"If I may be so bold, I would suggest that we try the other doors we found before venturing further. I have a suspicion that it will be a shrine to the winged deity."
Layjiani nods and leads the way there, checking for dangers along the way. As she travels her fingers occasionally unconsciously caress the new ring on her finger.
With one last look behind her, Gashelle brings up the rear.
Aude will look at what is in the niches with interest and then will shakes herself 'No , it would be stealing ...' . she will take then her accustomed place in the marching order , ie in the center and as near as Holgur"s as she can
You make your way back across the halls to the door Eltariel suggested you investigate.
A set of slick, metal double doors bar your passage.Their silvered surface has been polished to a high sheen, creating a near perfect mirror interrupted only by the doors’ massive hinges and large ring handles.
Layjiani inspects the door and declares it trap free though there is a nagging doubt in her mind as to whether she did all she could there.Ensuring that all her comrades are ready she pulls on the door ring.The massive doors swing smoothly open,revealing a brightly lit corridor leading more than 50 feet further to the west. You can just make out a large glimmering structure, shining brightly in a nimbus of blinding light, at the center of an intersection halfway down the corridor.
Suddenly, the dazzling light winks out, leaving motes of color swimming in your vision as your eyes adjust to the swift change.
Layjiani
Eltariel scans for magic, of course!
On the way over to the mirrored doors, Gashelle will take the time to make sure that there aren't any nasty surprises in any of the areas we've already visited.
Channeling healing
Shall we enter?
"Aye, but would one of you care to light the way? I will need both hands if anything needs to be cut in twain."
An eight-foot tall crystal prism is fixed to a rotating platform in the middle of the intersection.The four-sided crystal is affixed to a stone base from which protrude large metal handles. The illumination you’re using is caught by facets of the crystal prism, making its interior faintly dance in a delicate display of light.
An eight-foot tall crystal prism is fixed to a rotating platform in the middle of the intersection.The four-sided crystal is affixed to a stone base from which protrude large metal handles. The illumination you’re using is caught by facets of the crystal prism, making its interior faintly dance in a delicate display of light.
Eltariel takes the ever-burning torch absently, concentrating on her detect magic.
Fascinated, like a moth to a flame Layjiani is drawn closer. Stopping before actually touching anything she inspects the wondrous display closely as her sharp mind tries to unravel its mysteries. As she does so she murmurs just barely loud enough for the others to hear
"Oh my, what do this be?"
Perception:, Knowledge(dungeon):
Knowledge(local):, Knowledge(nature):,
Intelligence:
Layjiani inspects the crystal from every angle..it would seem that it can be turned on its platform.The prism-lens has three slightly concave (curved inward) surfaces and one slightly convex (curved outward) surface. The convex surface now faces to the north.
looking down the corridors it would appear that corridor ends after twentyfive feet. A two-foot thick, rough sheet of crystal blocks your view of the far wall. Its multifaceted surface is diffusing the light that seems to be emanating from a palm-sized stone set into the far wall, making it glow ethereally. You can see that the wall at the end of the corridor is decorated with some kind of mural, but the crystal blocks your view.
Layjiani's best guess it that those lights are, in someway, designed to focus through the prism crystal
"Maybe we should investigate the crystal sheets" suggests Avinar.
Gashelle presumes it would let the light from ... whatever's back there shine on the central prism. Which might trigger something good, or else, might put the party in a death-trap.
She turns to Etariel. "Do you have any means of seeing what's behind there, before we disturb the crystal sheets?"
"Sadly not," Eltariel shakes her head. "However, I do believe that it may be possible to manipulate the lenses from a safe distance. Logically we should turn the convex surface to face the doorway and the concave surfaces to face each crystal sheet."
Then let's do so.
You push on the bars ..they are very stiff until suddenly the door by which you entered closes and the turntable moves freely almost causing you to fall...However turning the lens has no effect as the light coming through the crystals is too diffuse
"Hmm. What if we position the crystal and then open the door?" Eltariel suggests, "the ambient light my be sufficient."
Is there any other light source in here?
Still examining the central contraption, Gashelle turns her head and asks, "Are you opposed to moving the crystal sheets aside and letting the room function as intended?"
"Not at all, if you think that possible."
Unless there's an objection, we try to draw the curtains aside.
not curtains..solid sheets of crystal 2 feet thick and filling the entire passageway..you'll have to bash through them to reach the ends of the corridors...which colour do you chose to start with red, blue or yellow?
Could we make them invisible? I'd hate to start shattering things. It seems both disrespectful and irrevokable.
"This will be problematic ... let's see if we can adjust the light-levels first."
After thinking for some more, Layjiani says, "Perhaps if we do be the light source?" and she takes out her still glowing pebble and places it behind the convex crystal lens.
You spend some time attempting to make the lens work..but to no avail..the crystal sheets scatter the light from the end of the corridors too much and none of your light sources seem to make any impression...the doors from the inside look like the walls
Investigating the western alcove..Just below the light stone, you can make out a darkish lump. It seems to be blue, but that could be the light diffused through the sheet.Layjiani points out that the lump is being held by two small figurines..
Can we open the door from the inside?
What if we estingish our light and cast light on the 'lump' ?
The door opens and closes easily...experimantation reveals that the turntable only turns easily when the doors are closed..the doors remain open for about a minute then close without being touched.
You continue to experiment with Aude's idea..it doesn't work any better than anything you have done previously
Do any of us recognize the figurines?
Eltariel examines the lenses and the rotation mechanism very carefully, then the crystal sheets. She is trying to work out where light is meant to come from or go too ...
After a decent interval of jiggering and poking about, Gashelle proposes: "There are other areas to explore today. Let us set this room aside until the morrow, when we can make the crystal sheets invisible and understand better what this place is all about."
Eltariel is unable to identify the figures from any of her studies..her investigations leave her convinced that the lights from the corridors must be focussed in some way through the lens
"Yes, that may be wisest, Gashelle ... I just wish I could see how this light is meant to shine ..."
Eltariel returns to look at the lights in the corridor again - can they be moved or rearranged?
Leaving the puzzling room behind you move towards the south via the side passage from the main hall..the doors are all devoid of traps and you pass easily into a south running hallway.
This cavernous hall is similar in construction to the first one. In this hall, the slabs depict the turtle- men reading from books and giving lectures on scholarly discourse. In one large scene spread out over several slabs, a pile of books is strewn before a large pillar that seems to be giving off light. Three of the turtle-men are holding hands as they kneel before the pillar, and a fourth is touching it, pontificating to his fellows. You can faintly hear a repetitive sound: a soft whirring noise followed by a sharp crack, as if of metal on stone.
The rhythmic sounds get louder as you advance. Eventually(at the point marked CC on the map), you see a strange sight: a device that looks like a wheelbarrow with a stubby arm on either side. One metal arm is capped with a broad, flat shovel like instrument, and the other seems to be capped with a broom. Before your eyes, the device moves slowly in a small arc, slamming itself into the stone wall, then it backs up and repeats the process. You notice that one of its three wheels has fallen off. Centuries-old filth and junk fill the wheelbarrow’s storage area.
Gashelle is inclined to clean and fix the device.
While before she would have hardly noticed or cared, Layjiani find herself disturbed by the chaos and disorder of the little scene. If the strange device does not seem to be hostile in any way, the scout will first move forward and bend on one knee to get closer to the device. Then looking to her fellows to see if any disagree with her, if there is no objections, she will attempt to use her new ability to mend the broken animated object. Perception:
Eltariel quits the room reluctantly, and when we enter the long gallery, she hangs back and stares at the north wall, working out the distances and then examining it closely. What is the lighting in here?
The lighting in here seems to be some form of continual light..assume that unless I tell you otherwise the same lighting conditions persist throughout this complex
Gashelle and Layjiani examine the device..it's easily fixed if they wish to do so..either a mending or a disable device(to ENABLE the device) will do the trick