Into The Darkness

The heroes build up their courage making sure everyone within the party is ready and begin their descent down the muddy stairs. Each step they take squelching as their weight pressed on the stairs. Then the monk Nadia and rogue Jimini (roll a bad dexterity check) as the two slip on the muck and carry the whole group down into the dark. A resounding crash could be heard echoing from the entrance, as our heroes landed unceremoniously in a heap at the bottom of the stairs. Suddenly, they hear the shouts of the guards yelling at their intrusion.

A short brutal altercation between our heroes and the spear wielding guards ended quickly. Our motley crew’s superior skills and numbers overwhelmed the guards in spite of their unorthodox entrance. Castor killed two of the spearmen and Thorgrim killed the other two. However, it was a group effort by our heroes. The heroes are now left with a decision of which direction they should take into the dungeon. To the east the passageway disappeared around the corner and the southern passage continued straight into the dark. The west went straight to a closed door.

Our crew decided to explore the south and found a pool of still water surrounded by four columns.  Past the pool, the tunnels continued to the east and to the west, but our adventures retraced their steps back to the north and then west from there. When the heroes came to a door to the west, it wasn’t locked when Jimini checked it, but it was swollen shut due to all the excess moisture constantly dripping down through the complex. Castor tried to force the door open, but couldn’t seem to get a good grip. Then Thorgrim tried and was able to wrest the door from its bound state to be instantly hit in the face with a putrid stench of rotting flesh smell. At the very same instance, three carrion crawlers began advancing on the group.

The combat with these creatures was fast, but almost proved to be fatal. Castor cleaved the first tentacled beast in half with two mighty blows, but before the battle was over Thorgrim, Nadia, and Castor were all three paralyzed. It was a good thing Zarkon and Strom were there to finish the carrion crawlers off. Zarkon had the final blow to the last crawler with his wand of burning hands. A cone of smoldering flames shot out from his wand and burned the last crawler to a crisp. After the combat had ended Jimini found a hidden treasure chamber to the north. He was able to pick the lock on all three chests. One chest was filled with many thousands of copper, the second with silver pieces, and the third carried a stash of semi-precious gems.