A Rather Odd Shovel [Judge: Bront]

According to the book, the four doors lead to other small chambers, similarly sized, before exiting to the long network of corridors again. In fact, one might say these chambers are a sort of hub; an intersection of some of the more prominent, well-connected passages in the labyrinth.
 

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Keldar completes stripping the bodies and leaves a small pile of valuables for the others to examine and for Tarag to tuck away in his haversack.

"We should take the lamps too. I like to think of an Archaeologist running out of oil and getting lost in the dark."
 


"Quick peek, leave some footprints in each, then on our way." Keldar beckons Fingers to come across with the lamp. "Let's not forget, we promised to get this fellow out safely, for his own sake and so he can tell us everything he knows."

Keldar frowns up at the balcony, half-expecting the archers to recover their courage and return. With this in mind, he keeps his bow in hand. "Quickly now, pick a door, any door."
 

"How about this one?" Tommy moves eagerly toward the leftmost door. If no one moves to stop him, he will open it carefully and peer inside.
 

Behind the first door is a room similar to the first, though with smaller furniture, fit for gnomes and halflings. On the far side of the room is a secret door leading into the hallway from where the halfling rides came.

The next door is a pantry of sorts. It's filled with non-perishable food, all in edible (though perhaps not tasty) condition.

The third door leads to a short tunnel and then an indoor outhouse. The smell isn't terrible, though it's not a well cleaned place.

The room behind the fourth and final door is the most incredible. Inside is a wooden chamber, of far better craftsmanship than the other three rooms. Weapon racks line one of the walls, and a few oak chests contain spare chain and leather armor of several sizes. Against the door are three bells alongside three pull cords, labeled in the draconic equivalent of B C and D.

But on one wall, spread across the entire surface, is a sprawling map of the complex. The book and this map agree (though the book is more detailed), and at this point on the wall map is a large draconic 'A'. It clicks and whirs, much like a gnomish toy, and tiny hoods cover certain choke points throughout the map.

One hood, out of which a tiny red umbrella is currently poking, is at the point where you encountered the two pull strings and the trap door.

Suddenly a small bell tings, somewhere within the recesses of the wall. A tiny green umbrella pops out of a hood, indicating a place on the far side of the corridor system.
 

"Well I'll be ..."

"Impressive."

When the bell rings Tarag frowns and says, "Someone's on the move. I wonder how long it would take to get to them ... or for them to get to us?"
 

In the second room, Keldar quickly sweeps a day's worth of food for the party and Fingers into his pack.

"I think I understand," he says, inspecting the suspiciously gnomish device in the fourth room. "These hoods mark the locations of traps in the tunnels, like our pitfall. You're supposed to pull the cord, a bell rings here, and a green umbrella pops out. Then the people in this room pull their matching cord to disable the trap. Or, if you're like us and not supposed to be wandering about, you're suspicious of the pull cord, leave it alone, then probably trigger the trap, and so a red umbrella pops out here, and they're alerted to intruders. That's my theory, anyway."

He points at the new green umbrella. "Which means, if I'm right, that these people are waiting for us to pull one of the cords here to let them past. If we don't, they'll know at once that something is wrong."
 

"Very clever," Tommy says, fascinated. "I wonder how they... But I suppose that doesn't matter now. We should pull the cord, to test your theory."
 

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