Dungeons & Dragons Stone Soup IC

[Re'ozul]

A great evil has befallen the Land.
The only way to defeat it is the Circlet of Asutar that lies deep within the Dungeon of no Return. Were you to retrieve it, you would not only banish the unspeakable evil, but also gain fame and fortune beyond your wildest dreams.
...
At least that is what the old man in the corner of yesterday's inn told you. Still, the idea of money and fame invirogates you and so you find yourself at the rather glowy door that the old man said was the entrance of the dungeon.

[nazgulnine]

"So this is it, then. Well, first things first, how to get inside. Let's just be sure there aren't any bells and whistles attached to this package." The rogue probes the area around the glowing door with great care for traps, secret switches, or any inscription that would allow entry.

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search: [take 20]+4 (24)

[Re'ozul]

@ nazgulnine

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You find no traps of either mechanical or simple magical nature. There does not appear to be a clear way of opening the door, but you do see a multitude of of old hand and fingerprints on it which by closer inspection actually seem to be slight burnmarks.

[nersxe]

Quinot doesn't lower himself to inspecting the door as well, but he does spare a thought for anything he may have heard about it.

Spoiler: Knowledge check

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(1d20+9)[24]

Either kn:arcana, kn:religion, or kn:dungeoneering. I've got the same modifier for all of them.

[Re'ozul]

@ Quinot

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You only heard bits and pieces about these terrible dungeons. But in some the person entering them is no longer given a way out, for what appears to be a door is in fact merely a piece of wood, fixed in time and space, and conductor through the same. Those that feel courageous or foolish enough and touch them, disappear.

[Hamste]

Let me take this you pansies...I think I know just the way to get this door. Bow before my awesome power as I smash this door with a flaming torch. Pyrom said as he pulled out a torch lit it and smashed it against the door.

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Attacking the door with a wooden torch to do (1d3)[1] normal damage and 1 fire damage. I am assuming I don't need an attack roll against it. If nothing happens then he is going to try and use strength to break it down (1d20+3)[20].

[nersxe]

"You are actually an idiot," Quinot sneered, "just touch the door and you'll go through it. It only looks like a door, in much the same way you only look like a competent sophont."

[Re'ozul]

The lit torch does nothing as it impacts the door. Seeing this, Pyrom scoff and sends a mighty punch at it, trying to break it down. But as soon as his fist makes contact with the wooden hindrance he disappears, the air around the new vacuum where he had been rushing inwards, resulting in a audible pop.

[nazgulnine]

Rouge shrugs and scoffs at the happenstance of the dwarf vanishing into thin air.
"Last one in's a rotten egg, then!" she calls to Quinot, placing a hand on the door, wincing in anticipation of some amount of pain.

[nersxe]

Quinot huffs and reaches out to touch the door himself. Of course.

[Re'ozul]

On spite of what the burnmarks on the door indicated you felt no pain upon touching it, only your vision distorted into blinding light for a moment. When your eyes readjust, you are somewhere else.
You find yourself in a room lit by a fireplace on its west wall. The room is completely made of cold stone, with moss growing between stones. A rather washed out magic circle beneath your feet marks your entrance point.

The door is bare, only a threadbare pouch to the southwest, its holes giving view to coins as well as a piece of parchment to the northeast can be found. To the south and north there are door, the east holds a simple archway, leading out into a much less lit corridor.

Map:

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*posted in OOC first for some stupid reason*

[nersxe]

"Hmph," Quinot moves to the scroll, scooping it up. "One of you grab the money, the other watch the archway while I check this scroll."

Spoiler: Various checks

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*First, a visual check to see if this scroll looks like it's any of the spells he knows.
*Second, if it doesn't look like a spell he knows, a use of detect magic on the scroll to see if it's even magic.
*Third, if it is magic, the scroll is marked with a '1' in the upper-right corner, using the ink and ink pen in his backpack. If it's not magic, and he can understand the language it's written in, he reads it aloud.

Let me know if this step-by-step was too much; I didn't want to go through all these steps IC and burn a bunch of thread with the scroll-checking procedure.

[Re'ozul]

Quinot mumbles a few words, then sighs and marks a small one on one corner of the scroll, before putting it away.

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I basically assumed you were doing that, no need to write it again

[nazgulnine]

Rouge moves by the cash and inspects the area around it. Someone wouldn't just leave a bag of gold sitting there, but she wasn't going to dwell on specifics. She makes a quick search of the ground near the bag before grabbing the gold.

Spoiler: Actions

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Search: (1d20+4)[12]
If a pit door trap, find grooves and stand beside pit, moving gold with 10-foot pole through hole in bag if necessary.

[Hamste]

Pyrom crossed his arms and watched the door ways as he waited for the others to do their thing. He moved a bit so that he could see down the corridor...after all he could probably hear a door opening but the open arch way could hold anything. Hopefully the circle could get them back out of this place once they were done. Hey, magic boy can you check the fire place and everywhere else in the room after your done checking that scroll? I am wondering if that fireplace turns on whenever people come in or if we have just invaded someone's home. Pyrom said. He liked it here...it sort of reminded him of home.

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Moving to be right in front of the corridor so that I can see 60ft down the corridor. Spot 7 and listen 7, I assume that you want to make these rolls in secret if it comes up.

[nersxe]

Quinot rolls his eyes and turns his detect magic cone on the fireplace.

[Re'ozul]

Rouge carefully looks at the floorstone the bag mostly rests on but cannot for the life of her find anything suspicious. Chancing a failure, she grabs the bag AND ... nothing happens, well except for a silver coin falling out of one of the holes. Quickly counting, she finds the bag to contain 2 platinum, 13 gold, 21 silver and 7 copper pieces.
Pyrom meanwhile is tasked with the thankless job of securing the area, most likely on account of him being the only one capable of sight in total darkness. It serves him well once again as he finds a corridor coing directly north to south. His sight does not reach the northern end, but the door that terminates the southern one is clear for him to see. There also appears to be another corridor branching off of this one a bit to the south.
Called to do so by Pyrom, Quinot sends out his arcane senses towards to fireplace. It indeed is apparently magical, but the charms are deeply rooted and it is unlikely that it was activated in any time in the near past. Likely it has been going for years if not decades.

New Map:

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Once these get too big I'll post a local and a global map.

[nazgulnine]

Emptying the coins into her satchel, Rouge approaches the southernmost door and inspects it.

[Re'ozul]

@ Rouge

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You do not find anything that could be considered a trap. Further, you notice that the door seems to be unlocked.

[nersxe]

"Just the standard enchantments," Quinot rolls his eyes, letting the spell cease. He makes a face as the extra sense leaves him. It never gets any more comfortable, having detect magic wear off.

"Well, Rouge?" Quinot taps a foot, crossing his arms impatiently.

[nazgulnine]

Good. It seems someone's left the lights on, doors open, and not a trap in sight. Turning back to Quinot, Rouge adjusts her gloves.
"Enhance your calm, Quin. Door's open and seems like nobody's home. Now lessee what's on the other side," she says, opening the door. For a place called the Dungeon of No Return, there sure isn't much being guarded. "Uhhhh... say, Quin... You wouldn't happen to know if that spell-thingy what brought us in could get us back out, do ya? Just, you know, making sure this isn't a one-way trip." The rogue takes a good peer through the new doorway.

[nersxe]

"Uhhhh... say, Quin... You wouldn't happen to know if that spell-thingy what brought us in could get us back out, do ya? Just, you know, making sure this isn't a one-way trip."

"Hmph," Quinot took a few steps forward to look over Rouge's shoulder (as close as he can get without being in Pyrom's way. "Of course it's a one-way trip. Weren't you listening to the murderhobo?"

[Re'ozul]

@ Rouge - whoops might be wrong door. sorry.

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Slowly opening the southern door, you look through into another room. While the light is rather dimmed as it streams into the new room, you can still make out enough. The room is effectively barren, only a few holes in the wall breaking uniformity. But you can clearly make out the reason for these holes. There is a number of rodents congregated in the south-western corner, apparently sleeping, or at least so you hope. One of them is substantially larger than the others though.
There is one interesting bit though, there seems to be a silvery dagger lying on the floor some feet to the west of the entrance.

Map:

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[nazgulnine]

"I thought he was talking metaphorically, like a what-if scenario," Rouge replied. And holy hell those are some big rats, she thought. Let's tread lightly. Gently, she closes the door and looks back to Quinot and Pyrom. "Room full of lots of sleeping rats, a VERY pretty knife, and another door. Oh, and one of the rats is bigger than the others. Bloated."

[nersxe]

"I thought he was talking metaphorically, like a what-if scenario,"

"No, it was quite literal," Quinot said snittily.

"Room full of lots of sleeping rats, a VERY pretty knife, and another door. Oh, and one of the rats is bigger than the others. Bloated."

"Bloated? Strange." Quinot reached over his own shoulder to brush his fingers over the top of his familiar's head. Kithantha nipped at his fingers with typical cat-like smugness. "The 'pretty' knife could be valuable, useful, or both. Let us find out which, if either."

He turned to Pyrom. "Are you quite prepared to 'get your kill on'?" He asked, lifting his hands to make finger quotes.

Spoiler: Knowledge checks about this bloated rat

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Kn:Arcana/Dungeoneering/Religion (1d20+9)[19]
Kn:Nature (if it's DC10 or below)(1d20+5)[11]

[Re'ozul]

@ Quinot

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You dimly remember something about some animals growing much stronger and larger, often with physical deformities. This eems to fit. Though you don't remember anything other than now being able to classify this as a Dire Rat, simply a much larger and fiercer form of rat.

[Hamste]

Why in the world would we kill them? Isn't it obvious what the loot is? Just have me or Rouge sneak in and take it thus avoiding fighting with random rats. If the dungeon suddenly ends or we finish everything we can always come back and kill them to go through that door later. Besides, I would rather not catch some rat disease from trying to punch a rat if I can help it. Also I don't seem to recall anyone mentioning anything about the portal being one way. I sure didn't and I don't see a murder hobo around here...are you two suffering from delusions or madness already? Gosh, you non-dwarves are so weak willed. Anyways, I might be the better choice to go in and get the knife. I am stronger, better armored, well trained in the arts of moving silently and I am a dwarf. If it's a trap Rouge would be better but if the rats wake up I would be better suited to holding them off. I figure however that it is probably not a trap or at least not one set off by the moving of the knife as the rats would probably have set it off. Therefore I would be more likely the better choice. Pyrom whispered as he moved closer to the door.

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If we do go in using Pyrom (waiting for the others to confirm before doing it) my Move silently check is +6 (after armor check penalty) and I would be taking 10 on the check. +3 on any search check for any traps or secret doors he happens to pass in case if it comes up...also random question am I able to tell how deep underground we may be? I had forgotten Dwarves could do that so I figure I should ask.

[nersxe]

Quinot looked up from where he had been buffing his nails on his robes. "My apologies, I was paying attention to something that actually matters. Are you going to go in and risk your life, or not?"

[nazgulnine]

"Okay, Py. How's about you and I work together on this one?" Rouge asks, placing her satchel on the floor beside the door.

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taking off her backpack brings Rouge down to encumbrance 39.5, negating her weight penalties and bringing her Move Silently back up to +7, but if Py insists on doing this alone, she won't argue

[Hamste]

No harm I guess, it might be riskier but it probably won't be that bad. Pyrom said as he prepared to go in. The nickname was weird but shortening the name could actually have an advantage.