Re: Harkahnon Ruins 11 - The Demons
Upon checking outside the secret door, you do not see anything in room 2. It appears safe.
(For new Flint, a quick catching up, and for the rest of you, a quick refresher:
The PCs' last adventure led to the explosion of an ancient volcano and unleashing of a powerful anti-magic aura that encapsulated the world. Because magic is part of what holds the world together, this is causing the imminent death of the entire planet within a short time -- this armageddon is called the "Kuvlah Tah" by the dwarves--see thread called "recap" for more.
(The antimagic aura was released by Augmantium, a gold statue dragonette that Kahan currently possesses. Its antimagic power had been shut up so long inside the volcano -- building up more each day -- that its sudden release engulfed the world. It's power is contained within a specialized box that encases it.)
The PCs followed a friendly medusa, Syrissa, to this ancient temple, in which it was rumored the inhabitants were able to escape to Allevia the last time this anti-magic aura was released a thousand years earlier. She knew because her evil gorgon sister, Esylia, had come here seeking a way to flee to Allevia.
Esylia's weapon, besides her gaze, was a large volume of explosive grenade-like things -- and she could also cast spells. She had killed any remaining people of the temple. The PCs finally defeated her the previous night.
Here's where the complication comes in:
A device encompassing most of the temple is called the Ark, composed of two parts: The Time Ark (to set a specific time) and a Venue Ark (to set a specific place).
The Time Ark is a device in Room 16. If its numbers are set to a workable number, it will transport any who touch it to a different time (but not transport them anywhere). It also works in conjunction with the Venue Ark. (The PCs used it to travel back about 1000 years, to the time just after the first group fled the temple, so they didn't have to worry about the destruction of the world (not the one in their time anyway), but Esylia had also traveled back using the same code.)
The Venue Ark is the large center room (Room 34). It is set by adjusting the crystals in the 6 crystal focus rooms -- one above, one below, and one on each side of the Venue Ark (rooms 32a through f). They are adjusted in the winch rooms (rooms 33a through f). If activated, the Venue Ark can be stepped through to transport the person to the place set in its dials (if an acceptable place) and the time set on the Time Ark.
Unfortunately, before dying, Esylia set the Venue Ark to a code on some other plane that allowed demons to come through. This was her defense against the PCs getting through and locking her out. They broke through her magic lock on the door, or rather the wall surrounding the door, and now are somewhere in the Temple.
The party has several codes, and now needs to reprogram the Ark to get to where and when it wants. Once it escapes, a new campaign (not just a new adventure) will begin on the foreign world of Allevia.