(068) Trapdoors & Tripwires

[waysoftheearth]

[pp Halfling,leather,short sword,main gauche,9,12/12]Desmond/Mondes[/pp], [p Man,leather,short-sword,hand,12,7/7]Armando[/p], and [6 Woman,leather+helm,longbow,shield,12,5/5]Ashtad[/6] depart the ring room on their reconnaissance mission, marching through the dog-leg passages of the Basal, climbing the narrow, cylindrical stair single file (with a column of their fellows following behind them), and arriving in the disheveled chapel.

Judging from the daylight, it must be late afternoon outside. Where to now?

[ehiker133]

"Let's head down the hallway past the kitchen and infirmary to get to the front entrance. Nizzib is still out there, so everyone be on your toes and keep an extra set of eyes out, if you have them," Desmond chuckles to the other two as he makes his way to the northeastern door of the chapel.

| OOC: Since Ashtad is in the orange, maybe best to keep her between Desmond and Armando in the marching order, yah? |

If they make it to the entryway without incident, Desmond continues, "Ashtad, can you stand watch while Armando and I gather up supplies?"

Desmond will set about disassembling the traps, removing wire and pulleys from the crossbows. When one is done, he starts a pile of each - brass pulleys, coiled wire, crossbows, and bolts. He continues working with Armando until they are all done, leaving Armando to tackle the taller traps while Desmond works on the shorter ones.

[flightcommander]

Before carefully attending the crossbows, Armando glances around at the floor and the front entry, and stealthily peeks out — does he see anything suspicious?

[heartless]

Ashtad follows behind Desmond on the reconnaissance mission, trying not to stare at the second head but keep alert with bow and arrow in hand at the ready.
"You guys really know this place, I'm lost in here, and you seem to know the place like the back of your hand. How long have you been in here?", asks Ashtad.

OOC: When the elves spoke elven in the ring room did Ashtad understand it, or was it too difference to the elven tongue Serayenon she knows?

[waysoftheearth]

| Yes, Ashtad understands when the Elves speak Serayenon; even if their accent is smoother and more melodious than what she is accustomed to... |

The north-east door out of the chapel leads to an austere passage running inside the north-east outer wall of the abbey. It runs past a closed door, the north side of the infirmary, and the east side of the medical study, past a T intersection (which leads west-ish toward the library) before running into a passage heading south-ish that leads into the trapped lobby from the north-east.

Ashtad keeps watch nervously, while Desmond/Mondes immediately sets about dismantling the dozen or so crossbow traps--all of which he had previously triggered. Meanwhile, Armando takes a peak outside the heavy front door, which still hangs slightly ajar... there is little to see beyond a bleak, rocky wilderness in which nothing stirs besides a restless breeze. The afternoon is certainly drawing on, and soon dusk will come. The night will probably be cold up here in the hills, Armando muses...

[ehiker133]

Desmond takes note of the front door. "Bloody thing sitting there open for anyone or anything to come in. Best shut it and drop the bar, Armando. Gotta make sure and keep the riff-raff out," he says with a grin.

Once he's done sorting wire and pulleys and crossbows and bolts, he assesses their haul to see how much they have salvaged.

[flightcommander]

Armando reaches down to grab a small twig from just beyond the doorway, and then draws the door closed and bars it (assuming that can be done). The twig he stuffs into an inconspicuous gap near the floor, betwixt door and jamb, such that it will silently dislodged were someone to disturb the door.

He then sets about assisting Desmond with the remaining traps.

[ehiker133]

| There is a bar for the door, I'm about 95% sure. |

[waysoftheearth]

Very good. The door is closed, twig'd, and barred.

Then our pair of wily rogues dismantle the full array of crossbows, pulleys, wires, and weights. This activity takes some considerable time--all the while Ashtad stands a watch with an arrow ready on her bowstring.

Approximately half an hour later the full inventory is laid out neatly upon the floor; there are a dozen crossbows--being of some vintage- or foreign-make not commonly seen--and a dozen bolts to match; several dozen yards of wire; and a small collection of pulleys and wheels used to contrive the various traps. It's a heady armory.

It won't be long now before dusk and evening...

[ehiker133]

Desmond takes note of the variety of crossbows, wondering how the wolf priests came across the foreign ones. Maybe that information will be useful later...

"Let's gather up what we can, stack the rest in the corner, and head over to the dormitory and see how they've made out. I could use a good night's sleep..."

Desmond stows half the wire and pulleys/wheels in his pack, leaving the other half for Armando. Then he picks out a crossbow for himself - something lighter and smaller, if that is an option. If Armando wants a crossbow, as well, he waits for him to pick one before moving the rest of them against the wall opposite the door and then gathers up half the bolts. If Armando doesn't want a crossbow for himself, then Desmond takes all of the bolts.

Before he heads out, Desmond makes sure the crossbow string is cocked back and has a bolt loaded into place.

Once that is all done, he leads Armando and Ashtad to the dormitory, taking the passage west through Guntram's Breach to get into the courtyard, where they can easily make it to the double doors on the western wall. As they make their way to the dorms, Desmond explains to Ashtad that he did a bit of reconnaissance earlier, which is how he knows his way around so well. He quietly points out what little information he knows about each place - where Guntrum busted through the wall after eating a bean and growing as tall as a giant, where the werewolves slept, where the privy was with the silver cage dangling from a line, etc.