DM:
Guard
It will not budge, ya think it'll have to be bashed
Finn watches Guard standing silently before the door, wondering what is going on inside the mind of the warforged.
"That door is jammed. I'd have to smash through it. Don't know if that is a good Idea. It's a bottleneck, so it's rather easy defendable, if need be, but...
Well, let's see what Whisper finds down there... How long has she been underwater now?" speaking that last question Guards voice really sounds concerned.
Ardanto stands in the water looking concerned at the area that Whisper disappeared, he is clutching her clothing and gear to his chest, "She has been gone too long, I am going to look for her," he sounds distant as he starts to strip off his breast plate and boots, Daurros, I don't suppose you could cast light on that dagger we found and can some one hold these?" he offers Whispers gear and his clothing to them.
Thoven steps forward, Taking the gear out of Ardanto's hands and placing his hand on his shoulder "Make haste Ardanto, I will keep your things safe,If the swim get's tough, trust that the Light of the Flame guides you."
" And this light will help as well." Thoven states, touching his finger to the dagger and casting light upon it.
Ardanto places his hand on Thoven's shoulder "Thank Master.... Lord Thovan, it seems I am in your debt again," he lowers him self into the water. "Wish me luck," he says before taking a big breath and trying to find where Whisper went.
"Hmmm ... wha?" Daurros says as he's jarred out of his deep thoughts. "Oh, sorry Ardanto, looks like Lord Thoven got your light spell."
Daurros will assist Finn in casting detect magic to try and cover most of the areas we walk through.
Ardanto:
Not long after Ardanto dives Whisper surfaces with a gasp for air and a small smile on her lips.
"Whisper!", if Ardanto wasn't treading water you think for a moment he was going to hug you and the look of relief on his face is tangible.
When he has gasped in a bit more air he speaks,"Either you have gills or you found another air source?"
He clambers out of the deeper water and offers you his hand.
Blushing deeply Whisper takes the offered hand and joins Ardanto in the shallower water, looking somehow even smaller with her wet hair and clothes clinging to her skin. "I had to swim a lot when I was a kid, sometimes in Sasserine the only way away is the water" She utters in response to the gills comment. "..but yes, there is a passage out, it leads to a point between the island and the mainland. At a guess it's about a half an hours swim and walk from where you surface back to the trapdoor."
"That is great, we could take the rope and open the trap door so the others can climb out," Ardanto exclaims as he takes his and Whispers gear back off Lord Thovan, "Thank you, M'Lord". Ardanto tries his best to advert his eyes from Whispers wet t-shirt competition as he dons his armour and boots.
"Shall we have a look through this last door on the off chance there is a simple flight of stairs or ladder behind it?" he asks Guard.
Ardanto will move over to Guard and use his hand axe to chop out the door hinges, stopping occasionally to listen for noise from the other side if Guard agrees.
As her gear is returned Whisper gently hugs it to herself, chosing not to bother donning it all again if she's going to be taking another dive after the door is investigated. "I could probably pop it's hinges and save on you blunting your axe unnecessarily.." She offers faintlyas she watches Ardanto wander off to look at the door, axe in hand.
"Is there no end to your talents?" Ardanto asks, he sweeps his arm at the door "be my guest hun."
He stands behind her to provide light and to attack anything that may be lurking behind the door.
Whisper meekly approaches the door and listens carefully at it briefly and utterly sure there is nothing behind it and that there are no traps she takes out her tools and sets to work on the hinges.
With time whisper is able to undo the hinges, still it does take some prying and Brut work to free the door, a few rotten broads and old furniture fall though the entry way as if they have been stack against it.
The smell in this chamber is horrific,a cloying stink of rotten meat rising from the bloated,seeping body slumped in the middle of the floor. The corpses' dark almost black flesh bulges against its armor, ready to burst at the slightest touch. An intricate tattoo of a dragon clutching a flower is barely visible on his shoulder against the diseased flesh, and clutched in one hand is a crumbled scroll
"Sheeesh," Ardanto covers his mouth with his damp sleeve to try and cut down the stench before climbing into the room, warily he approaches the corpse and gently pokes it with his sword.
If it is a corpse and not an undead that leaps up to eat me, he will carefully remove the scroll and pass it to the others. If it is an undead then I guess you get a surprise round.
Gagging he searches the body and then the room, taking a 20 on both of them which gives me a 20.
"As this guy is dead I guess there is no way out of here, looks like it will be a swim for some of us and a climb for the others.
Finn makes sure the room is well-lit and he scans for magic as well.
Thoven takes the scroll and crouches over the dead man, looking closely at the man's tatoo."Hmmm...Who were you?" Knowledge Religion 1d20+4=18
Thoven stands and Examines the scroll, reading it off to the party if appropriate." Maybe this'll tell us."
With a whimper Whisper holds a damp hand over her mouth as she enters the room, trying her hardest not to gag. At seeing the tattoo her brow furrows a bit and she moves closer to get a better look.
Daurros will also try to scan for magic, and attempt to determine if he can recognize the tattoo.
Knowledge (local) check (1d20+8=10)
knowledge (nobility) (1d20+8=10)
Obviously distracted by his desire to leave, Daurros asks, "What does the scroll say? And does anyone have the skill to copy the tattoo? Perhaps we could investigate further later..."
Even Guard is overwhelmed by the stench, but failing to have a gag-reflex, he just sniffs the air heavily to aquire the taste. He encountered dead bodies before, but a body smelling like that is new to him. "Can someone guess how long this body is dead here?" he asks in the round, bowing down to the body, investigating it, trying to guess what caused the death.
"What frigging sort of pirate cave is this?" Ardanto kicks the wall in temper, "Where in the name of all that is holy is the piles of booty?!?" he kicks the wall a few more times scuffing the front of his boots.
"Now I am really angry, that VanBoren brother is going to get a right royal kick up the backside when I catch up with him," he stomps round the chamber as he angrily searches it for any wealth mumbling under his breath the whole time.
Whisper
The tattoo belongs to an new guild in the underworld of sasserine called the lotus dragons
Ardanto
In the southwest coroner of the room there looks to be a secret passage
"In real life there are rarely 'piles of booty'" Whisper responds quietly to Ardanto's outburst before tilting her head to one side as she observes the tattoo. "Lotus dragons" She declares thoughtfully "An underworld guild.. new.."
Ardanto kicks the wall again more in disappointment than anger, but this time the "wall" gives off a different almost hollow sound.
"Then how do you explain this hidden door?" he turns round to look at Whisper, his hands on his hips and an incredibly cocky look on his face, the sort of smug look you want to wipe off with a punch.
After a few seconds he turns back to see if he can open it, pulling, pushing and twisting at it with all his might, he will stop if asked by another member.
He starts singing, obviously pleased with himself, his voice cracking and gravelly from the lack of fresh water.
Performance-Sing +5 (+1 Cha, +1 Rank, +3 Class Skill) (1d20+5=10)
Whisper looks deflated and looks away "I said rarely.. I didn't say never.." She utters, in her embaressment completely forgetting to offer to check the secret door for traps.
Past the opening is a 10 by 15 foot room. The air in this chamber is stale yet unlike the other room in this complex, the place seems quite dray-even dusty. Cobwebs hang in thick sheets from the ceiling and against the northern wall sit three large sea chests
"Yes!" Ardanto turns to look at the group, "M'lady and Gentlemen, I give you treasure chests."
He cautiously enters the chamber and pokes the cobwebs with his sword in search of hidden dangers.
"Whisper, hun, can you do your wizardry on these?" he asks while standing guard for dangers.
"I can try" Whisper replies quietly, quickly checking over the bloated blackened corpse for nay sign of keys before making her way into the seret room. Kneeling in front of the chests she checks them for traps.
[whisper]
The corpes has no keys, it does have a nice[if cleaned] set of studded leather and a gold ring on its bloated hand
The first chest does not open, the lock is tougher then she thought
"The corpse in the other room had some nie armour and a ring" Whisper informs Ardanto as she works, a small frown furrowing her forehead. "This is a very good lock"
seeker;
[whisper]
Yeah if she takes her sweet time, pretty easy
"Maybe if a few of you swim back to open the trapdoor I can take time over this and get it opened. If we get our timing right I should be back by the time the way out is clear" Whisper suggests to the group as a whole.
"I will go and open the trapdoor. I might not be the best swimmer, but I don't drown either. Anyone have a better idea?" Guard states, getting the rope
Daurros casts detect magic on everything we find (armor and stuff on the corpse, and the three chests, both before and after they are opened).
Guard and Ardanto make there way though the tunnel and with some work move the stones blocking the trap door. As this goes one whisper takes her time and opens the chest,Inside is you find long forgotten treasurer.
Chest one
This chest is filled with silver and copper coins numbering in the thousands. The whole chest with coins weighs 130 pounds
Chest two
This chest contains 12 bags, 10 bags are filled with gold coins, each weighting about 10 pounds. The last two both are filled with assorted gems each bag weighs a pound
Chest three
this one contains 8 vials of liquid,a slinder wand of wood, and a small jade coffer. In the coffer lays a small brown gemstone, a note under it calls it an earth elemental gem
Daurros
every thing in the last chest but the coffer glows
"The entire contents of the third chest are magical." Daurros reveals to the group.
"It seems somewhat obvious that it would be quite difficult to swim out of here with all of this. My thoughts are that, if we are done exploring these caves, we send Whisper and another good swimmer such as Ardanto out through the underwater exit, and then they can come back and free up the trap door we entered. The remainder of us can drag all of this stuff back, meeting them there, and we can exit using the rope. Once we are back to Vanderboren manor, we can tally everything up, identify the magic, and recuperate."
Daurros then adds darkly, "And then we can start looking for the Taxidermist's Hall and properly thank Vanthus."
"My thoughts are that, if we are done exploring these caves, we send Whisper and another good swimmer such as Ardanto out through the underwater exit, and then they can come back and free up the trap door we entered."
"And I thought we might do that while Whisper takes care of the locks on the chests." a still dripping Warforged replied after hearing Daurros. "Ardanto is up there holding the door open, while I am here to help you get the treasure chests back to the well."
Ardanto is tired wet and cold after the long swim back to Parrot Island. Ardanto quickly checks to see if the boat is still moored where they left it
He then secures the rope while Guard clears the trap door and climbs down.
He feels incredibly naked with out his Breast Plate or Longsword and his bootless foot is aching from treading on a sharp rock.
He holds his hand-axe at the ready and tries desperately to be vigilant, but the colourful parrots become too much of a distraction and he winds up trying to befriend one of them, after all what Pirate is complete with out a parrot on his shoulder.
Whisper smiles at Guard and grabs as much as she can considering her feeble strength and starts back towards the exit, her mood uplifted considerably now she knows she'll definately be escaping the evil place of death and walking corpses.
Finn also helps with the heavy lifting. Seeing the chest full of treasure...never has he seen such wealth in one place in his life! And a share of that could be his.
"Er...how much money do you think is in this chest?" he asks casually.
"Hard to say. Quite a bit, especially considering all of the magic in the one chest. As soon as I am able I will be able to sit down and figure out what most of it is, and we can get a better idea of what we have!"