Blarkon Dragonslayer
First Post
Ummmm....ow
-
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The Realms of Enlightenment: The Grey Companions
- Thread starter Jon Potter
- Start date
Jon Potter
First Post
Well, in the group's defense, this portion actually IS a test of their Search skill... And Disable Device... And Open Locks...
The premise behind this entire scenario is that it was created to make sure that whoever got the Keys would be worthy of them (hence the character tests) and have the ability to keep them out of evil hands (hence the combat and this trap-heavy portion).
And as a note of trivia, this section is based largely on the thieves' guild bit in the original Dungeons & Dragons movie (yes, that one. I amped up the lethality of the traps, but if you haven't repressed the memory of that movie, you might see the bones of the original peaking through here and there.
The premise behind this entire scenario is that it was created to make sure that whoever got the Keys would be worthy of them (hence the character tests) and have the ability to keep them out of evil hands (hence the combat and this trap-heavy portion).
And as a note of trivia, this section is based largely on the thieves' guild bit in the original Dungeons & Dragons movie (yes, that one. I amped up the lethality of the traps, but if you haven't repressed the memory of that movie, you might see the bones of the original peaking through here and there.
Jon Potter
First Post
Pyske said:Wow. Interesting. See, your players know you better than I do. I would totally have failed that test by virtue of thinking too hard.
I have some great players, don't get me wrong, but they didn't necessarily get it either until after the fact. I don't fully remember now, but I don't think anyone was reading my mind during this portion of the dungeon delve. Well, maybe... they did circumvent the green slime... but I'm getting ahead of myself.
Hairy Minotaur
Explorer
How do Frenzick, Hubris, and Cyr get along? Is it open warfare or is it more "stay out of my way" ?
Jon Potter
First Post
Hairy Minotaur said:
Well, Cyr and Frenzick are brothers. There's friendly competition between them, but nothing openly hostile. Frenzick, while not an evil god, also shares much common ground with Hubris. And followers of Cyr can also find glory under the banner of Hubris.
Hubris tolerates both of these "lesser gods". His' long-time adversary, however, is Ibrahil, despite their overlap in interests. Hubris is all about war for war's sake, victory at any cost, no holds barred. Ibrahil is concerned with honorable combat and personal excellence in battle. They don't see eye-to-eye.
Cyr also has a rivalry with Ibrahil, but it is usually limited to structured encounters in the fighting pits during Kakadiador, the festival honoring Cyr. Many champions of Ibrahil see the festival as a good chance to show off their abilities.
Thanks for asking, HM.
Would there be any interest from readers to have me post the bits that came before? They're already compiled into Word documents and it wouldn't be a great hardship for me to post them to EN World in a separate thread.
Last edited:
Jon Potter
First Post
[Realms #384] We Were Dumb
"Oi, what be that?" Karak grunted his ruddy face gone suddenly pale. He started clanking back down the narrow hallway shouting, "Are you all alright? Aryemac? Shamalin? Ixin?"
Morier and Huzair followed on his heels.
Shamalin was once again slapped roughly on the face by the irony which had begun to plague her life since she'd been discovered by The Order. That her life had been saved by something that had once belonged to the monster who had tortured her almost to death was very nearly perverse. It was also true. If she hadn't been wearing the heavy plate armor, she'd have probably been squashed into paste by the crushing trap. As it was, her left arm was twisted horribly - sprained if not broken by the impact - and her head was ringing from the rough contact with the wall, but her internal organs remained in place, protected by the thickness of her enemy's former-breastplate.
She heard a series of racheting clicks as the far wall pulled back, releasing her and her companions. Somehow the pain was greater with the pressure removed and her knees unhinged, dropping her to the tiled floor with a cry. Beside her, both Ayremac and Ixin fell bonelessly to the ground. Neither of them were conscious, she saw and she'd reached for her holy symbol and was muttering a curative before she fully realized what she was doing.
Karak clattered around the corner, arriving at the doorway to the tiled room in time to glimpse turning gears and an enormous steel piston pull the right-most wall back into position. Then it snapped back into place and only the muffled clicking of the clockwork hinted that there was anything off about the wall at all. He saw only the merest fraction of the mechanism powering the trap, but he could tell that it was a marvel of engineering nonetheless.
A deadly marvel.
He stood in the doorway as Morier and Huzair piled up behind him.
"Mind yer step, lads," he warned them. "There may be more traps about."
"Shamalin? Are you-" Morier started to ask, but a fierce look from the priestess silenced him. And anyway, the way her left arm hung limp at her side and blood trickled from beneath her helm down across her face answered his unspoken question.
"We were dumb!" she croaked as she moved from the stirring Ixin to Ayremac. The holy warrior was in bad shape; one of his ivory pinions was mangled horribly and wet with crimson. Shamalin's expression was pained as she went about the motions of healing him.
"Huzair," Karak grunted over his shoulder, "I suggest ye check for traps before enterin'." The mage snorted and pushed his way passed Morier to stand beside the dwarf.
"By the gods, you read my mind," the wizard sneared. "You are smarter than you look, Karak." He whacked the dwarf on the back of the helmet, which hurt Huzair's hand more than it did Karak's head. As he massaged his knuckles, he listened to the whirring and clicking behind the wall to his right; the trap was resetting, but it wasn't ready to activate again just yet.
"Watch and learn," Huzair said and proceded carefully forward into the room.
"Thank you," Ayremac said to Shamalin with a perfunctory nod as he flexed his newly restored wing. He turned away from the cleric and stood, saying, "I believe Umba can do the rest." He called on the goddess of the dead to grant him the power of Sacred Healing and felt positive energy suffuse his body.
"You guys should get out of here before the trap resets," Huzair said, cocking a thumb over his shoulder. To Ixin he said, "Ixin, gethrisjosvith ghoros irthos-korth." She nodded.
"Aurthon!" she agreed, hustling out of the chamber with the wall still clicking beside her. "Yarchonis marnuade duil." Ayremac followed her and after Shamalin had healed her own twisted arm she did the same, leaving Huzair alone in the room. He went to work at once and had just discovered a tile on the leftmost wall that had a hole in the center of the carved pupil that looked an awful lot like a keyhole.
"I found some-" he began to say but Karak cut him off with a startled bark of alarm.
"The wall's stopped its clickin', lad," he said. "I'm thinkin' the trap's reset."
Huzair wasted no time. He sprinkled the pinch of Pixie Dust he had palmed before entering the room and immediately Levitated off the floor. "Pull me out!" he called, reaching out toward the doorway. Karak extended his banner pole and dragged the weightless mage out of the chamber.
"What now?" Morier asked. "Go back to the chests?"
"I found what looks like a keyhole in there," Huzair said. "With some luck, I should be able to pick it without triggering the-"
He stopped as an ominous vibration moved through the floor followed by a thunderous KA-CHONK!!! and a tremendous rush of air as the wall slammed outward passed the doorway again. The wall remained in place for a few seconds and then the clicking began again and it started to reset. This time they all had a chance to stare in awe at the complex clockwork mechanism driving the crushing wall trap as it retracted the stone bludgeon back into position.
"Oi, what be that?" Karak grunted his ruddy face gone suddenly pale. He started clanking back down the narrow hallway shouting, "Are you all alright? Aryemac? Shamalin? Ixin?"
Morier and Huzair followed on his heels.
Shamalin was once again slapped roughly on the face by the irony which had begun to plague her life since she'd been discovered by The Order. That her life had been saved by something that had once belonged to the monster who had tortured her almost to death was very nearly perverse. It was also true. If she hadn't been wearing the heavy plate armor, she'd have probably been squashed into paste by the crushing trap. As it was, her left arm was twisted horribly - sprained if not broken by the impact - and her head was ringing from the rough contact with the wall, but her internal organs remained in place, protected by the thickness of her enemy's former-breastplate.
She heard a series of racheting clicks as the far wall pulled back, releasing her and her companions. Somehow the pain was greater with the pressure removed and her knees unhinged, dropping her to the tiled floor with a cry. Beside her, both Ayremac and Ixin fell bonelessly to the ground. Neither of them were conscious, she saw and she'd reached for her holy symbol and was muttering a curative before she fully realized what she was doing.
Karak clattered around the corner, arriving at the doorway to the tiled room in time to glimpse turning gears and an enormous steel piston pull the right-most wall back into position. Then it snapped back into place and only the muffled clicking of the clockwork hinted that there was anything off about the wall at all. He saw only the merest fraction of the mechanism powering the trap, but he could tell that it was a marvel of engineering nonetheless.
A deadly marvel.
He stood in the doorway as Morier and Huzair piled up behind him.
"Mind yer step, lads," he warned them. "There may be more traps about."
"Shamalin? Are you-" Morier started to ask, but a fierce look from the priestess silenced him. And anyway, the way her left arm hung limp at her side and blood trickled from beneath her helm down across her face answered his unspoken question.
"We were dumb!" she croaked as she moved from the stirring Ixin to Ayremac. The holy warrior was in bad shape; one of his ivory pinions was mangled horribly and wet with crimson. Shamalin's expression was pained as she went about the motions of healing him.
"Huzair," Karak grunted over his shoulder, "I suggest ye check for traps before enterin'." The mage snorted and pushed his way passed Morier to stand beside the dwarf.
"By the gods, you read my mind," the wizard sneared. "You are smarter than you look, Karak." He whacked the dwarf on the back of the helmet, which hurt Huzair's hand more than it did Karak's head. As he massaged his knuckles, he listened to the whirring and clicking behind the wall to his right; the trap was resetting, but it wasn't ready to activate again just yet.
"Watch and learn," Huzair said and proceded carefully forward into the room.
"Thank you," Ayremac said to Shamalin with a perfunctory nod as he flexed his newly restored wing. He turned away from the cleric and stood, saying, "I believe Umba can do the rest." He called on the goddess of the dead to grant him the power of Sacred Healing and felt positive energy suffuse his body.
"You guys should get out of here before the trap resets," Huzair said, cocking a thumb over his shoulder. To Ixin he said, "Ixin, gethrisjosvith ghoros irthos-korth." She nodded.
"Aurthon!" she agreed, hustling out of the chamber with the wall still clicking beside her. "Yarchonis marnuade duil." Ayremac followed her and after Shamalin had healed her own twisted arm she did the same, leaving Huzair alone in the room. He went to work at once and had just discovered a tile on the leftmost wall that had a hole in the center of the carved pupil that looked an awful lot like a keyhole.
"I found some-" he began to say but Karak cut him off with a startled bark of alarm.
"The wall's stopped its clickin', lad," he said. "I'm thinkin' the trap's reset."
Huzair wasted no time. He sprinkled the pinch of Pixie Dust he had palmed before entering the room and immediately Levitated off the floor. "Pull me out!" he called, reaching out toward the doorway. Karak extended his banner pole and dragged the weightless mage out of the chamber.
"What now?" Morier asked. "Go back to the chests?"
"I found what looks like a keyhole in there," Huzair said. "With some luck, I should be able to pick it without triggering the-"
He stopped as an ominous vibration moved through the floor followed by a thunderous KA-CHONK!!! and a tremendous rush of air as the wall slammed outward passed the doorway again. The wall remained in place for a few seconds and then the clicking began again and it started to reset. This time they all had a chance to stare in awe at the complex clockwork mechanism driving the crushing wall trap as it retracted the stone bludgeon back into position.
The Dark Elf
First Post
Another contry heard from...
I very much enjoyed catching up on all of the "crap-on-Morier" banter on the boards that I've missed over the last month.
You are so right though... he does have a glass jaw. I believe that I described him recently as "all-or-nothing". It's a little like watching a Rocky movie with Morier... watch him get the snot kicked out of him for 10 rounds and then he snaps out of it for one round and does 40+ points of damage.
He would be so dead but not for Shamalin's constant healing.
I very much enjoyed catching up on all of the "crap-on-Morier" banter on the boards that I've missed over the last month.
You are so right though... he does have a glass jaw. I believe that I described him recently as "all-or-nothing". It's a little like watching a Rocky movie with Morier... watch him get the snot kicked out of him for 10 rounds and then he snaps out of it for one round and does 40+ points of damage.
He would be so dead but not for Shamalin's constant healing.
Jon Potter
First Post
[Realms #385] Chests of Three; Let Them Be
"I wonder what set the trap off the second time," Ayremac muttered, as he listened to the mechanism whir and click in the wall. "Is it just going to continually go now?"
"This trap be mechanical nae magical so there be some sort o' the laws o' Mechanus at work 'ere," Karak said dragging his fingers thoughtfully through his beard as he pondered. "Which means that once the trap be triggered it'll continue to go off. Which means there has to be a trigger to stop it." Huzair shook his head.
"Laws of Mechanus?" he snorted. "You have no idea what you are talking about, do you?" Karak's lip curled back from his teeth and his face darkened.
"I di'nae hear you offering a better suggestion," the dwarf growled and Huzair waved off the comment.
"This trap is a masterfully crafted instrument. I do not yet know all the details of its workings and I do not like to speculate blindly on something about which I know little," the mage lied although only Ayremac suspected that he was telling less than the absolute truth. "However, if you are asking me to guess, I really think the key is in those chests. I am further willing to bet that they are trapped as well. And I have NO clue how to open them."
"It would seem that opening the chests is an intregal part of disabling this trap," Ayremac speculated. "Or stopping the mechanism behind the wall somehow. But I am no expert in any of these areas so I will defer to others' judgment." Huzair clapped him on the back, mindful of the spiked armor, and grinned.
"No worries, fly boy," he smirked. "I AM an expert on these things. And I have a few ideas on how to proceed. But they all depend on everyone's willingness to rest prior to proceeding on."
"Resting just before the air test, if possible, was my plan," Karak said. "But maybe to be safe it should be before."
"I vote rest and heal," Morier said. "I'm still suffering weakness from that poisoned blade trap."
Shamalin cast him a brief but thoroughly annoyed look before admitting, "I have to rest anyway, in order to get most of my major spells back."
"You read my mind, priestess," Huzair winked. "Before I do anything more, I want to make sure we will have time to study spells to reload." He looked at Ixin and asked, "Ssifisv usv ssifoshisv?"
"Ssifisv," she chose with a wary nod. "Ssifisv vur ocuir faessi-irthos marnuade epanoshomis diabolich." Huzair nodded back and turned to the others.
"It is decided then; we rest," he said. "But first, let me check out a few things."
Huzair's plan was simple. He left Shamalin and Ixin standing outside the tiled room with instructions to count the intervals between the trap triggering and resetting. Then he went back to the chests with Ayremac, Morier and Karak in tow and cast Detect Magic. Unsurprisingly, all three chests radiated magic although he was a trifle surprised by the strength and school of magic that they radiated: moderate Illusion. He had expected Abjuraton or perhaps Evocation. Illusion was unexpected.
"Is there some sort of clue as to which chest we should open?" Ayremac asked after Huzair had explained what he'd seen.
"If they even are chests," Karak grumbled. "With magic foolin' the eye, they could be anythin'!"
Morier studied the chests thoughtfully and then asked, "Isn't there an Illusion spell called Leomand's Trap? It makes things look trapped that really aren't."
"It is pronounced LeoMUND'S Trap. I guess you were busy playing swordsman during that lesson on the archmagi," Huzair quipped. "And anyway, Leomund's Trap is a spell of the second circle; that is pretty weak magic as far as it goes. This spell here is fourth circle magic at a minimum."
"Was there anything that made one chest look any different then the others?" Ayremac asked and Huzair shook his head.
"If they even are chests," Karak said again.
"Let's just call them chests until we know otherwise," Ayremac suggested and the dwarf snorted in displeasure. "My thought is that two chests are trapped and one has the key to open the eye door. I could be wrong, but that is just my guess."
"Makes as much sense as any other theory we have," Morier admitted.
"I propose that we carefully search the areas around the chests, and then approach them cautiously looking for any differences," the holy warrior explained. "If there are any differences among them, perhaps one is a clue as to which chest to open."
"Just don't touch anything, fly boy," Huzair grinned. "You didn't do so well in the other room." Unperturbed, Ayremac blinked.
"Neither did you, as I recall," he replied, but Huzair ignored the comment.
"Karak, go fetch Shamalin," the wizard said instead. "I'll need her for this next bit."
They searched, finding nothing. When Karak returned a moment later it was with both Shamalin and Ixin and a report that the trap had not gone off at all while the males examined the chests. The report was unnecessary of course, since the trap itself made quite a lot of noise when it triggered, but Shamalin was trying to shake the feeling that Huzair had intentionally separated the two females from the group by assigning herself and Ixin an essentially pointless task. So she made the report and listened sullenly as the wizard explained the situation with the chests.
"So can you Dispel it?" he asked, lighting up a cigar as he asked.
"I can but try," she replied and tightly clutched her holy symbol.
The spell that masked the chests was a potent one, but Shamalin had been pondering her connection with the White Lady ever since surviving the crushing wall trap and that contemplation seemed to have strengthened her magical might. The Dispel Magic cut easily through the carefully arranged strands of Illusion magic and at once the appearance of brass-bound wooden chests melted away.
What had been concealed behind that Illusion were still chests - or at least something chest-like. They each had the same dimensions as a chest, but appeared to be composed entirely of something a wet and poisonous emerald color.
"What be tha'?" Karak asked as they crowded around the nearest jade block.
"It looks like glass," Huzair offered as he studied it from various angles. He exhaled a cloud of smoke that traced the hard edges of the container. "Even the hinges and the lock mechanism. But what's inside it?"
Ofttimes, Morier bristled when Huzair mocked his knowledge of arcana or the planes. But the truth of the matter was that Huzair HAD applied himself more stridently to those pursuits when they were both learning the basics of magic while Morier had... diversified. He'd spent a great deal of time with Arwold Wyverneye and with the druid, Malcolm, learning to spot and identify certain natural hazards.
Like the one that was pressed horribly against the apparent glass sides of this chest.
"It's green slime," Morier said and took a wary step backward.
"I wonder what set the trap off the second time," Ayremac muttered, as he listened to the mechanism whir and click in the wall. "Is it just going to continually go now?"
"This trap be mechanical nae magical so there be some sort o' the laws o' Mechanus at work 'ere," Karak said dragging his fingers thoughtfully through his beard as he pondered. "Which means that once the trap be triggered it'll continue to go off. Which means there has to be a trigger to stop it." Huzair shook his head.
"Laws of Mechanus?" he snorted. "You have no idea what you are talking about, do you?" Karak's lip curled back from his teeth and his face darkened.
"I di'nae hear you offering a better suggestion," the dwarf growled and Huzair waved off the comment.
"This trap is a masterfully crafted instrument. I do not yet know all the details of its workings and I do not like to speculate blindly on something about which I know little," the mage lied although only Ayremac suspected that he was telling less than the absolute truth. "However, if you are asking me to guess, I really think the key is in those chests. I am further willing to bet that they are trapped as well. And I have NO clue how to open them."
"It would seem that opening the chests is an intregal part of disabling this trap," Ayremac speculated. "Or stopping the mechanism behind the wall somehow. But I am no expert in any of these areas so I will defer to others' judgment." Huzair clapped him on the back, mindful of the spiked armor, and grinned.
"No worries, fly boy," he smirked. "I AM an expert on these things. And I have a few ideas on how to proceed. But they all depend on everyone's willingness to rest prior to proceeding on."
"Resting just before the air test, if possible, was my plan," Karak said. "But maybe to be safe it should be before."
"I vote rest and heal," Morier said. "I'm still suffering weakness from that poisoned blade trap."
Shamalin cast him a brief but thoroughly annoyed look before admitting, "I have to rest anyway, in order to get most of my major spells back."
"You read my mind, priestess," Huzair winked. "Before I do anything more, I want to make sure we will have time to study spells to reload." He looked at Ixin and asked, "Ssifisv usv ssifoshisv?"
"Ssifisv," she chose with a wary nod. "Ssifisv vur ocuir faessi-irthos marnuade epanoshomis diabolich." Huzair nodded back and turned to the others.
"It is decided then; we rest," he said. "But first, let me check out a few things."
Huzair's plan was simple. He left Shamalin and Ixin standing outside the tiled room with instructions to count the intervals between the trap triggering and resetting. Then he went back to the chests with Ayremac, Morier and Karak in tow and cast Detect Magic. Unsurprisingly, all three chests radiated magic although he was a trifle surprised by the strength and school of magic that they radiated: moderate Illusion. He had expected Abjuraton or perhaps Evocation. Illusion was unexpected.
"Is there some sort of clue as to which chest we should open?" Ayremac asked after Huzair had explained what he'd seen.
"If they even are chests," Karak grumbled. "With magic foolin' the eye, they could be anythin'!"
Morier studied the chests thoughtfully and then asked, "Isn't there an Illusion spell called Leomand's Trap? It makes things look trapped that really aren't."
"It is pronounced LeoMUND'S Trap. I guess you were busy playing swordsman during that lesson on the archmagi," Huzair quipped. "And anyway, Leomund's Trap is a spell of the second circle; that is pretty weak magic as far as it goes. This spell here is fourth circle magic at a minimum."
"Was there anything that made one chest look any different then the others?" Ayremac asked and Huzair shook his head.
"If they even are chests," Karak said again.
"Let's just call them chests until we know otherwise," Ayremac suggested and the dwarf snorted in displeasure. "My thought is that two chests are trapped and one has the key to open the eye door. I could be wrong, but that is just my guess."
"Makes as much sense as any other theory we have," Morier admitted.
"I propose that we carefully search the areas around the chests, and then approach them cautiously looking for any differences," the holy warrior explained. "If there are any differences among them, perhaps one is a clue as to which chest to open."
"Just don't touch anything, fly boy," Huzair grinned. "You didn't do so well in the other room." Unperturbed, Ayremac blinked.
"Neither did you, as I recall," he replied, but Huzair ignored the comment.
"Karak, go fetch Shamalin," the wizard said instead. "I'll need her for this next bit."
They searched, finding nothing. When Karak returned a moment later it was with both Shamalin and Ixin and a report that the trap had not gone off at all while the males examined the chests. The report was unnecessary of course, since the trap itself made quite a lot of noise when it triggered, but Shamalin was trying to shake the feeling that Huzair had intentionally separated the two females from the group by assigning herself and Ixin an essentially pointless task. So she made the report and listened sullenly as the wizard explained the situation with the chests.
"So can you Dispel it?" he asked, lighting up a cigar as he asked.
"I can but try," she replied and tightly clutched her holy symbol.
The spell that masked the chests was a potent one, but Shamalin had been pondering her connection with the White Lady ever since surviving the crushing wall trap and that contemplation seemed to have strengthened her magical might. The Dispel Magic cut easily through the carefully arranged strands of Illusion magic and at once the appearance of brass-bound wooden chests melted away.
What had been concealed behind that Illusion were still chests - or at least something chest-like. They each had the same dimensions as a chest, but appeared to be composed entirely of something a wet and poisonous emerald color.
"What be tha'?" Karak asked as they crowded around the nearest jade block.
"It looks like glass," Huzair offered as he studied it from various angles. He exhaled a cloud of smoke that traced the hard edges of the container. "Even the hinges and the lock mechanism. But what's inside it?"
Ofttimes, Morier bristled when Huzair mocked his knowledge of arcana or the planes. But the truth of the matter was that Huzair HAD applied himself more stridently to those pursuits when they were both learning the basics of magic while Morier had... diversified. He'd spent a great deal of time with Arwold Wyverneye and with the druid, Malcolm, learning to spot and identify certain natural hazards.
Like the one that was pressed horribly against the apparent glass sides of this chest.
"It's green slime," Morier said and took a wary step backward.
