Session 16 - The Map the Players found


The map was some 10 feet x 8 feet in size, the party have now transcribed it onto a piece of canvas.
Session 16 had many traps, which the party were determined to see activated, narrow ledges are proving to be a bane with even the most dextrous falling from them.

Their struggles were not in vain as they have now gained a further 2 magical items, hard won and prized highly for it.

Players Map for Session 15


Somewhat belated addition, this session was played on 31/01/07.

The party providing much hilarity trying to traverse a pit full of snakes, a pit each of them seemed curious to plunge to the bottom.

Dire Wolves, Statues with glowing eyes were just some of the obstacles in their path.

The final room contained an important treasure, a huge old map of the region.

Rosia Lightfoot's Journal - Part 14

We questioned the prisoner after the fight with the wolves, and he told us that he had been travelling with a halfling called Bartelby who had betrayed him and somehow sold him into slavery in this cursed place. I felt obliged to help him, if only to show that not all halflings are bad! As I was examining his manacles we were attacked by a band of bugbears and some more wolves. Apparently the wolf who fled had alerted them. We fought them off (mainly thanks to Oren and Curbag), but Isaak was badly injured in the process. Thankfully Quercus was able to heal him, and he seems none the worse for his experience.

We decided to let the prisoner come with us for the time being. His name is Ran, and he has a giant wolf-hound travelling with him. I think he must be a shaman, one of the ones who live in the deep forests. He seems to a have wild nature about him. He has lost all his possessions, so we gave him some few items we could spare. Hopefully we will find more somewhere in this part of the complex. What a pity we cannot return to the armoury we found in the last section...

We then explored the bugbear's den, to the east of the room where we found Ran. They lived in terrible squalor, the stench was worse than Curbag's feet! We did find a chest, and we used the keys we found on one of the bugbears to open it. It was trapped (of course!) but I was able to overcome the simple device, and there was some cash inside (not much use to us) and some more healing potions (of great use!)

Finding no other way, we went back into the mirror room, and explored the exit to the north east. We found a room with the floor covered in ice, and three large rings in the middle, linked together and slowly moving. They radiated magic, and Isaak told us that both illusion and necromancy were at work here. We decided not to risk upsetting the delicate balance of the rings. Perhaps we will come back later when we are armed with greater knowledge.

We ended up taking the last exit out of the mirror room, all other being exhausted. This led us to a room with a deep pit in it, filled with snakes and jagged spikes. How can the snakes live here? What do they eat? It must be more magic that keeps them alive... A narrow ledge went round the west side of the room, where we came in. Even for me it was risky, so I was joined to the others by a rope, in case I slipped. I went along the ledge, to the south wall of the room, and found a hidden switch which extended a narrow bridge partway across to the eastern wall. Along the eastern wall was another ledge, and there seemed to be a door in the south east corner. However, the gap between the end of the bridge and the eastern wall was considerable. For someone of my stature, it seemed like a gaping chasm!

Curbag volunteered to leap across, being easily the best jumper of us all. I waited on the western end of the bridge whilst he was roped to the others, then he ran along the bridge to jump to the eastern ledge. Alas! Before he could even try to jump he slipped off the bridge and fell into the pit. We had misjudged the depth of the pit, and Oren was forced to make a mighty effort to hold on to him. However, the rope slipped through his hands, and Curbag fell into the pit amongst the snakes. He was injured from the fall, but was fortunately able to climb out, with the help of the rope, before the snakes could bite him. Now we must hope he is willing to try again, or we must come up with a different plan to enable us to move onwards.

Players Map for Session 14


The traps take their deadly toll upon the party, every move is now cautious and slow.

Are they being tested? Is there no way through this place?

Are the players becoming wise to the games this dungeon is playing? Time will tell....

Rosia Lightfoot's Journal - Part 13

A week has gone by since I last wrote. We have been resting after the fight with Longtail, allowing Quercus time to recover. The lizardfolk came to visit us for a while, and helped to fashion a wooden leg for the cleric. He has been practicing with it, and seems almost as good as new. I offered him my magic cloak, to help offset the loss of his leg, but he refused it. His faith in Pelor is remarkable!

While we were recovering, Curbag grew restless. He was still furious about the orcs deserting us during the battle. I tried to calm him down, but each day of inactivity just made him more determined to hunt them down and punish them. In the end Oren and I agreed to go with him to look for the orcs, leaving Isaak to stay with Quercus. Curbag and Oren can both see well in the darkness, and I wore the magical lenses which we took from Longtail. We found that the doors to the east had become unsealed. I wanted to investigate, but Curbag wouldn't be swayed from his quest.

We traveled on to the south, down the long corridor, and found that one of the doors had been opened. I wondered if the orcs might have tried to escape this way, so I went ahead and looked into the room beyond. They had indeed passed this way, and perished in the room beyond! The large chamber was clearly riddled with traps, as all the orcs had died in a range of horrific ways. Thus is the fate of those who travel without the specialist services offered by my profession...

We returned to the others, Curbag seeming somewhat put-out that he hadn't been able to bring death to the orcs personally. Once we were satisfied that Quercus was fit to travel, we moved on. We tried to go north, via passage in the northwest corner of our map, but it had caved in. The dungeon seems to be getting more and more unstable. We tried going through the area with the Trogolodyte stench, but it was just to unpleasant. Even with a wet rag tied around my nose, I was unable to stop retching. In the end we went east, despite misgivings about the chamber of traps.

Sure enough our fears proved well founded... This new area of the complex seems to be even more riddled with traps than the last. At least not all of these are magical, so I have a much better chance of detecting and disarming them. We explored several rooms, including one with a golden statue which crumbled to dust when we finally got it out of the room (after Quercus was nearly killed by a trap which shot shards of crystal at him), before finding a large chamber completely lined with mirrors. As we entered a trap was set off, causing a large block to start moving down the corridor. At the same time a stone door descended, threatening to seal us in the corridor and have us crushed by the block. We could see no way out of the mirror room, but we chose the lesser of two evils and ended up trapped inside it.

On searching I found a secret panel in one of the mirrors, and behind it was a lock. I got out my tools and began to work on it, but it was fiendishly complicated and I must have set something off, as the panel snapped shut and seemed to disappear. We search again and found another panel, and behind it was a lock. I thought at first that it was a new lock, but then I recognised the marks of my pick on the metal! It was the same lock, somehow moving around the room. I tried again, and failed and the lock moved again. We found it in yet another part of the room. I failed to open it for a third time, and expected it to move, but instead the mirrored tiles on the floor fell away to reveal a huge drop into a chasm filled with rocky spikes. There was just enough floor left for us to perch on. I tried the lock once more, and yet again I failed. This time the floor we were on moved to the centre of the room! Having no other option I searched the floor and found the panel and the lock, and this time I defeated the mechanism and the lock opened. The floor was magically restored and doors opened to the north and south.

We went north and found a room with a man chained to a wall. Before we had time to investigate this prisoner, we were set upon by a pair of huge wolves. The battle was hard fought, but we killed one, and the other fled. Now we need to question this strange man and see why he is here, and find out what he knows about this place...