Chapter One(ish) - Lost in the darkness

[lab mix]

Marsha stops suddenly and silently. Without moving her feet, she motions to her companions and points at the tile she's standing on. She slowly begins to lift her foot from the tile...

[Rusty Tincanne]

Been waiting on Tamerlaine to post since I don't want to just push the story ahead without Atticus having a chance to interact with the environment. Alas.

Fletch
Fletch is interested in searching the room more, but as he sees the figures in the distance his hackles raise. Yet another way to die down here, he thinks. As Marsha enters the tunnel, he uses the torchlight to look for any kind of signs of traps - odd colored or raised stone, signs that the tunnel walls or ceilings have moved, bones or creatures... If he sees none, he will whisper to Sister Marsha, Marsha, the torchlight will give us away before we get there. Let me sneak down without the light and see what is ahead.


sneaking: Dex 14 [1d20] = 16

Let me know if I need to do another roll for finding any traps, please.

[cmrsalmon]

You cannot inspect that far into the passage, Fletch, from where you stand. The torchlight does seem to catch something metallic, between the large stone blocks, where you would expect mortar to be.

Something glints in the small gap between each of the blocks that make up the two-tile by five-tile walls of the passage. There doesn't appear to be anything remarkable about the passage otherwise.

As you carefully lift your foot, Marsha, the floor tile slides up, into its initial position. You hear a "thud", followed by a "click", and then the sound of a ratchet-like mechanism somewhere nearby.

Thin panels of tarnished metal emerge from between the first and second blocks along the passage, slowly coming together as though they were a pair of sliding doors...

[Rusty Tincanne]

How exciting!!! And I am going on the assumption that Fletch does not know what is happening with Marsha.

Are we safe from the doors at this point (not getting crushed)?
Are we on the same side of the door or did Fletch go beyond them?
The metal that Fletch saw, is that what is moving now? So he saw metal doors?
Can Marsha try to push down on the stone again? If that opens the doors, maybe we can fill something with water or use a part of the statue to weigh it down permanently.
How fast are the doors moving? Is there enough time for all of us to dodge through them or for Fletch to try and spike them open? (with dex checks, of course) I am in favor of this solution, but I don't want to just jump through if we are to be separated or if other doors will bar us in.

Fletch
That's not so good! What happened!? He looks around the room again for a sign of something happening. Fletch is particularly hoping that the statue is in the same place, doing the same nothing that it was doing before...

[Tamerlaine]

Atticus would like to give a terse shout and quickly slip through the sliding panels before they close if possible, If not, then he would like to see Marsha step on the stone again. Is there anything Atticus can glean with his mind with what he has observed?

I'm afraid in real life, my INT is nowhere as high as my character's.

[lab mix]

Seeing the panels closing, Marsha attempts to move through them (along with Atticus, and re-stepping on the block in the process). Whichever side of the doors she ends up on, she will place her mace in between the sliding panels (length-wise, if possible) in an attempt to keep a small opening available.

I realize that using my weapon for this may be really foolish...

[Rusty Tincanne]

I'll wait for answers to my questions before posting an action for Fletch. I was reading it like there are two doors sliding shut - meaning we would be stuck between two metal doors, not on one side or the other.

[cmrsalmon]

Based on Fletch's observations about the metal glinting between the wall stones, Atticus, you reason that the five large stone tiles that make up the path along this passage are likely to be connected to a mechanism that triggers doors between them. Determining how this is accomplished would require further study.

Between the first tile and the second, a metal "door" is sliding from either side of the passage, so that the two sheets of metal would appear to meet in the middle, cutting off the first tile from the four beyond it.

Nothing else appears to be happening further along the passage, nor in the room behind you. The distant torch in the room beyond the passage does appear to be moving.

The doors are closing together at a very leisurely pace. All three of you could easily step through and onto the second tile if you wish.

The doors continue to close whether you step on the first tile again or not. At this pace, you reckon you have about a half a minute before they slide shut. Marsha, you reckon you could attempt to wedge the doors easily enough. Without testing, it is impossible to know how much force the doors are capable of exerting.

Those who do step onto the first tile, including Marsha, hear echoing in your minds the twin voices, male and female.

"IS YOUR SOUL READY?"

[Rusty Tincanne]

Thanks for the clarification.

Fletch
Seeing Atticus and Marsha push through the leisurely-narrowing portal, Fletch is spurred to action. Don't matter if I'm ready... I'm sure as shit not getting left behind! He blushes as he realizes that it was not Atticus and Marsha that had spoken to him. He continuously scans the walls, floor and ceiling as they move from tile to tile, looking for traps, spiky bits, etc, leaving him no time to look ahead at the torch in the distance.

[lab mix]

Marsha steps beyond the first pair of sliding panels. Before placing her mace between them, she turns and listens to find out if anything similar happens with the next tile...

[Rusty Tincanne]

Marsha stops suddenly and silently. Without moving her feet, she motions to her companions and points at the tile she's standing on. She slowly begins to lift her foot from the tile...

I was just rereading the thread so fast and realized I had missed this post. We could have spiked or weighed the pressure plate down. Whoops.

[lab mix]

Marsha stops suddenly and silently. Without moving her feet, she motions to her companions and points at the tile she's standing on. She slowly begins to lift her foot from the tile...

I was just rereading the thread so fast and realized I had missed this post. We could have spiked or weighed the pressure plate down. Whoops.

May have been past the point of helping anyway, since Marsha was already lifting her foot. Could work on some of the other tiles though...!

[cmrsalmon]

As you step through the closing doors, onto the next tile, a rush of heat catches your breath. The small space is, momentarily, filled with roaring blue flame.

Could I get a WIS check from everyone who steps onto the second tile? If anyone hangs back, you do not see the flames, only the startled reactions of those who have stepped forward.

The flames are gone as swiftly as they came.

Fletch, distracted as you are by the burst, your keen eye spots the glint of metal moving between the wall stones of this section of the passage and the next. Perhaps another set of doors?

The twin voices ring out again in the minds of those who have stepped onto the second tile.

"IS YOUR MIND READY?"

[Rusty Tincanne]

WIS 8 vs [1d20] = 11

Hey! Whoah! Fletch is glad to have inherited his captains leather armor. Let's keep going before another set of doors closes us in to roast.

[Tamerlaine]

WIS 11 vs [1d20] = 9

[lab mix]

Apologies for the delay...!

Blue flame (vs. WIS 10) [1d20] = 11

"Another set?" Marsha asks. "Should we attempt to block them all? Who knows if there's another way out..."

[cmrsalmon]

Any half-competent student could have managed a similar trick. To your mind, Atticus, the petty illusion of the blue flame is remarkable only for its apparent longevity. Who can say how many centuries this magic has lain dormant?

Your companions, however, have not been so insightful.

Fletch and Marsha, you feel your flesh sear as the furious flame rises. Miraculously, your skin looks as though it is unharmed, but the blistering pain is hard to ignore.

A clang of metal announces the first set of doors closing on the haft of Marsha's mace. A strained, rhythmic thudding sound emerges from the walls. A gap no wider than the handle of the weapon remains.

A second set of doors emerges from the walls between the second and third tiles. There remains time to step through, but the doors appear to be closing at a faster rate.

Could I get an INT check from anyone who steps onto the third tile?

[lab mix]

Well, thinks Marsha as she pulls on her mace, that may have been a mistake...

She notices the pace of the second set of doors.

"I'm going through!" she announces as she steps onto the third tile.

Stepped on tile... (vs. INT 6) [1d20] = 14

[Rusty Tincanne]

Of course I will be jinxing myself with this statement, but one of the reason's this game appeals to me is that we need to roll under. My abysmal luck with dice seems to work in my favor. My second INT test passed when I really shouldn't be passing these tests...
INT 6 vs [1d20] = 4

Fletch
Thoroughly unnerved by the not-burns, Fletch uses his earlier observations to keep moving. Right ahead of you Sister! Though distracted by the pain on his skin, he attempts to keep an eye on the spaces in the walls. Gotta get the hell outta this place... is the simple mantra running through his mind.

[Tamerlaine]

INT 17 vs [1d20] = 13

Witnessing their apparent pain at such a base illusion, Atticus hisses at them as he quickly follows, "Mind your wits! The blue flame was but an an illusion, a trick to fool the mind in believing it was real."