"Wow! This place sure holds a lot of secrets that somebody obviously doesn't want us to find. Where do we go next?"
Down, of course, Noroc says, but not yet. Let's find out what's left up here first, then head down.
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Sure of the door's benign nature of merely separating rooms from each other, Peldur opens it to give it further succor in fulfilling its life's meaning of also allowing egress between rooms.
Not waiting for Bibi, and confident in the door's safety, Peldur opens the northern door.
This triangular room might have once seemed comfortable, but after years of rain and exposure to the elements through the two arrow slits in the northwestern wall, the room’s divan, armoire, and tapestries have fallen to decay.
Peldur steps into the room and starts rooting through the debris.
Peldur, more accustomed to ferreting out a place to sleep and store food, doesn't really make solid work of the mess in this room.
Noroc follows Peldur.
No, no, no. Systematic, he says. First you move these rotted tapestries over to-- oh. This last is as several disintegrate in his hands trying to move them. Well, that didn't work at all.
Elena moves in after Noroc. She too looks around the room, but she doesn't touch anything. Instead she studies what she can see to get a sense for the room's past purpose.
No I sighs. oh, let ME will you? I swear you daichinis can be so clumsy...
<—so can handlings apparently
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Affronted, Peldur goes back into the other room with Carrufikus.
Well, pardon my flatulence. I'll just let you do all the ovulating from now on.
"Peldur, those works probably don't mean what you think they mean."
Bibi is clearly distracted as she gives the room a once over, perhaps bummed the secret door was found by another.
Peldur and Noroc rummage about the room. The only thing that they find is a rusted ring of keys under the divan.
Elena takes a look at them. The rust has ruined six of its iron keys, but two bronze keys remain usable. Thus far no one has found a lock to try them on.
There were strange lights in the lighthouse, right? That's what we were sent to investigate. Shouldn't we be looking for a way up?
Peldur walks out of the room and heads over to another unexplored door. He gives it a quick once over and listen to.
After checking the stairs, Bibi then goes into the room where the keys were found, and adds her searching skills
Good point, Peldur. We should come back to the stairs later, but go up first.
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"Peldur, those works probably don't mean what you think they mean."
I know I'm not desiccated like you are, Elena. But, I think I know what words mean.
With the party more relaxed with the situation, they spread out over three rooms. Peldur checks out the door, and finds nothing of import. The door seems rotted and... waterlogged? He doesn't hear any activity coming from the other side.
Elena chuckles. "Remind me that I have a dictionary to give you when we're back in town," she says, then quickly raises a hand to stop Peldur. "And no, a dictionary is a book with words and a description of what they mean."
She pockets the keys. "We are here to check the lighthouse. All these stairs down are interesting and mysterious, and I want to see where they lead. But I think we're working our way to the lighthouse. For now, downstairs can wait."
That said, Elena waves for the others to follow Peldur. "I think we've spent enough time here. Let's keep moving."
With party gathered in a tight formation, Peldur opens the door.
"Waterlogged? That... is not right. If that door is stuck closed and wet to the touch, I would hazard a guess that the room beyond is flooded. We might want to approach from the exterior. Maybe climb up and have a look inside first?"
Bibi moves up to check the rotted door for traps/dangers.
Bibi doesn't detect any traps, but she can tell the room beyond isn't flood, which only makes the situation weirder.
Peldur moves to open the door, and finds it stuck.
Peldur puts his shoulder to the door and shoves.
Oof! This door is really jammed!
"Try again, Peldur. We've got time."
Peldur takes a step back this time and hopes a little momentum will help open the door.
”If the door is jammed, then maybe that means the mitflits have not been using it. Then again, maybe somebody is trying to keep us all out.”
Carrufikus whispers quiet prayers as he waits in anticipation of what lies beyond.
”Desna, guide me and my friends safely along paths that we can free this place of nastiness. Please keep us from getting hurt.”
This time Peldur backs up a few steps, slaps his deltoid a few times and then charges the door. It shatters on impact, opening the way into the room beyond.
The smooth walls of this circular room are painted a light gray with no indication of seams between blocks of stone. A set of iron stairs winds upward along the curved walls before terminating at a trap door in the ceiling nearly a hundred feet above. A red bloodstain glistens on the floor at the room’s center, as though a human-sized creature bled to death on the floor very recently, despite there being no body in sight.
"Well that's not a good sign. Bibi, do you think it's from a trap?"
Would be foolish NOT to think that. No one enter yet. That lst is given in an uncharacteristically commanding tone. The halfling sets about carefully examining the area immediately around the door first, then slowly ventures into the room to search for what she feels to be the inevitable trap (or three).
Bibi alone checks out the room. While she doesn't find any traps - or indeed anything nefarious, the fresh blood has periodic
ripples; its slick, red surface appears like the top of a
deep pool...
Eyes turn towards Elena who shrugs, then Carrufikus, who picks up no magical auras.
(E, +1 v. Traps)
(E, +1 v. Traps)
(E, +1 v. Traps)
(E, +1 v. Traps)
(E, +1 v. Traps)
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
All clear, come on
Bibb points out the pool
Peldur enters the room and, keeping close to the wall, approaches the western door and gives it a listen.
Peldur hears nothing from the door, and knows it leads outside. This door doesn't seem stuck. Ironic since this one does face the wet environment outside.
There is one more way to go off from the main hall. Let's secure this floor, and then go up to see what awaits us at the beacon above.
Carrufikus follows Peldur into the room with the blood and looks around.
"There is one more way to go off from the main hall. Let's secure this floor, and then go up to see what awaits us at the beacon above."
"Agreed. Let's take one room at a time. With regards to this room, I don't like the evidence of blood on the floor. That means that somebody is either hurt or dead. Either option is not good. I just don't know who's blood this belongs to."
Elena scribbles notes into a journal as she studies the liquid. "The ripples are curious. It gives the impression that this is a deep pool. Which is surprising. Maybe..."
She uses the spent torch she's been holding, the one bearing her magic light, and pokes at the pool to get a better sense of depth.
I don't like the evidence of blood on the floor. That means that somebody is either hurt or dead. Either option is not good. I just don't know who's blood this belongs to."
Elena scribbles notes into a journal as she studies the liquid. "The ripples are curious. It gives the impression that this is a deep pool. Which is surprising. Maybe..."
She uses the spent torch she's been holding, the one bearing her magic light, and pokes at the pool to get a better sense of depth.
Bibb points out the pool
*blink* *blink*
Everyone's breathing stops as Elena performs her experiment....
She touches the surface with the torch....
...and nothing happens. The blood pool is the tiniest of a fraction deep, must be an optical illusion that makes it appear otherwise.
Elena discards the now bloody torch. She scribbles a few additional notes, then retrieves another torch from her pack. Instead of lighting it with flint and tinder she whispers a few arcane syllables. The tip of the torch begins to glow with a pale yellow light.
Answering Talborel, she says, "Agreed. We can finish our exploration of this level, and then I suggest we climb up to the second floor of this tower."
Noroc peers up into the gloom to see if something might be hanging -- and dripping.
He certainly doesn't see anything, and since you've been in the tower, no one has seen a drop fall...
"Don't worry, I'll share my notes with you Noroc. Let's keep moving. Given the size of this place, I worry that we may not complete this before the day is done," Elena says, gently tugging on his sleeve.
She leads the others over to the doors of another chamber. "These darn mitflits have me on edge about every door. I suppose caution is wisdom, but still. The endless guesswork is infuriating. Bibi and Peldur, what do you think? Any traps going to spring forth when we open the door?"
Let's take a look!
Peldur finds that the rubble here is a bit harder to maneuver, but not too much. The door produces no hints as to the contents beyond...
Peldur shrugs. Looks safe to open.
Puldur pushes the double doors open.
Carrufikus who is in the back and unable to see over the heads of his companions jumps up and down trying to get a better look inside.
"What do you see?" He asks as he peers in anticipation.
Peldur pushes open the door, which is untrapped. The ceiling of this room has fallen in two places. A smaller collapse destroyed a flight of stairs that once led up to the now-ruined upper floor. The larger collapse mostly buries the other side of the door near Peldur, leaving a hole in the roof partially blocked with several crossed timbers. A second double door to the north has a stone face carved with skulls caked with tangles of moss.
Partially lit by the soon-to-fade sunlight, an eight-foot-long scorpion raises ferocious claws in challenge, stingered tail arched over its back. It doesn't yet move on Peldur, but it is clearly staring right at him.