As soon as the sun falls we head out to the platform in the middle of the Atlantic with the whole crew. We take the new Werewolf Hector with us, without knowing exactly what we are getting into it a little extra muscle is not a bad idea. We aren't sure how long we may be in here or if we can even get out easily so we prepare for an extended stay. Ohm and I bring some as much tass as we can carry, if the sacrifice just to open the door is any sign of what awaits us within, we are going to need a lot of mana.
The portal opened with the sacrifice of mana as before and we walked through in our standard order having no idea what to expect. Once we got inside I started checking our connections to the outside world, no supernal satellite, no portals or teleportation. About a min in the portal closed and with that we were stuck until we found the proper way out. The corridor we were in had a soft bluish glow that illuminated just enough. The walls were inscribed with Atlantean runes throughout. As we moved down the corridor we noticed runes we haven't seen before. This would be a great place to come back to and study further. Soon the corridor hit an intersection with corridors branching out in all directions. We took the hallway to the right. The corridor hooked around and soon opened into large room. The room was about 100 yards across and didn't have a floor. There were small pillars in a line to the other side spread apart by a few feet. Swinging in no particular pattern were large pendulums in direct line with the pillars. It was something right out of an Indiana Jones movie and I forgot my whips back in the faraday cage. I could see the other side and it seemed to easy that I could just teleport over there so I had Ohm check the pendulums. As I kinda thought they were all enchanted with a bit of space and prime, most likely they will counterspell any space magic. Danno even tried making his way across in his wisp form and was thrown back to the start. We figured the only way across was the normal way, we jump. Ohm tweaked our ability to jump as I increased it. Didn't seem so hard as we all jumped across dodging the pendulums but I was glad I didn't have to find out how far the fall was. We followed the corridor down a bit and it ended in another door with a hand print on it. We sensed it was another sacrifice of mana and I gave it just a little and it opened into a circular room with nothing else in it. After the last one came through the door closed. We started investigating the walls when they started to move a bit and pieces of the wall came apart and formed into some kind of creature. The first one bitch slapped Danno across the room but it didn't phase him any as two others creatures formed and engaged us. Another one tried the same trick with me and smacked me across the room. With the powers of the four I didn't feel a thing. It was quite confused as to why this wasn't working and turned to smack someone else. This seemed like a time to try out this new spell I was working on. I conjured up several copies of myself but instead of just standing around looking good they all mimicked my next attack as I stabbed the rock thing from a distance. Seven of me chipping off bits of the rock thing like chisels was enough for it and it fell in to pieces. As it unraveled a small burst of power came from it. I expected the wave of power to hurt us but instead it strengthened the other two rock things and all the damage they had taken was gone. Time to switch to single target mode. Since at least three of us were resistant to their bashing attacks and the big Werewolf didn't seem to notice them we finished off the last two without much issue. As the last rock thing fell the door opened and we heard a loud clanking from way down the corridors. I hope that was a good thing. We made our way back to the pendulum room and they were no longer swinging so getting back was fairly easy. We got back to the main intersection and kept to the right. That passage ended quickly at a set of double doors. Half of the door was unlocked and it looked like that was the big bang we heard. We headed back down the last corridor. It opened up into a large room similar to the pendulum room. This one had pillars with letters on them arranged in a large grid. The first few attempts to jump on the pillars resulted in an explosion of fire and being knocked back. Danno of course wasn't very happy with that and that also ruled him out for guinea pig. There had to be a pattern to the letters so we went back out into the corridor and started searching through the runed walls carefully, looking for some kind of clue. First pass we found a couple blocks of numbers. We tried to find the pattern and after a few more singed attempts we took several more passes along the corridor looking for more numbers we may have missed. Several passes later we found five block of numbers. The numbers still didn't help us as we floundered about trying to find the pattern. A little divine intervention perhaps as we all realized the clue at the same time. The numbers corresponded to the letters of the alphabet and soon we had words and a phrase. We used the phrase to make our way across the room. It all came together at that point. This phrase had to do with fate and the room with the pendulums had to do with time. That would make this the Acanthus temple. This should help in identify the others and provide clues to the puzzles within. This corridor ended in the same type door as the other side. Another investment of mana and it opens into a circular room. This time when we all get in a whole bunch of little gremlin looking things swarm us. Half of them run to the other side of the room and begin chanting to each other. I conjure up a bunch of me and direct them to look like they are attacking the group as a distraction. On the other group I open their minds to the joys of MTV and they cry out in pain. When ever we engage one group, the other picks up the chanting. We split ourselves between them and keep hammering on them. Hector was really getting into it as he started picking these things up and rending them into two. It was quite bloody and a little disgusting but he was enjoying himself and he was on our side so who am I to argue. We mopped up the remaining gremlins and heard the familiar sound of the other lock opening on the double doors and so we headed back that way.
The double doors opened into another circular room but this one has five doors. Each door was affixed with the runes of the watchtowers. We figured since this was the Acanthus temple we would try the Acanthus door. As Ohm invested mana into the door words appeared on it, a riddle. We answered the riddle and a beam of light shot out of the door and into the center of the room. We did the same for the next door and the next. The Death door was giving us trouble though and when you guess wrong everybody in the room is greeted with pain. We were locked in here with no way out and running low on resources as it was. We could only take so much damage so we had to start being careful. We skipped the Death door and managed to unlock the others without much hassle. Even though we couldn't see it Danno could feel the sun was on it's way up and he was feeling a little tired. We may just have to camp here today. Just as we were thinking about setting up camp Red received a moment of clarity and figured out the answer to the death door. With all the riddles solved the beams of light from each door formed in the middle and a pedestal rose. On top of the pedestal was a piece of the Atlantean Nexus. I grabbed it and we we left. Danno needed a nap.
Cygin