[1] The Lower Road

You're forced to stay one more night in the infirmary - although there's not much force about it; you're weary enough that the rest is welcome. The next morning, one of the locals comes to collect you and take you to the complex that's been discovered. It's hidden behind a huge fallen stone that's been hewn out to form a storefront. Behind it, the moss and vines have been pulled aside to reveal a small stone door - much too small for a giant to use. It must be a workers' entrance, and you're again reminded of the giants' dark past. They for centuries forced their drow slaves to build vast underground complexes like this one. Their original purpose is lost to antiquity.

Perhaps you'll find out why this one was built.

As you step into the tunnel, you're met with damp, stale air that's slightly too warm to be comfortable. The stone walls curve slightly inward before meeting the ceiling. Vines hang down between the stonework above you like living stalactites. Some even reach the floor where they've begun to spread out and creep along the ground. Two side passages are blocked by stones that would take weeks to move, but the central corridor is clear.

Occasionally the passageway narrows slightly and elven engravings decorate the makeshift dividing lines. Two sections down, the corridor appears to branch off again.

With the corridor lit up better, you can make out more of the words. That is to say, you can make out that there are more words. The elvish script is more... spiky than flowing, which makes sense as it was carved, not written, but some of the phrases don't really make any sense. It's in an ancient dialect that you've never seen before. The lines you do understand seem more like personal expressions than a historical record or warding incantation.

It has been ten years and I still have not ????? more than once.

---

This area(?) belongs to Nyzik, the ????? of all his group.

---

Soon we will find the ????? and then the giants will all have death continuing. (Maybe that means forever?)

It looks like the tunnelling further on is of a different style. Maybe the drow were searching for something here that they didn't want the giants to know about.

As you progress down the hallway and come level with what appears to be the next intersection of tunnels, it becomes clearer that these are just small rooms off to either side. The thinner interior walls have long since fallen down, leaving only the thick stones of the tunnel walls in place.

Suddenly, a gout of flame rushes out from a small hole in the wall. Before anyone can react, the flame engulfs you and knocks you off your feet. It seems - appearances to the contrary - that there is something down here that someone did not want to be rediscovered.Once you've pulled yourselves together, the tunnel splits in half further on down.

The vines themselves aren't living in the sense that Cualli probably is cautious of, but they are hiding something more sinister - another set of traps. As the stone pushes through the vines, they drag along the floor and trigger the mechanism hidden there. This time, two flames are thrown out from the corners of the inset hallway. The vines are immolated before the fire shuts off. That trick probably won't work again - it's too dependent on the vines - but maybe it can give you clues as to how to check for traps, or where.

The hallway is clear to the split. The left side of the split is filled with webshe other side is clearly a work area, with rotted workbenches and shelves full of long-turned-to-dust items and rusted machinery.

With Cualli in the lead with his wealth of wariness, he is able to note that there are doors set into the ceiling here. There's a mechanism between the doors that probably should allow you to adjust them somehow, but it's just one lever - it's not clear how that would work.