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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Wraithdrit" data-source="post: 930565" data-attributes="member: 10820">Session 9 - Log 1Durgaden took several minutes to get out of his gear and wipe down his armor, shield and weaponry, making sure that rust would not settle in. In the meantime, Tanerus had dropped his magical bag, lightening his load enough that he was able to swim better. He dived into the water and began to swim around, looking to see if the elemental had left and victim’s corpses intact. The swimming was not as easy as Tanerus had anticipated. The bottom of the basin seemed to glow and water was flowing in from an opening there. Tanerus tried to swim closer to the opening, but the out flowing water kept pushing him back up. He bobbed back up the surface and swam over to examine the now underwater dock and the other underwater exit from the room. It was obvious that the water level here used to be much lower, at the level of the dock. But something had caused the water level to rise dramatically, cutting off the lower exit from the room. The tunnel led off to the southeast, leaving the massive chamber near the dock. It sloped downward, and as Tanerus got closer he could tell that if he continued forward he would probably be swept into the tunnel and out of the room. He turned and swam back toward the dock, noticing that a small skiff was tucked under the dock and tied to one of the dock’s posts. He cut it loose and shoved it from beneath the dock. Above the party watched the halfling swim to and fro. Durgaden looked quizzically at the skiff when it popped up out of the water. “What on earth is that?”Amador looked at Durgaden with a smirk, “It’s called a boat.”Durgaden frowned. “I know that. Where’s it gonna go? There are no ways out.”Tanerus clambered into the boat and rowed over to beneath the rest of his companions, “Climb on down. We can use the boat to get over to the stairs, that way you guys don’t have to try and jump the part of the bridge that is out.”Will nodded, “Works for me.” The group slid down the rope and into the boat. When they got to the stairs, Tanerus drove a spike into the stone and tied the boat off. The group began the long climb up the steps. They passed through the exit into a long tunnel of stairs that led upward into darkness. Farther and farther up they went. Step after step the group drudged upward, wondering if the steps would ever end.Will commented between breaths, “Steps are uneven, its for better defense, hard to run up them.”Durgaden growled, also half out of breath, “They ain’t dwarven built.”Will shook his head, “No… they are Netherese.”Amador nodded, “The dwarves must have taken advantage of this place already existing.”Tanerus called a halt, “The stairs open up ahead.” He went ahead to scout, then came back after a few moments. “Spiral stairs now…”Amador groaned, “More stairs? May Corellian strike down whomever thought of these stairs.”Durgaden grunted, “Seems pretty solid idea for defense… let someone try to raid this place from the Underdark.”Tanerus coughed lightly, getting everyone’s attention, then continued. “Stairs spiral out around the column of up flowing water.”Will nodded, “The enchantment that causes that water to raise has got to be on the magnitude of Elven High Magic.”Amador whistled, “Similar to Mythals? That is some enchantment. Takes multiple high mages to cast.”Tanerus cut back in. “The water is not flowing up as much as it used to. There is smoothing in the stone around the center of the stairs. The water doesn’t reach that point, so couldn’t cause it now… the water column used to be thicker.”Will smiled, “And thus the higher water level below.”Tanerus nodded, “That was my thought.” The group continued forward till Tanerus called another stop. The rest of the group joined him at a certain step. The halfling pointed the beam of his hooded lantern at a step a few steps up. “See the crack in the railing?”Durgaden frowned, “What cra-… oh, yeah, I see it now. A trap?”Tanerus nodded, “Aye. The railing drops away, then the floor, in sections.” He followed the curve of the stairs with his lantern all the way around to directly above them. “All of this above us would pivot down. I’d make a huge spiral right into the pit.” Durgaden looked over the edge of the railing. Far below he knew there was a lake, but it was well out of sight. “Impressive trap.”Will nodded, “Don’t think the water would break your fall either. From this high, it would be like landing on stone.”Tanerus pulled forth a set of tools and began pounding spikes into the cracks in several places. “This won’t hold it long, but might hold it for a few moments, and it certainly won’t hold a lot of weight.”Durgaden growled, “There must be a mechanism to stop it.”Will shook his head, “Not on this side.”Amador nodded, “Guards would be posted above at all times, so you would just need to call to them… mechanism must be up there.”Tanerus looked at the wall, took a breath or two, let one out and grabbed a hold of the rock. He began to slide along the wall slowly, carefully climbing along. He was about halfway around the spiral when a hand hold he chose flaked off beneath his fingers. He cursed softly as he fell back. His fingers scraped off the rock, unable to find another purchase.His foot landed solidly on the stone, a foot and a half from the wall. Beneath him there was a load click followed by several louder clicks that spiraled down to the beginning of the trap.The rest of the group saw the first section of the trap start to pivot toward the center, till the spikes were reached. The heavy stone sections of stairs and railings leaned hard on the spikes. The metal of the spikes groaned, bits of stone flaked from around them. Tanerus wasted no time. He knew the trap was heavy enough to rip through his spikes soon enough. He looked at the wall, thought of trying to climb back up it, but decided that his best bet was to just run. He took the steps as fast as he could bolting upward.Below the first spike gave. The railing pivoted out, locking into place. The second and third spikes gave with the sound of rending metal ringing up the spiral staircase. The rest of the party held their breath as section after section of railing started to pivot away, followed by section after section of stairs. Tanerus ran, and ran, curving around the spiral staircase. Beside him he saw the railing pivoting away. He knew the floor would be just behind it. At the last possible moment, he leapt, the floor falling away beneath him. He landed on solid stairs, but his hands scraped against smooth stone, his legs dangled loose beneath him.Amador winced and half turned away, he knew he couldn’t help, and he didn’t want to see Tanerus fall helplessly to his death.Will whispered softly under his breath. “Come on Tanerus…”Durgaden took a half step forward. He would never reach the falling halfling, but he could not just stand and watch him fall.Tanerus’ could not get a grip on the steps. He started to slip backward, then his hand finally found the first solid section of railing. His fingers hooked the stone and he pulled as hard as he could. At last he scrambled up onto a small landing. He panted, lying on his back, his eyes closed. His heart pounded in his chest. Durgaden called up to him. “You alright?”Tanerus huffed gently and sat up and turned to look down at them, “Yeah, fine. No problem.” His eyes turned to focus down the shaft past the column of water. They had been climbing steps for an hour at least. He knew if he had failed, he would be dead. He swallowed and stood, examining the landing. There was a door ahead of him. He pulled his tools out and started to examine the door.Below the halfling Durgaden turned to Will. “Impressive trap. We need to get the boys to build one of those in the mines.” He beamed, the danger to Tanerus forgotten now that the halfling was all right.Will just shook his head in amazement. He was shocked that they group had gotten this far. After all the dangers they had faced, not a single member of their crew had died.If only he had known that it was not to last…</blockquote>

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