[X] A few wild animals has made their homes here. (5 wolves)
Gregor enters first, stepping casually into the darkness without a moment's hesitation. Five pairs of shining hungry eyes, reflecting light from the cleric's spells, stare at the warrior.
The wolves are pack hunters, bred to coordinate, to work as a team.
Oh don't hurt the poor puppies.
Gregor doesn't listen, opting to stand in the doorway as the wolves lunge, making himself a wall between the beasts and the far more fragile clerics. The wolves fan out, trying to take shelter in Gregor's blind-spots, to surround, attack and devour. But the shape of the hallway render such efforts impossible.
Gregor is content to wait as three wolves lunge forward at once, charging at different angles as they aim at different targets. Gregor doesn't blink as his hands flash and the first wolf falls, a dagger in its eye. He spins, drawing a short blade, and spears the second wolf clean through the neck. And yet, there's the faintest opening. The last of the three digs its teeth into the thick layer of Gregor's arm-guard, tearing savagely at his hand. Wonderful, he'll fall soo...
Three clerics chant, and the wound vanishes practically as soon as it appears. That's just not fair! Gregor wastes no time in dispatching the third wolf, or the fourth that tried to attack while its comrade had Gregor bit. Only for the last does Gregor leave the entryway, hunting down the fleeing beast even as he makes sure to step nowhere that the wolves have not already moved. Clever, avoiding traps even if he can't spot them. Not that you actually have many overt traps in the room.
The wolf is fast, but, in the compact hallway there is nowhere to run and soon it is dead. "Clear. Stay away from the walls." His voice his cold, mechanical, vaguely bored as he stoops to retrieve his thrown blade.
Hesitantly, the other three enter the room. Miriam wastes not a moment in investigating the walls. "Fascinating, just fascinating. What on earth could they be doing? Some arcane ritual perhaps? And the text... It looks vaguely like ancient Lumerian. Perhaps an obscure dialect, but why would that be.. the geography... this is just..." Miriam trails off in thought, trying to find meaning in the odd-looking squiggles you put randomly amidst the crude, vaguely sexual-looking cave drawings across your walls.
I am sorry, the wizard was such a... pervert. Is that the word that means a human with an odd obsession with sex? I don't really understand the concept myself. It's why he named this his 'hidden palace' for 'lewd perversions'. I do think the poor man was quite wrong in the head. What proper human would spend so much time focused on rutting of all things?
Well, the kobolds did seem to like the activity, and the story you've spun has all of the adventurers, Gregor and Pettie included looking absolutely mystified. You can't help but continue. It's simply too enjoyable to taunt them like this, to trick and deceive, to make them humiliate themselves before you tear them to shreds.
Oh yes, the library is so close. I do think he had some books there that weren't about rutting. Of course... entering is rather odd. Why, the only way is for someone to sit proudly on that scepter he made and remain there... It looks so painful though.
Everyone blinks at that for a minute, and begins to spread across the room before they spot it near the entrance, a raised pedestal with a short protrusion. Made of gold and covered with a dozen gems, it's the most valuable thing you could craft. Unwillingly every member of the adventuring party stares at it before their eyes track unwillingly to the lone woman.
"You don't have enough money." her voice is quite final.
The thinner of the robed men, blushing more brightly than you could imagine, stares at the woman. "Well, er... as 'eager' as I'm sure the rest of us would be, only Miriam and I can do the investigations we need to do here, and we do need Gregor to kill any other animals we encounter... And I don't think I see any other entrances now so it's only logical that you perhaps... take one for the team?"
The woman begins to shout as Gregor advances on the pedestal. "Someone just needs to sit here?"
Yes, having one of his harem stay on the pedestal was how the wizard kept the door open I believe... Rather unhygenic if you ask..
You're interrupted as Gregor draws an axe and starts hammering away at the soft golden 'sceptor', smashing it over and over again until the protrusion snaps and breaks. Picking it up with one gloved hand, he offers it to the wincing clerics before shrugging and dropping it into that larger-on-the-inside pouch of his.
"Petricia, stand there." The cleric hesitates for a moment, looking at the ax in Gregor's hands, before standing on top of the pedestal. Gears move with a groaning sound and the pit below the boulder that leads to the third entrance swings open reluctantly and the boulder blocking the door falls inward revealing the entrance to deeper inside.
Gregor carefully advances toward the third room, motioning for Miriam and Amum to wait behind until he gives the clear. You want to talk to Petricia, to lure her into the dungeon and interrogate her... But doing so before everyone else advances deeper in would be difficult. You'll have chances later.
1. Choose arrangements of traps for the final room.
[X] Write-in