Seeing that fox is fine with sitting still by itself, kali sets it off to the side still wrapped in one of her shirts as a blanket, and joins the others, explaining what they are looking for, and where it likely can be found.
”Me people.” Bolkvar said. ”Before the Rending we had an empire here. Gone now, swallowed by the fury of Droskar’s Crag. Ruins such as this, on the outskirts, are all that remains.” He felt an intense sadness looking upon what was left of past glory. ”Let’s go in. We have a job to do. That, and I yearn to see what once was.”
"I too am interested in seeing what once was. My grandfather told me stories when I was younger. It will be good to see what the stories say and what is here now."
Oryn follows Bolkvar in approaching the ruined monastery doors.
As Oryn gets closer to the vine covered statue, he tries to recall from the stories he heard in his youth anything about the monastery entrance.
This monastery isn’t important enough or famous enough to have made it into the folklore too far afield. Looking at the statue, you see an engraving, ”All praise, ————“ but the name has been deliberately defaced.
Peering through the doors reveals more decay. Tall grasses and chunks of stone debris have all but overtaken this small yard. Off to one side, a wooden stable has collapsed into a mound of rotting timbers and moldy straw. The outer wall on the east side has also collapsed, leaving a ragged hole. Three doors exit into this yard— a pair of double doors to the east, a single door to the north, and a lone door leading into the squat tower in the southeast corner.
The map is the last slide.
"Let's check the tower first," Mathine chimes in, shifting her grip on her sword. "It's a quick area to check for surprises that could come from behind."
"Agreed. Not liking unfriendly surprises."
Oryn recalls the incident with the tallest tree and shudders.
"Okay, that sounds reasonable."
Your first attempt to open the door fails, though a bit of experimentation suggests that the door is merely swollen from moisture and stuck, not locked or barred. A few shoulder crashes and you have the door open.
Thick webs cover much of the ancient crates and barrels stored inside the base of the tower. A rickety wooden staircase ascends along one wall to reach an open trapdoor above.
"We should probably set fire to the webs, incase there are spiders hiding inside."
Rao steps forward and sends up blasts of flame into the webbings. It takes a couple of bursts to clear them all, and amidst the flaming bits of webbing falls a slightly-scorched monstrous spider.
Round 1:
Everybody but Bolkvar, Spider, Bolkvar.
The map has been updated. There are obvious access problems as Rao and Bolkvar have the doorway well blocked.
Oryn steps behind Kali and jumps to get a shot at the spider over the heads of Kali, Bolkvar and Rao.
As the blast misses, Oryn contemplates the wisdom of his action.
"There's no way I can do anything from back here."
Rao feels a coolness between his knees as Kali fires between his legs and nails the spider.
Rao easily retreats out of the tower, leaving just Mathine to go before the spider.
Mathine readies an attack for when the spider moves up, which it immediately does.
Mathine takes a small chunk out of the wooden door frame. The spider bites at the convenient dwarf in the doorway.
The spider also takes a chunk of the wooden door frame.
Everybody is up!
Kali gestures again and more cold energy ripples through the air towards the Spider.
”Bloody hell! Why’s there always got to be crawlies?” Bolkvar said, failing to gather the power needed.
With no other creatures in sight, Oryn attempts to attack the spider again despite not having a clear path.
"Trying again, hope this is more than just another wayward breeze."
Mathine and Rao left to go.
Just waiting on Mathine. Are you still with us?
Both Mathine and the spider both fail to connect with their respective targets. After her swing, she takes a step back and says, ”Everybody back up and let it come out of the tower.”
Everybody’s up.
Oryn tries to wait until the spider comes out of the tower but is impatient and fires off a shot over the heads of those still between him and the arachnid.
"Sorry Mathine, I'll try to be more patient next time."
Unable to pinpoint exactly where to cause stone spikes to form, Bolkvar instead looked around wildly...and ineffectually.
Kali fires again at the spider.
Wind and fire buffet the spider. Mathine is left before the spider.
Hoping the spider takes the bet, Mathine holds her position, her sword at the ready.
Unfortunately, Bolkvar isn’t moving so the spider can’t come out. It does manage to connect with its fangs however.
Bolkvar also needs to make a Fort save DC 14 vs its poison.
Everybody is up.
I’m sorry, I missed an earlier attack of Kali’s that hit when I was counting its damage. Rao’s scorch was the final blow, meaning Bolkvar wasn’t bitten after all and the spider is dead (well, dying, if Kali would like to save it, too).
With the spider down and the webbing burnt, you get a good look inside the tower and aren’t optimistic about finding anything interesting or valuable. The open trapdoor at the top of the stairs looks like it’s been letting rain and snow in for years, ruining many of the crates and barrels on the floor below, along with their contents.
A little searching, however, reveals one crate with a masterwork short sword that had been carefully wrapped in oiled cloth, and was mostly unblemished.
There are also the other entrances back in the grass yard.
With the tower searched and the spider dispatched, Oryn decides to check the tall grass for snakes and rodents. Poking the ground, grass and stone debris with his spear, Oryn searches the yard.
Coming back out of the tower, Kali checks on the fox while the others look around for another entrance.
”Blasted Bloody hell! That thing nearly bit me! Good shooting...Torag’s mighty beard that was a close one.”
After looking around, Bolkvar held up the Shortsword. ”Now see this? Dwarven Craft! After all this time and still as sound as the day it was made. Praise to the ancestors, this-“ Lost in his rambling, Bolkvar didn’t notice that the stairs were unsafe. Taking the lead, he began walking up them.
Bolkvar realizes halfway up that this was a bad idea, but he steps nimbly enough, putting his weight on the strongest parts, that he makes it to the top. He pokes his head out of the trap door seeing slopes roof with the tattered remains of a wooden platform. With nowhere further to go he’s about to descend again when he spots movement in the trees: two wolves are watching him from the woods.
Looking around the yard, Oryn sees nothing of interest.
”Stairs ‘ain’t safe. And the wolves be watching us. What is happening with these beasties? It isn’t natural.”
Yes you can slide rocks out of the wall to short up rotted parts of the stairs, making it safe for you to descend.
With Bolkvar scouting the remainder of the tower, Mathine stands guard at the door. Word of further strange behavior from the wolves sets her on edge, and she adjusts her grip on her shield nervously.
With nothing of interest in the yard, Oryn approaches the pair of double doors, spear ready to poke anything on the other side of the doors.
"C'mon, let's check out what's inside. I'm not seeing any mushrooms out here."
Mathine knows that there are spells like charm animal which can make wild animals behave weirdly. There are also Druid type people who can influence animals. Wild animals can also just be trained so that they aren’t technically wild anymore.
(+2 to notice unusual stonework)
As you approach the double doors, Mathine notices that the long grass has been worn down into a path, and spots a few wolf prints in the dirt going both in and out of the door way. Meanwhile, Rao notices an old well off to the side in the long grass and what seems to be the remains of a body leaning against it. Hiding inside a rotting back- pack at the base of the well are the remains of a week’s worth of trail rations, a set of thieves tools, 50 feet of silk rope, a small coinpurse with 42 gp in assorted coins, and a small blue vial containing a liquid or potion of some kind.
Kali leans down and takes a look at the deceased body.
"He was mauled and savaged by a large beast, something like a wolf but bigger."
As they approach the building, Mathine holds up a hand. "More wolf prints here. Or wolf-like, anyway. I'm not much of a woodswoman to know much more. But they're going both ways, so the wolves come and go from here...we need to be on our guard." She punctuates this with a readjustment of her shield, although she tries not to show how the weight of it is burning in her arm.
”Mayhaps a druid controls them? They don’t act right. Yer right, we need all eyes open.”