Chapter 10: Old Stone

"hrmm... Marin, what do you think this is?" Caedmon inquires as he unrolls the piece of paper and takes a glance at it in the torch light.

The paper is yellowed and brittle, and crumbles somewhat with Caedmon's attempts to open it up. The ink has begun to fade, but it's still largely readable: "Send reinforcements via sally port. Gnolls watch main gate. Three legions strong."

"By the Gods...we need to tell the Lieutenant inmediatly. This is going to be happening, probably soon. I'll bet my sword that... that night we killed at least part of that troops. How many do you think were there that night? Is there any date?" You dn't need to see Marin's face to know that she's worried and big time.

"Caedmon, take that message back to Corporal Alelip and report what we found, I'll check the last passage" It's not an order, but you know she's not going to back up. "I'm smaller so I'll have less problems moving around here" she says when Caedmon appears to say something. "We need to finish this quick, we can't delay any more"

"Easy, Marin this letter is quite old and has been here for some time, much like the rest of the equipment we've discovered. We should take the time to check out the rest to be sure we are able to give a full report. We've already made improvements to the main gate and with our current numbers we'll likely need to take advantage of whatever we find down here. Besides, there is no way that I am going to tell Corporal Allelip that I left you down here by yourself."

Even if Marin protests Caedmon continues on with their exploration.

"That's precisely why we need to tell them. The older this message is, is more probable that the attack could be soon" Marin refutes her friend, an angry glare on her face. "And I rather be called an alarmist than have more guilt over my heart"

Not really minding if Caedmon has the torch, Marin goes to the entry of the chamber "Well, you coming? we know that here we have a pretty good armory"

Meant to throw a knowledge check in there.

Knowledge:
Dice Roll: 1d20+1
d20 Results: 12 (Total = 13)

Does he know anything about a large attack in the past, or a better idea of just how old this equipment is. I got the impression that it was at least a generation old if not a few. Or any history on the this tower, at all? It not being terribly far from where they grew up. Knowledge of the Red Prince?

Caedmon continues past the point where the rung ladder ascends to the top of the tower, carrying the light with him. The passage is straight enough that Marin is not left in the dark, though it does get noticeably dimmer where she stands.

The east passage continues for about eighty feet--far enough that Caedmon is certain he is no longer under the walls. It then opens into a similar forty-by-forty room. Like the others, this one is stacked with provisions, but unfortunately, the firewood once neatly stacked along the south wall has been largely devoured by insects, and the water barrels carefully arrayed by the north wall are dried up. The east wall is the only specimen of wall space in these three rooms that was not packed to the gills with supplies.

"How curious..." Caedmon muttered quietly to himself, taking a few moments to survey the east wall from a distance looking for anything peculiar After a good look he slowly made his way toward the wall inspecting the floor before taking each step forward.

Anything interesting about the insects. Identify?
Unable to find any characters in game 4972
Perhaps, he sees something relevant in this wise as well.
Unable to find any characters in game 4972
Taking 20 on search for this room, obviously focused on the east wall first. 26

Entering after Caedmon, Marin takes some seconds to see the state of the supplies and making a face of disgust she turns to the empty wall. Seeing her comrade walking so carefully looking at the floor she frowns before approaching to him

"What are you doing? Did you loose something?" she asks confused, examining the wall "Are you looking for a secret door or something like that?"

Dice Roll: 1d20+7
d20 Results: 7 (Total = 14)

Search

The construction of the east wall is indistinguishable from the rest of the chamber, and whatever termites once bored through the wood have moved on to better food sources, so Caedmon begins examining the far wall very closely and finds an outline of what must be a secret door. It's a very tight fit--no air escapes through--and it doesn't appear to have an obvious opening mechanism.