CHAPTER 2: Beyond the Secret Door

[rossik]

Anne try to understand the exact pattern. Some names come to her mind, and she has no clue who they are..Atlach-nacha, Lolth, Arianhrod...She tries to ask sir Honksalot, but he just stare blankly...

Tiberius will try to get some gems. Maybe he can have Zeek fork for some time, so he will ask him.

LePlank waits eagerly

[Urson]

Arya checks the whole hallway, probing for secret doors, switches, and booby-traps.

Ruby squeals with glee when she sees that she has an actual gemstone. She quickly scrambles to pry loose another.

Derrek shouts Get away from them stones! Those are mine! He tries to push between Ruby and Tiberius.

[drpete]

Luke tries to pry up another stone. Though he doesn't move to help LePlank, he does say "Sure thing, buddy... right after I get done with these over here..."

Knuckles continues to explore, looking for hidden doors (if he can look again, he'll look again. If not, he'll move east to explore the north wall of the main room, here.

Seeing the feeding frenzy at the spider, Einstein moves over to where Zeek is, to see what's going on down that hallway.

[Ardak2000]

at Derreks outburst, Tony and Hanover attempt to restrain him, Hanover even intoning "Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, slow down mister!. Hang on a minute. Luke's just looking out for the rest of us, aint'cha Luke?"

Michel attempts to get a rubbing of some of the motif's more interesting bits(inscriptions, etc.).

Betty assists Arya in canvassing the entire corridor looking for secrets.

[Urson]

Addendum

Derrek flails and attempts to fight, but is clearl;y overpowered and can't make an effective attack.

[drpete]

Luke looks up from working on one of the stones. "Guys, chill. We'll dig out the stones then split them up. Everyone's going to get a share. Keep an eye out for giant snakes... or worse, the spider this drawing is based on!"

[Norjax]

...

Anne recalls a name associated with Kobolds; Muk-Karnu – the spider devil. She tries to forget the whispers circulated about the living sacrifices offered to this entity.

Zeek reacts and dodges a huge, 4ft long iron bolt that shoots out of a hole in the end of the hallway. It ’clangs’ against the south wall behind him and a shock settles over his being, freezing the farmer in place. (He used Luck to make his save and avoid almost certain death)

Einstein enters the eastern passage and sees Zeek wide-eyed and shaking uncontrollably.

Arya and Betty comb the entire northeast corridor for secret doors and pitfalls. (Die roll by DM)

Knuckles continues his thorough search of the western hall, then returns to the northern edge of the open intersection of four passages. (Die roll by DM)

Derrek continues his erratic behavior and tries to muscle his way between Ruby and Tiberius. He is restrained by his companions, who are becoming worried about his increased belligerence.

Tiberius, Ruby and Luke continue to extract gems from the spider pattern. In total, they collect 24 clear gems close to the same relative size and 5 colored gems (red, blue and green) that are larger than the clear pieces, and each a different size. The red one is considerably the largest (palm sized). Their placement appears to have been random along the stylized outline of the spider.

Michel looks carefully and makes a rubbing of some faint markings engraved in the floor next to the of the colored stone locations.

MAP 34

Actions?

Light Sources: Torch (Zeek), Torch (Anne), Torch (Hanover), Torch (Knuckles), Candle (Derrek), Torch (Luke), Glowing Ball (Einstein)

Hit Points [Luck Points]

Knuckles 3/3 [0]
Einstein 1/1 [3]
Luke 1/1 [0]

Tony 2/2 [14]
Hanover 1/1 [8]
Betty 4/4 [15]
Michel 1/1 [7]

Zeek 5/5 [0]
Tiberius 1/2 [0]
LePlank 3/3 [10]
Anne 4/4 [14]

Arya 4/4 [11]
Derrek 4/4 [16]
Ruby 1/1 [11]

...

[rossik]

Anne whispers "Muk-Karnu..." and does a spider sign on her forehead. She also do that to sir Honksalot. "oh, she of many legs and many ways...lets find her secrets!" Anne start to loo for secret passages here


Zeek almost wet his pants. By all the gods, good and evil, he saw his life past thru his eyes. Then, clenching his fists, he goes after the bolt, to use it as a weapon as well. He take his snake skin and make a snake skin bolt, a sign of his survival at this doomed place.

Tiberius suggest the 3 of them (the gem pickers) to split the 24 among them, just in case some one drops to a endless pit with all the loot. Then, back in town, we can sell them all and split to all the golds.

LePlank do little cartwheels of joy. Since nobody care about his lousy acrobatics, he star to look for some secret passage at the north wall. Maybe he get luuuucky!

[Urson]

Arya relaxes a bit, and heads back to where the others are messing with the spider mosaic.

Derrek scowls and mutters, apparently sure that the 'gem collectors' will cheat him.

Ruby jumps to her feet, frightened, when the bolt strikes the wall. She steps back from the mosaic, poking through the stones she has in hand.

[drpete]

Einstein pats Zeek, hoping to comfort him, then heads north into the trapped hallway, probing ahead as he goes, hoping to not get shot by another bolt, or dropped into another pit.

Frustrated, Knuckles changes his strategy. He starts examining the frescoes to see if the kobolds are doing anything in particular... aside from being near spiders. Are they going toward any spot, or doing any actions that are curious?

Having pried up the jewels, Luke will start investigating what is left of the spider. Is the rest of it smooth and uniform, or might there be something about it we missed...? He's looking for trap doors, or little buttons or anything like that...

[Ardak2000]

Hanover moves to the northeastern tunnel to investigate the loud clang just heard.

Tony places a reassuring hand on Derricks shoulder to steady the man.

Betty returns to the others with Arya.

Michel shows some interest in Anne's discovery and assists in helping her to find a secret here.

[Norjax]

...

Anne and Michel search the area around the spider mosaic for hidden passages. Just to the north of the sunken floor, they spot a rectangular hole, cleverly hidden by colors and shadow in the wall about the height for a kobold to peer though. It is ½ inch wide by 3 inches high and is deeper than the light can illuminate.

Knuckles changes his perspective of examining the frescoes. After altering his observations, he determines that the spider icons do not appear arranged into any particular pattern. However, he realizes that the kobolds on each wall, regardless of their activity, are facing the same direction, some with their bodies contorted in the opposite direction. Excited by this realization, the wainwright checks each wall and gets LePlank, who is searching for secret doors, to join him. They find the facing figure procession 'points' into the southwest corner of the quasi-labyrinth. Here, the portraits finally face each other but are not represented doing anything extraordinary. (Die roll by DM) Knuckles scrutinizes this area and discovers a crack in the wall covering that follows the zig-zag blocks from the floor to 5ft or so.

Zeek lets fear pass over him. He then grabs the iron bolt off the floor and examines its use as a weapon. The trap device will make an effective spear. (1d8 dmg.)

Einstein comforts Zeek and then proceeds into the hall where the bolt was tripped. (Die roll by DM) He uses his magic orb to illuminate and study the passage. He finds the floor plate that triggered the bolt and finds the hole at the end of the hall where the missile shot from.

Hanover makes his way north and meets with Zeek who is studying his new weapon.

Arya and Betty return to the spider corner and watch the others engaged in their activities.

Luke studies the formerly bejeweled pattern for signs it might hide a trap door or mechanism. (Die roll by DM)

Tiberius suggest the gems be split among those three qualified to examine the precious stones.

Derrek scowls and watches the dwarf handle the treasure stones, not trusting him one ounce. Tonly tries his best to diffuse the tension between Derrek and the others.

Ruby is startled by the iron arrow hitting the nearby wall. She withdraws out of the sunken steps and sorts through her handful of gems.

...

MAP 35

Actions?

Light Sources: Torch (Zeek), Torch (Anne), Torch (Hanover), Torch (Knuckles), Candle (Derrek), Torch (Luke), Glowing Ball (Einstein)

Hit Points [Luck Points]

Knuckles 3/3 [0]
Einstein 1/1 [3]
Luke 1/1 [0]

Tony 2/2 [14]
Hanover 1/1 [8]
Betty 4/4 [15]
Michel 1/1 [7]

Zeek 5/5 [0]
Tiberius 1/2 [0]
LePlank 3/3 [10]
Anne 4/4 [14]

Arya 4/4 [11]
Derrek 4/4 [16]
Ruby 1/1 [11]

...

[rossik]

Zeek: "Now i have Snakebite, the allmighty spear! Would any one be interest in using my old pitch fork?"

Anne: " A hole! Im not getting my eye near that, but the Jester could put his dart inside. Just to check, you know?"

LePlank: reluctantly, the Jester accept Anne suggestion and stick his dark into the hole. He have no clue about what that kobold picture means!

Tiberius: "any one find anything?" . If aware of Knuckles finds, he will help to reveal the secrets beyond that wall

[Ardak2000]

At Anne's suggestion, Michel interjects with
"Pfah! We need something longer than a dart! Anyone have a sword?"
Hanover to Zeke: "Nice spear man!"
Betty and Tony observe the proceedings at the hole.

[Urson]

Arya approaches the newest secret door. She studies the wall around it, carefully.

Derrek examines the spider mosaic, looking for gems that may have been missed.

Ruby hears the call for a sword. Of course! I AMthe duke's daughter, after all. She flounces over to the 'peep hole' and slips her sword into it, taking no particular cautions.

[drpete]

Excited, Luke joins Knuckles at the southwest corner. They work together to try to figure out what is going on with the "crack"... does the crack continue either left or right, does the wall respond to pressure, etc.

Seeing a lot of interest in the mechanics of the trap, Einstein stays clearly away from the front of the hole, but explores the north wall at the end of the hallway, hoping to see if the trap is associated with a hidden panel or door it might be trying to protect.

[Norjax]

...

Zeek proudly displays his new iron spear, offering his pitchfork to anyone who might need a better weapon. Hanover compliments the corn farmer on his new weapon.

Anne, upon discovering the small rectangular slot, summons LePlank and opines that a dart would be a suitable exploratory probe. The jester hears Anne call his name and he leaves Knuckle's location.

LePlank reluctantly heeds to Anne’s suggestion and carefully inserts his dart into the void. As the jester is griping the dart and carefully passing it through the wall, Michel calls for a sword, thinking it a more appropriate tool for investigation. As Betty and Tony watch the examination, Ruby bounds over to assist. She recklessly slips her blade into the slot and interrupts LePlank’s delicate analysis. He fumbles with the dart, and barely maintains his grip (Made his REF save by spending Luck), removing the small missile weapon before Ruby’s sword drives forth up to the hilt. The jester glares at Ruby for her lack of caution! Ruby can feel, using her long sword, that the hole expands in width and height, and its depth is beyond the length of the sword.

Derrek studies the floor mosaic and traces the pattern of the spider, looking for any gems that might have been missed.

Knuckles is joined by Luke, Arya and Tiberius and he traces the crack up, across and down the wall. It’s perimeter marks what appears to be a secret door, 5ft wide and 5ft high.

Einstein continues to scrutinize the northern wall of the dead-end hallway. Staying clear of the bolt hole, he searches for a hidden panel or door. (Die roll by DM)

MAP 36

Actions?

Light Sources: Torch (Zeek), Torch (Anne), Torch (Hanover), Torch (Knuckles), Candle (Derrek), Torch (Luke), Glowing Ball (Einstein)

Hit Points [Luck Points]

Knuckles 3/3 [0]
Einstein 1/1 [3]
Luke 1/1 [0]

Tony 2/2 [14]
Hanover 1/1 [8]
Betty 4/4 [15]
Michel 1/1 [7]

Zeek 5/5 [0]
Tiberius 1/2 [0]
LePlank 3/3 [0]
Anne 4/4 [14]

Arya 4/4 [11]
Derrek 4/4 [16]
Ruby 1/1 [11]

...

[rossik]

"It looks like that ruby is cracked!" mumbles the Jester. He do not intend to continue the investigation, but after Zeek offering, he take the farmer pitchfork and say "Hey, Ruby lady, try with that" and delivers the tool to her.

Tiberius tries to feel the air that may pass by trhe secret door. It could give a hint of where to open it.

Anne do a hand sign to Ruby, like a claw pointing to her and whispers "Muk-Karnu, mighty crawling godess, give her a lesson..."

Zeek just watch all of that.

[Urson]

Arya steps back from the action, unsure of what to try next. Dart makes a small screech and flaps his wings in annoyance.

Derrek studies the material used to make up the mosaic. Maybe this is worth something....

Ruby puts her sword away and uses the handle of the pitchfork to probe the hole.

[Ardak2000]

Hanover returns to the main group gathered around the hole. He idly plays with his green marble as the probing operation ensues, a faraway gleam in his eyes.

Tony continues to observe the proceedings at the hole, while trying to keep an eye on Derrek.

Betty rummages through her bag briefly before pulling out a small blue vial with a flourish "There it is!" she squeaks with delight. She unstoppers it and dispenses a small amount of white powder into the palm of her hand which she promptly snorts with a grin.

Michel eagerly awaits the results of probing the hole with a longer object.