Kahan begins to go back upstairs the way they came downstairs after Esylia, attempting to use the stone teleportal system to go back up a floor by grabbing the stone from the bowl marked II (assuming there is one there) and walking into the hole, making sure to put the stone back into the bowl it came from.

What's your endpoint?

Wherever it was we were before we went downstairs.

Borimer loosens his sword in its scabbard when he sees Kahan preparing to leave.

"You want me to walk in front?"

"There shouldn't be any further threats to us until we enter the portal room." Kahan stated, shaking his head.

"I'll take point on opening doors. You never know where Esylia might have left a booby trap."

He takes on final glance down at the fallen monster and gives a sigh before leading the way.

Borimer nods and takes the position affording him the best way to guard their backs.

Hopefully this will help get us up and moving again.  Here's what we have on the maps that I see:

The southern part of level 2 has not been explored.  I think you had just examined the bloody area in room 25 before being interrupted but had not actually done anything much in that room.

LEVEL 2


On level 1, there is the area east of #18 that you have not yet explored:


<blue><b>LEVEL ONE

The arrow by #18 references the area where the wall had collapsed in the future time before you traveled back.

OOC: I'm just going to make a judgment call here.

The party moves back to where it was at (the junction at 23).  The door to room 25 is still open.

You can go down the steps to the left or back into room 25.  You hear a soft moan from somewhere within room 25.

OOC: I hope we haven't hit a rut here.  You're almost done!

Borimer strains to hear more of the soft moaning, but can't make anything out. He whispers to Mal.

"How about sneakin' over there and checkin' out that noise..."

He keeps his eyes moving to each of the exits from the hallway (rooms 24, 25, and the stairs).

Malissin moves into room 25 towards the muffled moaning sound.  It stops as he enters but he had heard it coming from the northeast part of the room.  He begins a search there.

The rest of you hear eerie calls and occasional pounding on the door to the center room where you saw (through the crystalline television system) the demon-like creatures.

Malissin finishes his search.  There is a partition in the wall (secret door) that can be moved back at a crack if enough strength is used against the bricks.

"What say I give this a push and we see what's beyond, eh?"

Borimer braces his feet and slides the secret door open...

Borimer pushes the door aside, revealing a small closet area barely 5 feet wide to a side. Huddled in the darkness, his leg tethered by a chain to a bolt in the floor, is a blond human with long hair draped over his face.  He is skeletal in his thin frame, clad in blood-stained rags, and is only half-conscious.  Scores of cuts and bruises line his body from torture.

OOC: To refresh your memory, here is the original description of room 25:

There is a heavy oaken table in the center of the room with four chairs around it.  The table is broken on one side, an apparent victim of one of Esylia's homemade grenades.  A pile of rubble is near the southwest corner -- the remains of someone she had turned to stone.

On the table, you see various kitchen knives spread evenly about on a red towel.  Then you realize the towel is not red.  It is a white towel that has blood all over it.  The knives also are covered with blood.  A beaker of a clear liquid is next to the knives.  The blood is also stained with blood, most of it old but some it appearing to be rather fresh.
 
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:07, Tue 15 Jan 2013.

"Kahan, can you tend to his wounds?"

Borimer steps back and keeps watch for trouble. After a moment, he goes to the stairs and listens before returning to the room with the secret door.

Borimer hears nothing from the stairs.  The only sounds come from the center room.

Harak leans in close to see what kind of wounds the man has and if they can be bound simply. "The sooner we get out of this temple, the better," he says under his breath.

"Agreed.  Allevia is sounding pretty good right about now..."

Mal nods at that statement.

"Yeah...at least there's nothing currently hunting us down..."

OOC: I think Grant has been out of action for a little while.  He's also not posted in the other game he's in for awhile.

You move forward and help the man, patching up his wounds.  He is in bad shape and weakly introduces himself as Androlus.  He grabs Borimer's shirt with weak hands and says, "Watch out for the witch.  She'll kill you."  He seems manic, but you notice now, as he lifts his head, the other wounds he has.  His eyes have been gouged out.

You explain to her that Esylia is dead.

"She wants the code," he says.  "I wouldn't give it to her.  We burnt the library."  He cackles as if this gives him some comfort.  "We burnt up all the codes.  Or they did.  Or someone did.  It's all a blur.  All a blur."  He seems on the verge of losing consciousness from the wounds and loss of blood.

Borimer politely questions Androlus when he's been tended to by his comrade.

"Do you know where any of the gems are, friend?"

He mutters to himself when he remembers the center chamber.

"Or any idea how to empty a room of demons without doing it the hard way?"
This message was last edited by the player at 22:31, Tue 22 Jan 2013.

I think Malissin was onto how to use the Ark, and maybe Kahan.

EDIT: Wrong thread.  I was responding to Borimer's comment in the player comment thread.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:52, Thu 24 Jan 2013.

"Gems?" Androlus says.  "She kept the gems on her, or maybe in the chest at the bunk, last I saw."  He lets out a deep breath.  "But I haven't seen anything in days or weeks, maybe longer."  He shakes his head at the mention of demons.  "I know nothing of demons."

Kahan attempts to patch up Androlus as best he can. "All of my magics have been used up, but I can heal him better after a rest." he says to no one in particular.

Androlus is weak and blind.  He has lost a lot of blood.  But Esylia was obviously keeping him alive to get information out of him, most particularly the codes, which you may have already found.  If you have any questions for him, he can try to answer them.  He is very thankful for you saving him and will gladly give you the code to get to Allevia (both of them that he remembers).

He tells you where he scribbled the codes so they would not be lost for good, and you seem to have found them all.  Esylia never suspected that he did that before she captured and tortured him.