In the Hall of the Mountain King

[Brian]

Ekim and Parthipan return, Ekim's heavy footsteps resound long before he comes into sight.

[Ginrai]

Ginrai waves at the others.  "Hey guys!  Sorry to keep you waiting."

[Dracos]

Dracos turns to the returning lorekeeper and smith, "Sorry for bothering you Ekim, but we're trying to confirm a dangerous suspicion regarding Elric.  Would you mind unlocking this door?"

Dracos

[Brian]

Ekim nods.  "Very well," he says, his voice grating more than usual.  He lumbers forward, and inserts a key into the middle of the seal.  It's a large, eight-pointed iron star, and after it's unlocked, each of the points fold into the center.

Once those points fold inwards, Ekim grabs the lowest points, and pries it off of the door, holding a massive chunk of steel aloft for a moment before setting it against the side of the hallway -- Mirallia and Radagast back away to leave some room.

The revealed door is huge, with two iron handles that the lock was apparently sealed onto.  The entire steel face is engraved with images of men and dwarves fighting huge shadowy figures, orcs, ogres, but no Jotun.  The humans have shining garnet eyes, and the dwarves have tiny rubies, sappires, and emeralds.  The ruby-eyed dwarves look the smallest, too....  Three of them stand in the background over a forge beating a sword on an anvil.  The sapphire eyed dwarves are larger, and bear axes and huge spears, marching on the front-lines with the humans.  The emerald-eyed dwarves -- you think they're dwarves, anyway -- are about the size of Jotun....

[Dracos]

Dracos backs away as well, waiting for Ekim to finish opening the door, looking curiously at the artwork but not questioning yet.

Dracos

[Brian]

The door-handles are turned, and then the doors are hauled open, revealing a circular chamber that looks quite familiar to Parthipan.  This looks a lot like the room that the crystal was originally found in, except that the tiles here are alternately green and gold.  It's also a bit smaller, only about thirty meters across, with a cieling that's a low dome, probably two meters high at the walls, and four in the center.

The pattern of tiles on the floor leads inward, alternating spirals of green and gold, which lead up to a large, glistening white stone pedastal.  On this pedastal sits the crystal that Bjorn retrieved from the pass -- supposedly the stone of Aestock.

It's currently shedding a brilliant light (though it does not hurt to look at, or blind anyone who does look at), and everyone who sees it feels assured and confident.  After a moment, it's visibly clear that the light appears to be flowing upward, like mist boiling out of a large cauldron.  It then pools in the cieling, and just maintains a reflective puddle of light filling half of the cieling space.

To Phil's eyes, this light diffuses into the stone, thousands upon thousands of tiny, intricate glowing runes lining every surface, including the floor and the pedestal.  From the stone, which Phil can't see through, it would SEEM that the light (and confidence) then goes across the keep.

Directly opposite the crystal is a wide, two-meter high stone door.  Ekim ducks, so that his head is lower than the lip of the dome, which blocks off the upper meter or so of the doorway, to peek in.  "Ah," he says, seeing the crystal.  "Good."

[Dracos]

Dracos nods, ignoring examining the crystal closely for the moment as he tries to get a hold of the thread they'd followed from the floor above, making sure where it is going.

Dracos

[Brian]

It takes Phil's eyes a long minute to adjust to the lighting in this room ... but he can shortly see the thread.  It plunges through the center of the cieling, and from there, the threads are tightly woven through the crystal itself.  Not around it, but through it.

[Dracos]

Dracos turns his head slightly to Radagast.

~The thread comes down through the ceiling and wraps through the crystal.~

Dracos turns back to the crystal and examines the crystal carefully, slowly trying to make out the magics in it and their purposes as best he can.

Dracos

[Brian]

Phil peers into the crystal, but the magic threads are both too bright and too thick to discern more than he's already ascertained.

Radagast looks around the room thoughtfully.

Mirallia just admires the glow.

[Dracos]

Dracos shakes his head, blinking and walking around the room a little, examining the crystal from other angles trying to get a better view and allow his eyes to adjust to the bright light.

Dracos

[Brian]

Phil's gazing into the crystal fails to produce any sort of prophetic vision.  He only seems to be generating a migraine.  Though, the confident feeling running through him allows him to not really mind.

[Dracos]

Dracos rubs his head, turning to Radagast.  "So, Loremaster Radagast...  Elric's thread lead here to the crystal.  What can we do now?"

Dracos shook his head, taking a step back and looking over the rest of the room.

Dracos

[Brian]

The room is really simple ... except for the glowing runes everwhere, and the magic glowing crystal ... and the huge stone doors behind the crystal.

Radagast frowns, and peers at the crystal.  "I can't discern the thread myself," he says, shaking his head.  "Else I'd advise a course of action...."

[Dracos]

Dracos focuses, giving what little useful information he received from following the thread down to Radagast as a mental image.  "It runs through the crystal."

Dracos