While the others are investigating, Rico will examine the Ring and the horn with her arcana skill to see if she can determine anything.
Crude ring, but not magical at all. Will probably fetch a pretty price. The hearing horn is clearly magical somehow, but the details remain a mystery to you.
Rico will bring the ring and horn to be divided later. She'll keep them in her sack to keep them separate from everything else.
Jaya currently has the horn. It helps with hearing, so it should be used by anyone listening for doors, whomever we think is the best person to carry it, should, but we should put it to use now.
Since me and Pisgah are in the front it makes sense for one of us to use it, unless we want to designate a scout, like Nikk, who would be a better person, I mean bird, to use it?
The hallway to the north brings you up a flight of stairs, whereupon the hallway continues for some 80 feet, ending in a dead end. About halfway, there is a fork going west, around a few corners, and eventually ending in a closed wooden door (no lock, only a handle, opens away from you).
Your party is currently located at eye 1.
DM Comment: I'll simplify some of the line of sight stuff to present a better overview. If I don't mention something you were doing as part your role in the marching order, you noticed nothing worth mentioning.
How do you all want to handle coin/treasure. Should we split everything 5 ways when we get it? Or put it all in a document in one place?
any thoughts? Splitting as we go seems easy to me but im open.
[Nikk's still got forty something gold from the pot we each get in the beginning. Take his share and make it a communal coffer. That way, if we find some weird subterranean merchant or hidden society, everyone has spending money for themselves, plus money to put towards team supplies.]
Canti gladly hands over the tool to Rico, accepts coin bag #2, and picks up the bandits bolts (let me know how many, DM — she doesn't pick up the crossbow). She then takes her place within the group heading north.
Canti gladly hands over the tool to Rico, accepts coin bag #2, and picks up the bandits bolts (let me know how many, DM — she doesn't pick up the crossbow).
Pisgah will take a listen at the wooden door to see if there are any noises coming from the other side. PERCEPTION 18.
No sound comes from the other side, so entering it is. As Pisgah shoves, the door opens surprisingly quietly into a large room.
In the middle of the room lie the bones, skull, rotted leather wing flaps, and tail of some large draconic beast, intermingled with shards of clear crystal. At the south end of this 70-foot-high vaulted room, right next to where you entered, marble steps form a dais upon which stands a large, high-backed throne made of interwoven, bleached bones. Each of the throne’s bone armrests is carved to resemble a fanged snake. Empty torch brackets made of fluted, discolored bronze protrude from the walls. There are some closed wooden crates and a writing desk here as well.
There are several exits out of this room, two to the north and one to the west.
Pisgah whispers to Jaya, "Is this some sort of throne room? What does that skeleton look like to you?"
From the vantage point of the doorway, Pisgah tries to see if there is anyone or anything occupying the throne on top of the dais, PERCEPTION 13, as he draws his sword and enters 10 ft into the room to stand even with the throne but about 5 ft away from it. He is also scanning the ceiling to see how the bones of this large skeleton could have gotten into this throne room.
Jaya will slowly enter the room and approach the draconic beast and try to figure out what kind of draconic beast it is, and possibly what may have killed it.
Pisgah sees that the throne is empty, the bleached bones making up most of the construction looking anything but comfortable. The ceiling is too far up for your eyes to see, the torch only able to illuminate the walls up to around 40 feet, so it's like staring into an empty night sky.
Jaya looks at the bones (using nature instead, same roll) and recognizes them as those of a wyvern. The characteristic two wings and two legs and the remains of the poisonous stinger at the tail tip give it away. There is no inherent connection of wyvern to crystals you're aware of. The bones are so old that it's impossible for Jaya to come up with a plausible cause of death.
Upon stepping in and seeing the bony behemoth, Nikkitch immediately begins prepping a magic detection ritual. This could be one big trap and an undead wyvern is the last thing he wants to fight right now. He wants to see what could be hidden here.
As Nikkitch begins intoning the ritual, it doesn't take long, before the nothern door on the right opens and a familiarly dressed woman steps through. As the bandits before, she too, is dressed as a vampire. "Uktarl is that you?" Her pale face goes from annoyance to surprise as she sees your party entering the dais.
"What in the hells!?" It takes her but a moment to adjust and she continues with a more bombastic voice; "By the mists of Barovia, you have walked into the wrong domain, intruders! Drop your weapons and your packs, for if we shant take your blood, we shall take your riches!"
Behind her, in the well lit room, a scraping of chairs is to be heard and you see more vampires moving towards the door.
Something behind the door to the west gives a low, deep moan, like an animal in pain, but the door stays shut.
DM Comments: No initiative yet, as there has been no intent of fighting at this point. If you wish to attack, then we roll for initiative. Rituals can be stopped at any time - it just means they need to be restarted from scratch.
You all have a clear view of the door, it's the right one on the north side of the room. During the time when Nikkitch started the ritual and the bandit emerged, a minute or so passed, in case any of the other group members wished to do something.
Seeing the woman walk out the door, Pigsah starts walking toward Jaya to be within 10ft of where he is examining the bones. "Uktarl, the last I saw of him had shat himself as he was being sent up the well to the city guard. As I see it, the rest of you lot have three choices. 1. Surrender now and go back up the well too. 2. Resist until we kill enough of your boys that you then surrender like Uktarl did and then go up the well. OR 3. You all die here."
To Jaya "I am guessing she will choose option 2. That seems to be the magic number today"
Jaya exclaims “Oh no, a vampire, run!” then he starts laughing, "Hahahaha”, he looks at the woman and says, “I think my friend here laid out all the options correctly. Or, if you prefer a game of chance, option 4! I have a die here. How about I roll it, if I roll a skull, you leave peacefully and leave behind all your valuables. If I roll anything else, we will leave peacefully. What do you say? Pick an option before my other friend here”, pointing at Nikk, “finishes his spell and raises this Wyvern as his undead servant, then, the only option will be number three.”
The bandits look at each other, taken aback by what you said. "Uh", the bandit drops the theatralics. Now that all of them have emerged, you count 6 "vampires". "No need to be hasty. If you already sent Uktarl packing then you won't find much here. He was in charge of the money."
One of the bandits looks over to the door in the west wall opposite of where you entered, then to the others. "Harria will want to know. Her pet is unlikely to see reason if you barge into her room."
"Listen, we're just making a living here and we know the secret of the throne. How about a truce; we tell you what we know about this place and you can pass through here unharmed."
Rico will bring the ring and horn to be divided later. She'll keep them in her sack to keep them separate from everything else.
Jaya currently has the horn. It helps with hearing, so it should be used by anyone listening for doors, whomever we think is the best person to carry it, should, but we should put it to use now.
Since me and Pisgah are in the front it makes sense for one of us to use it, unless we want to designate a scout, like Nikk, who would be a better person, I mean bird, to use it?
Rico has no problem at all with that (removed from Rico's character sheet), just making sure that it wasn't left behind. Same for the ring.
Did Canti want to grab the bandits arrows to have extra? We can have Steel carry them until they are needed?
And if Canti and Nakk don't grab their stacks of coins before we head out, Rico will grab those to give to them later.
The hallway to the north brings you up a flight of stairs, whereupon the hallway continues for some 80 feet, ending in a dead end. About halfway, there is a fork going west, around a few corners, and eventually ending in a closed wooden door (no lock, only a handle, opens away from you).
Your party is currently located at eye 1.
DM Comment: I'll simplify some of the line of sight stuff to present a better overview. If I don't mention something you were doing as part your role in the marching order, you noticed nothing worth mentioning.
[I addressed Nikk's cut a while ago.]
Pisgah will take a listen at the wooden door to see if there are any noises coming from the other side. PERCEPTION 18.
Assuming there are no sounds from the other side, Pisgah will pull his shield around in place on his arm then push open the door.
Nikkitch is curious about the dead end. He moves forward, peering along the walls, looking for any sign of a hidden crease or special mechanism.
[Just use the passive Investigation]
Canti gladly hands over the tool to Rico, accepts coin bag #2, and picks up the bandits bolts (let me know how many, DM — she doesn't pick up the crossbow). She then takes her place within the group heading north.
All in all, a set of 20 bolts.
Nikkitch doesn't spot anything of the sort. Seems like an ordinary hallway.
No sound comes from the other side, so entering it is. As Pisgah shoves, the door opens surprisingly quietly into a large room.
In the middle of the room lie the bones, skull, rotted leather wing flaps, and tail of some large draconic beast, intermingled with shards of clear crystal. At the south end of this 70-foot-high vaulted room, right next to where you entered, marble steps form a dais upon which stands a large, high-backed throne made of interwoven, bleached bones. Each of the throne’s bone armrests is carved to resemble a fanged snake. Empty torch brackets made of fluted, discolored bronze protrude from the walls. There are some closed wooden crates and a writing desk here as well.
There are several exits out of this room, two to the north and one to the west.
Pisgah whispers to Jaya, "Is this some sort of throne room? What does that skeleton look like to you?"
From the vantage point of the doorway, Pisgah tries to see if there is anyone or anything occupying the throne on top of the dais, PERCEPTION 13, as he draws his sword and enters 10 ft into the room to stand even with the throne but about 5 ft away from it. He is also scanning the ceiling to see how the bones of this large skeleton could have gotten into this throne room.
Jaya will slowly enter the room and approach the draconic beast and try to figure out what kind of draconic beast it is, and possibly what may have killed it.
Investigation 19
Medicine for way of death 7
Pisgah sees that the throne is empty, the bleached bones making up most of the construction looking anything but comfortable. The ceiling is too far up for your eyes to see, the torch only able to illuminate the walls up to around 40 feet, so it's like staring into an empty night sky.
Jaya looks at the bones (using nature instead, same roll) and recognizes them as those of a wyvern. The characteristic two wings and two legs and the remains of the poisonous stinger at the tail tip give it away. There is no inherent connection of wyvern to crystals you're aware of. The bones are so old that it's impossible for Jaya to come up with a plausible cause of death.
Upon stepping in and seeing the bony behemoth, Nikkitch immediately begins prepping a magic detection ritual. This could be one big trap and an undead wyvern is the last thing he wants to fight right now. He wants to see what could be hidden here.
As Nikkitch begins intoning the ritual, it doesn't take long, before the nothern door on the right opens and a familiarly dressed woman steps through. As the bandits before, she too, is dressed as a vampire. "Uktarl is that you?" Her pale face goes from annoyance to surprise as she sees your party entering the dais.
"What in the hells!?" It takes her but a moment to adjust and she continues with a more bombastic voice; "By the mists of Barovia, you have walked into the wrong domain, intruders! Drop your weapons and your packs, for if we shant take your blood, we shall take your riches!"
Behind her, in the well lit room, a scraping of chairs is to be heard and you see more vampires moving towards the door.
Something behind the door to the west gives a low, deep moan, like an animal in pain, but the door stays shut.
[Do we have a clear view of that door and can I stop chanting the ritual? I have an idea that might not work.]
(Do I also roll initiative?)
DM Comments: No initiative yet, as there has been no intent of fighting at this point. If you wish to attack, then we roll for initiative.
Rituals can be stopped at any time - it just means they need to be restarted from scratch.
You all have a clear view of the door, it's the right one on the north side of the room. During the time when Nikkitch started the ritual and the bandit emerged, a minute or so passed, in case any of the other group members wished to do something.
Seeing the woman walk out the door, Pigsah starts walking toward Jaya to be within 10ft of where he is examining the bones. "Uktarl, the last I saw of him had shat himself as he was being sent up the well to the city guard. As I see it, the rest of you lot have three choices. 1. Surrender now and go back up the well too. 2. Resist until we kill enough of your boys that you then surrender like Uktarl did and then go up the well. OR 3. You all die here."
To Jaya "I am guessing she will choose option 2. That seems to be the magic number today"
Intimidation 17
Jaya exclaims “Oh no, a vampire, run!” then he starts laughing, "Hahahaha”, he looks at the woman and says, “I think my friend here laid out all the options correctly. Or, if you prefer a game of chance, option 4! I have a die here. How about I roll it, if I roll a skull, you leave peacefully and leave behind all your valuables. If I roll anything else, we will leave peacefully. What do you say? Pick an option before my other friend here”, pointing at Nikk, “finishes his spell and raises this Wyvern as his undead servant, then, the only option will be number three.”
In the previous Leader's voice, Nikkitch adds to the intimidation factor, while subtly glaring at the Dragonborn.
"If you. Take. Too long. To. Decide, I. Will steal. Your voice. Too."
[Deception 17]
The bandits look at each other, taken aback by what you said. "Uh", the bandit drops the theatralics. Now that all of them have emerged, you count 6 "vampires".
"No need to be hasty. If you already sent Uktarl packing then you won't find much here. He was in charge of the money."
One of the bandits looks over to the door in the west wall opposite of where you entered, then to the others. "Harria will want to know. Her pet is unlikely to see reason if you barge into her room."
"Listen, we're just making a living here and we know the secret of the throne. How about a truce; we tell you what we know about this place and you can pass through here unharmed."