TWO HUNDRED THIRTY ONE
(I/C)
Wyn shook his head and pointed down the hall. “Nord.”
“You are a one note lute, Elfriend,” Kovid sighed, “But I can’t disagree. We talked about it earlier. The throne room should be to our north and west. I'm good with checking that out first."
The party followed Brendon as the Scout continued checking the hall for problems, eyes peeled for danger. “I still think we should find a place to rest for the night,” he suggested. “And if it is up here, I’m not suggesting we rest right this minute. The bedrooms,” he pointed to the east past the two doors, “probably isn’t where we want to stay. That being said, I agree with Li’l Man and we should investigate the throne room and possibly the secret room.”
Feeling very antsy on being exposed in the hall, Abraxas goaded the group on from behind, "Wherever we go, let's go there quickly, no me gusta how expose'ed we are out aqui."
As they progressed through the dim halls, Lyra was very aware of the danger they were in. “Each door we pass is another possible avenue for the enemy to get behind us. However, I agree, we should at least check out the throne room if we can. I’d be a shame if we came all this way too turn back and rest for the night.”
Muttering to himself and saying “Blessed Corfard” every half dozen paces, Lannis grunted and said aloud, "Yeah, sure fine, better be potions in there, check the arm rests." Before going back to repeating the Dragon’s honorific.
Lyra continued, “But as far as rest, are we confident we can find a place that’s safe here to rest or should we camp it outside?”
“Butchers?” Kovid suggested.
She shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know. If we make a deal about leaving or leave some obvious tracks that we left they’ll think we’re not coming back.”
In the darkness another door on the east wall loomed up and then beyond that, some half dozen paces was ANOTHER eastern door…and then just beyond that, the passage ended and turned to the west. Kovid smiled and marked it on his map while Brendon held his finger to his lips and listened to the two doors.
As the Scout spent a few moments listening (<Hear Noise, +20% bonus), Wyn stole to the corner and peered around, taking a step or two for his infravision to fire up. The passage was the same temperature as we had seen earlier and there were no heat sources down it. Coming back Brendon motions the group close and bend over to muffle his voice.
“Both doors open away from us and are turn handles. No locks on either door but again, can’t prove there aren’t bars on the other side.”
“Hear anyting?” Wyn asked.
“Same sort of set up as the other two doors. First one I could faintly hear some crackling like a hearth fire but indistinct and distant. Second door there were some very low pitched murmuring voices. Speaking sparingly at best.”
“Same as the other door? Same language?”
“Could not tell, but voices for sure.”
Abraxas shook his head. “That is two doors we passed with voices behind, to say nothing of the goblins that were south of the intersection we came in at.” He looked back down the passage, seeing only darkness that way. “We should go. Vamonos Amigos."
(>Enemy Hear check +4, Black 9 – no)
(WMC: Red/Black 6)
The group moved on, getting to the corner and then once coast was clear, turned to the west and kept going. It was over 25 paces from the corner until we arrived a set of ornate reinforced decorative doors. The stones and lintel were thick, the frame was tight, and the doors themselves seemed in great shape. Set in the center of the door was a wide black lock that didn’t fit with the motif of the rest of the elven chamber. Looking it over, Brendon laid an ear to the door to listen (<Hear Noise +20% bonus, Red 11) and checked it over for any traps (<Find traps, +20% obvious, Purple 38).
As for the rest of the party they were very aware of the situation and looked around and listened. Behind them were the odd echoes and little else. But to the west in the gloom we could hear the distant sound of someone pacing. Slow and steady. Then stop, then pacing again, the sound receding, then stop. Then repeat again and again.
Brendon finished his observation and blew out slowly. “This is a bitch of a door under the best of circumstances. Hinges on the other side and doors open away from us. There are flanges on the inside of the frame preventing any light going in either direction or sliding a weapon through. Its tight to the lintel and within a sixteenth of an inch to the ground.”
He pointed to the lock. “That’s the bad part. The lock is a 4 tumbler lock with a spinning front pin. Meaning it’ll take two attempts to open it – one to find the right position for the pin, and another to crack it. But, the catch is inside are three spring loaded needles set at the back of the mechanism. Try to open it without the right key and those needles will flash out and catch whatever person is trying to pick it.”
“I ‘ave de key,” Wyn offered, “Are we sure dat de key will not set orf de trap an kin get past de spinning pin tingy?”
“Yep,” Brendon assured.
“Hokay,” Wyn said slowly, the key ring from Travis the spy held loosely on one finger. “So…we doing dis?”
Time is now Day 6, 4:18 PM
(OOC)
Made it a double turn since you weren’t caught (yet) and told me you were aiming for the throne room. You’re here. Key and in?
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