After searching most of the rooms, the party is left scratching their heads over the riddles. Aflia is left sucking her teeth over the Pride riddle. "Were there any readable books on this level? Particularly any in dwarven? These statues look well-preserved, and I would think that any manuscripts tied to them would be equally well preserved."

Mul scratched at an old scar on her cheek, "nothing in the library, but there were some dusty tomes in the reading room, across the hall from that sword-in-the-stone monument. Didn't the riddle also mention a sword?"

Lady Ussi flicked her tongue, "So we read the manuscripts aloud, then lift up the sword? A bit ritualistic, but it does follow what the riddle asked us to do."

The party backtracked to the reading room. After a little poking around, and more coughing on dust cast into the air, Mul did find one readable book in dwarven. It was a book of a warrior's deeds who went by the title of Trollslayer. After a few lines, there was a brief off vibration in the tones of the floor, as if a large block had just moved. A soft blue-green glow illuminated the hall, cast by the pommel of the sword in the stone. Aris griped the blade strongly and pulled upwards. It slid smoothly for all of six inches before there was a soft click. The sword locked into place and the pommel stopped glowing. A chime rung from somewhere on the floor. When the party returned to the statue garden, the Pride statue had its arms upraised, and the same blue-green light glowed from its eyes.

Aris scratched his chin. "one down and three to go then. Which one do we want to tackle next?"

Little Bird bobbed her head, "well, both Greed and Terror ask for single specific items, probably a mallet and a gem. We should go looking for them. Perhaps the mallet would be in the forge?"

Searching the forge revealed nothing but dirt and cold ashes, but it does give the party time to think. Both Talae and Aflia hit on trying the Party's existing gems in Greed's mouth, but none of them fit the socket. Frustrated, the Party decides to dig through the trash in the junk-filled room, on the off chance that one or more of the pieces got thrown out. Buried at the bottom of one pile, beneath a broken table, they found a glittering gemstone and an odd triangular key. The gem was just a piece of clear quartz, but cut in such a way as to reflect light brilliantly. Lady Ussi did the honors of fitting the glittering gem into greed's mouth. She did have to jerk her fingers back when the stone jaw ground shut. The chime sounded again, and Greed's eyes glowed with the same blue-green illumination as Pride.

Invigorated by their success, the party decided to search the Sparring chamber before trying the key in the harem chamber chest. Aris was the one who spotted it first, a fuzzy headed mallet among the maces and flails. A short trip back to the statue garden, and a quick tap of mallet against gong later, and one of terror's eyes glowed the now-familiar blue green. Aris placed the mallet into the open hand, which ground closed around it. The second eye lit up and the chime sounded a third time.

Lady Ussi looked the strange key over, "this has to fit the chest in the harem chamber, because I can't recall any other locked chests on this floor. And we need red wine to solve Lust's riddle."

Talae and Little Bird shared a glance. Talae smoothed her hair back over her ears, wincing at the motion tugged on a scabbed-over wound from the earlier fight. "Well, a pleasure-room might still have a bottle of wine in it. Let’s try it."

A few moments later The Party was back in the ruins of the harem chamber. Lady Ussi crouched down and slid the strange key into the lock. A turn and a click later and the lid creaked open on half-rusted hinges. The interior of the chest was surprisingly intact, given the dilapidated condition of the exterior. Inside was a envelope with a handful of brass gears and four clusters of grapes, still fresh from the preservation magics.

Aris scratched his chin, "ooookaay... do we fix the clockwork engine and run the grapes through the wine press, or do we keep searching?"

Mul picked up the gears, "let's try the wine press. Can someone fetch an intact bottle from the wine cellar? we'll need it to catch the results of our efforts."

Mul, Aris, and Tale spent a good twenty minutes prodding and cursing out the clockwork engine before they got the last gear into place and the whole assembly began to work smoothly. Lady Ussi brought a wine bottle from the wine cellar that was intact enough for the task at hand. A short while later, Mul did the honors of pouring the 'red wine' into Lust's cup. The statue raised the full glass to is lips and drank deeply. Lust's eyes began to glow a black-edged crimson. A drum began to sound somewhere down below the floor, its heartbeat drumbeat echoing in the very stones of the Old Temple. All four statues shook, stone dust cascading down from their joints as they stepped from their pedestals. Their eyes all glowed an eerie blackened crimson. Spectral blades appeared in their hands.

The four statues spoke in a single voice of grinding boulders, "Terminate Intruders. Protect the Sanctum."

Status Report:

Treasury: 10085 (including Aris' share of the found treasure)

Income: +5 gold per day (semi-retired Agent of Althiem)

Gems to be sold (profit to be split among the finders): 2x Tiger Eye, 1x Lapis Lazuli, 2x Moss Agates, 1x Obsidian, 1x Turquoise.

Equipment: In good condition.

Estates:

Ikin: Village, Fishing Docks Trebor Convent: Under Construction Four Empty Holdings (may be improved later) One Old Temple (occupied by ???)

The Ring: obsidian band with one carbuncle gem and two empty settings.

Total Deaths: 1