╔═══════════════════╗
║Φ Φ + ☺ + + + + + >║
║╤ ╤ ╤ ╤ ╤ ╤ ╤ ╤ ╤ x║
║╥ ☻ Ü ╥ ╥ ☻ ╥ Ü ╥ +║
║+ ╥ + + + + + + ☻ +║
║B ╤ k + < < + ☻ ╤ ☻║
║g ╤ G + < < + ╥ ╤ ╥║
║+ q + + + + + + ╥ +║
║+ Ü + + + + + + ☻ +║
║Ü ╤ ╥ + + + + ☻ ╤ Ü║
║+ ╥ + + + + + + Ü +║
╚════════┼─┼════════╝☺: MistêmErsi looks at Gaun, and replies,
"You will earn the renown that comes from destroying the fiend and may keep any treasure you find in the dungeon. Perhaps arbitrary payment is in order... Fair enough. Twenty gold each for his head."
Quim frowns and begins to scout for an alternative entrance, such as a window.Nothing.
"Maybe we should come back later. They've probably moved on... Maybe..."[2] Ow! That hurts. -1 HP.
Take a running start at the weakest part of the left door and try to shoulder barge it open. Specifically hoping that the force of the thrust will break the lock so we can open the door.
Gaun snaps her fingers. Spiderwalk is a go.Okaaay... you plan to accomplish what?
Slowly sighing The Butcher nudges a rock with his foot "Let's leave this part out when we tell everyone what happened."Jonathan gives a short, humorless laugh.
"What sort of daft fool would build a fortress in one solid piece?As it turns out, you're in luck! There's a bunch of arrow holes around the entrance, above the entrance, and probably spaced around the rest of the mountain.
It would be excessively hot in the summer months."
"I kinda' can, but I don't have any lockpicks.. I'll see if Shandra can fit through the crack."
Quim send Shandra into the fort to investigateYour psicrystal heads a good way, but nothing comes.
"Ah, thick-skulled men. Can't live without them, nor can ye live with them."I am not sure how the thickness of my skull changes how vital I am to your life. Would you care to explain?
"To hell with this. I'm not waiting anymore..." The Butcher says and, with complete disregard for his safety attempts to squeeze through the hole in the door and open it from the inside.No luck.
MOAR RAMSStill no luck.
Take a step back, and examine the door. Note any possible flaws or weak points in its construction. If I can find any, try to hit them there as hard as possible.Nothing really catches your eye as an outstanding example of weakness.
...large enough for a person (a small one, albeit) to get through and unlock it from the other side...
large enough for a person (a small one
small oneHINT HINT
Go to door, press ear against it and try to hear anything.Assuming this doesn't yield any results, try to open the door. If locked, SMASH TIEM
Go to door, press ear against it and try to hear anything.Walking down the hall, you note that the walls are smoothed and engraved stone and the floor is the same. There are some skeletons chained to the wall just before the door.
Whisper what I hear to the others, then do a perception and subsequent history check on the engravings. Search the skeletons.Perception? The hell's that? :P The engravings are nothing of note. The skeletons are bare. You tell the others of the heavy footsteps you hear.
Bardic Knowledge: +3 What's up with these engravings?There's a lot of engravings featuring burning elephants in the fetal position, many feature a mitten for no apparent reason, there are countless ones of various minor historical figures stabbing other people to death and laughing maniacally, at least half are pictures of nondescript shapes like diamonds and rectangles, a good fourth are generic stuff like the sun and clouds and emerald-cut gems, and several featuring various elves eating livestock that do not appear to be fully dead-- some sort of racism, apparently-- but there is only one of actual significance, and that one is clearly freshly engraved. On the wall behind one of the skeletons is a crude-- stick-figure crude-- image of an insane-looking dwarf leading around a load of goblins and surrounded by personal bodyguards, including multiple elves, a few less-insane-looking elves, and a few nasty-looking men. The dwarf is standing on a pile of coins and dead bodies. The dwarf is laughing.
Elderen shakes his head.Holy crap, it's unlocked.
I think...we should try the handle first, friend.
"The world changes. The time of our ancestors has faded, to be replaced by the new. The most we can do is accept the change and keep their memory alive.Spoiler: Karath, Quim, GSFN (click to show/hide)
I dunno, is there a check to see if I hear them? Perception?Like Listen?
East.
Left, ho!
Tries to listen through the door.You hear nothing and try the handle. The door is locked.
If nothing is heard, try the handle.
Does The Butcher know anything about Drow?[6] Other than beating a couple of them up before, in the arena? No.
Elderen raises his hands in a sign of peace, and says in a soothing voice:They look at you more angrily.
Come now, friends. We have no issue with you. If you wish to attack us, you may....but you will die. We are too many for you. We do not attack you; you are free to go on your way, as long as no alarm is raised.
╔═════════════════╗
║+ + + π + + + + +║
║+ + + + + + + + +║
║+ + π + + + + d D║
╚═══════════════╦E╣
║G║
║g║
║B║
║K║
║q║
d: Drow #1
D: Drow #2
E: Elderen
G: Gaun Kar
g: GSFN
B: The Butcher
K: Karath
q: Quim
π: various furniture itemsInitiative((Actually, before I act: how high are the corridor and room ceilings from the floor? Enough for someone to walk under without squeezing when I'm spiderwalking above?))((Roughly seven feet. Essentially, yes.))
Gaun sighs.C-C-CRITICAL HIT!
Climb onto the ceiling. Eldritch Blast the drow further away from the group.
Elderen sighs, and mutters:The remaining drow yells in agony as the flames sear his pitch-black skin. He falls over, burning and presumably close enough to death to not have to bother worrying about.
Well, there goes diplomacy.
Cast Burning hands at the other one.
Throwing caution to the wind, Karath decides to touch it first.Nothing out of the ordinary happens as you nudge the lid a bit. It also seems to be unlocked.
Loot the bodies.
Search the room for secret doors. If none are found, backtrack to the last intersection, sticking to the ceiling.There is a slightly conspicuous little switch, which when pulled, causes what appears to have originally been a floodgate to flip open!
"Green Glass... Whatever. I'll take it."You're now the proud owner of a piece of cut green glass and a rapier that appears to have been forged in no more than an afternoon at most.
Take Green Glass Gem and Rapier.
"Yes, please, Voice-Only-I-Can-Hear."
Continue!
((Sorry, but I think I'm going to step out here. Feel free to have somebody else take Karrath over, or just kill him off.))Dammit. Why does somebody drop out at some point in every game I run?
Search the room.The floor is covered in hexagonal tiles. There is a rusted gauntlet on the eastern side of the room, between two doors; one is of stone and the other of wood.
Look upThe ceiling is not notable.
Can I wear the guantlet?I guess you could, but it's too big for you and probably too rusted to be of any real use.
"Oh. More doors."Several Eldritch Blasts later, there is a pile of woodchips instead of a door. There is a corridor after it that quickly turns out of sight.
Gaun crawls into the room, remaining on the ceiling. Eldritch Blast the wooden door.
"Knock knock."
Gaun sighs silently, then extends her right hand towards the door whilst wriggling her fingers, a questioning look on her face.Gerbo shrugs. He could certainly try.
"Should we just knock? There are obviously people inside." The Butcher asks quietly.Gerbo rolls his eyes and points to door, the gladiator's sword, and finally the gladiator, then draws his finger across his own neck.
Let's do thetime warpeldritch lockpick again.
Gerbo sighs and knocks on the door.A voice comes from the other side in a gruff, fake-sounding foreign accent.
"Well, I don't believe you either. What's the old password?" Bluff: +7"Eet eez--"
Enter the room behind the non-squishies.
Gerbo addresses the dwarf in finer clothes. "I take it you are Libash Ekurdedak? I have great news! I have found your long-lost son!" Bluff: +7The dwarf looks incredulous.
Fiiiine.Your attempts to derail the dwarves' concentration leave them unfazed.
Shout some Elvish slurs at the Dwarves, hoping to make them careless.
Gerbo dazes White.
"Ah! Come now! You'd making a huge mistake killing us! Look at this one here," he says, while poking the downed Butcher with his foot, "With his muscles and his blades! He's the stance of an arena fighter! Don't tell me you can' find a decent slave trader! As for the rest of us; imagine having casters that you don't need to pay!"[Diplomacy: 19+7]
"...You expect that someone cares enough to ransom us? For any price which would exceed the cost of feeding us? How naive," Gaun tittered from her perch on the ceiling.[8+6=14] VS [11+1=12] [Gaun wins]
She stopped briefly before speaking again, her voice harder, "From where I am hanging, the situation appears rather different. I am no quivering academic; I can keep this up for days, and I will never run out of energy. If need be I could stalk you through this fortress until the last of you died. Little fool, I alone could kill most of you given time, and we are still nearly your equal in number. That side of beef on the floor is fetching, certainly; we could raise the funds to have him raised, if need be. You, though? If you kill him, there won't be enough left of you for a cleric to collect."
Gaun gathered herself, eyes flashing like sapphires in the flickering light, "So then, dwarf, I propose something else. We both have wounded to tend to. We will withdraw, and you will not hinder us, and that will be the end of this matter."
Roll Bluff.