Straehan looks at the curious little creature. "Pity. I can see a lot of possibilities in a bladed and envenomed little trouble-maker like that." He shrugs and, with a simple spell, the construct is cleaned.
Jayse shakes his head, "The more I learn about you people, the more I'm glad you're my friends instead of enemy..."
Straehan looks at the curious little creature. "Pity. I can see a lot of possibilities in a bladed and envenomed little trouble-maker like that."
"You just might be on to something, Straehan, I could coat some arrows in that poison sap, and perhaps our blades, as well." Looking at Jayse in sudden realization, he amends, "...well, some of our blades. Just don't nick yourselves.
Ushari looks at her ranger companion. "Unless you are trained to handle poison, I would not advise playing around with that stuff. I do not feel like constantly restoring your lost strength each time you prick yourself. Besides, I suspect whoever this Striper is, he is not affected by the poison."
You pop the counterweight and the stone slab tips up, revealing a circular stone staircase descending into darkness. Straehan and Jofram head down followed by the rest. The walls have the pebbled snakeskin texture you (except Jofram) saw in the Shaudran ruin in the goblin cave outside of Forestal - though it is rougher and less well preserved here. Clearly, it has not escaped the effects of time.
Arriving in the East-West hallway at the base of the stairs, pale white candles burning along the walls casting a dim light and a fair amount of stinking smoke.
The gnome and the half-elf sneak forward. There is an intersecting short corridor. North are a series of what appear to be prison cells. One door stands open and something rests in the doorframe. To the South, the wall is unblemished by anything other than a single door.
As Straehan and Jofram look at the intersection, Ushari scans the area around her checking for any hidden doors or panels. She also notes the candles burning with a sense of trepidation.
Who lit these candles? The Striper? Or someone else?
Ushari examines the walls and finds them solid. She glances at a candle. It appears mundane, judging by the burnt taper and dripping wax. Up close they appear mottled and the tallow is odd. She sees a tiny hair trapped beneath the candle's surface and the burnt smell is sweet and familiar.
It takes Ushari the space of a heartbeat to realise the truth... the candles were created from rendered fat, gnoll fat.
Jofram searches the aged floor for signs of recent travel.
It is difficult to discern recent prints on this floor but the tell-tale drop of sap reveals that the gnoll you've been tracking passed this way and turned South down the corridor.
Indicating the gnoll's direction, Jofram lead's the group south, carefully examining the door they approach.
Ushari sees the ranger head south, but her attention is drawn to the cells and whatever is inside...
The ranger and gnome move up the corridor, keeping a close eye on the open cage. As you approach, you see a skeleton lying in the doorway. It almost distracts you from the one hiding in the cage opposite. It lashes out with a spear at the sorcerer just outside its cell. The blow goes wide.
Jayse delays, confident in his teammates' abilities to handle a single undead. "See if you can take its spear… it may not be able to get out of the cage."
Ushari draws her rapier and eyes the skeleton, wary of possible surprises it may hold.
Straehan glares at the skeleton. "Watch what you're poking there!"
From her position, Ushari cannot ascertain whether the door is locked or not but it is closed. And the skeleton appears to be common enough - though it is a human one.
"See if you can take its spear... it may not be able to get out of the cage."
"Take its spear?! You must be mistaking me for a monk or something!"
Heeding Jayse's advice, Jofram first tries to blunt the skeleton's weapon. With a powerful slashing motion, he attempts to sever the spearhead from the shaft.
Quicker than any of the party, the skeleton thrusts its spear at the gnome yet again and misses. While Straehan debates trying to wrestle the spear from its grasp, Jofram steps in, deflects a blow meant for his throat and shears the spear in half. The skeleton drops the spear remnant and lunges forward, clawed fingers grasping. The cage door begins to swing open.
Our heroes note that the skeleton is fitted with a collar from which a slender metal wire stretches back and into the rear wall of the cell. Since it doesn't stop the skeleton's movement, it clearly isn't meant to restrain it.
Spear AoO @ Jofram
"Tripwire! Keep the cage shut!"
Straehan charges the cage and pushes against the door trying to keep it shut. "Uh... this isn't my strong suit!"
Jayse reacts like an arrow shot from a bow to Jofram's shouted warning. He launches himself between Ushari and Shaggar, rotating as he twists through the air between them without so much as disturbing their clothes. With a certain fascination he watches their slow-motion reactions to his acrobatic feat from inside the Calm. He hits the ground in a roll, using the momentum to slam a heel into the cell door.
Ushari turns her attention to the southern corridor, taking the role of rear guard now vacated by Jayse.
A trap! Ingenious!
She heads to the other side of the corridor and readies for trouble heading from the south and quickly scans for any clues to the trap's area.
The Skeleton tries to force the cage door open but its strength is no match for the monk's.
Ushari prepares for the worst... but sees no hoards of evil rampaging up the hallway.
Map Updated: Tower of Despair
Jayse grunts through the effort of holding the cage, "So if the wire is supposed to set off a trap or alert someone to this skeleton's getting out of the cage, you think we could bypass it simply by making sure the skeleton stays in place? I could tie him to the cell door."
"Yeah, but he will try to escape whatever bonds we place on him" Ushari responds. "If you guys can hold him for a minute, I can see if there is a way to disarm the trap. Also, Jofram do NOT destroy it, that may trigger the trap."
Jayse lets the skeleton test its strength against his own, "I'm fairly certain he wouldn't be able to escape one of my knots. Especially if I can get some help."
"Well, it should buy us some time anyway..."
Ushari unslings her pack and takes out some silk rope. She moves to help Jayse tie down the skeleton in his cage.
"Let me see if I can jam the cage door so it won't open..."
"Jofram do NOT destroy it, that may trigger the trap."
As Jayse holds the door, Jofram sheathes his sword and attempts to pin the zombomination to the cell door.
Sadly, the skeleton is no match for the Ranger or Monk and it is quickly trussed tightly against the cell bars.
Jayse claps the dust off his hands as he steps away from the bound pile of bones. He kicks the spear-head across the floor idly as he looks into the cell, "You think there's any information we can get from that wire on our friend here? Might be nice to know what kind of treats to be watching or in this place."
Ushari nods in reply and steps into the cell to have a closer look...
The Cleric/Acrobat examines the collar, the wire, the small hole where the wire feeds into the wall, and inspects the cages and ceiling for any sign of what the trap might trigger. She determines that the wire is a very fine steel, that the hole is greased to allow the wire to move smoothly, and that there is enough play in the wire to indicate that it probably travels a goodly distance. If the wire triggers a trap in this area - she is unable to spot it. She also doesn't see a safe way to disable it.
Throughout her search the gnome is her shadow, following a step behind. He waits until she moves on and then glances carefully at everything she examines. He only draws attention when he climbs up the bars to get a look at a spot on the ceiling that caught Ushari's attention a moment earlier.
Ushari dusts her hands and presents her conclusions to the party. Straehan says nothing until she turns around and sees her 'shadow' watching her intently. His comment, delivered with a curious smile, is enigmatic:
"'Shari, why are you dancing with my Unicorn?"
Unicorn?? By the gods, what is Strae talking about??
Ushari stares at Sraehan for a few long seconds, trying to determine what he was referring to. As she thinks about it, she realizes belatedly on of the gnome specialties was...Trap-spotting!
Returning his smile, she laughs, Well, Strae, I must admit you were a perfect gentleman there! After all 'Ladies first' is how the saying goes, right?"
"'Ladies First' is a fine rule - when your skin doesn't depend on it. If you want to share the responsibility of sweeping for traps and taking point - that's fine with me." He shrugs, "But the price of misjudgment can be high. I'd give that some thought if you are going to volunteer."
"Having said that... I see no error in what you've found. Where-ever that wire leads, it doesn't seem to trigger a trap here."
He places a lead chock delicately in the hole and taps it in place, then kinks the wire, knots it, and cuts it. "It's disabled now, if it hasn't been triggered already."