After Alis has searched the door for traps and given the thumbs-up, Priyya tries the scorched key in the lock, gives it a turn, and hears the door unlock.
"Kids..."
Morgaard shakes his head and sighs. He gives Felmor a sympathetic pat on the back.
"OK then, so which door. Back to the dwarf stomper or thru the one at hand?"
Once again you find the dwarf puffing away on his pipe. No doubt it was lit while the girls were performing their skinny dipping antics. You have the feeling none of this has surprised the stoic old soldier.
Felmor sees the winks exchanged between Alis, and Priyya. On that thought, he takes out a handkerchief, and dabs his face, "Aye, gettin' hot in 'here, Hope that don' mean nothin' like some fire creature gettin' closer." He gives a grateful nod to Morgaard, which helps him focus on the immediate issue at hand.
At Felmor's words, Alexis pauses, wets a finger on her tongue and holds it up. "Odd, I'm not feeling any warmer. Although I wouldn't exactly mind an encounter with small fire worm right about now..."
Unable to take her sister's naive seriousness any more, Alis finally bursts out laughing and says, "Yeah, that's what Suny said!"
"Bodice... too... tight..." Gasping for air, the young bard keels over leaving her sister standing there looking dazed and confused.
After a few minutes, Alis finally regains her breath and composure and says, "Right then, which door do you guys want to try first?"
Nosebleed spoiler
Nosebleed spoiler
"Well, we've got this door unlocked right here... shall we try it? Or would you care to see what triggers that golem first?"
On hearing Suny name, Felmor jerks involuntarily, for a moment he feels another nosebleed coming on. Ach, I coulda used th'swim, instead o' th' ladies!"
"I say we check th' one Priyya jes unlocked."
XP: +80 each
"Sounds good to me, this door it is..."
PERCEPTION
STEALTH
The hinges on the door make a loud screech as Alis opens. "Gods... can't I do anything quietly today?
Inside, a small stone bench sits in the center of this dusty chamber. On the far wall is a faded mural depicting the hero Kassen defeating the mercenaries at the entrance to this crypt, with his blade piercing the chest of the mercenary leader. These figures stand alone in the center of a scene of carnage, with dead villagers and mercenaries all around them.
"I say we check th' one Priyya jes unlocked."
Finally getting the joke, Priyya smiles guilelessly at Felmor, "Oh, I wouldn't want you to commit to following my suggestion... not without finding out what the buoyant Princess Alexis thinks first."
EDIT - Since Alexis' didn't seem to notice the details of the mural, Priyya will point them out. Perhaps her wizardly eyes notice something arcane about the necklaces' design.
Turning around to look at Priyya with a look that reveals equal parts surprise and embarrassment, Alexis stammers, "Um, yes well, when you've been swimming for a long time, you learn how to hold you breath and displace more water which—"
Suddenly feeling a lot warmer she finishes, "Yesthisdoorisfine!"
MAP: Room 07 #00
As the rest of you stand around holding gigantic shields and looking at the mural (or looking embarrassed), Alis scouts down the corridor leading south from this small room. After a few moments, she says with mock surprise, "Hey look, another door! Not locked though..."
"Please be careful, Alis. Somewhere around here we've got a room with a lot of arrows traps and maybe another golem... and a whole boatload of undead if I'm not mistaken."
"Who me? Reckless? Nevah!"
Thinking for a moment, she says, "Roldare did say he threw that big key in the pool after escaping from below right? If Sis' mapmaking is accurate, then it looks like we've explored most of this level. Hmm..."
I really need to take a swim, and soon, mebbe I can finagle another trip to th' fountain room
"Eh, yeah, 'n we all know what awaits at th' end of this level." Felmor's words are quite chilling, but at least they do cool him down somewhat.
"Alexis, mebbe ye should 'ave a look at these medallions, mebbe they is magical?"
Seeing Felmor indicating the mural painted on the wall, Alexis shrugs her shoulders and casts detect magic. "Sure, it can't hurt..."
"Hmm, well it is interesting that Kassen and who I presume must be Asar are represented as wearing similar pendants, but as far as I can tell, it's just a painting. I'm not detecting any magical auras at all..."
"Do ya think it be safe ta take 'em wit' us?" Felmor asks Alexis. "We may need 'em somewhere else."
"The prominence of those necklaces is intriguing. If we find one or both, I think we should take them with us. And if our nemesis is wearing one - perhaps getting it off him should be a priority."
:D
Felmor gives an embarrased look, "'K, I get it now. Guess I aint that good at this dungeon crawl stuff, he he."
:D
Since the pieces of jewelry seem to have been painted in rather exacting detail, the twins decide to have a closer look and take their time conferring.
Alexis' Checks:
Alis' Checks:
After several minutes of a rapid-fire discussion in elvish that leaves Felmor's head spinning and gives Morgaard an opportunity to avail himself of some jerky stashed in his pack, the two finally present their findings...
"First off, the pendants are not badges of office or representative of any heraldic house or organization that we know of. However, judging by the shape of the amulets, it looks like they should be able to interlock forming a device not unlike a Pathfinder's wayfinder or a rather elaborate compass. The only problem is that a design consisting of these parts would still be incomplete. If these two medallions were to form the arms and dial of a compass, it would still be missing the actual lodestone apparatus enclosed within the crystal center. I've made notes and drawings of the medallions in my journal in case we need to reference them later."
Felmor, while not a complete moron , still has trouble following the explanation of Alexis , having not run across a Wayfinder before, (or even a Pathfinder) before, at least until now.
"So what ye is sayin' is they each carried a part of this 'Wayfinder' an' we need ta find it, fer another puzzle?" Felmor asks with a confused look on his face.
"Well, if the painting is accurate (and someone certainly put a lot of detail into this mural), then yes each is depicted as carried a part of it. As for whether or not we need to find it," she shrugs, "who knows..."
Priyya, clearly having no idea what an icicle hitch is, let alone how difficult it would be to tie one in a downpour (or anywhere else), looks at Felmor in mock horror, "*gasp* Oh NO, Felmor! It can't be THAT bad!"
Sailor Checks
Alexis takes a deep breath as she prepares to take another stab at explaining things, but stops when Alis laughs loudly and pats her on the back. "Don't feel bad Felmor, I think she even lost some of her instructors at the academy back in Absolom too. Don't get her started about her hopes to build a ship that sails thru the sky using 'a transdimensional steel structural foundation tied to astral-based psychokinetic impulse engines'..."
Alexis merely sighs slightly and shakes her head, turning Alis in the direction of the hallway and pushing on her back, a bemused grin on her face.
Alis beams a satisfied smile and walks down the hallway as Alexis pushes her. "Alright, shall we cut the crap and see what's behind this door already?"
Priyya stares into space, taken with the idea of the sky-ship... "Is that on the list before or after slaying a dragon?"
Suddenly serious at the mention of The List™, Alis answers, "Wrong sister. The dragon is on my list. The flying ship is on hers."
Alexis nods solemnly and the two continue down the hall.
Priyya's eyes widen, "Oh. I assumed it was a shared list. Please put me down for dragon-slaying on one list and ship-blessing on the other then."
Morgaard tears one last chunk of jerky off before replacing it in his pack. Without contributing to the banter, he picks up his shield and follows after his girls.
Having already checked for traps earlier, Alis goes to push the door open. Alexis gives a "Gah!" when Alis ducks a spider-web allowing it to catch the young mage in the face. As soon Alis' hand gives the door the slightest bit of pressure, it swings aside, into the wall on a weighted assist mechanism revealing a wide, domed chamber.
There is a single pillar in the center of the room surrounded by a pit, but a stone bridge crosses the pit on the south side. Dozens of arrows jut from holes in the pillar, facing every direction. Alis just barely stops in time before walking into the pit due to her and Alexis' antics.
PERCEPTION
STEALTH
Priyya mentions hearing the hum of a distant engine spooling up. She looks around the room critically, and says half-humorously "Well what could possibly go wrong here..."
Morgaard gives a mild curse and bumps Alexis aside as he lets down the shield to pull Alis back by her belt.
"Not so close there, lass!"
"Oops! Sorry about that! Guess all our joking made us careless there."
At mention of Priyya's warning, Alis' ears perk up and she points to the pillar, "Oh crap, it's starting to spin!"
As the central pillar beings to spin, the western door starts to slide shut between Felmor and Morgaard.
With no time to try and disarm the device, Alis shouts out, "Quick! Take cover!"
INITIATIVE
MAP: Room 11 #00
, Alis, Morgaard, Priyya, Alexis, Trap
Felmor immediately marks this room as number three on his least favorite list of places to be. (If we survive, you can ask about the other two places, he he.)
He grabs Priyya, and pulls her behind the shield, and then pulls it on top of them, keeping the shield between the arrow holes and themselves.
Priyya smiles at Felmor's chivalry - amused and oddly pleased, in a small way, to be treated like a damsel in potential distress. She suggests, "We should probably push the shield forward a bit to stop the door from closing. We don't want anyone trapped in there."
The dwarf's ears, well accustomed to the sound of stone grating against stone spins around to see the door sliding shut.
Knowing it may well be the Kirmoons or old Morgaard, he grips the edge of the door with both hands bracing his right foot against the opposite door jamb. He puts back, arms, and thews into the effort as he strains with all his might.
"Get in there girls, don't know how long I can hold this!"
"Sh1t! Sis, get inside!"
Alis dives forward sliding under Morgaard's leg and into the hallway. She quickly scoots to one side to leave room for her twin.
, Alexis, Trap, Felmor, Morgaard, Alis
Priyya wedges herself in the doorframe, pushing with her legs, trying to assist Morgaard in keeping the door open so both Alexis and he can slip through...
In an attempt to make like her sister and dive thru the door, Alexis stumbles and crashes into Morgaard breaking his grip.
The force she's trying to hold back suddenly slams into Priyya full-force and she's just barely able to get her fingers and foot out of the way before the door slams shut with a resounding impact.
"Dammit!" shouts Alexis as she hunkers down and casts mage armor.
Immediately after the doors have sealed, the trap reaches full speed and begins spraying the entire room with arrows!
At Morgaard's direction, Alexis stays flat on the ground while he shields her with his own body. Alexis gets grazed across the calf by one arrow while Morgaard gets struck in the hip and just barely avoids taking one to the chest.
At the start of the next round, Morgaard grabs the huge tower shield and hits the floor next to Alexis, the dozens of arrows striking it sounding like hail on a shingled rooftop.