Before you lies an expanse more vast, desolate, featureless, and alien than any you ever saw in life. Its immensity is not betrayed by sight, however, but by feeling, for what you can see is more akin to looking straight at a yellowish beige sheet of paper a handspan from your nose than it is looking out upon a sandy desert large enough to dwarf the mountain at your back.
There is light here. Not from any particular source, but rather from the air itself, or whatever it is that fills the space not occupied by solid bodies, and which you draw into your lungs without quite feeling satisfied. The light casts no shadows, and it makes you feel as if you are floating deep under the surface of an ocean of light, where only the sickliest and dimmest of rays make it all the way down here.
Behind you is the black, ragged maw of a tunnel entrance. Ten-by-ten feet, it twists upwards at a steep angle, quickly escaping the feeble illumination of this unreality. It is the rock itself that is black. Utterly, completely black. But still rock, the texture of granite, with its myriad facets catching the light, insofar as the elusive light permits.
Above you, far beyond the edge of vision, stands the peak of the mountain; near all of the massif extends below you. The size of the mountain is felt rather than seen.
Below you, about five feet under you feet, is a smooth platform, hewn into the black rock, interrupting the mountain's ascent. You are not flying. Merely standing in the air, five feet above what looks like solid ground. And you can move as you were used to in life; forwards, backwards, side to side. But not up nor down.
Yes, something is certainly not right. This, this abomination, is not Valhalla, as you were promised in life.
A stout pale dwarven-looking man looks around, then down at his chest where he pulls a jagged shard of wood out of his right side, leaving a creepy bloodless gap in his left side . "This isna right. Since I same ta have been stabbed to death there should be one last glorious contest before feasting and merriment in the halls of Valhalla. Now I can't even seem to touch the ground." he gives a hard kick as if he were jumping of the ground only to flip over and land squarely on his ass, but still several feet off the ground. A hissy feminine laugh off to his side interrupts his muttering.
"SseeeSeeesSeee It ssseeemsss we have sssome time to reflect on our livessss and how well we ssserved our godsss before we take our ssstand in the Arena. It would ssseeem there are two optionssss open to usss. We can either explore thisss mountain from the outssside or follow the tunnel into the mountain. I perssssonally believe that the arena musssst be at the end of the tunnel."
"I am inclined to agree with her lady-lizardship" a young man with eyes that seem to crackle with lightning says calmly. "Our final trial must be at the end of that tunnel. So if you would kindly get up off your, I expect incredibly hairy, ass, we can all proceed toghether. Or the lady and I can go alone if you would prefer to stay here to complain..." he trails off his last though as he begins to walk towards the tunnel entrance.
"HRUMPH! I suppose that's a reasonable course of action. Lead the way, human." The duergar grumbles as he stands up and follows his new companions towards the tunnel in the mountain.
As Ekan steps beyond the tunnel entrance, solid ground remaining several feet below the soles of his boots, he finds the light remains the same dull one as outside.
Once Ekan has made it about 90 ft in , he sees the tunnel widen, and possibly leveling off.
"See Thangardt, this isn't so bad. We're already closer to the ground and at this rate we'll be on it in no time any you'll have to find something else to grumble about."
"There's some strange red glow up ahead" Ekan says softly back to Jasaka as he motions for her to slow down. Then he begins to slowly make his way to the point where the tunnel widens.
Standing here, it is clear that the tunnel does not widen, it ends. It ends in a room, 30 ft tall, and wider than you can tell. In two parallel rows, about 30 ft apart, 15 ft to the left and right of the tunnel exit, stand leviathans, reaching all the way to the ceiling.
Looking at the closest ones, it is clear that the red glow is coming from these enormous statues.
As the three study the room ahead of them, Thangardt mutters "These daena seem to be mere statues. See how thar joints are not smooth like a statue wad ba. I dea think these are golems of saem sort."
"Then I suppose we must announce ourselves to them," Ekan says matter-of-factly as he steps into the room. The statues's unexpected movement has an unnerving effect on him that is clear as his voice catches in his throat. uh, we, um, that is to say we...We're looking for the Areana. Is...eh...this the right way?" he manages to get out as he takes a few more tentative steps into the room.
The three begin to slowly make their way through the room, keeping a warry watch on the statues. Ekan continues asking his question, getting more confident (and more annoyed) every time he doesn't recieve an answer.
The golems remain silent, and keep following your movements.
The fifth golem along the row you are following is missing. In its place you see an ornate sculpture of sorts, about 6 ft tall. Beyond it, the rows of golems continue as before.
Although Ekan seems quite content to move straight through this room in this quest to reach the Arena, Jazaka and Thangardt are becoming interested in their odd and unexpected surroundings.
"Ekan, it will not hurt to slow down for a few minutes to look around this room. We will have all of eternity in Valhalla. Delaying the Last Challange will not hurt anything."
Ekan scowles at Jazaka and begins to protest "The La-"
But she cuts him off before he can get two words out, "Plus, the gods clearly intend for us to walk through through this passage first. It would be improper to ignore their wishes by blindly moving towards the Arena." Although not sufficient to convince Ekan that he wants to spend time looking around more carefully, this argument is enough that he slows his pace so as not to get out of sight of his more inquisitive companions as they slow down to look more closely at both the golumns and the statues and the sculpture.
Upon seeing the sculpture up close, Jazaka immediately begins climbing up it. "Look Ekan," she says as she briefly pauses to shoot him a with a wry smile, "this is even intended to be climbed."
Climbing the sculpture, Jazaka sees that this is actually a wide bowl, about about 12 ft in diameter, and 2 ft deep. The bowl's surface is smooth, but matte, as opposed to the more reflective surface of the mountain rock surrounding you. At its center rests three sets of dice; a pair of four sided dice, a pair of eight sided dice, and a pair or twelve sided dice. They are sized for someone significantly larger than Jazaka.
"Thangardt, you should come up here." she says as she steps up to the rim of the bowl. "The top is actually a giant bowl and there's several pairs of dice. I'd like to know what you think of them." While waiting for them, she contemplates if she has any context for them, particularly for the lizard gods she's familiar with.
Thangardt suspends his inspection of one of the golumns to climb up the sculpture and join Jazaka. He too racks his brain for what this could mean.
"ehh...hmm...let meh thing on this a moment"
Ekan turns around and lets out an annoyed sigh, waiting for his new companions to stop playing around and continue onwards.
While Jazaka draws a complete blank on this, Thangardt, through a series of intuitive leaps, figures that these dice are connected to some cosmic game of chance. They are not associated directly with any known gods of the pantheon. He surmises that the stakes are related to the die cast; more sides go with higher stakes.
In the lore of your world, the Arena was to be a neutral ground on which to prove your worth, with no advantage or disadvantage dictated by your moral inclinations. As such, Thangardt does not expect whatever game of chance the dice belong to to be biased one way or the other.
"Thes dae seem ta be some cosmic game of chance. Tae bigger thae die tae bigger tae stakes." He walks over to the dice and lifts one of the eight sided ones to roll it, "I thank the middle one daes suit me."
"Ekan, this may well be part of the Arena, are you really going to just stand there scowling?" Jazaka says as she follows Thangardt to the center of the bowl and briefly considers her options. "Well, if I'm going to do this, might as well go big..." and picks up a twelve sided die.
Ekan grudgingly climbs the sculpture and slowly trudges to the center to scowl at the dice for a second before picking up one of the four-sided dice and quickly rolling it.
The effects are instantaneous, and Ekan gets to reconsider his play.
Thangardt stumbles and moans when the effects of his roll hits him while Jazaka stands a little taller, basking in her new-found vitality.
Once the dice are at rest, they seem no different than before; as far as any of you can tell, there is nothing stopping you from playing again. Nor is there any indication that you are obliged to roll the dice anew.
"Hmph. See nothing. I don't know what you two are all flustered about. Now can we continue on to the Arena?" Ekan grumbles as he climbs back down and impatiently waits for the others to finish screwing around.
"Thangardt, are you ok?"
"Aye.......just......need.....ta....catch...mae..breath.." he says as he slowly gets his breathing under back under control. "I think mae die twas a tad unlucky. Perhaps yours shall be a tad better."
He picks up one of the twelve sided dice and rolls that, hoping for better luck this time.
Apart from you three's shenanigans, the hall remains quiet.
After waiting a few moments for an effect sighs and says, "Eh...it didna seem ta do anytheng. Meybe it needs ta reset moer?" He and Jazaka climb down and then Thangardt climbs up and tries rolling the d12 again.
"Really? Why must you continue to play with these stupid toys?"
As the echoes of Thangardt's dice and Ekan's beratement die down, the hall returns to its quiet, red-sheened gloom.
Thangardt sights as he once again sees no effect from his roll. "Perhaps it's just one roll per die type? Or per participant." He regretfully says as he climbs down. Looking at Ekan he adds, "eh...best make thet willing participant."
"Now if we can finally move on?" he says annoyedly.
"Ekan, you really need to relaxsss a bit. Thissss took all of two minutesss and I'm sure the godss intend for usss to usse them ssssseing asss they put them here. Perhapsss asss a final trial or preperation before the Arean." she says irritably as she and Thangardt follow Ekan, keeping him just at the edge of Jazaka's vision.
"Or perhaps it's intended as a test to see who is truly committed to reaching Valhala and who just wants to play around." he mutters just loud enough for the others to hear as he leads the way forward.
Ekan tries to quietly make his way through the rest of this room and into the tunnel beyond, though his companions soft conversation just behind him makes that ineffective. He stops just outside the next chamber to look around.
As Ekan reaches the end of the large hall, leaving the red glow of the golems behind, he sees a smaller chamber open up after a short passage.
From his vantage outside he can barely spot two paths leading out of the chamber; one upwards, along a rickety ladder, and one down along a stately double helix staircase.
Ekan can smell a faintly musty, closed-in kind of smell, stronger closer to the ladder. He also senses a very gentle breeze coming up the stairs.
Ekan quickly assumes that they are clearly supposed to take the staircase down to the arena and heads towards them.
"Ekan, we ssshould at leassst ssee if the ladder leadsss to anything before you go galavanting onwardsss." Jazaka walks to the ladder to take a closer look at it. Assuming she thinks it's sturdy enough to support her: "Thangardt, I will sssee whatsss up there if you will check down thissss well?" she says as she begins to climb up.
"Aye Thet seunds like a plan." Assuming he thinks the ladder looks sturdy enough to support both him and Jazaka he climbs down. If he's unsure he'll hold the ladder to provide her with a bit of extra support while she climbs.
Ekan rolls his eyes and grudgingly waits at the top of the stairs for his companions to join him.
Thangardt only finds sullen well-water.
Jazaka, on the other hand, after making it up the ladder, finds the source of the musty smell. Whatever it is the ladder leads to, looks unmistakably like a library, stacked to the brim with all sorts of papers, tomes, scrolls and parchments. Some are neatly arranged in shelves, while others are stacked in tall, gangly piles from floor to ceiling, precariously balanced against each other.
From Jazaka's vantage, several paths seem to lead into the library, and it all vaguely resembles a maze, the passages being rather narrow, and quickly turning to obscure her view.
After sloshing around in the well-water for a few moments Thangardt concludes that there's nothing interesting in the well, "Nothin but water don here. But Aie did get meh monthly bath." He begins climbing up the ladder after Jazaka.
"Thangardt, there's a library up here! I'm going to take a closer look." She begins to follow the path closest to her.
Ekan gives an exasperated sigh and mutters to himself "Well, if they're going to go off exploring, I may as well scout ahead." He begins sneaking down the stair case. If he sees anything odd or potentially threatening he'll take a few moments to examine it more closely at the edge of his vision before getting close enough to examine it closely.
In every crack there is a form of paper sticking out; this library is filled to the brim with works of untold origin. The light is just the same as elsewhere, and with the shelves and piles blocking the view it's impossible to get a feel for the scale of the place.
When getting closer to the shelves, Jazaka can tell they are hewn from the strange obsidian rock this whole mountain seems made of.
Thangardt has better eyes than Jazaka, and unless she took off running, he can see the flick of her tail as she disappears behind a corner.
As Ekan ekes his way down the stairs, he can sense the draft of cold air coming from below, but nothing else.
At the bottom of the stairs, a smaller tunnel leads further down, and back under the floor of the dice game .
Jazaka begins following the passage straight ahead of her, excited to get to the middle of the library.
Thangangardt hustles to follow the familiar tail as it disappears behind a corner, giving a longing look at all the books he's forced to walk by. "Eh, Jazaka, no need ta rush...there be so many books here...mayhapse we shuld look at some."
After waiting a few moments at the bottom of the stairs to convince himself that there is nothing of immediate interest down here, Ekan quietly makes his way back up the stairs to see what's taking his companions so long.
Jazaka, making her way through the stacks of books finds nothing she isn't looking for; the passage continues ahead, though she spots, just around the corner, the edge of a particularly large pile of books on the floor.
To Thangardt, on the other hand, the shelves are a treasure trove. Just to his left , there is a book with the enticing title Maximize Thine Investigative Prowess - 100 Tippes To Unravel The Mystery. Nestled in the crook where the shelves bend to his right, the book An Adventurer's Guide to Survival catches his eye, and all along the shelf Jazaka just passed, books like Doth Thine Nemesis Leave No Fingereprintes? Freteth No More, Herein Thou Shalt Find Thine Answer, and Wheneth and Whenethn't to Expect the Inquisition, and Rearrange the Range of Thy Ranger Bow, all seem just ripe for reading.
Ekan makes his way up the stairs, stumbles a few times, but other than his pride bruising, he reaches the ladder up whence Jazaka and Thangardt vanished.