Maq heals the party with his infernal hearing before the watch starts.
Char and Anvil take the first watch and do not hear or see anything. Dolgrin takes the second watch and falls asleep part way through, Maq wakes up when it is his turn to stand watch and lets Dolgrin continue to sleep.
In the morning everyone is feeling better than the day before, recover 1/2 of your Strength damage.
Party's action.
Full HP; -3.5 STR
Nothing like a good night of coma to shake off your worries. Thanks Maqej for letting me keep watch...er...osmotically. I guess that's what it means to sleep like the dead, eh? Let's find out where this tunnel leads. As long as it's not to the mother's of spiders den I'll be happy for today. Come on Anvil, let's take the lead.
Dolgrin spots one spider watching the group from a hole in the ceiling about 30 feet above you, there are 2 other empty holes nearby, but after a careful period of observation he does not see any more spiders or anything else posing immediate danger to the party.
Round up strength to -3 Dolgrin.
Any actions here or move on?
Dolgrin grits his teeth in frustration as he sees the spider safe far above him. For a moment he thinks about sending Anvil up to finish the last spider but decides not to risk harm to his companion.
Shaking his head he motions for the party to follow him down the tunnel.
The party passes the spider holes and continues down the unremarkable stone passage behind Dolgrin and Anvil.
Suddenly the party hears the clear sound of a small bell ringing as if being called to dinner, unfortunately the only thing coming up the passage is a fireball rather than a tasty snack.
DC16 reflex save for 1/2 damage
Still fatigued from the venom of the spiders Dolgrin walks through an apparent fireball trap
Well, at least it isn't spiders!
"It seems that our luck has deserted us my friends. This path is well guarded, no doubt the drow do no want others to use their tunnel."
-20 HP
Dolgrin snorts with some contempt, I think Desna is either asleep or on a long vacation. The only luck I've had that isn't bad is you three. The rest of it has been a sack of dross. He wipes the burn soot from him Feel like I'm back on the forge again. Mind your fingers! Might be some hammer traps coming up next. How about a little blast of healing Char or maybe some devil juice just in case we have more fun stuff coming up?
I'll drop an infernal heal on each of us.
"I can offer some healing as well, that should make us all nearly whole."
The party continues down the tunnel for about another quarter mile, the tunnel opens up into a room that looks to be about 50-60 feet across from your position in the tunnel. You can't see any exits to the room from where you are, but there is some sort of stone structure in the center of the room, it is about 3-4 feet high and at least 10 feet across, maybe a dais of some sort?
Continue into the room? Other actions?
-2HP
Continue into the room looking for traps and Drow death. Will examine the entire room and then the 'stone structure'.
Before Dol can lead the party into the room Maq speaks up saying he thinks there is another magical trap which would be triggered by entry into the room.
Keen eyes Maqej! Now use your mystical powers to disarm it. Char, Anvil, and I will be back here just in case. We'll make sure nothing sneaks up on you from behind!~chuckles~
Uh, I don't have any mystical disarming powers Dol.
-can I tell if it's another fireball trap? -
If it's another fire trap, I seem to be better equipped to deal with it.
I believe my line is, 'You're the sorcerer...go sorcer something!' You got this Maqej! If there are any rocks or animals I'm all over it. Magicy stuff is best NOT handled by the dwarf...
I will cast detect magic on the trap, see if there is more than one. Then I will analyze the magic involved.
"This looks easy to disarm." I do so. -sorry guys-
Maq does indeed detect magic which he believes to be moderate fire magic, unfortunately he has no clue how to disarm.
DC 16 reflex save
It's unclear to me if Dol and the others tried to move away or hide so please explain what you did to avoid trap or if you didn't roll saves. Maq at least is in the blast.
If that wasn't far enough.
-extinguishing smoking ends of his hair-
"I don't think traps are my strong suit."
shuffles his feet apologetically
You originally stopped about 30 feet from the entrance then three withdrew as Maq went forward and set off the trap.
Maq takes 1/2 damage since he saved, the rest of the group was outside the burn radius.
The room remains the same (just like the song) as previously posted.
Maq's vantage point shows at the entrance to the room shows no other exits but the "dais" now looks like a circular wall around who knows what, rather than a platform.
Don't trouble yourself about it Maqej; you did at least as good as any of us can do. I don't think Anvil here is one for magic traps!
Search the entire room and then the circular wall. Head on a swivel for trap death.
Anvil clicks its mandibles unappreciatively at Dolgrin's commnets.
Dol and the rest of the group move about studying the room which is large and circular, the only exit besides the one you came in appears to be straight down as the wall surrounds a large hole in the ground. It's depth surpasses your vision and the air feels a bit cooler and smells slightly different than what you are used to.
Looks at Char and Maqej, Either of you have flying powers I don't know about? I don't think we are going to be able to hitch a ride on Anvil. If one of you can cast light on something we can drop it down there and see how far down it goes. I wish I could speak with animals then I could ask Anvil to go check it out and tell us what he sees.
Take 20 on perception and knowledge or:
"Many noble drow can levitate, perhaps they have rope or spells to get the lesser ones up and down. I can use a hex to levitate using a hex. Anvil can fly. And don't you have a ring that allows you to Featherfall. That just leaves Maqej, how to get him down?"
Dol has heard of holes like this before, they are a natural occurrence, they can range from 50' to over 1000' deep. Some even connect the various levels of the Darklands. This hole could lead directly to Sekamina or Orv though the latter seems unlikely to you.
Cute Char, but I'm not a big fan of one way trips. How about you levitate in and take a peek and let us know what's down there before we turn ourselves in to Drow shooting targets? Maqej, any thoughts on how you can get yourself down there if we have to go?
"Now that I think about it my hex will allow me to featherfall and levitate Maqej at the same time. If we want a one way trip that would work, the drow must have come up this way so it must lead somewhere. I can only use levitate once per day so if I levitate down to explore then we will need to remain here another day before I can use it again."
*Dol from what you know about magic you don't think that your ring will enable two to featherfall.
Why don't you levitate down and check it out Char. I'd rather make sure we aren't jumping down into a purple worm's maw if I can help it. Then if it looks survivable we can rest a day and head down. Should be easy to keep watch; they are only coming in one of two ways.
Char steps up onto the wall surrounding the hole and leaps in, you see her begin to float gently down after the initial few feet of her fall. In less than a minute she passes beyond the range of your vision.
Hope she doesn't get herself into to much trouble, right Maqej?
After what seems like an interminable wait Char floats back up to the waiting party.
"There is a room similar to this one but larger, it is several hundred feet down, I could see at least 2 tunnels leading out of it."
Well to steal a phrase from my folk, 'Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's down the hole we go'.... Let's rest up so Char can regain her hex and then into the REAL depths it is.
Char is exhausted and struggles to remain awake throughout her watch.
Just in case this is what we are waiting for...
I swear I rolled that
When it is just about time to wake everyone Maq hears noise of what soinds like a sizeable approaching group coming down the tunnel. Due to the acoustics the group is all awakened and has a minute or so to decide upon a course of action.
There is no place to hide in the room other than behind the low wall surrounding the hole and anyone coming fully into the room would certainly see you, if the approaching group stopped outside you could likely remain hidden if you were quiet.
You could also fight the approaching group as they are likely to be unfriendly as you are definitely in a drow controlled area. Based on what the group is hearing you will be greatly outnumbered.
Or you could make ready and jump into the hole.
Well I guess that settles that. You two ready? Let's go Anvil, fly down and make sure we have a safe landing spot.
With that, Dolgrin grabs up his gear and leaps quietly into the darkness.
Anvil slips into the darkness, flying down to the bottom and a (hopefully) safe landing spot for his companions.
I'll head down with a levitator...