Ayita will check the eastern door for traps, then the secret one's entrance area.
[dice=perception]1d20+21
[dice=perception]1d20+21
Nice rolls. No traps.
Bewildered by how quickly the exchange with the gargoyle devolved, Nasir finally remembers what he wanted to say and says it into the air.
"If only you had caught us a day earlier before we sold all za strange and wonderful items zat we had found in our travels. We would have had much more to trade. I would be happy to share stories about how we came across zose items if you wanted to hear zat? We have been to many hidden and buried Zassalonian ruins of za Runelord of Wrath and seen all of za strange zings zat she collected and created. I'm sure zat would be of interest to you even if we do not have any items to add to your collection. Berhabs we can make a deal to trade information for information?"
Nasir waits in hope of enticing the gargoyle to return.
Bewildered by how quickly the exchange with the gargoyle devolved, Nasir finally remembers what he wanted to say and says it into the air.
"If only you had caught us a day earlier before we sold all za strange and wonderful items zat we had found in our travels. We would have had much more to trade. I would be happy to share stories about how we came across zose items if you wanted to hear zat? We have been to many hidden and buried Zassalonian ruins of za Runelord of Wrath and seen all of za strange zings zat she collected and created. I'm sure zat would be of interest to you even if we do not have any items to add to your collection. Berhabs we can make a deal to trade information for information?"
Nasir waits in hope of enticing the gargoyle to return.
The room echoes with Nasir's words. The only other thing he hears is the sound of bats flapping about in the darkened rafters of the chamber.
Getting no response, Nasir heads through the secret door behind his friends.
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"Nasir, I though you said the skull is to be located two rooms in. We are in the second room and no skull. We probably need to head back to the first room and proceed through the other door in that room in order to find the skull. Unless you do not care about finding it and putting the ghost to rest any more then let's continue. Hopefully the ghost does not wrathfully show up and dispense her displeasure at your failure."
Getting no response, Nasir heads through the secret door behind his friends.
The secret door leads into a 15ft corridor that terminates in a wall. Nasir assumes, from his experience with corridors, that corridors lead to doorways and the wall in front of him likely has some sort of secret door.
"Ezranadir, zis may be za wrong two rooms. It's best to make sure zese are clear before we double back. I do not want to be fighting on two fronts if we can avoid it."
Ayita comes along to help:
[dice=trap perception]1d20+18+3
[dice=perception to locate door]1d20+17
She opens the door:
[dice=disable device]1d20+17
You already check the secret door corridor for traps, but regardless, you find no traps and successfully open the second secret door.
At the secret door
Ayita peers into a chaotic room. It appears to have once been a 20x20 room. But now the northeastern corner of this otherwise empty room has collapsed, resulting in a jagged tunnel winding to the east.
Frantino will bring up the rear.
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I do not want to be fighting on two fronts if we can avoid it."
Responding to Nasir, "We actually have the potential to be fighting on multiple fronts. We are leaving this room with a known Vampire although in all appearances friendly, would probably kill us along with at least four of his minions based on those empty coffins. We have unknown Cultists lurking about with a deadly plague. And we have your friendly Ghost Lamia who wants you to find her head, and who can pass through any stone wall at any time. I'm not so worried about fighting on multiple fronts as to fighting multiple opponents when we can reduce that by one by finding her head thereby putting her to rest."
"Looks like somezing tunneled into or out of here. Seems like za kind of thing a cult would do. Let's us investigate zis tunnel."
Nasir moves forward and waives Ayita to come with and scout.
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Ayita will come in and scout but first starts with the squarish area that Nasir is in, examining the floor and walls. (Looks like there is a non-secret door included.)
If all looks ok in that area, she will check that SE door for traps, then visually check the first section of the tunnel, however much 1 roll covers, without going down it.
(getting some trap-checking out of the way!)
Ayita's amazing intuition and senses notice two things:
First, in the southeast corner, a secret door expertly made to appear as a wall.
And second, in the southwest corner, a strong wood crate. It is in plain view, and obviously new and not decayed. Wondering why there would a crate here, Ayita looks up and spots a concealed panel in the ceiling!
After inspecting it for traps (none!) Ayita pulls it open, revealing a very small tunnel leading southwest.
As for the collapsed northern edge of the room, the jagged cave/tunnel leads off into the darkness. Ayita finds nothing resembling a trap or danger in the tunnel.
Lots of possibilities...
Ayita looks at her companions. She casts "light" on a coin and tosses it up into the small tunnel above the crate, and does a pull-up to look down it a bit.
The small tunnel goes 30ft and then turns to the left, slightly. The coin comes to rest just past the turn. The tunnel is large enough for a medium-sized creature to squeeze through.
I could summon a quick animal, perhaps a giant ant to go down the tunnel a ways. Casting Speak with animals would let me ask it what it saw. Perhaps there are other spells that could help too.
I could summon a quick animal, perhaps a giant ant to go down the tunnel a ways. Casting Speak with animals would let me ask it what it saw. Perhaps there are other spells that could help too.
Does Ayita do this?
BOTTING AYITA
Ayita summons a giant ant and casts speak with animals before sending it along the tunnel. It returns and tells Ayita the following.
"Open door, walk down into room. Room size bigger than swarm. Metal sticks in floor. Smells old metal. Sticks connected to bendy metal sticks from walls. Human sick stomach smells in air near corner. No ants or non-ants in room."
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I'm curious about this one, friends. I'll check it out first, my ant got to another room safely. If you'd like to stay here while I do, Ter can stay here and tell you if she senses any trouble.
If there is no disagreement, Ayita will climb up and through the tunnel, her ant guarding her in front ( It can stay for 42 seconds total.)
She'll ask it to smell the walls for any other creature passing, then the room itself. Ayita will check for traps once she's in the small room.
She thanks the ant before it vanishes, giving it a small snack. It's important to treat them well.
The ant is happy with the treat and vanishes as the spell ends.
Inside the room: The walls of this 15x15 room are fitted with rusty gears and cables attached to a series of five levers protruding from a panel in the middle of the floor. Only one of the levers seems to still work, if Ayita wants to pull it.
In the southeast corner of the room Ayita immediately finds a secret door.
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Ayita decides to first go back and tell her companions about her findings. She draws a simple map in the dust of the room.
I'd prefer to check out these secret doors before pulling the lever.
If her friends don't disagree, she'll start with the secret door in the room with her friends.
She'll look into the area beyond the door, including for anything that the lever might control.
Ayita decides to first go back and tell her companions about her findings. She draws a simple map in the dust of the room.
I'd prefer to check out these secret doors before pulling the lever.
If her friends don't disagree, she'll start with the secret door in the room with her friends.
[dice=trap perception if needed]1d20+18+3
[dice=disable device if needed]1d20+17
She'll look into the area beyond the door, including for anything that the lever might control.
Ayita successfully opens the secret door, revealing a twenty foot corridor (room?). To the north is a shallow alcove, in which sits what appears to be a flickering, ghostly image of a... city (?). To the south looks like an arrow slit of some sort. Ayita will need to walk closer to look out the arrow slit in the south.
The far end of the corridor ends in a diagonal wall which Ayita's experience suggests is another secret door.
Hatfield steps into the room and helps look around. But he doesn't find much. [dice=perception]1d20+1
Then, he renews the light spell on Yahzi.
Frantino quietly moves a little to the northern end of the room, alert for any creatures that may emerge from further down that hallway or traps that may be present. He'll stay within sight of his friends.
+1 for traps
Frantino observes that the collapsed corner of the room has opened a passage about 50' long but seems to lead to another finished wall that opens to the right, probably to another room. He'll quietly relay this information to the others when we are gathered more closely together again.
Whilst the others carefully observe the environs and consider options, Hatfield casts Detect Poison and scans the room.
Then he considers what a vampire would use this specific area for. [dice=knowledge religion]1d20+11
Doc is pretty sure the vampire doesn't use this room for anything, except just to pass through while in gaseous form.
Frantino quietly moves a little to the northern end of the room, alert for any creatures that may emerge from further down that hallway or traps that may be present. He'll stay within sight of his friends.
[dice=Stealth]1d20 + 6
[dice=Perception]1d20 + 16 +1 for trapsFrantino observes that the collapsed corner of the room has opened a passage about 50' long but seems to lead to another finished wall that opens to the right, probably to another room. He'll quietly relay this information to the others when we are gathered more closely together again.
Frantino isn't as stealthy as he likes to think he is, but regardless, the collapsed tunnel remains quiet.
It seems to be trap free.
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She walks just into the odd corridor, looking at the flickering city and arrowslit. Is this a trap or some other mechanism, she wonders... The arrowslit seems perfectly aligned with the city. Are there marks on either that show evidence of their function?
If no trap, she casts 'detect magic' on the city image. What city is it, also?
The flickering, hazy image is difficult to make out, but appears to be Magnimar from a bird's eye view. Ayita can see things moving in the image... maybe a boat in the harbor? Her detect magic spell confirms the thing is some sort of illusion magic.
The arrow slit opens onto another room. Quite large and utterly dark. Ayita cannot see anything, as her light doesn't reach very far, but she does hear something.
When the word gets passed to him, Frantino moves to Ayita's position and peers through the arrow slit into the darkness beyond. On the way he'll let everyone know what he observed in the rough-hewn northern tunnel.
He'll let Ayita know that he sees four men in chains, moaning and crying.
He finds the flickering illusion of his home city fascinating, of course.
He idly wonders if the arcanum optica can be removed and installed in Kaddren Manor. It would look great in the entrance hall or library, although Aunt Zimandi would probably want it in her office instead. He shakes his head and returns to the more immediate matter at hand. What are these four chained men? Do they seem to be flying?
When Frantino looks through the arrow slit, he sees a mammoth room, so large that he cannot see the other side. But he does see a huge pit, descending into the depths deeper than he can see. Suspended at floor level are five platforms. One large, central octagonal platform and four 5x10 platforms, each positioned equidistant around the octagon. The platforms are each suspended by ancient chains that recede upwards into darkness above, presumably to the ceiling.
The walls of this room are fitted with rusty gears and cables attached to a series of FIVE levers protruding from a panel in the middle of the floor.
At the far edge of Frantino's vision are four men, hanging upside down, suspended by chains. They are semi-conscious, moaning in pain, agony, despair. None of them are positioned above any of the five platforms. They are, instead, swaying over the deep, dark, blackness of the pit.
He idly wonders if the arcanum optica can be removed and installed in Kaddren Manor. It would look great in the entrance hall or library, although Aunt Zimandi would probably want it in her office instead.
Removal of the arcanum optica would require specialists in arcane mechanisms to assess it and attempt to remove it. As it stands, alas, time has not been kind to the arcanum optica, and the image it now produces is hazy and indistinct, leaving it more an ancient Thassilonian curiosity than a truly useful tool.
"Ayita, in the other room you investigated didn't you say there were five levers attached to cables and chains? I wonder if those control these chains? Except there were five levers but only four men suspended on chains here. Either way, we need to find another way to that room, what about that secret door. Is it trapped?"
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Ezranadir says, "If everyone remembers, there was a set of doors in the first room we did not check which led east. Perhaps they lead to that room containing the men of which you speak. There was also another door in the previous room which we encountered the vampire which also leads east and which was not investigated. We should hurry because if the men are hanging upside down, I would not imagine they will last much longer but we should keep our eyes open for more vampires. Remember there were five coffins which were all empty."
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Ayita checked the small room at the end of the tunnel; the secret door was not trapped.
We could go that way, yes, through the tunnel and through the secret door. It should let out somewhere in this room Frantino describes.
If the party agrees, Ayita switches Yazhi's animal focus to "bat" so Yazhi has darkvision but less strength. Ayita then will head back up, first lifting Yazhi up this time into the tunnel. Ayita uses improved link to see through Yazhi's eyes with darkvision, as Yazhi goes up the tunnel first. Then Ayita follows, assuming all is ok. She has 'light' going when she gets to the small room.