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Tomb of Bound Horrors - Party 1, Room 2
7 years ago
General
If you're still alive, under the sea,
I'll cut off both my legs and become a fish.
If you come close enough for me to fall into the depths,
I'll become a shadow, wandering the endless darkness. Arranged with the help of the always amazing 
TwistedSnakes and 
Cryptic796
=== DOOR 1 ===
The party of four exited the ‘Watery Depths’ through a door that opened to a small set of stairs to keep the water in the hall from flooding subsequent areas of the ruins. The stairs led to an octagonal room of ornate marble polished to a near-reflective sheen. Hidden lights illuminated the room. Around the room were mosaics made of gleaming tiles and painted to form constellations. A pedestal stood in the middle of the room, a perfectly black sphere made of polished stone floating above it. As the group entered the room fully, an ominous voice called out to them.
”Be you brave and true of mind
The Unleashing Key is yours to find
Hidden deep in twisted halls
Seek it, free it, or forever you fall
With traitor, beast, and party three
Find the exit, set the stars free.”
“Did you guys hear that?” Cobra asked, looking around the room.
“Yeah, I think we all heard it,” Fang agreed walking up to one of the constellation mosaics. “These look to be the clues for this room, guys. Any ideas what they are of?”
They spread out then to examine the mosaics. They were elaborate and highly stylized with excessive frills and swirls.
“Are these supposed to be camels?” Niall asked, his head tilted to the side to somehow see the mosaics better. “They look like sacks of potatoes.”
“Well, this star here is called the Homeward Star,” Seglagg said, pointing to a star in one constellation. He hopped over to the next mosaic and pointed out another star. “This one is the Lost Light, but other than than I’m having issues identifying the constellations. I’ve travelled to so many places that I think I am mixing up the lores of different worlds.”
“Well, I think the one with the Lost Light is supposed to be Starweaver, the Betrayer.” Cobra said, leaning on his staff. “I remember reading about it in my divination classes. Do you think that is what the voice meant by ‘traitor?’”
“That does make sense, but who is he a traitor to?” Niall asked. “Is he a traitor to us? Or to whomever is guarding the treasure?”
Cobra shook his head. “That’s a good question.”
“Then who is the beast supposed to be?” Fang asked. “Or the ‘party three?’ There are four of us?”
“Maybe the mosaics are the key?” Seglagg said, hopping over to Cobra. “There is probably something we need to do to the constellations in the same order as that line in the rhyme.”
“But with names like ‘traitor’ and ‘beast’ there is a chance we’re doing this wrong.” Cobra crossed his arms and walked to the orb. “Maybe this orb is important to the riddle?”
“Cobra, be careful!” Seglagg cautioned, nervously looming close by. “Floating orbs are usually bad news in magical ruins like these.”
“Yeah, good point.” He stepped back from the pedestal.
Satisfied with Cobra’s hesitancy to interact fully with the orb, Seglagg turns his attention back to the mosaics. “You said that was supposed to be Starweaver?” the lizard scratched his beard with the tip of his tail. “I think I remember something about him. So Starweaver the serpent was at war with Inndyr the celestial dragon, and during the war Starweaver cast the 'Son of the Stars' to the mortal world, likely killing him. In revenge, Inndyr made Starweaver a mortal and sealed him away. It's said if we pledge to fight the believers of the Betrayer, Inndyr will bless us."
“Do you think we should try to destroy the orb?” Niall asked suddenly, regarding the black sphere curiously. “Or maybe we should pledge to fight the gods and take out their eyes.”
The group stared at the hyena for a moment before Seglagg cleared his throat. “If you want to do all that, Niall, be my guest. I don’t think we should do anything too rash because it is hard to run away if things go wrong while you’re shackled.” He bounced in place just enough to jingle his bindings.
“He’s got a point, Niall.” Cobra laughed. “Is there anything else we know about these mosaics, though? We could use all the information we can get.”
“Like who this last one is supposed to be?” Fang asked, lightly tracing the last mosaic with his fingers.”
“This last one looks the most stylized of the group to me,” Seglagg observed, leaning over Fang’s shoulder. “I think it is supposed to be Nidhyrgg, Inndyr’s mate and commonly known as the ‘Mother of all Good Things.’ A lot of travelers, myself included, pray to Inndyr for luck and Nidhyrgg for protection. I don’t know if any of you noticed, but i left a few silver stars at the tavern before we came out here.” He gestured at each constellation with his tail. “The brightest star in Starweaver the Betrayer, is called the Lost Light. For Inndyr the Lonley, the brightest star is called the Homeward Star. And lastly Nidhyrgg the Traveler’s brightest star is the Evening Star.”
“How do you know all that?” Niall asked, still gazing at the orb in thought.
“I travel and read a lot,” Seglagg smiled sheepishly and added, “If Cobra hadn’t said that one was Starweaver I wouldn’t have known to share all of that information. The art style of the mosaic murals was really throwing me off. It’s too whimsical and frilly, like an elf drew them while tripping on gnollbeard roots.”
“Hey, guys!” Fang exclaimed, startling the others. “Oh, sorry! But I think the tiles by the constellations’ eyes are actually buttons. Maybe we should press them in the order of that poem’s line?”
“That’s a great idea, Fang!” Seglagg hopped over to Starweaver and found the button. “Ok, I can press this one with my tail. Cobra, could you get Inndyr’s button, please? Fang, are you alright to press Nidhyrgg’s button?”
They nodded in agreement when suddenly there was a loud splash followed by embarrassed hyena laughter. Upon turning around the three other adventurers could see Niall’s upper body was fully encased in quickly hardening liquid latex, the black rubber listened like the rb itself and forced Niall to maintain a rigid posture. “I’m sorry, I wanted to know what it did.”
“So you touched it?” Fang asked, crossing his arms.
“And now we know for sure its trapped.” Niall tried to shrug, but the latex wouldn’t budge for that.
Seglagg shook his head and looked to Cobra and Fang. “Okay, ready?”
The three adventurers pressed their respective buttons. The room shakes as a wall slides away to reveal the door out, but also to fully activate the black orb. It bursts open, flooding the room with more liquid latex. Fang was closest to the door and got out first. The other three were not as fast. Both Niall and Cobra had to cast a haste spell to get out in time while Seglagg used the pedestal as a quick leverage point to tumble through the door. Fang slammed it shut behind them and blocked off the flow of latex into the hallway.
“That was too close for comfort.” Seglagg panted as Cobra helped stand him back up.
“Not close enough, Seglagg…” A voice called out to them. “I was looking forward to having a few new polished statues to add to my collection.”
Seglagg chose to ignore the voice and turned to Cobra. “Thank you for helping me up, buddy.” He gave Cobra a kiss and wrapped his tail around the wolfdragon. “Sorry about that. It’s hard to give proper gestures when your hands are bound behind you.”
“That’s alright,” Cobra embraced the lizard back.
“We should pray to Inndyr and Nidhrygg real quick, too.” Fang said, clutching a holy symbol in his hand. “To prepare us for the next trial on this journey.”
TwistedSnakes and 
Cryptic796=== DOOR 1 ===
The party of four exited the ‘Watery Depths’ through a door that opened to a small set of stairs to keep the water in the hall from flooding subsequent areas of the ruins. The stairs led to an octagonal room of ornate marble polished to a near-reflective sheen. Hidden lights illuminated the room. Around the room were mosaics made of gleaming tiles and painted to form constellations. A pedestal stood in the middle of the room, a perfectly black sphere made of polished stone floating above it. As the group entered the room fully, an ominous voice called out to them.
”Be you brave and true of mind
The Unleashing Key is yours to find
Hidden deep in twisted halls
Seek it, free it, or forever you fall
With traitor, beast, and party three
Find the exit, set the stars free.”
“Did you guys hear that?” Cobra asked, looking around the room.
“Yeah, I think we all heard it,” Fang agreed walking up to one of the constellation mosaics. “These look to be the clues for this room, guys. Any ideas what they are of?”
They spread out then to examine the mosaics. They were elaborate and highly stylized with excessive frills and swirls.
“Are these supposed to be camels?” Niall asked, his head tilted to the side to somehow see the mosaics better. “They look like sacks of potatoes.”
“Well, this star here is called the Homeward Star,” Seglagg said, pointing to a star in one constellation. He hopped over to the next mosaic and pointed out another star. “This one is the Lost Light, but other than than I’m having issues identifying the constellations. I’ve travelled to so many places that I think I am mixing up the lores of different worlds.”
“Well, I think the one with the Lost Light is supposed to be Starweaver, the Betrayer.” Cobra said, leaning on his staff. “I remember reading about it in my divination classes. Do you think that is what the voice meant by ‘traitor?’”
“That does make sense, but who is he a traitor to?” Niall asked. “Is he a traitor to us? Or to whomever is guarding the treasure?”
Cobra shook his head. “That’s a good question.”
“Then who is the beast supposed to be?” Fang asked. “Or the ‘party three?’ There are four of us?”
“Maybe the mosaics are the key?” Seglagg said, hopping over to Cobra. “There is probably something we need to do to the constellations in the same order as that line in the rhyme.”
“But with names like ‘traitor’ and ‘beast’ there is a chance we’re doing this wrong.” Cobra crossed his arms and walked to the orb. “Maybe this orb is important to the riddle?”
“Cobra, be careful!” Seglagg cautioned, nervously looming close by. “Floating orbs are usually bad news in magical ruins like these.”
“Yeah, good point.” He stepped back from the pedestal.
Satisfied with Cobra’s hesitancy to interact fully with the orb, Seglagg turns his attention back to the mosaics. “You said that was supposed to be Starweaver?” the lizard scratched his beard with the tip of his tail. “I think I remember something about him. So Starweaver the serpent was at war with Inndyr the celestial dragon, and during the war Starweaver cast the 'Son of the Stars' to the mortal world, likely killing him. In revenge, Inndyr made Starweaver a mortal and sealed him away. It's said if we pledge to fight the believers of the Betrayer, Inndyr will bless us."
“Do you think we should try to destroy the orb?” Niall asked suddenly, regarding the black sphere curiously. “Or maybe we should pledge to fight the gods and take out their eyes.”
The group stared at the hyena for a moment before Seglagg cleared his throat. “If you want to do all that, Niall, be my guest. I don’t think we should do anything too rash because it is hard to run away if things go wrong while you’re shackled.” He bounced in place just enough to jingle his bindings.
“He’s got a point, Niall.” Cobra laughed. “Is there anything else we know about these mosaics, though? We could use all the information we can get.”
“Like who this last one is supposed to be?” Fang asked, lightly tracing the last mosaic with his fingers.”
“This last one looks the most stylized of the group to me,” Seglagg observed, leaning over Fang’s shoulder. “I think it is supposed to be Nidhyrgg, Inndyr’s mate and commonly known as the ‘Mother of all Good Things.’ A lot of travelers, myself included, pray to Inndyr for luck and Nidhyrgg for protection. I don’t know if any of you noticed, but i left a few silver stars at the tavern before we came out here.” He gestured at each constellation with his tail. “The brightest star in Starweaver the Betrayer, is called the Lost Light. For Inndyr the Lonley, the brightest star is called the Homeward Star. And lastly Nidhyrgg the Traveler’s brightest star is the Evening Star.”
“How do you know all that?” Niall asked, still gazing at the orb in thought.
“I travel and read a lot,” Seglagg smiled sheepishly and added, “If Cobra hadn’t said that one was Starweaver I wouldn’t have known to share all of that information. The art style of the mosaic murals was really throwing me off. It’s too whimsical and frilly, like an elf drew them while tripping on gnollbeard roots.”
“Hey, guys!” Fang exclaimed, startling the others. “Oh, sorry! But I think the tiles by the constellations’ eyes are actually buttons. Maybe we should press them in the order of that poem’s line?”
“That’s a great idea, Fang!” Seglagg hopped over to Starweaver and found the button. “Ok, I can press this one with my tail. Cobra, could you get Inndyr’s button, please? Fang, are you alright to press Nidhyrgg’s button?”
They nodded in agreement when suddenly there was a loud splash followed by embarrassed hyena laughter. Upon turning around the three other adventurers could see Niall’s upper body was fully encased in quickly hardening liquid latex, the black rubber listened like the rb itself and forced Niall to maintain a rigid posture. “I’m sorry, I wanted to know what it did.”
“So you touched it?” Fang asked, crossing his arms.
“And now we know for sure its trapped.” Niall tried to shrug, but the latex wouldn’t budge for that.
Seglagg shook his head and looked to Cobra and Fang. “Okay, ready?”
The three adventurers pressed their respective buttons. The room shakes as a wall slides away to reveal the door out, but also to fully activate the black orb. It bursts open, flooding the room with more liquid latex. Fang was closest to the door and got out first. The other three were not as fast. Both Niall and Cobra had to cast a haste spell to get out in time while Seglagg used the pedestal as a quick leverage point to tumble through the door. Fang slammed it shut behind them and blocked off the flow of latex into the hallway.
“That was too close for comfort.” Seglagg panted as Cobra helped stand him back up.
“Not close enough, Seglagg…” A voice called out to them. “I was looking forward to having a few new polished statues to add to my collection.”
Seglagg chose to ignore the voice and turned to Cobra. “Thank you for helping me up, buddy.” He gave Cobra a kiss and wrapped his tail around the wolfdragon. “Sorry about that. It’s hard to give proper gestures when your hands are bound behind you.”
“That’s alright,” Cobra embraced the lizard back.
“We should pray to Inndyr and Nidhrygg real quick, too.” Fang said, clutching a holy symbol in his hand. “To prepare us for the next trial on this journey.”
I like the lore in this chapter!
I'm looking forward to seeing more, both of the lore if it's coming, and the story in general.