The Gauntlet of Challenge-Cry, Part 2 (Neth (X) 1st, 4712 AR)

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The Challenge of Might. Light in this chamber was equal to shadowy illumination when the trapdoor above was open or the gate was imbued with fire or electricity (see below); otherwise, there is no natural light.

The bottom of the deep stone shaft is flat and empty, with a massive iron door, forty feet high and thirty feet wide, set in its eastern side. The door appears designed to slide upward, much like a solid portcullis. A thick, sturdily-braced horizontal iron shelf protruding from the door five feet above the floor appears to be the only leverage point from which to lift it. The iron of the door changes color several times a minute, at first glowing orange as if pulled from a forge, then glistening with green perspiration, next frosted with ice crystals, and finally dry and crackling with electricity, before again glowing orange and repeating the cycle. Large runes etched into the doors seem to ignore the state of the door, their forms remaining the color of blackened iron throughout the cycle.

The gate itself deals damage of the appropriate energy type to anyone in contact with it or near it. Lifting it is the most direct way through it. The Draconic runes etched into the top of the door read, “I shall then be Apsu, for I am the first.” The runes at the bottom of the door read, “and I shall end Death.”

Two tongues of rebuke (acid and cold) were beyond the gate. The tongues of rebuke alternated attacks between their breath weapons and roars. The tongues fought until destroyed.


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