MiPS Lost Mine Part II

[mips42]

The steep stairway descends into the rocky ground a good fifteen feet or so to a rough, field stone doorway and a heavy, wooden, iron-banded door that looks much newer than the surrounding stonework.

[sblock=Vottr and Brlo]
The door is, in fact quite a bit newer than the stonework doorway and you can tell that, at some point in the past, the stonework has been repaired reasonably well.
[/sblock]

 

[Neurotic]

"Hmmm, can anyone open this quietly or we need to use dwarven keys?" asks Leonan in a whisper after returning to the group up the stairs.

 

[tuxgeo]

"First we try the latch as quietly as we can--if there is an outside latch knob or lever or button. The door might not be locked or barred, in which case we simply enter here--though I would expect it to be barred," Eddicus whispers back.

"If we can barricade this door from the outside," he continues, "doing so might make it more worthwhile to go around the other side and try to enter by the tunnel, so none of them can escape. Or not."

 

[mips42]

The heavy door has no latch or lock visible and swings open almost noiselessly. The wan light from the light-endowed pebble and the remaining daylight reveal a five-foot-wide landing fifteen feet above a large cellar. There are stone steps descending to the floor in two short flights. Another door stands beneath the stairs to the north and a large stone cistern occupies the western part of the room, whose walls are lined with kegs and barrels. The space smells heavily of damp air and earth.

[Sblock=map]
https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/13XHWINXfYyCTJCI5WvVA6oO87sC13lcVX67p7UPr_RY/edit?usp=sharing
[/sblock]

 

[Neurotic]

"Yet another washout?!" whispers Leonan.

After ascertaining there are no visible bandits, he approaches the cistern, carefully checking for any mechanism of sudden release of water.
"Hmmmm...is this some monster guardian home or just water supply for Redbrands?" he thinks as
he looks inside (NOT putting any part of his anatomy IN the water) just to check if it is clear.

OOC: Are there any signs of human inhabitants? (cloaks, discarded stuff, tracks etc)

 

[mips42]

The stone cistern is clean and filled with cold, fresh water. The rim is 2 feet higher than the surrounding floor. You can see that Drain pipes from the roof of the old manor above empty into this reservoir.

OOC: For signs of habitation, you'll need a perception check.

 

[tuxgeo]

Eddicus follows Leonan through the now-open, heavy wooden door.
Glancing around, he whispers back to the others: "Nobody to fight right now. Let's explore!"

OOC: Based on perusing the provided map:

Eddicus advances into the room far enough to see that he must abruptly stop entering because of the 15-foot dropoff to the floor of the room below -- the dropoff being located at the edge of the top landing, which is only 5 feet wide but which also extends to his left (south) and right (north). The landing itself seems to be about 10 feet long from north to south; and it has stone steps descending a short distance to lower, 5-foot-wide landings at the north and south sides of the room; and there are more stairs leading inward and away from those side landings to the floor of the room.

"This landing's only five feet wide," he whispers unnecessarily to the dragonborn and the dwarves behind him. "Those with good eyes or stone-sense, you might want to check out this room for hidden or secret doors."

Eddicus thinks he sees a non-secret door located under the sub-landing on the north side, so he goes down the stairs to the south in order to get a better angle of sight toward it; he then descends the rest of the way to the floor of the room, raising the glowing pebble aloft so he can see better.

He considers commenting on the fact that he's the only one there who actually needs it, but decides against such a superfluity of verbiage.

 

[Neurotic]

Perception (1d20+3=18) - Leonan looks into the pool and around the space he moves through. Still careful about making noise or disturbing water, but since it is clear he looks inside too. Don't kill me please

 

[mips42]

Taking a careful look around the cellar reveals a couple spots where the imprints of the casks, barrels and crates look like they've been moved or shifted. A careful inspection of the cistern reveals a cleverly camouflaged fine rope in the southwest corner. Also, the the southwest section of the wall next to the cistern looks odd, like the stonework doesn't quite match the way it should...

 

[Neurotic]

Waving to others to stay back, Leonan inspects the rope looking for signs of puleys, drains. Assuming he sees nothing he gives the rope slight pull and immediately releases it waiting for something to happen.
If nothing happens he shrugs and pulls harder (or pulls it out depending).

Regardless of the result, he returns to the group and points out the wall different from the others. "Dwarves, it that new built, renovated or what?" he whispers
(mips, perception +3 if you need another one, roll for me to check)