Journal of Miyara Kyosuke (64)

    Goru has been trying to translate the scroll we found in the rock compartment.  Unfortunately we can't get any practical information from it.
    We return to the octagonal room.  Pireseri stares through the rock and tells us what he can see of the area down the stairs.  There is another octagonal room at the bottom of the stairs, he says.  In the center is a large black stone, again roughly tomb-shaped.  It too, however, is indeed just a solid stone.  There are blocks and symbols around the rock, with runes embedded in silver.  I say that these are all altars; they all have rooms with robes nearby.  Stairs lead on down from that room.
    We go down to that room.  Goru tells us that he cannot read this kind of dwarven writing.  The corner nearest the stairs down has been worn down, as if rubbed continually over the centuries.  Pireseri tells us that the stairs go on down as far as he can see, and that there are traps on the stairs.  Stepping on it will trigger leg traps.
    I rub the altar in the way it has been rubbed.  Nothing happens.
    Pireseri disarms the trap, and we continue on down.
    A few steps after the trap, Pireseri sees a room he recognizes, although he has never been in it.  It is octagonal, with a big stone dias, two thrones, and another black altar.  This time there are no traps between us and the room.
    The Great Temple of KG is one of the few areas still undisturbed.  20' high, walls, ceiling floor, all black.  Tapestry rails, some tapestries.  All damp and mouldy, but design visible and are similar to the robes.  There are some orc skeletons.  There is a three step stone dias, 20' x 12' x 2', on which is an 8x5x3 block of black rock, carved in arcane dwarvish.  At each corner are gargoyle status.  At either end is an ornately carved stone throne facting from the block.  The northern is intricately carved, the southen plain.  There are orc skeletons and charred furniture, indicating that there could have been some sort of an explosion here.
    There are three doors in this room, two on this western wall.  The other one is the one we know about, with the trap in the corridor.  There are also double doors going south.  Through those double doors are stairs upwards, going up steeply to the lake room.
    This is clearly where we must go.
    We open the door and Hosei looks for magic.  He reports that the room is full of magic.  The big block is powerful, the thrones equally so, the tapestries radiate a sense of magic, as do the gargoyles, and the south door, while the rest of the room just reflects the intensity of the rest of it.
    The stone has to do with burial rites, rites of the dead, and the same for the thrones, the gargoyles.  The tapestries are protective against all comers, or the unclean or sacriligous people.  The south doors are locked magically.  Hosei guesses that this room is used as part of the burial rites for kings, so the priests who do the burying have a way to come in here without getting killed by the gargoyles and tapestries.  So perhaps, I say, we should go up and get robes and staves.  I wonder if the scroll contains anything about it, but of course it's incomplete; perhaps there might be other parts around that we haven't found.
    Rabena checks her maps for places we may not have been yet, or not searched properly.  She reports that when we were first employed by the Royallists, we walked up a long series of tunnels, and there were at least a few places we hadn't checked.  Also when we were given our first assignment, there were also some places we did not check.  It is most likely that the dwarves are not there now because of the fighting, so we should be able to check them.
    At Miyara's order, with Rabena navigating, we check the other rooms.  We reset the trap on the way out.  We continue through rooms, passages, and stairs until Rabena announces the first place we have not seen.
    First there are two rooms off the circular place Pireseri and I found on our way up the long stairs.  On our way to there, we first go through a room with a ladder that goes up behind the shrine in the artificial natural cavern.  We then proceed west towards those two rooms.
    The circular room is where we had been turned back by the guards during our employment, although it was empty when Pireseri and I came here.  The two rooms beyond had been used as sleeping quarters for four dwarves, obviously not here now.  There is a secret hallway connecting the two rooms, but no secret compartments.  We check the belongings, which are as we might expect for dwarven priests.  There is nothing here that is old or otherwise interesting.
    We go back to the throne room, and proceed on to other rooms we have not seen.  Rabena busily works on her map as we go.  In the artificial natural room, Pireseri checks the shrine and ladder carefully.  To casual observation the ladder is just a ladder, but with careful examination, the rung at the top of the ladder is hollow, containing some kind of parchment with dwarven runes.  It appears to be in good condition, but he is not certain.
    We retrieve the parchment.  Hosei says it is not magical.  It is not in archaic runes, however, and Goru can read it easily.  It reads, "Speak the runes, and with hands fresh cleansed, touch the holy signs which weave around the words.  This then shall pass you on into the holy place free from taint and free from hurt."  Pireseri tells us that there is nothing else hidden around here in the shrine or natural cavern.
    We continue on.  Pireseri reports that there are no dwarves in this area.  The next room has stairs down, leading to the lake, and a hallway that leads to the throne room.
    The throne room is where we met Sundrim.  It is tall, with a dias at one end raised about 18" above the floor.  There are three stone thrones, behind which stand 5 life-sized statues of dwarf warriors.  There is nothing particular special, except that there is a modern leather scroll case at the foot of the center statue, behind the throne in such a way that you can't actually see it without getting up on the dias.  Inside the scroll case are dwarven papers.
    I step up on the dias, and immediately the statues come to life and attack me, clearly intent on killing the rest of us once they are through with me.