The Calamity

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Mar 31, 2022 7:53 am
You arrive in a small, circular room with rough, unfinished stone walls. There are no windows. Much of its floor space is given over to another teleportation circle, permanently inlaid in silver into the rock. The faint glow from the circle is the only source of illumination, until Peregrine speaks a word and conjures a ball of light which rises to hover overhead.

The room has very few other features: a small arrangement of comfortable-looking chairs, a doorway beyond which you can make out a staircase leading down into the darkness, and a small silver bell hanging from a bracket affixed to the wall. Next to the bell is a hand-written note which reads, "Do not disturb unless it is an EMERGENCY".

"It's a bit like a tower," Peregrine explains, "Only in reverse. This is the top floor - I'm not sure how many there are in total. I'll wait here until you return. Let me know if there's anything else you need."
Mar 31, 2022 2:07 pm
"I think right now is certainly an Emergency though I don't know how useful the bell will be, I guess it's worth a shot though," Avaris says ringing the bell.
Mar 31, 2022 2:50 pm
SIlvanus summons his Wildlife spirit, it looks just like Crivelln and Avaris remembers it - it looks like a small floating fire elemental, does not talk and hovers.
[ +- ] Wildlife spirit
He say to the spirit "I'm involved in a dangerous situation yet gain, would you watch my back please"
Then he turns into a giant spider and moves down the stairs, not touching the stairs however - he would keep to the ceilings or walls. Spirit would follow him some 30-40 foots behind, hovering.
Last edited March 31, 2022 3:12 pm
Mar 31, 2022 2:59 pm
Crivelln waited as Avaris rang the bell. "The force cage could simply be a fail safe spell." he continued the conversation with the monk, talking through the possibilities of what had happened since they still had so little by way of evidence.
Last edited April 1, 2022 1:41 pm
Mar 31, 2022 3:21 pm
"If he had a fail safe set up it would be on himself..." It's becoming obvious Avaris is less and less sure of himself the more Criveln holds to his position, at least less ready to argue.
Apr 1, 2022 1:41 pm
"True, and yet it's worth noting Theo did not conjure up the force cage for both of them, even if we assume he was selfless enough to want to save his apprentice." The paladin continued his analysis; it was one of his traits, a dogged determinism to get to the bottom of anything once he had set his mind to it.
Apr 1, 2022 1:54 pm
OOC:
Not sure if your conversation is telephatic and Silvanus could hear it, but assuming he does
Silvanus (being in spider form and unable to speak otherwise) send the same telephatic message to each of you
Maybe Theo were certain he is safe due to his clone, while apprentice not. The question don't sound like a question - seems Silvanus get used to talk authoritative to his druids lately and can't stop doing that.
He probably realise that and you feel actual question in next message There is just one way to figure out, don't you think? Shall we?! Spider stops in and wait for reaction.
Apr 1, 2022 1:56 pm
"Are you suggesting the force cage came not from Theo at all but from another who wanted to save Peregrine?"
Apr 1, 2022 2:36 pm
Spider crawls back into into the room and turns into human. Silvanus and talks slowly Probably I missed the reason of your concern. Here is how I see it happened: Theobald understand he can't stop the blast. He knows he has clone so he will will not die, but Peregrine will. It is only obvious he would cast that force box spell on Peregrine being certain his soul will transfer to clone.
The important question is - why we have not met him in his clone body yet!
Who and why saved apprentice is secondary question don't you agree?
OOC:
Sorry, I really don't get it as a player what's your concern and why don't we proceed with the story? Do you want to interrogate Peregrine before we move on? If he is indeed BBEG then we break the story. If he is not we just waste time. That's how I see it as a player
Apr 1, 2022 2:50 pm
OOC:
Oh no concern at all GreyWord, I was just roleplaying the conversation between Crivelln and Avaris while waiting for the DM to post. In terms of story, Avaris rang the bell, and Crivelln is waiting as well for a response to the bell before investigating. Silvanus has on the other hand already gone ahead (and returned on hearing that his companions are having a telepathic conversation.)
Apr 1, 2022 3:04 pm
"That Question Was Directed towards Crivelln, because after all I agree with you, I don't think that Theo was worried about death which is why he put his efforts into saving Peregrine however I can't dismiss Crivelln's point as easily as I expected because there is some merit to the thought."
OOC:
Sorry that my post came after your first post there that made things confusing...
But Yeah, I'm waiting to see what we find out from the DM and since we're supposed to be a close group I figure it's best to RP with the other characters as much as possible especially when we have different points of view.
Apr 1, 2022 3:16 pm
The bell does nothing but make a soft tinkling sound as Avaris rings it. Peregrine looks over at him, startled. "Oh! Yes, that's for getting Master Theobald's attention when he's in the sanctuary. Which hopefully he is, I suppose - that would be the best-case scenario, that his rebirth went according to plan but he's just preoccupied or trapped for some reason. This way he won't be surprised if you barge in on him, which is probably for the best. Good thinking." He pauses for a second. "I've never had sufficient cause to ring it myself."

Silvanus descends in the form of a giant spider, followed by his wildfire spirit. After only a few dozen feet, the stairs become thick with spiderwebs - as a spider he can navigate them fairly easily, but the others would have a much harder time forcing their way through. The wildfire spirit simply glides through the webs, burning them away as it passes and leaving an easy path to follow.

Silvanus comes to a landing. The staircase continues downwards, but there is also a polished oak door with iron bands and a wrought-iron knob. There is no keyhole, but it seems to be locked.
Apr 1, 2022 3:55 pm
Seeing that Silvanus had already gone ahead of them, and that Peregrine had declared that he was going to stay put and not accompany them down, Crivelln nodded to Avaris and made his way forward as well. The wildfire spirit Silvanus had summoned was particularly helpful in clearing them a path.

"No reply to the ring." Crivelln stated the obvious. If the clone had been activated, this would have been an opportunity for Theo to show himself. The battle-hardened paladin was used to all manner of deception and contingency, and did not let down his guard for even a moment even if all seemed fairly obvious."With these cobwebs it means Theo hasn't emerged. It seems excessive for me to break this door down though." He rapped his knuckles on the door and prepared himself.

"I will continue to weigh the various possibilities in my head, as you know that is often my habit." Crivelln spoke to the others mentally in case they wondered why he had persisted in considering various options even though the most obvious interpretation had presented itself. The years he spent guarding against the forces of evil trained him to expect duplicity and illusion. As Avaris had said, the impossible had happened, which meant they could not be over certain of anything.
Last edited April 1, 2022 4:04 pm
Apr 1, 2022 4:03 pm
"THEOBALD WE"RE COMMING IN!" Avaris yells as loud as he can, following the wildfire spirts path, down towards the landing, "We'll need magic to get this door open, unless the Idea is not to open it." maybe he lefts hints fo us knowing we might one day end up here, Avaris thinks looking around at each and every bit of the floors and walls trying to Ignore the spiderwebs.

Rolls

Perception - (1d20+5)

(10) + 5 = 15

Apr 1, 2022 4:37 pm
Yes, we could always break it later Turned back into human Silvanus states. Seeing Avaris effort he casts bonfire to illuminate everything around and put his Sentinel Shield on hoping to help his friend to find any clues or find any evidence that anyone has came here before them.
If that is for nothing he stop concentrating on bonfire, turn back into spider and continues downwards.
OOC:
Not sure of the interpretation, but my PC have 21 passive perception and the shield give advantage which is theoretically 26, so my PC shouldn't have issues perceiving anything. Would it matter though :)
Apr 2, 2022 12:02 pm
"Keep going. We didn't come here to demolish another building." If it were as Peregrine described, that this were a reverse tower of sorts, it would stand to reason that the sanctuary proper would be the room at the lowest level. When the clone body would have been kept though, would be somewhere else. All the same, it made sense to search all the levels.
Last edited April 2, 2022 12:03 pm
Apr 2, 2022 2:51 pm
Even to Silvanus' keen eye, aside from the masses of cobwebs choking the stairs, the tower is spotless - not one speck of dust rests on any surface, as though it had just been thoroughly cleaned. You cannot see evidence of any creature passing through the area. The cobwebs do not seem to be the product of neglect, and indeed you can see no spiders of any kind, but the webs that were burned away are already starting to reform across the upward stairs.

As the group descends further, a thick fog fills the stairway. You can follow the glow from the wildfire spirit as it burns through the webs, but even from a few feet away you can barely make out its shape. You can't even see the stairs beneath your feet. Cautiously, you proceed until you reach a second landing, with a door identical to the first. The stairs seem to continue downward at the end of the landing.
Apr 2, 2022 2:57 pm
"Some sanctuary. Passive defences designed to keep intruders out." Crivelln appreciated the wards as necessary. It's just they did not have the right arcane abilities to negate them. All the same the paladin now took out his lantern. He used to deploy it as if it were a mini lighthouse, used to reveal hidden and invisible things.
OOC:
Crivelln will light his Lantern of Revealing as they proceed further down.
Apr 3, 2022 6:53 am
I will quickly go check Peregrine. Silvanus moves back and ask apprentice if most probable reason for webbing here is Thro defenses. Is it something his master would use fir protection? Ir would it rather hint of intruder left webs ... whatever reason be.
Then come back share info and go one lvl deeper.
Apr 3, 2022 9:43 am
Crivelln nodded in agreement. There was still much to be gleaned from speaking with the apprentice, as he had considered earlier. "We can all go. It doesn't look like time is of essence here. If Theo's clone were revived, he would've heard and responded by now. If not, either there is no activity in this sanctuary, or something else is happening."
Last edited April 3, 2022 9:43 am
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