Room2
The door clicks shut behind them. The room is an irregular oval. It appears to have been hacked from the rock and soil around it by someone with no sense of artistry. The walls are rough to the touch. Pink, blue, and yellow crystals project from the soil.
The ceiling is covered with jagged, yellow stalactites and the floor is bare dirt. The dirt has been tamped down to an almost stone-like consistency by the passage of an unknowable number of occupants.
An empty stone pedestal stands in the center of the room. The pedestal appears like a natural outcropping of the floor, but its waist-high uppermost surface is carved flat and polished smooth.
On one side of the room stands a massive black door that leads back to the room where they awoke.
Opposite this door is a white door.
Standing mere inches from the sides of the pedestal are a pair of mirrors.
On the left of the pedestal stands a mirror with an ornate black frame.
On the right, the mirror, equally ornate, has a white frame. The surface of each mirror reflects the group as they enter the room. As they draw close, both mirrors ripple like ponds disturbed by a strong breeze. Their reflections are obliterated by the ripples and a new scene is displayed in each.
Shown on the surface of the black mirror is the pedestal but upon its flat surface stands a small glass vial containing a liquid which is as red as blood.
As they watch, Jora steps forward and grasps the vial and brings it to his lips. The image freezes and then fades. The mirror once again reflects the room.
The white mirror also shows the pedestal and upon it is a similar vial but within the vial the potion is light blue.
Once more Jora enters the scene and brings the bottle to his lips before fading away and returning the mirror to simple reflective glass.
“What the hell does this mean?” Jora looks to Lamia for wisdom.
“I think this is what the letter meant by alternate shadows of the dungeon.”
“So, what? We have a choice of drinking one vial or the other? Don’t we have some other choice? There isn’t even a vial on the pedestal for Gods’ sake. How are we supposed to drink it?”
“What about the other door?” Conrad walks to the opposite door.
“What should we do?” Safir huddles against Jora.
What choice should the adventurers make?