AD&D Session 78 - What's the point of all these traps
15th of Duscar, 835 PD
Venturing deeper into the hidden mountain complex tied to the mysterious fey woman and the legacy of Blackcloak, the party left the arcanist’s laboratory intact for the moment—Marcus cautioning that fire inside a warded, enclosed structure might create more problems than solutions. Instead, they pressed onward through the opposite doorway, entering a chamber lined entirely with mirrors. The room radiated the unmistakable tension of a trap laid by an arrogant mage or a narcissist with a taste for theatrics. Illusion magic clung to the glass surfaces, but stepping through it proved anticlimactic; whatever spellwork once empowered the mirrors was now dormant or deliberately misleading.
Beyond this illusory hall, the group found a far more tangible hazard: a corridor rigged with pressure plates that triggered gouts of flame capable of filling the entire space. Fortunately, a nearby mechanism allowed them to redirect the fiery jets overhead, letting them slip through without injury.
The corridor then bent sharply, and in the corner ahead a grotesque sight awaited them—a brain, large enough to fill a cauldron, pulsing steadily within a runic circle etched directly into the floor. It emitted a psychic hum that prickled at the edges of their thoughts. Testing its behaviour quickly revealed its dangers: anything tossed near it simply vanished, teleported away rather than scorched or deflected. When Marcus attempted to scorch it with conjured flame, the brain responded violently; hot smoke belched out into the corridor, carrying thick vapours that muddled their minds and made the air unpleasant to breathe.
Dazed but undeterred, the party pushed on. Whatever this winding, trap-laden hallway was meant to guard, they had not yet reached its heart—and the presence of a teleporting psychic organ suggested that the true purpose of this hidden complex was only becoming stranger the further they went.