RED OAK: Return to the Pass of the Hounds

[Woe]

Oops. Bruce has a shield. I will change the order soon.

[Woe]

New marching order:
Freya 30' ahead
Dwarves
Talin
Tiana and Anna, Anna with torch
Fido

That means one torch, which shouldn't matter since both humans are close to each other.

Tiana will look at the statue. Does it trigger any memory of what she knows about the history of the area?

Freya will listen at the door. Is that a passage to the south?

[Longman]

Listening at the door yields no result. The place is a bit echoing, and the others behind Freya are not totally silent, but you are pretty sure there is nothing moving behind the door.

Freya can now see this:

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The stairs go down another 10 feet or so, as far as she can see.

Tiana and the rest come up behind and Tiana checks out the statue. It is stone, of a generic human male in robes with not many features. She knows nothing about it. The bowl is metal and has (the Arabic style) magic runes inlayed in the bottom. These look a bit older and more carefully drawn than the ones previously seen. There is a torch bracket just above the statue.

A torch has a range of 30 full light and 20 dim light. The BFRPG rules say bright light renders darkvision ineffective. This means Freya will be able to use her darkvision, but Bruce and Kilian, who are only 10 foot ahead of the torch, will only be able to see 20' clear in front of them, with an extra 20' further in dim light.

Yes, I do plan to be a stickler for this. So far...

[Woe]

Rule of thumb: Tiana asks Abigall about all magical runes encountered, and copies all down onto parchment. Most important is if the runes give bad human vibes. Also, Kilian and Bruce are interested in the stonework.

Ok about light. Kilian can rig a lantern onto a helmet later.

They will close the outer door behind them. Then, they will try the route with the door. Let's not get too deep too fast. How much dust is on everything? Any idea whether it has been disturbed recently?

[Longman]

The outer door closes with a clang. Abigall pipes up: "um...Miss? You know there's still magic on that, right?"

Automatic orders noted.

There's some dust, but the place is a bit cool and damp. General tracking rolls reveal nothing moving down here in a long time. Consensus is that the magic on the door, plus gumps, has kept most things out for ages.

The wooden door leading north is locked. It is in a pretty flimsy state and the hinges are rusty. You could pick it or bash it down. Your call.

In situations like this, I am assuming you are a bit more bunched up, rather than having Freya 30' ahead. That only happens when you are going round a corner or exploring something new. OK?

This is super fun for me. Hope you are liking it.

[Woe]

Bash a perfectly good lock? Never! Freya will attempt to pick it. Then we'll discuss bashing (and probably won't because I do have concerns about noise).

Tiana sighs, and then tells Abigall "No, I didn't. I can't sense magic like you can, little one. Until you can teach me how, you'll need to tell me when you sense magic."

[Woe]

Yes, they'll bunch up when exploring a room but when 'marching' they'll be staggered out.

If the lockpicking fails, they'll leave the lock and down they go into the deeps!

[Longman]

Abigall looks anxiously at the outer door: "Well all right. It's magic. That's what I'm saying."

Freya's lock picking roll is a 07. The door opens inwards.

Looks like an old armor and weapons storeroom, with racks and hooks for stowing gear. There's nothing left in the room but three rather cool looking human sized helmets on some hooks in the north west corner, right as you come in.

They are made of thick iron, are in really good condition, and have a thick studded leather chin strap to keep them in place. There's a spot on the front where it looks like a 3 inch circular disc of some kind might have been inlaid but is now missing.

There's also a few old rusty pike weapons and suits of leather armor left behind, no use to anyone.

The armory room looks like this:

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There's another door in the south east wall, that is not open. (I've given you some indication there's a space beyond that.)

[Woe]

The iron helmets show no sign of age though the pikes have all rusted? Intriguing. Kilian strongly considers taking one, especially if any are dwarven-sized and therefore obviously dwarven-forged (true or not, Bruce is the only one who can rat him out). Does it get a shocked "that is bad human magic" look of horror from Abigall?

Freya will listen at the door. Is it locked? Any light peeping out from the gap between the door and the floor?

[Longman]

The helmets are human sized but could fit a dwarf. The mouse girl confirms their magic nature. They are not rusted at all. They are human magic, but not super strong or super evil, she says.

There are pike weapons, short-swords and leather armor for 7 human guards that have been in here for many, many years and are useless. The helmets look of a different make, more recent perhaps?

No light peeping out from the eastern door. Listen at the door roll reveals....nothing. Anna can also hear nothing.