Episode 4.1

Brad, Kathy, Greg, Bob, Ernie

Beyond the gate, the party found a series of defensive nodes, each with one other gate, three icons and a trap guarding each icon. They seem to have been designed to let those with knowledge of the pass through harmlessly while those without that knowledge were in mortal danger.

In the first room of the first node, there were three exits. Above each door were words written in dwarvish. The first, the words “Hidden Danger, Cleansing, Sustenance”; the second “Boreal” and above the third was a scratched out word followed by “Courage, Fortitude.”

Beyond the first door, was a large reflecting pool filled with a calm clear liquid and a door beyond. Ernie eventually touched the pool and was immediately covered in the liquid. It both suffocated him and confused him. He and Brad fought an extensive grappling melee with Brad eventually knocking him out. They cut a while for Ernie to breathe through (the liquid had solidified somewhat) and he eventually came out of the spell. In the meantime, they cut off the liquid from around his feet and hands and finally pealed it all away. People tried to open the door at the far end but were unable. Greg eventually used telekinesis and used one of the liquid gloves (having been removed from Ernie’s hand) and used it to open the door. In the next room was a fountain which they quickly discovered dissolved the liquid. Beyond the fountain was a very deep pool of dark liquid. Soon after entering the room, a large tentacled creature burst forth and attacked them. Bob and Kathy blasted it with spells and killed it before it got much of a chance to attack. At the bottom of the pool, they found a lever that opened the door and revealed the first icon.

In the second room beyond the node, the party found a transparent door of light beyond which they cold see a bookshelf. They tried knocking the wall down and discovered it did cold damage to anything it touched. It also absorbed heat spells. Working on a hunch, they hit the door with several fireballs and it came down. Quickly searching beyond the door, they found the second icon.