027: I've Disarmed the Trap

The battle raged on the bridge. While the gargoyles were fierce fighters, they were no match for the party. In moments, two  were slain and the other–badly wounded–sent fleeing back into Gloamhold's eternal dark.

The heroes had suffered only minor wounds in the encounter and so pushed on. After a brief discussion, they decided to investigate the cobweb-filled room to the south.

Cleverly, the party decided to burn the webs before entering the room. This Caiden accomplished in spectacular fashion. The dry webs caught fire quickly under his magical onslaught and smoke filled the room. When the conflagration burnt itself out, the party cautiously advanced. A huge spider–bigger than a warhorse–blundered out of the smoke. A fusillade of arrows from Luther slew the beast before it even saw the young ranger. With similar speed, the beast's children–a veritable tide of tiny spiders–were also slain.

With the spiders despatched, the party searched the southern rooms. They found nothing but bones, burnt cobwebs and rubble. Grand Silvertongue also discovered a set of rubble-choked steps leading southwards, It seemed these might link up with a similar rockfall the party had discovered after battling the smugglers during their first expedition.

With all exploration options to the south seemingly exhausted, the heroes moved north to investigate the archway Luther had spotted earlier.

The archway was intricately carved in low relief and depicted two scaly warriors holding curiously curved blades aloft over the arch. The party suspected a trap, and faint wearing on the craven sword blades discovered by Horsa suggested the statues may play a part. After some effort, Luther managed to wedge both carved swords--that did indeed seem designed to move--with iron spikes.

Thus, the trap was disarmed and Artur bravely–and confidently–stepped through the arch...to trigger a second trap! The floor fell away below his feet and the paladin plummeted into a deep pit. Caiden acted quickly and cast feather fall on the paladin, saving him from a nasty fall.

The pit was 20-foot deep. A rusty iron door and three rusty grates pierced the east wall. Three skeletons lay on the floor. Intrigued by the skeletons, Artur bent to investigate one. As he did, several things happened! The pit lid slammed shut trapping the paladin while water began pouring from the iron grates. Things got even worse when the three skeletons animated!

Things seemed grim. As Artur's friends strove both to find the mechanism to open the pit and smash the lid in, the paladin was sorely pressed. As the skeletons tore into him, he used his divine powers to weaken them. While two were affected by his resplendent divinity, the third seemed immune. In a few moments, the paladin was bleeding from half a dozen wounds, and things seemed even grimmer...