AS above, you see faded murals on the walls, signs of past exploration, and an empty plinth where a statue once stood (obviously taken at some point in the far past).
Light streams into the room from the passage to the east and you can here faint sounds of the ocean.
The secret door looks to be of clever design. It appears that it was undiscovered for a very long time until the Tower Girls opened it from inside the Crow.
Other explorers must have scaled the outside of the monument in order to reach this chamber, high above the sea.
Olander holds a rope for Nocki, not being an expert himself, and waits for a clear roped path to proceed.
Sandu takes some time to put on the Climbing harness. Wishing likely for not the last time he had a ring of feather fall.
A ledge festooned with old bird nests looks out over a shaft dropping nearly two hundred feet to sea level below. A large coil of rope sits on the ground near the shaft, one end anchored to a large piton driven into a crack near the wall. Opposite the shaft is another ledge with a window looking out over Magnimar’s harbor. The ceiling is a mere ten feet above, and crisscrossed by a complex tangle of stone arches that support the roof. Between the two ledges, a five-foot-square wooden platform hangs from four thick ropes that hang from the stone arches. The platform is further anchored by two thick ropes to spikes hammered into the walls near the edge of the western ledge, while another pair of ropes hang from the ceiling above, anchored to a hook driven into the wall near the same ledge.
You can see the boats below that you found when you first arrived.
Nocki, make an Acrobatics check to hop onto the platform.
"Guide Nicki's feet"
Nocki trips on his own feet trying to hop over to the suspended platform!
He falls, scrabbling for a hand-hold before he plummets to his death!
Bear's eyes widen to comic proportions and he makes weird panicked Koala noises!
Sandu and Olander can make a reflex save to grab Nocki before he slips over the edge!
Olander grabs ahold of Nocki’s rope as he falls and expertly twists it, hoping he can guide the falling dwarf onto the platform.
Olander grabs Nocki by the shoulder before he can slip away!
Bear comes scrambling up, off Nocki's back, to climb up Olander's arm in his own bid to escape death.
The combination of Olander and the rest of the party manage to pull the burly dwarf back up onto the ledge.
The hanging platform still awaits you across the short leap from the ledge.
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Nocki thanks Olander and says "Well, that was an unlucky start. I think I can make it this time!" He goes on to try again. Bear stays down on Olander's shoulder watching.
Once on the top, Nocki secures himself with the secondstory harness and secures his grappling hook somewhere safe. Afterwards, he ties himself on the rope coming down from his grappling hook, so as not to fall again. Then, he attempts another jump.
Nocki makes the leap to the swinging platform easily this time.
Looking up, he can see up in the stone arches a cleverly fashioned trap door that has been spiked open with a piton.
A rope descends from the trap door.
It is easy to believe that this hidden trapdoor has gone a millennia without being discovered. It must have taken a madman or madwomen to climb up into these heights and search for it.
Using a rope and a little caution, everyone else makes the hop over onto the swinging platform.
Bear makes a weird keening Koala cry of panic at the swaying motion of the hanging platform, but that's the worst that happens.
Nocki climbs up the rope to the secret hatch in the top of the arch.
He finds a 5 foot wide passage leading south (marked with dashed white lines on the map) that then drops down into another hallway that leads to a room.
The walls along this short passage bear murals showing strangely dressed Thassilonian priests placing bodies into crypts. Several niches in the walls may have once been burial crypts themselves, but today, the hall is strewn with bones and the niches lay empty.
"That-that was a close call, Nocki. A long-long drop down there, thankfully we managed to pull you back in-in. Maybe I should learn the climb-stick extract, yes-yes? Make this kind of thing a non issue."
Mikkitar smiles a wide ratty grin as if he actually helped save the dwarf.
(-1 if its within 20 min of the fight against the wererat)
Olander briefly sketches murals details, noting the strange priests, before continuing on.
Sandu takes in the murals, relishing the moment of calm in this dangerous place.
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Nocki notes "Look here! Are these trails coming from the alcoves? It seems these skeletons... fought... whoever's been here before us. They're all busted up!" He walks forward, shield and warhammer in hand. "This necromancy thing is not a good sign.", he says as if the more magically adept people in the group were able to immediately deal with this.
"Undead monsters walk-walk and got all smashed up, yes-yes. If we come across more bone-skeletons, I can burn them good-good. Only three more bombs left today-today, but I have fire-flame flasks, and some acid-jars, too."
"Yes-yes, smoke will not help with no-lung undead, I think-think. Glue-bag might be of more value to stick-glue them in place."
Olander sighs, My sword won't do much good against skeletons.
The corridor continues west past the empty crypt alcoves and appears to open up into a room.
Nocki leads the group into the dusty old room at the end of the corridor.
As he walks into the room, he trips over a length of twine strung low across the doorway. A bell rings in the northeast corner of the room.
He hears the sound of footsteps running away from the doorway to the north!
"Well-well, at least it wasn't a rigged crossbow or pot of poison-venom. They know we're here, thats for sure-sure."
Mikkitar checks his crossbow and strains to hear any more details from the area of the footsteps.
Olander pulls his sword, I doubt those raising the alarm would be undead. At least I'll be fighting those with flesh.
" Perhaps we should find some cover rather than waiting here?" Olander suggests.
The sound of footsteps faded and no one hears anything more from the northern passage.
"Should we chase them? Oh, maybe this is the way out." The Cleric looks to Nicki for direction.
The runner was out sight before Nocki got a view of the corridor.
Nocki walks quietly into the next room where he had heard the footsteps.
A hooded lantern sits on the lip of a fountain in the west wall. A tinkling rill of water runs from a demon-shaped mouth on the wall into the fountain. A bedroll and several bags of rations sit on the floor just to the north of the fountain.
Just to the north of the fountain, Nocki sees a figure wrapped in blankets, seemingly asleep on a rough collection of bedrolls.
They're either dead or sleep like it...
Mikkitar levels his crossbow at the figure, ready to pop it if it moves.
The figure on the floor rolls over. She looks up, blinking sleep out of her eyes.
Confused, she raises her open hands and says "Wait ... what ... who are you and what happened to Tellavee?"
"What-what is a Tellavee? We are here to look for something, and several of-of the people here have been less-less than friendly. Please make no sudden-quick moves or I will shoot you."
Sandu holds his crossbow, but he is not pointing it at anyone. "Lets not have any more bloodshed. I think we may have spooked Tellavee, can you call her back and we can all make peace."
The woman curses, spits, and says "Just like that b$%!# to run off and leave me at the first sign of trouble...."
"Well...." she starts.
"What happens to me after I tell you what I know?"
"What's it worth to you?"