Rosia Lightfoot's Journal - Part 10

I cast my first spell! After Curbag had defeated the orc leader, and been accepted as the new leader, he claimed the possessions of the previous incumbent. These included a fine set of studded leather armour (Shame it wasn't a bit smaller...) and a war axe of exceedingly good quality. Isaak was going to cast a detection spell on these, to see if they were magical, but I offered to do it instead. After a mix-up with the material components (I would have thought Isaak would have known better...) I made my first attempt. Unfortunately my armour makes it difficult to perform some of the necessary hand movements, and I messed up the first casting. However, I succeeded on the second try and the magical energy flowed through me! It seemed so natural, I wondered that I had not done it before. Perhaps it took a sojourn in this nightmarish place to wake to powers that slept within me? Anyway, I was able to discern that the axe was indeed magical. This is a good addition to our arsenal, surely this will give us an edge over the fiendish creatures who lurk in these dark hallways?

Suddenly a loud rumbling filled the air, and the whole dungeon began to shake. I feared that the ceiling might cave in, but the tremor passed by without damage to the area we were in. Then the cold wind, which we had experienced before, started moving through the room, and we could hear the voices of spirits pleading for help. I called out to them, asking what we could do to aid them, and they filled my mind with a vision of a chapel in the north area of the dungeon. Apparently we are close to freeing them, and there is something called the vortex which will allow us to complete the task. I believe these are the souls of the creatures tortured to death in this place, and I tried to convince the others to move to the north, that we might discover more.

They agreed to head northwards, and we did some more exploring. We didn't encounter any creatures, but we did come across a number of strange rooms. The first was a room with a large black block in it, with a brass plate set in the floor in front of it. I did some more magic detection, and discovered that there was some sort of teleportation magic in operation. We decided not to risk tampering with this for the moment, and moved on.

The next thing we found was a room with an old whirling-blade trap in it. Some poor soul had set this off, and his or her skeleton rested in pieces all over the place. I determined that the trap was no longer functioning, and I was able (thanks to my non-giganticness) to crawl under the blades and scout ahead. I discovered a room with a brass pate in the floor, inscribed with a strange rune. A gust of hot air hit me as I looked into the room, but I was not harmed by this. I went and got the others, who forced the blades back to get past, and Quercus revealed that the rune was in the language of the Celestials, and that it meant "Fire". He then stood on the brass plate, and was surrounded by fire! However, this did not harm him, but rather soothed and refreshed him. I followed him on to the plate on hearing this, and was also unharmed. There was a door leading out of this room, with the same fire rune on it. It was locked, but I was able to open it easily using my special tools.

This door led out into a long corridor running north to south, with several short corridors branching off at intervals to the east. Each of these ended in a large door, sealed with a brass circle bearing more celestial runes. Isaak determined that some powerful magic was guarding these doors, but I was unable to locate the trap, so I could not try to disable it. We thought it best to leave these doors until we could find more information about them, or perhaps a key of some sort. Instead we explored some rooms that were through doors in the west wall of the long corridor. The first we entered via a secret door discovered by Oren. This was a room most strange, filled with glowing spheres, all hovering in the air. We feared to touch them, so we left this room undisturbed.

Next we found a room containing another brass plate, this time marked with the rune for thunder. As we entered a loud peal of thunder sounded around us, and I was filled with an unaccountable dread. I fled the room, unable to bear the cacophony. Oren did not seem affected by it, perhaps the dwarf is immune to its effects? Anyway, he was able to stand on the brass plate with impunity. Perhaps there are more of these rooms, each attuned to a different element? The first was fire, could this one be air? What other such rooms shall we find, and what is their purpose? Perhaps they hold the key to the sealed doors? So many questions! I must collect myself and steel my nerves to enter the room of thunder once more. Then I think we should go back northwards and try to find the chapel I saw in my vision. I pity the wretches whose spirits linger here, and I wish I could do something to help them.