Chapter 20: Exploring the Temple

October 9

The group waits for half an hour, but Neiia doesn’t seem to regain consciousness. Ertak heals Neiia more, and after that, Neiia regains consciousness. Agnarr and Kieron examine the room. They notice that there is some text at the bottom of the triangular empty basin on the upper platform.

Ertak comes to look at the text, and he gets the feeling that he should know this, but he can’t read it. After studying it for a moment, he deduces that the symbols are probably dragon language alphabets, but very stylized, and this is not dragon language. He remembers that in some book, there was talk about another language that is also written with dragon language alphabets.

Ertak also says that apparently all evil has completely disappeared from this room. Jaysek gives Ertak writing materials, and Ertak copies the text from the bottom of the basin for later study.

Agnarr notices that the runes on the wall are clearly rows, with the starting point shifting slightly forward for each row. Kieron notices that it looks as if the first word could be different forms of one word, or similarly written words. The same thing with the next word. It’s as if this were a dictionary or similar, where words are written on one line, and on the next line, the same words are in the same order but in a different form.

The group thinks for a moment and then decides to stay here to rest more. Ertak decides to hide in the basin on the upper platform of the evil temple, the one that looked like some kind of altar and was previously full of evil liquid. Ertak steps to the bottom of the basin and sits down. Neiia, standing nearby, notices that when Ertak goes to sit there, he gets some kind of magical aura. Neiia tells Ertak that he should come out of there, and Ertak comes out, and at the same time, the aura disappears. When Neiia tells about the aura, Ertak tries to look at his own nose to see the aura but doesn’t see anything.

Neiia goes to the same place herself and states that she also gets an aura, and the aura disappears when she comes out. Next, Neiia also casts true sight on Ertak, at which point Ertak suddenly sees a lot of magic and evil around him, so he starts running away. The others follow. The group goes to the shore and stays there to rest. An hour and a half later, the group has rested enough.

The group goes back to the cave and is back there around five in the afternoon. They come back to the temple room and open the first door on the right. Behind it opens a small room with absolutely nothing in it. Because this is very suspicious, and the guild guidelines state that the best treasures are in just such places, the group spends a lot of time examining the room. Kieron and Agnarr find a secret door on the opposite wall. They try to push the door open but don’t succeed after a couple of attempts.

Neiia tries to look for magic in the door but doesn’t see anything special, though she does notice that there is a lot of evil and strong magic in the area. They go to try the other door, but it doesn’t open. Next, Neiia goes to close the first door, and after that, the second door opens. Agnarr, Neiia, and Kieron go into this room and close the door behind them, at which point Kieron starts holding onto the door handle. Ertak tries to open the door from the outside but doesn’t succeed because Kieron is holding onto the handle.

Ertak goes to the other door and opens it. At the same moment, those in the other room feel a strange sensation. Kieron feels strong nausea, but as if it’s being absorbed into her, and then the nausea disappears. Neiia feels a little nausea, while Agnarr feels only a slight tickle in his nose.

After that, Ertak wonders what now when that other door doesn’t open, at which point Jaysek goes and closes the other door and then opens the door behind which the others are. Next, the group splits into three groups. Ertak and Kieron go to one room, and Neiia and Agnarr in turn to the other. After that, Jaysek stays in the middle and closes all the doors. Neiia and Agnarr push the secret door with full force and get it open.

Behind it is found another slightly larger room, where the air is very stuffy. The magic level in the room is very high, and Agnarr is completely stunned for about five seconds before recovering. In the room, there is a table made of hardwood, which shines even though it hasn’t been varnished, but just the wood itself is polished. There is not a speck of dust, etc., in the room. Agnarr sits on the chair, and Neiia notices that Agnarr gets a new aura, which is all four types of magic. Neiia has heard talk about arcane magic that has all types of magic.

Agnarr tries to cast true sight, but it causes a big flash in the room, which doesn’t manage to ignite anything, however. Neiia notices that Agnarr’s aura only intensifies after the casting and warns that it’s not worth casting more. Agnarr himself feels like he’s the most powerful wizard in the world now.

In the other room, Kieron and Ertak try to push their own secret door open but don’t succeed. Next, they come out and go to look at the other room and notice that Agnarr and Neiia have disappeared, and the secret door is closed again. They try to push the door open but don’t succeed. They stay waiting.

On the other side, Neiia opens the door handle there, and behind it is found a portal. They throw a coin through the portal, but it just disappears. Next, Neiia sits in the chair and casts true sight on Agnarr, and after that, Agnarr states that he is not the most powerful wizard in the universe after all, because Neiia is a much more powerful wizard than he is. Neiia decides to cast a haste spell on herself. This spell doesn’t fully succeed; she only gets a weaker version of haste, and after that, golden flowers rain down on her. Neiia doesn’t manage to dodge any of the flowers; they rain down on her. She tries to stand up but almost falls, but manages to stay standing. She does, however, lose quite a lot of magic power.

They examine the room and then open the second door, and behind it is a similar magic portal. They go forward through it and come to a room where there is very negative magic. In addition, there is a stone slab in the room, which, in Neiia’s opinion, contains magic that seems to move. Neiia examines the slab and then touches the slab. The slab sucks a large amount of magic from Neiia. After that, it occurs to Neiia that if she stays here long enough, her magic problems that came from the previous room might disappear. They rest for a couple of minutes, but after that, Agnarr feels that this is not any proper rest, so let’s move on. They open the door and then go through it and come to a similar room as they were in earlier, that is, there is a table and chair.