Meredith Galantra
|
Dropping the leash since their charge doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon, Meredith examines the statue a bit more, "Perhaps this wand is the key? She attempts to free the wand from the statues grasp.
Not rolling a strength check since I don't want to pull too hard and possibly break it. Just seeing if it can be freed.
Orik Fistbreaker
|
"Ach!" complains Orik loudly. "This weight is startin' tae wear mae doon. I need tae sit a bit an' rest, till I get mae strength back, tha' wound musta taken more oot o'mae than I ken."
Orik sits firmly on the bench, sweat pouring from his brow and his breathing labored.
| keith goudreau |
Orik Fistbreaker
|
After sitting but a minute , Orik feels much better. Ah, mae secon' win' has return'd. I feel ready tae take oon an armae nae. How dae yae ken wae get these doors oopen, eh? Pushin' oon 'em ain't workin' sae far."
Orik Fistbreaker
|
Hearing the enchanted weapon, Orik scowls and gets up to go push the door again with his prybar. This time, he continues leaning on it despite feeling weakened.
He exhorts his colleagues to aid him on the door: "Get oop oof yer wee fannies, an' help mae wit' this cursed door then, ya lazy curs! If'n wae need too poosh this door oopen, then poosh it wae will!"
Strength: 1d20 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 3 + 2 = 23
Meredith Galantra
|
Meredith will look around for an opening that will accept the wand, hoping that it's a key of some sort. If she doesn't find any openings, she'll look around for some other clue, taking 20. And if THAT doesn't work, she'll help Orik with the door.
Perception: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 1 = 21
Strength check aid: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18
Frederik Nordsson
|
Frederick limps up to the stone portal and leans into it, lending orik his strength.
Strength Aid Other: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6
But in his weakened state, he is more hindrance than help, and returns to his corner.
| keith goudreau |
Everyone goes to the door and tries to push the door ole with Orik's crowbar but it does not want to budge. This is a heavy door indeed!
Meredith Galantra
|
Perhaps we'll find a use for it later.
Meredith carefully places the wand in the pack at her side, then scowls at the door, "Something about this dais saps my strength. While I stand upon it, it feels as if I've marched over rough terrain for days without rest, but as soon as I step off of it, I feel fresh as a daisy."
Again, she looks around the room, "Perhaps if we thought of some way to open the door without standing on the dais. A sturdy pole, perhaps. If we had the time and people, I'd suggest building a battering ram using the trees from outside, but I'm afraid that time is slipping away."
Another thought takes her, "Maybe a secret entrance that we missed somewhere? It's difficult to pick some hidden doors out from the face of a wall, so maybe we passed one without realizing?"
Orik Fistbreaker
|
Frustrated by not being able to brute force teh door, since that's the path of first resort for him in most things, Orik grumbles in Dwarvish using some language not fit for re-print here.
An idea strikes him: This writin' round the edges must mean somehin' an' tha' wand, can you try to say 'oopn' while wavin' it 'round and see what's what?"
While Meredith considers that, Orik looks all around the statue for any secret compartment or mechanism.
Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13 +2 more if in stonework.
| keith goudreau |
Orik searches the statue thoroughly and finds nothing new.
Gamin: Yes the wand sounds like a marvelous idea! Can anyone use it?
Anyone with Use Magic Device? You can try to activate it blindly DC 25.
Frederik Nordsson
|
"We're fairly sure its magical then? Hmm..." Frederick takes a moment to examine the wand.
spellcraft: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19
I didn't want to do this without detect magic this time, but since it is a wand, I figured it'd be implied that its magical.
| keith goudreau |
Gamin: So if everyone is getting weak standing on the dais don't stand on the dais. Orik take your axe and go cut down a tree, then use it as a big hefty pole to push the door open. There was some lovely birch trees not more than two minutes from here. What would this group do without the brains of the operation?
Orik Fistbreaker
|
I hadn't given up ideas yet, and if no mechanisms were in place (i didn't really expect any) was then going to look at the statue to see if it could tip over, and use as a bridge to the door. Is that any more possible? Failing that, I was going to use the backpacks as steps across the dais to open the door. Would either of those have worked?
If none of those ideas worked, or engendered thoughts that might in others, then i'll do the tree carving idea, even though I have no skill in crafting wood.
| keith goudreau |
I hadn't given up ideas yet, and if no mechanisms were in place (i didn't really expect any) was then going to look at the statue to see if it could tip over, and use as a bridge to the door. Is that any more possible? Failing that, I was going to use the backpacks as steps across the dais to open the door. Would either of those have worked?
If none of those ideas worked, or engendered thoughts that might in others, then i'll do the tree carving idea, even though I have no skill in crafting wood.
I would allow the statue tipping to work, (backpack flagstones would fail). The problem would be balance checks mixed with STR checks. Lets not waste anymore time on it, either way Orik manages to get the door open, feel free to post mechanics of success.
The dais reverses your STR score (a 19 STR becomes a 1 STR and visa versa) so if you had a Mage with 7 STR he could open the door with his new 13 STR, or you could use the wand of ray of enfeeblement that the statue was holding.
| keith goudreau |
Suspended by thick chains, a massive metal cage shaped like
a demon’s head hangs over a dark shaft with no bottom in
sight. The cage’s door—by all appearances a menacing maw,
filled with incisor-like fangs—hangs open to the west. There,
a narrow bridge spans the short distance between the ledge
and the cage. A small console on the north edge of the bridge
bears a single lever. The lever seems to be in the center position of three positions. Kalkamedes walks into the cage and stands there patiently waiting for something to happen.
mechanism is quite safe. It still functions well, even
millennia later, hinting at a level of engineering now lost
to the continent. The lever in the console presently sits in
the middle of three positions. Moving the level up causes
the cage to close its mouth and move upward, and moving
the lever down also closes the mouth and causes the cage
to move downward. An identical lever stands near the
bottom of the shaft. The cage has enough space to hold
four medium creatures at a time. It is also possible to
descend by climbing the sides of the shaft (DC 18 Climb)
or by lowering rope, but the 200-foot climb can be deadly
to those who slip and fall.
Who is going down first, and who is on the second ride down?
Frederik Nordsson
|
"Ill stay at the medium level lever. I don't care to get close to any other nasties, and ill be just as effective up here, if they come from beloe."
So saying, Frederick moves to the lever on the same level as the party.
| keith goudreau |
This is what I meant by unnesssarly confusing discription.
The levers three settings are up middle down. Think old school elevator, up bring the lift up, down brings it down, middle is the pause stop button. There is only the upper floor and lower floor that continues.
Just need to know who continues, and who is in the 1st group that goes down.
Meredith Galantra
|
Looking untrustingly at the demonic faced elevator, Meredith announces, "Gamin and I will be in the first group, as well, with Kalkamedes." She then steps carefully into the elevator so as not to cause to much movement.
Zotu Starshine
|
Zotu reaches for his sword when he sees the hell spawned creature. "That must die." Then he notices the others have gotten on the elevator and is full, which momentarily turns his anger to his friends, and then his brow quickly cools.
| keith goudreau |
The first group goes down, it takes two rounds for the lift to make it one way, so group two is 5 rounds behind.
Palm-sized shards of jagged steel jut from halfway up the walls of this large cavern, bathing the cavern with a dark green light. A set of natural rock columns support the chamber’s ceiling, which rises to a height of twenty feet. A small tunnel leads to the northeast, and several rounded alcoves branch off from the main cavern.
("To accommodate exceptionally large subjects, the main cavern rises to a height of 20 feet, though the tunnel that leads from the lift to the cavern is only 10 feet tall." The hall coming from the elevator is 10 feet tall gradually increasing to 20 feet tall, not described well in player in the dm notes.)
This circular alcove buds off from the larger cavern to the north. An elaborate set of concentric circles inscribed in dull metal of different colors occupies much of the space within the room. Inside the circle is a gnome.
Excited gnome.
Hey Hey! Over here! Oh thank the heavens! Please help me! My name is Koth’Vaul I was imprisoned here centuries ago and please please let me free!
You see a gnome, dressed in threadbare clothes and has an unkempt mane of fuchsia hair.
Orik Fistbreaker
|
Not a great judge of character in the best of circumstances (he usually chooses to just to fight it out, and see who wins) Orik is skeptical of the imprisoned gnome
Sense Motive: 1d20 ⇒ 7
"Aye, you've bin doon 'ere for centuries has yae? What've yae bin eatin' all that time, eh? Yae doon luke centuries auld tae mae! I ken wae better leave yae in yer wee circle until wae've had a bit oof a luke aroun' if'n it's aull the same tae yae. Nae cut oot yer caterwaulin' an' less see wha' ol' Gamin says 'bout yae?"
| keith goudreau |
Round 2/5 of party separation
The gnome whimpers, it looks like he may cry.
Please, please. My name is Koth'Vaul; I was imprisoned here centuries ago by an organization known as the Thrallkeepers, who bound me here in the keep known as the Black Edifice. They kept me to use my fey essence to power their magic for what I do not know. They left me here, they left me here in the darkness. This circle won't let me leave, the magic circle has kept me for so long. I miss the sun, it has been too long. I do not eat, I do not sleep, I do not age; my family I miss my family. All I want now is to be free so that I can taste fresh air once again, die at last, and perhaps travel back in spirit to the First World from whence I came.
KL-L: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20
KL-M: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
KL-Z: 1d20 ⇒ 9
KL-O: 1d20 ⇒ 18
Leorin Fletcher
|
"So this cage has kept you from aging, and has satisfied your needs of eating and sleeping? How has it kept you from the gnomish affliction of Bleaching or have you been able to experience new sensations from within this cage?"
Leorin says this as he is looking over the lock on the cage to figure out how to unlock it.
Orik Fistbreaker
|
What is Kalkamedes doing or where is he going during this interaction?
Orik cautions Leorin, "I doon't like it, naught one bit. I sae wae leave tha' fella in there until we sae more aboot it. Doan' let 'im oot, yeah?"
Meredith Galantra
|
Meredith eyes the circles with critically, "Your predicament sounds terrible, Koth'Vaul. Tell me of these Thrallkeepers."
She looks to Koth'Vaul for an answer, and as she listens her eyes pick up a faint golden glow.
Detect Evil
| keith goudreau |
Round 3/5 party separation
The gnome's pleading dies down and he begins to show anger when you say you are going to leave him. He stares at Meredith with such hate and malice it makes you all take a step backwards. The gnome yells into the darkness.
Illvaster! Slay them slay them all!
There is a lot of splashing from a distant pool of water still hidden by darkness.
Kalkamedes seems to absentmindedly be continuing further into the cave.
Init
Illvaster 1d20 ⇒ 6
Meredith +1 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
Zotu+5 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19
Frederik +6 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11
Orik +1 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7
Kaydence +6 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18
Leorin +3 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23
Kalkamedes +0 1d20 ⇒ 7
Everyone but Meredith is up.