The Underground Railgun

[NobleSavage]

Aukan

Given the all clear sign, Aukan approaches. Running a hand over the wall, the goliath tries to get a sense of its properties, then moving to scuff the ground in front of the door with his boot. "This might be easy enough..."

Spoiler

Show

KnowNature(1d20+10)[15]
for its properties, though I'm really more interested in the ground. What is it? Rock, pavement-ish stuff, dirt?

[Townopolis]

Aukan

Spoiler

Show

The walls and floor are all solid rock, except the wall the door is set in, which is metal.

[NobleSavage]

Aukan

Shrugging, the massive warrior steps back from the doorway. "Mruh, guess it won't be so easy, rock's not loose enough." Peaking his eyebrows the goliath looks to his companions. "I'm guessing you don't want to just knock it down. That'd be pretty easy. Loud, though. Any way to see whats on the other side?"

[MorkaisChosen]

"That may be too thick to see through, even for my mind..."

Xessalis steps up to the door and opens his mind to any thoughts that might reach him through it.

"Other than this, I have no ideas..."

[Shular]

Astrum

Astrum moves up to the door to examine it. He mutters an incantation that allows him sense the presence of magic eminations. After his examination he turns to Aukan. "I have a spell that might work, but if the walls are too thick it may not be enough. Aukan, you seem to have an affinity for stone. Can you guess at the thickness of the stone walls?"

Spoiler

Show

Search skill (+10).
Detect Magic while examining door.
Astrum can cast Stone Shape, but it has limited volume (23 cubic feet, so not much more than 5 X 2 X 2). So I could try to create a hole in the wall if it's thin enough, or even to move the rock away from the edge of the door, so that it would fall and leave a wide opening. Sadly I'd guess it's more Knowledge Dungeoneering or Engineering that would be useful here, but in case Nature DOES help...(1d20+12)[15]

[KaganMonk]

I really don't like to do this blind, but oh well. I can slip us through the intervening space magically if need be. I can't take everyone, but I can definitely take Aukan, and he should be able to move the doors from the other side. What do you think, would 5 feet clear the doors or should I go for ten? Assuming no one has a better idea, of course.

Spoiler

Show

Abundant Step = Dimension Door CL 6 I can take 1 Large or 2 Medium willing creatures.

[MorkaisChosen]

"Unless you think an incredibly innacurate hop to another plane and back, ending up several miles from wherever I aim to be, is better, I think that's the best option.

Spoiler

Show

I never did check if I was getting that Plane Shift SLA...

[Townopolis]

Xessalis

Spoiler

Show

You do not detect anything through the door.

Astrum

Spoiler

Show

The door is nonmagical, but you detect a very strong psionic aura around it. The psionic aura seems to form a wall that overlaps the door and extends upwards, downwards, left, and right as far as you can detect.

[MorkaisChosen]

"I cannot sense anything. There are three possibilities: either there is nothing there, the door is too thick for my abilities, or whatever is throug there is hiding somehow. I suggest we assume the second to be the case, for safety's sake..."

[NobleSavage]

Aukan

Nodding, Aukan hefts his greatsword. "Alright, lets do this. Dunno about the thickness, wouldn't think it'd be more than five or ten feet, though. But you're sure opening it from the other side won't set off any alarms? Could you 'port us all past?" Ready to go, the goliath adopts a fighting stance, blade held upright, teetering on the peak of its downswing.

Spoiler

Show

FYI goliths are Medium, so you could take someone else, too. Auras online now are Senses and Power

[Shular]

Astrum

"I sense mental energies," Astrum says, looking at Xessalis, "of the type you call psionic. Unfortunately I know very little about such power, and cannot say what purpose it serves, but I can tell you that it permeates the door and the walls as far as my senses can tell. Odd that you did not notice it. Perhaps it simply hides what is inside, giving a mental illusion of nothingness. Of course, it could be a warning system, and anyone passing through would trigger it. I cannot say, but if it's the latter, then perhaps some form of teleportation would be the best method, assuming this field does not extend into the astral plane."

He pauses, then turns to Feldas. "I REALLY hate the idea of you teleporting blindly into a room, but I don't see any other option if we're to bypass this barrier without physically removing it."

[KaganMonk]

Very well, with no other ideas, I'll go. I'll take Aukan and Xess with me and we can open the doors for you Astrum as well as your companions. Just for safety, I'm going to stay invisible while we teleport, since I won't be able to react right away.

Feldas activates his ring, then takes hold of Xess and Aukan and uses Abundant step to teleport 5ft past the door.

[Townopolis]

Feldas disappears, then Aukan and Xessalis follow, leaving Astrum and his companions alone in the cavern.

The door is no more than a foot thick, and the three who teleported appear well on the other side. On this side, the tunnel walls have been hewn away into a corridor with distinct walls, floor, and ceiling. The door behind you is held in place with hefty steel hinges and a contraption consisting of a thick steel bar and the lever that slides it in and out of the notch in the doorframe. It is an eminently simple piece of engineering, and its exposed works show no place for traps to hide, at least to the naked eye. A simple turn of the lever should open the door.

The corridor that leads further in from the door is lit by small metal loops that hang from the ceiling every thirty or so feet and glow white. You can see a few similar looking circular doors further down, one on the right, two on the left, and one where the corridor terminates.

[NobleSavage]

Aukan

"Should we just open up, and hope there aren't any alarms, or can you do that again? Doesn't look like anything here could do that, but I dunno much about magic."

[MorkaisChosen]

"I believe it is possible to create a magical alarm or trap, but we do not have a specialist with us- we could simply open it and hope for the best, the Gods willing."

[KaganMonk]

It's extremely exhausting and I can only do it once per day. However, let me take a look at the door before we open it. I might be able to stop any alarms from going off.

Feldas turns his attention to the door and searches for any alarms, both magical and not so magical.

Spoiler

Show

Search - (d20+5)[6]
DisableD - (d20+13)[30]

[NobleSavage]

Aukan

Nodding briskly, Aukan stands to the side as Feldas inspects the door. As soon as he is finished the goliath will step back and open the door for their waiting companion.

[Townopolis]

Feldas

Spoiler

Show

The door doesn't seem to be trapped in any way.

With a pull of the lever, Aukan unbars the door and pulls it inward and open, allowing Astrum and his companions to enter.

[NobleSavage]

Aukan

Grunting in satisfaction Aukan turns back toward the other doors. "Lets get going. Lets hope those other doors open from this side."

[Shular]

Astrum

Astrum is visibly relieved when the door opens. Hawk, who had been fidgeting nervously in an echo of Astrum's feelings, settles back on his master's shoulder. Pouncer simply looks bored.

With a nod of thanks, Astrum steps through the portal, with Pouncer following behind, the large cat having no problem with the ogre sized dooe. Noticing the illumination coming from the small metal loops hanging from the ceiling, Astrum places his lit sunrod in his haversack.

"Well," he gestures to the others, "lead on."

Spoiler

Show

When you say "similar looking circular doors", are you implying they're similar to the door we just bypassed, or they're just similar to each other. Also, on which side (ours or the other) of the doors are the opening mechanisms?

[MorkaisChosen]

Xessalis

Quickly checking for the presence of sentient minds, Xessalis says, "I cannot sense any Illithids as yet- usually, their mind-speech gives them away to me for now. Any enemies that are particularly nearby must be others- if there are any, of course."

Spoiler

Show

That's because an Illithid Slayer can sense the presence of Illithids within 60ft automatically.

[Townopolis]

The doors in the corridor all resemble the one Aukan has just opened, except that these ones do not have the same locking mechanism. They do have levers on your side, but it is not connected to any bar that you can see, rather the mechanism disappears into the door itself.

[NobleSavage]

Aukan

"Anything?" the giant looks to their tentacled friend. "If not, lets try... that one" he says pointing to the one on the right.

[MorkaisChosen]

Xessalis

"As good a choice as any. I cannot sense anything, so we should try to find some sort of map of the area."

[Townopolis]

With a pull of the lever, you hear the sound of metal moving, and with a push you are able to open the door. On the other side is a very short hallway that opens up into a larger room.

Bunk beds are pressed up against the walls, with capacity for a dozen approximately human-shaped and sized occupants. Footlockers are at either end of each bunk, and there is a large table in the center, surrounded by chairs, and with a pair of dice and several piles of silver and copper coins stacked on it, it seems there is an unfinished game of dice going on here. The barracks is unoccupied. To the right, another door is set into the wall, and another one across the room from you.

[MorkaisChosen]

Xessalis

"I believe this is the barracks for some of our quarry's humanoid vassals- my kin do not tend to play dice, as you may have guessed. I suppose the psion could have changed their minds, but it would be unlikely."

[Shular]

Astrum

Astrum appears concerned. "Shouldn't the question be, where did they go? I doubt the guard is so well paid that they're willing to leave money sitting on a table for anyone to take. If our activity is what caused the sudden vacancy, than we might expect an ambush any moment."

He speaks a sharp word to Pouncer, and the cat, who had been rather disinterested up till now, becomes fully alert. Even Hawk, still sitting on Astrum's shoulders, seems tense, head constantly swivelling from side to side.

[NobleSavage]

Aukan

Pulling the door closed behind them Aukan lowers his voice to a rumble, "Unless you want to search anything, we should keep moving. Maybe take the door to the right to see if it leads to an observation post we missed?"

[KaganMonk]

Feldas checks again to make sure he's invisible.

Yep, definitely getting nervous. I guess we just keep opening doors until we find someone. I'm going full stealth mode.

Spoiler

Show

Cast Nondetection on self.
5 hours, CL vs. DC 20 to pierce.
Spells remaining: 5 lvl 1 3 lvl 2 0 lvl 3
Edit for color

[MorkaisChosen]

Xessalis

"I can remove myself from the notice of others, but I need to know they are there- it could be down to reactions, whether I can cloud their mind before they call for help. If the worst comes to the worst I could always stun them, but leaving unconcious- or empty-headed- bodies everywhere is not the most subtle way to deal with this situation."

"Empty-headed" in this context doesn't seem to be used in the normal colloquial sense...