Delta Company takes it easy at their lavish Inn Decision digs until Ferin Blackleaf finds them. If they have time to lean, they have time to navigate a perilous minotaur-infested labyrinth to locate a long-abandoned Gnomish Intelligence colleague who undoubtedly perished mapping the maze despite his expertise and a magical mapping staff. Good luck bye.
Through the Hall of Doors into the Thunderpeak mountains to the south, Tanagra, duly nominated and elected navigator, leads Delta overland to the mission entrance, not so much a labyrinth as a network of natural caverns interconnected by mining.
Tanagra leads the party into the first chap.
Despite the foul stench of piles and piles of bones as far as the unilluminated eye can see, navigator Tanagra is not impeached. The bones are examined for their previous owners, perhaps some kind of mammoth and at least one minotaur. None of them seem to have left behind any treasures or magic staves, but a few did leave a legacy of feasting bug swarms who vigorously defend their protein.
Max’s sacred weapon bathes a black pudding in light. The black pudding bathes Tanagra’s greatsword in degrading acid down to the hilt. The regrettably slashy party eventually accidentally slays the pudding, primarily from death tolls collected by Ivor and Gamble in between their deific mendings necessitated by the party’s corroding armor.
A short rest gives Tanagra and Max some time to repair wounds and Ivor time to field-forge Tanagra’s greatsword into like-new condition. A hilt-up greatsword restoration is not an inexpensive proposition. Tanagra and Ivor’s combined modest wealth barely moves the progress bar. What Gamble lacks in economic liquidity he makes up in musical talent. He produces his finest busking hat and strikes a lively tune. It sounds a lot like Max’s varsity fight song, so Maximilian Heap Madeuppington IV empties his generational pocket change into the hat. Gamble funds the project to completion.
Tanagra leads the party to the next chap.
Giant spider webs left by at least one giant spider cover the corners of this cavern. Ivor warily examines the ceiling, but spots neither giant spider nor giant fly. There appears to be no way out of this room other than the way they came in. A couple of web bridges could, by Tanagra’s reckoning, bear the weight of a laden adventurer across the chasm of unknown depth. Ivor, like his mother, risks it for the biscuit and wobbles over the sticky span carrying a safety rope. Across the chasm he still finds no obvious way out of the dead-end chamber, unless one is willing to skirt a ledge along the chasm. Ivor collects another proverbial biscuit shimmying around the ledge to a more promising area. Gamble follows Ivor’s path but his biscuit slips off the ledge into the chasm. As Gamble’s safety line to Max reels out, Gamble misty steps to Ivor. No big. Tanagra navigates the ledge easily. Max, off sticking his ADHD face into a mummified husk, eventually catches up.
Tanagra leads the party to the next chap.
Crafted walls form an old underground village, quiet and cool. Finally, an easy one.