Wheels Are Turning
The Thursday game, recapping 11/12/20 – OOC: The lizard is now channeling the spirit of the Warlock since he lost his head (literally) in the last session.
Still trapped in the deadly room behind the man with the mask of stars, in desperation we turn to Keshma. The dao pledged to help us fight Acererak with three wishes when we freed her. She says it is obvious how to escape but it will use up all the wishes because of the pain involved. We take the deal. In front of the door, we watch in horror as the she amputates her arm and holds up the stump in imitation of the painting. The door opens and, as we escape, we watch Keshma wander away into the dungeon, her arm already beginning to regenerate.
We head to the spiral staircase and descend to what we hope is the final level. A hallway leads south, and a door stands to the east. We open the door to find ourselves on a dock jutting into a large underground lake. Two boats ominously named Predator and Prey are tied to the dock. A metal diving cage with a winch is also on the dock. In the water, phosphorescent crabs walk on the lakebed.
Arising from the lake are three enormous stone cogs with rusty spokes reaching out to the walls of the room. The Warlock flies up to inspect and sees that the cogs have flat roofs and are large enough to contain rooms. Several tomb dwarves hang from webbing on the ceiling busily performing maintenance. They either do not see or are unbothered by the Warlock floating in the air.
The Paladin decides to try out the cage. We winch him down. After looking around, he heads back up uneventfully. He was able to breathe underwater, but that may be a magical effect of the cage. We abandon this for now and turn to investigate the hall leading south.
Pools of viscous slime lie in the various rooms and corridors in this area, but the Cleric uses radiant damage to disperse the evil. The hallway turns east and dead ends, but a search reveals a secret door to a hallway leading north and south. Past the door, the phrase “Awaken Napaka” is written in dried blood on the ceiling. We have a scepter that is supposed to destroy Napaka, but would it be wise to skip this? Yes, but we forge ahead anyway moving south down the hall which ends in a long rectangular east and west room.
The Warlock uses mage hand to push aside a curtain hanging across one end of the room. Behind it, is a four-armed gargoyle with three arms attached with open palms. A fourth arm lies on the ground with a clenched fist. A riddle above reads, “Three I need, then three more, three more still opens the door.” From our bag of holding, the Warlock puts three gems in the open hands. They close crushing the gems to a fine powder and reopen. He repeats this action two more times. The hand on the floor opens to reveal a large ruby, but the mouth on the gargoyle emits a noxious gas. Simultaneously, a wall opens on the far end of the room and a construct juggernaut races towards the gargoyle. The Monk grabs the Warlock and teleports them both out of the room before they are crushed. The Warlock, who you must remember is a wee little lizard, somehow takes the scepter and whacks the construct with a critical hit and it crumples into dust. We examine the area where the construct came from and it seems safe enough to take a long rest. During this time, we discover the ruby is the Fabled Eye of Zaltec.
We head north to the interior of the middle cog where an acrid smell comes from a rotting garden. In the middle, a six-foot-tall sprinkler rises. We assume activating it would be bad and creep along a wall to the western cog. In this cog, the walls are decorated with five dragon heads and a way west leads to a small control room. Five configurations of the three cogs appear on the wall with a light appearing under the third. We assume this is the current configuration The Warlock stays to operate the controls while the rest of the party moves away. After manipulating the controls, we hear the cogs move and the Warlock reports the number one is lit. Gas pours from the center cog and when we arrive three shambling mounds attack. We quickly dispatch the plant monsters. With this configuration, we can now access the eastern most cog. The Warlock changes the configuration back to three and casts dimension door to join us. This room contains five teak wardrobes with images carved on them. To the north stands an adamantine portcullis. Above it, are five red crystals shaped like drops of blood.