The friends stand at a 4-way cross roads. Well, really 3-way, since the passage behind them has collapsed. Across from them a small set of stairs descends into a wider room flooded with ink-black water. They take the northern passage.
They come across a room with the bodies of three headless priests kneeling around a circle. When Friend crosses the room to investigate a door, the bodies shake and leap to attack! After the fight, The Friends find a bedroll, a small sack of coins, and the rotted starved body of a fourth priest.
By now The Friends have suffered some wounds. They can go on for a bit longer, but the lack of an exit has them worried.
Continuing down cramped stone passages, they pass a shaft of light coming from the ceiling. The echo spirit investigates, but when it touches the light, three great metal spikes erupt from the wall and skewer it. Better spirit than flesh. Icoriol and Friend position themselves beside the holes the spikes originate from (spotted by Icoriol) and Balthazar triggers the trap. With a few well times swings, The Friends destroy the trap. Icoriol investigates the shaft of light and discovers it’s not daylight, but a large white crystal emanating light. He breaks a piece of to study it as they walk down the hall, finding that the light gets brighter when Balthazar holds the crystal, and dimmer when Siriel holds it.
The passage soon opens up into a large cavern. Again the walls fall away into ravine as the floor turns into a bridge. Again, they see a patch of vines covering a section of the stone. With no option but to confront the creature, The Friends move cautiously forward. As they touch the vines, the creature lurking below awakens and begins to attack with long limbs like dry wood. Friend cuts tentacle after tentacle but seems to do no good. Icoriol surmises that the body of the creature must be the only part you can damage. He absails down the side of the bridge with a rope and begins blasting it with magical fire. This causes the monster to go into a frenzy, and in the tumultuous melee, Icoriols rope snaps.
He feels his stomach drop out from beneath him. Thinking fast, Balthazar leaps off the bridge, invoking his angelic nature to summon wings. He swoops down and catches Icoriol, bringing him back up to the bridge. With heavy damage from Icoriols fire, the beast dies soon after.
I think the rules say you fall instantly in situations like this, but initiative is kind of simultaneous and Balthazars player came up with this really cool idea. When players get into horrible peril like this, I tend to freeze them just before something really bad happens, give the party a chance to do something.
With the beast defeated, The Friends carry along the bridge, arriving at the tomb and the secret door by the entrance. Before they leave, Balthazar bids his friends halt and spends the remaining time he has with his wings exploring the ravine. He finds that the chasm is not bottomless, merely 50 or so feet down. At the bottom of the cavern he finds stone constructions - a block and a dome, both with doors. He also finds two more of the same vine-like beast they just fought. He leaves while he still can.
The Friends navigate back to the staircase at the entrance of the tomb and decide they will leave, recuperate, and return in search of the scepter.
The fundamental problem with dungeon crawling in 5e is that players have so many resources. It took almost two full sessions for any tension to be caused, and that was only after a high damage explosion! Getting to the point where the dungeon becomes interesting takes so long.
Back in the city, The Friends relax, and decide to long rest.
Siriel returns to her old blacksmith contact, the one who told her to stay away last time. He talks with her as if she is a patron, but there is a hint of pain in his eyes. As Siriel goes to leave, a lithe fox-like man, no older than 20 and obviously roguish, grabs her arm. The thief reveals he’s been looking for a girl that fits Siriels description, and that she should come with him. The blacksmith slams a box of tools down on the counter, giving Siriel an opporunity to slip away, but the thief gives chase. Siriel turns to fight in the street, but doesn’t have to after Monkey intervenes with a psionic crush that knocks the thief unconscious. Curious about his involvements with Siriel, they secret away the body in a barrel.
Icoriol returns to his workshop, pays his outstanding guild fees, and works on the crafting of magical items. While working late one night, he spots one of the master artisans of the O.T.I.A talking miserably with an Ajira-ni brigand. He files the encounter away in his head.
One night while The Friends rest, High Priest Oland of The Lawful Council finds Balthazar. He tells the angel about the queen’s neglect of religious practice in her kingdom. Of her denying their attempts to curtail savagery and sorcery. He says that soon, they may have a chance to do something about it. With the retrieval of the sceptre of languard, a significant amount of public support will be offered to the church. They may shape that into a powerful force, if the angel is willing to do his part. As an agent of The Lawful Council, Balthazar can become their voice, and get people to recognize the insufficiency of their current monarch. Perhaps even, and this he says in hushed tones, remove her from the throne.
Treason has always been one of the harshest moral failings in Korianis. But here, in the place where the connection to the gods is strongest, the angel agrees.