Val dangles her wine goblet from her middle and index fingers, occasionally flipping it up for a drink. ”And to answer your earlier statement, Sea, while under normal circumstances I would agree that whoever built something this long ago would be dead, experience has been quite clear that our enemies are all wizards who have cheated death. That Sin-themed place, Mokkie, and of course Karzie. I would bet that this place is the same. In fact, yes, I would even wager on it, if you would like.”
Seamus grabs the coin, and nothing untoward happens. A nice gold piece, an ancient minting, possibly as far back as the Runelords themselves. Certainly worth 5 or 8 gold pieces if sold as an art object.
Valena and Kast each grab a rod. Simultaneously, they de-activate the two rods, and make haste for the door (Valena on the ceiling, Kast air walking).
As they approach however, the ceiling begins to lower again, and both doors slam shut!
You have a few options at this point. You can, as there are only two of you, hide in the niches in the wall and wait for the trap to complete it's cycle and reset (assuming it will do so - which seems likely). Or you can try to beat down the door.
You have two rounds to beat down the door before you'll need to make for a niche. Three rounds total before you're out of options - other than 'the flattening'.
Let me know what you plan to do. The doors are wooden (thankfully not iron) but they are reinforced. Hardness 8, HP 30, Break DC 25. Tough for some, but not likely to bad an impediment for heroes of your caliber!
Kast looks at Val.
"I think I can get myself out. Do you have a way to avoid this?" Kast asks hopefully.
Val waves dismissively at the ceiling as she smiles. ”I always have a way out. I can get both of us with a dimension door, or just myself if you prefer.”
"Oh, let's do your thing..." Kast offers his hand to Val.
Valena and Kast rejoin the others and you hear the crunch of the ceiling close with the floor behind you. There’s a brief rumbling, and you hear the ceiling being raised again. Anyway, you continue.
A few twists and turns later and you’re at an intersection with uncertain options. In one direction, there’s a clear dead-end, but also an iron chest of some size at the end of it. In another direction, deeper in.
Which way do you go, and if you examine the chest, who does so and how? You’re about 40’ away give or take at the moment.
Intent on showing Izomandakus the coin, it takes Seamus a second to realize the doors shut behind them locking Val and Kast in the trap room. Turning quickly he begins to look at the lock on the doors. Hearing Kast saying something about 'doing your thing' behind him, Seamus stops fiddling with the door and turns. Smiling at his friends, "Glad you made it out." He holds up the one gold coin, "I'm not enjoying this fellow's sense of humor."
---------------
As they look down the forty foot hallway, Seamus (remembering the single coin from the previous chest) asks. "Do you think this one has anything worth taking in it?"
"Only one way to find out, 'Mus," Kast offers his not-so-good boyish smile. "If you don't want to find out, I won't tell you what's in there." He adds cheekily.
He will air limp over to look at the next chest, and will open it stone cold unless 'Mus wants to have a look first.
Kast air limps over to the chest, which opens suspiciously easily. He finds it's full of acid! He sees nothing of value within (save perhaps the acid if you've a spare flask or two).
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Perception
"Oh, I think it's full of acid. Maybe delicious acid, I really don't know."
Yeap, Kast doesn't think it's delicious acid, and it burns quite harshly any non metal he tests.
Raising an eyebrow when Kast volunteers to go inspect the chest, Seamus remembered what a difficult time he had getting Kast to wait long enough for him to check doors and such for traps. As Kast air-walks towards the chest, Seamus turns and shrugs to Val. Breathing a sigh of relief when the chest doesn't blow up at Kast's touch, he happily calls down the hallway, "I thought you weren't going to tell me?"
Not wanting to leave his friend alone, Seamus moves down the hallway to take a look at the acid.
As Seamus closes, the hall tips down, and the acid filled chest tips up!
Seamus, Reflex DC 20 to leap back and avoid the acid flung at you by the tipped chest (image).
Fail and you fall into the slope and are covered in acid. You'll take damage, but also have ongoing acid damage until you can climb out as it burns into your flesh.
"Well, 'Mus, is it delicious acid? Or just the normal kind?" Kast asks, able to avoid the spray.
Feeling the floor go out from under him, Seamus springboards off the falling floor, summersaulting back on to the floor turned ledge behind him. Resisting the urge to comment about how much he hates this place, Seamus instead quips at his friend, "It's lime flavored, sadly I don't care for citrus."
He points towards the now empty chest, at the high end of the teetertotter hallway. "So is there anything inside?"
Val looks around—once the acid has finished burning—to see if the ground shifting opened up a new pathway at all. ”Citrus…ah I could use a good summer shandy. Lemon, honey, and gin with a bit of ice us another good cooling drink.”
Seamus avoids the trap nimbly enough! No, it doesn't go anywhere, it's still a dead end. But now you know how it works.
You come to a dark shaft descending some 70’ into the rock below. Attached to one wall is an iron ladder, to assist your descent. About 10’ or so down though, Seamus notices the rungs aren’t as tightly fitting as he’d expect. He has just a moment to grab the last ‘good’ rung before the ladder swings out on a hinge and is now horizontal to the pit.
He sees then that the inner rungs of the ladder are positioned to fall out when the ladder is horizontal, dropping the hapless victim some 60’ to the floor below. Easy enough to avoid though, with a quick stake pounded to keep the ladder in place, and you’re off and going once again.
It’s something like 6pm now as you continue to slog through the building. As you approach the next door, an iron one that looks rather heavy, it suddenly swings open completely on its own. Simultaneously there’s an audible ‘click’ on the stone Seamus has trodden upon.
When he lets up on the pressure, the door immediately closes. The pressure plate and the door are about 30’ apart. He thought he saw something on the other side of the door, but it closed so quickly he can't be sure.
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"Let me try to help with this one" Izomandakus comments, gesturing for Seamus and everyone else to get away from the pressure plate.
Then, saying words of arcane power he points to the ceiling over the plate and uses fabricate to sculpt a crude block of stone into a large statue of Pachemu that falls directly over the plate to hold the door open.
Izomandakus’s war pig statue (very handsomely done too!) depresses the pressure plate, and you hear a hiss, as if of gas. Then the door opens, somehow causing a spark (hard to see from this distance) and the area is engulfed with flame (image)!
The flames continue as long as the pressure plate is held down. So what do you do to shift the very heavy pig?
Alternatively you could run through them. Such a maneuver would likely be 4d6+20hp fire damage - like a double thick wall of fire.
Thankfully no one lined up by the door anticipating its opening.
Making a sour face at Valena, Seamus shakes his head, "No thank you, I don't care for the lemon, the rest sound delicious."
As they move on, Seamus feels as if he's sleepwalking through the odd traps, Happy that Izomandakus wanted to resolve the 'stepping stone' Seamus moves away. Raising an eyebrow as the flames burst forth, he looks down at the original Pachemu, confessing. "I did not see that happening."
He looks back a Izomandakus, "Do you think it's every other? Press once, door opens, press a second fire, press a third the door opens?"
Kast is somewhat resistant to fire, but not running through walls of fire-resistant, but he still thinks turning off the fire would be the best start.
He will see if he can move the stone Pachemu off the release and give 'Mus plan a try.
"Maybe we just need to jam the door open too."
The statue, though heavy, can be shifted and the flames stops and door closes. Following Seamus's idea, you shift the statue back... the door opens, no flames, and stays open so long as the heavy weight remains. Huzzah!
You move on.
There's a long hall, and an 'L' shaped turn. In the corner however, and what gives you pause, is the nearly 3' tall bee-hive, made of steel, and with many many perforations.
You can't continue on without getting really quite close to the hive. So what do you do?
"Oh, well, that did not turn out as I anticipated" Izomandakus shows his tongue and scratches the back of his head. Fortunately, Seamus and Kast are able to adjust the plate positioning and keep the door open "Good work!"
At the steel-hive, he halts for a moment, thinking on the matter "So, how this can f~@$ us exactly? A gas trap maybe? Or some mini bees if we close up? I propose to cover it with our largest bag, so if bees come out they are more trapped than us."
Kast looks at the catacombed structure.
You could wall it off - you have to pass within 5' of it, but you could readily wall off half the corner and just squeeze by. How far away can you summon a wall and do you do so?
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Chuckling at Izomandakus reaction about the statue, Seamus adds, "But at least the next group of adventurers that wander through here will get to wonder why there is a statue of a pig in the hall." He looks down at Pachemu, "No offense, right Pachemu?"
Seeing the three-foot-tall beehive made of steel, Seamus looks from Kast to Izomandakus, asking, "What kind of bees make their hive out of steel?" Then adds, "And what is it doing in here?"
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”Steel? You’re proba-bee right about that, ‘Mus. Too bad they are not ru-bees, we’d be rich.”
Crafting as carefully as he can, and trying to use the most stable stone wall, Kast will cast Wall of Stone and hopefully wall off the weird device and give others a chance to squeeze by.
Kast walls off the hive. As you approach to go past, you hear the thudding of one hundred darts (image) expunging from the hive. The darts merely chunk into the stone wall as you pass cleanly and without harm.
Time continues to march onward, as do you, and your stomachs begin to growl for supper. You head deeper in…
There’s an interesting open ridge down the center of the ceiling in this long hallway. Seamus’s spidery senses are certainly tingling as he wonders what might come down through that opening. Still, Seamus thinks he can disarm it, if that’s what you want.
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Hearing the thudding against the stone wall, Seamus nods, "It sounds like that wall was a good idea Kast."
His stomach growling, Seamus points at the open ridge, "I wonder what might come down through the opening." He shrugs and smiles, "I'm sure it's nothing we can't handle, and heck, we may get another gold coin." He then begins to fiddle with the pieces parts.
Seamus determines that a huge pendulum, likely complete with spikes, or maybe a blade, or both, would come sweeping through the hall, but he’s pretty sure he disarmed it. As you walk down the hall, and it fails to trigger, you figure he was right!
You continue on, though it’s going to be getting dark outside soon, and you don’t want to be stranded - though perhaps making camp here would be safe.
Anyway, you soon see a sign, ’Treasure Room’ above a hole in the wall, which leads to a chute, descending deeper into the structure. Seamus cautions you however, as he describes the likely outcome (link) to attempting such a shortcut. You might make it to the bottom first, but in no shape to haul away the treasure.
”Wow, ‘Mus, I’m not certain how you even managed to disarm that chute trap! That’s amazing,” Kast notes, happy to not be split in twain by that particular slide. It might have hurt in places he wishes not to get hurt in.
Kast can take the slide more slowly, and even with a rope if people need help getting down, if that’s what it’s going to take to explore more.
"Oh, that was swift, great job Seamus" Izomandakus comments until they reach the treasure hole.
"Are we going to just trust a label after all we have seen?" the boy inquiries, while Pachemu negates energetically with the head.
"Why don't you just go find out Seamus?" the boy offers the shapechanger gift to the half-elf, turning him into a small earth elemental so he can earth glide through the stone and check if there is a treasure or not.
Frowning, Seamus looks from Kast to Izomandakus considering being turned into an elemental. His mind wanders back to Cracktooths, his friend seemed to be happy, at least he was well fed; you could tell by the size of his expanding waist. Maybe after helping the rangers for a few years, he'd open a pub with a small stage somewhere south. He'd have to be able to make a livable wage playing his lute and not ever see another trap.
Shaking his head, he looks from Izomandakus to Val, hoping she'd have some brilliant idea. Asking lamely, "Would I be able to carry the treasure back up?"
Izomandakus shrugs "I have no idea. I haven't been an elemental myself ever ever. But maybe you can push over the chute whatever is more worth." he shrugs once more "The worst that can happen is you return stone faced by your findings"
"If you want, I'll limp down there with you. Would that be better? Or I can go alone. You tell me. I just don't want to get *split* up," Kast offers a wry grin. [b]"Get it? Split up?!"[b/]
Val shrugs. ”Seems like a lot of effort for something that is totally unnecessary to going forward. Especially when we can just…go forward.”
Rolling his eyes at Kast's pun, Seamus nods in agreement with Val, "I'd just as soon keep moving forward as well."
You press ever onward, sure to your boots that you will eventually reach the blessed end of this delve, and hopefully a large pile of treasure.
Alas, not yet.
Seamus has lost track of the number of doors he’s investigated, and had to pick-open. So when he comes across a door without a keyhole and, on closer examination, seemingly air tight, he grows concerned. The hall before the door is very warm as well, but he's not sure the connection - if any. You've run into warm pockets before.
Wiping the chalk dust off his fingertips, Seamus points at the air-tight door, "Curious, it doesn't have a keyhole." Looking back at the others, he pulls loosely on his collar, "And does anyone else think it's warm in here?"
There is a doorknob, which seems to be turnable but you haven't tried it yet. The door's made of reinforced wood like the others - at least on this side. It's better built than some you've encountered, but otherwise normal as far as you can tell. If there are hinges, they're on the other side.
Also, it's the hall you're in that's warm. The door itself is not particularly warm or cool.
Val downs the rest of her goblet before stowing it. ”Well, if there is nothing else to do but open it, I suggest everyone else get out of the warm spot in the hallway while I try it. If anyone needs to be betting on their luck, it should be me.”
”I’m happy to open the door,” Kast offers, having some protections from fire and nice new sweet ring with evasive properties. ”Let me get it.”
When others are in their safe positions, Kast will open the totally normal door.
Kast (or maybe Valena, feel free to discuss further) turns the knob and hears/feels a few heavy bolts being withdrawn. Almost instantly he, and any standing within 10’ or so of the door, are immediately sucked into the room (image)! It’s a relatively small room, so you don’t fly far, but you do each take 1d6 falling damage from the tumble and are prone.
The real problem is that the walls and ceiling, even the floor a bit, have been coated in phosphorus! When the fresh air hits it, the room explodes with a cloying flame. Reflex DC 24 for half (none in some cases).
(fire damage)
Reflex
damage
”Well that sucked,” Kast says, kicking himself upright after his ‘fall’. ”But I’m okay, I’m okay.”
He looks at the rest of the party and shrugs.
”I suppose I should have seen that coming. I wonder what is next in this funhouse?”
Happy to let Kast take a turn at the door knob, Seamus moves back. Flinching as the door sucks his friend into the exploding room. Frowning as he realizes Kast's pack still smells like smoke, "Glad your ok Kast."
Not sure what else to say, Seamus shrugs. "I'm ready to get out of this 'funhouse' do we keep looking for the exit ahead, or go back?"
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"Ah! Fireworks! We love that, isn't it Pachemu?" Izomandakus looks down at the pig, then moves forward to check how well Kast has survived to the burst "We should prepare something like this for the next Festival. I know certain Sheriff assistant that well deserves a surprise room like this one"
The boy strolls forward looking for more traps of doom.
With a gesture he conjures a shining light into his staff, and smiles satisfied of his deed, like if he had summoned an ancient dragon into existence.
Val makes a show of yawning, assuming that whichever ancient wizard built this place is getting his rocks off on watching them go through their traps. ”Izo and Kast seem to be enjoying themselves, if nothing else. I have never even cared about treasure. I just want to teach whoever is behind this place a lesson.”
You see a door in the room, likewise trapped, but easy enough to pry open now that the trap is triggered. You go deeper down, though rooms and hallways, over pits, and by bypassing otherwise locked doors.
Eventually you find yourselves over what looks like a small stream of running lava. To get over it there are two hanging chains, presumably you grasp one, swing to the other, etc. The stream is about 20’ across so other methods may avail themselves to you. In addition to the bubbling lava, you think you hear a slight hum somewhere, but can't pinpoint it.
What do you do?
Val ignores the chains and walks around the walls to the other side, seeing if anything happens.
Izomandakus looks at the chains from afar "Hum! What do you think? The chains fall with the first weight hanging on them?"
The boy looks around for some heaving stone or furniture that can be hanged with a rope onto the chains, just to test his theory.