Zeb's Crypt of the Everflame PbP

Game Master ZebulonXenos

"Why indeed, Drosk" Telperion mused, only vaguely acknowledging the two friends holding the door open for him. "Or more specifically, why would you have a pillar 'chock full' of arrows and a pit and a bridge?"

He took a couple of steps back to get a better look at the room. "And circular rooms are usually significant in some way as well, given the difficulty in their construction."

As the elf began roving his eyes across the various features of the room, a small smile appeared on his lips.

I'm confused. What's the pillar supporting?

Afte looking closely at the mural & the bench and finding nothing extraordinary, Garik looks up to find the rest of the group already looking beyond at yet another door (curiously propped open by Bolkin & Telperion) at the end of the mural room.

"Talk about testing our limit, indeed! ,"the young barbarian quips with an enthusiastic smile as he follows the group.

But as Garik takes a peek, too and contemplates how the circular room looks, the dwarf's smile turns into a look of concern as he gets an uneasy feeling especially after realizing why Bolkin & Telperion are holding on the door.

"Aw cripes, Drosk! Telp! Methinks the arrows pointin' out around the room 'n this door bein' one way is enough to tell me that if ye get in ye'll get peppered by those arrows while being trapped like a rat in a cage!"

"Dontcha be takin' another step, Telp 'til yer sure ye can disable it or somethin'!"

Garik's developing care for the group and the tragic experience he suffered with his father clearly manifested in his present growing overwariness in the crypt.

Raven: it's supporting the domed ceiling. That's a detail I managed to forget.

Telperion's stroll about the room reveals little he could not see, and Drosk's careful observation from the doorway reveals little more than that it is a marvelous piece of architecture.

As he approaches the bridge, Telperion's keen ears, focused senses, and Garik's yelled warning all come together as he hears the grinding of gears and a ticking noise as the teeth slide start to slide past each other. In the split second before the air fills with arrows, Telperion realizes the door itself was likely the trigger - intending to lock any intruder who passed through it inside with the spinning pillar of death.

Oh, lord.

Telperion has no physical trouble as two arrows go wide around him, luck smiling on him for the moment.

Drosk and Bolkin, looking in the door, are not so lucky. Bolkin is struck in the gut by an arrow that promptly bounces off, but leaves a stinging pain that sees the fighter stumble back a step, winded

Bolkin takes 10 non-lethal damage, which leaves him staggered.

Drosk turns to his ailing companion, but is distracted by the sudden ringing noise in his ears and his doubled vision as an arrow strikes his helmet. After a moment the dwarf keels over, out cold.

A couple of more arrows come in through the door, clattering against the walls but doing little more than startling Garik and Raven.

Drosk takes 11 non-lethal damage, which knocks him out.

As I understand the rules for non-lethal damage, Drosk takes 9 non-lethal, two damage spills over into lethal damage leaving him with 7 current HP and 9 non-lethal damage; it will take him two hours to naturally recover to 7 HP / 7 non-lethal at which point he will awaken but be staggered.

Between cover provided by Bolkin and the doorway, only people who are actually 'in' (or partially in) the room are actually subject to attacks by the trap.

This is also a fine time to note that Roldare gave the party two potions of cure light wounds

I won't sweat initiative here - Bolkin is still holding the door open and even if he wasn't, Drosk's unconscious body is propping it open.

Wow, three critical threats in a row (two of which confirmed). The dice really aren't kind to us, are they?

10/13 HP, 10 nonlethal

Bolkin turned somewhat pale at Garik's warning, and then even paler as a thud against his chain shirt knocked the wind out of him. He began to curse his luck, but suddenly felt a little better about his day as Drosk next to him was knocked out cold. As the cleric fell to the ground in a clatter and a thud, Bolkin noticed the second arrow sail harmlessly over Drosk's head. Getting an idea, he quickly dropped to the ground, propping his body up best he could to keep the door from shutting.

"Telperion! We're getting out of here now!" he shouted at the elf as he covered himself best he could while allowing room to pass through the door.

Bolkin drops prone as a free action and uses total defense for good measure.

Garik felt his heart sink as his paranoid warning came somewhat true. Though the dwarf could not help amidst the tragedy but admire how incredibly graceful or how inexplicably lucky Telperion was to evade the ensuing rain of arrows!

The dwarf saw Drosk took an arrow to the head which was luckily blunted by his friend's helmet though it was strong enough to drop the dwarf cleric cold.

Bolkin remained standing after taking an arrow in the gut which like Drosk's arrow also luckily got blunted by the town guard's armor.

"Listen ta Bolkin, Telp! Yer a rat in a cage there! Let's be goin' away from here fast! Now!"

Turning his gaze to Bolkin who's still valiantly holding on the door for the elf still in the room, Garik started to drag Drosk's unconscious body back towards the mural room.

"Bless ye, Bolkin! But just hang in der fer a wee bit longer fer Telp and Drosk! Be draggin' me friend here to safety."

Drosk is just going to lie down here and rest for a while... he may even start snoring in a little bit...

Telperion sighed in exasperation as Garik and Bolkin called for him to retreat.
"But we don't know what's in here yet!" he whined irritably, moving back to, and through, the door. He looked longingly over his shoulder at the unexplored room and unexamined trap.

Calming down slightly as he noticed Drosk's immobile form, he mused out loud. "The arrows might have been blunted by the villagers for safety."

As Garik pulled the other dwarf back into the hall, he added "Or, rather, relative safety."

Garik drags Drosk perhaps about a half dozen feet back down the hall in an adrenaline-fueled series of heaves. Telperion moves past Bolkin's prone form, his glance back being punctuated by an arrow striking the edge of the doorframe.

Bolkin shimmies back himself, letting the door close and leaving the still-ticking trap to its own devices.

An examination of the arrow that flew past Drosk reveals that Telperion's guess is true - the tip is blunted, painful to be sure, but thankfully non-lethal.

Heh, gotta love circular death-rooms.

Garik sighs a thankful relief after he hears the door closes and mutes the dreadful sound of the still ticking flying-arrows-filled circular room.

The dwarf barbarian glances at some of the scattered arrows that went through the mural room and as Telperion correctly deducts, they are indeed blunted.

"Bah! Gotta love this town to go all the trouble keeping us safe as it were! But I hope Drosk wakes up alright, a noggin' hit that knocks ye out is always nastier than the hit itself from what I hear."

Then the young barbarian realizes that his panic-driven dragging of Drosk's seemingly blissful slumbering body took him and the cleric quite a long ways from the one-way door and deep inside into the mural room. He sheepishly smiles.

Then he also hears Telperion's surprisingly indignant retort despite the obvious danger the elf had just narrowly escaped.

An image of the elf running around the circular room with all those flying arrows however blunted comes into Garik's mind unbidden. And hearing Drosk now snoring beside him, Garik bursts out in a relief-filled laughter!

"Ah! Torag bless us, indeed!"

Bolkin walked up to the others after making the the door was completely shut, though having been knocked silly seemed to impact his ability to navigate a straight line. "Well, it looks like Drosk has decided that now is a good time to rest. Anyone want to follow his lead?" Glancing back at the hallway where the trap room lay in wait on the other side, he shook his head and continued, "Whatever that room's guarding, we can find out tomorrow. With the cleric out of commission, there's no telling how much of a chance we'll stand if we run into more undead."

"Well Bolkin, it's pretty clear we had tested our limits fer today."

Garik looks around the room and surmises that the mural room is big enough for the group to spend the night in.

"And am definitely calling it shuteye time! This room will do quite nicely fer sleepin'. We can lock the door yonder and that one-way door should definitely make sure we won't expect anyone comin' from there. Methinks then not to bother keepin' any watch fer tonight."

Suddenly Garik feels uneasy as he sees the mural with the disturbing scene of carnage.

"Er. . . Raven if ye still got some more to give fer the day . . . And if ye don't mind maybe ye can do that magic razzmatazz around this room just like ye did findin' that key in the pool . . . ye know just to make sure der won't be any surprises fer us tonight in this room?"

Raven was beginning to feel frustrated. Every way they went, they seemed to run into something they couldn't handle. Maybe they should just head back to town and get some people who could handle whatever's going on there.

Garik's request barely reached her. "Huh? Oh, yeah." She casts detect magic and scans the room.

Telperion was frustrated as well. He kept looking back at the door and thinking back on how the trap must have been designed. He tested various possible construction options in his head, trying to figure out how the damned thing worked (and how he missed seeing it).

He was only distracted from this by Raven's magical scan of the room. How does she do that, I wonder? he thought to himself. He'd read about sorcerers, but never had a chance to observe one up close. He watched her move around the room, watching her movements, facial expressions and hand gestures closely.

Raven's careful study of the room reveals no magic - and with the doors as they are, it seems as likely a place to seek respite as any.

As Telperion ponders the trap and then watches Raven about the room, the group hears the sudden hail of arrows end about a minute after it had begun. The sound of the pillar itself rotating and the gears continues for a few moments longer before too fading off into silence.

Well, if ya'll are hunkering down for the night, go ahead and roleplay it out. Drosk wakes up in two hours time, but apart from that your rest will go uninterrupted. You should be good for rations and sleeping gear, and then let me know where you're headed next.

To recap, there's a hallway near the shadow, another locked door (well within Telperion's capacity to open) in the pool room adjacent to your current location, and a hallway running south from the room with the arrow trap should you wish to brave it again. I'll try to get the map updated tomorrow.

"Well, I'd like to know how the other two are holding," Bolkin commented as he began to prop up his backpack against the door to provide some resistance and possibly make a little noise should something try to open it. "But I'm not going to go alone to check on them, and Drosk is a more pressing matter right now. They're probably fine anyway, assuming that ghost can't go pay them a visit."

Glancing around the room, it didn't take long for Bolkin to decide that there was no comfortable place to sleep in this crypt, and set out to make do with one of the walls near the northern door. If something were to interrupt their sleep, it would likely be from that direction and he was probably the best-equipped for a rude awakening at the moment.

Raven shrugged. As she suspected, "Nothing magical in here."

She hears the arrows stop and turns to Telperion. "Do you think it resets? Surely not. Where would it get arrows from? Unless it's magical, and conjures them... but then they couldn't have reloaded it with the blunted arrows. Not the... 'mundane' townsfolk that came out here. That would've needed a spellcaster."

"I can take the first watch. I think I'll be up for a little while, anyway."

After a couple of hours Drosk awakens with a groan. "Blast it all, Garik! Stop that hammerin' on th' forge - me head's fair to ringin' with all that racket," the dwarf priest complains blearily, then stops as he looks around and remembers where he is. "Wait a minute... Last I remember Telp was in that pillar room and arrows started flyin'. Is everyone okay?"

During the rest period Drosk will attempt to provide long-term care (Heal DC 15) to Garik to restore 2 points of the Strength damage he suffered instead of the 1 point that would normally be restored with 8 hours rest. Bolkin's Strength damage should be healed after one 8-hour rest period.
Long-term Care Heal Check for Garik: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11
EDIT: Oh well, I tried! Garik will only recover 1 point of the Strength damage during this rest period.

Before turning in for the evening Drosk will also burn a couple of his remaining Channel Energy uses for the day to heal any remaining wounds the party members may be suffering.
Channel Energy (Healing): 1d6 ⇒ 1 hp healed
Channel Energy (Healing): 1d6 ⇒ 6 hp healed

Remember, the way Pathfinder handles ability damage, you take a -1 penalty per two points of damage - so in effect, Garik is now taking a -1 penalty to his STR based rolls.

I'll put a proper post up in the morning.

After Raven finished checking up the room and finding nothing magical in it, Garik gently placed Drosk near the stone bench and then placed himself beside the sleeping cleric after removing his hide armor. Then the young barbarian promptly fell asleep.

Garik woke up a bit from Drosk's sudden dream-induced groan about him making a noise.

"Ye had your bit sleepin' already, my friend!", Garik sleepily retorted."We're all ok, let's go back ta slumberin'". The barbarian vaguely remembers the cleric administer some healing and fussing over everyone's wounds and sores as he let his exhausted body enjoy a good night's sleep.

"Surely yer father's mighty proud of ye, Drosk . . . surely, indeed..." Garik mumbles as he drifted off to sleep again.

The night passes uneventfully, slumber unmolested and the duration of each watch punctuated only by snores and the occasional unidentified night-noise.

With the arrival of morning comes a brief respite as morning rituals are tended to, and the chance to discuss the party's next move.

Drosk finishes his morning prayers and checks on his companions.

"First thing we should probably do is check on Grukk and Roldare - let 'em know we made it through th' night okay," Drosk suggests to his companions. "From there we could check out those stairs and hallway headin' out o' th' beetle's room - they seemed to lead back over toward this side o' th' Crypt. There's gotta be a stairway leadin' down to th' lower level somewhere around here."

The first thing Bolkin noticed as he woke up was that most of the aches, burns and sore muscles he felt the previous night were gone. He still felt a little stiff from his less-than-comfortable sleeping arrangements, but a few quick stretches sorted that out. He figured Drosk had done something while he was asleep, so he thought at the very least to cast a knowing nod of appreciation toward the Cleric before making sure all his things were accounted for.

Then came planning. He had no strong objections to Drosk's plan, but he felt the need to interject. "Well, I'm more interested in what that arrow trap was guarding, myself." He thought a bit before continuing. "I suppose all that stuff you mentioned would be more pressing right now. That is, of course, provided we actually do find the way down over there, but I think we've established that none of us thought to bring a map of this place. Let's just remember this hallway, it may yet be worth our time."

Bolkin will reluctantly side with Drosk, though he insists that at some point he wants to finish exploring this side of the crypt.

Telperion felt Drosk's plan was most reasonable, but he was glad Bolkin mentioned going back to the arrow trap. He looked longingly at the triggering door one last time before preparing to take point as they went to check on Grukk and Roldare.

Enjoying an uninterrupted sleep seems to leave Garik still a bit weakened from the shadow's attack yesterday.

"Thanks Drosk fer yer mendin' last night. Though I might be needin' some more time to shake off that blasted ghost's touch yesterday. Me body's still feel a bit like a knife needin' some more poundin' in a forge!"

The dwarf barbarion dons his hide armor and takes out only his morningstar.

"Well let's check on the two then."

The group makes their way across the crypt unmolested, and it seems that no denizens have been prowling in the night.

A couple of knocks on the door are met by rustling and grumbling and not much else. After another couple of knocks, someone gets up and slides something out from in front of the door, opening it to reveal Grukk's drooping face.

"So you didn't get eat," he remarks groggily. He opens the door wider and returns to sit cross-legged on his bedroll. Roldare lies across the room, snoring lightly. "Took a bit for him to nod off," Grukk says. "Worried about his sister." He holds up a mostly-empty bottle and shrugs. "Didn't hear anything in the night, almost makes you wonder if yesterday happened."

"Let's head down those stairs near the ghost's room" Telperion suggested, after Grukk brought up the subject of Roldare's sister. He was anxious to move on.

"So you didn't get eat," he remarks groggily. He opens the door wider and returns to sit cross-legged on his bedroll. Roldare lies across the room, snoring lightly. "Took a bit for him to nod off," Grukk says. "Worried about his sister." He holds up a mostly-empty bottle and shrugs. "Didn't hear anything in the night, almost makes you wonder if yesterday happened."

"Nah, but Raven took a bath in that fountain ye found, an' Telp found a right interestin' trap that fired a lot o' blunted arrows - or so I'm told," Drosk informs Grukk while rubbing a dent in his helmet that wasn't there the day before and then lowers his voice as he continues. "Plus another poor soul from town who'd been killed in a fire pit - I think it was th' woodcutter Roldare mentioned. His spirit rose as some kind of shadow and stole some o' Garik an' Bolkin's strength. Didn't seem to be able to move beyond the room where he died though. We'll have to see about puttin' his soul to rest after we rescue Dmira."

"Glad to see th' two o' ye are alright. We're off to see if we can find th' way down to th' lower level. Are you alright stayin' here with Roldare?"

Sorry for being so lax in posting, I've spend the last week moving, having internet problems, and generally being very busy.

"They look like they've been holding well," Bolkin responded in an assurance to Drosk, a rather unconcerned look on his face, "and it seems we've done a good job cleaning this part of the crypt, traps and puzzles excepted."

"Does seem like we've got an ever-growing to-do list here," he commented on Drosk's other remark about the shadow and Roldare's sister. "If the dead or the other nasties here don't kill us first, here's hoping we don't get so sidetracked as to die of old age instead."

Getting the best glance he could further into the crypt, Bolkin offered to take point if Garik still felt weak from the previous night's events. Otherwise, he would take his place behind the dwarf as usual.

Telperion kept his eye on the hallway towards the beetle's room, already feeling nervous about the door to the south. A "shadow" Drosk called it. Not a ghost.
"Appropriate name", he said out loud to himself.

As Drosk retells the events yesterday to Grukk and Roldare especially concerning the ghost they encountered, Garik only realizes that they fought the spirit of the the charred villager. The dawrf barbarian thought all along that the shadow/ghost was the one who dealt the villager its charred fate.

Well Drosk does know his letters indeed in clerical things methinks.

"Well yeah, Bolkin. Ye better take me place first in our line, am still bit under the weather despite Drosk's healin'"

"Ok, Telp! Lead on! To the crypt's dungeon we go then!"

I apologize for the delay; put stuff off until the weekend was done and then Monday kicked my, well, everything.

Grukk laughs at Drosk's question. "Sounds like this is the safest place in the dungeon. I'm fine here; just don't go getting yourselves killed." With the check-up done, he closes the door and the sound of something being dragged across the floor indicates he's re-barricaded it.

Taking Telperion's cue, the group heads to the stairs in the beetle's room. Heading single-file down it, they quickly find it heads back up to the other side of the dungeon.

This chamber's ceiling is a good deal higher than the rest, and the south side has a lowered floor, stairs leading down to it. In the center of the wall, next to another door, is a large wooden statue of Kassen, holding two enormous wooden shields in each hand. The left is inscribed 'Family', and the other 'Home'.

There is another door on the north wall as well.

Note that the statue is itself size Large, so the four Sts are all the same object.

--

The map is updated.

Rooms 11 and 9 are explained in detail here, since the map is a bit weird.

--

Raven discreetly casts detect magic and scans the room for any auras.

Telperion kept one suspicious eye on the statue as he watched Raven use her spell.

If she finds nothing, Telperion will examine the room, then the statue
Perception in room: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14
Perception on statue: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18
+1 to both if traps are involved

The huge wooden statue took Garik's breath away. Though, the young dwarf barbarian's expertise focuses on things made of metal, he couldn't help but be impressed. He had always thought that even if his interest had gone into carving wood, he wouldn't be able to excel in it as he surmised that if he makes mistakes while carving the wood, he could not melt it and re-do everything again as what he does with metals in the forge.

Garik's reverie turns to cautious mien again when he realizes that they are still in the crypt, a haunted crypt it would seem since they arrived. And so he looks warily again at the huge wooden Kassen, gripping tightly his morningstar poised to strike just in case the statue inexplicably becomes hostile.

Perception check on statue: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19

"Well, do we check out th' other door over there to th' north? Or check out that one down there by th' statue?" Drosk asks his companions.

Bolkin glared cautiously at the statue like everyone else. He determined that it was possible that it was more than just a simple decoration. Just to be sure, he pulled out his book and started drawing the best imitation he could of the statues (which is to say, barely adequate for others to guess that it was supposed to be a man with two shields), especially the two shields, in case it became relevant later.

As he drew, he considered Drosk's question. Not bothering to lift his eyes or his pen from the page, he simply muttered loud enough for everyone to hear, "Well, as sure as I am that the south door will only lead to more traps or incredibly silly puzzles, I'll cast my vote for north."

Kassen remains standing, his stony (if wooden) stare barely peeking over the ledge to the raised area the party stands on.

Raven scans the room, detecting no unexpected magic. Telperion makes his way around the room, checking the door to the north as the party agrees to it. Hearing nothing beyond, he pushes it open to reveal a long hallway that, after a moment's thought, he reckons ends in the chamber with the fountain. The hallway is flanked with small nooks that each hold a statue of Kassen, each holding a longsword.

The elf's keen eyes note that about half of the swords - the ones on the far side - have leather wrapped around them.

With that cleared up, Telperion starts down the stairs, stumbling at one point, but keeping his gaze intent on the statue. As he hits the landing at the bottom, he's briefly startled as he thinks he sees the statue move. After reassuring himself it was just a trick of the eye, he steps forward and notices two things - underneath the wooden figure is a pressure plate, and it's currently stepping off the pressure plate.

The rest of the group catches sight of the suddenly-animate statue and prepares to engage.

Surprise Round - remember, only a move or standard action
>20 - Garik
17 - Telperion
13 - STATUE
12 - Raven
09 - Bolkin
02 - Drosk

As the woodn statue of Kassen becomes animated, Garik could not help but gives out a sigh as he swings his morningstar towards the threat.

"Well I guess we shouldn't be surprised of things coming alive here in this crypt! Torag guide us then!"

If Garik's near enough already, he'll attack the animated statue right away

Morningstar: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11
Damage roll: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

If not, he'll move towards the statue and attack the next round

Knowledge Arcana: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20

As the statue began to move Telperion's mind leapt into action. He took in the pressure plate beneath the statue.
"Don't come down the stairs! he shrieked in an excited voice. "No magic, but fire! Fire! he added, as he scrambled back away from the statue.

Move back up the stairs to the upper level!

Sorry that the map was less than helpful - either I spaced on updating it or it didn't save. Should be good now. This is also a quickie since I had a power blink and I'm typing it as I get ready for a Sunday game.

If Garik wants to revise his action based on Telperion's warning, I'll let him. Otherwise I'll assume he made it to the bottom of the stairs ready to engage next round.

The statue steps after Telperion, the elf nearly jumping up the stairs as they begin to fold over, effectively turning into a 45 degree slide. Unable to reach the intruders, the statues stands impassively.

Know: arcane 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14

Near the back of the group, Raven wasn't quite sure what was going on, but she heard Telperion's instruction and knew she'd be most useful by lighting the torches in her backpack. She pulled out the torches and began lighting one. She'll use the first lit one to light the other two.

This is what Raven will do the first few rounds, if we're in combat. Let me know if it'll take 3 or 4 rounds. If anyone wants one, she'll hand them one, otherwise, she'll distribute them when they're lit.

"Well," Bolkin noted as he watched the statue stop at the stairs, "it looks like we're good for now. Let's just torch it and be on our way."

That said, Bolkin refused to let his guard drop just yet. Keeping his flail drawn, he moved to get a better view of the north hallway, in case something was planning to attack them from behind.

Bolkin will move to C-20 while Raven's busy lighting torches.

Drosk voices a quick prayer to Torag requesting the Forgefather's holy guidance.

Standard action to cast Guidance on self.

Telperion shifted his weight from foot to foot. He felt it would be a shame to burn the amazing wooden construct, but was also curious to see what that would look like. Calming down, he sighed.

"Well, I suppose it'd be bad form to burn the thing completely. It seems there should be a way to bypass the thing so the village wouldn't have to build a new one every year. At the very least, maybe we can bypass this room and still reach whatever is on the other side of that door from another direction."

He started looking around the lower part of the room again, searching for clues.
Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15

So is the plan to run down there and start beating it with the torches? Just checking.

Raven begins lighting torches, while Telperion uses his lofty vantage point to see if he can determine anything else. The statue mills about the bottom of the staircase, seemingly attempting to engage Garik, who stopped short of the stiars to allow Telperion to get back up. As the elf paces the ledge, he catches sight of the statue's back - where he can plainly make out a keyhole. Whether or not the group posses the proper key isn't known - but there is obviously a solution to this other than burning the thing down.

As he continues to observe the construct, Telperion realizes it is actually grasping the shields, the items not actually being part of its construction.

"It has a keyhole in its back! That makes sense. I wonder if it takes either the key we found in the shadow's room, or the one Raven pulled from the pool."

He drew out the key from the shadow's room and held it up between himself and the trundling statue, trying to gauge a fit. Then he practiced a few lunges and jabs, trying to see what kind of maneuver might be needed to put the key in without getting pummeled by the statue.

"And it's holding those shields. I guess the elders chose those instead of weapons, so we'd be less likely to get hurt? Maybe it'll just be defending itself?

"It's still big, though, so it'll probably pack a good punch still. And those arrows from that trap last night did enough damage, blunted as they were. We've wasted enough time, if we're really trying to save that kid. If we have some oil, we can douse him and throw a torch at him from here to set him alight, and get past him without taking any damage."

I think there was oil in the saddlebags of the horses outside, but I don't know if anyone grabbed any of it. Where were the statues with the swords wrapped in leather? Those swords sounded like they may have been baby-proofed for us, as well. I figured those ones were going to come to life.

"Well, Raven," Bolkin exclaimed with more than a hint of excitement in his voice, "if this thing's challenging us to reach the keyhole, I for one am ready to take it up. If it intends to swing those shields at us, I can see to fixing that!"

If we decide to go for the keyhole, Bolkin will be more than glad to go down there and disarm it. It might take a couple rounds depending on his luck, but his disarm bonus is nothing to sneeze at.

"Well lad, if ye're gonna try to disarm that there statue, let me give ye a bit o' th' Forgefather's blessin' before ye do," Drosk says to Bolkin.

The dwarf priest intones a brief prayer and the hammer-shaped birthmark on his cheek glows with a holy radiance as he touches Bolkin's shoulder, granting the guardsman a touch of divine guidance. Cast Guidance on Bolkin: +1 competence bonus to one attack roll, saving throw, or skill check made within the next 10 rounds.