6:00 am
Drying themselves on the other side of the river, the conversation turns to Stago.
Fink says, "I realize that you who have travelled with him have a closer attachment than the rest of us...but that's a lot of treasure to try to find to get him back. Are you sure he's worth it?"
Elessaria smiles, "Worth it and more, though don't ask me again after we've gotten him back."
Degar and Routunious explore the grotto. Using the bright glow of his hat they explore the ceiling. Everyone searches for secret doors. Elessaria discovers one on the left side of the grotto.
Degar examines the door, then moves to the passageway, axe ready, just
in case. He nods for Fink to move forward and examine the secret door for traps. He doesn't feel there is a trap, but also doesn't think that makes any sense. He hasn't found any traps, but his intuition tells him that there must be something else guarding the door. Gritting his teeth, he begins his attempt to pick the lock.
After spending ten tense minutes, he gives up. "You need a key," he says.
Turning their attention from the door to the spider statue, Fink agains tries to detect traps but says you never know if there is a trap until you find it or it springs on you. Then, before anyone can stop him, Fink climbs up on top of the statue to attempt to discover any secret compartments that might be hidden there. Unfortunately, rather than discovering a secret compartment, he discovers that the statue is covered in contact poison and it has been absorbed by the halfling's bare feet. The party watches him shudder for a moment and then collapse on the statue, sound asleep. They have no idea what has happened to him.
Degar mutters, "What the--?"
The dwarf moves forward quickly and drags Fink off the statue. Routunious goes over to Fink's sleeping form, but has no idea what could have caused this.
Routunious asks, "Is it the Dream Fever?"
Elessaria shakes her head, "No, this was too sudden. The Dream Fever causes illness for several days before the sleeping takes you..." She thinks hard, examining the spider from a distance and suddenly a connection is made.
"Drow," she says, "dark elves worship spiders. Because spiders are poisonous, the drow are very skilled in a wide variety of poisons, and often use sleep inducing poison on their weapons to take their enemies more easily. This statue is probably covered in a contact poison, and he's sleeping now because his feet touched the statue."
Routunious, nervously looking around him, asks, "What do we know about the Drow?"
Degar says, "Not much. Underground elves? I've heard of them, but never seen them. Evil, is all I know. Black skinned devils with white hair."
Routunious walks around the spider statue. Upon closer examination, he realizes that the spinnerets of the statue appear to be some kind of clasp.
Routunious takes his knife-spear and pries the spinnerets open, revealing a secret compartment. Inside is a rolled up parchment and a key.
Suddenly, gas roils into the room from out of the statue. All of the party begin coughing and scratching at their skin. Routunious and Degar seem less affected than Elesaria and Duncan, but all are nauseous and feeling ill.
Degar and Elessaria KNOW they're lucky and realize that the trap must be quite old for the gas to be degraded so.
Routunious uses the knife-spear to lift the parchment and the key from the compartment. The key has a spider motif. He points to Elessaria. "You're an elf with
gloves. You read it."
Elessaria takes the scroll and opens it, but the written language is alien to her.
"I can't read drow," Elessaria says.
Routunious asks, "Where is the brooch of translation?"
"Stago had it, I suppose it is with his other belongings packed in Tick-a-Tick's chest compartment."
Elessaria says, "This may be important, I might be able to translate it without going back..."
She sits down and spends after about half an hour, she gives up, saying, "This is the best that I can do."
"I have (3),(4)(5),(6)(7) know if your memories are (13)(14)(15) your
(17)." The 13th and 15th words are the same. Below the message and to
the right: "(18),(19),(20)" and then below that: "(21)."
Degar says, "That wasn't much help."
Routunious suggests, "Let's use the key on the door."
"Better if the thief does that," Degar says, pointing at the still sleeping halfling. Duncan gets water from the river and splashes Fink's face. Fink is now
wet and sleeping.
Elessaria approaches the door. Degar is beside her. Duncan and Routunious hide behind the spider, with the body of Fink. Slowly, cautiously, she slides the key into the lock.
Elessaria turns the key. Tumblers click and move. She can't push the
door.
Routunious suggests, "Pull it?"
Nothing.
"Lift it?"
Nothing.
Degar says, "Try sideways!"
Elessaria tries pushing it to the left, and nothing happens. She tries pushing it to the right and it slides quickly in that direction--so quickly that if she had not been deft enough to pluck the key from the lock it would have broken as the door slid into the rock.
Inside the room is a treasure chest!
Degar jumps in front of Elessaria and goes to the chest.
"It has a lock," he says and prepares to bash it open.
Elessaria stops him by saying, "Wait, try the key!"
Degar tries the key, but it doesn't fit. Instead of proceeding with the bashing plan, the dwarf hangs back and examines the chest. It looks like a lunchbox. The handle is a rod of ivory held by rings.
Degar lifts the chest. It is very heavy.
"You're as crazy as Stago," Elessaria says.
He shakes it and hears a heavy rattling, almost a clunking, inside.
He puts it down and says to Elessaria, "Try something pointy."
Elessaria uses her short sword and pries open the top of the chest. They look inside and see a large number of silver and copper ingots. These are small, probably equal to 5 coins of the corresponding metal.
It takes 5 minutes to count the ingots. There are 250 gold ingots. This is equal to 125 gp, 300 copper ingots, equal to 1500 cp or 15 gp.
"Why the secret door for this?" Degar asks. They continue searching the room and the chest but find no more secret doors or panels.
Looking at the chest again, Degar says, "The ivory rod here looks like it slides between the rings and has silver caps on both ends. Maybe they come off." Then Elessaria exampines the ivory rod, and discovers that it is a tube containing two pieces of parchment. She gives them to Duncan.
Duncan examines them, and says, "Yes, they are spell scrolls, but without identify, I can't tell what they might be."
Degar carries all the silver ingots which weigh a little over 12 pounds and a single copper ingot, for reasons he will not divulge.
After discussing options, Elessaria and Routunious decide to act as a small away team and leave the others in the grotto with Fink while they explore the tunnels a little further out.
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