"Nothing finer than friends you can trust with your life, I'd say. Perhaps I should go in front for a time, my friend. Give this new armor and cloak a chance to do their job. Myra, didn't you buy one of those magic bags? Perhaps these weapons could go in it, for now."

Matrim takes the weapons from Tail and puts them in his bag of holding.

Items added to treasure list

"Aye I did with the help of you lot anyways so yeah pass em over this way they should fit." The halfling was more than happy that she could be of use.

----------------

The MAP !

----------------

There is an unexplored hallway coming off D:19.

   ... to the west is dark ...

There is an unexplored hallway coming off D:15.

   ... black darkness, numerous odd smells ...

There are spiral stairs down to the unexplored level of the dungeon.
There are spiral stairs up to where you've already been.

Once the weapons had been stowed by Myra, Matrim suggests the hallway off of D:19. If we go that way, Matrim will also call out to the hirelings that any proficient in melee will be up front with him and Bhelmyr. Matrim will alter his stride so that he will not outpace his shorter companions.

Bhelmyr will cast light on his own axe, then take the lead. (To d19)
This message was last edited by the player at 02:48, Sat 21 May 2022.

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The MAP !

----------------

Bhelmyr and Matrim, with most of the hirelings behind them,
move down the dark western hallway, to find ...

D20 : Ogre Lair

This was once some sort of magical laboratory,
then more recently a bedroom for the bandit's ogres.

A long stone table carved with runes and magic symbols takes
up most of one wall. The table is scarred and chipped by vandals.

Broken glass, pottery and bits of twisted metal have been swept
into one corner and most of the floor is taken up by three large
bedrolls.

An iron hook, probably for holding a lantern, juts from one wall.
The painted wall pattern, though badly chipped and damaged, is bright.

There are no ogres here.

Grundold stays near his axe,
which is propping up the portcullis.

Myra and Talianythn linger in D:19,
where the little magic candle still rests upon a stone slab.

Tali watches from the room as the otehrs explore, a little more cautious since the golem room.

"Let us finish this place so we can rest." She muttered more to herself than anyone

"Agreed." was the only word Myra responded with though she kept a keen eye after the others who went ahead. Her bow was ever drawn and at the ready.

Matrim will go back to D19 and say "We should go back to the stairs and see if there are any hallways we haven't gone down yet."

################

Matrim leads the adventurers back through this level of the dungeon.

Please check out the MAP !

################

From where they are now (D20), the adventurers move through
D19, to D15 (where the stairs down are), and onto the
unexplored area of D18.

D18 : MAGIC INGREDIENTS

This room reeks of a mix of smells, both pleasant and offending.
Rows and rows of stone shelves cover the walls. Each shelf is
filled with bottles, vials, tins and boxes of all shape and
size. Some reem to be cracked, broken or damaged in some way.

Adventurers can stock up on spell components here.
Most mundane components can be found here in small quantities.
Anything expensive or rare has been stolen.

################

Moving on from D18, Matrim leads the adventurers back to D15,
and down the spiral stairs, to the lowest and final level of the dungeon.

D27 : VAULT ENTRY

Another faint magical light shows this area to be
a plain pentagonal room. A not-so-secret door can
be seen slightly-ajar in the south-western wall.

The secret door is a stone block, 4' tall, which
is on a short sliding track, to slide it in-out.

It seems that the last person through the secret
door did not replace the stone properly.

################

edit :
i think i made an error and its the other spiral stairs that lead down.
it doesn't matter. you're on the lowest level now ... final rooms.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:53, Sun 29 May 2022.

Matrim will motion to the hirelings up front to go through the stone block door first, and will follow right after, stooping to fit through the small entrance.

Tali, now close behind Matrim again, followed after him, as usual weaponless other than her magic. She looked at the goliath with a smile. "Their can't be much more left here..." she muttered

Matrim chuckled softly. "Only one way to see."

Tali smiled at the chuckle, heartened by her friends confidence. She pats him on the shoulder. "After you..." She mutters

################

Please check out the MAP !

################

Fulthor, Gilthan, and Grundold move ahead through the small
sliding-stone secret-door, followed closely by Matrim and Talianythn ...

D28 : VAULT ROOM ONE

Lit with a weird magical faint glow, this room has
two empty weapons racks on its walls. The floor is
painted in a strange checkerboard pattern. The walls
are plain, constructed of old stone blocks, of a
different (but not exotic) type of stone, compared
to the rest of the underground complex.

Upon entering, the hirelings stand in the centre of the strange room.
They look around for a few moments ...

Fulthor turns to Matrim and says, "Empty. End of the road. Time to leave."

Nearby, Grundold peers intently at a wall, while scratching his thickly-bearded chin.
He speaks, quietly, "These walls ... no flaws ... too perfect ... hmmmmm .... "

"I agree with Grundold. Something doesn't seem right here." Myra scans over every inch of the wall.

20:12, Today: Myra Highbrow rolled 12 using 1d20+5.  Perception roll.

Visually, Myra can't see anything that stands out to her,
although the place does look a bit odd ... as though the
lack of flaws creates an odd look to the place.

Grundold is still scratching his chin.
He has not touched anything here, yet.
Neither has Myra.

Tali stood by the entrance of the door, letting Myra and the dwarf follow their instincts

Matrim will encourage Grundold to share his musings.

"Yes, well ... *cough*", says Grundold,
"It seems that, to my dwarven eyes,
these walls are too uniform, too clean ..."

He takes a few steps around the room as he speaks.

"... and look there, at that section. It's repeated over there ..."
He points at two sections of wall on different walls,
where he believes them to be identical.

"Very strange, indeed. Wizard's work.
Magic paint or something ...", he grunts.

Bhelmyr thinks for a moment about the things he's learned about magic. Does he remember anything about walls like this?

In reply to Bhelmyr Godstouched (msg # 58):

17:10, Today: Bhelmyr Godstouched rolled 16 using 1d20+3.  arcana on walls.

By just looking and thinking,

Bhelmyr believes that the walls may have some kind of
magic upon them that masks their true appearance.

The purpose or reason for this remains unclear.

Tali was not an expert on structures - she had grown up in the wilds of elven society...most of their buildings were trees. The structures of stone was beyond her, and looking at them, she saw walls.

"I believe you, but i just see a wall" she said with a shrug