L1: Secret of Bone Hill

Game Master GM_MG

Heh, yeah the old days when character choice was a risk/reward system and a wizard making it to 5th level was a damn feat of endurance.

Well it seems that scrolls are easily identified by just reading them over, though wizard scrolls require read magic and in either case there's a risk of subjecting yourself to a curse. Likewise potions require you to take a sip and risk curse/poison. Curiosity trumps fear for Silvio, so he will read over the scroll and taste the potion.

Wands are exclusively mage items in 2e, so it is up to Hodd or Walrus to experiment with those.

Drinking the potions the two martially-minded creatures carried carries the unmistakable sensation of magical healing, while a taste of the caster's potion causes his feet to raise slightly off the ground.

The scrolls are, sadly, unreadable by Silvio. Perhaps Hodd or Walrus will have better luck.

I'll wait til I can cast identify on the wand

I'll read the scrolls

Walrus uses read magic. The scroll is a scroll of hypnotism.

Hodd, do you want to transcribe this to your spellbook?

I could try, do you already have the spell Walrus?

No, I was offering cause I was planning to keep the wand in case it had combat properties since you can wield a sword and I can't

Sounds good to me

What would you guys like to do next?

I use the wand on a chair.

Walrus fiddles with the wand some before figuring out how to activate it.

The wand flashes an amber light as a section of wall disappears, revealing a bedroom.

1d20 ⇒ 6
1d20 ⇒ 4

Hodd and Walrus are both able to identify this effect as the spell passwall.

The bedroom contains a large bed, a rug made from the hide of an elk, a dresser, a chest, a chair, and a candle-covered table.

A crossbow is mounted to the wall opposite where the door had been, but the string attached to the door handle hangs limply on the floor. Likely this trap would have fired at anyone opening the door.

Wands in 2E are created with a set number of charges. Activating the wand uses a certain number of charges, and some wands have multiple activation types. You aren't aware of how many charges remain, although this can be identified as one of your pieces of informaton from the identify spell.

Well that was convenient

"Well done. I had no idea you'd detected that trap or even figured out what that wand was already!"

The hippie then wanders into the room and begins looking through the dresser.

investigation 25%: 1d100 ⇒ 55

I'll investigate too

Investigate 45%: 1d100 ⇒ 89

The dresser contains several simple but well-made sets of clothing for a largeish human man. The clothes are of a sturdy and rugged construction to protect the wearer from cold and the elements.

At the bottom of one of the drawers is a dagger with a handle of some sort of animal horn.

Seems like these albino gnomes weren't the original inhabitants. Wonder if they ate them? Maybe we should cut one of them open and check the contents of their stomach for evidence.

We do still have a room to check out

Okay but if we put off the autopsy they'll only get bloated and gassy and putrid and it's gonna suck.

"I think you are right--about the gnomes not being the original inhabitants--cutting them open sounds like a whole thing. I suppose I have the tools, but I am not sure I have the inclination."

"Ooo, this dagger seems interesting!" he says quickly distracted by his discovery.

"Perhaps, once we have searched everything, one of you mages can detect if any of these items is enchanted?" he suggests while continuing his search of the room.

Remembering the crossbow pointed at the door, he examines the chest carefully before opening it.

Sadly I don't think any of us can actually find traps, but just in case an investigation could help, I will give it a shot. Unless I find something suspicious I will open the chest and examine the contents.

investigation 25: 1d100 ⇒ 25

Silvio doesn't notice any traps. He does notice the hide rug is laying on the ground a little funny, and underneath he see's a trapdoor.

The chest contains several thick woolen cloaks, a sheaf of flight arrows, a silver holy symbol of Obad-Hai, a cask of brandy, a bottle of ink, several sharpened quills, and a journal.

Helping with the exploration of the cabin, Damian checks out the rooms with the others

investigation 23: 1d100 ⇒ 66

secret door secret door secret door

"It seems that a devotee of the Shalm called this place home. I hope that he still lives, but perhaps he has passed on to the next cycle. Oh! What have we here!" he says with excitement as he discovers the trap door. "Let's see what more secrets this place holds for us!"

Opening the trapdoor reveals a shaft descending into the earth, along with a ladder made of wooden slats hammered into the dirt. About 12 feet down dirt transitions to bedrock, adn the ladder consists of pitons hammered into the rock face.

How deep the shaft descends is impossible to tell.

"Well this seems to be quite the rabbit hole! Let's take a look at that last room up here before we venture down there."

Silvio moves to the door off of the porch, checks it for any suspicious similarities to the rigged door inside, and then opens it as carefully as he can.

investigation 2: 1d100 ⇒ 65

What does the journal say?

Walrus flips through the journal, which seems to be the daily journal of a druid of Obad-Hai. The druid relates the events of his simple life living in the Dweomer woods and tending to its wildlife, as well as his interest in the curious climate of the area at the center of the woods. He seems to have polite but not friendly relations with the church there.

It will take time to read more fully.

The last room appears to be a workshop. Various tools for woodworking, butchering of animals, and preserving of foods can be found here, along with jars of preserves, pickles, and barrels of dried meats and fruits.

Good place to cut open the gnomes, where's that dagger?

Silvio just shakes his head and rapidly removes the edible goods before Walrus can sully them with disemboweled derro.

Hodd steps into the room to assist Walrus.

I begin cutting with the dagger we found.

While quite intelligent, Walrus and Hodd aren't trained in this area. Still, its' not particularly hard to find the stomach, and you manage it.

The stomachs of the creatures are filled with many of the foods you found in the cabin—roots, dried meats, and the like. You don't see any evidence that they have eaten humanoids.

Not even a finger, what if they were just guarding the cabin for the druid?

Taking his leave of Hodd and Walrus before they begin their grim task, Damian moves with Silvio to peer down the opening in the floor

The abyss gazes back.

Hey Cooper, do you want any of this gnome?

Glancing around the room one last time, Damian prepares to go down the ladder.

you guys about finished in there? Gonna head down the trapdoor he calls out to the other room

when the others are done with the autopsy, Damian will lead the way into the darkness

Hodd, do you think you can fit through the trap door? We may need to widen the hole.

If Cooper likes the taste of albino gnome then I'm going to cut up some pieces to keep for him in case this trapdoor journey takes more than a day to explore.

The ladder leads down about 35 feet, bending slightly about halfway down.

At the bottom is a narrow, apparently natural cavern, only about three and a half feet at its narrowest point. A long, uneven tunnel descends at about a 35 degree descent down into the earth.

How's Hodd going to get through and down? A ladder that long can't support him.

Walrus, you got the grease spell memorized?

I can wait up here for now, at least I have a roof over my head and plenty of foliage to snack on

The ladder is more a serious of slats hammered into the walls of the shaft, so the weight isn't as much of an issue as the space.

Silvio follows along behind Damian, lighting a torch once they reach the bottom of the ladder.

I don't even have the grease spell in my book. I'm sorry Hodd, hopefully we won't be gone too long.

I climb down and follow Silvio and Damian.

The tunnel narrows even further as you progress, and the steep and rocky nature of it makes travel difficult.

Damian: 1d20 ⇒ 18
Walrus: 1d20 ⇒ 6
Silvio: 1d20 ⇒ 17

Walrus stumbles on a rock, falling and bruising himself. 1d4 ⇒ 2 damage.

The tunnel extends downward for some time—how long is difficult to say. The air is stale and smells of mold.

Eventually, the tunnel levels out as you arrive in a slightly wider cavern, about twenty feet in diameter. Two separate tunnels lead off, one to the west (or is it north?), the other to the east (south?). Some small bits of moisture drip from the ceiling here, creating a handful of stalactites and stalagmites, and nourishing a small but vibrant community of fungi.

Any way to tell which tunnel leads outside?

Sniffing the air and checking for other trail sign, Damian does his best to determine which way leads out and up.

wisdom 14: 1d20 ⇒ 13

I have direction and distance sense and mountaineering which are all wisdom based

Both tunnels only appear to lead deeper underground. Damian, you suspect you have discovered an entrance to the Underdark.