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Reluctantly, you return back to the audience chamber. The man walks with you and closes the door behind you, "Good luck, adventurer's. You know where to find me when you have done what you have needed to do." He shoos the helmet to follow you, "Go Steward - go be useful over there."
The room is colder than you remember it, and you feel a lingering sensation like something or something is watching you again.
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"WELL, IF YOU ASK ME (NOT THAT ANY OF YOU DID) I WOULD SUSPECT THAT THE OLD GOAT WANTS US TO ELIMINATE HIS COMPETITION, AND PERHAPS PROVIDE HIM A WAY OUT OF THIS FUN HOUSE BY WEARING ONE OF US LIKE A SKIN SUIT, LIKE HIS FRIEND DID--FORTUNATELY I'M SIZED 'BIG AND TALL'. Pietro says angrily shouting the last sentence to the ceiling.
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You hear a sign through the door behind you, "I heard that."
The helmet follows Will as he takes the final yellow mark, "Well, it seems like Togarin was not excited to see us. I wonder why."
Aproaching the yellow door with the symbol, easily unlocks your way forward. Opening the door, you find a plainly adorned chamber that contains two five-foot-wide pillars of billowing smoke, the north yellow and the south green.
The helmet sighs, "Vuzhon was the trickiest of the apprentices, always playing games, relying on tricks to outwit her competition. Unfortunately, I do not know where these portals go."
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You chose the yellow mist, and cationsly step through. Your vision blurs briefly, but you take another step and you are in another room. Faded frescoes cover the walls of this cold, dank hallway. They show skeletal warriors garbed in the fluted ceramic plate armor of an ancient empire. The floor is decorated in mosaics of various blue stones.
As you all enter the mist, there is a small flash of white light.
At the end of the room, with his ear up agasint the wall, you see the familiar shape of Rozimus. He seems to be curiously inspecting the door frame. "Mmmmm, there must be a keyhole somewhere, who makes a door without a doorknob? Hmph"
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You chose the yellow mist, and cationsly step through. Your vision blurs briefly, but you take another step and you are in another room. Faded frescoes cover the walls of this cold, dank hallway. They show skeletal warriors garbed in the fluted ceramic plate armor of an ancient empire. The floor is decorated in mosaics of various blue stones.
As you all enter the mist, there is a small flash of white light.
At the end of the room, with his ear up agasint the wall, you see the familiar shape of Rozimus. He seems to be curiously inspecting the door frame. "Mmmmm, there must be a keyhole somewhere, who makes a door without a doorknob? Hmph"
"NO MATTER. I'VE BROUGHT A FEW DOORKNOBS WITH ME. Pietro says stepping through, and looking meaningfully a certain members of the party. He steps up to the man at the door and harangues him loudly. "LISTEN HERE YOU SKIN-SUITED, TIME-LOCKED, WIZARD FREAK! WHAT'S ALL THIS ABOUT!? AND NONE OF YOUR ARCANE DOUBLE-TALK, OR ELSE!"
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The skeletal warriors are all dressed in old Azlanti memorabilia, you think they perhaps are some form of royal guard.
The man ignored the hushes halfling, while concentrating on his work. But the booming voice from Pietro catches the man off guard and he jumps nearly up to the 20ft ceiling in this room. "WHAT THE...WHO...HOW DID YOU SNEAK UP ON ME LIKE THAT?"
A plume of yellow smoke begins to rises from the floor.
Pietro see's the man take out an ioun stone, similar to the one your party has, and press it on the doorframe. "THIS HAS TO WORK!" As you watch the image of Rozimus fade through the door.
The door in front of you stands bare with no keyhole or marks, strange yellow carvings run around it's edges.
The yellow smoke begins to enter your lungs. You can try to hold your breath, or battle through it.
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The doors ahead opens, and eventually the smoke dissipates. The room ahead is almost impossibly long. Bells and strands of beads hang thick in this corridor.
You watch, as another image of Rozimus, carefully makes his way through the interwoven mesh of trapped wires, and through to the other side, opening the door.
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Telos looks at the bells and then takes a glancing scan over the party. Uh oh... you all think you can squeeze through this?
He moves forward, stepping lightly and keeping his eye on the bells.
Just take pauses when you need to and do NOT move forward when you're not sure...
See, it's nothing if you take your time...
He looks at the cleric again and grimaces.
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Pietro visibly sours at this development.
He sheathes his broken morningstar, and mutters a curse.
In his mind, Pietro imagines one way he might get through. If it weren't for all of this magnificent muscle mass.
He offers up a few quiet prayers to his god, takes a bite out of a nutri-grain bar taken from among his rations, and....
... begins tumbling, leaping, and cartwheeling like a drunk baboon with two clubbed feet through the obstacle course. It's like watching a confused aurochs crashing through a glass shop.
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The halfling almost looks away as Pietro starts through the course, but each clang and clunk brings his attention sharply back to the source. With each look he winces and grimaces.
Welp, if we can't get out of this time trap we can at least send some noise signals out to the standard cosmos timeline.
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Most of you get through various wires and gatches flawlessly, and wait patiently at the door while Pietro does his warm up stretches. You watch as the cleric takes a few steps forward without triggering anything, the confidence booming on his face. He gives you a thumbs up. He then takes a few more carefully placed steps, and before you know it, something triggers and he falls flat on his face, his large torso propelling him forwards through the various gadgets.
You open the door.
This passageway runs west and east, with a door set in the north wall efore the corridor turns to the north. Arches on the far east wall lead to a darkened chamber that periodically flashes with colorful bursts of light, casting the corridor in shifting shades of pink, scarlet, dusty rose, and incandescent blue.
The symbol on Telos's hand begins to glow bright red.
An impossibly old man, with snow white hair holds a wooden staff at the end of the hallway. He looks frail and like he is bearly standing, yet a sense of dread washes over you instantly. He talks slowly, but with a real weight to his words, "Watching you, I have been. Come from the outside world, you have. Changed, things have. Why have you come?"
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Most of you get through various wires and gatches flawlessly, and wait patiently at the door while Pietro does his warm up stretches. You watch as the cleric takes a few steps forward without triggering anything, the confidence booming on his face. He gives you a thumbs up. He then takes a few more carefully placed steps, and before you know it, something triggers and he falls flat on his face, his large torso propelling him forwards through the various gadgets.
Pietro moonwalks back to get the others first. Then, for added difficulty--he comes back blindfolded.
And through it all it is so silent you could here a pin drop .
**GULP** Ahhh.
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The halfling holds up his hand for his companions to note the glowing rune.
Yes! Yes... but we also seek to understand the time trap that this entire complex is trapped in. So... whatever evil helps us escape will likely get a chance to get out as well; and then perhaps we could defeat that limited evil.
He speaks the last part under his breath. He casts detect magic and looks for signatures defining the light show behind the old man.
He looks down at the helmet on this shoulder. So... you have any idea what he might be up to here, besides watching us?
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As the man speaks, you cannot hear his words as the silence spell is still active on your cleric. The old man cocks his head, recognising the spell and swiftly waves his hand casting a powerful arcane spell, which those with arcane prowess recognise to be a very non-aggressive dispel magic.
You then proceed with the converstation.
The man listens carefully, and replies slowly, "Remain dead and buried, we shall. Time the upper hand on us, it has. As fooling as Vuzhon who has momentarily escaped this prison, I am not. Doom myself to death as Togarin,i will not. Intent on staying here, I am. Become my eyes and ears, you will." He notions to the ioun stone which you are carrying, "A key you have, to be my loyal agents. Unlimited magical secrets in exchange, I have."
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The old man snickers at Sewards comments, and chooses not to respond. Rather, focuses his attention on the small helmet above Telos's shoulder. "Messengers. Tell me of the outside world trade in return knowledge and Azlanti wisdom, I shall. For brining these to me, I thank you Steward."
The helmet rattles on the spot, as if happy to receive the gratitude, "Master Daegros! I am so happy to see you alive and well. How many years has it been, since... Never mind that, what do you need us to do?"
The staff bearing mage arches his back, and you hear a loud crack. "Too long, my friend. Kill Togarin, you will, and all this power shall be yours."
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"Ooohkaaaaay." Pietro says in the tone of someone who wants to be giving his fellows a sideways glance while spinning an index finger around one ear.
"BUT WE'LL NEED SOME PLACE TO REST FIRST. AFTER ALL IT HAS BEEN A VERY TRYING DAY, AND I SUSPECT YOU'D WANT YOUR ASSASSINS IN TOP FORM TO STOP YOUR RIVAL." says the haggard-looking cleric.
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The wizard slowly walks over to the door immediately to your left and opens it. "You can use this room, if you wish. Vuhzons old waters they were. Need them anymore, she doesn't."
This posh bedroom looks like it was recently ransacked. Numerous ancient books litter the floor, and piles of papers with arcane markings are spread haphazardly across the chamber. A hideous monstrosity crafted from body parts stitched together with thick string, wire, and metal staples stands in one of the corners.
"This will do. Goodnight." And he closes the door.
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Telos' attention immediately snaps to the monstrosity in the corner as they enter the room.
I don't know what the collection of parts is, but it looks gross. I wouldn't touch it...
As the wizard shuts the door, the halfling lets slip a Hey, wait!
He checks it to see if they're truly locked in for the night.
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Telos chuckles, pointing to the fleshy thing in the corner. Yeah, can you imagine one of those with my body and Pietro's head? Anyhow, I agree. We haven't been convinced that we'll truly be granted a restful night. But can we return to the surface using our Ioun stones...?
He thinks a bit longer, ruffling through is pack.
I suppose one other option, is that I could use this scroll of Wall of Stone to partition us off for a period of rest? If we could clear out half of the room or so to keep away from the less savory things in this room...