Clever solutions

Finding a secret door, the party filed through and found themselves in a vast chamber. A set of ledges ringed the room creating a stair step effect, with wide ledges leading down into a central area about 40 feet below. Strange creatures roamed around each ledge.

The level the party was on appeared unoccupied. There was an access point to the level below, on the far side of the room. The level below appeared to be filled with water. The party could make out three sharks swimming around. The level below that was desert and they could see a pair of scorpions stalking about. The level below that was once again water filled, but what was inside, if anything, could not be seen. The heroes could not determine what haunted the bottom level.

Unwilling to fight everything in the room, the party climbed down to the bottom level and after some discussion attempted to use Kuppies Arcane Gateway to drop right in front of the door. With some careful planning, they even managed to avoid fighting a pair of manticores that occupied the lowest level.

Personally I've never liked this room and was happy to let the party use their brains to avoid all the combat, especially since it would have taken close to a whole session to complete. In retrospect, I should have had the door locked and trapped, resulting in a skill challenge while they held off the manticores.