Watermark's Temple of Mysteries

[Watermark12]

IC:

The party members blink away the spots from before their eyes, as vision slowly returns. Looking around, the group gets its bearings and takes in the room before them.

The room is rectangular, 60 feet long and 50 feet wide. When
the characters entered it, the room was 80 feet long, but a
new wall has slammed down behind them, cutting them off
from the western 20-foot section and the only obvious exit.
The eastern half of the room is about 3 feet higher than
the western portion, with steps stretching across the width
of the room in the middle. The ceiling is approximately 23
feet high in the western half and 20 feet high to the east. In
the lower half, where the characters stand, there are three
statues facing west. A skeleton lies on the floor, perhaps the
remnants of a long-dead explorer.
In the eastern portion, to the north, a black cauldron sits
over a fire pit next to a pile of lumber and rope. Also in the
eastern half of the room, but along the southern wall, the PCs
see a wooden bookshelf filled with small jars and pots. There
is another long-dead corpse in front of a small mirror on the
south wall, near the southeast corner of the room. A similar
mirror hangs on the north wall directly across from the other,
but a small piece of that mirror lies broken on the floor.
An elaborate mosaic mural covers all the walls.

OOC:
So, there you have it....the wall that slammed down has cut you off from the entrance, and there is now no obvious means of exiting this room. What do you do?

 

[Captain Tagon]

Aieron moves over to the nearby skeleton and kneels down next to it, searching the remains while musing to himself, "So, what do we have here?"

 

[threshel]

"Dead men." Thar states, and walks up the steps into the raised portion of the room, sparing only a glance at the statues. The big half-orc heads right for the body in the SE corner of the room. His right hand draws a hammer, his left plays at his holy symbol. "Some dead men walk."
"I'll make sure this one don't." Before he reaches it, though, he catches sight of himself in the mirror and stops short. He stares for a moment, then grins his orc-tooth grin at his reflection before kneeling to check the second body.

 

[Captain Tagon]

Aieron glances up from his search to look over at the large orc. The elf raises his voice enough to be heard from the distance, gesturing with his hands. "This one looks pretty well dead to me."

 

[Bobitron]

Darian walks slowly to the bookcase on the southern wall, seemingly in shock. He shakes his head side to side, clearing the ringing in his ears. He looks carefully at the jars lining the shelves.

"Well, how do you expect we're gonna get out of here? No doors I can see."

 

[ender_wiggin]

Grimbold flexes his powerful chest and arm muscles, and stretches his neck. He breaths deeply, and tries to assess the situation. After a short moment, he walks over to one of the skeleton and examines it curiously.

"I'm open to suggestions," he says, as his hands brush over the long dead adventurer.

"Ah -- no..." he says to Thar, as the man prepares some purification spell. "I don't think that will be necessary. They couldn't be more dead..."

 

[Nephis]

Therren shakes his head as if to clear it. As he blinks, his vision finally clears. Slowly, eyes wide, he surveys the room, taking in the mirrors, his fellow adventurers, the statues ... his usually cheerful visage turns a little grim as he notices the various skeletons. what DO we have here?, he thinks to himself.

Then he walks over to the mural to examine it more closely.

 

[Watermark12]

Examining the room

Jarten looks about him, taking in the whole of the room, as his vision returns.

Aieron and Grimbold stoop to examine the closest of the skeletons, lying near the feet of one of the statues. It seems to be the long-dead corpse of a human male. It wears rotten studded leather armor and a torn grey cloak. A rusted dagger and short sword remain in their decaying scabbards. In a large sack tied to its belt, there are several gold pieces [61 once counted], a flask containing a viscous yellow substance [identifiable as alchemist's fire], and a small coin that glows continually as if a light spell had been cast upon it. It also has 50 feet of rope and a grappling hook, still in usable condition.

Therren looks closely at the mosaic on the walls, taking in its details. On the western wall (the one that has just slammed down, sealing the player characters in), the mosaic shows a wide, life-sized doorway in the middle of the room, with life-sized human figures walking out of it and passing to either side. The figures are dressed simply but colorfully, and all carry something carefully in front of them—a basket of fruit, a platter of meat, a tray of polished stones, a nice wooden box, a sealed bag, or some other offering. Along the north and south walls, these life-sized supplicants appear to continue to move in a procession to the east. The mirrors cover the faces of the two figures that are farthest east, closest to their destination. The mosaic covering the eastern wall depicts three regal figures seated on thrones—two men and a woman. The woman sits in the middle on a throne of glass. She has long golden hair and wears a beautiful diaphanous white gown and a golden circlet. The man to the south sits upon a wooden throne. He has a dark complexion and wears a purple coat of velvet over a white shirt and pants. The man to the north sits upon an iron throne, a staff laid across his knees. He wears a red shirt and black pants, and sports a brown beard that matches his long, curly hair.

Darian and Thar cross over the few steps to the raised eastern portion of the room. Darian stops to look over the bookshelf and its contents. The simple, free-standing bookcase along the southern wall holds four shelves. Each shelf is full of various clay pots and glass jars, all sealed and stoppered. A handful of them have labels in Common that read, “basil,” “batwings,” “eye of newt,” “arsenic,” “jellied liver of cat,” "pillory powder," and so on.

Thar continues on, and makes his way in the direction of the room's second skeleton, but he pauses to look at the mirror on the southern wall. Hanging just a few feet from the eastern wall, the mirror is an oval about 8 inches tall and 6 inches wide. It occupies the space on the wall covering the head of one of the mosaic figures, and so hangs right at eye level.

As his eyes lock onto his own reflection in the mirror, Thar's muscles suddenly go rigid, his gaze transfixed by the glass pane! [Will Save: 7+4=11]. Unable to speak or look away, the half-orc stands motionless, completely paralyzed!

OOC: Actions please?

 

[Captain Tagon]

Glancing up from counting out the skeletons coins, Aieron glances up in time to see Thar seemingly freeze up in place. He waits a second but the half-orc seems frozen in time. "Hey Thar, are you okay?"

 

[ender_wiggin]

If Grimbold sees Thar in some sort of trouble, or if one of his comrades alerts him to it, he will run to his friend's aid, examining Thar for any signs of injury.

If not, he will continue to examine the corpses, looking for identifying marks.