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Breaking my eyes away from the morbid scene in front of me, I step forward to just short of entering the room proper. Moving the flickering torch from side to side, I look around to see what else is encased in this dry vault, having been locked away and lost for generations.Turning back to the thrones, I sheath my dagger, and light the torches I found at the end of the passage. Extinguishing my torch, I put it away and get out my bow. Things have not been going well of late, and I figure... why not just be a little over-cautious. I knock an arrow, and pick of the the skeletons at random. I aim for the sternum, and release.

Okay. Cautious, done. Time for "Fortune Favors the bold"

With confidence, possibly a little too much, I approach the center skeleton, and reach for the rod, stopping within inches.

No! Have I not learned anything?

I pull my hand back, and examine the rod closely. Stepping to the side and viewing it from several angles.

"All that work, and even dying, for a metal rod?" In frustration, I smack the rod out from under the hand with my greatclub.

"Owwwww!" I yell, dropping the club and holding my hand. The pain is brief, and massages away quickly.

Well, okay then. I pick up and store my club, then grip the iron rod, tugging at it. It must be a lever or something. Nothing happens. So I grab it with both hands, pulling with all my strength, and some of my weight. Still nothing.

Frustrated and briefly tired, I stop pulling and lean forward on the arm of of the throne to rest, leaning my head on the cursed bar. Which then tilts back towards the skeleton smoothly, with almost no resistance at all... You've got to be kidding me...

Wouldn't that have been funny? But of course, this isn't a comedic tale of a behatted man who raids ancient crypts with a whip and a witty comment or two.

Back in reality, I tried pushing, pulling, lifting, plunging, and twisting (in both directions) the strange bar. This has got to do something, right?

Okay, maybe this is a decoy. Maybe it's just a distraction. I glare at the rod for a moment, and then walk around the room, looking for anything that might help me figure this out. I check behind the thrones, I look up at the ceiling, down at the floor. I even think about pushing the skeleton's off their stupid thrones, but I decide against it. What am I missing here...

Returning to the infuriatingly immovable iron bar, I decide to move things around it. That includes removing the skeleton's hand from atop the spherical knob, and pulling out my hammer and chisel to attempt to dig at the arm of the throne underneath it.

Well, that was peculiar. I walk over to the bar and pick it up. I turn it over and examine the button. Then I press the button and try to swing the rod a little with the button depressed.