When we left off in the previous installment, we had just escaped a dangerous trap and were now going to investigate a secret passage we had found, thanks to Sora's keen eye and Ceteribu's magic stone. Beyond the passage there was a small closed room, it's walls decorated with eight panels, each carved with different images. In the center, there was a small table, surrounded by carvings on the ground, representing the cardinal points. Before the table, written on the ground there was the same inscription as outside, "Time is life, time is death". On top of the table there were eight small statues of human mages, each one holding an alphabet letter in it's hand. The letters they were holding were "R", "E", "S", "I", "V", "E", "U", "N". Loooking around the room, we also notice that in every wall there were orifices, placed evenly near the ceiling.
After the dangers we had faced in the previous room, we were obviously very suspicious of such a strangely set place, so we immediately began searching for any signs of a trap. We couldn't find any sign of danger, but soon realized that the letters held by the small statues could be removed and that each of the statues was facing one of the panels arrayed at the walls. This was probably some kind of riddle, so we began thinking for possible words that could be created using the letters given. It took us a while to figure it out, because we were all trying to find a word beginning with a consonant letter, and didn't remember to try a combination starting with a vowel. After some time though, both Ceteribus and i came to the same conclusion at the same time: the only possible word we could form was UNIVERSE. It was now a matter of arranging the letters the correct way and see what would happen.
Finding no relation between the letters and the carvings, we decided it was time to experiment a little. Kralho suggested we arranged the letters clockwise, starting from the statue facing the North cardinal point. With no better ideas we proceeded in doing that, with immediate results. As we placed the final letter in it's place, the room started to shake and the stone door behind us closed immediately. Moments after, sand started pouring in from the orifices on the walls. Now we could understand what was meant with "Time is life, time is death"... We had a brief moment of despair then, seeing our impending doom, but when we regained our wits we estimated that at the current rate it would take about three hours for the chamber to fill completely. We would need to find a solution much sooner, though, because it would be no good to know the answer when the mechanism to aply it is buried beneath the sand...
Afraid to try out other combinations, we put our efforts into finding out what the solution was, since any attempts to reopen the door had already failed. When we were starting to despair again, for lack of any new ideas, Ceteribus's stone placed in his mind a little hint that would save the day. He said, induced by the stone, "the path to the stars" and suddenly all became clear. One of the panels in the walls had the depiction of a star system. Perhaps all that we had to do was begin the sequence with the statue facing that panel. We placed the letters clockwise starting from that specific position and as the last letter was placed, the sand ceased falling and the stone door reopened. On top of the table there was now a map, depicting a location none of us could recognize. The map was also clearly related to the stone, as it had the same symbol as the ring written on it.
Relieved on escaping such a deadly trap, we returned to the large room with the titan and dragon statues, thinking of investigating the map later on. Perhaps someone in town could tells us something about it. All that was left was trying the door behind the titan statue. Kralho moves ahead, intent on searching the door for any more traps, while the rest of us remained near the titan. He had however, chosen the wrong place to search for traps, because as soon as he walks by the two closest cherub statues, a magical force field appears all around the four statues, and water starts pouring in from the vases the cherubs held over their heads. Kralho was now trapped inside the magical field as it filled with water, while the rest of us watched with surprise. Despite his potentialy desperate situation however, he was quick to react and realized that to disarm this trap, he had to disable the two cherub statues that had activated the trap in the first place. Also, now that the trap was active, me and Ceteribus could notice arcane patterns in their working that if deciphered could assist in disabling them. So, with our help and a remarkable display of thieving skills, Kralho was able to overcome yet another potentialy deadly situation. He is not so good at finding them, but he is definitely able at disarming them...
Tired of traps for life, we could all use a good battle to unwind. Perhaps, opening the door would bring us our wishes... But that is for another time.
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