After having defeated their doubles the party took a short rest. Several members found themselves exhausted from the two difficult encounters they had fought today but it was still early and the party ventured on. Mara continued south to check out the rest of this area and soon found herself in the hallways the party had found as they came up from the underground passage. Pretis said that they should pull the lever but most of the party wanted to move away from the lever fearing an attack of some kind. Lythandar used his mage hand to move the lever and...
Nothing happened, at least that the party could see. Pretis and Melisana headed to the tapestry room presuming that possibly a door had opened south of the "key" tapestry. Lo and behold there was a new door there. As the rest of the party gathered Mara, Pretis and Melisana headed down the new passageway which ended after about 35 feet with a door on the east. Mara opened the door and looked in.
A semicircular chamber featured a raised dais along the curved side. A great pile of stones rested upon the dais - it looked like a cairn, but if so, it was the resting place of something truly enormous. Three smaller cairns, of roughly human or elf size, lay clustered on the floor before the dais. As with many other structures the walls of the chamber were covered in runes.
Some party members, Mara leading the way, wanted to charge into the chamber hoping to find the double doors depicted in the tapestry. But others being well spent wanted to keep searching other areas to find the "key." Common sense prevailed and the party discussed where to go. Melisana wanted to explore the "third" manifestation of the "cave" rooms but Lythandar thought that might take them to another world. Demin suggested that the room with the pool of water on the floor had not been well searched, so the party headed there.
When they arrived Melisana looked into the pool and saw a pale metal key laying in the water. The ripples in the water made it difficult to pinpoint the keys exact location. As the rest of the party gathered in the room Melisana reached in and was summarily attacked by a "Water Serpent" that rose up from the pool. Suddenly Melisana was no longer standing in the room. Demin move south and readied an attack it the creature appeared again. Alhellara held back in the doorway and readied her attack. Pretis jumped into the pool and stuck her head under the water to try to pick up the key. Suddenly the creature appeared, was peppered with attacks and Pretis disappeared.
Without a worry about their missing compatriots, Lythandar jumped into the pool and was missed by the creature foiling his plans to teleport away on being hit. But he then grabbed the key using the failures of Melisana and Pretis as a guide. He then moved out of the area as Gofin and Mara were separately attacked and disappeared from the room. Demin and Lythandar finally retreated from the room and met up with Alhellara.
And what of the other party members, Melisana found herself in the middle of the river next to the obelisk. The current pushed her 10 feet downstream before she was able to swim towards the eastern shore. Just as suddenly Pretis appeared in the water and swan for the shore. Melisana was pulled 20 feet more downstream just above the waterfall but she finally succeeded in gaining the shore. As Melisana and Pretis dragged themselves out of the river, Gofin joined the fun followed by Mara. As the last two pulled themselves out of the river, Melisana headed back to the building to let the rest of the party know that they were OK.
With the key in hand the party headed for the tapestry room again. The group wasn't sure what the poems message about the key was, Obey!. Some thought that they had to used the key on the double doors, which of course they had not found. Others surmised that maybe the tapestry was magical and that the key would open a passage through the tapestry itself. Pretis suggested trying to used the key to open the lock on the tapestry. As Lythandar attempted this the group heard a faint click from the new hallway to the south. Not wanting to investigate the party decided to take an extended rest.
After the rest period Mara and Pretis headed down the hallway while Lythandar tried the key again on the tapestry, worried that maybe something reset over time. The group slowly entered the semicircular room, Mara rounded the corner and looked further west. Through an archway she could see two intersecting walls in the center of another chamber. The walls were probably inscribed with more runes, but it was difficult to tell, because thick curtains of hanging ivy covered them. There were also several holes in the ceiling providing some natural light -- and perhaps nourishing the ivy. Pretis moved farther into the room and could see and enormous set of double doors to the south . The doors were covered in runes and bound in iron and silver. One of the doors was already open - just a crack. Melisana climbed the dais and investigated the huge pile of stones. She determined that they had once been outside, but appeared to have been moved here and rearranged for some reason.
As Pretis headed toward the doors an stretch of the ivy she passed suddenly started writhing! What looked like an eyestalk -- a vine topped by a peculiar crystal -- slid out from among the greenery, followed by a shambling body of ivy, twigs, jagged branches, and writhing roots. A stalk reached out and grabbed at Mara while another slashed at Pretis stopping her in a new found area of difficult terrain. Meanwhile a large leathery shelf arose from the large cairn and grabbed Melisana inflicting damage and reducing her healing ability. From the smaller cairns arose 4 zombie knights who moved to attack the rest of the party.
Lythandar gave everyone some resistance to necrotic damage and attacked the ivy heart. Melisana tried to escape from the Shell but was unsuccessful. She rebuked the undead though she lost more healing capability. Alhellara and Demin attacked the Knights while Demin peppered the Shell with crossbow bolts. Mara moved away from the ivy heart but found herself still within range as a stalk reached out for her.
As we left our intrepid group the battle still raged.
Scorecard: The party received 350 XP for successfully retrieving the platinum key. They now have 24733 XP and need 1267 more to reach 11th level. Demin appraised the platinum key at 2500 gp.
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