They round the corner, finding the end of the hallways is a loop. At the rear of this loop is a stairwell, covered by a shimmering transparent wall. Swag touches the forcefield and disappears. He is replaced by Yens, who cannot speak and whose neck has a red ring indentation. The swap has disabled the forcefield and the party descends the stairs. In the next hallway, there are two small doors, one on each side, and one large ornate set of double doors at the end with red or green flames painted on either side. There are 2 round indentations in these doors, presumably a place to insert an orb of some sort. But the heroes have no such orbs. They decide they must investigate the rooms, to see if they can find the necessary orbs.

Encounter:
2 Guard Drakes

They retrieve the green orb from the pedestal that had been guarded by the drakes in the first room.

Encounter:
Rage Drake
Spiretop Drake

They retrieve the red orb from the pedestal in the next room.

Rick puts the orbs into the door with the flames painted on it. The red with the red flame side, the green with the green flame side. He then turns each and the doors open to reveal a large circular room. The ceiling can’t be seen, nor can the walls – there is only darkness toward every edge, giving a feeling of enormity to the room. The only things visible are large columns, a throne with a sitting man, and Swag, chained to a column next to the throne.

“Welcome, welcome. I was wondering how long it would take you to make it down here. You must be wondering who I am. My name is Alistair and I am one of Galbatorix’s Forsworn. I see that at least 2 of you fell prey to my traps. And how are we feeling after our little bit of freedom there, wizard? Still can’t talk can you? Good. But enough small talk.”

Encounter:
Alistair

Alistair swings a spiked chain, reaching to hit all of the party just by standing up from his throne. It is a rough battle, but the heroes emerge victorious.

Rick tosses a sunrod down into the darkness of the stairs. It bounces for awhile and hits the floor, rolling a bit before stopping. It only illuminates the base of the stairwell. The party heaves the lid to the top of the stairs, at Alain’s request. Alain gets onto the slab of rock, tilts it forward, and surfs the lid down the stairs. Rick goes in after him. Yens casts a fireball at a torch to light it, so they can have more light as they wander the depths. However, when he removes it from the wall, this triggers a slab of rock to descend and block the opening to the stairs, separating the party.

After much force and hammering, they finally break through the barrier and descend the stairs together. Yens steps on an odd stone and activates a slide trap. He disappears into the floor. The floor tile immediately slides shut behind him. Down one member, the party proceeds carefully, checking for trapped tiles and other dangers. In their exploration, they find there are 6 doors along the hallway, 3 on each side. They also find that 5 are locked. They enter the unlocked room.

Encounter:
2 Kobold Minions
Kobold Slinger
Kobold Skirmisher

The party fights and finds treasure. They cross the hallway and find the door to now be unlocked. They open the door and find the room mostly empty except for a treasure chest. They approach the chest with care, but sometimes a chest is just a chest. There are no traps and nothing triggers when they open it besides the third door unlocking across the hall. Inside they find some gold. They leave and go to the now unlocked third room.

Encounter:
2 Zombie Rotters
2 Zombies

The fourth room holds another treasure chest. The party approaches with care once more. The line of tiles in front of the chest are a different color than the rest. A few of them jump the tiles and approach the chest. The lock won’t budge to Alain’s lockpicking skills. Inscribed on the lid of the chest is a riddle:

In daytime, I lie pooled about
At night, I cloak like mist
I creep inside shut boxes
And inside your tightened fist
You see me best when you can’t see
For I do not exist

Sariel understands and solves the riddle and when Swag repeats her solution “Darkness” the chest unlocks and opens, bathing the room in pitch black darkness. There is a hissing sound as poison gas is pumped into the room. Those closest to the door turn and try for it, but it’s gone. They systematically traverse the walls of the room, searching for the way out. Swag looks to the chest and feels his way around the bottom. There is none. “The door’s over here! In the chest!” The party members are confused, but when Swag says he’s going through and they hear nothing else from him, they assume it worked. Sariel accidentally steps on the off-color tile line and the light returns to the room and the gas begins to dissipate. They each go through the chest in turn, falling down from the hallway’s ceiling and back into the hall. The original door to the third room is gone from the wall and is now on the ceiling.

Confused and still coughing a bit from the gas, the heroes rest a moment and then proceed to door number five. While the others clear out the final 2 rooms in the hallway, Swag tries to disarm the trap at the end of the hallway to be able to take the everlasting torch, or “flashlight”.

Encounter:
2 Dire Rats
2 Zombies
Skeleton

The room is dark. Alain sneaks into the room, killing most of the unaware and sleeping foes with a string of coup de grâce.

The final door unlocks and Rick looks inside to see a small box about 8 feet from the doorway. He steps inside, the door slams shut, and he is teleported back to the hallway. Then Sariel sees that on the door, there is an inscription. It says that it requires blood sacrifice to get what they desire. They try to wedge the door open with items and weapons, but to no avail. Eventually they decide that Sariel will stand in the doorway and take damage from the door, since she is the most virile of the all and has the strongest armor. After about 30 seconds of Sariel being smashed by the door, Rick gets in, opens the box and finds a silver necklace inside. He exits through the door and Sariel lets it slam shut with exasperation.

By now, Swag has successfully disarmed the wall spikes trap that would have indiscriminately speared the party members if they had just passed through the end of the hallway without Swag’s help. Rick grabs the everlasting torch (flashlight), they regroup, and head for the next part of the hallway, banking left at the fork.