Tomb of the Nine Gods, Day 4: A Face and a Mirror
General Summary
13 Nightal, The Year of Twelve Warnings (1494 DR)
Day 63 of 79
Tomb of the Nine Gods, Omu, Jungles of Chult
After resting to replenish spells and healing themselves. the adventuring company known as Bolte's Bastardos descended into the fifth level of the Tomb of the Nine Gods.
At the bottom of the grand staircase they had been using to descend farther into the dungeon, they heard a distant resonant mechanical rumbling emanating from a dark shaft opening up in the middle of this chamber's floor. They also saw four cylindrical stone pedestals surround the shaft, each ten feet tall, five feet wide. Squatting atop each pedestal is a large four-armed gargoyle.
The group ignored the pedestals and the gargoyles for the moment. Instead, they followed one of three narrow corridors that led away from the grand staircase.
Atwix led the way down one corridor, using his flame tongue sword to burn away thick spiderwebs covering the passageway. Eventually, Atwix was able to discern a dusty room measuring some fifteen feet square. It was empty except for an ornate, rectangular mirror mounted on the wall opposite the room's only exit. He told the others what he saw using his darkvision.
Everyone suspected the mirror could be dangerous so agreed to avoid looking into it. Atwix said he could also see a skeleton wandering around in the room.
The group kept their eyes focused on the floor and entered the room.
Bolte rushed the skeleton, destroying it instantly with a flick of his magical rapier. Like the other three skeletons they had encountered in the upper levels, this skeleton's head was fused with a hexagonal-shaped helm. Bolte picked up the skull and stored it away.
They made their way out of the room, making sure not to look directly into the mirror.
**
They followed the stone hallway away from the room with the mirror. It soon ended at a stone slab that blocked the end of the corridor. Painted on the slab was the image of a gaunt male humanoid wearing a hooded cloak, its face a mask of stars. The figure's withered left hand is raised with palm extended.
Bolte said the image was probably that of a lich. Alice, the cleric of Akadi, agreed.
The group carefully searched the area for traps and the means of opening the entrance but couldn't find any traps or clues as to how to proceed.
In time, they decided that perhaps someone had to mimic the image painted on the stone slab. Bolte did so.
Suddenly, the slab sunk into the floor, revealing a dusty passageway beyond. Relief carvings on the walls depicted crowds of humanoids fleeing a black star in the sky, with rays of light extending from it to turn those they struck to dust.
They continued through the maze-like area. They discovered another entrance, or exit, with stairs leading out of a central open space. It seemed a stone slab similar to the one they had opened had once blocked the way out.
in the middle of the central open space stood a marble pedestal. On the pedestal rested a gold crown topped with a glittering black opal.
Bolte examined the crown without touching it. After a minute or so, he told everyone the crown could probably fetch around 5,000 gold pieces or even four times that value.
After searching for traps, which there weren't any, Bolte lifted the crown off the pedestal using his rapier.
As soon as he did, they all heard the sounds of stone doors grinding upward. Before they could reach the nearby exit, the stone slab had completely sealed the exit.
Bolte quickly placed the crown back on the pedestal.
The exit remained sealed.
Bolte then took the crown back off the pedestal and stored it away.
The exit still remained sealed.
Nip'hto, however, noticed that painted on the inside of the slab was a male humanoid wearing a hooded cloak, once again with stars where his face should be. The figure held up his right arm, which was severed neatly at the elbow.
The ranger also noticed a figure moving down a narrow passage nearby.
The figure resembled a humanoid with deathly gray skin. It was devoid of any hair at all. More eerie still was its face, which was twisted into an inhuman visage of sheer madness and horror with empty, milky-white eyes outstretched to the shape of vertical ovals.
Nip'hto immediately raised his bow and shot at the strange creature. But as he gazed upon the thing, he felt an intense wave of pain sweep over his entire body. For a brief moment, he saw a vision of his own death, although how or what caused his death wasn't clear. He screamed once as he fought to bring his focus back to the creature he was aiming at.
He yelled for the others to avoid looking directly into the creature as another one appeared near Alice.
Bolte charged at the creature, attacking it as he averted his gaze. It made fighting it difficult but fortunately, his fighting skills prevailed. He easily dispatched the second creature before it could harm anyone.
The first one proved more challenging. Atwix joined in the fight using his bow while also avoiding looking at the creature.
However, the creature Nip'hto and Atwix were fighting seemed to be able to cause the same kind of wracking pain without anyone directly looking at it, although it didn't hurt as much.
Soon, the creature was slain.
**
While the others were focused on the creature, Bolte slipped down the passageway the second creature emerged from. He soon came upon a green stone face with a devilish countenance protruding from the wall. The devil's mouth was agape and was filled with impenetrable darkness.
The others soon joined Bolte.
The evil face was 6 feet tall, with a mouth 2 feet in diameter. Alice cast detect magic on the face which revealed an aura of transmutation magic on the face. The group didn't know what to make of the stone face but assumed the creatures may have emerged from its mouth.
The group left the face alone for the moment to figure out how to open the stone slabs. They even cut off the forearm of one of the creatures and propped it in front of the slab.
Nothing happened.
Bolte wrapped his forearm so as to seem like it had been cut off, then stood before the exit.
Nothing happened.
Nip'hto magically altered his appearance creating the illusion of missing his right forearm, then he too stood before the exit.
Nothing happened.
Alice finally said what everyone had been thinking. She proposed that someone would have to cut off a forearm and mimic the gesture painted on the inside of the stone slab.
Bolte argued that no one was going to be cutting off anyone's forearm. He insisted that there must be another way out of the area.
The group returned to the devilish face.
If indeed the two creatures had crawled out of the face's mouth, perhaps they could crawl inside which could lead out of the area.
Atwix brandished his flame tongue sword, ignited it with a command word. He then thrust the blade into the dark mouth to see what was inside.
But when the fighter drew his blade back out, the flames which covered the length of the blade sputtered and died. Worse, the blade was neatly severed where he had stopped the blade halfway into the face's mouth!
Everyone was horrified at what they had just seen happen.
Alice said with her ability to still detect magical auras nearby, she could tell that Atwix's sword was no longer emanating magic. The darkness inside the mouth had somehow destroyed the sword!
Bolte's Bastardos realized that crawling into the mouth could mean certain death.
But if they couldn't open either exit, they would be trapped in the maze-like area forever.
A green stone face of devilish countenance
Report Date
21 Dec 2021
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