DM Training Ground—You Are In A Room (Reboot, Reboot)

Zuli squints at the dwarvish writing, "Well, looks like we've got the place to ourselves for now. ...a Temple eh?" She looks to her companions, "What do you say we take a look inside?"

Quote from Tez005 >>

Zuli:

Down on the ground, you don't smell anything out of the ordinary. You smell flowers, freshly cut herbs, the distinct smell of cut wood, and the smell of the forest. You're able to scamper up a small boulder nearby without much difficulty. Nothing changes, the smells that are in the air remain up here.

A few birds chirp and trill in the treetops as you walk to, then across, the clearing and towards the colorful thing in the distance. You arrive at the mouth of a cave, carved out of a huge slab of granite rock. At the mouth of the cave are dozens, maybe hundreds of statues carved out of the same rock, painted in all sorts of bright reds, blues, golds and greens. Paints of every color imaginable cover statues of various orcs, humans, cloaked figures, even mythical-looking humanoids with multiple arms. Some have the face of an elephant, others the face of a burro. The all seem to be pointing and looking at the mouth of the cave, where something inside seems to be glowing a soft pink color.

Hanging off the hand of one of the statues, there is a wooden sign with a message carved in a foreign language.

Speak/Read Dwarvish?

The sign says: "On Retreat! Temple services will return one week after 09-24."

 

 "Well this is strangely ominous. Anyone read... is that Gnomish?" Clementine to will try to determine the source of the pink glow without getting too close to the cave Perception: 23

Arthilas mutters something in elvish and casts comprehend languages to read the sign. "Ah, dwarvish it is..."

"I absolutely think we should go in, but we should be careful. Who knows what will await us in there?" He swiftly walks towards the entrance, trying to be light on his feet and trying to stick to the shadows. Occasionally he makes a quick roll from one shadow to the next.

Stealth: 22

Quote from plopped123 >>

Quote from Tez005 >>

Zuli:

Down on the ground, you don't smell anything out of the ordinary. You smell flowers, freshly cut herbs, the distinct smell of cut wood, and the smell of the forest. You're able to scamper up a small boulder nearby without much difficulty. Nothing changes, the smells that are in the air remain up here.

A few birds chirp and trill in the treetops as you walk to, then across, the clearing and towards the colorful thing in the distance. You arrive at the mouth of a cave, carved out of a huge slab of granite rock. At the mouth of the cave are dozens, maybe hundreds of statues carved out of the same rock, painted in all sorts of bright reds, blues, golds and greens. Paints of every color imaginable cover statues of various orcs, humans, cloaked figures, even mythical-looking humanoids with multiple arms. Some have the face of an elephant, others the face of a burro. The all seem to be pointing and looking at the mouth of the cave, where something inside seems to be glowing a soft pink color.

Hanging off the hand of one of the statues, there is a wooden sign with a message carved in a foreign language.

Speak/Read Dwarvish?

The sign says: "On Retreat! Temple services will return one week after 09-24."

 

 "Well this is strangely ominous. Anyone read... is that Gnomish?" Clementine to will try to determine the source of the pink glow without getting too close to the cave Perception: 23

”I don’t think so! I would be able to understand it if it was. It’s not Common, Draconic, Goblin, or Orc either.”

"Seriously? None of you can actually read dwarfish?" Zuli says, more curiously then anything else. "Huh, it's been a while since I've read the language, but... anyways. Yeah, it looks like these dwarves are on vacation or somethin'. So the Temple should be empty."

Quote from Aroc_of_Eaf >>

"Seriously? None of you can actually read dwarfish?" Zuli says, more curiously then anything else. "Huh, it's been a while since I've read the language, but... anyways. Yeah, it looks like these dwarves are on vacation or somethin'. So the Temple should be empty."

 "Sweet, shall we continue?"

Clementine:

Arthilas, you're light on your feet and incredibly silent as you move forward into the cavern. If there's anything in the cave, it definitely wouldn't be able to see or hear you.

Unless you choose to hang back, the rest of you follow Arthilas' lead into the cavern's maw. Glowing, rosy gemstones stick out of the walls in bunches, lighting the only tunnel into the Temple. The tunnel doesn't split, and there isn't any life other than a few mushrooms growing in between the cracks in the stone or the occasional millipede. 15 feet in, there is a set of stairs, leading down into a small room. You can't see what's inside it.

(The light from the rough gemstones counts as dim light. This means unless you have Darkvision, or you create some kind of bright light, all perception checks based on visibility will be done at disadvantage.)

Darkvision! 
Agnomally picks up a mushroom and examines it curiously. “We had some cool big ones of these back home in gnomengarde!”

Nature: 3

Agnomally:

Quote from UndauntedDM >>

Darkvision! 
Agnomally picks up a mushroom and examines it curiously. “We had some cool big ones of these back home in gnomengarde!” 

 (Lol, my players were a little grossed out by the fact that everything the gnomes there ate was made out of mushrooms.)

Verdell commands his horse to wait outside the temple-cave thing (unless there's plenty of space?) and follows the others inside. (Even though I assume almost everyone here has darkvision,) he will draw his crystal longsword and hold it aloft so it can shed its radiant light like a really sharp torch.

(Arthilas has Darkvision too)

Arthilas will slowly and carefully approach the room, continuing sneaking. He draws his longsword and is ready to use it if necessary.

Quote from Tez005 >>

Clementine:

The pink glow, though it looks unnatural, looks like it's coming from the stone walls of the cavern. You take a step forward, still cautious of the cave, and see that the light is a result of raw gemstone jutting out from the cave walls. There are various small pockets of these minerals, and looking at a few of them it seems like the light is coming from inside the crystal. They illuminate the cavern enough to be considered dim light.

Arthilas, you're light on your feet and incredibly silent as you move forward into the cavern. If there's anything in the cave, it definitely wouldn't be able to see or hear you.

Unless you choose to hang back, the rest of you follow Arthilas' lead into the cavern's maw. Glowing, rosy gemstones stick out of the walls in bunches, lighting the only tunnel into the Temple. The tunnel doesn't split, and there isn't any life other than a few mushrooms growing in between the cracks in the stone or the occasional millipede. 15 feet in, there is a set of stairs, leading down into a small room. You can't see what's inside it.

(The light from the rough gemstones counts as dim light. This means unless you have Darkvision, or you create some kind of bright light, all perception checks based on visibility will be done at disadvantage.)

 Hey, hey, darkvision! Anyway Clementine will take a piece of the glowing gemstone and bottle it before peering down the stairs. She will try stealthily going down them: 7

Edit: the opposite of stealthy... I see...

(Darkvision)

Zuli looks around, and scrunches her nose at Agnomally’s mushroom, “Those things gross me out. I don’t like vegetables, but I’d take them anyway over fungus.” She shakes her head back and forth like a dog that tasted something nasty. Then, she reaches up and taps one of the gene stones with her fingernail. 

(Why? Mushrooms are the best. They're fascinating, and some are even delicious!)

Verdell, you give your horse the command to wait outside, and it does so with a content whinny. You draw your sword, and Arthilas does the same next to you as he advances into the room.

The gemstone makes a small tink sound as you tap it, Zuli, and the light inside it seems to dim a little as if it's reacting to your touch. Clementine, you find a tiny chunk of the gemstone that's loose enough to pry out on the wall. It also seems to be reacting to your touch, flickering madly as you pull it loose as if in pain. When you put it in the bottle, however, it returns to the soft, calm glow.

You also try to sneak by, but you end up tripping over something and creating a lot of noise as you come crashing to the ground. It echoes through the tunnel and back to you, making you hold your breath in anticipation. As far as all of you can tell, nothing deeper inside the cave noticed the sound, if there is anything in there. 

The room you find yourselves in is not dusty or musty like you'd expect a cave to be. The small, 15x15 room was already dimly lit, but the light from Verdell's glowing sword casts dark shadows on the back wall. The shadows are caused by a statue of a heavily robed and hooded figure standing on an altar in the center of that wall. The hooded figure has no face visible, but their hands and feet are both open and painted a deep red, and the cloak is painted black with a gold hem and a gold belt. A silver dagger and a shortsword are hanging off their belt, but they're both sheathed. The statue's palms are facing the entrance. A small halo of glowing gems circles the entire figure. There is a ribbon of text above the halo. On the front of the altar there is also a short ribbon of text. To the side of the altar, there's a circular trapdoor with a handle. Everything---the statue, the altar, the trapdoor and its handle---is carved out of stone.

Speak/Read Dwarvish or have Comprehend Languages still active?

Quote from Tez005 >>

(Why? Mushrooms are the best. They're fascinating, and some are even delicious!)

Verdell, you give your horse the command to wait outside, and it does so with a content whinny. You draw your sword, and Arthilas does the same next to you as he advances into the room.

The gemstone makes a small tink sound as you tap it, Zuli, and the light inside it seems to dim a little as if it's reacting to your touch. Clementine, you find a tiny chunk of the gemstone that's loose enough to pry out on the wall. It also seems to be reacting to your touch, flickering madly as you pull it loose as if in pain. When you put it in the bottle, however, it returns to the soft, calm glow.

You also try to sneak by, but you end up tripping over something and creating a lot of noise as you come crashing to the ground. It echoes through the tunnel and back to you, making you hold your breath in anticipation. As far as all of you can tell, nothing deeper inside the cave noticed the sound, if there is anything in there. 

The room you find yourselves in is not dusty or musty like you'd expect a cave to be. The small, 15x15 room was already dimly lit, but the light from Verdell's glowing sword casts dark shadows on the back wall. The shadows are caused by a statue of a heavily robed and hooded figure standing on an altar in the center of that wall. The hooded figure has no face visible, but their hands and feet are both open and painted a deep red, and the cloak is painted black with a gold hem and a gold belt. A silver dagger and a shortsword are hanging off their belt, but they're both sheathed. The statue's palms are facing the entrance. A small halo of glowing gems circles the entire figure. There is a ribbon of text above the halo. On the front of the altar there is also a short ribbon of text. To the side of the altar, there's a circular trapdoor with a handle. Everything---the statue, the altar, the trapdoor and its handle---is carved out of stone.

Speak/Read Dwarvish or have Comprehend Languages still active?

The text above the figure reads: "Koga, Defender of Good." The text on the altar reads: "Tell her of sorrows, and she will heal them. Tell her of evil, and she will purge it."

 

 “Well… This is quite beautiful. I guess there’s no point in being stealthy any more I either, I guess. But I do like mushrooms! You just have to be careful, the amount that want to kill you far outnumber the edible ones…”

Quote from Tez005 >>

The room you find yourselves in is not dusty or musty like you'd expect a cave to be. The small, 15x15 room was already dimly lit, but the light from Verdell's glowing sword casts dark shadows on the back wall. The shadows are caused by a statue of a heavily robed and hooded figure standing on an altar in the center of that wall. The hooded figure has no face visible, but their hands and feet are both open and painted a deep red, and the cloak is painted black with a gold hem and a gold belt. A silver dagger and a shortsword are hanging off their belt, but they're both sheathed. The statue's palms are facing the entrance. A small halo of glowing gems circles the entire figure. There is a ribbon of text above the halo. On the front of the altar there is also a short ribbon of text. To the side of the altar, there's a circular trapdoor with a handle. Everything---the statue, the altar, the trapdoor and its handle---is carved out of stone. 

 Question: is the trapdoor built into the altar's side, or is the trapdoor next to the altar? If it's the latter, is it in the wall or the floor?

Answer: It's next to the altar on the floor, not attached to it and/or on the wall. The altar is about 3 ft long with 6 ft of space on either side (not including the trapdoor), and the trapdoor itself is 5 ft in diameter.

(Zuli is strictly carnivore lol, she'll only eat flora if she's starving)

Zuli reads through the text and gives a small laugh, "Tell her of sorrows eh?" She looks up at the statue, "Hey you! Me and my friends here are stuck in these endless rooms! Can't you get us out of here? Send us home?" 

Assuming nothing happens, she turns around and shrugs, "It was worth a shot." She looks to the trap door, "That looks promising, I'll head in since I seem to be the best punching bag so far." As she makes her way over to the statue, she flicks another gemstone to make it flicker, then she grabs the handle to the trapdoor and pulls it open. 

Zuli:

As Zuli addresses the statue, the halo around the figure seems to grow slightly in intensity. It then subsides as she walks away, towards the trapdoor.

The trapdoor cover is lighter than expected of a block of stone on hinges, and when opened it reveals a ladder also carved out of stone. The ladder leads down into another room, some fifteen feet or so, but there don't seem to be any crystals next to the ladder. It's the darkest part of the cave so far. The rosy glow appears again at the bottom, but you can't see what's in the next room without going down the ladder.

Arthilas follows Zuli. In common, he tries to adress the statue as well. "Hey you? Can you tell me if my mother and sister at home are fine...?"

He then wants to ask Zuli if he should open the heavy-looking trapdoor, but Zuli is faster...