Session 70: Prisoner-Guards
General Summary
After resting, the party picked their way through the carnage of the Terraced Aquarium, discussing which parts of the dungeon remained unexplored as they backtracked to the intersection near the entrance.
They decided to finish exploring the northern way. North of the Kelpie room was a hallway, with a door ahead and a side passage to the right. Exploring the side passage, they used Fly to avoid the difficult-to-walk-on, oil-slicked cylinder, and found themselves in a sticky situation when a flaming arrow flew through a slit in the wall ahead and ignited the grease.
Lins managed to deposit herself and Trislee on the other side, and used Stone Shape to force an entryway through the wall where the arrow-slit had been. On the other side stood a human woman, who tried to cast a spell on them and failed.
Trislee had better luck with her Hypnotic Pattern, and soon their adversary stood spellbound. She was not the one who had fired the arrow, though, and when he saw how quickly they shut down his companion, he tried to rally her to flee into the door behind him. When she didn't follow, he became concerned, jumping into the flay to pull at her arm to no avail.
Lins locked them both down with Web, and surrender soon followed.
They learned the two's names were Burket and Snarla. They had no memories before serving Keraptis as guards in his dungeon; only hazy impressions. Snarla, Burket explained, was especially fearful of leaving the dungeon, the only world she knew. She was convinced the outside of the mountain was far more dangerous than the odd adventuring party they had to fight.
The party bound them in ropes and, after Burket alarmedly asked if they were going to leave them utterly defenseless, put them in their bedroom and shut the doors before leaving.
Continuing north, they found a large and heavy metal door with flexible phalanges around the outside, forming a seal that took some muscle to push open. Five feet beyond its opening... another identical door.
The party passed through five sealing, heavy, outward-opening doors, their dread growing with each one.
At the last, they stood in a huge room, full of water as far as they could tell. They stood submerged in a tunnel formed of some transparent membrane, through which they could see the volcanic water rapidly boiling all around them. Ahead, the tunnel opened into a fifty-foot-wide bubble, inside which was a heavy iron chest bolted to the ground, and a crab the size of an elephant with a brass band on its enormous claw.
Report Date
17 Apr 2023
Primary Location
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