IX. The Witch Towner - Third Trip

[Alethan]

If nothing has run up to attack them yet, Ciar agrees with climbing the barriers to get to the other side.

[AleBelly]

As does Sylvan

[Storm11]

Kassal will guard the rear as the others attempt to climb the barrier.

[OGRE MAGE]

I will climb it! Sparrow says before looking around at the others.

Unless you think we should go lightest to heaviest?

[dmw71]

Ciar, being the most qualified to perform inspections as he progresses, begins to climb the barrier. Moving slowly and cautiously, the halfling stops suddenly after spotting a pair of tripwires, carefully hidden in the rough construction of the barrier. Climbing back down and studying the trap more carefully, Ciar notices several broken-off stalactites propped up on either side, readied to swing down like pendulums once the trip wires have been disturbed.

[Alethan]

Ciar pulls something out of his pack, suggests everyone move away from the barrier, and then begins working to disarm the trap.

Shortly, he, too, steps away from the barrier, trailing something along behind him.

[dmw71]

Ciar begins to tie a bit of twine around the tripwire, planning to use it to trigger the tripwire after backing away from the trapped area, but looses his footing while fastening it and inadvertently sets off the trap. The pair of broken-off stalactites swing down and pierce his small halfling frame on either end inflicting what look like painful wounds.

[onlyme]

Fulp cries out,Hey, you need help? Are you stucK?

[AleBelly]

Sylvan walks over to assess Ciar's state of health.

[OGRE MAGE]

Sparrow jumps into action, doing what he can to free Ciar.

[Alethan]

Ciar grunts in pain.

"Not quite how I planned that to go, yeah..."

After being freed from the trap, Ciar takes a moment to staunch the bleeding before continuing. "I'll let you know if I find another trap and we can try and disarm it from a distance..."

[onlyme]

Fulp cracks,

Well, the trap is now disarmed, and we were at a safe distance.... Oh, you mean you, too?

[dmw71]

It quickly becomes evident that the trap, now that it has already been sprung, would require a manual reset in order to be triggered again.

The first barrier is now safe to cross.

[Alethan]

Ciar carefully crosses the first barrier and begins examining the next one for additional traps. Now that he knows what to look for, he begins his search at a distance, looking for similar pendulum-like structures on either side of the barrier before even approaching it.

If he sees nothing, then he will move closer and look for traps of a different sort.

[dmw71]

Ciar does easily detect a similar trap on the second barrier as well.

[OGRE MAGE]

Sparrow also climbs the first barrier, trying to stay close to Ciar in case he needs a hand.

That looked like it hurt a little.

[Alethan]

Ciar nods at Sparrow as he takes his crowbar and rope out of his pack. "Hurt a lot, actually..."

Standing near the first barrier (assuming that is enough distance to avoid the trap), he ties one end of the rope to the crowbar. Then he uses the now-weighted rope to try and catch the tripwire and set it off without anyone being in danger of impalement from the rocks.

[dmw71]

It takes several tosses, but Ciar is able to successfully trigger the trap protecting the second barrier as well.

With both barriers overcome, the group finds themselves in a large cave, which appears to have been recently scratched from the hard-packed earth. Its ceiling is only five feet high, and several tons of debris fill the western portion of the cave. What appears to be the body of a man lies half buried under the rubble straight ahead, but on the northern half of the cave.

Cave.png (5.6 KiB) Viewed 600 times

The cave appears to continue to the north, with a 10-foot wide passage with the same 5-foot high ceiling continuing beyond your current view in that direction.

[OGRE MAGE]

Didnt the mage have dealings with kobolds? I wonder if they have something to do with this place? You know...being how low the ceiling is and all?

Sparrow crouches down and heads a little further into the cave, in the direction of the body.

[Alethan]

Ciar studies the walls carefully, paying particular attention to the size of the hands that created the scratch marks to see if they are smaller and might belong to a kobold, or if they are larger and might belong to a ghoul. He also notes if the room appears to have been formed recently or if the marks are old.

Then, if nobody else has done so, he examines the body, first from a distance, to see if it appears to be recently dead or if he notes evidence of it having been dead for some time, which might indicate it is another ghoul. Or that the rubble has been there for a while.