Selena nods. "I suppose I have just learned to trust my intuition more than anything else. To me, the shards seem dangerous and frightening. If there were a way to break them quietly, could we do so then?"
Lash turns so that the mirror is to her back.
"Besides, even if they're not gateways, can't wizards spy on people using mirrors. If we're so worried about the sound of broken glass, think about this. Someone could be watching our every move and laughing their a$$e$ off at our sneaking around."
Selena smiles at Lash's description. It sounded more humorous than serious to her.
"That might also be true." She looks at the soldier in their company, wondering what he thinks about the mirror shards.
The door to the room swings open easily and a small groove on the floor shows it's frequent use as the opening door catches on a upraised portion of stone as it passes over the top of it.
The large room you've entered is obviously another storage area, this time it looks like for food stuffs. Stored in large wooden bins all over the room, is a great quantity of grain -- you see wheat, dried corn, and barley for the most part. Also in these chambers are grinding bowls and utensils for creating things out of these dried grains. A fine powder of crushed grains mixes with the normal dust settlement in the tower to create a thin layer of white over just about everything in the room. Various low stone tables act as stations for crushing and making various foods and goods (flower, tortillas, gruel, etc.), all of which are completely covered with the combined dust/powder.
Propped atop a bin in the center of the room, facing the doorway, is this room's shard of mirror glass.
Other than the bins of dry grains and the various work tables and implements such as bowls, crushing and mixing utensils, and the like, there is nothing you can find in the room. No chests, drawers or other areas for storage are found.
The room does not look like it's been entered recently. There are no footprints in the dust/powder other than those you are making in your search of the room.
Nothing magical shows in the room other than the shard of mirrored glass.
I still think that there would be something specific to detect if these shards were the focus of a divination, Lash. Although, I must say it is a fine theory. Perhaps you should take up the study of the arcane. Your mind is definitely quick enough for it. Nevertheless, he continues, hardly pausing for air, If I had an hour undisturbed with one of these shards, somewhere quiet to work, and perhaps a bit of aid from the lovely Selena, I might be able to provide us with a better answer to this conundrum, but unless you all wish to take the time to make that happen... He leaves the rest unsaid as he amuses himself by using prestidigitation to conjure miniature whirlwinds around the room, throwing powder across the reflective surfaces of the mirror, as well as himself and the rest of the party.
"They all seem to be facing doorways. That's another thing that makes me wonder if they are still used for transportation (or escape)." Selena nods to Thantos.
"If we had more time, I think it would be an excellent idea. I could assist somehow. Theras too."
Armand raises an eyebrow at Selena's statement.
"Transportation? An interesting theory. Certainly Selena has a point about the mirror glass shards being perpetually pointed at the entryways into the room...at least most of them."
"Certainly one thing is clear, these shards have been placed into these rooms by someone or something. They are no accident, and that alone makes me leery about leaving them behind. Certainly that Baboon Demon we fought downstairs had some way of moving between rooms...and a way we have yet to have found for ourselves despite the searching we've done. Obviously I cannot rule out a more normal means of transportation, such as a secret door we failed to find ourselves, but with each room having a mirror shard in it, it is interesting to consider transportation as being a possible use for the mirrors."
"Thantos, I know you've been studying these mirrors magically in each room we've encountered them in, have you seen any residual spell effects on these mirrors? Is it possible for that creature to have been using these mirrors for transportation through the tower?"
This room is identical to the last, same shape, same size, same contents. Other than some different small piles of different kinds of grains and the amounts in each, this room acts as the same kind of storage room as the last.
More stone tables, mortars and pestles, and other grinding / crushing implements lay scattered around as haphazardly as in the last room.
A thorough search turns up little more than the grains and implements. The room's mirror shard is stacked in the same place as the last room's, propped atop a bin facing the doorway.
Dirk knows very little about the arcane arts, so he quietly listens to the on-going conversation about the mystery of the shards before offering his observation.
"We've learned that these shards are pieces of one, or more likely several Mirror's of Life Trapping, and, if my understanding is correct, these are typically used to trap one or more prisoners... and if the 'mirror' is broken, which these clearly are, the prisoner is released."
Dirk, rubs the stubble on his chin with a thumb as he considers the mystery.
"How could this mechanism be used to facilitate dimensional travel? Could these broken pieces still have the power to 'trap'? Perhaps allowing someone, or something, to intentionally trap itself and then subsequently release itself via a separate shard?"
"If this is possible, that is, to travel via broken shards, then are we serving any purpose by breaking them further? Are we simply creating more gateways for these creatures to travel by?"
Intrigued, Dirk walks over to the mirror and scrutinizes the shard. Leaning forward he tries to look beyond his reflection.
As Dirk steps in, breaking Mird's concentration, he shakes his head a moment and puts his hand on Dirk's shoulder. "I was wondering the same thing my friend."
The both of you take your turn looking into the mirror, each of you straining your perceptions beyond what you're seeing, trying to "look past" the reality and into what may be lurking beyond.
Unfortunately whether your minds cannot grasp it or whether these mirrors are, indeed, just mirrors, your experience is the same as those of any other morning where you've woken up and looked into any other normal mirror.
All you see is the room behind you staring back at you. And your somewhat battered reflection mirroring your concentration.
There's something about Dirk and Mird looking into the mirror that makes you remember a recent event in the tower, something about your first encounter with the creature that is swimming around at the back of your mind but not quite coming to the forefront...a piece of information that your subconscious does seem to think is at least noteworthy.
The actions of Dirk and Mird bring back a memory to you of several hours earlier when the Demon Baboon first appeared and attacked you.
When you entered the room, there was no baboon, at least not one you could see or hear. It wasn't till you looked into the mirror and saw it standing behind you.
It may very well be that the creature has some amazing skills or some inherent abilities like silence and invisibility or hiding/sneaking skills, but it does occur to you that the creature's first appearance came about not because it walked into the room or flopped down from the chimney, but because it appeared, behind you, as you looked into that first shard of mirror.
"For some reason, I feel that the smaller shards are less dangerous than the larger ones we found. Which is why I keep breaking them. But I will wait and see what you all want to do."
Whatever it is that's at the back of your mind, it refuses to come to the surface. There's SOMETHING about Dirk and Mird looking into the mirror that triggered something in your mind, and it's obvious from Theras's reaction that your Familiar has noticed it also.
(I'll leave it here till we determine if Theras has the ability to communicate or not.)
"We're a bit worse for the wear, aren't we Dirk? Heh." This unusual display of humor from Mird catches himself off guard and he smiles sheepishly for a moment, then he steps back as Selena looks at the mirror shard.
As Theras flutters around the mirror she imparts a feeling of pain and surprise into your mind, finally flitting back to you to land on your shoulder, your injured shoulder.
Selena reaches up and touches her shoulder, surprised at the pain she is suddenly feeling there. "What?.."
She tries to determine how she got injured.
"Whatever you all are doing... stop! Something's going on."
Selena, are you well? Thantos' usual academic detachment is gone in an instant, replaced by genuine concern. Has something happened?
The elf quickly speaks the now familiar incantation to detect magic and scans the room for any new auras.
Dirk smiles and shakes his head in agreement with Mird's observation, just before hearing Selena's anxious voice.
His warrior instincts go on full alert as he immediately grabs for the pommel of his weapon. "What is it!? Are you being attacked!?"
Mird says nothing, but at the sound of Selena's minute gasp of pain, nocks an arrow and immediately starts looking around the room.
As he looks around, bow readied, he steps closer to Father Armand.
Ok, hold up. No your shoulder hasn't suddenly been injured. The injury you suffered from prior in the adventure...
I realize it's been a while, but you took damage earlier in the tower...
Check page 54 of the thread and move on from there.
"No, no. It was nothing... Just pain. A warning, I think. In any case, I don't think you should be looking so deeply into the mirror shards. It does not seem like a safe idea."
Let's keep moving then, shall we. And for whatever reason I think Selena's right. We should avoid staying near these shards for too long, just to be on the safe side.
Dirk visibly relaxes as he nods at Selena's comment and snaps his weapon back into it's sheath.
Then looking at Thantos he says,"I agree with the Mage. We'll have to keep moving if we're to clear this place before dark."
Realizing that the third floor is mostly clear at this point, at least to your knowledge, Lash leads the party up the central staircase, up the next flight of stars and into the 4th floor stairwell/landing.
The air is slightly warmer up here given your memory (from viewing the tower outside) of the lack of windows on the floor and the fact that heat rises. The solid walls of the stairwell block out all but the loudest of sounds from the storm outside, which has recently been receding in violence over the last hour or so. It won't be long before the snows have blown themselves out.
Fatigue is starting to settle into all of you. Given last night's interruption with the attack by assassins, and this morning's rush away from the patrols tracking you and into this tower, along with the simple fight against the cold and snows and your adrenaline peak starting to subside from the earlier battles in the tower, your legs feel leaden and you each long for a warm bedroll, even though it's only about 5 in the afternoon.
Coming up the stairs to a 10x20 foot landing, you see a single door leading into the rest of the tower. "First floor was for Guests, Second floor for Servants, third floor storage," you think to yourselves, "wonder what this floor holds."
Waiting for all of you to gather on the landing, Lash quietly checks the door for traps and steps back, allowing Dirk to push through first...
Into a bare Antechamber. This is nothing more than an empty "room" between the other chambers and hallways of this floor. There is no furniture and, surprisingly, no shard of mirror glass.
Three doors branch off into other sections of the tower's 4th floor awaiting your search.
"I know this is probably the worst time to bring this up, but some of us are getting tired. This is the first large room we've come across without a mirror shard. Can we set up camp here?"
Still waiting for some kind of direction to take you guys in for the new floor.
Anyone?
"I don't know that I'm comfortable sleeping yet without checking the rest of the rooms."
I am weary as well, but I still maintain a significant amount of arcane energy. Let's complete our search of the tower. Then we can rest.
Selena nods. "Alright, yes. I think I can go a little farther."
"We'll rest soon, better to be sure this level is secured before we do." Lash says to Selena before approaching the next door.
Selena nods, but drops her backpack carefully on the floor.
She follows the others, less weight on her shoulders now, calling heavenly fire to her hands as they prepare to open the next door.
The six of you crowd into the small antechamber and wait for Lash to check the door into the large room to the south west of where you're standing.
Nodding her head once, Lash steps back to let Dirk open the door and lead the way into the room.
The room is large, easily the size of a small cabin. 30x50 and richly decorated and very stylish. It contains one very long table and ten expensive and at least comfortably looking chairs. Laying flat on the table is the predicted shard of mirror glass.
According to some of the documents you read and the descriptions Halya's notes on the Mirror gave, you are led to believe this is the room Halya set up to store/observe/study the mirror that was brought to the tower as a "gift". Conspicuously, the only thing here is a shard of mirror glass, no frame, or other signs of any kind of magical mirror are here at all.
Your use of detect magic confirms your suspicions, there is no magical mirror in this room, other than the softly glowing shard on the table as you are used to by this point. Completing your magical search of the area you are almost ready to turn your attention back to the group when you notice something extremely faint...
As you turn toward one end of the table, you are shocked to see a dim faint lingering magical aura hovering in the air above the far end of the table. The aura is large enough to cover the table to about 5 or 6 feet in length and about 3 feet across.
The magical aura is dim, very faint and almost dissipated at this point. Again, surprisingly, the aura identifies itself as strong abjuration when studied...this is consistent with a mirror of life trapping.
You sit stunned as the faint aura continues to dissipate in front of your eyes. The blood stains in the tower must be at least 3 - 4 days old given the conditions. This means either the mirror is currently in the tower and was recently moved, or you're dealing with an item of overwhelming power.
Selena's eyes glow a soft silver color as she casts detect magic to look around the room.
She frowns as she detects a larger magical aura than the one the small shard should have.
"Thantos. What's wrong with this picture. You are more skilled at the arcane than I."
Thantos casts detect magic as well.
Hardly more skilled, Selena, just focused in different areas of the Art. This is a faint signature of abjuration, or protective magic, possibly the lingering aura of the mirror of life trapping, but considering the age of the bloodstains we have encountered, and this aura's rate of decay, either it was just here, or it is immensely powerful. The elf frowns and looks around nervously. I'm not sure which possibility frightens me more... Could the mirror still be intact?
"It's possible that the mirror was something other than a mirror of life trapping. Perhaps something more like an artifact? Is the aura that powerful or can you tell?" With her distrust of the shards already, she shudders a little at the thought.
Mird keeps his eyes and ears open with an arrow readied.
As the group moves into the room carefully walks the perimeter checking for any sign of danger.
Armand listens intently to the conversation between Selena and Thantos.
"The only thing living we've found in this tower have been creatures, most of which are non-magical. The baboon on first floor definitely has the capability of moving objects like a mirror around, but not really the intelligence...I would expect to have found the mirror laying broken somewhere, or the baboon having been sucked into it. In either case I would doubt a common ape enough intelligence to move a mirror like that from this room to somewhere else with the kind of precaution it would take not to get trapped itself."
"The ooze we ran into certainly couldn't do much with it...not only could it not "carry" the mirror around, it may even have damaged it...or as likely gotten trapped itself."
Thinking a bit he continues "Actually, I'm going to say nothing short of something with at least average intelligence would or could have moved whatever the device is without ensnaring itself."
"That leaves whatever that demon baboon creature was on second floor. I know little about what that thing was, but it certainly didn't strike me as intelligent enough to go about moving a mirror around the tower. It was obviously aggressive and hunting us, not trying to protect something. While it may have the ability, I"m not sure it had the motive to move a device like that."
Looking concerned Armand turns to Thantos and continues "Given what we've found so far, I would have to assume the mirror was moved by whatever cleaned up the tower after the initial slaughter...and that would have been days ago. As stated, an aura lingering that long would identify an item of immense power, much more powerful than perhaps just a normal mirror of life trapping."
"Whatever Halia and Retamerion ended up dealing with, they were WAY in over their heads. And I'm starting to wonder if we're not getting there ourselves."