It’s a Trap!

5 Kuthona 4709
Hold of Stonehelm

We left the room and found ourselves in a new hallway, and noticed some alcoves with barrels in them. As I went to pry the first open, sticky tendrils emerged and began to pull me forward. Some of my companions leapt to my aid, and I could hear Candal struggling with another mimic-like barrel in the next alcove. I crushed the first one and it flew apart in splinters. A moment later Candal’s assailant did the same.

It was at this point that I realized it was now only a (broken) barrel, not a hideous monster lurking and waiting for an unsuspecting passerby. I also realized that the damage I’d felt during the battle was completely gone. I began to doubt everything around me from that point on.

The hall had plenty of doors and other hallways leading off of it, as well as a mysterious crank wheel near where we’d arrived. The wheel did not seem to do much of anything no matter how much we turned it, though we did notice the sound of rushing water somewhere nearby that seemed to react to the wheel’s change in position. We turned then to the doors. One door was very hot to the touch and cracking it open a wee bit allowed flame to erupt into the hall. We shut that door quickly. Another door opened upon a stinky, green ooze-dripping corridor. Candal threw a copper in and a sticky tendril whipped out and grabbed it before it could hit the floor. We opted not to enter that one.

I almost went down the next corridor, as it looked peaceful enough with its ice and snow motif, but it also had a big bank of fog off in the distance, and a coin tossed in made no sound.

We saw a stairwell in a doorway further along and Tythe went to investigate it, but she immediately started to fall “up” before reaching the stairs. She managed to pull herself back down far enough, and we let a rope fall “up” to get her the rest of the way back to us. As she scrambled to get down, loud breathing followed her, seeming to get closer, but thankfully it disappeared at the doorway. I was wishing I’d still had the 10’ pole I used to carry, as we could have used it to cross the small area that defied gravity with it, and then noticed a 10’ pole in the corner next to where I stood. I’ve taken it, but I do not trust that it really exists anymore than the barrel/mimic did. I’m not even sure we ever left the forest now. I’m praying that I don’t wake up back in the orc camp, with this all having been a dream.

It turned out that the pole was not needed, as we were able to cross the reversed gravity gap without “falling” and made it to the stairs. We descended the stairs and came to a hall with a carpeted ceiling. Or maybe it is the floor, as the torches in sconces along it have flames pointing down at us. There are also curtains and a long banquet table and twelve chairs above us, none of which seem to be in danger of landing on us. Jumping at them does not seem to get us back to agreement on what is floor and what is ceiling.