Chapter 10: The City of Spiders

The building practically hums with ambient magic, showing brightly as you cast your spell of detection. To those not used to this level of magic, it begins to cause a slight headache which will probably only get worse. Nothing moves up here and it is extremely quiet besides the magical hum.

You're nearly certain that there are hazards all around, but there are no obvious signs of them as you'd expect from mundane traps.

Aelfric carefully moves to the door at the end of the hall, his soft footfalls not making a sound on the hard stone floor beneath your feet. He moves to the side and looks over the demon-motif door and spots nearly invisible runes running along the underside of the demon's jaw. He is able to decipher enough of the runes to realize that they will cause the demonic mouth to spew forth intense flames unless the proper password is given or the runes are sufficiently altered to negate them (Arcana Check)

Aelfric skillfully alters the runes to make them useless and renders the trap moot. With a palpable sense of relief among the group you are able to open the door. Peering into the room, you see it is a sitting room - likely where the Archmage invites special guests to his chambers without granting them access to the inner sanctum. A number of soft lights of varying colors appear, floating on the ceiling and providing dim light throughout the room.

There are several comfortable-looking chairs and couches in a roughly half-circle formation facing a large stone fireplace. There is no obvious source of fuel nearby, but it's not hard to imaging that Gromph is probably beyond such trivialities. In one corner is a drow male standing perfectly still. Moments after the door opens, the drow opens his eyes and moves stiffly forward toward you, "What can I get for you today?" it asks in a monotone voice. It's not hard to determine that this drow is actually an animated undead creature.

On the two other walls are solid doors that look to be made of wood, but not one you've ever seen before. They have a sort of bronze coloration to them as well as not having the natural texture of real wood, but they do look solid from here.