CF - Volo's Adventurers' Guild - PbP Campaign

Serena, intrigued by the statues, continues to investigate them. It looks like they could be jammed so as to prevent the axes from falling if triggered.

Banjo completes his ritual with the thrumming chant of his voice. As his eyes turn oily, he sees:

Serena uses her special tools trying to jam the the arms, making them harmless.
Thieves tools: 7

(OMG, will she ever have use of those tools.)

Serena tries to jam the arms, but her picks are just too fine for her to quite make stay in there. She steps back with her breath held for a moment, then they fall out onto the floor with a clatter.

"Alright, I suppose we could just not be under those axes when the traps are triggered, likely when those doors are opened." Serena suggests as she collects her useless tools.

"Could you check the doors before we try to open them? Maybe there is something there. Let me help.", says Araynia.

"Hmmn."  Banjo crosses his arms with a look bordering on mild disappointment.

"Quite right, Selena.  Nothing magical about these statues at all.  Just mundane, sophisticated mechanics and articulated stone.  How banal...".

Tresvar helps with examining the statues.  “Maybe we can throw something heavy out there and make the trap go off?”   She asks 

"My guess is they will set off as the doors are opened. Do you have any magic that can open the doors without us standing next to them Banjo?" Serena says, studying the statues and the doors. Investigation of the doors with help from Araynia: 18

Serena and Araynia gingerly investigate the doors. After several minutes of scrutiny, both high and low, they determine:

Serena laughs heartily. "Tricky dwarves, these are not real doors, just fakes to set off the traps. Let's see if there is maybe some other, hidden path for us to proceed." She says, starting to search the room for secret doors.  Investigation, assuming help from Araynia: 22

Knowing they are now looking for a secret exit out of the octagonal chamber, it now takes little time for Serena to find the disturbed dust on the floor behind the east most statue. While the door itself blends perfectly with the wall, as is the way with Dwarven doors, the tell-tale tracks give her confidence. A slight nudge and the thick stone door swings easily open revealing a flight of stone stairs that leads upward.

"Aha, splendid, after you mighty Tresvar." Serena says to the dragonborn, ready to follow her up the stairs.
Stealth: 23 Perception with help from Flappy: 17

The party begins its ascent with Tresvar in the lead. The stairs are a bit narrower, making it harder to climb two abreast. 

At the top of the stairs is a stone door carved with a glowering dwarf’s face.

As Tresvar crosses the half-way point of the stairs a loud voice can be heard booming down the stairs in dwarvish:

"Is that dwarvish?" Serena says looking over at Banjo. "Let's continue with caution, and let me check the next door for traps." She suggests, ready to follow Tresvar as the ascent continues.

"Er... sounds like Dwarvish, yes.  Did anybody make that out?"

Araynia grumbles, "It's dwarvish. If anyone is still around, they know we are coming."

((Serena check for traps, helped by Tresvar, including an additional +2 due to Thieves' Tools skill  14))

Serena finds the door at the top of the stairs untrapped and unlocked.

“I don’t speak dwarvish.  But I thought the dwarves were all long gone?”  Tresvar seems confused.   She continues to lead the party.

The door opens easily into an enormous hall lined with ten great pillars, carved into the forms of giants and dragons, that support the vaulted ceiling high above. Guttering orange torches set in sconces along the walls illuminate the room, and a mighty throne sits on a dais at the opposite end. The walls were once covered with tile mosaics, but they have been smashed and defiled by graffiti. Tiny fragments of tile litter the floor. You can see five other exits. A small fire smolders on the floor before the dais, where six sleeping pallets lie empty, surrounded by packs and supplies. The sound of hammers ringing on iron comes from beyond the doors to the south.

From his studies, Banjo recognizes:

The cavern ceiling is 30 feet high, and the sconces are 10 feet above the floor. The throne is unremarkable: a short bench of stone that might have been decorated at some point in the past. 

Suddenly a harsh voice calls from the shadows of the pillars, “Go back the way you came! This is the only warning you’ll get!”

Tresvar gets angry.  Standing up to her nearly 7’ height, brandishing her sword, she calls out to the voice…

“Who are you to tell us to leave?  Are you the ones who defiled this magnificent place? Come out from behind the shadows.  I don’t take orders from cowards.” 
14 intimidate..

natural 20!