Half-orc and half-elf together scan the floor and spot an easily ignored glint of mithril beneath a collection of broken glass retorts.
Lisbarr goes to look at the glint.
... and finds small shards of mithril that writhe away from his touch.
Appearing that he is no longer needed during the rest, Rothel decides to join the other two within the portal. Hopefully they have not gotten themselves into any trouble.
Rothel emerges into a ruined laboratory and discovers two of his new found companions staring at small bits of mithril. The pieces writhe slightly.
Shy mithril? Lisbarr considers the bits.
"It's alright! I won't hurt you."
He turns to the others. "What do think these are?"
"Mobile... Malleable... Mithril? Unusual."
"I may have encountered something similiar before." He muses.
Although definitely magical, the bits aren't exactly alive. They have been enchanted to stay apart and to remain un-noticeable. Whoever did this hadn't counted on Lisbarr and Norrin's astonishing perception skills.
The invoker sees no reason not to pick the bits up.
There are six fragments in all. Placed together they repel each other, but in the sets of three they attract. Rothel and Lisbarr between them can easily sort the sets out. The attacting sets seem to be trying to form shapes of some kind, but lack anything to attach themselves to.
Norrin holds up the key he fished out of the fungal vat with one hand and the shiny key from the bodak's neck with his other hand.
The fragments of mithril pull hard towards the keys in Norrin's large grasp.
"The keys seem to unlock the way forward."
The ranger brings the two key together with the fragments.
The tops of the original keys now show the face of the Devourer in once case and a grinning skull in the other.
"Interesting objects, these, perhaps you know to which lock-blocked portal they belong or are they metaphorical clues to something deeper?" He questions, half to himself.
"Envisaged keys must surely bear some greater symbolic signifigance. If the crafter of these environs put faces on his keys only to remember which door they open, then I fear he may not be the consumate schemer of evil he is made out to be." Rothel muses, beginning to doubt the appellation of mastermind that has been given to Acererak.
"If the crafter of these environs put faces on his keys only to remember which door they open, then I fear he may not be the consumate schemer of evil he is made out to be."
Norrin shrugs, "I hope that's the case." He frowns, "Or maybe he wants us to think that."
"But he is evil, and, therefore, should die."
Lisbarr looks around to check that the other have all arrived.
"From whence have you come?" the young woman asks the newcomers, "Your aid is welcome, in any case. I am a stranger here too."
"Now, half-orc, one must always be careful in the assumption of an enemy's motives. For we fall into a familiar trap. If we assume that he wants us to think him that stupid, then we counter, by acting converse to his assumption that we would fall for his ruse. Carry this on infinitum until we reach what is known as, in academia, The Vizzini Conundrum, a known logic fallacy." Rothel warns scholarly.
"As in answer to your query, M'lady, despite it being a non-answer, I come from mortalized aether in a layman's sense. I have no birthplace, nor homeland, I just am. What brings me hither, is a different matter. My former self, of which can be glimpsed within my spirit companion, was akin to disreputable acts. This has led me here in an effort to find a connection and make right what has once been wrong." He states plainly, as if it fully and obviously answers the question.
Faint but most unpleasant laughter echoes gently around the chamber, stirring the debris on the floor.
"Ah, you are kami." Akemi says with comprehension, and bows slightly to Rothel.
"And what of you?" she asks Lisbarr.
The hobgoblin keeps silent watch during the conversation. Puzzles are not for him.
Lisbarr gives Akemi a long look.
"I do not believe in the inherent goodness of people. I know from bitter experience that those you trust most can betray you. Do not believe that I trust you all fully yet.
"And yet, I also know that there are some rare few who will fight the evil in this world even if it means their death. May be you are of their number. I am.
"As to why I am here: I followed you. We followed you". He indicates Rothel. "I smelt the curse that lead me to this place and on the way I found an accomplice.
"As we went though room after room of broken creatures, I began to wonder whether what I would find was another ally, or something even worse, some creature intent on taking over from whatever is here. Now that I am here... I do not think it is the latter. I hope it is not the latter."
He looks questioningly at the others.
"As we went though room after room of broken creatures,"
"Good times," and with a grin on his face, the half-orc is lost in reverie.
"I began to wonder whether what I would find was another ally, or something even worse, some creature intent on taking over from whatever is here. Now that I am here... I do not think it is the latter. I hope it is not the latter."
At the thought of taking over as the new dread lich, Norrin vehemently shakes his head, "Inconceivable!"
Faint but most unpleasant laughter echoes gently around the chamber, stirring the debris on the floor.
The laughter appears to have no source. It seems almost to be woven into the fabric of the room.
Norrin notices that the now-familiar pit trap exit is rusted and poses little threat.
"Are we done here?"
"Let's go back to the main portal room."
"Is that where the doors that belong to these keys reside, or do we know where these keys go at all? The way you found and gathered them, I assumed that you had intentions for them from the start." Rothel questions.
Lisbarr gestures to Norrin and Lyan.
"You'd better lead for now. I need to know more before I can say where is best. But I suppose you want to find where the keys fit."
"Let's visit the face in the wall first." (Because no climbing is involved.)
The party gather themselves and make their precarious way to the top of the passage leading to the wall-filling image of the Devourer.
Rothel scrambles across the runic prison and pauses for breath on the other side. Despite his best efforts, he is extremely bruised.