S11E13 - Demon-infested Flamethrowing Trap

The heroes begin beneath the ruined chapel outside Skeldharbor, at the bottom of the dungeon stairs.

Ike finishes attuning to his new silver ring: fire resistance. Then the voice inside Nemo, still claiming to be Tiamat’s sister, warns him that this place runs hot. Nemo asks for her name, but she refuses.

Nemo then searches the hallway for traps and finds nothing. At the far end, in total darkness, he finds a small room where stairs descend, climb back up, and end at a door flanked by two statues.

Worried about touching the floor, Nemo asks Brand to throw him across the room toward the door. Brand obliges, but Nemo lands directly on a pressure plate trap he missed. A massive stone slab all the way at the beginning of the hallway slides down, blocking the way off this floor. At the same time, the brick walls at the back of each recess slide up, revealing a battlefield under a bright orange sky, demons and devils tearing into each other beyond the portals. Then the room’s mechanisms grind awake and magma starts pouring in.

A fight breaks out. The heroes cut down wave after wave of lesser demons and devils, but the portals keep feeding the room. The heroes feel disturbingly thrilled by the pain and damage they are causing. Lyra is definitely in her happy place. They keep killing monsters and dragging the bodies into the recesses, trying to choke the portals with corpses. At one point, Ike casts invisibility and steps through a portal into the battlefield. He realizes it’s not a good idea and immediately retreats back into the dungeon where he grabs Lyra’s leg. Lyra isn’t happy and starts screaming at him to let go.

Once more than thirty enemy corpses litter the hallway, the trap reveals its second form. The ceiling slides open, exposing a row of flamethrowing pipes across the entire hall. A second later, a dozen clicks echo along the hallway, followed by supernatural black fire and smoke flooding the room, badly burning the team and incinerating the monsters still inside. The heroes finish off the last spined devil and huddle in the tiny room as the magma rises almost to their feet. Then, mercifully, the door unlocks, and they spill into the next room.

The next room opens with heavy chains along the entrance walls. Beyond them looms a several-meter-high face, apparently an archdemon or archdevil carved in stone. The voice in Nemo’s head asks him to kick the statue and he does, breaking part of it. Beside the head, two staircases climb to a balcony. Nemo finds a treasure chest there, along with an archway covered by a black velvet curtain, and calls the party up. Ike rushes forward, thrilled by the treasure, but lets Nemo handle the chest. Nemo inspects the seemingly ordinary treasure chest, but as soon as he tries to open it, it reveals its true nature: a mimic. Nemo attacks it, then Ike casts Command with the word “Drop” and the chest spits out 150 gp and a wand of magic detection. Satisfied with the loot, they gang up on the poor mimic and kill it in two rounds without taking a scratch.

Our party of savage killers ends the session with a short rest.