Turning to Bellicus, Val replies, "Agreed. Let's take the southwestern passage first." She then shoulders her lute and draws her starknife.
Leynus, still slightly embarrassed by his rather whimsical entrance into dancing, follows Val, tugging at his hood.
"I would hope the stone will continue to stand despite our walking... Though I suppose it pays no heed to my hopes."
You hear the sound of something scrambling around in the rubble, and what might be a frantic squeaking sound, but other than that this room is quiet.
Teral snorts, hefting his spear up to a ready position. "Sounds like more rats. Great."
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With ears folded back, Akshara moves up to follow beside Bellicus, staying low and crouched as she walks, occasionally walking on all fours before rising back up into a crouches posture. She sniffs at the air, looking back at Anton and Valeria before offering a side-long look to Bellicus.
"Rats," she murmurs in agreement to Teral, one ear flicking in the direction of the noise.
"On your guard, everyone."
Bellicus's comment, "Please, it's rats," turns out to be not quite accurate. As you move into the room towards the great stone dragon-door, a single humongous rat nearly as big as a person emerges from the rubble - it is far larger than those you encountered outside! Its sheer girth suggests that this rat is either extremely well fed or pregnant. It gives a terrible shriek, filthy saliva dripping from its fangs, and moves forward to defend its territory!
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Seeing the gigantic rat lumber out from the rubble, Akshara drops down into a crouch and sprints forward, practically leaping on the ferocious-looking creature. Akshara's tangled black hair whips behind her as she leaps, the long trail of her coat flaring out behind her. She lands beside the rat, ducking under a snap of its jaws before lunging in and getting a mouthful of fur and flesh at its neck.
Akshara's jaws sink i n nd her teeth rend through the fatty layer of outer hide and then down into muscle and tendon, pulling back a stringy mass of bloodied flesh that dribbles down her jaw, muffling her feral growl.
___________
Akshara's ferocious bite causes the huge rat to writhe around in agony, squealing and splattering its blood across the southern end of the room before collapsing and bleeding out on the floor.
You hear the sound of other rats scurrying away in the distance, underneath all the rubble, utterly terrified of Akshara.
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Hissing loudly, Akshara pulls away from the kill, mouth and jaws slathered in blood. She turns to look back at the group, pupils wide and dark, ears folded back. Then, after a moment, her pupils narrow and her ears perk forward, one hand coming up to lazily wipe at the blood to try and clean herself. Occasionally, one of her ears twitch in the direction of the remaining rats.
"Amazing, my girl. You destroyed it!"
"Wow! Let me give you a hug... Um, on second thought, how about I just admire you from afar."
Elion will edge forward looking about nervously, "Are they all gone? Is it safe?"
and if it's locked
Teral, tensed and ready to throw a spell, blinks a couple of times. "Well. That was quick," he says, eying Akshara with a wary sort of respect.
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With one more flick of her ear, Akshara rises to stand straight and walks past Bellicus back towards Anton, licking at her fingers to try and clean them. Her fur is stained a dark red, now, around her mouth and jaw and the tip of her nose, just as her fingertips and the back of one hand have become. "Where now?" Akshara purrs out the question, her golden eyes flicking left and right in these unfamiliar surroundings.
Elion quickly finds that the door is locked, though he doesn't find any traps. Inspecting the keyhole in the rearing dragon's mouth, he fiddles around for a bit with his tools but can't seem to get the lock's mechanism to budge.
"This is a tough one. Give me a couple of minutes guys..."
Eyes wide in equal parts horror and respect, Valeria gasps, "Akshara... that was amazing!" Val lowers her starknife, but does not stow it.
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Bellicus blinks as Akshara kills the giant rat with her trademark viciousness. He's momentarily at a loss for words as he sees her doing what she does best - killing for her supper. He lowers his weapons as she goes about cleaning herself, and turns his attention away from the tiefling and her rat. "As I said," he says in a dismissive tone. "Rats. Nothing to worry about." As Elion goes about examining the lock, he moves into position to cover the burglar should something strike him.
Leynus claps lightly at Akshara's quick dispatch of the rat. "Perhaps there would have been more to worry about if Akshara had not been made such a ferocious predator. An impressive kill, huntress."
Teral spends the minute or so waiting on Elion inspecting the door's decorations. For obvious reasons, he has something of an interest in draconic imagery, and he wondered idly if there might be some clue to what awaits them further in.
Taking his time, Elion is still unable to get the door to budge. Oddly, he was able to turn the lock's mechanism, but the door itself still won't move, as it has been held in place by some other force.
Inspecting the dragon carved in relief upon the door, Teral is unable to discern much. By its posture, it certainly seems to be guarding something.
"Well, I got the lock but it must be barred or something." Turning to Bellicus he waves at the door and deadpans, "Go ahead and kick it down."
"Someone cast a cantrip to check to see if it's magically locked."
"Or we could let Bellicus kick it down" Elion puts in meaningfully, "Let him get some of his bellicosity out."
Valeria says, "Wait a minute. Let me check something first..."
Stowing her starkinfe and pulling out her lute, she strums a few chords, and sings,
As the Dreamer sees the night,
Reveal to me your mystic light!
Val's eyes glow with a blush light as she examines the door and its strange draconic markings.
Valeria detects a faint aura of transmutation magic on the door.
"There's some kind of magical effect on the door. Teral, can you make more sense of it?"
Leynus takes a peek over Val's shoulder at the door, seeing if he can make any sense of it himself. Sadly, any recognition of what might be in place on the door eludes him. "I'm quite fond of the kicking-it-down plan. However, it would probably be irresponsible to not check as thoroughly as possible to make sure there's no danger."
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Walking up to the dragon-engraved door, Akshara's nose twitches and her eyes grow wide. Everyone seems to be handling it with scrutiny and care, and she can't truly understand why. She ducks her head down low, glances at Leynus, then looks back at Valria with one ear angled towards the door and the other perked up in the faux-bard's direction.
"Well, let's see..."
Teral shrugs. "Some kind of alteration magic, but that's all I got."
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"If the door will not yield to Elion's finesse, I can try to force it, but I'm not certain how successful I'll be. A stone door's only a few hinges away from a wall, after all." Assuming the group doesn't object, he stows his sword and shield, and puts his back into trying to force the door open.
Is it possible to take 20 on this? If so, I'll do it. If not, here's my roll.
After a few moments of trying to force the door open, Bellicus can tell that it would take far more strength than he alone possesses to open the door by sheer might. After several minutes, even with help, it becomes clear that some supernatural force holds this door fast. It would probably be possible to break apart the stone itself with the proper tools - picks, chisels, or the like - but merely trying to force the door open will not work without a much stronger creature.
"I guess we'll have to come back to this one." Elion says reluctantly, "Do you want to try the corridor to the north?"
"Hmm... We can't pick the lock, we can't force open the door, and we can't even identify the magical effect on the door, much less dispel or counter it.
I guess we'll need the key. Perhaps it can be nd elsewhere in the citadel?"
Leynus shrugs. "I suppose we can always hope that's the case. Whether or not it is, it seems our best bet would be to try one of the other doors."
"Either the proper key or some heavier equipment." Elion agrees
Teral grimaces, then shrugs. "Alrighty...Let's try a different direction, then. If nothing else, it might buy us some time to come up with another fix over here."
In the corridor to the north, you find that the door on your right leads into an empty room. The stone door on the left (with the dragon-like fish relief carved on it) appears locked, but you detect no trace of magic on it. The wooden door straight ahead, to the west, is not locked and bears no trace of magic, though now you hear the sound of pitiful whimpering coming from somewhere in the room beyond.
Elion puts a finger to his lips and silently mouths, "let me take a look."
he will tiptoe down to the wooden door to the west, check for traps then listen at the door.
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"The key might be lost to the ages, Val," the warrior says. "If that's the case, it will take greater magics than we have to open it. We can report that to House Thrune. They will do with it what they will."
He follows the group to the west, and once again covers Elion as he checks the door for traps. He glances down the hallway to the other doors every once in awhile, just in case he spies one of them opening.
Elion finds no traps on any of the doors in this hallway. Listening at the door to the west, he hears a high-pitched (but muffled), dog-like whimpering sound.
Elion looks back at the party and gestures at the wooden door with a shrug.
Teral gestures back at Elion with his spear, indicating he should get the door open. His other hand remains crooked in an odd position, ready to begin the necessary movements for a spell.
Elion will ease open the door a bit and take a peek
Val draws her starknife and tenses for yet another combat...
Through the crack in the door, Elion sees a large, crumbling chamber. Without much light extending into the room, he can't make out much, but it looks like there is a large dilapidated cage with a small bench nearby. The bench has several indiscernible objects laid upon it. There is a great dark shape near the middle of the room - possibly a pit or the remains of a bonfire. The whimpering sound is coming from underneath the wooden bench, where it seems a small creature has wrapped itself in blankets.