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In addition to the Endar's request, Kinn attempts to improve the Lady's overall demeanor towards his newfound companions. "These two were killed from within the tower when it collapsed, and the third slain by some kind of fire. There may be evil afoot. My Lady, if foul play is involved, we may be your town's only hope. I pray that you will provide us with any resources we might require."
"Oh my dear lady, I'm sure we'd be happy to help out! But looking at all that rubble, it does look dangerous to me.
Well, of course it's dangerous, Lady Origena says to Endar as she offers him her arm to get closer to what's left of the tower. That's why I'm hiring you instead of going in myself. Or sending Arnholde here. The young man with her scowls at this last remark.
She considers Achmed's request. I suppose rope and torches make sense. Arnholde! See to it! If it's possible, Arnholde looks even more unhappy than before.
Lady Origena purses her lips at Kinn's remark and is silent a few seconds before responding. I had you marked in my mind's eye for the capable sort, but perhaps I was wrong. I should think the coin I offered would be reward enough. It's more than most people here make in five years' time, certainly. She pauses another moment, then, with a bit of a strain in her voice, she continues, a bit tersely. My late husband was many things, but one of them, sadly, was a gullible fool. He lost his life poking about in this damned tower and...well, I confess I had come to think of the tower as his memorial, of sorts.
Lady Origena sighs and looks at the party. I'm hardly surprised the place finally fell — old Hunclay has been pestering me for an age for permission to knock it down, and him not being around when it happened...hmm. Why don't you find out what's going on here, and we can talk afterward?
Arnholde has returned by now with a length of rope and five torches, which he all but flings at Achmed and turns away without a word.
Mordenaar recalls that the sheriff was charged with taking Gribb back to Cassomir. He watches the two deputies gratefully withdraw at Lady Origena's direction and begins to inspect the enormous heap of cracked stone and splintered wood from the tower. Even in the failing light, he can see that the mound forms a natural ramp that leads up to the now-exposed second floor of the tower. It will probably take a Climb check to make one's way up the slope.
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Mordenaar looks at the supplies, and offers to go first, "I don't want to get crushed in there. Can someone hold on to a rope if I hook myself in? Any of you god-talkers have any guidance you can give me? I'd rather a spell now than last rites later."
The slayer keeps his eyes peeled for danger, either structural or living. . He treads carefully, watching his balance as best he can.
"Alas good Sir, I have no such orison for you. There are many boulders here. Let us tie the rope off to one of them and then descend. You go first and then i will follow. I can use my orisons to detect for anything magical once down there."
"Alas, I haven't yet been able to teach my friend here the art of magical dance, though it will happen eventually..."
Endar will follow behind Mordenaar at a safe distance.
Mordenaar carefully picks his way through and makes it up to the exposed upper floor, open to the sky above. Within, he finds only some smashed furniture and a sprinkling of rubble. Against the northwest wall he can see a trap door, but a stout timber has fallen across it.
He finds a place to secure one end of the rope to aid his companions in getting up there. With the rope to aid them, they can manage to make it up to the upper floor area.
Valgrim will go up next taking 10 if he needs to.
"Let me help with that, my friend."
Endar heaves on the log but manages somehow to make it MORE heavy.
Valgrim slings his bow and has a hand in moving the timber...
After a few mishaps, you are able to move the log. The trap door creaks loudly but is functional; it leads down to the mostly-collapsed ground floor of the tower. Ender takes a close look and gives the all-clear, so Mordenaar leads the way down.
Masonry and dirt are scattered across the floor, and the walls have buckled precariously in several places. The dry-rotted frames of five simple beds lie against the north and south walls. To the southwest, the room broadens into a larger chamber. In an alcove in the northern wall sits a rusted, grinning iron statue, and the south wall's old iron door is mostly buried in rubble.
"Hmmm very unfriendly scene. Such destruction. Where to begin."
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Surveying the scene, Kinn notes the age and decay of everything in the room. Not used in a long time, I think. He gives a quick look under the beds for any forgotten chests or other gear. He inhales the air discretely, breathing in its aromas, its character, its essence.
Again he looks expectantly at Mordenaar and... yes, Valgrim, too. Once they give the okay, he begins pulling rubble carefully from the door.
Kinn detects no evil in the room. As he makes his way toward the obstructed door, Mordenaar pipes up that the layout of the tower suggests that the iron door would lead back outside were the tower still intact.
As he turns to acknowledge the Kellid man's remark, he hears a chitter and some movement within the rubble as a pair of lengthy, segmented horrors writhe and twist as they emerge, pulsing venomous mandibles in search of prey. And they evidently like half-elf meat!
Round 1
Endar — up
Mordenaar — up
Valgrim — up
baddies — TBD
Achmed — TBD
Kinn — TBD
Endar moves forward and swings his boarding pike at the venomous creature (red).
He swings true, but it's a glancing blow, just cutting off an antennae.
...
"I am sure I should know these creatures but I cant quite make out their shapes in this darkness."
Mordenaar and Endar put alarm aside and make short work of the centipedes.
Emerging from the trap door in the ceiling, you find yourselves in a macabre chamber, with rusted chains bolted to crumbling masonry walls and the rotted remnants of a wooden lattice with notched wheels and rusted levers. Beneath the trap door in the ceiling, amid the shattered and decayed wood, lie the corpses of two small, green-scaled creatures. In a notched portion of the room on the north wall is an oddly-shaped iron statue. To the south is a rusted iron door.
"It certainly looks like an iron maiden, my grouchy friend. Seems like the perfect place to store something secret... or something dangerous."
"ರಕ್ಷಣೆ ಸಂಬಂಧಿ ತೆಗೆದುಕೊಳ್ಳಲು. ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಕೆಟ್ಟ ಜೀವನ" Valgrim says in a whisper.
"take care cousin...evil lurks here..."
"Who shall go first?" Valgrim inquires as he steps towards the statue.
As Endar and Mordenaar round the corner to investigate the statue more closely, they see small piles of rubble about the western section of this chamber, with corresponding parts of the ceiling haven fallen to the floor.
Mordenaar finds a hinge on the statue and opens it with a loud creak. It is indeed an iron maiden, and the last victim's bones tumble out. Endar helpfully identifies several bones amid the jumble, and to which other bones they would connect; in doing so, he repeatedly putting his hand in front of Mordenaar's face as he points.
The annoyed Kellid is about to turn away when his eye catches a rusty metal key that rolled out with the decrepit bones.
Valgrim looks around the area and then moves towards the door to the bottom of the room stopping near the wall for cover.
"Shall we continue through there?" he asks motioning towards the door.
Depending on Mordenaar's results, yes!
"Seems like the place to start, yes."
Endar pushes past the others and opens the door, hoping to make a grand entrance if there is anyone on the other side to impress.
Kinn detects no evil.
Moderaar tries the key in the south door and it opens noiselessly, surprising with its rusted state. Endar steps through with a flourish, but is disappointed that no one is there to appreciate his panache.
Numerous jail cells line these long-abandoned corridors. Each of their solid iron doors hangs ajar, and includes both a peephole at eye level, covered with a piece of sliding metal, and a smaller slot for food and water at floor level.
Valgrim steps inside after Endar and looks around...
and sees nothing of interest right now.
Mordenaar attempts to be stealthy as he moves away, and Valgrim makes a mental note to remind the Kellid later that stealth is difficult while wearing corduroys.
The slayer notes nothing of interest in the cells as he passes. He can see a set of iron double doors leading east, and in the south wall, across from the third cell, he can make out the outline of a door; it was not readily obvious at first glance, but decay has left it poorly hidden now.
"Take care friend. I shall cover you with my bow."