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[PbP] The Heroes of Silleria
- Thread starter MerakSpielman
- Start date
silentspace
First Post
Xendengalis
OOC: I think that's a pretty fair assumption
If its ok with everyone else, can we further assume that the rogues take 20 on searching the room, and examining the portcullis to make sure its what it appears to be?
Its a bit strange, don't you think? Having a portcullis that you can walk around so easily? Another strange bit is that, if the portcullis actually served some sort of defensive purpose, which, given the ease of bypassing it doesn't seem to be the case, why would the defenders of Myrtolo Keep have left it open? Does that mean someone else opened it? Or does it mean that it actually IS "closed", and if we lower it, some counterweight system will open something else, like a secret door. See what I mean? It's possible they did close this entry, and the portcullis in the up position is actually where it should be to keep people away from something. Perhaps we should check for secret doors? Judging by the secret door to the outside, the builders of Myrtolo were quite adept at making hard to spot secret doors. I'm for lowering the portcullis, in any event.
Xendengalis rubs his chin, deep in thought. You wonder if its occured to him that this could be exactly what it appears to be - an abandoned room!
OOC: In the spirit of moving things along, if the place turns out to be as abondoned and uneventful as it looks, how about we assume we proceed down the east passage?
Edit: sorry about the multiple edits
OOC: I think that's a pretty fair assumption
If its ok with everyone else, can we further assume that the rogues take 20 on searching the room, and examining the portcullis to make sure its what it appears to be? Its a bit strange, don't you think? Having a portcullis that you can walk around so easily? Another strange bit is that, if the portcullis actually served some sort of defensive purpose, which, given the ease of bypassing it doesn't seem to be the case, why would the defenders of Myrtolo Keep have left it open? Does that mean someone else opened it? Or does it mean that it actually IS "closed", and if we lower it, some counterweight system will open something else, like a secret door. See what I mean? It's possible they did close this entry, and the portcullis in the up position is actually where it should be to keep people away from something. Perhaps we should check for secret doors? Judging by the secret door to the outside, the builders of Myrtolo were quite adept at making hard to spot secret doors. I'm for lowering the portcullis, in any event.
Xendengalis rubs his chin, deep in thought. You wonder if its occured to him that this could be exactly what it appears to be - an abandoned room!
OOC: In the spirit of moving things along, if the place turns out to be as abondoned and uneventful as it looks, how about we assume we proceed down the east passage?
Edit: sorry about the multiple edits
Last edited:
silentspace
First Post
Xendengalis
Xendengalis, deep in thought, lowers his hand and continues. Is there any way to shut this guy up?
Something is definitely odd here... If I were to put a guard room here, with the layout of this level as we know it, I would NOT put a portcullis here. A guard room located like this should be protected by a solid stone wall, with arrow slits for cover. That way you could attack enemies entering the secret door, as well as enemies trying to continue up the north passageway. But why a portcullis here? It makes no sense at all, especially for an armed garrison.
Xendengalis, deep in thought, lowers his hand and continues. Is there any way to shut this guy up?
Something is definitely odd here... If I were to put a guard room here, with the layout of this level as we know it, I would NOT put a portcullis here. A guard room located like this should be protected by a solid stone wall, with arrow slits for cover. That way you could attack enemies entering the secret door, as well as enemies trying to continue up the north passageway. But why a portcullis here? It makes no sense at all, especially for an armed garrison.
MerakSpielman
First Post
OOC:
This room has always been difficult to understand, even in person. It seemed so simple when I drew it, but every player I've tried to describe it to has had problems. Since I don't mean for it to be confusing, mysterious, or puzzling, here is an explanation:
Essentially, you have a room, one wall of which is actually bars. On the other side of the bars is a hallway with a door at each end. In the center of the hallway is a portcullis, which can only be raised/lowered from inside the room. The implication is that guards in the room must raise the portcullis to allow anybody to traverse the hallway. If somebody were inside the Keep trying to leave without authorization, they would be balked by the locked door and guards protecting the mechanism to raise the portcullis. If somebody found the secret door and was trying to break into the Keep, their path would also be blocked by the portcullis. Either way, the bars allow the guards to fire missiles, poke spears, and throw oil on anybody in the hallway, should it become necessary, as well as take and examine items and papers for inspection before allowing them in/out.
This room has always been difficult to understand, even in person. It seemed so simple when I drew it, but every player I've tried to describe it to has had problems. Since I don't mean for it to be confusing, mysterious, or puzzling, here is an explanation:
Essentially, you have a room, one wall of which is actually bars. On the other side of the bars is a hallway with a door at each end. In the center of the hallway is a portcullis, which can only be raised/lowered from inside the room. The implication is that guards in the room must raise the portcullis to allow anybody to traverse the hallway. If somebody were inside the Keep trying to leave without authorization, they would be balked by the locked door and guards protecting the mechanism to raise the portcullis. If somebody found the secret door and was trying to break into the Keep, their path would also be blocked by the portcullis. Either way, the bars allow the guards to fire missiles, poke spears, and throw oil on anybody in the hallway, should it become necessary, as well as take and examine items and papers for inspection before allowing them in/out.
MerakSpielman
First Post
Norynth: On closer inspection, you find nothing useful in the room. You DO notice that the mechanism is jammed with a chair leg. Kerith, examining it, suspects that the guards would normally have needed to hold the wheel in place to keep the portcullis up. If unattended, the portcullis would be down by default. For some reason, somebody jammed the wheel so the portcullis would stay up without anybody there to hold it. The portcullis has since rusted in place and you suspect it would take superhuman effort to get it to move again.
silentspace
First Post
After the rest of the party patiently explain how this room makes perfect sense, he clears his throat, and says
Heh, I'm just a poor cleric. What do I know about guard rooms?
He shuffles his feet a bit. Is he blushing?
Heh, I'm just a poor cleric. What do I know about guard rooms?
He shuffles his feet a bit. Is he blushing?
dpdx
Explorer
Kerith, after looking around, speaks up again:
"This whole mechanism is extremely rusty, and unreliable. I daresay, if we were to somehow lower the portcullis, we may never get it back up again, and we'd be trapped inside until we found a way out the front of the Keep. Please, no one disturb the mechanism. I'd suggest that we take whatever we can find of use in this room, and get out. We've nothing to fight in here, and we're not doing anything to liberate the Keep while we stand in here."
That said, Kerith searches for anything of use/value in the room [taking 10]. Perhaps the guards left some toll, important papers, or checked weapons that could be used. It is not obvious to him that the room, or possibly even this entire level of the Keep, has been discovered yet by the Keep's current residents...
"This whole mechanism is extremely rusty, and unreliable. I daresay, if we were to somehow lower the portcullis, we may never get it back up again, and we'd be trapped inside until we found a way out the front of the Keep. Please, no one disturb the mechanism. I'd suggest that we take whatever we can find of use in this room, and get out. We've nothing to fight in here, and we're not doing anything to liberate the Keep while we stand in here."
That said, Kerith searches for anything of use/value in the room [taking 10]. Perhaps the guards left some toll, important papers, or checked weapons that could be used. It is not obvious to him that the room, or possibly even this entire level of the Keep, has been discovered yet by the Keep's current residents...
MerakSpielman
First Post
Searching this room you find nothing of further use. If there were any logs or important papers, they have long since disintigrated from the perpetual moisture on this level.
(Moving along then)
Returning to the intersection south of the fungus room, you travel east 40'. Here there is a side passage to the north. The ways east and north both extend out of the range of your torchlight with no distinguishing features.
(Moving along then)
Returning to the intersection south of the fungus room, you travel east 40'. Here there is a side passage to the north. The ways east and north both extend out of the range of your torchlight with no distinguishing features.
Last edited:
silentspace
First Post
Xendengalis
How about going north? See if we meet up with that other hallway?
How about going north? See if we meet up with that other hallway?
