Right. So lets get the new spells all listed up. Less anti-undead than I remember, but:
Domain Powers: Freedom of movement up to 10 rounds/day, +1 caster level on healing spells
Spells:
0- Create water, Detect Magic (3), Guidance, Read Magic
1- (Cure Light), Detect Evil (2), Bless (2)
2- (Cure Moderate) Align Weapon, Sound Burst, Spiritual Weapon, Summon II, Remove Paralysis
3- (Fly) Summon III (2), Searing Light, Dispel Magic
4- (Dimension Door) Dismissal, Giant Vermin, Restoration
5- (Cure Light, Mass) Summon V, True Seeing

1- Ray of Enfeeblement (2), Feather Fall, Magic Missile Mage Armor
2- Darkvision, Knock, False Life, Mirror Image, Glitterdust
3- Slow, Blink, Fireball, Magic Circle v.Evil
4- Invis-Greater, Dimension Door, Black Tentacles, Dimensional Anchor
5- Extended Stoneskin, Hold Monster

Let me know when you're ready to enter the cave.  Specifically, tell me what preparations you make in advance.  This includes spells cast, equipment in hand, marching order, and what each person is doing while they explore.

Was just waitin' on you.

Huh. I just read the whole entrence description. Not too shabby, DeadDM. I've had worse GMs so far...

If I'm understanding the description clearly, there is a cave mouth, and inside the cave mouth (like an alcove) is the tableaux described (collapsed doors, bodies, blood pool, etc), with.. the bodies and blood etc all inside the doorway, which is inside the cave?

Is that correct?

Meanwhile,  Ambrose is going to buff up with Mage Armor, False Life and Stoneskin, reserving Darkvision for once we've seen how dark the cave is.

Gareth will move up stealthily (Move Silently) while keeping an eye out for traps.  He will do this from the side (if it matters, call it the left side) of the Cave mouth, so his approach is as unobservable as possible.  When he gets there, still checking for traps, he will peek around the corner for a closer view of the interior.

The rest of the party will remain 30 feet behind him (charge range to someone meleeing Gareth for Dag), with the spell casters standing behind Dag, more or less side by side.

Gareth will have rope and a grappling hook from the party 'kit' with him, as well as his own stuff (theives tools, etc).

While Gareth is moving up to the cave mouth, Dag will have his flail ready (with a bag over the head to hide the glow. Assuming that a magic flail is still a dangerous weapon when 'bagged' of course...)

Jurgen will be concentrating with his Medallion of Thoughts, making sure the arc of it covers the cave mouth, and slowly sweeping it inward. (EDIT::: I am aware that 1-foot of stone blocks it, but Jurgen doesn't know how thick the walls are, and it would reveal people behind illusions, murder holes and so forth)

Ambrose just looks bored, and maybe stupid.

Gareth approaches the cave entrance from the side.  He quickly detects a simple alarm spell, and disables it, allowing the rest of the party to follow him into the tomb.  

The entrance turns out to be a stair landing, descending without railings or support to a chamber twenty feet wide.  A hallway leads off of the room.  A door to the right or left can be seen, both closed, about twenty feet ahead.  At the end of Gareth's darvkvision is an intersection.  

All is still and quiet, but for the echoing sound of dripping water from deep within the tomb.  The air is chill - far colder than one would expect even in a cave deep below ground.  

The chamber and walls appear to be carefully dressed stone.  Even with the passage of centuries, no roots have broken through, and no cracking or stresses are revealed to his dwarven senses.  The walls, floor, and ceiling look as well crafted as they must have on the day they were laid.

You got ahead of me, chief!

I was gonna just grapple out those bodies, do some solid investigative shit, then move on...

... but since I didn't just die, we'll gloss all that.

What does investigating the bodies get me?  Any relevant knowledge checks or just plain observation over what killed them?

Does it look like there is magic keeping the blood from flowing outwards?

Also: I don't wipe my feet.  yes, yes, some villians are clever enough to make the 'key' to their traps politeness... screw'em!

A quick investigation of the body reveals that they were killed and then moved into position at the entrance of the tomb.  The bodies were fresh enough that some blood dripped to the floor, but not enough to flow over the flagstones.

The bodies are a little torn, but they most likely cause of death is a stab wound, like from a rapier or a scorpion.  The flesh around the wound is red and angry, even in death, indicating poison.

How wide are the stairs and hallways we can see?

The stairs are 5ft wide. The hallway is 10ft wide. The two doors he mentioned are 5ft wide doors.

Ok, lemmee see if I got the pertinents here:

Cave entrance leads to 5 foot wide stairs to a chamber (20 feet) with a 10' hallway... going straight ahead (in line with stairs?), and doors on either wall, all visible from the top of the stairs.  I'm guessing the stairs are short?

Or are the doors in the hallway past the chamber but before the t-intersection (which must be within 60ft?)

Obviously it is dark enough for Ambrose to require Darkvision down the stairs, or at least soon after?  If so, he'll go ahead and cast it on himself.

If the stairwell is 10 feet long or less, Gareth will just sneak his way down, checking for traps. Jurgen will keep using the medallion of thoughts while Dag stays at the top of the stairs in case Gareth needs him.

NO ONE ENTERS THE CHAMBER AT THIS TIME!

Sorry, last time I snuck up to a doorway you had everyone stroll on it like it was a picnic.

If the stairs are longer, Gareth will tie a rope around his waist, with Dag ready to pull him up if the stairs do that whole 'sliding trap' bullshit (damn cartoons for convincing GMs that was a good idea!),  He will go about half way down before stopping.  He is very interested in traps on the stairs, secret doors in the walls and, of course, anything breathinig in the room below him.

Dag will not let Gareth get more than 30 feet ahead of him at this time, for reasons already explained.

You can't see the intersection at all if you are still up the stairs. deadDM had your Rogue go down the stairs before.

I can't speak to much else, (well I could) but I can assure you that it is quite dark past the initial chamber, Darkvision or light source needed.

If you are at the top of the stairs you can see the two doors in the hallway, but not the intersection.

If he wants me to tell him what I'm doing, he seriously needs to stop having my guys moving forward faster than I have them.  

If people want to speed this up in general I have no problem with that. Put him in random hallway x with door y or whatever, but I keep getting the sneaking suspicion that, at the rate we're going, I'm going to be in a room and suddenly I'm in the next room over getting my face eaten off without actually having entered the room in question!

People want me to approach this like a real dungeon?  That is exactly what I'm doing.  I'm treating it like a dungeon with a killer GM.

Heck. I'm being positively glib, practically lackidasical for a killer GM. No ten foot poles, no firebombing rooms before entry... nothin'.  

Which makes the fact that I always seem to be ten or twenty feet farther forward than I moved very, very annoying.  I DID NOT enter the cave, teh GM did that. I DID NOT move down the stairs until I said so, but apparently I've learned information that couldn't have been seen unless I did.

Gareth (only) makes his way down the stairs, checking for traps.  When he reaches the bottom of the stairs he can make out the intersection (at the edge of his vision) in line with the stairs.  The light from the noon sun only illuminates the entrance and the top of the stairs.  By the time he reaches the bottom of the stairs he is in full darkness.

Once again he is struck by the chill.  

OOC - You're not going to end up having your face eaten off without a chance to react.  Worst case, Kaelik will get a surprise round before we roll for initiative.

At this point full darkness shouldn't matter.

I'm not sure if I'm not making spot/listen checks or if you're making them in secret. However, due to the nature and purpose of this (thunderdome) I'll suggest that all pertinent rolls be in the open.

Its not like i can metagame and go 'a ha! There be a bone devil here, I know 'cause the GM asked for a listen check!"



I mean, I already KNOW there is a bone devil, and that at some point its gonna try to eat me, probably from surprise. the mechanics of surprise checks are easily as important as anything else, so the real question becomes if anything I do prior to that might alert me to presence of said bone devil.

Since we pretty much have my creep-n-check pattern established, I am cool with just jumping to 'the end' in the name of speeding this up a bit.

Like I've been establishing: Gareth does his sneaky pete thing which checking pretty much everything, party waits just at support distance. If you need a good 'order, gareth, dag, hmm.... ambrose and jurgen, though if the hall gets  to 10' then jurgen and ambrose parallel.  Figure whomever is behind Dag is a good five to ten feet back on average, and gareth sticks to about 20-30 feet ahead. He's point so he'll wave up Dag if necessary.


Given the slow advance of the point man, this leaves lots of time for Jurgen to sweep ahead with the Medallion of Thoughts.

For a room like this?

Gareth would obviously scan the full room from the doorway, calling up the rest of the party. Dag and Gareth would enter, breakign right and left around the walls while Jurgen holds the entry doorway.  If something about the room feels off, or even on general principle, its toss some gravel in and see what happens. Since this room has only one other exit, once Gareth sweeps his side and Dag meets him on the other corner they can cover the new entryway while Jurgen and Ambrose cross the room one at a time.

Continue for the hallway (with doors in midhall? If I'm wrong then they are still 'clearing' the room, with Jurgen and Ambrose in the stairwell...):

Gareth will clear to just past the doors. Then he'll check both doors for traps and locks (not unlocking, just verifying they ARE in fact locked), then will carefully listen at both doors, taking his time. (keyhole peek?)

Dag and party would be back a ways to avoid being loud and obvious.

Gareth would unlock 1 door, slowly (stealthily?) open it and look inside. Provided it looks both 'clear' and a dead end (no other exits), he and Dag will clear the room as they did the main room, checking for traps and secret doors, and investigating any objects (quiz me for security precautions on that if it is relevant to thunderdome) while Jurgen moves up to support near (not in, not at) the door.

ONLY once the room is secure, they'd repeat the proceedure on the next door/room.

Once clear, or (in this particular case, if there is another 'open ended' exit from either room, since they have the t-section to clear still)' they'll secure those doors, re-lock them and wedge them shut if possible with the extra pitons before moving on.




I think that should be an adequetly detailed depiction of their general route through the dungeon.  Obviously, any found traps, or unidentified noises will cause appropriate actions to be taken.  Any fully cleared areas will get chalked, so the party won't waste time later.  I'd probably lay down some simple traps behind us, to catch creepers unaware, but, again, glib and lackidasical.  Trap laying materials are poorly covered in core, as its assumed you'll be beating traps, not making them....

I'm fine with open rolls.  I'm also fine if you want to roll them.  You can feel free to roll Search Checks, Open Lock checks, Disable Device checks - whatever you want, and if they're applicable, I can apply them.  However, this is Thunderdome.  Most of the time they won't be necessary.    

If there is something to be found, I'll definitely call for a roll.  You can metagame a little when I don't call for a roll.

The Tomb

The party carefully investigates the entryway, and makes their way cautiously down the hallway.  They travel through inky darkness, but each possesses the ability to see.  Reaching the point in the hall with the two doors, they quickly realize that the one on the left is a cell.  A wrought iron door stands slightly ajar.  The cell is empty except for some bedding piled in a corner and a chamber pot nearly overflowing with waste.  The smell is overwhelming in the confined space, but otherwise perfectly safe.  A thorough search of the room reveals nothing - this must be where Eileen escaped from.

The opposite door is closed, but was not locked.  It is much smaller than the cell, and within lies a grisly discovery.  Sir Gerald d'Belmont and his retainers are hung from the ceiling suspended by their own intestines, torn from their bellies and wrapped around their arms and necks.  It looks like you're behind the stage of some grisly marionette production.  

No thoughts have been detected during the sweep through the area, nor do any sounds or sights reveal the presence of the horror that wrought such devastation.  

From this point, the party can see that the hallway continues to a four-way intersection deeper into the tomb.  Each side passage is also ten-feet wide.  Further beyond is another intersection, those passages only five-feet wide.  The main passage, still running straight from the steps continues beyond that as well, beyond the range of your vision.

And as long as we're talking about rolls, let's get a Spot/Listen from everyone (including Kaelik).  Feel free to post them here where everyone can see them.