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[Dungeon World] Glamjin’s Tower of Glory
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Everything here is magical. No amount of training could have prepared you for this place. In your own world detecting magic is a matter of finding where processed immateria has been woven to the mundane (enchantment, to the uneducated) to produce an effect. Here, however, you’ll have to hone your senses to detect active magic as opposed to the general ambient magic that pervades the very air.
It’s a setback, but you’re none the worse for it.
She glances near, but not quite at Holly - "Anything happening?"
OOC: Should I ask the questions after the roll? Or should I prioritize questions? Sorry about that! Still picking up on how the system works!
You’re in a circular... somewhere, Pomme, that’s for sure. A small somewhere. Brickwork, common brick and mortar, like a house. There are two stone doors, one to the north, the other south.
There is a lever the same height as you in the middle of this new room, and Fleur is climbing on it quizzically.
The Little Lever Lounge
OOC: Don’t be sorry, that’s okay! Prioritising is a good idea. We’ll do that. Number your options and I’ll answer what your roll grants you. That’ll speed it up!
Bran, seeing Pomme disappear, waves his companions over to the light of his torch as he leads behind the pillar.
"Best not separate further, in case the magics of this place are intentionally attempting to break us up."
[Assuming this moves us into the same room]
Seeing the small lounge Bran hands his torch to Gisard, and begins to give the room a once-over.
Geth, roll 2d6+2 for TRAP EXPERT (DEX)
1 Is there a trap here and if so, what activates it?
2 What does the trap do when activate?
3 What else is hidden here?
Holly, you hear sudden noises behind you, like clattering stones and the scrapping of a mason’s tools. Ah... The passage has been walled up. You won’t be getting that last torch. You’re alone, and it is very, very dark indeed.
There are no traps in the circular room, Bran. The northern door is of the same design as the one in the previous room.
The southern door is similar, but has a perfectly round concave section in the middle of it, a foot wide and a few inches deep. Dead in the centre is a metal circle.
e: ah ok
The only things of note are the large lever and, perhaps, the doors.
Though not strictly your field, you’d say a mechanism such as this is of a modern design, which calls into question the age of this so called Tower of Glory.
[1 use of adventurer's pack]
Geth, roll 2d6 for Discern Realities
Wait, where's Holly?"
[From now on, everyone can assume I communicate the status of any traps to the party once I find them.]
That new wall is solid, and dry. There’s not much you can do about it. Besides that you don’t catch anything that anyone else hasn’t seen.
Gisard examines the southern door with the pit in it.
Geth, roll 2d6+1 for Discern Realities (WIS)
OOC:
Discern Realities
When you closely study a situation or person, roll+Wis.
✴On a 10+, ask the GM 3 questions from the list below.
✴On a 7–9, ask 1.
Either way, take +1 forward when acting on the answers.
What happened here recently?
What is about to happen?
What should I be on the lookout for?
What here is useful or valuable to me?
Who’s really in control here?
What here is not what it appears to be?
Since your roll is 8, ask me one question from the list.
What should I be on the lookout for? I guess
You’ll not find it in here though.
Noting Fleur's interest in the lever in the center of the room, Pomme warily walks up to inspect it closely.
"Does it smell dangerous Fleur?" (I realized I can add Fleur's stats to some of my rolls! Woo)
Geth, roll 2d6+3 for Discern Realities (WIS)
Fleur is perched at the very top and leans back, her wings wafting in a slow rhythm, as if trying to pull on it.
OOC: It’s cool, this is about the pace I expect. Especially when you’re DM is texting this from a bar.
Also I have decided the moth is the leader of the party.
"Well this lever is very suspicious but I don't see any alternate routes or clues this time, so let'sss just pull it."
He pulls the lever.
The room is being pulled upwards in horrible inch by inch jerks. The northern door was actually part of this elevator system, and is slowly being lost beneath the room, leaving an opening in its place. The southern door with the pit in it remains attached to the room.
When the room finally comes to rest you see a cavern ahead. Wind whips through it, warm and dusty.
The cave is covered in primitive art. I mean covered; whoever painted all these gazelles and bulls, lions and wolves knew a thing or two about climbing. Besides that a few simple, small clay figures are scattered about.
Some ways ahead is an attempt at a pyramid. It’s about ten foot high with a flat top. On it is an ornate statue of a... dog? You’ll need to get up to it to look it over. Doesn’t look like it was made by the primitive people.
The Fragment of Zagurah
Areas will cease to have one exit after this encounter. The gloves are off! Thanks for your time so far!
Bran sighs. Being pulled through an extradimensional portal is one thing; being matched with a group of strangers another. But moving rooms? Nothing messes with a thief's good sense of location more than when the environment itself doesn't cooperate.
At least it brought them somewhere interesting. One of the reasons Bran became a rogue was to discover and explore; though in actuality he meant to "explore" other people's domiciles and "discover" their valuables.
Ornate looking statues are almost always promising, though! But never without their own complications.
"Funny looking statues never guard themselves. Well, mostly never; there was that one time I ran across an animated guardian statue. Let me see if there's anything else here."
Geth, roll 2d6+2 for TRAP EXPERT (DEX)
[Is there a trap here, and if so what activates it?]
The simple clay figures give you a bad vibe. They’re not trapped exactly, but you don’t think taking one is a smart idea. Your keen eyes see marks in the dust, as if they’ve been moved recently along the ground.
As the little pyramid comes into view you get a better look at the statue.
Gisard, the statue has a metal orb under its paw. No matter how you tackle this situation, you have +1 to your next roll.
What do you do?
It's inconvenient being the only one without a light source, Gisard can barely see these fascinating paintings and statues in the flickering torchlight of his companions, let alone examine them properly. So he taps the butt of his staff on the floor and a steady blue-white light begins shining from its head. He then examines the clay figures, dog statue and cave paintings, seeing if he recognizes anything about them. He doesn't touch anything or attempt to climb the pyramid.
OOC: Can geth do more than one roll per post? I'm assuming not, do you want a roll for casting the light cantrip?
Geth, roll 2d6+3 for Spout Lore about the paintings and statues
Geth, roll 2d6+2 for Cast a Spell
The artwork indicates a simple hunter-gatherer lifestyle. However, there aren’t any images of people (lizard or otherwise), though there are small pictograms of the clay figures with lines of movement and jutting rocks near them. The positioning of the cave paintings shows the artists are capable of scaling walls.
Therefore the clay figures laying in the cave are the primitive people. The potential for grafting intellect onto conjured elementals has been much debated, and it appears on some distant world this occurred naturally. Earth elementals, to be precise.
You can’t get a good a read on the large dog statue on the pyramid... but as you cast Light, you go overboard. Your staff burns brilliantly, and several dancing wisps of blue and pink light wind around the cave. One lands on the dog statue’s ear. The ear twitches.
It clumsily places the metal orb in its mouth and takes a step forward down the pyramid.
“Treshpassers! Wa do you hwant?”, it growls through a full mouth.
OOC: The consequence of your low roll was merely to maximise your spell. In DW not every bad roll is a fail.
Bran clears his throat. "Esteemed guardian, we goodly travelers have been thrust into this tower against our will, and are simply looking for a means of escape. Can you aid us? It would seem, at face value, that the orb you hold may allow us egress."
Bran gives the statue a slight bow as he finishes his plea.
Hao-Gou prowls down the pyramid. One of his mighty paws nearly crushes a clay figure, but with surprising gentleness he cups it with a single claw, then moves it aside. Once he reaches the ground he sits back and gazes forward. There’s an emptiness to his eyes, as if looking through you.
OOC: Like this, but the head is larger, like the proportions of a buffalo.
Edit: I have no idea if that is photoshopped but look at that doggo!
I’d like to point out the clay figures aren’t moving. When Hao-Gou moved one it didn’t show any signs of life either.
So, what do you do?
Geth, roll 2d6+1 for Throw Down the Gauntlet
edit: lmao
Hao-Gou doesn’t so much pounce as become, moving so fast none of you can react. He misses though, landing just inches from you.
The shockwave sends you all flying! Pomme, you lose your torch as you fall back against a stalagmite.
Each one of you takes 4 piercing damage! That ignores your armour!
Hao-Gou snuffs your torch Pomme, then drops his huge head low, squinting at the rocky ground.
“A duel is a most lawful act, but I cannot accept.”, the beast lets out a whine, “This is not right... but if it must be this way, do not face me alone.”
Geth roll 1d4 for Shockwave
“I cannot give it to you... But why do you need it?”