Treasure Rooms!

Hand-drawn map. Deanna, playing Lincoln the Dwarf, is out mapper, taking verbal mapping commands from me during play. Today's session included a large amount of the kids pouring over this map, as they caught all the symmetry clues that led them to discover the treasure rooms.

The game session started where the last one had left off... The PCs had just discovered a large, 20x20 room full of Obsidian objects. While all had some value as treasure, none were particularly valuable on their own. Lincoln took 200cn worth of arrowheads, worth a few hundred xp.

Using the map, they realized there was a similar square-shaped void a little to the northwest. Searching for the secret keyhole, twenty feet up in the ceiling (for which they had discovered two 10-foot poles that screwed together, with a special candle-snuffer on one end, just high enough to reach the ceiling holes), they were able to open the Crystal Room.

Remembering the library records they'd found earlier, which mentioned four rooms, they suspected there was a Gold Room and a Gem Room. Using the map spaces, again, they began working northward, and discovered the Gold Room.

By this time, however, they had also learned each of these rooms were peculiarly trapped. The Crystal Room involved save-vs-spell mirrors, which sucked the viewer into a mirror dimension. With some
lucky saves, they determined the Gold Room involved a curse that whatever body part toucher gold within the room would turn to gold itself (they looted the golden finger and hand they found on the floor, from previous unlucky thieves, of course).

Again, using positioning on the player-drawn map, they discovered the Gem Room. This room involved a blinding flash of light, a closing door, and pit vipers that dropped from the ceiling. Using a very well-timed sleep spell, they dispatches all the snakes, and stole a whopping 10,000gp worth of gems from the room.

Unfortunately, they then found the fifth room---the one not logged in the library records.

It was dark, dank, with rotting burlap tapestries on the walls, and air that moaned and held the clanking of chains. Weapons hung on the wall. Thirty-six bizarre, valueless baubles sat on the shelves. A large canopic amphora sat in a corner.

Lincoln went to inspect the amphora... The minute he touched it, he was magically compelled (no save!) to place 5,000gp worth of treasure inside... He put the platinum jewelry box he'd stolen from the Gem Room within, at which point the Amphora jumped from the shelf and shattered itself to the ground... The box was gone.

Iambred then picked up a few marbles from a shelf. Instantly, he could only see brown. When he tried to drop the marbles, they stuck to his hand... Lincoln scraped them off, using the (clearly cursed, though they don't yet know how) dagger, Lint, she'd taken from the wall. Instantly, he could see colors again.

They left the room after that, taking the dagger Lint, and the marbles, tied tightly in a cloth sack.

After this, they planned their next moves. Comparing weights, they loaded themselves down with nearly 5,000gp worth of gold bars from the Gold Room, with a similar value in gems from the Gem Room, then retired to rest a full day in the only section of dungeon they knew they could secure.

After a day and a half, they emerged from the top of the buried ziggurat, into a overcast night, planning to travel by night in order to take advantage of the Rules Cyclopedia's calmer nighttime encounter chances.

This is where we leave them.

A few stats.

All the PCs are sitting just below the 1200cn weight encumbrance, meaning they have 60 feet normal movement. 60/5=12, which is a little more than half the distance they'll need to travel to reach Molvar again.

Lincoln is carrying various valuable items. Uh-Oh, the strong wizard, is carrying 50 pounds of gold bars, plus a stupendously valuable emerald and gold ring (2500gp!). Iambred is carrying about 700gp worth of sundries. They also have a handful of magic items---a staff of snakes, a wand (they will have to research it to discover its properties), a curiously ornate crystal shield (it must be magical!), and some scrolls from the mad wizard, Al-Gorthazinax.

They emerged from the dungeon on the night of the 20th of Wealson, Earthday.