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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Capellan" data-source="post: 434463" data-attributes="member: 6294">Amberdale 0 : "An Introduction to Amberdale" by PDabble Games - Part 13There is a moment of silence as everyone stares at the point where the Padre had been standing just a second before.  There is no sign of the priest of St Cuthbert now, except that one of the ten levers has been moved from 'up' to 'down' position."Now what?" Stormstrider wants to know."Maybe if one of us moves the lever back, he'll reappear?" Mantreus suggests.  Everyone simply looks back at him, and he sighs, "Fine.  I'll do it."Nervously, the rogue moves forward, unsure whether whatever force claimed the Padre is still in effect.  Nothing untoward occurs, however, and he is just about to reach out to the lever when the missing priest suddenly reappears, looking tired."You're still here?" he exclaims in surprise."Still here?  You've been gone less than a minute."The Padre frowns,"It felt much longer to me ... an hour at least.  I was trapped in some kind of huge stone maze, empty and cold.  I went looking for a way out, and when I finally found it, I reappeared here.""Let's not play with that lever again, then." Mantreus decides, looking at the array in front of him, "Perhaps I'll try a button instead.  Why don't you leave this room, just to be safe?"He is, however, talking to empty air: the Padre scurried out as soon as any suggestion of further tampering was proposed."I shall try a button after you." Stormstrider assures Mantreus ... though such promises are easy to make from the safety of a different chamber.Alone with the strange array, the rogue shrugs, reaches out; pauses for a moment; then randomly grabs a lever and pulls it down.Magical energy blasts out of a corner of the room, a white bolt of force striking Mantreus unerringly, despite his desperate attempt to dodge out of the way.Fortunately the wound, though serious, is not life-threatening, and Mantreus is able to exit the chamber, looking a little pale.  The Padre immediately moves to his aid, then hesitates before deciding to sacrifice only an orison.  The resulting cure minor wounds puts a little colour back in Mantreus' cheeks, but goes only a small way to healing the injury he has suffered.Stormstrider suddenly seems much less eager to try his hand at the array, so the group has to reconsider their plan of action."You know," Mantreus remarks thoughtfully, "each time we activate that thing it only affects the person in the room.  Why don't we try activating it from out here?"  He points at the buttons. "If we hit one of those with a crossbow bolt, we should be able to activate it."The others agree that it is worth a try, and Mantreus - as the originator of the plan - is given the honour of trying it out.  He raises his crossbow to his shoulder, aims carefully ... and completely misses the button with one of the most embarrassing displays of marksmanship any of the group have ever seen.  Red-faced, the rogue swiftly reloads and fires again.This time the bolt strikes true.  There is a black flash from inside the room as the button slides into place, but - far more importantly to the group - there is a clearly audible click from the lock on the only door they have not yet opened.There are congratulations all round for Mantreus, and then the group adopts its usual practice when opening doors.  As before however, there is no threat to greet them.  Instead, the door opens onto a narrow flight of stairs, which runs down into the darkness.The group immediately suspects a trap: no flight of stairs in such a place could be innocent, they decide.  The steps will collapse, or turn into a ramp, or prove to be an illusion.  They therefore decide that not everyone should venture down: apparently their logic is that it is better to have only half your group with you when you get ambushed, because that way fewer people will die.  Or something.In any event, the injured Mantreus and Ming Li both choose to remain in the current chamber, where it is hoped they will be safe.  Just in case they do face some danger, Elspeth also remains, leaving the Stormstrider, Rose and the Padre to march through the door and into the darkness.Seconds later, the door slams shut and the screaming begins.</blockquote>

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