Having acquired new weapons to protect herself and her friend, she kept her eyes alert for any potential traps as they walked further into the hall. Of course now that she was looking out for traps, none of them appeared. Dala’s slight annoyance fell away when they came upon the strange thin stone tablets. Cyril commented that they looked like tickets or passes, though he didn’t have the exact words for them. Shrugging her shoulders, she took one of the tablets. She always had a fondness for the fire birds so she chose a phoenix tablet.

Dala was tempted to take more than one but after the whole boulder incident, she was hesitant to trigger traps for those who were too greedy. The sound of rushing water grew closer as they entered a massive open cavern. A shiver ran down her spine as the cold air lingered no matter how far they traveled. The crystal blue pools sent off all the alarm bells in her mind. Suspicious temperature, strange pools, and a ninja aesthetic? This place HAD to have a monster nearby. Probably in the water itself.

“Hey Cyril. No swimming. There’s probably a toad monster or something.” Dala stated.

The bronze toad statues were a possible hint as to what hid in the waters. The young girl walked towards the statues, finding them to be more fascinating than any other part of the room. She circled around one of the bronze toads in an attempt to find any clues about what to do with them. After her careful observation, she took her tablet and shoved it into one of the toad’s mouths. If it was a pass or ticket like Cyril had suggested then these fancy statues would be the only ones to accept the tablets.

“I swear these guys had way too much cash.” Dala said partially joking as she hoped that something would happen. 

This place was very cold, unusually so. "OK, I won't!" He said, nodding. His train of thought was going elsewhere looking at the pool. Where did the water come from? Was it from the underground river? Was this waterfall originally here or was it man-made? Was the water enchanted? Why were there frogs here? Did this pool have koi fish? It was then he noticed the frog statues had their mouths open. His eyes lit up as they seemed familiar. Going over to one, he instinctively had the urge to shove something into its gaping maw. Just to be on the safe side, he used the tiger tablet he had. When both of them inserted their tablets, there came an audible click and a brief flash in the statues' eyes. The waterfall's roar grew quiet as a passage opened up in the wall, revealing an isolated circular stone room. The room was well-lit by wall sconces and was free from cobwebs or dust. If they hadn't been the first to enter in ages, one would think this place was still in use.

Inside resembled a study or meditation room or sorts, meant for private use. It was rather spacious and the temperature was comfortable. On a well-maintained hardwood table low to the ground, there sat piles of scrolls and scattered parchments. A woven mat was set behind the table, presumably for sitting on the floor. A brass amulet inlaid with a piece of polished nephrite sat on a stack of papers. The design was simple, something rather ordinary. More importantly, it didn't radiate any ominous energy like the previously possessed sword Dala had scavenged. Unlike the monastery above, traps aside–this underground vault was relatively peaceful. Perhaps the rest of this realm had once been the same before it became warped into what it was now. The sect that had built this place certainly was affluent enough to afford carving out these underground tunnels, let alone build such complex mechanisms. There was a circular pattern in the floor's stonework, leaving the rest of the room rather plain.  

When the wall that had opened up didn't immediately close up, Cyril went in and started carefully examining the documents left behind. Many of the scrolls had diagrams of geometric arrays and drawings he couldn't quite make out. One that still had most of its words talked about something called akasha which was viewed as the essence of all things. The following paragraphs went into detail on how to manipulate and read this 'universal essence' to perform miraculous feats, from strengthening one's body to creating arcane tools which acted upon command. The concept here had strong similarities to the way magic and mana was used in Revaliir, just with a less secular view. He didn't have time to read them, so Cyril decided to take them all. He was sure his family would be interested in their contents. Besides, they were also the first real clues on the history of this place before things fell apart.

"We should probably take what we can find here. These things might not be here the next time we come back." If there was a next time, that is. Better to take them now and keep them preserved than to let them crumble away, secrets lost to time.

At the sound of the click, Dala jumped and held up her fists as though she was about to start a fight. The waterfall fell into silence as the water pulled apart to reveal a door leading to some unknown room. The young woman confidently walked into the room, feeling reassured that the frogs did not open up a trap this time. As she stepped inside, the first thing she noticed was the lack of dust or cobwebs. Was it magic? Or perhaps some mysterious maid who was extremely intent on keeping up the cleanliness of this one room? Dala plopped herself down on the mat and stared at the circle on the floor. She was hoping to recognize it or see if it was some sort of magic circle. Dala was still training to use her own magic now that it had finally revealed itself but there were many levels of magical study that she had yet to reach.

"Cyril, do you think the floor circle is a magical thing?' She asked.

Cyril appeared extremely intent on gathering up as many documents as he could find. Never one to ignore new information, she decided to gather up some of the documents herself. Beyond the pile that Cyril had, there were a few more wrapped up in packages towards the edge of the circular room. Dala tried to read some of them but they were a bit beyond her understanding. She had no idea what akasha was and the majority of the language was too old for her understanding. Yet with her curiosity peaked, she decided she would simply have to ask Cyril about it.

"Can you read this stuff?" She asked, "It's a bit too old for me. Mind translating?"

Dala handed him the few documents she had gathered and listened to his explanation if he gave any. Her eyes would widen in fascination with any explanation he would give. Despite all these years, her passion for learning had never faded.

Turning to look at where Dala was standing, he saw what she was looking at. The folkorist pondered a bit, noting it's position and pattern while trying to recall anything that was familiar. "Hmm…maybe. It wouldn't surprise me, with how often magical mechanisms have been utilized here so far. I suppose it's their way of adding a door latch or a lever. The design is symmetrical, and it's location seems to be in the absolute center of this room. I can't say for sure what it does though." Coming over to where she was, Cyril looked at the documents she had. He squinted and made several faces as he tried to make sense of the text. "Uh…I think…this is some kind of instruction manual? Or maybe a diagram of some sort? Um…I can't understand most of these words, so I have no idea if this is about magic or if it's an ancient medical textbook."

Struggling to process what he was looking at, he grasped at straws making a few guesses. "There's a lot of lines going through the drawing of the person's body, particularly through the arms and legs. They converge in the torso. 'Akashic cycling'…'five viscera'…'qi lung dragon'…." At this point he was as confused as Dala was, and didn't go any further. One problem with these esoteric texts was that they made your head swim. "I don't think I can figure this out." He said, shaking his head. "It might have something to do with how to use magic, but the words are too vague and weird."

He then showed Dala the brass amulet that he found while searching the place, and fiddled with it in the light. "I don't feel anything special from this, but maybe it has a purpose? When I tried to sense if it was magical, it reacted a little before reverting back to normal." Should they choose to investigate further, they would find the amulet had an amplifying effect when the person holding it attempted to use magic. It also would briefly sharpen one's focus. 

Unfortunately Dala's depth of knowledge regarding medicine was limited. She knew how to put a bandage on an arm and how to get her hands on a potion. This whole lines going through people's body or diagrams went over her head. Despite both their best attempts to figure out the writing, they both came up with nothing. Cyril showed her the strange brass amulet that clearly called for careful investigation. There was always the chance that such an item would cause massive mayhem or possibly even be cursed. Dala took the amulet and put it around Cyril's neck. 

"Nope. No magical transformations. Do you feel cursed or lightheaded or something?" She asked, "Okay. Try doing jumping jacks. At least five! Maybe it'll make you super strong! No wait get on the floor and start doing pushups. I'll sit on your back to add some extra weight."

The young woman didn't even wait as she shoved Cyril to the ground and sat herself on the poor victim's back. She crossed her arms and waited patiently for him to make an attempt at a push up. Soon it became extremely clear that the amulet was NOT an amulet of strength. Sorely disappointed, she stood up and helped Cyril to his feet. She eyed the amulet a bit longer then came up with a new way to test it. 

"Maybe its a protection amulet? Or something to do with healing?" Dala suggested, "But both of those involve actual battle. I'd rather not test that out until we aren't in a terrifying trapped temple. Maybe you should cast a spell instead? Might have somethin to do with that." 

Dala usually would have tested it on herself but her control in her own magic was… lackluster at best. Once he casted a spell, she could see the power of the amulet working to amplify the magic itself. Her eyes widen with surprise and with excitement at the discovery. Holding a smug look on her face, Dala decided that their success was solely do to her investigative work. 

"Well now that I've solved that mystery, lets get going. You never know when this rooms gonna decide to close down again." Dala stated. 

He didn't realize what her intentions were when she had him wear the amulet. Cyril, good natured as he was, typically wasn't the type to doubt people. Fortunately for both of them, nothing strange happened. "I don't think so?" He replied to her questions, and then suddenly she sat on him. Despite being totally caught off guard, he concentrated and proceeded to do a push up with some difficulty. Nothing still happened, so she got off and began thinking of other ideas. Seeing that their attempts gave no results so far, Cyril decided to do as Dala instructed. "Hmm, a simple spell should work just fine." He said. Grasping the amulet, Cyril cast holy light. What normally would've been a glorious radiance became an accidental flashbang, exploding into a blinding burst of it. "AHHHHH!" The increased output of the amplified spell momentarily blinded the folklorist, causing him to drop and roll around on the floor until his eyes readjusted. 

While he was reeling, Dala came to a satisfied conclusion that she was right about her guess. The innocuous circular pattern in the center of the room then began to glow, as if in response to the great discharge of magical energy. From the pattern came forth a dimensional door, much more stable and smaller than what you would expect from a portal spell, except on the ground. The scenery visible through it reflected the reddish tinted landscape of the area outside of the temple doors they had entered through a while ago. Feeling a bit tired from all the things they had went through up until now, Cyril was ready to leave. "We should leave." He agreed with a nod. Upon entering the activated magic circle, they were outdoors again. This time there were more people, many partially injured an heading back out towards the rift leading to Tyr. In the time they had spent exploring the hidden vault, the rescue parties had managed to retrieve some people from the bizarre temple complex and were leaving.

With plenty of spoils and possible new information, it would soon be their turn to do the same. Back in Revaliir, he let out a sigh of relief he had been holding in. The atmosphere of that strange realm was overpowering and wore down one's spirit after a while. Looking down at the amulet still around his neck, he took it off and handed it to Dala. "My bag is full with all these books and scrolls, so I was wondering if you'd like to hold onto this as a souvenir? There wasn't a lot of stuff in good condition down there, so it'll be something you can remember it by." Although she had been more than enthusiastic about whatever items they came across, he felt a bit bad that they didn't find anything legendary. Even if the brass amulet wasn't extremely powerful, it certainly had cultural and historical value.

She watched as Cyril cast out a spell, which should have been a simple light but instead was an explosion of blinding radiance. Dala luckily hadn't been looking in that direction so successfully avoided the pain that Cyril was currently experiencing. She clamped her mouth shut to avoid laughing at this grown man rolling around on the floor. Suddenly, the circular pattern in the middle of the room glowed brightly as if it had reacted to the spell. A portal had opened up on the floor, clearly showing their destination. Dala checked that she had all the weapons and materials that she wanted to bring with her then stepped into the portal alongside Cyril. In a blink of an eye, they were outside once more. There were teams of adventurers sitting at small campsites a good distance from the temple with survivors that had been rescued. They sat with bandages and were getting healed up while other teams of adventurers were preparing to escort the escapees home.

A part of Dala was disappointed that she hadn't been able to figure out everything or been able to save everybody but she realized that they had probably gotten further in than most and learned more than expected. Cyril and Dala returned to the safety of Revaliir with enough loot to satisfy any pirate. Being in Revaliir made her realize how nice it was to be in a friendly place where the rules of reality made much more sense than in some foreign realm. She could breathe easy now. Suddenly, Cyril took off the strange amulet and offered it up to Dala, much to her surprise. The young woman took the necklace carefully and looked back at Cyril with wide eyes. She had expected he would take this along with the scrolls but instead, he was passing off such a valuable item to her?

"You're serious, right? No take backs?" She asked.

Dala had a giant grin on her face and attacked him with a big crushing hug.

"Thank you! This is so cool!" She exclaimed loudly.

Dala put on the amulet as fast as she could. Even if it wasn't a legendary item or anything world-breaking, to her the magic was within the mystery and history of the item. It had come from another realm and belonged to some dead magic ninjas. That alone was more than enough for her. She then handed Cyril something in return, an address to her new home in the small town of Cardawen.

"Stop by if you need someone to go on adventures with you!" She said, "And let me know what you find out with the weird scrolls. Till next time!"

With that, she ran off to go back to Cardawen, there was a lot more work to be done and more places to visit.