Chapter One: A LMoP Adventure

Ian goes to get the others from the previous room, and brings them into the wizards workshop. Once they are all in, Ian will slowly open the next door.

Thinking for a minute on the volatile nature of the things around him, Glynquinal has an explosive idea cross his mind.

"Ian, what would happen if some of these were knocked over or the room was set on fire?"

Rocks eyes light up with mischief 

Ian peeks into the next room. The walls of the bedchamber are covered with drapes of scarlet cloth. The furnishings include a small writing desk with matching chair, a comfortable-looking bed, and an open wooden chest at the foot of the bed.

Ian cautiously makes his way into the room to examine the writing desk and the contents of the chest.

The Herr Doktor Professor notices the rat under the worktable. He approaches it with a friendly smile and says:

"Guten tag, Herr Rat. I bring greetings from my master, the Marquise de Carabas."

He then tries to skewer it with his rapier. It might be an ordinary rat, he thinks, but wizards are known to also keep rats as familiars.

Attack: 24.

Forgot the damage roll: 7.

Upon the writing desk are stacked neatly various papers and notes, mostly consisting of written orders to apothecaries and alchemists in nearby settlements for more materials for his workshop. While these seem less than helpful, there is also an interesting letter:

Lord Albrek,

My spies in Neverwinter tell me that strangers are due to arrive in Phandalin. They could be working for the dwarves. Capture them if you can, kill them if you must, but don’t allow them to upset our plans. See that any dwarven maps in their possession are delivered to me with haste. I’m counting on you, Iarno. Don’t disappoint me.

The chest contains 180 sp, 130 gp, and a silk pouch containing five carnelians, two peridots, and one pearl.

Herr Doktor approaches the rat, but it scurries out of reach, turns, and looks at the bard. (We'll save the rolls for if you can get close enough to skewer it.)

OOC: Where did the rat go? How did it escape the Herr Doktor Professor's blade?

"So wise, a rat, they say, do never live long," mutters the Herr Doktor Professor as he searches for the rat.

Glynquinal, settling his haul into a more comfortable position calls out to Ian, "Did you find anything interesting?"

Ian re-enters the room with the items from the chest and the letter signed with the sign of a spider and says to the group:

I found a few things. I will hold onto these until we get back to the tavern and can divide them amongst us. I also found this letter. Anybody recognize that sign of a spider?

Ian shows the letter to the group.

OOC: DDP, for those gems, should I keep track of them as gems, or just keep track of them as gp/sp/cp values?

"Either the wizard is the spider of the wizard is Lord Albrek.  Either way, they must be close by.  Stay on your guard.", says Gruxx watching the door.

Seeing the path dead end, Glynquinal prepares to continue looking over the rest of the cavern system with the crevasse. Knowing Gruxx has a decent plan to distract the Beholder with fresh meat should they encounter it helps.

"Where to from here?" Glynquinal asks, "Do we go east from where we first encountered the bugbears, or north at the far end of the crevasse chamber?'

OOC to HDP: Have you ever tried to catch a small rodent that doesn't want to be caught? It didn't leave the room; it just ran to a new place, and you didn't get close enough to skewer it. Let's do this: Roll me five acrobatics checks and I'll do the same for the rat. If/when you come out on top (roll for roll), you out maneuver the rat and skewer it.

17 20 13 11 13

OOC to Ian: Put the gems in your other equipment tab. You'll eventually be able to either sell them or trade them.

OOC to everyone: See posts 809 and 1184.

Hearing what Ian reports from the letter Glynquinal begins to think 'the wizard, while a foe, and a current obstacle is not the one in charge in the local area. What other people or things may be arrayed from them.'

Glynquinal says to the group, "Perhaps as we go farther into this journey, we need to start listening and quietly asking trusted people about this Spider. It would not do for us to have someone unseen come at us from behind."

HDP's Acrobatics rolls: 14 15 20 7 14

Either this is a familiar, the Herr Doktor Professor tells himself, or one really smart rat from the fabled land of Nihm.

Herr Doktor feints one direction, but thrusts the other, catching the rat unawares. As the blade hits its mark, the rat disappears with a very feint pop.

"Unless rats now possess the ability to disappear into the aether, then it appears that a wizard's familiar has been spying on us," the Herr Doktor Professor reports to the party. 

"The Glasstaff knows we're here -- which probably means the Redbrands and that nothic know we're here. Be ready. They may attack at any time."

Gruxx drops the Redbrand off his shoulders.  Stretches from being under the weight and draws his glaive

"Then let them come."

Glynquinal looks to Ian, " We should get moving. With a wizard involved, he could be watching us already and laying a trap. You and I better take a look ahead to see if there is anyone waiting for us."

Not waiting for anyone to respond, Glynquinal retraces his steps and returns to the cavern with the large crevasse searching for signs they have someone waiting for them.

Perception 11