The group completes the circuit of the outer ring of the vault, battling a pair of lamia and their mirrored pillar of strength reduction. Once the creatures are slain and mirrors are shattered a yellow button is found. Pushing it causes the ring to turn in the opposite direction from the monkey lever room. Hmm. Beyond that another room – trapped and also containing a lever, this time brown.
After the loot is looted, the group casts about for ideas. There is much discussion and thought given and the decision is made to thoroughly search each and every room for more clues. More levers are found and existing levers are pulled and nothing seems to yield a doorway through which to pass though the ring spins and twirls.. The reset lever is pulled and then another and finally a door appears.
Paranoid, the group checks for traps and discovers that the entire room appears to be a trap. Sigh. Back to pulling levers and then a second door heaves into view. Traps? No traps. So the group cautiously enters the second of the rings. A hallway with a map. The map contains several features of a stretch of countryside as well as some knightly figures and a few constellations. The mage unlimbers his painting gear and magically creates a replica for reference while they travel.
A room sized star chart yields some potions behind a secrets constellation that resembles the image from the hallway map.. Next the party investigates a room with a countryside inside a crystal globe. From the distorted view through the thick crystal it appears to be the same land as depicted in the hallway. Some ideas are debated but the group prefers to move on and scout for more clues.Then they come to a library stuffed with with books, containing a desk and reading stand with an open book upon it. The mage consults the book and loses his mind – or at least some of it. Hmm. That is not good.
A door is opened and a hallway full of knightly banners is revealed. A dead halfling druid lies upon the floor, savaged and ravaged. When the party’s own druid goes to investigate, three of the banners sprout savage teeth and attack. The druid is entangled and the party nearly pummels him to death as they attempt to free him. Once the druid is freed and partially healed it is noted that there are three banners in the room that are identical to the ones on the map in the hallway.
The party reflects as they prepare to make camp. It seems that there definitely is a party that has penetrated the rings ahead of their arrival, but they seem to be taking heavy losses. This is both comforting and sobering news to digest.
Leave a reply