Duucxejial shrugs. "If the dwarves can afford to spend something like this on a mere prisoner's chain, then you are currently a liability we cannot afford, dead or alive. If we had access to a cleric––or you possessed some other means with which to justify your continued existence––perhaps we could do this differently, but as it stands…"
The dragonspeaker intends to slay the dwarf, then take the corpse with us to prevent it from being interrogated via a Speak with Dead effect, resurrected and tortured, etc. To cover our tracks, he intends to use his breath to remove any traces left here and erase the corpse later. (The stone should be completely unscathed from such actions after all.) The secret passage will do for the latter, but he'd prefer to do it further away from the area.
Beyond that, Duucxejial intends to exile the final golem, then search the other room, murmuring an elegy as he does.
~~~
OOC: If the dwarves have the leeway to spend metal and stone that's functionally beyond hexproof and indestructible on a mere prisoner's chain, then how, exactly, is the campaign happening the way it is? They have access to functionally invincible weapons, armor and more, so at the very least we should be unable to defeat them, let alone do what we've done so far.
OOC: Maybe the dwarfs dont want invincible golems that could easily kill all the dwarfs if programmed wrong. Maybe they have those superweapons and armor, but since its so powerful these items are only given to special dwarfes. Or maybe this special magic works only in dwarfen strongholds and with things connected to the stone foundation of the stronghold. Maybe their magic is really strange so that only a dwarf can understand why things are as they are. Or maybe the dungeonmaster just doesnt like it if everything is completely logical xD
You destroy the last Golem and then ...
A. - We are sorry, but we have to make sure you dont tell the dwarfes about us. (Kill the Gnome and take the body with you.)
B. - Ok, we will beat you up and you tell the dwarfes a group of thiefes was here to steal from the dwarfes. And when you tried to stop them the thiefes almost killed you.
C. - We dont kill innocents. Even if its bad for us.
@FireOfGolden Duucxejial and the gnome both already tried that.
@LvB I hope you understand that it's difficult to run a campaign under the premise that the GM can break the rules (or any semblance thereof) at any time. For example, it kills any tension/investment because the players can reasonably give up and expect an incoming deus ex machina the moment they're put in a tough spot, while they also can't expect to accomplish anything meaningful when their opponents can have a similar development at the GM's whim.
Yeah i understand that, but the dwarfes are also really good at smithing and forging things. Maybe a dwarfen mastersmith made this chain and he was of a really high level so the problem is that the adventurers level is too low and the adventurers magical abilities are not strong enough. Sometimes not everything that the adventurers try will work. Could also be that your destroy / exile artifacts spell doesnt work cause the chain isnt an artifact but something else. After all, this is a mysterious world full of wonders, and the adventurers arent all-knowing so sometimes it will remain a mystery why something works or doesnt work especially when theres a lot of possible explanations, but you just dont know which one is the right one.
@smax765 that wouldn't prevent Offer to the Ancients from working, but that is neither here nor there at this point. What does Rarg think about the situation?
Whatever skills or magics was used to create that chain is beyond your understanding. You dont know enough about dwarfen craftsmanship or magic to say how it was created, how it works or how it could be destroyed. This is a good example why Dwarfen craftsmanship and smithing skills are often called the best in the world. Probably only a dwarf would be able to fully understand that, and even then it had to be a master runesmith.
As your efforts to free the Gnome dont work and time is ticking, the Gnome sighs: "I told you. Thanks for trying anyway. But you must go before a dwarfen group appears. If a dwarf sees that golem-massacre here, he will call in reinforcements and then every dwarf and golem from the barracks will come here and we will all die. But i have an idea. You could lock me into this room. When the dwarfes show up and the door wont open, they will be busy for some time. And this will buy you some time."
The other room contains a workbench and tools and parts for golem repair and maintenance. They are all very small and obviously made for gnomes. What exactly the Gnome was doing here you cant say cause you dont knowm enough about golems.
Theres also a book with complicated looking math like equations, technical drawings of mechanics and a lot of formulas you dont understand. On the walls are shelfes with parts, nails, screws, metall plates, crystals in diffrent size, joints and stuff like that.
@FireOfGolden pls say what Wenkman votes for and what the party should do with the Gnome.
One wants to kill the gnome, one wants to spare them, and the other two prefer not killing them, therefore it's currently 3-1 in favor of sparing the gnome, no?
Wenkman's "I am not a murderer" implies a preference toward sparing the gnome, while they have also declared ambivalence toward the act if the party decides to kill them.
Similarly, Raulus's "I do not kill needlessly" implies a preference to sparing the gnome, though Raulus does not trust them.
And so you decide to let the poor Gnome live. You lock him into his room and then move on towards the stairs that lead down.
As you arrive on floor number 4, the one you found out, is the "prison" floor, the first thing you see is a warning sign on the wall opposite to the stairs.
In the east there is a door and on the west, much to your surprise there is a map hanging on the wall.
Why would someone hang a map on a wall in a prison area. But as you look at it, you see it. This prison has only one entrance/exit and thats where you came from. And prisoners who try to escape would have to go through the officiers floor and then through the barracks floor if they dont know the secret way into this keep.
The door in the east is closed but it has a little slideable window you could look through.
"A prison? It may be easy to get in, but I doubt we would get out easily. It would be unwise to break into the prison. Let's move to different room." Wenkman said.
"I don't recall any of us voicing a desire to come down here in the first place. Let's head back and open the second vault." Duucxejial takes the map, then duplicates the warning sign on the back of it, as the information may prove useful to others.
You go back to floor number 2 and from there back to floor number 3. As it seems, so far, no one has detected what has happened here, yet. Seems like the regular Guards or Soldiers that are on floor number 1 dont come down here that often.
As you arrive at the second vault of the storage floor, you try the other key you found and indeed, it unlocks the door to a storage room. In the middle of the room is a table with a book on it which seems to contain all the weapons stored in this room.
On the walls are shelfes and chests and boxes and barrels and all are filled with weapons. Real weapons, not just farming tools and stuff like that. The room is lit by some torches that are hanging on the walls. Beside that, the room is empty.
As you look closer and look in the book, you see that your weapons are not stored here.
New Quest: Arms Race!
Arm yourself!
Create up to two uncommon one-handed weapons (one for mainhand, one for off-hand) or create a uncommon two-handed weapon for your character to equip.
Main Hand weapons must have: +2/+2 and an ability that requires tapping your character.
Off-Hand Weapons must have: +1/+1 and an ability that requires spending mana but can only be used once a turn.
Two-Handed weapons must have: +3/+3 and an ability that requires tapping your character and a passive ability.
Since there are so many weapons here you can design any type of weapon you want.
I have a couple questions about the current quest:
Does this room contain our original weapons?
Are we allowed to have additional text on the new weapons (e.g. a main-hand with a static ability), or can they only have the text specified under your type restrictions (i.e. +N/+N and a specific form of activated/triggered ability)?
Comments
The dragonspeaker intends to slay the dwarf, then take the corpse with us to prevent it from being interrogated via a Speak with Dead effect, resurrected and tortured, etc. To cover our tracks, he intends to use his breath to remove any traces left here and erase the corpse later. (The stone should be completely unscathed from such actions after all.) The secret passage will do for the latter, but he'd prefer to do it further away from the area.
Beyond that, Duucxejial intends to exile the final golem, then search the other room, murmuring an elegy as he does.
~~~
OOC: If the dwarves have the leeway to spend metal and stone that's functionally beyond hexproof and indestructible on a mere prisoner's chain, then how, exactly, is the campaign happening the way it is? They have access to functionally invincible weapons, armor and more, so at the very least we should be unable to defeat them, let alone do what we've done so far.
~~~
@FireOfGolden Duucxejial and the gnome both already tried that.
@LvB I hope you understand that it's difficult to run a campaign under the premise that the GM can break the rules (or any semblance thereof) at any time. For example, it kills any tension/investment because the players can reasonably give up and expect an incoming deus ex machina the moment they're put in a tough spot, while they also can't expect to accomplish anything meaningful when their opponents can have a similar development at the GM's whim.
"…you see that the Gnome is wearing a metall collar around his neck that has a metall chain attached to it…"
And Rarg obviously votes for option C.
(Wenkman will allow the party to kill Gnome if necessary, he won't be part of it.)
(Retracted, will remake.)
-----------------
@LvB
Raulus voices his opinion "Hmmm. I do not kill needlessly, but how can we be sure to trust this one?"
Also, Raulus will attempt to study ancient draconic magic more.
Similarly, Raulus's "I do not kill needlessly" implies a preference to sparing the gnome, though Raulus does not trust them.