"There will be 4 runes in a square to the left of the door. each of them must be active for the lift to work."
"Options, we may choose to either dive into a pit and hope... or give up a significant portion of our life force, yes?" she lofts a brow to the system. "A small portion is not unreasonable. A large portion..." she shakes her head. "But little choice do we have." she started heading into the other room. Then stopped and turned. "Simply lessening gravity and gaining power, this is not an option, yes?" she said, back still turned.
"once we get the crucible, and I get enough mana to make a smaller mobile version of it that might be an option. right now i'd need a connection to all of the shafts environmental runes. I have some of them but not all, and I can't tell which ones are which."
Charlie nodded and walked into the hallway, eyeing everything as she passed with interest.
She ran her finger along the unguarded and untested edge of the rapier; not a cutting edge. She half-drew it and jabbed her still-numb hand with it, blood beginning to leak out. She moved to the runes, head tilted, very much interested in seeing this work. She slid her hands across the two runes nearest to her (lower if they are a 2x2; she's very short.), filling in the space as she did so.
The bottom two runes begin to glow a dark red. A red translucent plane appears in the shaft. the rune closest to the door that she activated begins to pulse softly.
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"how far down does the shaft go?"
Shield scratches his head with 1 hand and grips a rope neatly tied and slung crossways across his body. "Might be able to save the mana stuff by rappelling down. If it's deeper than the length of this rope, maybe these other yahoos have something similar to a rope that can be tied together." He scans the rest of the party, "Some of them don't look very athletically inclined, but... what kind of person doesn't know how to slide down a rope?"
"Any of you opposed to the main uses of a rope?"
"Charlie has already activated the first runes; we might as well cover the rest. Rope can be our backup plan, else we waste our 'life force' or whatever it's called.
Conall drew his blade and sighed to try and welcome the pain as he sliced his ring finger. As he refocused his eyes however, they widened with shock, as his blood ran black as ink
By the Hells! What's wrong with my blood! It's black, and..and ice cold!
He pressed his hand shakily to the nearby runes, hoping they would both work (targeting two runes)
"A little. I have absolutely no intention of falling to my doom." she nodded to the soldier. "I'll let the place drain me a little here, rather than a lot at the bottom." she shrugged.
She was doing fairly well... but she still did things strangely with the questions.
"That... is a very good question. Your blood, there is something wrong with it, yes? Crustacean, this is not part of your genetic makeup, yes?"
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Shield looks down to the ground and shakes his head a little, "At least I've discovered that these lazy people have an aversion to getting their hands dirty, taking the path of least resistance, and possibly focused on winning a single battle vs the war. Good to know. Not necessarily a bad thing, but helpful to know."
Looking back up at the group and letting go of the grip on his rope, "So apparently we'll be using the magic/mana whatever thing. I like the initiative folks, but in looking around it would appear Tanque here and I could have contributed to the 'sacrifice' with little loss." With an optimistic gleam in his eye, "We'll see if both of your 'sacrifices' pays off. Leaving the 2 physically oriented combatants in full readiness. I believe that will leave Tanque and I qued up to provide for the next runes... should there be more that need to be activated."
Pondering to himself, "Wow, those 2 stepped up and put the team ahead of themselves immediately! And for a bunch of strangers even. Very selfless. I might have to use this scenario as a training aid for my next new recruits to the unit."
The two runes Conall smears with his blood begin to glow black, the closest one to the door begins to pulse like the one below it. The platform remains the same, awaiting occupants and their command.
Top left
Top Right
Bottom Left
Bottom Right
Charlie figures punching the 'button' is how you get the thing to operate... so she presses the lower right 'button' to see what happens. She expressly does not touch Connall's button.
Upon pushing the lower right rune the lift begins to descend.
Alynthar takes out a piece of parchment and traces the runes onto it, then examines Conall's blood.
Conall watched Alynthar scribe the runes and observe the black ones that his blood had touched.
"So...do you know anything about it?" He asked hopefully, and guardedly, while preparing to step onto the 'rune platform'
As the platform begins to travel downwards, she presses the lower left icon to see what it does... If anything.
Nothing happens.
Charlie motions to the higher buttons, not touching them. It isn't entirely clear whether she just isn't trying to reach them or is refusing to touch them. She makes a mental note to get some recyclable gloves later.
"This is Black Blood- a substance found deep underground in my world. It corrupts any living thing, and is cold enough to harm any who touch it. Having it in your system has... interesting effects. Most significantly, good divine energy will harm you, and evil divine energy will heal you, unlike most living creatures, which are affected the other way around. In addition, if you bleed on somebody after being injured, they will take a small injury from the cold. You will, on occasion, be able to throw off many necromantic or evil effects, as well as poison, and as you gain strength, you will be able to withstand extreme cold. Lastly, some of your blood would be able to provide a significant boost to my abilities, were I willing to and stupid enough to ingest it, and able to survive the experience."
He also makes it a point to label the bottom right rune on his parchment "Lift- down."
"That sounds...I don't know how to think about it." Conall concluded simply, though his face told he was concerned. "I'm glad someone knows about this. Maybe it had to do with me being brought here; cause I know I had red blood before today.
As for 'divine energy'...the gods of Valforge don't really mention Good and Evil...I guess I just changed camps..?
"I'll figure it out...Anyway, that top one, I think I get it." he added, as he pushed down on the top left rune.
The platform stops about ten feet down as soon as Conall pushes the rune.
Thought so! Now...how do we start it again?
"Probably the top right button to bring it back. And the bottom right to send it down again. So I guess everyone should step onto it, one of us hits the button, and then steps onto the platform as it begins to lower." Charlie says as she looks down to the platform. "Or perhaps pressing the bottom right would call it back..." she shrugs.
Alynthar marks the appropriate rune on his parchment as "Lift-Stop."
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Shield shimmies a few steps away from Conall and shivers a second. "Black blood huh? Kinda revolting."
He then glares at Conall with a look of frustration. "There's always one! One person in every elevator has to push ALL the buttons." Shield holds back on scolding the half-orc, "I guess if this was the 1st time I got on an elevator, I might do the same thing." "Are we done playing with the lift controls? We have a mission to complete, and it's at the bottom of this shaft."
The more events transpire the more Tanque relaxes. This is most definitely not some kind of Darrein construction or ruse. But Tanque remains less and less sure of himself or what actually is going on.
He flashes his lightstick down the deep shaft, then notices the others actions.
Why are they cutting themselves and smearing their blood on the machine panels. Even the Darrein never did that...
Likewise he is unsure of the significance, dire or otherwise of black blood, nor what neckrohmansee is.
"Why are we all standing on this small platform?" he asks Shield quietly once they are assembled upon it. When the platform drops the young warrior grips his axe tightly...
"Oh..."
Charlie pushes the top right button with the bottom of one of her vials, just to verify that that's up.
"It is ideal to test your hypotheses before venturing forth. Discovering that the top right button removes the platform, as opposed to what it would do where I am from... would be perhaps the last mistake we ever make." She says simply, assuming that the sound of annoyance was the same between their worlds.
"Well then, time to get a move on. Destiny's calling us!
Conall presses the bottom right rune, for the platform to begin moving down again.
"let's keep our eyes open for anything dangerous or interesting"
Conall readies his shield, and assumes a (total Defense) posture, and keeps his sword down low to keep from getting tired.
For when it becomes relevant:
The lift slowly began to descend with its occupants. Everr twenty or so feet another doorway became visible. Most of them were caved in, some were shut, but a few were open revealing strange environs. One was full of some oily looking liquid that seemed held back by something in the doorway, another was full of floating debris. A few were barren but normal, and after a few hundred feet a voice echoed around them. "stop the lift at the next open hallway, I won't be able to talk to you anymore once you exit the lift. The crucible should be at the center of the storage room at the end of the hall."
I forgot to mention, but Alynthar labels the appropriate runes on his parchment, then rolls it up and puts it in his scroll case before getting on the lift.
Charlie presses the top left rune when things line up.
And then she looks forward to see what is going on with this room.
+1 v. Traps.
Alynthar rolls his eye at Shield's attitude, but nonetheless examines the room in front of the party.
Alynthar fails to notice that there is, in fact, a room.
Charlie raises a brow as she watched, but didn't respond to Shield for a moment, as she watched.
"We were also warned that this would be anything but ordinary."
By the way... clever investigator made a healing extract on the way down, if she had time. If not, she has been doing so. It takes one minute per extract.
Tanque steps to the edge of the platform, stows his greataxe, and also looks to see what there is to see. He brings his bardiche to bear, and looks to the others to see what they think.
The hallway before you is devoid of light other then the faintly flickering runes on the stone walls and ceiling. The air smells of dust and ashes, the floors are smooth and clear of any debris. The hallway goes on for about fifty feet to stone door. A fissure down the center shows how the door should open, but there are no obvious way to make it open.
"Something was burned here, possibly. If you have any defenses against fire, it would not be a terrible idea to utilize them." Charlie said as she looked forward, catching a whiff of the air. She started off down the hallway, following her nose, as it were. If someone else wanted to lead, passing her would be a simple prospect.
Alynthar falls in towards the back of the party, crossbow at the ready, and follows the others.
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Shield moves ahead of Charlie. Raises his shield in front of his body and keeps it poised just below eye level. "I'll take point this time, wouldn't want something to take advantage of your weakened state after activating those runes. Ending your adventure before it even starts." He moves forward cautiously, scanning the area for any change. "Someone please try and cover our rear, we don't want something surprising us from behind." Squinting to try and see details around the door, "I can't tell yet, but I'm expecting that we'll need to activate another rune to open this sucka."
Charlie shrugs as Shield moves in front, a well-chosen moniker. "Just be careful that you watch your step, we've no idea what has become broken within this place."
She follows along, simply keeping attuned to her surroundings. Once she's about ten feet from the door, she begins to give it - and its surroundings - cursory examinations.
"I'll keep watch on rear while weakened; but I won't be playing scared!" Conall announced.
Tanque follows after Shield, bardiche wavering back and forth as he grips his greataxe.
Charlie lets Tanque slip by, as well, with a shrug. She'd be less observant at this point, but not much difference between ten and fifteen feet. And besides, if one of them touched something they shouldn't, it'd be easier to get out of dodge!
None of you see any obvious way to open the door, it's probably one of the runes. Upon closer inspection three of the runes seem to be in about the same place as the lift runes. None of them are anything like the runes you've seen before.