Against the cult: the Forest Ruin (1.5)

Aanbo sees that the spring-loaded arm wasn't in a hidden compartment within the stone; rather, it was just folded up under the iron ring, so that as soon as someone lifted the ring, the spring would push the needle forward to puncture whatever was lifting the ring. This means two things: first, that there's no part of the mechanism that requires any special skill to access: Aanbo could easily snap off the rusted metal arm and wrap it up with the needle to examine later. Second, that whatever material was on the needle was astonishingly potent magic, to have survived intact and effective for as long as it would take for the well-oiled metal to rust.

Kragga muses on the nature of a building that would have such protections placed on it. Clearly, whoever set these up did not want people entering the building. The wizard then begins to look at the door, but quickly realizes that it is overgrown enough that he can't see a lot of it. He tears down the ivy (thankfully, the blackberries didn't happen to grow across the door!) as he and Joseph begin to examine it. They heard the conversation about a trap in the front door, so they pay particular attention to anything like a hidden door or compartment. It looks to be much the same as the door in the front: an iron ring, slightly less rusted, which would be used to pull the door open. Joseph examines the ring carefully, and does not notice any wires, triggers, or mechanisms folded up behind the ring. Nor does he see any wires that would be pulled or buttons that would be pressed as the door opened. The dirt and detritus of long decades have built up in the space between door and jamb, so it will seem a little stuck at first, if someone decides to open it. Higher up, as he pulls away a hank of ivy, Kragga notices an irregularity in the stone wall above the door. There are little bumps in the stone - about a finger-joint in width. Tearing the ivy away pulled off the center one of these bumps, revealing that the bump was actually an accumulation of cobwebs and dust that was plugging a deep hole going back and up into the stone at a steep angle. Kragga can't see light in the hole, so either it stops someway back, turns, or there's something way back up there that is the same shade as the surrounding stone. It could be a trap, a decoration, or just a rain spout. Looking at the four other bumps, he suspects that they, too, are plugs of gunk concealing similar holes.

Theran looks at the bug-headed statue, and notices two things: first, that the bug part is actually a pretty faithful rendition of the head of a figeater beetle; the spread of its mandibles somehow expressing joy. Second, that the scything blade was triggered and released once, and there is no clockwork or magic mechanism for resetting the blade to be dangerous again: only springs and an articulated boom arm that allowed it to snap out of a narrow slot in the top of the statue's base...which it has already done, long ago. It's too overgrown and covered with the leaves and compost of ages to tell more about what the trigger was. If it was a pressure plate, there might be a difference in the level of the stone, but the dirt that's settled onto the veranda makes that impossible to ascertain. If it was a tripwire, the wire has long since rusted and flaked away. If it was a magic trigger...who can say about magic?

Albertus and Ogbar peer into the open door, the already-dim forest light doing little to illuminate the dark interior. But they can see an open entrance hall with marble tiles and a grand staircase rising up out of view to the right, dust covering nearly everything.

As Theran and Albertus report what they've seen so far and Xana wonders if their objective has been accomplished, Aanbo retrieves his torch, returns to the door, and tosses it in. He, Ogbar, and Albertus get a quick glimpse of the space beyond the door...


There is a strange sparkle that draws the eye on the left (on the west wall), as if a door was made of gems that twinkle in different colors. The dusty stone stairway begins on the right and curves around and up over the room to a landing above you on the left, the stone banister becoming a railing of an upper gallery that looks down on this room. Space below the stairs suggests that the room continues in that direction (east). An open doorway opposite the front door (in the north wall), about five Ogbar-heights in, reveals a small antechamber or other open space with another door on the far side that looks in on a table with chairs and dishes set out as if for a meal. The stark shadows cast by the torchlight swoop as the torch flies through the air...

...and then the torch, its light, and the view of all these features disappears. The interior is dark once again, the heroes' view just what they can see from the diffused daylight filtered through the canopy of trees.

Joseph is confident that the holes that Kragga has cleared are either murder holes or part of a trap. Gas, liquid, or some kind of missile could come out of them; the halfling rogue is confident that they're not rainspouts, given that there's five of them so close together. Unfortunately, they are part of a mechanical trap, any mechanisms are on the inside of the door and/or wall and are inaccessible. So disarming it isn't possible from here, but that's not the only way to make a trap ineffective...

After Albertus takes Aanbo's second torch and sets it down on the dusty marble tiles just inside the door. It remains lit on one side, and the smell of burnt dust fills their nostrils as they look inside the room again. There is no change, except that now Ogbar, Aanbo, and Albertus, crowding in the doorway, can see that the door is not twinkling because of gems, but because little motes of different colors are slowly moving across the plane of the door, twisting and sliding around each other in gyres and serpentines, spirals and slaloms. Either the door is made from some material of all colors, it's coated in something of all colors, or maybe there isn't even a door there, just some kind of colorful barrier. It's dizzying to look at for too long; the three heroes have to blink and look away every few seconds.