When last we left our heroes...
Everyone was looking around the room to try and figure out what was going on with the stone pedestals and all the symbols. Trickles used his Hook Shot to head to the northeast platform, where he found a rat symbol. Arindorf closely examined the southern pedestal and found he could turn the dial, bringing a different symbol rotating into view. "See if you can find the symbol with the rat, and then pull the lever!" Trickles yelled.
As Arindorf turned through the dial on the southern platform, he found a bunch of symbols, but none that exactly matched the symbols on the platforms, which Trickles and Flaar were able to figure out using their Hook Shot and Misty Step, respectively. Everyone put their heads together, and after some brief deliberation Arindorf turned the dial back to the tower symbol, then pulled the lever. The pathway to the western platform rotated around, revealing 6 mechanical spiders that lunged towards the group in their various places around the room. Trickles used his rapier and crossbow to hit the constructs hard, and took the time to use their oil to draw a mustache on himself. Glitz made an attempt to flip over a spider and stab it with her shortsword but it didn't really work out as planned. Frustrated by her bad luck, she stomped her feet and yelled at the automatons. The spider she had tried to attack jumped on her, knocking her to the ground and trying to make repeated piercing attacks with its poison-laced proboscis as the little gnome nimbly rolled out of the way.
Arindorf took aim with his crossbow, and managed to knock one spider completely off the platform and get a solid hit on the other. But instead of teleporting, the one that went hurting down simply crashed into a pile of trash, which caused enough damage to make it explode. Slappa hit the whammy bar on the Lute of Chaos, causing it to first turn into a pan flute and then spit out nine pieces of silver onto the floor. Marcel slammed WaveRider into one of the spiders, sending it sparking down into a heap of metal. Flaar used his Thunderwave spell to do serious damage to one of the spiders and push it completely off the platform, then Chill Touch to take down another to a barely-standing sparking mess.
As one of the two remaining spiders targeted Trickles with a vicious acid spit attack, Glitz grabbed her three throwing stars and flung them at the creature. Their mark rung true and the construct exploded into tiny shards of metal and magic. For a moment Glitz was worried that the stars might have gotten caught up in the blast, but she soon felt their comforting weight in the magical pouch at her side. The last remaining spider, having been pushed off the platform, made one final attempt to hop up, failed, and exploded among the trash heaps far below the heroes.
As everyone took a breath, Trickles and Flaar put their heads together. "Maybe we're making assumptions about what the symbols mean," they thought. It also seemed evident to them that with six symbols, they must pair up somehow. After a bit more deliberation, Arindorf turned the dial to the star symbol and pulled the lever. Behind the heroes, on the northeast platform, a staircase magically seemed to appear.
Trying to figure out how to get over to the northeast platform without triggering the cannon, Flaar sent Boner over. The little skeleton did in fact get hit by a cannon, and immediately got caught in the teleporting loop. In response, Trickles shot at the cannon using his Hook Shot. It did a bit of damage but not much, and then Arindorf took another shot at the cannon with his crossbow, now causing it to spark slightly. Everyone got in on the cannon-damaging fun, and after several minutes of work managed to blow all four of them up.
Vomit & Blood then piled up the stairs into the next room - a large space about 70 by 70 feet, entirely filled with treasure chests, lined up in an orderly four by five pattern. Another door leading out of the room stood in the southeast corner. Glitz was immediately apprehensive but Trickles immediately ran up and opened a chest. It was empty. Slappa cast Minor Illusion to hide the chests from Trickles. Arindorf bristled, but didn't turn into a bear. As Arindorf moved towards the door, Flaar had Boner open a chest, which was once again empty.
Arindorf went to open the door, but it was locked. Trickles came over to help out with his thieves' tools. He knew he was doing everything right, and the door should be opening, but the lock wasn't turning. Arindorf tried the key from earlier floors, but it didn't work either. In the meantime, Flaar had Boner open another chest, and found inside seven
Healing Potions (1 Supreme, 4 Superior, 1 Greater, 1 Regular). This kicked off a frenzy of everyone trying to open chests. Almost all of them were empty. Even Glitz mustered up all her courage, walked to a chest, closed her eyes, and flipped it open. Everyone heard a click as it opened, and then something coming from the hallway, but they couldn't quite make out the sound.
As Marcel went to open his second chest, it immediately slammed shut again, coming to life as a mechanical construct. Trickles rushed in and slashed the automaton with his rapier, and Marcel tried to smash it with WaveRider, but the little construct dodged out of the way. Glitz took out her trusty throwing stars, and they all hit. The chest-oton exploded into a twitching pile of metal and wood. And Glitz felt a little less afraid of treasure chests.
Trickles, Slappa, and Arindorf opened the last three chests, and in one Trickles found a small silver coin that definitely looked like the Lucky Coin Haklack told the party had been stolen from him. As the last chest opened up, the door to the southeast clicked and swung open. Everyone turned and looked towards the hallway that would lead them to their next adventure.
Out of Session Note:
Marcel gives Arindorf Vigilant Blessing
