The Pyramid of Shadows (Inactive)

Game Master PathlessBeth

"As I am set accompanying thee,"
Hozela comments,
"Perhaps I ought to utilize your healing wand?"

If permitted, the dragonborn holds the cure wand and focuses her emotions into it.
"Mundarion, art you not the most gravely wounded? Who else requires healing?"
She succeeds on a take 10. Someone else decide how many charges she uses on each of you and roll the necessary d8s.

Mundarion needs 20 pts worth of healing.

wand use 1: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8

wand use 2: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8

wand use 3: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Mundarion says, "Thank you Hozelea. That was a real help."

De'Arv'Ki shakes her head. "Thank you for the... offer, but I am well..."

oh, we're out of combat so i can magically repair myself to full hp

Just a reminder, Mundarion observed back on page 42 that the corridor you were considering burning has a bunch of tiny holes on the west side, and then subsequently heard footsteps on the other side of the west wall.

"It is no trouble for me,"
Hozela answers Mundarion,
"And I too am safer if you are alive. Now...what precisely dost thou have in mind when you express intent to "burn the corridor"...should the entire corridor be lined with material? Only part of it?"

"i was wondering the same. I recall De could climb across the ceiling, and I technically could too. There were people observing through those murderholes in the wall, i know it."

Mundarion says, "We need the smoke to provide cover against whoever is watching through the murder holes. We really don't need that much fire, we basically just need to get the smoke in the area."

De'Arv'Ki tilts her head. "Perhaps if I wassss... given ssssome time, I might... be able to rig a few.... of my boltssss to act... assss ssssmokesssstickssss... then I could -". She pauses for a moment, and shudders ever so slightly, before continuing, "-Perhapssss let one of you... use my crossssbow to provide ssssmoke cover..."

Mundarion replies, "I can do that."

Does De have smokesticks to attach to her bolts? Or does she need to go back and get some?

I figured I'd have grabbed some when I made that suggestion

So the plan is:
1. Attach smokesticks to crossbow bolts
2. Mundarion fires them using De's crossbow
3. De'arv'ki climbs accross the ceiling, dropping flammables
4. The flammables are set on fire

Is that correct?

Sounds close enough for government work. Just have to make sure we have a pathway through the burning stuff to the door.

As Mundarion fires a series of bolts, the corridor fills with smoke.
With a whirr, thin metal spears fly out the holes on the west wall of the corridor.

perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14

can't make that DC, so i didnt roll, but I am still here observing this experiment

Mundarion observes what's going on.

Perception check: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (16) + 16 = 32 +15 if it isn't a trap

Mundarion says in Elven, "There are several people talking behind the wall. Some of them are speaking Common, some of them are speaking a language I don't recognize. They're trying to figure out what's going on."

Actually, Mundarion's perception skill modifier should have only been +12 on that last roll, but it still gives him a result of 28.

De'Arv'Ki climbs quickly down the corridor, listening carefully and looking around for any dangers.
perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (3) + 9 = 12
I see some walls, and oh, i think thats a floor >_<

After the spears fly out and miss, no other traps seem to be present.

Mundarion says in Elven, "They've got people going in different directions to check things out. The spears may have been it for the traps in the passageway."

Mundarion casts Shield on himself, and braves the smoke to get to the door and examine it.

ASF check: 1d100 ⇒ 33

Perception check at door: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (12) + 16 = 28

Mundarion tries to disarm the trap.

Disable Device Check: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (16) + 14 = 30

Mundarion successfully detaches the door from the spring to which it was tied. The door clicks open safely to reveal a continued corridor. Everything beyond the door, however, is pitch black, though a pair of footsteps are audible about 100 feet off.

Gemheart observes the darkness, attempting to discern if it is natural or magically created.

spellcraft: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (19) + 11 = 30

"the darkness is more powerful than normal magical darkness, and is permanent."

Mundarion sends Nightwing back to bring the others forward. Nightwing will circle around them a couple of times to get their attention and then fly back and forth in the direction he wants them to go.

Mundarion says to Gemheart, "I don't like this at all. You should probably take point as we proceed down this corridor and probe ahead of yourself with one of your reach weapons as we go."

"Going this way seems foolish, is there no other way? No visibility. No sense of how large the place is or what is in there."

"I agree with our crystalline friend. We have no need to blunder into the depths of the unknown, unseeing, with no way to determine if further hazards or foes await."

Yess pauses momentarily.

"Perhaps we wait here to see if we smoked any of those speaking behind the walls this way. Then capture one and...interrogate them?"

Mundarion replies to Yessai, "That might work. The biggest problem is that the smoke will dissipate and then we'll be visible to whoever is watching from behind the wall. Perhaps if there was some way we could plug a few of those holes ..."

As you are speaking, however, a deep hissing sound resonates from the south of the dark corridor. Then, a thick, raspy voice speaks in the Common tongue
"You who trusssssspasssesss here. What are thou, and to what purpossse hath thou come?"

Yessai's lips curl in her accustomed grimace...she calls back

"By what right do you claim proprietary rights over this area? We return your query - what manner of being are you?"

"i tire of beating strangers with my hammer, when we have similar goals. Let us talk in the open."

Mundarion steps back from the door and tries to ready a throwing dart without being obvious about it.

Sleight of Hand check: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (7) + 9 = 16

"I am ssssomeone,"
the voice hisses back
"who you do not desssire to look upon. I am alsssssso sssomeone who does not desssire to be sssslain by arsssenissts who burn corridorssss."

from behind you, another figure approaches. A tall, muscular ogre steps into the north end of the corridor from the west. He is armed with a giant club, though he holds it low on his side and is not poised for combat.

The voice from the darkness pipes up again
"Are you the Pyramid'ss newesst arrivalsssss? Ssstill without the a faction, sssso it is sssaid?"

perception: 1d20 ⇒ 20

engineering: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22

interesting glasses. What is the point of them?

"You are smarter than you look. They are for...protection. Protection from certain dangers of the Pyramid."

"Now, back to my quesssstion..."
The voice in the darkness continues. Oddly, it seems to be hissing while simultaneously speaking.
"Didst the rowdy dragonborn sssssend thee to ssscout for recruitsss? We are not interesssted. Though if that is your only purpose in thisss region of the Pyramid, we could make a...sssstony counter offer."

"mirrored glasses. Hissing sounds. Aversion to being seen. I think i see what we are working with here. And you two seem better than the groups we have encountered thus far. Though we know little of you, so that speaks of how little the offers of others enticed us. To your question, we arent recruiting for others."

De'Arv'Ki is still clinging to the roof, hoping to avoid notice on the off-chance of hostilities.
stealth: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (16) + 13 = 29

"The Pyramid isss a hossstile placcce, indeed. In no ssssmall part becaussse of the people in it."

"Hostile people, yes."
The ogre sounds impatient, and a tad sarcastic.
"There are even some people who fill corridors with flammables and announce intentions to set them on fire, even though the corridor borders the living quarters of someone they have never met."
The ogre does not seem to

"A stony counter-offer indeed. We wish no hostilities, merely to travel without being ambushed or set upon by the likes of you. We are all interlopers here, in this place - a place created to set ourselves each at the other's throat. And in all this time, none have banded together the factions to rise up and wrest control of the Pyramid."

Yessai spits.

"Take not the moral high ground, serpent-hair. Wreak your horrors elsewhere."

Though Yessai is mildly insulting here, she makes no pose of readiness to fight.

Perception check: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (14) + 15 = 29

Mundarion puts the dart away. He says, "Indeed, there are even some people who fill corridors with traps attempting to injure people they have never met."

"You are new here."
The ogre scoffs. "No one sets traps in the Pyramid, the accursed prison creates traps on its own."

The creature in the shadow hisses
"No factionssss band together. They are all too hirarchical, and their leadersssss are all power hungry with dilussionssss of grandeur. That issss why the Pyramid sssstill ssstands. What makes you think you are any better?"

"we have not grown to regard this place as home. That is how we differ."

Mundarion adds, "We also have no intention of staying any longer than we have to."

Diplomacy check: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12

"Ah, sssuch naivety. All in the Pyramid were newcomers onccccce, and dreamed of esssscapeing."

"Then stop wasting your precious time and ours on your thinly veiled threats!"
The ogre is clearly exacerbated by your intrusion and dialogue.
"You say you have no interest in recruiting us, so what is you you want from us? If there is nothing you demand of us, then let us be and take your arson elsewhere. We had finally found a place safe from the raiding dragon and the temple of madness, and you come here to burn it. And for what? Is your aim to set yourselves on fire in some half-planned scheme to leave the Pyramid?"

just looking for a way through.

"we have not grown to regard this place as home. That is how we differ."

Well said Gem!