{Bilyur is ready to move on to the next dungeon, if no one else has anything they want to do?}

(Same)

After Sly has finished up her shopping, she packs her bags and would also be ready at the shadow weave entrance/exit.

As preparation, before the party moves through, the wizard weaves a magical protection for herself and prepares a ritual to detect magic.

[Thanks for not saving post edits ddb forums  :/]

Selvidos laughs at both Mun's compliments and Xarkris' fierce loyalty to her. She smiles and says 'I shall miss you both; seems your party is preparing to leave. I wish you well, and hope your next encounters with dragonkind go as sparkling as this meeting.'

The party then gathers at the Shadow Weave, ready to pass on. [I'll let Cheez_Weezle and o_Merlin_o confirm that there's nothing else they'd like to do, then head onwards through to the next dungeon!]

Xarkris is ready to move on. 
Question: Does this count as the 3rd Dungeon and do we get to Level Up?

[Not quite if I remember correctly you got a level up after Dungeon 9, so this will be the second, meaning you'll get a level up after the next dungeon!]

OOC: Daewen is following Xarkris around like a puppy dog, and ready to move on to the next dungeon. 

Daewen pauses briefly at the edge of the Shadow Weave, her gaze lingering on her new companions before turning towards the shadowy portal.  A flicker of anticipation brightens her face with a subtle smile touching her lips.  Beside her stand her new companions – the direct Bilyur, the enigmatic Mun, the cautious Sly, even the gruffly intriguing Xarkris (OOC: hehe-no offense meant...).  A sense of excitement, a silent thrill for the unknown challenges that await them, fills her as she steps forward to follow them into the next of the Blood Archivist's hundred dungeons.

((OOC: Shucks, and I was trying to play Xarkris as the goofy, zany comedian. tic.))

Xarkris readies his shield and Battleaxe, glances back at his party members and waits for acknowledgement from each of them. Then he enters the Shadow Weave. 

A silent prayer echoing through his mind, Bilyur takes a deep breath and glances around at the dungeon that could hardly be called a dungeon. Many of the people here had decided to abandon the venture. For a moment, he was tempted to join them, but he dispelled it by drawing on the picture of the words written in the sky when the monarch was destroyed. Cracking his knuckles, he remembers quickly what happened at the beginning of the dungeons. No more body disposal golems. No more protection from the truths of the 100 dungeons. And, even more importantly, he remembered how they had all but cleared the previous dungeons. The influx of adventurers would most certainly increase now, as many of the threats had been destroyed. Bracing himself for the swarm of souls that accompanies the shadow weave, he steps into the swirling shadows. 

Seeker Mun begins to sing beneath her breath as they step up to the shadow weave portal. The tune is jolly, and triumphant, even sung quietly, with the cadence of a well-practiced hymn. 

“For though the night is cold and long, The dawn shall come with a joyful song, The crown shall shine, the heir shall rise, And bring the light to darkened skies.” Her words shall bolster those first through the portal or those most likely to fight close up and personally.

(I'm guessing Bilyur, Xarkris, and Daewen should get the +5HP/Max Aid?)

The party stands at the portal edge, and one by one, steps into the unknown, leaving behind the safety of the caverns to be met with what lies beyond. The shadows feel heavy on your skin; the invisible hands of spirits clutch at your armour and robes to guide you through the darkness, each of them rasping a warning of what becomes ahead. The whole spectrum of Tyraan culture is reflected in their dialects and speech, which flow past as fleeting as a sunlit snowfall, yet you pick up one word that carries itself in every sentiment heard, growing louder and louder: 'Terror...terror...'

The Temple of Terror

 The shadows fade, and the clammy coldness of the gloom is instantly replaced with a stifling humidity. You find yourself in a room of worn stone, covered in vines and moss, the entrance behind you sealed up with a great pile of rocks. To your west and east, you find two stone doors. On the west is a door in chiselled into the shape of a large ear; there seems to be a long passage written around it. To the east, the door is in the shape of a large, open mouth; its tongue is sticking out directly from the centre, and has a short passage written on its tip. The rest of the mouth's interior surrounding it is oddly circular, red with blood, and lined with razor sharp teeth. Finally, ahead of you is a stone eye. It doesn't seem to be a door, as instead the pupil has been carved out into a tunnel; it's just big enough to fit in, as it's about 3 feet across, but you'd have to crawl single file to get through. 

[On the map, Daewen is black, and Mun is blue, if that's good with you guys!]

(Good with me.)

Seeker Mun will brush herself down, and look around. Unless the others object she will move towards the ear door, looking for traps and pitfalls and most importantly other bits of text, that might otherwise simplify what she is sure will prove to be a riddle. 

She looks to read the ear door. 

Xarkris takes the lead, like he has done in the past introductions to new dungeons. (With his excellent PASSIVE PERCEPTION of 22,) Xarkris readies his shield under his chin and criss-crosses the small room, checking the floor, ceiling, walls and doors for traps and secret doors. 

When he feels like the room is safe, he will lower his shield and nod at the group.

Bilyur investigates the short passage on the tip of the tongue, careful not to touch it and warning Seeker Mun of the same thing. 

Seeker Mun looks to read the text around the ear, and has to tilt her head around to read the words curled about it. She confirms that it is indeed a riddle, which reads the following: 

If you wish to pass this door you must speak aloud my name 
I can have a thousand faces but at my core I am the same 
Though a friend of saints and devils, my source remains unchanged 
Yet my nature can define the split between the genius and deranged 
With kings, I can bring power, with thieves, I can bring death,
And with feuding lovers I can leave them mended or bereft 

Xarkris scans the room as she does this, and whilst he doesn't find any secret doors, he finds that there's a poison dart trap nestled in the ear canal of the door; he can't identify a visible trigger though. He then peers down the eye-hole and can't see anything particular on the other side, but confirms it leads to another room at least, seeing as he can see a far wall at the end. The mouth door yields the most results, as he comes to it just as Bilyur reads the passage on the tip of the tongue: If you wish to progress, 5 pounds of fresh meat I must digest. 

Without touching it, Xarkris notices that the wide tongue in the centre of the door seems to not be firmly connected to the centre of the door, as it slightly wobbles, as if it's on a vertical hinge. He then looks up and sees that there is a set of flat teeth hidden behind the lips at the top, which aligns with a lower set idented in the floor. It seems like these teeth can close, due to the wear and tear on them. He then notices that the rest of the sharp teeth on the inside not only have blood all over them, but seem to contain a set pattern of sorts. The inside of the mouth is made of circular rows, progressively getting smaller as they get deeper, and each row of the mouth interior has exactly 4 teeth, which are equally spaced so that each tooth has another one directly across the circle from it, and then the other two at right angles from it. When faced from the front, the teeth align to form the full circumference of a circle, and no two teeth overlap in position. That is all he can discern from what he can see alone, without touching anything or investigating deeper. 

Bilyur scratches his head as Mun reads the riddle aloud. "I'm good at reading faces... and punching them... but when it comes to riddles, I'm hopeless. To me, the most likely explanation seems to be a clock. There can be a thousand faces of a clock, but every one has hands at its core. No matter if you're evil or good, you need to know the time. The genius and deranged likely means something about how you must be intelligent to work on a constant time... instead of just by sunrise, noon, and sunset. Not sure about the kings and thieves part, but the lovers make sense - after time, they either make up or split up. Feel free to explain any better ideas, though..." He squints at the riddle like it's a thorn in his shoe. 

Daewen watches Seeker Mun as she painstakingly reads the spiraling riddle around the ear door.  Her head tilts this way and that, her brow furrowed in silent concentration as she mentally dissects each line. A thousand faces, yet the same core...friend of saints and devils...defines genius and deranged...power with kings, death with thieves...mends or bereaves lovers...

Her slender finger traces an invisible path in the air, mimicking the curves of the inscription as if trying to unlock the secret by writing them down.

She quickly scribbles a note on her slate for Seeker Mun to see:  Answer = LETTERS or WORDS?

((I have a guess on the riddle, but I want to pose it to the group before speaking it. I think the mouth may eat those who get it wrong. I think it is a God. My second guess would be "The Truth", since it is a mouth with its tongue sticking out))

Quote from Cheez_Weezle >>

((I have a guess on the riddle, but I want to pose it to the group before speaking it. I think the mouth may eat those who get it wrong. I think it is a God. My second guess would be "The Truth", since it is a mouth with its tongue sticking out))

 Explain...