Session 80 - Iwee does a Derrick
In-game timeline: Start of session: 1490DR Ches 15. End of session: 1490DR Ches 16
After a successful battle with Tissora and her helpers, our "Heroes" venture back out into the large hall with the impressive descending staircase.
Being completionists, they decide that rather than press on towards their goal of finding Kardreth and the Intricate Web before anyone else does, despite multiple warnings from Kardreth that other people are close to him, and getting closer, they would stop off for an hour or two to investigate another door that they are pretty sure is trapped.
With the protection of burning incense keeping the stirges at bay, the party look carefully at the other door. The skeletons hint at a trap. The lack of handles on the discarded axes hints at a trap. The mysterious rows of holes in the door frame spotted by Derrick hint at a trap. They decide not to press on down safer routes, but spend an hour investigating. Until Iwee gets bored of the discussions and just opens the door in a very Derrick-like fashion.
This triggers a trap.
Napalm-like liquid fires out of the holes in the door frame, igniting in the air as it travels, and covers Iwee, Karoshi and Derrick. Jaxii is meanwhile staring at a wall, luckily just out of range.
As the napalm burns their skin, Karoshi and Iwee together manage to put out the fire on Iwee, and then on Karoshi. Derrick, face already scarred from a burning some months previously, receives more burns as he struggles to put out his own fires. Jaxii stops staring at the wall long enough to come and help and eventually between them they extinguish and clean off the burning, viscous, oil-like substance.
Derrick glares at Iwee.
Unfortunately, during the time that they spent putting out their fires, the door has closed again. So, more planning is needed.
Derrick cuts up the goat skin he got from Umnik's room and uses it to block the holes around the door, hoping he has found them all. Karoshi runs into the room as the others stand back. The trap triggers, but luckily the goat skin blocks the substance from reaching them and just smoulders in the holes. Karoshi and Derrick quickly wedge the door open and the others head in the room.
Which, after all their efforts and suffering, appears to be empty. A small room with seemingly no other exits, and only a broken stone altar/table/chest thing and broken stone chair to be seen. Frustrated, our "Heroes" decide to spend another hour searching this small room, to no avail. They then decide to spend a further 8 hours resting here - because hey, what's the hurry? - though the room is too small even to accommodate Iwee's Tiny Hut, so they instead leave Pacino on guard as they sleep. Pacino gets bored of looking around a 15' x 10' room for 8 hours.
But they do manage to get some sleep and are refreshed after their rest.
Suddenly gaining a sense of urgency, they head back out of the room and down the steps, using the incense to keep the stirges at bay once more. The steps double-back on themselves, and lead down into an octagonal room containing 2 doors and 3 large, stone statues of dwarves. In a rush (*sarcasm*) they spend a further hour looking at every nook and cranny of this room before trying any of the doors. Their hesitancy does pay off, however, as they are nervous that the doors also contain traps. So Karoshi uses his Thaumaturgy to open the doors.
To good effect, it seems. The traps do trigger as the axes held by the dwarven statues swing down, and would hit anyone trying to open the doors, had they not been sensible enough to do this from a distance. All the dilly-dallying was worth it!
Except that both doors led to blank, stone walls. They seem to be not only traps, but also decoys. And so more time is spent re-looking at walls (that Iwee had already checked, to no avail, previously). This time, however, Derrick, who is being surprisingly perceptive at the moment, spots a very well concealed door behind one of the statues! An exit!
For once ignoring Jaxii's pleas to make use of her portable hole YET AGAIN before opening the door, Karoshi just opens the door. It reveals a further stone staircase, leading down to some impressive stone doors at the bottom. Closed, of course. They descend, slowly.
Iwee suddenly stops, dropping her rapier. She seems distracted, though only for a brief moment. Kardreth has contacted her again - perhaps he is wondering why they are taking so long? Our "Heroes" are worried. They ready their weapons before proceeding…