Nomen Infernale XLXI: He Scoffs at the Quivering Dart
While waiting on Asbjørn to clear the rubble and Alex to stop fiddling with the buttocks of a statue at the end of the hallway, Theo had a chance to ponder the conversation he had had with the corpse of Lunja earlier and the information she had revealed: Lunja was hoping to catch them alive at that bastard Liberus Kerularios' request and she was planning on collaborating with the Tribesmen of the Yafwad Wastes to do so. He had heard stories of the degraded state of the Tribesmen and shuddered to think whether they would make it to the Domus Kerularios with all of their limbs. He also pondered with a touch of both relief and bitterness that the bounty had been low. Riven confirmed that it was a paltry sum. At least for now they would only have to deal with the desperate and novices from the House of Shadows.
His reverie was broken by Alex having disappeared from the hallway and chattering excitedly at Elissa to check the opposite side of the dais for a similar hidden door trigger. After she had patted the buttocks of the opposite statue, her face unmistakably reflecting that she thought the Oameni was playing a joke on her, she was startled that the statue slid inward revealing a plastered over door frame. She confirmed the statue had moved and Alex called for Riven before complaining that the state could've been more surmountable and the stairs had a very inconvenient incline for his short limbs. The party gathered around the door, Asbjørn playfully attempting to jump over the statue and falling into the pool splashing more of the blessed-seeming water on the party, and after Alex sliced through the aging plaster, Riven cracked and pried the plaster off the doorway to reveal a relief of the Rusati king holding a scepter, this time in more detail showing a rod topped with a pointy-eared animal of some kind, maybe a dog or a jackal. Teleptyon is vaguely reminded of the Cynocephali. Alex read a cartouche above the king and told them he was named Yamun Ruta. He pointed out the similarity to the mosaic at the foot of the pool. Theo pointed out that the king stood on a crocodile and after some contemplation remembered that the crocodile represented evil and the arrangement indicated that the king had overcome or defeated evil. Theo looked favorably on the king's priorities. Riven moved to open the door with her crowbar, but it would not budge under her ministrations. Kegho tried after her and it popped open. "Little woman, loosen up for Kegho." He smiled. Riven's expression did not change.
Kegho led the way into the room and spotted a panel down the hall with nine holes arranged in a grid and called for his Oameni friend to find the trigger for the obvious trap. Alex crawled along the floor looking for a pressure plate or tripwire and found a raised floor tile. The party discussed methods of avoiding it and after the previous debacle with triggering the trap and sealing a door, they opted to avoid the trap. Alex assumed he could pass under what he assumed were darts, but eventually was prevailed upon to have Asbjørn jump him across. "I can jump just fine on my own" Alex wailed as Asbjørn scooped him up laughing and hopped over, but stepped backward on a pressure plate, a laugh dying in his throat as a whoosh and nine small darts stuck into Asbjørn's chest piece like a pincushion. Each point burned slightly and Alex, looking down saw that the darts were coated in something black like the poison that Lunja had used. The burning faded and when he did not feel ill at all, the barbarian began laughing even more gustily, almost maniacally and shouting "Modar Hegge favors me!" while knowing that he had very narrowly avoided death.
To be on the safe side, Alex had Asbjørn sit on the plate until Kegho could find a heavy chunk of one of the living statues to weigh it down.
Past the pillar is another door, Alex and Riven examine it and declare it a beautiful work of the craft. Alex suggests that if they take the lock with them and replicate even a fraction of it, they could revolutionize home security in Eknopolis, but the barbarians tell him to unlock it or they will smash it open and he and work quickly to tickle its fine pins until a satisfying click indicated the lock was free. Alex dropped back to make notes in his liber cincinnorum.
Kegho stood ready to open the door.
