The potions clear up your negative levels, but the sickness persists until you wake the next day. Sometimes natural rest is just the only cure.
The NSN wish you luck as they head back to the streets in their efforts to help the city's citizens.
Any other actions before heading down the stairs of doom?
No, let's go, doom can't wait all day!
Much refreshed you return to the remains of the Mayor's building. Opening the door, you note that the stairs now descend into gloomy darkness ending in a 15'x15' room with two doors on opposite E/W walls.
As you look about the room noting the decorative banners hanging from ceiling to floor and depicting the circled crimson cross of Cheliax, you also notice 3 figures skulking about in the shadows. They appear to be lying in wait for you but you get the drop on them instead.
Your action.
Ho-ho! More sneak thieves for the slaying!
You hacke through the first two while Ragnar finishes off the last one.
Three dead men lie at your feet.
3 sets of +1 leather, MW rapier/hand xbow, 900 GP worth of coin and effects, 3 potions of CMW.
Doors in the E and W walls.
Take the door to the East. Check it for traps, disarm, then open and look about.
Finding the way safe and unlcoked, you open the door to reveal a long hallway stretching out into the distance ending in what may be a room at the end. There are two doors in the N wall about 20' apart.
Move to what may be a room at the end of the hall and check it out.
As you approach the room, you catch a whiff of what smells like dog scat/urine and rotting flesh.
As you enter the area you see two massive dog like creatures-over 4 feet tall at the shoulders and every bit of 200+ pounds; every strip of this three-headed hound's hide has been peeled away, leaving wet sinew and bulging tendons exposed.
Sensing you they snarl and attack!
"Nasty!"
You and Ragnar hack away at the carnivorous canines but they keep coming!
Slathering and snapping:
On Caldir:
On Ragnar:
Ragnar's last off balance swing opens up his flank to a ferocious bite doing . The creature's other two heads howl in anticipation of their own taste of man flesh. The deafening sound probably alerts anything in the vicinity of your presence.
Next round.
"Damn it, shut the thing up before everything in the area descends upon us!"
If possible take up a flanking position opposite of Ragnar. If that is not possible subtract 2d6 from each damage.
A round later, you and Ragnar have easily dispatched the once mighty hounds.
***end of combat***
Search about the area.
"An empty weapon rack lines the northern wall of this otherwise
empty room."
There is also a door in the NW corner of the room.
Check out the NW door. Find and disarm any traps, then open the door and take a look.
Finding the door of no threat, you open it and advance down a 20' hallway that ends in a 10'x10'.
"Two heavy chests made of iron and bearing complex-looking
locks sit against the west wall of this room."
Your thorough search also reveals a secret door in the NE corner of the room.
"Ragnar, mind that secret door while I try to unlock these chests."
~stares intently at the door~
You are more than a little surprised to find not only are the chests not trapped, they aren't even locked!
The first chest holds 2,400 GP worth of jewlery, art, silverware, and other finery looted from the ruins of the Mayor's abode.
The second chest holds items later identified as:
+1 dwarven waraxe, a wand of quench (11 charges), and a phylactery of positive channeling.
Gathers up the treasure.
"Nice job Ragnar."
Check out the secret door. Find and disarm any traps, then open the door and take a look.
Ragnar guard door good!~smiles~
A natural cave tunnel snakes off to the E. The ceiling height is barely 4'. Medium creatures passing through will have to treat it as difficult terrain.
The air is moist and there is a foul stench to it.
Whispered: "This doesn't look promising. Give me 30 seconds and then follow as quietly as you can."
Move forward trying to remain undetected while being as observant as possible.
You sneakily sneak in to the low ceilinged room to find what looks like some type of nest made of rags, rubble, and bone in the NW corner. There is a passage heading N in the center of the N wall.
A strange human-fox female hybrid appears to be resting in the 'nest'. You hear soft murmurs as if she is speaking to herself.
What do I know of this creature? Is it evil? Is it speaking a language?
It doesn't look evil and the language it speaks seems to be maybe some form of celestial although you hear a few words of devil speak intermixed. However, something looks wrong/sick about it and where once it must have had lustrous fur, now it is streaked with dark patches of oil and ooze. You think some of the bones in its nest are probably human...
You calmly stalk up to the creature and land four deadly blows upon it! The creature's otherworldly fur seems to take some of the sting off of your attacks but it still looks badly mauled. The thing looks up at you and bares its teeth.
You slay the fox-like creature before it has a chance to respond...
***end of combat***
Inspect its nest. Ask Ragnar if he recognizes the thing when he shows up.
After a few minutes of fruitless poking around the nest and the surrounding area you hear Ragnar lumbering towards you, his huge frame bent nearly in half to fit in the small space.
Guess I missed the party; thank for the invite though! The messanger must have been delayed. ~he smiles goofily at you and then curses as his head bonks on the ceiling~ Are you done here or should I set up camp?
A tunnel winds away into darkness on the Northern end of the cave.
How big is the tunnel?
Can I tell how it was made? Creature? Natural?
Your best guess is that it's natural, but certain sections do look clawed out and enlarged. Even with that, the tunnel is tight and the ceiling low. The going is uncomfortable, especially for Ragnar, as it meanders N for some 100' or so before turning W and ending in a plain stone wall.
Check out the stone wall.
With your skill you easily find an otherwise cleverly hidden secret door. On the other side a circular room about 40' across:
"This circular chamber looks similar to a silo, the floor and ceiling
dropping away for twenty feet in either direction. Above, the
ceiling appears to be scorched stone, while twenty feet below,
the chamber ends in a pool of boiling, steaming dark water.
A five-foot-wide walkway around the edge of the silo allows
passage between doors on either side. The walls of the room
are a complex tangle of purple crystalline pipes and metal tubes,
many of which steam with heat. A complex-looking metal and
crystal valve, its face a twisted clot of slots and nodules, glows
softly on one wall just above the walkway."
Look around then head over to the door on the far side.
On the way check out the valve using my disable device skills.
You get the sense that this room is part of the machinery that powers the infernal engine. You figure with enough time you could probably determine how to disable the valve and shut down the power from this room. It seems that there is a strange slot specifically designed for some type of key rod that would normally be used to disable the mechanism.
Continue moving towards the door on the far side. Find and disable traps on it and then open it and look around.
The double doors in the E wall open and reveal a long flight of stairs leading up and to the S. There appears to be a door at the top of the stairs.
The single door in the SW corner opens to a long curving hallway that appears to spiral down and inward, eventually heading NW.
Ragnar shuffles his feet nervously, What do you think Caldir? I always get turned around in dungeons. I'm more of an 'open air' type of adventurer. Of course, I'm really more like a 'flagon and wench' type adventurer, but while they are more fun they don't pay as well.
"Let's check what's upstairs first Ragnar, don't want something sneaking down behind us when we head into the depths of hell or wherever the stairs down lead."
Head up the stairs and try the door.
As you approach the doors you can hear a mechanical roaring and shrieking behind them. Heat and vibrations can be felt through the heavy doorframe.