Session 18

Turns out the fireball didn't scorch the tips of the noses of my team of intrepid adventurers. Turns out it was miles off, but thanks to a trick of perspective it looked a lot closer than was in fact the case.

In the next room is a constantly triggering fire-ball trap that is easily negotiated using the power of timing. At the far end I can turn left or right and being left-handed I almost always pick left. This leads me into a room with another funny green flowing wall in it. The wall surrounds a chest that I reckon will be easy enough to free - there's a load of passaged behind it that look like they'll lead to another lever puzzle or something. However - for the sake of exploration I'll carry on down the main passage first and see what's about, then come back for this.

Round the corner there's a glowing RED wall. Just the same as the other except in colour... and in the fact that there's glowing eyes floating in it looking at me!

As I walk closer, the eyes turn out to be attached to a huge hulking beastie! Looks like it's been trapped in some kind of cage by a concerned citizen... I press my face up against the red wall like a gormless child gorping at a gorilla in the zoo

"It's like... a natural embodiment of everything we fear in predators!" exclaims Dirr (which is odd because it looks more like a man in a rubber suit - sort of like THE predator from the film Predator. But with a less wobbly face)

There's a door next to the cage with another red wall through it and another door to the side of that. Through the second door is a lever and that opens the second red wall. Through that there's a long winding passage into the darkness...

Feeling reckless (and wondering how this passage related to the monster in the cage that I seem to be leaving behind) I walk further along the corridor.

I turn a few corners and eventually come to a set of metal plates in the floor. They don't seem to do anything so I walk over them... only then it turns out that they're flame jets and as soon as I've crossed over them they spark into life! Oops! I can't get back now - I've not got enough buckets of water on me to clear them all! Looks like I've missed my chance on the treasure chest!

A little nervous I carry on, only to find the passage leading me round on myself... Directly into the cage of the predator!

Oh crumbs. I'm not very well prepared for this - I wasn't REALLY expecting to have to deal with a predatory elemental demon! I just thought I'd have a snoop about, but this dungeon's got other ideas!

Well... it's not SO bad... I've sill got my magic weapons... and I've got this sun dagger - that's got to do something good hasn't it?

Bravely, with knees knocking, I open the caged door to the demonic layer and get ready for a pummeling. Mell and Sira hold hands as the confruntation begins!

The first thing I do is fire off the sun dagger, cast "view life" (assuming this'll let me know how well I'm doing) and shoot a fire-ball at the monster.

Stupidly it looks like I clicked the wrong spell for sira and she blinds the monster. Then the sun dagger does a crazy wave of light effect across the whole of the battle field! The monster doesn't seem bothered though and after shrugging off the fireball too it flattens tom in one punch!

Uh-oh! Let's try this sun dagger again...

Oh I see! The blind spell I fired earlier WAS the sun dagger - I just got mixed up. The crazy wave of light must've been the "view life" effect...

Turns out that being blinded twice doesn't really bother demons much though. It takes half of Dirr's health this time round...

Some more fire-balls, a couple more well-aimed blows and Hof uses up the last of high lightning dagger charges - but the monster still has enough strength to take Dirr down!

It's all down to the magic users now. Hof's less than useless stood quivering, nude in front of the horrible beasty.

Thankfully the magic users are a lovey-dovey tag team of awesome! Sira lobs a freezing bolt of freezyness and Mellthas (using his own guts to fuel it since he's out of magic) lobs his last fire-ball! It's just enough! The beasty lets out a final, blood curdling roar and evaporates into an orange mist!

Score one to the team! Those flames will've been bound to have gone out now that I beat the monster challange!

I hurry back, eager to get that chest behind the green wall that I ignored earlier... but bad news! The flames don't care that I beat the demon! I'm still not allowed back. In your face, me! Gnarg!

Where to go next then?

I head back into the demon chamber and poke around. Only to find stairs down!

No way! I can't move on from this floor without scouring it completely can I?

Looks like I've got no choice. And with my two top fighters dead (but no one else tired) it looks like I'm going to have to be extra specially cautious...