DM Carbide's Core Emerald Spire

Game Master John Woodford

”Whatever made the noise . It appears to have departed. Let’s move onward.“
He heads toward the next exit (or back if none apparent)

”Blitz. Come!“

That would be the door south of where I put Mrs. Books icon.

Viridian and Joseph check the door and find no traps. When Joseph opens it, though, both the fighter/rogue and druid notice the telltale gap around the flagstones immediately on the other side of the door.

”Hold! This stonework is off. Maybe a trap or perhaps a hidden compartment.“

Viridian, this looks like the same sort of feature as you've seen in two other areas.

But no other spiders, hopefully?

Corbrae makes good use of her balls of light

There was a spider under the first one you found....

Mrs. Book casts a detect magic just in case something registers this time.

Mrs. Book detects no magic.

"Hmm. Another trap maybe."

Joseph investigates the floor.

Take 10 to find and remove the trap.

Viridian nods and stands ready.

Taking care and working methodically, Joseph wedges the trap door in place.

More to come tomorrow.

The room on the other side is actually a corridor with two doors on the south wall and a door at the west end. Between the party and the west end, though, massive black iron gates bar the corridor. They're fashioned out of twisted, angular vertical bars that have sharp edges and are about a handspan apart, linked by welded crossbars. The gates have massive hinges set deep into the walls, and a heavy lock inside a welded box secures sliding bars that run into sockets in the floor and ceiling at the center of the corridor. Moreover, a black iron chain with links as thick as a human thumb wraps around the gates where they meet above and below the lockbox. The chain’s ends disappear into holes in the lockbox.

That looks quite solid... can we open it? Can You open it, Joseph? who knows, maybe the cheese cellar is right behind the door, if you need something to drive your skills to excellency

"Hah!"

Joseph examines the setup.

"This screams 'Do not touch.' but I can give it a shot."

After looking for traps Joseph starts n unlocking things.

Taking 10 if possible.

Joseph detects no traps. However, as soon as he approaches the locks a glow passes over the steel and extends towards the half-elf as ectoplasmic arms. One brushes him and sends a chilling cold through his body. Take 3 HP, and give me a DC 11 Fort save or take one point of STR damage.

Mrs. Book directs a serious and concerned look at Joseph when the locks do him harm. "Oh dear. I do have a scroll with a lock opening spell on it if all else fails. The thing was a bit pricey but I did buy it for situations like this, you know."

There are three different locks, and Mrs. Book knows that a knock spell will only unlock two of them.

"The spell does have limitations, so even if I use it it would be good to try mundane solutions first."

”Agreed. Perhaps our lock expert will save you the scroll entirely. “

fort save: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21

"Ow. That one first."

Joseph focuses on disabling the trap that just triggered.

The trap seems to have been fully discharged.

Joseph finds that the locks are quite complex, but since nothing is disturbing the party he's able to take multiple tries at picking them. Even so, he's barely able to get them open (they're DC 30).

Where to now? You have three doors.

”By the Green. Well done. Ready to try the one on the right? It’s “

Viridian will move with Blitz to the door to the right and open once folks are ready.

"Sure, why not. We might find a key somewhere after all."

The easternmost door in the south wall is locked; however, the key recovered from the skeletal remains will unlock it.

The room on the other side shows minimal signs of spider infestation: a few wisps of decayed webbing hang from the walls, but there's none on the stone ceiling and no visible spiders in the room. The ceiling is blank save for four 1-footwide, round steel medallions, one set into each corner. The floor is equally bare except for a pedestal in the center of the chamber made of a single five-foot-square block of stone, about two feet high. On the pedestal sits a metal-framed wooden chest, and to the side of the pedestal rests a shallow hole in the floor housing what looks like a brass door handle set into the stone. A stone tile lying loose nearby is clearly designed to fit over the hole, concealing the handle.

"Interesting. Mysterious. this place is certainly full of surprises."

Naturally Mrs. Book starts scanning magically with detect magic.

Please remove the spoiler so I can position the icon.

It'll be a bit before I can get to the map; on the road at the moment, and I have trouble editing from my phone.

Map updated.

Mrs. Book detects no magical auras in the room.

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28

Corbrae looks out for traps or other oddities

Corbrae notices several things about the room: there's a narrow (about an inch wide) gap between the ceiling and the walls, and there are no less than three concealed doors.

Viridian scans the room as well.

perception : 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (14) + 14 = 28

If he does not spot anything funny, he enters.

”Blitz. Come. “

Viridian notices the same things that Corbrae identified.

Nothing apparently happens when Viridian and Blitz enter the room.

”By the Green. There is nothing here now. “ he motions the others into the room.

"Looks like a puzzle room, though it beats me what the puzzle's answer is."

Maybe let's check these hidden doors?

Corbrae points to the three concealed doors in the room

Mrs. Book scans the room where Corbrae pointed and looks for the mysterious doors.

"Good. Though I do like puzzles, I like them as entertainment, not in a place like this where blades come out to slice you in half if you get it wrong."

Joseph approaches each door in turn checking for traps.

Take 10.

Viridian stands close by and ready.

Joseph finds no traps on any of the doors. From the inside of the room, though, both he and Viridian notice that the ceiling sways just slightly from side to side--as though it's hanging from something.

Viridian calls out.

”There is something amiss with the ceiling. This entire area is based on concealed areas it would seem.“

He will have folks move back and poke with his spear

Maybe it's supposed to sustain a maximal weight? Or something like that?

"It's a good thing you noticed it. Very perceptive. I'll just stand back while you poke and prod things, if you don't mind."

I adjusted icon positions based on what was mentioned above. Please correct your icon if I got it wrong.

The ceiling is quite solid; Viridian can move it a little bit from side to side, but can't lift it up. Joseph figures out that it's rigged to drop if triggered, and thinks that the trigger mechanism is in the padlocked chest on the pedestal.

"Hmm. Something connected to the chest. Let me see if I can disable it."

Joseph fiddles with the trigger mechanism attempting to disable it. And since the padlock is right here...

Take 10 on both if allowed.

Joseph takes his time and disarms the trap. When he opens the chest (the lock was trivially easy to pick), it's empty except for a bleached cat skull and an ancient scrap of parchment that reads, "Curiosity Kills: another ingenious demise, courtesy of Addington's Fine Traps and Defenses."

Curiosity is not killing Mrs. Book. She keeps her distance through the whole thing and waits for the all clear

Joseph slowly reads the note out loud.

"Does an evil Jester live here or something?"

This particular level was the work of Ed Greenwood, who might qualify as an evil jester. Where to next?