Stowing the vial of liquid for later study, Elena then moves over to the unopened door. "If I have the lay of the land just right, we should probably backtrack a bit and explore the eastern part of the ruins. Given how literally every chamber thus far has held some form of danger, I'm loathe to leave any behind us."
She opens the door and moves to the right, stopping at the foot of the stairs and waiting for the others.
Noroc follows Elena's lead.
Bibi takes the vial and gives it a professional sniff...
...then shrugs & hands it back to Elena
The party heads over to Elena's new door. Leaving the haunted room though, Noroc again feels something strange. There's a draft where there shouldn't be.... He looks around for the source. After a bit Noroc finds a section of the stone wall that slides aside to access a door handle!
Initiative assumes Talborel is Scouting
Avoid Notice (T)
Detect Magic (A: +1 (U), N: +7 (T), O: +1 (U) , R: +7 (T))
Investigate (A: +7 (T), C: +7 (T) M: +1 (U) N: +4 (T), O: +7 (T) , R: +4 (T), S: +7 (T))
Search (E)
Avoid Notice (E)
Scout
At Noroc's discovery of the door, Peldur joins him and tries to help identify how to open the door, maybe if it's trapped.
Noroc finds a section of the stone wall that slides aside to access a door handle!
"You found a hidden door? I need to remember to expect the unexpected on this journey. Can you find a way through, Peldur?"
"You found a hidden door? I need to remember to expect the unexpected on this journey. Can you find a way through, Peldur?"
Noroc finds a section of the stone wall that slides aside to access a door handle!
When Noroc nudges Elena and points out the hidden door, she stops. "Really? Well I don't know about you, but I think we should go have a look."
The group gathers by the door, with Peldur stepping forward to have a look. "Two sets of eyes might be better. Want to have a look Bibi?"
Seems prudent, Noroc agrees about having a look at the hidden door. He steps back to let Bibi work her magic.
”I’m not sure what exactly I’m looking for, but I’ll have a look.” Currfikus offers helpfully.
After an initial inspection, Carrufikus remarks, ”It looks safe to me.”
Bibi doesn't see any sign of traps, so she steps back to let someone else open the door.
Everyone holds their breath for a moment, as secret doors are secret for a reason...
The alcove beyond the door has several grooves in the stone, caused by what looks like determined scraping. That's it. No fantastic treasure.
Something niggles the back of the mind for the more erudite in the party.
Elena's bothered by the sight of the site. She feels like she should know this. It's either a defaced set up for some kind of teleportation magic or summoning magic... but she can't decide which.
Peldur heads over the to southern room and checks to see if there is anything amiss with the door or the room beyond.
"So, Elena, is that it? Is this some sort of magical closet? I thought secret doors would lead to something, well you know, some place special, to a place that nobody wanted to find. This doesn't look all that interesting."
Carrufikus loses interest in the secret chamber and follows Peldur over to the next door.
"What do you think is behind this door, Peldur? Are you curious?"
Carrufikus also looks around for traps or things of interest.
Both Peldur and Carrufikus hear the sound of high‑pitched squeals and shrieks from within the next room, but not traps.
Arcana Recall Knowledge:
Occultism Recall Knowledge:
"Do you hear that?" he asks Peldur. Surprised to actually hear something in the room beyond, Carrufikus calls everyone over and tells them what he has heard. "Shrieks and squeals from behind this door. I don't think we should waste any time in going in!"
Elena jots down some notes about what she sees, hoping to research it further when they return to Otari. "It's one or the other. And the purpose is at odds, I agree. A mystery for another day, I think."
When Peldur and Carrufikus head over to the southern door Elena follows, waving for the rest of the group to come along. At the mention of noises beyond the door, she whispers, "I'm willing to bet we'll see some more mitflits. Be ready for a fight."
When others cannot identify the liquid, Carrufikus takes a moment to see if he can identify it.
Taloborel also looks at the scrapings, but can't even fathom a guess.
-----------------------
The party all nods, ready for a fight. Once ready, Peldur opens the door. Almost the entire ceiling of this room has collapsed, while below, the floor has crumbled into a 10-foot-deep sinkhole filled with rubble, mud, and glistening patches of fungus. Evidence of ancient damage—burn scars and acid scorch marks—decorate the walls and much of the rubble.
The noise comes from a quartet of mitflits who are currently wrestling over who gets to snack on a particularly bright blue grub. They hear the door open, but their distraction affects their readiness!
Round 1:
Carrufikus: Go
Elena: Go
Peldur: Go
Mitflits: TBD
Talborel: TBD
Noroc: TBD
Bibi: TBD
Initiative assumes Talborel is Scouting
Avoid Notice (T)
Detect Magic (A: +1 (U), N: +7 (T), O: +1 (U) , R: +7 (T))
Investigate (A: +7 (T), C: +7 (T) M: +1 (U) N: +4 (T), O: +7 (T) , R: +4 (T), S: +7 (T))
Search (E)
Avoid Notice (E)
Scout
Carrufikus bravely positions himself inside the room so that he can cast an Electric at the Red and Blue Mitflit.
"Zapplearkem!"
Carrufikus moves in and zaps two of the mitflits!
One takes the brunt of it, nearly succumbing to the shock.
Round 1:
Carrufikus: Zipzap
Elena: Go
Peldur: Go
Mitflits: TBD
Talborel: TBD
Noroc: TBD
Bibi: TBD
Red: 3
Blue: 7
Action 1: Stride
Action 2: Stride
Action 3: Shield
Elena climbs the short steps and makes her way over the rubble to flank the door. She whispers an incantation that conjures a shield of force to protect her.
With a look to Peldur she says, "You're about to do something dangerous. I can tell. Just be careful, and help Carrufikus."
Elena preps for the kerfuffle with a spell and a mild admonition.
Round 1:
Carrufikus: Zipzap
Elena: Prep
Peldur: Go
Mitflits: TBD
Talborel: TBD
Noroc: TBD
Bibi: TBD
Red: 3
Blue: 7
Peldur throws a quick smile to Elena, then rushes into the room. He hustles past Carrufikus, drawing out his sling as he goes. While always up for a tussle, four-on-one odds not in his favor douse any eagerness he has to rumble with the mitflits, especially considering his fall during the earlier fight. He takes up a position at the edge of the hole and looses a stone down at the closest one.
Peldur's sling stone hits the one closest to him, which also happens to be the one Carrufikus shocked the hardest. The mitflit drops with a thud, dead in the ditch.
The injured mitflit immediately tries to scramble out of the pit:, and does so with ease! He opes the door to the southeast, apparently also going in the same direction the last escapee went.
The other two snarl and hurl darts at Peldur:
for
Miss
Miss
Miss
Round 1:
Carrufikus: Zipzap
Elena: Prep
Peldur: Kill
Mitflits: ATK
Talborel: Go
Noroc: Go
Bibi: Go
Red: 3
Talborel bends at the waist, and striding into the room and north along the wall. He reaches the corner and draws an arrow, sending it towards the mitflit about to rabbit out the door.
Shortbow:, Damage on Hit:
Stride x2, Strike
Talborel sends an arrow through th emitflit's leg. It snarls some kind of wordless taunt. Despite being on death's door, it's making good on its escape!
Round 1:
Carrufikus: Zipzap
Elena: Prep
Peldur: Kill
Mitflits: ATK
Talborel: Hit!
Noroc: Go
Bibi: Go
Red: 9
Noroc hurries into the room, moving along the edge of the pit precariously, determined to try and finish off the fleeing mitflit.
Noroc's blade work is impressive. He cuts the mitflit's head clean off!
Round 1:
Carrufikus: Zipzap
Elena: Prep
Peldur: Kill
Mitflits: ATK
Talborel: Hit!
Noroc: Kill
Bibi: Go
Bibi pulls out her bow, moves into the room (to cover Carrufikus and be in a position to fight with Noroc), and looses at the wounded mitflit.
Bibi, confident her stealth approach was foiled, moves in and opts for a direct shot. She connects with the closer foe severely wounding it.
Round 2:
Carrufikus: Go
Elena: Go
Peldur: Go
Mitflits: TBD
Talborel: TBD
Noroc: TBD
Bibi: TBD
Green: 5
Carrufikus draws upon his primal gnome powers and casts another electric arc at the green and black mitflits.
Peldur moves around the room to block the exit. Then, he shoots another stone down at the mitflits.
Both mitflits jump away from the electricity, but one also jumps directly into a stone from Peldur! killing the less injured one instantly!
Round 2:
Carrufikus: Zap
Elena: Go
Peldur: Crit kill
Mitflits: TBD
Talborel: TBD
Noroc: TBD
Bibi: TBD
Green: 8
Action 1: Stride
Action 2-3: Electric Arc
Elena rounds the corner to step into the doorway. She carefully balances herself on the debris before releasing her own magical arc of electricity at the remaining mitflit.
Elena wastes no time once she can see: . The mitflit dodges most of the spell, but not all. There's enough electricity in the contact to electrocute the creature though!
The party for the second time in as many hours stops a mitflit from alerting... what? The thought hangs heavy for the time.
"That's twice now that we've had mitflits run. All signs seem to point that way," Elena gestures toward the doors to the southeast. "I would guess that whoever their leader is lies that way, but knowing what I know and have seen it could just as easily be a chamber filled with giant, deadly vermin."
The flame of her torch begins to sputter as it dies. She extinguishes it, then whispers a spell. With a touch, the torch begins to glow with a pale yellow light that illuminates the area. "I did not expect so much fighting, but I suppose I should have. Abandoned places don't stay that way. And this is a lot troublesome creatures so close to Otari. Let's give this area a quick search, and then find out just what is waiting for us."
When she finishes investigating from the periphery, Elena prepares to climb down. She takes out a coil of rope from her backpack, knots it at 5-foot intervals, and hands one end to Noroc. "Can you hold the rope for me? You might want to brace yourself against the doorway."
As prepared as she can be, Elena climbs down.
Elena's first foot position is on a loose rock, and she immediately slips and falls.
Sore, but okay, she begins looking around. Elena finds no treasure, but does finda buried spiral staircase leading downward. Clearing the rubble would take days, but is quite doable.
"Well that's interesting. A way down. I can only wonder what the basement level of this keep might reveal. But that's a job for later."
She then takes the rope and hopes that no more rubble slides.
Her pride restored, Elena climbs out - bruised and dirty.
The party spends a bit more time here, and finds nothing else (other than confirmation from Talborel that the staircase is salvageable.)
Initiative assumes Talborel is Scouting
Avoid Notice (T)
Detect Magic (A: +1 (U), N: +7 (T), O: +1 (U) , R: +7 (T))
Investigate (A: +7 (T), C: +7 (T) M: +1 (U) N: +4 (T), O: +7 (T) , R: +4 (T), S: +7 (T))
Search (E)
Avoid Notice (E)
Scout
If we're headed to the southeast, and it sounds as we are... Is there a way to climb up on the roof of this section of the complex? Perhaps with that line the Miflfits put up, or maybe the walls are scalable.
Anyone bring a grapple?
"Anyone bring a grapple?"
"Sorry, that just seemed like too much weight carry around. Do you think we need one?"
Carrufikus continues to search the Mitflits and the room for anything of interest.
Carrufikus doesn't find anything of note. Talborel pokes around a bit, and finds that the only option for roof travel is to climb an exterior wall or the aforementioned grapple.
It also doesn't look like great odds that the roof could handle it, though a small character should be safe.
Bibi checks the door the mitflit was heading toward. she's not expecting a trap, considering how it was hustling, but you never know...