Kingdom of Arim I (IC)

[Morbis Meh]

Anthony looked up and offer a wry smile "I can walk but as for fighting I do not know the young pup probably has a better shot than I do at the moment. Though I can still take blows so you people don't have to, like the lovely spider sac... just glad it didn't get one of you weaker types." As he speaks he removes his pack from his shoulders and slowly stands up.

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Need to lose weight in order to remain in a light load... man I sure dislike stat damage.

[AvocadoAvenger]

"You'll pull through, old man," Tulkar says in a taunting way that could be interpreted as his friendly. He also takes up the backpack Anthony dropped without saying a word. He moves beside Alexis into the room with his weapons drawn, keeping an eye out for anything that may want to do them harm.

As they approach the webs, Tulkar stands back a bit, but he does grab one of the burnt rats. As he holds it for the group to see, blood grease and bodily fluid from the animal drips from his hand. He shifts so that he is now holding it by the arm, and the remnants of it's ooze from being grabbed drip to the ground. He grins evilly, and seems not to notice any smell it might have. "Who's ready for your dinner tonight?" Seeing the presumable expressions of disgust, he takes the rat's other arm in his other hand, and jerks lightly, causing the corpse to jiggle and sway. "Look! It even dances!"

[Holice]

Visually disgusted by Tulkar, Uriell peers into the room, trying to confirm no other movement or skittering.

Turning back into the main hall, with spear at the ready, he says, "You should finish your searching now and quickly, there is no telling what we attracted with that fire," he then cringes his nose, "or this smell."

*****

Hu creeps into the room, cautious at first and begins sniffing the charred bodies on the ground. Sniffing a bit too close, one of the spider bodies taps his nose and he jumps back immediately and growls.

Hearing a quick whistle from Uriell, he heads back into the main room waiting to see his companions next move.

[Electrobolt]

Sighing at Tulkar, seeing him play with the dead rodent, Tamni'el shook his head as he walked into the room. Not wanting to linger around for too long, he searched around the room as quickly as he could, trying not to miss any important detail.

[Keylac]

Alexis' search of the room has a fine, if grisly, result. Half hidden among other webs that survived is the remains of a man, probably an adventurer, trapped in cocoon. Most of his gear has rotted away, but some remains. There's a finely crafted scimitar, a sunrod, and a set of masterwork thieves tools. There's also a slender piece of wood, about nine inches long. It's covered in carvings depicting dead plants at the bottom, changing into healthy, blooming plants at the top. Alexis' experience suggests it's a wand.

Tamni'el finds something different; a hole in the ceiling that would be large enough to pass through. It was hidden behind webbing before, but is now visible. Nothing moves within the hole, but you're pretty sure that must be how the mother spider comes into the room. If you had to guess, it was probably frightened away by the smoke and flame. In any case, you wouldn't be able to follow her; testing the edges of the hole reveal that it's as weak and brittle as the rest of the ceiling, unable to support your weight.

It appears that this is everything of interest in the room.

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You know, you're the first group so far to both find the spiders and not stick around to duke it out with the babies, so mama comes to join in. Common sense wasn't in huge supply previously, I suppose.

Finely Crafted means Masterwork Quality. Since some masterwork quality weapons are magic, Detect Magic determines if it's Magical or just Masterwork.

Since this is your first magical item (yes, it is a wand), here's how those work. I generally put markings on them to hint at what it does, and with activated items, I sometimes include the activation word or something that hints at it. I loathe making people always use identify, so the testing method and the guessing method are both available. Of course, the images don't always mean the same thing to me that they do to you.

[Archmage1]

As Alexis finds the thieves tools, she pockets them, and pulls out her thieves tools, which were handy.

"Well, that was rather disgusting, but I found a dead adventurer with a very nice scimitar, a sunrod, and some thieves tools. As well as what is probably a wand. We are probably better off not trying to use it, unless someone can use it safely. The motif on it suggests that it is for something to do with plants, so probably an entangle spell. There does not seem to be anything else in the room, so we may as well leave."

[Holice]

Listening to Alexis recap what she found, Uriell speaks up.

"I'd like to study that wand if no one else minds," he says to her loud enough for all to hear.

That could prove useful if indeed it can summon plants to entangle what we meet. But best to err on the side of caution in case it's not what it seems, he thinks to himself.

Turning back to face more of the group, "So what's our next move?"

[Archmage1]

After a moments consideration, Alexis hands the wand to Uriell.
"If you can get it to work, go for it. I think that the next move is to heal Antony, if we can, before checking out the door in the southeast."

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@keylac: Could we get an updated map, as to which room was the spider room. Also, in the interest of speeding things up, Alexis will check out the door is chosen for the next move.
spot(1d20+5)[15]
search(1d20+10)[12]
listen(1d20+6)[10]
Disable Device(1d20+11)[14]
open lock(1d20+7)[14]
move silently(1d20+6)[13]

[Comissar]

Darius grimaces at Tulkar's childish display, but he keeps his opinions to himself. The kid was a competent fighter if nothing else, he'd certainly known soldiers with a perchant for the macabre before. Listening to Anthony's account of how he was feeling, he turned to him.

"It may be best if we trade places Anthony. Meaning no disrespect, I think you may be better suited to rear-guard action at this point in time."

[Keylac]

Nothing can be heard while listening at the door, and a search reveals no traps. Upon opening the door, it turns out to be yet another empty room, with nothing of interest. At least the remains allow you to figure out that this room must have been a privy, or - more likely from the size - more than one.

Still, it's not all a waste. You all knew when you came here that the house had been looted and abandoned, so it's no surprise to find so many empty rooms. At least you've been over most of the first floor.

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If there was something you wanted to do before moving to the door, feel free to post that. Otherwise, this post is for checking out that door. Since it's a dead-end, I'll wait till next time to update the map.

[Archmage1]

Well, that was uninteresting. I wonder if the front door was really trapped.

"Well, Antony, we have a privy, so if you need to go... I kind of wonder if there is anything in the privy, but there is no way I am going to search that. I suppose the next move is to check out the entrance way, and any rooms along it"

Alexis heads to the entrance way, keeping an eye out. She also check out the doors along it, and if there is nothing interesting about the doors, opens them, starting with doors on her left, as she faces the door.

[Morbis Meh]

Anthony's ashen face looks up but he doesn't say anything, he was on the verge of exhaustion and didn't feel like debating he merely just lingers behind until he is in the back of the formation.

[Comissar]

Darius walks close to the front of the group, ensuring he'll be able to react quickly to any trouble should it arise. Whenever Alexis pauses to examine something, he stops with her, careful not to move more than a step or two beyond where she was. Whilst he was sure he could handle any enemy that presented itself, traps would be a different matter.

[Electrobolt]

Trying to move things along quicker, Tamni'el joined in with Alexis in making sure the doors are safe and can be unlocked. Afterwards, he aided in looking around the rooms, just in case. After all, four eyes are better than two.

[Keylac]

Turning away from the empty privy, you move on, Alexis leading, heading towards the entrance way and the rooms off it. Moving ahead to check them, listening closely for any signs of trouble, she step into the entrance way. To her surprise, there's a sudden clicking sound as the floor gives way beneath her feet.

Only the lightning quick reactions of Darius save her from a bruising fall, as his gauntleted hand snaps out to grab her arm right before she falls into the pit. Her feet go out from under her, and she's left to dangle for a moment before being pulled back onto solid ground.

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Man, finally a trap, (a Camouflaged Pit Trap)and you run right into it! *points out innocently* You said you were checking the *doors* not the entrance way itself.

Nah, just kidding. The real reason you walked into it is that you didn't roll high enough to see the trap on your first search rolls. Ah well. I rolled a Reflex save and grapple check for Darius, and he scored high enough to grab you anyways.

For reference by the way, the just revealed trap 1) Is 10 feet deep, and 10' wide (occupies the whole square between you guys and the door). 2) the DC to jump across is 10 with a running start. 3) There's a 6 inch wide ledge running along the sides, a DC 15 Balance Check to cross that way.

[Archmage1]

"Woa. That was close. Thanks Darius, falling in would probably not have been a good thing. Now, how to cross... We could try to jump it, or get around the edges, or we could just leave, and come in through the front entrance. I will clearly be more alert in this place. I was checking doors, not the floor."

As she speaks, Alexis is breathing quickly, clearly unsettled by her close encounter.

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reflex save of 3 makes me sad :(

[Holice]

Looking down into the pit, Uriell shakes his head.

"That's a mighty far jump, and a mighty narrow ledge." Looking at Hu, "And even if I could make it along the edge, Hu would have no choice but to jump."

Thinking for a moment, "Perhaps if one of you feel more confident about the crossing, you could tie off a rope on the other side for piece of mind and added safety?"

[Comissar]

Darius released his grip on Alexis' arm once he was certain she had her balance back. "Not a problem," he peers down at the pit, "I'm afraid I don't have anything that will help us bypass it though, and I'm not sure I'd like to try and jump it in this armour."

[Archmage1]

"True, armor does make jumping a bit harder. We can take it off, and then just put it on again on the other side, or just leave it off. I would be surprised if there are any opponents in the rooms on the other side of that trap, so perhaps we should just come back here after finding the vault."

[Archmage1]

After the minutes of silence seemed to stretch onwards, Alexis seems to get a it agitated.

"Well, If no-one else will even try to think about it, I think we should ignore it for now."

Alexis goes and searches the south-west door.

[Electrobolt]

Seeing as it was decided that they would check the only remaining door out, Tamni'el decided to aid in the searching. But first, he would check the floor to make sure it wouldn't fall in on them like the other one had done.

[Keylac]

Leaving the pit trap for the moment, you decide to investigate the door in the southwest of the grand hall. A check of the door - and the floor around it - doesn't reveal any traps.

Through the door is another room, this one with the remains of bunks along the walls and a few broken tables in the center. This must have been the guardroom. There's two more doors in the room, opposite each other on the east and west walls. A sudden suspicion enters into your head, and you move across the room - carefully - to check out the east door.

On the other side is the entrance hall. The pit trap the kobolds made must have been designed to catch the unwary, not actually prevent entry into the house from the front.

At least now you can take the opportunity to investigate the room on the east side of the entrance way, as you'd planned to do before the floor gave way. Unfortunately, it's also empty, this one without any other doors.

Consulting the rough sketch of a map that you've been making of the manors ground floor, you realize that you've almost completely explored this floor. At least this way you can be relatively sure that no kobolds lurk behind you when you proceed into the basement.

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Folks had already rolled to explore the room on the east side, so I had you move across to it. Here's a map.

[Comissar]

Darius peers over at the map. Most of the floor had been covered now and, except for the traps, they hadn't seen any sign of Kobolds since entering. The lack of enemies was, although welcome, a little disquieting.

"I don't like this, if the Kobolds had been dwelling here then we should've seen some evidence of them by now. I think we should just get what we came here for and leave as soon as possible."

[Archmage1]

"I would say that that pit trap was the work of Kobolds, but I would have expected to fight them by now. But that hunting party we encountered argues that there are kobolds in here, whereas the worg argues that there are goblins here. I suspect that we will find out as we press on."

As she is talking, she is moving over to the door on the left side of the guard room, and investigating it.

[Holice]

Listening quietly while the others discuss the course of action, Uriell was not surprised by the lack of kobolds. Normally Hu would pick up on any pests or beasts in the area, and he was surprisingly quiet in here.

Scratching his pup behind his ears, "I will have to agree with Darius on this. Let's get what we came for and leave this place as quickly as possible. We may not have found much now in the way of kobolds and such, but things will only get worse as evening approaches."

[Keylac]

Once again, the door proves to be free of traps, driving home the unusual nature of a lair of kobolds without traps. Unable to answer the questions that provoke, you continue onwards. The room on the other side proves to be as empty as most, though at least there's some clues as to it's purpose; it appears to have been the house armory. A few armor stands still remain, and rotten weapons racks hang from the walls. The few tatters of leather and bits of metal that remain are all rotted or rusted, rendered useless by age.

Another door, plainer than most of the others, lies opposite the one you entered; a quick check of it reveals nothing interesting. Opening it unleashes a cloud of dust as the door grates, brushing aside some rubble. From the doorway, you can see that the collapse of the west wing seems to have taken most of the rooms with it. Rubble blocks your passage further west, but the hallway before you runs north as well.

Consulting your map, you realize that this must be a servants passage. It probably connects with the final unchecked door leading into the grand hall. Moving forward to confirm your theory, you stop. There's something wrong with the wall to your left, but you're not sure what...

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Note, since there's no longer any real question as to which way you'd go, I just went ahead and moved you into the next room too.

[Archmage1]

Looking around, Alexis seems disappointed by the utter lack of anything interesting, until she looks at the wall.

"That is odd. That wall to the left, is wrong somehow. I am going to take a closer look."

She then approaches the wall carefully, examining it as she comes.

[Morbis Meh]

Anthony didn't overly cares right now, today was shaping out to be a bad day, yes he succeed in keeping the others from harm, but he was starting to itch where he was bitten and he was starting to sweat profusely. This was starting to look more and more like a set up, he had a feeling the guy who had hired them sent them here with less than honest intentions.

[Keylac]

A careful examination of the wall reveals three interesting facts. The first is that you're fairly certain the room beyond isn't filled with rubble, unlike the rest of the west wing. The second is that you're pretty sure it's not a load bearing wall, though you're not sufficiently knowledgeable about architecture to be sure. And the third is that the wall was damaged in the collapse... and could probably be pushed in with the efforts of a couple strong members of the party.

[Archmage1]

"This wall, here, can be pushed down, and the room beyond is not filled with rubble. Tulkar, Darius, do you think you can push down this wall? It will probably take 2."

Alexis points out the odd wall, and then steps back from it, waiting for the others to have their go a it.