Augustin offers to tie a road around his chest and jump across the pit, using himself as an anchor for those who need some help jumping across. So even if they don’t make the jump, they are still attached via rope to him and don’t have a spiked death.
RL will take the other end of the rope and tie it around a rock from the passage and then pile up some more rocks on top to make an anchor at this end. We can use this end to climb down the hole or as a quicker escape route if we need it later
Between ropes and jumping everyone makes it across and into the lonely library, or meeting room, or whatever this room used to be (described previously but will repeat below). There is a gap in the north wall and the broken, decrepit remains of a door scattered either side of it.
The room is steeped in an eerie, ancient silence, untouched by light for centuries. The air is heavy with the scent of damp earth and decay, sending chills through anyone who dares to enter. The shattered remains of a once-grand conference table dominate the center of the chamber, its splintered wood and jagged edges telling a tale of violence. Broken chairs are scattered haphazardly around the room, their wooden frames twisted and worn with age.
Against the walls, old bookshelves stand as solemn guardians of the past, though they are now mere shadows of their former selves. The shelves bow under the weight of time, sagging precariously, and many of the books they hold are in various states of disintegration. Pages yellowed with age and covers eaten away by insects, rodents, and the relentless march of time hint at the forgotten knowledge and stories they once contained.
The cold seeps into the bones, a chill that seems to emanate from the very walls, and the oppressive darkness only heightens the sense of foreboding. The room feels frozen in time, a crypt of forgotten meetings and abandoned wisdom, whispering secrets to those brave enough to listen in the stillness.
Map below, the characters are on the other side now, however.
Esa flies into the room, drawn to the books. She does a detect magic ritual.
"Some kind of abjuration magic here, probably preserving the books. They still don't look in good condition." She looks at the books but doesn't touch any yet. "Mostly human magic theory by the looks. Humans! Always trying to name and categorise stuff."
Esa flies into the room, drawn to the books. She does a detect magic ritual.
"Some kind of abjuration magic here, probably preserving the books. They still don't look in good condition." She looks at the books but doesn't touch any yet. "Mostly human magic theory by the looks. Humans! Always trying to name and categorise stuff."
'Hey Esa, what are books for anyway, why do humans keep writing things down, do they not just remember things?'
Augustin will still be on the ready as he inches his way through. He has a brief glance over the books to see if anything catches his eye, that looks out of place. But moves on quickly, he needs to make sure everyone is kept safe before they sit down and read children’s stories.
Esa watches Augustin move past as she answers Rustling Leaves.
"It's a way of preserving knowledge longer than a memory. So the knowledge about the primal spirits would have been lost if it wasn't for people writing what they know to preserve the information. Memory and verbal stories work but the information can be lost, distorted, or replaced over generations. Especially with you short lived races."
Esa watches Augustin move past as she answers Rustling Leaves.
"It's a way of preserving knowledge longer than a memory. So the knowledge about the primal spirits would have been lost if it wasn't for people writing what they know to preserve the information. Memory and verbal stories work but the information can be lost, distorted, or replaced over generations. Especially with you short lived races."
RL thinks about that for a bit ' Thats true, i guess there is some useful things that these humans do'.
"There's some old books here, a lot to do with history, it might be worth checking some of these out. It would be a pity if all the books fell into a pit or something. But I won't have time to go through everything now. I suppose we should move on and come back later."
Augustin makes it to the doorway in the north and looks through.
The next area might have been a guard room at one point, debris that may have been tables and chairs, rusted marks on the wall that could have been weapon racks, and another for keys. Some old, decrepit weapons are scattered near these racks, and some rusted, fragile keys on a ring are here also. Some keys are broken where they hit the floor when the key rack failed and fell. There is a passageway to the north, and an iron-bound, wooden door to the left.
RL as a bonus action will shift into his Wildhunt form. While shifted, you have advantage on Wisdom checks, and no creature within 30 feet of you can make an attack roll with advantage against you unless you’re incapacitated.
He will move up past Augustin to the big rock on the right hand side of the cavern checking for traps and pit traps while he does it.
RL looks around, and notices that the shifting earth has affected this room. Unlike the previous area where the shifting earth resulted in an unstable floor, the cracks in the stone are over the door to the west, and this iron-bound, solid wood door looks stuck and may be locked as well. It will take some amount of force to open it, probably.
The open passage to the north stretches down a long hallway far into darkness.
Vakiel unlocks the door, but the door refuses to budge. There's a lot of weight on the door because the rocks above have shifted. The door is stuck fast but will need significant strength to open. Two people trying will give advantage.
Augustin makes an attempt to open the door, with RL helping. The first attempt is unsuccessful, and the others step back in alarm as some tiny rocks and dust from the roof above the door fall to the floor.
Not to be thwarted by a small thing as a cave in, Augustin tries again and this time - with RL's help - they pull the door open but manage not to collapse the door frame. It looks like it is holding.
Beyond the door is a dark space, cold, and somehow threatening. The magical illumination from the light cantrip does not push the darkness back far. There is the start of stairs heading down.
"Something bad happened in that space beyond," whispers Esa. "I can feel it."
RL will take the other end of the rope and tie it around a rock from the passage and then pile up some more rocks on top to make an anchor at this end. We can use this end to climb down the hole or as a quicker escape route if we need it later
Between ropes and jumping everyone makes it across and into the lonely library, or meeting room, or whatever this room used to be (described previously but will repeat below). There is a gap in the north wall and the broken, decrepit remains of a door scattered either side of it.
The room is steeped in an eerie, ancient silence, untouched by light for centuries. The air is heavy with the scent of damp earth and decay, sending chills through anyone who dares to enter. The shattered remains of a once-grand conference table dominate the center of the chamber, its splintered wood and jagged edges telling a tale of violence. Broken chairs are scattered haphazardly around the room, their wooden frames twisted and worn with age.
Against the walls, old bookshelves stand as solemn guardians of the past, though they are now mere shadows of their former selves. The shelves bow under the weight of time, sagging precariously, and many of the books they hold are in various states of disintegration. Pages yellowed with age and covers eaten away by insects, rodents, and the relentless march of time hint at the forgotten knowledge and stories they once contained.
The cold seeps into the bones, a chill that seems to emanate from the very walls, and the oppressive darkness only heightens the sense of foreboding. The room feels frozen in time, a crypt of forgotten meetings and abandoned wisdom, whispering secrets to those brave enough to listen in the stillness.
Map below, the characters are on the other side now, however.
Esa flies into the room, drawn to the books. She does a detect magic ritual.
"Some kind of abjuration magic here, probably preserving the books. They still don't look in good condition." She looks at the books but doesn't touch any yet. "Mostly human magic theory by the looks. Humans! Always trying to name and categorise stuff."
'Hey Esa, what are books for anyway, why do humans keep writing things down, do they not just remember things?'
RL will inspect the corridor leading to the room to make sure its not going to sink into the ground like the entrance to the last room
Augustin will still be on the ready as he inches his way through. He has a brief glance over the books to see if anything catches his eye, that looks out of place. But moves on quickly, he needs to make sure everyone is kept safe before they sit down and read children’s stories.
Esa watches Augustin move past as she answers Rustling Leaves.
"It's a way of preserving knowledge longer than a memory. So the knowledge about the primal spirits would have been lost if it wasn't for people writing what they know to preserve the information. Memory and verbal stories work but the information can be lost, distorted, or replaced over generations. Especially with you short lived races."
RL thinks about that for a bit ' Thats true, i guess there is some useful things that these humans do'.
Esa goes back to browsing the books.
"There's some old books here, a lot to do with history, it might be worth checking some of these out. It would be a pity if all the books fell into a pit or something. But I won't have time to go through everything now. I suppose we should move on and come back later."
Augustin makes it to the doorway in the north and looks through.
The next area might have been a guard room at one point, debris that may have been tables and chairs, rusted marks on the wall that could have been weapon racks, and another for keys. Some old, decrepit weapons are scattered near these racks, and some rusted, fragile keys on a ring are here also. Some keys are broken where they hit the floor when the key rack failed and fell. There is a passageway to the north, and an iron-bound, wooden door to the left.
RL as a bonus action will shift into his Wildhunt form. While shifted, you have advantage on Wisdom checks, and no creature within 30 feet of you can make an attack roll with advantage against you unless you’re incapacitated.
He will move up past Augustin to the big rock on the right hand side of the cavern checking for traps and pit traps while he does it.
RL Perception check (adv/disadv cancel) 14
RL looks around, and notices that the shifting earth has affected this room. Unlike the previous area where the shifting earth resulted in an unstable floor, the cracks in the stone are over the door to the west, and this iron-bound, solid wood door looks stuck and may be locked as well. It will take some amount of force to open it, probably.
The open passage to the north stretches down a long hallway far into darkness.
Vakiel will attempt to unlock the door first with his thieves tools, which he is proficient in using…. 24
Vakiel then looks at the cracks in the stone over the door and says to RL “you sure about this?”
Vakiel unlocks the door, but the door refuses to budge. There's a lot of weight on the door because the rocks above have shifted. The door is stuck fast but will need significant strength to open. Two people trying will give advantage.
RL will shrug his shoulders, i just dont want to go forward with potentially something bad coming up behind us
Augustin makes an attempt to open the door, with RL helping. The first attempt is unsuccessful, and the others step back in alarm as some tiny rocks and dust from the roof above the door fall to the floor.
Not to be thwarted by a small thing as a cave in, Augustin tries again and this time - with RL's help - they pull the door open but manage not to collapse the door frame. It looks like it is holding.
Beyond the door is a dark space, cold, and somehow threatening. The magical illumination from the light cantrip does not push the darkness back far. There is the start of stairs heading down.
"Something bad happened in that space beyond," whispers Esa. "I can feel it."
RL ritually casts detect magic and gets a null reading within range.
RL will turn to Augustin and say well i guess we might find some bodies down here given the feel of the place, shall we go down?