Session 0021 - Deadly Bonfires

Roster

List of characters who's player was in attendance

Player characters who's player is attending the game start with 1 Hero Point, and can get more during the session.

Absent

List of characters who's player was absent

Player characters for missing players do not start the session with a hero point, and can not get any more during the session.

005-Saferous: Chance

Session Log

After searching the dining room and the kitchen the party realize the only key they have not yet tried is the red key. There is only a single panel with a red enamel socket, being the same rotating room that has the pit trap.
They resolve to try the key there next, so they return to the first rotator room and meet with Failin. Since they just found 9 blue keys, they distribute those keys to everyone including Failin. He is grateful as it means he now has his own means to leave the complex from the main rotator room.
From this main rotator room they use the green key to open the door to the south east. This leads to the rotator room with the panel that has the red enamel socket in its center.
Once inside the chamber, everyone moves up against the wall. Sarroxtíoð passes Eriana the red key. Eriana then climbs onto the panel and balances herself on it before inserting the red key into the red socket.
Unfortunately, nothing happens. The party discuss what to do next, and Ferdinand thinks that perhaps they should use the red key first then try the orange key. He hands Eriana the orange key he was holding for her to try that.
This time Eriana puts the red key in the red enamel socket then, while still holding it in place, she puts the orange key in the orange socket.
Doing this does cause the previous open door to close and the room begins to rotate. This time the light does not go out, nor does the floor open up. Instead, the room rotates for about one minute and a door to the north east, corresponding to the orange socket on the panel, opens up.
The door opens to a very long hallway sloping down. it is lit along the full length by the same dim everlight wall sconces seen elsewhere in the complex.
After about 175 feet of straight hallway the passage turns north.
When the party get closer to where the hallway turns they notice that it is getting significantly hotter the farther down the passage they go.
Turning the corner they see the hallway only goes for another 20 feet before ending in a set of impressive double doors. These doors appear to be made of adamantine and bear the seal of House Cannith. Waves of heat pour off the door and ripple down the corridor. Like the other doors, this one has a enamel socket next to it - this one colored red. Ferdinand uses the key on the door and they open slightly inwards. A stronger blast of heat floods the hallway from within.
It seems clear to the party that this could be the location of the vision they had recently from the strange room where they found the second red key. Thinking that the schema could be in there, they decide to use the one scroll of resist energy they found to protect someone against the heat. There is some debate if they go with the faster character, Eriana, or the most stealthy, Ferdinand.
Ultimately they decide to have Ferdinand go in. Rocinante pulls out the scroll they found and casts resist energy (fire) on Ferdinand. He then pushes the doors open and steps inside.
The room exactly matches the vision he had of the room previously. This large chamber stretches away from the doorway, and intense heat shimmers in the air. A raging bonfire burns about 40 feet away, near the far wall, casting dancing shadows across the room. A second one burns about 60 feet away, along the southern wall. In the center of the room, a large crucible filled with bubbling molten glass radiates terrible heat. Long, snaking heads made of iron and brass rise up from the molten pool like some metal hydra. Just south of the crucible and the construct, a crystalline chest reflects the hot light. Through the translucent material, hecan see that the chest contains a variety of objects, including what can only be the a massive schema the like of what they seek.
He runs in, making directly for the chest. When he reaches it, Ferdinand notices that the bonfire on the far wall begins to move. It seems to stand up and takes the rough shape of a humanoid.
Not wasting any time, he sees the chest does not appear locked so he flips open the lid and grabs what he can. This includes the two vials Rocinante recognized with a symbol of fire protection and the large 2-foot diameter metal disk that looks to him like a giant schema. He then turns and runs back towards the doors.
While he is on the move, the bonfire to the north hurls a ball of fire at him which hits and burns him, though not as badly as it might if he was not protected. The creature then runs at him with blinding speed, reaching out and touching him with a tendril of fire, but it misses.
Even as this creature attacked him, the second bonfire also stood up, looking just like the first one. It turn hurls a ball of fire at Ferdinand, striking him with it before running in and easily catching up with him. That second creature also tries to touch him, but this time hits. This scorches him and causes his body to catch on fire!

In response, Ferdinand runs into the hallway and puts the giant schema and two vials from the chest on the ground then runs back in and attacks one of the creatures with his enchanted rapier, hitting it.
Sarroxtíoð was watching his progress from the doorway, and everyone hears him yelling out from just the other side of the door (he was not quite fast enough to get back to the party).
Rocinante is first to react, running next to Sarroxtíoð and casting an electric arc spell against the creatures. It hits, but has little effect. Alicia runs in and fires a crossbow bolt at one of the creatures, hitting it. The bolt turns to ash on contact, but does seem to injure it.
Sarroxtíoð enters a rage and roars in to attack with the enchanted longsword, landing a blow on the first of the creatures to attack Ferdinand. It does seem to hurt the creature, and he then raises a shield to protect himself.
Next, Saferous runs in and hurls a volatile vial at that same creature. He hits it squarely, but the acid does not seem to have any effect on it. After throwing the vial he ducks back into the hallway.
Eriana is the last to react, running in and tumbling past one of the creatures. She then tries to strike it with the enchanted shortsword they found but misses.
Now in full melee, the party continue to fight the two creatures with Ferdinand, Sarroxtíoð and Eriana engaged in hand-to-hand combat with ranged support from the rest of the team.
The creatures either hurl balls of fire or lash out with tendrils of flame that seem to cause whoever they hit to catch on fire.
Realizing his vials are of no use, Saferous picks up the vials Ferdinand retrieved and runs in the room and manages to force one down Sarroxtíoð's neck while he is in battle. The resist energy magic clearly helps against the fire attacks and the burning.
Both Eriana and Ferdinand manage to tumble past the creatures and get into flanking positions during combat. Alicia gets closer so she can assist the entire front-line in combat, at one point dropping a heal onto Ferdinand when he was clearly reeling from his wounds.
Rocinante continues to wear down the creatures with repeated lightning arc cantrips, and Saferous manages to force-feed a second potion to Alicia, who at this point has been hit and set on fire.
Eventually, they land a killing blow on the first creature to attack Ferdinand. As the creature dies, it suddenly expands and bursts apart creating a small explosion in a 10-foot radius. Everyone except for Rocinante are in the blast radius. Somehow, Ferdinand manages to dodge the blast and the resist energy spell absorbs the damage leaving only Eriana and Saferous injured by the blast.
With only one creature left, it is not long before the combined effort of the party take it out. It was taken out quickly, thanks to a spectacular critical hit by Ferdinand shortly after the first creature was destroyed.
Like the first creature, when this one dies it also explodes in a similar fashion. This time Saferous is out of range along with Rocinante. Once again, Ferdinand dodges the blast, so only Alicia, Eriana, and Sarroxtíoð take any damage from it.
After the combat both Alicia and Sarroxtíoð were on fire. It goes out quickly against Sarroxtíoð, but Alicia needs assistance from others, with Rocinante managing to help put out the flames.
Now that the battle is over, both Ferdinand and Sarroxtíoð go to examine the chest. The only items left inside are two identical diamond-shaped things that look like schemas of similar size to the one they found in Sharn and a scroll, which they take.
At this point people in the group get a better look in the room and notice that on the roof above them, perhaps 60-feet up is a glass dome. It is covered with dirt but patches of dim light can be seen, suggesting it must be on the surface outside.
Eriana also notices that in the alcove she was using for cover during the combat there are two levers on the wall, both in the up position. Throwing caution to the wind, she pushes both of them down. In response, two things happen. First, the glass dome begins to open up. Dirt from above falls into the chamber and sizzles upon hitting the floor as the heat from inside rises up and out of the chamber. Second, the crucible begins to lift up on massive chains towards the opening dome. As the crucible lifts up it is clear that is sat in a depression in the floor.
Playing around with the levers a bit, they figure out which one opens the dome and which one lifts the crucible. They set the crucible back to the floor but open the dome to try and cool off the chamber.