With the secret door's sliding open, the party prepares to enter the tunnel which has been exposed. Before the first step can be taken, however, they notice a glowing red "spot" on the floor in front of them. A red spot that was getting redder.
Just as Routunious is about to examine this strange spot with the light from his hat, the spot becomes concave, and collapses into a hole from which a lightning bolt erupts. The lightning bolt ricochets around the walls with a sickening crackle. More lighting sparks up from the hole, which is now growing larger, and it looks like horrible electrical spider legs searching for anything upon which it can seize in order to lift its main body up from below.
Unsure of what to do, the party decides to watch it to see if there is a pattern that might reveal its purpose. As they watch, green tendrils of smoke rise from the ground around the hole.
Elessaria asks, "Stago, is this an illusion? Something put here by the dwarves to frighten intruders away?"
The gnome concentrates on the lurid green display, his hair beginning to stand on end from the charged air. He shouts through the growing noise, "No, that's real smoke...real lightning!"
More lightning fires out from the hole, bigger bolts with louder crackling and the growing stench of sulphur.
Elessaria shouts to the rest of the party, "Time to leave!"
Everyone but Merle quickly begins to exit the cave, but the strange young woman from the far east lags behind. She watches the green bolts of lightning, and sees a large, glowing green orb rises on legs of lightning and begins walking toward her. Merle comes to her senses and sprints to join the rest of the party.
Just outside the mouth of the cave, the company stands their ground and looks back at the tunnel where green dancing lights crackling all over the place.
Elessaria shouts into the tunnel, "Hello?"
The glowing green energy ball comes around the corner.
In a voice that sounds like thunder and feels like ants inside of their heads, it says, "ABANDON YOUR QUEST"
The members of the company are confused, and Routunious shouts back, "What quest?"
"THE ITEMS YOU SEEK BELONG NOT TO YOU NOR TO THE ONE WHO SEEKS THEM"
Stago doesn't hesitate...he never does...and fires magic missile from his ring of spell storing. The missiles fly out from the band of gold and sparkle as they impact the orb to no effect. Suddenly, the gnome is bathed in a green glow himself. Stago gives out a startled, strangled cry as he is lifted up into the air. He flails violently as he shrinks, his skin turning a deep green hue that shimmers. Then, with a thud, the impetuous gnome lies on the ground...transformed into a miniature version of himself seemingly made of emerald.
"ABANDON YOUR QUEST"
Selina, putting practicality first, grabs up her cats into a bag and jumps over the side of the cliff. She hangs there, fearfully watching as Merle turns toward the thing and then leaps to attack it with a flurry of kicks and punches. Before she can even make contact, the monk freezes in place. The purple of her costume turns black and she begins shrinking in size as the gnome had only moments before. Merle is also transformed into a miniature, this time in onyx.
"ABANDON YOUR QUEST"
Routunious attempts diplomacy over any form of physical or magical defense. He says, "We mean you no harm! We will do as you ask, just let us collect our friends and leave." Getting no response, the priest rushes forward and snatches up the two figures that had been his companions, and shoves them into a pouch on his belt.
As Routunious scrambles back, he sees Stago's dog growling and barking in front of him. The snarling is overwhelmed by crackling and pops from whatever the green glowing creature is behind him. Then, the dog yelps and crumples into a pile of jelly that continues to whimper and whine in pain. Routunious kills it with a knife out of mercy.
Overcome with fear and horror, Selina climbs back up on the ledge and tries to run away, but she is encased in a globe of green light. The light lifts her up and the ball begins to shrink in size, reducing Selina's form inside it as well. As the light fades it leaves behind a crystal ball about two fists wide. Elessaria picks it up and realizes the crystal ball is a snow globe. The elf is shocked to see that Selina and the cats are inside it, alive and shivering in what looked for all the world like a blizzard of green snow.
"YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED"
The orb hovers above its crackling legs of energy, but it seems to be giving the remaining party members time to consider options. Then, as mysteriously as it arrived, it sinks down into the ground and is gone.
Tick-a-Tick stands silently as Routunious and Elessaria discuss the incredibly powerful force which has attacked them.
Routunious says in a stunned voice, "I don't understand what it wants. Was this...thing...sent to warn us away from this cave or does it want us to end the quests that Shandar sent us on?"
Elessaria considers it for a moment and responds, "I would guess the latter, but we can't know for certain. But, the thing is gone. I think we should go on, and explore this cave it worked so hard to divert us from."
"What if it comes back?"
"It could have done to us the same or worse than it did to our companions. Perhaps its time was limited, in which case, we should do our exploring quickly before it is able to return."
"I'm not sure...maybe we should do what it said, and just leave."
Elessaria ends the debate by saying, "If we get into immediate danger, we'll retreat, using the Stone of Recall, if necessary."
Routunious responds, "Alright...but I'm shrouding the light from my hat. Your infravision will alert us more quickly than my eyes in light."
Elessaria, leading the way into the cave, sees nothing dangerous. They creep slowly forward through the secret door and gingerly step over the depression where the red hole had opened up. They move down the tunnel, which is dwarf sized so the two humans and the automaton have to stoop. Movement is slow, but they manage the passage without any real difficulty.
(Played June 24th, 2006. Special thanks to U. for transcribing the notes from the voice recorder used in the absence of the normal scribe.)
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