CHAPTER 2: Beyond the Secret Door

[Norjax]

...

Anne takes LePlank’s possessions and then offers his pitchfork to another. (Who wants the pitchfork?) She joins those at the round door.

Zeek moves to Einstein’s location and offers the gems to him.

Knuckles tries to determine any differences between these two doors and the one Derrek has picked the lead seal out of. Besides some minor cosmetic differences, they are identical in layout and composition to the first lead-sealed door. Both of these newly discovered doors have lead seals around their circumference.

Luke tries to correlate the hole locations in the door with the floor mosaic. He cannot identify any similarity between the two, except the stylized design of the spider icon.

Einstein is inspired, jumps up and bursts down the southern corridor. He discovers an intersection with three corridors leading into three open chambers. The eastern room contains scattered debris and small egg-shaped objects. The southern chamber has a partially collapsed floor at its far edge. The western room is littered with small piles of debris.

Arya offers the metal staff to Derrek.

Derrek jams the bar into the groove around the door and levers it back and forth, attempting to move the block. It wiggles but does not budge, even after he exerts all his strength.

Ruby is reminded on why she hates bugs ...

Action Details:

Characters:
Derrek, STR = [1d20] = 9

Monsters:

MAP 54

Actions!?

Light Sources: Torch (Zeek), Torch (Anne), Torch (Knuckles), Candle (Derrek), Torch (Luke), Glowing Ball (Einstein)

Hit Points [Luck Points]

Knuckles 3/3 [0]
Einstein 1/1 [3]
Luke 1/1 [0]

Tony 2/2 [14]
Betty 4/4 [15]

Zeek 2/5 [0]
Anne 4/4 [14]

Arya 1/4 [11]
Derrek 4/4 [16]
Ruby 1/1 [11]

...

[rossik]

"A closed door is a safe door", think Zeek. He will return and inspect the east not explored room. Anne will go too, and ask if anyone wants to join. They will be stronger in numbers!

[Urson]

Arya steps back, letting the others get better access to the metal staff. Does anyone have a prybar? she calls up and down the corridor.

Derrek is a bit wild-eyed, struggling to move the door frantically. He's clearly got some sort of treasure fever

Ruby heads south to join Einstein.

[drpete]

Confused that he hasn't found what he expected, Einstein wanders east, into the room with the egg-shaped objects, listening for any sign of a momma that might have laid the eggs.

Knuckles heads back to the main group, unsure of what to do with the doors, for now.

Luke pulls off the silver ring, and searches for any place on the door to place it... does the ring have a gem or sigil? Is there any ring-sized spot on the door that might accept the ring or its ... crown?

[Ardak2000]

Out of curiosity, Tony and Betty head South and East to catch up with Einstein, who seems to be on a vision quest of some sort...

[Norjax]

...

Zeek and Anne leave for the eastern chamber. They invite others to join them.

Ruby moves to join Einstein and company, followed by Tony and Betty.

Not finding more round icon doors, Einstein enters the room and is followed by Zeek, Anne, Ruby, Tony and Betty. They discover a room filled with dozens of eggs wrapped with soiled linen and painted with red glyphs. The eggs appear to have been stacked on wooden racks that have decayed and collapsed long ago. Some of the eggs have cracked open, with wispy remains of the wrappings covering the holes.

Arya steps back and allows others to reach the metal staff used as a lever by Derrek. She calls out for a dedicated pry bar, but does not receive a reply.

Knuckles returns to the round door they first discovered, hoping to gain clues about the two new ones he and Zeek discovered. He watches Derrek work the door loose.

Luke removes the dull silver ring he acquired from the skeleton in the cell. He starts to compare the plain, undecorated ring to any recessed pockets but is interrupted by the door when it opens...

Derrek frantically pushes and pulls on the staff, trying to pry the door loose. He gives one last effort (Treasure Fever, I used his +2 Luck modifier) and the door slides out towards the group, allowing air to rush into a void behind the portal. When this happens, a burning liquid squirts out from the 24 holes in the circular pattern. Luke and Derrek take the full force of the spray, Knuckles and Arya catch the vapor cloud.

OOC: Luke and Derrek must make a Reflex save. Knuckles and Arya must also make a Reflex save, but at +4 to their rolls.

Action Details:

Characters:
Derrek, STR = [1d20] = 13

Monsters:

MAP 55

Actions!?

Light Sources: Torch (Zeek), Torch (Anne), Torch (Knuckles), Candle (Derrek), Torch (Luke), Glowing Ball (Einstein)

Hit Points [Luck Points]

Knuckles 3/3 [0]
Einstein 1/1 [3]
Luke 1/1 [0]

Tony 2/2 [14]
Betty 4/4 [15]

Zeek 2/5 [0]
Anne 4/4 [14]

Arya 1/4 [11]
Derrek 4/4 [16]
Ruby 1/1 [11]

...

[rossik]

(OOC:holysh*tf*ck :O looks like a nasty trap!)

Anne sniff at a cracked egg; "mmm...spiders" . She will look for a uncracked one, just to see if they have to worry.

"Fellows", say Zeek. "If this is a spider nest, they can be closer. Lets keep an eye open!". He will scout the opposite room, looking for spiders at the walls and roof too.

[drpete]

Eek, that'll teach me to put my characters together!

Luke is caught flatfooted by the spray, while Knuckles, usually somewhat clumsy, makes a decent attempt to get out of the way...

Luke Ref [1d20+4] = 2+4 = 6

Knuckles Ref(-1+4) [1d20+3] = 9+3 = 12

Einstein examines the eggs as he tries to slip a few into one of his bags.

[Urson]

Arya
[1d20] = 6+4

<dart, the falcon: [1d20] = 7 >

Derrek
[1d20] = 7

Ruby shudders. More bugs?

[Norjax]

...

Derrek and Luke’s exposed flesh is melted by a concentrated salt acid spray that jets out of the door holes. Both let out terrifying screams that echo through the dungeon before subsiding into whimpering moans followed by silence. Knuckles and Arya jump clear of the lingering mist, caused by air rushing into the room, and retreat around the corner. Dart flies away into one of the open cells, startled by the reactions. Both return and try to aid their companions, who die from their injuries.

The 2ft thick door lies on its face in front of the round opening, residual liquid slowly running onto the floor. Knuckle’s torchlight reveals a chamber occupied by a wooden totem carved in the likeness of Muk-Karnu, the spider devil. Several stone urns and many small mummies, wrapped in soiled linen, are on the floor, arranged around the statue. You spy no movements nor hear any sounds in the newly-exposed area.

Anne picks up one of the cracked eggs, and it quickly crumbles into dust. She fondles an uncracked specimen, but it breaks and spills out a tiny, desiccated kobold with dried skin shrunk to its skeleton. (Fails Agility Check) The 6in long corpse breaks into pieces when it hits the floor.

Zeek is concerned about potential danger. He leaves and scouts the room opposite this chamber for spiders. He probes just inside the entry corridor and finds it filled with decayed and rotted wood mixed with other debris. Collapsed tables and shelves litter the perimeter and half-buried jars and containers are scattered about the heaps of rubbish. He hesitates before entering.

Einstein carefully cradles the eggs and tries to slip one into his bag, but the first one breaks (Fails Agility Check) dumping another kobold hatchling. His second attempt is successful, and he carefully examines the egg. The linen has some form of petrified glue that bonds it to the shell of the 6in long egg. The painted glyphs are similar in design to other writings found inside this dungeon.

Ruby, Betty and Tony watch the two inspect the mummified eggs.

Action Details:

Characters:
Anne fails to roll her Agility and below on 1d24:
Anne AGL = [1d24] = 9
Einstein fails to roll his Agility and below on 1d24 the first time:
Einstein AGL = [1d24] = 18
Einstein AGL = [1d24] = 7

Monsters:

MAP 56

Actions!?

Light Sources: Torch (Zeek), Torch (Anne), Torch (Knuckles), Glowing Ball (Einstein)

Hit Points [Luck Points]

Knuckles 3/3 [0]
Einstein 1/1 [3]

Tony 2/2 [14]
Betty 4/4 [15]

Zeek 2/5 [0]
Anne 4/4 [14]

Arya 1/4 [11]
Ruby 1/1 [11]

...

[rossik]

Zeek goes to Anne group and inform what he found, saying that its nothing worth looking for. Maybe they could find more giant bugs, like the one that killed LePlank.

Anne say "Here we have just spider food, i guess. If they are juts beasts, they wont have money on them. Lets just look if those dog persons have anything with them". She will examine the kobolds than had fallen, if they were suppose to be naked or something, of if they could have some sort of cerimonial stuff.

[Urson]

Arya panics for a moment, then realizes that Dart survived unharmed. She retrieves the metal staff, and moves cautiously into the room. She uses her staff to prod a mummy.
Ruby returs to the"vault" doorway, retching when she sees the remains of the two victims.

[drpete]

Relieved that he survived the close call, but unnerved by the gruesome death, Knuckles enters the new room cautiously, moving over to one of the stone urns, and attempts to see what is in it.

Einstein decides that the old egg is too fragile to bring with him, and he crushes it to dust, letting bits of it fall through his fingers as he moves back and along the southern corridor. Is there anything besides a mummified baby kobold in the egg?

[Norjax]

...

To CHAPTER 3...

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