The Unseen Servant forums

Struck by something that's hard to explain, everyone pauses their exploration of the next room and returns to help build a cairn for Alton. The many hands make the work, if not light, then at least quicker than it would have been. Some words are said remembering Alton.

Then you return to the task at hand. Leaving the four bandits to rot, you move into the next room. Cy and Twiddle scope out the room. It turns out to be more of a hall—a grand hall, to be specific. It's a little over 100' deep and 60' wide, with doors scattered around the perimeter. Carved double doors made of some dark, dense wood stand in the middle of the west wall. The carvings depict the hammer and anvil of Moradin, Dwarf-Father. Rubble-cluttered stairs lead upwards into darkness about 20' to either side of the doors. Piles of stones lie at the foot of the stairs, spilling out into the hall. Another wooden door, this one plain but bound in iron, stands at the north end of the west wall.

The north end of the hall is covered by a vast floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall tapestry. The tapestry is threadbare in places, moth-eaten in others, and extremely faded. Whatever exploits it once depicted are now lost to the ages. A stone throne rests on a dais in front of the tapestry. Knowing how things are named around here, it was probably called the "Stone Throne" or something similarly clever. Probably in dwarvish, though. All names sound cooler in dwarvish.

An empty stone hearth, some 20' wide, 5' high, and 8' deep, dominates the center of the west wall. Two simple wooden doors flank it. To the north are a solid-looking wooden door and an iron-bound door that mirrors the one opposite it on the west wall. At the south end of the wall is the door Grond has already tried to open (without success).

The hall itself is full of long tables and benches, all of them broken, splintered, and rotting.

I handwaved the light source situation given the hour needed to build the cairn and the fact that Grond's lantern had enough fuel to keep things lit. But please declare who has light sources for the next turn. Thanks.

Map: -----
Status: Finn (½1): 5/5; Grond (F1): 7/7; Twiddle (½1): 4/4; Molly (½1): 3/3; Cy (C1): 2/5; Geoff (T1): 4/4; Iliro (E1): 6/6; Dax (D1): 9/9
Light Sources: Lantern (Grond): 14 turns; Torch (Alton, on the floor): expired

Geoff lights a torch and wields his silver dagger in the other hand. He quickly paces to the back of the room, places the torch quietly on the ground and uses both hands to check behind the large tapestry.

Dax takes a torch out and lights it, now that the cairn building is completed, and follows Geoff.

Finn

Once complete Finn will move back to point and ready himself for whatever comes next.

Molly

Molly also lights a torch and carefully checks each of the doorways for signs of recent use.

Cy

"Quite the hall, if I do say so myself. I'm half tempted to sit in this throne and pretend to be king...Doesn't look like anybody has been king around here for a few years though...I wonder what happened to the dwarves anyway. Hopefully they didn't dig too deep and too greedily or some nonsense." Cy says this to nobody in particular, keeping his voice low.

At any rate, he takes a long listen at each of the stairwells and then a long look at the throne as he walks his circuit of the room.

When the group reconvenes, he says, "Which way do you guys favor?"

Dax shakes his head "Nah I'f not risk sittin in that throne sometimes thrones got magic properties about em. Wouldna wanna get thrown across the place if it rejects ya." as for what way to go the dwarf sticks a finger in his mouth pulls it out and holds it up in the air. After a minute of that he points to the wooden door to the north. "I'm thinkin we go that way first."

Finn

"Sounds good to me or I could throw a stone down one of the stairwells and see what happens? Nah on second thoughts lets just try the door."

Tweedle waits for Molly to inspect the doors to see which have been used recently.

Geoff and Dax look behind the large tapestry and see a wall with two more doors, one at either end. Each door is made of sturdy dark wood, near-fossilized over the years, and is carved with various images extolling the virtues of forgotten dwarven kings.

Cy wonders what happened to the dwarves as he takes a long listen at each of the stairwells. Maybe they delved too deep and too greedily, and unleashed some fiery horror of ancient times? Or maybe they left the mountain for better job opportunities in the city—who can know? He takes a long look at the throne and is tempted to sit on it. Dax advises against it. "I'd not risk sittin' in that throne," says the dwarf. "Sometimes thrones got magic properties about em. Wouldna wanna get thrown across the place if it rejects ya."

Molly checks each of the doorways for signs of recent use, but none of the doors display any obvious signs of recent passage.

Updated map: -----
Status: Finn (½1): 5/5; Grond (F1): 7/7; Twiddle (½1): 4/4; Molly (½1): 3/3; Cy (C1): 2/5; Geoff (T1): 4/4; Iliro (E1): 6/6; Dax (D1): 9/9
Light Sources: Torch (Geoff): 5 turns; Torch (Dax): 5 turns; Torch (Molly): 5 turns

Geoff grimaces and sniffs the air suspiciously. "I always say, when you have twelve exits and two of them are hidden—you should take the hidden exits."

He listens at the northwest door behind the tapestry.

Dax shrugs at Geoff's advice "I aint never heard that afore but alright."

Tweedle arches an eyebrow at Geoff. I ain't heard you say that all day, so you can't"always" be saying it. Then he waved his hand. Nevermind. I get it now. You always say it when these situations come up.

But the thing if it that none of them look used, right? Unless the curtain looks like it's been moved recently. So why not try the stairs instead? Do either of them show signs that someone's gone that way?

He quickly trots off to explore the stone hearth, looking for a secret door around it or a hatch at the base of it, tapping with his bow as he goes. Afterwards, he shrugs and defers to the majority of the group.

Cy

Cy wipes sweat from his forehead and reaches for one of his wineskins. He takes a short pull...thinks better of it and then takes a longer pull. "Seems that in the absence of evidence, one way is probably as good as the others. Let us take that door to the northwest."

Cy rubs his holy symbol and thinks, I would feel much more secure with just a single healing spell.

Finn

Finn will look around and see if he can find any secret doors, trapdoors, compartments, etc. When he is doing this he will also look for any signs of recent activity.

Molly

"Let's just get on with it and take one," Molly grumbles, tromping over towards Geoff at the tapestry. "We're just wasting time here. N' done enough of that already. Lest anyone's got a better idea, it might as well be this one."

"Nope, I haven't got a better idea. Let's take the one Molly suggests." grunts Geoff, trying to open the hidden door that he had been listening at all along.

Tweedle shrugs and queues up.

If no one else steps.up, Tweedle will open the door after someone checks for traps.

Finn

Finn will back up anyone who looks to be opening a door. "I can't check for traps, I am the muscle in this group." Finn says with a chuckle from his diminutive self.

Geoff will check the door for traps. The usual pat-down: edges, floor, handle, looking for anything that looks unusual or conspicuously like a trigger mechanism.