Chronicle - Sutur

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.

Four Brothers
The first runs and never wins.
The second eats and is never full.
The third drinks and is always thirsty.
The fourth sings a song and is never good.

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.

Lastar's Retreat

To our left was the Sun god of the Egyptian mythology, Ra, beneath the god was a depiction of the base of Lastar's tower; an oriental man was studying books and showing something to a figure resembling Bavarik but much younger. Opposite was lion woman figure, clearly another god, beneath which was a ruin with a man in a grey cloak kneeling before Orcus, who was holding his wand; Orcus' left arm was touching his cloak. To our right was Ynyswydrin being killed by Orcus beneath an evil looking beast-headed man figure. Behind us was an Egyptian woman arching over (bridging) a smaller man beneath. Depicted under this was Orcus handing over a staff to Daudrag. On the roof was a lady within what looked like a spinning star.

There was a semi-clad female sitting in the centre of the room, surrounded by nasty looking jaguars and pillars around them with torches providing light. All of the room was brightly painted and there was lots of colour, gold and gems. The floor was polished marble, and the whole place reeked of opulence.

Melai reacted first, raising a wall of fire and stepping into the room. Morwath followed, but I was concerned with Hintzu's behaviour, so I went back for him and called on Odin to strengthen his courage. There was no reaction from the woman to our entry, and it seemed that the vivid colours that seemed so real might actually mask a statue beneath. Lanzi scanned the room, detecting a hidden door in each wall, and it was possible that with the door closed behind us that the whole room would appear to be sealed. Closer inspection revealed that the doors were visible from close up, but blended in cleverly with the background from a distance.