"One would think if you just kept wandering around you'd eventually find this tunnel.  But it could be they were killed before they could get here.  It could also be that they did find it but this breezeway does not lead to a way out.  We won't know till we investigate it." Tahldar replies to Kahan.

"Lead the way Borimer." he adds as he prepares to follow along the fresh air tunnel.

Shae examines the ring.  "Does anyone want to look at this before going on?  Maybe it's magic."

"Keeping it can't hurt, but I say we shoould await for a safer time to bother with it."

OOC: Given my extended absence over the holidays and with work, I'm going to move this along, following your trend of going toward the area of the breeze.

You follow the slight breeze, entering the sulfuric, magic mists again.  When the mists part, you find yourself in a 10 foot square section of hall with exits in all four directions.

The direction to the right is where the breeze is coming from, so you again follow it.

The mists eventually part to another 10 square section, with an entry in front of you and behind (where you came from).  At the entrance in front of you is an ancient wooden door that has fallen into decline.  Parts of it have broken off, and you feel the breeze coming through the cracks of the door.

Entering the far room, you find yourself entering a 30 foot by 30 foot room.  On the far wall is a raised platform like a dais, and in the middle of the room is what looks like a well.  In front of the well is a stone box with unfamiliar carvings on it.

On the platform is a large golden statue that looks like a bull with wings and a man's head instead of a bull.   As you enter the room, the statue begins to move, its head turning toward you.

It does not move from its spot, but the statue talks, asking in a grating voice like wind running through a cave, "Why are you here?"

Borimer shifts slightly to the balls of his feet, his hand resting near the Godslayer and his stump clenched in an imaginary fist of fury.  He waits for someone to respond before he does, the only way he knows how.

Lukas answer is simple and to the point, "Because this is where my feet have taken me, why are you here?"

"We are here to pass the test, of course. The test of the faithful. This is where our wanderings have taken us," Kahan replies, stepping forward towards the odd statue while holding the box with the lit up words on it. "We've already passed the darkness test and hope to pass the confusion test soon."

Tahldar looks like he wishes to say something, but refrains for the moment.  He knows from past experience that sometimes people can get the wrong impression from him, despite his best efforts.  For reasons unknown to him, despite his vast intelligence, he lacks some sort of social grace.

"Actually, that is only part of the truth. The immediate reason we are here is because we need to pass the test." Didit spoke calmly, doing her best not to sound threatening "The real reason is because we have to, we need to pass the Test in order to spare our lives and prevent the black death from spreading."

To Lukas' question, the statue responds, "To ask a question, you must put an item of value in the box.  The more valuable the item, the more valuable the answer will be."

After the various statements about why you are there, the statue thing says, "You are in the test.  You are observed by the priests.  They torment the uninitiated with these tests and this labyrinth, and they take pleasure in that."

Shae turns the situation around to answer a question with a question.  "What are YOU doing here?" she asks.  She also inspects the box.

The statue repeats, "To ask a question, you must put an item of value in the box.  The more valuable the item, the more valuable the answer will be."

Shrugging, Kahan takes a few of the strange platinum coins the group found in their travels (probably in the Temple?) and places them in the box, asking, "How do we finish this test?"

After the box is closed with the coins inside (we will say you put 25 inside), you hear a creak inside and the faint tumbling of the coins banging against the side of a long stone tunnel.

The statue answers, "The Test of the Faithful is completed when all seven gems are put into their proper place."

(I count 510 coins minus 25, equaling 485 coins left over.)

Shae puts in 100 coins and asks, "How do we get out of this labyrinth?"

The coins jingle as they go down some sort of chute, and the statue says, "Bring me the Azure Jewel, and I will reveal those secrets.  Otherwise, you must leave the way the priests watch their subjects.  The Azure Jewel is in the eye of Manjab, the Iron Watcher who roams this labyrinth for all time."

"That must be the creature those inscriptions were referring to. Well, one of them, as I cannot think of a reason that an iron watcher would eat flesh and bone, unless of course the other denizens of this labyrinth were forced to commit cannibalism to survive... Kahan muses as he looks through his pack for something of value. Deciding the coins seem to be working well enough, he drops another 100 into the box and asks, choosing his words carefully, "How do we kill the Iron Watcher, or, if that is impossible, how do we remove his eye?"

This time, you do not hear the coins go down the chute, remaining where they are.  The statue says, "The answer to that question will require all of your coins."

Tahldar reaches into his belt pouch and counts his meager amount of money.  "I have fifty gold pieces." he says, knowing the amount to not be much.  "The knowledge of how to kill the Iron creature may just save some of our lives, so to me it's worth every farthing we can muster."

Shae says, "I think he's referring to the strange coins we found.  There are probably about 300 left after Kahan's 100.  We can give them if you want."

"Our lives and the fate of two worlds are in stake, I say we give it all the money"

Agreeing, Kahan nods and dumps the rest of the coins into the box. "We also have other valuables should we have to return here to ask additional questions," the priest assures the rest of the group.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:33, Wed 21 Jan 2015.

The coins all go down the chute, and the Llamasu statue says:

"You may take the gem from its body while it yet moves, or defeat it in combat and remove the gem from its inert skull.  Fifteen large rooms exist in this complex--this labyrinth, if you will.  The entry room is one.  This room is another.  Each serves a purpose, and some may aid you in defeating Manjab.  Here is how they may help:

"In a room conceals a pit. Manjab may fall in and have difficulty extracting itself.  In yet another, a pit is filled with water, and in yet another, with acid.  These all hinder the movements of Manjab but are not concealed, and coaxing Manjab in will take skill.

"Pull the lever and the forces of the gods will make the metal fly to the ceiling, incapacitating Manjab, and lowering the lever will damage its body as it crashes to the earth.

"In yet another room, the spears will fly and may pin Manjab down, and in another, a block of stone will crush its head.  Another room pulls any who touch its floor down with the force of ten gravities, maybe more.  In another room, the walls will crush any who cross too far."

It pauses and says, "These are the tools you use to defeat Manjab and bring me the gem, and I will tell you the way out.  The other gem in the other eye socket is for those who pass the test to keep, and is one of the gems needed to pass the Test of the Faithful.  More information will cost you more."

"I'd rather just kill it than dodge traps to hurt it first, unless we have to do that in order to kill it in the first place."

"Maybe we should try to map rooms first, a couple of them sound quite dangerous"