Fellowship of the Dice

Thank goodness you've maintained clear delineations, although that has been helped with the cardinal coordinates used in building this place using 90 degree angles. What you are considering 'North' is likely off without the use of a compass to correct, but it doesn't really matter. What matters is you've got an orientation going, and can run with it.

Astraea guides the group 'West'. They pass the door going 'North' as they go. It is large, metal, and covered with chalk circles and mathematical notes. For some reason the hallway looks far older than any of the surrounding rooms, taking on the appearance of an almost natural, if perfectly straight, cavern. The doorway adds to the mystery with chalk circles and mathematical notes inscribed on it. It will have to wait for later.

As the party passes the door they feel that the hallway stretches endlessly ahead of them. When they look behind, the infinite hallway has erased their progress as well. It takes several moments to ignore what their eyes are telling them. Blindly feeling with their hands the feel the stone of the hallway and use that for guidance. Once it turns to the south as expected, they open their eyes and the illusion has passed. Whether this is connected to the scribbled circles and notes is unknown without further study, but they have things to get to first.

An unmarked door to the south is ajar, and easily pushed open. It appears that this is a large cavern, with continuous flame torches lining the wall at regular intervals, but don't fully reveal everything and your clear vision only extends perrhaps halfway down its length. Nearby are wooden walls, which give way to natural stone as the walls are lost in the darkness. The room expands into a vast area filled with rampant green vegetation. Thick briars and vines cover the eastern and western walls. To the west the vegetation overruns several neatly arranged sets of patio furniture. Further down at the edge of your vision an outline of a stone structure looms, with what might be a symbol of some sort above it.

From what you can see near the door you can see hardy plants - blackberries, kudzu, and mosses are growing, overgrowing in fact. Rampant growth forms thick tangles of briars and vines that would hinder movement within 10 or 15 feet from the flanking walls would be difficult. Here there are no seasons, so some plants are heavy with fruit, and others completely barren of food.

"Odd. Magically grown plants perhaps?" Astraea suggests. "I would hesitate to disturb the plantlife here."

" A chamber to provide fresh food for those trapped here in quarantine from the outside world?" Theodrix gazes south, "There are stairs there. Perhaps we should inspect the door 'north' before we wander out that way." He slips back and inspects the metal door for traps and locks.

"Makes sense. Let's have a look at the door back in the corridor." Bertram says. He looks for something in his belt, finds a metal bottle and puts it to his mouth, but looks disappointed as he finds it is empty.

"Someone must have been real paranoid I am thinking" Mercutio scratches his head. "An underground lair, like a refuge in case one falls foul of the emperor who wants your head? Or if the world outside is burning up by some cataclysm? Or somewhere to do illicit and foul experiments or rituals? That latter part sounds much more exciting, so that one's probably not true."

As per standard operating procedure, Aurelia checks this room for magic. "There's no sun down here. These plants have to be sustained magically. Given how long things have been abandoned, it's impressive that the magic still works. We won't find out more until we found out who built this place exactly."

Aurelia follows the others after checking for magical auras and identifying them if possible.

The party isn't very interested in further exploring this overgrown garden and whatever stone structure is lost in the darkness, backtracking to the door leading north where that illusion trap had been laid. That seems to have been the only danger as the door has no booby traps and opens easily to your touch.

A ten-foot-wide hallway leads north for roughly forty feet before abruptly ending in a wall of dirt and broken wood. A door exits to the west a bit before the rubble. Theodrix takes the lead again, moving towards the sole door. As he gets near it he stops, as his senses warn him of danger. Looking around to identify exactly what is bothering him, he eventually notices that the ceiling near the rubble and the door is clearly unstable. If he opened the door it would destabilize the exposed ceiling boards. He asks Bertram to take his quarterstaff to reach up and thunk the boards to get whatever is loose to drop down now, rather than when they are underneath it. Rocks and dirt rain down, but that appears to be the unstable stuff. The rest of the ceiling looks to be solid enough. Through the door, a graying wooden reception counter extends from the eastern wall of the crooked room, overshadowed by a faded, curling portrait of a group of several Taldan nobles. Comical alterations adorn the portrait, with red and green markings adding in stink lines, ridiculous mustaches, and other odd embellishments. A door exits to the west, while the section beyond the c-turn is not yet visible. There is one inhabitant there as well. What appears to be a red-skinned, male kobold is clothed in thin leather garments, with a large (for its size) backpack, is standing by the artistically redesigned portrait with what is perhaps a look of satisfaction on his face. When he sees you he waves, and begins talking in a hissing language and with a smile on his face. He tries a couple different other languages, seeing if there are any commonalities in their tongues.

Brother Bertrand grips his staff and looks at the goblin grimly.

Brother Bertram has a keen eye for detail, able to notice things that others overlook. This includes reading people, and in his travels he has encountered all sorts of races so kobolds aren't totally foreign to him. The man might be graffiti-ing the place up, but he seems friendly and open. He does have a shortspear strapped to his back, and a number of potions attached to his belt, but his hands are open and non-threatening. As he so far is failing with verbally communicating, he pulls out a couple potions and a bracer, clearly trying to sell or trade the items.

"He wants to trade with us. Can noone understand him?" Bertram says. He smiles at the goblin.