Well, the rope will help if he has to get pulled out while he uses the pokey thing to protect himself. So I guess we can start with that.
Brandark shrugs off his pack and suggests Perri do the same.
Who has the rope, and a bag.
So Perri, when you hit the bottom, take a look around, and then scoop up what you can see if you are not in trouble. If anything comes towards you, give 1 quick jerk on the rope, and we will pull you up.
Brandark will tie the rope around Perri's waist and asks him to do a couple of practice swings to determine if the rope is restricting him.
Once that is done, he will feed the rope out if perri decides to go in the well.
Brandark looks at Conrad, and then at Perri
Conrad, I will be relying on your strength along with mine, to be able to pull him out quickly. I appreciate the offer though.
Joras lights up a stone, and hands it to whoever goes into the water.
He says, "Take this you may need more light exactly where you are if there is anything in the water besides a reflection."
Miron gives a shiver when Roya mentions "things".
"If there's lots of things at the bottom, then maybe we have to find the one magic one, it might have to be me who goes down." he says with a sigh. He gingerly dips his hand into the water the vain hope that the water is somehow warm.
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, I'll go down without my armor but with my bill. And guys? If there's one long, extended pull, fight back to pull me out, okay? I would hate for you to lose this bait." He grins, bravado forward, as he prepares to go into the water.
As his last bit of preparation, he takes the stone with Light cast on it and puts it in his mouth, so he can hold it in his teeth to provide illumination if he wants it.
Then he lowers himself from the edge of the pool and begins working to swim down to the indicated area.
Miron places his hand into the water. As expected for any water that would be found in a tomb underground, ice cold.
The group watches as Perri lowers himself into the pool. Instantly he remembers being a kid jumping into the river because going into cold water is much better fast than slow.
You make your way to the bottom of the pool you can see the things reflecting the light getting closer and clearer. You reach the bottom and see that it is covered with keys, with a quick guess you’d say over a hundred of them.
Unfortunately, you are unsure of what Miron saw as magical.
The party watches Perri make his way to the bottom of the pool with ease.
brandark feeds the rope out smoothly and keeps a loose grip ready to pull him out when he signals
Joras replies to Conrad, "Perri had my light, Roya's in the bottom of the pool, Miron could cast another but I'm not sure it would show any more than what we know. I gave that stone so it could be placed where it would be most helpful."
Joras goes back to looking around to make sure nothing jumps out at them.
Looking at the pile of keys, Perri shakes his head for a moment, then prods the pile with his bill. Assuming nothing happens, he'll head back up.
He'll stay in the water, throwing his bill over the lip and onto the floor. "No obvious threats. I need two things. A bag. Probably a big one, and a description of where that magic glow is compared to the light stone. The floor is covered in lots and lots of keys. If I know the area of the magic, then I can grab as many keys from that area as possible and hopefully pull the right key out more quickly."
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"Can't we just... send a mage down there?" Conrad says dubiously. "M-Miron said he could find the magic key."
Nevertheless, he goes through his equipment to find something that could make a suitable bag. He stares at his waterskin, wondering if they can just empty it to store the keys inside.
That would mean filling it with water from the pool afterwards, though.
Miron reluctantly sticks his face into the water to try and get a rough idea of where the magic key is.
"Uhm...I know that spell. I can't do it right now, but I know it, too. Some metal should be able to block the spell. So maybe you could scoop up a good number of keys in one of the corners, then move the sack near where Miron saw the magic...we'll also want our light spells gone, just to be sure. Then when the sack blocks the magic aura from Mirons vision, he can give a tug, and you'll know to empty the sack and scoop up everything below it?", Roya, comes up with a plan.
Joras says, doubtfully, "I don't know... How many keys are there anyway? If dozens, well, just have Conrad dump my tent out of the backpack that the town gave me and use that as a bag. Should be large enough for many keys. Then we spread out the keys making it easy to spot what we need. If hundreds do the same with as best a guess as possible, two or three trips likely to find the right one, if thousands then we have a real problem but unless they are heaped high, it doesn't look like that many. Sometimes the simple plan is the best, I hope." Joras still looking around expecting... he's not sure what.
"Joras is talking about what I was thinking of doing. There are a LOT of keys down there. Hundreds? Probably. Seriously. That's why I said give me a target area, I'll get as much of it up here as I can. If I miss, well, that should make getting it right easier the next time, right? Far less time sitting at the bottom of a pool holding my breath that way, too."
I think perris idea is best. let him know about where the magic is.
when perri is in the area, we give a quick jerk of the rope.
He then drops the light in that area and gathers all the keys he can before coming up.
Miron dries off his face and comes to a decision.
"No, it.. it makes more sense for me to go down. I'll be able to see the right one straight away. Otherwise who knows how long we'll be here. I'll.. I'll be fine." he says, a little uncertainly.
He removes his numerous layers of clothing, moves to stand on the edge of the water. He hesitates for half a minute, then recasts his spell and plunges into the water.
Aww crap, he should have waited for us to give him a safety line.
he helps perri out of the pond and starts to untie the rope.
We need a weight to sink the rope
"I think Perri can save him if necessary. I mean, if he does lose consciousness, a weighted rope won't help much would it?", Roya interjects.
The group talks about different options to help get the key when Miron gains enough courage and dives in.
You jump in and there is an instant rush of cold that hits you, almost to the point of gasping for air. It’s the end of harvest season and winter is near, this water must be flowing from an underwater spring with how cool it is.
You retain your casting of Detect Magic as you swim down. You are able to swim down with ease.
As you reach the bottom you look back up and see odd looking shapes in the waves of the water. It’s your party looking back down at you. Something breaks the water and weighted rope comes to the bottom.
There is nothing special about this pool outside of the near 100 keys blanketing the bottom of the pool. All different shapes and sizes.
You quickly hone in on the key detecting magic and pick it up. If you’d like, you can also snag a few extra keys in the same general area. With a pull of the rope you hang on tight as the group pulls you to the top.
Brandark mentions something to weigh down the rope and you would instantly think of the grappling hook or one of the pitons. Both have a place where you could loop the rope through and tie it off.
Tossing in the rope you see it quickly drop to the bottom of the pool. Those who have not been in the pool sees that it is rather deep. You only have less than 10 feet of rope out of the water to use to pull Miron up.
After a quick few moments the group feels a tug of the rope and with everyone able and ready, you pull Miron up from the pool.
"If there's an issue, I can get him. Don't worry."
As cold as the water may be, Perri knows how cold it is going to feel when he gets out of the water and starts drying off. The excuse to stay in the water and dela that discomfort seems a far better choice.
Once Miron's out of the pool, though, Perri sighs and climbs out next to him, beginning the process of trying to dry himself off before getting back into his armor.
"So, which key is the magic one?"
At the bottom, Miron struggles against the cold, now on the outside as well as from within. Focusing enough to spot the magic key, he grabs it and reaches out to tug on the rope. Emerging with a gasp, he scrabbles to get out of the icy water, drops the key for the others to deal with and rushes over to dry off.
"That's the one" he gasps out, before reverting to a semi-coherent profanity-filled muttering rant about cold, magic, pools, tests, tombs and the unfairness of life in general.
As he redresses, various flashes and magical rays fly out from him as he casts and recasts his various cantrips in a vain attempt to expel the cold.
While Perri and Miron are getting dried off and dressed Brandark recoils the rope and offers it back to Conrad.
I left the grapnel attacked, as we might need it again that way
He then looks around
We have a key, now to find the door, that key goes with.
"I guess that's what the 3 buttons are for. Don't you think?"
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"Well done, Miron-" Conrad instinctively wants to pat the young man on his shoulder in a congratulatory way, then remembers about his weird curse and his thing with the cold. He removes his hand quickly as if Miron's dampness could be contagious.
"M-maybe try with your blanket," he suggests when he sees Miron failing to dry himself off.
He takes his rope back from Brandark, and mutters a thanks. "W-we haven't seen any other door. W-we can try."
With the key in hand, the group knows that there are two locked doors in this room. Both previously inspected, you know that there are no locks on either one of them.
Giving Miron and Perri a moment to dry off and get warm they test the key against the locked doors. The eastern one in this room stays locked. The western door unlocks.
This long corridor is flanked by a row of human statues, set into alcoves on each side. The statues look like Kassen, and each one holds a longsword out in front of it. The blades of roughly half the statues are wrapped in leather padding.
45-feet the opposite end of this hallway is a shut door.
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Conrad moves in to inspect the two doors. He does not see any signs of traps, but can tell that the doors are both locked. There is a key hole.
Conrad leads the way into the new room.
He can't stop himself from swearing "Holy shit," when he suddenly finds himself facing two rows of statues. Their lifeless stares and roughly sculpted features make his hair stand on end.
His gaze is drawn to the shut door, but he's hesitant to move forward. "T-They're not gonna come to life, right? Right?"
By the maker, I hope not.
Brandark slowly hobbles into the hall looking around.
Miron wraps his coat tighter around himself and looks glumly at the statues.
"Be careful. They've got padded swords. I think it's like the cushions in the pits. There's traps to protect the tomb, but the adults didn't want to make them too dangerous for us.
But maybe they didn't get to finish putting pads on all of them before.. before the skeletons attacked."
"Yeah, the pads are there for a reason. Not promising." He gets prepared to use the bill in an attempt to topple the statues once they start moving. Guessing that the swords are part of the statue and trying to disarm them will go poorly.
Joras peers down the corridor, saying, "Wonder if there is a lever or something down there or anywhere, something that will stop any traps here. It would be insane not to have someway of not attacking everyone, does Roldare know? Actually he would have to know, a statue swinging a sword is hard to pad."
Anything interesting like a lever or switch.
Still a worry
Brandark starts using the end of his Urgosh to prod the floor ahead of himself.
Brandark leads the way down the hall. From what it looks like, there aren’t any levers, trip wires, or pressure plates like in the room full of columns.
Brandark leads the party down the hallway when suddenly he trips what the group was looking for. With a click, all the statues swing momentarily to life as they swing down their swords on the party.
One of the blades catches Brandark in the midsection knocking air out of him.
Roya wasn’t as lucky as she catches both blades, one in the back and the other in her face. Thankfully they were padded. But she looks on the verge of collapsing.
Miron is able to dodge a blade just as Brandark could, but catches the second in the side.
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Somehow, Conrad got lucky. Only as he reaches the end of the hallway, right behind Brandark, does he hear the click of traps being activated.
He doesn't have time to flatten against the wall, but the padded swords miss him entirely anyway. He can only watch in horror as Brandark gets hit in the ribs. By the time he turns around, Miron is clutching his side, and there's a huge red mark on Roya's face where she's been hit with the padded blade. "F-Damn, are you alright?" he cries out, alarmed.
Joras's worst fears happen before his eyes as Roya is badly hurt by a random assault, or so it seems, he remembers how illusions work. "Roya are you hurt? Please hold up, I can help.", he urgently says. If Roya says yes, or screams, or says nothing, Joras will heal her.
If as indicated above, Joras will cast Cure Light Wounds on Roya.
On Roya if needed.
Joras starts singing about how little hurts will heal, the sounds of the notes seems to swirling the colors of the rainbow then blend together into a white light the surrounds his hands, as he places them on Roya's wounds they start to knit.
"D@*$ IT! Who felt the floor move? Let's not trigger that again, okay? Can she stand? Let's get her out of the line of fire."
Come now, do you think that i tripped it deliberately. by the gods man, Save your anger for other things
Brandark regains his footing, and Levers himself to his feet, and as soon as everyone is up, he starts hobbling down the rest of the hall.
Seeing the need, Joras quickly moves to aid Roya as he cast a healing spell on her . This causes Roya to be more stable in her footing.
Once everyone has regained their composure, the group slowly moves forward watching every move they make, every step they take to reassure that the blades won’t swing again or that they stumble into the shape ones at the end of the hall.
You make your way to the end of the hallway and discover that this door is unlocked, and even partly opened.
Looking into the room with your light sources, you see that one half of this lofty chamber has a lowered floor, with stairs on either side to reach the bottom. Standing opposite the door is a tall wooden statue of Kassen grasping a gigantic wooden shield in each hand. One of the shields is inscribed with the word “Home,” while the other reads “Family.”
You also see a door next to the statue of Kassen, also there is a stairway heading east up into darkness.
The door might be a good idea, but lets take a quick breather in this room, and get ourselves sorted out.
Miron stumbles to the ground as the second sword catches him off-guard. Battered and winded, he staggers back to his feet after a minute or so.
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Miron glances at the statue. "I spose if I stayed I home, that would've stopped me from getting whacked with some swords." he grumbles under his breath.
He peeks over the edge of the split floor, just to make sure that there's nothing hiding down below.
"Yeah, let's rest for a few minutes." he agrees with Brandark.
Joras quickly agrees, "Yes, we need a break. Roya, talk to me, I know it's a shock but you can push past it. We need you, I can heal one more time but that's it without a lot of rest." Joras looks around very worried, "What is going on with that? Even padded that could easily kill someone, nearly did. We need to find the way, what did he say? The place is down to light the lantern? We have to find it, get done, find anyone we can find, and get out of here soon. Time is not our friend."
Joras's now suffers from having too good an imagination, fed by the more melancholy songs and stories told by his mentor. This is bad, very bad, got to keep it together... Joras thoughts start to run dark, but a little core of halfling resoluteness holds.
As the group begins to move in, you can see that this platform could serve as a makeshift campsite. The passage way you just came from is partially blocked by the statues swords. The only concerned would be the stairs that ascend into darkness and the door next to the statue.
Miron walks towards the ledge and sees that it drops 20 feet, but nothing is hiding along the lower ledge. Just the large statue of Kassen and the door besides it.
Conrad can’t get a clear sight if the shields are functional or decorative. You can tell that they are wooden like the statue, and that they are Tower Shields from design. He would need to get a closer look to tell if they could be used.
Miron takes a cursory glance up the open stairs, casting a Light spell to illuminate the dark, then when he sees no apparent danger, moves to the wall and sinks down to sit against it, wincing as he pokes at where the sword hit him.
"Do the swords reset themselves?" he wonders aloud. "We could actually use those shields to protect us if they do. If the come off."[/B] he adds.
I would suggest that we avoid touching the statues. We already had swords attack us, I don't want us to get hit by anything else.
Brandark takes his pack off, and sits on it to take a breather
As the group begins to move in, you can see that this platform could serve as a makeshift campsite. The passage way you just came from is partially blocked by the statues swords. The only concerned would be the stairs that ascend into darkness and the door next to the statue.
Miron walks towards the ledge and sees that it drops 20 feet, but nothing is hiding along the lower ledge. Just the large statue of Kassen and the door besides it.
Conrad can’t get a clear sight if the shields are functional or decorative. You can tell that they are wooden like the statue, and that they are Tower Shields from design. Conrad begins to move down the stairs to get a closer look at the shields and from the look of them, they are real functional towner shields. Or at least from ones he has heard Captain Wisslo talk about.
Suddenly it appears as if one of the shields shift… then the wooden statue comes alive and takes a step towards Conrad. As it does this, the floor where it was standing begins to raise. An audible grinding fills this chamber as the stairs shift and becomes a slide.
The wooden statue slams Conrad with its shield slamming him against the wall.
This creature is a Wood Golem, it is a construct.
You notice a small keyhole on the back of the creature.
Initiative Round 1
Wooden Statue
All of you
Before when Joras moved to the platform:
With Roya not responding, Joras lead or drags her over to the platform;he's trying to determine what is wrong. he stays with her very concerned.
After Conrad serious trap, Joras light a pebble and tosses it toward Conrad hoping that it will go wherever Conrad goes.