At the top of the staircase is a chamber with stone walls, ceiling and floor, with six stone gargoyles, three on each side. Across the chamber, the snake that passes for Lakshmi has touched the door, attempting to open it, without taking the time to use the stones in the receptacle to one side to "feed" the gargoyles and thus avoid the trap. She does not seem the least bit concerned, however, as the gargoyles start to come to life. She does, however, look fairly annoyed as the winged coyote, Lochinvar, shoots across the room and reaches the receptacle full of stones.

The winged Hekoye pulls himself to his feet, trying to move as quickly as he can, and grabs as many of the stones into his hands as he can, which turns out to be three of the six. Trying to use the time before the gargoyles are fully to life, he goes to the nearest and tries to get a stone into it's mouth, hoping that will stop it.

The stone goes into the gargoyle's mouth, but unfortunately, that doesn't seem to appease it. Rather, its stone maw clamps down on the winged Hekoye's arm. This hurts mightily.

Lochinvar tries hard not to yell out in pain, though doesn't quite succeed. With his other hand, he attempts to pry the gargoyle's mouth off his arm.

The Naga's coils shake with laughter, as her forked tongue flits amusedly at the air. As the winged Hekoye shoves at the head of the gargoyle, he realizes that it's no longer biting him, though the jaw is still fused in place – The creature has turned back into stone. Alas, this makes it less than an easy task for him to extract himself, but with a painful wrench, he nonetheless manages to do just that … and just in time to avoid being slashed by another gargoyle that pounces at him!

Swinging to one side to try and avoid the next gargoyle, and encouraged that his idea seems to be working, the Ranger gets another stone ready and looks for an opportune moment to put it into this one's mouth.

The Naga hisses in anger, and grabs a couple of stones from the receptacle. "I won't let you win that easily!" With that, she hurls the stones across the chamber, and they bounce and roll past the scrambling gargoyles, to the staircase outside. Nonetheless, an opening presents itself for the Lochinvar – the mouth of the next gargoyle trying to take a bite out of him, that is – and he manages to cram the stone down the gargoyle's gullet. The results are not instant, requiring him to hold off against a flurry of slashes from the monster, but in an instant, the stone does its work, and that's one more gargoyle returned to statue form.

Lochinvar, holding one more stone, opts to retrieve the remaining stone in the dish before tackling another gargoyle.

The snake tries to block his move, but … is stopped as one of the gargoyles slugs her with a massive mitt, knocking the air out of her! With a surprised look on her slit eyes, she slumps against the wall, without any air in her lungs to gasp out the protest likely on her mind – Her face is easily readable, however, as saying, "This isn't supposed to happen!" The important thing, however, is that Lochinvar manages to grab the remaining stone, meaning that he has two stones … and four gargoyles to contend with.

"Not so trainable as you thought," he comments to the Naga, as he wrestles with another of the creatures, looking for an opening to put one of the stones.

There is another furious exchange, and Lochinvar takes some battering this time, as all four of the remaining gargoyles are fully animated now. He is slammed against the wall twice, but one of the gargoyles opens its maw to try to bite at him … and this provides the winged Hekoye with just the right opportunity to shove a stone down the offending creature's throat. It turns to stone, providing a momentary shelter against the rain of blows from the other three monsters. The Naga, meanwhile, regains her breath, gasping, "They are subject to my commands! I am the rightful owner of the Tower!" Another slash from a stone claw seems to suggest that the gargoyles think otherwise, as she is slammed roughly against one of the solidified monsters.

"The only rightful owner of this tower," Lochinvar retorts back, looking for another gargoyle to go after with hisremaining stone, "is Barabbas."

This time, luck is with Lochinvar, and he manages to shove the last stone down a gargoyle gullet without taking any punishment in the process. That still leaves two gargoyles, however, and no stones to "feed" them with.

Lochinvar glances at the doorway beyond which are the stairs, and looks to see where the other two creatures are now.

It looks like the winged Hekoye has a clear shot at the stairs – There is one gargoyle thrashing about the room in his wake, attempting to catch up with him, but now that Lochinvar doesn't have the whole pack on him at once, it is almost easy to avoid – except for the fact that he is in great pain and quickly fatiguing. The other gargoyle is focused upon the Naga, raining blow after blow on her thrashing body. It's unclear whether she's even conscious at this point, and there's quite a bit of blood on her, on the claws of the monster, and on the walls to either side of the corner she's wedged into.

Well, I can't do anything without the remaining stones, the Vartan/Hekoye thinks to himself, and tries to get out to the landing to get the other stones before the other gargoyle can get to him.

In a couple of wing-beats, the winged Hekoye manages to get out of the room, the gargoyle close on his heels. Right as he passes the threshold, however, the other gargoyle abruptly stops, as if it had slammed into an invisible wall. It rams twice more against the invisible barrier that keeps it within the chamber, then seems to lose interest … and darts back to join its fellow to help finish off the Naga.

Lochinvar looks back behind him in time to see the gargoyle unable to leave the chamber, and makes a mental note of this as being possibly of use. He looks around for the two other stones that rolled out here.

The stones don't seem to be immediately evident. They must have fallen down off the stairs and into the underbrush First-Ones-Know-Where. By the time he finds them, his problem with the might-be-Lakshmi should probably be taken care of rather handily by the two gargoyles.

Sighing, the Hekoye looks back into the chamber. Maybe if they can't get beyond this door, they can't get beyond the other, he ponders, and heads back into the chamber, looking to head for the far door.

The gargoyles pay the Hekoye no heed for the moment, and he reaches the opposite door without opposition. However, it seems to be securely shut for the time being.

Lochinvar glances over to the snake, looking to see what condition she is in.

Bad. Very bad. Still alive, probably, but the gargoyles will probably take care of that within the next few seconds. If the Hekoye can just keep out of their sight for that long, the snake won't be causing him any more trouble.

Cursing under his breath, Lochinvar tries to get over to her. "Dagh take you, but I want answers," he mutters, heading over her with the intention of somehow pulling her out of the chamber.

The next few seconds are a flurry of stone and blood, fur and feathers, as the winged Hekoye reaches into the mayhem to get purchase on the blood-slicked scales of the serpent, and haul her out from the corner. The gargoyles alternately slash at her, and take shots at the new target that presents itself – There's hardly time to do much other than just to haul the snake out of the room as quickly as possible. When it's done, the winged Hekoye is lying in a heap on the stairs, with the unconscious snake beside him, while a pair of gargoyles pose just inside the doorway, glaring balefully outward. Lochinvar is covered with scrapes and bruises, and his already abused thigh has been hit several times – the bandages needing some re-tying to do their job again.

After tying the bandages, Lochinvar props himself up against the wall, and looks back into the chamber. Without those stones, no-one can get any further in the tower, he thinks to himself.

There's a flicker of movement out of the corner of the winged Hekoye's eye … and he manages to duck just in time as a couple of stones go shooting past, and into the chamber. The gargoyles move from their posts, and the petrified monsters posed about the room move as well. In a matter of moments, the room is back to its original, static form, with three quite stationary gargoyle statues posed on each side.

There's a sound of a raspy breath from the Naga. "Curse … you … Templar."

Ignoring her for the moment, Lochinvar gets back to his feet, and tests the room by stepping just into the chamber.

No gargoyles spring to life. Nothing happens. However, he hears the telltale pad of feet behind him, as a rat comes scurrying up the stairs. "Laks'mi!" the rat cries. "Yi … yi tried ti kill her!"

Lochinvar makes his way towards the dish, now containing all six stones again, picking out as many as he can hold, and then starts to defuse the trap properly. He looks back at the rat. "She deliberately set off this trap," he replies, going back to his task at hand. "She'd likely be a smudge on the floor if I hadn't pulled her out. Goes for you too."

The rat chitters something unintelligible but sounding angry – possibly a curse in some other language … but then he looks dumbfounded at Lochinvar's actions. "Just … w'at do yi t'ink yi're doing?"

"Trying to get answers," the Hekoye replies succinctly, continuing to put stones into the gargoyle's mouths. "Like who you are, really? Why I am here?"

Only silence replies to the winged Hekoye. In the process of "feeding" gargoyles – rewarded at last with a "clack" as the trap is successfully disarmed – he notices that the snake and the rat have disappeared entirely.

Stepping to get a better view of outside the chamber, Lochinvar blinks. There's no way he could have moved a Naga of that size by himself.

There's also no way he could have cleaned up all the blood. A chill breeze blows past the Hekoye – yet another thing out of place, even in the shaded interior of the Earth Tower, in the middle of the Desert of Himaat.

Lochinvar quickly steps through the portal, aiming to get higher in the tower. The answer must be in here somewhere, he thinks to himself as he continues onwards, and upwards.

In the next room is the Crystal Chamber. Despite Lakshmi's wishful thinking, it still turns out to be the piece of coral that is the key to the puzzle, just as Lochinvar remembers it. The Sapphire Chamber beyond that is hardly a puzzle at all, though the smashing stone corridor is more than a little nuisance – but, again, he's been through this before, and his memory doesn't fail him despite the passage of time.

At last, he finds himself in the chamber with the Sphynx head over the door. This seems to deviate from the way he remembers it. Namely, the "Sphynx" has a head that looks more bat-like than feline. The balance puzzle can be seen in the chamber beyond, through the open doorway underneath the bat-sphynx's head.

The Hekoye/Vartan looks back up at the "sphynx", tilting his head slightly. "Shouldn't a question be forthcoming now?" he wonders aloud.

The eyes of the bat-sphynx open, and look down over her nose at the winged coyote in a haughty manner.

"What is your quest?" the bat-sphynx asks.

"I seek answers," Lochinvar replies. "What is this place, since it cannot be the Earth Tower. Who are these people, since they cannot be the former companions of mine?"

The bat-sphynx glares down at Lochinvar, sneering, "And who are you, that you travel my path, yet make a mockery of all I stand for? You have been assailed by your enemies, and you prevail over them, yet when given the chance to exact vengeance, you stay your hand? What worth are you to me? Why should I permit one such as you to offend me any further with your presence?"

"Lochinvar Arques," replies the Hekoye/Vartan. "I know not what or why I travel your path, but I do not take out vengeance against those with grudges against me."

The bat-sphynx's eyes widen and burn brightly with such intense and visible anger manifested in a searing light that makes the features of the room melt away when exposed to it. "I am Rephath, Goddess of Vengeance, for that is my name. And you … are leaving." In the room beyond, the winged coyote can only barely glimpse the shape of the scales, as they abruptly shift to one side. "GET OUT!" shrieks the bat, in a voice that stabs through the winged coyote's being, causing every scrape, every wound on his body to burn as if salt were ground into it and pressed hard enough to make his bones ache. Then, it is as if a hand sweeps across the whole of Lochinvar's perception, impacting him with a solid and irresistible force, sending him hurtling into an empty expanse…

Almost doubling over in pain, Lochinvar loses track of what just has happened. Only that when he opens his eyes, he sees… nothing. Now… what? he wonders.