As Joseph steps forward, a gush of lava spouts from the hole in the ground with the ladder leading down to the room where the Oracle was.
Joseph says the word, and the dais begins to spin. The party jumps on behind him, turning with the statue and rotating into the treasury room.
More tremors shake the chamber, almost making you lose your balance.
Treasury Room:
You remember the ruined treasury room, the product of the rust monsters. The creatures all seem to have fled, and to leave you will need to scale the rubble to the cave system above that collapsed into the temple. Still untouched except by time are a chest and crate on the south wall.
OLD DESCRIPTION OF ROOM:
This room once held treasure beyond comparison, enough for a king's ransom. You know this because the treasure is still here all around, stacked in piles between pillars. Swords and armor litter the floor, and coins of ancient make cover the floor almost as copiously as the rubble. Two huge statues stare down at you from the northern wall, also clad in fancy armor. The only problem with the treasure is that it now has no luster, no shine whatsoever. You can tell by looking at it that it is worthless, turned to rust and eaten away...by something.
To the north and south stand two large ornamental doors with archways. Directly in front of you against the far wall is a huge dais. A huge, ten foot tall statue in bas relief sits at a throne carved out of the far wall. Its two hands are thrust outward and lie palm open and turned up in supplication. The figure is that of some sort of deity looking kindly down at those who enter the room. Something is written on the wall above the bas relief.
On the north wall next to the door, a torch is set in a slot. To the south, two more torches lie in slots on each side of the door. The torches are lit by some magical light that does not burn or flicker like regular fire.
You notice many smashed wooded boxes and--yes, you recognize it--a sarcophagus or two. At first glance, it looks like the boxes/coffins have been plundered, but at a second look, you see that the corpses themselves have been, not plundered, but eaten, by the looks of it. You see a wooden chest to your right and a larger wooden crate, each aged beyond time with wood rotting and cracked.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:10, Wed 24 Sept 2003.