Session 17
General Summary
After several trial-and-error approaches, the crystalline key fragments were eventually recovered and when held all together, formed into a new crystal key, unlocking their pathway forward. Upon opening the door, the crystal key vanished and the pieces reappeared in each of the paintings.
Pushing forward in the reveled hallway, the group came to another room of mirror-like fixtures , this time set in a circular room. After a quick investigation, ensuring they weren’t another dimensional trap, Cas noticed that each of the images were not only animated, but each seemed to form a particular letter. As Cas looked over a set of three on one side of the room, Fitmir began examining the opposite three.
Upon his examination of the final image of a dark dungeon cell, the discarded rags in the image fall away revealing a basilisk gazing directly at him. Quickly trying to throw an arm up and yelling as he threw himself backwards, Fitmir still fell victim to the basilisk’s gaze and began stiffening as his extremities began turning to stone. The party quickly turns to confront the basilisk that breaks it way through the glass and confronts the group while Fitmir calms himself and shakes off the effects of the gaze.
With just the one target and in a fairly small space, the party quickly dispatches the creature, finding nothing but a freezing room behind the false mirror that had apparently kept the monster in status until triggered. Cursing the twisted humor of Ma’ar, the party presses on until finding themselves in a dusty room, the door forward seemingly locked against all methods of opening. Sensing no immediate threat, the weary group decides to face this next challenge after a rest and settle in for the time-being with Cas and Whisper examining and cleaning off the walls in which the dust had obscured delicately painted murals.
Bjorn spent some time trying to move a crate that would not budge and seemed rooted to the very stone and Cas, took a literal look inside, his top half disappearing into a cold, inky blackness that seemed to fill the bottom of the crate. After resting and having cleaned the walls of the room, it was determined that every member of the party must surrender all of their weapons before the door would unlock. Despite much grumbling and cursing, again, not having the option to turn back, everyone did so and the door opened to a new hallway. Fortunately, Bjorn spotted a recessed alcove in the hallway beyond and found a familiar looking crate which allowed the party to retrieve their weapons before continuing on.
With no doors in evidence or any other way available, the group moved down the hallway before turning and finding yet another hallway stretching out before them. After several turns and several hallways with no change, Cas made a mark on the wall, enabling them to determine that they were somehow caught in a looping hallway. With this in mind, the group was fairly quickly able to find a break in the wall that had been covered by illusion and passed into another of Ma’ar’s “fun” rooms, filling with floating padlocks, keys, and a locked door.
Belamin, curious about the offshoot room that had a different set of locks and keys, along with a chest and special key on a pedestal walked far enough into the next room to trigger the connecting door between the rooms to slam shut. With only a small hole to pass the chest through, the group again navigated the tricky room to recover the correct key and free Belamin. The opened the final door and found a new set of stairs leading down into the dark.
Report Date
19 Nov 2022
Primary Location