You go down into the dungeon...through Zando's level, and down to the deserted level.
Soon, you are in the banquet hall...where you recall finding a trap door leading down to the next, unexplored, level.
Lore grimaces...."Before we go down there I got some money for you all."
Lore quickly hands 33 gp to each of the other adventurers.
Afterwards Lore continues, "Okay...let's get going...." Lore opens the trap door after checking for sounds and traps and heads down in.
Stump follows right behind Lore.
...and the rest of you follow right behind Stump.
The trap door opens into a shaft with a flight of stairs spiralling downwards.
You descend.
After a time the stairs end facing east at a landing which runs for 10'. After that is a large archway which was once bricked up. Something has smashed it open from the inside, though, so you can step through it. The area is littered with broken bricks and dried mortar.
Beyond the arch is another flight of stairs going down...but only for 20'. After that is a chamber.
You move down the stairs and look into the chamber.
It measures 20' X 30' (10' north, 10' south, 20' east; open door in middle of east wall). This room is in disrepair. It is rough-hewn from the surrounding rock, with large wooden pillars and beams now beginning to dry-rot. A wooden rack for cloaks, sword belts, etc. still hangs crookedly on the north wall. The open door is of heavy but now rusting metal and hangs loosely from its broken hinges. It has a small, barred peep hole at eye level.
You look through the doorway.
Beyond is another room (20' X 20': door in north wall east corner, door in south wall west corner, door in east wall south corner). This room is also in a state of disrepair. A half-rotted wooden table and a ricketty chair are the only furnishings in here. The door to the east is of similar metal construction as the one in the doorway where you now stand. The south door is of wood, as is the north door.
Searching these rooms turns up nothing of interest.
Stump would like to check out the south door.
Opening the south door, you find a store room (10' X 20': 10' south, 10' east). In here are some racks, shelves and a few empty barrels. Searching brings nothing else to light.
You open the east door next.
Beyond is a corridor running 40' to the east, where it ends. To either side are four cells (2 on either side) (each cell is 10' X 20': 10' north/south, etc. The doors into the cells are in the centre sections of the passage). They are separated from each other and the passage by closely spaced iron bars. The cell doors are all open, and upon searching, you find that each cell contains only a thin metal platter and a ragged pile of cloth and sawdust that might once have been a mattress.
There is graffiti scrawled on the walls of the cells in the common tongue. A set of tally marks, numbering 394 in all, covers one section of a wall in the southeast cell. A number of tic-tac-toe games have been scratched in the wall near the bars between the northeast and northwest cells. A number of recipes for chocolate mousse are scratched in crude handwriting on the walls of the northwest cell. Magical symbols and numbers adorn the walls of the southwest cell.At the end of one incomprehensible string of symbols is written the word 'Eureka!'. The wall and floor near this point are blackened, as if by a small fire.
Darian moves over to the wall to look at the symbols. "Lore, can you understand any of these?"
Lore replies, "I'm not sure yet. Give me a moment to study them."
Lore examines the magical symbols closely to see if he can make sense of them.
They look like the instructions for a spell...such as would be found in a spell book...but they are incomplete and there is no power in the words now. You get the impression that the magic mainfested itself as some sort of minor fire type spell.
Lore takes out some parchment and copy what he can of the spell down on it.
Then he decides to take the lead and moves northward.
You head out of the cell block and return to the guard room. Opening the north door, you find yourselves at the end of a 10' wide passage running east...for 70' in total. At the end in the south wall is another door...hanging open on one hinge. In the 20' - 30' section as measured from the west wall, the north wall of the passage has been breached...there is a rough hole there. There is evidence that it has been walled up...then broken open again from the other side.
You move down to investigate.
Looking through the opening, you see a long, natural cave (roughly 20' west, 30' north, 40' east; 10' wide opening in middle of east wall). Various broken and empty barrels lie scattered about in here. There is a spring and pool of water in the northeast corner.
"Let's check the cavern." says Darian.
"I'm with you" Relan replys.
Lore also decides to investigate the cavern first.
Harmstrick goes to the cave behind Lore. He also looks for valubles and magic items casting detect magic.
Nothing in the cave radiates magic.
Wandering about the cave, you find nothing threatening and nothing of value, either.
You look through the opening to the east, and see that it opens up into a tunnel...in total at least some 60' long (you cannot see the far end), running to the east. The tunnel width varies from 20' - 30', and the eastern half of the tunnel is filled with water. This is a fast moving underground river, you discover when you go in to investigate, and is bridged by a swaying, creaking decaying bridge of wood and rope.
From where you now stand at the west end of the bridge, you can see that the river is 30' wide...and beyond that is a rough passage, running north - south.
As the lot of you stand by the underground river pondering, suddenly a UFO swoops down and scoops Darian and Lore up.
Inside are are a half a dozen bug-eyed aliens who immediately tie you down on examination tables and procede to poke and prod at you with various instruments.
You become semiconscious as they take numerous samples, inject you with unknown chemicals and shine strange lights in your eyes.
Time loses all meaning to you.