Ynes gives out a sigh of relief as the healing energies of the Briar Queen mend her wounds. ”My thanks, priestess,” the warrior says, ”to you and your kind patron.”

Starting at the northern corner, Safherd slowly walks the length of the sanctuary’s western wall.

13:26, Today: Safherd rolled 1 using 1d6.  Secret Doors.

Near its midpoint, she frowns and crouches, probing the seam where the wall meets the floor with her fingers. After a moment, a low, metallic clunk sounds from an unseen hollow space and a section of the western wall swings inward, revealing a dark chamber beyond, faintly illuminated by a deep, violet glow.

The hag's frustration at the door and the tremor-inducing steps above were all the encouragement Malivoire needed to get searching for the promised hidden door.  It also diverted his attention from Barnabus, which was a good thing in his estimation.  No good could be coming from that green aura, the mage guessed.

But he'd barely moved to the wall when Safherd once again worked her magic, triggering the desperately sought-after section of wall to open.  "You are a blessing.  Have I told you that before?" he asked their expert trap-finder, his relieved grin broad on his angular face despite their dire circumstances.

"Over here, quickly!" he urged the rest, waving his arm to draw them in.  Then he peered into the eerily lit chamber, confirming no enemies before stepping inside.

With no time to lose,* if indeed all had not already been lost, Barnabus abandons his aesthetic aspirations, darts into the ritual room, ready to plant himself in the middle of the circle should all appear right and ready. And when his own circle within the circle is complete, he will smash the mirror, thus, he prays, severing their connection to this plane and Nergal's connection to him.

Assuming that the circle doesn't need any last minute chalky touch up or that the ritual doesn't require any Latin recitations...

*Or at least enough to prevent a tumble in the dark by allowing Jesper to light the way.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:09, Thu 22 Feb.

Safherd gives Malivoire a grateful smile before both adventurers turn their attention to the chamber before them. They are almost knocked aside by the luminous Barnabus, who presses in behind them a moment later.

The room has more of the appearance of a cavern. The walls are of natural stone, the dark rock glistening with moisture. The air within is cold and stale, much like that of a tomb. The only exit, save for the hidden portal the company has entered from, is a single steel door set in the center of the northern wall.

Most of the chamber is occupied by an intricately drawn ritual circle, numerous runes inscribed in and around and within the ten pointed star which fills most of circle’s interior. At its center is a chest high polished steel stand, etched with symbols. Sitting atop it is a finely cut amethyst, roughly the size of a fist. Much of the violet light which dimly illuminates the room comes from the jewel’s unearthly glow.

Further light comes from the circle itself. The star and runes all burn with a faint luminescence and from the circumference of the circle rises a  glimmering veil of violet light. It is brightest near the smooth stone floor, becoming steadily fainter until fading completely at shoulder height, the glow shifting like water.

A lone figure, tall and powerful, but entirely composed of wavering darkness, almost smoke like in its appearance, paces back and forth inside the confines of the circle, its form translucent enough to be seen through. When the adventurers enter, it halts, regarding them steadily with eyes that are silver slits. It does not speak.

The only sound within the chamber is a faint drip of unseen water.

"Dax is. For the moment. He needs to work on his technique though. I believe He's trying to steal my reputation." The Knight helped usher the rest of the party into the larger chapel area and barricade the door.

"We're about to have unwelcome guests!" Sir Dryvyk barked at the others as he assigned positions for their defense should whatever was beyond the door end up breaking through... which assuredly it eventually would. From the corner of his eye, he saw the secret door open and his companions begin to peer in expectantly.

"Jesper, if you are able, get these candles lit. We're going to need all the light we can get!" Blood was pouring down the front of the linkboy's face and chest, reminding the Knight of the times his own nose had been broken on the practice field with his brothers.

Just then, a wave of coldness overtook him, the sense of evil from the room beyond. He looked and beheld the gemstone, emanating the feeling along with the figure in the circle. "Great," he muttered. He hoped one of his learned companions knew how to deal with such things. He didn't know how they were going to deal with whatever was beyond the blocked doorway, let alone some demonic entity inhabiting the very circle they needed to get home!

"Let's get inside and shut the secret door. Might buy us a little more time," he said to the rear contingent of guardsmen.

OOC: I'm proposing we all enter the secret room and shut the door. Sir Dryvyk's aura may protect from the summoned creature if we don't attack it.

Dax looks back at the sound, shaking his head as Safherd opens a door in a section of the wall he had just examined. "You are worth your weight in gold, Safherd!"

Dax is about to move to the room when he remembers the young cultist, "Should leave him here," he mumbles as he quickly throws the unconscious boy over his shoulder.

"Yes!" Dax calls out loud before murmuring, "From the pot into the flame?" when he sees the unnatural glow emanating from the door.

Once all are through the door, Dax will push the door shut. "Lady protect us!" the oath comes as whisper when Dax sees the creature in the centre of the circle.

"Tell me we are going around that thing through the other door."

---

The young cultist fainted, perhaps it's time to wake him up to see if he knows anything?

Steely, Barnabus fixes the paladin with his grey eyes, "No more time. Into the circle. All of you."

"But you," he swivels to regard Safherd, "should try the old switcheroo* if you follow my drift. Leave the one behind and bring the other with."

When the last of his companions have entered the circle, he will gambol on in and shatter the mirror., dedicating their souls to Nergal for all eternity.

Maybe Saf flushes her jar before she enters the circle and then tries to capture Mr. Silver upon entering it.
Maybe this is why we got transported from the BM to the shop cellar. You are being rerouted. Your chosen destination is already occupied.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dummy
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 19:45, Thu 22 Feb.

"Hold!" Malivoire cried out, as Barnabus commands them to enter the circle.  "As soon as one of us crosses the inscribed symbols, the being within will be free to act.  To leave, or potentially to take its anger at being constrained out on us."

He looked at Safherd.  "If you think you're bottle will work, that needs to be open in the hands of the first person breaking the barrier."  His expression made it clear he thought Safherd should not be that person, given the sizeable risk.  His eyes instead travelled to Sir Dryvyk and Dax.

At the sharp tone of Malivoire’s admonition, the young cultist stirs from unconsciousness. His voice slurring, he mutters, ”Oh, hey. It’s the circle. I don’t think…I don’t think we’re supposed to break the mirror while the jewel’s inside it. Could be bad.”

”It supposed to be capable of imprisoning even powerful spirits,” Safherd tells Malivoire, ”Of course, we don’t know what that is.” She gestures to the smoky apparition.

”I will take the flask, if no one else is willing,” Ynes says grimly.

The ethereal figure speaks, its voice deep, seemingly reaching the adventurers’ ears from every direction within the chamber. ”I have no quarrel with any of you. I simply desire freedom.”

There is crash against the closed secret door, accompanied by a raspy scream. It is followed by the sound of talons raking across stone.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:09, Thu 22 Feb.

"No time to dicker with the likes of you as much as I might like to," answers an agitated Barnabus. "Ynes, it's your decision. It can't dissemble while within the circle* and it never would have served Nergal willingly. It may even have a few bones to pick with him."

He turns to Nineve, "You toss the gem; then I shatter the mirror."

If Ynes chooses mercy (B's preference), we enter the circle, Nin tosses the sparkly out of the circle, and Barnabus does his bit.
If she doesn't, Saf dumps her load, gives her jar to Sir who then inhales Mr. Smoky after which the rest of us enter the circle...
*If I'm not mistaken. I'm not the demonologist I once was.

"WAIT!" Dax shouts. "Did none of you hear Mal?"

"About bloody time!" Dax lifts the cultist up to a standing position. "You have ten seconds to tell us everything you know about that...that smoke-thing, and if this is the circle we need to use get home."
"Maybe less than ten seconds!"

"Your bravery will be the end of you, Ynes! But, not this time. It will be..." Dax is interrupted by the deep voice.
Dax looks around, at Nineve, Barnabus, and Malivoire, "Can it be trusted?"

---

Try to read these comments as being interspersed among some of the others already posted! It kind of works.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:58, Fri 23 Feb.

Malivoire struggled to focus.  There was so much going on, and so little time.  After the spectral voice entered their heads something clicked though, and he stared intently at the magic circle a few moments longer until his brows suddenly rose.

"Many of the markings and symbols of the circle are necromantic in nature.  I believe this entity is likely a ghost or similar spiritual remnant, rather than a demon or devil.  As long as we stay clear of it when it is freed, I believe we could then carry on."

"Without need for the flask," he added, looking to Safherd and Ynes.

Dax's last question was somewhat more problematic.  Malivoire hesitated, but finally said, "I believe an accommodation can be reached, in this specific instance."  He faced the ethereal figure within the circle.  "We release you from the circle and you cause us no harm, directly or indirectly.  Agreed?"

”I have no desire to do harm to any of you,” the ethereal entity answers, its gaze fixed on Malivoire, ”I wish only to escape. If you fear that I would attempt to overtake one of you, to use you as a vessel, I can assure you that I have no need to do so. I have a vessel, awaiting my return as soon as I am freed.”

"If it comes to using the vial, I will do it," said Nineve, in a tone that brooked no argument, "as both the eldest cleric and servant of a power that leaves me less likely to cave to any dark enticements."

She regarded the being.  "We would like to believe you. Would you tell us briefly who and what you are, and why you got trapped here, unless there's some reason you can't?" 
This message was last edited by the player at 21:43, Fri 23 Feb.

"No time for exposition," Barnabus implores as he starts to step inexorably towards the circle...

"Don't be a fool, Barnabus!" Dax shouts as he tries to grab the priest before he enters the circle. It crossed his mind that the cultist might fall to the ground again.

[If Barnabus is stopped] "Answer! Quickly!" Dax shouts at the smoke creature, as he moves next to Nineve, his eyes darting back to the door holding back the hag.

”I am…was…Vocos Bato,” the apparition answers, ”I was a scholar by profession, once an instructor of history at the Great Repository in Glalec. Later a traveler. I sought to learn and record the ancient histories of the Middle Frontier.”

OOC: Most will know that the Great Repository in the city of Glalec is one of the most esteemed schools in the northern kingdoms. The Middle Frontier includes the Duchy of Aerik and several other holdings in the center of the continent that, at present, are sparsely populated by humankind.

Wide eyed, the young cultist shakes his head furiously. ”I never…I wasn’t allowed to take part in the rituals. I wasn’t practiced enough. But…but I know that this is the circle, the one that the mirror can be used in to return home. The jewel…it’s supposed to be some artifact that’s sacred to Impurax. Ursel said that bringing the mirror and the jewel together might be dangerous, because they both hold a great concentration of death energy.”

He looks to the apparition. ”I know that Ursel and the priests meant to summon a spirit which could provide them with knowledge, but they never told me what kind they were seeking.”
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:00, Mon 26 Feb.

His steps having been arrested, the priest of Impurax makes to start them again, leading him inexorably, he prays, to the circle.

Time to diffuse this tension, I would say.
If Ursel was against bringing mirror and jewel together, that's saying something.
Caller suggests that Sir enter the circle first and remove the jewel. The rest of us enter whereupon B. smashes the mirror. Scholarly spirit does what it will.

She considered what they'd just heard and then glanced toward Dax, Barnabus, and the rest. "That does fit together well. In the way the truth tends to." She bit her lip, as she too looked toward the door. "It's the best we'll get, I've little doubt. You've won your freedom, Vocos Bato." She did wonder what body he was on his way to possess, and hoped in that bit they weren't making some hard-to-reverse mistake...

Sir Dryvyk steels himself and without a word, dutifully enters the circle, his gaze fixed on the shimmering amethyst.

As the knight steps inside the circle, the apparition of Volos Bato exits it, briefly standing a few paces away from the gathered adventurers. He nods at them in seeming appreciation, then vanishes from sight.

It is the last quiet moment for some time.

As Dryvyk enters the circle, veins of burning necrotic energy, glowing with a green light that is the same shade of decaying flesh, begin to expand like spiderwebs across Barnabus’ skin. The priest has the appearance of a piece of glass, caught in the moment between when it is struck by a hard object and when it shatters.

14:05, Today: Labyrinth Lord rolled 2 using 1d4.  Damage - Barnabus - Mirror.

Above, there is a deafening rending sound, a noise that the adventurers know at once to be that of the roof being torn away from the rest of the temple. Showers of dust descend from the ceiling as the chamber quakes violently.

Sir Dryvyk takes up the jewel with a gauntleted hand.

The reaction from the amethyst is immediate, perhaps prompted by it being handled by one so pure of heart.

A wave of energy pulses out of the circle, the adventurers feeling the strength of it within their chests. Flames, the same deep color of the amethyst, abruptly fill the chamber’s walls, burning as if they are fueled by oil or tinder, though there is nothing on the stone to feed them. Despite the presence of this unearthly fire, the room becomes impossibly cold, each of the party members’ breaths steaming.

His eyes blazing with a terrible violet light, his upper limbs curled in pain, Sir Dryvyk staggers out of the circle, flinging the gem from him.

14:06, Today: Labyrinth Lord rolled 3 using 1d6.  Damage - Dryvyk - Amethyst.

It strikes the floor. From the point of its impact, deep cracks in the stone surface begin to stretch away from it, noxious fumes arising from the growing fissures. The tremors gripping the chamber, and undoubtedly the temple above, become constant.

The stone door bursts open. The hag, crowing in triumph, presses into the room, her victorious shriek cut short by the flames which quickly envelop her. The hag gives out an agonized cry as her features disappear beneath the blaze, her arms waving wildly.

She explodes. The adventurers are showered with black goo with the consistency of pudding.

Trailed by the other members of the company, including a shaken Sir Dryvyk, Barnabus enters the circle with the mirror raised above his head. Screaming in abject terror, the young cultist follows the party, his face as pale as that of a ghost.

A torrent of raw arcane energy, as wide as the trunk of an ancient tree, blasts upward from the jewel, destroying most of the ceiling and a portion of the temple above it. Those adventurers who hazard a glance upward briefly see a figure of unspeakable size, its height such that it would certainly reach into the clouds in the world the company members call home. The gray skinned behemoth is peering downward with blazing yellow eyes as the spear of energy from the gem punches through its forehead. It staggers backward, mortally wounded.

Barnabus hurls the mirror at the floor, the burning veins of light crisscrossing his body flickering out of existence as the terrible object leaves his hands. The mirror shatters, the breaking of the glass almost musical.

Outside, the titanic giant falls to the ground, the impact tossing the adventurers a few feet above the floor, each of them feeling momentarily weightless.

A soul rending howl, a chorus of tormented voices that the adventurers feel as much as hear, eclipses all other sounds. The chamber seems to begin to spin at an unfathomable speed, everything that the party members can see reduced to a blur of threadlike colors. The sensation of electricity, crackling and full of fury, overtakes the explorers, and for an instant, it feels as if their bones, every fiber of their muscles, even the blood which courses through them, has been touched by lightning.

And then all is dark and silence.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:10, Mon 26 Feb.