Tony, you need a hand? Anyone got rope?
Tony springs over the fall-away floor, rolling to safety on the landing of the other side. "I'm fine, but expect company soon!
"Let me do something for that wound, Tony."
Belle looks the damage over and decides that it would be a waste to use up the spell at this time. A single cure light wounds could easily cure two wounds of this size. She fusses a little over the wound, dressing it as best she can.
Sensing the floor dropping beneath him, Tony jumps and clears the pit, almost smashing into the opposite wall. The hall he lands in extends in opposite directions. Before him, an open doorway gapes about 25 feet in front of him, a broken wooden door and a skeleton laying on the ground just beyond, where the hall seems top open up into a room. Almost at the limit of Tony's darkvision, the rogue sees....a desk and chair?
Behind him, the passage continues to the limit of his darkvision.
Garrosh stops short of the pit, trying to garner what's at the bottom.
Garrosh peers down into the pit. Other than some small detritus and broken bones, the bottom of the pit looks safe to his untrained eye.
"Unless Tony can find a way to reset this, we need to go down there, and up on the other side" - Garrosh nods - "Anyone has something we can use to tie the rope to, and lower ourselves in the hole?"
"Not me. I had all my camping gear on Pill."
Do we have a rope in the first place? I don't
|
"Well, it's a good thing I brought some rope, then. Before we get all fired up on mounting an expedition, what happened to that ratman? he must've had some way to cross that pit. I reckon we should check for secret passages or somesuch, or some mechanism that neutralizes the pit. It'll be a whole lot quicker."
and with that, Brodin starts examining the walls and floor.
I have a rope, but give me a sec
Tony checks the floor to see if there is a mechanism to reset the floor.
It's unlikely that this pit would remain closed for long without a way to reset or bypass it.
Agyen looks around for hidden bypasses or resets.
"Guys, this smell is starting to get to me. I sure could use some fresh air."
Belle is sweating and gagging and looking a bit pale.
"Gimme a moment guys, let me look you over" - Garrosh nods at Belle and Agyen - "You don't look so good"
Under Construction
Examining the pit, it is easy to spot the mechanism. Tony examines it and determines it was set to only activate when a certain amount of weight was put on the trapdoor, which obviously, the rats did not meet. It will automatically reset itself shortly, and also determines that he could jam something in the mechanism which would, once it resets, prevent it from opening. The group rifles through their packs and finds a suitable item and Tony jury rigs the mechanism. A short time later, the doors of the trapdoor close. There is a soft, metallic clicking, which stops shortly. After testing the doors, Tony crosses first, and then the rest.
Two paths lie before you now. To the left, where the wererat ran, there is a doorframe with three arrows embedded in it. Beyond, the room opens up into a larger space, but from your vantage you cannot see walls A smashed door lies on the floor with a skeleton. More bones stick out from around the doorframe, but you would need to move closer to see if it was another full skeleton or just random bones. Farther in, a desk with some items on it, and a chair stand.
To your right, the passage continues as far as you can see.
Belle is not offering any advice. She is lost in her own personal world of misery and is making pathetic little noises.
Agreed. That's where the wererat ran off to, so there must be some sort of defenses over there.
"'Cough'..Let me check it out first", Tony though feeling horrible, creepily approaches the desk area. He is careful, but haggard by the growing cough and rancid smell.
Tony quietly approaches the doorway. He makes no note of any traps. Beyond the doorway, the room opens up into a natural cave. Several small holes exit the room, and a couple dire rats peer out towards Reynaud's light in the tunnel, but seemingly oblivious to Tony. Apart from two skeletons, one headless, and the desk and chair, Tony can see the outline of a door on the far wall that is camouflaged to appear like the rock wall. However, it seems to be open a crack. From it emits an even more foul smell than that which pervades the rest of this area.
Tony's cough sets of a chain of coughs from Belle, each one progressively worse as her sharp inhales after each cough exacerbates the problem. She moves further back so as not to spray the others and to prevent her coughing to spoil any surprises Tony may have.
Tony trots back to the group quietly, "We got a rat ambush up ahead, and possibly others."
He relays the information, making a firm point about the pungent cesspool and skeletons.
"Give me one second - I can't have you guys gagging and vomiting in the middle of a fight" - Garrosh nods to the others, then starts rummaging around in his backpack, takes out a small flask and pours some crystals in his hand.
Then he adds some water to dissolve them until they are in a paste - "Here, rub this under your noses, it's not pleasant, but should mask some of the smell" - and offers them to Belle, Tony and Agyen.
"Now let's take care of some rats?" - he smiles.
Belle desperately accepts the concoction and is the first to try it out.
"Yes, lets." Belle says with distraction and noted lack of enthusiasm.
Just prior to entering, Belle will cast heightened awareness from her wand (4 charges left).
"Oh, Daikitsu!" she gasps in Tian as the heightened senses causes the smells to hit her with new vigor.
Well, that was stupid. This is NOT art. This is anti-art. This is foul, disgusting, not-art. I hate this. I HATE this. How the heck is this supposed to teach me about art?
"That'll wake you in the morning, huh?" - Garrosh winks at Belle.
Belle responds to Garrosh's wink with a watery blink or two, obviously not sharing in the humor.
Fantastic, we're vermin control now. Any way to tell how many there are? If there're a thousand of them down there I'd hate to only find out when they start climbing all over me.
The group files into the hall after Tony. As Reynaud come sup behind the rogue, the light from his ioun torch illuminates the two skeletons, neither of which appear animate. In the dim light near the desk, Reynaud can make out a dire rat in a dark opening n the rough wall, but he cannot see the others from his vantage point. Tony sees the rats turn toward the light, but make no move to attack.
"The sneaky things are probably trying to lead us into another trap."
"You know what!?!? That concoction of yours really helps! My eyes are watering and I can't smell anything but the nasty brew, but it's better than the rat stench!"
From where Belle is standing, in the hall, behind Tony and Reynaud, she does not see anything that would be considered a trap.
Tony can only cough as Garrosh's concoction burns its way into his skull.
But it's a far more pleasant feeling then the wretched smell of filth.
"Do you sense any magic in the air", he says to the mages.
Tony steps slowly to the desk to examine it.
Belle grimaces at Brodin, not sure if he's serious or teasing. Hard to tell with a dwarf. She responds to Tony's question by having her PC ask the GM , but I don't expect much or he probably would have told us already.
Neither Belle nor Agyen discern any magical aurae. Tony approaches the desk. As he does, the two closest rats retreat to the safety of their holes. There is nothing on the desk so Tony takes a close look at the drawer, examining it for traps. Not finding any, he opens it. Inside are 6 glass vials; two vials are empty, three contain a thick yellow liquid, and one contains a clear liquid. The four full vials are sealed with wax.
Leaving the contents of the desk alone for now, Tony moves over toward the secret door he noticed. It is open a crack and the horrendous stench of urine and fecal matter emanates from it. Tony detects no traps on it. Belle and Agyen will need to move closer to get an aura reading.
Even Reynaud is losing patience with the filth.
Merciful Dawnflower, let our foe have gone ANYWHERE else.
He moves to the desk.
Anyone willing to alchemically analyze this? I'm afraid I lack the knowledge.
Agyen is no alchemist, but he is very knowledgeable, and attempts to analyze the vials.
Garrosh waits for Tony to report back what is beyond the secret door.
"Damned foul, foul place..." - Garrosh grumbles.
Agyen is able to identify the yellow fluid as embalming fluid, which is toxic if consumed. The clear, colorless liquid is water, and presence of silver dust at the bottom of the flask would seem to indicate it is holy water.
Tony peers through the crack in the wall, seeing a rough, naturally-formed passage which turns to the left after about 25 feet. The door is not trapped, nor is anything on this side of the door. Neither Belle nor Agyen notice any magical aurae. The door would need to be opened to check further.
From a dark corner, a solitary dire rat watches you with disinterest.
Keep advancing, I say.
Let's try talking to him.
Reynaud takes cover by the doorframe.
Hey, what are you doing down here? Why'd you attack us with those rats?
Garrosh pushes the door open and Tony advances once it proves to be non-threatening. Arriving at the corner, Tony peers around into the cave beyond and is rewarded with finding the source of the stench. In the center of this irragular cave are three pits, piled full with waste. Across the middle one stretches a woodenframe, atop which is a white marble privy seat.
Once, Tony has moved far enough into the room for Belle to see around the corner, she confirms that she detects no magical aurae.