That's very strangeSeeing that others have already cast detect magic and are examining the invisible wall, Zierka begins to move around the room looking carefully for any signs of secret doors or other hidden objects.
Tanlen casts a puzzled frown in the direction of the whatever Grandma walked into, but continues speaking to the orcs. "What did you encounter? Is there anything we should know to avoid? As you can see, there are less of us than there were of you - we could use all the forewarning we can get."
Anna feels out the length and dimensions of the barrier.
Glawng notices that Grandma Ghawn was impeded by an invisible barrier and that the half-elf was starting to examine this barrier as well. He approaches the half-elf,
” I’m not a big one on the magic stuff, but I know my way around doors and barriers. Let’s see if we can pool our knowledge and find out something about this thing.”
With that he begins examining the invisible barrier as well. Looking for its extent and properties or any source for it.
“What we need here is one of those glitter spells. Those always seem to put a light on invisible things.” Glawng says to himself under his breath.
Without warning, and almost without notice the barrier that had been keeping the family apart dissipates.
As Dhreck, Jangis and Groltsch look around they all notice that this “dungeon” is well made. The walls are well constructed and done with a purpose. This is not a slipshod operation. The doors are well made and heavy in construction. It is somewhat curious that there is no light source or even sconces or other apparatuses that would hold a light source.
Zierka witnessing the encounter of the Orcs with Grandma Ghawn notices that these Orcs are exhausted. Grandma while engaging them notices that not only are they exhausted but it looks like their spirits are somewhat broken. Other than the one standing, the others barely acknowledge the half orc party in the room. One orc in the corner attempts to cover up his hacking cough.
The response from a detect magic spell is almost overwhelming for the caster. The whole room radiates magic. It is like looking for fresh water in a swamp. This high level of background magic may alter the range or cause the spell to be more focused on an object rather than a large area.
Grandma Ghawn notices that the accent and word usage of these Orcs is unusual. It is clear that they did not come from the local area.
The room description is as follows:
From the NW corner the wall extends E 110’ to the NE corner. It then turns south for 115’ to the SE corner. The wall continues to the W for 35’ before turning N for 75’. From here the wall extends 75’ to the W before connecting to the starting point 30’ N. There are two doors in the north wall; 1 located in the NW corner the second 30’ to the East of it. There are also two doors in the East wall. One in the SE corner and the other 30’ to the N of it.
Try this for a map. Go to Map Room 2
"Well these are obviously not of the same quality of orc as Ghawn. Ignore the weaklings and lets get moving, I for one am anxious to prove the old codger wrong. I say we stick to the edges as much as possible, keeps the chances of things surrounding us to a minimum."
Groltsch strides toward the southern-most door. "I suggest this one. Now does someone want to check it before we proceed or shall I just open it up?"
Zierka witnessing the encounter of the Orcs with Grandma Ghawn notices that these Orcs are exhausted. Grandma while engaging them notices that not only are they exhausted but it looks like their spirits are somewhat broken. Other than the one standing, the others barely acknowledge the half orc party in the room. One orc in the corner attempts to cover up his hacking cough.
"I believe a Major once said this "Information is Ammunition" and if we get to know a bit more it could help us alot."
"Yeah, what's going on here? What's this barrier? Where's it going? What killed you guys?"
Jangis stands to add "oomph" to Anna's request.
Groltsch Ghawn stands in front of the southernmost door, waiting to see if anyone answers his call. He notes that this door like the others in the room are wooden bound with iron with a single pull ring. It appears that the door would open inward toward him.
Neither Tanlen diplomacy or Grandma’s intimidation seem to have any effect on the huddling orcs. They seem to be hanging on to their well-worn and chipped weapons for comfort like a small child with security blanket. The one standing orc replies only with smirks and curt nods to most questions, although the nods do not actually seem a true response to any questions. The huddle mass at times murmur to themselves. The words are in extremely broken Common or in a very strange or morphed orc dialect.
The only question the party received some semblance of an answer is when the orcs were asked by Jangis “What killed you guys?” The response from the one standing orc was “You will see soon enough.”
Groltsch Ghawn stands in front of the southernmost door, waiting to see if anyone answers his call.
"These orcs do not concern me. I'm with you you Groltsch!"
"These Orcs seem to lack the ability to answer us, so let us move on." Gromor walks over to the southern most wall, and speaking to Fang he says "Check this door"
Gromor’s rat scurries toward the door. Fang notices approximately a half inch gap between the bottom of the door and the floor. Taking a sniff, it curdles its nose, and reports a strong body odor smell, not a dead body smell, but the smell of a long used room. There is no light coming from the room, and no noises can be heard. Fang does not notice any traps or anything else unusual on the door. Since there is only a ring pull to open the door, Fang would have bite the ring and pull backward on the door to open it.
Zierka looks with pity on the orcs. Not seeing anything else of interest in the room she moves to the southern door.
"While the orcs do concern me, I agree that it is time to move on. As long as we feel it's safe, let's open the door, and see what's on the other side. I will take the rear as before.
"Open the door then," Grandma growled, giving the cowering orcs a long, hard stare. "We can feed these cowards to whatever is behind it."
"Then let us continue on our way"
"Enough waiting around, when did this family get so indecisive?"
That being said Groltsch grabs the ring and pulls the door open.
With that Groltsch opens the door. Gromor and Fang nearby Zierka slightly behind them. Rulgha, Anna and Grandma approach from the north having given up talking to the unresponsive orcs.
The door, unlocked, opens easily. The room, like the previous two, is dark, but Groltsh has no trouble peering into it with his dark vision. The heavy smell of stale air greets him as he opens the door to this large room. Bits of dried grass as well as larger hunks lay all over the floor as if a tornado tore through a meadow.
Groltsch steps in, taking a look around for any signs of life or activity in the recent past.
Tanlen shrugs at the orc survivors and dismisses them as he moves away. "I don't know whether to be worried, or whether they're just as incompetent as they seem. Either way, there's no point in staying here."
As he passes through the spot where the former barrier was, he slows and glances around, but seeing no signs of what produced it (or what made it disappear), the proceeds on towards the door into the next room. When he reaches it, he shines his pebble-light over Groltsch's shoulder, peering into the next room.
Taking to Fang "That is concerning, the feeling is probably due to something in the room. If the feeling gets worst let me know, I will send you home then."
Fang replies "I do not think it is just this room. I have felt this way since we entered. Normally I can feel my home plane but not now. I thought it would go away, but it is still here. I will let you know if it changes." Fang is clearly disturbed with the sensation.
"We're Ghawns...let see what this place is about."
Dhrek follows The other into the room and looks around the new room.
" Alright then, let us continue then." Gromor follows the rest of his family into the room.
" Alright then, let us continue then." Gromor follows the rest of his family into the room.
Rulgha follows in as well
As Zierka steps into the room she slowly scans the room looking for anything unusual.
Tanlen pushes his way forward to shine his lighted pebble over Groltch’s shoulder. For Groltch the scene turns from a black and white tableau to a muted colors of yellowish dirty grass in this dingy dusty room. The walls of this 30’x55’ room plain and look similar to the walls you have seen.
Groltsch, seeing nothing extraordinary enters the room closely followed by most of the rest of the Ghawn family. The movement of the material kicks up dust, dirt and debris making the smell even worse in the room.
Groltsch (Fang if he entered the room), Dhrek, Gromor, Rulgha, and Zierka (and anyone else that I may have missed that ented the room) please roll a fortitude save due to the smell.
Fort save:
Jangis hangs back with Grandma. "What? What's in there?"
edit:
It may have been because he entered the room first or maybe from the large amount of dust being created by Gromor and Fang, but Groltsch was the first to succumb to the stench of the room. It was not long before he was joined in his retching with Dhreck, Gromor, and Fang. For these three, the reaction was so violent that they could barely think. It took all of their concentration just to move. Gromor , maybe more sensitive due to his connection with Fang, began throwing up.
Rulgha, Anna, and Zierka looked at their companions. These three endured the now heavy stench with a little unease, but it did not appear to hamper them in any way. Zierka while looking around the room noticed that the dried bits of grass strewn across the room were remnants of reed mats that had been destroyed. She also noticed several dried drips and pools of blood in various places around the room. The smell was worse coming from the southeastern corner where it was obvious whatever was in this room used this corner for all biological functions.
Talden looks on as half of the party that entered the room begins to heave. He can see the dust kicking up and the increase foulness of the room.
1d20 = 2
Obviously distracted from his distressed family members, Rulgha notices nothing.
1d20+4=12
Based on Zierka's discoveries, Anna concludes that the condition of this room was probably caused by a fight. Although what was fighting eludes her.
"they could not, have found a smaller room for all that crap?" as Anna's face reveals her disgust at the southeast corner's use.
From his vantage point in the door, Tanlen makes a face. It's got to be pretty bad in there if the orcs are choking, he thinks as he wraps a spare bit of cloth around his face, to cut the whiffs of foulness that drift out the door.
"Are you ok in there?" he asks, slightly muffled by the cloth.
Tanlen using the shift spell is able to locate a necklace and a dagger in the mess in the first half of the room.
"What?"
Perception:
Initiative:
Tanlen using the shift spell is able to locate a necklace and a dagger in the mess in the first half of the room.
After staring at the floor for a minute or two, Tanlen calls out "There's something under all this mess!" Taking a deep breath, and making sure his makeshift gas mask is tight, he hurries into the room, and unerringly reaches into the mess to pull out his finds.
After he pulls out the two items, Tanlen shakes them off, and holds them up to his light to examine them, breathing shallowly through his mask to avoid the stench.
Sifting through the destoryed sleeping mats, tolerating the stench of the room with his makeshift mask, Tanlen finds a small necklace of shell on a leather thong and a dagger. The dagger looks more ceremonial than functional.
Monday morning recap:
Much of the Ghawn family has entered into a mysterious dungeon by direction of the Eldest Ghawn. The survivor or survivors of this adventure will be the new overseer of the clan. Having entered the dungeon they discovered it to be bare, dark but strangely well made. In the second room, a large L shaped room with four doors; they found four orcs, barely responsive and cowering in a corner. After failed attempts of communicating with the orcs, the party began its exploration by looking in the southeastern most door. Seeing nothing in the room, much of the party entered, disturbing the ground, and kicking up a stench that overcame half of the members.
So at this moment we have:
Groltsch, Gromor, Fang, and Dhreck: overcome by the stench, retching, throwing up and coughing in the room.
Rulgha, Anna, and Zierka: also in the room but unaffected by the smell. They have looked around the room and surmised it was a sleeping quarters of some group of creatures and that the condition of the room, scattered broken grass mats everywhere, was the result of some battle.
Tanlen: having initially pushed his way to the door to peer in with his light, used a shift spell to find some items, necklace and dagger, in the mess. He then made a makeshift mask and entered the room to retrieve them. He appears unaffected by the conditions in the room.
Grandma and Jangis: The last to leave the orcs in the corner, began to walk south to investigate what the rest of the family has found.
"What in Pharasma's name are you lot gawping at?" Grandma demanded, bustling her way over to the other Ghawns.