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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Taboo" data-source="post: 417238" data-attributes="member: 5912">The Dragon DoorThey had deposited Meepo safely back in the room where Calcryx had been kept, telling him to keep quiet so the queen wouldn’t know he was there. Then, they had headed back for the door that had managed to elude them earlier in the entryway of the tower. Minx gave the key to Thorin when they reached the large stone door intricately carved with the dragon. He inserted the key into the rearing dragon’s mouth. As he turned it, the lock clicked, and the door opened with an audible whoosh. It was as though the room had been sealed for eons and they had just broken that seal. They all felt uneasy when the door opened. Thorin took the key back out of the door and pocketed it. Then, they slowly entered the room. Thorin could see three alcoves in the north wall and three in the southern wall.  There were two empty alcoves in the southern wall, and one with something in it. He went over to search the middle alcove with Turk to back him up, and found an orb glowing faintly with a blue light. He heard faint tinkling noises coming from it.  When Snap walked into the room, he saw the three alcoves in the north wall, and noticed that they also held orbs, although, they were cracked and black.  Minx walked over to Snap to examine the darkened orbs. Thorin picked up the blue, glowing orb.  Immediately, both Turk and Thorin felt an irresistible compunction to go wherever the orb was leading them. They immediately started walking out of the room.  Kierwin was standing nearby, and though she felt something when she heard the sound of the orb, she managed to resist it. She immediately set off after Thorin and Turk to try to stop them. Minx and Snap were busy on the other side of the room, but when they noticed what was going on with the others, they followed Kierwin. Kierwin was trying to figure out what to do to get them out from under the globe's influence. She tried talking to them, but they were ignoring her, she might as well not have been there. Then, she caught up and got in front of Turk and tried one last ditch effort, she slapped him. That wasn’t such a great idea, as the orb had a really good hold on the men. When she slapped Turk, it compelled him to get rid of the obstacle – Kierwin. Fortunately for Kierwin, Turk’s will was so strong that even under these circumstances he would not strike a woman, so he pushed her out of his way and kept going. By now, the orb had gotten them to the entryway to the Sunless Citadel.  Snap had caught up, and had unfortunately gotten caught under the spell of the orb. Thorin was still carrying the orb and was slightly in the lead, when he tripped a pit trap they had missed when they had originally arrived at the entrance. Thorin fell into the pit, followed a moment later by Snap. Turk,  managed to keep his balance on the edge.  Kierwin, Minx and Geirmund were far enough back to avoid falling in, and didn't want to get any closer to avoid falling under the orb's control. Now Kierwin and Minx had two problems. Two of the men were trapped under the spell of the orb, and at the bottom of the pit, Turk was still under the orb's control and at the edge of the pit. At least they didn’t have to keep chasing them!  Kierwin prayed to Ehlonna for her blessing on the party.    Now that Turk was standing at the edge of the pit,  and she could see he was already trying to shake off the effects of the orb, Kierwin tried talking to him again,  calling to him, saying everything she could think of, even promising Turk things she’d never promise any man under normal circumstances! Turk managed to shake off the effects of the orb, but it was his own willpower that saved him, although Ehlonna's blessing may have aided in that.  He said that he could feel that the orb really liked the dark. That’s all he could say about it, but the feeling was very strong.   Turk knew that the only way to insure the destruction of the evil was to get rid of the orb, so he climbed down into the pit to get the orb that now lay on the ground at the bottom of the pit near Thorin's feet.  He'd dropped it during the fall.Kierwin’s blessing from Ehlonna was fading, so Minx prayed and cast bless on the party to try to help with Thorin and Snap. Thorin and Snap were just standing in the pit under the thrall of the orb. It was happy where it was, it was dark down there. Turk dropped down into the pit  and picked the orb up to throw it as far away from the group, but as soon as he touched it, it took control of him again. Kierwin sank to her knees.  Now what could they do?Fortunately Turk's willpower was strong enough that he overcame the orb's control, but he wasn't about to touch it again.  It wasn't long until Thorin and then Snap managed to fight the orb's spell. When they finally got out of the pit, Thorin decided to destroy the orb.  The others stood back.  After several well placed blows, the orb finally broke. It went black like the others they’d seen in the room. Minx led them back to the room where they’d found the orbs to show them what she’d found. While they’d been occupied with the blue orb, she’d been searching the room and had found a secret door. That’s why she was a little behind the others, but as soon as she’d heard the commotion, she’d gone running after them, and hadn’t had a chance to do anything else. First, they destroyed any trace of the rest of the orbs, even though they were black and cracked, they weren’t taking any chances. Then they opened the door Minx had found.  After walking through the door, Thorin walked across a pressure plate in a hallway, setting off a trap. An arrow sprang across the hallway lodging itself right in his head. Fortunately, it didn’t hurt him very much, he said it was the way dwarves disarm traps (as Kierwin prayed to heal him), but Turk quit trusting him to check for traps and asked Geirmund if he would start double checking it when Thorin wasn’t looking.</blockquote>

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