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Post by red_kangaroo on Jun 24, 2020 15:21:53 GMT
Are there any side passages? Cracks or rubble that could be dug out? Or do we have to backtrack?
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Post by Spwack on Jun 25, 2020 1:24:52 GMT
If there was the slightest crevice or crack, you can be pretty sure that Seymour would've found it and split this blockage right open.
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Post by wingilbear on Jun 25, 2020 2:35:21 GMT
grab some leaves for the road head back down to the side passage and listen and smell and tremorsense at the passages
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Post by Spwack on Jun 25, 2020 3:34:27 GMT
Leaves: grabbed.
The left passage is silent, while the right one somehow seems to have a tiny rhythmic pulse coming through. It's either very quiet, or very loud and far away.
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Post by red_kangaroo on Jun 25, 2020 8:28:52 GMT
I'd like to rest for a while, as I'm still at 0 hp.
Then I'll creep down the right passage, carefully peeking behind each corner.
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Post by Spwack on Jun 26, 2020 2:12:02 GMT
You creep down the tunnel carefully, it seems to have been eroded by water long ago rather than be carved by hand. You eventually arrive at a massive... door? Maybe not a door, but definitely a bulwark of stone, no, metal, no, some kind of strange fusion between the two. It shimmers at the edges of your vision, and you can see there are ten fresh-looking bloody handprints arranged in a circular pattern along it.
What do you do?
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Post by red_kangaroo on Jun 26, 2020 5:28:02 GMT
Is there any doorknob or a keyhole? Any suspicious seams on the floor, walls or ceiling, where a giant serrated blade might come out and cut me in half?
If there's nothing, I will knock on the door with my walking cane.
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Post by Spwack on Jun 26, 2020 6:51:50 GMT
No doorknob or keyhole, no suspicious seams, it's a different material but it seems almost fused with the rock. When you tap on it, there's no sound at all.
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Post by red_kangaroo on Jun 26, 2020 13:45:27 GMT
Is the pulsing sound stronger here? Does is seem to be coming from behind the door?
I go back to the intersection and try to left path instead.
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Post by wingilbear on Jun 26, 2020 15:02:41 GMT
quite the unique door there. Yes lets check out the other passage.
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Post by red_kangaroo on Jun 26, 2020 15:23:35 GMT
(BTW, if you have any idea where some things are in this dungeon, we can do a more planned exploration than just running around and poking stuff. )
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Post by Spwack on Jun 27, 2020 3:38:56 GMT
The sound is definitely coming from behind the door. You head back, leap across the gap created by Saint Seymour, and heading down the left passage. You can feel a faint breeze coming from straight ahead, which is weird...
A moment later, You come out onto a little ledge on the face of an immense cliff. Looking down, you can see other similar ledges jutting out of the rock, and the same looking up and across. It would be difficult, but you can climb in pretty much any direction you like, given time, patience and a bit of risk.
You can hear gentle flapping sounds coming from somewhere nearby, and looking up, you can see a very faint purple glow. Coming from the top of the cliff, maybe?
What do you do?
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Post by wingilbear on Jun 27, 2020 7:55:40 GMT
So I know where we are now roughly speaking and actually have a good inkling of lots of stuff in the dungeon. What are you looking for anything in particular? Eventually I wish to visit the tomb of Andsaca to reclaim their skull but that can wait. I believe the flapping to be the sound of flying books (they do attack because we use light and they associate it with fire which they fear although Phykalla made a tentative alliance with them so who knows.) I believe the purple in the distance to be a portal perhaps but that is more unsure. Up would be nice but falling is a deadly hobby.
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Post by red_kangaroo on Jun 27, 2020 9:25:32 GMT
I don't really have a concrete goal right now, so I'm happy to follow.
Yeah, let's go up.
I have a nightingale chain, so we could tether ourselves with it and belay each other while climbing. Maybe your mage hand could also help by keeping hold of the chain in case we fumble?
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Post by wingilbear on Jun 28, 2020 4:43:17 GMT
Righto We are climbing up
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Post by Spwack on Jun 28, 2020 10:02:06 GMT
Between the chain and Terrance you are pretty well equipped for this kind of climbing. Once you get to each ledge, you have time to catch your breath and prepare for the next rung up. You can indeed hear flapping sounds and catch a glimpse of papery wings, let's see if any of them bother you, or perhaps there are others clambering around this strange terrain: cISWPx7j1d61d6
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Post by Spwack on Jun 28, 2020 10:04:44 GMT
Do you want to try and hail the book-bats? Otherwise, they seem content to watch, scattered about on the various ledges. You can see another tiny tunnel as a darker splotch, over along the face of the cliff. Do you want to press on up towards the roof, or cut across and see what is inside?
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Post by red_kangaroo on Jun 28, 2020 13:53:54 GMT
I'd try going up first.
We can try hailing the books, but maybe once we are standing on a solid ground, not now.
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Post by Spwack on Jun 29, 2020 1:26:59 GMT
With a final few minutes of climbing and clambering, you collapse at the top of the cliff. The gentle breeze is fickle, and tugs at your boots as if urging you to roll closer to the edge. Turning your head, you can see the source of the purple light: an immense arch of black stone, flawless but for the number 0-0-3 etched deeply into the keystone, and the little mechanism like a combination lock down on the right-hand side. The purple light is wavering and insubstantial, and somehow seems to merely enhance the shadows rather than banish the dark.
What do you do?
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Post by red_kangaroo on Jun 29, 2020 5:58:11 GMT
I examine the combination lock. Can it be freely turned? It probably also has three digits, right? What number is it set to, now? I try to turn it to some other number, say 6-6-6, to see if the purple light changes, or anything else happens.
No other exits?
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Post by Spwack on Jun 29, 2020 7:43:22 GMT
No other exits, except for back down. You can easily spin the wheels, clicking from zero to nine. When you adjust the controls, the purple light shrinks to a single tiny speck of light, once you stop moving it, the point of light gradually unfolds back to filling the entirety of the portal. At 6-6-6, the purple sheen looks exactly the same as it did before.
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Post by red_kangaroo on Jun 29, 2020 9:21:19 GMT
"I would assume this is some sort of a teleportation network that might let us get around this dungeon quickly. Do you wish to investigate other parts of this gorge, or shall we see where it can take us?"
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Post by wingilbear on Jun 29, 2020 12:46:13 GMT
There are devices such as this throughout the dungeon. If you dial the proper device then you may travel freely between them. If you dial incorrectly you will die. We can use this for quick transport back to somewhere near cell block 0. Lets investigate this area a little more though. It seems the only other way to go currently is investigating that side tunnel.
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Post by red_kangaroo on Jun 29, 2020 13:45:23 GMT
"It is nice to have with me someone knowledgeable in the ways of not dying."
We climb back down to the tiny tunnel.
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Post by Spwack on Jun 30, 2020 2:39:38 GMT
Over the ledge and down and across you go. A few paperbacks flutter inquisitively around your head as you descend, before vanishing off into the recesses of the chamber. The ledges are quite easy to walk along, and you hazard a few careful jumps along the way. The little cave is quite cramped, rather short, and ends in a steep drop. Looking down, you see quite a weird sight: a whole lot of bones and shining coins, apparently floating in mid-air. What do you do?
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Post by red_kangaroo on Jun 30, 2020 6:11:02 GMT
I drop a rock down there to see what happens.
How far down are the coins? Will the chain reach there? One of us could climb down while the other waits to haul him back if necessary.
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Post by Spwack on Jun 30, 2020 6:26:58 GMT
It lands with an audible "plob", and slowly floats down. It's clearly landed in some kind of fluid, but the ripples produced by the falling stone don't seem to be subsiding. If anything... they are getting larger. What do you do?
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Post by red_kangaroo on Jun 30, 2020 8:51:15 GMT
I try to turn my mind blast against the liquid, in case it's sentient:
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Otherwise if Blerble remains up here, I will absail down the shaft, but stay a bit above the liquid. First I'll try dipping a javelin into it. If nothing stranger happens, I'll dip one of my ration-lizards into it. If still nothing, I'll try to use my javelins to fish out some of the coins.1d4
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Post by Spwack on Jun 30, 2020 9:33:31 GMT
What does it look like when you use your mind-blast? What does it feel like for you? The substance doesn't seem to respond, however, while you are abseiling down, it raises a half-seen psuedopod up towards you! What do you do?
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Post by red_kangaroo on Jun 30, 2020 18:35:23 GMT
It doesn't look like much, I scrunch my face and stare at the target. However, it feels as if a red-hot blade got stabbed and twisted in my brain. It took me a long time to learn how to use it without a seizure, and I guess it does just the same thing to my victims, except they don't have my training. I have grown longer hair to conceal the large scar where the doctors cut into my skull, poked my brain and doused it in chemicals, yet it still itches.
I stop my descent and take out the bottle of orange gunk. I try to get a few droplets on the pseudopod, to see if it will react. If it doesn't retract, I will swing at it with the burning torch.
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