Kingdom of Arim I (IC)

[Comissar]

Darius looks at the wall critically, trying to see if there's a weak point he can strike. Identifying what he believed to be such a weakness, he smashed into it with a shoulder with his weight behind it to try and break through. The impact was jarring, the wall failed to move under his attempt and left him with a large bruise for his trouble. Shaking his head, Darius nursed his shoulder and muttered "I'm no good at doors and walls, give me Kobold's any day..."

[AvocadoAvenger]

"Agreed," Tulkar replied to Anthony. He sounded mad at the challenge of the wall, but only moderately so, and those getting to know him understand that he sounds mad more often than not. "I'll take the fight I can understand over some ***** hiding in a wall any day."

[Archmage1]

"There may well be something quite interesting on the other side of the wall. Are you both going to give up now? Why not at least try working together to bring it down?"

[Holice]

Nodding at Alexis, Uriell agrees, "Let's give it a group effort here, and see what a little teamwork gets us."

And hopefully it gets us something other than a few hundred pounds of stone and wood falling on our heads, he thinks to himself.

[Morbis Meh]

Anthony was not a happy man right now, nor was he a patient around and to be honest all of this talking and not doing anything was giving him a massive head ache. Despite his condition and common sense (which is generally in short supply) Anthony drudges over to the other wall and charges forward into the wall but his ailment effectively inhibits his desire. He crashes into a wall with a dull thud and his legs give out causing him to slowly slide down the wall until he is on the ground. "Damn people and their damn need to talk and want sick people to know down stupid walls...."

[Keylac]

The repeated blows against the wall, as each person gives it a try, weaken the wall. The final push by Tamni'el finishes it, toppling rubble into the room beyond. A cloud of dust obscures everything for a few moments, but fades to reveal a man-sized hole next to where Anthony, still muttering and now covered in rock dust, leans against the wall.

[Archmage1]

"Excellent. Hopefully, there is something in here that the kobolds have not been at, since they had no access to the room. Anthony, I don't think you are as weak as you think you are."

Alexis heads into the hole, and looks around.

[Holice]

Allowing the others to head into this new found room, Uriell looks to Hu, who gives a slight whimper.

"I know boy, its slow going, but better to be safe than sorry," he says quietly as he pets the dog's head.

Thinking to himself that he seems to be getting a little bored with his lack of involvement, Uriell remembers the wand. Good enough time as any to check it out.

Pulling it from his belt line, he begins to observe the small rod and look for anything familiar or unusual about it.

[Electrobolt]

After clearing the dust off of himself and looking at the hole that was made, he nodded. Then, looking at Anthony and seeing him completely covered in dust, he let out a sheepish chuckle before wiping the dust off of him. "Um, sorry about that," he apologized, after helping to clean him off. Afterwards, he joined Alexis as he looked around the newly-uncovered room.

[Keylac]

Confirming that you're in the servants wing, this room was obviously used as a laundry room. The rotted remains of wooden washtubs are lined up along the floor, held together only by rusting iron hoops. The entrance to this room is in the west wall, but you can see it's blocked by large amounts of rubble from the collapse.

A check of the room reveals two things of interest. The first is a hole in the wall to the north, large enough for a small creature to fit through - or someone bigger if they squeezed.

The second is a hidden stash beneath one of the floor boards, containing a small box. Inside the box are two small gems and some coin, mostly copper, and a faded note. It's difficult to make out most of the words, but it seems to be a warning not to steal too many of the loose coins that are left in the pockets of the clothes washed here, for fear of being obvious.

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The box contains 2 small gems, 52 cp, 19 sp, 2 gp, and a faded note.

Uriell

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As you listen to the Alexis and Tamni'el move around in the room, you concentrate on the wand. Within a second, you confirm that it's magical; a few seconds more reveals that it's a faint Conjuration enchantment. You also recognize the feel of this enchantment. It reminds you of other, simple enchantments done by mages and craftsmen in Kerist. You still don't know the command word, but you expect that if you knew what the wand did, it would be obvious...

With nothing else to be learned from the magic, you switch to considering the markings on it.

Slowly, you realize that there's something wrong. The wand depicts plants, but not of any particular type you've ever heard of, nor are they depicted like you would expect plants to be. It's hard to be sure, especially given how small the engravings are, but you feel a growing certainty that the image isn't meant to be descriptive so much as a metaphor...

[Archmage1]

"Well, I think that this trip was worth it. There are some valuable items here, as well as a way to another room."
As she is talking, Alexis holds up the gems, and coins, before pocketing them.

"I think I will see if I can get to the other side of this hole. Probably a bad idea, but where would the fun in life be if you were always cautious?"

Alexis tries to squeeze through the hole.

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take 10 on the escape artist, so 12. Note that Alexis is already on the smallish side for a medium creature, which may or may not be relevant.

[Keylac]

It's not easy, but Alexis manages to squeeze through the hole, into the hallway beyond. Catching her breath, she can see that the hallway is blocked with rubble on both sides. It's only half-filled where she sits on top of a pile of rock though; a fallen beam managed to partially shield this area. Of more immediate interest is the broken door in front of her, hanging off it's hinges. It looks like there's at least one more room in the west wing you could enter.

[Archmage1]

Whispered back through the hole:
"I made it. There is a broken door here. I will investigate. Perhaps there will be something useful there, or at least, something interesting."

Alexis, careful not to disturb the rubble too much, heads towards the broken door, carefully looking at it to see if moving it would cause any problems, before seeing if she can get it open enough for her to get into the room.

[Keylac]

The door proves to not be holding any of the rubble up. In fact, it's only still attached at all by one of it's rusting hinges. Slipping in past the door proves to be easy enough. In the room, you slowly stand up and look around - only to jerk back in surprise as a crow leaps out in front of you. The crow screeches it's protest at being disturbed before flapping out through a hole in the roof.

Your pulse rate returning to normal, you get a look at the room. It's actually in worse shape than most of the rooms you'd passed through already. Obviously, quite a few animals have made this a home over the past years, and they've done quite a lot of damage to the furnishings. The crow had turned the dresser into a nest, and there's what used to be a bed laying against one wall. Still, it seems the room only had a single occupant, marking him as someone important. Not too important of course, or he wouldn't be in the servants wing...

Pushing the thought of who's room it is from your mind, you search the room. Your rewarded with the discovery of a small chest hidden inside the dresser; only the damage the crow had done to the furniture allowed you to find it. Opening it, you smile. Inside are three bottles of liquid. You cant tell what they are without study, but you recognize them as potions or oils.

***

A quick look at the map reveals you've explored almost the entire first floor. In fact, only one room remains that you haven't passed through - the other door leading out of the kitchen. If the entrance to the cellars isn't buried in the rubble of the west wing, it must be there. Hopefully, down in the cellars you'll find the treasure you came, and possibly answers to the questions of why the kobolds are acting so strange...

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3 currently unidentified Potions/Oils.

[Archmage1]

As she investigates the door, Alexis swiftly realizes that it is safe to enter the room. When she enters the door, a huge flying black thing comes at her, causing her to fall backwards, before she realizes that it is a crow. Chuckling to herself, Alexis searches the room, finding the chest, and the potions. She then returns to the party, a job well done.

After exiting the hole, Alexis turns to the rest of the party
"I found three potions in there, but I have no idea what they do, yet. I think that the only other door we have not explored is in the kitchen, where we entered. We should go there, and proceed through the door."
As she is talking, Alexis holds up the potions for the others to investigate.
She also attempts to identify the potions, using her knowledge of magic. Afterwards, she starts heading for the kitchen, figuring that the others would follow her.

[Holice]

Thinking to himself, Uriell can't help but wonder how familiar this wand feels, but he still can't put his finger on the spell.

Shaking his head he puts the wand back in his belt line, and looks up to see Alexis making her way back through the hole.

"So the kitchen seems to be all we have left on this level, shall we continue on?"

But before he could finish Alexis was already making her way there.

"I'll take that as a yes," he murmurs.

[Keylac]

Moving back through the house, you quickly return to the kitchen to check the remaining door. Thankfully, everything is as you'd left it - no one seems to have noticed your entry yet. A quick check of the door reveals nothing of interest.

The room beyond must have been the manors panty. The shelves are empty but for some unidentifiable remains, and the crates and barrels that used to store food are now empty, most of them broken open.

On the far side of the room, a stone staircase descends down into the earth. A quick glance down reveals that the bottom is shrouded in inky blackness - the dim light you've been using doesn't extend down into the basement, so you'll need to bring a light source with you.

Your fight with the kobolds outside, combined with your exploration of the ground floor has left you reasonably certain there's no enemies behind you, but you'll have to be careful. If this place is truly inhabited by the kobolds, they almost certainly live in the cellars.

[Archmage1]

"Looks like we will be descending. Who wants to take a light? I still have that sunrod that we found, but I would rather not carry it myself. Light and concealment tend to not go well together. We should probably move in combat order, so either Darius or Tulkar should take the lead, followed by me, so I can look for traps. Still, for now, if there are traps here, I should try to find them."

Alexis strikes the sunrod, and checks the stairway for traps, keeping a wary eye out for kobolds as she descends.

[Comissar]

"I'm happy to lead."

Trying as hard as he could to keep quiet, Darius moved to the front of the group and started heading down. As he walked he kept a keen eye out for any signs of trouble.

[Holice]

With a slight whimper, Hu moves up along side Uriell.

Petting his friend behind the ear, Uriell says softly, "I know boy, its been a long day and you just want some rest....."

Uriell suddenly looks up and begins to think for a moment. I wonder.

Pulling the wand from his belt line, he walks over to Anthony and touches him with the wand, while you hear him producing various words and guttural sounds. Stepping back, he looks Anthony up and down.

"No offense if I startled you, but do you feel any different?"

[AvocadoAvenger]

"The dark has never bothered me much. Actually, I never understood how people need light all that much." Tulkar says gruffly. He shrugs, "It might be that I'm just special, but it would make more sense for me to be front so that we can make as little light as possible."

[Electrobolt]

As he followed close to the group, Tamni'el recalled that Alexis had asked if anyone wanted to take the light. "If it's fine by you and the rest, I'll hold onto the light for the group." He then placed the bow back into it's resting place, as he waited for an answer.

[Archmage1]

"Thank you, Tamni'el. I appreciate it"
Alexis smiles at him as she passes the sunrod to him.

[Keylac]

As the party begins moving down the stone steps, into the cellar, Alexis checks the steps leading down, watched over by Darius. Her continued caution proves itself again; halfway down, a scything blade trap is hidden in the wall, set to go off if someone were to step on the next stair.

Disabling it proves to not be difficult, but it's also revealed to be hooked up to a series of rusty bells. The trap is obviously meant as a warning device, so there must be someone around to hear it... If the noise from Darius' descent, as quiet as he attempted to make it, hasn't altered them yet, it almost certainly will before he reaches the end of the stairs.

Meanwhile, at the top of the stairs - perhaps not wishing to crowd the others - Uriell, Anthony, and Tulkar wait to move down. While they wait, Uriell has attempted to use the wand - and succeeded. Anthony cannot be sure of which word it was that triggered it, since they all sounded like nonsense, but he feels reinvigorated, the weakness left from the spiderlings poison washing away.

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Uriell successfully used the wand (we've been speaking about it in messages if anyone was wondering) and it turns out to be a Wand of Lesser Restoration. Anthony Strength is restored by 3 points (which, if I'm remembering right, is also the amount he's missing, which is handy).

[Archmage1]

"Expect company at the base. There is a noise trap here, and I can't imagine that they won't hear the clanking of the tin cans."

Alexis tries to meld into the remaining shadows, ready to cast a spell, shoot her bow, or run, depending on what appears.

[Electrobolt]

Tamni'el nodded, as he held onto the sunrod while pulling his scimitar out using his main hand. It's always a good idea to be prepared, and seeing as they were approaching more goblins, this is a good time as any to get ready.

[Comissar]

Darius chuckled a little at Alexis' comment.

"Tell you what, when we're out of here you can show me how to move quietly in a suits worth of metal."

Moving cautiously again, he kept his Halberd pointed with the blade facing down the corridor.

[Morbis Meh]

Feeling his strength return to his muscles Anthony stands up, brushes dust off of himself and hefts his axe over his shoulder. "Well, let them know I am here, I can always go in ahead while you sneak. That way they may not notice you initially, seeing as Tulk the sulk, Holier than though and myself the drunken trainwreck can draw their attention." Looking down the stairs Anthony rubs his chin "This is one of the times I wished we had a dead body to throw down a flight of stairs..."

[Archmage1]

"Darius, it is easy. Step 1, remove the metal... Or use magic to silence your movements."

At Anthony's comment, Alexis pauses, and looks at him

"I have never ran into a situation where throwing a body down the stairs worked as a distraction. Then again, fot what I have done prior to this, having a body lying around to be thrown indicates a failure. Still, I think they will notice you three, and possibly ignore me, which gives me a better chance of enchanting them."

[Keylac]

As the vanguard of the party moves a few steps down from the trap, they hear movement and some confused yips from below; the presence of a guard has apparently been confirmed, but they're not raising the alarm yet. The party doubtless has only a few seconds before they attempt to determine what's happening...

Draconic Speakers:

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1st Kobold: "What that? Intruder?"
2nd Kobold: "I no hear trap..."
3rd Kobold: "Maybe Sharpbite trip, fall down stairs?"