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Turn 152.0: The Statues

Posted: 6/1/01

"Hmmmm..." Emma crosses her arms as she looks at the bridge spanning the chasm, the statues, and eventually the door on the other side. She reaches up and begins to stroke her chin, clearly in deep thought for several moments. Finally, she taps the holy medallion around her neck and breathes a soft prayer for Anhur's protection in this mysterious place, unsure of what they'll discover. With that in mind, she focuses her attention once more on the path that lies before them, trying to discern if any traps might await the unwary.

"Crayne?" she asks, looking back at the wizard, "Does anything seem out of place or unusual here?"

Crayne moves nervously as he looks at the two statues and the bridge before him. The eerie whistling sound from the breeze unsettles his stomach. He doesn't like this. There is something not quite right here. "Emma! I don't think we should do anything until we fully investigate what is before us. I will memorise Detect Magic and cast it upon these statues and then the bridge. Is there anything your Detect Traps tell us? If nothing turns up I suggest we examine the statues a little closer and see if there are any markings or runes. Meanwhile!" Crayne looks to Skandor and Storm, "Guard the entrance from the portal. We do not want the Red Dragon mage coming through unexpectedly."

Hannibal nods to the mage's suggestion of the use of his spell. Being in the presence of Crayne and Emma of late had given him new found appreciation of wizardry and sorcery. He liked it no more than he had before, only now he could finally see some use for the craft other than destruction and death.

Moving further out, closer to the edge of the chasm, Hannibal brings forth a good amount of saliva and spits off the edge, listening to see if he can determine what lies below. A sudden and comical smile crosses his face as he envisions the Red Dragon mage crossing a cavern floor far below, looking up at just the last moment, and then...smack! Hannibal lets out a chuckle to himself as he waits for something, anything, that might tell him how deep this cavern really goes. After a few moments, the smile on his face fades as he continues to strain to hear the spit hit the floor...or something. All that he can hear is the wind blowing through the chasm, above and below. Did the spit meet with anything? Or was it just too quiet to hear? Hannibal had no way of knowing.

"Do your thing Mage Crayne," he says when done with his experiment, "but I urge you to hurry. There is no telling how much time we have left or how far the Red Dragon Mage has gone."

Storm's blood churns as he steps through the portal, thinking he'd probably end up being transferred to the center of the sun or some hellish other dimension. Fortunately, his feet his solid ground on the other side, and he finds himself in Kilner's Vault with the rest of his friends.

This does nothing to calm his nerves, though. He keeps both of his long swords in his hands as he gingerly looks around, using his infravision to examine what he can see. He also uses as many of his dwarven underground abilities to further gain information about the cavern. He tries to determine how far underground they currently are, despite not even having a general idea of where on the planet this room is. He looks at the rocks in the wall, seeing if their texture and color (or heat) can tell him anything about how deep they are. He also tries to determine the slope of the room, as well as any contraptions in the stone of the walls. Furthermore, he looks for any stone-based traps in the floor or on the walls.

His infravision allows him to see a short ways up and down the chasm, but it doesn't reveal much, except that it is taller and deeper than the limits of even his dwarven visual abilities. As he tries to sense the depth of the room, he feels this churning in his stomach as his senses reveal that the whole room is deep...very very deep. Deeper than he had ever been before. His inspection of the walls reveals nothing out of the ordinary, which leaves his attention to focus on two things: the portal, and the statues.

Once he gathers what he can and once he informs the rest of the group of this info, he nods as he is asked to guard the entrance with Skandor. After a few minutes, though, Storm decides to sit down and relax a little (though his nerves are most definitely still keeping him alert). He tries to sit as close to behind the portal as he can, so that if someone comes through they might not see him. He waits, certainly not particularly anxious to go across that bridge, for his friends to make a decision.

Crayne then looks to Elloharin, "Scan the area with that gem of yours. Also, keep it focused on the portal. We do not want an invisible mage sneaking up on us."

El nods to the mage, reaching for his Gem of Seeing. He holds it up before him, peering through its prism-like shape. The task is tedious and straining on the eyes. He peers at the portal first, making sure that he sees nothing but the shimmering oval shape of the magical gateway. No Covarc, no Caerloon troops...for now. He then slowly begins turning his body in a slow about-face. But part-way there, as his vision meets with a large piece of rock along the wall beside the portal, he stops. There, for a moment...

"Ahh!!" El screams, nearly dropping the gem. His palms grow sweaty and beads of perspiration begin to appear on his delicate elven forehead. There, through the gem, he had seen him...Goolag. His grotesque, gutted orcish figure, dirty and blood-stained green, just standing there, watching him.

"What is it?" Canter asks, stunned by El's sudden loss of composure. The fighter had to admit, this elf had the tendency to act strangely at times, but lately he had been quite normal...until now. He watches as El's knees buckle and he sinks to the dirty ground, reaching for his sword all the while. "What do you see?"

El's mouth is parched for a moment...dry. Unable to respond. He simply raises an arm, pointing at the spot on the wall. Canter grabs the gem from El's slippery grasp and holds it up before his eyes, training his sight upon the very same spot. Nothing. "Nothing, Elloharin. I see nothing."

Canter then leans down, holding the gem so that El can see the spot again through it. El wipes his sweaty eyes on his sleeve as he nervously peers through once more. Only to see nothing.

After watching the drama play out with a look of concern, Crayne settles down in one of the corners and memorises detect magic.

While Crayne studies his spellbook, Emma entrusts the guarding of the portal to the warriors while she moves about viewing the bridge and the statues with her god-given insight. Something tells her that Kilner's Vault must possess some kind of trap for the unwary. It only made sense...unless of course, the Hatheans had left some kind of guardian instead. Her eyes return to the statues. Something just doesn't feel right about them.

Indeed, as she turns her attention toward the statues, using the last remaining power of her Find Traps spell, her sense of unease about the statues grows. They do, indeed, seem to harbor some kind of harmful trap. Her senses tell her it is of a magical sort. What exactly it is, she cannot be certain, but they will have to be dealt with... and carefully.

After revealing her findings to the others, Emma asks, "Do you think perhaps I should seek a small divination from Anhur?" she suggests, "Maybe something to determine the nature of these statues? They seem more...menacing...and guardian-like to me. From an artistic standpoint...their position near the bridge and how they flank the doorway...it's almost as if their sculptor intended for them to be sentinels of some kind. Don't you think so, Amos?" She turns to the Hathean for his assessment, clearly interested in what her fellow-priest might have to say.

Amos nods his head. "It wouldn't be unusual to place guardians in a place such as this...especially if there is something valuable to guard! Of course, few priests have created such guardians in many, many years..."

Crayne nods at Emma enthusiastically, "Absolutely! My thoughts exactly. If you can learn anything about these statues it would be of great assistance to us!"

Emma purses her lips and finally says, "I think you're right. This is probably the best time and place to seek Anhur's guidance. I'll cast an augury and see what the future holds for us."

The priestess approaches the leading edge of the bridge and quickly words a simple prayer. "Help us to shape our plans, Anhur...so that the steps of your footsoldiers will be well-guided through the dangers ahead."

Then, the Shield Maiden asks the first of three questions. "If we cross this bridge straightaway, will we reach the other side unchallenged?"

The familiar ring of Anhur's voice soon comes to her, clear in her mind's ear: "Challenged is the way."

Her second question then follows. "Do the statues pose a threat to us?"

"To some, a lock; to others, a key."

And finally the last. "Will Covarc the Red Dragon mage find his way here before we acquire the Hathean play?"

"Here he shall not be."

Smiling, Emma rises from her kneeling position at the head of the bridge. She is about to turn around to face the others and inform them of Anhur's wisdom when something catches her eye. There, at the heads of the statues, on the faces, the eyes. They appear to be open, with large black pupils surround by a deep, dark orange hue. 'That is strange,' Emma tells herself, cocking her head to the side in thought. 'I could swear that before the eyes were closed...and now they are not. They are...watching...me.'

"Um...Emma?" Storm says, just noticing the now-open pairs of eyes on the two towering statues. "You see that?"

"Mmm hmm..." the Shield Maiden replies, her prosody question-like, not moving a muscle.

"Does that bother you as much as it bothers me?" Hannibal asks, squinting his own eyes to check out the statues.

Canter looks to Emma, trying to read her thoughts from her body language (because she is facing the statue and the bridge, the rest of the party sees only her back). He then casts a glance to El, who is crouching on the floor, catching his breath from his...experience.

Emma exhales slowly, thinking about what exactly to do next. She responds to Hannibal's query. "Mmm hmm..."

Then, suddenly, the mouthes of the two statues, which stand facing each other at the head of the bridge, begin to move. The two pairs of lips move in unison, and two identical-sounding voices emerge. Deep, monotone, drone-like: "He who wishes to pass into Kilner's Vault must accept the challenge. Prepare yourself."

With that, the statues begin to move, turning slowly in their positions to face Emma, the rest of the party, and the portal behind them. In a moment they are both turned exactly one quarter of a turn so that they are now standing side-by-side, blocking the entrance to the bridge. They stand with their arms slightly bent at the elbow, hands slightly forward at their waists. And at the end of each arm is a stone fist.

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