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Message: <blockquote data-quote="LordVyreth" data-source="post: 1493404" data-attributes="member: 9626">Water, Water, Everywhere...The next day, the party decided to start by humoring Flix, and try the two basements they can already reach.  Surprisingly, they found a new passageway leading north.  Before exploring it, though, Quercus pointed to the machine.  “Since we’re already here, I might as well take another look at the machine.  I prepared magic that will help me understand it this morning.”The machine was apparently a giant pump, if the writing could be trusted.  It could be turned on by the switch, but it warns that the pump can’t be turned off here once turned off, and if the pump isn’t disabled at the pump release console before it reaches the end of the “overload” level, it could be destroyed!  After explaining all of this to the party, Flix nodded thoughtfully and then said, “Let’s turn it on!”One shocked silence later, Raz quietly said, “Um, I vote we wait until we could find this pump release thing first, so we don’t pump thousands of gallons of water to some unknown place very close to hundreds of priceless books and then destroy the whole thing.”“I think I agree with the second idea,” Tsine commented, and everyone else also concurred.  Rudyard turned and went to the head of the group, as he explained his plan.  “Well then, let’s investigate the new passageway on this level, and maybe we can find something related over there.  I’ll take point; I don’t want any more monsters surprising us the way the elementals and machine things did.”  He then began traveling through the new passage, and immediately walked into the solid block of ooze.  I really should stop leading the way, Rudyard thought as the acid began to eat into his flesh.Realizing quickly that things are going very wrong, Dane stepped up and slashed at the now-obvious cube, while carefully avoiding Rudyard with his sword.  Meanwhile, Tale fired a ball of magic at the creature, and Rudyard tried to escape the blob, but felt something flooding his body as he moved.  He suddenly felt very numb, as if his limbs were made out of rubber, and his movement stopped.  Meanwhile, the cube charged toward Dane, who considered attacking it first but wisely chose to dive out the way instead.  Suddenly very concerned after seeing his friend stop moving, Flix tumbled in to slash at the creature, while Raz took careful aim and fired into the creature, right past Rudyard, and then through the other side.  It was a telling blow, which nearly de-stabilized the creature immediately.  Quercus moved up next, and with one careful slash, it was destroyed, and Rudyard was free, though still unable to move for another couple of minutes.The room beyond the cube was another metal one.  It has dozens of mirrors, and a number of holes in the walls and ceiling.  There was also one right in the middle of the floor, and a corresponding hole in the ceiling.  “So, what do you think this is for?”  Tal asked.Suddenly, Tsine looked thoughtful.  “Wait here, I have an idea.”  He dashed out of the room, and a minute later, he could be heard shouting up from the hole in the floor.  “Can you hear me?”Quercus bent down to the hole.  “Where are you?”“I’m in the light generating room.  It’s right below the room you guys are at now!  I have an idea, but close your eyes and look away from the hole first!”The party obeyed, and were glad they did when the light burst from the machine blasted up through the floor and then into the ceiling.  Even with their eyes closed, they could see a little bit of the light.“I think I know what this room is for!”  Tsine continued.  “We can use these mirrors to redirect the light someplace else.  Someone go back to the window room, and someone else go to the library.  We can see if the light turns on somewhere else from there.  And we can get someone fast to run the messages.”Dane chose to go back to the library with Flix, while Tal and Rudyard went to the window room.  Quercus elected to run messenger service, while Raz moved the mirrors.  It took a lot of exploring and trial and error, but they figured out what a few of the other paths of the light were.  One appeared from some grating at the bottom of the metal shaft, the second had no apparent effect, the third shot through the library itself, from a crack in a wall into the room with the batteries and fountain, and the fourth also appeared in the dark shaft with the first two clues, but it only illuminated a blank wall.  The fifth shot straight across the third floor of the library, and the final one proved useful, for it revealed the forth clue, which was also in the dark shaft.  In the end, the merciless invaders spared nothing.    They even flooded the library with acid somehow, destroying much.    The cowardly guard knew of this, and stood to avoid the flood,But it did no good, for he was stabbed in the back while he watched his comrades Die.After reading the clue, the group converged.  Raz looked especially worried.  “We have to flood the library to figure this one out?  We can’t do that!”Tsine looked around the library.  “Well, it might not be too bad,” he said.  “Look at the book shelves; they all have protective screens at their tops, as if to prevent the books from being damaged in case this exactly sort of thing would happen.  I guess they learned from the event this clue pointed out.”Raz didn’t look too appeased.  “Can’t we just try to figure it out by the layout of the library?”They tried that, but the ramps and wooden floors of the library were so full of odd bumps, curves, and cracks that it looked impossible.  They finally resigned themselves to the more desperate tactic, but the question was still how.  There was always the pump of course, but they haven’t found the release valve for it yet.  But there still was the last new passage on the fifth floor, so they decided to investigate that first.They found a staircase up behind this passage, which effectively took them above the top floor of the library.  There was a pair of switches here.  Quercus translated the writing by them to learn that one switch was used to empty the reservoir after the pump was finished, and the second was designed to turn off the pump once the reservoir was full.  However, there was some sort of black screen in front of the switches, preventing the party from reaching them.   Quercus identified it as a negative energy field, which he could potentially disable by channeling positive energy.  He promised to disable it, while the rest of the party went down to the pump room to activate it.  Quercus got ready to channel the energy.  However, because he could only temporarily disable it, he had to wait for just the right time to start.  He watched the machinery carefully, and the identical color arc that it had.  When it entered the yellow area, he quietly raised his holy symbol, and shouted as loud as he could and as much as he could in praise of Bha-Ael.  The room glowed with an effervescent light, and after a few moments, an exhausted Quercus was relieved to see the screen was gone.  He quickly shut off the pump.  A minute later, the rest of the party arrived, and had to make a quick decision.  “So, do we release the water now, even though we don’t really know where it will go?”  Tal asked.Flix nodded, and even Raz seemed excited to try it out.  “Look,” Raz began, “We have know by now that somebody was planning this challenge for a long time.  Whoever he, she, it or they are, it has to be expected that we can actually solve the riddles without damage to the library.  We have no choice if we actually want to find the truth.”The others agreed, and Quercus flipped the switch.  There was a rumble below them, and everyone else hurried down the stairs to see a cascade of water rush into the room from out of a hole in the mural.  Quercus, suddenly panicking about the whole scenario, turned off the cascade while the reservoir was still half-full, but that was enough.  Unfortunately, some stuff also fell out with the water, including some small treasure, but also a pair of filthy tentacle monsters.  But there were no real threat to the party, since they were trapped on a pair of the platforms, letting the party easily pick them off from a distance with arrows and ranged spells before they could get near enough to actually hit someone.  They also looked a little disorientated, like the bath they were just subjected to was a new and entirely unpleasant experience.  After they were destroyed and the treasure was gathered, the party easily identified the correct statue as the only completely dry one, and Raz especially was relieved to see the books were all unharmed.    After placing the fourth blade in the correct statue, another secret passageway appeared in the south wall of the fourth floor.  “Let’s check to see if more passageways opened up below us!”  Flix yelled happily, and dashed to the elevator.“What’s with you and that elevator, anyway?”  Raz asked, annoyed.“I…just think it’s neat.”  Flix said, while looking a little confused and crestfallen.  Tal took over the discussion.  “Let’s use the elevator first.  After all, it helped us last time.”Quercus agreed, but looked worried.  “Let’s try to finish up earlier tonight.  Most of the water drained away in the grating underneath that shaft, but it’ll take us a while to clean up the puddles and damp floors anyway!OOC Notes:  The two fights in this game went pretty much here as they did in the original.  Nobody did spot the cube until it was too late, and the otyghs died extremely quickly.  To be fair, though, I expected them to use all the water in the reservoir, and two more otyghs would have fallen out if they did.  That also meant that only about half of the treasure fell out, so it’s a plus and a minus for the party.  Oh and to help out Lela, and anyone else who might be interested:Book WyrmHuge ConstructHit Dice: 10d10+40 (95 hp)Initiative: -1 (-1 Dex)Speed: 30 ft.AC: 17 (-2 Size, -1 Dex, +10 Natural, 7 touch, 17 flat-footed)Base Attack/Grapple: +7/22Space/Reach: 15/10 feetAttack: Bite +12 (1d6+7,) Full Attack: Bite +12 (1d6+7,) 2 Claws +7 (1d4+3)SA: Metaphysical Breath Weapon, Fiction to FactSQ: Construct, Fast Healing 2Saves: Fort +3, Ref +2, Will +3Abilities: Str 25, Dex 8, Con -Int -, Wis 11, Cha 1Climate/Terrain: Any land or undergroundOrganization: Solitary or gang (2-4)Challenge Rating: 8Treasure: NoneAlignment: Always neutralAdvancement: 15-16 HD (Huge) 17-34 (Gargantuan)Book Wyrms are a kind of specialized golem that are often used to guard places of great knowledge, especially libraries.  They resembled large, stone dragons, and even have a breath weapon, like the famous creatures that they share a likeness to.Combat: Book Wyrms are mindless fighters, but will never intentionally damage its immediate surroundings, as it often is constructed for the sole purpose of guarding delicate objects like books.  It usually starts combat with its Fiction to Fact power, and re-uses that power whenever the current book is destroyed.  Otherwise, it uses its deadly melee attacks or breath weapon.Metaphysical Breath Weapon(Su): The Book Wyrm’s breath weapon is a line of energy thirty feet long.  The energy is multicolored, and affects incorporeal and ethereal creatures as easily as material ones, but it only affects living beings.  The energy itself is a constantly shifting force of chaos, that forcefully rips the target away from part of reality.  For every person in the breaths area of effect, roll 1d8 and consult the table below to see what effect the breath has.  All saves are at DC 15 (10+half the creature’s hit dice.)1.  A sonic pulse rips apart the character’s molecular bonds.  Damage is 5d6 points of damage, with a Reflex save for half.2.  The character’s body tries to forcefully rip itself apart.  The damage is again 5d6 points of damage, but a Fortitude save negates the effect.3.  The character must make a Will Save or be temporarily lost to time.  They are sent 1d4 rounds into the future, where they reappear at the exact point they vanished at.  If that area is now filled with a solid object, they are trapped until that area is again open.4.  The character loses connect to the magical flow of energy for a moment, effectively having a Dispel Magic spell as cast by a 5th level sorcerer cast on them.5.  The character loses connection with his or her mental energy.  They have to make a Will Save or be under the effects of a confusion spell.  The duration is 5 rounds.6.  If the character fails a Fortitude save, he or she disconnects with spatial boundaries, and immediately falls through the new incorporeal floor.  This only lasts for a moment, long enough to drop the character down one floor, and take falling damage as normal.  If there is not floors below the character, they are immediately shunted back upwards when they return to normal space, but take 3d6 points of damage.7. The character has to make a Will Save or be unaffected by gravity for 1d4 rounds.8. The energy is in a state of flux when it hit the character, so the character suffers no effect.Fiction to Fact (Su): As a standard action, the Book Wyrm can pull any book that is within five feet of it to its body, then materialize something from the book.  This item then works under the command of the Book Wyrm each turn.  It lasts until the book or the construct is destroyed, or until dispelled.  The effect can be determined randomly using this table, or it can be created based on the situation, but the attacking item can’t be of a CR that is higher than half that of the Book Wyrm, rounded down.  To use the table, roll 1d10.1. A fighter swings a sword at a melee target (+8 to hit, 1d10+3 damage.)2. An archer fires an arrow at a ranged target (+8 to hit, 1d8+2 damage.)3. A wizard casts a random 2nd level arcane spell (DC 15 where applicable.)4. A wyrmling dragon of a random color breathes at the nearest character, but won’t attack it its breath would damage an unattended inanimate object.5. A spider bites a melee target (+4, 1d8+3 damage, poison is DC 13, 1d6 Str/1d6 Str.)6. An Aristocratic noble issues a command, as the 1st level divine spell, at one target within 20 feet. (DC 14, duration is one round.)7-10. Only numerical information is in the book. These numbers fly around the Book Wyrm, giving it a +2 bonus to attacks, AC, damage, and saves.</blockquote>

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