Main Party[Gauronne casts Probe at a cost of 5MP]
Gauronne learns that the panel appears to function as a safe; likely behind it there is some great treasure or other. The panel is obviously enchanted: there's no possible way that an axe can cut through it, for example; it has also been insulated from all intrusive magical attacks. The chamber behind is lined with a magical "skin" that prevents magicians from probing its contents.
From his own knowledge, he can tell that the items that fit into the slots are not only very particular in their design, but will be of high quality: nobody goes to the effort to store valuables in this manner only to find out that a piece has degraded with time, or accidental or deliberate damage.
Catching up to the rest of the party after their random walking, they discover a small silver shield (combat level 7) mounted on the wall. It is highly polished, despite having been trapped in a dungeon for goodness knows how long, and is of a high quality.
It strikes several party members that it is odd that lycanthropes would be converging around something of silver, but it does seem as though the shield has not been tampered with in some time.
New Party
Meanwhile the other two adventurers head down a short corridor; after which they are confronted with a T-junction, with paths running east, west, and south (along which they had just walked). Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your point of view) they did not encounter any wild beasties that could have done them damage.
[LED as micro-light source: Yes, that's fine.]
[Aside: The map for the next level is set; I'm just adding in some interesting places to visit. I'm just wondering what preference people had towards that - are battles more interesting, or are puzzles, or what. I'm going to put anything I can think of in, I'm just curious as to what might be people's preferences in the matter so I can work out percentages of "challenges".]
[Aside 2: I do realize combat encounters have been a little bit too easy - with one possible exception - but when I organized this map I wasn't really expecting there to be as many players as there are now. I'll try to fix it for the rest of this map, although obviously I don't want to give too much away at this stage. And it's definitely in mind when I work on the next level and beyond...]
given the 'random walking' I'm going to assume Kit is in the party that finds the shield]
ReplyDeleteKit eyes teh silver shield with interest, and pokes at it a little. "You think this thing goes into one of those slots? .. ... Dont think it's mounted on a pressure switch, do you?" Kit tries to figure out the answer to his own question, through a Probe spell. [I think that's the one] If nothing indicates danger from it's removal from the wall, he will take the shield.
Ferron looks both left a right along the hallway before turning to Reginald "What direction shall we go in? Both seem essentially the same..though maybe we should go left (west), away from the...whatever...that killed the centaurs. Sound good?"
ReplyDeleteOOC: I recommend that you emphasize puzzles more than combat. Combat works best when all the players are there and responding in realtime -- but you can't count on realtime responses for a blog-based game like this one.
ReplyDeleteGauronne will join Kit in casting Probe at that funky shield, with emphasis on what might happen if the shield is disturbed in any way. What if the thing is the "stopper" on a "bottle" of lycanthropic nastiness, and if we remove the shield, we end up getting 'thrope all over us? Better safe than were-rat, eh?
"Left is as good as Right, or up or down, for that matter," Reginald replied, "and it's not as though the relative west is more or less foreboding than the relative east." Reginald stepped carefully around the corner, focussing on his hearing now that the light from the entrance was growing weaker.
ReplyDeletePausing he thinks to light the lantern hanging from his bag, but reaches for his LED instead. "This should do for now..." Lighting it, "I'll break out the lantern when the darkness threatens to consume us, me thinks."
Reginald and Ferron turn down the left path
[ooc: I know sensing traps and danger and whatnot is a passive skill, but to what extend do I receive warning? Reginald will be maintaining cautious in all new areas, btw. Vigilantly :P]
William looks to the other two and waits to see what Kit and Garounne's spell scry about it.
ReplyDeleteYes...i think that can be one of the panle pieces Kit...*say from Kit's back, because it looks like he don't know she was following him*
ReplyDeleteOOC: I'm indifferent as to more or less fighting encounters, would be a little easier if there was a way we could organize the actions of people when attacking. Or, if it where possible, having the monster respond in posts on the blog. So you could post monster reactions when a significant number of posts have been made.
ReplyDeleteAnd I suppose if we're doing more puzzle based stuff, there should also be more traps, and possibly more harmful traps.
Other then that, I'm enjoying this path we're taking so far.
James stands at he back of the group, looking over to the shield. "Are we going to take it? Looks like it could unlock whatever that wall picture was." He opens his binder, and looks over at Sarah. "Umm... could I see your map? I figured I should make some extras. In case we loose that one." He sketches out the shield in the mean time, not really having much else to do.