Having his physical needs met by divine means, Lucius spent his night thoroughly checking up on the surviving servants, informing them that any evil lording over the castle has been vanquished, and therefore they are free to go. He inquired among them about the castle, and it's fate now that the Seglianis are dead.

At dawn, while he was strolling outside along the battlements, as the first rays of sunlight climbed over his crest of the blazing sun, divine insight was bestowed upon Lucius. Naturally excited at the news, he came rushing towards his companions, ignorant of whatever else they wanted of him at the moment. "The Sun offers us guidance! There is strife in Dreorus. Whatever they are doing there to these slaves, not all agree with. If we can find the resistance, surely we can fight for a common cause."

GM, what did Lucius find out about the surviving servants? And how does the castle ownership issue look?

I wouldn't mind a castle of my own. Not at all! Just kidding, Lucius would sooner turn it over to his order.

The servants all seem to be in a bit of a daze this morning - not like they've been possessed, but more like whatever mental fog they've been living under has finally lifted and they're still figuring out what these "clarity" and "free will" things are about.  A couple of them flee into the woods as soon as they have the idea that it's safe to do so (not until after dawn though - some habits aren't going anywhere anytime soon).  A few others get together and start debating the merits of taking the castle for themselves.  And one, a middle-aged man by the name of Vittorio, offers his services to Lucius as a squire or acolyte or whatever of that sort he might need.

Lucius is thrilled at the prospect of taking on a squire (a well-established tradition in his Order), eagerly accepting his offer.

He explains to Vittorio the purpose of his Order - "Bring sunlight to the darkest corners of the realm" - and instructs him of what is expected of a squire (dedication to the vaguely-but-not-so-vaguely defined idea of Good, pretty much), in turn asking questions about the man's own skills and abilities.

Hireling! Excited.

As talk turned toward the future ownership of the castle, Lazarus spoke up to the freed servants discussing it. "I don't much care who owns this place in the end, but I do hope that you will allow us to take refuge here in the future. The entire reason we came to liberate this place from the clutches of evil in the first place was so that we might secure a safe place to harbor slaves that we plan to free from Dreorus." He left out the part about making a bet with some bats.

"Also, related to liberating this place from evil... We found a passageway in the lower levels filled with traps. Do any of you happen to know what it is guarding?" It was unclear if his associates were still planning on investigating the hall, but Lazarus figured it wouldn't hurt to ask about it.

Vittorio bows slightly to Lucius and says "I have had to deal with all manner of people... well, I guess I can call them that, no better word at the moment really.  I can't say as I'm much of a fighter, but I know how to talk with people and make them feel comfortable, and I know which people need talking to in which way.  Maybe I can learn how to spread the Word of the Sun to them as needs to hear it."

On the other side of the room (whichever room this is), a couple of the other now ex-servants turn to Lazarus and say "Oh, the treasure room?  No idea what's in there, none of us have ever seen it.  They tell us, sorry, told us it's treasure, but we don't know really.  Ronaldo tried to sneak in there himself, got cut in half for his troubles."

"A silver tongue! Quite impressive. Now, Vittorio, we will be leaving shortly to Dreorus, so grab your belongings, and perhaps organize some extra supplies if the people here have some to spare. Meanwhile, we shall investigate that trapped treasure room!" he gives Lazarus a thumbs up.

Lazarus gave a nod and a smile to Lucius, then went to prepare an excursion into a trapped corridor. "I'll get things ready. You guys meet me there when you are ready." He wanted to reacquaint himself with the hall's layout, as well as collect a few "tools" from around the castle that might come in handy. Things like mirrors for looking around corners, long sticks or brooms to use for pressing pressure-sensitive areas, suits of armor they could use as decoy bodies, and even a sledgehammer in case they needed to break anything open the hard way.

---

Could we get a refresher on what the trapped hallway looks like? What tools is Lazarus able to find? Or maybe he could simply scrounge up a set or two of generic "bulky adventuring gear" or something.

You never actually looked down the trapped hallway - you identified its presence and then went the other way.  You know it's made of stone, that's it.

Lazarus is able to scrounge up various useful tools.  No sledgehammer, and no mirrors either come to think of it, but he does get a few other things together that seem like they could help.

Mechanically, I think that dealing with the traps will require high-stakes DD rolls, since there's no thief in the group who can do it more proficiently.  But preparing tools for it will let you roll +Int rather than +Dex, so that's something at least.

When everyone was ready, Lazarus began nervously prodding the hallways defenses. "Let's... see if we can do this without getting killed." He began by tossing pebbles down the hall, followed by a few larger rocks. He then moved to poking things with poles. He carefully scrutinized every crack and blemish the hall had to offer as he slowly advanced forward.

---

Here is the first Defy Danger roll with Int. Wish me luck!
21:23, Today: Lazarus Steel rolled 14 using 2d6+3.  Defy Danger + Int.
Caution and preparation pay off!

Lazarus's tricks seem to do the job perfectly.  One rock triggers a pressure plate, which is followed by the telltale hiss of poison gas, but the next rock lands in exactly the right place to clog the mechanism and stop its release.  A few yards later, one of those poles sets off the blades that the servants had warned you about earlier.  They cut the pole neatly into two but do no harm to any of you.  And a little further past that, you spring a pit trap without losing anything more valuable than the old, crumbling dictionary you had thrown as a test weight.

One slight problem though - some fiendish designer set the pit trap at a corner, instead of in the middle of the hallway as is traditional.  A trapdoor drops open in front of you, but so does another one to the left, leaving the hallway looking something like this:


_______________________
              XXXXXX  |
              XXXXXX  |
______________XXXXXXXX|
                 |XXXX|
                 |XXXX|
                 |XXXX|


EDIT: The ledge in the corner looks like it's just big enough to hold one person comfortably, or two squeezing together.

How do you plan to get past this one?
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:47, Mon 22 Mar 2021.

Before taking further action, Lucius takes one of the spare books and drops it down the pit to gauge its depth and what lies at the bottom.

"Hmm. Think we can drag one of the bookshelves in here, to act as a temporary bridge? Would at least get us into that corner."

The pit is about 20 feet deep.

A whole bookshelf would probably bridge the gap, but getting it down from the library to the basement would be a difficult undertaking itself, to say the least.

"That is certainly an option," Lazarus conceded. However, he continued to study the hole before them. "A few wooden beams would probably accomplish the same goal though, if we can find some. Or a ladder. That would be better. Oh! Or maybe the stone coffin lids from the next room over!" Lazarus experienced a minor flashback of one of those sturdy things landing on his toes...

The wizard mentally measured the gap to determine which of those items would be best to search for and drag over. "Or we could always try climbing down here, and back up on the far side." He cautiously took a peek at what (if anything) was on the floor of the pit.

---

Would any of the following also be available/practical to use?
Wooden Beams
Wooden Planks
A ladder
Coffin lids
Rope, and a meat hook or small anchor (for a makeshift grappling hook)

"Right, well we do have options to consider. Could probably turn a bookshelf into planks, the stone lid would be sturdy but might be too heavy. You think you could avoid the traps on the way back safely, Lazarus?"

"I would imagine backtracking shouldn't be too much of a problem, now that we know where the traps are and what they do." Whether or not his assumption was correct remained to be seen.

Any of those items would potentially be useful, except for the coffin lids - they're definitely strong enough but a little too short.  You could probably scrounge up any of the supplies you listed, though wood is in short supply except by dismantling furniture.

You can safely backtrack here; you already got through once, I'm not going to make you roll for it again.

"Very well, let's see if the current castle denizens will object to a little... refurnishing. Lead the way, Lazarus."

Lazarus nodded, the led the way as requested. He went with the best option first, if available, and searched out a sturdy ladder. It could help with both crossing the gap, or with getting someone out if they fell in. Aside from that though, he also scavenged some posts from a fancy bed (that looked like it hadn't been slept in in ages) rather than desecrate an innocent bookshelf. With four bedposts bound together so they wouldn't roll apart from eachother, Lazarus laid the piece across the chasm and crawled across to the far side. He was eager to see what might lay down the hall around the corner.

Istvan sticks with his allies... but about 10 feet behind them and what they're doing, in case he has to grab them, pull them back, and heal them really fast...

Lazarus does indeed find a nice bed to dismantle.  It gets him over the pit to the corner platform.  From there he can see that the hallway extends only a short distance further and ends with a heavy oak door.

"Hmm. Let's have a look here. More traps?" Lucius proceeds warily.

12:51, Today: Lucius rolled 4 using 2d6.  Discern Realities.

Nice.

Lazarus winced as Lucius moved to search for more traps. "Don't forget, we gathered a multitude of supplies for testing the way forward. The distance may be short, but that does not mean it is safe!"

If Lucius didn't manage to get himself decapitated first, Lazarus would continue using his gathered resources to test the last stretch to the door for traps. Including the door itself.

---

Checking for more traps.
21:10, Today: Lazarus Steel rolled 11 using 2d6+3.  Defy Danger + Int: more traps?

Neither Lucius nor Lazarus sees anything here that seems dangerous, even on the door itself.  Although it occurs to Lazarus that this probably just means the trap makers were saving up for something even worse on the other side of it.

"This is where that sledgehammer probably would have come in handy," Lazarus commented dryly. But since he had no such tool, it seemed they would need to actually open the door the old fashioned way. "Shields ready everyone," he said, then slowly turned the knob and stood ready to avoid anything that might come their way. Arrows, poison gas, an undead army, etc.

He started by only opening it a crack, however, and then (assuming no catastrophes occurred) attempted to use his makeshift tools to check for more traps again. Slowly nudging the door further and further open as he eliminated the possibility of more and more potential hazards.

---

21:35, Today: Lazarus Steel rolled 14 using 2d6+3.  Defy Danger + Int: more traps? again.
He's go a knack for trap-finding, it seems.

The door opens, and nothing happens.  You all wait a few seconds, and still nothing happens.  Lazarus takes whatever remaining weight he has for this purpose and throws it into the room.  Something happens - magical fire bursts up from the cracks between the floor tiles in about a three-foot radius from where the test weight landed.

And now that the room is illuminated you can see the treasure that it contains.  Two large, ornate coffers that look like they will be unpleasant to carry out of here, and a kite shield mounted on the wall.  The shield is decorated with a green and white checker pattern and an image of the sun rising over a hill, and it looks like it's been polished recently.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:38, Wed 14 Apr 2021.