Adventure #4 - The Incorrigible Mr. Mittens

Jeremiah wrote:Jeremiah and Flint will remain in the make-shift camp until the others return.

Jeremiah and Flint recline by the fire for a few hours, eating a meal or two from their packs, before finally drifting off to sleep. In the morning, they are awakened by the sound of voices at the top of the chute.
-- OOC: Don't forget that you heal 7 hit points during the night.

Elodie wrote:When everyone is ready, Elodie will go to fetch her horse and begin the journey back to the ruins.

After a few hours of riding, Elodie and crew once again reach the Arx Scopulus. Before climbing down the rope, they notice the flickering of firelight in the room below.

"Jeremiah! Flint!" Elodie calls down as she starts to climb down the rope. "We're back! Talmut and I are good as new. Gumphrey's even better." Elodie tries to smile cheerfully at Gumphrey, still hoping to help him feel better about being transformed into a dwarf. 

When she reaches the bottom of the rope, she asks, "How was your evening? Did anything exciting happen?"

By now, Jeremiah realizes that Gumphrey (or, at least, any sort of Gumphrey he would recognize) isn't with Elodie. In his place is a short, stocky little man with a ridiculous beard.

"I'm ready, I guess." Gumphrey seems a little down. Perhaps he's not enamored with the idea of being short, hairy guy?

"Humming, you say? Let's go investigate. But before we go, do you have Gumphrey's gear? I think he'd like it back..."

After Gumphrey has his gear, Elodie is ready to follow Jeremiah.

After pointing out Gumphreys gear...

"Before we go, I could use a little healing."

Once Jeremiah is topped off he will proceed to the room that was emanating with humming sounds.

"Flint, maybe you should stay here and guard the exit making sure no one is able to enter or exit."

As Gumphrey is putting on his gear, the party hears "Meow."

Then, out of the shadows, Mittens charges into the light. He slows as he comes closer to the camp sight, eventually coming to stop right before Jeremiah. He looks up at the woodsman and cocks his head to the side. "Meow?"

Jeremiah wrote:"Before we go, I could use a little healing."

Elodie places a hand on Jeremiah's arm and calls upon the spirits to heal Jeremiah.

Cast Cure Light Wounds on Jeremiah, heals 15 HP.

As Mittens approaches, Elodie frowns. "I think this cat has just been hiding from you for fun."

"Well, let's check out this humming sound that you heard..." Elodie is ready to follow Jeremiah.

Talmut decides to wait with the assistants; he wants to start studying that book.

---

So ... Jeremiah, Elodie, and Gumphrey go to check out the humming. Mittens, follows along.

Down the hall, past the "Golem room," Jeremiah shows his companions the secret lab, with the cages and the weird scabby creature, the multiple alchemy tables, and the strange rubble on the floor. At the door where Jeremiah heard the humming, there is humming no more.

So, Gumphrey checks the door for traps, but determines it to be safe. So, he opens it.

Beyond the door is a small domed room, with nothing in it except a small round pedestal. Arcane glyphs decorate the perimeter of the pedestal. Two arched hallways lead out of room, one to the west and one to the north.

The two hallways lead to the same large L-shaped hall. After wandering this wide hall for a minute or two, the heroes discover a bronze throne at either end. Two big magic circles are carved into the floor, closer to the middle. In one of them, lies a dead mage of some sort. In the very middle, where the two sides of the "L" meet to form a corner, there is a burning brazier and two iron-shod wooden chests.

"Meow?" the cat says.

"Yeah, I agree," Gumphrey answers. "What do you make of this, Jeremiah? Elodie?"

"This is a very strange room," Elodie says. "What do you think of those chests, and the thrones? I'll look at this poor fellow over here..." She walks toward the dead mage and attempts to figure out how he died.

Healing check=35 (19 + 16)

She will also take a moment to study the magic circles.

Perception check, +14 

OOC: Do these symbols in the circles look like the symbols from the journals?

If she has time (depending on what everyone else is doing), Elodie will also attempt to sense if there are any magical auras in the room.

Cast Detect Magic.

OOC2: Oh, Mittens, you adorable and sneaky bastard.

"Gumphrey, this is the room I heard humming from, so be alert. Why don't you slowly go through this area and search everything for traps. Elodie we should wait until Gumphrey gives the all clear before proceeding."

Jeremiah will scoop up mittens and put him back into his rucksack, so only the cats head is popping out.

Remembering what happened the last time she didn't heed the words of a party member, Elodie falls back. "That's very wise. Gumphrey?" She will wait to see if Gumphrey determines that the room is safe before she proceeds with her examination of the mage and her search for magic.

Mittens seems all too happy to be inside the rucksack, once more. "Meow!"

Gumphrey scouts out the room, ahead of Elodie and Jeremiah. After several minutes, he comes back and announces that "Actually, there was several traps around room, all magical in nature, but they dismantled already ... and recently, by the looks of it. Hmm. Maybe it was a humming, sandal-wearer who disabled them? At any rate, I also found needle traps inside the locks on the two chests, so I removed the springs from the firing mechanisms and then preceded to pick the locks. They should be safe to open, now."  

Next, Elodie examines the corpse and discovers conflicting evidence. The flesh is dry and withered, as if the body had been dead for decades, but she also finds fresh spell components and potions in its belt pouches; components and potions that couldn't be more than a few months old. Furthermore, the corpse exhibits several lacerations and fractures that show no sign of rot, indicating that they were inflicted recently; no more than a day or two. At first, she is stumped, but then she has an epiphany: this was some sort of "undead wizard" who only met his demise in the time since you discovered this place ... but Jeremiah said he didn't enter this room before, so who could have defeated this powerful adversary?

Then, she examines the magic circles and determines that they are "summoning circles" used for conjuration. Talmut would know more about them. If memory serves, these same symbols did appear in the journals, but not on the same pages that pertained to the black orb. Well, maybe some of the symbols were the same, but not all of them. She would have to take another look at those journals to be sure, but really Talmut is the expert on this sort of stuff.

Finally, she attempts to detect whatever magical auras are in the room ... but she is stunned by what she sees. The residual magic in the room (that is, the lingering evidence of spells that were cast in the area, but are no longer active) is so powerful and vibrant that is impossible to tell if any other auras are present. In fact, the lingering aura is so overwhelming, that Elodie can't even see the aura around Jeremiah's axe (which, so far, has always been one of the most powerful auras present).

While Elodie is busy examining auras and symbols and other esoteric stuff, Jeremiah waits ... but he can't help but notice that there is hardly any sand in this room, at least compared to the other rooms in this complex. There is still a lot of sand, compared to "normal" buildings, but in here you can actually see the floor (which is made of the same stone as the walls and ceilings). It would be extremely difficult to track anything in here, especially if the tracks were made in a prior age, like they were in the bedrooms.

Mittens fidgets inside the sack, twisting around to look straight up at Jeremiah.  "Meow?"

Elodie collects the potions that the dead mage has on his belt before standing. "So you're sure no one else came down this hallway last night?" Elodie questions Jeremiah. "This corpse looks old, but the injuries are very, very fresh...within the last day or so." Elodie glances at Mittens. "Did you see anything while you were playing hide-and-seek, kitty?"

OOC: I know, I know. "Meow?" CURSE YOU, MITTENS! TELL ME YOUR SECRETS!

"Anyway, nice work on making the chests safe, Gumphrey. Shall we see what's in them?"

Elodie will search the chests, unless anyone suggests otherwise. She will also take a moment to study the brazier. 

Perception, +14.

"The only thing I have seen moving around this dungeon have been the gargoyles, but I doubt it's them who did this. Whats in the chests?"

Jeremiah will throw a snack into the pack for mittens, remembering he needs to set a few more traps, he's running low on jerky.

OOC: Posting drunk, its been a long day...