Mordae's New Keep on the Borderlands 3.5 (IC)

[Doomboy911]

"Well it's still murder and I'll probably get in trouble for it." Daniel searches the body for anything, arrows, gold, or some personal possessions "There now it's an assassination if anyone asks Renard put the hit out on him because of his hair style or something."

[gunnar11]

"Must we really have this kind of a conversation right now? I killed him, ok? Now let's move along..." Adomourne says, quite irritated

[TheTick]

Renard catches Adomourne's attention just long enough to give him an eyeroll with a get a load of this guy head nod. Out loud, he says "Daniel, we have 'the official blessing of the Citadel guard to carry out offensive actions against the threats in the surrounding countryside', and I'm pretty certain someone shooting arrows at us without so much as a how do you do qualifies." Renard will then follow Adomourne wherever he's going, bow at the ready and re-loaded.

[Doomboy911]

"Well that won't protect my ethical concerns let's just get this over with and kill them all." Daniel moves to the wall and tries climbing it. "I'm going in along the ceiling" Dan whispers.

Spoiler

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Climb check
(1d20+4)[21]

[Mordae]

Renard, Adomourne, and Stenly examine the cave opening behind the waterfall carefully while Daniel climbs up the slippery, jagged rocks for a slightly elevated view.

The void is roughly nine feet in diameter, but after a short passage it opens into a larger cavern that is dimly lit by some sort of phosphorescence. The rough stone walls and floor are covered by patches of moss that give off just enough light to see by, but not enough to discern true colors or to read. The gallery extends in a generally northeast direction for about sixty feet before bending around a corner to the northwest and splitting into two. Just before the split, there is a dark opening on the east wall that appears to have been hand-carved.

[TheTick]

Renard looks for obvious signs of traps. "Daniel, can you see anything dangerous here? Would hate to blunder into a trap in this near-dark."

[Doomboy911]

"Well it's a bit dark I don't think they'd trap the ceiling. Considering that they'd be travelling through the area a lot. I've got an idea though." Daniel climbs down and lets out a bit of rope tying it around his waist than climbing back up he begins crawling along so the rope drags itself and the grappling hook along the floor. "Scream if you hear something click."

Spoiler

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Climb (1d20+3)[16]
Use rope (1d20+9)[12]
Search(1d20+1)[12]

[Mordae]

Daniel's grappling hook drags a narrow, sinuous path across the floor of the widening gallery. He manages to get about halfway to the dark, hand-cut opening before the moist, mossy surface of the cavern gets the better of his climbing. The thief deftly lands on his feet, unhurt by the short fall.

[TheTick]

"Well, it was worth a shot. Nice landing." Renard thinks for a moment, then puts away his crossbow, unslinging his shield and morningstar before walking slowly down the path Daniel had traced on the floor with his rope.

[Mordae]

Cautiously, the group works their way along the rough stone floor of the natural cavern, catching up with where Daniel is standing. From this slightly further-in vantage, it appears the western split of the gallery widens out to the northwest, while the eastern split (just beyond the hand-cut opening)tapers down fairly substantially.

The dark, hand-cut opening is about thirty feet away. There are no signs of movement, but the muffled sound of agitated voices can be clearly heard.

[Gorgon_Heap]

"Think we should knock?" asks Stenley, grinning. "I doubt they're discussing a good cake recipe."

[TheTick]

"Perhaps we should ask them to surrender." Renard nudges Daniel as he says it.

[gunnar11]

Let's just kill them and then tell it's my fault again. Adomourne says, obvious sarcasm dripping from his voice while he rolls with his eyes.

Spoiler

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Preparing mage armor (if it's worn off)

[Doomboy911]

"Produce light on a bolt" Daniel says in a hushed whisper.

[TheTick]

Renard carefully prepares his crossbow, casting Light on the loaded bolt. If there is any sort of wooden structure, preferably on the ceiling, he will try and shoot the bolt into that to shed light into that hand-cut opening. Otherwise, he'll try and place it wherever it might do the most good.

After shooting: "If you wish to surrender, throw out your weapons and come out with all of your appendages visible!"

[Doomboy911]

"Not sure why you want to see them drop their skivvies" Daniel puts his back to the wall at the intersection so any projectiles don't project into him.

[TheTick]

"There's no guarantee these enemies are human shaped, and I don't want to be crushed by a tail or some other part just because I didn't technically mention it."

[Mordae]

Not surprisingly, there is no response from within the hand-shaped tunnel. The chattering in the distance does diminish in volume, though.

[Doomboy911]

How many more lights do we have and do we have any torches? Daniel tries to listen for an air flow from either tunnel.

Spoiler

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(1d20+4)[8]

[Mordae]

The tunnels aren't exactly windy, but there is enough airflow from the main passage and the side passage to indicate they aren't perfectly sealed.

[Mordae]

The light from the bolt illuminates the passage interior, which extends about fifteen feet at a slight downard slope before bending to the right. From his listening position, Daniel can see there is another bend to the left not much further along. Hanging on the wall directly opposite the opening is a dried animal skin, stretched taut on a wooden frame and decorated with dark reddish-brown streaks that do not resemble any known language or present an obvious picture.

[Mordae]

Daniel takes the lead to search for traps, with Renard and Stenly covering his movements with their bows and Adomourne keeping watch behind.

The passage bends immediately right at the crude painting and proceeds another twenty feet to the south. There, it takes a second bend to the east, but there is a closed wooden door on the south face of the intersection.

Daniel:

Spoiler

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You find no traps along the first twenty feet of passage. Peeking around the corner into the darkness, you can see the corridor runs to the east for a ways before branching north and east. The door itself does not appear to be trapped.

[Doomboy911]

Daniel examines the door to see which way it opens. Are the hinges on my end or on the other end.

[TheTick]

Renard hefts his morningstar. "Shall we knock?"

[Doomboy911]

"You want to knock go right ahead I'll be hiding around the corner though."

[Gorgon_Heap]

Face scrunching impatiently, Stenly hisses first at Renard, "You just stand behind where the door will open. You," he points to Daniel, "stand to the other side. I'll stand right here and wait for it to open. Go ahead. Knock."

He stands just in front of the door, feet splayed and bow armed and pointing directly at whatever might be on the other side.

Spoiler

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If applicable, Ready action if a creature opening the door either attacks or is about to raise a cry.

[TheTick]

Renard moves to the designated spot, readies his shield and morningstar, and raps on the door three times.

[Doomboy911]

Daniel daringly dives down to behind the door.

[Mordae]

The knock echoes through the stone hall, but the door remains as it is. There is no answer from beyond.

[Doomboy911]

"Welp looks like no one's home. I guess we ought to get back to carrying all this heavy gold to our undefended castle." Daniel says a little too loud and starts to shake his coin bag.