Rosia Lightfoot's Journal - Part 11

My luck has taken a turn for the worse, it seems that everything I suggest or do turns out bad! It started with the room with glowing spheres. We were going back to pick up Curbag's orcs, and I thought it would be a good idea to check this room out properly. I stepped into the room and the spheres started to move together, forming a shape in the centre of the room. When I stepped out of the room they moved apart again. We talked it over and we decided to let the spheres complete their task and see what happened. What happened was this: they formed a portal and let in another bloody Owlbear! We didn't fancy fighting another one of these things, so as the creature was coming through we shut the secret door, in the hope that it wouldn't see this way out and we could escape before it found us.

We collected the orcs (who needed some persuasion from Curbag to go through the fire room) and made our way south again. We moved quietly past the secret door, but we heard no sound coming from inside. We made it back to the thunder room, and this time I summoned all my courage and went inside, along with Isaak. We had seen Quercus stand on the brass plate in safety, so I stood on it, hoping to attune myself to its power. Instead, the most terrible noise pounded me to the floor, making my nose and ears bleed with the pressure. Isaak was also knocked to the floor, he seemed to be affected by it more than I was (along with poor Ratto). We knew that we needed healing, but I suggested that rather than use up all of Quercus' divine power, we go back to the fire room and take some healing there from the cleansing flames. So Isaak, Quercus and myself headed back, taking Oren with us in case of trouble. We left Curbag with the orcs to guard our rear. As Isaak was so badly injured, I suggested that he take some minor healing from Quercus before stepping into the flame. He refused this, and stepped boldly onto the brass plate. What a disaster! Instead of being healed, he was horribly burnt, and fell to the floor, near death. Oren dragged him clear, and Quercus healed him, bringing him back to consciousness again. I decided not to risk the flames myself, and was healed by the priest as well (Thanks be to Pelor!) The only good thing about our trip to the fire room was that Isaak had not taken Ratto with him into the flames, for surely he would have been burnt to a rat-shaped crisp...

After this we decided to head south again (tip-toeing past the secret door) and try our luck in some new areas. I wanted to head north to search out the chapel, but given my recent rash of bad decisions the others over-ruled me. Can't say I blame them, really... Anyway, we discovered a door at the corner of a corridor, it was marked "Danger". I checked it for traps and found that there was one, and a magic one at that! The others retired to a safe distance down the eastern branch of the corridor, and left me to my work. Unfortunately, these magic traps are very difficult to disable, and I accidentally set it off instead. I was surprised when two huge jets of flame shot out of the door, one going north and one going east. This trap was obviously designed to catch anyone in the corridors outside the door, and the range was great enough to reach the entire party. I was quick enough to duck down below the fire, unhurt, but could only watch in horror as the others were engulfed in flame. Four of the orcs were killed outright, their wounds from previous battles must have slowed them down. Poor Isaak was burnt again (Ratto wisely hid behind him), but the others escaped without major damage. Quercus was able to heal Isaak, who was not happy. Also unhappy was the orc barbarian who now serves as Curbag's second in command. He seems to blame me for the incident. Most unfair, it wasn't me who put the trap there! At least there are fewer orcs now, if they decide to stage a rebellion...

Anyway, I could see that the trap was resetting itself, so Oren and I jumped into the room quickly, and the others retired to a genuinely safe distance. Inside the room we found the laboratory of an alchemist. The skeleton of the owner was there, and it seemed to be the same size as me. Perhaps a gnome? They are skilled in such arts. We found several potions, which we need to identify. We also found many scrolls, and I was able to find a crystal amongst the alchemist's materials that I can use to cast a spell to read the magical inscriptions on the scrolls. There are many powerful magics in them, but alas! I can only manage to get the hang of the simpler ones. Isaak would be able to make use of more of them, I am sure, but he cannot cast the spell to reveal the magic writings for him. It seems funny that I, his pupil, can perform a feat of magic that he cannot. Yet I suppose that is how the willful nature of the arcane arts manifests itself.

We also found a cloak and amulet on the skeleton which I was able to discern as being magical. I tried the cloak on and found that it increased my resistance to misfortune in the same way that one of my magic spells can, only it is active all the time. It will be very useful to me, as I am frequently in the way of danger from all the traps in this place. The amulet was made of gold, and bore the image of a lion on it. When Isaak wore it, it increased his vitality and health, which is good for him, as he is even weaker than I am! Finally, we found a scroll which was written in the celestial language. It told us that this place is a prison for demons, but that the archons who guarded it had lost control. It might be that the Owlbear we encountered before, and the one recently emerged, were prisoners here. I wonder what other horrors lurk within these walls?

We came across another door with a trap on it, this one a more simple mechanical trap. I disarmed this easily, and opened the door, but was unprepared for the secondary magical trap which triggered when I entered the room. Whoever designed this place was fiendishly clever and cruel! Fortunately, I was able to dodge out of the way of the lightning blast, and was unhurt. Now that I knew there was a trap, I was able to find it, and determined that it had reset itself almost immediately. I told the others to stay outside while I checked the room out. It seems that this place was some sort of armoury. It was filled with weapons and ammunition of all types, from many different places and eras. Most notable were several sets of equipment that were labeled as to were they came from. They seemed to have been taken from people of races with an evil taint on them. There was some from a Drow, some from a Deurgar and even a set from a Derro (just my size!) Perhaps they had been taken from prisoners? Anyway, I was able to throw or push the stuff out of the door, then run through it, avoiding the lightning again. We all came out with something good. I got a set of excellent studded leather armour. It is flexible and doesn't get in my way for normal jobs, despite being a bit bulkier than my old armour. However, I think it will be a bit harder to get my spells correct. Still, I won't get very far with my spells if someone kills me, so I think I'll go for the added protection. I also got loads of ammo for my crossbow. I have plenty of bolts myself, and Oren is carrying almost my body-weight in spares. There was a container of poison as well, but I don't really know how to use this, and with my current luck I'll probably poison myself trying. It's probably worth some cash though, so I'll hang on to it.

We carried on exploring, and we could hear the sounds of something following us. We found a room with a chest in, but the chest was trapped with a proximity trigger. Isaak used some magic to open the lid, and I stood on Curbag's shoulders to look into the box, but I could see nothing. We decided to leave this, and moved on. We also found a room with a glowing giant red ruby floating in it, but this looked too good to be true, so we left it for the time being. We managed to work our way round to the long room with all the darkmantles in it. We thought we were in the clear, but then as we moved out into the room we were startled by the noise of the Owlbear charging at us! Clearly it had been tracking us, and it didn't look happy. We are preparing for battle now. Let's see how this new armour stands up, and if the bolts I found can pierce the hide of this fiendish beast.