After making sure he wasn't on fire anywhere, Kahan looks at Leo. "Maybe we should let the rogue go first and look for traps?" he suggests in the most obvious way possible after they unknowingly tripped one.

Leo shrugs.  "Right or Ledge then?"

"We need to check for traps as we go." Tahldar says stating the obvious.

"I still would like to check the right hand passage." the mages replies to Leo.

You move forward around the lava trap to the center area and look down the corridors.

The central one goes a short distance south. The western one seems to wind south around a bend and then cuts back east to the other potential mooring spot.

You can't see atop the ledge or where it goes, but it seems to be a large roundish area at least 20 feet deep.

The eastern passage seems to open up to a bridge-like rock structure that goes directly over the lava.

"Well, it would seem the ledge is the way to go as I suspected."

"Borimer, care to give us all a lift up?"

OOC:  Let's move up to the ledge and carry on.

Shae will head east to where the lava area is and inspect what she can see about the bridge or up north for other potential dangers or paths.

Leo attempts to climb up the ledge to see what he can see.

The ledge is shadowed and one place that does not have a glow from the lava surrounding the area.

What are the party's light sources? (Note that the extreme heat in this area makes infravision very difficult to rely on.)
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:29, Wed 30 Sept 2020.

Leo climbs up and sees that it is essentially a round area that does not appear to have any exits. It is very dark.



Shae walks east to the stone bridge and looks around.

The stone bridge crosses about 10 feet over the lava to the eastern side, where it looks to end in a dead end trail.

To the north, you see a small lava waterfall that creates a current going north to south. You cannot see above the waterfall.

There is some sort of man made stone structure jutting from the middle of the lava (southwest corner of W4).


This message was last edited by the GM at 03:51, Wed 30 Sept 2020.

OOC: I seem to remember something about a Continual Light spell, but I can't recall what we had cast it on.

"There must be more to this room than what we can see. I wonder if the lava flow started after the construction of this place, whatever it may be," the priest mused out loud as he gave Borimer the light source to fly up to Leo.

I believe the continual light spell was dispelled by Geebo being too close with the rings or by the doppleganger earlier.

Also, for clarification, you mentioned that Geebo would stay with the rafts for safety, so he is at point "a" unless you want him moved somewhere.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:10, Wed 30 Sept 2020.

OOC: Yeah, you're right, Kahan will recast Continual Light on whatever the party thinks would be best. Maybe a rock? It would be easy to conceal should they need to.

Tahldar is glad for the new light source as he doesn't really have any good way to produce a source himself.  "Onwards and upwards." he says evenly as he readies himself for Borimer to ferry them up the ledge.

With some light up top, Leo sees that there appears to be a slight gas escaping from the north part of the round elevated area. Upon inspection, it appears that the rock can be slid to the side to allow a secret door passage to the north.

Tahldar takes his appointed place in the 5' marching order.  Soon he hopes they will find the Doppleganger and end his reign of terror.

It takes a few minutes, but all of you finally are able to climb the 10 foot ledge. As the rock door slides open with some hard pushes by Borimer--which is hard to do because it is all stone on some sort of rollers--you notice a greenish smoke emanating from within. This smoke is thicker and more noxious than the stuff in the previous challenge. Leo at once begins coughing and jumps back out of the way. His understanding of lore and poisons allows him to tell you one thing about the green fumes: they are poisonous.

OOC: Entering the fumes will cause each individual who is not immune to poison to suffer 2d4 damage for each 2 combat rounds (12 seconds) while in the smoke. Also, regardless of immunities, the sulfuric and high acidic contents will cause your eyes to burn (-2 to all rolls using sight while in it and for 2 minutes after leaving). And finally, the smoky mist is so thick that you can only see about 10 feet in front of you.

You may also hold your breath to avoid the damage part of the poison. Doing so means you have to roll save versus poison for each exertion (running, attack, etc.), and clearly casting spells cannot be done while holding breath. You can hold your breath for 10 seconds per Constitution point.

"I can try to disperse the poison, but if there is a large source of it within I fear the spell may end up encircling us all instead of pushing it away," Kahan comments as he tries to discern what the gas is, other than "poisonous".

"I can help with a minor spell to increase your resistance to the poison, but it's short lived and not very powerful.  My only other option is to use a flaming ball of fire to try to burn off the gas."

The gas is unfamiliar to you other than the strong smell of sulfur, acetylene and firedamp (a methane combination common in mines). You are pretty sure it is flammable, so any flame, torch or spell (or lava) will likely cause a huge explosion upon contact.

OOC: It would have been nice to have a dwarf or someone who could recognize these things, but I figure you are trying to figure it out.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:13, Tue 06 Oct 2020.

Shae says, "I have a slight resistance to poison and one neutralize poison spell. I'm not sure how well it will work here, but we can see. I shall go first. Please follow closely if we can't see.

Shae will go first, hoping the others follow closely behind her. She will hold her breath after taking a few deep cleansing breaths in meditation for the challenge to come. She will move forward touching the western wall to help guide her way. If anyone wants to hold onto the back of her shirt and go forward like a train, they can.

Tahldar begins to cast his spells.

OOC: Taldar will case his zero level resistance spell on Borimer, Tahldar, Kahan, Leo, and Shae.  (This will leave him w/o any zero or 3rd level spells for the day)  It's confers a +1 bonus to any save roll.

Shae starts forward. The passage is 10 feet wide, so you can easily stand two abreast if desired, but just seeing 10 feet ahead is problematic.

She holds her breath and squints through the acidic stinging at her eyes and moves forward 15 feet.

That is when the cavern opens up into a much larger room, though you can't see the size exactly. On both sides of the opening cavern are niches at various heights which are about 6 inches square and a few inches deep, which can be used as handholds. (See "c" on map.)

The handholds may prove useful because when the room opens up, the floor also gives way from rock to a soft quicksand.

OOC: If you go along the wall using the handholds, you will need to state whether you go to the right side (east) or left side (west).

As Shae stands there holding her breath and contemplating what to do, you all hear something strange from directly north and slightly east of her. It is a creepy cackling laugh. A moment later, you hear something in a foreign tongue. And then another. And then it switches to Common. "I know you are there. Where are you now?" The voice is high pitched but likely a male falsetto, and very disturbing at that.


This message was last edited by the GM at 00:58, Thu 08 Oct 2020.

Tahldar set's off to follow Shae, holding his breath as best he can.  He takes the left west handhold way around the quicksand.

Hearing the voice, Shae moves to the west side, using the handholds to go across carefully and slowly. "We're not afraid of you, Haklara. We don't want trouble."

Still holding her breath, Shae moves to the west side, with Tahldar just behind. Borimer follows both of them with his breath held.

The only response Shae receives to her challenge is a cackling laugh, which comes from about 15-20 feet east of where she stands.

As Shae continues, she is able to use the small niches like grips to avoid the quicksand below. Tahldar and Borimer also successfully move next to her (DEX checks successful).

She reaches the northwestern side of the round room. The sulfuric, methane gases still cloud vision and makes her eyes sting (as well as Tahldar and Borimer), but she sees a large hole in the north side of the room. It is about 8 feet in diameter, and there is flickering light from down below. It appears to go down about 30 feet.

Breath holding:
Shae: 1 minute
Tahldar: 48 seconds
Borimer: 36 seconds

OOC: I will progress at 6-18 second intervals depending on what makes sense. A failed Dex check will mean you lose grip and have to take a few seconds to readjust or a critical miss means you slip and fall into the quicksand. The toxicity of the air that makes your eyes water will cause -2 on to hit rolls.

Leo and Kahan have not yet left the safety of the ledge south of the area.