There is nothing here. Let's move to the door.
Gezzo moves down the hallway. He looks over the door and then raises a hand to concentrate on what is beyond.
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There's something...something powerful...on the other side.
He makes a quick sign across his brow and asks for assistance from his god.
Flug follows quietly, head bowed and his cloak of darkness hiding his expression.
I am standing with the rest of the group at the southern door watching Gezzo. I start thinking and piecing together previous bits of information from the last few days and it suddenly dawns on me what the key to this may be! I say to my companions,
Hey, you all! I just had a thought! Flug, back after the fight when Jost was killed and you looted his body, didn't you find a circular amulet with depressions and projections on one side of it? And Celif, when you inspected this door the first time, didn't you mention finding a circular depression with surrounding shapes? Do you suppose the amulet is the key to this door? I bet Jost stole it from the Abbott after he killed him! What do you think?
I pause for a response, then go on to say,
And maybe what's behind this door is the solution to restoring the balance of the elements in the temple - the Light and the Dark.
"I did..." says Celif thoughtfully.
Something conjured is on the other side. I don't know what, but it doesn't seem to be evil...or good for that matter. We should proceed with caution.
Gezzo speaks as he makes some arcane signs in the air.
Flug quietly hands Imowen the amulet.
Gezzo looks back at Imowen and then gives her a nod in the direction of the door.
Well...give it try. he says in a whisper.
I look at Flug then the amulet, Gezzo then the door. I walk over to the door and find the circular depression on it, and after looking at the amulet I place its uneven side against the depression, turning the amulet until it slips into the shaped depression!
It fits! Here we go . . . I say as I push against the door.
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Imowen approaches the steel door and inserts the medallion of the amulet into the circular depression. A slight humming sound is heard, and then the amulet falls free from the door. Almost silently, the door rises vertically and disappears into the top of its frame, and a bright light emanates from the room beyond.
The room is cubical, 35 feet long, 35 feet wide, and 35 feet high. Steel doors are present in the middle of the east, south and west walls. The room is lit with the glow from a crystal orb atop a strange device in the center of the room. The walls, floor and ceiling of this room appear to be constructed of a hard glass-like white substance. They glow with a diffuse light that emanates from all directions.
I peer into the room, my mouth hanging wide open from watching the door open and then seeing the amazing interior! I say, Hey you all, check this out! It's awesome!
I slowly walk into the room and head toward the device in the center.
Let me take a look at at.
Gezzo looks around the corner of the door into the room. He then carefully proceeds towards the device in the center.
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Imowen enters the room in a carefree manner, not even checking for hazards or traps! Fortunately, nothing adverse happens as she approaches the strange device in the center of the room.
Rufina seems mesmerized by the room. She slowly enters, and when halfway to the device she kneels on the floor, closes her eyes, raises her hands toward the device, and begins a whispering chant...
Nastrod, Gezzo and Lryhla approach the device, and begin examining it:
Lryhla sniffs it, and then seems bored...
Nastrod and Gezzo note the following about the features of the device:
- The orb atop the device glows faintly with a white light, occasionally flickering in intensity.
- A large gauge of some sort is present on the face of the device, it's measurement arrow pointing to the left.
- Across the bottom front of the device are five circular openings. Two openings appear to have white crystalline objects inserted into them, while the other three openings are empty.
"Wow," Celif says breathlessly as the room as revealed. She brings forth the ability to see magic, and looks about the room.
She cautiously follows others into the room and begins studying the various features.
She looks closely at the gauge. "Perhaps this indicates balance? Or rather, the lack thereof?"
Gezzo looks at the dials and gauge. He taps the surface of the gauge and looks to see if the needle moves.
This doesn't look like it is functioning at full strength. I don't know if that has anything to do with imbalance, but if we could get it working it might make a difference.
He walks around the room looking for something that might fit the holes along the bottom of the device while making his way to the nearly invisible, floating object. Once there, he examines it closely.
Celif peers at the meter again. "I'll take your word for it, I don't know anything about this stuff. I just thought maybe this was light at one end and darkness at the other, and the pointer was supposed to be centered."
She looks up from the gauge and watches Gezzo for a few moments. "What are you doing?"
There's a...thing...here. Gezzo responds to Celif. He points a finger and moves it in a circle outlining the object. It's got to have a purpose for this machine. I just don't know what...
He talks absently while looking around for the reason of the objects movement.
Flug follows and takes a look around before standing in a corner. The glow inside the room only makes the shadow that covers him more eerie.
Celif blinks at Gezzo, then looks where he indicated, trying to discern the "thing."
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Gezzo and Celif point out the presence of another object in the room to the rest of the party. It is very difficult to see as it is almost the same color as the white light emanating from the walls, ceiling and floor. Near the ceiling, in the southwest corner of the room, you see some sort of tiny, faint glowing object. It is a round shape no larger than an apple, that moves slowly, stopping occasionally, then moving some more.
Gezzo reaches up and gently touches the object.
What are you? He quietly says as he studies the floating object.
"Maybe it goes in one of the empty cubbyholes in the machine?" Celif offers, trying to be helpful. "I don't know what thing thing is, but a conjuration aura fills the entire room... I can't even tell where it's coming from."
"And there's something else," she says as she looks at the machine thoughtfully. "I don't usually pick up on sub-schools, but... Instantaneous Creation's involved somehow."
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Gezzo extends his hand towards the glowing object, and it swiftly rises upwards out of reach. It begins flickering, its emanating light changing from gentle pulses to brighter sparks of light, as it makes noises no louder than a whisper...
"Shh! Listen!"
Gezzo quickly withdraws his hand as the object rises. He looks up at the object and talks over his shoulder.
Well that would explain how this place was made, Celif. The aura is all around us. The room was constructed completely by magic. But, whose magic?
After the initial amazement wears off, I come to my senses and follow what my companion are saying and doing.
To Celif and Gezzo I say, Perhaps that floating object is spying on us, watching us.
Then my attention is draw to Rufina, still kneeling on the floor chanting. I say,
Rufina, why are you down on the floor and what are you doing?
"Sounds familiar. . ."
"Shh! SHH!" Celif scolds, frowning and straining to hear the sounds from the floating object.
Then she scrambles over to look at the cubbyholes in the machine. She touches each of the three empty spots in turn.
"It's speaking Celestial. It says we have to replace the three missing white crystals. It's... unbalanced and weak."
She stands and returns to look up at the thing. "మేము ప్రయత్నించండి. వారు ఎవరు లేదా వాటిని పట్టింది పేరు మీకు తెలుసా?"
Her brow furrows as Celif tries to think back to her lessons. "My Celestial's not so great... some of the finer points... I wish I'd paid more attention in class."
She turns to the others. "I asked what happened to the crystals, where they went. It says a man took them... or maybe 'man' like living mortals, the two noun forms are really similar. Anyway, it says they were taken through the... 'other' doors?" She looks around in an effort to understand.
Flug points at the other steel doors on the walls of the room, different from the one they came through.
Examine the door that closed.
"That can't be good," Celif says quietly.
"A-ask the light. Or ch-choose a door."
Gezzo cocks an eyebrow at Flug's sudden desire to take action. He then turns to the door to the east and cautiously approaches. He looks over the door carefully and then raises a hand as he whispers familiar incantations.
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Celif nods and looks to the light again. "ఏది? మరియు మీరు మేము వచ్చింది తలుపు దగ్గరగా వచ్చింది?"
As she waits for a reply, she searches her memory for anything that seems like this phenomenon.
Then a thought occurs to her. "నువ్వు తాకే అనుకుంటున్నారా? నేను టచ్ ద్వారా ఇతర సంస్థలకు గురించి తెలుసుకోవడానికి."
There's a strong aura behind this door. What is it...
Gezzo says quietly as he leans closely to the door and concentrates.
The magic beyond this door appears to be the same as the type in this room. Perhaps what we seek is beyond it.
Gezzo says as he looks for a way to open the door.
After seeing the door we came in close, I proceed to thoroughly check out the other 3 doors to see if there is a way to open them.
Perception: East door:
West door:
South door:
Then I check the door we came in through.
Perception: North door:
Celif frowns. "It says... I'm not sure I understand, it says the crystals went out all the doors." She goes to examine the front of the machine again, then looks around the room. "One crystal through each door?"
"It said it didn't close the door we came in, I asked." She turns to the others. "Friends... whatever this thing is," she says, gesturing at the floating object, "it's very weak. Sick. If we're going to help it, I think we need to hurry."