Back to the Future II, Track II - No McFly's here Options

[Grinder]

Spellcasters!

Ralo grins at the elf and waves his hand. Teamwork is great, isn't it. Ladies first.

[Lady Door]

Seeing the door open, Morgana nods and bolts inside, grabbing Ralo and pulling him in with her. Once Alexander is safely inside, Morgana slams the door shut.
Without a word, she begins casting the reverse of Shatter Lock, hoping to seal the door.
This better fragging work! Hold the door closed!
Spellcasting Test: Reverse Shatter Lock

[ Spoiler ]

Shatter Lock: Threads (2/3), 6/13, 5 yds, 1 rd., Effect: Willf + 8, Target's Spell Defense. To cast the spell in reverse requires the caster to weave an extra thread.
Spellcasting: Rank 4, Step 10 (-2 Wnd Mod, - 1 Area Mod.) Step 7, 1d12, Result: 8

Threadweaving Test #1

[ Spoiler ]

Threadweaving: Rank 2, Step 8, (-2 Wnd Mod., -1 Area Mod.) Step 6, 1d10, Result: 10, re-roll 2 Total: 12

Threadweaving Test #2

[ Spoiler ]

Threadweaving: Rank 2, Step 8, (-2 Wnd Mod., -1 Area Mod.) Step 6, 1d10, Result: 6 Total: 6... Whew!

Threadweaving Test #3

[ Spoiler ]

Threadweaving: Rank 2, Step 8, (-2 Wnd Mod., -1 Area Mod.) Step 6, 1d10, Result: 6 Total: 6

Spellcasting Effect Test: Reverse Shatter Lock

[ Spoiler ]

Shatter Lock: Willforce + 8. Will: Step 7 + 8: 15, Step d20+d6, Result: 19, 1 Total: 20

[fistandantilus4....]

Everyone running inside, Morganna begins weaving again. There are dogs at the door within 10 seconds, scratching and barking, trying to get in. A long time seemingly passes as Morgana weaves the spell ,and Alexander holds it against the hounds assault. Finally, the golden threads finshed, the spell snaps in the place, and the door reseals, better than when they found it.

The hounds continue their assault on the door.

Looking around the room, there are no windows, and no other doors.

[Lady Door]

Well good fragging hell!... Morgana's words trail off as she looks around the room.
Well, gentlemen, at least we're safe. We should use this time to regroup and try and figure out what our next move is going to be.
Morgana looks around the room, desperate for a chair or bed of any kind.

[fistandantilus4....]

The tower room is a study/library perhpas twenty feet across. closer examinatoin of the books on the shelves leads Morganna to believe it is a wizards work shop. There is a desk for writing and reading, a number of book shelves, a few star charts, a chalk board, and other various knick-knacks.

There is a very old looking wooden chair. THis room has not been occupied apparently for hundreds of years. Thanks to it being sealed however, there is very little dust.

[Grinder]

Ralo lands on the desk.

Seems we have to fight the dogs in the end.

[fistandantilus4....]

As Ralo plops down on the desk, he almost freaks seeing a hound's head right net to him. There is a large black paper weight on the desk, about the size of a fist, in the shape of a hound's head.

[Lady Door]

Morgana nods absentmindedly...
Right... have to end the dogs... in a fight..
...her attention is completely absorbed by what she's discovered in the room.

Getting up, she crosses to the bookshelves and begins to scan the titles. Carefully, she slides one from it's spot on the shelf and opens it.

[fistandantilus4....]

The cases are sealed with glass and wax, on the inside of the cases as well. It takes some work to get them open. Once the seal is borken, air rushes out, It appears that who ever sealed them completely removed the air from the inside somehow. The books have been selaed and well preserved. They should be able to withstand normal handling well enough. Who ever put them here certainly cared about them a lot.

[Grinder]

Ralo gives the head an angry stare. I'll never understand why people like this sort of decoration.

He sees that Morgans picks up a book and opens it. Hey Morgana, what is the book about?

[Lady Door]

Can't talk... reading.

Morgana scans the book she's holding and the titles of the others, trying to get an idea of the scope of knowledge containted on the shelves.

[fistandantilus4....]

By the titles, this is indded a wizard's library. This is obvious becuase half the books need to be translated to dwarven, and the other half need to be translated to a dumbed down and understandable version of dwarven.

The titles suggest a heavy breadth of subjects. Many tittles focus on mana levels, pattern theory, plaanr lore and ethereal realms, as well as an entire shelf on magical creatueres, the creation of such, and the caring for them.

[Lady Door]

Morgana's eyebrow shoots up as she reads the titles of the last shelf.
Care of Magical Creatures? Bahamut would love... wait... oh, fragging hell.
Morgana kneels in front of the shelf, carefully scanning through the books, hoping against hope for a convienient marker keeping a spot on a page, preferably a page with a picture of a dog and a paragraph or three on weaknesses, methods on how to kill, etc.

[fistandantilus4....]

Roll Reseach

[Lady Door]

Research Test

[ Spoiler ]

Morgana does not have the Research skill so defaulting to Perception.
Per: 14 {+1 RM}: 15, Step 6 (-1 Wnd Mod. +1 for Well Organized) Step 6, 1d10, Result: 8

[fistandantilus4....]

Most of the researchers work tends to center on acreated species of hound called the "Gate Hound" ,apparently able to drain magic from a target. There are of course no notes scribbled in to the books, but there are notes on paper slipped in between pages. Apparently the researcher was intending to breed Gate hounds for their magic draining ability. The notes suggest it was t ocreate an artificially magic low-zone to dissuade horrors.

[Lady Door]

Great idea in practice, but not exactly helpful right now. Morgana pages through the book, looking for anything that might help them out of their predicament.
GM Note:

[ Spoiler ]

Looking in particular for perhaps blueprints of the Citadel, something like that.

Ralo, Alexander... I know what it is that we've been fighting. They're called Gate Hounds. They were created by the resident wizard to drain magic from the area, as a deterrent to Horrors... a little unorthodox, I admit.. but possibly effective.

[Grinder]

Interesting idea, I have to admit. Any hint how to best fight them?

[fistandantilus4....]

After some research, there's no purported research as to a weakness for the dogs.

The only note of interest along those lines is that they are apparently extremely hostile towards horrors and horror constructs. The hounds feed on magic, and so go for the creatures, being composed very heavily of mana. It also unfortunately makes them more hostile to adepts.

There is a lay out of the citadel after some looking. Morgana doesn't find any blue prints, but she does find a few projects the wizard was working on, including the kennels, and the "feeder" pen. Apparently the wizard made a species of rat, that was naturally strong in magic, making them more resistant to disease. he was also able to make them have a high breeding rate. This made them perfect for a food source for the hounds. There was also some conjecture on what might happen to a local ecosystem if the rats got out in to it...

[Lady Door]

Well, nothing incredibly useful, but I did find a layout of the Citadel and more information on these Gate Hounds. Apparently, they're drawn to Horrors and Horror Constructs because of how rich they are in mana. Unfortunately, the text also notes that because of this the Hounds are also drawn to adepts.
Ralo, why don't you take another look around, try to find a hidden door or something. Alexander, you take the other side of the room. Try not to touch anything that looks "wizard-ish". It's not a Nethermancer but still you don't know what could happen.
Morgana returns to her place at the shelves and the desk, leaving the other two to try and decide what "wizard-ish" means.

[ludomastro]

Not exactly sure what qualifies as wizard-ish, so I guess that I will look for anything that seems out of place.

Perception Test

[ Spoiler ]

Using Questor Power, Increased Perception:
Willpower 18 / Step 7 + Questor Rank 1 = Step 8
Step 8 = 2d6 = 2 + 1 < 7 so can't use power.

Un-augmented Perception
Perception 14 / Step 6 / d10 = 4

[fistandantilus4....]

Alexander takes soem time looking around the room. There are books, and chalk boards, charts on the walls, candles a plenty and light quartz in a small case. There's the desk with the chair, that looks good for reading.

The only things that he doesn't see that he might expect to are writing implements or scrolls. Everything in here is a book. This is apparently a study, not a room for taking notes in. There are no scroll cases, or scrolls wrapped up in the book cases. No ink at all in the room, probably to protect the books.

[ludomastro]

Morgana, I do not know if this is significant or not; however, there are no quills, parchment or ink here. That is all that I can see.

[Grinder]

Perception Test

[ Spoiler ]

Per 15 = step 6= d10= 2.

Ralo looks around and searches every inch of it, but doesn't find anything.

[fistandantilus4....]

Yep. There's a paper weight.