The Dead, the Blind, and the Useless
The vampires are dead. ...er than they already were. Knocked down, staked through the heart, and exposed to sunlight. They're not coming back. Now we explore through the mighty doors knocked off their hinges, down a corridor where a tunnel has been started to one side. We see why soon enough, when getting past the tunnel provokes some magical attack, sending beams of searing light pulsating towards us.
Brennan braves the light to push further forwards, triggering a second effect that blinds him as well as damaging him. But before the light blinded him, Brennan saw gold treasure ahead, perhaps the source of this power. That's enough encouragement for our paladin to take a look too, and he moves close enough to trigger a second blinding flash.
Now Ganelon is also blind and hurt, and Brennan is knocked unconscious. 'Ganelon, heal Brennan! He's on the floor next to you! I would say to your right, but there's no facing!' But it's too late. Another beam of light shoots down the corridor, unfortunately along a line that includes Brennan, and our bard's unconscious body finds it too difficult to dodge out of the way. The magical damage kills him.
Ganelon reaches down, a few seconds too late, and pulls Brennan's corpse back with him out of the magical trap, and we try to work out a better plan than merely running head-first in to the deadly magical energy. We don't get very far, though, as evidenced by the GMs little outburst that 'why don't you just jam the wand of healing up his arse and assume it fires off once a round?'
'That's not a bad idea, actually', says Ganelon, thinking it over.
'...yes, it is.' But, apparently, still better than any of our ideas. We end up sending the already blind paladin back up the corridor, through the magical trap, healing himself as he goes, to cover the source of the energy with a winter blanket.
As if our plan wasn't bad enough, it actually works. That surely must be the wrong kind of encouragement to give. Still, the magical light dims, the trap is negated, and we have an artefact. And it only cost us the life of the bard and the paladin's eyesight. We're still claiming it a victory, as we drag Brennan's dead body out of Delvehaven and through the city, back to our base.