Dimma Survival (with advantage since Arvastan pointed out the tracks) - 22
With Arvastan's assistance, you are able to ascertain the tracks went from the kitchen into the maid's closet right to the little trap door that had an illusion spell tied to it. The steps then go, much faster, from there towards the front of the house -- you should be able to pick up that set of tracks again after the rest if you so choose. You get the impression these tracks are from the drunken gnome and whatever had frightened him so much was contained under that trap door..
As the group rests, outside, it is easy to forget your current grim task. The weather is pleasant, and the view of the ocean from the cliffs on which the house sits is breathtakingly sublime. The rest relaxes you all and Arvastan and Tul in particular look much better than they did a few minutes earlier.
Tul lets her breathing begin to return to normal and her heart rate to slowly climb back up as she watches the ocean from the cliffs. Thankfully the noise of the crashing waves at the bottom of the cliffs helped drown out Gib's talking. She quickly unfolds her legs and hops back up ready to return to the household.
"Thank you again," she says to the others with a short bow of her head.
Taking a lungful of the sea air, she turns and heads back into the kitchen to see if Dimma has found anything in the house.
Arvastan breathes in the scent of the sea air and finds his second wind, standing up straight again. He stretches briefly before following Tul back into the house. "Anything interesting, Dimma? Run into our rat man yet?"
"Looks like whatever spooked our gnome is beneath the floor in the maid's closet," Dimma says, pointing in the direction of the tracks, "But then he seems to have run away from there towards the front door. There's some kind of illusion magic on the floor so be careful."
She makes her way back over to the maid's closet and kneels next to the illusion. Now that she knows where it is she will drop her concentration on Detect Magic and pray for Guidance.
"Somebody come help me take a look at this... I'm not quite getting it."
Tul looks down where Dimma is pointing. She gets down on her knees to Help Dimma.
"If we can't find a way in here, or can't determine if there are magical seals in place or not, we could check the rest of the house to see if there is another way down," Tul says.
"My vote is for checking upstairs! It's a commonly known fact that shut-in wizards prefer towers to dungeons so the scenic view from the second floor must have enticed this character to build his weird experimentation laboratory thingy up there. I'm sure this subfloor cabinetry is simply a red herring there to distract the common rabble and looters. Adventurers of our caliber can easily see through such ruses and stay laser focused on the task at hand... which is upstairs!" Gibson starts heads toward the stairs and pauses to look back to see if anyone is following him.
Without Detect Magic up, you can't really tell if your attempt to dispel the illusion was successful or not. Everyone in the room seems to be in one piece though and none the worse for wear, and nothing appears to have gone wrong or been triggered. The trap door is still in front of you, the rest of the first floor is outside the door and down the hallway, and there are stairs leading upstairs in the kitchen, where Gib is current waiting, apparently fruitlessly.
Dimma steps back as Hugh opens the trapdoor. "If you want to look around upstairs for a few minutes while I perform this ritual," Dimma says, looking up at Gib, "Feel free, I don't want to head into the basement blindly."
Tul looks down the stairs and wonders if it might be wise to check the rest of the manor first before going down into the basement. It would be good to know they're not leaving their backs exposed to anything.
"It does make some sense to do a quick sweep of this floor and upstairs," Tul begins, and then looks at the hole in the floor she made with her foot. "Given the amount of noise we made earlier, it's likely anything upstairs would have come to investigate so this shouldn't take long."
She heads over to the stairs that lead up. She puts a foot on the first step but then pauses and looks over at Gib.
"Are you coming? You seemed eager to explore up here earlier."
"Should we split up so Arvastan and Hugh can take a look around the rest of this floor? It would be much more efficient," Gibson suggests. Then he grins, "Plus, if we find trouble, you can always put your foot through the floor again for a quick escape!" He guffaws and slaps his thigh. Wiping a tear from his eye, he joins Tul in ascending the stairs.
The stairs groan in protest as Tul and Gib ascend, but perhaps a bit surprisingly, do not break. Once you reach the upper floor, you are in a small landing. Immediately in front of you is a heap of rotten timber that is presumably all that remains of a ladder that once led to the attic garret. The ladder is completely unusable and the attic appears to be inaccessible. Down the hall leads to a number of doorways that lead to the other rooms of the floor. At the end of the hallway is the top of a grand staircase that descends back to the first floor.
(I have added the second floor map to the Resources document.)
Tul looks back at Gib, contemplating whether this is worth it or not. But to his credit he has come up the stairs and does appear to have her back.
"If we're methodical, we should have the floor cleared and be back down with the others quickly," she says. After a pause, she adds, "If we see any sort of threat, yell at the top of your lungs to attract the others."
Tul then goes to the first door in the hallway and pushes it open.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Arvastan shrugs and looks over at Hugh, tilting his head towards the rest of the house. "Well, shall we poke around?" he asks, though he doesn't wait. Instead, he attempts to stealthily slip into the shadows so as to look around the house unnoticed.
Dimma Survival (with advantage since Arvastan pointed out the tracks) - 22
With Arvastan's assistance, you are able to ascertain the tracks went from the kitchen into the maid's closet right to the little trap door that had an illusion spell tied to it. The steps then go, much faster, from there towards the front of the house -- you should be able to pick up that set of tracks again after the rest if you so choose. You get the impression these tracks are from the drunken gnome and whatever had frightened him so much was contained under that trap door..
As the group rests, outside, it is easy to forget your current grim task. The weather is pleasant, and the view of the ocean from the cliffs on which the house sits is breathtakingly sublime. The rest relaxes you all and Arvastan and Tul in particular look much better than they did a few minutes earlier.
Tul lets her breathing begin to return to normal and her heart rate to slowly climb back up as she watches the ocean from the cliffs. Thankfully the noise of the crashing waves at the bottom of the cliffs helped drown out Gib's talking. She quickly unfolds her legs and hops back up ready to return to the household.
"Thank you again," she says to the others with a short bow of her head.
Taking a lungful of the sea air, she turns and heads back into the kitchen to see if Dimma has found anything in the house.
Arvastan breathes in the scent of the sea air and finds his second wind, standing up straight again. He stretches briefly before following Tul back into the house. "Anything interesting, Dimma? Run into our rat man yet?"
No Longer Active"Looks like whatever spooked our gnome is beneath the floor in the maid's closet," Dimma says, pointing in the direction of the tracks, "But then he seems to have run away from there towards the front door. There's some kind of illusion magic on the floor so be careful."
She makes her way back over to the maid's closet and kneels next to the illusion. Now that she knows where it is she will drop her concentration on Detect Magic and pray for Guidance.
"Somebody come help me take a look at this... I'm not quite getting it."
Tul looks down where Dimma is pointing. She gets down on her knees to Help Dimma.
"If we can't find a way in here, or can't determine if there are magical seals in place or not, we could check the rest of the house to see if there is another way down," Tul says.
"My vote is for checking upstairs! It's a commonly known fact that shut-in wizards prefer towers to dungeons so the scenic view from the second floor must have enticed this character to build his weird experimentation laboratory thingy up there. I'm sure this subfloor cabinetry is simply a red herring there to distract the common rabble and looters. Adventurers of our caliber can easily see through such ruses and stay laser focused on the task at hand... which is upstairs!" Gibson starts heads toward the stairs and pauses to look back to see if anyone is following him.
Characters currently being ruined on this forum:
Neria Tallfellow (Halfling Rogue) - Curse of the Crimson Throne with Ashen_Age
Dimma will kneel down and try to dispel the illusion again with help.
Arcana check: 4 (Guidance) + 13 (w/ Advantage)
Without Detect Magic up, you can't really tell if your attempt to dispel the illusion was successful or not. Everyone in the room seems to be in one piece though and none the worse for wear, and nothing appears to have gone wrong or been triggered. The trap door is still in front of you, the rest of the first floor is outside the door and down the hallway, and there are stairs leading upstairs in the kitchen, where Gib is current waiting, apparently fruitlessly.
What are you doing?
Gibson sees the resolve in Dimma's eyes. "We're going downstairs, aren't we?" He sighs. "Aw, beans..."
Characters currently being ruined on this forum:
Neria Tallfellow (Halfling Rogue) - Curse of the Crimson Throne with Ashen_Age
“Why don’t we open the trapdoor?” Hugh says plainly. “I’ll do it if you all are scared.”
Hugh will then wait for a response before trying to open the trapdoor either way.
Alton Thorngage- (Klein’s One Shot String Adventure)
Holden Stonefist-(A Tale of Mercenaries)
Fenrick Wolfsbane- (Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden)
DMing-Ctleath13’s Lost Mines of Phandelver and Ctleath13’s Out of the Abyss
Tul moves back to give Hugh room.
"Confusing wisdom and caution with fear is not bravery," she says as she moves back.
The door swings open and....nothing happens. Hugh sees a few rickety wooden steps leading down to complete darkness.
Dimma steps back as Hugh opens the trapdoor. "If you want to look around upstairs for a few minutes while I perform this ritual," Dimma says, looking up at Gib, "Feel free, I don't want to head into the basement blindly."
She'll repeat the ritual for Detect Magic.
Tul looks down the stairs and wonders if it might be wise to check the rest of the manor first before going down into the basement. It would be good to know they're not leaving their backs exposed to anything.
"It does make some sense to do a quick sweep of this floor and upstairs," Tul begins, and then looks at the hole in the floor she made with her foot. "Given the amount of noise we made earlier, it's likely anything upstairs would have come to investigate so this shouldn't take long."
She heads over to the stairs that lead up. She puts a foot on the first step but then pauses and looks over at Gib.
"Are you coming? You seemed eager to explore up here earlier."
"Should we split up so Arvastan and Hugh can take a look around the rest of this floor? It would be much more efficient," Gibson suggests. Then he grins, "Plus, if we find trouble, you can always put your foot through the floor again for a quick escape!" He guffaws and slaps his thigh. Wiping a tear from his eye, he joins Tul in ascending the stairs.
Characters currently being ruined on this forum:
Neria Tallfellow (Halfling Rogue) - Curse of the Crimson Throne with Ashen_Age
The stairs groan in protest as Tul and Gib ascend, but perhaps a bit surprisingly, do not break. Once you reach the upper floor, you are in a small landing. Immediately in front of you is a heap of rotten timber that is presumably all that remains of a ladder that once led to the attic garret. The ladder is completely unusable and the attic appears to be inaccessible. Down the hall leads to a number of doorways that lead to the other rooms of the floor. At the end of the hallway is the top of a grand staircase that descends back to the first floor.
(I have added the second floor map to the Resources document.)
Tul looks back at Gib, contemplating whether this is worth it or not. But to his credit he has come up the stairs and does appear to have her back.
"If we're methodical, we should have the floor cleared and be back down with the others quickly," she says. After a pause, she adds, "If we see any sort of threat, yell at the top of your lungs to attract the others."
Tul then goes to the first door in the hallway and pushes it open.
(Gib and Tul -- both of you give me investigation checks. Hugh and Arvastan too if youre looking at the ground floor.)
Arvastan shrugs and looks over at Hugh, tilting his head towards the rest of the house. "Well, shall we poke around?" he asks, though he doesn't wait. Instead, he attempts to stealthily slip into the shadows so as to look around the house unnoticed.
Stealth - 22
Investigation - 9
No Longer Active(Tul Investigation: 16 Perception: 7 )