With a new pet turtle in tow, the party teleports back to Magnimar for some much needed rest. Fobias gets nursed back to health after his near-death experience, and with a ‘pop’ the party is back on the mountain.
It’s been less than 24 hours since the dragon encounter, so the keys haven’t disappeared yet. They consult the poem to determine their next steps. Which, as it turns out, are literally steps.
A winding staircase cuts into the mountainside and the party ascends to the top. Once they reach the upper landing, they find themselves at a cave opening. However, they are not alone.
Two earth elementals glide out from the rock and begin assaulting them!
Right away, the elementals attempt to fling Trace from the platform. If not for his improved reflexes (thanks to Barnaby’s new, obscure, irrelevant feat), he would have plummeted two-hundred feet to his death. Fobias helps Trace to his feet and protects him from additional blows.
Unfortunately, the elementals hone into Trace and continue battering him around. He almost falls a second time, but catches himself at the last moment. Seeing their precarious situation, Barnaby gets right into the thick of things. Even smothered by the elemental’s looming shadow, the halfling shows no signs of fear.
The party regains their footing and repels the assault. They eventually dispatch both elementals without suffering casualties. With the swirling snow and howling wind outside, they advance into the safety (?) of the cave.
Into the Belly of the Beast
Fyn notices a strange shimmer next to one of the statues down the winding tunnel. Interestingly enough, it’s marking an invisible ledge that follows the cavern wall downwards. As they begin hugging the edge, they realize that the icy ground next to the ledge would have ended in a slippery plummet to the cave floor.
Once they reach the bottom, it’s a brief moment of deja vu. Seven more pillars, covered in ice, surround a larger pillar in the middle. Spidery cracks extend from this central pillar as if damaged by tectonic shifts.
However, with all adventuring parties, the real attention-grabber is a pile of treasure. I’m not talking some piddly little mound; this is a veritable MOUNTAIN of coins, jewelry, art, weapons, and armor.
Fobias notices some dragon tracks down here that are relatively fresh, but there isn’t any sign of life apart from that. Without hesitation, Fyn inspects the treasure – the party’s latest windfall is pleasing to him.
The treasure contains several items that immediately enhance the party’s eqiupment repertoire. Krask stores a pair of greater dragon-slaying arrows for a rainy day, Trace upgrades to a flametongue weapon, and Fyn picks up a +3 darkwood buckler. All in a day’s work.
Furthermore, Krask notices that there are small keyholes hidden in each of the pillars. On top of that, the pillars are etched with detailed runes discussing arcane formulae around the seven main schools of magic. What a coincidence!
What will happen if the keys are used in the pillars? Will the owner of this treasure hunt them down? Does that dragon-slaying arrow work on a turtle?