Shechera gratefully downs one of the vials --
Archimedicus opens the door to the western room. Rows of metal shelving fill this room. The shelves bear the look of long disuse but are surprisingly dust-free, considering the age of this place. Most of the shelves hold assorted pieces of machinery: wires, gears, and cases of bolts and screws, though nothing seems organized in any logical fashion.
"There might be something valuable in here," says Meleren. "I'll help you look." SUCCESS
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"We'll have your back as long as you have ours. I'm here to strengthen my allies, and they strengthen me. I hope to count you amongst them."
Polo looks at his companions and slightly nods towards Shechera.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Is there nothing else you lot want to do in here? Like look around, maybe?
Torsk takes his sweet ol' time searching the place. The first thing you notice is that the air is getting thinner... the dungeon appears to now be self-contained, with a limited amount of air, and each door opened thins said air...
A thorough search turns up a small box full of numbered buttons (identical to that in the cubicle by the handprint), 0 - 9. Painted on the inside of the lid is the sequence *9-2-7-4-6* and a scrawled note.
Additionally, your search yields two shiny stick-like objects with small pads on the ends of them, as well as a shiny little disk with a button in the center.
"Hey, those look valuable!" says Shechera.
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"Yes, they may be valuable if we sell them, but they are likely more valuable to us if we use them to get to the bottom of this mystery. These things may keep us alive!"
When Lyklor sees the numbers on the scrawled note, he becomes most excited.
"Look here! This must be the combination we are looking for! Let's give it a try. Well, first let's see what the note says. Can any of you read this language? Sadly, I'm not familiar with it, but the script does look rather vulgar. Do any of you recognize this language?"
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"Now that Arcimedicus mentions it, the writing does look a bild child like. Polo, should I take it from the shaking of your head that you can't read this either? Well, even without the message, we could still try this combination of numbers and see what happens. Come with me and let's see what happens."
Lyklor returns to the small room and prepares to enter the combination.
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"That I cannot. I am glad to test out that combination you found, but I'm still a little clueless as to what the point of these three poles is. Should we try pressing that other button on the disc?"
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"Even if it isn't, I'm up for any challenge that is thrown at us!"
Polo slams a fist on the disc button.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Nothing noticeable happens when Polo pushes the disc's button.
After some thought and figuring, Zosimos is able to decipher the core of the written message. He believes it says something about somebody important threatening to kill underlings who write down a code, which is inscribed below for use as needed, to something called "the lift."
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Polo listens intently to Zosimos' decipher.
"Seems like we've got some not-so-intelligent lackies that were once in this place. I shall thank them for their guidance out of this odd room, should our paths cross."
He heads back inside the cylindrical room, presses the up arrow, and inputs 9-2-7-4-6 in sequence onto the pad.
"Hold onto something, everyone. I have a feeling were about to go for a ride!"
He slams his gauntlet palm onto the hand print once more.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Polo jumps in the lift and enters the code. ~*cue elevator music*~ With a lurch, the circular chamber begins to rise, but it jolts to a halt after a dozen seconds or so. A flashing red light appears next to the door-opening panel, accompanied by a faint buzzing sound.
A moment later, a voice fills the air and delivers a message in a harsh, barking language you cannot ken. Fortunately, the message is then repeated in Taldane:
"Negligible atmosphere detected. Do you wish to proceed? Push open button twice for yes."
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Lyklor joins the others for a ride in the "lift!"
"Kr-uk!" The tengu exclaims! "I think we are in a moving box and there are some invisible creatures telling us some information. I don't understand what the dog creature is saying, but other one seems to have found a negligible atmosphere. Do you think that is good news or bad?"
The lift descends again and stops with a thud and a DING! The door opens to the main floor.
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Polo looks nauseous as he wobbles out of the lift on Eclipse.
"That contraption's movement is..." he swallows a gulp of air to ease his stomach, "...unusual."
"I'm not sure, my feathered friend. I wonder if that second message simply repeated the first, or if the two were different."
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"I'm not sure, my feathered friend. I wonder if that second message simply repeated the first, or if the two were different."
"You might be on to something, Polo. It may be giving directions to both dog creatures and to taldans. But then I wonder why it is expecting both sorts of creatures? This certainly is a mystery. I think we should try to find this negligible atmosphere as well. But first, are there any preparations that we need to make before we push that button?"
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"I wonder if there is a way to recall the chamber from this room, as opposed to only operating it from the inside. Is there any place in here that might fit the disc or any of the three poles? If so, I would feel more at ease to going in that lift again, knowing that one of our companions could bring us back. "
-Posted with Wayfinder
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"Sounds like a plan. Good luck, you two. Be sure not to fight anything without coming to retrieve us first, should you come across anything on the other side."
-Posted with Wayfinder
Archimedicus and Zosimos jump in the lift. Again, when the lift stops, a message tells you (after some language you don't understand) "Negligible atmosphere detected. Do you wish to proceed? Push open button twice for yes."
Zo jabs the open button twice, and the door rips open with enormous force as what little air there is inside the lift rushes to fill this large chamber's vacuum.
points of damage.[/ooc]
The air is now deadly thin and impossible to breathe. Indeed, the air is so thin that you are unable to communicate via speech, as all sound is muffled by the negligible atmosphere. You have very, very little time before you pass out from lack of air.
In the room ahead, a series of glassy panels form a semicircular array along the southern walls of this circular room. Some of the panels are lit but blank, while others flicker with a jarring, black-and-white dotted pattern. Many are cracked or simply dark. A throne-like chair sits before a mechanical table in the center of the room. A skeleton slumps in the chair, one bony hand grasping a large lever. Its other hand, wearing a strange, silvery glove, rests upon a glowing plate.
Zosimos: CURRENT
Archimedicus: CURRENT
Zosimos runs forward and flips the lever, which he notices is right next to a plate reading "AIR PUMPS." Flipping the lever generates an enormous whirring sound, quickly followed by a rush of delicious warm air.
Down below, you feel the room get a little warmer and the air easier to breathe.
The atmosphere throughout has been restored, and Zosimos is free to take the skeleton's stuff (pretty much just his weird glove).
In response to Lyklor, Shechera is quiet. Eventually she mentions something about "running with the wrong crowd over in Diobel," then "being at the wrong place at the wrong time," and finally joining up with this band of bandits in Absalom.
@Arch, yes. The damage is from internal hemorrhaging due to being suddenly subjected to a vacuum rather than from simple lack of air. It is, unfortunately, unavoidable as written in the scenario.
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"Everyone falls in with the wrong crowd once in a while. 9 hells, some would say falling in with the Pathfinders is falling in with the wrong crowd," The young woman laughs. "The trick is to pay close attention to how the crowd you're hanging with, deals with people that don't have anything to offer them. Because there's always a point in a relationship, when you don't necessarily have something to offer, and if your crowd still treats those people well, they'll treat you well too."
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Polo uncharacteristic gazes away from everyone.
"Learning to trust people again after falling into some bad rings, like you have, can be extremely difficult. When I was younger, I lashed out at the person who was trying to free me from one of those same groups because I couldn't tell that they were trying to help me... I spent the next few years in complete solitude; using every bit of strength I could muster to survive, but I was failing. Eclipse was in a similar predicament, and it wasn't until circumstances brought us together that we both learned it is possible to rely on others."
He turns to Shechera. "The point is that there are ways out of bad situations. It's not always easy and can take what seems like ages, but if you truly would like a better life you must fight for it."
Polo's grin returns as he clenches his fist. "That is what I fight for! I shall prove my character with the strength I have gained and use it to bolster my allies while my terror makes those with less than moral characteristics shake in their boots."
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Shechera ponders for a moment after the party's words, then says "Hmm. I suppose that is something to think about."