Editing Chronicle - Sutur (section)

== Gateway from Malek ==

With the giants and wargs dealt with, we took a moment to look around the room we had entered. Nearest to where I now stood was a depiction of Artemis above the wall; to my right was Ares, to my left Zeus and behind me Cerberus. On the ceiling was a pegasus in flight. Beneath Zeus was shown a dwarf cutting through enemies to reach a dwarven female, with a mountainous scene in the background. The symbol of the female dwarf was partially obscured by chiselling. Under Artemis was a great battle being fought at a mountain and minas, with dwarves fighting the forces of evil. [[Orcus]]' wand was being torn from the top of the tower by [[Renash]] and [[Hasfast]], who was wearing his 3-pointed crown. Another dwarf was with them, but we didn't recognise his symbol; they were all celebrating a great victory. Under Cerberus was [[Orcus]] with his wand being confronted by Renash, Brolgar, Hiramatsu and another samurai. Under Ares, [[Renash]] was holding up the ring of water whilst confronting a balrog, but was also missing a finger; the Balrog's whip of fire was stretched across the roof. This was certainly a 6th age room.

On the floor was another riddle to answer.

<center><i>
Four Brothers<br>
The first runs and never wins.<br>
The second eats and is never full.<br>
The third drinks and is always thirsty.<br>
The fourth sings a song and is never good.
</i></center>

We quickly realised that this related to the four elements, Water, Fire, Earth and Air in that order. It was also worth refreshing our memory that Zeus was similar in position to Odin, Artemis to Frey, Ares to Loki and Cerberus to Fenris when considering the alignment of the rooms. Whilst considering the meaning of the room, we realised that most of the room was 6th age and positive, but one wall referred to history and was negative (under Cerberus). We had to apply some positive energy to the wall, which meant steaming it.

Whilst that was happening, [[Lanzi]] tried an idea he had discussed with [[Melai]], holding my collected chronicle pages up to the codicil; to my surprise, the pages locked into place by some dweomer, becoming the 7th age history in progress. [[Lanzi]] was the one to produce the steam, holding up something shiny whilst mouthing an incantation before breathing steam over the image of [[Orcus]]. A portal was revealed, with stairs beyond leading down and spiralling left. [[Melai]] warned that there was evil ahead, so we should be prepared for battle.

I called on [[Odin]] to protect us from evil and [[Lanzi]] created mirror images. We made our way down the stairs, pausing only to let [[Hintzu]] disable a deadfall trap that [[Melai]] discovered. We carried on for about half an hour, with [[Melai]] warning that the sense of evil was getting stronger all the time. The steps were very well hewn, and the air was now thick and warm. Finally we reached a short passage with a hovering ball of light in front of a stone door with a metal handle and beneath a vaulted ceiling. There were symbols that we could not read, so [[Melai]] used dweomer to comprehend languages.

We recognised the symbols of Zem to the left, Balem above and Hamar to the right, but we were still unable to decipher all of the runes. The only words that seemed to make sense were "death", "embalming" and "bringing back to life". [[Lanzi]] suspected an illusion, so asked us to back off whilst he tried to dispel magic.

Suddenly [[Melai]] ordered us to run, and the power of her crown amplified her command so that most of us were unable to resist! Fortunately, [[Lanzi]] was able to complete his dweomer and the spell removed whatever influence was exerted on [[Melai]]. She rescinded her command, and we returned safely to the base of the stairs.

Now the light had disappeared and the gibberish had been replaced with glowing runes. Unfortunately we still had no idea what they said! [[Hintzu]], helpfully, confirmed that John could not read them either. I cast the runes to seek [[Odin]]'s guidance, which took a few minutes. As I was doing so, [[Hintzu]] backed into the shadows, covering our rear. Unfortunately he was so well hidden that [[Morwath]] didn't see him and almost tripped down the stairs when he walked into him! Despite the comedy antics, the augury was clear; despite the risk there was only one way to our destination, through the portal ahead.

We discussed the risk of this unknown doorway. [[Melai]] suggested that [[Morwath]] was expendible, so he should go first, although I'm not sure he agreed! [[Morwath]] had been towards the rear with [[Hintzu]], but he came forward now and then announced that he could read these strange runes! The language was an ancient one, apparently, but he read out the inscriptions one by one. To our left it stated "Seek thee not the path of death unless thou art ready." To the front it read "I want your soul, tell us how best to take it to our own." To the right it said "Weigh thy heart against that which Ma'at allows for your will to be forsaken."

Another important conversation had taken place at some point whilst here, which I record now despite not relating directly to the door. Both the sword and the gem had come from negative planes, but were positive artefacts, so it was no wonder that the Prime was filled with negative influence; worse, we had brought another such artefact, the hearth, to the Prime (and fortunately removed it again, but not to the Abyss where it belongs).

We finally approached the door itself, and Eudora made herself invisible in case of danger. [[Hintzu]] was hanging back from the group, expressing doubts that we should go through, and it was indeed [[Morwath]] that opened the door. Beyond was a medium-sized room with some strange symbology, which we determined to be 3rd Age.