Yep ... anyone else hear banjo music?
So, 1 person opted for the north door. Unless there's disagreement I'll post an update later today accordingly.
Making PER checks on your behalf, you notice nothing dangerous about either door, nor are there any sounds, other than the normal noises of a house settling.
Outside however, the sky opens, and a steady rain begins to beat on the walls and boarded windows.
I'm an optimist: I'm sticking with Squidbillies as my reference point.
lol, more rain?! :)
Are there any effects from being sickened beyond roleplaying?
As soon as he has control of his gut, Lleidr will follow through on Selia's suggestion and carefully make his way up to/through the north door.
Yes, sickened characters are at -2 for all attack, dmg, saves, skill and ability checks.
Before going in, Selia uses her wand of mage armor on anyone (including herself) that can benefit from it. She loads her crossbow, and follows the others in.
The north door leads to the landing of a steep staircase, made of thick, moldering planks.
In the basement, you can see beyond the bottom of the stairs, a short passage featuring opposing doors on the north and south walls as well as a door at the end of the passage, on the west wall.
Selia looks to see if there is a door to the basement stairs and if it can be locked or barricaded.
Just the door that you opened, the one in the north wall of the upstairs room.
Selia closes and locks the door to the basement. "Let's clear up here first, so we don't get trapped in the basement, ok?"
I need to modify 1 thing I told you earlier. Lleidr found a switch on the door in the upstairs room on the west wall; the switch is hidden inside the door itself, and connected by stout chain to some mechanism that lies on the other side of the door.
Nicolae moves along side Ned.
I need to modify 1 thing I told you earlier. Lleidr found a switch on the door in the upstairs room on the west wall; the switch is hidden inside the door itself, and connected by stout chain to some mechanism that lies on the other side of the door.
Lleidr will attempt to disable the device.
It appears you stopped whatever may be triggered on the other side of the door. Do you wish to proceed?
Lleidr is nothing if not confident! Yeah, let's go ahead and open the door.
The next area appears to be a formal dining room. There are 2 additional exits:
- an east door, near the north wall
- a west door, almost directly across the other door
This dark room stinks of putrefying flesh. Eight wooden chairs with grinning bleached skulls crowning their backs circle a monstrous four-foot-high oak dining table covered with a crude tablecloth of crinkly human leather. The centerpiece of the dining table—a rotting human head, its stringy red hair thankfully draped over its mutilated face—serves as a gathering place for a host of buzzing, bloated flies.
The hidden switch inside the door is connected to a scythe, attached to coils of tightly bound rope, set to cut into anyone opening the door. In fact, you see 2 more scythe traps, one hanging above each door.
BTW, Nich, you made your Fort save and you are not sickened by the kitchen room.
"Well, any pangs of guilt I had for killing the others are now gone. These are truly evil and disgusting creatures, and the world will be best rid of them."
"Definitely."
Cant we set it on fire from in here? Burn this wretched place to the ground.
"With us inside? I like your enthusiasm but..."
Nicolae gives Ned a glance.
Set the fire and go I mean... but if we wont do that then lets proceed.
Still green at the gills from the previous room, Lleidr will nonetheless force himself into the gruesome dining area.
"There may be other captives. I don't mind burning this place, but I'd rather it be as a pyre after we clean it out."
Lleidr will use cantrips to check for magic and poison in the room as he disables the other two scythe traps.
btw, I forgot to apply the -2 from sickened to the Disable check above. Hopefully that doesn't make a difference?
The -2 penalty made no difference whatsoever to your disable check. The trap still fails to spring. Nothing detects as magical in this room (other than the wonderful ambiance), and you find no poison either. However, you can hear child-like voices coming from the north-east door. One voice is pleading and crying; the other is mostly harsh, grating laughter. You hear nothing from the west door.
I should take the opportunity to ask for a marching order. Even though he's hardly armed, Vale is chomping at the bit to get back at his tormentors and wants to be in front.
Which door folks?
I feel a moral quandary coming up...
Lleidr is interested in seeing what's going on behind the NE door.
Between us healing them, arming them, and mage armor'ing them, Vale and the Arrows are probably tougher than Lleidr, so if they wants to go first, he won't get in the way.
NE would be my vote too.
NE it is.
This simple room is strewn with “toys,” some of carved wood or bone, while others appear to be little more than partial animal carcasses. Old bloodstains mark the walls; some resemble crude, childlike paintings and feature images of dismembered horses, a ridiculous grinning horned devil tossing children off a cliff, and a big lake with a black reptilian monster sprouting tentacles from its back. Bookshelves rest against the wall, but instead of tomes they hold skulls of all shapes and sizes.
Inside, you see two young ogre-kin at play, but only 1 seems to be having fun. The crying was evidently coming from a hairless and pale
bloated thing with malformed, stumpy legs and a wide mouth filled with ragged teeth. Before you opened the door, he was apparently in mid-crawl towards his companion, tears rolling down his cheeks.
The other child looks almost human, although his arms are bent in funny ways, as he holds aloft a pair of skulls that the crawler is reaching towards. He was mid-dance, but stopped, and now both are staring at you, mouths hinged wide open.
"Did Mammy send y'all?"
"Mammy wants you to take a nap," Lleidr says solemnly and casts Sleep at the ogre-kin children [Will save DC 16, up to 4 HD of creatures, duration: 2 minutes]
They both flop to the ground.
Making a perception check on your behalf, you find nothing untoward, other than the grisly collection of skulls. Nothing detects as magic.
The only exit other than the door you entered would be the boarded windows. From the dining room, you had a door to the west.
"Well done. West, then?"
Selia points the way (since she is not going first!)
Sounds good
The disabled trap hanging above the west door holds as you pass underneath. You've entered a stuffy windowless hallway, L-shaped, with several different directions:
- door in the south wall
- a staircase leading up
- door on the north wall, at the north end
- door in the west wall, at the west end
- another west door, this one on the northern hallway, next to the staircase.
You find nothing dangerous/deadly here; nothing detects as magical.
North?, the priest hazards.
Before we move on, should we do something more to restrain the young ogre-kin? That sleep spell will only last a couple of minutes. Since there's only the one door to the room they were playing in, can we find something to wedge it closed?
After that, north seems like as good a choice as any, so Lleidr will move up the hall, check the door (traps and magic), and open it up.
Before we move on, should we do something more to restrain the young ogre-kin? That sleep spell will only last a couple of minutes. Since there's only the one door to the room they were playing in, can we find something to wedge it closed?
You could reset the trap?
Hee hee .. that's a wicked idea!
Hey, I don't have kids. Who am I to criticize their parenting style? :-)
It would solve the problem of what to do with them after we kill all the adults...nonetheless, Lleidr will opt for trying to wedge shut or lock the door so the kids can't get out.
And then out to the hall and checking out the north door.
OK, disable device check, please, to keep that door shut.
You find nothing dangerous about the northern door, but after opening, the foul odor is nearly overwhelming.
This filthy bedroom contains little more than a lumpy mattress heaped with twigs, mud, and hopefully little else, although the stink of sewage in the room indicates otherwise. Dozens of humanoid fetishes crafted of bits of leather, straw, corn husks, twigs, and bones hang from cords throughout the room.
There's no other apparent exit other than the door you used.
Back to the last room and turn west.
Making a Perception check on your behalf (your GM is being generous here), Lleidr notices something exciting on one of these fetishes hanging from the ceiling.
One of the pieces of 'art' incorporates several finger bones, one of which is still wearing a jade ring.
Thanks, I'd planned to have Lleidr scan the ghastly mobile that I'm guessing was set up for one or both of those ogre kids, but I appreciate a GM's generosity nonetheless!
If Lleidr can't reach the ring, he'll have Arg hop up and retrieve it for him. Does it draw his attention because of its possible value or magical emanations?
If there's nothing else of note in the room, he'll move back out into the L-shaped hallway and check the door to the west, just beside the landing of the stairs.
Detect Magic
Detect Poison
, -2 if still sickened
OK, disable device check, please, to keep that door shut.
, +2 if masterwork tools apply, -2 if still sickened
After several cautious minutes exploring this place, you're adapting to the smell. The sickened feeling has worn off.
The western door in the north passage opens into something of a storage or maybe a place for refuse. Broken, shattered pieces of furniture, lamps, pottery, etc are piled atop one another and shoved into the corners.
Not that I expect anything, but Selia takes a look around.