They wanted to go left. So they approached the southerly door which was somewhat unusual in that it had a large arch which had a wide depression in it, beyond which were more stairs descending. Gaspode examined this closely and determined that a sliding pair of doors were hidden in this niche which would acsend from the floor and drop from the ceiling to join in the middle. Not liking the look of this Mothers decided to try and spike the opening shut with their iron spikes. With this accomplished and with Gaspode leading the way and checking for traps they went down the stairs. They opened into the north-east corner of a large room with an exit on the far wall in the south-west corner. Worryingly, this room had many holes in its ceiling evenly shaped and distributed. Despite their apprehension the Mothers continued through this room and through the door to a short corridor leading west. This opened out in centre of the easterly wall of a large chamber with another carved sarcophagus. The ornate stone and tilework of this room was obviously disrupted in the north-west corner where a large patch of flags and tiles had been removed to leave bare earth. Where these tiles had gone to, they were not sure as there was no evidence of them and not a speck of the soil and clay seemed to have reached the floor of the room. The Mothers were intrigued by this and they headed straight for it. Unfortunately this path must have lead them over a pressure plate on the floor which caused two disconcerting effects. The doorway to the room slammed shut with a metallic clang and water started pouring from the hundreds of holes in the ceiling. With the room rapidly filling, Gaspode called upon his short sword, Imp, to give him strength and he used this to lever open the first set of metallic shutters. Jito already had to resort to his broom to stay above the flood and he led the way into the corridor to discover that the route into the next room was also shuttered by metal. The water continued to pour in here too. Gaspode's strength was not sufficient to prise these doors apart and Fonesca's knock spell was also ineffectual. Levi and Guthranka resorted to weapons to batter these doors down. The water had now reached four feet in depth and the next room also had water coming through the ceiling. The Mothers had to make it to the stairs. Fonesca and Levi were finding the weight of the water difficult and were making slow progress across the room. Guthranka hardly noticed it thanks to her ring and Gaspode was powering through. Jito flew above the torrent and had an idea. He took Guthranka's ring once she had made it to the stairs and ferried it back to Levi. Levi fumbled it in the downpour and it was lost in the currents. Fonesca started swimming and Levi trudged on having to hold his breath for some time until he reached the stairs. Breathing heavily they looked up to see that their spikes had not held. A final door lay sealed above them and the water had now reached the ceiling of the room below them and was advancing ominously up the stairs. Levi stepped forward with his staff of striking and used up as many charges as he could to batter the door down in as few blows as possible in conjunction with all of the other weapons that they could bring to bear. Beyond the door eight hasted trolls lay in wait. Gaspode was about to leap in to take the fight to them when Levi called him and the others back as he called down a column of roaring flame into the room. Four of the trolls died immediately. Gaspode called upon Imp to dispel the magical speed that the trolls enjoyed and battle was fully joined. After a few minutes of combat the Mothers had managed to best the trolls and to set the remaining corpses alight with lamp oil. Knowing that they had been discovered they decided to go back up the stairs to the secret door by the sarcophagus. When they opened it they found another twenty orcs arranged with military precision on and around the tomb. They were all armed with bows or spears. Gaspode was saved from skewering by Levi's Defensive Harmony spell and his own quick reflexes as he ducked back down the corridor and slammed the door. As they were discussing strategy they heard the lumbering sound of some large creatures coming up the stairwells. Fonesca then cast a wall of ice to block the ascent. More hasty planned ensued but the Mothers started to hear the sound of chunks of ice being chipped away, so Fonesca decided to double the defence and cast another wall of ice to lengthen the first one. With no other choice left to them the Mothers decided to face the hail of orc weapons. Guthranka, Jito and Gaspode charged the orcs while Levi held two of them. Within a few moments eleven of the orcs lay dead and the rest that could move started to flee. This rout was abruptly halted when the orcs encountered three trolls and four ogres advancing down the corridor backed by a mysterious figure. As the orcs started to turn, Fonesca thought it best to block their re-advance with a wall of fire. She killed another two of them with this instantly. Their momentary respite was shattered when they found themselves engulfed in a Stinking Cloud. Fonesca, Jito and Guthranka were overcome with nausea so Gaspode and Levi had to drag them out into the orc tunnels above the slimy waste stair. When the cloud dissipated and the Mothers had recovered, Fonesca cast a Cone of Cold through her wall of fire to see what enemies remained. When the steam blew away they saw only the two charred orcs.