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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Whizbang Dustyboots" data-source="post: 3260741" data-attributes="member: 11760">Hazel slowly turns in a circle, wondering if the creature has just slipped into one of the room's dark shadows. She peers up at the ceiling to check there, too, and conceals a shudder at the thought of the winged creature dropping down on them. Seeing nothing, she cautiously steps toward the open sarcophagus and look in without leaning over it, trying to catch a better glimpse of the object inside.Muttering a blessing in Celestial, Emmerson drops his scarred shield to the ground."Well done, everyone," he says. "Father will be pleased to hear his son has a future as a meat-shield."Bufer blinks in the sudden brightness and hesitantly looks around at the others."I'm sorry," he says, "But did we actually just win?""I'm not quite sure if holding a nugget in your little paw did much, but some of us at least seem to have won," Tock sneers."Tsk," Bufer mutters as he releases his hold on his fetish. "Unappreciated in my own time, that's what I am. Kem, you still with us? Haven't succumbed to your injuries or your own stubborn pride, yet?""I'm here," Renraw answers weakly. He pokes his head around the stairs and takes a few meek steps out into the room. "Pride still in tact, thank Io. If only one could say the same of your integrity. I'm still attempting to determine what kind of twisted morality could account for exposing someone so near death as I to the heinous evil to which we were just witness. Would you really rather I die than let me continue without calling you 'sir?' Or did you honestly expect me to prostrate myself before you?"'Oh, wise gnome,'" the sarcasm drips through, "Truly you've taught me the folly of my ways.' I honestly only half-believed all the old stereotypes about you creatures. But you're teaching me to reexamine those doubts, aren't you?""Renraw, you may want to consider keeping an eye out on those stairs," Tosh says, looking up from inside of the sarcophagus. "That thing made enough noise to wake a bear."In response, Tock fits a new arrow, watching down the hallway."Oh, yes, I'd love to watch the stairs for an angry bear," Renraw wheezes. "I'm in the perfect condition for that, or hadn't you noticed?"He sees the brutes fooling about with the sarcophagus and once again cowers pathetically behind Tock.Inside the sarcophagus is not a body or bodies, but a stone slab, carved with scenes of robed men served by larger, owl-headed warriors. As Hazel moves the torch, it becomes obvious that it's not one stone slab, but a series of them, stacked top each other, were kept inside an object that only appeared to be a coffin from the outside.As Tosh peeks over the edge, he can see what appears to be a subtle hinge line around the edge of the top slab, and a small hole on the side that might be a keyhole.Where the creature rested inside the "sarcophagus," they can't see -- it must have either laid very, very flat or somehow not taken up space with the lid on.Tosh examines the inner lid and hinge line and keyhole, trying to discern whether or not he'll get another nasty surprise in meddling with it. The keyhole pulls him like an obsession, an itch that must be scratched, a challenge that must be met. But he's also quite aware that he's injured and a trap could well be the end of him. Patience and care is the order of the day here.Feeling reasonably secure that there are no immediate threats to his safety, Tosh reaches into his backpack for a small folded leather case. He opens it carefully and looks critically at the "keyhole." He selects a couple of narrow implements with odd crooks and prongs and inserts them into the opening and probes about for resistance.The ancient lock is built a little differently than modern ones, but once Tosh understands how, the lock scrapes open and the top slab is unlocked."There you go." The gnome thinks the shadow thing and lack of space for it to hide in and steps away from the slab, just in case. He slips his tools back into their case and draws his rapier. "If one of you folk wearing the tin cans would be so kind as to open that?""Want to do the honors, Tucker," Emmerson asks, picking up his scarred shield, "Or shall I?""Paladin, I think you should do it," Tock offers from the hallway. "The task requires someone literate."Tucker nods to Emmerson."I'll do the lifting, you do the raining down of holy vengeance," Reassured that the Paladin's attempt to detect evil proved the box safe, Tucker begins to open the lid, then stops. "There were no traps on this thing, right?"Tosh shrugs."I didn't see any."Tucker finds the slab harder to open than he at first expected -- these stone hinges were shut before Aventus sank into the Southern Sea, before Lothian ascended to godhood, before the Tarsisian Empire was formed -- but with a grinding creak, the hinges turn and the slab opens, revealing a large antique mirror with a heavy decorative bronze frame inside.Overcome by curiosity, Tock abandons Renraw to guard the hallway alone. The wizard whimpers before following a moment later."Hmmm. Many songs have been sung of magicians who use mirrors, or mirrors that are magical themselves," Tock says. "If one of the brutes could take that mirror out, we could all benefit from a closer study of it. I have a cousin that is very knowledgeable of these things. Between he, Renraw, and I, we should figure out what's going on here.""Mirrored eyes in the entryway, a mirror mask on the statue over there and a big mirror in a box?" Tucker says. "Whoever built this place was more in love with their own reflection than even Tock.""They probably had less reason, though," Tock replies. "kidding aside, Tucker, could you and Grant set it up here?""Wait. I imagine it'll take at least two to pull it out of there, and I think it might be wise to have a look in case whomever put it there didn't want it removed," Tosh says. "Hazel? The torch if you would.""I'll proceed to the lifting after it's been checked," Emmerson says."Yes, well, as I said before, mirrors are often very important in the arcane," Renraw lectures, ignoring the physical labor going on. "Some wizards use them to scry. It requires powerful magic, but it's even possible to cast spells on different times and places viewed using a mirror."Hazel stands behind Tosh to give him direct light for his search. Her gaze darts between the gnome's hands and the statue's eyes. Her axe is tucked back in its sheath so she has a free hand to grab the gnome if he springs a trap."There doesn't seem to be anything tricky about it," Tosh says. "But it's going to dreadfully heavy, with that frame. Go ahead and try to get it out of there.""Ready when you are, Tucker," Emmerson puts away his warhammer and shield and grabs one end of the mirror. He gives it a small pull to size up how heavy it is.The pair carefully lift the heavy mirror out of its stone box. The backing of the mirror is also solid bronze, and also decorated; it was clearly meant to be viewed both back and front.Emmerson picks up the side that could be interpreted as the top, so lifts his side of the mirror higher and motions to Tucker to lower his."We can hold it upright with a bit of effort. Or do you folks want us to set it against the wall or on the floor?"Ragglus' face falls as he looks on the mirror. Emus, coming down from his adrenaline rush, says what's on both their minds: "A looking glass? That ugly beast was guarding a looking glass? There's gotta be somethin' more interesting that that!"</blockquote>

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