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The room beyond the mirror contains a large table on the far all, which has a lantern, some oil, some keys, staves, daggers, and so on – none in good repair. Also on the table is a large chest.

The robot is to the north about 10', with his back to you. You can't see what is in the room beyond that.

Who steps through first?

(The character sheets are done, in the character thread. Still working on house rules. Let's keep playing).

"Hmpf. If anyone is gunna go first, it's gonna be a dwarf. But I dink dis teleporation [sic] is a bad ding." Kilian's accent is heavier than usual, and he's definitely forcing himself to appear gruff. "Freya, here. Come tie me up. And tie that other end over there, on dat stone column (stone pew?). Make it gud und tight." Freya starts tying knots, first playfully attempting to tie one end to the braids on his beard. He brushes off the attempt then looks at the other males. "Bruce, Talin, you boys haul me back if anyding goes bad. If I puff up like a fish or fall over like a timber, or that robot animates, out I go. Or maybe charge in. Dem second wave of golems weren't as bad as da first."

Sorry. I could have punctuated that better.

Whilst all this is going on, Tiana looks at Abigall. "Abigall, do you know anything about these devices?"

From what I recall of what Tiana recalls, the portals are as simple as "step through, you're on the other side." But I'm making that up completely on my out-of-game knowledge of dimensional portals.

Assuming Abigall doesn't say anything to prevent the plunge...
Kilian doublechecks the knot, his shield, his axe, his beard. He scowls at Tiana, then looks back at the mirror. He takes a step toward it, looks again at Freya, scowls some more, looks about to say something, then decides better of it. Stealthily, reminiscent of a drunken dragon, Kilian sighs and then walks through the mirror.

If the result is anti-climactic, Bruce will beckon Talin over next, then Freya. Once those three are over, everyone else with Bruce being last. If the result is much more climactic, Kilian will go to town on the golem while reinforcements run through (or fire through; I'm academically curious what would happen but don't want to actually find out).

Right before Kilian steps into the mirror, he looks back at Freya, his furrowed bushy eyebrows hiding his eyes. "Don't ye ferget dat box of gold coins, k?"

RE: box of coins. From memory the girls have both searched the box for traps and are both unsure, but neither has tried to open the lock yet. Your move. It isn't magical.

Kilian......slowly eases himself through the 'glass', which seems to melt around him as he steps through into the room beyond. No harm comes to him and the robot does not animate. It is anti-climactic indeed and the rope ends up being rather irrelevant and makes everyone feel silly. In a short while, Talin and Freya are also inside.

Round the corner are spare parts for another robot, on a table. There is also the back of two secret doors - you can't actually tell these are secret yet, but you will find out soon enough. This is a secret lair, evidently.

Sound does not travel from one place to the other. But you can see each other OK.

Other content, again:
a lantern, some oil, some keys, staves, daggers, and so on – none in good repair. Also on the table is a large chest.

Another large chest is further up the table, nearer to the robot.

*they each wave at the unlucky people on the other side of the mirror*

"Let try one thing before everyone comes across." Talin says. He takes that pebble he threw earlier and tosses it back at Tiana. He has some fun with it, attempting to hit her (with her looking at him elvishly the whole time). "I just want to make sure it's a two-way door before we get much further."

Assuming it's a two-way mirror
The rest of the party proceeds through. There's a small debate about whether to untie the rope, but they finally decide to take it.

Once on the other side, they'll need to decide what to do about that robot. After a short, quiet discussion, Freya is nominated to sneak up behind the robot. Before doing anything else, are they're close enough to see if the robot has the pinkish goo (golem life blood) flowing through its veins?

Meanwhile, Tiana will sort through the maps she found earlier, and eventually end up on 3b. "Aha!" she thinks. "Now I know where we are, at least on the map."

You think you are in 3b on the other maps? OK. We'll see.

The pebble you threw before does indeed pass back through the mirror. It is two way.

Incidentally, on this side, the mirror looks almost identical to the 'first' one, but Freya can't read the runes, only Tiana. However, it does look as though this one has been hung on the wall here, and Kilian can see evidence that it has been removed from some other surface and then repositioned here. On the 'first' side, the mirror looks firmly in place, built into a stone alcove that has been designed for it.

As far as Kilian can see, the overall UG constriction on this side is the same as the other: Dwarf made, but for human size. The stoneworking is good.

You can't really see the life goo of the robots from the outside. It is mostly inside their hands and head. This robot is perfectly intact, and facing the secret doors.

Freya can sneak up right behind it, sure. It hasn't animated yet.

Abigall takes Tiana aside and says in Sylvan:

"Mistress mage, what if the magic door goes someplace beyond the mountains? My people can't go there! We can only go so far from our home place, the same as with all natural Cruthy. When we first came upon the castle and I couldn't approach, I thought that was the end of the line for me. But apparently, that was something else, some other magic to keep us away. If this Glade of Spires is somewhere far away, beyond the mountains, then I can't go though there! I do not know what will happen to me!"

Freya, Kilian and Talin in the room beyond so far. Everyone else still hanging back.

"If you can't go beyond, then we must part ways for now. Do you need us to escort you out, or will you be able to make it on your own? (pause) Can I get you to do me a favor? Would you be willing to go to Red Oak and ask for Emlin Moss? I'd like him to post a letter for me, and not sure if I trust others in Red Oak."

If Abigall will do that, then Tiana will write a quick update for Rillow, all in elvish code.

'Ermmm...mistress mage? The outer door is closed. And...I do not want to travel back through miles of forest alone. I think I had better stay here.'

(She's not going to be carrying any messages. She just stays put.)

What do you all do now? Coin box? Robot? Secret doors? Mirrors?

"Oh! I thought you would head out through the riverbed, down to the opening we found by the castle. By all means, stay here on this side and wait for us. I do not know how long we will be. Hopefully we will see you soon. If you're not here, I understand. I'll leave you a note at the place where we first met." *hugs!*

- - - - -

Next up, debilitating the golem. Assuming she doesn't find the power switch, she'll do what she can to find an exposed tube of the liquid. If none of that works, she'll dump a sack over its eyeholes. If it moves, the party will hack apart the limbs.

Fortunately for the one remaining robot, it does not animate when someone steps on the north side of it. You seem to be able to move around in the room to the north of it quite freely. You are free to explore. You can take the bag off its head, now.

Abigall has no intention of braving the worm tunnels on her own, given what she saw of their diet. Instead, she tries putting a small paw though the mirror, and then and arm, and then a leg, and eventually realizes she can go through without harm.

'The stories of my people always say we are not go beyond the mountains,' she says. 'So maybe wherever we are, it is not that far, or maybe the stories were wrong. I don't know. But I feel OK.'

Now that she is in here, she can tell you that the back of the secret doors both radiate magic. As does the mirror on this side. She can't see any magic on the table, but if there were magic items in the chests, she wouldn't be able to see them - the magic has to be in line of sight for her power to work.

'Are you leaving anyone on guard?' she asks. 'I'd volunteer, but I might be useful to scout the way.'

(And, she is obviously scared of being on her own around here.)