Chapter 4: Master Of Puppets

You decide to leave the digging folks alone. You guess that after all they'll probably need at least a few days to excavate whatever is down there.

When you approach the entrance to the temple, the two people guarding the temple swing their spears in front of you.
They are clothed in leather armor and you recognize them as guards who watched over the northern entrance.
Their movements are stiff, nearly robotic, and they have the same empty look on their face.
If you want to enter the temple you will have to deal with them somehow.

With a dismissive sniff, Aravel casts his sleep spell at the two gaurds..

Aravel casts his spell and the two guards just drop down to the floor on their faces. You bind them with a rope you find lying around.

The way into the temple is free.
You can easily open the doors and look inside.
The temple is still as you left it but flares with green flames now line the walls and light up the interior.

Melianne barely spares a glance towards the now snoring guards as she slips inside the familiar temple hall. The atmosphere here is quite more ominous now, thanks to the green flames, but the dancer shakes off the apprehension and heads towards the eastern door, intending to poke her head in the corridor behind it. "We can go the same way we did back then, I think," she tells her companions pensively. "Main door is likely blocked. Or guarded..."

Melianne slowly walks through the main hall the the door and peers through the doorframe.
Here too, torches with green flames line the wall.
She feels a tingling in her nose and it smells the same way as when a thunderstorm is about to start
But another detail catches her attention: A pile of bricks is neatly stacked at the left side of the corridor and she's pretty sure that it wasn't there when the group explored the ruins before.
The door on the right side of the corridor is open and a green, pulsing light shines through it.

Annika looks to the others, the green flames reflecting unnaturally in her eyes. "So... follow the ominous glow?"

Krenmuth follows Melianne and Annika. He sees the piles of bricks and thinks, Are all archeologists that neat?

Now that he was down here and with some proper lighting, Aravel studied the walls and architecture.
"Hmmmmm. Fascinating..."

Krenmuth investigates walls. Here too he can see paintings and glyphs but they are very faded.
Submission and sacrifice seem to be the main theme of these paintings, just like in the rest of the temple.
The bricks have marks that seem to indicate that they've recently been worked on.

Aravel meanwhile has a look at the structure. It seems to have served two purposes: Worship and power channeling.
The structure would be impressive if it hadn't those pesky signs of being built by humans. They were clearly inspired by elves but the elegant ways of elven craftsmanship are overshadowed by the clunky human way of building structures

Melianne has no interest in examining the horrible engravings once again, but she is hesitant to proceed without her companions - so she remains by the hallway door, nervously tapping her foot while waiting for Aravel and Krenmuth. "Do you think the orrery has anything to do with this?" She aks Annika as they both examine the green glow. "Korsak said they couldn't do anything about the barrier..."

"I wouldn't be surprised if they knocked through the back wall to bypass the barrier. I don't think the orrery by itself would be controlling all these people... but I suppose it could be channelling the influence of one of those undead monsters." Annika sighs. "Only one way to find out. Let's start with the pool room." She heads for the side corridor.

Krenmuth follows Annika. He keeps his thoughts to himself, since he is still bothered by the mystery of his dream. Maybe the wizard I dreamed of down here?

As you all have a look into the pool room you see that some things have changed.
Apparently the wall was breached in order to get to the orrery behind the forcefield. An opening wide enough to let one person walk through was created.
Behind the opening you can see Astrid, Hjalmar and Korsak. While the two archeologists are frozen in place, Korsak seems to be a bit more lively. He has the sceptre you retrieved from the mummy in his hands. He holds it into the orrery and the jewel at it's top sheds a green pulsing light into the surroundings. Meanwhile his whole body constantly shifts.
His head turns to you and through clenched teeth he says: I. could. need. your. help.
It. Has. Taken. Control. Over. Everyone.
The way he talks somehow seems to affect you. You look at the orrery and think about the choices that led you here...

Krenmuth, looking the drawings for clues, is caught off guard by Korsak's behavior.