The curtain on the other side of the room leads out on a similar balcony like the one the stairs come up to. Just on this side it looks out over the Sea of Fire, an endless burning ocean that leads out into the wilds of the Plane of Fire.
All three doors that are left to explore are thoroughly locked with an arcane lock.
"I agree with Rayhan, let's start our search from the sky to the bottom. According to the riddles, were brass meets the sky is where we have to search. And we are currently at the top, so let's start searching here." Ohrmizd goes forward and tries with the next curtain to reveal the balcony.
"Another astonishing view of the city. And look, those flames there... it just looks like an actual sea. A Sea of Fire..." the Kheleshite comments "Still, I don't see anything that resembles an eye"
Looking back through the curtains "Can you look at the reflection Omari? Only Heshan, Khedron and myself we have looked at it. Maybe your reflection will unveil some more clues."
"Still looks like old man. No mysterious guy looking back at me." Rayhan replies after double checking.
"More like a Sea of Brass. But Sea of Fire rolls off the tongue better," Heshan nods in agreement. He frowns at the arcane lock. "I can dispel the arcane part if you want us to explore the remaining doors."
Omari and Khedron join the party in the room with the mirrored walls. Omari pauses to see if his reflection changes, as Ohrmizd had suggested, and then replies to Rayhan,
..."It would be ridiculous if if just were in the next room."
"I wouldn't put it past an efreet's sense of humor to send us searching the whole place."
and then to Heshan,
... "I can dispel the arcane part if you want us to explore the remaining doors."
"Let's look for other traps and wardings first, and then you can try. If the magery doesn't succeed, I could ask erastils's blessings to reshape the stone wall and get in that way..."
12 rank +4 wis+5 racial+2 Hunter's blessing
No traps are found on the doors.
"I can try to dispell the lock too. But I don't think stone shape will get you anywhere on those brass walls. It would be easier if I had prepared a knock spell or two."
Living brass has hardness 15, 30 hp per inch of thickness, a Break DC of 35 + 10 per additional inch of thickness, and Climb DC 30. Living brass is impervious to fire damage or heat of any sort. Other energy attacks deal only half the damage they normally deal against objects when used against living brass. Living brass repairs itself at a rate of 1 hit point per minute until it has resumed the shape into which it was originally forged. Due to its uniquely created nature, living brass can have other distinct qualities as well.
Bayt al-Bazan (the place where you are) is a massive efreeti citadel in the Noble District of the fabled City of Brass on the Elemental Plane of Fire. The palace is constructed entirely of living brass and abuts the great brass wall that encircles the city, overlooking the surrounding Sea of Fire. Its highest dome rises 250 feet above the surrounding streets, and it includes a sublevel that lies below its foundations. Each level is 50 feet high with 40-foot ceilings and 10 feet of living brass separating one floor from the next, providing an extremely open and airy atmosphere for the Large-sized efreet who called it home. The living brass walls vary in thickness from a foot to many tens of feet. Doors are of living brass 6 inches thick, and have a handle on each side. All doors have locks, though most of the keys have long since been lost.
"Ok" Ohrmizd turns towards the southern door and extends a hand while holding the holy symbol of his shield "Sarenrae, in your Everlighting Glory, restrain the bounds that keep us from finding the truth" the inquisitor unleashes the knock blessings of the goddess trying to open the way forward.
With the arcane lock suspended, Ohrmizd pushes the goddess magics against the mundane lock.
"Impressive." Heshan looks in awe. It seems like every day that Ohrmizd does something new he hasn't seen before.
A bed composed of hundreds of overstuffed cushions and richly woven comforters occupies the far wall of this opulent chamber, positioned beneath great bay windows that overlook the city below. A golden censer hangs from the ceiling, giving off a heady scent. An elaborate tea service and hookah rest on a short parquetry table at the foot of the bed. Wardrobes hold exotic noble outfits sized for an elemental giant. Two magnificent tapestries of prodigious size adorn the walls. One depicts an elegant sky citadel in an endless cerulean expanse, falling in flames to a horde of efreet and their fiery minions. The other depicts a powerful efreeti noble leading an army of undead horrors across a barren desert landscape.
Ohrmizd nods satisfied as the door is forced open "Let me help put some furniture here so the door does not close accidentally"
The Kheleshite will look for one of the opulent chairs, divans or other manageable pieces of furniture here to place it holding open the door.
Then, he takes attention to the wealth inside "This is worth to a king of fire. Wonder if the artifact is somewhere around"
Helping himself with detect magic, the Kheleshite thoroughly searches the room.
While Ohrmizd is distracted by the bounty of possible loot, Omari is looking for the slightest hint of danger...
12 rank +4 wis+5 racial+2 Hunter's blessing
After casting a keen eye over the room, he says "Even with handy haversacks and extradimensional storage, we can't carry all this away." He pauses and looks to Rayhan, "Unless you have some mageries to transport objects?"
"You have some mansion without furniture?" Rayhan inquires. "Also it might be fitting for this palace where the walls and the floor are more or less golden, but outside of this it would look out of overly pompous."
"Technically, the furniture at out place would belong to the princess," Heshan adds. [B]"And I am sure we convince some noble of such items. They tend to be the most likely to see it as fashionabe."
"Ah! The furniture would likely impress the Princess. I don't see how we can carry all that with us though. Anyway, we still have to find a way to get out" Ohrmizd follows up on the furniture conversation, then moves back to the central hall and faces the door north "The eye of brass must be somewhere else then"
Calling for the goddess once more, he tries to unlock the final door.
The last room is a smoking lounge. The floor of this chamber is covered in coals kept magically hot and also has luxuriously comfortable surroundings.
"Wait, something just occurred to me. Ohrmizd, Heshan, did you, and Heshan's ability to see the invisible in particular, look behind the tapestry of the fortress under assault on the elemental plane of air, which also known as the endless sky, and the brass wall behind it?"
Rayhan walks back into the other room and looks behind the wall carpet. Not producing anything he states "I don't know how big a fiery orb is supposed to be, but I don't see anything."
"I wouldn't pick a single line from the riddle and ignore the rest. 'In ancient adoration' and 'only a true believer', bla bla bla..." Rayhan recites from memory. "Has anyone seen a temple or shrine on the way?"
Ohrmizd checks under the carpet as well, but sees nothing else of interest "I can't see the invisible, just scent smells"
The Kheleshite hears Rayhan's words with interest, then reviews what the reflection said "So 'In ancient adoration did this fiery heart lie' is the key of where to find it..." Ohrmizd moves to the balcony and has a look at the different structures in the palace, then finally points to a couple points "The only ones that seem divine structures are that one in the middle of the courtyard, and the other one to the southwest. Do you think the orb might be there Rayhan?"
12 rank +4 wis+6 racial+2 Hunter's Blessing
Not finding anything behind the tapestry, Omari gives his head a shake "Damn, here I was thinking I'd had a clever moment..." Then he replies to Rayhan "There were several sites that might have religious significance that we have visited. The giant bull statue, the mosque where the mad efreet were, then there was the chamber where we fought the hydra and the lizard men together, with the giant efreet statue all seemed temple-ish to me. "
While Heshan scratched his head in vain trying to figure out the nature of the room, he did snap his fingers at Omari's idea. "That is something I had not considered. Give me a second." the sorcerer activates the rod and goes towards the tapestry to give it a closer look.
There is nothing invisible hiding.
"So, resting in this nice room with that many pillows, or moving onwards in search for this fire?"
"As Omari is pointing different places than I proposed, I guess we are divided and on a draw about our next destination" Ohrmizd looks at the two arcane casters "Rayhan, do you think any of those is more likely to hold the orb we are looking for? Heshan, any preference to break the tie?"
Omari interjects "I'd say one of your two, as we have looked at the other locations, except the bull statue. It's at least possible that we'd have found this 'Fiery Heart' when we looked them over the first time..."
"As relaxing as this place feels, I say it would be even better if we found the object first." Heshan stretches before getting ready. "Let us go forward to the bull statute."
"If we can get a fly on all of us, I propose we descend through the balcony into the courtyard two levels below " Ohrmizd points towards the interior balcony "If we have to go walking, let's avoid the ghost at the bull statue level and just walk past the black djinni's room and into the first level courtyard "
This huge roof walk extends from the gatehouse to the palace, its eastern face a crenellated battlement overlooking the Sea of Fire far below. To the west, the rooftop looks out over the palace courtyard, while a number of guard shacks, turrets, and garderobes top the walk. Yet the most impressive sight here is the one-hundred-foot-tall pyramid of ancient tarnished bronze that stands in the northern half of the rooftop. A wide stair rises to the pyramid’s apex, where a small temple with a double-peaked roof stands. Statues of draconic, four-armed female centaurs stand at each corner of this top platform, keeping an eternal watch over the surrounding area.
Omari looks up a the pyramid, and says "Impressive indeed, I could certainly see this as the site of ancient adoration ... But before we set foot on that pyramid, let us see if there are wardings that we can spot."
12 rank +4 wis+6 racial+2 Hunter's Blessing
"I completely agree on the architecture. I only wish we could bring some of it along with us," Heshan agreed. He then used his rod to see if there was anything out of the ordinary in the area.
Descending the stairs and exiting to the courtyard through the western door, Ohrmizd contemplates the architecture "After the natural landscapes of Kakishon, the majestic beauty of the City of Brass architecture. Haleen is not going to believe we have seen all of this..."
Nodding in agreement to check a bit the place, Ohrmizd files over his carpet and checks the round structure just before the pyramid.
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There is a square small outbuilding constructed of thick clay bricks— inside, the stuffy building stores hundreds of shattered amphorae, and the floor is a stinking, sticky morass of dried fire wine.
On the outside o fthe pyramid is nothing besides what is plainly to see. The inside of the temple is decorated with pictographs and writings in ancient Ignan that relate numerous prayers to Ymeri.
Ohrmizd finds that in the floor of the temple is a closed hidden passage.
None of us having found any threat, Omari climbs the stairs to the temple
atop the pyramid and reads the walls and ceiling inside...
"That reflection said 'only by heart’s blood of the true believer can the way be opened', and here we have a hidden passage that can only be opened by a blood offering - I suspect we might be on the right track here. That said, who or what is 'the true believer' ... Presumably a true believer in Ymeri, given the temple's dedication."
"Ymeri... is that not the Queen of Inferno?" Ohrmizd inspects the altar and voices something from behind "Hei! I think there is a secret passage here!"
"Well, believer in what? We should just try..." raising his scimitar, the Kheleshite offers a prayer to the goddess "Grandmother Grace, you who feel the hearts of the living with mercy, I pray you forgive this sacrilege and take it as a sacrifice to find our way forward" then with a swift cut with Sarenrae's blade of mercy technique he performs a non-lethal cut on his left arm and spills a few drops of blood over the secret passage "I believe in your mercy. I believe in your cleansing light. I believe in your healing flame."
As the blood drips from Ohrmizd's arm and on the floor, the bronze starts moving, and as it sinks down it forms a spiral stair that descends fifty feet into a small chamber at the pyramid’s heart. A pedestal here holds a head-sized crystal orb of nearly indestructible glass within which appears to burn a raging inferno. This sphere of fire is slightly warm to the touch.
Omari blinks and says "I didn't think that would work. Maybe I don't know as much Ignan as I thought I do, but didn't the mirror-shade say 'Heart's Blood'; which would imply the sacrifice of a living being... Oh well, let's be careful as we go down; there may be other guards and traps."
Again, Omari casts detect Magic and takes his time examining the stairs down, and then the crystal orb at the bottom (ie take 3 rounds to examine any aura's detected). He is careful to shield his eyes before looking at the crystal orb, expecting an overwhelming magical aura.
12 rank +4 wis+6 racial+2 Hunter's Blessing
This definitely felt like a job for Ohrmizd. He was happy to witness the event... until his eyes opened as he violently opened up his arm. "...I believe the deity only wanted a bit of blood. But that works!"
Once they get to the bottom of the stairs, his grin grew wider. "That has to be it." Just in case, he would scan the object with magic.
"Oh, well, I think I can explain that..." Ohrmizd points to his heart "On my travels I have had the chance to see some dead bodies open. My mentor even had to treat a few people from grieve wounds. And it seems all blood flows through tiny tracks that circulate all over our body and end connected to our heart. Thus, all blood is no other than your heart's blood." he nods, quite sure of the relation.
Ohrmizd descends flying on his carpet rather than stepping on the stairs and once the orb is found, he waits patiently for the professionals to determine how to handle it "This looks like the orb we are looking for. A true flame from Ymeri's inferno? I hope Shazathared's mantle is strong enough to protect us from its burning"
On the stairs down Omari finds the most heineous of traps - fine dust. Well, it is really dangerous if you have a bad case of dust allergy. Otherwise it is just a sign that it was a really long time since someone visited this place.
"Ok, I think I am not scared enough from dust. Let's do this." with careful approach, Ohrmizd tries to pick up the orb from place, replacing it for one of the lizard eggs the group found recently in the palace lower levels.
Heshan looked unimpressed with that display. "My friend, if you wanted to do something like that, you could have asked me."
Nothing happens as Ohrmizd takes the sphere - at first. But then a low growling as if a large bolder would start rolling. But listening close you find it is only the abdominal murmur of a giant. In ignan you hear from the top of the spiral stairs "<Is someone there?>"
Omari thinks to himself "What have you got me into Ohrmizd?" and peeks cautiously out the doors of the temple... ready to dodge back assuming there is a giant something out there.
12 rank +4 wis+6 racial+2 Hunter's Blessing
Assuming Omari has been smart enough to come down and hide at first sign of giant guards, Ohrmizd tries to play diversion with the giant. Shouting back in Ignan with as a strong large voice as he can " It's me. I came check everything is in order. No need to worry!"