The party sets up a plot as there's and are escorted to their plot. Two members of the Peace Brigade lead them to a odd room with a single panel near the door on both the outside and the inside. Several other groups, some escorted, but most not, are also in the area waiting their turns at fame and glory. It takes a little time, but the party gets in the odd room with another smaller group of hopefulls. They, a group made up of Bonapartists, make a casual greeting, but that's about all they do. Your guards and the one of the other party touch the panel after consorting your/their writ of claim.

The door closes for a few minutes and then the door opens and you don't see the mustering area, but an odd small room with a single door. The mutated animals gather their things and exit while your group stays. After a few moments the doors shut and remain shut for a little bit before they open again. This seems to be the same room that the others went in, but it's empty. Your guards walk into the room and set up positions to the left and the right of the door, pulling out collapsable stools so they don't have to stand all the time and make themselves comfortable by setting down their noncombat gear.

The first door awaits. Who is opening it and what is your marching order and what exploration activities are each of y'all preforming?
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:41, Fri 29 Sept 2023.

Treeborn figures he should open the door. Given his durable form, it's better off if he starts out in front of the others.

Garlain turns the others and says, "Let's prepare a formation for possible fighting before I take to scouting... Now's a good time for people to voice any concerns they may have about the matter though." He prepares an arrow with his bow and moves towards the front to begin scouting once he gets the general equivalent of a thumbs up from everyone else.

Jaxx takes a position at the rear, and checks to make sure his dagger pistol is loaded, holsters it, then checks his musket, keeping it ready to use. He keeps his eyes on his surroundings, looking around for any interesting technology. "Gerald, stay up front with Treeborn, for now." Gerald moves next to the garden goliath.

Exploration Activity Investigate (lore: engineering)

Baskia nodded to both Treeborn's eagerness and Garlain's planning.  "I won't say no some protection up front." the golden-eyed construct noted matter-of-factly, "Or behind.  It does take me a few moments to truly get warmed up in any fight."  It laid bare her preference to be in the middle of the pack where any ambushes for the front or the back were less likely to take her out.

Her long-time companions likely already knew that her psychic powers could affect many opponents at once, but it took her more than a few seconds to get whipped up to full strength as the purplish glow around her was proportional to the amount of energy available to her and it generally built up over time.  But their newest companion might not have known that; so, she laid it out for him.  Baskia seemed grateful that Treeborn was so protective.

Jaxx said, "Gerald, change of plans. Protect Baskia and I from ambushes coming from behind."
Jaxx will stand behind Baskia, and Gerald moves behind Jaxx, his stinger held defensively over his head.

"I'll be keeping an eye out until I find a feature to warn about..." he the briefly goes over some hand signals he has used to warn people in the past.

Skills that might come up perception +9, stealth +11 not sure there are hard rules specifically for scouting... maybe my action is seek...

GM Edit:

This message was last edited by the GM at 09:17, Sat 07 Oct 2023.

Treeborn made sure to conceal the group via his plant friends. Weather or not that would work was up for debate.

OOC-22 stealth check for avoid notice maneuver.

The door opens and the group sees only an empty hallway covered in surprisingly little dust. The floor is very uniform and smooth as how many ancient floors are. The ancients seemed to pride themselves on at least the uniformity of their floors, walls, and ceilings. They can only see so far into the hallway for the most part. Baskia, however, can see much further than the others. Small lights are inset into the walls roughly, and if measured would probably come out to be exactly, 20 feet from each other on either side of the wall making the whole complex seem dark and foreboding. With the help of the lights, the party can see that the hallway goes roughly 45 feet before a dark opening can be seen to the their collective lefts. It then continues down for another 50 or so feet more before ending in a dead end.

OCC: Note that the "Enemies" block is there for my ease of use.

Riven holds his hand crossbow at the ready as he covers the rear of the group.   His keen eyesight helps him to see more than some of the others.

OOC - Riven has low light vision.  He's going to perform the Scout action for the back of the group.

Garl takes up near front keeping an eye out and arrow in fingers, prepared.

ooc: search action then

Baskia stayed in the middle of the pack.  Her spear was gripped tightly in her long metallic fingers, but mostly she was trying to maintain vigilance.  She could seen in varying light levels (even down to complete darkness) with the same facility, her single golden eye was special that way.  Though her voice's volume was kept low, the titanium-skinned automaton did narrate what she could see down the hallway - only if and when Garlain or a scout in front of her motioned for silence would she stop describing what she could down any of the given passageways.

---

[OOC:  Baskia has both low-light vision and Darkvision; so, she'll tell people what she can see - though admittedly she's in the middle of the pack.  With others already Scouting and Searching, she'll Detect Magic, if the others feel it is useful; keeping her Arcane Sense activated and on the lookout.

P2 SRD actions:

Detect Magic (Concentration, Exploration)
You cast detect magic at regular intervals. You move at half your travel speed or slower. You have no chance of accidentally overlooking a magic aura at a travel speed up to 300 feet per minute, but must be traveling no more than 150 feet per minute to detect magic auras before the party moves into them.

]

In reply to Baskia Primavera (msg # 12):

Treeborn, is able to move with surprising silence. He stays close to the Baskia, mostly to insure she fors not get ambushed. While he has no obvious weapons or armor, his natural form would both protect and damage any foe that makes the mistake to start trouble.

Accustomed to low-light conditions, Jaxx continues to keep an eye out for mechanical traps from behind Baskia, while Gerald covers his back, the uneven click-clop-click-clop of his two distinct sets of legs gently echoing off of the walls. Jaxx whispers, "Perhaps a light would be useful. I have a mechanical torch, if someone has a free hand to carry it."

OOC: Jaxx has low-light vision. Gerald does not.

In reply to Jaxx (msg # 14):

Treeborn nods and draws out his own mechanical torch. Its unclear where he gets said object, as it clearly is lost in his various branches and leaves.

Riven follows behind the group, keeping a keen eye on the shadows.

The party turns down the hallway and finds that it is very short, only about 10 feet, before it comes to a T intersection. Moving forward they can see a door about 5 more feet to their left and the hallway continues for about 40-50 feet before turning to the left. Light leaks from under the door, but otherwise all is quiet.

OCC: Note that the "Enemies" block is there for my ease of use.

Baskia's head unit cocked itself to the side, her single golden eye pulsating slightly as the party moved forward cautiously.  "Hmm..." she opined cautiously, "Magic sense is being tripped.  All down this corridor.  Or possibly from that door, ... " but she seemed uncertain, "possibly not.  Hard to get a read on."

"Door or corridor?" the titanium-skinned automaton asked quietly, as she slowed to ensure that if they were going to pass by the door, it was intentional and not ignorance.

Garlain mused a moment before offering, "Normally I hate to leave an open hall,but where magic may be concerned the door is closer and might have a trigger to shut off the magic for the hallway that looks otherwise comfortable to explore."

Baskia nodded to Garlain, "At least worth checking to ensure it is locked." as it seemed better to her to do some due diligence that they weren't easily surprised by anything either down the corridor or coming out from an unlocked door, "If it's not locked, we might as well investigate ... with a someone posted in the doorway to make sure the corridor remains clear."

The golden eye (with the purple tinge due to her active dweomer) in her head unit turned towards at the others to see if they preferred a different option.