RP (non-canon): D&D Mission 1: Getting "Acquainted"

"Well, t'was just a thought, ay? In any case, le's call votes. I vote we climb up the wall. The lass' idea sounds solid. I can definitely give 'er a boost and make her get ta the balcony and we can climb up there and avoid the traps of the first floor.

Despite the vote, I wouldn' break anythin' if i's possible, mind ye! Wizerds are the overly cautious types! They pro'bly have the whole place well-guarded from thieves. I bet they didn't think 'bout climbin' up the walls, but I can gamble ye they did think 'bout breakin an enterin, like most people would!" Aurelus simply kept searching the mansion as they finally came close to it, looking out for scalable surfaces idly as he spoke.

Denkou shook her head. "Anyone who would break a window in and enter would be just as likely to have the stuff to climb up, so they would plan for both if they planned for either. And yes, Talarin, that's what I'm worried about. But it's a pain to set up physical traps that high on a wall, so a magical trap is much more likely, and I don't want to be trying to find them and climb at the same time." Still thinking, she shrugged. "I almost think it will be easier to just break a window quiet like if we don't want to go in the front, because I don't really want to climb a wall that might or might not be trapped."

Aurelus rose his eyebrow at Denkou. To break a window in all you would need would be a rock, if at all; surely some people would just use their limbs. To climb the outside, this particular mansion wasn't exactly easy. With no scalable surfaces, you'd need at least a rope with a hook on the end, or something similar. Climbing up the windows to the balcony above would require lots of skill, with the person climbing probably having to 'hop up' and backwards to grab onto the balcony edge which jutted out from the wall to then pull themselves up; not just anyone could do that.

Provided enough height, the character could well not have to hop up, but then they'd probably have to be a very tall half-orc to do that, and there aren't many of those around...

How breaking a window in and climbing onto the balcony would be the same level of difficulty for anyone was beyond Aurelus. Honestly, there was no comparison. Assuming the wizards even thought someone could just as easily climb the outside as they could break in was flawed, in his opinion. There were way more chances of the windows having traps than the walls or the balcony edges having traps, considering one was way more accessible than the other.

Aurelus wasn't particularly smart, but he knew the odds were in his favor. Regardless, he didn't voice any of this. He'd just let the votes come, and if something bad happened and it wasn't his alternative, he'd have a nice, long, mocking laugh out of it. Didn' lissen ta ol' Aurelus, aintcha? Now you stuck as wee tiny frogs, ey?

The thought made Aurelus smile in spite of their possible future situation.

"Well, tha's one vote fer climbin', one vote fer breakin' in! Any 'ther votes? Maybe other suggestions...?" The fighter turned to the rest of the group, waiting for their input.

Talarin considered the mansion again. "Ya know what? I think I have a friend who could help us get inside." he started weaving and waving his arms in grandiose mystical gestures, speaking in a harsh, rasping tounge. He started to draw circles of magical light in the air as his chanting increased in speed and fervor.

As Talarin chants a monkey appears several feet away from him and starts screaming and jumping upside down. Meanwhile, as Aurelus approached the mansion he notices that the third floor balcony doesn't stick off of the mansion, the third floor simply starts farther back and the balcony only goes as far as the edge of the house, similar to the balconies on the sides of the second floor.

Sorri set her backpack on the ground while the others talked, studied, and debated the place before them. She looked at the house and deemed it no place she would go at all if she could help it. But, if they needed in...

"What about a back door?" she asked, following the fighter's request to search the building as she spoke. After her question she shrugged. "If the obvious entries are obviously trapped, as well as the first two floors, then even if the walls are trapped against climbers we will still be bypassing two floors of traps by climbing." Another pause. "Um...how far could you throw, say, a forty-pound weight?" she asked Aurelus, looking at him quizzically. The screaming monkey's sudden appearance startled her, though, and the half-breed halfling nearly whacked it with her staff. Sorri had been studying the house, not paying attention to what Talarin was doing.

"Where did that come from?"

As Sorri examines the mansion for additional ways up to the balcony, she finds no possible ways other than what Aurelus had already discovered and shared with the group.

"Well, it looks like I'm only good for figure out what artifacts are what and parlor tricks." Ghira told nobody in particular, pacing about. "Well, I believe that our only available actions are to go in through the front or attempt lift somebody into the next floor, the latter of which being very difficult.

Ghira's remark gets a sharp glance from Sorri. "And why would lifting someone up there be more difficult than navigating a trap-filled house?" she muttered. With the spontaneously-appearing monkey not a threat -- no one else was going to arms -- she lowered her staff and looked back at Aurelus, waiting to see what his answer was to her question.

Aurelus was resting his right hand on the handle of his longsword as it hung from his hip. He observed that after climbing to the second floor, the third floor would be about as easily climbable as the first climb. But there was something that caught his eye. The sorcerer had cast some sort of creature into being.

Aurelus heard what the sorcerer said about this demon helping them, and he wondered aloud. "How will this thing 'elp us? It might get caught in a trap, ye know? Unless i's got magickal vision that helps it avoid 'em, maybe it could tell us where the traps 're?"

You're the sors'rer, ye tell me." So far, if the monkey was indeed able to see traps and communicate their presence to the wizard or the sorcerer, the monkey was indispensable for the exploring they would have to do inside the mansion.

Talarin only gave a frustrating knowing grin as he instructed the monkey to climb in the window and open the front door. "What ever traps are set upon the doors are going to be directed towards someone coming in. I doubt they'd set the traps towards someone leaving." he explained as the monkey leapt off to do the task.

"Heh! A clever lil' trick, sors'rer! I like i'! Still, goin' through the mansion with all those traps aroun migh' be a bad idea, but going in by openin' the door from the inside seems a wise choice.

Anywho, there's three votes for goin' in, two for climbing up the outside. I think the peoples've made 'emselves clear: we're goin in!"

He looked at the rogue. "Ye go in first ahead of us, lass! Ye got the trap-findin' eye!" The fighter praised her trap-finding skills.

The monkey runs over to the window before examining it and carefully pushing it open. The monkey then hops into the window and drops down below the window. Only a second later, a loud TWANG is heard followed by a loud screech. The monkey attempts to hop out the window, and makes it on to the window sill before falling out of the window and landing flat on the floor. The monkey didn't get back up.

"Um..." was all Sorri had to say on the subject after hearing the sound of something like a wire or twine springing taut and then a pained cry from the unnatural simian creature. She looked over at Talarin to see what is response was.

Well, the traps were aimed at anyone coming in, right?

Aurelus just stood there with both of his eyebrows lowered. After enough time, Aurelus facepalmed.

"Anyone who wants ta change their votes, say aye."

Denkou jumped a little when the monkey got caught by a trap, and frowned a little. "I would've thought the monkey was small enough to avoid most of the traps set up to keep people out though. It's not like you would really plan on a monkey opening locks." She stepped gingerly up to the door, looking around as she went. "I'll see what I can do from here though."

Talarin just stood there and stared at where the monkey landed, seemingly stunned. He didn't answer or even seem to register anything anybody else did.

Upon approaching the door Denkou sees no traps on the outside of the mansion. From closer up Denkou would be able to see that the monkey was no longer there, but two arrows lay where the monkey had fallen.

Aurelus sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. The traps could've been avoided if only they climbed the outside of the mansion. It was frustrating to see these people go on about breaking and entering into a trapped building. He walked next to Denkou as she looked around the inside of the mansion's first floor and did some looking, himself.

"What d'ya see?" He asked the rogue as he looked. Perhaps his shield could be of help with these kind of traps.

Sorri was starting to get impatient. She'd already said that by climbing, even if the climb was trapped, they would bypass more traps than walking through the house.

The halfling looked around. "Anyone have something that weighs about thirty or forty pounds?" she asked, not really wanting to lose her bag just yet if she could help it.