Curious Critters- A Tal'dorei Tale.

Lokilia does allow Dev to take her hands, a smile coming to her face as the healing warmth moves to her. "It's much much better Dev, thanks. I probably should have said something earlier. There was just a lot going on, didn't really think about it."  She turns back to Progo. "You can have the three berries back.  If you need them." She isn't quite sure why he didn't just take them all to begin with, perhaps out of concern for her condition, but she's fully healed now thanks to Dev. 

"Door looks good to Progo." (Now that he can see it again!)

Quote from VolcanoLair >>

When talk turns to the opening, the others will likely notice Normont has already wandered over to it, with Maggie by his side. He has sent Amber up onto a tree branch to keep an eye on the group though.

"A sensible precaution, Progo", he says absently as he concentrates on checking the hatch for traps or locks.

"Those brain dogs are likely scouts and guards, and there may well be more. Whoever is in here likely knows we are coming now, and the way they attacked the mind is a little preview perhaps of what these Illithids are capable of. As for what they do to people, I hope to find Werhann in a condition to elaborate on that, but we need to be quick", he adds ominously.

---

Investigation (with guidance): 11+5+3=19

 

Normonts investigation- finds no signs of traps or even a lock on the trapdoor.

Quote from DandDSince1973 >>

“You are hurt,” Dev says to Lokilia with concern. “Stay still.” He takes her hands gently in his if she will allow it. Dev’s eyes look inward and glow with a soft yellow light, and he sings under his breath a rising vocalise (Ariel’s magic voice from The Little Mermaid). Lokilia feels the warmth transfer from his fingers to hers and then to her bruises and nicks, healing them in mere seconds (Cure Wounds: heal 17HP).

Dev’s eyes open again and he releases Lokilia’s hands softly. “How’s that?,” he asks his friend, studying her face for any remaining sign of discomfort.

Quote from Culuril >>

Lokilia does allow Dev to take her hands, a smile coming to her face as the healing warmth moves to her. "It's much much better Dev, thanks. I probably should have said something earlier. There was just a lot going on, didn't really think about it."  She turns back to Progo. "You can have the three berries back.  If you need them." She isn't quite sure why he didn't just take them all to begin with, perhaps out of concern for her condition, but she's fully healed now thanks to Dev. 

 

 

Quote from Engineered_Beard >>

"Door looks good to Progo." (Now that he can see it again!)

Indeed the path to and possibly through the trapdoor seems clear.

Quote from FireCat5 >>

(Given that he wasn't hit, he has no reason not to attack.)

Werhann charges forward. This gives the guards plenty of time to to prepare, but fortunately, head height for the man is much taller than Werhann. Sometimes, it's beneficial to have shorter bones. But still, Werhann just barely manages to evade the man's blade, and the feeling of vulnerability without proper armour is only amplified. He must finiah this quick.

After evading the blade, Werhann swings the heavy axe upwards to slash the man's torso from the bottom up. Despite his exhausted state, the weapon reaponds well. But since when is he even so adept at using such heavy weapons?

Using the same attack, 24 to hit, 10 (magical) slashing damage.

Werhanns blade carved into the older man and the veteran almost falls as blood sluices down his side.

" Ok....your gonna pay for that."

Attack vs Werhann: 16 Damage: 9

Still obviously afraid the attack against his elder caused the younger man to lash out at Werhann clumsily.

 Attack vs Werhann: 13 Damage: 8

Lokilia hears Normont mention 'quick' and nods.  "Alright, I  guess we get moving then. Who should open up the trap door?"

"Progo will open the door, best we all are ready to address anything within or about to come out." Progo wanted to prove he was still part of the group and in a meaningful manner, but really he like the idea of keeping the door between himself and whatever is waiting on the other side. "If these things are connected as you suggest, best we don't give them time to respond or plan for this entrance." Progo will get into position to open the door and will wait for others to give a nod of preparation complete and then open...

“Um,” Dev responds, a line of concentration furrowing his brow. “I have an idea. Just a second?”

The teenager kneels, leaning backwards rather awkwardly over the trap door, and craning his neck, looks upwards, or outwards from the door (I assume it is in the ground?), recording in his mind a mental image of what one would see if one were behind the door looking out. He thoughtfully steps back, raises his pan-pipes to his mouth in his white lace-gloved hand, and, subtle yellow lightning sparkling in his eyes, blows a series of very soft, airy tones and half-tones. The surface of the trap door shimmers, and then seems to exactly mirror the sky or foliage hanging above the door (Minor Illusion). Dev quirks a brow appraisingly, looks to the others doubtfully, shrugs, and whispers, “Okay. Now when it opens, anyone looking up will just see sky and trees, but we can look through the illusion and see them.”

Dev glances to Progo, biting his lip and keeping his pan-pipes at the ready. “Ready?”

(N.B., the illusion doesn’t move. So when the door opens it will open through the plane of the illusion, passing through it. Assuming it opens outwards.)

"Smart", Normont says, praising Dev's ingenuity.

He steps back and levels his rifle towards the hatch before instructing Maggie to stand next to Progo in case something dangerous appears. Maggie does as she is told, standing in a state of readiness. Amber remains perched on his shoulder, also ready to act.

"So, I found no traps and it doesn't appear locked, so I am ready when you are Progo", he finally says.

Normont is prepared to fire if he sees something he determines to be dangerous. Amber is ready to follow Normont's lead. 

Lokilia is more than willing to wait to see what Dev does.  And once he's done, she smiles appreciatively. "That's great!"

Once they are ready to open the trap door, she grabs some stones from her pouch, preparing them to be launched. She watched Progo, to see when he's ready to pull the door open. 

As the man attacks Werhann, his weapon strikes something else - a very thin protective layer, which Werhann was almost oblivious to up until now. But now that it was hit, the hit area hardens momentarily from the force of the blow, then evaporates as quickly as it formed. In its evaporation, it sucks the heat out of the area nearby - from the hand of the man wielding the weapon that would otherwise hit Werhann.

Although surprised by this unexpected protection, Werhann remains focused enough to see the second approaching weapon and block it with his weapon. He didn't know why the protective layer was there, and he didn't want to let the guards hit him until it was no longer there to find out.

If the older guard still stands at that time, Werhann will attack him again. If not, he will retreat out of the second guard's reach, towards the wooden door that seems like the exit to this room while keeping a cautious eye on the second guard, at which point he'll call to him: "Last chance, lay down your weapon or end up like him!"

Since he was hit with a melee attack while Armor of Agathys is active, the attacker (the guard) takes 10 cold damage (automatically). 

If the older guard still stands, Werhann attacks him again, rolling 10+6=16 to hit, 3+4=7 magical slashing damage.

If the older guard fell, Werhann cautiously disengages the second guard and heads for the wooden door, hoping this show of force was enough to deter the second guard from attacking.

Quote from FireCat5 >>

As the man attacks Werhann, his weapon strikes something else - a very thin protective layer, which Werhann was almost oblivious to up until now. But now that it was hit, the hit area hardens momentarily from the force of the blow, then evaporates as quickly as it formed. In its evaporation, it sucks the heat out of the area nearby - from the hand of the man wielding the weapon that would otherwise hit Werhann.

Although surprised by this unexpected protection, Werhann remains focused enough to see the second approaching weapon and block it with his weapon. He didn't know why the protective layer was there, and he didn't want to let the guards hit him until it was no longer there to find out.

If the older guard still stands at that time, Werhann will attack him again. If not, he will retreat out of the second guard's reach, towards the wooden door that seems like the exit to this room while keeping a cautious eye on the second guard, at which point he'll call to him: "Last chance, lay down your weapon or end up like him!"

---

Since he was hit with a melee attack while Armor of Agathys is active, the attacker (the guard) takes 10 cold damage (automatically). 

If the older guard still stands, Werhann attacks him again, rolling 10+6=16 to hit, 3+4=7 magical slashing damage.

If the older guard fell, Werhann cautiously disengages the second guard and heads for the wooden door, hoping this show of force was enough to deter the second guard from attacking.

 

The older man recoils as frost races up the cudgel and his arms reaching his heart and dropping him dead to the floor. The younger man stares aghast at Werhann, " Witchcraft!"

Then turns and bolts from the room past Werhann......

As Werhenn approaches the door he hears a slight sound from somewhere on the other side of it

The four prepare themselves and Progo quickly opens the trapdoor, there appears to be nothing dangerous within......a rope ladder leads down a narrow shaft and at the bottom it seems there is a wooden door set into a wall to the south.

Normont lets out the breath he was holding in anticipation of something nasty jumping out at them.

"Ok", he says in a whisper, as he surveys the rope ladder and door. "Rinse and repeat with that door?", he suggests, looking to see if there is enough space for them all to be at the bottom of the rope ladder.

"Probably best we don't all go down at once though", he then adds with a frown.

(OOC: How much space is there at the bottom of the ladder? I am assuming not a lot)

Dev repeats the trick. This time the illusion he creates is a reverse image of the door itself if it opens outward, or if it opens inward, a 2-D photographic image of the empty vestibule/hallway in which the group now stands.

It... should probably be fine if he allows the guard to run away, right? He hopes to be gone before he could call any kind of backup, if any waits down there.

But it's not long before Werhann's attention is drawn back to reality. A sound beyond the door. More guards, drawn by the commotion? He looks down to the body lying on the ground. It would be problematic if it were found by the guards, but even worse if he were seen instead. If he hides, maybe it will distract them for long enough that he could slip away?

Werhann presses against the wall by the door. Then, looking at the door, he notices the Silent Image of the Human still standing silently by the door. If he created it... or if whatever else did wanted to help him, could it be used to conceal him? After all, the guards will, surely, scour the room for the culprit. Merely thinking about it, and the illusion disappears. Now, instead, it covers Werhann and up to 15 feet from the door towards the nearest wall, looking like an extension of the wall, about a foot or two deeper into the room than it was before. As long as he keeps quiet, and if the guards don't remember the room layout perfectly, or immediately notice this side of the wall is about a foot wider than it should be... maybe he can hide from them?

Stealth: 14+2=16.

( Likely two people could fit at the bottom.....maybe three if one of them was Normont.)

Quote from Damian_May >>

 

( Likely two people could fit at the bottom.....maybe three if one of them was Normont.)

 (I guess Progo and Dev are there now. Dev stands behind Progo in a corner of the vestibule and tries to get out of the way if anyone else comes down.)

"Progo will go down first and look for traps and unwanted guest." Progo puts the raiper blade between his teeth and starts to work his way down. He had seen others do this trick before and thought it made them look cool and intimidating, but they were in open spaces, Progo kept catching the sword on the edge of the passageway wall or caught in part of the rope. Now that he had committed, he couldn't remove the blade now so he fought it the whole way down. (Perception: 22) He scans the floor before putting his feet down and inspects the door. When signaled, he is ready to open the door.

Lokilia had looked a little concerned when Dev so quickly heads down into the cramped space below.  She seems a bit more relieved when Progo goes down there with him.  She keeps herself ready above, prepared to send one of her stones at anyone that might come to attack. (If possible, she will READY an attack if someone appears and attacks.)  

Normont watches as Dev heads down the ladder, followed by Progo. He watches the latter struggle with his rapier in his mouth and wonders briefly if he had ever done that before. Certainly not down such a small opening, he presumed.

"Dev, I think you should come back up and let Maggie stand alongside Progo. There is not much room and her purpose is to protect, after all", he suggests a little concerned at the tiefling being in such direct danger.

If Dev agrees, Maggie will wait for him to return and jump down next to Progo, as before prepared for hostility. Normont and Amber will stand with Lokilia at the top.

Also as before, Normont is prepared to fire if he sees something he determines to be dangerous. Amber is ready to follow Normont's lead. 

(OOC: I am assuming Maggie will be able to get down easily enough, but will struggle with climbing back up)