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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Taboo" data-source="post: 613093" data-attributes="member: 5912">Back into the DarknessThorin descended first, prepared for any rats that may be lurking down there, remembering their first trip. Turk was second, on guard as always. Somehow, in his haste, he lost his hold on the rope partway down and beat Thorin to the bottom. Kierwin was next, and saw him fall as she started down the rope,  remembering her own fall the first time they came this way. She kept her mind on what she was doing, although felt her heart jump as she saw him lose his grip. She knelt by him thankful that his wounds weren't worse than they were as the others descended. Thorin kept a careful watch for rats as she was busy concentrating. Turk promised her that he would be more careful in the future, and thanked her for her healing touch as she prayed to heal his wounds. The others descended without incident.They were back in the tower, now they had to decide which way to go.  Turk proposed that if they went back to where they had left off, the goblins would be expecting them, and be lying in wait. Plus, there was that very dangerous pit trap to cross. They still had the map the captive goblins had drawn of the other side of the citadel. The first map had proven relatively reliable. If the second map was also correct, then that would help. They decided to go back to the room where they had found Meepo and go that way.They entered the room Calcryx had been kept in and Meepo was missing. There was no fire, the only light was from Turk’s ever burning torch. Before they went any further, Kierwin pulled out the scrolls from the Dragon Priest’s Sarcophagus and cast Read Magic on them. In all the confusion, it was the first chance she’d gotten. It turned out she was right, they were clerical like she'd thought, they were Cure Light Wounds, Inflict Light Wounds, Command, and Magical Stone.They started walking, and came to a door, it was not locked and Thorin opened it, so far it didn’t match the second map. Two of the goblins had apparently told the truth, the others had obviously lied.  This room was empty and lightless, not to mention filthy. Rat droppings covered the floor. There was a door at the far end of the room, and Geirmund went over to check it and found no locks or traps. Thorin didn’t hear any noise coming from the other side when he listened at it.Thorin looked in and saw dust and odd bits of rubble on the floor. An ornate fountain was built into the wall they could see from the door. When Kierwin, Turk and Thorin entered the room, they could see that the fountain was dry and cracked. Thorin went in to inspect the fountain, and Turk crossed the room to guard the corridor on the other side to watch for an ambush. Kierwin followed Turk, figuring she could keep an eye on both fighters that way. That left Snap with Minx and Geirmund in the other corridor.Thorin noticed that there were carvings of a diving dragon on the fountain, and that it was the same craftsmanship as the elves and other items in the other rooms where they had found the Dragon Priest. He noticed a word that was barely discernable on the front of the fountain, it was so old that it was nearly worn away. The style of the writing appeared to be the same as what they had seen before, so Thorin asked Minx or Snap to try to read it.Snap came in and carefully studied the writing, it meant “let there be fire”, but he didn’t want to say the word, afraid of setting something off. Thorin decided to search the fountain, but didn’t find anything of interest. Minx promptly came in and said the word meaning "let there be fire" out loud in draconic.Everyone else moved just out of the room, not liking the implication of the phrase. Turk and Kierwin were still guarding the corridor, watching for signs of an ambush, Snap and Geirmund were out in the hallway they had come in. Thorin stayed with Minx. As Minx said the word, a swooping stone dragon emerged from the wall over the fountain. The tail of the dragon stayed attached to the wall, and the mouth of the dragon was the fountainhead. It was a stone statue of what Minx identified as a red dragon, then a red liquid came pouring out of the dragon’s mouth. Minx touched it, and then tasted it, then felt her mouth get slightly hot and smoke a little when she breathed, then nothing. She said “Hey Snap, I can breathe smoke!”Thorin wondered what the point of that would be, then the red liquid quit pouring out and there was a puddle in the bottom of the basin. They thought about collecting it, Kierwin thought more would let you breath fire, Snap thought maybe they needed to throw it on something later, Turk decided to drink it all.Everyone got well away from Turk when they found out what he was going to do.  He drank it. He said he didn’t know what it did yet, he just felt warm right now, he’d done it for Kierwin because she was curious, she smiled at him. Minx tried saying the word again, hoping for more of the liquid, but nothing happened.Now they turned their attention to the door that was in there. It was a large stone door, carved with skeletal dragons, and they noticed that standing close to the door it was very cold. There were inscriptions in the same flowing script they’d seen before above the door. Minx interpreted it for them. “Channel good, open the way.”They started thinking of ways to interpret that. Turk said “Let’s open the way!” Minx sarcastically answered him that they had to channel good.  Turk tried to open the door, but it didn’t budge, he could feel the cold radiating from it. Thorin threw all his strength into it, trying to open it, and was nearly hit by a blade that came slicing right above his head and back into the wall. Turk was glad he hadn't put more strength into it when he'd tried!Kierwin was standing in the back mumbling “channel good”, trying to figure out what that meant, figuring that they weren’t going to get in until they figured out a magical way to channel good. Then she nearly jumped out of her skin when the blade nearly cut Thorin’s head off. Then, they tried having Turk breathe on the door since it was so cold, hoping that the heat would counter the cold. Sure enough, fire came out of Turk’s mouth, but it only scorched the stone door, leaving a blackened area. At least they knew for sure what the red liquid did!Kierwin had an idea, she tried turning undead, that had to be channeling Ehlonna’s power, which was channeling good, wasn’t it? With Turk urging her on, saying she didn’t really try with conviction the first time, she tried again with conviction (but not enough), so she tried one more time (really hard and a with new d20). The door glowed a ghostly blue and opened silently.</blockquote>

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