Almost a Bitter Ending

The next chamber proved far more challenging than anyone expected. Entering the room, a pool of necrotic goo covered the floor. Exploring their respective specialties, Leenia said the goo was not harmful, in small doses, but would limit their movement. Kuppies, in turn, realized they would not be able to fly across the room. Little did he know, or find out, that NO effects could be maintained in the room. Additionally, all light sources were limited to a radius of 15 feet. Not nearly enough in a room this size.

Glowing in the center of the room, on a small pedestal, sat a silver bell and tiny hammer. After first checking the depth of the goo, the party advanced to the pedestal. Looking at the bell, it had an inscription..."Ring me or be forever curious" Was there ever a phrase more enticing to a halfling. Rudy grabbed the small hammer and hit the bell before anyone could voice an objection. A single, note echoed throughout the chamber. A large door at the far end began to glow and noises could be heard coming from 4 different directions.

With their movement limited to 10 squares, and being unable to see the ground, the heroes proceeded cautiously. Unfortunately, that was a poor choice as ringing the bell woke creatures that lived in nests in each corner of the room. The creatures, able to fly, were not slowed by the goo and quickly surrounded the heroes. Reacting in their normal manner, several of the first creatures fell, but not before knocking Leenia to the deck. Rudy raced to help her and took several vicious blows himself. Then the other kind of creature, a Forgeborn Fury was killed...and exploded....resulting a chain reaction that left the heroes in a sore shape. Rudy and Leenia were down, Alexander was out of position, and surrounded, and everyone who wasn't down, was bloodied. Reaching into his bag tricks, Alexander enacted a power that slid all creatures within 10 of him far away. Kuppies was able to follow that up with a spell that covered the entire room and killed almost all the creatures. Unfortunately, they continued to spawn from the nests.

Kuppies continued to fire on the nests while everyone else worked to move the unconscious Rudy toward the door. Having already reached it, Alexander found 4 locks. Surmising the keys were located in the nests, he knew they would be lucky to recover them all without perishing. Alexander managed to revive Leenia with an inspiring word and after being dragged and carried through the goo, Rudy found himself at the door. In a rare effort, Ford managed to pick the first lock, while Rudy managed the second. Fortunately, Kuppies spell had also dazed the creatures allowing everyone to make it to the door. With the creatures still closing, Ford managed to pick the 3rd lock, and Rudy the 4th!

Racing through the door, the heroes had no idea what awaited them on the far side.

This encounter ended up being far more challenging than I expected. The limited movement along with minions that were hitting for 30-40 points of damage, some of which exploded when killed, really caused everyone to think a TPK was right around the corner. Fortunately, the exploding minions, when combined with the Alexander and Kuppies show resulted in a chain reaction that bought the heroes enough time to get to the door. The lock picking rolls were off the chart with every one of them over 16!