Since we had “missed” a potential session due to cousins and family coming to visit, I gave my daughter an opportunity to make it up during the week if she could get both of the other players to show as well as make sure it was ok with her step-mom since it would be a during the week game and that would mean I wouldn’t be able to take over baby duties for my infant son during that time.
All worked out and she had a 2 hour get together with about an hour and a half play time. So they are continuing their exploration of the 3rd level and it looks like before they hit the 4th, 1 or 2 of the group might be going up in level.
Write up follows:
The 4 party members thank Pandora once more for her help in the eventual upcoming struggle against Zargon, apologized for the defilement of the altar and carpet, and then went on our way back to the revolving room. Once there, we referred to Delsin’s decoding of the symbols and picked the one that would turn the room facing West – back to Auriga’s area and the bulwark of the Usimagarian’s zone.
Once the room stopped rotating, we travelled again down the dark hall and back to the prayer room where the 13 members of the Usimagarian cult were still slain and dead on the floor. The coppery scent of spilled blood was getting cloying and thick. A short search of the bodies did not reveal the spellbook that Volkan was hoping for, but Delsin and Mark did note that masks the Usimagarian’s wore were thin silver beaten onto wood, and could be worth something.
Volkan thought it was silly to take them, where would we sell it? We were in a desert far from anywhere and it would take up precious room in our packs. He did take Auriga’s mask as it also had a silver crown attached to it, but that was it. The fighter and cleric each took a few of the masks and after we gave the room a serious one last look over, decided that it was time to continue exploring.
There was a door on the south side of the room and Volkan was once again tying a rope to the door to open it when Safir pointed out it was a KNOB, and a tied rope would not allow the mage the opportunity to open it. Frustrated, Volkan threw his hands up and Safir gave the portal a once over, satisfied it was neither locked nor trapped.
We opened the door, and looked in. There was a corridor here, “T’ed” in both directions, with small candles lit giving the place a strange wavering light. To the right it went a short distance and ended at a door on the south wall, and to the left it went some 20 paces and ended at a blank wall.
Safir and Mark went left to explore the area, but it was Volkan and Delsin who both ran to the other door; racing to see who would get there first. It was a flurry of limbs and shoving hands but they hit the portal and gave it a kick – where it opened with a loud slam on the opposite wall.
It was a decent sized room and had 6 double bunk-beds along with footlockers. We fanned out and gave the chamber a good once over. It was obviously the original sleeping chamber for Auriga’s followers and we did find changes of clothing and personal effects – but nothing of any real value. So after 15 minutes and no obvious other doors in the room, Delsin made the call that we should give the place a final search just to make sure we didn’t miss anything.
We lucked out and came upon a secret door on the south wall. Managing to get it open revealed a short hall, 9 paces or so long, that ended at a wooden door with a small cut out near the top. As we approached it, we could hear a growl coming from the other side and it had the 4 party members hold up for a bit while we discussed possibilities. Eventually it was decided to shove the smaller door blocking the cut out aside and peer in through the bars.
Where we saw a large bedroom/office where a grey wolf was chained to the foot of the bed by a long lead. And it was growling at us.
We assumed the room was Auriga’s but didn’t want to risk getting bit by the agitated wolf. So we opened the door and then ran back as the wolf charged out of the room and was brought up short before it could get to any of us. We tried to hit at it but it danced away and ran back inside where we watched it go to one side of the door and just sit out of sight.
So we crept forward and used Volkan’s staff to tap the floor and the wolf charged out and bit at the staff and then we ran back again and the wolf hid behind the frame once more. So we did the staff thing again, thinking we were going to then attack the wolf but the wolf was fast and dragged the staff out of Delsin’s hand, dragging it back into the chamber and then savaging it for a bit before quieting down and waiting AGAIN for us to step forward.
Mark was taking the stance of enough is enough and had his war hammer out. Volkan was pissed that his staff was gone and the group of us stormed forward as the wolf charged out. Some bites, snarls, scratches; a couple of well-placed blows and then the battle was over and the wolf was dead.
We entered Auriga’s chamber. Desk, chair, book shelf, bed, clothing drawer. We checked around and grabbed some quills and ink, found the wizard’s spell book, some paper. Volkan wanted to use some of the ink and write the spells into his own spell book but we were unsure if we should spend that kind of time. A small key was found but it wasn’t until we lifted the bed aside and felt the floor beneath it give slightly to our weight that we discovered what it was for.
A secret cache was hidden under the bed and the metal lid of the box there had to be unlocked to open it. We did note that there was a poison needle trap on the lock and the key’s use allowed us to circumvent the trap! Way to us party!
The box had over 2,500 silver nobles and some 200 gold crowns within. We divided up the coin, loaded it into our bags, and decided to give Volkan the time to write what spells he could into his spellbook. We kept the door to Auriga’s room shut for the 3 hours we spent scribing and then afterwards, hefted our heavy bags and started making our war back to the revolving room where we were going to try the NW corridor before turning it North and eventually head towards the 4th level.
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