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Message: <blockquote data-quote="darkbard" data-source="post: 9059356" data-attributes="member: 1282">As the earth rumbles slightly in response to his thrust, IBHEA withdraws his dagger from the altar stone. Satisfied that no immediate threat menaces the pilgrims, he closes his eyes once more. The glowing stairs of moonlight rising from those carved into stone appear once more before his mind's eye. "Listen," he says quietly. "Delban's Blessed Ten were imprisoned here, and yet from here they made their escape, as Qamra's life and tale make clear. But how? It seems impossible considering the physical challenges presented by this place, even if aid was provided by your brother, Arunny."And yet I see a way! There are secret stairs of moonlight ascending from this place, revealed to me by Delban's sight. It is written in scripture that Maba, Maiden of the Moon, courted Delban in the astral seas aeons ago--until Mother Omthala interceded, fearful for her son and his legacy. This inconsummate love lingers even now, perhaps forever unfulfilled. I believe the Moon Maiden shows us a way from here as a way of aiding her would-be-lover in the rebirth of his worship."Will you trust that Maba is our ally in this and ascend where these stairs rise, beyond your sight?"Arunny does not pause. "Lead us, Ibhea, where your sight sees even beyond my own." She thinks of how her own father must have sought succor under the auspices of Maba!And so the quartet mounts the steep stone stairs, Ibhea stopping at the top, then tentatively placing one foot upon the step of moonlight. It holds beneath his foot. He climbs upward, one step before another, until an obstacle blocks further ascent: a shimmering door of moonlight, a single keyhole set in its center.Ibhea unveils the leather cord around his neck, upon which dangles an assortment of magical keys. "One of these should do the trick!" he exclaims through clenched teeth, for it is one thing for this artifact to have bypassed the spell wards of minor merchants and nobles of Bantouk, as it did in his youth, and another to allow access beyond such a portal as this.[HR][/HR]Ibhea makes a Primary Skill Thievery check (I'm going to eschew his mundane thieves' tools for this check, since they seem fictionally inapt, but utilize his Necklace of Keys +1), r(12) +9 +1 = 22 vs 16 Moderate DC. Success.</blockquote>

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