Expedition: Earc/Guhra's Tower-Part II-29 July 2021

[Zhym]

Olaf continues to eye the magic door with skepticism. "Don't trust that door," he says. "What if it be deciding not to be a door anymore?"

OOC, since I'm not sure I'm conveying the point with Olaf's slow brain: if a door suddenly appeared, it can suddenly disappear. We don't know why the door is there or how long it will last. I think we should decide (or Earc as party leader should decide) whether we all go through the door, running the risk that we have to ride 12 miles back to the tower to get back to where we are, or whether we stay in the tower because our business is here.

If we do stay in the tower, we could transfer our loot through the door and lighten the load on the pack animals.

[Alethan]

Earc nods and motions for anybody near the portal to not get any closer.

"Creating a link between two points like this requires knowledge of at LEAST the Eighth Order. And the power to wield it. I do not believe I know of any such Mages in the north. Not anymore, anyway."

Casting his eyes about the large room, though, he frowns in thought.

"Questions," he sighs. "There are too many questions."

"Why was there such a large battle fought here? How did such large numbers of orc and orc-kin get into this room? A similar portal? What magic do these wards contain? Did... did the dwarves of days past use this room to create connections with other dwarven kingdoms for trade? Maybe it backfired one time and their door opened to a hoard of orcs. But how does the door open? How d..." he suddenly stops.

"Drunil, I need you to think. What exactly did you say or think as you opened that door? Did you utter a prayer or make a wish?"

[Marullus]

There are at least two dozen dwarves clustered in the small stable now, blocking any hope of moving through it, and Funil finishes his recitation about the hot tubs, magical furnace, and temple of Moradin, excitedly telling them that the tower belongs to the Blackhelm clan, as well as the marvels within. The dozens of dwarves begin clamoring to come through the magical doorway to see these miracles of their ancestors for themselves!

Earc contemplates the closet and the room, then pulls aside Drunil to question him about the door's appearance. "Drunil, I need you to think. What exactly did you say or think as you opened that door? Did you utter a prayer or make a wish?" The dwarf looks surprised, scratching his beard thoughtfully. "I didn' utter no prayers, no, for sure... the power of Moradin is great and to be praised and not called for 'n trivial things," he replies. "As for wishin'... I mean, not that I meant to, I suppose? I was just tryin' to get these ornery beasts int' the closet with all the arrows flying, an' I wished they could get outta range, an, well, my cousins stable is the safest place I coulda hoped for, so mebbe that's kinda wishin'?" His eyes go wide with terror. "Did I do magic? I didn't mean t' do any magic... no, that'd be n' good at all!"

Date: 6:10pm, 30 July 2021
Effects: Continual light, Florin's Bless (until 6:40pm)
Injuries: Pony (severely wounded), Steve (severely wounded), Drunil (moderately wounded), Funil (moderately wound), Halfpint (moderately wounded), Earc (moderately wound), Hereward (minor wound)

[Alethan]

Earc shrugs, "I don't know. Maybe you did." He looks down at the dwarf's hands. "Have you picked up any magical rings lately? Or... a pendant, maybe?"

He looks back at the door and the dwarfs clambering to come in. "Hold on, Dwarf-friends, please!" Earc pleads, holding up his hands.

"We have indeed been working to clear the goblins from your tower. There are still many dangers here. You lot have jobs to do and Seneschal Duegar to answer to. We have our jobs here to do, as well. I swear to you, my friends, you will be restored to your tower in due time! But let us clear it of gobs first and prepare your way."

[Marullus]

Dunil looks frightened, examining his empty hands as well. "Rings? Pendants? No..." He scrunches up his face in concentration and says, "I wish... I had the Axe of Jarkul." He looks around with both excitement and trepidation. However, nothing happens. He looks both disappointed and relieved.

Earc entreats the excited dwarves to return back through the doorway to I'didmi'd'dum and back to their day's labors until the group can finish its job of slaying the goblins. Though disappointed that they'll not see the hot tub quite yet, they eventually all retreat back through the stable and then disperse - telling the rest of the settlement about this strange new occurrence.

The party is once more alone in the room with the dead orcs. Drunil's cousin has closed the outer stable doors for privacy and your mounts munch happily in their stalls with the other ponies.

Date: 6:20pm, 30 July 2021
Effects: Continual light, Florin's Bless (until 6:40pm)
Injuries: Pony (severely wounded), Steve (severely wounded), Drunil (moderately wounded), Funil (moderately wound), Halfpint (moderately wounded), Earc (moderately wound), Hereward (minor wound)

[2d6] = 3 CHA

[Zhym]

Let's try closing the door to see if it goes away and we can reproduce creating it?

[Alethan]

Once all of the other dwarfs are ushered back through the door, Earc gathers the party together.

"Ok, let's retrieve the mounts and close the door. If it stays, then... I say we retrieve all of the treasure we've let sit so far, make camp in the stable, bar this door securely, and rest for 8 hours. We should be safe in the stables. And... how many goblins did we just clear out? I bet we put a nice dent in their numbers. Maybe they'll at least hesitate for a while before bothering us again."

[Zhym]

Do we trust the dwarves at I'didmi'd'dum enough to leave our accumulated treasure there, even if the door goes away? It'd save us having the drag that much treasure back on our mounts.

[Alethan]

Do we trust the dwarves at I'didmi'd'dum enough to leave our accumulated treasure there, even if the door goes away? It'd save us having the drag that much treasure back on our mounts.

Earc has favor with the dwarves. He's hoping to improve that by leading the expedition to return their tower to them. I think our stuff could be stored somewhere safely.

[onlyme]

Halfpint agrees that their stuff should be safe enough with them.

[Alethan]

So first the mounts are retrieved and the closet door is closed to see if it disappears. If it remains, then Earc opens it again to make sure it is still going to the stables.

If that is the case, then he uses the key they found to secure the door to the battle room. "Now we have to get the silver and remaining treasure from the rat nest room. Then we go to the stables and find a place to rest for 8 hours."

[Zhym]

I'd suggest transferring the treasure before testing the door. That way, if the door does disappear, we've still safely lightened our load for the ride back.

[Alethan]

True. We'll do it in that order, then. Except we need to get the pack animals to move some of the bulky stuff.

[Marullus]

With Drunil's cousin minding the stable doors and the key being used to securely lock the stone door in the tower's basement, the party is free to shift their goods and test the doors. The two closets are now fused, allowing a small space (10' wide, 15' deep) with a stable door on one end and the tower door on the other... mops, buckets, and horse grooming supplies scattered within.

All the treasure is shifted into the stables, then the doors are tested to confirm that the rooms don't disappear when they are re-opened. After careful probing of the magical conjunction, the party settles down to rest in the stables, trusting that the doors will continue to work after their night's rest. As you're 'safe' in the dwarven town no watch is set and everyone rests deeply on the haypiles.

Rising in the morning, you confirm that the doors do indeed still open into the tower basement, the mounds of dead orcs still before you. Florian also prays for powers of discernment and identifies the magical items available among your profits thus far:


- 32 electrum pieces with a closed fist sigil
- five southron shortbows
- 37 southron arrows

- 54 electrum pieces with a closed fist sigil

- 600lbs of silver (10 sacks)
- four engraved crossbow bolts (created, +3)
- one untarnished two-handed sword with a flamberge blade (created, extraplanar, +1)

- a case of still usable magical inks (500gp worth)
- a potion (Created)
- 1 scroll (5 spells, 18 spell-levels in length)

- seven human-made shortbows
(That's everything, right? I may not be counting treasure you left behind last time and picked up this time.)

Earc is then able to follow-through on his plan to read magic and study the acquired scroll from the Shadow's closet. Olaf is also able to finally test the crossbow bolts to determine their potency.

Date: 6:00am, 31 July 2021
Effects: Continual light
Injuries: Pony (severely wounded), Steve (severely wounded), Drunil (moderately wounded), Funil (moderately wound), Halfpint (moderately wounded), Earc (moderately wound), Hereward (minor wound)

[Marullus]

Florian also calls upon Baudh's Grace to heal four party members, providing relief before you sleep.

(If Hereward had unused healing spells, he can allocate them as well and refresh in the morning.)

Date: 6:00am, 31 July 2021
Effects: Continual light
Injuries: Pony (severely wounded), Halfpint (moderately wounded), Hereward (minor wound), Earc (superficial wound)

Clw [1d6+1] = 3+1 = 4 [1d6+1] = 4+1 = 5 [1d6+1] = 5+1 = 6 [1d6+1] = 5+1 = 6

[Zhym]

While Pony drinks from the troughs in the stables, Olaf opens one of his healing potions and pours it in with the water a little at a time.

That should be +5 HP, 1 at a time, for Pony. Healing potion deducted.

[Alethan]

OOC: I'll do a quick read-through and make sure we don't have anything else on this trip.

[Zhym]

Alethan, could you update the map when you get a chance, too? Or did you already do it and I missed it?

[Alethan]

Earc keeps the scroll on his person, deciding that he would rather carry it than store it with anything else they might leave behind for the time being.

OOC: Treasure count looks good to me.

Does anyone feel like Earc should cast Detect Magic in the large battle room? Might be that there is still something in there that doesn't appear valuable but is. Of course, all of the magical writing on the walls and such might interfere with such a spell and make everything glow...

Map Updated!

Mapping 05.jpg (163.78 KiB) Viewed 364 times

[Zhym]

Probably worth a try.