THE VANDERBOREN VAULT (days 8-9)

Lavinia was overjoyed with the heroes (who have chosen the name Tropic Thunder for their group) when they informed her that they managed to reclaim the Blue Nixie, and more so when they gave her her father's signet ring. At this point, she made a job offer to the Tropic Thunder - she's so pleased with their work so far that she was willing to hire them on as her personal troubleshooters, agents, and bodyguards. She offers the Tropic Thunder 100 gp per month to remain in her employ, and implied that their service to one of Sasserine's noble families could have advantages and rewards beyond this monthly wage. She also introduced them to an academy friend of her, Mary Rose, who will also be in her employ from now on, and Lavinia would be grateful if the Tropic Thunder would accept her in their group.

The Tropic Thunder were interested and Lavinia already had a task for them. She needs to travel to Castle Teraknian in the Sasserine Harbor to check her family vault. All of Sasserine's nobility have vaults under the castle, but she's never seen any of them (including her own). Rumors hold that some vaults are quite extensive and guarded by traps - based on things she overheard her father say through the years, she suspects that the Vanderboren Vault is relatively small and safe, but that there may be a construct guardian. Graim and Mary Rose provided the rest of the Thunder with some information on constructs. Lavinia would like the Tropic Thunder to accompany her to Castle Teraknian to provide protection and aid in investigating the vault contents.

Lavinia hired a coach to take her and the Tropic Thunder from her manor to the High Market in the Noble District, where the group took a ferry over to Castle Teraknian. They spent little time in the castle itself, stopping only to speak to a clerk who verified Lavinia's identity and her signet, and who then escorted them down a spiral staircase into a large circular chamber under the castle.

Over a dozen hallways radiate out from the central vault chamber; each of these halls has the same length and ends at a single iron door - the entrance to the family vault. The clerk did not accompany Lavinia and the Tropic Thunder to the vault; he instead bid them good day and returned to the castle above.

The short passageway Lavinia chooses ends at a solid-looking iron door. The portal is emblazoned with a simple rune - an eight-pointed star. Above the door, inscribed in flowing script on a polished silver plaque, is the name "Vanderboren". A single handle protrudes form the door, just below a circular depression bearing the mark of the Vanderboren signet.

Grunk tries to open the door by inserting the signet ring into the small depression above the handle, but only when Lavinia does so the door unlocks. At this point, the door flashed once with blue light, then slowly swang open on creaking hinges. The door remains opens during the exploration of the vault.

When asked, Lavinia doesn't quite recognize the eight pointed star symbol, although she did admit it looks familiar. Graim could place the symbol - the same star symbol appears on the sign of a building on the western edge of the Merchant's District.

The floor of the next domed chamber is of polished green marble. Two alcoves have lower ceilings and feature marble pillars carved to resemble coiling snakes. In the center of the room, five similar pillars are embedded into the walls, rising to a dome overhead. Looking up, the dome bears a huge representation  of the same eight pointed star that was engraved on the door to the vault.

A single guardian was watching over this chamber, a serpentine construct of metal called an iron cobra, according to Graim and Vicros. The snake is three feet long and looks like a cobra made of dozens of circular iron bands fitted together to form a snakelike body. The cobra quickly and quietly slithered out from its hiding place to attack the first person to enter the vault, Grunk.

During the fight with the iron cobra, Vicros noticed that the iron cobra took pains to avoid Lavinia, when she was present. Unfortunately, Vicros had no time to act on his hunch before the rest of the Tropic Thunder destroyed the construct.

Although there didn't appear to be an actual exit from the room, searching the northernmost pillar recessed into the chamber's walls revealed a hidden switch that, when triggered, caused the snake designs to animate. They writhed aside like living creatures, forming a coiling archway that allowed access into the next area.