Stepping closer, Kitheras sees that the gleaming comes from two pieces of braided metal, each with a notable circular bent. The first is gold and copper. The other, significantly larger, is made of dusky red iron and has a massive ruby in the center.

Corym, coming up behind Kitheras, recognizes them immediately. These are keystones, and are made of the same material as the two non-shattered archways in the eastern part of the complex.

"Those are the remaining key stones to the two intact gates.  With them, we could traverse them or call beings through them.  It's possible, of course, that there is a command word associated with the keys.  It's possible that they could have other properties as well.

My suggestion is that we leave them where they lie until we have some better idea of where those gates go. Less of a chance for mishap that way."

"There is a more profound question than where they go that should be looked to.  Why were all the other gates dismantled, but not these two?  My understanding is that Gates, once constructed are nearly indestructible. Whoever went about the task of constructing and then deconstructing these gates had adequate resources of power to finish the task, I'm certain."

"Why leave them intact? Why leave the keys.  Perhaps our answer lies beyond the next door."


"Corym, start your check on the next door.  I'll close this one up and make sure that everyone knows how to re-open it."

Corym checked the door. Satisfied that it wasn't locked, he pushed it open. On the other side is a room much like its northern neighbor, though somewhat smaller. The stone has had the same faux-wood treatment as the first room. Like that room, this one is dominated by a long table and chairs. However, the table is much less formal (though not quite crossing over into rustic) and the chairs are a mis-matched hodge podge. There's a door to the south.

Corym circles the table, checking the room and furnishings for traps. Though he finds none, he elects against actually sitting at the table and moves to the door. Once again it is unlocked and not trapped, and he pulls it open.

Through the door is a very brief hallway that immediately opens into a large square room forty feet on the side. A hallway exits to the east. On the wall opposite you are a number of wood poles leaning against the wall, some with decayed scraps of cloth clinging to them. Moving closer, he shifts one slightly and nods. They're the remains of cots. A quick mental calculation and there's enough there to fill the room. This was probably a dormitory.

The hallway is 30 feet long and ends in three doors: ahead, left, and right. With the rest of the group trailing about ten feet behind him, Corym checks all of the doors. None of them are trapped, and only the center one is locked. They're all fairly standard wooden doors, with just enough decoration to fit into an elven home, but only just.

Deciding to leave the locked door alone on the off chance there is something dangerous behind it, Corym opens the door on the left. Beyond the door is a long, narrow room, about 20' x 40'. It's a bedroom that is at least a bit reminiscent of the senior apprentice bedrooms in the mansion above, though there are two beds, dressers, and desks. The walls are a warm faux-wood, and there's a rather bland rug covering most of the free space on the floor. He spends a bit of time checking over the room, but it's about as boring as any apprentice room he's been in. The chests and dressers are all empty.

Leaving the room behind, he tries the other unlocked door. It opens to reveal another bedroom, though this one is rather higher quality. Two of everything again, but it's clear whoever would use this room ranked above the apprentices to the north. A bit of searching reveals there are no traps, and only the rotted remains of several cloaks in one of the wardrobes. After so many years, they're more strips of fabric than coherent garments.

Corym steps back into the hallway. He looks first at one bedroom, then at the other, trying to pull everything he's seen down here together.

One of the interesting things that happened after the Opening was the great about of cross-cultural influence that happened in the various arts. The other races brought their own materials and design sensitivities for everything from clothing to furniture to music, and as time progressed, all of the artists interacted. Ideas spread, and even artists that were cleaving to their own culture's mores were doing so in response, and in dialogue, with the art of the others.

All of the furnishings of the mansion were very much of that period. They were of elven make, for elves, but visibly part of that Myth Drannan conversation. Everything down here is of a notably different style. "Pure elven" is not the right way to phrase it, but it is very much pre-mythal. These rooms have been closed up much like the eastern part of the complex. But to Corym's mind whether there was any connection between this area and the mansion above is getting increasingly... nebulous.

His mind still wheeling art and history and architecture together trying to make sense of what he's been seeing, he tries to unlock the hallway's final door.

And snaps his pick.

"Torvek? My picks have failed me.  Can you give this door a try, or lend me your picks to try again?"

Krackor had been observing up to this point, taking in what was going on, being said etc. He had been doing his own calculations and believed that they were underneath one of the other Manor buildings by now.

"Captain, everyone. How strange would you think it that these were the clandestine passages of the major houses or at least, wizard towers or some such organisation?

That the passages will continue with rooms off to sides and long corridors, eventually finding a nexus of sorts!"  He left it hanging like that for a few breaths, watching as the others played with this idea in their heads.

"So we'll need to be aware that there may be different approaches to security as we move on. One locked door after so many not! Maybe this lasts to that nexus, maybe a security location.

It makes a lot more sense to me now, that if the Manor we've been in is a magical school, for the students to live and practice down here, could be why the 'Gares' weren't completed and the key stones kept safe in a secret room. It would also lead to there being a possible connection either to other houses or schools of magic. Just be aware"

His mind had been calculating like they did when he was u derground like he was now.  How far, how low, what angles the gradients of the floor and ceiling were. Even in magically constructed locations!

Torvek moves his arm to his belt and grabs a set of lock picks.  He walks up to Corym and hands them over.  "Probably better for you to try again.  I am not very good with locks.  I have a spell to open doors prepared though if needed." he says.

He listens to Krackor carefully and adds: "I agree, this place is strange.  There must be a reason why the entrance cellar had a strongly magically locked door but so far, we have not found anything that sems to justify the security.  As far as we know, this place has not been disturbed for centuries."

With a new set of tools and a chance to settle his mind, Corym makes quick work of the lock. The door swings open to reveal a relatively short corridor that opens up into another bedroom. This one seems rather more impressive, with a large, four-post bed and several tables and dressers. You can't tell from the door if it's also been emptied.

Corym steps forward, giving his usual close attention to the surroundings. After one careful step, he stops. The floor in the second half of the hallway doesn't look quite right.

Moving closer, and calling for Kora to move the light first one way and then another, Corym sees the issue. There's a false floor that takes up most of the width of the hallway. Only a one foot wide path along the right hand wall is actually solid.

"A wizard that traps the entrance to his bedroom is both paranoid and extremely confident. It's possible that there's something in the pit below that will be of interest--or of great hazard.  There's a one-foot wide stretch along the right side that is a solid floor."

"It's possible that I could disable the trap--fix it in place so that it won't swing down.  I find, though, that such measures cause people to walk too easily.  What I'd prefer to do is affix a rope to one of the doors behind us, and to a piece of furniture in the room beyond.  That way you all can balance yourselves on the ledge and make your way."

"I'll begin traversing the ledge--you all start to tie off one end of the rope.  Then toss it to me and I'll tie it off on the other end. After a security check first."

In reply to Corym Ildroun (msg # 601):

Krackor looks at the floor that Corym speaks of and sees the stone work trap.
((ooc: 01:28, Today: Krackor Steelfist rolled 1 using 1d6.  1-3 chance to detect Stone traps.

He looks for a way to open the trap without having to fall into it...he shudders at the memory of the plain teeter trap he was found in and the spike pit trap they found later on.  He will activate the trap somehow.

Corym quickly and easily moves along the footpath around the pit trap and starts to secure the guide rope for the rest of the party. Krackor moves up to the edge, and kneels down to get a closer look at the stone. There's a noticeable "off"ness to its surface, as though it's not fully present. Somewhat hesitantly, he reaches out and prods it with his warhammer.

The stone shimmers and most vanishes. It's still barely there, but more like the ghost of a sheet of rock perhaps a finger-length in width. The pit that's revealed is five feet deep, the last foot mostly obscured by a blue mist that hangs heavily in the air. There is nothing obviously dangerous or disturbing; no spikes or monsters or corpses. The lid of the pit remains ghostly for as long as Krackor keeps his hammer within it, and for about a count of six after he pulls it out. Then the stone shimmers and returns to seeming solidity.

((ooc: Using Corym's rope, anyone can cross the pit without needing to make a check. The pit is too shallow to deal any falling damage to someone going in.))
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:40, Thu 22 June 2023.

Torvek approaches the pit while Krackor is triggering it and looks down.  "Strange blue mist.  Any idea what that is?" he asks.

He wait on this side of the pit for now.

OOC:
11:07, Today: Torvek Ragdar rolled 12 using 1d20.  Observation check (17).
11:07, Today: Torvek Ragdar rolled 3 using 1d20.  Spellcraft check (15).

"My guess, and that's all it is, the magic is part illusion but also to hold people down there. When people fall, the crouch, then they'll be too small to keep it activated, which would be from above.

Also, this may have been created before humans walked these lands, to catch any of the older races that entered uninvited."

He holds the pit open until he knows all are across, then crosses using the rope, letting the lid close slowly. "OK, seems there could be time.e to stand again and get out, depending on what that magic actually does."
This message was last edited by the player at 10:56, Fri 23 June 2023.

Corym gives the room a thorough search, but it doesn't give particularly many answers. It's a bedroom, and definitely of significantly higher quality than the others you've been through. The bed's four posts have been nicely carved into a semblance of trees, but it's not something particularly notable by the standards of, say, Evereska. The curtains that were once held up have worn through their supports and collapsed to disintegrate along with the mattress and bedding.

Unlike the other rooms, the wardrobes and other furniture has not been completely stripped. There are several sets of clothing stored away, all in various shades of green and untouched by the centuries aside from a light covering of dust. A small table beside the bed is bare, but a single drawer holds a book. And Corym spots a false panel in the frame of the bed. Popping it open reveals a small, hidden compartment, which holds two crystal vials filled with thick liquid and a slim wand made of ebony.

((ooc: Since you've explored everywhere that is currently known, here is a map of the entire complex.))

Corym takes the book and gently inspects it for danger. It's a slim volume with thin covers of thick paper, its spine creased from use but otherwise in good condition, and thankfully devoid of danger. Opening it, he's immediately struck by the title: The Dusk and the Dawn. It's a rather infamous story, a so-called historical romance detailing an affair between a dark elven woman in Miyeritar and the gold elven commander of Aryvandaar's occupation forces that culminates in her betraying and abandoning her people to return to Aryvandaar with her lover. Leafing through, the text matches the title: florid prose and, by both the standards of today and when it was written, extremely poor taste.

Corym flips through the book, looking for a hidden context or meaning, but the book appears to be just a book.

((ooc: An Earth equivalent would be a "romance" between a Jewish woman and the warden of a concentration camp. A book that, sadly, does actually exist.))

"I'm reasonably confident that we've found all that can be found in this complex.  This book will yield no answers.  Let's go back and sit at one of these tables and we'll discuss whether we want to try the gates."

((ooc: Are you taking the book/wand/potions?

Which table are you sitting at? The more formal one with matched chairs, or the less formal one with mis-matched chairs?))

Krackor, being taller than most Dwarves but shorter than most Elves, walks to the table with the comfiest seats for his height, if both the same, the comfy seats.

((ooc: All of the chairs are built for elves. All of them are unpadded wood, but the mis-matched ones are less formal and therefore marginally more comfortable.))

The most comfortable one with a low rung, he's only a few inches shorter than the shortest Elf but more athletic ;-)

When Krackor sits down, in a wide, sturdy chair with a low rung that is almost, but not quite, the right size for him, the wood of the table ripples right in front of him. The ripples persist for a moment, and then vanish, leaving behind food that is exactly what Krackor most wants to eat right now.

((ooc: You're welcome to describe what kind of food it is.))

Corym seats himself at the table to see if the phenomena applies to him as well.

Corym sits down in another chair. A similar ripple spreads out in front of him, and a moment later he is looking over exactly the sort of food he most wanted.

Sitting comfortably, for a moment he thought it was a Mimic, then the food. A full roasted hog with mouth watering vegetables and garnish, something he hadn't had since his last major birthday, which now seemed so long ago. Mead and Dwarven Ale too.  He was gob smacked. "Captain, can we keep it? If those gates work, we'll have the perfect base, especially as that door sealed up behind us again too.

What do you think Corym?