Aerel oh-so-gently touches the key with the tip of his dagger to confirm that it is real and not an illusion. He also wants to get some idea of its weight.
Not taking his eye from it, he speaks so the others can hear, "What do you think? I'm convinced the hook, not the key, is the trigger. Perhaps the weight of the key keeps the trap from triggering. I might be able to disable the hook from reacting to the motion of the key or replace the key with something else of a similar weight. What annoys me is not knowing if we need the key at all - we might be been able to walk past and ignore it and been no worse off."
"Since you are asking, I think you should disable the trap, take the key, and we make our way down the hall. If we find that we need to come back and open the pit, we can un-jam it.
But this is your area of expertise so I leave it to you to decide."
Aerel salutes Benedict with a grin. He tests the jury-rigged rope harness one more time and studies the hook. "Keep the rope taut, boys, I might be going for a spill right shortly! 1.. 2.. 3..!" He's looking to see if he can jam something in to keep the hook from rising when the key is lifted.
Aerel realizes what he did, and in a desperate leap dives back for the lip of the pit. He catches the edge and hauls himself back up, avoiding a 30-foot fall into the pit below.
William smiles as Aerel pulls himself up. "Well, nothing like a good plan and quick reflexes to save your skin. Shall we continue down the hall when you catch your breath?"
Aerel grins from where he crouches, catching said breath, ”That’s what I like about you fellows. That’s what I would expect from brothers. I’m ready, let’s go.”
He does pause to close his eyes and say a quick thank you to Gozreh for his guidance and protection before he heads further down the hall, checking for traps often.
Taking care, Aerel leads the group down the next passage. He doesn't spot any traps, though notices a small alcove set in the wall where a small dais is set in the floor.
Further on, he sees the passage split in several directions. One passage continues south and appears to bend back toward the entrance. Another, smaller corridor leads directly west. And to the east opposite the small hallway, is a wall-to-wall iron door with no handle or hinges. The stone wall to the north of the door is inset with a pair of large keyholes.
Numerous warnings and curses are etched into the door, warning of misery, death, and vile or unpleasant ailments that will afflict anyone who passes through the door.
Aerel compares the key that he risked life and limb for to the size of the keyholes in the wall.
"Not making plans, understand. Just looking at our options."
"Again, this is your domain, Aerel. But if we have to find another key, I would guess down the other trapped corridor, then those who are more seriously wounded should heal up."
Aerel determines that the heavy key he liberated will fit in one of the sockets next to the iron door.
”Another hall full of traps. Wonderful.”
The heroes have a choice ahead of them. Do they inspect the mysterious middle passage, or go down the southern hallway that no doubt leads them into the traps of the dwarven bladesmith?
William ponders for a moment and says "If only one hallway needed to be traversed then only one key should work. Try the key we have here and see where this goes would be my advice."
Aerel examines the lock where his key fits, then tries it if no threats are evident. [b]”Step back, folks!”[/dice]
Aerel spots no traps, so he turns the key. It moves the old mechanism roughly a quarter turn and it stops. Nothing happens.
Aerel exhales slowly, then says, ”Right then. I’ll be a moment.”
He turns to the central passage and begins to methodically check it for traps and advance to see what’s ahead.
Aerel advances down the center hallway. He doesn't spot any traps, nor does he spring any by moving down the corridor.
He arrives at a darkened chamber. A low stone wall bisects half of this large room. To either side of the wall rests a stone sarcophagus. The southern sarcophagus is carved with the image of a stout male dwarf holding two crossed handaxes. The northern sarcophagus bears the image of a sharp-faced half-elf holding a longbow. Near each sarcophagus, an iron lever juts from a panel in the wall.
Aerel returns to the others and shares what he's seen before returning to study the sarcophagi. He's thinking that the key might have disabled a trap on the elven-marked casket. Similarly, he assumes any traps on the dwarven casket are still enabled.
If he finds no traps, he will attempt to pull the lever on the north panel. If he finds something suspicious, he will try to disable it.
Aerel finds no traps around either the sarcophagus or the lever. He does see that it is labeled. The top position is labeled, "A HUNDRED ARROWS," while the lower position is labeled, "CORNERED PREY." The lever is currently in the middle, unlabeled spot.
The labels on the panel in the southern alcove read, "LUNGING STRIKES," in the top position and, "ADVANCING LINES," in the lower position. This lever is also in the middle position.
Aerel calls out loud enough for the rest of the party to hear. "This is interesting. There don't appear to be any traps, come check this out. What do you make of it?"
"I think maybe we can disable each trap and gain access to the other key."
"I think you are right, Aerel.
If the southern route has the same design as the northern one, then we only need disable one of the traps. The key should be in a southern alcove between the two traps.
And if the bottom position disables the trap closest to where we are now - 'Cornered Prey' in our case - then I imagine we want to have the lever in the bottom position to disable 'Advancing Lines.' We can just ignore the trap closest to where we originally came in.
Of course, all this a moot point if they intentionally designed it differently. But I think the lever can only disable one trap at a time."
"One way to find out. I will move toward where we expect the other key to reside. Listen for my signal and move the lever down - I want to see if I can hear anything change. I'm still going to be slow and careful to get there, so it will be a moment."
Aerel heads around to the south, searching for traps and looking for parallels with the northern passage. If everything is as expected, he will reach the point where he can see the key without encountering a trap. At that point, he will signal the others to lock out the trap.
He will examine the presumably trapped area to verify that it is not enabled before moving to claim the key. Abundance of caution is the phrase of the day.
As Aerel starts down the southern passage, he comes across another small alcove set in the wall. Inside is another wooden golem, though this one has two large wooden battle axes in the place of arms and hands.
It immediately comes to life as Aerel passes in front of it!
The golem steps forward and swings its axes.
Aerel throws himself backward as he cries out, ”Golem! Axes!”
"My tactical instincts are rubbing off on you, Grum..."
Benedict takes up position next to Grum, his warhammer in one hand and the Hemlock Banner in the other.
He readies to strike the golem as soon as it is within reach.
Amkarang takes point next to Grum, letting out some slack on his chain to strike further away.
Aerel moves back to the safety of his companions.
The wood golem marches after Aerel where the melee fighters stood ready. Only Grum's attack is accurate, and he leaves a scorched rent in the wooden body of the golem.
The golem retaliates, attacking Amkarang.
It then follows up with a burst of splinters that affects everyone!
William pulls out his two flaming arrows and fires them at the golem.
Benedict dodges the worst of the blast, but still is wounded.
He strikes back with his warhammer.
The golem falls under the flurry of attacks.
The hallway falls silent once more.
Aerel doesn't even have time to stop and turn to fire his bow before the construct falls. Exhaling noisily, he says, "Sorry, friends, I didn't consider that they put one of those things in both halls."
"I'll go back to the previous plan. I'll sing out when I'm where I expect the second trap to be. Switch the lever for me and I'll listen to see if I can hear it engage."
He stows his bow once more and proceeds, searching for traps as he goes. And spending a little more time looking at the walls for other surprises like alcove-occupying statues.
Aerel advances down the hallway and reaches a side hallway much like the one in the northern passage. At the end of the short hallway, he sees a key hanging on a hook, just like the one with the pit trap.
He calls back down the hall to Benedict, "I'm there! Push the lever down!"
"Got it!"
Benedict pushes the lever into the down position.
Aerel listens for mechanical sounds that might indicate that the trap had been disarmed. He carefully tests the trap to see if it holds his weight as the northern one had before proceeding to the key's hook and looking to see it also appeared to be a trigger.
Aerel does not find a pit trap in this hallway. What he does find are several hair-thin wires cris-crossing the space in front of the key.
After some experimentation, he realizes that it is impossible to reach the key without touching the wires. However, he quickly discovers that the trap must have been deactivated since nothing happens when the wires are disturbed.
He is able to obtain the key without incident.
The doors unlatch, and then can be pulled back to reveal the vault. Tidily arranged boxes, chests, and sacks line the shelves of this low, stone room, while armor dummies and a weapon rack claim the floor space. A mural on the eastern wall depicts a host of green-and-gray-cloaked archers turning back a motley army of Molthuni soldiers, giants and green-scaled dragons.
The party discover a dozen longswords, two dozen short swords, three dozen spears, a masterwork greataxe, and two masterwork longspears fill the weapon racks. The dummies wear two suits of masterwork hide armor, a suit of +1 leather armor, and a suit of green dragonhide banded mail. The shelves contain 300 days' worth of rations, a small lockbox with 400 gp, an iron pot containing four flasks' worth of unguent of timelessness, a +1 adaptive composite longbow, and a green-stained box decorated with dragon's teeth (worth 200 gp) containing four potions of remove fear, a minor ring of energy resistance (acid), and 10 +1 dragon bane arrows.