Donnell's eyes follow the slowly rising torch: "Neat! I wonder how it knows whether we want to go up or down?"
He ponders this for a few seconds before shrugging. Pointing at the plug in the wall: "I expect that something terri... er, interesting happens if we pull on that." A gleam appears in the little one's eyes: "So should we do it now or later."
"I say do it now. Want me to handle it?"
Shrugging: "Works for me." Glancing toward the Shoanti and making an aborted gesture toward the middle of the room, Donnell briefly considers advising them to stand near the blue disc, in case they have to make a quick escape. Instead he frowns at them, squelching the thought: Probably they'd just think I was impugning their bravery.
Turning away, Donnell takes a position near the opposing wall , and trains his crossbow on the opening.
Little Dove pulls an unstrung bow from her quiver - a bow that couldn’t possibly have fit within the container, yet there it is - and strings it. Drawing an arrow from the quiver, she takes up a position similar to Donnell’s.
Her concern for her people is evident as she looks at the Shoanti observers, at the blue disk, and toward the ceiling... but she says nothing aloud.
Seeing no disagreement, Thod approaches the plug.
The plug sits ominously in the wall and Thod gives it his absolute best. First off, it's not like it has a handle, it's a huge rock stuck perfectly into the wall to plug some hole.
He starts yanking at it, and when it becomes there is no trap or funny business, it's just a bunch of rock, he gives it all he's got.
Eventually he realizes that this plug is likely several tons. Even the world's strongest dwarf would be unable to move it.
After about the fourth pull, Donnell puts a hand on the dwarf's shoulder: "O- Okay Thod. Thod! It's fine - you're going to hurt yourself!"
Seeing the look of stubbornness in his friend's eye, Donnell realizes he'll just have to wait until Thod stops on his own. In the meantime, he'll light his pipe and have another look around the room.
The room is unremarkable except for the glowing shaft of floaty light and the gigantic stone plug blocking whatever exit lies east. A hall leads to the north.
"UUURRRGGGHHH!"
"NNNNGGGGHHHH!"
"GGGGRRRRRRHHH!"
*Pant, pant, pant*
"Okay, that's... unmoveable. Let's head down... thataways. I'll take the lead... Right after I catch... my breath..."
And Thod takes a sip from a flask to assist in recuperation.
Thod strains and heaves at the plug but it is unfortunately just completely beyond the strength of a single dwarf.
With the plug staring belligerently at you, you'll need to find another way to get it out or go through it. Alternately, you can continue down the passage to the north.
Donnell makes a circuit of the room while Thod struggles, tapping here and there on the walls and floor, but finding nothing of interest. At the end of his loop, Donnell gives the frustrated warrior a pat on the shoulder and, gripping his pipe between his teeth, flips his rope around the stone, ties a quick knot, then tosses the other end into the blue light.
"Alright, then," tapping out his pipe and stowing it yet again, "Let's be off, shall we?"
So saying, Donnell leads the way down the passage to the north.
"Yeah... Good... *pant*... Idea..."
The tiny human woman watches this with a bemused expression, half expecting the dwarf to actually accomplish the task of moving the massive plug. She's very careful not to react when he surrenders, turning to look at the newly-chosen path.
*sniffsniffsniff*
The rodent huffs, "Squeak!" and climbs up to Little Dove's shoulder.
Little Dove looks at Ivory, clicks her tongue a few times, and shakes her head. "I'm sure I do not know. We will aid as best we can."
Daeshna, having remained silent while gleaning a feel for her new companions, finally chuckles a bit as she watches the Dwarf struggle. "Don't be self-conscious Thod, I'm sure it would take a giant to move that thing." She turns to follow Donnell.
Unable to help themselves, the Sklar-Quah also give a shot at the plug but it'd be like one person moving a house. The damn thing is just far, far too big.
You head northwards into a vault full of crushed skeletons, which is encouraging.
A jumble of five crushed humanoid skeletons lie in the
southeast corner of this chamber. Stone niches in the southern
wall contain a few pieces of clutter.
A passage through the skeletons and clutter leads eastwards.
Little Dove keeps an eye on the skeletons for any signs that they might animate. She follows the lead of the others.
Donnell asks the group to hold back a minute while he checks for traps. He'll search the niches while he's at it.
Donnell's searching is fruitful as he digs through the clutter, there's actually quite a bit of stuff here. As Little Dove looks to the east, the Sklar-Quah follow her adn just stare with their jaws dropped with no real opinion on the looting the joint.
You find:
- A bottle of air
- A decanter of endless water
- A sustaining spoon (producing a delicious mush I call root marm)
- two scrolls of clairvoyance
- two scrolls of sending
- two scrolls of dimension door
- +1 magical beast-bane dagger
- +3 claok of resistance
- scabbard of keen edges
- a pair of sapphire earings likely worth thousands
- various ancient dinnerware of some value
- a bejeweled holy symbol of Lissala
As Donnell and Thod scoop up the goodies, Little Dove peers eastwards to see what the SHoanti are gawking at in the next room.
The walls, ceiling, and floor of this chamber have been painted to resemble a starry sky, giving the illusion of walking through space. A ten-foot-diameter stone sphere floats five feet above the floor near the room’s southern wall. Three short metal rods protrude from the lower hemisphere, radiating outward like a tripod, only the rods rest on empty air rather than a solid surface. The sphere appears to have been carefully carved with tiny rivers, mountains, oceans, and forests.
"Oooooohhhh.... Bet it's a trap."
Portioning out the various treasures into packs and Bags of Holding, Donnell glances up to follow the Shoantis' gaze into the next room. He suddenly freezes, his jaw dropping. Shoving the remaining things into his pack with much less ceremony, he scrambles over to the doorway: "L-let me just have a quick look for traps, before..."
He trails off, hardly daring to take his eyes off the sphere as he looks around the room:
Looking closely at the carvings, Donnell wonders if he recognizes anything from the maps he's seen ; or if he recognizes something about how the sphere itself is constructed/used .
Donnell carefully looks over the room and the spinning sphere in the centre. After a short while he realizes this is actually a globe of Golarion. It appears to be a map of the ancient world. However, it is inaccurate. Much of the world appears shadowy and indistinct and Avistan, the continent upon which you stand now, is just wrong. The Inner Sea is entirely missing, and Varisia is mostly landlocked beyond a narrow southern coastline. Other strange differences are everywhere.
There appear to be no traps. Just this strange globe.
Donnell frowns at the globe: "Huh - well, I guess it makes sense that an ancient temple would have an ancient map in it. I wonder if I can find where we are..."