After two hours, Lorenzo groggily woke up. He touched his handsome face in horror, noting the brutal gash that had near-killed him.
Nareth makes sure Lorenzo stays down. "You've lost a lot of blood and the bones in your face are out of place. You're not moving anytime soon."
Alec patiently sleeps with his wounds, until finally Nareth manages to wake him up. The Stonelord opens his eyes, but remains on the floor since all around him the ambient seems to be quiet. "Hey, we alive?"
"Barely." Nareth walks over and kneels down, inspecting Alec's wounds again. "We still have a few hours, so get comfortable."
The three hours pass uneventfully.
Random Monster:
Next random monster: = 8:30 PM
Nareth occasionally checks on the wounds, but mostly just instructs the two to lay down and save their strength. He checks on his armor, his weapons, tends to his own wounds a bit, but seems content to wait out the last two hours in silence.
After a few hours, Robert begins to be more lax in his "guarding". Now he leans on his staff, occasionally leaning up against the wall, as well. He feels rather useless and a bit out of place. Guarding his comrades, bodies while they recovered were not the kind of thing he'd have seen himself doing when they first set out today.
The next two hours also pass uneventfully.
Next random monster check: 8:30 PM
Slowly, Alec gets up. "Ok, folks. Mine and Lorenzo's situation is not improving without some proper rest or healing. It's about time we return to Haven, so let's get moving, at least in a slow pace." He handles to Nareth and Robert whatever they can carry to lessen the burden, then moves back toward the beginning of the place. I just hope the door is there...
"Robert, cover the back." Nareth leads on.
You head back to the first room you saw in this strange complex and wait a few minutes. Then a few more. No door appears; nothing about the room changes in the slightest.
You've been in this dungeon for 12 hours. You are hungry, thirsty, and wounded, and now it appears your assumption about the entrance to Haven reappearing was incorrect. Things look grim.
Next random monster check: 8:30 PM
Nareth frowns, approaching the area where the door was and searching for it. "We were told we could return after 12 hours, we wish to do so now! Open the damnable door!"
The dwarf moves through where the door should be (touching with his hand if it should be on the wall. He recalls that he saw no door when getting outside haven. If it doesn't work, just to guarantee it, Alec motions everybody in and closes the door leading to the corridor. He remember that are weird runes on the walls, and maybe the room needs to be sealed shut to allow.
"Worst case scenario, we rest here."
Robert is crestfallen when the door does not reappear for them. Bloody and broken, this was to be their refuge. His mind immediately went to work, searching for an answer to the question of Why?
Robert stood, stroking his chin, as if it would help him concentrate. "I've come to three conclusions. First, perhaps the door does not reappear exactly where it first let us in, and we must seek it out. Second, that we are required to perform some task yet, and the door will not reappear for some inestimable amount of time. Lastly," and here he paused, uncomfortable with what he was about to say.
"Lastly, it's entirely possible that we were deceived. Perhaps the door will never reopen and this is simply a very elaborate trap. Built by whom, and to what purpose I could not even fathom a guess."
I am completely spent, gentlemen. Allow me to rest and i'll be able to expend more magic to get us moving again.
After fully moving into the room and closing the door, nothing changes. Searching around the room proves futile, as well.
Next random monster check: 8:30 PM
Nareth tries to decipher the magical writings again.
"Perchance when we sleep we will be transported back. I don't assume that we were fooled, but rather challenged. Again." He looks around, uncertain of what the runes should do. "I've got enough food for us for two and a half days, so let's eat, and search for water sources tomorrow. Let's set a watch and sleep here. Lorenzo, you're the one with the worst wounds, so sleep first, and wake up only when you're feeling better. Anything else?"
Nareth runs a hand along all of the walls, trying to see if any of them are false. "I'll take first watch."
Nareth stands exactly where they emerged from the iron door, attempting to grasp at where the opening was earlier. Then he tries thinking to the voice that talked to him earlier. This is a sick game. How do we return? Nareth also casts detect magic to scan the area.
Nareth mentally wills himself to return to Haven, then tries to to mentally will the door into existence.
Nothing happens.
Alec realizes Nareth's impatience and tries to calm him down. "Don't worry about it now, Nareth. We will get there eventually. We have more important things to focus on right now."
It is also troubling him, but he is uncertain of what to do. He tries only one more thing before taking his equipment and armor off to rest. "Haven!" He speaks it aloud.
Nothing happens.
"Not impatient, persistent." Nareth looks at the door on the east side of the wall. He closes it, steps back and waits a moment, then opens it again.
"Quite as I expected. I'll try to restore some of my energies now, since I'm quite beat up. Good night." He takes his equipment off, then the armor, leaves the Earthbreaker by his side and lay down on a corner.
Nothing happens.
While Robert takes watch, Nareth prays and recovers his spells.
The night passes uneventfully.
@8:30 PM
Random monster check (10% chance):
Next random monster check: = 11:35 PM
@11:35 PM
Random monster check (10% chance):
Next random monster check: = 2:50 AM
@2:50 AM
Random monster check (10% chance):
Next random monster check: = 4:45 AM
@4:45 AM
Random monster check (10% chance):
Next random monster check: = 8:40 AM
Nareth creates enough water to quench everyone's thirst, then heals Alec and Lorenzo.
After that he casts virtue to give everybody 1 temporary hit point, stopping everybody each minute to cast it again.
The Stonelord wakes up, now feeling rested, and asks for some help to put his armor on quickly. "An uneventful night, thanks Torag! Let's eat something, cause I'm almost starving. Did anyone took the equipment from that skeleton?"
"No, I was not concerned with it at the time."
Robert stretches as he pulls himself away from his spellbook. "Yes, we were rather preoccupied at the time. I suppose we'll make our way back and see just what that thing had for us to take."
Lorenzo groggily healed some of Alec's injuries and then his own; the brutal gash mostly fading from his face.
Our second day. Lets hope it ends better than our first.
"Ha ha ha!" Alec laughs aloud. "Let us see. Resume of day 1: One main weapon broken, everyone's so beat up we already used all our healing available for day 2, and we have no idea on how to return to a safe place. Day 2 has a long way to go before turning worst than day 1..."
Slowly the party advances toward the room with the guillotine, being specially careful about the trap.
You travel back to the room where you fought the skeletal champion. The guillotine trap has not reset, and when you enter the room, the bones of the undead are still there, along with the gear it used - a breastplate, heavy steel shield, and an exceptionally well-crafted longsword .
"Well, I'll be honest, I could use both the breastplate and the Longsword, but I've seen that you used restorative magic on me instead of yourself, Nareth. You too, Lorenzo. Thank you both. If you want to protect yourselves better, I'm ok with it."
"Take them both and lead the way. We best be proactive instead of reactive about wounds." Nareth helps Alec get on the breastplate.
After collecting the skeletal champion's gear, you head back to the door you passed in the hall and open it. Inside is a seemingly empty room.