It's a bit of a struggle for the still-shaken sorcerer, but Simon manages to get up to about where he thinks the aura is localized. (I'm not going to let you cast the spell when you're clinging to the side of the statue, nor am I going to let you maintain concentration on it when you're climbing. Sorry. (OK, not that sorry.)) He can see signs of a concealed compartment in the statue's torso, but the door seems to have been melted closed. Breaking it open is beyond him.
HP 12/12 | AC 13 | CMD 14 | Fort +2 Reflex +4 Will +3 | Initiative +7 Perception +7
What? No clinging concentration?! What a rip off. :p
Simon laboriously scampers back down, "Melted compartment in the torso. Anyone want to try to get it open?" He looks at Kerastes's long-handled weapon. "You think you can bash it from down here?
The compartment door has a hardness of 8 and 20 HP, so Kerastes--even in his weakened state--will get through it eventually.
After several minutes of bashing, the oread is able to break down the door. Inside is a small shortsword in a cracked and dried leather sheathe, as well as a dusty silk pouch. The pouch holds three fiery red rubies that bear a striking resemblance to the statue's eyes.
The shortsword is a Small cold iron shortsword +1.
HP 12/12 | AC 13 | CMD 14 | Fort +2 Reflex +4 Will +3 | Initiative +7 Perception +7
Simon bounces the small shortsword between his hands, giving the team a wry look. "Looks like we got ourselves a magical toothpick. Ah well ... someone will buy it. Someone always does."
Aeilín's observation gets a nod, "That's kind of what I'm thinking. So we have 3 rubies," he nods at the statue's face (you said there were two more there, right?), "and those two make five." He thinks back, "We've seen a few statues, actually. One a woman with a lot of arms. Then maybe one near the room with all the undead guys? Should we go back to check?"
He shivers, "I hate to test those rooms again, though ... in case any of those things we destroyed has somehow reanimated." He looks at the team with a shrug, "Rest up then go looking for the rest of the rubies?"
The eyes of the statue are, indeed, rubies that are quite similar to the ones in the bag. Time and heat have deteriorated the material with which they were mounted to the point where removing them from their sockets is easily done.
None of the demonic statues in the chamber where you fought the first round of goblins have gems for eyes, nor do they have empty sockets that might once have held gems. (Nor do they have hidden compartments...at least, not as far as you can tell.) The statue in the room with the silence effect had fiery orange gems for eyes, and you left it alone when you were there before. No other statues are around.
The gems come out of their sockets easily. They're orange garnets, and Nec figures they're probably worth around 100 gp each. There's nothing else apparent in the room.
HP 12/12 | AC 13 | CMD 14 | Fort +2 Reflex +4 Will +3 | Initiative +7 Perception +7
”Let’s throw more goblin corpses at it.”
He turns serious, looking at the gems. ”My first guess is to insert the red gems so they make a star, with the orange ones filling out the two additional side spots. But i’m not sure if that means the orange ones go in the top two side spots or the two side spots right below those.”
Basically, if you were to number the slots 1 through 7, starting from the top slot and going clockwise, we could put the orange gems in 2 and 7. Or 3 and 6. With red filling in all the rest. Either way it makes a red star from the red gems, albeit a star with a tall body either way.
”There’s also the chance that the orange ones don’t actually go in any sockets at all, and it’s just about putting the red gems in the right sockets.” He shrugs, ”If we put the red gems in first, give it a minute, then insert the orange ones each time we make an arrangement guess, it could take care of both possibilities.”
He looks at the team, ”What other ideas do we have?”
|AC 20, T 13, FF 17|HP: 39/39*|F +6*, R +4, W +5 (+2 vs Necr/curses/TNLs, +1 vs fear/conf)|Init +2, Perc +8|CMB +6 CMD 18|Deadspeaker 3/3, Ghostly Horde 1/1, Focus: ?? Gloaming, ?? Azrael, ?? Guidingstar, ?? Perun
DM Carbide wrote:
It shows a line drawing of the Door of Seven Stars, a sealed portal known to previous explorers of the ruin. The image shows a ring of small circles in the center of the door, with a scribbled note next to the highest circle that reads "Red star?"
"Remember the diagram Jharun left us? Perhaps we should start by putting just one ruby in the top socket...."
Aeilín nods, inserting the gems as suggested by Simon. She inserts a ruby into the top slot in the circle, then pauses before adding the other red stones. She holds back the garnets, finally adding them to the circle, if nothing else happens.
Aeilin puts the first ruby into the top socket. Although it would seem not to be stable, it sticks in place with a quiet click. A minute passes without any changes. The bloodrager puts the next ruby into place; it also stays in the socket. The same happens with the next three rubies and the first orange gem. As Aeilin puts the last garnet into place, though, an arc of electricity jumps to her armor from the door for 4 HP. At the same time, the stones fall to the floor with a clatter.
HP 12/12 | AC 13 | CMD 14 | Fort +2 Reflex +4 Will +3 | Initiative +7 Perception +7
Simon smiles, "That's why we have Aeilín doing it."
He uses his wand on her again, closing her wounds quickly, then waiting to see what happens if she shifts the orange gems up a slot (into positions 3 & 4 on his grid).
Aeilín, 1 hit from Simon's wand gets you back to full.
The second configuration begins like the first, with the gems sticking in position as Aeilin puts them into place. This time ends a little differently, though--the canny bloodrager ducks out of the way of the electric arc as she puts the last gem into its socket, and escapes unharmed as the stones once again fall to the floor.
You have: five rubies, three peridots from the goblin oracle, two orange garnets from the idol, the pieces of blue stone from the bottom of the pool, the purple gem from the foggy room, and the dark blue stone that the shadow turned into after you killed it. There were also some yellow crystals in the walls of the room where you fought the stirges, but they didn't look particularly valuable so you left them.
HP 12/12 | AC 13 | CMD 14 | Fort +2 Reflex +4 Will +3 | Initiative +7 Perception +7
"Good call, Kerastes!" Simon says excitedly, he does some quick figuring in his head. "That's seven different colored stones if you figure in the yellow ones from the stirge room."
Let's have our characters go collect some of those (at least 7 of them, if it's possible, to avoid a second trip).
HP 12/12 | AC 13 | CMD 14 | Fort +2 Reflex +4 Will +3 | Initiative +7 Perception +7
”Could always start with good ole Roy G Biv,” Simon says, ”In either direction, really. It’s at least a start.”
Let’s have someone try (starting top and moving clockwise): Ruby (red), Garnet (orange), stirge wall crystal (yellow), peridot (green), pool stone (blue), shadow stone (indigo), foggy room stone (purple).
Let’s review. We have the different stones – is there any other info we have? What order did we get them in? Also, can we assume someone goes back to get the stirge gems, or do we need to run through that?
HP 12/12 | AC 13 | CMD 14 | Fort +2 Reflex +4 Will +3 | Initiative +7 Perception +7
I just assumed we could handwave going to get them. (and did).
And I'm thinking it's arbitrary in what order we got them (cause we may not have gone through the rooms in the order that the builder thought the "correct" progression.
Aeilín shakes her hand in the air, still tingling from the shock. Firming her resolve she tries again with the different gems in the order Simon suggested.
True, and some we got off of goblin corpses, so that could have been anywhere. I’ll try again, doing what you said; if that doesn’t work, I’ll make a small change – going in a star-pattern.
Aeilin sets the gems in clockwise spectral order, primed to leap for cover as she puts the violet gem into place. Instead, the entire door shivers once, the accumulated debris of millenia falling from around it, and then opens with a smoothness and silence that belies its age. On the other side, a long hallway slopes down to a room housing a pool of glowing blue water. Shining gold leaf in exotic designs decorates the walls, ceiling, and pillars. Two of the pillars frame an archway on the opposite wall, on the other side of which is a long flight of stairs leading down into unknown depths. The pool radiates divination magic, and after some work Simon, Nec, and Kerastes figure out that it has the scrying properties of a crystal ball.
And with that you have completed the Accursed Halls! Congratulations! If you haven't already provided day job rolls & PFS numbers for your characters, please do so in the Discussion thread. Thanks for playing, and I hope you enjoyed it.
HP 22/22 | AC 14 11T 13FF | F+3/+5/v cold R+4 W+8, all +1 v. cold | Init +1 Perc +12 | CMD 11
Human Tien Unsworn Shaman/2
"Look...it goes down further," says Muusa, her eyes widening. "Those goblins will be jealous. Well, any that are left alive. I was willing to talk with them about engineering!"
She looks at the pool with a smile. "Is there anyone that we want to look at?"
