Stonehell: Beetles and More Beetles

Session 4 of Stonehell was played on 2/19

Tink, a pretentious Elf (but I repeat myself) and former barkeep (Hanna)
Wilhelm, drunk Dwarf 1 (Julia)
Shelly, a vegetarian recovering alcoholic halfling Thief 1 (Nadia)
Lost unnamed female Elf (Sarah)

Stayed in town
Lex(i), a crossdressing thief 1 (Molly)

After resting by the well the party decided to explore what was below them. The dropped a rope and climbed down the well, emerging into a worked stone room with 2 exits. Down one was the flicker of firelight and voices. They picked the silent path, which brought them to an intersection, then a door. The first door was a moldy room with a door at the far side. They opted to skip exploring that, and moved back to the corridor and picked another door. This opened into a small room lined with shelves and lots of small bottles full of various substances. A few were collected, and a secret door found! Upon opening the door a small closet was revealed, with a glowing potion sitting on a dusty shelf.

Returning to the hallway, they continued along, finding a side passage with glowing chalk writing that said "secret door" but none was discovered. While they were looking, a giant beetle wandered down the hall, and charged them. It charged into it's own death. Shelly removed the glowing glands, and the party moved on.



The hall ended in a doorway opening into a large chamber with 4 other exits. Beyond a busted door, the eerie glow of beetles could be seen. 2 of the other exits were open doorways leading off into the dark, and the last was a closed and intact door. With some resignation the party deals with the beetles, then turns to exploring while Shelly again butchers the beetles. The piles of beetle dung are ignored, and the closed door checked. Unfortunately it revealed only some busted empty crates. Picking one of the other passages out, they soon came to another side passage at the far end of which they could see a beetle. Unfortunately, it saw them too, and charged, and was as quickly dispatched as the others. Further along they discovered stairs leading down... and took them!

Emerging through a hidden door at the bottom of the stairs, the party finds itself in a small dusty chamber. Through a door, they emerge into a hallway. Further down they come to a door that opens into a large irregularly shaped room lined with dwarf sized bunks, and inscribed with a dwarven wrestling circle in the middle of the floor. Finding nothing else they continue along the hall. A loud 'click' is heard, and a second later a spray of corrosive mist is blasted out of several unseen nozzles. They back off from the mist, then strip off most of their armor as it disintegrates on them.

A little low in hit points, and now mostly unarmored, they decide to return to town to re-equip. Amazingly, they didn't encounter a single thing on their way out of the dungeon...

Gains: 12 fire beetle glands, potion
Kills: 6 Giant Beetles
Losses: several suits of armor, a couple of weapons