While Tahldar casts, Kahan begins running his hands along the walls, starting at the northern wall (the one near the 3). If Tarimar came through here, it was possible that there was an illusory wall hiding the real way out.

OOC: According to the rules, it takes 1 minute to do a quick search of a 10 foot area. These are 5 foot squares, so I will do it in a 30 second per square fashion.

Tahldar begins casting...

Kahan begins searching the area near the #3...

Shae begins searching the area southwest of the cave in...

As Tahldar casts, he can feel the rush of...air?...flowing through the cracks in the rocks. He assumes this is part of the poisonous gases coming into the caves.

Shae is not having any luck with the search.

Kahan also feels a rush of toxic air flowing from the north. Feeling around, he finds a secret passage leading north. As he shoves, the rocky wall pushes back to reveal a 5 foot wide (8 foot tall) tunnel leading north.

Tahldar finishes his dig spell, and rocks and earth are launched back into the room behind the cave in, opening a new exit. Beyond is dark, but you see that past the rubble is a large room.

180 seconds have passed.

Air Left:
Fingas: 2.0 rounds
Kahan: 1.0 rounds
Leo: 0.0 rounds
Shae: 0.0 rounds
Tahldar: 2.5 rounds
Geebo: 0.0 rounds
Sark: 0.0 rounds

Leo, Shae, Geebo and Sark cannot hold their breath any longer...

Tahldar rushes into the room after moving enough earth to open a passage way.  He motions for everyone else to follow.

OOC: Dig lasts 10 rounds for Tahldar.  Once everyone is in the new room, Tahldar will move earth to block the doorway in hopes of blocking off the poisonous gasses.

FYI, the poisonous gases are coming from inside the room (i.e., west to east) so blocking them off won't do much. You will see why soon enough.

Everyone follows Tahldar into the large room to the west. The room has stone floor tiles, stone walls, and a stone ceiling carved into the rock, and is approximately 60 feet long by 45 feet wide, with an oblong domed ceiling 30 rising feet in the center. In its center is a giant marble statue. It is facing the opposite direction but appears to be some sort of giant warrior standing about 20 feet tall. There are also two 10 foot tall statues, one to the north and one to the south of the giant statue; there is also a statue immediately to your right. The giant center statue is made of marble and finely cut. The other three are of stone and seem older and less refined. Going clockwise from the north, one is of a wizard (or maybe a scholar holding a book), one of a cleric or priest, and one of an orator or politician.

There is a dais-like area on the far side of the room leading back to a 10 foot wide stone corridor. About 15 feet into the corridor, stairs lead up into darkness.

To the south, you see two 5 foot wide doors made out of stone that completely seal off the two southern chambers. (See map.)

On the northern side of the room, you see something slightly different. While there are also two stone doors leading north, they are both open. Surrounding the doors and doorway, and growing about 10 feet south into the main chamber -- on floor, wall and ceiling -- is a dark green mold-like substance. It appears to extend deep into the chambers to the north and you expect it is the cause of the noxious and flammable fumes that have spread throughout this area in the time since Tarimar left.


This message was last edited by the GM at 23:29, Mon 04 Oct 2021.

Tahldar points west towards the stairs and begins to head that way.

Kahan grabs as many people as he can who have stopped breathing and helps them follow after Tahldar, hoping to the gods that this is the right direction to go, and not into the secret passage.

Shae follows but is on guard because something does not feel right about this.

Everyone follows Tahldar. You cross the room and look up the stairs. A the top of the stairs, you see a set of double doors made of stone and engraved with stone faces. At least, they look like stone at first. You stop in your tracks at the bottom of the stairs and look up. The stone faces are moving...and they are not stone after all. They are flesh, and the mouths are moving and eyes turning in their sockets. The horror of the sight makes you cringe, and then--



--and then the giant statue behind you starts to move. The animated giant warrior statue stands to his full 20 foot height, two-thirds of the 30 foot high stone ceiling. The stone sword in his hand also moves up and his emotionless gaze falls down upon you.

Unable to hold their breath any longer, Leo, Shae, Geebo, and Sark let out the last of their breath, aware that in just a moment they will need to breathe in the toxic and flammable air around you.

210 seconds have passed.

Air Left:
Fingas: 1.5 rounds
Kahan: 0.5 rounds
Leo: -0.5 rounds
Shae: -0.5 rounds
Tahldar: 2.0 rounds
Geebo: -0.5 rounds
Sark: -0.5 rounds

Tahldar turns on a dime.  He beckons the others to follow.

OOC: Tahldar will try to move to the nearest door south and knock it open.

Shae follows Tahldar, turning red and blue as she tries to push through the door.

Leo nervously follows the rest knowing he's about had it.

Kahan continues following behind Tahldar, hoping they could get a breath of fresh air soon...

The party veers south to the nearest door. It is a 5 foot wide door made out of stone. Shae and Tahldar push...

Leo, Shae, Geebo and Sark have to breathe in the poisoned air. They are each weakened by the poisonous air.

Leo takes 7 hp dmg in his lungs (plus -1 to hit and -1 saving throws until healed)
Shae takes 5 hp dmg (and -1 to hit, -1 sav throw)
Geebo takes 5 hp dmg (and -1 to hit, -1 sav throw)
Sark (only one to make saving throw) takes only 1 hp dmg (and -1 to hit, -1 sav throw)

The large warrior statue turns toward you as you head south. It looks like it is getting its bearings.

...the stone door swings open as it is pushed.

The group falls forward into the hallway beyond (area 6). The air here is fresh and not stale. You quickly push the door closed behind you to avoid contaminating this air.

Everyone takes a deep breath. The area is also too small for the statue warrior.

The corridor extends 10 feet south to another closed door. That door is a polished wooden door.

This message was last edited by the GM at 01:59, Thu 14 Oct 2021.

"We don't have much time, but let's pause a second to catch our breath." Tahldar says, happy to be unmolested and able to breathe.

Shae is gasping, but in between breaths, she nods to Tahldar and tries to open the door to the south.

Breathing deeply, Kahan looks around the small room, wondering how there was still air in here that wasn't contaminated. "You're right, unfortunately. That lava is still coming. Let me try to check if the air beyond is safe," he nods, casting a spell.

You realize that the stone door had been blocking the the poisoned air from entering. It is virtually airtight. The air in your hallway is stale and old but okay to breathe.

Kahan casts a spell. The answer he receives is, "For now, yes."

Shae tries to open the door to the south and is sent flying back as a jolt of electricity flows through her. (8 hp dmg.)

The door apparently seems to be magically trapped. Your hair stands on end as the sizzle of electricity fades and Shae rises to her feet.

"You ok?" Tahldar asks Shae.

OOC: I will cast knock on the door. If someone wants to do something else like healing, I will wait to cast.

Shae shae-kes it off (pardon the pun) and jumps to her feet, ego bruised. "I should hae figured Tarimar would booby trap teh doors," she says. After Tahldar casts knock, she will cast dispel magic and test the door with her ancestral spear and then her hands to see if it opens this time.

The dispel magic and knock spell seem to have done the trick. Shae pushes the door to the south open. Kahan's spell also seems to have been accurate. The air is stale but not poisoned.

The room itself is about 40 feet wide (east/west) by 30 feet long (north/south). The northern part has a stone floor and the southern part has wood floors. The ceiling is about 15 feet above you and is all stone and unremarkable.

The first thing that comes to your attention is the bear trap right in front of the door. It must have been sitting there for years (however long Sark was imprisoned by Tarimar), but it still has not been sprung. You can step around it onto a 5 x 15 foot entry area and look around.

You notice the following strange features:

There are 4 chests, one on each wall (as shown in the map). They appear identical and are closed.

On the south wall are three strange mounted figures. On the southwest is an orb made out of some sort of steel with spiral edges (like a baseball). In the center is the stone head of a dragon. On the southeast wall is a bluish crystal.

And on the east wall is a strange eyeball protruding from the wall and surrounded by a grayish brown mass of what can only be described as vines, bark or roots. Unlike the other figures, the eyeball appears somehow living. It eerily rotates in your direction as you enter the room.

On the northern wall on the west side, you notice some sort of moss or ochre growing on the wall. It is different from the stuff in the northern rooms and appears to have grown there due to the long encroachment of time.

As Sark peers in the room, he nods slowly. "This was one...Tarimar...uh...research room. Experiment room.  He...uh...keep...research--notes--in two chests. I...see four chests never before. Only two."

"Interesting.  But time is short.  Please stand back." Tahldar says as he motions to the anti magic Sark and Geebo to give him room.

He casts a simple spell.

OOC:  I will cast detect magic and look around the room.  It lasts for 20 rounds and scans in a 60' long by 10' wide swath.

There is so much magic emanating from this room that it's hard to figure out what is what. This is probably due to the vast number of experiments Tarimar conducted here. But you can tell for certain that the four objects embedded in the wall are magic, as well as the chest to your right (west) and the one in the southeast corner.

Sark and Geebo go to the back (by the door you initially entered) to give you room to work and stay out of the way.

"Well this room is highly magic." Tahldar says as he looks the room over.  "But I suspect it's highly trapped too." he adds as he thinks on what to do.  "Most likely the traps are magic in nature, but there could be mechanical traps too.  The bear trap is proof of that."

"Kahan, could you cast a Find Traps prayer?  And if only magic traps be found, we could have Sark simply enter the room to disarm them.  Then we could open the chests as we see fit.  Though we might want to burn off that mold first."

OOC:  My thinking is if we identify the traps and they are magic we could have Sark disable them.

Find Traps:  ....The caster learns the general nature of the trap (magical or mechanical) but not its exact effect, nor how to disarm it