Suizal nods at Sir Falcon. "Perhaps you are right this time, Sir. The tower... doesn't look safe. But mayhaps you can go climb in and see if you see anything." She points up the ramp to the second floor. "Maybe you can find clues."
Then off in the distance, Suizal notices the riders coming from the manor on the otherside of town. Pointing at a random bystander, Suizal asks curiously, "Who lives there? Do you know who those riders are?".
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Catching up with Ilvaria, she places her hand on her shoulder for a second, "Maybe some kind of experiment backfired?"
Ilvaria smiles at Melenthe when she arrives.
Her presence really gives me a sense of security. Without her I’d never dared to venture out of Kyonin. she thinks to herself.
“We don’t know much. Those two guards are unprepared and it seems that our help might be needed to solve this mystery!“
Melenthe smiles to her friend, "What's the point of a mystery if nobody tries to solve it."
The elf looks between the house and the tower, "I fancy we try the house first, let the rubble settle." She looks between the two again, "What do you think, Ilvaria?"
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Falcon searches the door and doesn't find any traps. It is a very strong door made of thick oak wood and banded with iron. There is a sliding metal peep hole at about eye level for a human that is sealed shut.
One of the townsfolk responds to Suizal's question. "That there looks like the Baroness. The skinny one is probably her son and it looks like she's got one a her groomsmen ridin' with 'er too."
There is no answer coming from the manor, despite the frantic knocking of the deputies. The crowd begins murmuring that the wizard must have been involved in the collapse of the tower. At this point the riders make it to the top of the hill. At the head is a middle aged woman with the aquiline features that are typical of the Taldan noble class. She is dressed in a black and purple velvet dress with a rose made of silver holding on her thick wool cloak. She gestures to several of the townsfolk and gets their reports. She impatiently waves the two deputies away, clearly frustrated. There is a flash of desperation in her eyes as she scans the crowd, but then her eyes land upon the stranded adventurers and she smiles faintly.
“Today’s your lucky day. Mulle and Hodd here can’t handle this without the Sheriff to hold their hands, and I want to know what happened here. You seem to be a capable bunch. If you go in there and look through the rubble—find out what happened and why there are kobolds in my town—I’ll pay the lot of you 500 gold pieces. While you’re looking around in the ruins, keep an eye out for any signs of our local eccentric, Hunclay. It seems somewhat suspicious to me that he’s not answering his door. Let me know what you find.”
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Melenthe smiles to her friend, "What's the point of a mystery if nobody tries to solve it."
The elf looks between the house and the tower, "I fancy we try the house first, let the rubble settle." She looks between the two again, "What do you think, Ilvaria?"
"Seems like the door is shut. I cannot open doors. Seems like the rubble is our only choice." she answer Melenthe with an apologetic shrug.
After the baroness arrives, Ilvaria tries to stay in the back to not attract too much attention.
"Can we break down the door?" She glances at Sir Falcon and his heavy weaponry. "Or is that frowned upon here?"
But the samurai instead climbs the rubble. "What's it like up there? Need any help?"
Melenthe casts detect magic again, this time over the door.
---
When the Baroness speaks, Melenthe offers a lazy half-smile, "Finally, some recognition." Then she inclines her head and whispers to Ilvaria,
Then she looks back to the baroness, after a thorough consultation with Ilvaria, "Your generosity is welcome, of course, but we intended to piece together this puzzle anyway. Nobody like to live with fear and uncertainty, any more than we enjoy being locked up by over-zealous guards and denied our wages by officious sheriffs."
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Sir Falcon easily scrambles up the ramp of debris. A couple of stones come loose under his feet, but he manages to keep his balance. Pulling himself up to what remains of the second floor of the tower, he sees that there is a trap door in the floor. A broken wooden beam lies across the trapdoor, preventing it from being opened.
Suizal considers smashing down the door to the wizard's manor, but one of the townsfolk says to him, "I don't know if you wanna be upsetting a cranky wizard like Hunclay by knocking his door down. The ole coot might just turn you into a frog or something."
Melenthe can detect two magical auras; one emanating from the door and another behind it inside the manor itself. Since the door is blocking her line of sight, she can't identify anything about the aura inside the house but she might be able to figure out what school of magic is emanating from the door.
Ilvaria looks up anxiously at the unstable ramp leading up into the tower.
The Lady Origena Devy smiles politely as she responds to Melenthe. "If the sheriff owes money to you, then you will have to settle your account with him when he returns. That's not my concern. I'd prefer to focus on the task at hand and that is finding out why this tower collapsed and if Hunclay was involved. If you want to receive your share of the five hundred gold, I would suggest that you follow that sturdy looking fellow into the tower."
Suizal nods at Ilvaria. "Yes, yes indeed. Abjuration magic. Very weak. Do you know what it is?". She tries to recall anything she knows of abjuration spells, but shrugs as Ilvaria darts off to join Sir Falcon.
But struggles to climb up the tower. "Can someone help?"
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As the slyph and drow discuss the magic on the door, Andwise arrives alongside them- mounted on Tanssi's flickering form. He stops short of climbing the rubble, opting instead to watch the others advance up the shifting tower ruins.
"What is it that you see up there? Any more of those Kobolds?"
Tanssi paces back and forth, dragging the halfling around the outside of the collapsed building- seemingly unaware (or uncaring) about Andwise's attempts to carry on a conversation with the others.
"Throw down a rope, Sir Falcon.". Suizal keeps on eyeing Andwise and Tanssi wandering around the tower. "It's likely to collapse on me otherwise."
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Andwise and his eidolon wander around the perimeter of the collapsed tower but do not find anything else of note.
Ilvaria bends down and attempts to lift up the beam. Despite the fact that the broken wooden beam must weigh over a hundred pounds, the skinny drow somehow summons forth a surge of strength great enough to briefly lift the debris off the trap door and move it just far enough to be able to open the hatch.
The hatch leads to what remains of the first floor. There are rusted rings where a rope ladder might have once hung, but now it can only be accessed by hopping down. Luckily the floor is only about eight feet down, which is close enough for anyone in the party to jump or lower themselves down without risk of being hurt. There is a little bit of light coming through the rubble, but otherwise it is completely dark. Right below the open hatch is another trapdoor that may lead down to a lower level.
Suizal continues to struggle to get up to the second level of the tower. "I hear some movement up there! Is everything okay? Is the tower collapsing?" she yells up to her companions. "If everything is okay, toss down a rope please."
Melenthe scrambles up the rubble after her friends.
Then she casts dancing lights and sends them down into the darkness before she too drops down through the trapdoor.
"Sorry, hope I didn't frazzle you with the lights."
She sends the dancing lights flashing aroud the space in unison with her darting eyes.
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The villagers watch in anticipation as the rest of the party climb up to the top of the tower. With the trapdoor freed, Ilvaria drops down to the first level.
The tower’s large ground floor has mostly collapsed under the rubble, but along the western portion of the room a section remains clear of debris. An iron trap door set in the floor is directly below a companion door in the ceiling above. Shattered wooden furniture lies scattered around the corpses of two small, green-scaled creatures.
Ilvaria scans the area for magical auras but does not detect anything. She pulls open the hatch, revealing a basement level with a packed earth floor. Melenthe drops down next to the drow and with a waggle of her fingers she produces four dancing flames and sends them into the pit.
Suizal nods at Sir Falcon, but rolls her eyes. "Yes sir!" she says sarcastically while fake-saluting him. "Lead the way."
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Sir Falcon draws his blade and jumps into the pit. The rest of the party follows shortly after him, dropping down through both open trapdoors and into the basement.
The walls of this chamber have buckled precariously in several places, and masonry and dirt are scattered across the floor—the collapse above plainly caused this structural damage. The dry-rotted frames of five simple beds lie against the north and south walls. To the southwest, the room broadens into a larger chamber. A rusted, grinning iron statue stands in an alcove in the north wall between the two wings of the room itself, and in the wall to the south is an old iron door.
As the party gets their bearings, Melenthe, Andwise and Ilvaria notice a hiss coming from the west wall. A horrifying creature about three feet long begins scuttling towards the group of adventurers. It has a segmented body with over a dozen long legs propelling forward.
Surprise Round
Melenthe
Red -Hidden
Ilvaria
Andwise
Black -Hidden
Yellow -Spotted
Round 1
Sir Falcon
Suizal
Melenthe
Red
Ilvaria
Andwise
Tanssi
Black
Yellow
The elf unslings her bow and nocks an arrow, ”Creepy-crawlies, everyone! A big one!”
Melenthe feels an arcane pulse flow through her hands and into her bow as she lifts it to aim. Then she lets lose a shot at the yellow creature.
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Melenthe tries to fire an arrow through her allies, but the missile flies a little high. Ilvaria's summons a ball of acid, which splashes against the wall. Andwise casts a protective shell of force around his companion, who flickers in the torchlight.
One of the critters scurries across the floor to attack Melenthe. Another one crawls towards Tanssi. But neither one manages to connect with its mandibles.
The party finds themselves surrounded by very hungry, very hideous looking vermin. The samurai has taken a minor wound, but it is unclear whether any the monster's venom has gotten into his bloodstream. The others have managed to fend off the creatures' attacks and are ready to retaliate.
Round 1
Sir Falcon-Pending Fort save, -4
Suizal
Melenthe
Red
Ilvaria
Andwise
Tanssi
Black
Yellow
Melenthe steps cautiously back from the creature and fires at the big bug that attacked her.
Suizal tries to identify the vermin. "Ugly creatures!"
She points at the one that bit Sir Falcon. "Don't hurt my friend!"
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Sir Falcon feel a sharp pain, followed by numbness in the leg where the centipede bit him. He stumbles a bit, but luckily it seems no more of the poison got into his system. He swings his blade at the creature in retaliation, but fails to get a good strike that can pierce its tough exoskeleton.
Suizal recognizes these creatures as giant centipedes. These monstrous insects usually hunt rodents and smaller creatures but they have been known to attack humanoids when they are hungry. They are very fast and can climb straight up a smooth stone wall. (40 foot move speed and a 20 ft. climb speed). They are also known for having a paralytic poison, which numbs their prey and makes them clumsier and easier to take down.
Then the mage unleashes a blast of cold at the insect that just chomped on Sir Falcon. The ray slices through the creature and one of its many legs breaks off as the cold shatters it.
The centipede that attacked Sir Falcon mindlessly continues it assault, darting in to bite at his other leg. Despite his footwork not being quite up to par on account of the vermin's poison, the samurai easily dodges out of the way.
The rest of the party leaps into action, eager to stomp the rest of these bugs into the ground!
Round 1
Sir Falcon -4; -2 Dex damage
Suizal
Melenthe
Red
Ilvaria
Andwise
Tanssi
Yellow
Thank you, friend. Allow me to dispatch these on your behalf
Tanssi, emboldened by flickering shadows of the room, attempts to gore the yellow centipede beside them.
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Ilvaria splashes acid around, but fails to get any of it in the squirming centipede. There is a crunch as Tanssi smashes one of the bugs with their paw. The creature is still moving, but it is clear that it is close to death's door.
The wounded centipede darts away from the fight towards the safety of a crack in the dungeon walls.
Only one injured invertebrate is still standing, but lacking fear or common sense and driven only by hunger, it continues it's attack on the samurai.
Round 2
Sir Falcon -4; -2 Dex damage
Suizal
Melenthe
Red -1
Ilvaria
Andwise
Tanssi
Suizal claps her hands once. "Woo. Good job guys. How's everyone feeling? Sir Falcon, everything ok? Anything I can do for you?"
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Andwise also turns his attention to Sir Falcon.
"I am afraid that I have little to offer you, in terms of healing. My abilities are limited only to Tanssi here. Perhaps the town has a healer of note?"
He looks back over at his companion.
Well done friend. I take back everything bad I have ever said about you... or, at least most of it
The shadowy cat shoots a sharp and wordless look at Andwise.
Didn't you see what these stingers did to Mr. Knight? The dangers that I put myself in on your behalf. I am not sure why I bother at all
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The walls of this chamber have buckled precariously in several places, and masonry and dirt are scattered across the floor—the collapse above plainly caused this structural damage. The dry-rotted frames of five simple beds lie against the north and south walls. To the southwest, the room broadens into a larger chamber. A rusted, grinning iron statue stands in an alcove in the north wall between the two wings of the room itself, and in the wall to the south is an old iron door.