Gilda looks at the files as well.
local all untrained
local
local
percep
Awnara also busies herself with tidying the office. "How could that man find anything when everything's all a-cluttered?"
Father Charlatan (Sefick Corvin; 400 XP): Of the
five notorious prisoners, only Father Charlatan was
not technically a murderer, yet his crimes were so
blasphemous that several churches demanded he be
punished to the full extent of Ustalavic law. Although he
claimed to be an ordained priest of any number of faiths,
Father Corvin was in fact a traveling con artist who used
faith as a mask and a means to bilk the faithful out of
money in payment for false miracles or cures. He became
known as Father Charlatan after his scheme was exposed
and his Sczarni accomplices murdered a half-dozen city
guards in an attempt to make good the group’s escape.
The Lopper (Vance Saetressle; 400 XP): When the Lopper
stalked prey, he would hide in the most unlikely of places,
sometimes for days upon end with only a few supplies to
keep him going while he waited for the exact right moment
to strike. Once his target was alone, the Lopper would
emerge to savagely behead his victim with a handaxe.
The Mosswater Marauder (Ispin Onyxcudgel; 400
XP): Only 5 years before his hometown of Mosswater was
destined to be overrun and ruined by monsters from the
nearby river, Ispin Onyxcudgel was a well-liked artisan
and a doting husband. When he discovered his wife’s
infidelity, he f lew into a jealous rage and struck her dead
with his hammer, shattering her skull and his sanity with
one murderous blow. Wracked with shame and guilt, Ispin
became convinced that if he could rebuild his wife’s skull
she would come back to life—but unfortunately, he could
not find the last blade-shaped fragment from the murder
site. So instead, Ispin became the Mosswater Marauder.
Over the course of several weeks, the cunning dwarf
stalked and murdered nearly 20 people while searching for
just the right skull fragment. He was captured just before
murdering the daughter of a visiting nobleman from Varno,
and was carted off to Harrowstone that same night.
The Piper of Illmarsh (real name unknown; 400 XP):
Before he snatched his victims, the Piper taunted his
targets with a mournful dirge on his f lute. He preferred
to paralyze lone victims by dosing their meals with lich
dust and then allowed his pet stirges to drink the victims
dry of blood.
The Splatter Man (Hean Feramin; 400 XP): Professor
Feramin was a celebrated scholar of Anthroponomastics
(the study of personal names and their origins) at the
Quartrefaux Archives in Caliphas. Yet an accidental
association with a succubus twisted and warped his
study, turning it into an obsession. Feramin became
obsessed with the power of a name and how he could use
it to terrify and control. Soon enough, his reputation
was ruined, he’d lost his tenure, and he’d developed an
uncontrollable obsession with an imaginary link between
a person’s name and what happens to that name when the
person dies. Every few days, he would secretly arrange for
his victim to find a letter from her name written in blood,
perhaps smeared on a wall or spelled out with carefully
arranged entrails. Once he had spelled his victim’s name,
he would at last come for her, killing her in a gory mess
using a complex trap or series of rigged events meant to
look like an accident.
The search of the warden's office yields a small, well locked safe hidden among the various sundry paperwork and a smattering of his personal effects.
The safe is DC30 to crack.
Shel takes a crack at the safe. This one is a doozy. I doubt I can budge it. Check around for any keys. With any luck, the warden might have left an extra set of them around here somewhere."
Disable device
close enough right DM!
Shel smiles as she hears the tell tale turning of tumblers. Until, that is, when she makes the last twist- the lock seizes. The pick is stuck tightly in the lock.
It needs a forceful jostle to finish it's job.
Dex
"Let me take a look, Shel," Awnara says, gently touching the pick. "Oh my, yes, that's stuck tighter than a parsnip in hard earth. My, but your picks look like sewing needles! Maybe if I were to lift ever so slightly..." She chews her lip as she manipulates the pick gently, and gasps in surprise as she hears a click, backing away quickly. Her hands go to her mouth and the color drains from her face. "Oh my gracious, I'm sorry, did I break it?"
I think that depends on if the lock is a good quality or fragile.
The SRD includes opening a lock as an example of taking 20, so I'll allow it.
Within the safe are kept numerous (now out-of-date)
legal documents, along with 500 gp (the prison’s payroll and
petty cash fund) and a wooden rack on which sit emergency
supplies (four potions of cure moderate wounds, three potions
of lesser restoration, and two potions of remove disease). Or at least they're labeled that way...
Vachordi attempts to ID the bottles to confirm
"Thats a gold mine, boys and girls. I have a feeling, well need those all before we get through with our explorations of this place."
Shel is ready to move to the next room, if the others are ready.
This wing is safe, but you have plenty of time before nightfall to explore.
Well fearless leader lead on! Vachordi slaps Shel on the back lightly.
"Let's see what's there. Shall we?" Gilda motions towards the door.
"I'm surprised this has been left intact so long, but with the superstitions and the actual hauntings I suppose it does make sense." Garin stretches, his muscles sore from all the arranging, before taking point beside Shel.
"it's not dark yet, so lets move along to the next unexplored area. After our find, and our start, I'm feeling lucky," Shel says with a smile.
Edrik nods approvingly as his companions clear out the safe, and adds "Well, the dead certainly don't need these things... might as well put them to good use."
Moving up towards the others as they prepare to leave, Edrik looks alarmingly at Shel, and finally smirks slightly and winks "Feeling lucky are we? Ooo, don't tempt our fate like that Shel."
"What's the worst that could happen? On second thought, don't answer that," Shel replies with a grin.
East, slightly more north but still east, west, or north?
We go whichever direction the wind blows.
Let's keep to the west until we close that part out, if that's ok with everybody.
"To the west, ever to the west, never to the east, forever to the west..." Gilda quietly sings an old directional song she knows.
The west door opens, creaking on its hinges. The hall opens to a a 10 wide corridor. Two rooms open to the left or right, and another narrow hall curves around the corner allowing access to the rooms on the periphery of the floor.
Two rooms in the center, 4 rooms around the clock.
Vachordi puts up a hand then calls on the winds to help him see what is around the corner and what is in the rooms if their doors are open
Shel starts at the closest door. She takes 10 on Perception for 20 on searching for traps. "Give me a bit of room. Last thing I want to do is get one of you all blown up."
Gilda waits for Shel to do her thing.
Shel rounds the corner and explores the first door:
The door to this room has fallen from its hinges. The rectangular
chamber beyond seems to have once been a chapel, but now
thick sheets of what appear to be cobwebs drape everything
within in gossamer threads.
Vachordi's sift spell gets him a little further (to the other room in the middle). The rest of the rooms are more than 30', if you'd like to move closer to cast again, let me know.
Second room:
This chamber is in a shambles—old wooden benches lie in
ruins along the walls, while rusty chains and bits of rotten rope
lie scattered on the floor
Shel continues to take the rooms in order, looking through each of them for anything note resting, or undead in that order.
She moves carefully, not rushing through the search.
Second room is a wreck. Careful that nothing is hidden inside it.
Vachordi follows Shel then casts towrards the further rooms
Gilda follows the bard of the bracing breeze.
In the first room (the one on the right), the pews of the chapel are covered in spider webs.
SPIDER WEBS.
You hear a chittering noise from the ceiling beams. 3 spiders drop amid those who walked into the room to search.
Init.
@$#! Vachordi swears as he falls back on his heels.
Pulling his shield up into a defensive position, Edrik curses quietly "Spiders... damnit, I'd rather face the walking dead."
"At least these I can stab," Garin says, on the opposite side of Edrik. "Come and be placed beneath my boot!"
Awnara gasps as she sees the spider's bulbous body lowering itself slowly to the floor, its spindly legs twitching in anticipation of easy prey. "Goodness gracious, those things look like they could snare a housecat!" Her eyes glow white with holy power as she backpedals away from them, summoning the energy of the heavens.
Round 1:
The spiders spring to bite the nearest pcs. One lands on Edrik's face and sinks its pincers into his neck .
The other two threaten Gilda and Vachordi, but do not manage to bite through their skin.
Spiders
Shel
Garin
Edrik
Awnara
Gilda
Vachordi
Garin makes a face of revulsion when one spider lands on Edrik's face before charging towards the spider on Gilda, drawing his halberd to pierce it.
Angered by the spider, Edrik tries to extricate it from his person with a curse "Damnable things!"
Tossing the spider down to the ground angrily, Edrik hefts his shield in-front of himself and attacks.
Shel moves to the closest beast, trying to establish a flanking position to strike where it is unprepared. She slices away at it.
Attack
Damage plus
sneak attack
Vachordi Steps away from the spider and drops his voice almost too low to be heard and he calls upon the north and West winds to collide in the corner creating a sound burst to strike th spiders but not his companions each takes [dice]1d8[/dice[ and DC 14 fort or stunned
Gilda swings her battle axe at the large arachnid.
for damage.
rerolling damage
"Get off them," the halfling cries out, and she begins speaking in the tongue of Heaven again. This time, though her eyes glow white with holy power, no lances of light issue forth from her eyes. Instead, she raises her hand and a globe of acrid smelling liquid appears, which she flings towards the spider menacing Shel.
Casting acid splash. I'll move so I don't have cover, if possible.
Edrik and Shel dispatch two of the three spiders. The Shoanti's sonic blast injures the final one, that tries to skitter away in fear.
AoO for anyone between him and the door.