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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jeremy" data-source="post: 9743482" data-attributes="member: 4036"><h3>1/22/22</h3>There are various tunnels and secret passages sprawling through the dungeon that the party sets about once again exploring.  In one of the rooms Gribitz finds a beating heart in a chest which he promptly picks up to investigate by licking it. When he experimentally sticks a finger in one of the valves the heart struggles and turns to dust.  There is a wailing that echoes through all the tunnels followed swiftly by Grath yelling Gribitz's name.  Gribitz puts his hands behind his back mutters “Oops,” and slinks backwards before He then tries to play it off as nothing bad happening and runs away.Grath correctly reads Gribitz’s guilty behavior and demands to know what he did before recalling Gribitz’s own advice on how to get information out of a goblin by picking them up and shaking them until they talk.Meanwhile Kith opens some chests with various shortswords, axes, and scraps of broken weapons in a room with 3 stone doors.  The first two chests are untouched by time, the last one is rusted and pitted.  The stone doors have swords on them.  Rho tries the first door and it opens to reveal a spear trap that attacks him and nothing beyond it.  Veldra tries another door but it is locked and when Gribitz tries to quietly work at it he gets nowhere.After digging through the chest of shortswords for a while Rho finds one that is different.  The sword is inscribed with Grung’s Favorite. After inspecting the sword for a bit, a secret compartment in the hilt is revealed that contains a nonsensical note that reads, “You left the key with Steve.”  Grath can’t find anything magical about it or anything else in the room to give a clue. One of the spear traps in the room seems poorly maintained and seizes up, so everything may be mechanical.  The party backtracks and heads down the hallways to another room with an ornate door.  A ghostly apparition invites the party to play a game. Grath interrupts him several times confirming only to find that that the door is Steve and has does in fact have a key.  Steve is adamant however that he will not cough it up until someone plays a game with him.  He offers a game of dice or cards.  Apparently his friends in the library room started a stupid argument about owlbears and eggs and they don’t play games with Steve anymore, preferring their endless arguing and leaving Steve bored in his room for years.  Gribitz sits down to play dice with Steve without any real sense of what the rules or stakes are.  It is difficult to tell which of them is more delighted by the nonsense game.Grung is one of the master’s pets according to Steve.  He loves chewing swords and shields.  Hearing this Veldra and Rho both shudder with apprehension.  Apparently Master left the key with Steve.  Gribitz says the party should leave Laz with Steve to keep him company but Grath gives the goblin a stern look.  Steve continues to lament his friends arguing because it keeps them from playing with him so Grath brokers a deal wherein the party will resolve the argument so that Steve’s friend’s play with him again in return for the key.  After a tug at Grath's sleeve he also stipulates the return of the copper coins Gribitz lost in his dice wagers. Heading further down the tunnels to the secret tunnel Steve described reveals a library with 5 ghosts insulting each other and arguing.  They’ve been arguing for hundreds of years.  The basis of their argument is that the young of an owlbear should be called a cub, while others argue it’s a chick.  Rho and Gribitz (the idiots) point out that the name is Owlet.  In thanks for this service they start levitating books and scrolls into the room, terrifying Gribitz who flees in terror from the absolute horror that is flying books.Among the treasures they offer Grath is a Tome of Understanding and a scroll of Feather Fall.  When the party returns with the ghostly researches in tow, Steve happily tosses the key and won copper to the party before shifting forms and heading off to his ghostly council.  He pops his head back through a wall and tells the party to head down the southern hall first because we’ll find things that will help us with Grung.Kith carefully scouts the southern hall avoiding various traps and disabling others until she leads the party to a small room with a stone pool in it.  The water glows softly and inscribed in the stone all around it are depictions of swords, crossbows, axes, and other armaments.  There are multiple exits but all are sealed except for the one the party entered via.  There is also a lever and the walls are patterned in a diamond grid of inch diameter holes.  Veldra cautiously dips her spear into the water and there is a reaction of light. Glowing runes appear on her spear and the level of the water in the pool lowers significantly.Gribitz and Grath take some of the water in potion vials and waterskins hoping to profit or use it later.  The goblin offers a dip to Stick but he says he can’t drink it, it is too thick, though it tastes of raspberry.  Gribitz licks some too though nothing happens.  Grath begins a ritual to anoint his eyes with magical sight and gather more clues but In the ten minutes it takes Grath to perform his ritual the doors to the room close.  The doors do not appear to have any way to open them from inside the room.  Gribitz now trapped is fearful of the holes in all the walls, so Grath starts another familiar ritual to erects a force dome to shelter the party.  Once it is complete he throws the lever on the floor only for a magical chime to sound and numbers in elven are slowly spoken aloud counting down from 20.  As the numbers get lower there are increasingly ominous sounds of gears grinding and turning and the whole room begins to shake.  Gribitz panics and rushes to pull the lever back again.  Grath tries to stop him but Gribitz wiggles by and throws the lever.  Everything becomes deathly still.After a bit Rho tries to imbue his weapon with additional magic, but nothing seems to happen to his dragon-headed maul.  He sets out trying to force open any of the chamber's doors or smash through them but they resist the mighty dragonborn.  Grath shrugs and imbues his normal dagger and warhammer with magic before turning to Gribitz and telling him to have faith.  Grath throws the lever once more and the countdown starts over.  As the rumbles and booms crescendo and the countdown reaches its climax the room takes on a dark red light and the remaining water of the pool vanishes (along with all the liquid captured in skins and vials).  Surprisingly all the remaining wounds of the party are healed and all the doors open including one the party hadn't noticed.Grath comforts the hyperventilating Gribitz and the party heads into the secret tunnel to a room with 3 seemingly normal chests.  Grath throws rocks and knives at the chests suspecting a trap, illusion, or even more mimics.  However, there is no reaction, so Grath begins to open them but a putrid smoke begins to pour forth and asks “What is the true gift of death?”  "Not having to smell your smelly smell!" Gribitz shouts rudely as he's clutching his large nose at the rotting stench.  This is apparently not the answer the specter was looking for as it responds, "I shall teach you." It then drifts through the horrid smoke to feast upon the party.Veldra moves forward to test that theory and slashes through the ghostly form with her magic sword that tears and shreds away at its misty body only for two other wraiths to emerge from the smoke.  When Rho destroys one of the specters, one of the chests in the room disintegrates to nothing.  Grath fills the room with his own spirits of the faithful of Ilmater that beat the specters into wispy nothingness.  There is an unfamiliar cackling that fills the dome as the last of the specters disappear.  Grath finds a silver ring with runes engraved on it in the dust remains of the chests.Eventually having exhausted all the branches of the southern hall, the party doubles back to Steve's chamber before using his key to open the east hall.  On the way through the hallway there are various pitted and rusted weapons warning but no corpses.  The hall opens to a wider section with multiple skittering small insects with feathered antenna, they appear to be rapidly rusting any metal they come in contact with before feeding on the powered remains.  The party backs away before Rho returns with one of the chests of assorted shortswords which he scatters across the floor on one side of the hall.  The creatures flock to the feast, allowing the party to slip by and down a winding stair.Descending the winding stair, the air turns damp and moss begins to cling to the walls, growing thicker with every step into the depths.  Eventually the party comes to a room with three identical steel doors.  Gribitz looks around for clues but doesn’t come to any useful conclusions.  Veldra tries lighting the long extinguished torch sconces.  Gribitz finds some rubble from a section of caved in wall and tries to tunnels through it.  Rho just opens the northwest door even as Veldra's echo opens the southwest door.  Rho's door has a short tunnel with a spike trap before a sharp turn and a seemingly dead end.  Gribitz notices movement at the bottom of the trap and converses with some rats feeding on rotting remains.  They warn of all kinds of dangers like bats and brains with beaks and tentacles.  Gribitz doesn't know what to make of this and neither does the party as the goblin makes a mess of the translation.The party heads back to Veldra's door as Grath wagers it will be a brain monster they find next, Gribitz takes this bet as Veldra rolls her eyes.  Gribitz shouts excitedly as a massive sparkling shiny rainbow-shelled snail comes into view with spiked antennae flailing about.  As with many other snails, it is not particularly fast so the party just keeps away from it marvelling at its appearance and trying to figure out how its shell got so shiny.  Grath and Gribitz come to the boneheaded conclusion that it must eat lots of shiny rocks.  When it reaches the door out of its chamber it becomes apparent that the snail's shell is too big for it to make it through.</blockquote>

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