[1] The Lower Road

S'sylin was as quick about it as he could be, but still, the stench was horrendous. It was something of a joke in more 'civilized' society that troglodytes smelled worse alive than dead. Well... S'sylin could definiately put that lie to bed. Even the rag wasn't enough and he emerged from the room coughing and hacking, but holding the object the trog had clutched in his hands. It was a key that matched the dimensions of the velvet-lined box perfectly.

He did have several stab wounds. Trogs are not nice creatures, even to their own kind, so most likely, he got in an argument with another of his group and was killed for his trouble. To fight over a key, he must have thought he knew something about it that would make it important. If you accept that the trogs came down that rope you saw earlier - down through the crevice from far above - then whatever he discovered about the key he must have discovered here in these rooms.

There's two more circular rooms along this hall before it turns back to go west again, making a third leg of a square. One's a bit bigger than the other, probably because it's got a font in it. There's a light source from somewhere under the surface of the water that makes the waves glisten, sending waves of light along the ceiling as the water ripples gently every time you step. The other room has a metal crate against the far curve of the wall, and it's locked (DC 20 STR check to break the lock, or DC 15 DEX check to pick the lock if you have appropriate tools), but with a key far smaller than the one you just found.

The side of the crate crashes in under S'sylin's efforts, and a pile of gold coins spill out. Some are covered in dry blood and other... fluids. It's enough to give your personal wealth a significant boost. The rest of the contents are unfortunately ruined. They were simply too fragile for the crate to be forced open the way it was. It looks like the remains of an ancient shield and some sort of long-bladed weapon. They might be repairable, but not here. In the bottom of the crate, under the gold, is another key. It's identical to the first one, with one exception - the rune etched into the key's handle. It looks like the two keys must be a matched set.

There's not much more to see in this room. After you gather up as much of the gold as you can carry, you can either head back to the room with the pool or continue on around the corner. If you do that, you'll come to the original hallway again, approaching the first room from the opposite side from which you left. There's a small alcove before you get there though, and in the alcove is another rotting trog - this time decomopsing naturally, and not as far along, so with any luck, he won't be as... potent - and a door - with four nearly-matching keyholes. Two of the keys you already have.

There is not much to be found here, although you regret even finding as much as you did. There's the corpses of two kobolds here, although age and other details are impossible to tell because of the way they died. It appears as if they were tortured to death. Whatever happened happened a long time ago though, judging by the decay. Most likely, these two were unfortunate enough to be trapped down here when the trogs originally arrived. Perhaps they were the ones who hid all these keys? At any rate, this explains how the troglodytes knew how to find the kobolds.

On the other side of the room there's a broken-down steel door. The hinges were damaged with acid and then it was kicked or beaten in. Beyond that is dark...

From somewhere, light is filtering into the pool, reflecting through it and out to you. The light's probably magical in origin given how far down you are, but you've heard of some ancient cultures that were quite adept at bending sunlight with mirrors and such too. Whichever it is, the pool is well-lit, and because of that, you can tell it's quite deep, too. Far down at the bottom is another key. The water's soft movements seem to cause it to wave back and forth as if its a piece of ribbon.