Vapourware [Play-by-post] Lamentations in Averoigne

[ERYFKRAD]

Requin looks for signs of tracks near the northeast door, to discern if any footprints or other marks are identifiable in the dust and so on.

If ni cause for alarm is determined, He then walks over to the northeast door that is slightly ajar and pushes it open with his +1 Pole of Probing, Poking, and Prodding at Peripherals whilst Positioned at a Protective Proximity(tm).*

Spoiler

*10 foot pole

 

[L'ennui]

Guillemin follows Requin. While his comrade examines the slightly opened door and searches for adjacent tracks, he checks the other door (that is solidly shut) and listens for noise beyond.

 

[Grimgravy]

Ganelon keeps an eye and ear to the way behind.

 

[nikolokolus]

There are no visible tracks on the slime-slick flagstones and the northeast door swings outward into the hallway beyond. What's most puzzling is that the hallway terminates in a stone wall about five paces further along. When you glance down at your map, you begin to strongly suspect that there is some sort of secret door in that wall, based on your prior exploration of the tomb with the long-dead druid nearby.

Guillemin peers into the abruptly ended corridor and goes back to the other (firmly shut) door on the southeast wall and listens intently and carefully examines the door for any hidden surprises for a full ten minutes. He detects no noises, nor does anything about the stout wooden door, with its simple pull handle, draw his eye. Based on his expertise he's satisfied that it is safe to open.

 

[L'ennui]

Guillemin opens the second door, noting that the vacant corridor will have to be checked for a secret door.

 

[nikolokolus]

Guillemin pulls on the door and it's not stuck and swings freely on its hinges. Beyond you see a slightly irregularly shaped room about 3 paces deep and 6 paces wide beyond. The room is empty, but you notice that there is a fine gray ash settled everywhere and there are charcoal-like stains on the upper reaches of the walls and on the ceiling is black with soot. The back of the door is also sooty and covered in ash. There doesn't appear to be any footprints or other signs of disturbance in this room. You do a see a wooden door with a stout oaken beam set into brackets behind it, barring whatever might want to come through here from the other side. At the west end of the room is a stone door with a loop of wire wrapped around its handle and secured to an iron spike that has been hammered into the mortar of the blocks next to the door frame. Both of these doors' hinges are visible meaning that they open inward into this ash and soot covered room.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Requin examines the ash and soot to see if a source can be determined- he checks if the ash/soot is evenly distributed or if some parts have a greater concentration than others.
He also checks if there are any holes or other sources of ventilation by prodding the walls, floor and roof with his 10" pole, attempting to cover as much area as possible.

 

[nikolokolus]

The soot seems pretty evenly distributed across most of the ceiling and down the upper part of the walls (no more than half of an armspan below the ceiling). The ash blanketing the floor is also uniform in depth; no more than a couple of millimeters at most. There are no holes or vents that you can see and no obvious source of ignition (or fuel for that matter). The only thing that seems notable is the acrid, "earthy" smell that lingers in here - completely unlike the smell of burned wood, but vaguely reminiscent of burned moss or some of the tree fungus you've used in the past to start a fire in the wilderness.

 

[SoupNazi]

"Guess someone was really intent on keeping that door closed..."

Finn examines the wire around the western door more closely, very gently seeing how secure the iron spike really is, but making sure not to pull it out if it's loose.

"But this looks more like a trap then a barricade."

Would the wire actually keep the door shut if someone were to try and open?

 

[nikolokolus]

The spike is solidly hammered into the joint between the blocks of the wall. It would take enormous force, or a chisel, to pry it free. The loop of wire however is not nearly so stout; no more thick than the quill of a crow feather. It has been looped through the door handle, twisted a few times and wound around the end of the piton half a dozen times. It's all sturdy enough to probably keep man-sized (and strength) things from pushing it open from the other side, but there is maybe enough give that if the door were opened the resulting crack would likely expose the wire.

 

[SoupNazi]

Finn will warn the rest of the party of his intentions first, and once everyone's ready and positioned, he'll cut the wire with his bastard sword and swing the door open!

 

[nikolokolus]

Finn wedges his sword into the gap between the wire and the door and pulls back. *twang* it snaps in two without much difficulty and the door pulls inward. A little eddy of dust swirls around your feet as the ash is kicked up by the disturbance of the door passing over it. Beyond is a high vaulted chamber 7 paces wide and 10 paces long. The room appears to be empty. It looks as though this place was looted long ago. stone sarcophogi are busted into bits and pieces along the wall, and the intricate mosaic tile that once adorned the walls is crumbling and in disrepair. There are piles of rubble strewn about the floor, where blocks and tiles have caved in from the ceiling and one of the stone buttresses in the center of the room appears to be sagging prodigiously. At the far south end of the chamber is a doorway that looks as though it were hastily bricked up.

 

[Grimgravy]

"Too much to ask that whoever barred the doors would leave a clue as to why."

 

[SoupNazi]

Finn wedges his sword into the gap between the wire and the door and pulls back. *twang* it snaps in two without much difficulty and the door pulls inward. A little eddy of dust swirls around your feet as the ash is kicked up by the disturbance of the door passing over it. Beyond is a high vaulted chamber 7 paces wide and 10 paces long. The room appears to be empty. It looks as though this place was looted long ago. stone sarcophogi are busted into bits and pieces along the wall, and the intricate mosaic tile that once adorned the walls is crumbling and in disrepair. There are piles of rubble strewn about the floor, where blocks and tiles have caved in from the ceiling and one of the stone buttresses in the center of the room appears to be sagging prodigiously. At the far south end of the chamber is a doorway that looks as though it were hastily bricked up.

Confident that the state of the room signifies that any traps that may have been there were triggered ages ago, Finn walks in and absent-mindedly kicks a random piece of rubble towards the bricked up room. He gives the floor a once-over before moving to the bricked up wall and jerks his head back at Requin.

"Still got that pickaxe, mon ami?"

 

[ERYFKRAD]

"Still have the sledge?"

 

[SoupNazi]

Finn asks Armand to hand him the sledgehammer and gets to work on the bricked up doorway with Requin. Same modus operandi as before, they leave a waist-high wall still in place in case there's anything behind it that would endanger them.

 

[L'ennui]

Meanwhile, Guillemin goes over to the barred door and listens, in case he can hear anything on the other side. "Wonder why they put this here..."

 

[nikolokolus]

Finn casually strolls around the room and kicks at bits of rocks and refuse. In the southwest corner of the chamber he nudges a what looks like a pile of rocks and realizes that it's actually a tarpaulin coated in pulverized limestone dust, making it appear, at first glance, like a pile of rocks. Under the tarp is an assortment of tools and equipment that someone cached here long ago: a sledgehammer rusted and pitted, and its handle rotted away, a half-dozen iron spikes that have rusted and fused together, 4 clay flasks stoppered with wax seals, and a small gass vial also sealed with wax, laying in the rotted remains of a disintegrated box.

Back in the other room, Guillemin spends several minutes listening intently to the barred door. Strain as he might, there are no discernible sounds except for the muffled noises coming from his companions' investigations in the adjacent chamber.

 

[nikolokolus]

On temporary hiatus. TBC . . .

 

[infidel]

Spoiler

The first night, Grima spends hundreds of deniers on casks of wine, buying rounds for the house much to the delight of the dozens and dozens of patrons that seem to materialize out of nowhere as the night wears on.

Okay, I gotta know. Why the devil you all throw money around attracting attention whenever you have it? Same thing with the rivals, seems like a bad idea, an ad for local robbers and thieves.

Also, nikolokolus, I'm not versed in the art of forum plays. Do these interludes happen automatically or do you play it out with the party in private chat on roll20?

 

[SoupNazi]

Spoiler

The first night, Grima spends hundreds of deniers on casks of wine, buying rounds for the house much to the delight of the dozens and dozens of patrons that seem to materialize out of nowhere as the night wears on.

Okay, I gotta know. Why the devil you all throw money around attracting attention whenever you have it? Same thing with the rivals, seems like a bad idea, an ad for local robbers and thieves.

Also, nikolokolus, I'm not versed in the art of forum plays. Do these interludes happen automatically or do you play it out with the party in private chat on roll20?

Spoiler

It's free XP we pay with silver coins and attention man

Also we handle the interludes in an OOC conversation (the PM function of the forums) then Nikos rolls for the results etc.

 

[infidel]

Spoiler

It's free XP we pay with silver coins and attention man

Also we handle the interludes in an OOC conversation (the PM function of the forums) then Nikos rolls for the results etc.

Spoiler

Heh, never thought about how gold actually turns into XP in DND if that's what you're talking about.

 

[SoupNazi]

Spoiler

It's free XP we pay with silver coins and attention man

Also we handle the interludes in an OOC conversation (the PM function of the forums) then Nikos rolls for the results etc.

Spoiler

Heh, never thought about how gold actually turns into XP in DND if that's what you're talking about.

Spoiler

To clarify, that's extra XP. The gold we get is used as a measure of XP (so, 5000 silver total = 1000 sp per person = 1000 xp per person) and then you can choose to risk your money on carousing, which is the process I described previously, and then Nikos rolls for how much of the money we spent (in exchange for more XP). So I might decide to risk my share of 1000 sp, get another 1000 xp, and risk losing a portion of the silver in the process.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Spoiler

It's free XP we pay with silver coins and attention man

Also we handle the interludes in an OOC conversation (the PM function of the forums) then Nikos rolls for the results etc.

Spoiler

Heh, never thought about how gold actually turns into XP in DND if that's what you're talking about.

Spoiler

To clarify, that's extra XP. The gold we get is used as a measure of XP (so, 5000 silver total = 1000 sp per person = 1000 xp per person) and then you can choose to risk your money on carousing, which is the process I described previously, and then Nikos rolls for how much of the money we spent (in exchange for more XP). So I might decide to risk my share of 1000 sp, get another 1000 xp, and risk losing a portion of the silver in the process.

Spoiler

Whatever we loos in carousing is gained in XP, as though drinking our heads off makes us wiser, idk.

 

[infidel]

Spoiler

I'd say the original rule "XP for gold" also never made much sense, possibly done to speed up the leveling process. In this case, you can speed it up even further while the DM also gets rid of potential hoarding. Is carousing for XP a LotFP thing?