Once the secret door has been opened, Rico comments, "I like the idea of exploring the hidden back passages. They are less likely to have picked over by prior explorers. Great find Nikk, I am glad you are with us."
Jaya will move through the secret door and up the corridor to where it turns to the west, and peak around the corner, looking down the west and northern corridor.
The others are talking, but Nikkitch has no time to listen. He's hastily leafing through his spellbook. A hidden room means hidden goods, which means one more spell to cast. He stops at a ritual page, quickly reading the prepared incantation with the Autognome's voice.
He reaches out to Detect Magic of any kind in the immediate area, eager to find a new spell or arcane focus.
As Jaya steps up to the crossroads, he can see that the western corridor once more turns north out of view and the nothern corridor does the same in a eastward direction. There is an old wooden door visible in the northern corridors left hand wall.
Nikk covers this area with his enhanced magic senses. He certainly detects that Rico seems to be positively glowing with a sort of transmutation type magic. But also, you detect a divination aura around a small crate that lies directly behind the secret door. The item causing that aura seems to be a wooden hearing horn which has been carelessly dropped to the floor. There are some thin pieces of chalk lying here too, but no writing is to be seen.
DM Comments: to be clear, Nikkitch casts this spell as an action with a spell slot? As a separate point, we're going with default magic item identification, which means you wont immediately know what a magic item does unless its a duplicate of one you already know of. You can figure out how it functions by spending a short rest focused on it, or by using identify.
As Jaya steps up to the crossroads, he can see that the western corridor once more turns north out of view and the nothern corridor does the same in a eastward direction. There is an old wooden door visible in the northern corridors left hand wall.
Nikk covers this area with his enhanced magic senses. He certainly detects that Rico seems to be positively glowing with a sort of transmutation type magic. But also, you detect a divination aura around a small crate that lies directly behind the secret door. The item causing that aura seems to be a wooden hearing horn which has been carelessly dropped to the floor. There are some thin pieces of chalk lying here too, but no writing is to be seen.
DM Comments: to be clear, Nikkitch casts this spell as an action with a spell slot? As a separate point, we're going with default magic item identification, which means you wont immediately know what a magic item does unless its a duplicate of one you already know of. You can figure out how it functions by spending a short rest focused on it, or by using identify.
No, Wizards can cast Ritual spells without spending a spell slot. Ritual spells are usually cast one of two ways -- either they're cast immediately and they cost one slot OR they're prepared over the course of ten in-game minutes and cast without a slot. Wizards, however, can cast it immediately, without spending a spell slot, so long as they have it. Ritual spells in a spellbook are always prepared. I didn't believe it either when I read it in the class traits section of my character sheet. So I did research. It's all RAW.
Edit: ah, I see there is some misunderstanding here
No, wizards cannot cast ritual spells immediately without spending a spell slot if they have them prepared. They, however, can cast a ritual spell they have in their spellbook as a ritual even if they don't have it prepared.
The only somewhat exception to that are scribe wizards, which explicitely can cast a ritual spell with its normal casting time without spending a spellslot using a special subclass feature.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Canti nods and smiles and makes appropriate noises of interest as each of the others, except for Nikk, introduce themselves. She is, however, fairly easily distracted by the creature, which she realizes has a beak poking out from beneath its hood. But she quickly returns her gaze to the speaker after each distracted moment until something else Nikk does grabs her attention again. She is especially surprised when the voices of others emanate from the creature.
Nature or history (both +3): 9 (is a 19 in case the forum screws it up)
It finally dawns on the gnome, and she slaps her knee. "You're a kenku!" she blurts out before laughing. She is absolutely elated! "I've heard of your kind, but I've never actually met one. How interesting." She looks at the nearest other adventurer. "Have you ever met a kenku before? Listen to that mimicking skill. They sounded just like Pisgah." She folds up her bow and returns it to her back as the group appears to be readying to enter the secret passage. As the kenku pulls out its book and begins some kind of ritual, she sidles up beside Rico. "So you're an autognome," she says. She again looks over the golden lady. "You do kind of look like a gnome." Canti grins. "I guess that makes us like sisters." She laughs again.
She looks over her shoulder at the obvious passageway and hums a little note of thought. "I know the allure of a hidden passage, but I can't help but wonder what's down there," she says. While the others are waiting on Nikk's ritual to finish, she tiptoes the 30 feet south to the corner and peers west to see what she sees around the corner.
From her spot behind the corner, Canti sees the hallway ahead dip north for a few feet, widen to 20 feet in width, then continuing west into darkness. Each 10-foot section of wall in this hallway has a 9-foot-high, 4-foot-wide, 3-inch-deep door-shaped recess containing a bas-relief carving of demonic creatures. Each one depicts a different creature. At the very edge of your darkvision, you also spot a the skeleton of a small creature lying on the floor. You realize that it has the same prominent beak as the kenku you just spoke to.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Seeing Jaya enter the secret door and head to the west corridor, Pisgah begins to head that way too with the plan to investigate the north corridor, well at least to take a peek and see what is around the corner. Seeing Canti heading toward the southern corridor he says to her "I have not seen or heard anything moving from that way but with all the noise that has been made, something could be headed this way. Be careful, and if you see anything, run fast and I will guard your back. If you have to flee, tell the others to get on the other side of the door and I will close it on my way through." Pisgah pulls his shield around and draws his longsword, ready to attack anything that comes around the corner after Canti before fleeing for the door himself.
If Canti reports that the corridor is still clear, Pisgah will move on through the door and post up at the corner and peep around it to see if anything poses a threat from that direction. PER 15
Nikkitch finishes his incantation. He's more than a little irritated the ritual doesn't work as he thought, but he's not exactly in any position to pout and it's not like he can't speak a few extra words. Besides, he sees something. It's nothing he needs, so he jabs the nearest adventurer, in this case Jaya, and points to the horn.
In Jaya's own words, the kenku simply says, "Treasure."
Pisgah, thanks to his darkvision, is able to see more of the corridors ahead while he spies around the corner. Seems like the northern corridor eventually turns west and the western corridor continues after a bend, although the exact direction is unclear. Everything is quiet, as if the dungeon itself is holding its breath.
Canti decides it would be fool hearty to set off on her own, so she returns to the secret door and tells Pisgah, "I didn't see anything but more corridor, some ugly carvings, and a kenku skeleton." By the end of the sentence, the gnome looks much more excited that her words might suggest. "I guess it's about time to start heading that way," she says, motioning through the secret door. She takes her place among the group, ready to go.
This is the current marching order. Let me know if anything changes. Couple of assumptions from my side based on your actions so far. Let me know if something should change.
Jaya is holding a torch and so is the steel defender.
Unless you're currently doing something else, the group members focus on:
Nikk: Investigator, looking for secrets and traps (magically if detect magic is up)
Rico: Spotter, everything to the back
Pisgah: Tracker/Spotter, specifically looking for signs of enemies to the front
Jaya: Point Man, being ready for combat at any time, you get a +3 initiative bonus
Canti: same as Jaya, just ranged
Let me know if this makes sense to you: unless you say that you're leaving the marching order, I'm going to assume that your movement moves everyone else with you, based on the relative positions they have in the marching order.
What this allows you to do is move through the dungeon without everyone having to re-state that they're following the group.
Pisgah suggests we close the secret door that Nikk opened so that we know there won't be a dungeon denizen coming up behind us and through the door. He then asks if Jaya is ready to start moving to check for the door we heard close or the something that fled when the secret door was opened. If everyone is set then Pisgah stealthily (22) walks to the corner of the west hall and peeks around the corner (PER 25).
OOC: Trying rolls from the DnD Beyond app on my phone.
Jaya nods at Nikk, already beginning to trust him, and picks up the horn, or Treasure, that he pointed out and puts it in his pack. He will then quickly send a telepathic message to everyone… “Moving up to the door, be ready!” and will then move quietly up to just below the door and listen/look.
Feeling curious of a road less traveled, Nikkitch moves quietly down the northern passage, separating from the group for a moment. He keeps an eye out for traps on the way. [Perception: 16]
[Once he gets to that right turn, I'd like to use his stealth roll {20} to peek around the corner. His passive Investigation is 17. Don't know if that would apply]
Pisgah, Rico & Canti: You can see another wooden door, this one in much better condition, complete with iron handle and keyhole. Listening very carefully, Pisgah hears a faint hissing noise through that door, and some shuffling footsteps and something soft being dropped to the floor. The corridor continues west from here, disappearing into the darkness.
Jaya: Listening to the door of the passage leading north, Jaya hears only silence. The door seems to be in disrepair and features a lock and a doorknob, both heavily rusted.
Nikk: Peering quietly around the corners here, you see that the hallway continues west until it ends in another wooden door, once more with a handle and keyhole. It seems harmless enough, no traps to be spotted. Same for the door that Jaya was listening at.
Seeing nothing significant, Nikk returns to Jaya's door. He sees the condition of the door, and gives it a look-over. Perhaps the wood's weak enough to break through, or the door may be unlocked, or perhaps the hinges can be broken. OR maybe it's rigged with a trap. Seeing a wall of scaly muscle ready to take the hit, should any come, he begins a thorough investigation of the door in question.
[Investigation on door: Score. Nat 20 (+7)]
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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Once the secret door has been opened, Rico comments, "I like the idea of exploring the hidden back passages. They are less likely to have picked over by prior explorers. Great find Nikk, I am glad you are with us."
Jaya will move through the secret door and up the corridor to where it turns to the west, and peak around the corner, looking down the west and northern corridor.
The others are talking, but Nikkitch has no time to listen. He's hastily leafing through his spellbook. A hidden room means hidden goods, which means one more spell to cast. He stops at a ritual page, quickly reading the prepared incantation with the Autognome's voice.
He reaches out to Detect Magic of any kind in the immediate area, eager to find a new spell or arcane focus.
As Jaya steps up to the crossroads, he can see that the western corridor once more turns north out of view and the nothern corridor does the same in a eastward direction. There is an old wooden door visible in the northern corridors left hand wall.
Nikk covers this area with his enhanced magic senses. He certainly detects that Rico seems to be positively glowing with a sort of transmutation type magic. But also, you detect a divination aura around a small crate that lies directly behind the secret door. The item causing that aura seems to be a wooden hearing horn which has been carelessly dropped to the floor. There are some thin pieces of chalk lying here too, but no writing is to be seen.
DM Comments: to be clear, Nikkitch casts this spell as an action with a spell slot?
As a separate point, we're going with default magic item identification, which means you wont immediately know what a magic item does unless its a duplicate of one you already know of. You can figure out how it functions by spending a short rest focused on it, or by using identify.
No, Wizards can cast Ritual spells without spending a spell slot. Ritual spells are usually cast one of two ways -- either they're cast immediately and they cost one slot OR they're prepared over the course of ten in-game minutes and cast without a slot. Wizards, however, can cast it immediately, without spending a spell slot, so long as they have it. Ritual spells in a spellbook are always prepared. I didn't believe it either when I read it in the class traits section of my character sheet. So I did research. It's all RAW.
Edit: ah, I see there is some misunderstanding here
No, wizards cannot cast ritual spells immediately without spending a spell slot if they have them prepared. They, however, can cast a ritual spell they have in their spellbook as a ritual even if they don't have it prepared.
The only somewhat exception to that are scribe wizards, which explicitely can cast a ritual spell with its normal casting time without spending a spellslot using a special subclass feature.
Canti nods and smiles and makes appropriate noises of interest as each of the others, except for Nikk, introduce themselves. She is, however, fairly easily distracted by the creature, which she realizes has a beak poking out from beneath its hood. But she quickly returns her gaze to the speaker after each distracted moment until something else Nikk does grabs her attention again. She is especially surprised when the voices of others emanate from the creature.
Nature or history (both +3): 9 (is a 19 in case the forum screws it up)
It finally dawns on the gnome, and she slaps her knee. "You're a kenku!" she blurts out before laughing. She is absolutely elated! "I've heard of your kind, but I've never actually met one. How interesting." She looks at the nearest other adventurer. "Have you ever met a kenku before? Listen to that mimicking skill. They sounded just like Pisgah." She folds up her bow and returns it to her back as the group appears to be readying to enter the secret passage. As the kenku pulls out its book and begins some kind of ritual, she sidles up beside Rico. "So you're an autognome," she says. She again looks over the golden lady. "You do kind of look like a gnome." Canti grins. "I guess that makes us like sisters." She laughs again.
She looks over her shoulder at the obvious passageway and hums a little note of thought. "I know the allure of a hidden passage, but I can't help but wonder what's down there," she says. While the others are waiting on Nikk's ritual to finish, she tiptoes the 30 feet south to the corner and peers west to see what she sees around the corner.
Stealth: 16
Perception: 23
From her spot behind the corner, Canti sees the hallway ahead dip north for a few feet, widen to 20 feet in width, then continuing west into darkness. Each 10-foot section of wall in this hallway has a 9-foot-high, 4-foot-wide, 3-inch-deep door-shaped recess containing a bas-relief carving of demonic creatures. Each one depicts a different creature. At the very edge of your darkvision, you also spot a the skeleton of a small creature lying on the floor. You realize that it has the same prominent beak as the kenku you just spoke to.
Seeing Jaya enter the secret door and head to the west corridor, Pisgah begins to head that way too with the plan to investigate the north corridor, well at least to take a peek and see what is around the corner. Seeing Canti heading toward the southern corridor he says to her "I have not seen or heard anything moving from that way but with all the noise that has been made, something could be headed this way. Be careful, and if you see anything, run fast and I will guard your back. If you have to flee, tell the others to get on the other side of the door and I will close it on my way through." Pisgah pulls his shield around and draws his longsword, ready to attack anything that comes around the corner after Canti before fleeing for the door himself.
If Canti reports that the corridor is still clear, Pisgah will move on through the door and post up at the corner and peep around it to see if anything poses a threat from that direction. PER 15
[Okay, I'm back.]
Nikkitch finishes his incantation. He's more than a little irritated the ritual doesn't work as he thought, but he's not exactly in any position to pout and it's not like he can't speak a few extra words. Besides, he sees something. It's nothing he needs, so he jabs the nearest adventurer, in this case Jaya, and points to the horn.
In Jaya's own words, the kenku simply says, "Treasure."
Pisgah, thanks to his darkvision, is able to see more of the corridors ahead while he spies around the corner. Seems like the northern corridor eventually turns west and the western corridor continues after a bend, although the exact direction is unclear. Everything is quiet, as if the dungeon itself is holding its breath.
Canti decides it would be fool hearty to set off on her own, so she returns to the secret door and tells Pisgah, "I didn't see anything but more corridor, some ugly carvings, and a kenku skeleton." By the end of the sentence, the gnome looks much more excited that her words might suggest. "I guess it's about time to start heading that way," she says, motioning through the secret door. She takes her place among the group, ready to go.
Rico takes up her position in the rear, along with Steel beside her with the torch.
OOC: I'm assuming rearguard is spot in the marching order. I didn't get to see the proposed marching order before the link stopped working.
DM Comments:
This is the current marching order. Let me know if anything changes. Couple of assumptions from my side based on your actions so far. Let me know if something should change.
Let me know if this makes sense to you: unless you say that you're leaving the marching order, I'm going to assume that your movement moves everyone else with you, based on the relative positions they have in the marching order.
What this allows you to do is move through the dungeon without everyone having to re-state that they're following the group.
Pisgah suggests we close the secret door that Nikk opened so that we know there won't be a dungeon denizen coming up behind us and through the door. He then asks if Jaya is ready to start moving to check for the door we heard close or the something that fled when the secret door was opened. If everyone is set then Pisgah stealthily (22) walks to the corner of the west hall and peeks around the corner (PER 25).
OOC: Trying rolls from the DnD Beyond app on my phone.
Jaya nods at Nikk, already beginning to trust him, and picks up the horn, or Treasure, that he pointed out and puts it in his pack. He will then quickly send a telepathic message to everyone… “Moving up to the door, be ready!” and will then move quietly up to just below the door and listen/look.
Stealth to move with disadvantage: 6
Perception to listen/look at the door.
OOC: Jaya does NOT have a torch lit. I believe Steel is the only one with a torch.
Forgot to add roll for perception:
Perception to listen/look at the door. 18
Feeling curious of a road less traveled, Nikkitch moves quietly down the northern passage, separating from the group for a moment. He keeps an eye out for traps on the way. [Perception: 16]
[Once he gets to that right turn, I'd like to use his stealth roll {20} to peek around the corner. His passive Investigation is 17. Don't know if that would apply]
Current positions:
Eye 1: Pisgah, Rico & Canti
Eye 2: Jaya
Eye 3: Nikk
Pisgah, Rico & Canti: You can see another wooden door, this one in much better condition, complete with iron handle and keyhole. Listening very carefully, Pisgah hears a faint hissing noise through that door, and some shuffling footsteps and something soft being dropped to the floor.
The corridor continues west from here, disappearing into the darkness.
Jaya: Listening to the door of the passage leading north, Jaya hears only silence. The door seems to be in disrepair and features a lock and a doorknob, both heavily rusted.
Nikk: Peering quietly around the corners here, you see that the hallway continues west until it ends in another wooden door, once more with a handle and keyhole. It seems harmless enough, no traps to be spotted. Same for the door that Jaya was listening at.
Seeing nothing significant, Nikk returns to Jaya's door. He sees the condition of the door, and gives it a look-over. Perhaps the wood's weak enough to break through, or the door may be unlocked, or perhaps the hinges can be broken. OR maybe it's rigged with a trap. Seeing a wall of scaly muscle ready to take the hit, should any come, he begins a thorough investigation of the door in question.
[Investigation on door: Score. Nat 20 (+7)]