The Silver Sphinx

 

“A golem is a lifeless puppet - a magical force provides the animation.”

Safiya, Red Wizards of Thay

 

 

Third Lady's Day of Mortis, 126 HR

Naghûl watched as the two groups separated, feeling a mixture of tension and alertness as he stayed behind with Garush, Dilae, Kiyoshi, Sgillin and Lereia near the golem. His hand clenched his staff a little tighter than necessary as he examined the room. The massive black steel construct stood motionless in its cage of light beams. Naghûl could feel the arcane energy emanating from it - promising and threatening at the same time. He stepped closer cautiously, careful not to touch the beams. Then his gaze wandered to the stone pedestal. The flame on it flickered in a rich azure blue, the four smaller pillars with flames in red, green, yellow and violet forming a perfect square around the central pedestal. Naghûl watched as Garush systematically searched the room, her movements careful and precise. Sgillin knelt down to examine the floor runes around the pedestal more closely, while Lereia kept her eyes alertly fixed on the locked door with the skull.

Finally, the amazon returned to the golem in the middle of the room. “The question is: where do we go now?”

“Well ...” Dilae looked around. “The door with the skull over there is locked. There's no other obvious way out.”

Lereia nodded. “I think the door is our only option.”

Naghûl noticed that Kiyoshi was deliberately keeping in the background, apparently still ashamed of his earlier outburst. The others, however, were now approaching the metal door.

Sgillin carefully examined the large skull on the two wings of the door without touching it. “I can see several indentations,” he said. “Five, to be precise. One in each eye and three in the mouth. It looks like something could be inserted there, something octagonal, a little larger than a fingernail.”

Naghûl looked at the golem with the five rays of light. “There must be a connection between the golem, the pedestal and this door,” he said. “But what do we have to insert here?”

“Hmm.” Sgillin took another closer look at the lock and whistled softly through his lips. “Challenging. This mechanism is much more complicated than the one on the safe in the house of ...” He fell silent, glancing at Kiyoshi and Garush, deciding not to elaborate on his raids with the Razor Angels.

While the Harmonium soldier shot the half-elf an icy glance, the amazon didn't seem too bothered by the remark at the moment. Instead, she stared grimly at the skull-shaped lock. “I hate this kind of stuff,” she growled.

Naghûl sighed. “Fellow in misery.”

“Funny.” Garush glanced at the tiefling in surprise. “I would have bet that you Sensates were into that kind of thing.”

“Almost all of us,” Naghûl admitted. “With a few exceptions - myself included.”

Despite the tense situation, the Mercykiller couldn't help but grin. “Well, well.”

The Sensate smiled a little, then turned away from the door and walked over to the platform with the flames. Since Yelmalis, Jana and Sekhemkare were with the book, he and Dilae were the only ones who had the ability to examine the arcane signature emanating from it. He sensed the impatience in the group, the urge to move forward and find the sword. But he also knew that caution was called for. One wrong step in this room could have fatal consequences. So he concentrated on the deep red flame, which he recognized as magical - strangely, it was the only one of the five fires that he could attribute arcane properties to. Then he turned to the golem.

“The red flame on the pedestal is magical,” he explained. “And it's connected to the red beam of light near the golem. So be careful.”

“Interesting,” remarked Dilae. “Because the yellow flame is clerical in origin – and connected to the yellow beam. So the pedestal and the golem are related.”

Lereia sneaked around the pedestal, completely silent on her tiger paws. “One flame is clerical, one is arcane,” she mused. “And the other three?”

“A very good question.” Dilae looked back and forth between the purple, green and blue flame, then examined the green one more closely. As she carefully slid her right hand over it, the stone in a silver ring on her finger began to glow.

Sgillin stepped closer, curious. “What does that mean?”

“The ring reacts to poisons,” explained the dark elf. “The flame here is either poisonous itself or is produced by some kind of poison. So it could have something to do with toxicology. Maybe we should ask Sekhemkare about it, he knows a lot about these things.”

Naghûl nodded thoughtfully. “Red Shroud is a master poisoner and collects unusual and rare poisons. That would make sense. And the purple flame? I'm not as well-read as Yelmalis, but I remember that in encyclopedias, arcane notes are often written in red ink, clerical notes are gold, and psionic notes are purple.”

“Then maybe we should get Tarik as well,” said Garush. “He'll be able to tell us whether the purple flame is psionic.”

Lereia was already on her way to the smaller side room. “I'll let him know,” she said.

Shortly thereafter, she returned with the Signer, to whom they showed the flame and explained their theory.

And indeed, Tarik nodded. “Yes, your reasoning was correct. The purple flame here is indeed psionic in nature.”

Lereia quietly circled the pedestal once more. “Could the items we need for the door lock be lying in the flames here?”

Naghûl nodded. It was a good guess, but upon closer inspection, they saw nothing lying in any of the flames – and all of them were burning without any apparent source, without oil, coal or a crystal.

Tarik focused on the purple fire. “I think I could somehow ... disable this flame,” he said. “Psionically.”

“But should we do that?” Lereia objected. “What if it frees the golem?”

The Signer sighed. “Honestly? I think the golem is guarding the door anyway.”

“Unfortunately, that sounds logical,” Naghûl admitted.

Lereia seemed undecided. “But what do you think could happen that would help us?”

“It's just a feeling,” Tarik explained. “Maybe because everything is created by our thoughts. That's why we can often sense things intuitively.”

Naghûl raised his eyebrows. “Sure.” As a Sensate, he felt a certain connection to the Sign of One, but he decided not to comment on their philosophy that the entire multiverse existed only through the thoughts of individuals.

Garush, however, snorted quietly. “Here we go again.”

Dilae just grinned, while Sgillin looked questioningly, but then waved it off as if he didn't want to explore it further.

Tarik didn't let these obvious doubts about his worldview unsettle him. “So, should I do it?”

“I don't know enough about these things,” Lereia admitted. “But if the respective specialists are in favor of it, then yes.”

“Yes, go ahead,” said Garush. “Better than standing around here, looking stupid.”

Sgillin took the bow from his shoulder. “Then I would suggest we prepare ourselves before someone deactivates something here. Because if that thing over there starts raging, we will have fun.“ He pointed to the golem.

Kiyoshi demonstratively gripped his naginata more tightly, but Naghûl thoughtfully shook his head. Extinguishing the flames seemed obvious, but something held him back. ”What if we try to deactivate the rays around the golem instead?” he suggested.

Garush frowned. “What good would that do?”

“A kind of reverse reaction,” the tiefling tried to explain his thoughts. “If the golem is activated when the rays are interrupted via the pedestal, perhaps it won't be when we deactivate the rays on the golem itself.”

“But then we still don't have the keys to the door,” Dilae interjected.

Sgillin nodded. “Exactly. And if we extinguish the flames here – however we do it – the golem will still activate, won't it?”

“Maybe ...” Naghûl said. “But maybe not. Damn it, I don't know. And I hate puzzles.”

Lereia sighed. “I'm afraid that's beyond me.”

Garush growled softly, glaring at the golem. “I really hate to say this, but I'm tempted to consult Yelmalis. He's much smarter than I give him credit for.”

“But he has to copy and translate the book,” Dilae pointed out. “That could be extremely important, we'd better not disturb him.”

“Unfortunately, that's true.” The amazon looked frustrated and indignant.

Tarik eyed the purple flame once more. “I suspect a Cipher would say we're thinking too much. Maybe we should just do it.”

Naghûl had to smile. His wife Morânia would have agreed with that. And in this case, it might be true. “You know what, Tarik,” he said. “You're right. I don't like puzzling things out either. Let's just try it.”

The Signer nodded, looking relieved. “All right, I'll try to deactivate the psionic flame.”

Sgillin placed an arrow on the string, and Kiyoshi and Garush stood ready for battle between the golem and the rest of the group. Lereia sneaked silently to the amazon's side. While Naghûl and Dilae watched intently, Tarik concentrated on the purple flame. His eyes took on a bluish glow, as they had before when he had calmed Kiyoshi. Then the flame flickered faster, more intensely, almost frantically - and went out. Almost simultaneously, the purple beam of light near the golem disappeared.

Lereia nodded appreciatively. “Very good, Tarik.”

The tiefling smiled gratefully, then stepped closer to the stone pillar where the fire had burned. “There ...” He reached out and carefully lifted something up ... an octagonal purple stone, slightly larger than a fingernail.

“I think it appeared when the flame went out,” said Dilae.

Sgillin looked at the Signer. “Well done.”

“I didn't do much.” Tarik smiled modestly. “It was a simple solution.”

“But you had the inspiration,” said Lereia. “And that was crucial.”

Tarik looked at Garush with a grin. “Perhaps my dream after all.”

The amazon just waved it off while Lereia looked at the platform. “Then the next flame?”

Dilae seemed to feel addressed and nodded. “I hope I don't need too much clerical energy for that. If it exceeds a certain amount, I'll stop, otherwise we might be discovered here.”

Naghûl was grateful for her caution. As a priestess of a good goddess in the Abyss, saying prayers was indeed risky. But it seemed necessary to extinguish the yellow flame, and they had no one else with them who could release clerical energy. Dilae raised her hands in prayer and began to hum softly. It didn't take long before the golden-yellow fire began to dance wildly. The dark elf seemed surprised that it happened so quickly, but continued humming. Then she spoke a few words in Elvish, which Naghûl recognized as an invocation of the goddess Eilistraee. The flame flickered more strongly ... and then went out, as did the yellow beam of light near the golem. But it remained motionless.

“Done,” Dilae said with relief. “It didn't take much clerical power. I don't think we're in danger.”

Then she stepped up to the pillar where the yellow fire had burned and found a small, octagonal stone, this one amber-colored. Carefully, she picked it up.

Naghûl sighed lightly. Now it was his turn to extinguish the arcane fire. It was probably the only way to venture down deeper into the catacombs. And yet he felt a little uneasy about it. Nevertheless, he raised his hand, pointed a finger at the deep red flame, and began to recite the short formula to dispel magic. A small spark floated towards the flame and plunged into it. It flickered frantically, just like the other two before it, and then went out, as did the red beam near the golem. And as expected, an octagonal stone, red as blood, now lay on the pillar. When Naghûl picked it up, it was warm and imbued with arcane energy.

“Three of the five beams around the golem are deactivated,” Kiyoshi stated matter-of-factly. “Perhaps we should position ourselves directly at the door before we continue.”

Tarik nodded at these words. “A good idea.”

But before they retreated to the door, they examined once more the central pedestal on which the blue flame burned. Red stood for arcane power, yellow for clerical energy, purple for psionic powers and green for poison. But what did blue mean? It was Kiyoshi who finally noticed something.

“There's a circle carved into the stone beneath the blue flame,” he told the others. “There are four openings, similar to keyholes, aligned exactly with the pillars. Maybe the last beam has to be deactivated mechanically.”

Naghûl nodded. Of course – arcane and clerical magic, psionics, alchemy ... and mechanics. It made perfect sense. “Maybe a lock pick would work,” he mused. “That would fit with the difficulty of the other flames. What do you think?”

“Forgive me, venerable companions,” replied Kiyoshi. “But I know nothing of mechanics.”

Dilae, on the other hand, nodded. “Sounds plausible. I mean, the individual beams aren't that difficult to deactivate, but you need five completely different skills to get the keystones. That's the protection.”

“When it comes to picking locks, that might be something for Sgillin,” Lereia remarked.

“I'll give it a try,” said the half-elf, pulling some lock picks from one of his belt pouches. He carefully fiddled with the first of the four keyholes, and soon a soft click could be heard. The blue flame flickered almost imperceptibly, but after Sgillin had picked the second lock, it was already dancing faster. At the third click, it flickered frantically, and with the fourth, it went out, along with the azure beam of light near the construct. An octagonal blue stone had appeared on the central pedestal.

“Another one,” Sgillin said with satisfaction, picking it up.

The golem was still motionless, but they were all certain that the moment the last beam went out, that would change abruptly.

Lereia looked at Garush. “You said Sekhemkare knows something about poison?”

The amazon nodded and was about to head for the next room, but Sgillin held her back. “Should we perhaps first place the other four stones?”

“Good idea.” She turned back. “As soon as the last beam disappears, we'll probably have to act fast.”

Sgillin went to the door and wondered where he should place the blue stone. After a moment's thought, he chose the left eye. There was a soft ping, as the jewel clicked into place and glowed faintly. When he saw that this seemed to be the right approach, Naghûl came over with his stone, while Lereia informed Sekhemkare. He tried the right eye, and the red stone also connected to the skull with a soft sound, pulsing with a scarlet glow. Tarik didn't hesitate for long and chose the left recess of the mouth for the purple jewel – he too was successful. Finally, Dilae placed the yellow stone in the middle recess of the skull's teeth. It immediately glowed with a golden light. Their immediate success suggested that there were no set places for the different stones - either that, or they had simply been very lucky when placing them.

At that moment, Lereia returned with Sekhemkare. “We now have four of the five stones in place,” she explained to the yuan-ti. “You must try to extinguish the poison flame.”

Sekhemkare looked from the golem to the last flickering flame on the pedestal. “You're sure this is a good idea, yes?”

“No,” Sgillin replied. “But it's the only idea we have.”

The forked tongue darted out briefly between the yuan-ti's scaly lips. “I sort of expected something like that. Well, then.”

“Um, wait,” Garush interrupted. “This would be a good time for a plan.”

While Lereia nodded in agreement, Naghûl couldn't suppress a sigh.

“Excuse me,” the amazon said dryly. “But I don't feel like dying here.”

“Since the golem doesn't fit through any of the doors,” explained Lereia, “I say we escape through them as quickly as possible.”

“I agree,” stated the Mercykiller. “The translators stay behind one door, we go through the other.”

“Then I'll return to Jana, Yelmalis and the book,” Tarik said. “Good luck down there. Take care of yourselves!”

Naghûl nodded. “Thanks, Tarik. Good luck to you too.”

Dilae hugged the Signer briefly but warmly, then he returned to the smaller side room.

Garush turned back to the group. “As you know by now, I can move very quickly when necessary. As soon as Sekhemkare has extinguished the flame, I will take the last stone and bring it to the door. Meanwhile, Sekhemkare will run to the other door and get to safety. Is everyone ready?”

They nodded and then took up position as close as possible to the door with the skull. Four of the five jewels were already glowing in its eyes and mouth. The yuan-ti and the half-orc, however, made their way to the platform. Sekhemkare leaned his staff against the stone pedestal, bent forward and examined the flame. Then he took two small pouches from his belt and mixed a few ingredients.

“Be careful,” Garush warned him.

He nodded slowly but did not reply, too focused on his ingredients and the green fire. When he had finished mixing the components, he sprinkled the powder into the flame. As hoped – and feared – the fire flickered brightly once and then went out, as did the last ray of light near the golem. And with an unpleasant squeaking sound, the construct came to life. Sekhemkare immediately stood up and grabbed his staff, while Garush reached for the green gem on the pillar. Kiyoshi took his naginata in both hands and held it in a defensive position, while Lereia crouched beside him and stared at the golem.

It now moved towards the amazon and the yuan-ti near the platform. Garush turned to the door with the skull, while Sekhemkare turned in the other direction, towards the room with the book. In the doorway, Naghûl could see Jana, Tarik and Yelmalis watching the events unfold with tension. But who would the golem follow: the half-orc or the yuan-ti? Garush started running - and almost at the same moment, she was already standing between Naghûl and the others at the door ... her gift was obviously active. Sgillin shot an arrow at the golem to distract it and buy Sekhemkare some time. The arrow stuck unerringly in one of the joints, but did not seem to cause much damage. Meanwhile, the yuan-ti moved as fast as reptiles do and tried to sprint round the golem on the right. Lereia jumped forward a little and hissed loudly to attract the construct's attention.

 

 

Sure enough, the golem changed direction and now came straight towards the group at the door. While Garush inserted the green gem into the skull's last recess without hesitation, an idea flashed through Naghûl's mind. He pulled a scroll from the case on his belt, unrolled it and read it aloud to unleash the spell written on it. Dilae moved a little closer to the door so she could slip through immediately, while Sgillin shot two arrows simultaneously at the golem's eyes. They pierced the slits in its head, behind which a reddish light glowed, but with no apparent effect. Meanwhile, Sekhemkare moved quickly towards the other door.

Kiyoshi was already preparing to attack the construct, but at that moment Naghûl finished the incantation on the scroll, which crumbled to dust and a layer of oil began to spread on the floor around the golem. It had now almost reached the door and took another step forward. It raised its huge hand and struck out at Lereia with considerable force ... A blow that would certainly have smashed her skull without effort. But the greasy film on the floor caused the golem to slip and the blow missed its target. The tigress backed away with a hiss, and at the same moment, the skull on the door glowed, activated by the stones that had been inserted. Garush pulled the handle, but to Naghûl's horror, the door did not budge ... Sekhemkare had meanwhile reached the passage to the other room, but stopped and looked back, probably waiting to see how the situation would develop.

With a curse in Orcish, the amazon braced herself against the door with all her strength ... only then did the massive wings spring open. Dilae, the most petite and agile of them, immediately darted through and pulled against the handle on the other side to open the door a bit wider. At the same moment, there was a terrible screeching sound ... metal spikes seemed to extend from the soles of the golem's feet, drilling into the stone with an unpleasant crunch – it stood more stable again and would soon be able to move forward.

Garush pulled the door further open and Naghûl dived through. Right behind him, Lereia prepared to jump, pulling Sgillin with her. The half-elf was dragged along by the tigress. Now only Kiyoshi and Garush stood at the door, ready to defend the others. The two looked at each other, nodded briefly, and then rushed through the gap, first the young soldier, then the Mercykiller. Just as the two reached the corridor behind the door, the golem's fist came crashing down again, but only hit the metal door wings.

As Garush and Kiyoshi closed the door, Naghûl just caught sight of Sekhemkare darting through the passageway into the room with the book. Sgillin, who had fallen to the floor next to Lereia, remained lying there, coughing, as the fall had knocked the wind out of him. Naghûl allowed himself to sink briefly against the wall when it became clear that both groups had managed to escape the golem.

As the construct began to pound mechanically and persistently against the steel door, Garush nodded in satisfaction. “That worked perfectly.”

“That's what you always say when no one dies ...” Dilae remarked with a frown.

The half-orc just grinned. “It's true, isn't it?”

Kiyoshi set the naginata down beside him while Sgillin slowly got back to his feet.

“Are you alright?” Lereia asked worriedly, nudging him briefly with her snout. “I thought it was better to take my brunt than that of the golem.”

“Don't worry, it was the right decision,” the half-elf reassured her.

Naghûl looked at the door the golem was now hammering against. “It's making quite a noise. We should hurry.”

“Yeah, stupid thing,” Garush growled. “Let's move on quickly.”

 

--------------------

played March 11, 2013

This chapter is a good example of what can happen in DnD within just a few rounds. The events from the golem being activated to the point where everyone was through the door took place in seven rounds, which means 42 seconds.