Good job Ab. That traps sounds nasty. Segang says encouragingly. I am sure you can disarm it.
"The truth of the pudding is in the eating thereof," Abby says in a distracted tone as she brings out her roll of little tools and helpmeets…
Absinthe neutralizes the tilting floors with relative ease, using a number of well-placed shims to keep the floor panel in place. She moves on to the sonic pulse, disabling what she believes is the link between the plates and maiden statues. Next, she carefully approaches the statues and starts to work on the spears.
Fifteen seconds later, a loud *click* echoes from the floor panel behind her. The floor stays in place. Absinthe starts to breathe a sigh of...
Then the maiden statue blasts her with a deafening screech!
Then, as she reels, the barrage of spears fly out!
;
Absinthe lies still and bleeding, but her eyes blaze with clear fury.
Ab! Segang yells as he hesitates, trying to decide if its save to go down the passage. He pauses for a moment to see what else might happen.
"I have two flying spells prepared, if nothing else," says Melianthe. She frowns, waiting to see if Abby will get up.
"That was infuriating," Abby says in a quiet voice as she comes limping out of the danger zone - yanks out the spear that punctured her, and whacks it against a wall with a scream of fury, breaking the slender projectile!
"I would appreciate a little healing and a hit from the Cat's grace-wand before I try again," she says once the echoes of her fury have died away, clearly struggling not to grind her teeth.
[ooc]How much healing does Abby need?
"Bah! Stand back folks, time for me to make up for my misplaced cowardice earlier."
Seren runs in place for a moment and then lumbers up his arms. Then with a deep breath he takes off in a sprint down the hall.
”Stop, Seren! If it is a matter of triggering the trap then I can do that at a distance by manipulating the aether!.
"It resets and Mel says it's a delayed trigger. I"m going"
Seren takes off.
”Stop! I can disable the trap from here by manipulating the aether!”
Jarha will do it even if Seren does not stop, trying to do it before Seren gets there:
If that’s not good enough I think he can take 20 for a total of 31, given that there are no negative consequences for failing from a distance as I understand it
Seren bolts down the hallway. Jarha shouts and haplessly tries to telekinetically disable the trap... the fine work is too time consuming, and he has no chance.
Seren reaches the far end the hall safely. A few moments later, the traps activate. The floors remain stuck by Absinthe's work, but the sonic screams and spears still fire. Happily, Seren is well clear of their effects.
Around the corner, Seren sees that the corridor runs another ten feet before opening into a wide circular chamber surrounding a two-foot-tall well. A stone statue of a rearing snake rises from the center of the well. Along the length of the serpent’s body, dozens of carved arms cross over the creature’s belly—each arm grips a long curved blade. The statue’s serpentine head rises ten feet above the surface of the water, gazing down coolly towards Seren with amethyst eyes.
”I could have disarmed it, but I guess this is how we’re doing it...”. Jarha runs through, following Seren’s lead.
Segang looks a Ab. Ladies first. I shall be last.
In turn, you can all cross the trapped area safely, reaching the corner on the far side. You see what is described above.
"Seren, our hero," purrs Melianthe. "Well, it worked." She chuckles.
She then detects magic on the serpent. "Wagers on this being a trap and a construct?"
"You do your thing, and I'll do mine," Absinthe says.
Melianthe detects no magic.
Unsurprisingly, the room is indeed trapped -- a series of slashing blades that strike any who approach the well. Working together, Absinthe and Jarha disable the trigger mechanism. It appears safe to enter...
Warning the others so they can prepare themselves, Jarha (still invisible and standing outside the room) will telekinetically disturb the surface of the water.
Jarha jostles the water. Nothing happens. It still appears you have disabled the trap.
Jarha cautiously and quietly enters the room and searches for hidden exits and other items of interest.
Nothing happens when Jarha enters the room. A careful search reveals no secret panels or passages. The only things of notable value appear to be the statue's amethyst eyes.
"Do we want to try to grab those gems? They look valuable. On the other hand, we've so far been leaving stuff alone..."
"It couldn't hurt to walk away with something of value from this God forsaken death trap." Seren eyes the gems with avarice.
Using his psychic power, Jarha deftly removes the two amethyst eyes from the statue.
"Well done, Jarha. Let's try the other side." Melianthe starts, then curtsies and offers the lead to Absinthe.
Once everyone is in position, Jarha telekinetically pulls lever #2.
You backtrack to the second lever. Once everyone is in position, safely clear of the rotating walls, Jarha activates it. As before, the walls and floor vibrate and shift. The way towards the biting wasp and maiden statue gauntlet is closed off. Looking around the nearby rooms, you find a wall to the south has opened up a new chamber.
Both walls of this twenty-foot-long corridor are decorated with row upon row of tiger heads. Each head appears to be that of an actual, once-living tiger. The heads are remarkably well preserved—their gaping mouths and glaring eyes even appear to be moist.
Labyrinth Entrance - bronze double doors carved with tiger images, flanked by two tiger-headed man statues.
Corrupted Pool - 5 foot diameter pool with murky, green water.
Refreshing Pool - 5 foot diameter pool with crystal clear water.
Darksphinx - Encountered the darksphinx and the symbol of sleep.
Threatening Murals - Curved hallway decorated with disturbing artwork.
Three Flavors of Venom - 3 trapped chests with a riddle.
The Fangs of Diomazul - large well with many-armed serpent statue; had amethyst eyes.
The Wailing Maidens - triple-trapped corridor gauntlet of tilting floors, sonic blasts and spears.
The Stinging Wasps - trapped room decorated with wasp swarms.
Meditation Chamber - calm room with restorative black marble column.
After the rooms shift, Jarha waits in deference to others, but his curiosity eventually gets the best of him and he peers down the corridor, looking for traps, examining the floors, walls, and tiger heads:
Tiger heads? This looks quite unsafe. Segang states flatly. It has to be a trap, right? A tankard of ale says that at least some of these things animate as we try to move through. If it is a trap perhaps it can e disarmed?
Segang studies the entry.
"Tigers are not always a bad omen," Absinthe says, quietly. "Now please let me work."
"I am with Segang. Everything is a trap around here." Seren looks around anxiously
As expected, the tiger heads are indeed trapped: they animate and bite any that come within their reach. However, Absinthe locates a hidden switch near the entrance that appears to temporarily disable the tigers.
With the trap neutralized, you are able to search the room safely. You do not find any valuables, but you spot a latch that opens a secret door in the side wall... opening into the circular room with the many-armed snake statue and pool!
"Looks like we've hit a dead end. This really reminds me of some of the tombs I used to explore back in Osirion -- without all the tigers and revolving rooms, of course. I wonder if we go through this secret door and again run past the trap with those maiden statues, we might find a new area has opened up. The only other alternative is to hit the lever again and restore the prior state, but like the idea of seeing if there is a new area."
Seren stares at the map notes hard.
"We could hit lever #2 a couple times and maybe find an area to the north of us and south of the threatening halls. I bet it spins too, might be able to find another lever there."
He taps his finger on the door to the north of the threatening halls. "However, I doubt there will be another configuration that allows us to get to this area here. We should check it out before we start moving the rooms around again."
We have left a few items of value behind. We could go back and retrieve them if we have run out of other areas to search.
"I agree Seren. I think we should check out that area while we can, even though it means running past the maidens trap again. And, Segang, I am willing to try to pry some valuables at a distance using telekinesis, up to 40 feet away. Let me know if we are passing any you want me to try to grab."
Segang realizes wealth is secondary but adds Just seems a waste to leave it there.