Into the final Portals
The red portal felt like death as the group stepped through. A smell of carrion that did not help. On the far side of the portal was a triangle shaped room. Mar’iya thought the style felt similar. We know he is from Balic, the Red city, so this might make sense. There was a whirlpool, in a small constructed pond. Beyond the pond was a counter. There were four known exits, a hall beyond the counter, the door we phased through and doors to the north and south. The room was partially lit but two braziers with heatless fire burning in them.
A man came from the back hall, “can I help you. We have just about anything here.” Oni moved about the room. This felt like a trap, and some of these tombs have had some deadly traps. Arnia went up to distract the counter help, he listened at each of these doors. Silence was the only sound. Arnia asked him for the red gem. It Seemed clever enough to maybe just ask. Sometimes just asking for what you wanted worked.
He ran off.
Oni looked at Nomli, “try to open this door while he is gone.” Nomli ran over. After a quick scan the door was open. Oni watched the hall as the rest of the group poured into the room beyond the door. It was filled with a king’s treasure worth of metal weapons. Oni used this moment to detect all the magic in the room. There was a lot of magic here. The counter, fires, pool, and the door they arrived from. David had scanned the whirlpool and we knew it had healing properties. Oni could see some magic in the hall where counter man had ran off. The group stashed a small number of weapons.
The counter help came back, “I am sorry I have not found this gem yet. We can continue to search but it cost 1000 gp per hour.” Most of the group coughed on those words. Arnia informed him too not continue the search. He turned back down the hall to stop the search. David started to examine the entrance, including just stepping out into it, only to step back out of it. It became clear in that instance they were stuck. Mother Dusk had made a puzzle and only if they could solve it would they be safe.
Mar’iya took lead down the main hallway. He slowly followed the counter man. He watched each step, mentally waiting until the trap went off. First all his magical items became mundane. He felt them and shock them. His eyes looked back as he continued. He then turned and started to walk in circles. His eyes were blank as he went one way only to turn to go another way. David started to move up, “I will get him.” Oni was about to get Mar’iya. In this confused state he was a danger to himself in such a dangerous place.
David guided Mar’iya to the pool. We knew it could heal. Just as David stepped in to heal shades came through the still closed doors to attack. The waters did heal. They healed the body, the mind, and the items in their position. They summoned creatures of death, but they did heal. The creatures were like balls of nothingness as they attacked. Oni was not sure if they were killed or if they just left. It was unclear but the Voidling balls were gone.
The entire group gathered at the safe end of the hall. Mar’iya peered down as far as he could, “if I could see the end, I could make a door for us.” Searching through the gear, Nomli pulled his crossbow out. He put a little clothe on the tip. It started to burn, and he shot it down the hall. Mar’iya grinned. A shimmer peeled in reality, as he created a portal for us to move to the halls end.
The chamber at the end was cross chamber to the hall. It was filled with a statue of Set and four birdlike demons. There were all on pedestals. Oni could see a possible gap beneath the statue of Set, “that looks just like the pit in the Temple of Set.” Each of the pedestals had something etched into them, but they were too far away to read. Over each demon bird hung two leather pouches in different colors. They were orange, yellow, green, magenta, white, blue, black, and violet. David thought the black one looked like the one his dead double had on the glass days ago.
In almost the same fashion he might rip off his shirt, David charged the black pouch, “BLACK POUCH!”. The beasts came to life. David grabbed the pouch and disappeared in the blink of reality. Oni looked at the moving creatures grabbed Arnia, knowing she was slowest in the group. He hoped falling back stopped the attack or at least gave them a moment to regroup. Mar’iya grabbed Nomli and followed Oni through the Portal.
The beasts did not follow. Looking through the portal they all went back to their statue selfs. Oni looked over to Mar’iya, “I wonder if we do not get to close, if we can go back down.” Mar’iya stepped back through. Nothing moved. Nomli and Arnia stepped through. Oni did not like this place but stepped through to follow the others. Mar’iya looked north and south, “we should check these two halls.” Oni shuck his head. Each direction was yet another dead end, in doors they could not open.
Once back in the room, Oni stared at the Statue of Set, “I think the way out is in the pit under Set, like the temple we were in.” Mar’iya looked almost through Oni, “sure. Let me see if I can figure out a way to read the text first. He stood stoic, something seemed to project from him like a bug construct. It buzzed up to the pedestals and he could read them. The words were prosperity, disease, envy, magenta, pain, divinity, immortality, death, plague and Set’s pedestal had the phrase, “only with defeating me, you can choice one treasure. choice wisely.” (I do not think this is right)
Oni went a little closer to Set, “I can push him back and we can get into the portal.” He did swing step to build up magical power and hit Set with a blast of force. It slid back almost five feet. Oni jumped up to land right in front of it. The space and portal were not present. When the Set statue smashed Oni, Oni screamed, “we brought you into this world you thankless fuck of a god.” In near shock Oni died.
He Stood next to David just to the right of the model in the hex room. David explained that he thought it was a death puzzle. They had to make the prophecy true. David had the black leather bag and now they needed to die. In turn they all arrived at the Model. Mar’iya was the last to die and so the last to join them. Once he did the black pouch David held changed to the small red gem. He placed it in the model, making the fifth lit hallway go dark.
Into the final Portal
Feeling no security, they all headed without a word to the final portal and stepped through. There was an acidic taste on the tongue as they passed through it.
The group arrived in a huge chamber. Multiple lights sources in all colors came from all directions. A voice only familiar to Mar’iya or really only known to Vashir’s his inner self. Lyra spoke in her assured voice, “everything we did led to this spot. We do not have time. We must shut down the engine that powers the protective ring.” She ran off to the right. Just in front of the group was a pulsing ring. Lyra did something with her powers and a set of creatures became visible. They were standing next to this closest ring and giving it their life force.
There were six clockwork like humanoids, and some non-colored dragon above. Oni had the same idea as the rest of the group and tried to clean out some of the clockworkers before the drake. A couple dropped but they grouped up into almost a perfect cone. This cone became filled with energy. Oni danced to the left. He was not affected but the rest of the group was. Oni moved up to engage the drake directly, placing himself in harms way. David slowly healed the group bringing them back into the fight. Once back into the game, the group with Lyra’s help killed the dragon and the last of the clockmen.
Lyra drove the group forward, “we must hurry. We have almost no time.” Oni was worried they were being driven and not thinking clearly. He stopped her and yelled, “I know you are used to being in charge, but I am in charge here.” To Oni it looked like she pouted a little, even stamping one foot as she spoke back in the most condescending way possible, “fine… you stay here and lead, I am going to move forward and possibly win.”
The group, even the defeated Oni, charged off with her.