Part 1 - Chapel
The party walks down the corridor, following the map back to the "chapel". The large cold corpse of an ogre lays outside in the alleyway, and the party tiptoe around this to go back into the bare, stone-walled room with the cross-based floorplan and the faux golden candle holders on the walls..With a few matches, lighters, and casts of Light and Fire Bolt, the party members move from wick to wick, lighting the candles in their auric holders. Each lit candle causes the gold coloring to flicker and glimmer.
William and Musashidan, being the fastest in the party, run back to see if lighting the candles has had any effect on the magically darkened area that lies to the east of their current position. When they arrive there, they discover that, despite the idea being a clever one, it hasn't proven to be effective in the goal to provide light to the darkened area.
Upon reading from his sonilumigraph stone's record of the notes from the others about the events regarding the issue - having been hit unconscious means that his own memories of that time are... sketchy - Gauronne is able to piece together a theory: it seems likely that the original candle flames were some kind of magic illusion, which transformed the ogre-guarded cell into a priest-maintained underground chapel. When he cast Siphon, the illusion-providing light was destroyed, and thus the ogre attacked.
Since the candles seem to have had no effect on the magical darkness, the party continue onwards...
Part 2 - Puzzle Panel
Arriving at the wooden panel with the empty sockets, the party inserts the small silver shield into the cavity relating to the sun. Grag scuttles out of reach, not wanting to be near the silver. The shield slides into place. And then, without warning...Nothing happens. No satisfying click of correct placement. No chorus of angels. No warm glow surrounding the party members.
Just a silver shield in a cavity in a wall. If a shield could be smug, this one would be: it's sitting in a nice comfortable cavity having a strange assortment of creatures looking at it. If it could talk, it would probably be mocking you: it's a small silver shield, so it probably has a superiority complex; "I mean, those wooden and iron shields are just so... ugh... common... *mumble*gold*mutter*lumen*grumble*shield enhancement drugs*cough*"
Checking back to see if this has illuminated the dark area, the party are somewhat disappointed. It appears that not even DOOM music will illuminate this area!
[NB: the silver shield is still in the wall, so if anyone wants to get it back again, just let me know. Also let me know if anyone wanted to cast "Probe" at the root; it was suggested, but nobody said they'd try it.]
Part 3 - The Magic Wall, or "Button, Button"
You arrive in front of the magic wall with the grating that supposedly functions as some kind of magic door.First, you try the brute force method, which means exhausting all possible cases of... um... bashing down the door. However, this doesn't prove to effective, despite the particular enthusiasm of Grar.
Trying a more subtle approach, Mephis flies up through the grating, and over to the other side, after one of the party members lobs a light source over.
As the little yellow bird wriggles its way through the bars, it begins to shine and glow, as if it were made of gold. As it drops to the floor, the brightness becomes almost too glaring. And then, with a poofing sound, Mephis - normal, human Mephis - is standing on the other side. After taking a little time to get used to his old body - after all, it has been a while - he presses the button, and the grated wall begins to crack and break away from the rest of the wall, creating a proper doorway. The wall, grating and all, then slides down into the ground, opening up to allow the adventurers a chance to go into whatever lies beyond.
[If anyone wants to cause a temporal anomaly and alter their actions to one of the events, they can do so, just let me know.]
[Also, here's an awesome little treat for us. A big heap of thanks to Blueballs for this; any character inaccuracy is due to me not describing things properly in 1-2 sentences, and if you have a problem with it, I will transform you into Rhett Butler*.]
[From top left: Garg (with Mephis sitting on his head), The Archivist, Sarah, Gauronne, Musashidan, Leremy and Kit. I didn't have a physical description for Ferron, Reginald and James to give him; Blueballs has offered to do them too, so if you could either add to your reply, PM or IM me a quick sentence or two describing the physical description of your character.][*Unfortunately people might not get the reference, so here's the appropriate line of dialogue as explanation: "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." - Rhett Butler (Clark Gable), Gone With The Wind.]
Archie is undaunted by the failure of his plans, as failure is his ever-present companion and they have had many wonderful years together.
ReplyDeleteWhen Mephis turns suddenly and unexpectedly human, he shakes his hand vigorously as he introduces himself. He then kicks Garg gently as the rat continues to assault the wall with his teeth.
Striding boldly into the new corridor, totally undaunted by the concepts of 'danger' and 'potential death', he pauses only to walk back, prise Garg gently from the wall, and drag him along by the tail. Wererats tend to have trouble moving on from one plan to the next.
Reginald watches in anticipation with each new essai only to find that, at every turn, nothing happens. At all. No traps. No surprises. No anything magical or wonderful at all. Hey, he thinks to himself, at least none of us died or got even a minor injury. Hopping on the optimism train with Archie, he continues with the party to the magic door.
ReplyDeleteAs Mephis squirms through the bars to the other side, Reginald watches the transformation undergo with fervent intensity. He has seen several transformed people and things, but rarely has he had the chance to actually observe the transformation process. Judging it to be, in his thoughts, Super neat, he begins to well with excitement, assuming a high likelihood of his transforming into something while venturing forth in this dungeon.
Alight with positivity that James was right in having Mephis go through the bars, and that his own premonition of Mephis' usefulness was correct, Reginald follows suit in stepping into the corridor directly after Archie and Garg.
Mephis stands clad in... well... nothing, but Reginald notices only as he breaches the threshold.Who was it that has his clothes again? he begins to wonder to himself, but reaches out for his hand anyway.
"Hello there. Having met you previously, but only as a canary, I feel it is imperative that we exercise a reintroduction. I am Reginald Falstaff, and it is a pleasure to meet your human self, naked or no."
While he thought the last human bit was unnecessary, he felt it appropriate enough a circumstance to bond over rather than let be and let go. And also, cordiality in the face of something so 'improper' had enough humour in it to make him smile in and out. Shaking hands, he proceeds onwards as if nothing was out of the ordinary and men standing naked in dungeons is as plain as the light of day.
Reginald adds over his shoulder as he walks away, "Also I believe that someone here has your clothes and equipment, and that we will all do our best not to embarrass you by staring."