Of course. Let us examine these marks on the floor first... Yazhi?
Aita uses 'track' and signals to her companion to do the same, with scent.
[dice=Ayita tracking to examine marks]1d20+10-4
[dice=Yazhi tracks and examines marks with scent]1d20+2
[dice=Aita perceiving our path for traps, w/ Ter]1d20+16+2-4
You and Yazhi come up with little additional information. The tracks lead down the western corridor. But that is all you can tell.
You examine your path west and north for 30ft and find no traps in either direction.
I thought we had a consensus to backtrack north first to check it out before moving on to new areas. Because we have tracks showing at least one person recently passing through, Frantino will take up the rear position and rely on his darkvision to make sure no one tries to sneak up behind us.
"Should we try west and follow the tracks?" Roscoe asks. "Probably best to see who else has been here," he suggests.
Roscoe has difficulty seeing anything in the dark (he's got no light source).
Ezranadir, heartened by Ayita and Yazhi's certainty that there are no traps to the north, heads north (per his original suggestion). Frantino, too, heads north.
The hallway turns right and extends into darkness.
If Ayita hasn't moved up yet, Frantino will take the lead and proceed down the hall.
No traps are noticed by either Ayita or Frantino in the next 30+ feet of the corridor.
DERELICT ORE ELEVATOR
At the end of the hallway, Ayita and Frantino find a room. A pile of ore and a large wheel of blackened iron are all that occupy this chamber. A shaft in the floor at the east end of the room is also visible, with ancient tangles of chains hanging down into it from a complex mechanism in the ceiling above.
DERELICT ORE ELEVATOR
At the end of the hallway, Ayita and Frantino find a room. A pile of ore and a large wheel of blackened iron are all that occupy this chamber. A shaft in the floor at the east end of the room is also visible, with ancient tangles of chains hanging down into it from a complex mechanism in the ceiling above.
Roscoe casts his light cantrip on his belt buckle and joins Ayita toward the front.
This place is creepy--but amazing at the same time.
Frantino will move in and look down the shaft, then check out the mechanism and chains.
"Ezranadir, you studied this topic more than me, what do you think?"
Ezranadir also looks at the mechanism and chains as Frantino instructs.
[dice=Engineering]1d20+9
"Yes, I believe this mechanical system with these chains was used for ..... "
Both Frantino and Ezranadir deduce that 1) the wheel on the wall served to raise and lower the ore elevator that is now 2) stuck in the shaft about 30 feet below the level of the floor.
Raising the elevator needs an ad hoc repair. (Disable Device)
[Dice=perception]1d20 + 15 - 1
Uh oh! If the wheel is unjammed or if anyone attempts to manipulate the load of ore hanging below, the entire thing will collapse spectacularly! The ancient chains and fragments of metal exploding upward would be incredibly dangerous.
Frantino looks down at the suspended load of ore, trying to determine what kind of metal it could become and how deep the shaft is. If feasible, he wants to drop a small rock and count how long it takes to hit the bottom, but only if it can be dropped in such a way that it avoids hitting the chains or suspended ore.
"Intriguing a riddle as it would be to see if we could safely retrieve the ore, I don't think we have the time or carrying capacity right now. Maybe we'll be able to come back later, if the prospective profit is worth the risk. I vote that we take a quick look for secret doors or compartments then move on to follow those other tracks we saw, now that we know there is no enemy here that could attack us later."
Frantino looks down at the suspended load of ore, trying to determine what kind of metal it could become and how deep the shaft is. If feasible, he wants to drop a small rock and count how long it takes to hit the bottom, but only if it can be dropped in such a way that it avoids hitting the chains or suspended ore.
"Intriguing a riddle as it would be to see if we could safely retrieve the ore, I don't think we have the time or carrying capacity right now. Maybe we'll be able to come back later, if the prospective profit is worth the risk. I vote that we take a quick look for secret doors or compartments then move on to follow those other tracks we saw, now that we know there is no enemy here that could attack us later."
[dice=Perception for hidden doors]1d20 + 15 - 1
Frantino doesn't find any hidden doors or compartments.
There appears to be a variety of ore bits lying about. If you examine closely and do some comparing, you note that there is more mithral ore than anything else.
"Most of this ore is mithral. It might be pretty worthwhile to collect it. Would make for some good armor. It does weight significantly less than any other ore and worth more"
Without raising the ore elevator it is hard to estimate how much. All you can tell from looking down is "lots."
"Zis seems like a profitable and prudent idea, yes?"
Nasir moves back.
Uh oh! If the wheel is unjammed or if anyone attempts to manipulate the load of ore hanging below, the entire thing will collapse spectacularly! The ancient chains and fragments of metal exploding upward would be incredibly dangerous.
"Even if we unjam the wheel, I fear that the entire ancient device will still explosively fail when we try to raise it. The ore is only about 30' away, what if we use our mage hand spells again to bring up as many of the smaller chunks of ore as we can? Perhaps taking a hundred pounds of ore out of the device will make it safer to fix? We'll need to remove them in a way that the elevator maintains its precarious balance, taking too much from one side could cause it to tilt and fail. Another option is to stand back, use mage hand on various levers to simulate an attempt to activate the device until we safely trigger its collapse, and then climb down to collect the ore in the bag of holding, as long as it doesn't seem to be unreasonably far. Can we drop a rock with light on it to estimate how deep it is? How many lengths of rope are left between us?"
The shaft is 90ft deep. Frantino is unsure if the device is unrepairable or...
Frantino guesses that there is 100lbs of ore on the elevator.
She can float down to the stuck elevator, but cannot move past it safely.
Can someone magic little bits of loose ore up, without it collapsing?
|
Ayita studies the chains and mechanism carefully.
What if I tie a rope around the chain, maybe I could break dislodge it near that point there... everyone gets out of the room and around the corner perhaps... My rope is 50 feet or so. I start running, yank the rope, keep running... either it all collapses and we are well away or nothing happens and we try again.
Something in Roscoe's mind whispers to him that he could do this--that ancient magic would guide his hands.
"I'm gonna try it," he says, the spirit lusting after the treasure.
"That's too much to leave behind."
Not sure if it can be disabled and avoid disaster, Frantino steps back but does not stop Roscoe. He's got that look in his eyes again...
Roscoe succumbs to the temptation of the valuable mithral ore, fiddling with the elevator mechanism.
Suddenly, the entire elevator, chains, wheel and all rip apart! The elevator (and ore) crashes down the shaft, while bits of chain and elevator mechanism fly up out of the shaft, hitting Roscoe full on!
When the dust settles, Roscoe is down, bleeding. Bit of chain and shards of ancient steel lie all about the room. Dust billows up from the elevator shaft. After it settles, the pile of mithral ore can be seen at the bottom of the shaft.
|
Ezranadir comes forward waving at the dust to clear it. "Well, I guess we now know it was not too safe to mess with it. Perhaps Ayita can now fly down on her carpet with a bag of holding and collect the ore. With the amount down there I could probably make 100 mithral chain shirts... Oh, Doc, Roscoe may need a bit of healing assistance. Thank you for trying, Roscoe." He looks down the shaft and back at Ayita.
Battered and bruised, Roscoe emerges from the dust and rubble.
"Did--did I do it?" he asks, dazed and a bit stunned.
Hatfield moves up with the wand of clw
Frantino considers using the ring of feather fall to help Ayita but climbing back up would be difficult. Instead, he'll go back to the bend in the hallway and keep watch to the south in case the crash attracted unwanted attention.
Perception: 1d20 + 15 - 1 ⇒ (1) + 15 - 1 = 15
Frantino sees and hears nothing, other than the moaning of the injured Roscoe as Doc heals him.
Ayita is easily able to magic carpet to the bottom of the shaft and recover the ore. It takes a bit of time, but she stores it and ascends the shaft to return to her fellow explorers.
The shaft is blocked, utterly, from a millenia ago collapse, so the team will have to find another avenue of exploration.