The Romance of the River Kingdoms

[sblock=OOC]
Neurotic has it right - it's more like a blank picture frame than a slot or anything like that. Annika, in fact, has seen such a thing before. It's a shempo door, like the one that opened the shrine/spirit gate on Ropoko Island. In order to get the door to open, you need to inscribe a letter or glyph in the frame. What that letter or glyph might be in this case is not obvious.

None of you have sufficient Knowledge (arcana) to know more about shempo doors. Winter might. Jar'Thol might, or the Vashti might. Can they be opened by other means? Can you discover what symbol to use if you don't know it? What happens if you inscribe the wrong symbol? Are they always associated with routes to the Spirit Realm?

You don't know.
[/sblock]

(OOC - The confusion is partly me being intentionally obscure, and partly my faulty memory. I realized that the door didn't have a traditional keyhole...Annika was referring to the 'picture frame' as being a keyhole in the sense that it opens a door when exposed to the right doohickey, not being literal. However, I thought I remembered the other door opening when some object was pressed against it...I forgot you had to write on it. So that changes things, clearly.

Fortunately, Annika's not much smarter than I am about such things, so it's IC for her not to be exactly right about how this works. )

The pale girl comes around and immediately springs into a defensive posture, hissing at Ape and Winter who stand nearby. Her sister, however, puts a comforting hand on her arm and makes a whimpering sound. This calsm her a bit, but she stills remains on alert.

Ape tries to convey the question of "door" and "key" but has no success in making the girls understand. It is pretty obvious that they have nothing on them that might be of use, as they have, well, nothing on.

Searching the cave, Annika and Mystal find various items woven into the "nest", some of them precious stones and a few small, finely carved items that might be talismans or charms of some kind.

[SBLOCK=Found Items]
Various yen coins of still legal tender.
A small piece of green jade.
A rose quartz crystal.
A piece of sky's tear crystal.
A small piece of green jade carved into the shape of a cat.
A small piece of rosewood carved into the shape of a rat.
A piece of tortoiseshell with a protective prayer written on it.
A small piece of bone carved into the shape of a fat man holding a bunch of keys.
[/sblock]

Would fat man with the keys fit into empty square?

OOC: Not particularly. All of the figurines are tiny things, about one inch high. The square is about 12 inches per side, and there's no obvious hole or niche where a figurine would fit.

Didn't original group get some favor of the spirits?

AC 15 (T15, FF13), HP 29/39, F +5,R+3,W+6 (Spells: 0:3/5, 1:3/4, 2:2/3)
Ape Form (AC: 17, Touch: 17, Flat Footed: 13)

With a short prayer, Ape's eyes turn emerald and he looks again at the items and the door.

[sblock=ooc]
Casting detect magic. First looking at the items, then on the 'door'.

Spells (CL: 3, DC: 13+spell level)
5/Day Level 0: Cure Minor Wounds, Detect Magic, Light, Purify Food and Drink, Read Magic
4/Day Level 1: Produce Lightning, Shillelagh, Summon Nature's Ally I.
3/Day Level 2: Summon Nature's Ally II

Baboon Traits:
AC: 17, Touch: 17, Flat Footed: 13
Fort: +6
Refl: +5
Will: +6
Move: 40', cimb 40'
Init: +4
Listen/Spot: +9
[/sblock]

[SBLOCK=Growling Ape]
The following items radiate magic:

The door - moderate abjuration.
The jade cat - faint aura, undetermined.
The wooden rat - faint transmutation. It holds a spell that enhances stealth (cleave to the shadows).
The tortoiseshell - faint abjuration. Holds protection from spirits.
The bone watchman - faint transmutation. Holds knock.

All four talismans are single use. I've gone with the Pathfinder method of being able to identify items with a Spellcraft check using Detect Magic, as it saves a lot of extra messing about. Ape rolled quite well.

Edit: The talismans act in the same fashion as scrolls. If you don't have that particular spell in your list, you need a Use Magic Device check to activate one.
[/sblock]

AC 15 (T15, FF13), HP 29/39, F +5,R+3,W+6 (Spells: 0:3/5, 1:3/4, 2:2/3)
Ape Form (AC: 17, Touch: 17, Flat Footed: 13)

"The door is magical, as is the cat, but I cannot identify it's magic. The rat is a stealth charm, the shell protects from spirits and the wachtman opens, at least normal, doors. They are one use and I fear you have to be a mage or priest to activate them." Ape explains, pointing on one item after another.

[sblock=ooc]
Are cleave to the shadows and protection from spirits on the druid spell list?


Spells (CL: 3, DC: 13+spell level)
5/Day Level 0: Cure Minor Wounds, Detect Magic, Light, Purify Food and Drink, Read Magic
4/Day Level 1: Produce Lightning, Shillelagh, Summon Nature's Ally I.
3/Day Level 2: Summon Nature's Ally II

Baboon Traits:
AC: 17, Touch: 17, Flat Footed: 13
Fort: +6
Refl: +5
Will: +6
Move: 40', cimb 40'
Init: +4
Listen/Spot: +9
[/sblock]