The 2nd prism is just to the left of the door already. The 1st one is near the other door. There are no specific brackets for them on the doors themselves.
Human Warpriest 6| AC 21/23 T 13 FF 18/20 | HP 46/46 | F +7 (8) R +5 (6) W +9 (10) | Init +2 | Perc +3| Blessings 6/6 Fervor 6/6 Sacred Weapon 6/6 Channel Energy 3/3| Lvl 2: 4/4; Lvl 1: 5/5 Orizon: 5/at will
Did the first door close or is it still open? Maybe only one door can be open at a time.
Do as Alessio suggests and take out the first gem to bring with us.
Alrik can easily remove the crystal (no special skills required). As he does so, there is a noticeable change in the magical energies in the room, and the dials on the door stop glowing.
The crystal though, seems no different, currently looking about half full.
Male Human Alchemist (chirurgeon, wasteland blightbreaker) 5 | HP 38/38 | AC 21/14/17 | F+7 R+9 W+2 | Init +6 | Perc +7 | Bombs: 10/10 | Active Conditions: None
Male Human Alchemist (chirurgeon, wasteland blightbreaker) 5 | HP 38/38 | AC 21/14/17 | F+7 R+9 W+2 | Init +6 | Perc +7 | Bombs: 10/10 | Active Conditions: None
Hmm... didn't notice it! Oops.
It would be no different than the first, as far as how it reacts to such things. ie: started half full, but would now be at 5 of 8
Alrik brings the prism from the first room back into the second, as Kara tries to charge that one up as well.
Seeing that, Alessio pulls the second prism from its bracket, and like the other, after a moment of resistance, it easily pops out.
The difference, as the second one is removed, is noticeable, even to those looking with normal sight. The fluid flowing along the pipes, high on the walls, seems to slow, and dims considerably.
Floria, her divination still active, will note the magical aura limning the southern door fades entirely.
From that point, it is an easy matter to pull it open!
Beyond is a narrow hallway, running south, to a second door, also devoid of any sealing wards. Pipes of glowing light run along the lengths of corridor wall to your right, much like in the entry corridor. Though these are also muted. The next door is also easily pushed open.
On the other side, you see a large room, that can only have one been a research laboratory at some point, long ago.
Two long countertops run along the walls, filling up the northeastern and southwestern sides of the area, with a large workbench occupying the middle of the room. The work surfaces are covered in quills, broken glass, small metal components, and dusty alchemical supplies, with numerous religious symbols laying amid them.
None of the equipment looks like it has been used in years.
You also see another niche in the wall, across the room, in the southeast corner, holding another faintly glowing, gold-capped prism.
There are a number of doors leaving this room, beyond the one you enter through, including a large double door in the middle of the southern wall, and smaller doors on the north wall and by the prism on the eastern side of the room.
Male Human Alchemist (chirurgeon, wasteland blightbreaker) 5 | HP 38/38 | AC 21/14/17 | F+7 R+9 W+2 | Init +6 | Perc +7 | Bombs: 10/10 | Active Conditions: None
Alessio peruses the alchemical supplies. Let's see if they left anything of value here.
LG M Dwarf Paladin (Tortured Crusader) 5 - HP 44/44 - AC 22, T 11, FF 21 - F+8*, R+4*, W+8* - Init: +1 - Perc +10 (DV, SC), SM +10 - Smite Evil 2/2 - Lay on Hands (2d6+4) 4/4 - Divind Bond 1/1 - Lesser Restoration 1/1 - Liberating Command 1/1 - Active Conditions: Nil
Alrik also scans the room as he enters looking for anything out of place or of use. He also passes his crystal to Alessio as his colleague is much more likely to be able to use it effectively.
Male Human Alchemist (chirurgeon, wasteland blightbreaker) 5 | HP 38/38 | AC 21/14/17 | F+7 R+9 W+2 | Init +6 | Perc +7 | Bombs: 10/10 | Active Conditions: None
Sangkip, you will recognize some as Iomadae, definitely, in a few variations... but there are others as well, not as easily identified... though those with some knowledge of religion will recognize most as a variety of good-aligned deities... most with anti-demonic sentiments.
Alessio, the prisms are just under a foot long, and maybe half that in width. So carrying two might prove tricky, if you want to do anything else with your hands.
Male Human Alchemist (chirurgeon, wasteland blightbreaker) 5 | HP 38/38 | AC 21/14/17 | F+7 R+9 W+2 | Init +6 | Perc +7 | Bombs: 10/10 | Active Conditions: None
I'll empty my spring-loaded wrist sheathes and load them in there.
The second prism was at half power (after the door mixup), just like the 2nd. So would take a total of 4 castings to charge it to full as well. This 3rd one is the same, half charged.
Male Human Alchemist (chirurgeon, wasteland blightbreaker) 5 | HP 38/38 | AC 21/14/17 | F+7 R+9 W+2 | Init +6 | Perc +7 | Bombs: 10/10 | Active Conditions: None
Alessio will places the 2 prisms he holds in his Handy Haversack for now.
Human Warpriest 6| AC 21/23 T 13 FF 18/20 | HP 46/46 | F +7 (8) R +5 (6) W +9 (10) | Init +2 | Perc +3| Blessings 6/6 Fervor 6/6 Sacred Weapon 6/6 Channel Energy 3/3| Lvl 2: 4/4; Lvl 1: 5/5 Orizon: 5/at will
Huni stays alert as Alessio and Kara go over the contents of the room.
“Floria Avernathus” | Female NG Medium Human Psychic 7 | HP 33/48 33 | AC 16 / 11 T / 15FF | CMD +1 CMD 12 | F +8, R +5, W +6 | Init +8 | Perc +6 SM +3 |Speed 30ft | Spells 1st:0/8, 2nd: 2/8; 3rd 2/5 Detect Thoughts SLA 1/1; CI bolts 36; Phrenic Pool 0/5; Dark Half 2/8 Reach Rod 3/3| Active Conditions: Ant Haul, 3 negative levels, investigative mind
Floria joins the others, continues her custom of scanning each room with detect magic to see if it illuminates anything, then helps pick through the equipment, mainly to see if she can discern what it was used for.
Alessio peruses the contents of the workbench and tables, noting all sorts of items he is familiar with, and a few he is not. Nothing immediately useful however... at least until Floria points out a few items with noticeable magical auras.
Three of them are vials of liquid. One, Kara's little scorpion familiar, Aragostina, finds buried under some tipped over and broken vials and tubing. Alessio will recognize the broken equipment as once used for distillation... though what exactly was being distilled is no longer obvious. The other two vials, are tube shapped, and inside a small wooden box that was tipped over on the floor. There appears to have been far more of the small tubes in the box at one point, but nothing but broken glass remains of the rest.
The most interesting of the items Floria notices with her divination is one of the pieces of alchemical equipment that Alessio did not immediately recognize. It consists of a large metal reservoir, with two funnel-like spouts on top, and a simple spigot at the bottom.
While they search the room, Kara goes straight to the prism on the far wall... using her wand to charge up that one as well, before removing it from its niche.
As soon as she does so, all the faint bluish light flowing along the pipes on the walls, extinguish.
Human Warpriest 6| AC 21/23 T 13 FF 18/20 | HP 46/46 | F +7 (8) R +5 (6) W +9 (10) | Init +2 | Perc +3| Blessings 6/6 Fervor 6/6 Sacred Weapon 6/6 Channel Energy 3/3| Lvl 2: 4/4; Lvl 1: 5/5 Orizon: 5/at will
"We might not want to remove the prisms until we're sure we need to move on. I suspect that they power the defenses and, once they're down, the demons will swarm."
“Floria Avernathus” | Female NG Medium Human Psychic 7 | HP 33/48 33 | AC 16 / 11 T / 15FF | CMD +1 CMD 12 | F +8, R +5, W +6 | Init +8 | Perc +6 SM +3 |Speed 30ft | Spells 1st:0/8, 2nd: 2/8; 3rd 2/5 Detect Thoughts SLA 1/1; CI bolts 36; Phrenic Pool 0/5; Dark Half 2/8 Reach Rod 3/3| Active Conditions: Ant Haul, 3 negative levels, investigative mind
With the illumination dropping, Floria will draw her metamagic rod and cast light on it, using it as an expensive torch to help illuminate things. She keeps it even after Kara replaces the prism in case future rooms are dark, or their guardians more fully corrupted.
She inspects the magical items to try to discern their magical properties.
was already dim illumination throughout =) Just with some cool lighting effects in the walls.
Huni's warning about removing the third prism comes a little too slowly to stop Kara from doing so. When she tries to put it back, it clicks into the sconce easily enough, and the lights running through the pipes sputter to life a little... but nowhere near where they were before she removed it... despite it being fully charged now.
Floria is able to identify the items found on the workbenches without too much difficulty. The two tubes that survived the breakage when the box fell, both appear to confer elemental resistance to fire. The third vial, buried under the broken distiller a healing draught.
2 potions of resistance fire, and 1 potion of cure moderate wounds
The strange devices with the twin funnels, does indeed appear to be a magical alchemical device. This one intended for combining alchemical items.
Male Human Alchemist (chirurgeon, wasteland blightbreaker) 5 | HP 38/38 | AC 21/14/17 | F+7 R+9 W+2 | Init +6 | Perc +7 | Bombs: 10/10 | Active Conditions: None
well hello hybridization funnel. Takes 10 minutes so I'll wait. but i'll probably do a Holy Water/Acid combo.
Human Warpriest 6| AC 21/23 T 13 FF 18/20 | HP 46/46 | F +7 (8) R +5 (6) W +9 (10) | Init +2 | Perc +3| Blessings 6/6 Fervor 6/6 Sacred Weapon 6/6 Channel Energy 3/3| Lvl 2: 4/4; Lvl 1: 5/5 Orizon: 5/at will
“Floria Avernathus” | Female NG Medium Human Psychic 7 | HP 33/48 33 | AC 16 / 11 T / 15FF | CMD +1 CMD 12 | F +8, R +5, W +6 | Init +8 | Perc +6 SM +3 |Speed 30ft | Spells 1st:0/8, 2nd: 2/8; 3rd 2/5 Detect Thoughts SLA 1/1; CI bolts 36; Phrenic Pool 0/5; Dark Half 2/8 Reach Rod 3/3| Active Conditions: Ant Haul, 3 negative levels, investigative mind
"Of course"
Floria takes the opportunity to stand by each of the doors leading out and cast her awareness beyond to see if she can reach any other thinking minds.
Using the detect thoughts SLA at one door, keeping it up and then moving to the other. I don't know if it will penetrate these doors, but it's a 60 ft. cone if so, DC 13 will save to resist
Floria, moves over to the door along the north wall, concentrating for a few seconds, then goes across to the double doors on the southern side, and repeats the process.
With a slight shake of her head, she then moves over to the smaller door to the east, and concentrates in that direction.
She stands there a moment longer than the others, then suddenly screams... stumbling backwards, before throwing herself into a fetal position in a corner, her hands curled into claws, as she tears at her hair and face, screaming incoherantly.
Floria:
Ah man... never thought this would come up =)
Only the western door, that you entered through is made of metal, so you suspect your divination magic will be able to penetrate the others... enough to tell if there's someone... or something... on the other side.
You detect nothing at all through the northern door... not entirely unexpected. You have higher hopes for the double doors to the south, but again, there is nothing there that your senses can pick up.
You then try the final door, along the eastern side of the room. As your mind reaches out, your efforts seem to finally pay off! A flicker of a mind, like a light in the darkness. There is definitely something there! In fact, a moment of concentrating later, you think you can sense two somethings!
But that's where it all goes wrong.
As you reach out trying to touch those two minds, attempting to ascertain what they might be... you suddenly feel them pulling back.
Not pulling away... pulling back. They physically latch on to your senses, and drag you in! Before you can react, you find your mind nearly overcome, with what can only be described as madness! Chaos and insanity claw at your brain like ravenous beasts trying to consume it entirely.
To make matters worse, you feel a sense of exhilaration deep inside and, without warning, the dark side of your subconscious... the side you usually try so hard to keep in check... is suddenly trying to claw its way out to meet them!
It is all you can do to finally pull yourself free, but you feel your mind tear and fracture at the effort.
Even free of it, you're not sure about anything anymore. You think you are still in the strange laboratory room, and you think those are the others coming towards your... but at the same time, maybe not. Try as you might, you can't seem to focus your head to sort anything out, much less what just happened!
Then, to your horror, you start to realize that maybe you're not in control anymore...
Floria will take 2d4 ⇒ (3, 4) = 7 points of wisdom damage from contacting the two minds (Taking you to a 1!!!) Am not sure entirely how one would RP a 1 wisdom... but I assume you're ability to distinguish meaning to physical senses goes right out the window, much less making any sort of rational decision.
For now, for RP reasons, I'm going to say your Dark Side takes over, trying to become the dominant force. It will not suck any duration off your daily usage (though if we get into an actual combat situation, that will change), nor can you attempt to turn it off. The rational you is now trapped in your own head, a hapless spectator, while an even more chaotic version of the irrational you has gained full control.
As you rush over to help, and to find out what happened, she lifts her head, and snarls, and you find yourselves staring at her dark side.
You've seen this side of Floria before... but for some reason, this feels different.
“Floria Avernathus” | Female NG Medium Human Psychic 7 | HP 24/4833 | AC 16 / 11 T / 15FF | CMD +1 CMD 12 | F +8, R +5, W +8 | Init +8 | Perc +6 SM +3 |Speed 30ft | Spells 1st:0/8, 2nd: 3/8; 3rd 2/5 Detect Thoughts SLA 1/1; CI bolts 36; Phrenic Pool 0/5; Dark Half 2/8 Reach Rod 3/3| Active Conditions: Ant Haul, Dark Half, DR5/magic, Fly, 3 Negative Levels, investigative mind
Whoops!
Floria looks up at Kara's approach and snarls as she scrabbles further against the wall. She's babbling incoherently, here eyes unable to focus on anything for longer than a second, bloody saliva bubbling on her lips from where she must have bitten her tongue.
"GET BACK!"
For a second her ire turns toward Kara, but she just as quickly forgets, ranting about past slights, and darker things. You can make out the words Baphomet and The maze, but not in any coherent sentences.
LG M Dwarf Paladin (Tortured Crusader) 5 - HP 44/44 - AC 22, T 11, FF 21 - F+8*, R+4*, W+8* - Init: +1 - Perc +10 (DV, SC), SM +10 - Smite Evil 2/2 - Lay on Hands (2d6+4) 4/4 - Divind Bond 1/1 - Lesser Restoration 1/1 - Liberating Command 1/1 - Active Conditions: Nil
Alrik moves towards Kara slightly - offering himself up as the nearest target should she turn (even more) violent. His attention moves between Floria and Kara - hoping the Wizard has some sort of explanation for the screaming and strange behaviour.
As far as you could tell, Floria was using her usual ability to detect thoughts. You've seen her do it a few times.
What happened from there, you've no idea! No other spells seemed to have occurred.
Kara, you are not so far removed from events that you don't remember your trip below Thurl's lodge not too long ago... through the destroyed labyrinth ... and the far more dangerous trip back out, with the minotaur ghost. The shrine at the center of that maze was to Baphomet, and Alrik remembers that the holy symbol, the ghost still bore, was to that same god.
Floria always seemed a little skittish in that place... whether her current reactions are just more of the same... or related to her current condition is unclear.
A heal check might give you something... a knowledge check might too... though not necessarily the same something.
Human Warpriest 6| AC 21/23 T 13 FF 18/20 | HP 46/46 | F +7 (8) R +5 (6) W +9 (10) | Init +2 | Perc +3| Blessings 6/6 Fervor 6/6 Sacred Weapon 6/6 Channel Energy 3/3| Lvl 2: 4/4; Lvl 1: 5/5 Orizon: 5/at will
Heal:1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26
Huni goes over to try and calm Floria down, to get her to come out of her debased state.
Diplomacy1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20
"Sounds to me like she touched the mind of something she shouldn'tve. I'm not exactly a demonologist, but there are some spooky things out in the black that shouldn't be read."
Huni will not be sure about why Floria has reverted to her darker side... though he remember that aspect of her coming to the fore when under sudden duress in the past. What he can tell, is that she appears to have taken some serious damage to her cognitive abilities.
ie: she's taken ability score damage (in this case to wisdom)!
Sangkip's comment rings eerily possible... though what she might have touched to put her in her current condition, no one is quite sure.
Male Human Alchemist (chirurgeon, wasteland blightbreaker) 5 | HP 38/38 | AC 21/14/17 | F+7 R+9 W+2 | Init +6 | Perc +7 | Bombs: 10/10 | Active Conditions: None
Alessio extends a hand to Floria. You are among friends, dear. We've been through too much for you to push us away. How can I help?
“Floria Avernathus” | Female NG Medium Human Psychic 7 | HP 24/4833 | AC 16 / 11 T / 15FF | CMD +1 CMD 12 | F +8, R +5, W +8 | Init +8 | Perc +6 SM +3 |Speed 30ft | Spells 1st:0/8, 2nd: 3/8; 3rd 2/5 Detect Thoughts SLA 1/1; CI bolts 36; Phrenic Pool 0/5; Dark Half 2/8 Reach Rod 3/3| Active Conditions: Ant Haul, Dark Half, DR5/magic, Fly, 3 Negative Levels, investigative mind
Floria looks confused and angry. Her ability to pay attention to her surroundings or to connect other's actions to their motives is so low that she is unlikely to be much help at the minute.
I deeply regret not having bought an emergency potion of lesser restoration!
Human Warpriest 6| AC 21/23 T 13 FF 18/20 | HP 46/46 | F +7 (8) R +5 (6) W +9 (10) | Init +2 | Perc +3| Blessings 6/6 Fervor 6/6 Sacred Weapon 6/6 Channel Energy 3/3| Lvl 2: 4/4; Lvl 1: 5/5 Orizon: 5/at will
Male Human Alchemist (chirurgeon, wasteland blightbreaker) 5 | HP 38/38 | AC 21/14/17 | F+7 R+9 W+2 | Init +6 | Perc +7 | Bombs: 10/10 | Active Conditions: None
“Floria Avernathus” | Female NG Medium Human Psychic 7 | HP 33/48 33 | AC 16 / 11 T / 15FF | CMD +1 CMD 12 | F +8, R +5, W +6 | Init +8 | Perc +6 SM +3 |Speed 30ft | Spells 1st:0/8, 2nd: 2/8; 3rd 2/5 Detect Thoughts SLA 1/1; CI bolts 36; Phrenic Pool 0/5; Dark Half 2/8 Reach Rod 3/3| Active Conditions: Ant Haul, 3 negative levels, investigative mind
After Alrik's spell, Floria's dark side fades and she looks merely confused, but Huni's healing energy washes away the remains of the damage and she looks more or less herself again, though gravely concerned.
Thank you both!
She squeezes both Alrik and Huni on the arm and thanks them earnestly.
"Thank you, both of you. I thought myself lost there. How long was I out?"
She looks around to assess how much time has passed, before slowly turning to face the eastern door as if expecting to see a portal to the abyss right here.
"There are two ... minds beyond that door, beyond anything I have ever experienced. They tore at my soul"
"Could they be the weapon? Perhaps if we try the other doors first we might learn about them? I'm not in a rush to confront whatever did that"
