Return to the Barrow Mounds:

[Rex]

Orgoth

Whispering to Steban, "We will get you out, hold on."

Orgoth moves to the others by the beetles, spear at the ready.

[Spearmint]

The beetles take the bait, scuttling up the long corridor to nibble the spread of fresh breads, cheeses and fruit rations (-1 days supplies) tossed out for them.

The door (labelled E) beetle room, is made of stout oak but the centuries of damp and rot have caused it, like so many others in the labyrinth to become swollen and subsequently wedged tightly shut. It might be quite easy to shoulder barge open but that undoubtedly adds to the noise, a sudden crash or wallop echoing down a corridor or hallway or busting your surprise on creatures beyond.

Amos dutifully presses his ear to the door to listen, confident that if people where talking or moving beyond he would have heard.

While he spends a turn listening do you Sven want the two scout offers (Isvand and the chameleon) to happen or all wait here?

[Rex]

Orgoth

Ration deducted.

Whispering to Sven, "We don't have much time, do you want me to break this down?"

[OGRE MAGE]

Kris...

Quick question.

How do you want us to handle spells that are reversible?

Sven wants to try "shrinking" the door with his Enlarge spell. Is that something he can do anytime? Or do you implement some special rules for memorizing spells in reverse?

[OGRE MAGE]

Sven gathers the others around him and speaks quietly.

"I dont want to make more noise than necessary in here. We are clearly not the only ones around down here, and Orgoth and I were already warned about a cult of Set working in this area, so I would rather not get the entire group killed or captured because we were being too careless."

"The room beyond the portcullis sounds interesting, but I still think freeing Steban should be our main focus. Lets try getting into this door before we move to another area."

"Isvand, are you badly injured?"

"Gerdal, if you think it might be prudent to speak with the beetles, please do so."

[Spearmint]

Post being edited: ... Reversible spells. Hmm thinking ...

Ok. Let's go with it as an in character action to try rather than create rules. You can cast reversible spells under the same conditions (enlarge/shrink is a spell combination not two so you either retain or erase both options not treated singularly).

[Spearmint]

May 3rd 1066.

Barrow Maze.

Exploring the corridors.
4.10pm. Firebrand torchlight (Bro Fab) Lantern light (Gerdal) Candlelight (Sven).

Conditions: Steban -7hp, stuck in pit trap. Isvand -4hp.


Steban just has to bide his time. At least he has a flaming torch to light the place and Penelope to talk to.

Isvand is assessed by the cleric Bro' Fabian. His wound is serious but not critical, in the sense he could probably survive another. The clerics have one cure spell left each for today and depth of injury to Steban is also not yet known.

Gerdal might conclude that discussing the inner workings of metal knobs and grinding cogs a bit beyond the comprehension of most beetles who are more interested in rolling up little dung piles to hoard. Her familiar returning from its mini exploration.

Orgoth feeds a days rations to coax the beetles away, scattering portions in a long trail up the diagonal corridor. He offers to suddenly bash the door down but Sven decides to try another method, favouring brains over brawn. He counsels wisdom and patience. Then when Amos nods the all clear, invokes a spell to change the sodden dynamics of the door. Under the Shrink, the wood warps and compresses, squeezing brackish water to pool at your feet. Looser in the frame, the door opens with a creak.

(83) You are in an upside down L- shaped corridor. It runs 40'ft e-w and 40'ft n-s. A bricked up wall blocks egress beyond the western end of the corridor. Another closed down in the south. Almost opposite you is another door. This one is stone arched with a leering but cheerful not scary face on the keystone. A sound of water trickling, like an open tap and a faint whiff of hops or barley emanate from within.

next actions please.

[OGRE MAGE]

Sven moves into the newly discovered room behind Amos, who is still tapping the floor and walls in front of him as he moves around.

They approach the northern portion of the wall and search for any indications that the pit trap mechanisms can be found or manipulated from inside this room.

"Hops and barley? Something tells me that the squires would have liked to find this room."

[Rex]

Orgoth

Orgoth moves into the room and searches it, starting on the wall behind the mechanism.

[Spearmint]

Sorry, may not have communicated the area properly. You can open the door to the 'hop' room if you want and go in.

[OGRE MAGE]

Ok, sorry! Thanks!

Sven encourages the Cromm worshiping Bro Fab and Orgoth to check over the brick wall that may or may not be blocking us off from the inner workings of the pit trap.

"Do either of you guys see a way we can get beyond this bricked up wall without making too much noise? We must try to free Steban if we can."

[Rex]

Orgoth

Orgoth will look over the wall and see if there is a way to open it up with a pry bar without causing too much noise. "Moving the bricks shouldn't be an issue if we can just loosen them up with the pry bar."

[Spearmint]

as requested: a pic of a bricked up dungeon wall

[Rex]

Orgoth

Orgoth will try and scrape the mortar loose with the pry bar and then loosen a block by leveraging with the pry bar. "Can you do that shrink trick on a block?"

[OGRE MAGE]

Sven looks a little embarrassed by his friends request.

1st Level Spell Retention (INT 15) [4d6+1]=17+1=18

"Nope. Not until after we get a chance to rest again," he replies, slightly deflated.

[Spearmint]

Bro' Fabian uses is Cromm blessed skills to assess the walls.

Bro Fabian tests construction vs 75% [1d100]=26 stonework traps or pits vs 50% [1d100]=10

As in the pic the wall is pretty solid and several feet thick though those top large stones are more hastily placed. Maybe evidence of someone gaining an entrance that way and blocking up after? They look like they might be pryed away and the stones behind them pushed through. Enough gap for a hobbit but if you want to walk, then knocking the wall will take a while (think 3 turns reduced by -1 for each worker hammering pick and sledgehammer, min 1 turn of effort).

While the masons assess the blocked up wall, Amos listens at the door on the south end of the corridor, tap-tapping a safe route to it. He listens, confident that it is 'dead quiet' beyond.

Sven, Gerdal, Isvand can use the turn to act.

[sastaz]

Doors
A. 'Trickling water'. Wedged shut, sodden wooden door.
B. Locked, reinforced with iron and embellished with verdigris designs.
C. Iron reinforced, well preserved, lacquered and greased hinges. Has a panel containing a book cover? Two scarabs cover keyholes. Door locked.
D. Wooden, seems to openly freely.
E. Swollen oaken door, now shrunk and opens freely.
F. Leeing face. Smell of hops or barley.
G-I. ??

Unexplored areas
I. ??
II. ??
III. Rusted porticulis, behind it some sort of storage or guardroom.
IV. This is where the cultists made their stand and the location of their sacrificial pit.

[sastaz]

See below for Gerdal action.

[OGRE MAGE]

Sven suggests making a small hole in the loose stones as quietly as possible. Then the room can be looked into before deciding if we need to go any further or not.

“We have about a dozen other areas to investigate already, so remember, we don’t necessarily need to go in. We are only looking inside to see if there is a way to access the pit or it’s mechanisms. Our goal should be rescuing Steban, not more exploration.”

[sastaz]

"I agree that our priority should be to rescue Steban. If we make a hole just large enough for Harkazz, he can go in and have a look. I...I mean he, can see really well under minimal light conditions as well. If this hole takes more than a while to create, we might as well take our chances with the pit opening again?"

Gerdal will let the larger Orgoth keep on working on the stone, keeping watch in the doorway to the beetle room, looking into it and out in the corridor beyond.