Pizazz's Ravenloft and Beyond

The group crosses the vast open darkness of the temple. Lionel steps boldly past the fallen form of Kasimir and Olin and makes his way to the far passage.  Same as the one on the other side, this arched hall rises to a height of twenty feet. You can see your reflections in the amber glaze. As before, your images don't mirror your movements. Instead, they wave their arms and scream silent warnings to you.

You emerge into what would have likely been roughly similar to the passage on the other side, were it not for the large collapsed section on the left.  Also it contains no stairway and no statues of animals. The walls and ceiling of this great hall are coated in am­ber that glistens like fresh honey. Dust covers the black marble floor. To the left, the hall has collapsed, leaving a wall of rubble.  Three doors are set into the far wall, and there's another door set into the end of the hall to the right.  

Lionel walks up to the first door, nearest to the wall of rubble, and pushes it open. A mirror of the bedrooms from the far tunnel, the furnishings of this bare stone room have succumbed to decrepitude. Standing in the center of the room, its head scraping the ten-foot-high ceiling, is a vaguely man­ shaped construct made of dark wood and riveted iron. Its helmed head stares blindly in your direction. Cobwebs stretch from this terrible artifice to the wrecked furniture that surrounds it.  

"Rat go."  Meepo says, sending rat into the room with the huge construct-looking thing.  He wants to verify that there is indeed nothing of use in the room.  His smile is evil and greedy as he waits for his minion to do the risky work. 

Rat flaps about in the room.  The construct doesn't move or react.  You move into the room, but the thing doesn't move.  It appear to be non-functional. A quick search of the room shows up nothing, so you head to the next room.  The door opens easily.  A white marble bed stands in the center of this bare stone room, its mattress long since rotted away. Golden hawks perch atop the bed's corner posts. The room's re­maining furnishings have been reduced to dust-covered heaps. Cobwebs cover arcane sigils carved into the walls. The ceiling here is 10 feet high.  You carefully move into the room, but find the arcane sigils have long since bled of magic.  The golden hawks appear to be the only thing of value, appearing to be cold plated bronze.  You figure they're worth a bit.  If you choose to break them off and put them in a bag, you can. 

The 3rd door in the hallway appears to be mystically sealed, as does the final door to the south. 

Now where?

(The double doors behind the statue are locked to, right? Then up the stairs - the big one - and searching the second floor)

Lionel looked at Meepo's evil grin with a sad expression. "I will not try to appeal to your morality, friend, but the logic. Things here can influence you unconsciously. Was not I right getting you away from the statue? It was controlling your desires. Same can be with the shiny sarcophagus you touched. It is good to control some powers, but you are allowing powers to control you. Not even powers, worse, you are allowing to someone else - that black figure or others like him - to turn you into their puppet. Whatever you got in exchange - the trade is not worth it."

"Still, I would not be the one stopping you. If your pride and your senses are not enough, my words are useless anyway. Let us go upstairs."

"Up stairs."  Meepo agrees in his soft whispery voice.

The group whispers back and forth in the vast, silent, cold darkness of the temple as they make their way upstairs. They move through the double doors Ismark originally ran through and find themselves in a large room.  The room is featureless except for a rough-edged, 10-foot-diameter circular hole in the floor about 30 feet across the room and empty torch sconces along the walls. Double doors of amber stand open to the left.  A single closed door lies just to the right of the doors you've come in through, on the same wall as the double doors.  The ceiling here is 20 feet high.  Through the open amber doors to the left, you can see a long hallway similar to the one on the other side where the skulls fought.  Glazed amber covers the walls of the twenty-foot-wide, long arched corridor that stretches into darkness.  (Mordekai, you can see it's about 70 feet long before meeting two more open amber doors).   There is a closed door is in the middle of the right wall, and three arrow slits are cut into the wall across from it. Cracks in the black marble floor run the length of the hall.  You spot a figure laying on the ground near the arrow slits...unmoving. After a moment you recognize it.  It looks like Ismark.  Glancing down the pit, you see it descends 20 feet, and then drops another 10 feet into a room.  There's a faint green glow in the room below, and the floor appears to be made of red marble.

Lionel went straight to the figure on the floor and touched softly, checking for pulse, knowing that the friend is gone and yet, despite it, still hoping for a miracle.  

Lionel reaches Ismarks body.  Even without touching it, you can see he's passed. His flesh is covered in glittering frost, and is pale blue.  His eyes are open and sightless.

If it is possible to close his eyes (with the warmth of hand defrost eyelids) Lionel would do it. Then he would say a silent prey and continue his hopeless search. It was not that bad so far, but neither the wizard, nor the fiend did not show up yet.

Where to next? 

Doors to the sough.

Lionel crouches over Ismark's body. Plumes of breath escape his mouth as, eyes closed, he says a few prayers. His hand reaches down, pushing the eyelids closed.  Then, with a heavy sigh, he turn to his two allies behind him, their whisper voices and wicked smiles aren't present at the moment, but Lionel worries what this evil place has done to them. But he must find the sword. He strides back into the room with the pit and goes to the door furthest south.  He pushes it open.  He reveals a room with shattered bits of wood covering the floor of a plain twenty foot square room.  It is otherwise featureless. 

Meepo continues to follow Lionel as they traverse the temple.  At the new room he would send Rat in to scout the area and look for anything of power.  

Tressym perception: 10

Empty. Nothing hidden. 

"Nothing..." Meepo says as Rat returns to him.  "Where next?" He asks in his whispery voice, giving Lionel an evil smirk.

The long hall with the arrow slits, and then (if that one is empty) that thing to the right.

The group trudges back to the long hall with the arrow slits where Ismark's body lays, and goes to the door on the right. The door pushes open to a well lit room, hanging lanterns on the ceiling casting light throughout the hall.  The walls are sheathed in amber that has been shaped into bas-reliefs of wizards with spellbooks. Stairs to the north and south descend twenty feet to an obsidian lectern, behind which a slab of black slate hangs from chains. Between the stairs are descend­ing rows of red marble benches. This looks like a large lecture hall.  It's quiet and cold, but for once, darkness is pushed back by the magical light. You move into the room to look around.  As you descend the stairs towards the lecturn at the front, you notice a figure hunched just behind it, quietly hiding.  Seeing he's been spotted, the man crouches, peeking over the lecturn at you. The man wears scorched robes, his unkempt hair is half burned away leaving a bald and red scorched ruin on the top of his head.  His face and arms are covered with blisters from fire.  He has a bit of a crazed look in his eyes.   Looking around more closely, you see the floor is covered in bits of fur and rat tails. Beetle and other insect carapaces lay around on the ground.  The man's is filthy, and covered in thick fur clothing that's matted and you can smell the stink of from ten feet away.  It's clear he's been here for a while.  You see a stained mass in the corner that must be where he relieves himself.  He crouches there silently, waiting to see what you do, his eyes darting about all three of you, his face scrunched in suspicion and fear.

Lionel studied the man in front of him - he looked more frightened than threatening. "We do not mean any harm," softly stated the paladin, "if you need help to leave this place, we can help. Though would appreciate some information."

In a voice full of panic he says, "Ahhhhhhh!!  What?  No, the golem's still out there.....I'm not goin out there, the skulls....forget it...I'm stayin right here....you CAN'T MAKE ME!" 

Meepo ignores the man for now, starting to look around the room for anything of interest or power.  He has Rat helping him.

Investigation: 26