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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CanadienneBacon" data-source="post: 6472987" data-attributes="member: 11146">The 10' square antechamber with the two tapestries where the party currently stands sports a broken door on the southernmost wall.  Although the door is ravaged and lies in shards on the stone floor, the door was once made of what looks to be stout oak, perhaps with iron bands.  Although there is dust, grime, and mud caked on the floor and walls, the air is wholesome enough.  Then again, you are only ten feet into the deep reaches of the stronghold, and weak sunlight and fresh air filter through both the exterior and southern door.The antechamber and hallway beyond are silent; only the soft clink of metal armor and your whispered tones echo in the velvet dark.  The southernmost doorjamb offers silent testimony why the interior is hushed; the stonework walls are a full hand's breadth thick.While Fulgrim investigates the western tapestry, Guran moves to the eastern wall.  Both tapestries move easily--the hangings are surprisingly light--especially the ruined western tapestry depicting Glidden.  The wall behind both hangings consists of solid, well-crafted stone.  The stonework is cunning.  Well-fitted, smooth, and absent joints or masonry, the stone walls have stood the test of time. It's hard to tell how thick the walls are, but, other than a series of deep and jagged claw marks on the western wall, there aren't any chinks or faults.  The eastern wall is intact--no claw marks adorn it.  The hallway beyond the southern door is perhaps 80' long and narrow, only 5' wide.  The ceiling, however, seems to consistently maintain the same ten-foot height as the antechamber.  The hallway runs east to west.  There are four doors dotting its length.  The doors are all intact, closed, and all made of wood--the same metal-banded oak as the broken southern door in the antechamber, if looks are anything to go by.  Although there are more sconces in the hallway, the corridor is unlit.  Only the flickering flare from Guran's torch inside the antechamber spills out into the hallway, providing dim illumination.  At the far western end of the hallway stands one door (Door 1) on the north side of the corridor, some 35' distant from the broken doorjamb of the antechamber.  The closest door to you is within 15' to the west (Door 2) of the antechamber doorway, but on the southern side of the corridor--opposite you.  Looking out into the hallway, that's probably the door to which your eye would naturally be drawn first.  There are, however, two more doors in the hallway.  The first of these is 20' to your east, on the north side of the hallway (Door 3).  The second is 30' away to the east, on the southern side of the hall (Door 4).  In addition to the four doors, there are three hallways oriented north-south that branch off the east-west corridor.  All three head south.  Two of these three hallways flank the far west (Branch 1) and east (Branch 3) sides of the east-west hallway.  The third (Branch 2) is centered in the middle of the expanse of east-west hallway.  All three branching corridors are 10' wide, double the size of the narrow hallway closest to you.  Peering out of the antechamber doorway, you can see that the middle branch (Branch 2) runs 15' to the south before it dumps into yet another east-west corridor.  You are unable to see how far the other two branches on either the far west or far east run.There is a fifth door (Door 5).  Halfway down the 15' stretch of the middle corridor, there is a closed door on the eastern side of the hallway.[sblock=Fulgrim]The mud on the lower third of the antechamber walls looks to be more the product of filthy hands and bodies quashed against the wall than it does a mudflow.  Fulgrim's scale mail is loud in the quiet room; although the dwarf takes care with his movements, metal grates on metal, creating sound.  Fulgrim recalls a snippet of lore, learned long ago.  The original name of this dwarven stronghold was Stonefast.  The addition of "Glidden's Bane" in dwarven runes on the exterior brass door is likely a more recent addition.  The colony of dwarves who populated Stonefast died of disease, all save three royal sons who fled the halls in disgrace.  If Glidden had a "bane," it would be either the disease or his three pariah sons.[/sblock][sblock=Guran]Guran easily parts the eastern tapestry.  The wall behind Ulgrist's likeness is intact and looks to be good quality stonework, crafted by dwarven hands.  Guran finds no evidence of a secret door.  His chain shirt croaks against his belt, making soft but audible noise in the antechamber.[/sblock][sblock=Meriene]Meriene peeks into the hallway.  The trail of mud tracks indiscriminately to both the east and the west in the narrow hall, and the wider center corridor (Branch 2).  Whatever tracked in the filth seems to have taken no particular route after exiting the antechamber.  Invisible Castle is down, so I was unable to access the link to your roll.  Go ahead and tell me the roll result for future Invisible Castle rolls.  I still want you to link to the roll result, but at least this way I'll have a number to work with.[/sblock][sblock=Colden]Stealth 6+3=9.  Colden's chain mail occasionally clanks against his shield, handaxes, and warhammer.  The noise seems loud, but that could be because the antechamber and hallway are so deathly quiet.  Nature 11+1=12.  Whatever made the claw marks was unable to reach beyond chest height on Colden, so the creature would have had to be either small or medium size.  Either that or intelligent and alarmingly prescient.  Perception 17+1=18.  It's quiet in here.  Preternaturally quiet, maybe.  Colden doesn't hear anything other than his breathing, his and the others' armor, and some whispering from his fellow explorers.[/sblock]Eldon hunkers down in the open doorway where the exterior brass door once stood.  Colden stands directly in front of Eldon, providing cover but also blocking Eldon's line of sight into the hallway.  The halfling can, however, make out the tapestries on the west and east walls of the antechamber.</blockquote>

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