[LPF] From Whence None Return

[jbear]

Maui moves forward over the now wet but water free floor. He peers over the edge down towards Lem and whatever briefly remained of his water elemental. "Maui did not see that. Hmph. I did not need to call te water spirit. Next time we send Lem to open te plug hole and wash te blood suckers away." Carefully walking around the edge of the first pit he approached the second pit that blocked the door way. He sighed and and shook his head. "Now what?" he asks out loud to noone in particular as Vincenzo helped the halfling back up to the surface. His sharp eyes scanned the area in search of an alternate route and then to look carefully at the trap door trying to spot how exactly it triggered.

 

[jkason]

Weel Naxel, aasimar oracle

Weel winces as both Lem and the elemental fall through the hole.

"Is everyone all right?" he calls out in both Low Landellian and the bubbling language he called out before. "You know how I know the person who owns this castle is a villain? He keeps violating the poor stones. All they want to do is be a proper floor, but does he listen? Nope. Just keeps on cutting doors in them, and then look what happens?" here he points to the spike trap's opening. "I'd be cranky and spiky too if someone made me be something I wasn't. Villain."

As Maui points out the other trap door, though, Weel perks up. "Okay, then, at least maybe I can help some of the floor," he says, grabbing the goggles that have thus far rested on his head and pulling them down into place. He whispers something to the gauntlets he wears, and what at first appeared to be merely designs burned into the leather rise and form an array of actual tools.

It takes some effort, as the tools seem to keep wriggling out of his way as he reaches for them, and he keeps shunting his greatsword from one hand to the other, but Weel sets to work on the trap door, tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth as he works.

"Has anyone asked the frescoes what they're for?" he mutters absently as he works. "Pictures are a thousand words, you know. Though I find sometimes a lot of those words are just naughty."

[sblock=ooc]I can't seem to find a ruling on whether you need both hands to Disable Device. By RAW, it looks like you just need a single appendage that can hold tools. I'm fine if he loses the iron weapon if necessary, but figured I'd give it a shot either way:

Disable Device (trap). (1d20+19=21)

And then I rolled what's unlikely to be sufficient if this trap is level appropriate. Weel may be falling down a hole, depending on how failure works for a floor trap you can see the edges of. Is a disabler assumed to have to work on the trap surface, or is it possible from adjacent squares?

On the off chance he didn't trigger it, I'll throw a re-roll in to avoid delaying things:

Disable re-try (1d20+19=28)[/sblock]

[sblock=mini-stats]Weel Naxel

Initiative: +1
AC: 21 (23 w/ Magic Vestment)
HP:76 Current: 76
Senses: Perception 4, Sense Motive 2
CMB: +11 CMD: 22 Fort: +6
Reflex: +5
Will: +8
Spell Resistance: 13 vs. evil descriptor / evil outsiders


Conditions:
* Magic Vestment (8 hours)
* Iron Weapon (8 minutes)
* Lead Blades (8 minutes), damage bump to 3d6 on Greatsword

In Hand: Iron Weapon (Greatsword), MW Thieves' tools


Common Attacks:

(Cold) Iron Weapon Options Attack: +12/+07 = [BAB (06/01) + STR (05) + Enhance (01)]
Damage (Greatsword): 2d6+8, Crit: 19-20/x2, S
Damage (Halberd): 1d10+8, Crit: x3, P or S, brace, trip
Damage (Earthbreaker): 2d6+8, Crit: x3, B
Damage (Lucerne Hammer): 1d12+8, Crit: x2, B or P, brace, reach

Conditional: -2/+4 (+6 2H) Power Attack
Furious Focus negates 1st attack penalty for 2H
+1 attack if moving at least 10' during turn

Iron Weapon (8 minutes, +1 cold iron): 5/6 Remaining
Bracer auto take 10: 1/1 remaining
Spells: Orisons (DC 13): Create Water, Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Ghost Sound, Mage Hand, Mending, Purify Food and Drink, Read Magic, Spark, Stabilize
1st (5/7 remaining)(DC 14): Cure Light Wounds, Obscuring Mist, Lead Blades, Liberating Command, Protection from Evil, Shield of Faith, Sun Metal
2nd (7/7 remaining)(DC 15): Align Weapon, Cure Moderate Wounds, Grace, Heat Metal, Levitate, Make Whole, Minor Image, Shatter, Silence
3rd (3/6 remaining)(DC 16): Cure Serious Wounds, Keen Edge, Magic Vestment, Stone Shape
4th (3/3 remaining)(DC 17): Blessing of Fervor, Cure Critical Wounds, Versatile Weapon
[/sblock]

 

[Satin Knights]

Maui starts looking at the floor, trying to figure out how to make it safe. Weel joins him taking a look at the second trap door. It must have trigger controls to make sure it doesn't fall open unexpected, for otherwise how would someone move cargo in and out of this place. It takes quite a bit of searching and fiddling, but he is pretty certain that he has locked the door in place so it jump in unexpected directions, or even in the expected direction.

Lem has a rope drop down from above. He sees Vincenzo's head at the top of the pit. The rope dangles and swings a bit in and out of the darkness instead of laying flat against a wall.

Meanwhile above, looking at the walls, they tell a story, or a tale, maybe a riddle. There are landscapes and glorious scenes, but the left wall also talks about something that is not readily apparent.

While the right wall tells a different tale...

But, it is the door that is the most chatty. The longer lines of the story are raised, square stones, as if they were tiles to be pressed.

[sblock=Status] Weel is pretty confident he made the disable trap DC the first time.
74/74.AC 21 AF20 ~ Maui ~ MA 411r, LS 4009r, DPaS 513r, Light 4793r, SNA 2 ~
50/50 AC 26 AE22 ~ Taniwha ~ MA 411r ~
77/79 AC 20 AD22 ~ Vincenzo ~
76/76 AC 23 AC23 ~ Weel ~ MVest 4612r, IronWeap 629r, LB 630r ~
44/44 AC 17 AD23 ~ Menik ~ MA 1976r ~
38/38 AC 23 AF23 ~ Lem ~

elemental ~ still alive but quite damaged, stuck under the supports Lem is standing on.

The yellow light crystal is overhead.
Red circle=grappled
Blue circle=prone
blue X=unconscious
Yes, the water is gone. I am just being lazy and not redrawing a new stone floor for the room.
red X=dead[/sblock][sblock=Map]

[/sblock]

 

[kinem]

"Lem, are you alright?!?" Menik asks as he makes his way forward, though avoiding the area around the hole so he doesn't fall in too.

Once assured that Lem is alright, he inspects the hieroglyphs.

[sblock=ooc]In case this helps: knowledge (arcana, history, religion) = 27, 25, 20

I have a feeling though that it's supposed to be a puzzle for the players [/sblock]

 

[jkason]

Weel Naxel, aasimar oracle

Weel finally nods at his work, using one gauntleted finger to push the goggles back into their regular place on his forehead. He whispers thanks to the tools on his wrists, and they flatten back out until he's only wearing inscribed bracers again.

"Oh, hasn't Lem made friends with the rope yet?" he asks. "If he really doesn't get along with the rope, I can probably ask the jibber jabbers to boost him up, but really, ropes are very helpful folks, I've found. They're always helping hold and lift. Real work ethic, ropes have."

Apparently satisfied that he has recommended ropes well enough, the northern islander cocks his head as he looks between the walls and the door. He whispers back and forth with the unseen speakers who swirl about him, biting his lip as he puzzles things out.

"I'm not sure if I've heard this story before," he says, his gaze still moving between the strips of pictograph, "But if this is a cypher--" he points to the longer, raised tiles on the door, "Then it's missing the second and fourth symbol from each of these words," here he points to the shorter strips of characters above each raised tile line. He points to the walls, as well, saying. "There, too: Second and fourth symbols aren't on the longer lines. And the fourth is always the scale."

He bites his lip a moment, considering.

[sblock=ooc]I'm horrible at puzzles, but I'll give it a go. Rolled Linguistics in case it gives Weel any insight. I'm not entirely convinced it's a language, but I figure it's a reasonable skill to use for analyzing codes, too, so I gave it a shot:

Linguistics re: heiroglyphs (1d20+6=25)[/sblock]

[sblock=mini-stats]Weel Naxel

Initiative: +1
AC: 21 (23 w/ Magic Vestment)
HP:76 Current: 76
Senses: Perception 4, Sense Motive 2
CMB: +11 CMD: 22 Fort: +6
Reflex: +5
Will: +8
Spell Resistance: 13 vs. evil descriptor / evil outsiders


Conditions:
* Magic Vestment (8 hours)
* Iron Weapon (8 minutes)
* Lead Blades (8 minutes), damage bump to 3d6 on Greatsword

In Hand: Iron Weapon (Greatsword), MW Thieves' tools


Common Attacks:

(Cold) Iron Weapon Options Attack: +12/+07 = [BAB (06/01) + STR (05) + Enhance (01)]
Damage (Greatsword): 2d6+8, Crit: 19-20/x2, S
Damage (Halberd): 1d10+8, Crit: x3, P or S, brace, trip
Damage (Earthbreaker): 2d6+8, Crit: x3, B
Damage (Lucerne Hammer): 1d12+8, Crit: x2, B or P, brace, reach

Conditional: -2/+4 (+6 2H) Power Attack
Furious Focus negates 1st attack penalty for 2H
+1 attack if moving at least 10' during turn

Iron Weapon (8 minutes, +1 cold iron): 5/6 Remaining
Bracer auto take 10: 1/1 remaining
Spells: Orisons (DC 13): Create Water, Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Ghost Sound, Mage Hand, Mending, Purify Food and Drink, Read Magic, Spark, Stabilize
1st (5/7 remaining)(DC 14): Cure Light Wounds, Obscuring Mist, Lead Blades, Liberating Command, Protection from Evil, Shield of Faith, Sun Metal
2nd (7/7 remaining)(DC 15): Align Weapon, Cure Moderate Wounds, Grace, Heat Metal, Levitate, Make Whole, Minor Image, Shatter, Silence
3rd (3/6 remaining)(DC 16): Cure Serious Wounds, Keen Edge, Magic Vestment, Stone Shape
4th (3/3 remaining)(DC 17): Blessing of Fervor, Cure Critical Wounds, Versatile Weapon
[/sblock]

 

[jbear]

Double Post

 

[jbear]

Maui looks at the etchings with an admiring look. The tattooed warrior appreciates teh simplicity and beauty of the symbols used. "Good" he states simply,, and then moves around the side of the pit towards the door. He is about to reach out and push open the door (or at least try) when Weel begins speaking.

Maui had at first thought to simply ignore the man's babblings as that of a crazed loon. But as time had passed Maui began to decipher sense behind the prattle. He was mad for sure. But the mad man if touched genuinely by the spirit world could see things that others could not. At times he caught glimpses of that world himself when he tread in the skin of the Beast.

And if he understood correctly the pictures had meaning. Something to do with the door. And one of the common pictures was a snake, somthing that had drawn his attention in the first place.

"Awww ... pokokohua!" he swore. "More of te traps?" he complained bitterly. He looked back at the drawings and rubbed his forehead. He was not the sharpest tool in the shed, not when it came to puzzles. He had a feeling he was not going to be much help here other than to state the obvious. "There is te snakes" he stated and then felt silent, aware that he was not helping.

[sblock=OOC] While I would like to help with the puzzle (as otherwise we are unable to advance just yet) I don't think it makes sense that Maui helps. Not his forte really.

Something I did notice: When Lem was in the pit, the rope hung down in the middle and could not be made to reach him near the sides of the pit wall. That does not seem natural to me. Anyone else think that was wierd?

Could there be an alternate route within the pits themselves? And the rope was being pushed out by a steady stream of air from a tunnel somewhere?

Let's see what I notice about the puzzle:
On the door the images in the boxes are identical in number abnd positioning.

Each line has four image above it which are not in boxes.

The boxed images seem like a keypad. The images above seem like a clue as to what the sequence that the boxed images should be pressed.

The left and right hand wall must hold the clues as to how we are meant to make sense of the rules of the puzzle.

There are 4 lines on the door and only two lines on the walls, although there is a gap in the middle of each line which probably indicates that each half on each wall corresponds to a clue relating to one of the lines on the door.

If we go left to right assuming that the left most wall line corresponds to the top line on the door:
The row of symbols contains 5 symbols where as the symbols on the door have 4

1st door row vs left wall:
1 door chariot = 1 R of Left (6)
2 door lefthand = 2 L of Left (2)
3 door man = 1 L of Left (1)
4 door scales = 4 L of Left (4)
Symbol L of Left unused = beetle (5)

2nd door row vs left wall:
1 door snake = 5 R of Left (10)
2 door hand up = 2 R of Left (7)
3 door sun = 3 R of Left (8)
4 door scales = 4 R of Left (9)
Symbol left unused = dog (3)
NB: not seeing any numerical patterns emerging... (-4, -1, +3,) vs (-3, +1, +1)

3rd door row vs Right Wall:
1 door cat = 3 R of Right (8)
2 door antenna = 2 L of right (2)
3 door cat = 5 R of Right (10)
4 door scales = 4 R of Right (9)

4th door row vs Right Wall:
1 door chariot = no corresponding chariot on right wall?? Only on Left
2: door rope = 2 R of Right (7)
3: door man = 3 L of Right (3)
4: door scales = 4 L of Right (4)
(-6, +8, -1) vs (0+7?, -4. +1) ... okay nothing there.
Symbols unused on Right hand wall: EYe of Horus, Wave, Scorpion

Not really seeing any pattern regarding the groups of 5 on each wall
Not seeing a pattern in those omitted: L1, L5, R1 (6)

Soooo .... hmm ...

The only correspondance I see with those groupings is loose at best:
Left Left vs Top of door: All symbols are in group except CHARIOT -> Press Chariot?
Or reverse press Dog and Scarab ?
Or press only those present in both places: Hand, mand scale?

Right Left vs 2nd line of door: All symbols are in group: All 4 symbols are in the group -> press nothing?
Or reverse press Chariot ?
Or press those present in both places: snake, hand , sun, scale

Left Right vs 3rd Line of door: Only Antennae and Scale in group -> press cat twice
Or reverse: eye, man, wave?
Or press those present in both places: Antennae and Scale

RIght of Right vs 4th Line of door: Only Rope and Scale in group: Press chariot and man
Or reverse press scorpion and cat twice
Or press those present in both places: Rope and scale

I am not seeing enough of a pattern to like any of the options.

My gut instinct so far: It's doesn't have a clear and obvious pattern of correspondance
It's doesn't seem to have a clear and obvious numerical pattern

So... it may be alphabetical?

Most common symbols correspond to vowels in 5 letter words?

If so the scales end each of the four patterns on each line of the door ... scales = e?

Cat appears: Cat Scales Cat and Cat Antenae Cat ... so likely a consonant? Which makes antenae a vowel?

Man is next most common and is next to scales in two words: ue = blue, true ... unless scales is just a common letter like a T... sigh.

Sooo... Not sure where I am going with this...

Maui might climb down into the pit where Lem fell to take a look. And failing that he might start looking for ways to destroy the doorway. [/sblock]

 

[Satin Knights]

[sblock=OOC]It is a puzzle. I was hoping the players could figure it out without relying on the die rolls getting them through.

But, since the rolls were so good, I have to give out some hints:
a) The walls have three symbols, scales to balance, then another symbol. There are four 'phrases' like that.
b) The door has three symbols, scales to balance, and then 10 buttons to push. So, you got a 1 in 10 chance of getting the right answer.

Lem: The rope is hanging down into the dark pit, and he can reach it. From Vincenzo's position, the rope should slap against the south wall of the pit and lay there. It is swinging instead, as if the wall isn't there. But, of course Lem doesn't have a light to investigate.

And DT hasn't logged in for quite a while. My attendance has been bad the last few weeks. But, he is going on 10 days without logging in at all. Did I miss a vaction AFK from him? Not worried quite yet.
[/sblock]

 

[kinem]

[sblock=ooc]Puzzles being used to guard things never made any sense, but ... oh well.

So ... hints make it a lot easier since there are many ways to interpret things.

Sounds like math, then. There are 10 number symbols so they are probably integers from 1-10 or 0-9.

Assuming that the operators are +-/* in some order:

From the right wall second equation,

Scorpion (minus or divided by) Cat equals Cat, so Cat (plus or times) Cat equals Scorpion for door #3.

It could also be 1 * Cat equals Cat, or 0 + Cat = Cat, but I guess that's unlikely.

I think the cut rope is probably divided by, and the iterated Y is multiplied by. It could be - and +, though.

Then I assume we have

Man + Dog = Scarab
Chariot - Sun = Snake
Eye * Man = Sunset?
Scorpion / Cat = Cat

We need:
Chariot + Man = ?
Snake - Sun = ?
Cat * Cat = Scorpion
Chariot / Man = ?[/sblock]

 

[Scott DeWar]

[sblock=OOC]
And DT hasn't logged in for quite a while. My attendance has been bad the last few weeks. But, he is going on 10 days without logging in at all. Did I miss a vacation AFK from him? Not worried quite yet.
[/sblock]

[sblock=dt missing]He is military and has to do a sudden deployment without warning sometimes. A national guard thing - such as, but not limited to sandbagging a flashflood area during seriously heavy rain or hurricane conditions.

this is from 30 july:

Should be a couple weeks now. Still waiting for my ticket back home.

Read more: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...e-Dragon-Cult-quot-OOC-2/page13#ixzz3AOfdALzb
​

[/sblock]