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Turn 150.0: Songful Praise

Posted: 5/8/01

El's breath explodes from between his clenched teeth once the door is shut. Rats! The forest does not have rats! The cats, the owls, the wolves, the bears, even the bugbears, would take care of them! Rats happen only in cities! And dungeons. The thought of hundreds of the vermin skittering along his body, taking little bites is enough to make him dry-heave. He does so for a moment, before the others' amazement catches his attention.

"Could it be?" he asks aloud. The room seemed to glow, just looking at the hoard was starting to give him a headache. He looks at the sacks of gold. He looks down at himself. His clothes are mere tatters now, done in by swords, arrows, and bolts of lightning. His leather armor is barely holding together. He has mere days left of rations, he's on the brink of starvation, and he doesn't have more than four gold pieces to his name. He looks at the hoard and his brain goes numb. Could there be riches like this on earth?

The swords attract his eye. He glances down at his own sword, belted by his side. The pommel and hilt are dull and dented, a good blade certainly, but a worn one. He can feel the short bow on his back. Perhaps now he could finally by that composite bow he'd been dreaming about. The lutes catch his eye next. He had always been fascinated by music, musicians and the tools of their craft, the instruments themselves. He knew a few chords on the lute, but nothing extraordinary. He stares unseeing at the instrument. Could it be in tune after so many years? Would the strings be taut, perhaps ready to snap? Would the instrument have rotted out? His entire soul calls to him from the dark opening in the lute's sounding board. He starts toward it, unsteadily, dazed and distracted. He hears the others scrambling toward him, calling him, but the unsounding lute plays surmounts the din and crushes all around him.

Seeing El walk almost zombie-like towards the treasure, Skandor places a hand gently on El's shoulder. "Later, sir elf. Your master Crayne is in need of your opinion now, as are the rest of us. Plus, these items might be a part of some devious trap. Come join us and tell us what you think of the altar." Skandor softly smiles, not wanting to come across as insulting or dictator-like. However, he does not remove his hand from El's shoulder until El walks to join the others with him.

Dumbfounded for a rather long moment, Emma simply stares around the room in wonder. So much wealth tucked away in the ancient chambers beneath a desert stronghold like El-Balans. It all seems so surreal. Idly, she wonders to herself if the priests of Hathe living in the compound above even know that this treasure exists.

After closing the door on the rat horde on the bridge, Hannibal turns to see the expression on Storm's face...pure glee! Following the stout's line of sight, Hannibal's jaw hits the floor when he too views the treasure. Coins, weapons, armor, accessories...it was the motherlode!!!

Crouching down, Hannibal creeps near the treasure and examines it without touching. His eyes fall upon the perfect blades and he laughs a little to himself. "Oh the irony here is too much!" Turning back to Emma, he catches the priestess' attention. "Your god certainly works in mysterious ways, priestess." Hannibal knows Emma would have no idea what he was talking about and so he simply smiles and turns back to the treasure again.

Skandor, too, can not help but let out a short gasp. From rat horde to treasure hoard, the Sword Bearer takes in a deep breath and holds it. Never before had he seen such wealth all in one place. He had imagined as a boy the treasure hoards of dragons (if such creatures really existed) and kings, but the mere sight of one was more awe-inspiring than he ever could have imagined.

If his family had had one one-hundredth of the wealth in this room, what kind of life could they have lived? Perhaps they would have lived in the city, safe from the bandits who slew them and burned their home. And the weapons and armor...what if his father had had such precious items when the bandits had come? Perhaps he could have fended them off...perhaps not.

His eyes roam past the coins--money was of little value to the Sword Bearer. "What would you do on the field of battle with coins, boy? Throw them at the enemy?" one of his Teachers of War had quizzed him as a young student. Nay, Skandor's eyes roam over sword-hilt and blade, taking in the gleam and perfection of so many weapons all kept in one place. At first glance, the weapons seem flawless, near-perfect as far as he could tell.

As his eyes roam, his mind wanders... Where did all this come from? How long had it been stashed here? And why? And what of...

His eyes stop. He blinks once or twice, but the vision is still there. Sticking up above a stack of three gleaming chests, he sees the massive handle of what could only be a two-handed sword. Skandor tilts his head slightly, trying to discern from his position the quality of the handle, hilt, and blade, but the obstructions between him and the blade are too many.

He suddenly realizes his mouth is hanging open, and embarrassed, he shuts it. He turns his head to see if anyone had seen him, and he notices Storm glancing his way, a smile on the dwarf's lips, as if to say 'I caught ye starring, boy!'

Crayne isn't sure he likes any of this. He wonders whether this is another of the many traps that were reported to reside in these underground passages. Looking to the rest of the party Crayne speaks up, "I don't think we should touch anything yet until we know for sure that this isn't some kind of trap. Emma!" he says as he turns to face her, "Is your Detect Traps spell still in operation? El, maybe it would be worth having a look through that crystal of yours just to make sure. I'll cast Detect Magic just to make sure that nothing is going to explode in our faces if we touch any of this stuff."

Emma's attention snaps back to the situation at hand as Crayne reminds everyone of the possible dangers that might be lurking in the room. "Um...yes," Emma responds to his question, "I think the blessing of insight is still upon me. I'll try to see if there's anything dangerous..." The priestess peers around the room, paying careful attention to scan every step before she moves, but clearly walking around a short path to make sure she can view every nook and cranny of the chamber.

Finally, she settles her gaze upon the treasure itself. From her studies of ancient history, she recalls that many wealthy treasure rooms from old times held traps hidden even among the valuables themselves. She hopes no such traps await them, for she feels certain they'll need to search the items to see if the play can be found here.

As she continues to scan the room and its treasure, she begins to gain an uneasy sense. There was something not quite right about these weapons, these sacks of coin. She sensed some unexpected response from them, a response magical in origin.

The Sword Bearer gently chastises himself for briefly forgetting about his charge and starring with some small degree of greed towards the treasure hoard. Crayne and Emma's words ring true: this could be some sort of trap, perhaps even an illusion. All of these items could be fake, perhaps some sort of test put forth by the crafty priests of Hathe long ago.

Crayne murmurs a few magical incantations and before long his eyes again adapt to the various lights that reside in the magical plane. He scans about the room for any magical emanations. Indeed, he can immediately sense some. In fact, there is magic everywhere...every single item in the room (not counting Rinder's Six and Amos, of course) emanates some magic. The weapons, the armor, the coins, the chests...also the small altar with its statue and bowl. But the statue and bowl are shaded soft yellow, whereas all the other items are a more deep orange. 'Strange,' Cranye thinks to himself. 'This must indicate a different sort of magic operating here. I wonder how they are related...'

Crayne turns to Amos and nods, "If you will come with me I think we should both have a closer look at the statue. This time however, be careful not to touch anything!" He makes his way over the small table where the statue sits with the bowl in front. He inspects them both being careful not to touch anything. He then turns to Amos, "So Amos, what do you think we've stumbled upon here? Some sort of ancient shrine?"

"Indeed!" Amos replies, happily stepping up to the small altar. "I think you'n are right! No priest has prayed at this one for many centuries!" He is obviously excited at the find, to the extent that he hardly notices the riches surrounding him.

Completing her search, Emma decides to join Crayne and Amos. The idea of a small shrine intrigues her. 'Obviously, it must be associated with Hathe,' she thinks, 'And if so, perhaps we need to use songful praise at this altar in order to succeed in our mission?'

"Crayne? Amos?" she asks, "Do you think this could be Kilner's Vault? Maybe we should review Amos' notes...and quickly...so we can prepare ourselves to give the right response. Remember the words of the Coreognate: 'with songful praise our path will be...' something, but I can only assume that the proper respect paid to Hathe will make our path easier somehow.

"What do the rest of you think?" Emma asks out loud, turning to look behind her. The sight of Storm and the look upon his face as he visually examines the treasure worries her that he or one of the others might prematurely touch something. "Why don't you come join us over here?" she suggests, trying to temporarily interest them in the mystery of the shrine and statue first.

Hearing Emma's request, Skandor feels compelled to be at her side when she examines something potentially dangerous. Instantly putting the image of the sword in the back of his mind, he strides forward to stand near Emma, ready to aid and assist in any way he can.

Hannibal gives one last look to the treasure and then turns back to Emma and the statue she was now intent on. He had no interest in the small figurine other than as a way to free the treasure for their use. Greed was something the thief was not used to...never being more than a simple pick pocket in his previous life anyhow. It was a feeling that he was not comfortable with but one that he could not seem to force from his mind.

"What's with the bowl?" Canter asks, peeking over Emma's shoulder at the altar. "Are we supposed to put something in it?"

"What would we put there?" El asks, peering carefully at the altar, statue, and the bowl in question.

"Something valuable, I imagine," Skandor says, thinking of certain Anhurian rituals, such as the Ritual of the Test, where a similar vessel is filled with the tested Sword Bearer's blood as part of the trials.

El stands up and takes a step back. "Well, it's not rigged with any trap I can see. Do you agree?" he asks Hannibal.

"Yeah," Hannibal replies, scratching the stubble on his cheek, "but it still seems strange."

"We are in the desert," Crayne says, still staring at the bowl. "Perhaps we are to fill it with water?"

"Yes!" Amos says, turning and patting Crayne's arm with excitement. "There are some ancient services in which we set aside a bowl full of water for Hathe. They are not well-known, in fact, in other parts of the kingdom these services are not performed at all."

"But El-Balans has been a desert compound for centuries, I figure," Canter says.

"So it might make sense," Hannibal concurs. "Then what's with the statue?" the thief asks as Emma takes her canteen and fills the bowl.

"Let me see..." Amos says as he reaches for the small figure.

Crayne catches the priest's hand before it gets too far. "I thought we agreed no touching," he upbraids.

"Mage Crayne, how can I discover Kilner's Vault if you'n won't let me try? This altar may be the key!" Amos pleads.

Crayne exhales loudly. "Fine, but ready yourselves!" he says to the others.

Amos reaches for the small statue and takes it in his hand. As he pulls it off the table and brings it toward him, he carries it over the bowl of water. As it passes over, there is a bright flash of light from the figure's head, and instantly four more figures are projected to each side of the one Amos holds. The priest doesn't move. His hand shakes, perhaps of excitement, perhaps of fear.

"What is it?!" Skandor asks, unsure if the new figures are a threat.

"I'm not sure..." Crayne replies calmly, reaching for one of the new figures. To the mage's surprise, his hand moves right through it. "They are mere images. Projections. Illusions."

"And there are four of them," El says, "just like out there," he motions to the closed door which leads to the large cavern with the four tall statues.

"Amos," Emma says, reaching for his notes and holding them up for the priest to see, "might now be the time to sing Hathe's songful praise?"

"It might be..." Amos says, squinting his eyes from the bright white light emanating from the figure he holds and the four projected figures surrounding it, each about a foot away from the original, in four different directions.

Clearing his throat, the Hathean priest begins to sing. The notes change slowly and his baritone voice wavers a bit as he struggles with the words in some ancient tongue: "Thie poyets eyen, in fyne frezyn wrolln, dothte begalzt formen heavne to lendn, lendn to heavne. As krayet imaginatyan bodies forthnec formen things prunknown, thie poyets penn krayeturns thein to shypesn, ind gaben to ayrn nothingsn eine localyan habicatan ind un krayetnamen."

As Amos finishes the last melodic phrase, the notes and syllables of the last complicated lyrics still hanging in the air, a loud "clang!" can be heard. Spinning around, Storm and Skandor focus their eyes on the closed door to the main cavern. The sound came from the other side.

"Take a look at that!" Canter exclaims, pointing down at the bowl. There, on the surface of the water lies an image: a view of the large cavern. It is a top-down view, as if from the high ceiling. Framed by the edge of the water, the four large statues in the center of the chamber can clearly be seen. And they are moving.

"Hathe be mighty..." Amos whispers as he continues to hold the small figure above the bowl, for fear that moving it would stop whatever they've set in motion. His eyes stay glued to the wavering image on the surface of the small bowl.

"They are changing places, from the north to the east, the east to the south, the south to the west, and the west to the north. Each statue is taking the place of the one beside it," Emma says, lowering Amos' notes into her pack.

The statues in the image then come to a stop, in roughly the same configuration as before, but with their places changed. And now there is something new. Right in the center is a shiny sliver of light. It is hard to tell, but it appears to be oval in shape, with the long axis perpendicular to the floor. It is difficult to make out, but it appears to be about three-quarters as tall as the statues, so it would be more or less the height of a human.

"That, my friends, looks like the entrance to some magical vault if I've ever seen one...which I haven't," Hannibal says, smiling at the prospect of actually getting into the famed Kilner's Vault.

"Shall we'n go then?" Amos says, beginning to turn away from the altar and bowl, moving the figure out from above the bowl. As he does, the image on the surface of the water begins to fade, and in the image the shiny oval disappears. The four projections of figures flickers and dies.

"Wait!" Crayne says, taking Amos' wrist and moving it so that the figure is once again over the bowl. Breathing a sigh of relief, the projected illusions return, as does the image on the water's surface and the shiny oval object in the center of the four statues in the image.

"Someone has to stay here, it seems," Skandor says, having observed what just happened. "Because as soon as we move that figure, whatever is down there is going to disappear."

Skandor looks to Storm, who he can see is still eyeing the treasure around him. He then looks to Emma, who takes in a deep breath as she looks to the others. Who will stay and who will go? Should Amos go with them into the main cavern and lead them into the vault? Or does a priest of Hathe need to stay by the altar to keep the gateway (if indeed that's what the oval-shaped shiny thing really is) open? Also, who knows what dangers lie inside the vault itself? This appeared to be a magical vault, not just a regular room. It could be any size, any location, and filled with any number of deadly traps or obstacles.

But before they even get that far, how will they get past the giant rats waiting for them on the bridge, directly in their path from the altar/treasure room to the statues below?

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