Curses!

4 November, 595
Part II

Our heroes attempt to open the set of iron doors, but alas, it is locked and will not budge. One of the gear doors is opened and leads to a room featuring a wooden lever mounted on the wall. Experimenting with the lever shows it to enable and disable the nearby pit trap. Next they find an old woodshop and locate a stash of small valuables, including some copper cups, gems, a brooch pin, and a gold comb embedded with 3 citrines.

The group comes to a room with glass and pottery shards strewn about the floor. Kyladrian is the first to enter and is immediately ambushed by a pair of creatures. One taller manlike being with dusky skin, but with a transparent quality. The other is a small gnomelike creature with hoofed feet wearing a turbin. The group pushes into the room and fights the pair, flanking and out-numbering them. The two are defeated, but not before the larger creature scores a strike on Salla with his poisoned blade. Salla feels a bit weaker afterwards but is fit to continue. Fario carves a swift arc, slicing the creature from shoulder to hip, and felling it. For a few moments Fario has a blank look as he stares at his victim. After snapping out of it, he exchanges a long glance with Felian and then turns to wipe his blade and sheath it. Salla is particularly disturbed by this and presses for an explanation. Fario is silent but Felian explains that it is a calming technique that they haved shared with each other for a long time - and that it is hard for others to understand. Salla does not really accept his answer but does not press him further.

Continuing onward, the group encounters a forge with several hearths, anvils, and cooling tanks. In this room a secret door is found and explored. This leads to a hallway where the observant Kyladrian discovers a trap down one of the corriders. After much effort, an anvil from the forge is pushed onto the trap's pressure plate, and the trap is carefully sprung, springing spears from out of the walls. Karnak disables the trap and the group is disappointed to find the room beyond devoid of features.

At the end of another hallway, they investigate a wooden barricade, similar to the one they found in another portion of the ruins. Salla discovers that he can chip away part of it with his axe, but before he gets too far, the group decides to rest and recuperate.

On their way back up the stairs to the shop, Kyladrian discovers a secret door on the stairway that noone had ever noticed before. Indeed, it was so well-hidden that it avoided even Salla's sharp eyes. There is a torch sconce on the wall, and it is turned counter-clockwise. This was the wrong choice, as the stairs beneath them collapse, and a few unlucky adventurers are damaged as they are dumped into the mask room below. The torch is turned clockwise, and the secret door opens, revealing a short passage.

Salla and Kyladrian find another secret door and open it, which triggers a pit trap to open up. They jump backward just in time, which is fortunate because at the bottom of the pit is some kind of green bubbling slime. At the same time, the door opens wider, and a pair of hobgoblins start to chuck javelins at Salla and Kyladrian. A quick retreat is beat and the group returns to the staircase. As they leave, they notice the door beyond the pit close. They decide to block the door on the staircase and the door to the shop with chests from Keygan's storeroom.

After explaining the situation to Keygan, he is in tears over the fate of his precious rat familiar. It is at this point that the group asks Keygan to feed them, and Baxtor puts in his request for wine. Keygan icily tells them to look in his pantry, and he returns to his storefront. After replenishing their bellies, the group rests for the rest of the day, taking turns guarding the door.

Waking from their rest in the evening, Baxtor decides to visit the Temple of Lordly Might, in the hope that Asfelkir (the head priest) can remove the curse. Being a fellow cleric of Kord, Asfelkir offers a generous discount of half price for the service, but the price is too high for Baxtor. When he pretentiously asks for an advance, the half-orc agrees to remove the curse on the condition that 1) he pay the temple as soon as he can, and 2) he may never use the cleric discount for services rendered at this temple. Baxtor agrees to this and is cured of what ails him.

The group rejoins at Keygan's and starts to discuss what to do next.