Tomb of Horrors Part 3 (The Crown and the Two-sided Scepter)

The vision resumed in an oddly shaped chamber dominated by a staircase unlike any other in the tomb. A narrow landing gave way to six broad steps that funneled outward as they ascended southward. Each step was fashioned from a different precious stone, unmistakable even in the strange light of the place: onyx, pink marble, lapis lazuli, black marble, golden serpentine, and malachite.

The chamber itself was lavish and unsettling. Its walls were paneled in untarnished copper, gleaming warmly between sections of rare wood inlaid with ivory. Above, a silver ceiling curved and folded in such a way that it caught and multiplied light, reflecting it endlessly until the room seemed brighter than it had any right to be.

Resting plainly upon the fourth step was a large cylindrical bronze key, displayed openly, as if daring someone to take it.

At the top of the staircase stood a pair of enormous mithril doors, their surfaces flawless and cold. The bronze key seemed clearly made for them.

As Salt, Bo-Jing, and Lao Ren debated their next move, they were interrupted yet again by a demonic presence. This one was doglike in form, smaller and less imposing than the horrors they had already faced. It did not attack. Instead, it argued.

The crown and the scepter, it insisted, did not belong with the party. They belonged on the throne. Perhaps the demon had witnessed the destruction of so many of its fellows; perhaps it was simply cautious. It pleaded, reasoned, and threatened vaguely, but the party refused.

In the midst of this tense exchange, a second demon arrived—frog-like in shape, rolling before it a massive sphere of force. Trapped inside the sphere was another demon, one the party recognized as the captive from an earlier encounter.

The smaller dog-demon broke off the argument at once.

“Later,” it promised the party, before chasing the frog-demon and its imprisoned burden out of sight.

With the chamber momentarily quiet, Salt directed her unseen servant to retrieve the bronze key and attempt the mithril doors. The moment the key was brought near, a violent blast of lightning erupted from the doors, forcing the attempt to be abandoned.

Examining the doors more closely, Bo-Jing and Salt noticed a round indentation set into the mithril—perfectly sized for the spherical ends of the scepter. It seemed clear now that the scepter itself might be the true key.

Again, the question arose.

Which side?

They chose silver.

The answer was immediate and unforgiving.

In an instant, the world folded and tore. The vision cast them violently back to the tomb’s entrance hall.

When they regained their bearings, they realized what had been lost in the transition.

They no longer had the crown.
They no longer had the scepter.
They no longer had the bronze key.
They no longer had the glowing gem.

Though shaken by their sudden return to the tomb’s entrance, the party had learned from the ordeal. They did not linger. Moving swiftly back down the long mosaic corridor, they avoided both the misty archway and the green devil mouth, instead choosing the narrow space between them. There, they stepped deliberately into the stone and passed once more into the Ethereal Plane.

Blinded and disoriented by the thick ether, they stumbled forward until the world resolved again into the vast throne room.

The dog-like demon was waiting for them.

It sat upon the obsidian throne, the crown perched awkwardly upon its head.

For a moment it seemed frozen by embarrassment. Then it rose at once, protesting, stepping away from the throne and fumbling desperately at the crown, trying to remove it. It failed. At first the demon denied the truth, but under pressure it admitted what had become clear: the crown would not come off.

Salt offered help. She asked for the scepter, promising she could remove the crown safely.

The demon refused.

As this tense standoff played out, the frog-like demon appeared once more, observing silently from a distance, as if eager to see how events would unfold.

At last, a compromise was reached.

Salt would not take the scepter. Instead, she would advise the demon how to use it.

“Touch it to your head,” she said.
“The silver side.”

The demon followed her advice.

There was no scream.

In an instant, the dog-demon was incinerated, reduced to nothing. The crown and the scepter clattered to the floor, unharmed and intact. The frog-demon wasted no time in making itself scarce.

Once again, the party located the glowing orange gem, pulsing with its dreadful, wish-twisting power, where they had first discovered it. With careful use of unseen servant, they gathered the crown, the scepter, and the gem, then passed back through the ether toward the chamber of the colored staircase.

The bronze key still rested upon the fourth step.

By now, even the unseen servant was overburdened. Salt took the gem into her own hands—and was immediately overwhelmed by the sense of its power and danger. She passed it quickly to Lao Ren.

Pressed by fatigue, mounting tension, and the desire to end the vision decisively, Lao Ren formed a plan. If they could draw Acererak into the open, they might finally destroy him.

Holding the gem, he spoke:

“I wish that I could fight Acererak—”

There was a flash of sickly purple light.

When it faded, Lao Ren and the gem were gone.