Bands of Power - Game thread

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Skelly

Dhakhan Inactive for 19 days

Dec 30, 2025 8:03 am
Skelly
The sole remaining creature continues it's assualt on Lattremond as it's burning red eyes shine with antipathy for the living.

Thankfully the creatures lack any real skill in combat or sense of self preservation and Lattremond deftly blocks the attack with little effort.

Encircled and focused solely on the blotting out the light within you, the last skeleton is no match for the combined blows of the party. You quickly render the last skeleton into a pile of broken bones. As the last hollow clatter fades, you find yourself standing in your circle of light with the only remaining sound being your heavy breathing as you catch your breath.

Okay, I figure no need to go through another round. The skeletons were rolling terribly and you wouldn't have killed it for sure next round.

You have stopped for a moment to recover at the top of the stairs. Everyone is just in the room except Elspaeth who remains about 5 feed down the steps.

Berith's torch casts flickering amber light across the walls of the room and now that your focus isn't on staying alive you can see that it is approximately 40' across the long end from the double doors to the far wall, and about 30' from the stairs to the the hallway entrace across from it. Dotting the wall opposite the doors, you see four alcoves and each appears to have some kind of bolt thrower or crossbow visible sticking out. The two farthest, and the closest appear to be loaded and ready to fire. The one that obviously fired at Borgo earlier is also loaded, but the bow arm doesn't appear to be cranked back, but as you see these things, you think you can hear a slow, soft and repetative clicking noise coming from the direction of that crossbow trap. You all presume that stepping in front of the loaded and ready crossbows would be dangerous.

The crossbows themselves seem to be mounted about 6" above waist height for a human.

You also notice something different about the ceiling of this room, there is a square hole in the ceiling, perhaps 10' on a side. Your torch light doesn't carry up the full height of the opening, but you can see the hole goes up at least 20' past the ceiling. Borgo immediately, thinks that if someone had fallen down from somewhere above, they would have found themselves in a very bad situation, assuming the fall didn't kill them outright.

https://i.imgur.com/xKnwCk9.jpeg

Okay! You survived the skeletons! You are in a room that is plainly trapped with crossbows. You see two immediate exits to this room. What do you do!? You can reach and interact with both of the doors without passing in front of a crossbow. You cannot just walk to the hallway without passing in front of one.


Light Sources:
Berith - Torch (8)

Initiative Order:
Borgo 1/3HP
Thak 3/7HP
Lattremond 4/5HP
BerIth 4/10HP
Elspeath 6/6HP

Rolls

Last Skellie at Lattremond - (1d20+1)

(8) + 1 = 9

Boney Claws - (1d4)

(2) = 2

Jan 2, 2026 3:59 am
"Should we keep it straightforward and try the doors?" Berith asks her fellow adventurers. She walks to the doors and gives them a cursory inspection looking for anything that is obviously a trap.
OOC:
She'll look at the doors and the surrounding dwarven figures but she's not great in any skills that might help look for traps.
Jan 2, 2026 8:12 am
Taking car to stay past the northern edge of the doors, Berith uses the torch to perform a cursory inspection of the doors, returning the far side of the room to darkness. The walls on either side of the door hold mounted brass lamps with glass reservoirs. They could be removed but you can see they are empty, have long ago expended themselves.

The doors are very large, about 5' wide and 10' tall and made of stone like the ones in the main room though the small "normal" sized ring pulls make you think these will not be so ponderous to open. Each is adorned with the same geometric patterning you have grown used to seeing in this place. The Dwarven figures are are robed, with the figure on the left holding a book in one arm. The other figure holds a blacksmith's hammer cradled in it's arm.

The faint clicking continues ominously.

Berith doesn't see anything immediately alarming. Is there something in particular she's looking for?
Jan 2, 2026 12:47 pm
"Berith, wa…" the wounded goblin exclaims, as his companion heads to the doors. The goblin is surprised and relieved to see that no bolt is cast from the far side of the chamber. Borgo’s is persuaded that the mounted crossbow that struck him is currently reloading, so he is quite concerned. Since he can no longer see the crossbows and their niches, he assesses the situation basing himself only on his memory and pain.
OOC:
Does it look like these bolt throwers can pivot downwards enough to shoot at someone who is crawling? If he is certain that is not the case, he might try to deactivate the resetting trap before anything else…
Jan 2, 2026 3:55 pm
Thak hears the clicking and hurriedly moves towards the closest bolt thrower and attempts to smash it.
OOC:
I assume an attack? If you need something else, let me know.

I hit enter before I added the +2 to my damage, but it looks like it probably won't matter.
Last edited January 2, 2026 3:55 pm

Rolls

Greatsword Attack - (1d20+4)

(2) + 4 = 6

Greatsword Damage - (1d12)

(1) = 1

Jan 3, 2026 2:39 am
matmaisan says:
OOC:
….point downwards enough to shoot at someone who is crawling? If he is certain that is not the case, he might try to deactivate the resetting trap before anything else…
Your personal knowledge of such things is small but, you don’t think so. While you didn’t conduct an intimate study, danger does focus one’s attention. The one that had fired at you didn’t seem to move as the party milled about after putting down the skeletons.

Given that the others haven’t pinioned you to the wall, it suggests they are fixed and are probably triggered by something passing in front of them.
Jan 3, 2026 2:58 am
dante_dark says:
Thak hears the clicking and hurriedly moves towards the closest bolt thrower and attempts to smash it.
Thak, still breathing heavily from the melee and working his grip on the hilt of his sword casts his gaze about the room and down the far hall looking for more foes. The faint clicking seems to agitate him, and he suddenly charges with sword held high to smash the bolt thrower in the recess to the right of the stairs. But his charge slows as Berith brings the torch away and casts the area into darkness.

Thak can continue his charge into the dark to have a swing at the obscured bolt thrower or halt his charge and wait for more light or to do something else?

He’s about 10’ away from the bolt thrower just to the right of the stairs. I’m presuming he’s approximately in the path of the bolt thrower across from the doors that stuck Borgo earlier. The maddening clicks continue, but Thak knows it can’t be much longer before the string is knocked.

Lattremond

Dhakhan Inactive for 19 days

Jan 3, 2026 4:09 am
Lattremond
Lattremond moves closer to the doors to stand guard near Berith. He’s careful to stay inside the width of the doors where neither of the far bolt throwers seemed to be aligned.

Pointing to the shattered bolt laying splintered on the ground to the left of the door. "Careful, all of you."
Jan 3, 2026 8:25 pm
The darkness grows before Thak and gooseflesh rises upon is skin. Want to stop the clicking. He swings his head left and right, squinting into the dark. But maybe shouldn't run into the darkness.

Thak turns back and walks to Lattremond. "Stand behind me, friend. I'll open the door." Thak presses against the great doors and heaves.
Jan 5, 2026 1:56 am
Thak steps between Berith and Lattremond and pushes again the right hand door. The stone door opens easily enough, it's weight deftly balanced by some Dwarven craft. Berith, standing behind the left door, holds her torch out and above his head to more fully illuminate the room beyond.

Thak, and Lattremond behind him can see a much smaller room, about 20' wide and 25' long. Small crates, and barrels line the side walls, and rotted tapestries have fallen from thier moutings to cover some with rotting cloth scraps. There are a few more empty oil lamps along the walls here as well. At the far end of the room against the back wall are two large iron bound chests.

After a brief moment, the party hear a soft "clack" and the faint clicking does not resume.

https://i.imgur.com/MFY4flg.jpeg
Jan 5, 2026 2:29 pm
Borgo joined the others at the large double doors, constantly looking back at the darkness and imagining those awful crossbows silently taking aim. He shuddered at the memory of the bolt that pierced his flesh, but tried to focus on what lay ahead.

From where he stood at the doorway, Borgo looked at these tapestry-scraps with a measure of suspicion. Could he notice if these were mold-covered lumps of old textile matter, or did they look like dry, easily combustible material. The goblin had a preference for burning it, if possible, though he was obviously concerned with the risk that the smoke might intoxicate him and his comrades.
OOC:
Borgo, who is hanging by a thread (at 1hp), doesn't want to take any risks in this new room. If he could safely set fire to these tapestries, he would like to do that. If these are moldy masses on the floor, Borgo will avoid them most deliberately.
Jan 5, 2026 11:35 pm
Thak pokes the tapestries with his sword.
Jan 6, 2026 3:48 am
The warror walks into the room and moves to his right. The colors of the jumbled and deteriated material are muted and faded with time. As he pokes at some of the mouldering fabric with the point of his sword, the blade meets little resistance, passing through the fabric to jostle the small barrel beneath. The structure of the dry scraps collapses with the slightest touch. The pieces crumble on top of the small barrel and nearby boxes and onto the floor as well. The colors of the jumbled and deteriated material are muted and faded with time.

The small collapse does release some dust and fabric particles into the air, but Thak can hardly smell anything over the acrid stench that already fills everyone's nostrils. Perhaps an added faint slight mustiness.


As Thak opened that right hand door (facing into the room), some of the things are now behind the door as it's about 5' wide. The items and look similar all along the length of the wall.

As far as Thak can tell, the tepestry material is just very old, fragile and desicated.
Jan 7, 2026 2:57 am
As always, Elspaeth keep watch of their blind side with crossbow at the ready.
Jan 7, 2026 3:27 am
Berith sees Borgo moving slowly after taking the arrow and lightly puts her hand on his shoulder. "Do you need to take a few minutes and tend to your wound Borgo? You can stand off to the stand inside the door while we look around."

Berith moves forward toward the chests and stops in front of both of them. She looks at them carefully but doesn't touch them yet.
OOC:
Do the chests look exactly the same? Do they have a lock on them?
Jan 7, 2026 8:53 am
"Not sure I can tend to my own wound, nasty bolt hit me good," he groaned with the last words.

Now that Thak has poked the fallen tapestries without adverse effects, Borgo feels a bit safer, and follows Berith towards the chests, the drive for accumulation of wealth slightly overriding the instinct for self-preservation. He too, examines the chests silently from a distance. He takes the time to examine the ground walls and ceiling around the chests as well, considering there might be other traps focused on preserving the contents of these chests.
OOC:
I actually do not know if Borgo can heal himself. If he can, he'll tale the time to do shortly. But first, examine these chests, lookingg at first for signs of traps or complications.
Jan 7, 2026 9:41 am
Berith carries the torch further into the room, as you walk towards the two chests....
OOC:
BlackCatWhimsy, can you roll TWO Dex check for Berith? The first will be against DC12, the second DC15. Matmaisan, can you please give me one for Borgo as well? DC12
Jan 7, 2026 11:41 am
Borgo thought he moved cautiously, he was actually quite confident about his stride.
Last edited January 7, 2026 11:42 am

Rolls

DEX check - (1d20+2)

(16) + 2 = 18

Jan 7, 2026 11:07 pm
i forgot to address the question of Borgo being able to use his medical kit on himself. Yes, he can when you have time to stop and sit for a bit.
Jan 8, 2026 2:50 am
OOC:
I'm not feeling confident about these rolls, hopefully Ord's favor smiles upon Berith
OOC:
Ord's favor definitely did not smile upon Berith
Last edited January 8, 2026 2:50 am

Rolls

1st DEX check - (1d20-1)

(11) - 1 = 10

2nd DEX check - (1d20-1)

(3) - 1 = 2

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