Setesh nods to his compatriots.
"Well then, since there is only one way forward, let us proceed!"
True to his word, he strides forward, morningstar in one hand, keeping an eye out for traps and secret doors...
The group moves down the tunnel of hewn stone carefully, checking for anomalies or traps as they go.
After travelling about 50ft the tunnel fans out into a large chamber with a chest at it's center. Lining the walls are hundreds of keys on hooks.
Noor lets out a sarcastic laugh. "Hah. Well, the key is here."
"Perhaps the key will be magic. If I could look at these and see if....oow.." Noor feels something shift inside her...expand...suddenly her vision shifts. The ioun torch and Jaru's shield still shed light but it is more of a color that they give off. She gazes around in amazement...Am I seeing magic?
She scans the keys seeing if magic, if that is what she is seeing, is present. She will also walk to the chest and then look for any variation in the keys that might match its style of construction and design.
"I dare say that this is another test. We should be careful."
He then glances around the keys along the walls, seeing if anything in particular sticks out...
Perhaps we should start with the keyhole..." Jaru inspects the chest.
perception
Jaru and Noor inspect the chest and find it wholly unremarkable. It is of wooden construction, the seams reinforced with poor quality iron - strange that it has not rusted in the years it has lain in storage. The keyhole is as though that you would find on any inn door.
Setesh regards the keys on the walls and finds that each is peculiar in their own way. The teeth are variable in number and length and the shape of the key head changes from key to key. Some are circular, square, solid, hollow, some have inset gems and precious stones. You do find one peculiar item, a dead scarab upon the floor.
A little puzzled as to what should be done, Setesh spends some time inspecting the dead scarab...
He then shrugs, before returning to looking at the keys on the walls...
Tarik is agape at all the wondrous events of the day. He follows the rest of the group into the large room, and his jaw drops as he sees the manifold collection of keys. "By Nethys this is yet another astounding thing! I...I...need to calm down." Taking a deep breath, Tarik begins scanning the magical auras in the room, analyzing them.
Setesh searches the walls and manages to find a key that matches up pretty closely with his recollection of the key from the diorama.
Setesh suppresses a shiver.
"This scarab is exactly like the ones that the 'horse' melted into!"
He then focuses on the room full of keys, eventually finding one that matches-up with his recollection of the image from the previous room.
What the heck...
Biting his lip, he then takes the key, and tries it on the lock on the chest...
The key does not turn within the lock.
Jaru frowns, "Perhaps this too will open to the name of Anok Fero?"
The chest sits motionless at Jaru's words
I have no skill in picking locks but maybe I can force it with my dagger...
"This may sound odd, but what if the scarab is the key? Before trying hundreds of similar keys, perhaps we try the one item that is un-similar."
Noor moves over to the scarab. Using the wide, flat of her blade, she carries it over to the chest. She pokes it toward the keyhole feeling a little foolish, waiting for it to do something.
Noor plays with the dead scarab, but is unable to coax any reaction from the chest.
Jaru will try lifting up one end of the chest.
Jaru attempts to move the chest by lifting near the base. Despite adopting a pose that would be laudable under the Osirion Warehouse Workers Guidelines Subsection II-3A with knees bent and applying force vertically through the trunk of body - he is unable to move the chest. It is implacably secured to the floor.
"Eeeermmmmfff." grunting makes you look stronger. Jaru fiddles around with the trunk wondering if there are any trick levers.
Motioning Jaru aside with a sympathetic smile, Setesh attempts to lift the chest from the top...
The lid of the chest creaks open as Setesh lifts it. Though there was a lock upon it, it must not have actually been locked.
Within the chest lies an embossed tray with four key shaped hollows. The underside of the chest's lid has an inscription.
والثاني هو للقبيح الدم الحمراء، ويلقي في الحجر الأسود
والثالث هو ليلقي اشعاعا قوس قزح ،
والرابع هو من العدد، على قدم المساواة من ثلاثة جوانب
(Ancient Ossirion):
The second is for the fiend, blood red and cast in black stone
The third is for the radiant, rainbow cast
The fourth is from the number, equal on three sides
(Having already found the first) Setesh eagerly searches for the other three keys, and places them all within the appropriate hollows...
"Hah! It seems we are too clever for our own good. A good show though, Jaru. Let us help Setesh find these keys."
Jaru looks disappointed. "Humf, I was hoping for a more interesting display of arcane warding. Maybe the spells have all dissipated over time. I don't know why they bothered with a lock though if they did not wish to use it."
Setesh shrugs.
"This was probably just intend as a 'mind' puzzle. Most people, when confronted with an apparently 'locked' chest, and a room full of keys, would naturally assume that they needed to unlock the chest, wasting precious time...
...for all we know, there might be some sort of 'timer' effect in place, which causes something nasty to happen if people linger too long in this room..."
The four keys are sorted out from the myriad of choices and matched by description and shape to the hollows within the chest. As the lid closes light shines from the seams of the chest for a few moments and you hear an audible click as though tumblers within a lock rumble closed.
The walls of the chamber shimmer as though a mirage and are replaced by four door sized corridors, three bathed in wan light while the fourth is in darkness. Clockwise around the room, the corridors are suffused in muted lights of blue, red, white and black.
A sibilant voice sounds out from the chest.
لأول المؤمنين يواجهان
والثانية لزجاجة المخفية وحشية
ثالث سائح في هذه الأراضي
المخاوف التي الرابع الذي يختبئ في الظلام داخل(Ancient Ossirion):
The first for the two faced faithful
The second for the bottle hidden savage
The third a tourist in these lands
The fourth fears that which hides in darkness within
Interesting...
Setesh starts to look excited again.
"It would appear that the next tests are individualised; I will translate what the voice said:
Four have come and four ways lie forth.
The first for the two faced faithful.
The second for the bottle hidden savage.
The third a tourist in these lands.
The fourth fears that which hides in darkness within."
He then heads in the direction of the 'red' corridor, before pausing, and turning back to the others.
"See you on the other side!"
Noor turns and stares and the dark corridor and in a deadpan voice, "The Gods are cruel...and very prescient. Seems they have been waiting for us."
She sets off for the dark tunnel. See if I ever share my fears again.
"A white light in a tunnel, within a strange dungeon? I must admit a small amount of fear, friends. I press onward, however! My adventuresome soul demands it."
"AH! Now this is a most wonderful diplay of eldritch power. A personal trial devised by the ancient pharoahs. Nethys look favorably upon me."
Jaru eagerly enters the blue corridor.
Anyone who glances at the other members of the party see them fade away as they enter their corridors. Except for Noor, who seems to step through a solid wall of shadow.
It draws ever nearer and you can hear it's susurrant growling and raspy sound of it's lungs drawing air.
arcane know
He addresses the figure, "Greetings! What sort of manifestation are you? Will you reveal my trial?"
Rather than seeing with your own eyes, it is as though you view the magical threads that bind everything together. The man before you is no longer plain in appearance - his left side is wreathed in flame, a display of overt power; while his right is smooth and perfect, softly glowing with power. "It regards us through our own eyes. What are your thoughts mortal? Why have you come?"
"Greetings! My name is Setesh. Who are you, and what are you working on? Would you like some assistance?"
Thrusting a hand behind him and pointing unerringly at a distant vial that sits alone he sneers "Tell me, what do you see within that mixture? Is it what you seek?" then his hand whips back before him to continue working. In the short glimpse you had of his fingers they looked overlong and with wickedly hooked fingernails.
Memories of her failure re-freshened, Noor knows what she did wrong. Her impatience and ultimately anger were her downfall. She knows what she did wrong.
Noor falls to her knees. Her sword held point down in front of her. She waits to be addressed by the voice, she will not invoke its ire...yet.
The entity speaks, a rough sound as though the words are being dragged over stone as they exit "Child of the تنين, mountain dweller. Why are you here?" At it's words, it is as though a fire is sparked within your belly, slowly gaining in heat and intensity.
This is a test, after all...
"We, each of us, struggle to find our path through life. Truly, some of us take the path less traveled, but that is better than never bothering to try... What is important, is to remember to be true to oneself, regardless of what that 'self' might be. The flesh, after all, is but a vessel, and does not determine whom, or what, we are."
He then cautiously goes over to look at the indicated vial...
The vial indicated is a small stoppered beaker finished in smoky glass.
As you peer within you make out a tiny animate figure trapped within. You watch as the figure distorts from a near-human appearance to a hulking bestial form. Grotesquely oversized muscles bulge from it's form and claws like sharpened machetes hang from it's fingers. It turns to face you and issues what you think must be a primal bestial howl, though no sound can be heard through the glass. The figure then melts into a few ounces of viscous red liquid.
In your best examinations this seems beyond what you believe alchemy is capable of alone. There must be some additional magic involved.
I know that it is possible to render-down the essential salts of beasts, so that they may live again for a short time, but this sort of entrapment is beyond what I can achieve...
...I think it would be better to think of all of this as a magical creation, which is meant to reveal something about me, and my... habits...
Choosing his words carefully, he then speaks.
"It is both - The flesh is a vessel, which holds the spiritual essence of a being.... and vessels may hold elixirs which can alter that flesh, enhancing certain characteristics, as needed. I know what I am, and I am not afraid of it. The Beast does not control me."
In a slightly gentler tone the man continues "What brings you to the vault of Anok Fero?"
"No doubt the key is your goal Though not your only You also seek the of the far past" the figure holds its hands to the side, balls of light form above each palm. One roils with destructive force, whilst the other is smooth perfection "What would you do with power unrivalled?"