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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jon Potter" data-source="post: 3405506" data-attributes="member: 2323">[PLAIN][Realms #387] Time Flies When You're Being Killed[/PLAIN]"Why? What do you see through there?" Morier called expectantly."I can see inta the next room," the dwarf told him pointing to the various landmarks beyond that the others couldn't see from their vantage point. "It is octaganol with a large face holdin' an hourglass in its mouth. On the far wall is another door set back in a cage with all sorts o' wicked knives set around it. There be another lock on tha' door.""Great," Huzair sighed and Ayremac shook his head gravely."This place seems designed by some sadistic fiend," he grimaced and no one could argue with his assessment."There is nothing to do but press on though. Correct?" Shamalin observed, bitterly. "It's our destiny." She gloomily considered the fact that they had no choice but to move into obvious harm's way again and again. It made her wonder just whose hand was guiding them."Assumin' we can get ye all across this floor," Karak nodded. "I do nae know if the locks I just unlocked also stopped the trap. It be a good bet, but I do nae know. Perhaps ye should all levitate to 'ere. But when ye get 'ere I am nae sure what to do.""I would be willing to try and walk across," Ayremac said  confidently. "I think Karak stopped this trap by unlocking the doors.""Are you sure?" Shamalin asked. "If you are caught in the trap then I might not be able to save you this time.""Umba will protect me, Shamalin," he told her. "I have faith that she is watching over me." That comment made the priestess of Flor start. It was as if the holy warrior had read the doubt in her heart and she drew back from him, nodding.Ayremac prayed silently to his goddess and then strode confidently across the tiled room to the door in which Karak Levitated. The trap did not trigger and Karak grinned at Ayremac as the Officer of Umba moved passed him into the next room."Good show, lad," he congratulated and waited for the others to do as Ayremac had. It took only a few minutes to get the others all into the next room. Shamalin was the last and as she stepped through into the chamber, Karak observed, "I say we proceed with caution. Let's search about the area from-"Before he could finish, the round stone door behind him thunked shut and he heard the grating sound of the three bolts sliding back into their locked positions. They could all hear the sound of some colossal mechanism grinding to life in the walls, the floor."Oi!" the dwarf grunted. "I was afraid of that!"All at once, the hourglass on the wall flipped over, the blades around the lock on the door began to spin and move back and forth irregularly, and the ceiling above began to slowly descend."Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" Huzair said."I CAN STOP THE CEILING!" Stoneblade bellowed, its voice like an avalanche in the small room. "USE ME!" Morier saw at once what the sword intended and drove the weapon blade-first into the floor. At once a wall of stone sprang up across the door they had just entered through rising upward to slam against the lowering ceiling. There was a squeal of protesting metal from above and a shower of dust along the edges of the ceiling, but it stopped descending.Ixin drew her scimitars in one swift movement and went to work on the hourglass. Her first blow shattered the glass itself, spraying fine sand in all directions, but she could see through the stone face's open mouth the glimmer of metal gears working beyond it. Her off-hand blow cracked the stone face, but it did not yet yeild its secrets."Huzair? Can ye reach that padlock in there passed the blades?" Karak asked while Ixin continued her assault. "Are ye up to it?""If you are asking if I can pick the lock, the answer is: yes," he said. "If you are asking if I am willing to stick my hand in there and risk having it cut off, the answer is: no frigging way!""Let me worry about the blades!" Karak told him and hefted his axe. He squared himself and slammed his weapon into the whirling mechanism. Sparks flew out along with the tip of one of the blades. A moment later, Ayremac stepped up and added his own weapon to the assault.The two warriors were making good progress destroying the blades outright, but Ixin was a bit faster and her blows had shattered the stone face and mangled the clockwork behind it before Karak and Ayremac could eliminate the blades. As soon as she disabled the mechanism behind the stone face, the blades spun down and stopped. Just to be safe, Karak smashed the now motionless blades into twisted bits."There ye be," the dwarf huffed, smoothing his beard as he admired his handiwork. "Now get to work on tha' lock, wizard. I've had me fill o' traps."Huzair took a few minutes to pick the lock and as soon as he did so, the entire wall slid down into the floor revealing another, smaller chamber beyond. It was lit by a verdant glow which emanated from a stone acorn carved into the ceiling on which a Continual Flame had been cast. The walls were chisled with scenes of an elf completing the tasks that the party had already completed within this testing ground. In one panel, he battled three armed earth creatures on a bridge of crystal; in another he drove his scimitar through the head of a monstrous lobster creature; in a third he challenged a giant fiery thing wielding an enormous spear; and in the last he seemed to be flying, surrounded by many, tiny winged demons. The borders of these reliefs were resplendent with motifs of twining vines and lush leaves.Across the room from the doorway was another doorway filled with a solid pane of utter dark.</blockquote>

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