[3.5] Tomb of Horrors

[Monodominant]

"over there!" the halfling said and pointed at the corpse. "and as for this drawing its what I saw from up high. This whole place looks like this when seen from above. But enough of this... we have serious arcanological things to discuss here!"

"So I dont actually HAVE an extradimensional space on me to be honest. That damned purple worm swallowed the master donkey whole and I had my bag of holding on it." he said sullenly!

"Bet he gets an indigestion damned bugger" he said slowly returning to his usual mood.

"But..." he said the spark appearing in his eyes again "... we can EXPERIMENT! Some of you are pretty strong so you need to help me get them up there... then we can see what happens... but we need to be quick!"
On that note he walked a bit further ahead, motioning to the others to hold the animals back and threw a rope towards the open sky muttering a few syllables.

(casting: rope trick)

"Now. If my intuition is correct, that place up there is an extradimensional space that actually exists outside the material and the ethereal as well as the astral! So if we can use some magic then the donkey, or perhaps the dog since its lighter, could get there without any ill effects!"

[TheOasysMaster]

[Alright hold on a second...]
Harley runs over to the body and begins to take a look over it.
After a few moments, he steps back from the body and looks relieved.
Then he vomits by one of the rocks.
[See, I roll Con checks for PCs too.]
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Monodominant, are you SURE you want to do this? Is bringing the animals worth any risk you might incur? And if you do want to go through this I want to be clear. Am I correct to assume after the flash of light and the dome appearing, the animal were moved back across the line? And does Welby cast Rope Trick on or off the hill? And I think Rope Trick is meant for cartoon-gag escapism, I don't think it can be used to move positions... Or are you planning on climbing inside the extradimensional space off the hill, then pulling up the rope and then, like swinging onto the hill?

[Monodominant]

OOC:

Actually scratch that as I realised that we first move off the hill as the effects otherwise continue and no you cannot "move" the rope trick from where it was initially cast. I was just unsure if the effect we had "suffered" was a continuous one should we not move away from the hill.

But just to clarify ropetrick is perhaps the most amazing spell ever created after a character reaches 6-7 level and especially so if he has the extend feat. It provided the perfect hiding space in which even a much higher lever caster cannot harm you (I guess with the exception of a Disjunction) because it exists outside of "real space" and is not really accesible in any way. Furthermore while inside you can fully rest, recover hp, spells etc and then pop out and continue... you dont even needs sentries. Lastly its the most amazing trap for when you want to set up an ambush as it allows those inside to see outside but noone can see inside nor is it at all visible and if the rope is pulled up the area does not really exist there making even detect magic or scrying come up empty.

All in all its a spell that have used whenever I take a caster for the sheer number of possibilities.

In this case no, I wont cast it after all!

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[TheOasysMaster]

[I'd still like a Fortitude save from Trevor. I've used Rope Trick in some pretty interesting ways too...]
As the donkey and the hounds move of the hill, there is another flash of light, sans the warm and cooling effect of the "radiation" and without the afterimage of the "dome" appearing in the sky.
Daina scratches at her chin in contemplation,"Okay-so from what Dranga has described-no animals on the hill... And don't summon an animal or turn into one unless you absolutely have too..."

[FireSickle]

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(1d20)[7]+12 [fort]

Jake sheaths his blade and moves back onto the hill toward where Welby was walking before. Jake won't go too far ahead of the group, so after 15ft or so he will look back and wait for others to follow him or direct him otherwise.

[TheOasysMaster]

When Jake steps onto the hill, nothing happens. Daina, and Harley, wiping off his mouth, make to follow him. When he stops, they stop as well, standing with him.

[Monodominant]

Welby joins them as well after speaking a few quiet words to the dogs. As he walks towards the others the two dogs bark a couple of times and then start chasing the donkeys back towards the other side of the swamp.

"So my nasally challenged friend. Why did you seem so releaved after seeing the dead girl?"

[FireSickle]

Seeing that others are following in step, Jake will turn back to the Path at hand and continue at half speed checking for anything that looks suspicious (traps)... He is heading towards... well... he isn't quite sure, but he's heading forward looking for anything that seems like an entrance to the Tomb.

(1d20)[8] + 7 (search)

ooc

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Wait, Welby, you sayin' your not relieved when you see the bottom half of a woman's body?

[TheOasysMaster]

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"So my nasally challenged friend. Why did you seem so releaved after seeing the dead girl?"

That's SO mean.

Wait, Welby, you sayin' your not relieved when you see the bottom half of a woman's body?

lol-it's a girls body, just as a reminder.

Harley shrugs, "I be lookin' fer two little uns in particulars-the mayor's daughters. I be knowin' them as good kids. That... body, belonged to another..."
If any of the characters decide to look at the body, note that Harley has covered it in a tarp.
Jake finds no traps, but as he observes the stones, black and white, he is able to discern that the black are of obsidian and the white are of quartz. Both stones not of the variety found in this part of the Continent. A thorough search of the hill reveals no other oddities other than the gravelly face on the northern side of the hill.
Harley begins shuffling through his bag, looking for tools, "These seems to be the place to start Searchin'!"
[I suppose for the sake of avoiding redundancy, the rest of the party follows Jake and the others too.]

[FireSickle]

ooc

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I hadn't realized it was a little girls body or my reaction would've been different. I thought it was a full-grown womans body (assumed it was one of the last group adventurers')

Jake agrees with a grunt and a nod to Harvey. Feeling somewhat useless in the situation, Jake will take to surveying the surrounding area for anything that looks out of place, anything that seems to be watching or following us, or any other surprises in general. Jake doesn't want another Harvey getting the drop on us, the next one might not be so friendly...

(1d20)[7]+7 (search, walk and scan perimeter)

[Jake would set up a march pattern for guarding the area if he thinks we might be here for 10 or more minutes]

[TheOasysMaster]

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>< Sorry, man-not good enough! Somebody else will have to try. Or...

Jake's examination of the gravelly area doesn't yield anything...
After he reports this, Harley and Daina join the search.
[Someone else can try. Or Jake can Search again, and with Harley and Daina helping.]

[FireSickle]

Jake will relay the information he gathered searching and attempt to aid in another companions search.

(1d20)[9]+7 (search, for Aid Another (+2 if >= 10 right?))

[Derjuin]

Dranga moves around the hill to the gravely face; when Jake reports his search results, Dranga rubs her chin for a second. "Nothing found? Hm..." she says, giving the area a search just to satisfy her own curiosity.

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(1d20+6)[11] Search check

[TheOasysMaster]

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JUST good enough man!

With Harley and Daina's help, Jake uncovers a blocked tunnel entrance, on the west side(assuming that Jake is facing south) of the gravel covered face.
With four people, the tunnel opening should be cleared wide open in an hour and a half, but two characters can do it in 15 minutes with swords and hands.
Harley hands Jake a spade, and sets to work himself, shoveling gravel and dirt out of the way.

[TheOasysMaster]

Dranga fails to find anything on her own...

The Yellow crosshairs will now indicate the discovered tunnel.

[Tyrael]

Snake joins in the search.

(1d20+16)[33]

[Monodominant]

"Dont think I can help much with the digging" piped the halflinf buzzing away and continuing to search for anything else of interest including any tracks that could lead to who or what killed the girl.

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(1d20+3)[14]

OOC: Welby is not mean, just tactless. Also no, welby the 14 year old halfling is not releaved after seeing bottoms halves of anything! Well unless if it was the bottom half of a robe of the archmagi!

[TheOasysMaster]

Snake finds a second tunnel! This one to the east!
Welby fails to find anything of note.

[FireSickle]

(1d20)[7] + 6 (Strength check, just in case).

Jake is equipped with Block & Tackle in case we need to move anything heavier with a pulley. Jake also has a shovel if another person wants to join in, he'd pass Harley's spade to them and use his own shovel. (If not, he'll use Harley's shovel, no sense in offending him by turning down his help).

[TheOasysMaster]

Welby finds nothing of note.

The Block and Tackle doesn't appear to be necessary.

[TheOasysMaster]

Daina takes the shovel and joins Harley and Jake in digging the west tunnel.

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So, at this point, the west and east tunnels have been uncovered-with three people working on the west, and nobody working on the east tunnel.

[FireSickle]

Once the West tunnel is cleared, Jake will judge how long the next tunnel will take to clear and compare that to the remaining daylight...

Jake will set up a patrolling pattern for 2 persons and assign two people who are standing around to patrol the area.

If no one is standing around, he will take up the duty of patrolling himself and inform the group. The party is welcome to use his equipment if he ends up patrolling himself.

[TheOasysMaster]

After an two hours, the west passage is cleared...

The Western Entrance

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This image has a higher resolution version; clicking on the caption should take you to it. Gotta follow them forum rules.

The roughly worked, plain stone corridor is full of cobwebs. A set of double oaken doors are just visible at the end of the passageway. The roof 20 feet overhead is obscured by hanging strands.
Daina peers inside fearfully... She seems a little nervous about the darkness within... "Shall we go inside?".
Her voice is shaky.

[TheOasysMaster]

It's about 5:00 in the afternoon, the East Tunnel can be cleared in a similar manner with time for a meal before it starts to get too dark.

[TheOasysMaster]

Roll Spot checks. Apply all applicable bonuses, including Aid Another, +9 for th whole group.

[Monodominant]

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(1d20+13)[19]

When they start digging and it seems that it will take a long time to finish Welby will search every inch of this area while the alter self still allows him to fly around. (Take 20 on the search for a total of 23)

Welby is helping Jake patrol the area as his small size does not make him a good digger. He does offer to use fireballs to clear the paths but probably noone agrees to that. By this time the alter self has stopped working and he simply walks around.

[FireSickle]

(1d20)[20]+6(spot)+9(??group)

"No Diana, lets check it for traps or magic first. I find that you can never be too careful when entering Tombs that a nearby settlement of 200years failed to mention to you..." Jake says. "Looks like we have just enough time to clear this other entrance out before we eat. Perhaps while I work on this, our more skilled and magical companions could give the cleared entrance a look-see..."

[Welby mentioned that he was helping Jake patrol. Ideally, someone else takes Jake's spot so he can assist with clearing the second entrance, but he will patrol if no one volunteers]

[TheOasysMaster]

Welby and Jake see it in the sky, pointing it out to the others. A sparrow flying over the hill... It goes as a bird flies, in a straight direction, but as it nears the white stones, the bird balks and then flies in a most un-bird-like curve that takes it around the hill. Once it circumvents the ward, the sparrow continues on its way.
Welby's final search discovers another hidden passage in the centre. Ideally, both of these tunnels can be cleared out before dark if everyone works together.
Daina shrugs, "Traps aren't my speciality-my skills lie in other places..."
Harley merely grunts as he begins digging out the Eastern Tunnel.

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I'll be offline for a bit as I'll be travelling home, I should be back online around 7:00. Another map will follow.

[Tyrael]

Snake helps in the digging.

Spot - (1d20+24)[35]

[TheOasysMaster]

Which tunnel? West is cleared. The Centre and East are blocked.