339. HALL OF ELEMENTAL MAGIC
 
This huge echoing hall is constructed of
polished black stones, which give back
odd reflections of your light. The most
striking features here are the symbols set
into the chamber floor.

To the north is a triangle of dull ecru
stone, outlined with some sort of gray
metal; a throbbing radiance seems to
spread in dun-colored pulses that wash
over the area. 

To the east is a great 10'
square of translucent stone, blue at the
edges and shading to a deep green at the 
center, bordered by a strip of pale green;
the whole gives out undulating sheets of
blue-green light. 

To the south is a circle
of translucent crystal ringed by a silvery
band; the whole sends forth slowly rising
clouds of pale light, that spread and disappear. 

To the west is a long diamond
shape with four points radiating from the sides of the lozenge. 
The whole is fashioned of translucent stone mottled red
and amber, outlined in red gold. It sends
up sudden tongues of brightness, planes
of pale fiery light that vanish as quickly
as they appear.

All of these radiations gleam from the
walls and floor of the hall. Any object in
the center of the four symbols shows the
four different illuminations, and the
ghastly purple of their mix. If you look
upward long enough, occasional glints
of light can be seen from the vaulted ceiling, that peaks 60' or more overhead.
The 30' wide aisle to the west appears to
be the only entrance to the place.
 


 

Both evil and magic can be found here.
The magic radiates from the floor symbols,
the evil from everywhere. Any creature
who steps into the area of an elemental symbol and stands there for 3 segments is transported to the corresponding Elemental
Node: the Air Cavern (circle), the Earth
Burrows (triangle), the Fire Pits (lozenge),
or Water Maze (square). The only way to
escape therefrom is to win through to
another "gate" area or to possess the
complete Orb of Golden Death, inset with all
4 proper gems.

Zuggtmoy once used the symbols to visit
the Elemental Nodes, and to send screaming
sacrificial victims to their dooms in these
places. Now, however, the demoness is
prevented from entering this hall until all four
of the sealed portals are broken. If this has
been done, she will certainly come here to
thank her liberators, in her own way. If
Zuggtmoy is destroyed, the symbols lose
their magic, and the Elemental Nodes themselves wink out of existence,
destroying everything within them at that moment.

Level 3.
>>340.>>