"I am all for killing all evil no matter how minor or great ... "
Kelgan shrugs. "Lead on"
Crom steps into the hall and opens the door to the right.
This is a 20-foot-square room, with a 10-
foot-wide alcove at the south end of the
east wall. A table in the center of the room
is covered with diagrams, drawings, and
papers. The drawings are of Merisa,
Sylva, and Rahasia. The diagrams are
plans of the elven village, showing the
houses, streets, and places with thick
brush and other cover. The papers are
covered with scribbled notes.
From the drawings, you see that the three elven girls were obvious targets, the raid on the village was planned, and the kidnapping of the three girls was planned in detail.
Both Morgan and Horster find a secret door in the left wall that obviously leads to the room behind the center door. Because enter through a secret door is so much cooler than a regular door... after examining the door for traps it is opened to reveal a bedroom.
This bedroom is carpeted in a plush red
color that matches the spread on the large
bed in the southeast corner of the room.
Two black panthers lie on the bed. You cannot
make out if someone is in the bed.
If there is any indication that the cats are alive (movement or breathing) Locan will move (Stealth) up and color spray the bed.
Lorcan moves up and douses two awake cats in colors from the side. One cat cannot see and stays docile.
Morgan, Horster, Crom, Ozz and Kelgan act before the panthers.
One is blinded and stunned, the other unaffected,
Morgan looses her arrow at the unaffected panther, hoping to take it down before it can attack.
Ozmund quickly places a charm of sleep upon the two creatures, hoping to end this conflict quickly and quietly.
Crom moves up to the unaffected panther and attacks.
The magic of the sleep spell begins to form as Morgan misses with an arrow. Crom rushes in and strikes a blow at the panther in the bed. Shocked for a second, the panther seems unsure of what to do.
Then the panther issues a hideous screech and retaliates on Crom.
Crom takes a nasty bite as the spell forms in the chaos.
The sleep spell goes off, but no panthers seem affected. Crom sees that the panther has bitten through his armor for
Order
Party
Panthers
Mit'l advances to within reach, flanking if possible, of his spear and strikes the already wounded one. Mit'l attempt to see if anything else is in the bed.
Kelgan will move past Lorcan and Crom (Provoking, I am sure) to stand in the back corner, and swing his axe at the panther.
Loran will move back and ready to defend the group should another enemy enter the room.
Horster draws his rapier and dagger, attacking the nearest panther.
Kelgan is able to hit the panther, but he is about it. The rest fail to connect.
The panther continues to attack Crom. The panther roars loudly as it is hit again, and it is not well. Blood flows freely onto the bed.
The second panther blinks his eyes, and his no longer blinded.
Crom takes a claw for
Order
Party all to go
Panther hurt
Panther stunned
Seeing the second cat coming out of its stupor, Morgan changes her aim and fires at the second panther, confident that Crom will kill the first one.
Kelgan stirkes again.
Crom power attacks the panther with his war axe.
Horster blinks his eyes as panther blood splurts onto his face.
Ozmund fires a force missile at the stunned cat.
Crom and Kelgan cut the great cat down, and Morgan and Ozzy have started on the stunned panther. After another two more sets of attacks, the stunned panther falls too.
Horster makes a quick note of any clues the bedroom may offer as to its owner. He searches the desk and bed for secret compartments.
Crom helps Horster search.
"Let's keep moving."
If the search turns up nothing, he leads the way back out into the hall and through the north door.
Kelgan cleans his axe on the bedding, looking sadly at the panthers.
"Sad. Magnificent beasts, they were."
Knowing it is not his forte, he lets the other search, and follows out when they are done.
Horster and Morgan's perceptive eyes find not one, but two MORE secret doors in a addition to the one you came in.
One secret door leads to the third room in this complex and seem uncomplicated. The other door, Ozzy tells you, is a magic door only opened by a command word.
"Try the normal one first?"
Crom nods to Kelgan, "Let's clear the last room before we examine the magical door."
He leads the way.
Lordan checks the bedding wondering if it might be worth anything.I can't tell if this stuff is worth bundling up and taking or not. What do you guys think?
"Yes ... that looks extremely valuable. You should take it ... and you know what, as a reward for having such a good eye, you can have it.", say Mit'l, dead-pan serious.
You look around for a bit and open the door into the next room...
This room is 20 feet square, with a 10-
foot-wide alcove in the north end of the
east wall. Shelves full of books and papers
line the north and west walls, and a thick
rug covers the floor. In the center of the
room is a large table lit by a single burning
candle.
The papers look important, and Ozzy and Lorcan think, with some time, they may puzzle out the magic word for the secret door from the notes.
Lorcan gathers enough bedding for him to hide in before advancing to the next room. He looks over the papers critically and casts Detect Magic to scan the room completely.
Ozmund works with Lorcan to cover the room in detection. He also examines the papers.
"Glad to have you back, my friend. A little magical assistance is always welcome!"
Ozmund's skills reveal that the command word is "Siswa" after fifteen minutes of research in the library.
Just as the mages are finishing the research, Morgan and Horster begin to hear the marching of feet on the stairs above. You place the sounds in the stairway down to the main area.
Morgan also notices mailed boot tracks from the study to the stairs that were not there before you moved to the right rooms. As you went counter clockwise, it appears a mailed figure made it out ahead of your search pattern. Morgan surmises the fight with the panthers was quite loud and warned someone in the study.
"Sounds like they've been tipped off. Best we get movin' boys," Morgan says. "Odds are pretty good they wouldn't follow us past the big snake....jus' sayin'..."
"We may be able to evade our visitors by going through the magical secret door. Osmund, Lorcan, can you open?"
"I think we have the password. It is Siswa. Lets give it a try, shall we."
Ozmund approaches the secret door and in a clear, but soft voice, gives the password.
"Siswa"
The door opens and reveals a narrow tunnel leading to the tower!
The rush of feet head your way, estimated at about a dozen.
Horster moves ahead and the rest of you squeeze into the tunnel and follow it to a door.
The tunnel opens into a dark, dry cavern,
deep within the mountain. No sound
breaks the silence in the cavern. Gray
stone walls rise up 60 feet to the cavern’s
rock and earth ceiling. This structure
appears to be an ancient tower, buried
under the mountain. Only the lowest
story of the tower is intact. What little of
the upper stories is visible are destroyed.
Cut stones from walls and battlements lie
scattered about he cavern floor. The
cavern has caved in around the sides of the
tower so only the front is visible. Darkly
stained doors stand in the tower’s front
wall. Unrecognizable engravings cover
those metal doors.
Examining the doors finds nothing amiss
The dwarves help Horster by exerting a strong push
on sections of the door and it opens!!!!
This is a ten foot wide majestic corridor;
Its walls rise 30 feet to an arched ceiling.
The walls and the ceiling are streaked
with soot. The corridor leads north into
the darkness of the tower.
Ahead is tremendous, cluttered hall
with broken and charred beams and rubble. The
rubble has been moved to the center of the
room. Overhead, the ceiling is broken
through by beams and stones.
Horster purses his lips and gives a low whistle. He looks around trying to find any signs of life amongst this total carnage.
"Crom, do you see that glitter in the rubble?"
I see it. Lets make sure we closed that door behind us.
Perception:
Ozmund answers the halflings question.
"Yeah! I see something glittering in that mess. Wonder what it might be?"
"Aye, I see it.". He moves cautiously to examine the item.
Crom and Horster look closely and see large gems the size of a small egg. From the shadows of the hallway two figures appear with crossbows pointed at you.
"I think we want to split this find half and half."
One figure seems to be a very dark-skinned elf, the other looks like Lorcan, but has a much deeper tint to his skin. The two seem to be accustomed to the dark, and seem to dark versions of the their lighter cousins, elves and gnomes.
"It would be a shame to fight over treasure when both groups can come away wealthy."
The two figures seem to be armed with hand crossbows.
"What is it with brigands running around all over this place?" Morgan grumbles. "Time to do a bit of cyphering, fancy-britches. The two of you, even if you are true marksman, won't be able to kill all of us. You may get one or two of us, but once your bows are empty, the rest of us rush you and leave your guts splattered on the walls. So don't start dictating terms when you're in no position to negotiate."
She tenses her bowstring to emphasize the point.
Morgan reacts the quickest, and readies a bowshot as the room is plunged into darkness. A darkness only the dwarves can see through. The breaking of a vial is heard, and the dwarves see a cloud begin to fill in the room.
One hisses to the other quietly through magic means
Morgan can fire before it grows dark, though the thieves are still in the corridor outside with cover in dim light.
Morgan looses her arrow at the dark-skinned elf.