The fire expands until it fills the whole room, killing you all instantly
The End
dnE ehT
The light reverses, winding back time, and the chamber is as it was, with everyone intact.
Thetsu looks around the room and waltzes on down. He seems completely at ease and is having a great time.
Olsson moves cautiously after Thetsu for a bit, then heads off to spread out and look around closer. When he gets closer to the strangely colored fire, he studies it for a while and Splinter leaps from his perch atop Olsson's pack and floats lazily over towards the odd flames.
He points to them and everyone can "hear" his cheerful voice saying helpfully, <This is all wrong. It must be some kind of ancient and sinister arcane funnel from a hostile dimension. Does anyone have a means to take it with us? Or, point it at something to annihilate in atomic hellfire? Oh, we'd need to widen it, of course. For the full effect. Olsson is making me stop talking n-> before he stops suddenly, and they no longer hear his jolly voice in their minds.
After a few minutes, Splinter "says," <It could also simply be magic fire. No abyssal-funnel-mass-destruction-phenomena>
Donovan looks around.
This appears to be some kind of heatless flame. Dorla knows that this used to be a fairly common magical source of light, though this doesn't quite fit the reports of what that effect looked like (the flame here is much bigger, for example, the size of a bonfire rather than a torchlight).
Everyone else' keen eyes, meanwhile, notice that the blaze pulses, almost rhythmically, and for a split second shifts to a pure white when it does.
"The last mysterious fire we encountered exploded." says Donovan. "Any indication this will be any different?"
Donovan throws a piece of cloth into the flame.
It flutters to the ground and sits in the center of the bonfire, unburned. Donovan notes that even though he moved slightly closer to toss the cloth, he still feels no heat whatsoever from the flame.
Dorla passes along that this is not unexpected, everburning flames were notable for giving off no heat.
"An ere' burnin' bonfire, eh? Strange."
Assuming you venture deeper in, you notice a umber of buttons on the far wall. They seem at odds with the surroundings, a pyrmaid of stone with very advanced technology grafted into the walls.
"So... Is there any point to this thing or is it here just to look pretty?"
"A constant light sounds useful." Thetsu resists the urge to mash the buttons on the far wall at random.
Two arrows seem to control the fire. Making it grow or shrink. A third serves a less clear purpose. It would take a more in depth analysis of the inner workings of the machine (requiring you to dismantle it), or simply pressing the button.
"I think we should push the button. All of them. At the same time."
Olsson scratches his beard as he thinks on this, the little dwarf standing a few inches above his shoulder mimicking the gesture, then says "Well now, Oi' dunnah' know 'bout all o' them, but surely we can learn a bit more from some...'hands-on' investigatin', aye?"
Dorla presses the third button, and the fire turns white while growing to its maximum size inside the "fire pit". It launches into the sky, creating a great column of light, blindingly bright. It seems you found the beacon that drew you here in the first place.
Thetsu promptly fixes his goggles over his eyes after the burst of light.
"What in the..." exclaims Charlote as she quickly tries to cover her eyes...
... but she is caught by the blinding light.
"Arg! I can't see a blasted thing!"
Once the spots clear from (most of) your eyes you notice that the light has started pulsing again, sending a bulging beam of light into the sky in 6 second intervals. As the portal stays open you notice something forming in the sky, a crack or seam in the air that slowly widens...
"ACK! What in damnations!?!!"
Charlotte hears Dorl and clumsily extends his hands, grasping the air multiple times before grabbing the extract.
Olsson regards the strange aperture as it forms, stroking his beard, then says nonchalantly "Aye, now that's strange, it is; very strange."
As she drinks the concoxtion and his vision returns, Charlotte smiles "I feared I was going to remain blind."
Now that she can see the fire turned white she steps closer to see if it peovudes heat or remains as before.
It gives off some heat now, but not as much as you might expect standing near it. As she gets closer however the temperature spikes with every passing inch. She gets the feeling that standing TOO close (within an inch or so) would see her turn to ash in the heat.
"Interesting." mutters Charlotte before returning. "What could be the utility of a harmless fire that turns harmful with a button?"
The exotic clothed woman takes a crystal mask from his backpack and dons it before sniffing the air, trying to perceive if there's any smell of fuel or propellant.
Meanwhile she walks around the room's walls, testing blocks of stone and sectors of it in search of a hidden door, passage or more buttons.
"Did any of you see if the fire came from a hole or it simply materialised there? Now it's a tid bit too warm to check."
"Seems like magic to me! Though the buttons make me believe otherwise. Maybe we should look for an alternate path?"
As you discuss things, the mysterious aperture in the sky opens slightly wider. A metallic object begins to become visible through it.
Olsson eyes the widening portal, then observes the metal object with suspicion.
At this distance, even with an object that large, Dorla's eyes can make out few details except that the object is quite large and appears to be exuding a faint (by comparison) light of its own.
The portal opens even wider.
"Whatdya make of that?" Thetsu looks at his friends in turn.