Area 10. Great Hall of Spheres
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/ToH_Gallery/ToHGraphic10.jpg
Like Area 3, this is a hallway 20 feet long by 130 feet long decorated with inlaid tiles on the floor and pictures of animals, strange signs and glyphs on the walls. The module is quick to tell the DM that the signs and glyphs mean "absolutely nothing." The highlight of the place are a number of paintings on the walls that depict humanoid creatures carrying spheres of many colors.
From north to south, with the west wall represented in the first column and the east wall represented in the second, the figures and spheres appear as follows:
GOLD held high above head..................PALE BLUE at shoulder
ORANGE held waist high.......................SILVER at feet
PURPLE at feet....................................GREEN he!d high above head
BRONZE held waist high.......................YELLOW at shoulder
GRAY at shoulder................................PINK held high above head
BRIGHT BLUE at feet...........................BLACK at feet
WHITE held high above head................PALE VIOLET at shoulder
TURQUOISE at shoulder.......................RED held waist high""
SCARLET held waist high......................BUFF at feet
PALE GREEN at feet.............................INDIGO held high above head
Some of the "spheres" are illusions that cover hidden passages in the walls. The GOLD sphere leads to Area 11. The RED sphere leads to Area 13. The BLACK sphere leads to Area 14. Also, the SILVER sphere covers a secret one-way door leading from Area 9. Some of the spheres are false doors.
At the end of the hall is another misty archway similar to the one at Area 5.
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/ToH_Gallery/ToHGraphic5.jpg
The stones on this arch glow Russet, Olive and Citron (which reminds me of the kitchen in my parent's house, circa 1977). No matter what the PC's do, the arch remains clouded with mist. Living matter that passes through the arch is teleported back to Area 3. Non-living matter (right down to your underpants) is teleported to Acererak's Crypt, Area 33. So anybody who walks through this archway winds up back at the beginning of the dungeon naked and defenseless.
[Nelson Munz]Ha, Ha![/Nelson Munz]
IMO: There's a lot of description in this room, but not much action. Basically it's a bunch of secret passages protected by illusions and a non-lethal screw you trap. PC's will either enter from Area 11 (which is reached by solving Area 5) or from Area 9. Those coming from Area 11 have to pass through one of the illusory spheres to get here, so they ought to be clued to check the other spheres carefully. Those coming from Area 9 might have the riddle that says, "Archway at the end, and on your way you'll wend." I'm going to bet that a substantial percentage of those folks wind up adding their boxer shorts to Acererak's collection in Area 33.
The way out is behind the black sphere, and this is probably what "Night's good color" from Area 3 refers to. The red sphere is almost certainly what "Shades of red stand for blood" refers to, because that passage eventually leads the players to a "loop of magical metal." These clues are pretty vague, but none of the spheres are trapped or dangerous, so even players who don't get the clues won't suffer if they poke around here.
The only "clue" to the danger represented by the arch is that the mist never goes away. I'm betting that your chances on avoiding this trap depend a lot on how you got here. If you solved Area 5, that
might seem weird enough to make you leery here. If you walked through a misty Area 5 and wound up in Area 7, you might realize that walking through misty arches is a dumb idea. If you smashed your way through Areas 8 and 9 and found the Gargoyle's riddle, you'll probably be tempted to wend your way through the arch. If you don't have the Gargoyle's riddle? I dunno.
Finally, it bugs me that the module keeps talking about "spheres." They're two-dimensional paintings. They aren't spheres, they're circles.