"Look what you found, Vessie," Kayn says. "It's a hedron modron. Amazing." It then downs on him what might be happening to her. "The hedron... huh? Looks like it got you good." He signs Daffodil before moving further down the hallway to inspect the murals. At the hedrons being held and used, he places pieces of paper and takes etchings. These might be useful for later. Finally he reaches the end of the hall and the large door and places the glowing cube into the cube-hole.

Upon entering the long walkway, Rezivah felt a sudden unease in her body. She felt physically sick. The air must be acrid. Looking at the murals, Rezivah couldn't discern what they depicted, the story they told, but there was a story, for certain. A Kor, a dragon.. Hedrons.. On the other side, three figures, not so easily discernible. Rezivah squints her eyes on one of them. Her vision begins to quake. Split-seconds pass as the figure scintillates into reality and with a screech swallows Rezivah whole.

She blinks. The stone was there. The party was still in the hallway. A faint itch could be felt in the back of her head as she heard the being's voice. Hunger. Hate. Judge. I love. Join me. Together. Become one.

"I've seen this.." Rezivah barely says. "What are we doing here? Why? What are you to accomplish?" She faces the group with the last question.

Ato examined the engravings as he waited for Kayn to do whatever he was doing. The images were disturbing, but what wasn't in here. The dragon, the kor... thee seemed similar enough to what they knew today, but he eyed the other trio of figures with trepidation. They reminded him all too much of his earlier dream.  He shook his head, forcing those memories away once again and dragged his eyes away from the engraved image and focused on the door.

Once Kayn brought  the key cube, he gripped the shaft of his spear and waited as the door ground open... 

As Kayn impregnates the door with the cube, the light fades from the cube, absorbed by the massive door. It drops to the floor, bouncing along the surface as the door splits in two, sliding into separate recesses within the walls on both sides. While the driftglobe's light doesn't pierce the fullness of the room, its appearance seems to match the description Endoro gave: a large, circular room with a towering pillar in the center. The white decay has returned, signaling this to be an area the emcayi have ventured through as well. You notice that the pillar itself is surrounded by a pit, save for a small bridge on the south side of the room which crosses the pit and connects to the pillar. The pillar's runes glow a faint white light, similar to those seen in the maze.

It's hard to make out, but you can faintly see the opening Endoro was referring to along the south side of this cylindrical room, though it's enshrouded by too much darkness to gather any real details.

By this time, the hedron construct tucks its legs in as its carried up to the ceiling of the hallway and out of sight. The magical effects surrounding Vesra fade as well, returning her to her normal, teenage form.

Perhaps out of instinct or a need to protect the group, Vasha haphazardly steps into the room, sweeping through it as best as she can looking for traps [6 on Investigation]. While the group is uncertain what the trigger was, Vasha only makes it a few feet into the room before the glowing runes shift from white to red and parts of the pillar begins to spin–slow at first, though it quickly picks up speed as white beams of light shoot of the spinning pillar, rotating with whatever the direction the section of the pillar the rune is on spins.

Caught in the crosshairs, Vasha is hit first immediately, as beams of white light flash across her person, searing her skin and overwhelming her soul [7 Radiant damage].

Ato and Kayn, witnessing the events, see the flash of white beams as they quickly coalesce towards them. Kayn takes the brunt of two beams of energy [9 Radiant damage]. Ato, in a move of tactical genius, crouches down and hides behind Kayn's figure, able to avoid any damage from the beams.

The rest of the group, by luck or chance, sit comfortably around the corner of the corridor, continuing to observe the mural while their friends are slowly being roasted alive.

Kayn barely has time to pick up the hedron cube when Vasha rushes in and causes a trap to trigger. The beam sears his hind quarters just as he tucks the cube into his pack. The pain is quick and intense and causes him to yelp. Turning, he sees the trap that has triggered. "Get back in here!" He calls, gesturing as the beams start to make their way back to him for round two of flesh searing.

Ato had instinctively ducked behind the nearest cover as the beams of light bean to shoot forth from the activated hedron pillar. Fortunate for hi, but not some much for Kayn, who provided that cover. He hesitated an instant, torn between self-preservation and the desire to help Vasha, but any decision he needed to make was taken out of his hands as she turned and ran for safety. Prudently, he bolted as well, for the safety of the hallway around the corner, grabbing Kayn's arm and dragging along the goblin mage as he went. 

After a few moments of the group huddled in the farthest hallway of the corridor, the door closes and the sound of of the rays subsides. Kayn puts his fingers to his lips in the Kor sign of Shhhh and heads back into the hallway. He focuses his mana into the cubed hedron and opens the door once again with the intention of going inside by himself. He had a hunch, one that focused on the same logic that the Maze traps went by. While some members of the party set the trap off, he was free to enter and exit. He hoped this logic transcended to this trap as well. He grabbed the cubed hedron as it fell from the door and entered the room, approaching the pillar. 

The trap goes off again, spinning its death rays of death. Kayn narrowly avoids a line of radiant energy as it flies by him. Thinking quickly, Kayn rushes towards the pillar in the center of the room. If there were a way to shut off the death rays, it would have to be at the pillar, right?? As he passes the pit surrounding the pillar he sees lines of rays all throughout the pit. It's filled with a mercury-like substance that reminds the goblin of emcayi blood.

Kayn does a couple leaps, hopping over to the pillar. Just as he's about to inspect it for a way to turn this trap off, two lasers come screaming towards him from opposite directions. His eyes go wide and he ducks down, but not in time. He feels the radiant scorching of the beams sliding across his back and the pain is too much to bear. Everything goes dark. 

Meanwhile in the hallway with his companions, the gnarlid falls and begins to breathe short, shallow breaths. 

The next chamber held a single tower erecting from a pit. It seemed benign at first, but as soon as a few members of the group stepped in, the pillar began to shift and fire brilliant rays of energy. Rezivah was certainly glad she hadn't been one who foolheartedly entered the room. Kayn, for some reason, decided to have one more go at it, as the door shut behind him, his pet soon slumped to the ground. Does.. that mean he's dead?!

Not long after, the beast's form dissipated and Kayn's body appeared. In a quick act of desperation, Vasha poured the contents of a healing potion down his throat, seeming to restore life to his small goblin body.

It must've been some sort of safeguard in the event of Kayn's death. Which mean he died in there. Was this it? Could they go no further?

Rezivah started to cave in to the disparaging thoughts of her uselessness.

"Ugh," Kayn moans, "I don't like that room..." He can feel the pain all over his body. The rays continued to pummel him after he passed out. He had no idea how he got back here, but he could feel an emptiness inside him. He tries to push himself into his gnarlid's mind, but it's gone. He thought he could disarm the trap in some way before it killed him, but he was sorely mistaken. Such a bad plan.

Vesra was on the verge of tears by the time Kayn gasped awake. She was upset, angry even, that he had been so stupid as to almost die. Had they learned nothing from her close call? The druid had rushed to his side alongside her sister to make sure he was alright. The minute his eyes opened, the kor's hand involuntarily clenched into a fist. Without even thinking, she punched him in the face. Of course, she also cast Cure Wounds through the contact, but it was a matter of principle. "What the marigolds happened to your buddy rule?" Vesra spit out angrily.

Kayn felt the sting of the punch, but immediately felt the soothing comfort of the heal. "Ouch Vessie! Or... thanks... or I don't know!" He signs, Snapdragon, before sitting up and looking around. "I don't think this room is going to let us through without a lot of pain. And I think..." His little goblin face wears a deep frown, "I think that my gnarlid might have switched places with me. We should try the other room..." He hands the hedron cube to Vesra. She's proven that her mana reserves are nearly unlimited. If anyone can power this cube, she can. 

While the cube hangs perilously in Kayn's extended hand, his skin quickly goes pale as the haunting voice of the speckormerelf rings within the hallway. "We will not die! We will endure..." 

A ghostly hand reaches out from ground just beneath Kayn's feet, causing his body to go rigid and stiff, completely paralyzed as the speckormerelf's form quickly envelopes him before shunting itself inward into his center [failed Charisma saving throw]. His motionless figure is broken by a deep gasp as he inhales sharply. The soft blue glow of the ghost shines from his eyes, as wisps of its ethereal, tattered clothing cling to his own. One of the speckormerelf's hands protrude out of Kayn's right shoulder for a few inches, and his left thigh has one of its legs sticking out of it, danging partially outside his leg and partially within.

While his mouth moves, it is clearly not Kayn's voice. "We will survive, and you've left us no choice. Know that we could take his life at any moment, should you go against our wishes. Be grateful we none, other than to cleanse this place and return to the outside world." The voice disappears, leaving the possessed Kayn to his twisted, normal self.

Kayn scrambles up and shouts, "Bwaaaa, get it out!" He starts kicking his leg, the ghostly speckormerelf leg dangling from his own. With each kick it flicks awkwardly, but remains attached. He then tries to pull the arm from his shoulder, but his hand passes right through. "Screw you, speckormerelf!"  

He stops a moment, head cocked. "No! Never. You can't force yourself upon someone like this." The hypocrisy of that statement coming from a spawnbinder flies over Kayn's head. "It's wrong!" He narrows his eyes, "No, you're wrong!" 

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" He yells to no one in particular. 

Moments pass as the group stares at Kayn. Rez looks like she's ready to pounce on the goblin at any moment. Vesra moves in and touches Kayn on the forehead, injecting her mana into him in an attempt to relieve his internal struggles. All it does is cause the speckormerelf to tighten its grip on the goblin's mind. 

"Fine!" He says. "We'll take you to the Sunspring!" His mind swirls at what the sunspring could be. For all Kayn knew, it would enhance the Speckormerelf's abilities 10-fold and they'd become the ruler of this plane. But... he couldn't allow that.  No.  Not at all. For now though... Kayn will play along. He settles visibly, calming himself. After one last kick of his leg, the ghostly appendage dangling comically, he sets off to the door they entered from. He swipes at his shoulder-arm before gesturing for Vesra to open it. 

Ato watched the possession of Kayn unfold with morbid curiosity. Feeling helpless to aid the poor goblin in any meaningful way, he wondered what the ramifications of letting the speckormerelf might be.  It seemed that it just wanted to be free of the hedron - and Ato couldn't blame it for that - and he didn't get the same sense of alien wrongness from it that he did from the aberrations they'd slain to prevent their escape. In the end, he too wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible and keep this group as safe as he could. Did he really care if a single ghost from ages past was roaming the world as well? 

"If it...you... want to find this Sunspring so bad, then lead us to it so that we can be done with this place. Just remember, it will take all of us to open the door to the outside. You can't do it alone, in that body, and we can;'t do it if you kill him, so you don't have the power her that you think, spirit. Now. We have the key," he gestures to Vesra and the now-dormant cube, "and another door to try. Let's get on with it."

The goblin was possessed now. Even laying dormant within the goblin's small frame, the extra, errant limbs protruded from the little thing's body. Kayn spoke madly, loudly, as he held a conversation with the speckormerelf in his head. Something about agreeing to take it to the Sunspring. Wait.

"I'm not of this group, and I do not agree to taking it outside this prison. It is a mad, deceiving coward, and even now hides behind one of yours. I agree with Ato's last statement, however. And despite myself, and I'm sure you all can agree, Vielara wants something here and for one reason or another, it must be found."