"Just Eltariel, Gashelle," I grin at her, then point upwards at a spot eight feet up the wall. "I think there's an opening up there behind that darkmoss, can you cut it away with your glaive? I could burn it out, but there might be something else up there, and anyway it hasn't done me any harm and pruning will do less damage."
Gashelle looks around the room for a couple of seconds, awash in the chaos.
Who set up that cart? Did they set up the cart a deliberate attack, or did it go berserk over the years? And why prepare only one of them, when they could have set all four racing after us? Was that the only danger here?
"Tristan? The hole up th- there." She gestures with the glaive, thrusting the blade a couple inches into the moss. "Is it s- safe?"
Gashelle clasps her elven comrade-in-arms on the shoulder. She almost manages a straight face as she says "Tristan, m- make sure you r- record Avinar's heroic fl- flanking."
"Duly noted m'lady." Tristan confirms with a completely straight face.
Tristan looks over the items found in the wrecked mine cart. Picking up one of the metal flasks, Tristan asks the others "This appears to be holy water, do you think the miners were concerned about meeting the undead?"
"Tristan? The hole up th- there." She gestures with the glaive, thrusting the blade a couple inches into the moss. "Is it s- safe?"
The half-elf warrior's question draws Tristan's attention over to the opening. "Help me move one of the carts over there." He says. Then a few moments later, standing on an upturned mine cart, Tristan searches the tunnel opening for traps.
Avinar mutters to himself, "Well I did distract it to give you a better strike at it..."
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Tristan cannot determine whether the tunnel entrance is trapped or not.It seems to be a mine gallery the same size as the tunnels you have previously traversed.However the tunnel seems to slope quite sharply downwards.
A few dagger slashes at the mossy slime and the tunnel is revealed..examining it with a light stone lets Tristan see that the incline descends some thirty feet by natural steps to what seems to be a slime choked water filled passageway...theres no way to tell how deep the water might be from here.
The original tunnel continues on beyond the gnome statue...there are no levers or any unusal features to this statue.
"I think we can save exploring the slime until after we have explored this level," I muse. I look speculatively at the statue. "Either it's a marker to indicate the mine starts here, or like the other statue, it does something," I think aloud. "If it doesn't have a lever, maybe it is a lever?"
I glance at my companions.
"Avinar, dear friend, would you help me here?" I try rotating the statue in place, then rocking it back and forth.
Avinar rushes over to help Eltariel, "of vcourse my lady" Avinar blushes at the opportunity to help.
"Hmmm, I guess sometimes a statue is just a statue." says Tristan. "Well lets have a look down this next tunnel."
Tristan proceeds cautiously down the tunnel past the statue, searching for traps as he goes.
"Just a statue?" I shake my head sadly. "How boring - especially from gnomes," I say in an aside to Sasha as we advance down the tunnel.
"I'm curious, Sasha, have you used arcane scrolls before?" I ask. My spell has worn off now, but leaving me fully healed. We are once again at back of the group ...
Considering the two passageways before him, Tristan decides to take a look down the passage on the right hand side. "Let's have a look down this way, shall we?" he says over his shoulder.
"A moment, good b- b- bard."
Gashelle casts Detect Magic and looks down both tunnels: straight ahead and to the right.
She also listens to see what can be heard.
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Gashelle detects no magical presence in either cavern nor can she hear anything in the area apart from the occasional drip of water. Tristan moves cautiously down the passageway to the cave entrace proper which is only 10 feet or so away but finds no trace of traps
A scorch mark about twenty feet in diameter engulfs most of this room. It was once a laboratory but only the workbench remains. There are
glass shards and shredded papers spread all over the room. A small overturned cot and a tipped over wardrobe are the only other furnishings.
Tristan moves over to the overturned wardrobe and performs a quick search of the contents for anything useful.
There are
glass shards and shredded papers spread all over the room. A small overturned cot and a tipped over wardrobe are the only other furnishings.
Are the cot, and the clothes in the wardrobe, gnome-sized?
Gashelle stays out in the hallway, making way for Etariel and Sasha to pass into the room if they like, but keeping guard for anything that might come back up the hallway. "I wonder h- how this all connects w- with the rest of the place. Was this one of th- those fire traps that we avoided?"
"Perhaps, or some experiment gone bad. This looks like the remains of some kind of alchemical laboratory." Tristan muses.
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The wardrobe contains some very moldy cloaks and a locked metal box. One cloak still has a silver clasp in the shape of an apple (valued at 60 gp.)
As to how long ago this happened you can't say. The cloaks appear to be for a creature larger than a gnome..Eltariel reckons about Dwarf sized.The cot is definitely larger than the ones you found above.
Avinar keeps his eyes towards the longer tunnel making sure nothing surprises the companions from the unknown direction.
"Be careful in there guys alchemy can create many toxins and gases" Avinar suggests
"Do you know any Alchemy, Sasha? I'm afraid mine is a little rusty ..."
I survey the mess with some dismay.
"I'd say something went badly wrong ... but this may be why the mine was abandoned. Ah, but it wouldn't have piled up the skulls or left the traps would it? Perhaps, though, the magus who did that could have perished in some dire experiment here ... but I would assume nothing," I muse aloud.
"There sh- should be bones."
Explosions that leave workbenches don't obliterate bone.
The best option: some animal came by and scavenged the remains. It's not like they could have gotten up and left by themselves.
Avinar smiles at Gashelle and playfully suggests "Flesh eating toxins may leave bones and wood though, hey I'm just saying...
The wardrobe contains some very moldy cloaks and a locked metal box. One cloak still has a silver clasp in the shape of an apple (valued at 60 gp.)
Tristan casts detect magic and examines both the clasp and the metal box. he then searches the box for traps and then attempts to either unlock the box or disarm any traps as needed.
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There is no aura of magic from the box but Tristan finds a nasty needle trap after a long period of study. He sets it on the work bench and produces his thieves tools.Probing gently at the lock he eventually manages to nullify the trap and unlock the box.
Inside you find a small feather and a silver ring...the feather radiates a moderate conjuration aura, the ring is non magical but Masterwork and worth 150 GP at a rough estimate.
"Curious ..." I examine the feather.
Tristan looks around at his new companions. "Shall we call it a day or venture a little further?" He asks, "Keep in mind that we still need to find a secure place to sleep for the night."
"I'd like to press on, Tristan, but if everyone else is in favour of resting, so be it."
"I need little sleep, plus the excitement is very invigorating, if the group wishes to continue forth, I shall work to protect us" Avinar looks to his fellow companions, he feels a sense of pride with how they all have come together to work at a common goal.
"I'd like to press on, Tristan, but if everyone else is in favour of resting, so be it."
"I'm not tired. Let's go a little further."
Gashelle is uninjured and still has most of her magic. She's up for continuing.
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The party shakes out into it's standard order and Tristan leads the way towards the second cave.
Stepping cautiously into the cavern Tristan finds himself standing beside a cistern of some sort occupied by a number of creatures he has no time to identify as he hears a familiar whirring sound. Looking around he spots a larger version of the statues which attacked you up above just beginning to stir into action in the alcove.
He calls out a warning
Initiative order and starting positions
Gashelle H5
Tristan H7
Eltariel H3
Sasha H4
Avinar H6
Statue F6
Avinar moves with supernatural speed to reach the autonomaton in time to strike at its mechanical bits and pieces. Avinar thrusts up towards a joint trying to disable the mechanical statue.
Sasha doubts that anything he does will have an effect on this contraption, so he'll just look for allies that need healing.
When the going gets tough ...
I lunge past Sasha, down the line to the edge of the cistern where I have good line of attack and hurl my firebolt at the clockwork killer.
"Draw it out and surround it!" I shout to our warriors.
Gashelle reacts faster than any of her comrades, moves to E8 and aatacks with her glaive before the clockwork can get its bearings.
She would hit AC 23 for 10 points of damage.
There must be some way to deactivate these things! Well, other than the way we're going about it....
Gashelle tries to speak the gutteral word the party heard when we arrived on this level. ()
Incidentally, can Gashelle tell what kind of thing is next to her in the western hallway?
Tristan reaches for his lute instead of his weapons this time. Singing an epic ballad, he inspires courage in his comrades.
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As you will know from the discussion thread Sasha is now mine to do with as I will...(evil cackling laugh) SOOOOO...the round now goes like this
Gashelles strike sinks deep into the wood of the statue carving a large chunk away and exposing the works
Tristans music fills the room as Eltariel scores a hit with her flame bolt which unfortunately hits an undamaged part and fizzles out on the statues skin
Sasha steps forward snaps his crossbow to his shoulder and...the bolt plunges deep into the automatons workings
Avinar moves swiftly forward and lunges running his thinblade into the exposed clockwork...theres a grinding sound and the statue ceases movement before it even gets to react.
Closer examination of the statue reveals what seems to be a wand as an integral part of the Machines left arm.
Although I'm intrigued by the statue I know it isn't going anywhere, now. I glance at the cistern behind me, now that the immediate threat is past ... what are the creatures in there?
Incidentally, can Gashelle tell what kind of thing is next to her in the western hallway?
And she'll recast Detect Magic as she's looking about the room.
Tristan looks over the wand embedded in the clockwork arm of the smashed statue. "I may be able to get it out of there, if I just turn this like so, and pull this cog over to the left ..."