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The A-Team has been seeking a wizard’s assistance Identifying the magical nature of an onyx totem of Khurgorbaeyag. Their search brought them to Maloo’s Magnetic Marvels where a gnome artificer running the shop in Maloo’s absence agreed to waive the Identify fee if the party fetched him some spell and potion components. The party agreed and traveled east to Sochet Lake where they entered a small, ziggurat-style structure on an island in the center of the lake.

Once inside, the party found themselves in a square antechamber with doors to the left and right. The party traveled right first, where they were attacked by and defeated a gelatinous cube, and barely avoided a scrape with a couple of wild crocodiles. They then retraced their steps back to the antechamber, deciding to explore the door to the left. As soon as they opened the door, the ceiling of the antechamber began to crack. The party had to scramble quickly to avoid the cave-in, fleeing into the next room just as their path behind was blocked off.

They quickly realized they went from the frying pan into the fire as the floor of the room into which they’d fled suddenly began to shift and give way, turning into quicksand. The party members all sank up to their necks. It was all Shadyboi and Rose could do to keep themselves from sinking below the surface. Shelby and Shump, however, were able to navigate the thick, viscious substance.

Shump, a natural outdoors man raised most of his childhood in the wild, managed to swim across the room much faster than the rest of the group. While swimming, he noticed a switch on the opposite wall and deduced it must be an off switch of some kind. He pressed the switch just as Rose sank below the surface and began to drown. Once the switch was pressed, the floor suddenly became solid and the group found themselves lying in a normal room, the supposed caved-in antechamber also restored to normal.

The group didn’t have time to rest long as two werecrocodile guards, tipped off by the triggered trap, entered the room with weapons drawn. Rose cast Calm Emotions and charmed the guards, convincing them to investigate a “noise” in the other room. Meanwhile, the party continued onward into what appeared to be a storage room. There was almost no visible floor space as almost every square inch was crammed with junk, from beaten, battle damaged armor to used weapons, to cleaning supplies, to various tools. The group got the impression the room was both a storage room and possibly loot gathered from fallen foes of the werecrocodiles.

After defeating a couple of lurking mimics, the group found a broom of flying, an enchanted short sword, an enchanted greataxe, and roughly 100 gold worth of coins, gems, and art pieces.

With nowhere else to go, and still no giant crocodile eggs, the party returned to the entrance, an unremarkable room save for a pillar in each corner labeled with the symbol for fire, and two large stone slabs on the floor and on the far wall with the likenesses of crocodiles carved in their surfaces.

Shadyboi remembered Shump suggesting when they first arrived that they should try placing rope into the metal bowls and setting fire to that. He had everyone do so, and as soon as the ropes caught flame, the fire symbols on the pillars began to glow. Then, with a loud crack, the stone slabs on the floor and wall protruded inward a few inches. Writing along the circumference of the slabs clued the party in that they had to turn the crocodiles to face each other, which revealed a previously hidden doorway straight ahead.

The room ahead was dark, and all Shadyboi could see was that it was large and cavernous, and that the doorway opened onto a raised platform of some kind. Rather than pushing onward, exhausted from multiple encounters, and nervous to potentially take on the giant crocodile without being at their best, the party decided to set up camp in the vestibule and rest up.

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I ended up giving my brother extra experience for that idea even though nobody listened to him at first because it was exactly what I was trying to hint. It was hilarious, I kept saying, “You place your torches into the metal bowls, but nothing happens. The interior of the bowls look sooty, like something was burned in them before, but nothing is there now.” I just about said, “Fire needs fuel to burn, guys,” but I didn’t. I wanted them to figure it out.

This dungeon, although it hasn’t taken that long, is taking longer than I originally expected, and there’s still a fair amount of dungeon to go. I’m starting to rethink what I originally had planned to help push them into getting to the good stuff.

I’m really excited for them to get through this dungeon–not that I want to railroad them through, not that I don’t have cool stuff planned, but I have some really neat stuff planned after they finish with this dungeon, and it’s all I can do to keep from telling them, especially for one of the players. Their backstory is going to come up in a really fun way (I think), and I can’t wait to see the look on their faces.

In the meantime, I’m also thinking about writing up and running a game for my mom this Christmas. Something holiday themed and silly. She’s never played before, and I think she’d really enjoy it. I’ll probably get started working on that since I’m so far ahead on this stuff.

‘Til next time!

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