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Message: <blockquote data-quote="dungeon blaster" data-source="post: 2847677" data-attributes="member: 30575">Caught between a rock and a hard face4 Reaping, 595 CYAfter restocking much-needed supplies, Ehrune and Etherik returned to the Cairn with a new companion in tow. He was an oiled and muscled ex-gladiator-turned-mine merchant bodyguard named Ferros, and he looked capable of handling whatever the Cairn threw at them; or so they hoped. They were only three instead of four because Lindingar had to take care of some business back at the Bronzewood Lodge, although he promised to join them as soon as he could (the player wasn’t at the session). Ehrune remembered Ferros from that first meeting a few nights ago. Why hadn’t he offered his services then?Once they were back at the Cairn, Ehterik made a gruesome discovery. The three wolves they had slain were now completely devoid of flesh or tissue, their skeletons gleaming as if bathed in acid (which they were). Etherik grabbed alpha wolf’s skull and tucked it into his pack. Further on they found the skeleton of the mad slasher. Ehrune overturned the slasher’s skeleton. ‘Ah, that must be where its mouth was’.A quick deliberation turned into a solid plan. Pour oil around the edge of the shaft, call out the beetles, and burn the sh*t outta them! The plan worked. The beetle swarm exited the shaft and was immediately doused with flaming oil and alchemist’s fire. Ferros assisted with the flat part of his shovel. Once the beetle threat had been neutralized, the trio clambered down the acid-pitted shaft, trying not to gag on the acrid fumes. At the bottom of the shaft they found several rooms populated with more acid beetles. With fire in hand, the beetles were more a nuisance than a threat, but the same could not be said for the two giant bombardier beetles they encountered. In the ensuing melee, one of the bombardier beetles let loose a stream of acid directly into the warlock’s face. He screamed in pain as his attractive features marred somewhat, but managed to continue to fight until both beetles were slain. In one of the side rooms they noticed a statue holding a hammer and a smashed skeleton. ‘hmmm…now what could that be? Survey says: a trap!’ Hooking the statue’s arm with a grappling hook, they yanked the statue down and cheered in victory! Considering how much of the Cairn yet lay unexplored, they shouldn’t have declared ‘mission accomplished’ quite so soon.Continued exploration revealed a room with a basin containing a hardened orange sludge that the beetles had evidently turned into a nest. Digging through the paper-mache-like substance, they discovered several potions of healing and a magical ring with a feather motif. Sweet! Magic items R0x0r!Further down the main corridor, they discovered a water-filled stairway. Etherik cheerfully began to wash the acidic spray off his mangled mug, failing to notice the water beside him coalescing into a fist. KAPOW! Right in the friggin’ eye! He stumbled back as the insane water elemental readied to give him another shiner.Deciding that they didn’t have the proper tools to defeat a creature of living water, the group backtracked to the lantern room. They hadn’t explored wherever the yellow lantern elevator went to, so that seemed like the next logical choice. It led to a series of rooms, one of which contained more orange oatmeal and a thick layer of brown mold. They noticed that the mold seemed to grow as they approached it. Interesting. It also seemed attracted to the heat of their torch. Even more interesting. Perhaps we should throw our torch on it and see what happens. Very interesting. Well, not so much interesting as a total disaster. They barely made it out of the room alive as the mold exploded outward with burst of frigid cold that drained the heat from their bones. At least one lessoned was learned: fire + beetles = good. Fire + mold = BAD.Once again, in what would become a recurring theme, the adventurers retreated. There was only a couple possible areas to explore, until they found a way past the water elemental and the mold that is. The first was a third elevator, although they didn’t particularly want to test it since they had found a skeleton inside with a smashed skull and some dried blood on the ceiling of the elevator. Their other option was an opening near the ceiling of one of the alcoves, a good 50’ up and accessible via the lantern chain. The found a skeleton on the floor of that alcove, too. Two paths, two skeletons.A group huddle decided in favor of the opening, so a couple of climb checks later saw them at the entrance of a long, straight corridor extending beyond the scope of their vision. Slowly and methodically, the group moved down the passageway, taking care not to set off any tripwires, pressure plates, that sort of thing. Of course, none of them being thieves or having more than a couple ranks in Search, it really didn’t mean beans. They were fubar’d from the start. They saw at the end of the corridor a large stone face, mouth agape, with fist-sized crystals for eyes.Ehrune: ‘Judging from the position of the mouth and the location of the skeleton below, I posit that this is some sort of trap that uses a force, wind perhaps, to deposit one over the far edge of this corridor. What should we do?’Etherik: ‘Keep going’Keep going they did. Right up until the point when the stone face’s eyes lit up with the care-bear stare of death. Although none of them failed their Will save, one by one they began to slide towards the opening at the far end. Ehrune, having given the ring of feather fall to Ferros, was of course the first to plummet off the edge to the cold stone floor 50 feet below. It wasn’t the fall that hurt so much as the landing…and then the second landing when Etherik fell on top of him, plunging him into the negatives. Ferros, of course, fared much better and was able to resuscitate the feebly twitching swashbuckler-mage using the healing potions they had found. Realizing that once again they were unprepared to venture further, the group returned to Diamond Lake.</blockquote>

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