Goodman Games

Fritz and Gandolf (and anyone else who makes their roll) hear a strange clicking noise echoing from further inside the ruins. They also both smell a waft of something decayed and unclean, it is a bit stronger when looking towards the north.

Luck Rolls:

Flavia: made it by 5
Hector: missed by 2
Darrow: missed by 6
Chendris: missed by 3

Flavia says, "what if we tie a torch to the end of this ten-foot pole... All the better to peer deeper into the darkness with..."

Darrow ties on a torch. Flavia gets the pole in front of her and starts to advance...

Portly Trim doesn't sound convinced. "i'm no expert, but aren't you running the risk of burning your pole? Surely a 10 foot pole is better than a 6 & a half foot pole."

"Darrow, where you headed?" Fosco turns to Thorin. " Should we follow?" Thorin shakes his head."Yes, we will all stay close for this is no place to go each their own way."

Thorin, Gandolf and Fosco head to Darrow so that he will not get a lead on them. Gandolf mentions, to the party, about the noise and smells he experianced the directions that they came from. "Be carefull now for we are not alone here."

Gandolf and Fosco both light a torch...Thorin follows.

Okay, but where are you going? Which direction are you advancing in? Be specific, people!

[Sorry -- I thought the only 'lead' we had was the clicking and smell, so I assumed we're going that way. Won't happen again, Boss (until it does)!

As for burning the ten-foot pole down, if you can imagine the torch tied perpendicular to the pole, say about three or five inches in, and loosely enough that when let go it 'sags' to a shallower angle while still not getting anywhere near enough to the end of the pole to start it burning, then you've got what's going on. Now could someone explain it to me? Also, I think torches are made to burn out, not burn all the way down their length. They aren't flares or matches, they're meant to be carried around as they burn...]

Darrow is just in front of Flavia, like one step in front of her, and to the left side of the pole. He has an arrow ready to fire. Hector is behind Flavia, peering around the side of her, and Chendriss is a step back and to her right. Both of them have cudgel/staff at the ready.

They are advancing with care toward/into the ruins where the clicking she (and others) heard is coming from...

My two characters follow Darrow's group towards the clicking sound. Portly Trim providing additional light, Fritz watching behind them, guarding the rear.

The sound was coming from across the open courtyard, to the west. Advancing cautiously across the blasted open area, a few bleached bones crunch beneath your boots. Soon you see an intact, through crumbling, wall of stone. Somewhat off-set from that, to the south, is a set of ancient wooden double doors on rusty metal hinges. There's a rusty pull ring with which you may open the doors. The doorway leads south, it looks like into the intact structure of the ruins.

Chendris scans the entire party (waiting for any other actions others want to take), and steps forward to inspect the ring and door, and if all looks fine, pull the door slowly open...

It looks normal enough, although very, very old and rusty. It screeches loudly when he pulls it, and the doors open about a half an inch before stopping abruptly, as if they are barred from the inside.

"Watch out there man!" Fosco says wide eyed and pointing at the stuck door. "Might be trapped. Might I suggest we get a pole or long sturdy handle and pry around in the opening. We just might be able to pry to door open and set loose any traps that lay hidden."

Thorin looks at Darrow's 10' burning pole and says, "use that."

"Ah, right -- burn down the door...!"

*waits for cacophonous clamor of 'hold on there!'s*

While discussing what to do, you hear a muffled noise from behind the door, probably far off behind it, that sounds something like "help us!"

Portly Trim shines the torch closer to the door to see if he can determine anything on the inside.

Nope, the crack's not big enough to see through at all. It seems dark inside, though.

He hears a sharper noise, something like a cut-off scream perhaps, from somewhere within.

Portly Trim is alarmed at the sounds he hears. "There's people down there & something's killing them. We need to break down this door."

Portly Trim starts booting down the door.

Hi All.
I'd just like to interject an apology for never posting. I totally spazzed out.
I hope you didn't hold up too long.

Nope, we didn't wait for you.

Roll a Strength check, Portly Trim, DC 13. (Anyone else who wants to join in the kicking can do so as well; each additional PC adds +2 to the roll.)

Strength Check: Portly Trim: 16

Fritz joins in.

Thorin, lifts his leg and slams his foot into the door...thud!

Strength check roll=11 (pass)

Dang... y'all need to READ. Note that I said each added person is +2 to Portly Trim's roll... anyway.

With a sharp crack, Portly Trim and others kick open the ancient wooden double doors. Your torchlight now dimly illuminates a large hall, about 40 foot square (i.e., the edges are just barely lost in the gloom). The floor is strewn with debris: broken stones, ancient furniture, piled up and rotting tapestries, and dust, sand, and more dust all over everything. You hear the scurrying scratching sounds of a few rodents in the debris pile scattering at your rather noisy entrance. Peering inside a bit, you make out a darkened archway on the western wall that leads further into the structure.

Somewhere far inside, you hear another strange scream, cut short, echoing off the stone walls.

A rather out of puff Portly Trim steps into the hall, holding his torch aloft to guide his way.

Stumbling over the piles of loose debris on the sandy, dusty floor, Portly Trim enters the hall. The stones are cracked and crumbling, but the walls still stand. To his right, on the eastern wall, the open archway leads into another chamber.

Thorin, Gandolf and Fosco head over the to other chamber opening and peer in. They made sure to search for traps and listen for unnerving noises along the way. With torches lit and weapons at the ready they look into the darkness. Fosco, standing along side the much tall wizard look back and beckons the rest of the group to come here.

ooc...I suppose that the group already searched the first chamber and found nothing of worth...before heading to the new room.