The wall opens up into a 30' by 30' room, where you are walking seems to be the center of the "north" wall. there are 10' wide double doors on the east and west walls, and there is nothing more than dust in this room.
On the south wall, however, is a carving into the wall, which appears to be a map. The map on the wall looks as if it is the very city that you are in!
"Well, this should prove helpful!"
Oswaldo examines the map curiously.
Borden will also approach the map and try to locate where they currently were based off of where they had entered that the direction they had taken to arrive to this room.
Seeing that he has a short amount of time to use, Chandos pulls out his tome, The Chronicles of the Gambit, and his inkpen. He quickly scribes into the tome the names of the party he has joined as well as their general descriptions. Then, he quickly restows his tome and the inkpen into his backpack and awaits an opportunity to view the map on the wall.
Borden will also approach the map and try to locate where they currently were based off of where they had entered that the direction they had taken to arrive to this room.
The map is quite easy to read, and you are able to trace your path quite easily and find that you entered the "main entrance hallway" (your thought as to what it is), and came straight south down a corridor into the room.
Looking to the map, Borden will focus on the room to the west, taking in its appoximate size and shape before approaching the double door that leads to that room.
Chandos draws his sword and readies for any actionthat may follow.
The door to the west is marked with a gnomish E. It is trapped, as Borden searches. The doors, much like the others, is a large, gearlike contraption with the key roughly waist-height to Borden in this case.
Becoming resigned with the act that he would have to try and disable the trap, Borden pulls out his tools and sets to work trying to find the trap in the door. If he finds the trap, he then sets about trying to disable it.
Aid another on Disable:
Feli softly whispers a few words of motivation as Borden prepares for the task:
"Borden, although this might seem a bit hard, I'm very confident you can pull this one off. Just relax, keep breathing and don't let yourself be distracted..."
Moonpate takes another fortifying swig from one of his many emergency flasks, to calm his nerves in the presence of so many blasted traps.
The trap, obviously magical in nature, is actually bypassed by Borden as he unlocks the door with some difficulty. The great gear grinds open, as if it is in dire need of oiling, and opens into a hallway, and it leads to the south. If you are reading the map along the southern wall correctly it forms a + shaped intersection about 30 feet southward, with the options of going Up stairs to the right (west), south to another door, or down a hall to a large antechamber (east), with the eastern path having a hall to go to the east doorway.
Letting out a relieved sigh as the door rolls open, Borden packs up his tools as he draws his blade once more. "Well, I'm glad we pulled that one off. Now let's see if it was worth it." With that, Borden will quietly move down the corridor, eyes alert as he moves. Once they reach the cross intersection, he turns to the east to see what might be in the antechamber.
"Excellent work, brother. Continue to do so and we may get out of here alive," Chandos states with a small laugh as he follows Borden (at a distance) down the hallway.
Oswaldo follows Borden as quietly as possible, his crossbow at the ready.
From where you stand at the crossroads, you can see a mote of light and a trio of pillars crossing the room, two near you, and one south of the mote of light. You also see a geared door straight ahead, one that is of a smaller scale than the one you passed through here, but it is yet another door. The rest of the room is not visible as you are some 60 feet away. The only light in the area is from the room you are facing.
Taking the room in, Borden keeps his sharp eyes alert for danger.
Perception:
Perception Roll: 1d20+2=6
Perception:
Chandos holds his sword steadily and looks around carefully.
You all move slightly closer down the hall, and begin to hear the sounds of rushing water, birds chirping, and other sounds you would expect on the surface. The closer you get to the room you can see down the hall, the stronger the sounds become.
The hallway, as Borden is carefully watching, is devoid of any traps, although there is a scrap of cloth or paper here or there, but nothing that hides anything of any consequence.
Following the strange sound of birds chirping, Borden continues orward into the room.
Oswaldo follows close behind.
Chandos continues to follow Borden.
Moonpate will bring up the rear, crossbow at the ready to guard our backs.
Feli is intrigued by the sounds so unusual for such a place. Realising his fellows feel the same but do seem to be alert Feli takes a firm grip on his bow and takes out an arrow just in case.
Feli speaks softly:
"Now what do we have here...?
The sound of bubbling watter and birds chirping meet you as you all come nearer to the hall. Upon crossing the threshold you see eight black marble pillars, each sculpted into a gnome artisan or warrior standing upon each others' shoulders to hold the weight of the 30-foot high ceiling. The ceiling is held in place by a flying buttress of some sort, which also appears to be made of the same materials. The walls themselves are of faded murals of gnomes having a grand party or reverie, with gnomes dancing, playing instruments, drinking, and other such activities under a brightly lit sky.
The 40-foot-wide hall widens to 60 feet at the southern end. You see a large, circular pool there enclosed by a semi-cercular, 1-foot-high veined marble wall. Carved into the wall above the pool is a gnome visage with water spilling from its wide grin. Four bright lights illuminate the hall from end to end, they flicker and dance like torchlight and drift aimlessly about the hall, changing altitude and direction, seemingly at a whim. Two piles of rubble, one in the northwestern end and another in the southewestern end add imperfections to what was once a magnificent hall.
"Perhaps we shoulf investigate the door with the marking similar to the one we have passed through before."
Chandos looks around for a moment before moving. Then he speaks again.
"No offense to the creators here, but I have never trusted gnomes to a great degree. But, more so than halflings," he finishes with a smile. Then, he continues "Watch carefully. Anything could be hidden between or behind those pillars and even in or above the pool."
With that Chandos begins to pace the room searching for any hidden dangers waiting to attack.
Perception
Slipping into the room, Borden attempts to stick to the shadows as he tries to get a better layout off the room. With a feeling that he had just barely gotten past the last locked door, the young investigator wasn't yet ready to tackle another.
Stealth:
"And I thought halflings were eccentric. These gnomes are downright crazy."
This is the post I did not want to make. I really wanted to keep going with this. However, between some personal problems (let alone the computer hating me), I will not be able to continue this adventure further.
I'm trying to thin down my computer time for a period of time. I wish I could say that I could save this game, but given what I'm limiting myself to, I can't. Some of this comes from personal things, the rest is coming from the fact the computer keeps frying itself on me, and I can't very well type this out while the computer is burning up (this same apology was cut & pasted to afford more time to properly write it).
To all, I'm sorry. This has been a great year and a half, but I can't keep failing you all and trying to provide a good story and keep it moving with so little time to afford.
What's sad is I'm losing both my PbP games mostly over the computer issues, and I wish it weren't so :( I asked for the courtesy of knowing when you left, and I'm affording the same one to you all. Once everything's well again, I will try this campaign again, and you all will have first dibs if you would like them.
Signed,
the very sad Darkmeer
This is the post I did not want to make. I really wanted to keep going with this. However, between some personal problems (let alone the computer hating me), I will not be able to continue this adventure further.
I'm trying to thin down my computer time for a period of time. I wish I could say that I could save this game, but given what I'm limiting myself to, I can't. Some of this comes from personal things, the rest is coming from the fact the computer keeps frying itself on me, and I can't very well type this out while the computer is burning up (this same apology was cut & pasted to afford more time to properly write it).
To all, I'm sorry. This has been a great year and a half, but I can't keep failing you all and trying to provide a good story and keep it moving with so little time to afford.
What's sad is I'm losing both my PbP games mostly over the computer issues, and I wish it weren't so :( I asked for the courtesy of knowing when you left, and I'm affording the same one to you all. Once everything's well again, I will try this campaign again, and you all will have first dibs if you would like them.
Signed,
the very sad Darkmeer
Life happens and it is more important than our game. :)
I appreciate the trouble you went through anyway. I hope that you can straighten out whatever is troubling you.
Later, TTfBtE (Chandos)
No problem, thanks for the game!
Definitely understand how complicated life can get. Thanks for the great game so far. I really like your style of crafting the story and have enjoyed the interactions with the fellow players and the development of characters that has occurred. Moonpate will swig a few brews especially in honor of Borden.
To the group, please keep me in mind for any other PbP games that need a new player. This was a fun experience.
Feels honored and cheers with Moonpate and the others!
It has a great game while it lasted and it would be great to have a chance to play with you all again.
I hope your problems sort out in the future Darkmeer and look me up if you decide to run a game in the future.
Take care all and all the best.
Borden/dathom
I'll be posting this over in the other PbP as well...
If you want me to look you up, go ahead and email me. The biggest hurdle here is the computer. The personal time is getting crunched due to processing speed lowering with heat. I have ethernet (cable), and it takes more than 3 minutes to load ANYTHING I'm working on at the moment (and maps just fry the computer, let alone opening any of my conversions for the adventures). So, once this gets sorted out and I can find a way to fix it, I'll be back, probably just down to one PbP, and I'll fix all the maps beforehand (so that I don't have the map problem).
I really have had a great time with everyone, and if I can get everything together again (probably after Gencon/mid-fall-ish the way it looks now), I will be glad to recruit from a stable of wonderful players to have around.
The adventures will likely be smaller, shorter, and "episodic" in nature, with past history coming into it when appropriate, but allowing for everyone to leave if they get bored with me :P
Let me know if you are interested via email (it's in the profile), and when I get back and everything's cleared up, I will email you.
Though luck, good luck getting it sorted sometime.
I enjoyed this game and was really looking forward to continuing it but I'll have to play this adventure with my RL group someday I guess.
Cya