Prying the boards up, Anders discovers loose dirt beneath, and the hints of a tunnel that seems mostly filled with the loose earth. Apparently something had burrowed in, or out, at some point.
Inspecting the wand, Galenus discovers how to trigger the thing. When he does, the tip of it becomes hot enough to melt metal where the tip touches.
At=will, as an action you can make a melee finesse (dex) attack to deal 1d10 fire damage to the target.
It can be used to slowly cut/repair some metal objects (think welding. This is clearly a wand being employed as a tool in the workshop more than a weapon).
Yeah, I can. It's designed to use heat to cut through metal. Likely a workshop tool. But you could also use it to hurt someone if you have it at them quickly enough.
"Huh. That's really neat!" Sharla says. "That'd hurt a lot probably. I wonder if he ever used it to torture people?"
Himalt blanches a bit at Sharla's speculation. "Eeuugh. I hope not." he growls.
"What do ye all want me to do?" He glances around the workshop, eyeing the ballista with grim curiosity.
Why don't you man that ballista, and keep us covered as we explore more.
The far door is surrounded by suspicious looking holes. Painted on the far door is a red-painted stick figure of a bloody orc getting stabbed with several black-painted spears.
The holes are dark, appearing at a distance to be small openings carved into the stone work of the building itself. They appear large enough that a slender spear or a well placed bolt might be able to pass out of it.
The painting on the door, that of a bloody, spear-stabbed orc, has been done in what looks like fresh, bright, blood. It still looks wet, some dribbling, dripping fluid running from the thickly painted dead orc.
This door has some iron reinforcements augmented to it clearly after its original creation, large iron hinges and cross bars have been forced into place over the simple wooden construction to create an improvised security door. There are two keyholes beneath the knob (left and right), and a third keyhole in the knob itself.
Himalt whistles softly as he looks at the large weapon of siege warfare. He tests the point of the bolt, which is currently ready to fire, and looks around for a release mechanism.
Galenus goes to the very suspicious door and sees if he can peek through a key hole.
You can not. Each is dark, as are the holes around the door
"Want to stick something in them?" Sharla asks.
"Ooohh!" Himalt says, finding a bolt to remove to get the thing ready to fire, he starts to remove it before stopping himself. "Should I arm it?" he asks, looking at the massive bolt pulled back and ready to launch.
Yes! Let's fire at the door!
Himalt shrugs. "Aye, if you want. Someone bring me more spears and help me reload it, if we need to." he pulls the pin, arming the ballista and waiting for someone to object.
I am thinkin' that door will be firing back. I'm gonna stand to the side.
Sharla follows Anders lead, and moves out of the way.
"Fire when ready, Himalt!"
"Alright then. Varus, if you could get another there spear bolt ready for me."
He points out to the rack on the wall as he pulls another bolt which allows the ballista to turn and aim in a different direction. He points it at the far door, which has a very steep angle from its current position.
"This will be an odd shot, but I can hit it. If we needed to blow out the other door, the one that leads outside, it'd be much easier." Indeed, the ballista has nearly a straight shot right at and out the other door.
"Here we go! YAAAA" he yells, pulling the release for the weapon.
There is a slight squeak of metal on metal as the siege weapon fires. The massive arms of the crossbow part of the device pulls the sturdy cord of wire forward, pushing the crossbow bolt along with it. A huge rush of air and force releases as the bolt launches toward the far door. The machine of the ballista rocks back, the equal and opposite reaction of it firing.
CRRRSSHHHHHH!!!
The spearlike bolt hits the far door, clipping about four inches into the stone wall from its steep angle. Stone shatters and the bolt penetrates in the edge of the wall, and then through the reinforced door.
The bolt must have caught a thick part of metal, because it doesn't penetrate the door. IF it had hit wood, it's clear that it would have gone right through. However, the bolt didn't simply crash through a wooden slat and into the next room, but instead all of the force of the bolt went into something sturdier than wood, and so the shape of the door is violently transformed.
Metal bends, wood splinters, rivets pop off, and the entire door pops and shatters out of its place. The hinges break free from the stone wall and the entire portal to the next room snaps and shatters from its place, popping back into this room. The door is hardly recognizable as it clatters to a halt. The half bent bolt lies twisted in the stone wall, cutting the doorway in half horizontally.
Hand him a new bolt, Galenus says as he goes to peek through the new opening to see what's beyond.
I assume this one is officially dead?
GM Grey: Please make it inactive and remove from the boards.