As a great idea instantly occurs to him, "Hey, guys, I have an idea. I could stay with Delmaria. No prob. Make sure she stays safe and all. What do you think? I think that's a great idea. That way, no unwanted alarms go off, see." He nods quite confidently, thinking it's a no-brainer.
Kyffin laughs, and whether the woman joins them or remains behind, hidden, he moves on to find the bard after the party does some basic 'hiding of the bodies' clean up.
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Tristain notes that Kyffin’s laugh mirrors the sounds he has going off in his head at the idea.
”I think you should stick with us, Lothan. We all, uh, really like your company,” Tristain tells a total truth, no lie at all, in a not-lying manner.
Once you've cleaned yourselves up and hid the evidence of your passage, you head back to the first floor. Moving through the dining area, you enter the kitchen , where two servants -- a human and a gnome -- are busy preparing food. They glance up as you enter, but otherwise seem to do their best to ignore your presence, continuing to work on a meal.
There's one other door out of here, to the west. When you try it, it's locked, but you easily notice both servants look up to watch what you're doing.
Bluff
* * *
Tristain follows along, looking back at the servants. He would lie to them, but thinks to let Al or someone who can speak good offer words.
Al puts on his best old man smile and approaches the kitchen staff. "Has the bard already been here and did he get the wine he needs to keep his voice through the performance? Is this where the wine is kept?" Al gives the locked door a jiggle.
Kyffin likes Al's approach and tries to help.
"C'mon now, we're in a hurry."
(heroism) vs DC 10
Also, since we're not hacking our way through the mansion, yet, Kyffin has re-sheathed his scimitar.
"Bards are notably unreliable," Starflit drawls to Al. "Wine, however, is most reliable for making parties more enjoyable, and--Alas!--my glass is empty!"
Tristain notes that Kyffin’s laugh mirrors the sounds he has going off in his head at the idea.
”I think you should stick with us, Lothan. We all, uh, really like your company,” Tristain tells a total truth, no lie at all, in a not-lying manner.
Narrowing his eyes, "Yeah... okay. I think I will stick with y'all." Better keep an eye on Bonk boy. I think this prove he's *utterly* lost his mind now. He's probably on the verge of blasting *us* with his magic. Best I stay with them so I can fill him full of arrows just before he does.
Shrugging, "Wine's alright. Ale is much better though," Lothan comments, cutting his narrowed eyes toward Tristain... waiting... watching... ready to draw his bow at a moment's notice.
"It's locked," one of them says shortly, looking back down almost as quickly as he glances at you. "Don't none of us have a key."
"Damnit - we don't have time for this screwing around." He looks at the party, like he's trying to remember something before turning to Lothan. "Get the door won't you?"
Kyffin steps away to make room for him up front for the moment. Once the door is unlocked, Kyffin will open it, stepping through.
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"Oh don't worry about that, we'll be in and out quickly." Al smiles again at the staff while Lothan opens the locked door.
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Tristain is glad that those who can open doors are looking into the doors. Tristain could *unmake* the door, of course, but the last time he did that, he saw things he wished he hadn’t and so would prefer not to at this time.
There are bad memories there.
The servants look at you like they're astonished at your gall to start picking the lock as they work, and you can see them exchange glances. One leaves the room as Lothan struggles with it.
"I think it may be broken," he says.
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Frustrated, Lothan applies the lockpicks a second time.
Kyffin lets the servant go. He's itching for a fight anyway - anything to thin the herd before the witching hour.
Assuming Lothan is finally successful, Kyffin opens the door and steps through.
Tristain is keep a look out while Al works, and follow the others into the room when the door is opened.
This rectangular room is filled with wooden racks that hold an impressive wine collection. Doors exits to the south and east. It seems suspicious that this room would be locked, particularly during a party, so you look around and discover a secret door in the east end of the north wall. It opens up to a 5-foot-square shaft that descends into a basement. Tristain sees the other two servants exit the kitchen, glancing back at you several times.
"Let's do this quick!" Starflit urges. "It looks like we'll be having company fairly soon, and I'm guessing we don't want to get trapped inside an enclosed space."
Kyffin agrees, "Now we're onto something. Let's go!"
He trundles down the shaft. If there is no ladder/stairwell, he'll airwalk down (remember that's communal folks - everyone has air walk going).
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"Let's go, we'll lock that door behind us, it's unlikely the guards have a key to the wine room." Once the door is locked, Al will follow Kyffin through the secret passage.
Tristain, using his own magics to fly, floats after the party.
”Yeah, we should lock that door. Let’s get on…”
"I got it." Lothan takes care of the door and then follows after the others.
You descend to a darkened chamber has masonry walls and flooring. It is featureless except for two corridors that lead east and south and a heavy-duty, wall-mounted ladder that ends in a small chute with a door to an upper floor.
As you look around, you find another secret door on the north wall and a small button. You think to yourselves, Hey, maybe I should press that button. It might do something."
Starflit casts detect magic and scans the area. Then she uses mundane means (her eyes) to look for traps.
Kyffin looks to open the secret door, leaving the button alone for now - unless they seem connected (which he hopes Starflit will spot).
He waits for her review before opening the door.
Eyes going wide, "Hey! A button! I do love to push me some buttons. Okay, stand back one and all, let's see what the ol' Lothan can discern of this button." Rubbing his hands together, he anticipates pushing the button.
Starflit stands back. Far back.
Tristain stands well back, knowing how good/bad Lothan is at pushing buttons. A core skill, really. A top notch button-pusher. Here it might useful. This one time.
There is no magic that Starflit can sense down here, and Lothan's investigation doesn't reveal any traps. The button's effect remains a mystery, but it seems unlikely that it would cause any immediate harm here if you push it. Perhaps it would do something of some sort in another area?
"Well, it's not trapped. So, barring any objections, I do believe it's button-pushing time." And Lothan does just that. Unless somebody stops him - for some crazy reason - he pushes the button and then looks around and listens, wondering if he'll be able to hear or see anything that might have changed.
Lothan hears a bell chime to the north .
Narrowing his eyes, "Bell chime to the north, right through our secret door here." He nods in its direction. "Time to go! And see what waits to kill us," he says with a wry grin. "After you, big guy." He steps aside, allowing Kyffin to go first.
Weapon Equipped = Scimitar
Conditions = Magic Vestment, Bull's Strength (10m), Heroism, Air Walk (55m), Sacred Armor (1/10r, +3)
Teralindar's Honor: Attack: BAB +11/5/1, Str +5, Magic +3, Focus +2, (Power -3) Damage: Str +5, Magic +3, Specialization +4, (Power +6) Crit: 15-20 DR Magic, Cold Iron, Silver Special Aberration Bane & Crit x3
Longbow: Attack: BAB +11/5/1, Dex +2, Magic +1 Damage: Str +5 (adaptive), Magic +1
Cold Iron/Silver Blanch Arrows = 10/10
Cold Iron/Ghost Salt Arrows = 10/10
Blessings (6/10, su) (Holy Strike (std), Battle Companion (std), Fast Healing (std, 3 for 1m), or Powerful Healer (sw))
Fervor (8/10, su, sw, DC 20, 5d6)
Sacred Weapon (13/15r, su, sw, +3)
Sacred Armor (12/15m, su, sw, +3)
Dawnflower Sash (1/1, std, feather fall)(1/1, im, cure light wounds)(std, burns like a torch)
Pearl of Power (1/1, first)(1/1, second)
Rod Extend Spell (2/3, Air Walk Communal)
Spells (Caster Level 15, Concentration +19)
Zero (13): Create Water, Detect Magic, Light, Mending, Stabilize
First (14): Command,
Second (15):
Third (16): Dispel Magic, Invisibility Purge, Magic Circle against Evil,
Fourth (17): Blade of Light, Blessings of Fervor, Blessings of Fervor, Divine Power, Shield of the Dawnflower
Fifth (18):
- - -
"Bells?" Kyffin shrugs, and pushes open the secret door, weapon at the ready and a spell on his lips...
He activates his sacred armor (+3) as he opens the door.
Tristain follows along, after being completely wrong with what might happen with the pushing of the button.
He will follow along at the back, and flying 5' up.
Al follows Kyffin as the party heads towards whatever was alerted by the bell.
Not quite feeling right, Starflit casts another detect magic cantrip and follows behind Kyffin and Al.
The secret door has no lock and the hinges are on the other side, with no discernible means of opening it from this side. You can try to force it, or break it down if you want.
Tristain ponders simply *unmaking* the door, but also waits to see if anyone has any good ideas before using his mental magics. Unmaking the door won’t leave a lot of evidence around about what happened, but it will be harder to offer an explanation as to what happened.
Tristain looks for a way to open the door.
Perception
Al reaches forward and rings the doorbell a second time. "Maybe they just didn't hear us."
Kyffin also counsels waiting as Al rings the bell again. "No need to spend such a powerful spell on a door." he chuckles.
Al reaches forward and rings the doorbell a second time. "Maybe they just didn't hear us."
Lothan shrugs. "Maybe. Would could've simply missed something. I doubt it because I don't miss stuff. I just don't. I'm awesome like that," he says with complete confidence and an arrogant grin, winking.
"Anyway, it's either that or it's some loser on the other side who really just doesn't want anyone to come in all willy-nilly." Lothan takes one more look just in case.
There's no obvious reaction, even after Al rings the bell a second time. There are other ways to go if you don't wish the break down the door at this point.
Tristain opts to unmake the door using a Disintegration. He’s getting tired of this party, and his social energy (already not a lot) was running out.
Kyffin advances swiftly past the dusty door. He smiles at Tristain as he goes. "OK fine." he grouses grinning, "Damn doorbells!"
His ioun torch is out and active, just in case they run into an area of darkness. His scimitar is out, and his sacred armor going...
Starflit hangs back a bit, expecting that the bells have alerted someone/something and an ambush is likely inevitable. She then looks and listens for any sign of pursuit coming up behind the group.
Rows of cell doors, each fit with a small barred window, ring the outer edges of this room, except to the south where a corridor leads away from the area to a door barred with a piece of iron. At the center of the chamber is a dark pit in the stone masonry floor. A thick layer of dust lies on the floor, marred by a recent set of footprints.
"Are the footprints coming AND going?" Starflit whispers to those toward the front. Then she casts detect magic again, feeling certain the dungeon is not unguarded.
A sudden thought hits her. "If there's only one set of tracks in thick dust...doesn't that indicate any prisoners here haven't been fed regularly? The bard we seek may no longer be among the living...."
"Yeah, I don't think we want to look in the cages." Kyffin shudders as he can't help but think about it.
He continues to air walk at 5' up, and suggests the others do the same, "Climb up to about 5' or so. That way we won't leave any tracks of our own. Our pursuers might think we went another way."
He follows the plain footsteps, rushing along before the cavalry arrives.