Tiadora arrives right on cue. “This way,” is all she says.
Excellent - A chance to loosen muscles and prove oneself further.
He laughs... And it is nearly the cackle of the mad. Definitely it hints at a possible flaw with over confidence.
Lead on.
By venerating his General, I honor the Fallen One as well. Malgrim reassured the woman.
Lets be about it then... Malgrim said softly. His posture was tense, but his eyes flared. He had been itching to put his skills to the test. Inaction did not suit his nature.
Tiadora leads them to a set of stairs. “Below you will find the Nine Lessons.” She leaves without any further explanation.
A set of stone stairs leads down, through an archway and into an unfurnished chamber beyond. Inscribed upon the archway in the common tongue is: “Deception is a tool. Self-deception is death. Deceive always thy enemy but never thyself.” The room beyond is lit by a small oil lantern hanging from the center of the chamber. There is a doorway east.
Eldred approaches slowly and descends, scanning the floor for traps, an arrow set to his bow string.
"Oh, this brings back memories!" Damien grins, like the whole thing is a child's game.
With a snap of Damien's fingers, bright floating lights appear, moving about the room at his command, and assisting the lantern in making the room brighter.
One would imagine an illusion or some trickery in a room speaking of the dangers of deception...
Taciturn as always, Johan listens to the Cardinal and his companions, then follows Tiadora down to the basement. Self deception eh?. He agrees with Malgrim's assessment of the rooms warning and begins slowly searching the room, prodding the walls and floor with the tip of his spear.
Assuming the room doesn't blow up or collapse or do something similar, he searches the door for traps.
"Would be kind of ironic if the deception was just that we expect some kind of trap and there aren't any," Damien chuckles.
"Hm..." Damien focuses his special talents, looking for any kind of strange trickery.
Eldred carefully checks to see if the door is locked, if so he gets to work with his thieves tools (+12 with MW tools)
"No magic around, 's far as I can tell."
Eldred began to work on the door to unlock it, the floor suddently opens into a pit.
Reflex DC 20 to save.
If Eldred fail:
Falling DMG:
Number of spikes:
Spike1 atk:
Spike2 atk:
And the door opens by itself a bricked up wall.
Carved upon the wall inside the pit near the bottom is the phrase: “Thou wert deceived. Pain is thy reward.”
Ref save
Eldred rolls away from the pit as soon as he hears an ominous creak and feels the floor shift.
Not all is as it seems... Check the walls or floor for a concealed passage.
Johan points out the concealed doors he notice to the others
Seems I got ahead of everyone - moved too fast for you to warn me
Johan gives Eldred a crooked grin as the other man dusts himself off. He nods his head to one of the concealed doors. How about you try that one next?
Eldred repeats the process.
A secret door hidden in the north wall conceals a small niche.
Inside that niche is a small pedestal that holds a jewel that glows with pale blue light. It is cold to the touch. There is another inscription: “Thou hast seen through deception to uncover a useful tool.”
This ‘jewel’ is a cleverly crafted bit of sealed quartz. Inside the quartz is alchemist’s ice. If thrown the jewel breaks and explodes exactly as alchemist’s fire but instead inflicts cold damage.
The south wall conceals a secret door. This door leads to a passage to the next chamber.
The short passage from the north ends in a wooden door with another inscription: “Following the herd is for fools. Fear not their icy derision. Instead, fear only thy Infernal Lord.”
Room 2 description:
Inside the stone chamber, there are four doors – each facing a cardinal direction. The entire chamber seems strangely cold. The ground is dirty and dusty.
This room is also lit with a small oil lantern that hangs from the ceiling. There is a small amount of frost on the lantern’s glass panes.
The western door is covered in a strange pulsating violet mold.
Anyone know what this crystal thing is?, he says holding it out.
Looking down at the passage and its inscription he stops to mumble Fear not their icy derision. Instead, fear only thy Infernal Lord, and then approaches the lantern for a closer look.
A closer inspections, reveal its just a normal lantern, with ice on it. Maybe because of the cold temperature in the room.
Eldred, you notice that when you get close to the door with the mold, it gets colder. Maybe that mold is the source of the cold.
You have no problens with light in this room. The lanter sheds a light equivalent to a torch in the entire room.
Johan, you can try a DC 15 Knowledge(dungeoneering) to discover what the mold is.
Its... an alchemical substance. Like alchemist's fire, but more like alchemist's ice. Throw it against a target and it works in much the same manner. A few of the greatest of Hobgoblin war-crafters were said to be able to make this. I imagine its more common in Talingarde...
Sounds like something I may look into... All I have is Alchemical Fire.
"Eesh! Frosty in here! What's up with that?"
You tell me... its not natural as far as I can see.
Johan moves into the room alongside Eldred. Hmm, first we are rewarded with a 'useful tool' that creates cold, then presented with a room that is already cold. He takes out a handful of trail ration and tosses it at the mold.
You toss the trail ration and nothing happens.
Leary of things he does not understand (which is admittedly a lot given his limited upbringing, he's just too stubborn to admit it ), Johan lights a torch from his backpack a tosses it at the base of the door. Maybe we can burn the stuff off.
As soon the torch comes closer to the mold, it grows. Fast. You reckon it doubled the size. The room is a lot more colder. The cold is almost hurting. And the torch has no fire anymore. Just a iced piece of wood.
Errrr - try that cyrstal thing we found, he says as he backs out the room and holds his hand out for it.
"Whoa. That thing loves heat. That explains the cold room. Yeah, icy thing sounds about good right now."
Johan nods, understanding slowly dawning on him. Ah, it feeds on heat, so the, uh, alchemist's ice will starve it. Go ahead Eldred, he says, also moving out of the room and behind the other man. Give it a try. I'll stand over here and, um, watch your back. Just in case.
Toss.
Aiming at the foot of the door.
When the Alchemist Ice hits the door, the molds dies almost instantly. The cold begin to subdue.
Eldred waits for the mold to finish crumbling and dying then, using one of his arrows, carefully clears any remnants off the door, then checks it for traps and being locked.
The western door leads to a vaguely u-shaped passage that leads to another room.
The door of this next is plain wood with yet another inscription: “Know your enemy. Shatter all that blinds you and then burn thy adversary to ashes.”
No sounds.
The door is not locked.
The chamber beyond is completely dark.
Eldred has the others follow within line of sight, and then waves the others up, holding the door shut after peeking inside.
The corridor has light, none of it enters the room.
There is magic in this room.
DC 17 (K:Arcana) Reveals it is a faint evocation aura.
The aura is somewhere about 20ft ahead, considering the door as reference.
Malgrim, what do your eyes see?