I was hoping it wouldn't come to that. ;)
" ... to eat and drink magic, to depend on the ingenuity of the arcane for all that the soil and sky are supposed to provide."
Yeah, that's pretty much Ansha's dream. :)
Preeeeetty much!
Ansha rolls her eyes at Qhude and Tebati. Superstitious barbarians.
Raises hand - present :)
In the absence of a better idea shall we try thinking at the map-vat?
*shrug* It's that or sending in Akirra to make a wild guess and hoping incorrect answers aren't as fatal as they appeared to be on the last level.
...which I guess is our Plan B.
So we have cleared this level? I think we have but I could be wrong.
Yes, pretty sure we checked all the rooms before returning to the conservatory.
EDIT: Here's the last map overview, and the blank area is the plant room we're in now. Should be everything. Stasis chambers, pool, barracks, classroom, access to next level, statues, and conservatory.
Ansha opened the north-west room's door and revealed another identical chamber; but this one was entirely empty of any physical remains. The pulsing, healthy looking lines of magic led her to believe this room's device had never actually been activated or used.
Tebati moved to sit down on the stairs, but was surprised to find herself unable to reach them. A sheer wall of intangible, magical force had risen up at the opening to the stairwell, with no apparent gaps. The group were trapped upon this level.
Inspecting the fountain, Ansha came to the conclusion that at least the group would not die of thirst anytime soon. The water seemed to be coming from the very external walls of the structure and seemed to be pure and fresh; even a little chilled. More magic was no doubt at work here.
Through to post number 4,000
On the positive side - we have food and drink at least... and if we turn their school room over to an outhouse we can likely survive in relative comfort for a while :P
Good point. Ansha tried to download the memories from one of those stasis rooms into a skull, but we haven't tried downloading them into a living person yet.
Exactly how desperate we'd have to be to try that on ourselves is a separate question. :P
What if Akirra tried to use his stasis table to download his own lost memories back into his brain?
Faith in action? - prove a point to us disbelievers of the Order? :P
Desks and chairs lined the room, with a much larger desk on the far end along with an empty bookshelf. Clearly, this room was a classroom, eons ago. Akirra felt a vague sensation that he should know this place, but the thought was frustrating, always at the edge of his subconscious.
With the doors thrown open, an ancient contingency was triggered. A totally monotone voice emanated from the south side of the room, speaking in Azlant. It seemed to come from one of the statues on that side of the wall. These statues were depicted in greater detail than those in the corridors outside, and seemed to be more distinct and varied. Nevertheless, the theme of the statues remained unchanged, although there was clearly greater honor imparted to the individuals depicted.
If you are a true son or daughter of the Order of Arioch, or are accompanied by such, fully recite the 3rd Treatise of Arioch.
Jakob said: We have a makeshift library in the camp, but we are trapped on this level by a wall of force.....A wall of force that we can see through!"
"I may have a solution... If we return to the entrance we can get the attention of one of the expedition staff. They can check the records we have and with any luck tell us what we need to say.
Getting their attention through the force wall might be difficult but I expect we can find a way."
This water seemed to, somehow, be holding an image- likely a map although it wasn't easy to tell from here. The water was clearly depicting geography of some kind; and littered across the green and brown segments which must surely represent land, bright beacons of light seemed to glisten like stars. On the same bathtub-like device, several levers were affixed to the end closest to the chair. In addition, a single lever of solid metal was affixed close to the door.
After some experimentation, Akirra found that they switched the image on the water entirely to a completely different landscape. One lever switched to and from a region as large as the original region itself, although it was much more land-locked. This too, had perhaps several dozen points of light scattered across the map.
The other lever showed a much smaller map in far greater detail. With almost no geographical memory to call upon, Akirra struggled to relate its size, but he estimated that it was likely ten to twenty times smaller than the original map he had seen. This smaller map had less than a dozen points of light upon it.
DM breadcrumbs suggest that there might be something learnable in the school room... or at least Akirra had a (meta) failed memory recollection there.
The water table appears to just be geographically related.
Just because its worth noting OOC, you haven't missed any vital clue to help you access the next room. Unlike a video game, not every single locked door has a key, not every poison an antidote.
The creators of this place clearly fully expected a memory restored member of the Order to guide you through.
Unfortunately, you get Akirra.
So we're trapped in a box with no way forwards or back at the moment?
Unfortunately, you get Akirra.
Wow. That is kind of harsh.
Looks like we might be desperate enough to try the brain download after all.
A small advanced warning - starting Wednesday (my time so roughly 48 hours from this post) I'll be in geographical flux at these highlighted locations.
Fly out of KL on Wednesday night, two days in Kota Kinabalu, one full day in transit in Singapore then about eight days (through to Sunday 19th) in Adelaide before returning back to home location. I should retain interwebs connectivity throughout (though with tablet + keyboard rather than laptop), though my access and verbosity might be moderately curtailed at times.
You have a way forwards. I'd suggest looking into the room that has the stairs leading down.
No harshness intended, its just part of the plot (and the challenge) :).
Sorry, Qhude; your soul is going to have to remain burdened for a few more minutes. Tebati's been distracted by Ansha trying to put Kieran in danger. ;)
Sniff *opens his diary and puts another entry in the angst column*
Due to Easter holiday and spending time with the family, posting is probably going to be limited for the next two to three days. I will try to post if I find the time, but no promises.
Kieran has traded away trapfinding and unfortunately, has no real means to try and disarm the magical ward on the area (assuming it is in fact a trap trigger of some kind). Shall I assume intention is to move up to one of the trapped poles and try and disable one?
I think the safer assumption is that we grab a plant-people corpse and toss it in to spring the magical floor-wards first. After that, or if it doesn't work, we send Kieran in.
...or Akirra. ;)
(Hey, if it triggers on non-Order-members, he's the only safe choice!)
Shouldn't Ansha try the brain-download thing on Akirra and see if his memories come flooding back first?
Um...I/Ansha got the impression that the apparatus would simply "extract" memories from the subject, and then store them in someone else. So from Ansha's perspective, we'd have to use another living thing to 'download' the memories and sensory data into. And since Ansha would be half-afraid we'd just have two people thinking they were Akirra, she's definitely not volunteering for it.
Hmm... going back to reread the specifics, I was operating on the assumption that mind wipe would remove memories and sensory extraction might ... extract them from the machine and put them back in the receptacle? It's certainly not clear that that's the case, however.
Maybe mind wipe is reformatting the hard disk while sensory extraction is just moving the files elsewhere? I'm not sure I catch the distinction.
My take on it was that "Mind wipe" is wiping a mind clean; "sensory extraction" is removing the contents of a mind (or at least some of the contents) and placing them in something or someone else for storage.
I will be out of town until about Saturday or Sunday, meaning that my access to the internet will be limited (no computer, just phone). I will try to post if possible, but if I seem to be taking too long and/or holding up the game, please fell free to DMPC my character.
Bump!
Hello?
<tap tap>
Is this thing on?
Yes. Can only apologise, my life didn't get any less hectic.
Yes. Can only apologise, my life didn't get any less hectic.
Oh dear.
Hope things get better. I will be here when they do.
Just updated :).
Huzzah ;)
Qhude's action is partially dependent on what Kieran does, so I'll hold off posting until he gives an intent.
I thought engaging the spheres might be a good idea instead of having them pepper us with bolts and arrows. Time will tell...
Lets just hope the wax golems come for Qhude rather than you all alone ;)
Wouldn't that mean they would have to go through the nasty blades?
Wouldn't that mean they would have to go through the nasty blades?
Unless the blades are programmed not to strike them. In which case i see a grapple and/or bull rush in their waxy future.
Am I the last one to know that this is possible now? I swear it used to be impossible to nest a spoiler inside a spoiler.
No, I didn't know til you said something either.
Nice :).
Sorry for the delay works just been insane again and i'm now a director. Hoping to get some space and time to update tonight, really sorry.
*Waves* still here... and congratulations on the Director-ship... assuming that is a promotion of sorts?
Due to certain events in my country and a general sense of nervousness, I find myself a little drained and with my focus diverted elsewhere. So, if my posting becomes a little erratic (i.e. posts may be coming as often as they should on some days and on others they may be sparse or brief), that will be the reason. Please bear with me for a few days. If my lack of posting seems to be holding up the game, please DMPC my character. Thank you.
What? Afraid you can't keep up with our blistering once-a-month pace? ;P
Greece is all in the news and sounds nerve-wracking to be in the middle of. Hang in there.
This thing needs a statblock.
I saw that and shuddered.
Ooooo friendly! I like the legs.
I will be on vacation for the next 2 weeks. I will do my best to post when possible from my phone, but if I am holding up the game please DMNPC me.
I will be leaving later today for some much needed vacation. I will be gone for about a week give or take and the place I am going to has... well, let us call it less than stellar internet. I will try to post from my phone, but if I seem to be holding up the action and/or story, please DMPC my character.
Hmm... Should we perhaps call an end to this game? An official one anyway?
Perhaps.
I'm hoping i'll be in a less busy place and can consider this a (long) hiatus. I'm currently in Denmark, once I return to the UK next week I think I might be able to update regularly again. Along with excessive doses of work i've also been moving into a house as a first time buyer as well as dealing with a long hiatus from my other half too.