Chapter 1-20: The Hidden Temple
General Summary
Aetilius concluded that each time the wave of darkness passed over them, the rooms in the labyrinth were moving, and the current position of the entrance room led to the exit. He and Ramas decided to remain in this room, and wait for it to align with the rooms the rest of the party were currently trapped in.
After another two cycles, Ramas spotted Ryoko and Clootie. However, the rooms were the wrong way around and the girls would need to cross the trapped room to reach the exit, and in so doing risk electrocution. The group decided to wait until they aligned on the safe side. After a few more moves, the rooms aligned as they did at the beginning, and Ryoko and Clootie reunited with the party.
After the next move, Ramas spotted Miaug, frozen in place, to the west. He grabbed her using his Mage Hand and hauled her back through the archway. Miaug was confused, as from her perspective she had just stepped through the archway before being dragged back.
After a brief moment, the rooms realigned and Ramas's raven was visible to the north. Clootie volunteered to rescue it, shocked by Ramas's lack of concern for it. Miaug tied a rope around Clootie's waist, and as soon as she leapt through the arch and grabbed the raven, the party hauled her back.
The group then waited for the room to align with the exit, and they escaped. The exit corridor led to a staircase, spiralling downward - torchlight flickering below.
After a short descent the staircase passed through a narrow archway and opened out into large square stone chamber. On the opposite side of the chamber stood an identical archway. In the centre of the room, a complex pattern was engraved into the floor - a 5ft diameter circle enclosing two inverted interlocking triangles. In the centre of the pattern, a steel column extended from the floor to the ceiling. Dark brown stains covered the carved pattern, and at each corner of the triangles, a deep hole was bored into the stone. The group noticed oddly regular horizontal scoring on each of the four walls, starting around 10ft from each corner.
Clootie moved to inspect the carving, while Ramas and Aetilius headed for the exit archway. Suddenly the air was split by a coarse grinding sound, and the steel column the centre of the room began to spin. As it spun, it folded in the middle, forming a razor sharp point which carved a circle in the air. Clootie threw herself to the floor to avoid the spinning blade, while the rest of the group backed away.
Aetilius reasoned that the three words carved on the entrance corresponded to each trap - Belief to the illusion trap, Patience to the moving maze, so presumably they must sacrifice to pass this trap. He sliced his palm and allowed some blood the trickle down the holes in the pattern. The mechanism below made a slight grinding noise, but the blade continued to spin. Suddenly, with the sound of scraping metal, the spinning blade split in two and scissored further outward. There were now two points of the blade, extending out in a 10ft radius circle. This caught Ramas unawares, slashing him across the chest. Some of his blood ran down the blade and onto the carving. The mechanism juddered again.
Ryoko volunteered to be a sacrifice - reasoning that her wildshape form could absorb the damage without affecting her dragonborn form. She backed up towards Clootie to let her cut off her tail, but Clootie couldn't get the blade to cut through the Dire Wolf's hide. The second blade of the trap caught both Ramas and Ryoko. As their blood poured down the steel and onto the carving, finally the mechanism appeared to be satisfied, and with a reluctant groan the blade collapsed and stopped spinning.
The group then headed through the exit archway and down a further set of stairs, emerging into a long rectangular room. This room appeared to be some form of temple, with an ornately carved stone altar at the far end. Along each wall, columns stood every 10ft, supporting the roof. Between the middle pillars on the north side, the wall was carved with dozens of images of eyes; while the south wall was carved with an image showing a hooded man standing before a king on a throne. The eastern wall, behind the altar, had been covered in carved images of mouths - but a hole had been roughly knocked through this wall, leading to a further tunnel heading down.
Clootie and Miaug examined the altar, seeing it was covered in runes. Clootie recognised these symbols, and pulled out her rubbing on the markings on Old Owl Well . A number of the symbols were a match - suggesting this was the same language - ancient Netheril .
After another two cycles, Ramas spotted Ryoko and Clootie. However, the rooms were the wrong way around and the girls would need to cross the trapped room to reach the exit, and in so doing risk electrocution. The group decided to wait until they aligned on the safe side. After a few more moves, the rooms aligned as they did at the beginning, and Ryoko and Clootie reunited with the party.
After the next move, Ramas spotted Miaug, frozen in place, to the west. He grabbed her using his Mage Hand and hauled her back through the archway. Miaug was confused, as from her perspective she had just stepped through the archway before being dragged back.
After a brief moment, the rooms realigned and Ramas's raven was visible to the north. Clootie volunteered to rescue it, shocked by Ramas's lack of concern for it. Miaug tied a rope around Clootie's waist, and as soon as she leapt through the arch and grabbed the raven, the party hauled her back.
The group then waited for the room to align with the exit, and they escaped. The exit corridor led to a staircase, spiralling downward - torchlight flickering below.
After a short descent the staircase passed through a narrow archway and opened out into large square stone chamber. On the opposite side of the chamber stood an identical archway. In the centre of the room, a complex pattern was engraved into the floor - a 5ft diameter circle enclosing two inverted interlocking triangles. In the centre of the pattern, a steel column extended from the floor to the ceiling. Dark brown stains covered the carved pattern, and at each corner of the triangles, a deep hole was bored into the stone. The group noticed oddly regular horizontal scoring on each of the four walls, starting around 10ft from each corner.
Clootie moved to inspect the carving, while Ramas and Aetilius headed for the exit archway. Suddenly the air was split by a coarse grinding sound, and the steel column the centre of the room began to spin. As it spun, it folded in the middle, forming a razor sharp point which carved a circle in the air. Clootie threw herself to the floor to avoid the spinning blade, while the rest of the group backed away.
Aetilius reasoned that the three words carved on the entrance corresponded to each trap - Belief to the illusion trap, Patience to the moving maze, so presumably they must sacrifice to pass this trap. He sliced his palm and allowed some blood the trickle down the holes in the pattern. The mechanism below made a slight grinding noise, but the blade continued to spin. Suddenly, with the sound of scraping metal, the spinning blade split in two and scissored further outward. There were now two points of the blade, extending out in a 10ft radius circle. This caught Ramas unawares, slashing him across the chest. Some of his blood ran down the blade and onto the carving. The mechanism juddered again.
Ryoko volunteered to be a sacrifice - reasoning that her wildshape form could absorb the damage without affecting her dragonborn form. She backed up towards Clootie to let her cut off her tail, but Clootie couldn't get the blade to cut through the Dire Wolf's hide. The second blade of the trap caught both Ramas and Ryoko. As their blood poured down the steel and onto the carving, finally the mechanism appeared to be satisfied, and with a reluctant groan the blade collapsed and stopped spinning.
The group then headed through the exit archway and down a further set of stairs, emerging into a long rectangular room. This room appeared to be some form of temple, with an ornately carved stone altar at the far end. Along each wall, columns stood every 10ft, supporting the roof. Between the middle pillars on the north side, the wall was carved with dozens of images of eyes; while the south wall was carved with an image showing a hooded man standing before a king on a throne. The eastern wall, behind the altar, had been covered in carved images of mouths - but a hole had been roughly knocked through this wall, leading to a further tunnel heading down.
Clootie and Miaug examined the altar, seeing it was covered in runes. Clootie recognised these symbols, and pulled out her rubbing on the markings on Old Owl Well . A number of the symbols were a match - suggesting this was the same language - ancient Netheril .
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