"If we're going to chase after that wizard we better go now then," Hort puts the coins in the bag of holding. "If not then we could continue sweeping the area. There are a lot of doors in here." Hort looks around.
Berz hands Torma's potion back to him. "If we're down to drinks, I got my own. But, uh...thanks." Berz drinks one of his Potions of Cure Moderate Wounds. "Bastard got me good, but I got him better. If we're gonna chase that guy down, we'd better hurry." Berz attempts to lift the portcullis. Before the Rage ends if at all possible (+6 Str), if not than just (+4).
"Ah good, let's go then indeed, but as I said... carefull. Better for him to escape than for us to walk into his trap." Rantic follows Berz and looks through the portcullis to see if he can still see the Robed One, and sees if there's a lever or chain or so on this side. "Anyone that can track... on stone floor?" "No that isn't a stupid question, lots of Drow trackers exist... Unfortunately... Well, for them, in the end! Remind me to tell you all how I escaped the Underdark later."
Torma joins the others and gets closer to the floor to inspects the marks in the dust ( tracking (survival) +9 ) " Hort, can you search around for traps meanwhile ?"
The portcullis is very easy to lift, and is on some kind of track that holds it up. There are no obvious traps, and nothing happens when it is lifted. Rantic can see the southern door swinging closed. There are not any tracks to follow. (There seems to be a problem uploading the map, so the room you see is 25'x15', long side running north/south. The portcullis is in the south east corner, and there are 2 doors in the west wall, one opposite the portcullis, and the other in the middle of the wall.)
"Southern door!" [Southern door? I am guessing that's the door opposite the portcullis that I saw swing shut? (((I saw swing shut, say that as fast as you can ten times... horror!)))]
(It is the door opposite the portcullis. DM control time!) Hort rushes forward and checks the door for traps while everyone hangs back a little. As soon as S/He gives the thumbs up, Berz bursts into the room, with everyone right behind him. You all arrive just in time to see the person, who you can see is a man wearing a grey robe, snap a twig and disappear in a puff of smoke. You look around, and see someone else standing in a doorway.
The young man, about 5' 5", rather buff, and decked out in plate mail, looks relieved to see regular people (as regular as stuff in this dungeon gets anyway). He quickly pushes his mid-length brown hair out of his face, revealing his chilling blue eyes. "Finally, normal people! My name is Danton Swift. I'm from the temple of Inconsequentia, here to check on the shrines to Her Magnificence." He pauses, realizing that the dark-skinned male asked him a question. "I'm afraid I know little about the man whom just disappeared. I did, however, meet a man with the same symbol on his garb a couple rooms back. He told me that someone would be needing my assistance as a priest and gave me directions to this room." He continues hopefully, "Perhaps you four are those he spoke of?"
"Howdy there Mr. Swift! You seem pretty nice and you're not trying to kill me so we can be friends!" Hort extends his arm out towards Danton. "We could definitely use help from someone like you. Mr. Berz over here took a nasty hit from a scary giant a few rooms back." Hort pauses a moment in realization. "I haven't even introduced myself yet, I'm Hort!" Hort strikes a pose. "I disable traps and shoot things in the head! This is our rag tag group of cave explorers." Hort gestures over to everyone else. "We're on our way down to try to escape and make some money along the way. It would be great if you joined us! The more the merrier and all that yeah?" Hort puts on a big smile.
" The more the bloodier, I'd rather say. This place is filled with vermin and I guess we could get some help in exterminating it." Torma briefly salutes Danton " I am Torma. I throw things at people and then I beat them up to a pulp when they come too close." Taking a step back to let someone else introduce himself, he mumbles for no one in particular. "Is this hole some kind of popular touristic attraction ? Never thought it'd be such a social dungeon..."
"Yeah." Berz eyeballs Danton suspiciously. "We already replaced the guy that got lost in the symbol maze. Are we sure we want to split the loot another way again?" Berz looks carefully at Danton for his reply.
[sense motive on his answer about the grey robed guy, +4] Rantic crosses his arms in front of his chest. "Hmmm, I am suspicious. Who was this other person who sent you here? Why did you trust that person? Why did you listen? What was the symbol? Does the symbol mean anything to you? Did the man who vanished seem threatening, scared, or calm and in control? How did you react to him? Why didn't you attack him?" [Sense motive +4 on all answers]
@Hort: Danton shakes Hort's hand, assuming it's still being offered. "Good to meet you too, Hort." @Torma: Danton salutes Torma back. "Yours is a simple role, but a necessary one." Danton realizes that might have sounded condescending, and apologizes. @Berz: Danton seems slightly annoyed, but continues in a friendly tone: "I don't want to be too greedy. I do, however, think my abilities will be worth the loss of some of your loot." Apologetically: "Not to brag, of course." @Godwin: Danton takes a moment to process all the questions. "I have no idea who the man was, but he mentioned that he made creations of some kind. I listened because... actually, I'm not sure why. Probably because I loved the thought of meeting normal people. That symbol was significant because the man I met had no eyes, he gave them to one of the creations I mentioned earlier. I've never seen the symbol before. The man seemed calm, as if he'd expected me. I tried to be friendly because I couldn't see he had no eyes until I talked to him. I didn't attack because he seemed fairly powerful." Danton seems annoyed by the distrust.
Torma smiles " Don't worry, I can do more things. I just reduced it to the currently most relevant part." " So that man you met actually lives in this area ? And creates... creatures ? I think I'd have beaten him to a pulp."
"It seems he does live here. When greeting him, I described the dungeon as dank, and he said that he found it comforting."
