"The Shadow Beyond the Door"

"The Shadow Beyond the Door" is the second episode of The Prison of Lights (arc). The group manages to find two of the lightstone keys.
== Plot Synopsis ==
Proceeding through the corridor on the left, the four find a room that has two doors. They step into the closer room and find one of the lightstone keys, though it doesn't seem to emit any light. 
They also find a pitch black potion, which Kier recognises, saying it is an alchemical mixture. He drinks it later, finding out it's a potion of acid resistance. The last thing they find is a golden shining bottle that reminds them of the wisps on Kinir.
They attempt to go on through another door, however, the shadowy creature from before appears to be patrolling in the hallway behind it. They go back to the room they came from to open the other door. Before doing so, Ashe argues that it could lead to the corridor the creature was just in, so the party decides to go back to the intersection and down the hallway on the right.
Through the first door in this hallway, they find another door and a runic circle, which Markus deciphers. By standing on the central glyph, a mechanism seals the door they came through and opens the other one. Announcing he's found the purpose, he stands on the glyph. After glimpsing that there are hostile creatures on the other side of the second door, Gregor pushes him off it. They decide to leave the room for the time being.
Continuing through the hallway, they step into another room that contains four stasis circles, three of which hold a monster. The fourth is empty. Between them all is a device that projects the circles, but Kier notes that it is malfunctioning and can only hold three beings in them. Markus notices that one of the held creatures has a lightstone key and therefore, they will need to release them and kill them. Since the device is broken, they'll need to have someone stand in the empty circle, however they figure out that they actually can't kill the monsters as that would leave whoever steps into stasis imprisoned. After Markus tests that an imp won't suffice, they do some heavy thinking and ultimately send Kier into the circle. 
The first monster is released as he steps in, and Gregor pushes it back into stasis. The second one charges Ashe and attempts to gouge her eyes out with the key. She holds it in place and Markus throws an imp at it, telling it to get the key. It does so successfully and Ashe manages to push the monster back into its circle. Markus, ready to intercept the third monster, transfers his deepest, darkest thoughts to it and it stumbles back into stasis in confusion. Some of its thoughts transfer to him, though - thankfully, there aren't any lasting consequences. Kier is released from the fourth circle. 
== Trivia ==
* Gregor reaches level 5 and Ashe level 6 in this episode.
== Quotes ==
* Gregor: "For every door we go through, there's another door on the other side!"
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* Kier: "Quick question, Markus. How many bags of sand roughly are you carrying on you at any point in time? I'm just curious."
* Markus: "Uh, between five and seven."
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* GM: You get a feeling..
* Markus: "I have a feeling!" I say, as I pick up the bottle.
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* Gregor: I knock on it.
* GM: There's no response.
* Gregor: "Alright, looks like the coast is clear."
Category:The Prison of Lights episodes