How I thought the map lined up wasn’t quite correct. This is how it should look, with my route in yellow. The two Xs are where the main fights took place.
There is a door at the bottom of the first tile, that appears to go nowhere. If I get to that door I will assume that there are stairs down to a level below, and start a new level. If by chance I already have a second level and like this section, that area is already used and the stairs would not work, I will drop the stairs down to level three. There is no reason why all stairs have only go down one level.
The first question I want to ask the oracle is whether the dead lady upon the bed is one of the walking dead. If she is, then that is likely to cause a big problem, being trapped in here with people in the corridor outside! I got No, because… if she was, the door would have locked! That makes sense.
My first priority is to douse my torch before the light and the sound of it burning or spitting alerts the people approaching down the corridor. I grab the blankets off the bed and smother the head of the torch, hopefully, it will go out, rather than set the blankets on fire! I assume that the lack of oxygen will work. [a quick oracle question tells me that it did].
It makes sense now to use the Arcane Light that I found. It is odorless and silent. I also have a better chance of shielding the light.
I am going to use some of the inspiration words that I rolled for last time. I want to know more about this person from any personal effects or possesions. I rolled Swale, which is a valley in the Freeport setting, Choosing, If and Its. I can imagine a coat of arms from the Swale, and maybe a letter demanding a choice. The If suggests somekind of demand that the decision is made, in an ‘if you don’t then…’.
I carefully approach the corpse on the bed, it still has tattered remains of a gown with an ancient form of a coat of arms from an old Swale noble family. On the bedside table is a letter, yellowed with age. It is faded with age but appears to be a mix of the marriage proposal and a demand. It looks like there were two suitors and this lady was being forced to choose between a political marriage and a union of love. The letter is from a parent or guardian demanding that she marries for the political security of the family.
I have used three of the inspiration words, so I roll for three more. I get There, But, She. I add these to the left over Its. The string of words is now Its, There, But, She.
I don’t think there is anything else of use in this room. I listen out to see if those people are still in the corridor.
Skill test, Perception(hearing) Success, Stunt Die is a 2. I should be able to hear if they are approaching. Are they getting close? Yes, because… I suspect they have seen the torchlight from when I first came in the room. I roll their Perception test. The result is a success for the bandits. I hear the people in the corridor stop outside the door.
I have three choices, I either try and talk my way out of this, try and hide, or prepare to fight it out. I am not sure how I can explain what I am doing in a dead person’s cell, but I also cannot think what people are doing in a cave that is supposed to have been sealed for years or decades. Maybe there is another entrance? Maybe they are adventurers like me and they entered the cave while I was resting up.
Do they try the door? Yes, because… they know someone is in here. Are they hostile? No, because… they are indeed adventurers.
I am going to stop here because I think I need to create a few possible NPCs before that door opens.