IC VII

[thirdkingdom]

Drudsa the dabbler

Drudsa keeps a good distance from the pit (remaining behind the frontline fighters) and shoots at the creature with his sling.

Sling (skilled), +2 to hit, 1d6 dmg, -1 AC vs 2 opponents, stun s/m, range 40/80/160

I always keep a list with Drudsa's prepared spells with his character sheet on the Characters thread. For ease of reference here go his spells for today:

Exterminate
Knot
Werelight

Charm Person
Sleep

Invisibility
Mirror Image

Looks like we cross-posted. I'll assume Drudsa does not attack the creature since it is withdrawing, unless I hear differently.

[sulldawga]

Marodin secretly breathes a sigh of relief.

"Looks like we're going to need a few barrels of oil and a torch..."

[frobozz]

Lanny the elf

Lanny waits for a few moments after the creature withdraws, then cautiously approaches the hole. He peers into it from a short distance away.

"I no longer wish to descend into the pit. We will probably find nothing but bones at the bottom of it."

Lanny starts to move towards the courtyard, then pauses.

"This creature came out of its hole once before, looking for food... Let's make sure it does not need to do so again."

With a little help, Lanny will lift a few of the gnoll corpses and heave them close to the pit's outer perimeter, so that when the creature emerges again it will have something nearby to snack on besides the party members.

"Shall we try the main door to the castle proper? We can try the hobgoblin's key if it is locked."

TK, I can see now why you wanted to know whether or not Saul had "approached" the hole... I'm guessing that if Saul had actually descended into the hole, with the rest of us a half mile away, that there probably would not have been much left of him by the time we found him (IF we found him).

[Alethan]

Rhys returns to the group, as well, helping Lanny quietly drag bodies to the hole.

"Like I said... that hole gives me a baaaaad feeling. Let's check out the castle, instead."

[Innana]

Innana the Fighter:

"Eeeeegadz! Too bad we could not have used that fat hobgoblin for bait". Innana looks over at Thordin, "Are you still feeling like deep hole spelunking? "

"I am leaning towards going into the castle at this point."

[thirdkingdom]

Lanny the elf

TK, I can see now why you wanted to know whether or not Saul had "approached" the hole... I'm guessing that if Saul had actually descended into the hole, with the rest of us a half mile away, that there probably would not have been much left of him by the time we found him (IF we found him).

Pretty much. If anyone had actually approached the lip of the pit they would have been attacked, never mind actually descending down into it.

So, it sounds like y'all want to go to the door, see if the key works?

[Innana]

Innana the Fighter:

Sounds good.

[thirdkingdom]

The adventurers enter the courtyard to find that little has changed. After a brief inspection they move to the door, which proves to be locked. The hobgoblin's key fits, and once unlocked the door swings open easily. The sunlight floods the room beyond, revealing it to be 15' deep and 20' wide. A shut door stands opposite the entrance in the northern wall whilst both east and west walls have an open doorway set in the middle of each. The floor in this room is littered with debris.

It looks as if you guys will need light in here.

[sulldawga]

Marodin will examine the tracks, if any, on the floor to see if they can determine who has gone where in this room.

Tracking 2

[frobozz]

Lanny the elf

While a light is being fetched, Lanny examines the floor with Marodin to see if the tracks of the hobgoblin's boots (or any other tracks) lead off in any particular direction.

"Since the hobgoblin's key opens the castle door, two questions come to mind: Where did the hobgoblin get the key in the first place? And has he already looted the castle of all of its antiquities? I wonder if the shield he carried was found within this castle..."

Seeing the closed door across from the entrance door, Lanny looks over at Rhys.

"We no longer have our lead scout to check doors for traps. I don't suppose they teach those sorts of skills in the monasteries, do they?"

Tracking: WIS+1=16

In addition to choosing our first direction, we should also decide if we wish to make Rhys invisible for advance scouting. We have three Invisibility spells that we can use, so if he needs to return to visibility for any reason (to attack, for example), we can always cast a second spell on him. The advantages would be that it would enable us to plan out attacks in advance if he spots an enemy first without being detected. The disadvantages would be not knowing where he is at any given moment and that he cannot attack while invisible.

[Alethan]

Rhys the Traveler

Rhys nods and says, "Some..."

He retrieves his lantern and a flask of oil from his pony and takes a moment to light the lantern. And then he takes a few moments to examine the floor for traps before even stepping foot into the room, muttering, "Seems a likely place for a pit trap or a trip wire..." as he probes the ground with the tip of his longbow.

Then he looks up to examine the ceiling, as well, before carefully stepping into the room.

[Bouv]

Tratiln pulls out one of his torches to be lit for the party. "Hmm...ancient adbandoned ruins and the local humaniod tribes have the key to the place? Something sucipicous about that at all."

Tratiln will also take a moment to look at any tracks to determine what creatures might have made any.

BTW - should we worry about the horses?

[riftstone]

Thordin the dwarf

Innana looks over at Thordin, "Are you still feeling like deep hole spelunking?

"Nay, the sport seems to have left me..."

Thordin will assist in the looking around, using his stonelore skills, looking for traps, or different stonework.

[zebediah]

Lanny the elf

Seeing the closed door across from the entrance door, Lanny looks over at Rhys.

"We no longer have our lead scout to check doors for traps. I don't suppose they teach those sorts of skills in the monasteries, do they?"

Rhys the Traveler

Rhys nods and says, "Some..."

He retrieves his lantern and a flask of oil from his pony and takes a moment to light the lantern. And then he takes a few moments to examine the floor for traps before even stepping foot into the room, muttering, "Seems a likely place for a pit trap or a trip wire..." as he probes the ground with the tip of his longbow.

Then he looks up to examine the ceiling, as well, before carefully stepping into the room.

Drudsa the dabbler

"Huh, Rhys, wouldn't you favour wearing the goggles you inherited from Saul rather than carrying a lightsource with you if you will be scouting ahead of us?"

Drudsa takes the Continual light Lantern from his backpack and readies it for use. If the remainder of the party enters the ruins he will follow, in the usual formation, carrying the lantern and keeping his sling close at hand.

Drudsa will cast Invisibility on Rhys if he agrees to it, but I don`t think it will be useful if he carries a lantern with him.

[Alethan]

Rhys the Traveler

If Drudsa is lighting the perpetual lantern, then Rhys will not light his lantern.

"If I'm scouting far ahead, I could use the goggles. But if I'm checking for traps, then the goggles would probably be completely useless; they are only useful for heat vision and most traps don't offer a heat signature. Instead, I need a good light source. So it all just depends on the reason for my actions..."

[zebediah]

Drudsa the dabbler

"Right, of course. I can make you invisible, but I also wonder if that will not spoil the purpose of any trap finding you could try to do. I mean, if you get poisoned or unconscious, for example, we would not see you. If you are willing to try, however, I will cast the spell on you. What do you say?"

[Alethan]

Rhys the Traveler

"Nay," Rhys replies, shaking his head, "I'll still need a good light source if I'm to search for traps, you understand? So either I'll have my own or I'll be near enough to the rest of the group to take advantage of that magical lantern that it won't matter if I'm invisible. But thanks for the offer."

Invisibility also has the limitation that if you are in the dark, and trying to approach creatures that have heat sense, it is pretty much useless. I don't believe Invisibility would do anything to disguise your heat source. In the middle of the day, out in sunlight, the heat source thing wouldn't be an issue, of course...

What would be cool to have is some kind of Hand of Glory, where you put a torch in the mummified hand and then only the person holding the hand benefits from the light of the torch; it is dark to everyone/everything else.

[thirdkingdom]

The companions examine the floor. There is little sign of passage in any direction; what few tracks are apparent seem to run between the main entrance and the northern door. Perhaps the castle was rarely used by the gnolls. The exterior door does appear to be of relatively new construction, compared to the rest of the structure.

As to the mounts, I had assumed they were tethered in the courtyard.

[Alethan]

Rhys the Traveler

Rhys moves to the door and examines it for traps. Then he listens at the door to see if he can hear anything in the room beyond...

[sulldawga]

Before they go any further, Marodin will exit to the courtyard and make sure the horses are tethered as far away from the pit as possible.