to the fight, but does little to the stone constructs. Finally, Theo throws a trio of magic missiles at Ya'Bo's target and, to everyone's surprise, the target shatters into many pieces! The remaining statue continues its assault as though nothing had happened, striking twice at Ore. Ore goes down under the savage assault!
Statue: -11 hp
Ore: Death saves
Theo feels the blood drain from his face as he sees Ore's body crumple to the floor. He stops hard and heads back towards his friend.
Should Mystra's gaze fall upon Theo this day, then he may be able to save his comrade without meeting the same fate. Theo has a hunch that the statue's designer fell prey to the Diamond Error, confusing hardness for durability. If true, then Ya'Bo's missiles should strike just as true as the last batch. The statue may topple before Theo has to trade blows with it.
"One step at a time, Theo. Ore's safety, then the statue.". Theo thinks to himself, gathering his wits
When he reaches Ore's unconscious form, he heaves the halfling over his shoulder.
Theo slams the butt of his staff into the floor, defying the statue to challenge him.
Dodge Action
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The arcane bolts slam into the statue, but it doesn't fall, despite losing several chips of stone. Theo grabs Ore's limp form and takes a stance against the construct. The statue swings at Theo, it's stone sword arcing downward, but the blow misses the stoic half-elf.
Statue: -19 hp
Ore: Making death saves
Theo whispers a prayer as he grips his friend tigbt, breathing life into Ore's limp form.
"One more shot, Ya'Bo. Put it down!"
"That's how it's done! Cheap trinkets." Theo spits half-heartedly in the direction of the ruble that was once his attackers.
His blood starting to cool, Theo turns his attention to the mass in his arm. He slaps Ore mildly across the back, "Up and at 'em, friend."
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"This being the first defense against intruders the rest I am sure will be more entertaing." Going over to Ore's side.
"How are you feeling? That construct sure hit you with a wallop."
"Well I better check to see if anything else is close by."
And Ya'Bo starts the ritual for detect magic, to scan the area.
Ore opened and blinked his eyes a few times and smiled a grim smile.
"Did we get 'em?"
Ore opened and blinked his eyes a few times and smiled a grim smile.
"Did we get 'em?"
"That we did. I do hope the ruckus didn't disturb your impromptu nap." Theo says, placing the Halfling on his feet.
Satisfied with his own banter, and even more so with the color returning to Ore's face, Theo moves to examine the remains of the constructs. He applies the light spell to his medallion and pulls the amulet outside of his tunic.
With both hands free, Theo squats down and begins sifting through the rubble; looking for any salvageable spell components or anything of monetary value.
Theo stands and gives the refuse one final sweep with his foot. Concluding there is nothing of arcane value, he takes a quick look around and pockets the first palm-sized chunk of statue that has retained any artistic stylization. One hardly survives such an ordeal without taking a souvenir.
"Last I saw the Sun, it was only late morning. Still, I think it best we make camp in the first area of the cave for the time being." Theo again begins rummaging through the rubble that was the golems.
"My first instinct was to bar the door, but perhaps it's better if we can see threats coming." He holds a chunk of rock out to his comrades and illuminates it with the light cantrip. "These would make for excellent lamps, we could light the whole path back. Even Ore would be able to see clearly all the way to our current location."
"Can't argue with the fella behind the healing magic," Ore says with a tired smile.
"At least not for a dozen minutes or so."
He laughs and lightens up considerably; the last of the remaining tension floating away as he giggles at his own joke. If Ore was good at anything, it was relaxing.
Finding a nice place to sit, he puts his feet up, and pulls some snacks out of his bag. "Never a bad time for a snack, either."
Finding a nice place to sit, he puts his feet up, and pulls some snacks out of his bag. "Never a bad time for a snack, either."
"Quite so." Theo nods in earnest agreement.
"I'll go ahead and pace out the stones before having a bite myself. Once Ya'Bo finishes his ritual, we can take stock of our options."
Theo gathers up an armful of stones and heads back down the hall, placing a stone at the base of the hallway wall about every third stride.
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As the group relaxes and replenishes, Theo approaches Ya'Bo with a proposition for once they have returned to town.
"Ya'Bo, my friend, I have a dilemma.", Theo says to the diminutive wizard.
"Our recent travels together have revealed a blind-spot in my education. Some combination of fate and happenstance have left me topside most of my life. So, despite an otherwise diverse pool of languages, I only speak one of the subterranean tongues. This is a problem I mean to correct."
Theo continues to meander a bit, bemoaning his obsession with obscure languages over more pragmatic ones, before finally getting to his point.
"I'd like to pay you, either in coin or trade, to translate some simple stories into Gnomish and Goblin for me. Just a handful of children's tales will do.", Theo explains.
"I can offer 1 gold per page. Or, if you are interested, I can also offer my own translations. I specialize in languages from other realms; Infernal, Celestial, Deep Speech. Or, more pragmatically, I'm also fluent in Dwarven and Elvish. My kinsfolk can be a hotty bunch, passible Elvish will get you far in the right circles."
"Well I would be happy.to translate a few stories for you Theo. If you pay for supplies, keep me in food and drink while I am working and don't mind me making copies of the stories. That should be a good blance. Now if you still want to pay coin on top of that, I am not one to say no to that."
"Marvelous. I shall procure an abundance of your favorite snacks and will make sure you have ink and paper for as many copies as your wrist will permit you to create. And another silver per page of the Gnome and Goblin copies, just for going through the bother. And also because a willingness to help educate should always be rewarded as highly as possible."
Still clearly pleased with Ya'Bo's agreement, Theo stands and brushes the dust off his back-side.
"Well. Now that that's settled, shall we see what other surprises this place's former masters have in store for us?"
"Here here! let's do this!"
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Past the third pair of alcoves, at the end of the corridor from the entrance are two steps up. At the top of the steps, the corridor continues straight ahead, and corridors meet from east and west. At this intersection is a grisly sight--the remains of a hand-to-hand battle where no less than five combatants died.
The sight of the decaying bodies is horrifying and the smell of rot doubly so.
Theo stops short of the mangled bodies. He presses his medallion to his lips and offers a prayer for the souls of the slain.
His spiritual compulsions sated, curiosity gets the better of him.
"It's odd to find evidence of a battle beyond those sentries. I don't recall the statues showing any obvious signs of combat. Did these poor sods just run past them?"
Theo squats down for a closer examination of the corpses. The smell of decay causes him to sway with nausea for a moment before he adjusts his breathing -- filtering air in through his teeth and exhaling hard through his nose.
"So many questions. I suppose time of death is the sensible place to start.", the Elfkin thinks aloud. "At least then we'll have a better idea of how long this place has actually been empty."
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The bodies appear to have been dead for about 3 weeks. The first body is that of a human male, slumped against a wall. His broken sword, sheared off about 8 inches above the pommel, tells the story of his demise. The body has been stripped of armor.
The second body is also a human male, a wizard, by his dress. He has been impaled against a wall. The killing sword, still thrust through the body, is lodged in the wall, which has a large section of wood at this point. He wears only a bloodstained robe.
A dwarven male lies facedown in the corridor, just east of the intersection. In his right hand, he still clutches a Warhammer, and it appears that he crawled, wounded, to this point, since a trail of dried blood leads back to the battle location. An empty sack, turned inside-out, lies next to the body. Armor has been stripped from the body, but his helm is still on his head. The sizable dent in his headgear makes it worthless.
A human dressed in furs and hides is sprawled on the floor, with a broken shield nearby. The body has no armor on it and there is no weapon on the body or nearby.
Finally, another human male dressed in hides, his head caved in by the blow of a Warhammer, lies on the floor facedown. There is no armor or weapon on the body except for a small sheathed dagger on the belt. The belt is very ornately detailed leather, which would appear to be valuable, except for the bloodstains ruining it's appearance.
"It seems our friends have been left to rot for well over a fortnight." Theo says. He points to patches of discolored flesh and demonstrates the progression of rigor mortis that has lead him to this conclusion. Theo then offers his take on the cause-of-death for each body; making sure to keep his medical jargan at a layman's level.
"This fellow over here didn't die as immediately as the others." Theo gestures to the corpse resting at the end of the blood trail.
"If one person survived the initial scuffle long enough to crawl this far, it's possible that others escaped the whole ordeal in one piece. Though I haven't seen any strong evidence of that being the case...yet." Theo moves to give the scene another once-over.
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"It looks like that they attacked each other. This screams of a trap. But where is all their armor and weapons, other than that dwarf and the dagger on that fella's hip, I don't see anything else from here.
So before you go in there lets take a little time and look for magic that might still be around, shall we."
Ya'bo starts the ritual for detect magic.
The bodies have definitely been stripped and looted, except for what little remains. A search of the bodied turns up 2 gp and a pouchful of moldy garlic buds in the wizard's bloodstained robes and 5 gp in a belt pouch of one of the other bodies.
"Ya'Bo said these barbarians were from the Northern Tribe." Theo thinks to himself, looking over the corpses at his feet.
The elfkin tilts his head in thought. "Do these barbarians have any direct connection with this place, or did they just stalk the group of travellers hoping to make quick coin? The latter is preferable. Hard to imagine opportunists risking more traps after taking these kind of losses. Such attackers would have taken what they could and fled"
Theo's face darkens a bit and his eys seem to loose focus. "The former could be a serious problem. If these groups crossed paths on their way to the same goal, weeks ago at that, there's a serious possiblity that the survivors have already claimed their prize."
Realizing that he's spiralling into overthinking, Theo blinks his vision back into focus and turns to his friends. "We should make haste. Signs of survivors from a month-old skirmish means there is a less-than-zero chance that our goal is much further away than the far-end of these ruins. The sooner we know for sure, the better."
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"Yes I agree we need to move on. But we should be mindful of that there could be others running around here."
Ya'Bo answers up. He then cast Mage Armor on himself before moving deeper in to search for the tomb of magic.
"Ore, can you grab that gear and loose coin? We might be able trade them for a good meal and maybe a soft bed when we get back."
Left and right, the corridor goes about 30 feet and turns south (on either side), whereas, directly ahead, there are two doors (one to either side), and the corridor beyond splits again, going left, right, and straight ahead
we'll probably move to largely a theater of the mind, if that is alright with everyone.[/ooc]