This area is west and slightly south of DEC 7. It is a hexagon-shaped room, 10 yards from one wall to the opposite. Circular pillars of stone (1 yard radius) are neatly arranged around the center of the area, evenly spaced and 5 yards from the exact center. The area’s lighting is supplied by torches on walls and pillars, leaving no darkness except for some very light shadows (Darkness -1 at most) behind the pillars. The walls, floor and ceiling of this area are weather-beaten grey bricks. In the exact center of the area, there’s a (1-yard-wide) metal spiral staircase going downward into the floor.
There are unobvious environmental dangers here and a deliberately set trap. First off, there are gases (seeping in from tiny cracks in the floor) in the area’s central hexes (within 3 yards of the center) that will explode (3d burn ex, 3 yard radius area) if exposed to a flame. The gases can be detected with a Per-based Prospecting, Survival (Subterranean) or Hazardous Materials roll, all can benefit from bonuses from Acute Taste & Smell. Any such explosion could also set off a tremor in this chamber, disorientating everyone (-2 penalty to physical actions for 1d seconds) and threatening random combatants with falling rocks (1d crushing if they fail to Dodge or Block the “attack” from above). Per-based Prospecting or Survival (Subterranean) reveals the possibility of a tremor because of an explosion. The lighting sources are kept away from this gas, of course. The deliberate boobytrap is at the spiral staircase. The staircase is a fake, it leads only to a dead end in the bedrock after 20 yards of stepping down. 20 of the steps have hidden pressure plates built into them (roll Per-based Traps-6 to detect a plate, roll DX-based Traps-6 to disarm a plate, DX-5 or Light Walk roll can avoid a plate), stepping on a plate activates a concealed bolas launcher (detection or Hearing-2 allows an active defense at -3). The razor-wire bolas are in a simultaneous pair – one aimed at the neck and the other aimed at the legs (an active defense success by 0 means the legs are still hit, success by 1+ avoids both). A hit by bolas inflicts 1d-1 cutting, to the neck or/and the legs, plus the effects as per Exploits page 44. Each pressure plate has one launcher loaded with one shot of two cutting bolas, each shot can be looted (each cutting bolas is worth $100 and weighs 2 lbs., failure by 5+ or critical failure when used inflicts cutting damage to wielder’s arm).
In the south-west corner of the area, there’s a concealed treasure in a small alcove carved out of the low wall, that illusion magic hides. Detecting the illusion requires a roll of Will, Will-based Traps or Will-based Thaumatology to resist the illusion (Magic Resistance helps any of these rolls). Once the illusion is resisted, the alcove is revealed, and contains 8 Spheres of Weirdness (1 Purple, 1 Yellow, 2 Green, 1 Red, 1 Orange, 2 Blue, see DF 6: 40 Artefacts page 21), a rare artefact The Preta Whistle (see DF 6: 40 Artefacts page 17), a bottle of Resurrection Oil and 5 Greater Healing Potions.
The passageway goes north-west down steps for 10 yards before ending up at the DEC 19 area.
Three Hundred and Thirty-Three 