"Ok, so it looks like we are in a holding cell area... Hoga what do you say if you and I check the Jail cell one by one for any danger and then let Kyras investigate them after? In the mean time Kakrish and Tamora you could protect the reer if you like?
Kyzen will open the jail cell and Hoga will stand ready for action...
The investigator catches up with the other as he snaps handle pieces together onto one of the blades. There, one is as good as new, but the other is not useful until we get to a shop and some real tools. he says. Check out the notches in the blades of each. Almost like they are keys.
"Give me a few minutes and I'll join you."
Tamora walks to where Hoga previously stood and enacts an intensive study.
After that, she will guard the rear and doing the same as above for each cell the party passed through.
Tamora inspects the corridor where Hoga was standing a moment ago. She uses multiple detections spells to try and find something out of the ordinary, but nothing shows up. Once that is done, the group proceeds with the inspection of the first two cells. Aside from some very rusted chains and molds, they find absolutely nothing. Moving on, you head South and follow the corridor to the end. There again, you only find an empty cell. Heading back to the corridor you passed, you find another empty cell and two solitary confinement. Still, all of those are empty.
The group is about to head to the other side of the corridor, when Tamora and Kyras notice something odd about the wall to the South. Upon closer inspection, it looks like a secret door. The door would probably have been harder to notice if it wasn't for the decay due to age and lack of maintenance. Once both Tamora and Kyras are certain that there is no trap, you open the door to reveal another corridor heading further South.
"As if the tower itself is maze or a puzzle itself waiting for us to solve it. Yet it was crawling with the famine ready to feast despite the collapse not even a days old. Obviously a battle or an assassination attempt happened here."
Tamora keeps her detection spells (detect magic then detect 4 alignments) and guard up (Perception (Take 20) - 30) to detect anything in proximity of her vision and spells.
Ah. Perhaps the real path forward. Shall we? Also, who would best benefit from the use of this mithral dagger. It is well balanced (+1 to hit) and light. And will hurt creatures that vulnerable to silver. I can wield it as a close in weapon, but one of you might be a better choice.
"Hoga and Kakrish only bother with their larger weapons than wielding something as light as this. I do not know about Kyzen. If no one objects, I will take it."
Kakrish follows along with the group keeping his eyes open, looking for danger. At the offer of the dagger he replies, "Hah. Why would I need a dagger. I've got this." He hefts his greatsword.
Looking at Tamora...
"Melee combat is not my strong suit, be my guess Tamora"
Looking at group and Hoga in particular...
"Let's proceed in the same manner, shall we. Hoga would you be so kind and go first? I'll be right behind you..."
Hoga goes forward.
You move forward into the corridor. You can see some damage to the walls and ceiling, but Kyras reassures that it is stable. Turning the next corner, you can see another corridor that goes further then your darkvision. On the right side of that corridor, there is more cell doors. Unlike the ones from before, these are all locked.
"Locked doors ain't my specialty, so I'll move little bit further into the corridor to take a closer look and be on the lookout. I'll let Kyras deal with the lock..."
Giving a tap on Hoga's arm and whispering
"Are you with me?"
Kyzen then moves into the corridor as silently as possible
Presenting the mithral blade to Tamora with a flourish Kyras says Then for you my lady. May it serve you well.
Well, we have this key from the iron maiden. I'll try it after checking each door for traps.
Hoga follows Kyzen.
dice=percep]1d20+5[/dice]
Let me roll that again.
Tamora gestures to Hoga.
"We can always break it if the key serve us no good."
Tamora repeats her previous action that she does before and within each room; studying it intensively (detect magic then detect 4 alignments & (Perception (Take 20) - 30).
Kyras starts inspecting the first door, looking for traps. While he is doing so, Tamora stands nearby scanning the corridor with her spells. Once Kyras is satisfied with his inspection, he tries the key that he found in the iron maiden into the lock. Because of the rust, the key isn't the best fit, but you manage to get it to unlock the door. Inside, contrary to the other cells, you find a pair of skeletons. You know they have been there for a while because of the state of the corpse and the lack of smell of decay.
For the second cell, it’s pretty much the same thing. Kyras fins no traps on the door and two skeletons inside. On the third door, however, Kyras hears a noise as he is working. Thinking it may be something that came loose and fell on the floor in the cell, he continues working. Within seconds there is another noise. This time he is sure something is moving in there. Just as he is about to get is ear closer to identify it, there is a bang against the door.
Then you all hear a voice speaking. “Oh, gods, kind faces! Aroden bless you, noble souls! I ain’t seen the jailers in ages, I think they forgot about us! We ain’t eaten in days and the water’s all but gone—my cousins’re both sick. I swear we’d give back the boar if we could, but we ate it, starvin’ as we was. We didn’t even know it was the baron’s lands, didn’t know we was poachin’! I beg you, we’re all gonna die in here! Kindness, noble souls, we’ve suffered awful! Good Baron Sarvo wills it!”
Turning a shade paler Kyras stammers By the gods, there are prisoners down here starving to death. Then through the door he offers I am coming in. I have only iron rations and water but you are welcome to them.
He pauses only long enough for backup as he rummages through his pack to retrieve what food he has, then opens the door with some caution and with food in hand.
Kyzen tries to recall if he had ever heard about a Baron Sarvo...
Hoga also retrieves what food and water he has, and gives it to the starving men.
We saw no jailers. What do you mean?
Tamora checks them for any signs of abuse other than starvation.
"Perhaps you should start from the beginning so that we can understand better."
Heal (Take 10) - 22
"What? There's people in there?" Kakrish tries to push forward to see the people.
If the door is open, Kyzen let the others go in and stand post outside just in case...
"I'll check the corridor while you attend to the detainees, we don't want to be caught off guard"
Kyras rummages through his bag, looking for rations. As he is doing so, Kyzen tries to recall if he ever heard the name Baron Sarvo, but can't seem to come up with anything. Hoga also takes out some rations, while Tamora and Kakrish crowd near the door so that they can see the people inside.
With the rations out, Kyras start unlocking the door. "Please, just pass the food by the feedin' trap. We are so... hungry!" Kyras manages to open the door as the prisoner says those words. It sound off for both Kyras and Kakrish. They are not sure what is it, but they take a pause as they heard it. At the same moment, Hoga and Tamora walks in. As they do, everyone sees themselves inside a prison cell, alone and starving to death. The vision only last for a second, but you can feel it as if it was real. While Kyras and Kakrish manage to shake it off quickly, the rest of the group feels its full effect.
Kyzen shaking is head after the vision dissipate in his mind...
"What in the hell was that? These people suffered a horrible death! This is..."
Taking a deep breath, trying to calm down and refocus...
"evil..."
Something is really wrong with this business...
"It felt so real..."
Tamora rubs her temple. She tries to detect any magic, alignments and sense any more layered trickery and danger in the room.
Perception (Take 20) - 30
"Whoa!" Kakrish splays his hands out like he is trying to maintain his balance. The vision fades quickly. "What was that!"
Inside the room, Tamora and Hoga only find three skeletons. Now that the vision is over, Tamora starts scanning the room. First she finds no magical effect, so she starts scanning for other auras. Going through the all the divinations spells, she is finally able to discern two faint aura. The first one is chaotic and the second is evil. They seem to be dormant at the moment. As she inspects the room more physically, Tamora finds another secret door at the back wall of the cell.
"There is a secret door at the back wall."
She swings her hand in front of those who are about to advance.
"Do not lower your guard. I picked up faint traces of chaos and evil but they are not acting against us at the moment."
Tamora moves to the rear and concentrates on her divination to pinpoint to location of the aura, swapping her longspear for her morningstar.
Kyzen stands ready and waits for Tamora's signal to enter the cell... But after the expérience he just had, he badly wants to deal with the Evil responsible for it...
"Well of cours there's evil at play here #!@£&?% (cursing in Goblin)! Let us know went we can enter and deal with it..."
Hoga readies his axe, prepared for the worst.
Tamora looks the party.
"It is not as bad as it seems. Fortunately for us, it does not expand beyond the room. The room must be ensorcelled with some sort of necromancy or illusion magic or there are necromatic energies still lurking within some creatures."
As soon as she said that, rays of light is released by her spontaneous reaction, rays intended for the skeletons and the four walls. When she is done, the inquisitor huffs in fatigue.
"I will not fall for that again. Next time, I will let one of you check before I intervene. Uh. This room gave me a massive headache. Shall we rest before we continue or shall I speed up the process so we can proceed to the next area post haste?"
Tamora unleash a series of rays at the walls and skeletons. It only takes a few of them to neutralize the auras that she detected. Using her divination spells against, she finds nothing this time. Relieved, the group is now able to proceed without fear of going through that experience again.
Kyzen getting a little bit impatient...
"It's all clear, lets not waist time and check where that secret door leads to..."
Kyzen steps inside and as he do that, looking at Kakrish and Hoga...
"Who's with me?"
Kyzen gets to the secret door and check for traps...
If he detects no traps, he opens the door and take a look inside
Tamora leans against the wall to recover from her unsteadiness. Upon activating her magical sight to survey the results of her work, she smiles.
"I'd dispelled the aura. The room is ordinary."
Then, she looks at the party as if waiting for their answer to her question.
I could use a bit of a breather. That took something out of me, the half orc replies.
Kyzen looks at the secret door, seeing nothing that worries him, he decides to open it. On the other side is a smaller room with a long and narrow corridor. In the room at the end of this narrow corridor is a strange metallic contraption of gears and chains. A large lever extends out at a forty-five-degree angle from the front of it.
Kyzen looking at Kyras...
"My friend, your expertise and knowledge seems to be required once more. Can you investigate this mechanical device, be careful though there is surely a reason why it is hidden like this..."
Then Kyzen will go trough the secret door and let Kyras pass him and do his thing and will follow right behind...
Kyras considers the dead and the vision as described to him. My friends, I fear we have experienced some form of haunt and that we must burry the bodies of these men. To have any chance of putting it to rest. Maybe we should also feed the hungry of the city as well, but I am really only guessing here.
Later he examines the lever for traps, taking 10 for a 23.
If he finds no traps he will throw the level, listening and looking for any effects.
Tamora opens her healing satchel and retrieves the herbs.
"If any of you could provide the extra help to maximize the healing, I would appreciate it."
Kakrish barges into help with the healing.
When they open the secret door Kakrish tries to get into the room to look at the equipment but Kyras gets in ahead of him. After Kyras pulls the lever Kakrish asks him, "So, what does that do?"