Merediths eyes had filled with tears at the depth of Bells performance and she dabbed at them uselessly, she chirruped respectful goodbyes to both cats ( with a query as to whether either of them knew about the secret passage) then headed towards the Parlour.
“Oh, so NOW I’m important again, because you WANT something from me,” answers Pepe, glaring at and seemingly speaking to a spot on the wall rather than at and to Meredith. He then turns to furiously groom his shoulder, licking it practically raw, stopping, then doing the same thing again. The translation of this maneuver from cat language to Common is not suitable for the innocent eyes of DND Beyond.
It takes some coddling but soon enough Meredith cajoles the tuxedo cat into graceful action, and raising his tail high, like a flamenco dancer’s flourished fan, Pepe walks past the bard and out of the kitchen. “This way,” he purrs.
We’ll say that everyone follows Meredith and Pepe, including Cumin and Coriander, into the parlor. Pepe brushes around Matreus’ motionless arm on the edge of the chaise, then stops in the parlor’s northeast corner.
Seeming to calmly relish the spotlight, the cat extends one claw, then bats at the farthest left book on the bottom bookshelf, catches its binding, and pulls it half an inch toward him. In complete silence, a two foot-wide column of shelves rotates open to reveal a staircase leading down into darkness. Stale air poofs out into the parlor as the two homunculi exchange a look of utter astonishment.
Pepe turns and with its green bedroom eyes, looks up at Meredith with an air of calm superiority.
A few moments later, the book Pepe had dislodged slides back to its original position and the narrow column of shelves pivots closed.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries //Dev Horndin Curious Critters
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Meredith goes into an elaborate pantomime of abashed wonder and dumbstruck awe at the sheer magnificence of the feline noble before her.
She waved her hands towards the cat as she bowed and beneath Pepe she heated and expertly cleaned the rug to exactly the right temperature for indolent leazing about, created an elaborate crown of butterflys to flit about his noble brow before vanishing in a puff of catmint flavoured air.
( Prestidigtation x3.
Performance- 7 ( If Advantage from the Cantrips- 10 )
She held out her hand towards the bookshelf and turned to regard the others, " Say Thankyou, Ladies.......and Rogi."
(A very persuasive plea! I won’t make Bell roll. Automatic success.)
”Ah! The seven lettered tomes! We’ve been instructed not to touch them, but you’ll need them to get out! We don’t know what they do or how they work but we know where they are. Don’t we, Coriander?,” says Cumin, who nods sagely.
“Aye! The first is in the parlor. Then the second’s in the laboratory. The third is in the chained library but it’s protected by that grumpy animated… oh, er…,” Coriander says, noticing Loopy hanging over Erudisia’s neck. “Correction: WAS protected by the previously animated chained library…”
“The fourth is in the trophy room… but two flying swords will attack anything that’s touched in that room,” adds Cumin.
“And a fifth one in the bedroom,” says Coriander. “The door is open to air it out. Lady Fistandia hates to sleep in a stuffy room!”
”And… there are two more in the basement but we’ve never been down there,” says Coriander.
”The basement is forbidden to us, aye. And to get down… ye gotta use a SECRET door. In the parlor. I know it must be so, although I’ve never seen it used. Have you, Coriander?,” Cumin says.
”I never have either,” answers the other with grave finality.
Various other details are mentioned and small talk is made and the clock in the parlor chimes the passing of another hour.
So… stairs to the basement behind the secret door, and several other clues given above. Where to?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries //Dev Horndin Curious Critters
Erudisiacurtsies to Pepe, despite her earlier protestations as to the correctness of honorificis flowing only from a font of honor, for as pointed out there are stranger things beyond moonshae than a Prince of paws. Meredith's magical offerings show that clearly this is an appropriate thing to do, and ... unsettlingly, Erudisiacannot quite put out of her mind that she was spared some great indignity of the Prince's wrath only by the hand of her Patron and his insistence of common dignity.
She is glad only that she has yet to read a book on cat body language.
Once the ritual is complete, Erudisiacurties once more to the Prince, and then pulls the lever disguised as a book and descends the stairs to the basement slowly.
(Slow travel rate for peception / being careful of surprises into the basement, if relevant)
Bell offers to lay her Light spell on an item of choice for the person in the lead.
[[ OOC: Or the second person in line... so the lead is not 'light blinded' with the point source in their face. (though being in 2nd spot... the lead would be 'backlit' and very noticeable!) ]]
Bell will command her Unseen Servant to float near her shoulder until a specific action is required.
Rogi unceremoniously hands Erudisia a handful of small pills smelling very faintly of mint. “They’ll help you focus.” (And this pharmaceutical gift grants Erudisia Guidance for her next roll, if she wishes to use it).
Eurudisia heads down the stairs, the magical light behind her lending color and clarity to the gray tones of the darkvision granted by her half-elven heritage. Bell follows the warlock, her unseen servant floating just above her. Meredith follows Bell, and Rogi takes up the rear.
A single long flight of stairs leads to a finished basement hallway. At the base of the stairs, a doorway stands straight ahead while the wood-paneled hallway leads to the right twenty feet or so. Another doorway is on the right-hand wall at the end of this corridor.
(To be clear, there are two possible paths forward: the door at the base of the stairs, or the door at the end of a short basement corridor.)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries //Dev Horndin Curious Critters
Erudisiathanks Rogi for the pills and and Bell for the light. Once she is faced with the two doors, she taps her chin in thought, one slender finger tap, tap, tapping.
"There are two doors," she says. It seems as if that is all she will say, but as the silence becomes just a hint too long, she speaks again. "And there are two books that we seek. I fear we shall have to look behind each one, and I admit I am nervous that Cumin and Coriander should be forbidden from this level when they are not forbidden from the chained library's room, nor the room with flying swords..."
"Matreus's life is at stake," she says, more to herself than to anyone else.
A wiser adventurer might look for clues or secret catches in the passage way or around the door. A more experienced adventurer might be wary of traps behind the door. Erudisiahas lived her life from behind the legend of her brave and reckless father, and has heard little wisdom on the effectiveness of the unexpected trap. She pushes open the nearest door in one quick motion.
The door at the base of the stairs opens easily and beyond it Erudisia sees another corridor, at right angles to the one whose end she now stands in. This next corridor again holds two closed doors. One at the end of the hallway, and one centered in its right wall. This corridor smells mustier than the first, although its walls are wood-paneled just like the first.
(To be clear, there are now three unopened doors: One remains unopened near the end of the first hallway, plus two more have now been discovered in the second hallway.)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries //Dev Horndin Curious Critters
Meredith moved quietly to the door near the end of the first hallway and after a cursory, and probably useless, inspection cracked it open a little and peered through the gap.
Bell mutters to no one in particular, "This is why those mages made their floating eyeballs. Or had familiars so they didn't have to be searching about. I really should research what is involved in calling and caring for a familiar..." She will continue this 'stream of consciousness' dialogue with herself as they move forward.
(Meredith critted her Investigation roll… I’m going to let that carry into the next room.)
Meredith gently pushes the door open. It creaks on its hinges as air, heavy with malodorous astringent chemicals seeps out. Not poisonous, but bitter and sour. Chemical-ey. As Bell and Bell's light catch up with Meredith, the contents and furnishings of the room come into focus.
Long wooden tables stretch across the chamber, laden with vials, beakers, and flasks holding various liquids and powders. Books are stacked between the glassware and chemicals. Yellowed paper charts and blackboards full of complex formulas cover the walls. Meredith knows from past experience – from the shop she helped to run in Calimshan – that the reagents here could be valuable. And, from the doorway, the bard spots among the books in the room, propped up against a large beaker, one of the Joy of Extradimensional Spaces tomes. However, its spine (and the letter it bears, if it does indeed bear one) is not visible from this angle. Also of interest, four clay sculptures, each one perhaps a foot tall, stand upon a table in the middle of the room. Meredith is certain the sculptures are indeed of clay and nothing else. Meredith sees nothing dangerous in the room and is quite certain it is safe to enter (due to her exceptional Investigation roll).
However, to determine the laboratory’s particular use will require a DC13 Intelligence check, which anyone can make who enters.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries //Dev Horndin Curious Critters
Bell tries to cover her mouth and nose as the smells of the lab assail her. With a wave of her hand and a barked 'Oderum Lavandula', the room suddenly smells of a field of lavender and a gentle breeze circulates about the room. Prestidigitation
"Oh my. Is this Fistandia's workshop? I thought the one upstairs was.... silly me! With all this space, of course she could have more than one." Spotting the clay figures, Bell nods approvingly, "This must be where she fashioned the homunculii."
She pushes her glasses up on her nose, "Maybe this is why Cumin and Coriander aren't allowed down here? Some rule about returning to their creation spot? I really need to read up on homunculus creation."
Bell stands and turns slowly... taking in the laboratory and all it's bits and bobs. Her eyes finally land on the book, Joy of Extradimensional Spaces, leaning on a beaker.
"Stand back, everyone. Let my unseen servant get the book... and, hopefully, not set off any traps doing so."
Bell will instruct the servant to carefully obtain the book without disturbing the beaker or other items on the table and to bring it back to her.
vvvUnseen Servant vvv
This spell creates an invisible, mindless, shapeless, Medium force that performs simple tasks at your command until the spell ends. The servant springs into existence in an unoccupied space on the ground within range. It has AC 10, 1 hit point, and a Strength of 2, and it can't attack. If it drops to 0 hit points, the spell ends.
Once on each of your turns as a bonus action, you can mentally command the servant to move up to 15 feet and interact with an object. The servant can perform simple tasks that a human servant could do, such as fetching things, cleaning, mending, folding clothes, lighting fires, serving food, and pouring wine. Once you give the command, the servant performs the task to the best of its ability until it completes the task, then waits for your next command.
If you command the servant to perform a task that would move it more than 60 feet away from you, the spell ends.
( Ah...thought we were just within- Sure, why not she has no other useful spells really.)
“Oh, so NOW I’m important again, because you WANT something from me,” answers Pepe, glaring at and seemingly speaking to a spot on the wall rather than at and to Meredith. He then turns to furiously groom his shoulder, licking it practically raw, stopping, then doing the same thing again. The translation of this maneuver from cat language to Common is not suitable for the innocent eyes of DND Beyond.
It takes some coddling but soon enough Meredith cajoles the tuxedo cat into graceful action, and raising his tail high, like a flamenco dancer’s flourished fan, Pepe walks past the bard and out of the kitchen. “This way,” he purrs.
We’ll say that everyone follows Meredith and Pepe, including Cumin and Coriander, into the parlor. Pepe brushes around Matreus’ motionless arm on the edge of the chaise, then stops in the parlor’s northeast corner.
Seeming to calmly relish the spotlight, the cat extends one claw, then bats at the farthest left book on the bottom bookshelf, catches its binding, and pulls it half an inch toward him. In complete silence, a two foot-wide column of shelves rotates open to reveal a staircase leading down into darkness. Stale air poofs out into the parlor as the two homunculi exchange a look of utter astonishment.
Pepe turns and with its green bedroom eyes, looks up at Meredith with an air of calm superiority.
A few moments later, the book Pepe had dislodged slides back to its original position and the narrow column of shelves pivots closed.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters
Meredith goes into an elaborate pantomime of abashed wonder and dumbstruck awe at the sheer magnificence of the feline noble before her.
She waved her hands towards the cat as she bowed and beneath Pepe she heated and expertly cleaned the rug to exactly the right temperature for indolent leazing about, created an elaborate crown of butterflys to flit about his noble brow before vanishing in a puff of catmint flavoured air.
( Prestidigtation x3.
Performance- 7 ( If Advantage from the Cantrips- 10 )
She held out her hand towards the bookshelf and turned to regard the others, " Say Thankyou, Ladies.......and Rogi."
Pepe purrs contentedly, pleased with Meredith’s ministrations. Rogi rolls his eyes and maintains his silence.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters
So… stairs to the basement behind the secret door, and several other clues given above. Where to?
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters
Bell looks around at her companions, "Who will go down first? I can cast > Light < so it won't be dark as we proceed."
She wrings her hands in a moment of indecision, "Should I do the ritual for > Unseen Servant < just in case?"
Meredith nodded, " Extra hands can't hurt...but we'll need to hurry."
Bell nods and immediately sets up for the ritual to invoke Unseen Servant. (10 minutes)
Erudisia curtsies to Pepe, despite her earlier protestations as to the correctness of honorificis flowing only from a font of honor, for as pointed out there are stranger things beyond moonshae than a Prince of paws. Meredith's magical offerings show that clearly this is an appropriate thing to do, and ... unsettlingly, Erudisia cannot quite put out of her mind that she was spared some great indignity of the Prince's wrath only by the hand of her Patron and his insistence of common dignity.
She is glad only that she has yet to read a book on cat body language.
Once the ritual is complete, Erudisia curties once more to the Prince, and then pulls the lever disguised as a book and descends the stairs to the basement slowly.
(Slow travel rate for peception / being careful of surprises into the basement, if relevant)
Bell offers to lay her Light spell on an item of choice for the person in the lead.
[[ OOC: Or the second person in line... so the lead is not 'light blinded' with the point source in their face. (though being in 2nd spot... the lead would be 'backlit' and very noticeable!) ]]
Bell will command her Unseen Servant to float near her shoulder until a specific action is required.
Meredith slips into third place as they head down...
Rogi unceremoniously hands Erudisia a handful of small pills smelling very faintly of mint. “They’ll help you focus.” (And this pharmaceutical gift grants Erudisia Guidance for her next roll, if she wishes to use it).
Eurudisia heads down the stairs, the magical light behind her lending color and clarity to the gray tones of the darkvision granted by her half-elven heritage. Bell follows the warlock, her unseen servant floating just above her. Meredith follows Bell, and Rogi takes up the rear.
A single long flight of stairs leads to a finished basement hallway. At the base of the stairs, a doorway stands straight ahead while the wood-paneled hallway leads to the right twenty feet or so. Another doorway is on the right-hand wall at the end of this corridor.
(To be clear, there are two possible paths forward: the door at the base of the stairs, or the door at the end of a short basement corridor.)
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters
Erudisia thanks Rogi for the pills and and Bell for the light. Once she is faced with the two doors, she taps her chin in thought, one slender finger tap, tap, tapping.
"There are two doors," she says. It seems as if that is all she will say, but as the silence becomes just a hint too long, she speaks again. "And there are two books that we seek. I fear we shall have to look behind each one, and I admit I am nervous that Cumin and Coriander should be forbidden from this level when they are not forbidden from the chained library's room, nor the room with flying swords..."
"Matreus's life is at stake," she says, more to herself than to anyone else.
A wiser adventurer might look for clues or secret catches in the passage way or around the door. A more experienced adventurer might be wary of traps behind the door. Erudisia has lived her life from behind the legend of her brave and reckless father, and has heard little wisdom on the effectiveness of the unexpected trap. She pushes open the nearest door in one quick motion.
The door at the base of the stairs opens easily and beyond it Erudisia sees another corridor, at right angles to the one whose end she now stands in. This next corridor again holds two closed doors. One at the end of the hallway, and one centered in its right wall. This corridor smells mustier than the first, although its walls are wood-paneled just like the first.
(To be clear, there are now three unopened doors: One remains unopened near the end of the first hallway, plus two more have now been discovered in the second hallway.)
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters
Meredith moved quietly to the door near the end of the first hallway and after a cursory, and probably useless, inspection cracked it open a little and peered through the gap.
Stealth-10
Investigation-24
Bell mutters to no one in particular, "This is why those mages made their floating eyeballs. Or had familiars so they didn't have to be searching about. I really should research what is involved in calling and caring for a familiar..." She will continue this 'stream of consciousness' dialogue with herself as they move forward.
(Meredith critted her Investigation roll… I’m going to let that carry into the next room.)
Meredith gently pushes the door open. It creaks on its hinges as air, heavy with malodorous astringent chemicals seeps out. Not poisonous, but bitter and sour. Chemical-ey. As Bell and Bell's light catch up with Meredith, the contents and furnishings of the room come into focus.
Long wooden tables stretch across the chamber, laden with vials, beakers, and flasks holding various liquids and powders. Books are stacked between the glassware and chemicals. Yellowed paper charts and blackboards full of complex formulas cover the walls. Meredith knows from past experience – from the shop she helped to run in Calimshan – that the reagents here could be valuable. And, from the doorway, the bard spots among the books in the room, propped up against a large beaker, one of the Joy of Extradimensional Spaces tomes. However, its spine (and the letter it bears, if it does indeed bear one) is not visible from this angle. Also of interest, four clay sculptures, each one perhaps a foot tall, stand upon a table in the middle of the room. Meredith is certain the sculptures are indeed of clay and nothing else. Meredith sees nothing dangerous in the room and is quite certain it is safe to enter (due to her exceptional Investigation roll).
However, to determine the laboratory’s particular use will require a DC13 Intelligence check, which anyone can make who enters.
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters
Meredith Intelligence Check- 17
Bell tries to cover her mouth and nose as the smells of the lab assail her. With a wave of her hand and a barked 'Oderum Lavandula', the room suddenly smells of a field of lavender and a gentle breeze circulates about the room. Prestidigitation
"Oh my. Is this Fistandia's workshop? I thought the one upstairs was.... silly me! With all this space, of course she could have more than one." Spotting the clay figures, Bell nods approvingly, "This must be where she fashioned the homunculii."
She pushes her glasses up on her nose, "Maybe this is why Cumin and Coriander aren't allowed down here? Some rule about returning to their creation spot? I really need to read up on homunculus creation."
Bell stands and turns slowly... taking in the laboratory and all it's bits and bobs. Her eyes finally land on the book, Joy of Extradimensional Spaces, leaning on a beaker.
"Stand back, everyone. Let my unseen servant get the book... and, hopefully, not set off any traps doing so."
Bell will instruct the servant to carefully obtain the book without disturbing the beaker or other items on the table and to bring it back to her.
vvv Unseen Servant vvv
This spell creates an invisible, mindless, shapeless, Medium force that performs simple tasks at your command until the spell ends. The servant springs into existence in an unoccupied space on the ground within range. It has AC 10, 1 hit point, and a Strength of 2, and it can't attack. If it drops to 0 hit points, the spell ends.
Once on each of your turns as a bonus action, you can mentally command the servant to move up to 15 feet and interact with an object. The servant can perform simple tasks that a human servant could do, such as fetching things, cleaning, mending, folding clothes, lighting fires, serving food, and pouring wine. Once you give the command, the servant performs the task to the best of its ability until it completes the task, then waits for your next command.
If you command the servant to perform a task that would move it more than 60 feet away from you, the spell ends.
** fingers crossed **