The party stand at the end of the long stone corridor, a steel door in front of them shielding them from whatever lies beyond. Finn resumes his role of Chief Door Opener and sidles up to the handle, his expert eyes scanning it for any potential traps, his fingers brushing over the mechanism carefully. After a few moments he announces to the rest of the party that there doesn't appear to be anything abnormal about the door and they should prepare to attack any enemies that may lie on the other side when it opens. Finn counts down and pulls down on the handle, the door swings open to reveal a square room beyond with a door on the left hand side wall. Like one of the rooms they previously encountered, this too has a grated floor and what appears to be some kind of furnace device beneath. The party gather together to discuss their options. The previous version of this room didn't "go off" when they tested it last time and the door Farraine found with the word "trapped" engraved upon it also proved to be unremarkable. Maybe everything is just broken, after all when was the last time anyone ventured down here to carry out maintenance. Finn decides not to take any chances and reaches into his backpack. He retrieves a hammer and his grappling hook and ties them to a length of rope. Holding the rope tightly in his hands he tosses the tools into the centre of the room and waits anxiously. Nothing happens.
"Maybe they're not heavy enough?" questions Lucian. The party return to their huddle and discuss their options further it would be easy enough for those with magical abilities to get across but there may well be trouble ahead and using up their magical resources might not be the best idea. Finn suggests that he could use his grappling hook on the ceiling and they could all swing across but his suggestion seems to go unnoticed by the others as they argue over the puzzle ahead of them. Whilst the party bicker amongst themselves, Finn, his Imp familiar to head over to the door and check to see if it is locked. The mischievous Imp nods and flies over to the door on the left hand side of the room, moments later he returns to Finn and tells him that it appears that the door is, in fact, locked. The halfling stokes at his chin for a moment before conjuring a spectral hand in front of him. He reaches into his pouch and takes out his thieves tools and hands them to the, well, hand. The magical hand floats across the room and begins to work the lock of the door, there is a small click and the hand pushes the door open before returning to Finn and handing back the tools before disappearing from sight.
Finn returns to the group, who are still debating the best course of action. The Halfling suggests that he just make his way into the room and hopefully his roguish skills will allow him to get out of the way of any potential flames before they do any damage. Farraine puffs out his chest "Don't worry kid, I got this", he then proceeds to stroll into the room. He turns to face the party, a smile spreading on his bearded face. There is an audible click, the smile disappears at the speed of light, Farraine sprints back towards the safety of his friends but he is not quick enough. Flames erupt from the floor beneath him as he sprints across the room. Running as fast as he can he makes it back to the safety of the corridor where he finds Finn sniggering at his misfortune.
Garrick steps forward and rises slowly off the ground, hovering a foot off the floor he glides serenely across to the other side of the room and disappears into the corridor beyond. "Er guys, hurry up, I've got company". Without any further hesitation Lucian and Finn Misty step across the room and join Garrick in the corridor, Finn's familiar Binky flaps his leathery wings and makes his way over to Finn. Farraine backs away from the room of flames and after some questionable mental maths and physics calculations, begins to run as fast as he can back towards the room. As he reaches the doorway he leaps, pushing off the doorframe with one leg he soars through the air towards his companions. His calculations are a little off though and he touches down still inside the room, with another leap as the fire trap clicks once more, he crashes into Garrick, sending him tumbling to the floor. As Flames erupt behind him Farraine stands up and draws his scimitar. Across the room, Sigrid takes the form of an owl and swoops across to join the rest of the party. Before them stand a group of ghastly looking undead creatures. Garrick gets to his feet and casts a spell on the horde. A satisfying "puff" echoes down the corridor and a pile of ash is all that remains of the enemy group.
With more enemies ahead, Binky becomes invisible as Lucian steps from the corridor into a larger room, quickly calculates the height of the ceiling and then unleashes a massive ball of fire that engulfs another group of the undead creatures. As the flames burst out from the room and back along the corridor they harmlessly move around the rest of the party, with one exception. A small voice close to Finns shoulders screeches "Not again, that fucking Wizard" and then silence, Finn fires off a critical look in the direction of Lucian who just shrugs. The halfling regains his focus on the task at hand and sneaks out from behind Garrick and fires his crossbow at one of the remaining Ghasts, the bolt screams through the air and pierces the beast in the head, killing it instantly. Farraine moves down the corridor towards 2 more enemies and takes them out quickly with his scimitar, the metal blades slicing through the undead flesh.
From across the room Sigrid swoops into the room and morphs back into her human form, she stands poised to attack as Farraine is engulfed by four Ghasts. He manages to repost one of their attacks and his scimitar slices through the creatures neck but instead of the head falling to the floor it shoots off into the air and thuds onto the ceiling. A confused look appears on the faces of our heroes when all of a sudden they are pulled from the floor of the room and tumble upwards to the ceiling. As they quickly get back to their feet, nursing new bruises, the room is suddenly engulfed in flame. After a few seconds the flames begin to dissipate to reveal our singed party, frantically patting out residual flames on their clothing and hair, even Farraine's beard is looking a little shorter than a moment ago. Garrick rushes to the aid of Farraine, swinging his morning star at a Ghast about to attack his friend. The creature's head caves in under the mighty blow, bits of brain and skull splatter on the fighter. Seeing the party's injuries from the fire Sigrid casts a healing spell on the group. Lucian has been considering the recent events, he knows a Fireball spell when he sees one after all, there has to be some other creature in this room with them, one that is currently hidden from their sight. He aims a firebolt in the general direction he believes the Fireball came from but nothing happens.
"There's something over in that direction" he yells, pointing to the far end of the room.
Farraine wastes no time and rushes into the area indicated by the Wizard, he swings his scimitar aimlessly and by some miracle he feels the blade connect with invisible flesh. "I got something" he says as all of a sudden arcs of lightning crackle across the room, hitting Garrick and Sigrid, Finn manages to nimbly dodge out of the way. With his muscles still twitching from the electrical blast, Garrick rushes over towards Farraine and where the lightning came from and swings his morning star with all his might, hitting nothing but air. Sigrid, with little regard for he fellow adventurers casts an entangle spell in the direction of what she hopes to be the invisible enemy. Farraine is able to rip the enchanted vines from his body but Garrick is not so lucky. The magical tendrils ensnare his ankles and bind his arms to his sides, he hears the sound of struggling nearby, it appears he is not the only one trapped by the druid's spell, "She got it!" he yells.
Without hesitation the arsonist Wizard hurls a crafted fireball at the patch of magical vines, the roaring flames pass harmlessly around our heroes, a screech of pain echoes through the room. All of a sudden gravity realises it has been working in the wrong direction and quickly rectifies the situation, our heroes plummet towards the floor of the room but just as they are about to hit the hard stone tiles, their momentum is slowed by a well timed spell from Lucian and the gently float the remaining foot to the floor. For the first time, the enemy is revealed to the party and it is a terrifying sight. A large, black skinned creature with skinny arms and legs stands before them, where one would expect a head to be, a massive circular maw, filled with hundreds of sharp teeth. Finn wastes no time and fires his crossbow at the beast. The bolt flies through the aim and pierces its chest, a sickening scream bellows from its gaping mouth. The creature strides towards Farraine it's limbs tipped with razor sharp claws, swipe at the Fighter causing large gashes in Farraine's armour and the flesh beneath. Now the real battle begins, our heroes attack the creature with all their might. Garrick's spiritual weapon smashes the creature in the face, Farraine is a blur of sharp steel slicing through the creature's torso, a beam of radiant sunlight from Sigrid but the beast remains standing. Once more it unleashes a devastating series of attacks on Farraine, finishing with a swift stab from its stinger, paralysing him instantly. Another blow to the face from Garrick's ethereal weapon is followed quickly by a spell causing the creature to howl in pain before Lucian sends another bolt of flame at its chest. Sigrid rushes to Farraine's aid, restoring movement to his muscles once more. The hideous enemy stands before them, black blood oozes from the many wounds on it's body, Finn lifts his crossbow and takes careful aim at the creature as it moves its gigantic, razor-like mouth towards Farraine's head and fires. The bolt whizzes past the fighter's ear and plunges deep into the gaping maw of the beast, it chokes as blood oozes from its mouth and it slumps to the ground, defeated. Finn punches the air in celebration.
Panting, the party gather in the centre of the room and dress their wounds, the fight has taken much out of them and they take the opportunity to rest a moment and prepare for whatever lies ahead. After taking a short rest they head over to a closed door to the south, Finn takes out his thieves tools and picks at the lock, there is a satisfying click and the door swings open to reveal a long, stone corridor, ominous, bloody footprints head off in one direction. "Well that's a little disturbing" says the Halfling, "which way should go, follow the bloody footprints to whatever may have caused them or the other, non threatening way?"
"Bloody" replies Sigrid, rather surprisingly. With a shrug, Finn heads off down the corridor, following the footprints, the rest of the party falling in step behind him. At the end of the corridor they find yet another door blocking their path which Finn once again opens with ease to reveal a small room filled with a load of junk. Turning around they all head back down the corridor in the other direction and find themselves in a small room with another door. Sigrid pushes her way to the front of the group and opens the door to reveal a large hall. Faded tapestries depicting ancient battles cover the walls. At one end of the room sits a large throne between two statues. At the other end, a square table surrounded by four stools. A venerable Dwarf sits on one of the stools. A large warhammer by his side and a dragonscale cloak draped around his shoulders.
"I am Veydran, Custodian of the Heart of Ashardalon. Former ruler of these halls before the darkness came as it does for all who come into contact with the Heart of the great wyrm. For centuries, I have guarded it but my time is almost done. Before I hand it over, there are some things I need to know." "You are not the first to stand here, but will you be the last?" "There are some trials all must pass before they are worthy." Veydran waves his hands and a black velvet cloth appears. Upon it like several items. A shimmering black sword. A majestic wizard's staff, a twisted antlered crown, an ornate crossbow decorated with silver and gems, a shimmering cloak and a large crystal ball containing a huge and still-beating heart. "Which will you choose?"
"When the world is aflame, do you strike first, or do you temper the fire?"
"You stand at the edge of war. When the time comes, will you become the fire, or will you extinguish it? And if you extinguish it, what shall you leave in its place?"
The party look to one another and gather together to discuss their options. Given the puzzled expressions on their faces and the amount of time they argue over their response, you would have thought the dwarf had asked them to calculate the air speed velocity of an unladen swallow or something. The Dwarf becomes more and more frustrated as time passes each time he is asked to repeat the question his distain becoming more and more obvious. Eventually our heroes agree and reply thusly...
"We shall strike first and become the fire"
The Dwarf sits back down, the cloth and the items upon it vanish.
"It appears my wait is not over"
The floor begins to shake, pieces of masonry tumble from the ceiling above, it appears that despite their lengthy discussions, our heroes chose poorly and now it is time to get the fuck out.
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