Ralom wanted to sleep in the hallway and wait for time to change while the party was standing still. Arvien whined and wheedled about the soft bed that was in the bedroom the Minstrel had let them use. "I need to sleep comfortably to prepare the Lightning Bolt for tomorrows battle against these guards," she begged. Finally Varrid, Drovic and Baru convinced Ralom to head back to the bedroom.
The room looked neat, clean and unused as the party entered. There was no curtain wall or supplemental tower visible from the windows. Therefore Seglun suggested they were back in the time of the young Minstrel.
In the middle of the night Arvien, who had conscripted the bed, rolled over and suddenly awoke, feeling icy chills tickling her spine. In the bed beside her was the spirit of a woman in bedclothes that were soaked in blood. A neck wound bled profusely soon soaking the bed with blood. The spirit turned to Arvien and in a choking voice said "Beware... He will... False..." Then the spirit and the blood faded away. Arvien yelled waking the party and told them of her "dream". As the sun broke through the window the party arose and began to prepare for attacking the guards. As Arvien started to memorize spell she suddenly exclaimed, "I don't have a Lightning Bolt! I was sure that was one of my spells." Seglun rolled her eyes and suggested taking a couple of Fireballs, while Grunyar grumbled about Magic User memory in the corner.
There was a knock on the door, Ralom approached cautiously and called "Who's there?" A young female voice responded, "I have brought a repast on the request of the master." Arvien ran to the door, flung it open and ushered the young maid into the room. The party then ate heartily of the bread, meat and cheeses. Ralom wouldn't touch the water though. After consuming their fill and stashing the leftovers in the Handy Haversack the party headed back to the dungeons. When the group descended the stairs into the lower dungeon the mercenaries were lined up in a row. Seglun ran up to the first enemy before Arvien unleashed her fireball. The fireball was far enough back to no engulf Seglun, but many mercenaries looked more than singed from the blast. Baru move forward into the fray, Grunyar fired arrows at the leading enemies. Drovic's bouncing ball of fire landed on one mercenary. Soon the battle was done as the enemy wasn't too strong and the heroes focused their attacks. Seglun found a bound wooden door to the west and saw above her head a metal plate the covered a barred window. Ralom found another similar setup while Baru determined there was a third by him.
Seglun moved the metal plate and peered into the chamber, where she spied a straw mattress, a slop bucket and a musty blanket. There was no one in the cell, Ralom found the same in the middle cell. When Baru looked into the third cell he saw a figure laying on the straw tick. He immediately searched for keys, and asked the others to look for them also. Meanwhile Varrid moved to the cell door and picked the lock easily. Inside she found a very thin and weak female whose skin had a pale sickly hue. The prisoner turned her head away from the torch light and squinted painfully while trying to focus on Varrid. Ralom noted that the prisoners brown hair and fine features bore a resemblance to the painting he had seen in the tower. In the foul air of the cell, the woman spoke in a hoarse and weak voice, identifying herself as Brangain, daughter of Isolt and the Minstrel. Baru applied healing and Seglun produced food and water from the Haversack. Brangain ate greedily and thanked the party for the help. She seemed to regain some strength and vitality as she ate.
Under questions from Varrid, Brangain revealed that her father had locked her away in the dungeons more than a year ago. He seemed angry at her attempt to "heal" him, which had caused excruciating pain. "It was his idea, I don't know why he wished me to attempt it," she related. She had grown under her mother's guidance into a cleric of Diancecht, healing injured animals she found in the forests of Forfar. "I need to warn mother and escape this Castle," he pleaded with the party.
Meanwhile Seglun was busy searching the walls of the dungeon for secret doors. At the end of the main hallway she found a secret door, which Varrid determined was not trapped, and then opened. Seglun moved forward into the hall until it turned to the west. Baru followed and fell into a pit, 30' deep and filled with 10' of acid. The damage was terrible as he tried to keep his head above the acid and climb out. Seglun lowered a rope but not into the acid. With an accurate wave Baru grabbed hold of the rope and half climbed, was half pulled from the pit. As he lay on the floor of the passage the acid still burned. Seglun poured 3 bottles of wine onto the Paladin to quench the burning. Drovic studied the trap and found the reset mechanism inside the pit. When the floor was raised again a rope was pulled across for better access and Seglun looked down the hallway for more traps.
There were four additional trap in the hallway, one that somehow had mechanism above the ceiling and below the floor. Varrid disabled each trap in order and the group reached a locked metal door at the end of the hall. Varrid's attempts to unlock the door were unsuccessful, even using her helm of X-Ray vision. Seglun collected acid in the empty wine bottles, which were poured on the door. Grunyar then used his hammer to remove the impediment. Beyond was a large treasury room with magical items, gold, silver and gems in chests. As Ralom followed Brangain into the chamber she suddenly disappeared as she walked through the doorway. Varrid immediately speculated that they had changed times again. Seglun started placing all the gold and silver in the Haversack, Varrid pocketed some gems The magic items were identified as, a staff of life, a ring of mind shielding, bagpipes of Fog, an amulet of invisibility to undead and an elixir of fire breath.
DM's Notes: The party earned 1,028 XP for the evening and now have 49,185 XP.
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