The party rests after the events of the previous battle with the chaos dwarves. Chet makes use of his Lehman's Tiny Hut to provide some comfort and safety in the gloom.
Chet and C’Nut continue to rest at camp. Meanwhile Beskar goes to the dwarven forge and begins to work his new beskar ingots into useful shapes, producing quite a bit of noise. Niaelo wanders off in the opposite direction and is immediately beset by some of the dwarven automatons the Court Wizard Cedrick warned us of. She helpfully leads them back to the rest of the group.
A ferocious battle ensues. The automatons are extremely difficult to damage. During the battle, Beskar hears roaring coming from further in the dungeon and bars the huge metal doors to the forge and lower levels. Soon the roaring draws nearer and flames pour under the door.
Once the dwarven spheres are dispatched, the group decides to face whatever is beyond the doors. It turns out to be a chimera, a monstrous lion, dragon, goat creature with wings. Despite its size and fury, the beast goes down quickly compared to the spheres under a hail of blades, arrows, and magic.
C’Nut commemorates Beskar’s mighty deeds during the battle with the Chimera with his mobile easel and oil on canvas.
The group decides to explore in the direction Niaelo started and finds many dwarven corpses from the ancient battle between the Oathkeepers dwarves and the drow. Among the loot we find ancient coins and a control rod that may be the keys to commanding the automatons, should we come across more of them.
In one of the rooms, dwarven ghosts rise from the ground and demand to know who trespasses in their domain. Beskar shows them a symbol he received in trust from the dwarves of the surface and appeases the ghosts. They tell him of a secret room behind the throne in the main chamber.
The secret room holds more ancient treasures, but also leads to a portion of the complex that’s partially caved in. Within a destroyed section, a pair of deadly chuul prepare to ambush the party.
Niaelo engulfs them in a wall of fire while Chet, Beskar, and C’Nut blast them to pieces with magic and projectiles alike. They attempt to flee, but to no avail. Beyond them, we see a natural cave entrance. Could this be where the ancient drow began their assault on this place? Could it lead to the main treasury we’ve been searching for?