have you or yours heard of them?"
( Knowledge Local = 13 / Knowledge Nobility = 25 )
"Of the group's activities, I know little you have not already heard. There is however, a scandalous rumor making the rounds of the nobility that a new band of smugglers and thieves is quietly being supported or perhaps even run from within one of the Noble Houses. As if the way with such things, no names are named."
"I can try."
"I can try."
"The ring's aura indicates the band holds some type of divination enhancement."
“Lady Vanderboren, it has been an honour and a privilege to assist you in regaining what should rightfully be yours,” says Eldin, bowing low.
“As for the offer of further work – why, yes, I believe I will accept,” looking around at his companions nods of assent, he adds, “and it appears that most of us are in agreement. That is good, I think we have proved a good team, and I would be honoured to work further with you all.” He turns back to Lavinia. “There is one thing only milady. I am a traveller by heart and profession, and there will come a time I am sure – be it a month or a year – when my feet will again long to take the road. When that time comes, I must beg leave of your employment – unless you can find some use for a man on the road,” he adds with a grin and a wink.
“Now, if we are to employed … is there some task that you have for us now? Track down Vark perhaps, and curtail any future mischief the man may make? Find the owner of yon gown? I pray that the lady was a willing companion to Vark – distasteful as even that thought is – rather than … well, not.”
“As for the offer of further work – why, yes, I believe I will accept,” looking around at his companions nods of assent, he adds, “and it appears that most of us are in agreement.
Lavinia appears visibly relieved.
“I am so delighted you accepted, I cannot tell you how comforted I am to have extra support in these difficult times.”
When that time comes, I must beg leave of your employment – unless you can find some use for a man on the road,” he adds with a grin and a wink.
I understand completely. My parents were possessed of adventurous souls as well. I believe they always intended for me to join them, once they sensed I was ready.
“Now, if we are to employed … is there some task that you have for us now?
“I do have a mission in mind, actually. Now that I have my father’s signet ring in my possession thanks to all of you, I need to visit the Vanderboren Vault beneath Castle Teraknian so I may compensate your party, and set certain financial concerns to rest.”
“All of Sassarine’s nobility have secure vaults beneath the castle; I understand a number of of them are quite extensive and contain potentially lethal traps. I have never personally visited our family vault, though father talked of it on occasion. I believe the vault to be relatively modest and secure, and not nearly as deadly as some, though I do remember him hiring an artisan of some sort to design protective measures.”
“It would reassure me greatly to have your party escort me to the vault. If you are ready, we can leave without delay.”
Following the meeting at Vanderboren Manor, the party accompanies Lavinia to the edge of the property, where a large carriage waits to escort them to High Market.
It is difficult to determine which is more exotic within High Market: the goods, or the people purchasing them. All manner of nobles and their entourages peruse the Market, each in a vain attempt to outshine the other. Foreign sights and smells both calm and assault your senses as you travel past the myriad booths. It is clear if the party wishes to search for any atypical items, this will be the place to travel, although in many shops it would appear price is no object.
From High Market, Lavinia employs a ferry to convey the assemblage to the castle. Not technically part of any district, Castle Teraknian abuts and is in the possession of all districts of Sassarine. With the Dawn Council serving as the stewards of Sassarine, the majority of the castle is uninhabited and closed to the public. The castle does still see significant traffic from among the noble families, however, who use the secure areas beneath the edifice as a communal storage for their valuables, or even as a place to store articles away from prying eyes and their own estates.
Once inside the castle, Lavinia converses briefly with one of the castle clerks, who verifies her identity and signet ring before escorting the party down a long spiral staircase, which terminates in an immense spherical chamber beneath Castle Teraknian.
From within the cavity, you observe at least a dozen ten foot long hallways carved from the rock, large enough to accommodate a single traveler abreast, and each ending in a large iron door.
Bidding you good day and wishing the party well, the clerk indicates the proper hallway for the Vanderboren Vault, then returns to his post above.
Well lit by torches which do not appear to give off any smoke, the chamber smells dry and a bit chalky, though you are not so deep as to make breathing uncomfortable.
Traveling the short walk to the entryway indicated by the clerk, Lavinia and the party halt before a sturdy door adorned with an eight-pointed star. Above the portal is a burnished plaque of silver, with “Vanderboren” inscribed upon it in flowing calligraphy. Just below a rounded depression bearing an inverse of the Vanderboren ring seal, a single handle protrudes from the entrance.
“This symbol seems very familiar, though I cannot place it. Do any of you recognize it?”
DC 15 Knowledge (local) Check:
Lavinia places the signet ring upon her finger, then pushes it lightly into the depressed area. The door erupts suddenly with heatless blue fire which extinguishes just as quickly, then clicks abruptly and swings inward with a jarring creak.
Unsettled by the spectacle, Lavinia turns and declares, “Having no knowledge as to what may lurk inside; I shall defer to your experience and allow you to proceed me into the vault. Please be careful with my family’s possessions, some of them are quite old.”
Clarifications:
The room ahead is unlit.
The door is only large enough to accommodate a single entrant at a time.
The room ahead is large enough to hold the entire party.
"I'll duck in a scout it out. Stay here and try to keep quiet. I'll give a shout if I get in trouble."
He pauses first to see if he can hear anything. Listen (1d20+7=16). Harven then quietly creeps into the Vault. Even though the rest of the party is looking right at him, and not making a sound, you can still only just see him when he moves.
Hide (1d20+16=29)
Move Silently (1d20+12=24)
Once inside, He'll again stop and have a look and listen.
Spot (1d20+7=24)
Listen (1d20+7=18)
Harven quietly disappears into the room before you. Upon entering, he discovers the room is several degrees cooler than the previous chamber. Suppressing a slight shiver in his attempt to be soundless, Harven stops at the doorway, panning around and listening intently.
This room appears to be an antechamber to the main vault. The interior of this room is silent enough to hear the jingle of armor and hushed breathing of the remaining company.
The room is made of marble (color indeterminate with darkvision), with a domed ceiling held by multiple thirty foot tall pillars, each sculpted into an ophidian motif. The apex of the dome bears a full-scale eight-pointed star, identical to the symbol on the door Harven recently passed through. On either side of the room from where you stand are two fifteen foot alcoves with lower ceilings (one to a side).
With his exceptional eyesight, Harven notices several empty glass vials lying on the floor across from where he stands. The doorway behind you appears to be the only exit from the room at this time.
Terin stands by the doorway keeping an eye out for danger. I imagine that my low-light vision should allow me to see into the room somewhat.
I imagine that my low-light vision should allow me to see into the room somewhat.
Sure, why not. The interior is lightless, but I'll give you 10' based on seepage from the exterior light.
Anders stares blankly at the walls around him. He is oddly quiet today.
Grr...can't see jack! Shirak Manus! There, much better!
Eldin looks at Lavinia in some surprise. “I had assumed the symbol was part of your family crest … but now you mention it, it does look somewhat familiar … I’m afraid I can’t place it though.”
As Harven enters the vault, Eldin mutters an incantation, and begins concentrating on the chamber beyond.
Harven will stealthily move forward, and check out the glass vials, before checking out the alcoves (the left one first). If he doesn't find anything in the vault, he will return to his companions waiting at the door and report what he has (or hasn't), as the case may be, discovered.
If they are needed,
Hide (1d20+16=24)
Move Silently (1d20+12=29)
Listen (1d20+7=20)
Spot (1d20+7=22)
As Terin sheaths his hand in flame, there is a low sucking noise as the pressure between rooms changes slightly, causing your ears to pop. A noticeable draft flows from Terin into the antechamber, and the blaze in his hand flickers ominously.
Eldin begins to concentrate on the room before you, noting that there is a magical presence of some type inside the room.
Harven silently creeps forward across the room towards the vials.
As Eldin continues to concentrate, he takes note of a single, faint aura of magic.
As Harven reaches the center of the room, an intense wind seems to blow into the chamber from everywhere at once, carrying with it a cloud of yellow-brown spores. A numbing chill saps the vitality from Harven’s bones, and he drops to his feet briefly before crawling just back from the centerline of the chamber .
At the same time the debilitating chill assaults Harven, Eldin notes the dim aura is evocation magic, stretching in a line through the center of the vault between the two alcove pillars.
A bitterly cold wind blows from the interior of the chamber across the party before subsiding .
Beginning his spell, Eldin notices a magical aura of some type in the room – he tries to catch Harven’s eye, not wanting to call out and ruin the silence, possibly alerting any hidden guardians within the chamber.
A moment later, he wishes he had, as a blast of chill air rushes out from the chamber, knocking the gnome to the ground. Unfotunately, Eldin is unprepared for the effect, and a violent shiver runs through him, prematurely ending the divination. Well, hopefully it had served him enough.
“The spell effect seems to be anchored between the two columns – don’t step between them, in case it triggers again,” Eldin warns his companions. He darts forward, voicing a prayer to Fharlanghn, and lays a glowing hand on Harven’s back (being careful not to put any part of himself between the line of the columns. The cleric’s spell warms and revitalises the gnome.
“The magical aura I noticed stretched between these two columns,” says Eldin thoughtfully. “There appears to be a gap behind each column – I wonder if that area may be free of traps?”
"Thank Heavens you are here with me. I would have blundered right into that trap and been left here to die."
“That’s what you’re paying us for milady,” says Eldin. “Best to remain outside until we are sure the area is secure.”
"Thank Heavens you are here with me. I would have blundered right into that trap and been left here to die."
Staggering to his knees, Harven looks up just in time to see Eldin come to his aid. Revitalised by the spell, he blurts out "Wow, what the hell was that. Never seen anything like that before." "I'll have to be more careful about creeping around in the dark" He says with a small, weak (obviously forced) smile.
Knowledge (Dungeoneering) DC 17:
Spellcraft DC 22:
"Well, we ain't going to find out standing here. I can probably take the most abuse, so Ill take point"
Tyndal readies his flail and shield, and begins carefully edging along the wall, trying to get around the gap behind the right pillar.
Wait! The Vanderboren's must've had a way around this, they had to access the vault in someway! Ms. Vanderboren, did your parents never mention bypassing the vault's defenses? Mayhaps you need to place your ring into some kind of socket to "turn off" the defenses, or maybe that odd symbol in the foyer has something to do with it.
I don't think force is the answer to this puzzle. We must use our heads, I think.
Tyndal readies his flail and shield, and begins carefully edging along the wall, trying to get around the gap behind the right pillar.
So far no indications of problems with Tyndal's forward progress around the alcove.
Wait! The Vanderboren's must've had a way around this, they had to access the vault in someway! Ms. Vanderboren, did your parents never mention bypassing the vault's defenses? Mayhaps you need to place your ring into some kind of socket to "turn off" the defenses, or maybe that odd symbol in the foyer has something to do with it.
I don't think force is the answer to this puzzle. We must use our heads, I think.
“I do not honestly know, though I cannot believe my parents would have neglected to mention it if they thought I may be in any real danger here. Perhaps I should attempt to walk through?”
If you do Milady, please take hold of my elbow and allow me to guard you from harm. If anything happens to you I will ensure you make it to safety, even if mine own life be forfeit.
*Terin holds out his right elbow, the same arm that has the ball of flame in it's hand and tightens his grib on his scimitar. Terin is a lefty.*
Tyndal stops and waits for Lavinia to do her thing.
Tyndal stops and waits for Lavinia to do her thing.
Lavinia stoically strides forward, though you can see a slight quaver in her step. She certainly dreamed of adventuring with her parents, but the real thing is something different entirely.
As she progresses to the center of the antechamber, she holds her hands out before her, as if to feel the magical trigger to the ambush which so recently battered poor Harven.
When Lavinia reaches the midpoint of the pillars, where Eldin detected the trip line, there is a second rush of air, and Lavinia lets out a surprised shriek! She quickly recovers though, when she realizes it is not only softer than before, but it is also now blowing away from the center of the room, rather than towards. A soft pink glow begins to emanate from her signet ring.
“Of course! The vault must be set to recognize legitimate Vanderboren heirs. I am sorry Harven, if only we had known sooner. You had all better search the room quickly for another door, I have no idea how this works or how long the trap will stay unsprung.”
Lavinia stands rigidly in the center of the room, afraid to lose control of the trap.
"No problem"
Eldin assists in the search:
Your search of the room reveals that the flowing ophidian pattern on one of the pillars differs slightly from the rest. Focusing your search on this column, you inadvertently trip a recessed panel. The sound of stone grinding on stone reverberates through the chamber, and the snakes of the pillar begin to twist and writhe. The snakes straighten and lift, looking for all the world like trained cobras in an exotic bazaar, and abruptly the pillar splits in twain, forming a passageway into a previously hidden chamber.
Unlike the previous room, the new area appears well lit.
“I will wait here until everyone is in the new room, then hasten in after.”
“Move it then people – use the two feet that Fharlanghn gifted you with!”
Eldin stands by the newly revealed doorway to the new chamber, gesturing for the others to move through, whilst looking at Lavinia.
"Ok, Ok, I'm moving, give me a chance. I am a bit hesitant to walk through random doorways at the moment."
None the less, Harven heads into the well lit room.
Lavinia vacates her position and quickly bounds into the new chamber once the last member of the party has entered; bumping slightly into whomever is the last to enter.
“Apologies.”
Lavinia vacates her position and quickly bounds into the new chamber once the last member of the party has entered; bumping slightly into whomever is the last to enter.
“Apologies.”
"Absolutely no need to apologise milady," Eldin replies, suppressing a grin.
Smaller than the previous room, this chamber is just large enough to hold the entire party comfortably. The now familiar eight-pointed star motif runs the length of the ceiling, which sits roughly 10 feet above the ground. All of the points of the star are black, save one, whose rose-colored point projects towards the door you have just entered. The pattern appears to have influenced the design of the room as well, as it too bears eight sides.
Four slender pillars in the center appear to support the room, and between them, descending from the midpoint of the star motif, hangs a metal pendulum. The familiar but unidentified pattern must have been significant to either Lavinia’s parents or the room’s designer, as the bob of the pendulum is also an eight-pointed star. With only the slightest tremor at your entrance, the pivot begins to rotate freely as it hangs.
Six of the seven walls of the room (the eighth being the entrance) possess a low contrast carving of an exotic creature. The final wall bears a blank slate. Anticlockwise from the entrance, the carvings depict a squat tentacled beast shoveling garbage into its mouth, a round, floating eye with numerous eyestalks jutting from the main mass, a demonic winged head, a well dressed, upright humanoid tiger with backwards hands, a barbaric, dim-witted looking man of enormous size, and a constrictor with the arms and head of a woman.
“That one is definitely an Otyugh,” Lavinia muses, pointing towards the garbage eating monstrosity. “The council actually tried to introduce a few into the sewer once, as part of an ill-fated cleanup project.”
“The snake thing is a Yaun-ti; the jungle is filled with the horrible things, or that is what most Sassarine parents tell their children to keep them from wandering off, at any rate. These others I do not recognize.”
Stamping her foot slightly, Lavinia grouses, “What could it possibly mean though? Why must my father have been so confounded cryptic? He could have at least left a clue of some variety for me!”
Idly, she picks up one of the discarded vials and sniffs at it, then wrinkles her nose.
“Ugh. Mint and…animal musk…?” How peculiar.
Rousing briefly from his odd daze, Anders speaks up, his voice a little startling in the thoughtful silence.
"Wasn't there a note of some kind, stuffed in the ring? Terin, do you have that piece of parchment, or did I have it," he asks, as he reaches absently into a pouch and produces the parchment. "Could this be helpful in some way?"
The thick parchment itself is unremarkable, but upon its surface is an artfully rendered watercolor rainbow.