Izomandakus follows what is likely a Seamus’s chalk mark path. What’s disconcerting though is some intersections were not market, and in some, the chalk was clearly scuffed away, but whomever, or whatever was doing it was interrupted in their task.
But the party is rejoined.
Izomandakus focuses on the telepathic bond to inform of his progress and eventually finds the help to keep going until the group rejoins "Hi there! So what are you up to?"
Pachemu closes by sniffing the already very familiar companions, just in case they found a different pet while they were away.
The boy takes notice of the spikes by the end of the tunnel "Oh, look, so you found Karzoug's Black Vise?" he performs a movement of his hands casting detect magic to see if there is an illusion at place "Perhaps we should not stand here much longer"
Kast looks around and shrugs. "Which way do you wish to go Izo? Let's do that."
Kast is happy to keep exploring here and will move forward in a direction, if one can be found.
No magics are found in the tunnel, but you keep well back. You try another path.
You find yourself in a hallway with a spring loaded floor. Seamus thinks he can disable it, but taking 10 doesn’t do it. Nor does it trigger the trap however. The section of floor is 10’ across if you want to try and jump it or cross I some other way. Or Seamus can try a roll. Failure will splat him into the ceiling as he feels the floor is on a spring. Well, a bad failure.
Seamus locks down the trap so it won’t trigger and you’re all able to smoothly walk across.
Then, further on, Seamus misses one - if a small one. As you’re moving along, Seamus’s foot slips on a stair. More specifically, his foot slips into the stair (image).
Reflex DC 24, otherwise you’ll take , and your movement is reduced by half until healed of the physical damage. Succeed and you managed to keep from putting weight on that leg as the trap opens and manage to jerk away from it.
You press on, weaving this way and that, backing out of dead ends, until you turn another corner to find a long hall with a wooden floor. But Seamus stops you.
The wooden slats are apparently spring loaded and will readily drop out of the way, revealing sharpened blades to slice and dice your feet (image). He’s not sure how long to disable it cleanly, for it’s basically 50’ with a trap every 6”. He can take-10, so no problem, I’m just saying it’ll take a while - maybe an hour or so.
”Oh! Look out, ‘Mus!” Kast reacts and offers whatever aid he can to help ‘Mus get his foot out. Airlimping has a lot of advantages, mostly in that one does not fall or step into traps. It’s perfect, one might say.
”Yeah, let’s keep going. This is interesting. I want to see where it ends up. Someone put a lot of time and effort into this and wow…yeah…gotta be something of interest eventually. Or not.”
Val just steps onto the wall and starts walking down the hallway. ”I imagine whoever lives here has had a few millennia to figure out new ways to f#%! with people. If we play according to their rules, we mat never get out of here.” She nods towards Izo. ”You have that one spell that makes a big area of molten rock that cools quickly? Just put that down on the ground.”
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"This place is terrible. It does not comply with any of the Magnimar's Build Ordinance safety measures" Izomandakus takes Pachemu around his arms and jumps over the fake step "It makes you appreciate how much dungeon safety design has evolved through the years"
Reaching the fake floor with vertical blades, the boy nods to Valena's proposal "Sure, I can do that" and with a gesture and a few arcane words the whole ground is covered by a layer of solid molten crystal that burns the wood but covers the blades to make them non-lethal.
Then, if it seems feasible now, he crosses with the party "What a pity we are no vampires, we could become a mist and pass all over these wicked devices product of an mind who knows no love"
Saving considerable time, Izomandakus renders the floor passable (once it cools a bit) and you move on!
You travel a bit before you enter the next chamber up a steep set of stairs through a trap door in the floor. It’s a round room, 10’ across and some 30’ high with a domed ceiling. Hanging from the center of the ceiling, about half way down, is a golden ball on a silver chain. Seamus detects no traps at a casual glance, but it certainly looks suspicious.
He suspects it's gold leaf though. Even at this distance he's got an eye for valuables.
"Hum, interesting... A giant chain for giants to dispose giant's waste mayhaps?" Izomandakus looks up, trying to pierce the darkness of the dome "Do you see how the chain it is attached to the dome stone?"
"If the chain releases water to splash the place, the water must go somewhere..." Izomandakus kneels on the ground and checks the tilt of the floor, and any possible crevice or hole without entering the room.
Kast follows along, wondering if they were going to blunder into every trap in the area or eventually find something of interest. He knows too little about the place or he might try something to aid the party in finding anything.
"I doubt that ball is what we are looking for. We can move beyond it, probably."
Izomandakus can readily see, if light is brought to bear, that the chain is affixed to the ceiling with a large silver bolt.
He doesn't see any crevices for water or gas to enter or exit the room, but the rock looks... thin. Like it's not solid rock, but rather a covering for some other material. He doesn't see a way for large amounts of water to drain though, and the floor seems level enough.
Does Kast investigate the sphere, or do you back up to the last intersection and go a different way?
Val frowns as she tries to figure out what is going on here. ”So…a gold-plated ball with silver chain. And rock covering something else.” She waves her rapier idly as she talks, but keeping the point downwards. ”Maybe it is supposed to tempt us into being greedy and taking the ball and then get killed by something? Maybe the whole room will collapse on us?” She finally throws ip her hands. ”I have no idea. I say try another way.”
All the rock. Floor, ceiling (what you can see in the dim distance) and walls.
Kast moves up to slash at the ball with his spare morning star.
As Kast slashes the big dangling gold ball he’s able to determine that it is in fact just gold foil over a plain metal sphere. The chain is some silver alloy, but also not pure silver.
However, as he does so, the room starts to tilt, and the trap door slams shut! As the room sways, and quickly, the sphere slams into the far wall creating an extraordinarily loud as the stone falls away to metal walls.
You quickly realize you’re in a room sized bell (image). The rock continues to fall away from the walls as the clapper smacks them repeatedly first one way then another.
Fort DC 20 or those in the room are permanently deafened. Kast can float in the air to avoid the swaying of the room somewhat (though the clapper is a bit troublesome), but anyone else in the room please make a Reflex DC 20. Success means half of failure means all of it.
It takes a minute or two for the room to settle down again, and the trap door re-opens in the floor.
Not sure who was in the room other than Kast. So do what feels right.
Val had wanted to leave, but her curiosity could not help but be piqued by Kast decided to give the ball a whack, so she stayed.
Val’s ears come out of it no worse for wear, and she deftly shifts about the room with her wine glass in hand. Once the initial blast of sound is over, she puts in ear plugs and rides it out.
"The ground looks thin" Izomandakus states, separating his head from the floor just as Kast tries the ball swinging dance.
As the room starts to swing from one place to another, Izomandakus is sent banging up and down without him being able to grab to any solid place.
When the movement finally ceases, he stands up with difficulty "Oh, A+" he holds his temple trying to go over the painful headache "Has it ended ringing? I can only hear a whistle on my ear..."
Kast tries to keep his airy limping feet while trying to keep his ears intact.
Fort
”What? WHAT?” Kast cries, but then lowers his voice as the ringing stops. ”What?”
"What do you say? I cannot hear you!" Izomandakus shouts confused and points to the trapdoor "Let's get the hells out of here!"
Pachemu wisely awaits out of the obviously trapped room and negates with the head at the two-legged ones display.
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Val charges up a spell and taps Izo, his hearing suddenly returning. ”You will be fine for the next 12 minutes. We can figure out a more permanent solution to the deafness later.”
Kast moves over to check on Izo, gently preventing Val’s placebo spell.
”Can’t you hear me? What are you deaf or something?” Kast asks Izo, and eventually works it out that he should cast Heal on them.
”Is that better? Maybe…well, I hope that’s better.” Kast says, hopefully.
And Kast will be ready to continue exploring. I’m sure that is the last of the traps and nothing else will go wrong.
Val places a hand on Seamus’s shoulder and gives him a commiserating smile. ”I would like to get out of here as well, Seamus, but we have also come so far and have been—relatively—unscathed. Frankly, I cannot stand the idea of whoever is behind these traps feeling like they got the better of us.”
Izomandakus receives the shot of positive energy with surprise and an expression of ecstasy "Why do you all are shouting?! , I can hear you!"
The boy cleans his ears a bit more "Wow, that felt great. Can you give me one more of those Kast?"
When the group reaches the previous intersection, Izomandakus votes "Let's keep away from chains with big swinging balls. But otherwise let's explore what else is here. There must be something big."
You proceed onward wondering, likely not for the first time, what treasure justifies all these traps.
You eventually open a door into a largish room with another door on the far wall (let’s say the east wall). In the north wall there is a small niche with a lantern flickering in it. In the south wall there’s a larger niche which is home to a chest.
But the floor is covered by a strange sort of carpet - an abstract melange of metal, cloth, leather, and perhaps a bone fragment or two. Seamus doesn’t detect any traps per se, but that floor looks awfully suspicious.
He can’t see much from the door, but Seamus is betting the chest is trapped at the very least. He also thinks the far door might get you closer to the end of this horrible dungeon, though he’s less certain of that as time goes on.
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Val just shrugs and starts walking on the wall and begins walking to the other side of the room. ”Just think Seamus! Will it not feel delightful to finally show whoever set this up exactly what you think of them?” She mimes a stabbing motion.
Valena enters the room and the ceiling begins to descend, but slowly. You estimate you have a little time before the crunch, though the air pressure is beginning to climb...
We're not in initiative, but let's stick to rounds for now. The room is 50' across and difficult terrain - so not that far across. Go ahead and make three rounds of actions.
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Val rushes up the wall and places an immovable rod right up against the descending ceiling. A second if necessary.
Not sure what the weight of the ceiling is, but it's substantial. Two rods will be needed, at least, but you can arrange that in rounds 1 & 2. In round three, the ceiling will hit the rods and, at least, hesitate - buying you at least a little time.
So, three more rounds from Valena, and six total rounds for the rest of you mugs and we'll see what happens from there!
- - -
When Valena sets the rods to halt the ceiling Izomandakus nods impressed "That's dragon-level smart"
The boy's greed can't pass on the existence of the chest "We are taking that one with us" casting telekinesis he tries to push the chest after Seamus, and walk behind both of them, trying to reach the other side.
Kast waits outside the area of trouble and is ready and able to help should things go sideways.
Seamus disables all the traps quickly, and opens the chest!
There is a single gold coin sitting within, in the very center of the chest. The coin seems to be mocking you though you're not quite sure how.
Let me know if you grab it before fleeing the room.
The six rounds pass and the immovable rods seem to be doing their jobs. You're all safely out of the room, having crossed the 'memorial' carpet.
The ceiling is still a ways up, and as slow as it was moving, you should be able to grab the rods and flee the room. Do you do so? If so, who are the two brave souls who are going to grab the rods?
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While Seamus went to work on the chest, Val stood over in the far doorway leaning against the wall and sipping on her wine.
Izo said she was smart as a dragon, and she is currently feeling as proud as one. She was smart and resourceful and solved a tricky situation. She had completely forgotten about those rods until this moment. That is Cayden’s luck right there that she would think of them now! She raises a little toast to the Lucky Drunk in honor.
”I told you I would get up to shenanigans with those rods.” She can barely restrain her preening. ”Obviously I shall have to bring them with us. Any of you want to come retrieve them with me?”
"My rods! My beautiful sturdy rods!"
Kast is not the quickest on his legs (for very obvious reasons), but will help go get them if no one more spry wants to give it a shot.
Izomandakus smiles when Seamus approaches the coin "Ah, let me see, it is perhaps one of the coins I sent to Karzoug?"
The boy turns the coin looking for any inscription written by his past self.