Matt's Crypt of the Everflame (Inactive)

Game Master into the aether

"Oh yes! I would love to see your wand!"

"Very well then." Angoldir flicks his wrist and begins tapping himself gently with the wand.

Cure Light Wounds: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

His wounds tended to, Angoldir pockets the wand and turns to the bodies on the floor. "Now then, were these killed by the skeletons we just fought? Were they what killed the horses outside as well?"

Qadar watches their surroundings as Angoldir heals himself, then blesses him (with guidance) as he investigates the bodies.

Qadar Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (19) + 9 = 28
Heal: 1d20 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 1 + 1 = 18

The two bodies are badly mauled, with wounds that came from skeletons’ claws.

What’s next for the Pathfinders?

Ja'ali moves over to meet with Bhenqai and kneels to examine the bodies.

”Ukuntwela kokusa kuletha ukukhanya okusha, imiphefumulo enganelisekile.”

Suddenly a thought occurs to Ja'ali and he swiftly stands up.

"Wait. Angoldir, weren't we supposed to be the only ones to come here from Kassen?"

Psamtic hesitates as she reaches for the door, "If we're counting my father bringing me graverobbing...umm...disregard that...VISITING an old pharaoh's tomb, I've been in 4. 3 of them belonging to my family. Now, as for the whole alone thing, I was told it was just us. But, these bodies seem fresh. I can imagine we should either make haste, so as to surprise whatever's gotten here before us, or slow and steady. I'll have you be warned though, I am NOT stealthy." Psamtic takes a moment to sniff the door in front of her. "This door smells of stag beetles. Those are bad luck. Let's check the northern door, instead."

As Psamtic walks across the battlefield, she makes sure to kick one of the skeleton skulls to the other side of the room. As she reaches the other door, she gives it a sniff as well, and her face sours.

Ja’ali is so blown away by what Psamtic is doing that he can’t even will himself to verbalize his shock and surprise.

"Very well then." Angoldir flicks his wrist and begins tapping himself gently with the wand.

"Oh. It's not really that big is it?"

knowledge (local): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20

Zoot looks the bodies over. "That's Gerol and that's Vark. They were friends of the mayor."

Angoldir retrieves the arrows and smokesticks. "That was my understanding," he says in response to Ja'ali. "What were they doing here?"

As Psamtic kicks a skull Angoldir winces. "Friend," he says, "please treat the dead with respect - if only for this old soul soon to join them." He puts his hand on his heart and bows slightly.

Angoldir is ready to proceed.

Psamtic sniffs each of the two doors for some reason known only to her. Ja'ali looks on in disbelief. Zoot registers her observatin about the size of Angoldir's wand, then identifies the two corpses as men from Kassen. Angoldir asks Ja'ali and the fellow Pathfinders in general why they might think the two recently-deceased villagers might be in this room, and then politely asks door-sniffer to stop kicking around skulls.

There are doors to the north and south. Let me know how you proceed from here.

"Well guys, both these doors smell like stag beetles. It guess we'll just have to pick one! My vote is for this door, to the north." Psamtic opens the door after everybody gets ready for it, unless somebody objects.

Ah, I forgot to mention, An echoing wail can be heard somewhere in the distance from beyond the door to the East (down on the map; I just added a direction indicator

”Person to the east.”

”I agree with Bhenqai, I say we go east.”

"Once I heard the wails, I thought that as well."

Psamtic walks back over, very exaggeratedly stepping over the skeletons while maintaining eye contact with Angoldir the whole time. Because of this, she missteps, crushing the rib cage of a different skeleton as she breaks eye contact and scurries over to the door.

"A moment please." Angoldir interrupts Psamtic. "I would like to examine this door for any surprises before we open it."

Perception, Guidance, Trapfinding, Take 20: 20 + 7 + 1 + 1 = 29

If there is a trap, he will attempt to disarm it. If the door is locked, he will attempt to unlock it.

Disable Device vs potential trap, Guidance, Trapfinding: 1d20 + 9 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 9 + 1 + 1 = 29
Disable Device vs potential lock, Guidance, Take 20: 20 + 9 + 1 = 30

Before they all barge through the door Zoot notes the elf standing there fascinated by its nob. She pauses and taps Ja'ali on his manly shoulder to get his attention. Then in a very loud whisper--so as to be heard over the frightful cries, she asks "Um, I know I am new and all, but why is your friend squinting at the door knob when someone is dying on the other side? It doesn't really seem all that 'adventury' to me. Shouldn't we be rushing about more--daring-do, and rescuing fair damsels and such? I mean, doesn't all the tortured screaming distract him a bit?"

perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26

She opens the door around the elf if it seems safe to do so, and shines her lantern in.

”I stopped questioning things after the stag beetles.”

The Pathfinders agree to go east, toward the sound of wailing. Angoldir begins meticulously checking the door for anything amiss. Zoot questions the need for such thoroughness when screams can be heard beyond, takes a quick look at the door and decides it is safe, and opens it.

The chamber beyond contains a maze of pillars that obscure the far side of the room. Next to the door is a pile of empty saddlebags and three brooms.

What’s next for the Pathfinders?

*GASP!* "Do you suppose those belong to three centaur witches?"

"Unlikely, but impossible to rule out completely at this point," Angoldir replies. "Brooms are certainly an odd tool for dungeon exploration though. Perhaps Psamtic or Bhenqai would care to take the lead?"

Oh, this is one of those maps where north isn't up. No wonder I was confused about the wailing from the east.

Psamtic takes the lead. "I really do wish this was like my family's tombs. These tight spaces make me uncomfortable."

Psamtic walks down the hall, and if can determine the direction of the wailing, she walks towards it as the others follow. Making sure nobody is ever too far behind.

Bhenqai will follow Psamtic, searching and listening for anything dangerous.

Perception: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (17) + 13 = 30

Ja'ali, crossbow in hand, follows closely behind Bhenqai as well.

Zoot suggests the brooms might belong to centaur witches, but Angoldir is skeptical of that notion. Psamtic complains about the crypt’s cramped conditions, then heads off toward the sound of wailing. Bhenqai follows behind Psamtic, on alert for danger. The rest of the Pathfinders continue along as well.

As the Pathfinders advance, Bhenqai notices a switch on the wall to the south. He also notices that the floor appears to be rigged to fall away just to the North and East of Psamtic.

What’s next?

For perhaps the first time, Bhenqai speaks:

”Stop!”

The genie places a hand on Psamtic’s shoulder very forcefully.

Angoldir quietly murmurs to Qadar, "जबकि हम यह पता लगाते हैं कि यहां क्या हो रहा है, क्या आप चुपचाप उड़ेंगे और उस चिल्लाहट के स्रोत को ढूंढेंगे, फिर मेरे पास वापस आ जाएंगे?"

He then turns back to Bhenqai. "What is the matter?"

Qadar nods, then takes off into the dimness.

Stealth: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (6) + 18 = 24
Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 17

Qadar will only fly as far as he can see - he has low-light vision, but not darkvision. If nothing else, he might determine a direction of the sound without betraying our presence early.

Ja’ali and Bhenqai go silent for a few moments before Ja’ali points north and east of Psamtic. ”It seems there are some pitfalls over there, as well as a switch over there.”

"Traps? It's just dead people. What are they hiding!?" Psamtic blurts. "I cannot disable. Anybody here capable of that?"

"If you give me a moment, I will see what I can do," Angoldir replies. He first studies the switch and the floor pieces to try to deduct what the lever's purpose is.

Perception, Trapfinding, Absent familiar: 1d20 + 7 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (9) + 7 + 1 - 2 = 15
Knowledge (engineering), Inspiration: 1d20 + 8 + 1d6 ⇒ (1) + 8 + (1) = 10

If the switch does not appear to disarm the trap, he will try to do it manually.

Disable Device, Trapfinding: 1d20 + 9 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 9 + 1 = 16

The little bird goes exploring. (with low-light vision he can effectively see this entire room. Based on his perception bonus he finds … a number of interesting things.) When Qadar returns, he reports seeing a door to the southwest where the wailing seems to be coming from, several more pit traps, and two more switches (all shown now on the map).

Angoldir meanwhile inspects one of the pit traps. It’s a relatively simple mechanical trap; the floor simply falls away when stepped on. I don’t see that knowledge engineering does anything regarding traps as written; do you have any info otherwise? He attempts to disable the mechanism but is unsuccessful.

What do you all do now?

Knowledge (engineering) was to try to see if the switches activated/disarmed/armed the traps. Wasn't sure if it was a Perception or Knowledge check, so I rolled both.

Angoldir continues to disable the mechanism triggering the collapsible floor.

"Qadar says the wailing's coming from the other side of that door," he tells his companions as he works.

Ahhh, I get what you were trying to do now. There's no correlation between the switch and traps as far as you can tell.

Angoldir disables the two nearby pit traps. I'll keep your third roll for a success on your next attempt as well.

What's next?

Psamtic, curiosity getting the best of her, walks down the hallway and pulls the lever before skipping away (as well as one can skip in heavy armor) to the west. She stops when she sees the door, points it out to everyone and sniffs it. "Not only are the screams coming from this way, but this door has no smell. We should be cautious!"

Ja'ali and Bhenqai move up with Psamtic.

Smack her

Bhenqai complies, slapping Psamtic over the head.

"Stop. Smelling. The doors!"

"Qadar says the wailing's coming from the other side of that door," he tells his companions as he works.

"So can we go?"

"The path forward should be safe, but caution is still advised," Angoldir advises as he finishes working. "I too would like to investigate the source of that sound."

"Right." Zoot calls back to the elf while skipping ahead to join the others.

Arriving behind the others at the next door she asks. "Should I have brought Angoldir to stare at the door knob? OH! IS THIS A 'DOOR DRILL!'" Zoot says in a flutter of excitement.

Psamtic sniffs the only door leading out of this room. (definitely the last time I narrate that.) Ja’ali and Bhenqai follow. Angoldir and Zoot agree investigating source of the wailing should be the Pathfinders’ next course of action.

When one of the Pathfinders tries the door, it seems to be locked.

What do you do?

"It's locked." says Zoot in case anyone missed it.

Psamtic clears the way for Angoldir while rubbing her cheek. "You know," she says meekly, "One can tell a lot about a door by smelling it. Like, if there's a fiery beast on the other side, or if its been used lately." She grumbles incomprehensibly as the moves to the back of the group.

"If it would not bore you to watch me stare at the doorknob for a few minutes, I might be able to open it," Angoldir says as he pulls out his tools and gets to work. Qadar chirps encouragingly from his shoulder.

Disable Device, Guidance, Take 20: 20 + 9 + 1 = 30

Angoldir gets to work on the lock, taking his time. After numerous failures, at last he hears a satisfying click!. The locking mechanism is now open.

30 was exactly enough! What would you like to do now?

How's the screaming?

Steady moaning; unchanged. The door is unlocked but still closed.

"Well, nothing's come out at us. Angoldir, get over here. Psamtic, if you would do the honors of opening the door?"

Psamtic steps forward, greataxe at the ready and opens the door. "Is anybody there? We're here to help!" she says in a loud whisper.

"Try louder."