Room17b
Lamia reaches for the black mirror which rushes over them. The mirror multiplies the blinding light a thousandfold, shining it at the adventurers from every conceivable angle. When the freezing sensation passes they stagger, blinded by afterimages of the blazing globe.
“I think the light is still directly in front of me,” Lamia says. “I can barely see. How are the rest of you?”
“I can’t see anything,” Conrad says. “It’s just too bright.”
“I can see a little,” Safir says. “The globe is directly ahead of you, Lamia.”
Lamia removes her cloak and detaches the clasp, placing it into her pouch. It will be hard enough to part with the heirloom cloak but the silver cloak clasp was her great-grandmother’s most precious possession, nothing will make her part with it.
“Protect your eyes as best as you can. I’m going to put my cloak over it now.”
Lamia holds the cloak between herself and the light source. Even through the thick cloth she can clearly see the ball of light. She narrows her eyes until they are almost closed and walks carefully forward.
The light is so bright that she cannot judge distance and only knows she has reached the ball of light when her outstretched hands bump the sphere.
Turning her head to the side to avoid the light, she pulls the cloak around the sphere and ties the corners together forming a bag. She cinches the cloak as tight as possible and steps back.
She only sees a yellow afterimage filling her vision, for the moment she is blind.
“Did that do it? I can’t see a thing.”
“That did it,” Safir says. “The light is about normal now.”
“I’m going to need a couple of minutes to get my sight back. Everything has this big dot over it.”
“So, what did this accomplish?” Jora removes his blindfold and stares around the room in confusion. There are no clues or threats revealed by the dousing of the light.
“Maybe it’s just some sort of sick test to see how we react,” Conrad says.
“If this wizard wasn’t already dead, I’d kill him for putting us through this.” Jora fingers the hilt of his sword as he speaks. “Everybody take a few minutes to get your sight back and then we’ll get moving again.”
What choice should the adventurers make?