Down The Stairs And Back Again (Session 66)

Summary

The party found themselves in a dimly lit room, likely Icar's quarters, containing a bed, a table with wine and a chessboard, a carved chest, and on the walls, a shield, a leather cloak, a shirt, a mandolin, and a scabbard. A trapdoor in the corner caught their attention, but they lacked the skill to unlock it. They used a resurrection scroll to revive Oglesby, who, once restored, picked the trapdoor’s lock. It revealed a ladder descending into darkness, which they chose over other known stairways for its stealthier route.

Audra led the descent, followed by Brandy, Kipp, and the others. In a narrow hallway, Brandy and Kipp, able to see in the dark, scouted for traps and found a concealed door. Opening it, they faced two chained worgs; they killed one and then the other, their barking likely alerting nearby enemies to their presence. The hallway split north qnd south, and barking from the north led them to a room where five bugbears released four worgs. Combat began, and the party quickly dispatched two worgs.

Elenor cast a wall of fire, killing one worg instantly and damaging all of the bugbears. Some bugbears fled through the flames, dying from the damage, while others were trapped. Kipp chased a retreating bugbear but got caught in a net trap. Audra followed, attempting to distract the bugbear attacking Kipp. The others arrived to help finish it off after finishing off the remaining enemies in the previous room. They freed Kipp. They found damaged weapons on the bugbears and determined that a side room likely housed the worgs.

Moving north past the net trap, they entered a chamber with small clothing, water-filled containers, and sticky pots. Beyond a wooden door, they heard buzzing from two clay beehives. A western door led to a narrow hallway, where Brandy scouted a T-intersection, finding a chamber with casks and cheesecloth to the west and a stalagmite-filled cavern to the east. Crossing the cavern’s pinnacles, hopping one by one, Oglesby fell, taking damage. Audra and Pyreece used ropes to lower themselves into the cavern and climb up the other side. Ultimately, everyone made it across.

At the northern ledge, a secret door revealed they were on the inside of an iron maiden. Brandy slipped through, surprising a bugbear, but worgs attacked her from behind. The party fought through, killing the enemies in the torture chamber where a man had died on the rack. They sabotaged the torture devices. They exited the room from the south and found a bunch of storerooms. They found a locked wardrobe in a storeroom, containing old clothes and a valuable pearl stick pin.

Exploring further, they found storerooms with nothing of interest until reaching a hallway with a slippery, grate-covered floor. Kipp discovered a secret door behind a torch bracket, leading around this trapped floor, to more storerooms with trade goods and a chest containing healing potions. A winch in a small room disabled a magnetic trap that had yanked Brandy’s sword out of her hand and held it against the wall.

The hallway led to stairs and a secret door to the main floor. Backtracking, they approached a door at the end of the western hallway. Kipp triggered a pit trap, falling into water. Brandy dropped a rope and got him out. Then she triggered a log trap at the door. They escaped, but Audra fell into the pit, taking minor damage. The group retrieved her and identified the trap’s mechanism.

Exhausted, the party paused their exploration, planning to continue later.

Exp: 320 + 32 = 352

There was a southern door in the room with the worgs they fought when they first came down the ladder to this level.

There is the chamber off of the chamber where they fought the 4 worgs and used the ring of fire against five bugbears. The chamber seemed to be the area where the worgs were kept but we never really checked it.

There are the two sets of stairs on the main level, one going down to a separate part of this lower level that we haven't found yet, and a set of stairs goinbg to the level that was burned by Elenor's fireball.

Did we search Icar's room. There was a bunch of stuff on the walls. I don't remember if we checked any of it?

Detail

The party found themselves in a dimly lit room that appeared to be Icar's quarters. In the southwest corner stood a simple bed, its covers neatly arranged. A small circular table with two chairs sat nearby, holding a bottle of wine and a chessboard. At the foot of the bed was a chest carved with a high-relief battle scene. Along the wall hung a shield, a leather cloak, a shirt, a mandolin, and a scabbard. A door stood at the north end of the room, and a trapdoor was set in the corner.

They wished to open the trapdoor in the corner but none had the skill to pick the lock. That is when they took their recently found scroll of Resurrection to bring back Oglesby. They removed his body from the Bag of Holding and Pyreece read the scroll. Oglesby opened his eyes, now fully healed of all injuries and diseases. A little disoriented, he quickly realized he was being restored to life again. He remarked on the unpleasantness of dying and returning. Kipp returned his short sword. Oglesby checked the trapdoor and determined it was not trapped. He picked the lock and then stayed back as Audra opened the trapdoor. Opening it revealed a heavy-duty ladder descending into darkness. The party thought about the other sets of stairs they'd found. One went up to the floor that Elenor had partially burned with a Fireball, and the other went down.

Deciding the trapdoor was a sneakier route in to the lower levels so Audra led the way down the ladder, followed by Brandy, Kipp, and the others. Faced with a narrow hallway, Brandy took the lead, followed by Kipp. They could see in the dark. The narrow hallway turned south, and Brandy moved cautiously, searching for hidden doors or traps. Kipp, actively looked for secret or concealed doors as well. Brandy spotted a concealed door near the end of the hallway. She opened it revealing two chained worgs that lunged. One worg could reach her but the second one could not. Brandy and Kipp finished off the first worg then they all made their way into the hallway beyond and killed the second worg. The worgs had barked, acting as alarms.

The hallway split north and south. Listening, they could hear barking coming from the northern door. The barking quieted as they approached. Kipp opened the unlocked door, revealing four more worgs on leashes held by bugbears. Their were five bugbears in total. The bugbears released the worgs, and combat ensued. They quickly dealt with the first two worgs. Brandy moved into the room, going toe to claw with the two remaining worgs.

Elenor cast a wall of fire, creating a 25-foot radius ring of flame. The spell dealt seven damage to worgs within 10 feet and three damage to those within 20 feet. One worg was standing where the fire erupted and died instantly. The fire was to last seven rounds. Oglesby, unable to see through the opaque ring, missed his shot. Some of the bugbears, confused by the flames, fled by leaping through them, taking 15 damage each and died. Pyreece fired her sling at the remaining worg missing it. Kipp moved into the room and around the fire. While waiting to see if any other bugbears would risk leaping from the firewall, another bugbear emerged from a northern hallway but immediately retreated upon seeing the flames and the other dead bugbears.

Kipp chased the bugbear but triggered a net trap, becoming entangled. Audra had seen Kipp take off after the bugbear and followed after him. Brandy and the others finished off the remaining worgs and took up positions in the room firing in at the two bugbears trapped in the ring of fire. They were quickly finished off. A bugbear had moved to attack the Kipp, while trapped in the net. Audra caught up and began trying to distract it from Kipp while Kipp began cutting his way out. The others heard the shouting and moved into the cavernous hallway and began firing on the bugbear. Very quickly, they fell the beast. Audra assisted Kipp in getting out of the net.

The group returned to the worg room, finding damaged halberds and javelins on the bugbears. Pyreece looked through a barred door and listened to see if anyone was down there. She called out once but received no reply. That room smelled of wet dog and dog poo and it was decided that this was likely where they'd kept the worgs. They turned their attention north, up and past the net trap that had captured Kipp before. They proceeded through the natural cave with a dirt floor and found a chamber containing piles of clothing, a tun, two casks, and a table with a metal rod with a spatulate hook on one end, and clay crockery pots. The clothing was very small and made of cheesecloth. The tun contained clean water. The casks held water, and the pots contained a sticky, sweet substance, possibly molasses or honey.

Continuing on, they reached a wooden door. Oglesby checked for traps, finding none, Audra opened it, hearing a buzzing sound. They realized the buzzing was coming from two conical clay beehives. There was a door to the west. Oglesby carefully moved across the room to check it for traps, finding none, Audra opened it, revealing a narrow hallway. Brandy took the lead, finding a T-intersection. She scouted west, finding a chamber with several half-casks, tuns on platforms, and a bolt of cheesecloth. Moving east beyond the T-intersection she reached a cavern with stalagmites. Standing on a ledge, she could see about 30 feet to the bottom. There were five pinnacles, like stepping stones, across the cavernous area leading to another ledge. Steam filled the air, obscuring their vision.

Kipp attempted to cross the pinnacles, rolling dexterity checks and succeeding. Brandy followed, succeeding on her dexterity checks as well. Oglesby was not so lucky. He'd made several rolls but ultimately missed a roll and fell the 30 feet to the bottom, taking 10 damage plus three from landing on stalagmites. Kipp lowered a rope and helped him up. Audra and Pyreece lowered a rope. Audra climbed down while Pyreece held the rope for her. Pyreece followed while Elenor held the rope for her and Audra assisted from below. She and Pyreece crossed to cavern floor while Elenor jumped across the pinnacles, making all of her checks. One the other side, Kipp assisted getting Pyreece and Audra back up onto the ledge.

At the northern ledge, they started making their way down another very thin tunnel. Oglesby searched for secret doors and found one at the other end. Listening, he heard pained moans. Opening it, they saw that they were on the inside of an iron maiden, complete with spikes pointing in at them. Brandy and Audra pushed it partially open, revealing a bugbear looking east. Brandy slipped through the crack, attacking with her short sword. The bugbear, surprised, couldn’t react. Two worgs were unseen behind a wall when Brandy entered and they leaped out and attacked.

Audra pushed the door to the iron maiden open a little further and moved through and into the room. After she'd let go of the door and started to focus on the second bugbear, she heard the door slam shut behind her. Kipp pushed it open again, moved inside and held it open of Pyreece and Elenor to get in, such a gentleman. Elenor and Pyreece attacked a worg. Once the first worg died, Pyreece could push further into the room so that Elenor could finally clear the doorway and Kipp could finally let go of it. They finished off the other worg and the two bugbears very quickly.

The room was a torture chamber with racks, cages, and the iron maiden of course. A tortured occupant lay dead, drained of blood. The group sabotaged the torture devices and checked a locked, iron-bound wooden door at the top of some stairs on the other side of the room. Oglesby found no traps, and Brandy opened it, revealing a dark hallway. Moving forward, they heard the iron maiden loudly slam shut behind them making Audra jump. Another door led to a storeroom with crates, barrels, and furniture. Audra found a wardrobe which was locked. Oglesby picked the lock and they found three chests containing old clothes, linens, and a pearl stick pin worth 40 gold pieces.

They found four additional storerooms with nothing of interest. At the end of the hallway it turned north. The floor was very strange here. There was a 70 foot hallway but 60 feet of it was a floor made of a one foot by one foot grid. They were grates covered in some slimy black oily substance. It would be very difficult to cross this floor without a foot slipping and dropping into the grate. It would be very difficult for an individual to pull themselves back up and out of the trap.

While everyone else was trying to figure out how to get down the hallway, Kipp went back up the hallway to search the storerooms while Oglesby began searching the walls near the hallway trap for a secret door. He didn't find anything but Kipp found an unlit torch in a torch bracket. He noticed that the floor there was slightly different than those around it. He pulled on the torch, revealing a secret door. He called back to the others who joined him. Beyond it, a narrow passage led to another secret door. Oglesby checked for traps, found none. Kipp moved forward and opened the door.

They found two doors in the northern hallway and one door at the end of the western one. They went north to the first door. Oglesby checked it for traps and let Kipp open it. It was another storeroom with piles of trade goods covered in dust. It doesn't appear anyone has been here in a long time. The moved to the next door and found a smaller storeroom. Still nothing of interest in it. Around the corner the saw a lit turn to the north ahead and a door in the southern wall. They moved to the closed door and opened it. It was room with two cots, three benches and a table with an old meal on it. The food was nasty and rotten. There was a chest under one of the cots.

Oglesby checked the chest for traps. There were chains hooked to the chest. He picked two padlocks holding the chest to the chains, freeing it. The chest was locked as well and he picked that lock. There were three vials of extra healing potions. Brandy noticed a difference in the stone floor near some old leather boots. Oglesby checked the area and found another secret door, leading to a small room with a winch. There was no indication as to what it operated so they left it alone. They left the room and went out to the hallway and moved to the lighted corner.

As Brandy is looking around the corner, her sword was suddenly yanked out of her hand and flew back, slamming against the wall behind her and sticking to it. They decided that this must be what the winch was for. Kipp turned the winch, disabling the magnetism and Brandy retrieved her sword. The hallway led to stairs going up, which Oglesby checked for traps, finding none. At the top, a secret door opened to a small hidden room on the main floor. They moved back down the stairs and back down the hallway to the corner where the secret door entered this hallway. To the west, at the end of the hallway, was a closed door. This should be a door at the other end of the oil covered grate hallway. They made their way to that door.

Kipp triggered a pit trap in the hallway that covered most of the center of the hallway, falling 30 feet into water and taking 1 point of damage. They dropped a rope to help him back up. They used the ledges on either side of the pit trap to move around it. At the closed door not far beyond the trap, Oglesby found no traps but noticed a leering goblin face carved into it, chest high. Kipp mentioned watching out for more traps. Brandy opened the door, triggering a trap with a pile of very round large logs crashing down and rolling at them. Brandy tried to close the door and push against the wall. Kipp moved up to help hold the wall and door. Unfortunately, it was a false wall that simply gave way.

They turned and ran. Kipp, Brandy, and Oglesby made their checks to get past the pit. Audra did not make the check and fell into the pit taking 4 points of damage. The logs rolled over the pit and down the hallway to the end wall where they crashed. Everyone succeeded in out running them and avoiding getting crushed. They went back down the hallway and through down a rope to get Audra back out of the pit. Checking the trap afterward, the leering goblin face device on the door controlled whether or not the trap was active.

Exhausted, they decided to pause here before continuing their exploration of this structure.

Exp: 320 + 32 = 352

There was a southern door in the room with the worgs they fought when they first came down the ladder to this level.

There is the chamber off of the chamber where they fought the 4 worgs and used the ring of fire against five bugbears. The chamber seemed to be the area where the worgs were kept but we never really checked it.

There are the two sets of stairs on the main level, one going down to a separate part of this lower level that we haven't found yet, and a set of stairs goinbg to the level that was burned by Elenor's fireball.

Did we search Icar's room. There was a bunch of stuff on the walls. I don't remember if we checked any of it?