Flyor nods, "Oh Great Store of Memory, here they are." He offers the glasses to Shalina who puts them on.
It does little except make certain colors glow more strongly and other ones subdued. Among the first five, it makes Yellow, Red and Orange glow.
"Well the glasses do make the stairs appear different. Then the question becomes do I step on the brighter steps or the duller steps? To me it would make more sense for the brighter ones, I'll try those first."
Turning to Tekk she asks, "Are you ready for floating heads or to catch me?"
Taking a deep breath in anticipation, she steps on the yellow stair.
Wearing her new boots, Shalina steps on the yellow stair. She can hear Tekk and Flyor take deep breaths. Then....
Nothing happens.
Tekk lets out his breath in a grumble, "What does that mean?"
The yellow stair is unchanged, same as always, glowing a bit through her glasses.
"I'll take nothing happening over it raining fire and brimstone."
She lifts her foot to go to the red step. "I guess I'll keep going on the brighter steps. Pay attention you two. If nothing happens to me, then you should follow in my footsteps. But maybe give me a good head start to make sure I've made the right decision."
Shalina takes the glowing stairs at random, only going in order as they came. Behind her Tekk and Fylor follow, careful not to step anywhere she did not.
They climb.
Shalina starts to sweat again, dust sticking to her skin. She can hear Tekk's armor behind her and the halfling's robes brushing the stones.
They climb.
They start to breathe harder, lungs pumping in old stale air, exhaling hot and heavy. The stairs are narrow and steep, curving around and around.
They climb.
Legs ache, knees pain, feet hurt from repeated blows of foot on stone. The stairs seem endless. It has been hours and with no windows, no way to judge how high they had climbed.
Finally Tekk stops, sitting on a narrow green step, carefully balancing. 'Enough. I need a break."
Fylor, breathing even harder adds, "Is this working, O Athletic One"
"Apparently this isn't working. Maybe I should try the other stairs that don't glow brightly. Is everyone good with that?" Then she smiles, "Maybe if I'm wrong, this whole thing will turn into a giant slide."
Tekk looks at her in horror. "Nethys is a twisted god, if so."
So they climb, again following Shalina's lead. They walk on brown stairs, black stairs, silver stairs, and white stairs. They climb again until backs protesting and knees aflame they sit back down, defeated.
It was as if they had made no progress.
'We need a pattern!" Fylor says angrily, sweat and dust caking his small, thin face.
Anger flashed in Shalina's eyes in response to Fylor's outburst and she snapped at the halfling, "If you're seeing something I'm not then I'm all ears. I gambled on the difference in brightness being the pattern and I was wrong. It's bound to happen but that's no reason to get angry."
Shalina thinks back to the original words and murmurs, "Go forth as nature does...does Nethys have any association with nature?" She tries to remember what she may have learned but knew that religion and gods were never a huge part of her studies.
"I'm still thinking that it more has to do with colors that are associated with nature. Like greens or browns."
The halfling stays silent but apparently his awe of his savior is wearing off.
Tekk looks at the stairs, speculatively though. "He is right, in a way. What pattern do colors have? Are there any official orders or ways to arrange them?"
Before Shalina is a red, green, black and orange step, with a brown one as the fifth.
Shalina thought about what Tekk said. "There aren't a lot of things in nature with official orders but one thing that does is a rainbow. Maybe I could try that. There's only about six colors in a rainbow so it shouldn't take long to try."
Getting to her feet, Shalina steps on the red stair. And then moves to the orange one.
With a new plan Shalina starts up the stairs. She follows the spectrum, and repeating when she hits the end. The stairs go around a few times and then, they end. Some spell has been broken and now she stands in front of a heavy iron door.
On it, in clear glowing Common, is inscribed one word.
Danger
Tekk looks then laughs, his voice echoing down the colored steps. 'I prefer this to puzzles." he pulls out his sword, checking it carefully for bumps or chips.
Fylor looks considerably more nervous however.
"I guess with all the other tests and puzzles, they decided to be more direct this time around."
Shalina takes a good look at the door. If it wasn't so thick, she may have tried to listen through the door but she figured she wouldn't be able to hear anything.
She chuckles at Tekk's reaction. "You're the only one I know that grumbles when he has to talk to people and enjoys danger."
Turning to the halfling she says, "Fylor, if you need to defend yourself then use your magic. We'll deal with the consequences afterwards. Just be prudent since the wild magic that follows is unpredictable."
The door is unlocked but heavy, Shalina can tell just by looking at it.
Tekk heaves his shield, inspecting it as well. "Fighting is straight forward and gets my frustrations out. Puzzles are like women, unknowable and prone to failure."
Fylor nods, cracking his small knuckles.
They are all dirty, sweaty and tired but ready for whatever lies ahead.
"Therein lies your problem. You have to talk to a woman for her to be knowable."
Taking one last look at the door to make sure there were no traps, Shalina prepares to try to open it.
"Shall we pull on it together? I'm not sure either of us could do it alone."
There are not traps, just the single glowing word. Tekk and Shalina grab the door handles and heave. With a loud scraping sound of iron on stone the door eases open, throwing up sparks among the screeching.
They are faced with a long, low room. It is dim, but not dark, with dim magical lights. At random intervals there are black columns, on the floor, walls and ceiling, a bit taller then Tekk, breaking up the room.
At the far end is a door our, a yawning hole. Oddly, there are matching doors on each wall and on the ceiling.
Then Shalina spots the oozes. Along the floor, walls and roof, climb a dozen of the slimy creatures leaving behind long trails of grease.
Tekk looks at it, sees the oozes and sighs. "Better then rust monsters worse then kobolds and spiders?
Shalina knows nothing about the oozes.
Leaving the question open to either Tekk or Fylor, she asks, "Do either of you know anything about these things? I seem to be drawing a blank."
Tekk just looks at Shalina blankly but Flyor inspects the oozes. 'I would guess they are Hungry Flesh oozes. Quaint name. In any case, i do know they leave behind a trail remisencent of the Grease spell. You would know about that Tekk." The halfling says then adds, "And oh yes, trying to slashing or poke them just makes them angrier, it doesn't hurt them."
Part of Shalina wondered if the halfling was just pretending that his magic had been compromised by the Temple. His prodding Tekk about having affected him by a grease spell made it almost seem intentional...
"So slashing or poking is out. What about fire? And how fast can they move?"
Flyor shrugs, 'I don't recall fire being ineffective, and with the grease I imagine they may burn like candles. As for speed, not very quick, they are just oozes." Indeed, the sluggish piles of flesh and slime don't appear very swift.
Shalina makes sure she has a flask of alchemist's fire close at hand and then steps inside. "Hopefully we'll be able to get across the room before the oozes notice."
Holding her flask, Shalina takes a step. Her boot meets the rough stone of the floor, nothing unusual. Then he entire world flips, as she is pulled toward the far wall,as if falling. With a bang she lands there, sprawling.
Thankfully the flask goes unbroken, and is still in the bard's hand. She stands up and instantly gets vertigo. She standing, upright and perfectly normal...on the wall. Behind her Tekk and Fylor are still on the 'floor' outside the chamber, staring with wide eyes, as Shalina stands on the wall.
The closet ooze is drawn by the sound, and slides toward her, leaving a greasy trail.
"Oww," Shalina moans as she rubs her butt. "Now this definitely messes with your head." She eyes the ooze warily as it begins to move towards her. She was pretty confident that she could jump over both the ooze and the grease but she also wasn't certain about what would happen when she moved. She contemplated putting the flask away in case she wasn't so lucky next time but then that would also leave her without something to attack the ooze with if necessary. In the end, she decided to keep hold of her flask.
Tentatively she takes a step forward and braced herself for whatever happened next.
"What do you want us to do?" Tekk shouts to her as she takes another step.
As she does, her inner ear whirls again as gravity moves under her, dragging her, again, to the wall. It is like sliding down a snowy hill, except it ends in stone.
She escape without any paint his time, landing gracefully on her feet, one hand steadying her on what was the floor. One ooze slides in, whole body stretching out in hunger.
Shalina feels some pain but worse, a weird tingling sensation as the ooze leaves something behind in her flesh...
Whatever it is, Shalina is stronger then it, and she shakes off the poison or whatever it was.
Then, just as she is getting her bearings she hears a voice laughing. A high voice, that goes on in Common. "Who enters my chamber?" A small figure appears, flying among the walls. It is a pixie, holding a bow and grinning evilly.
Without another word, it fires off an arrow at Shalina.
"Stay put until I figure this out." Then more to herself she mutters, "Or until I collapse."
Shalina grimaces as she's attacked by the ooze. She's moved again with her second step and now she's on what was originally the ceiling. She's just about to move again to get away from the ooze when she hears the voice.
"I wasn't aware this chamber belonged to anyone, I apologize for intruding. However, I need to get to the other side and this was the only way through. If you allow me, I'll get out of your way by leaving through the other side."
When the arrow struck her she frowns thinking the attack unnecessary. "I mean you no harm or disrespect. There's no reason to be hostile. I just want to be on my way without any trouble."
Not wanting to retaliate against the pixie, Shalina focuses more on getting away from the ooze.
Tekk grumbles, just loud enough to hear. 'We'll be waiting a long time then."
When the pixie appears he curses and he and Flyor start a intense but quiet argument.
"Yeah, yeah, keep grumbling. You're always free to join me but I have a feeling you'd get banged around a lot more than me."
Shalina's jump gets past the hungry ooze easily, but the strange gravity may have messed with her inner ear. She misses the jump, landing on her face. As she hits the stone floor she feels her weight shift and she is pulled again, sliding this time, with no chance to catch her footing.
Another ooze sees prey fall into reach and surges forward.
It fails miserably but Shalina is prone and gtting up will provoke anothr attack.
Meanwhile Fylor shoots a bolt of fire at the flying Pixie who curses and starts to shot at Tekk and Fylor. Shalina doesn't see any grease or fog so maybe things were ok.
Shalina does her best to avoid the ooze as she gets to her feet. She then prepares for the feeling of vertigo as she attempts to squeeze by the ooze.
Shalina jumps, avoiding the ooze's attack. She jumps ten feet, landing upright, her new boots firm under her feet. The room doesn't turn in anyway. The ooze, apparently pleased that the prey is still close at hand, lashes out again.
It misses, leaving flecks of slime on Shalina's clothes.
Shalina jumps again, this time away from her current ooze but closer to another. After all, she needs to get through the room to the exit so she better get moving.
Shalina dodges the clumsy ooze with ease and leaps into the air with a grace usually reserved for woodland creatures. She lands and is instantly dragged along the floor as before.
She is back on the 'floor' as it were. behind her Flyor, Tekk and the pixie are locked in combat. It is hard to tell among the fog, flames and colored lights but it appears Tekk is floating off the ground,s word in hand? In any case, the pixie is preoccupied and not shooting arrows at Shalina.
On the downside, Shalina now is surrounded by oozes, but she is upright. They lash out in unison.
Both miss, and Shalina's good fortune (to some degree) continues.
Shalina is torn between going back to help Tekk and Fylor or trying to move forward. She also knew she wouldn't be able to move very far before the room rotated somehow again. She retreats from the ooze and ends up slightly closer to her companions.
Shalina jumps, avoiding the ooze, hits where she likes then is slid back up the wall she just came down. This is the reverse of the pattern so far. It is unpleasant and leaves her in a pile of grease next to an ooze.
Lovely.
It misses and Shalina looks up as Tekk swings the sword and there is a bright flash of light. When it all clears Tekk is dazed on the ground but the pixie is gone. Fylor looks pleased and cheers himself. The paladin raises a groggy hand and gives Shalina an all clear sign. Something had went half right.
Shalina was relieved to see that Tekk and Fylor were ok. And now she was once again unsure as to what was happening with this room. Her next immediate concern was getting out of this grease and away from the ooze.
Shalina's feet slip a few times as she seeks to find purchase but finally she's able to get herself out of the grease.
Shalina moves forward and the room spins, but she is ready for it. She lands light on her feet, although an ooze is right behind her.
It grabs a hold of her, ripping at her flesh and bouncing her hard against the wall. She hears Tekk shout and run toward her but once he hits the first bit of floor he is thrown in the same way Shalina was, but he hits the ground harder, lacking her fancy boots.
"I'm ok for now, Tekk. Just don't move. I'm going to see if I can at least get to your wall."
Well aware of the ooze she has to move past, Shalina jumps to the right."[/b]
Shalina then takes a step forward and braces herself to be dragged.
Shalina seems to have the room somewhat figured out. She dodges the oozes, jumps and lands, and gravity shifts her, but she lands, catlike, on the same 'wall' Tekk is on. His eyes are wide at her athletic ability. 'I didn't know you were a gymnast." he remarks.
And for once, there is no ooze close by.
"Even though I spent a lot of my youth jumping off things, I think the boots are more to thank than my abilities."
"I don't think you'll come along with me if I move. We'd have to move together," Shalina threw a smile over her shoulder, "and you're too far away to hold my hand. Plus you may get thrown around too much when the room drags us. I'll try to make my way through the room and hopefully there's a way to disable the movement on the other side. Otherwise I'll talk you and Fylor through the room and you will have to get thrown around."