037 Mirror Security, Arenea

[theseus]

Arenea's story is continued from 036 Broken Palace...

Arenea nods. She swings Anna's arm over her shoulder, taking most of the succubus' weight, and making she has a firm grip on the young woman.

She turns to D'gall and says "Lead on. I'll keep up."

[theseus]

D’gall takes the other side of Anna, and helps Arenea take the demon's weight. Anna does her best to help, obviously not wanting to be a burden.

The trio pass through many time-altered areas of the palace. In some areas, the palace has finished its collapse to rubble. In other places, stones and rocks fall lazily from the ceiling. As the trio pass into the threshold of one of these corridors, the rocks and stones above start falling at a normal rate.

Occasionally, they cross the path of a servant, and D’gall orders the immediate evacuation of the palace.

D’gall reaches yet another staircase leading downwards. He lies flat against a wall, and peeks downwards, then looks back at Arenea, shaking his head.

“The treasury guards are ahead,” D’gall whispers. “I could try ordering them to step aside, but I doubt that would work. And we’d still have to find a way through the security door. Do you think you could use your mirror magic to get us to the other side?”

[erichenry]

Arenea nods. "I think so," she whispers, "provided there's a reflective surface inside the vault. Is there?"

[theseus]

D’gall laughs. “Well, yes, you could say that… I’m sure finding a reflective surface in there won’t be a problem… Finding one that’s flat and not trapped might be a bit more difficult… but still possible.”

[erichenry]

"The surface doesn't need to be perfectly flat, so long as it is not too badly warped" Arenea replies, "but given the way you're laughing, I'm guessing you know something about the inside of the vault that I do not. Never mind, I'm sure you'll explain before I do something that gets us all killed".

"Come on, I need a mirror." Still carrying Anna between them, Arenea and D'gall head back along the corridor to where Arenea recall seeing a large ornamental mirror. Arenea shifts Anna so D'gall is carrying all of her weight. She concentrates on the silvered glass then reaches out out a hand. It passes through the surface of the glass.

Arenea turns back to D'gall and Anna. "Ready to go?" she asks.

[theseus]

D’gall nods, and steps through the mirror into the space below. Arenea follows, and resumes her portion of the burden of carrying Anna's weight. The room on this side of the mirror is bathed in a faint red glow, reminiscent of the jewel that was hanging around Carra’s neck.

D’gall seems to have become somewhat accustomed to navigating through mirrorspace, and takes the staircase downwards, and a turning after that. Arenea is the only one to notice a light shading on a wall with a dull reflection on both sides, This is probably the iron door to the treasure chamber. Only Arenea notices this, and decides the poor reflections probably aren't strong enough to pass through safely anyway.

Almost immediately afterwards, the group finds themselves in a gray area where there is very little reflection from the outer world. D’gall gives Arenea a nod in the direction he wants to go, and Arenea strikes out a path in that direction.

After a few subtle turnings in the mirrorspace, the group comes across a sudden and dazzling sight. It is a series of reflected mirrors, reminding Arenea of the mirror maze in Sawall’s new gallery. These reflections, however, are perfectly even and straight, seemingly like a snow flake stretching out into a symmetrical infinity. It would be easy to become lost in it all. Repeatedly reflected within all this is a circular marble pedestal with a bronze globe set on top of it.

“That’s the room with the Sign of Chaos,” D’gall says. “I suggest we find a different way out, so you can see in normal space exactly what it is you’re up against.”

[erichenry]

Arenea studies the layout of the room as well as she can, given the infinity of reflections. "Is that globe part of a security system?" she asks. "If it is, I'll need to find a way into the room out of sight of it."

[theseus]

“That’s a problem,” D’gall admits. “I don’t know how we are going to solve it.”

D’gall points to a different area in mirrorspace. “I think we’ll find another mirror over that way, somewhere.”

The group moves that way, and soon find themselves surrounded by a large number of small but spectacular reflective surfaces. It takes a moment for Arenea to realise what she is looking at, and what D’gall was chuckling about earlier. The mirrorscape is littered with glittering treasures, including gold, silver, and gemstones, all cut to perfection and glittering brightly. The coloured spaces these reflections create in the mirrorverse are stunningly beautiful. None of these reflections look comfortable to fit through, however, as they are all small, multi-faceted, and have sharp edges.

[theseus]

Arenea’s keen eye does spot a flat surface reflection on one wall. She leads D’gall and Anna to it. It is a mirror with ornate and flowery gold borders. On the other side of the mirror in the normal world is an impressive treasure vault. Arenea touches the mirror with her fingers, and opens it up. She allows D’gall and Anna to step through in front of her, before moving through it herself.

The treasure vault is comprised of several different chambers. One chamber contains piles of loose gemstones, including gold, silver and platinum. Another chamber contains chests stacked up on each other, each lined with precious gems. Yet another chamber contains silver and gold statues and other artwork. There is another chamber that seems to be a library of anicent and dusty books. And yet another chamber contains jewelry.

Arenea’s eye for artifacts, trained within the halls of House Dis, quickly evaluates the treasure. She dismisses the majority of the pieces as pretty but ultimately useless shadow offerings. However, there is the occasional gemstone or piece of art with a small amount of reality and power, that therefore holds some true value.

Anna, her weakness now seemingly forgotten, whistles as she looks around at the centuries of accumulated wealth stored here.

“You can help yourself to any piece you like,” D’gall tells Anna. “It will take years to dig out these rooms if the palace collapses on top of them."

D’gall beckons Arenea over to one wall, where there is a transparent glass door running from the ceiling to the floor. It is bordered in thick bronze. A small key hole is located on the left border of the door.

The room seen through the full-length window has eight equal sides, each about two feet across. All are fully lined with mirrors except for the door Arenea is looking through. In the centre of the room is a circular marble pedestal. A bronze globe is perfectly nestled into a sconce at the top of the pillar.

Each mirror reflects at least a portion of every other mirror, as well as the pedestal. The reflections, and the reflections of reflections seem to continue on into infinite regressions.

[erichenry]

Arenea takes out a set of lockpicks and kneels down to examine the keyhole. "That arrangement of mirrors is very peculiar" she comments as she starts work on the lock. "It is almost as if they expected someone to attempt to access the vault via mirrorspace. But if that was the case, it would be easier to place no mirrors in the vault at all. So I suspect it serves some other function."

[theseus]

D'gall sighs.

"As I way saying before, the globe is some kind of mechanical device. Inside it is intensified light, capable of burning most things it comes into contact with. It completely obliterates anything organic. As I understand it, when the globe senses movement in the room, it starts hovering above the pedestal. Small apertures on the surface of the globe start opening and closing, releasing pulses of the deadly light. The light bounces off the mirrors, bounces off more mirrors, and pretty soon the entire room becomes a death trap!”

“There’s supposed to be a particular sequence of movement that won’t trigger the globe, but I have no idea what it is.”

[theseus]

Arenea finds the lock is very well constructed, but of a simple tumbler design. Within a minute, she hears the slight clunk that means she has placed the tumblers successfully, and unlocked the door. She has the uncomfortable feeling that the designer had the talent and technology to design a more sophisticated lock, but chose not to. This part has been too easy.

[erichenry]

Arenea carefully leaves the picks in the lock, in case removing them triggers some kind of trap. She stares through the glass door at the globe and the mirrors. A thoughtful expression crosses her face.

"Do you know if there is anything special about the construction of those mirrors?" she asks D'gall. "Because if there isn't, then there is one major flaw I can see in this security system."

[theseus]

“The door might be enchanted,” D’gall says, “but I don’t think the mirrors are. What’s your idea?”

[erichenry]

"I'm almost certain this door is trapped" Arenea comments. "It was far too easy to unlock, and whoever crafted this lock was capable of constructing something far more sophisticated."

"But as for the light..." She pauses and rummages around in one of her belt pouches. She extracts one of the small pocket mirrors she carries and smiles. "This destructive light will bounce of a normal mirror without destroying the mirror. So if someone with a reflective skin were to enter the room..."

She lays one hand upon the reflective surface of the mirror. "It will take concentration but I think I should be able to use my shape-shifting to to turn my skin reflective. That way the beam should bounce harmlessly off me."