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Deciding to try the key you just found on the locked door pays off. The lock on the door opens up and you are able to open the door and find out that behind it is;
Wisps of decayed and sagging spider webs droop from the walls of this room, which appears to be empty except for the long-dead, dismembered corpse of a giant spider and a stout, freestanding wooden closet in the southwestern corner. The ceiling is covered with dusty spider webs bulging down from a grid of wooden beams and plaster fifteen feet above the floor.
Faint moans and plaintive sobbing come from the closet.
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Torrag detects the source of the illusion magic he detected from outside as coming from inside the closet.
As Eladrian takes a careful look around he doesn't think the chest is trapped..but some tiles right behind his feet look....odd, and might be trapped.
On the wall a bit next to the closet there is an outline of what might be a doorway..but if it is...it's well hidden.
The moment Eladrian touched the closet, the voice ceases and the closet collapses, the heavy panels falling outward (the closet is held together only by loose wooden pegs). A fast zombie stretches his arms forward to try to grab Eladrian by the throat.
init
Eladrien, Sjongaard, Tenerek
Zombie
Party
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Befoer the chest gets opened, Eladrian warns his companions. "I am not sure why, but the tiles look funny right there. It might be best to stay away from them!"
Startled, Eladrian tries to swing his sword at the zombie, but ends up just fanning the air. he throws himself backwards to try and gain some room to maneuver.
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Startled, Eladrian tries to swing his sword at the zombie, but ends up just fanning the air. he throws himself backwards to try and gain some room to maneuver.
Sjonegaard swings his weapon in a powerful attack, hitting the zombie with his earthbreaker, the zombie's undead flesh absorbs some of the blow and prevents it's bones from shattering (DR against blunt damage)
Tenerek uses studied target on the Zombie and then fires an arrow at it, hitting it and the arrow sinks deep into the dead flesh..but does less damage due to the zombie not having any flowing blood inside it's body (also DR against piercing..so you'd need slashing weapons to be able to deal full damage)
The zombie slams both of it's fists against Sjonegaards body in rapid succession.
The first attack doesn't do that much, but the second fist manages to dent Sjonegaard armor and bruise the flesh underneath.
init
Party
Zombie
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As Tenerek fires 2 shots in rapid succession both arrows hit home and even though the holes they create don't erupt with fountains of blood they do cause enough damage to pin the zombie to the wall
The trapped tiles in the middle of the room seem to have activated when the closet fell apart and would have triggered heavy nets to drop down.
There is no treasure to be found in the room.
The secret door seems unlocked and not trapped when you take a closer look at it.
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Deciding to open the secret door you are confidant that it's not trapped and it seems to be unlocked as you are easily able to open it to reveal:
An empty room of 10 by 20 foot.
After a careful search you locate another (unlocked and not trapped) secret door in the opposing wall and when you open it behind it is:
A few wisps of decayed webbing hang from the walls of this room, but there’s none on the stone ceiling and no sign of spiders in the room. The ceiling is blank save for four 1-footwide, round steel medallions, one set into each corner. The floor is equally bare except for a pedestal in the center of the floor made of a single five-foot-square block of stone, about two feet high. On the pedestal sits a metal-framed wooden chest, and to the side of the pedestal rests a shallow hole in the floor housing what looks like a brass door handle set into the stone. A stone tile lying loose nearby is clearly designed to fit over the hole, concealing the handle.
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Torrag will Detect Magic. If nothing is detected he will take one step into the room, keeping an eye on the ceiling. One step into the room he takes out his rope then continues to move toward the lever in the middle. At any point the ceiling moves, he moves with haste back toward the door. Getting to the center, he'll tie the rope around the handle so a pull of the rope will flip the switch, then lead the rope out of the room. Once out of the room, he'll pull the rope to turn the handle.
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Torrag doesn't detect anything magical in the area and both Torrag and Tenerek are pretty sure they are dealing with a trap and while keeping a careful eye manage to spot 2 more secret doors in the room. Torrag slowly makes his way to the center of the room where he ties the rope to the handle in the hole in floor and then leads the rope out. Once he's out of the room he pulls the rope and the handle turns.
As the handle turns the ceiling comes smashing down, crashing into the chest and smashing it into tiny pieces of timber, before it comes to rest a mere 2 feet above the floor, just above the pedestal. The "ceiling" is suspended from 4 chains.
There is a bit of space under the fake ceiling for you to crawl through if you want to go inside to explore, or you can even walk across the dropped fake ceiling to get to one of the doors in this room by walking across the dropped solid slab of stone which is now suspended from the real ceiling by 4 chains.
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Eladrian calls back to the others "I am going to try something. I am going to turn the handle and see if that raises the ceiling back up. Then I will tie the rope to the chest and see if we can pull it out without getting squished.. the origional trigger may be under the chest." If there is no arguement, Eladrian tries his plan.
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Having heard no objections Eladrian tries his tactic
With some effort and modest tinkering Eladrian is able to set up the rope so that when pulled it will move the handle the other way..which indeed raises the fake ceiling and the chest appears out of the stone pillar again.
With some careful maneuvering you tie the rope around the chest and back up outside the room for safety again and then pull on the rope causing the chest to move of it's pedestal which causes the ceiling to slam down again, this time grazing the chest and pinning it under the fake ceiling.
You repeat the rope pulling trick again and raise the ceiling and can now inspect the chest. The padlock has broken when the ceiling impacted it's lid and is now easily opened.
Inside the chest is a cryptic message: a bleached cat skull and an aged, handwritten note reading, “Curiosity Kills: another ingenious demise, courtesy of Addington’s Fine Traps and Defenses.”
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Behind the secret door to the south is another small empty room and given your expertise with finding secret doors in the dungeon level you quickly locate another secret door in the opposing wall. Opening the next secret door you see:
Shabby, mold-covered tapestries hang from ceiling hooks, cloaking one wall of this chamber in faded forest hunting scenes. While probably of decent quality when new, they look sad now.
A plain wooden chair of massive construction stands centered before the tapestries, facing into the room. A large stone table stands against the eastern wall. Weapons and other items are neatly laid out on the table, as if displayed for sale in a shop.
There are 3 skeletons in the room, one sitting on the "throne" flanked by 2 more skeletons.
When you open the secret door the middle skeleton starts to speak:
"Who are you and why have you come?"
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Eladrian noticed something or someone behind the curtain.
You hear what might be a chuckle
"You are not Addington, but I like your spirit. Now, my minions, kill them!"
From behind the curtain a skeletal creature wearing rotting robes, and carrying a sword in its talon-like hands steps forward. An evil blue light dances in its empty eye sockets.
The blue light flares up and you suddenly feel unnerved
DC 15 will save vs mind effecting fear effect (not a spell) or become shaken (–2 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks) for rounds
Then the skeletons start to move and pile up in front of the secret door and start to claw inside
but both sets of boney finger nails only manage to scrape across armor and aren't able to open up the flesh underneath.
init
Party
enemies