The door is dusty and somewhat sticky, but not a hint of any sort of mechanical devices.
Thaurux learns something new about spiders today: they don't like their meals fresh.
The cocoon contains the dessicated corpse of a dog. Apparently not a wild one, as it is still wearing its leather collar, studded with lapis lazuli stones and a silver tag that says 'Kita'.
Mahasi has a good look at the collar, and concludes it's a nice piece of work. It should be worth about 50 pieces.
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Naiyra smiles, "I'll just have to keep an eye on the ceiling as well from now on. Though any of you are welcome to, if your guisarmes and glaives can deal with the various traps an ancient place like this will hold." and she walks towards the door and tries to open it as quietly as possible, quickly adding, "That was good thinking, opening up the cocoon. Keep an eye out for more treasures like that."
Naiyra opens the door without too much effort. Behind it, the western room of the ground floor is full of rubble, with the door to the southern room having collapsed under a load of rubble. It is clear that the southern room, and most of the western room are inaccessible. One the east side of the western room, a single door. Would it lead inward?
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Naiyra steps into the room and begins to search the rubble, reassured by the presence of her capable associates, but weary of hidden dangers that may have escaped her noticed.
Naiyra, wipes the dirt from the rubble on her cloak and moves to inspect the door. "There's nothing in rubble of worth that I can find, I'll check the door to make sure it isn't trapped." she says as she starts to examine the door carefully, staring from the bottom moving upwards, looking for any sign of a trigger.
Ever-careful Naiyra searches through the rubble, but concludes that the lower floor of the tower probably wasn't used to store valuable. With great precision and care, she searches for traps on the remaining door. The film of dust on the door doesn't make it any easier, but in the end she is confident: this door is completely safe.
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Being somewhat bored with only rubble to amuse himself, and since the party is moving so slowly, Mahasi will practice his arcane exercises by starting and maintaining a detect magic. He continually tries to tease signs of artificial or living auras from the natural background hum of magic as the group moves along. This add mental strain doesn't help his tendency to stumble over errant rubble.
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Naiyra finishes examining the door and declares, "The door is safe to pass through."
As she turns towards the others she observes Mahasi curiously. She then realises what he is doing and asks him, having always been curious about magic and knowing very little about it, "Mahasi, what sort of magic can you do?"
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"Ah, thank you for asking. I am a master of many forms of magic; I can conjure light to assault the senses of weak minds, ice to burn flesh, and a mighty substance that will knock foes to their feet! These are but a few of my magics!"
...he's overselling himself a bit too hard. Your guessing that's pretty much all of it.
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Naiyra doesn't seem very impressed. Perhaps he will improve his skill with magic over time..... if he lives long enough
Naiyra turns her attention back to the door and waits for the two warriors to be ready.
Naiyra gently pushes the opens the door open trying to make as little noise as possible as she steps into the room.
She looks about the room, looking for signs of trouble and a way to proceed to the next level.
The door opens to a staircase. Sadly, the earthquake cause the central structure to collapse, filling it with rubble and destroying the way. If there is a route to the next level, it is not through here.
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"If you can conjure up beer and mead you are mighty indeed! Well we should check the other room to make sure nothing comes from that room, not that it looks like we can venture further."
Thaurux positions himself at the inside entrance of the southern room and awaits Naiyras move while looking inside.
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The tower is quatrefoil in plan; its eastern wing has largely collapsed, exposing the interior floors to the open air. Only the topmost level seems whole, though its eastern portion hangs precariously over the mountain of rubble left by the collapse. At ground level, the rubble frames a gaping hole in the side of the building that provides access to the tower's darkened interior.
"Did anybody see a way to climb to a higher floor from the outside"?
The southern room of the ground floor has been filled with rubble by the earthquake, and is completely inaccessible. It's possible to climb to the second floor from the east side, the stones are pretty rough there.
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Niayra looks from inside the centre room where there was once a stairwell. I wonder if the stairs on the higher floors are intact. We might be able to get up there with a rope and a grappling hook
Naiyra steps out of the central room to tell her companions what she has discovered only to find that Sardon isn't inside anymore. She makes her way to the northern room and stares in disgust at the overgrown spider corpse as she makes her way outside.
Well it looks Sardon has already found a way up, more or less. He seems to atleast come prepared for this. I must remember to carry rope and a grappling hook next time... or bring Sardon.
Naiyra gets a good hold onto the rope and using her little strength she attempts the climb.
Our heroes scale the crumbled walls of the tower, and with the help of the grappling, the ascent is much easier.
Finding themselves of the second floor of the tower, again two mark the exits to the now destroyed eastern room, one on the north, one on the south.
... enters the next room through the northern door. Judging from the shelves lining the walls, this darkened room might once have been a storeroom, though its contents have long since succumbed to the passage of time. A crack in the northern wall has apparently let in some rainwater, which has collected in a large puddle on the floor.
A small, lizard-like creature eagerly moves towards Naiyra as she moves through the door. It's positively sparking with energy...
You get the impression this lizard may be someone's pet. It's eagerly scurrying up to Naiyra - if it's a pet, it's hoping for a treat, perhaps? Some blue sparks appear when the lizard walks.
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I wonder what this little creature is. It doesn't seem to want to cause us any harm though it might still be dangerous.
Naiyra cautions takes two steps NW towards the centre of the room careful not to provoke the little critter, her survival instinct not allowing her to lower her guard. She asks the others as she moves, "Do any of you know what this little creature is?"
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The lizard, the scales, the sparks, the stormy smell in the air, … it reminds him of a someone, someone with silver hair from another damned dream… it was an important meeting…
Disturbed by the thoughts and is in barbarian mood to ask questions later, Thaurux swaps his glaive over to the haft side and swings with the intent to knock out.
”Hmpf… could be dangerous… “
Sardon tips the creature over, looking visible upset. It looks even more dismayed as Sardon slashes it and Thaurus thunks it over the head
The creature is unconscious. It is no longer excited to see the heroes.