Inge is unnerved by the statues changing position as Milo reports, so much so that she peeks out to confirm. The animals she hunted, mammals and birds, never behaved like that. Reptiles, she supposes, and insects might - staying completely still for unnaturally long periods before suddenly striking.
She is a little put off by Hunteros charging ahead into the next room before the group had figured out the first one, yet she supposes no harm done. But what is the black cube and who are these people? Previous would-be conquerors? Residents of wherever the monuments once came from?
Assuming the dragonborn will share what he finds, Inge instead walks carefully near the pedestal and black cube, looking for any markings, runes, or places to press or pull. "I wonder if those people in the other room died trying to figure out this puzzle," she muses.
She turns to Wadi, her childhood friend, and one of the few people that Inge ever has to look up to meet eyes with, being 6'5" herself.
"Ever seen anything like this?"
Inge'sPerception to look for any distinguishing features on the pedestal and black cube: 20 (dirty)
I think some of us are mistaking perception for investigation
OOC: two things. My preference would be to stop with the endless OOC comments IC. This will be my last one here. And no I am not mistaking Perception for Investigation, thank you. Inge is not trying to figure out how the cube or pedestal work. She is looking for markings. Perception.
While investigating the wall, Myrla turned swiftly when she heard the noise from Hunteros opening the door by brute force. Alarmed, she jumps to attention near the ranger with shield and rapier ready in the blink of an eye, only to find dead men. "What a creepy place. Let's hope that this is not our fate. They clearly died here peacefully. Perhaps we worry too much about traps," she says and inspects the food. If it is any good, she'll call out, "Hunteros found you a bite, Inge!" Instinctively she tries to judge if the corridor communicates with this chamber through the second door that they saw outside, or if there are any other exits. "It almost looks like this is intended to be a room for resting safely. Perhaps these monuments are build in a purpose. To confront them with tests and let them rest in between. These ones didn't seem to have come very far. And - on a more disturbing note - they haven't been able to leave. Anyone of you tried to leave this monument? I have the feeling we are trapped here until we either press through or perish."
After looking at it a little bit closer, the pedestal seems to be made of a stone frame encased with a thin layer of glass. Inside, there are mirrors and lenses along the four sides that can be used to reflect or emit light, but no light sources are integrated into it. The black cube is connected to a long cylinder standing in the middle of the pedestal and seems to be movable. To Wadi, this resembles the mechanism used in lighthouses to cover and uncover the beacon, and his guess is proven correct when a tiny marking can be spotted near the black cube, a giant script meaning 'light'.
Milo and Myrla move toward the staircase where they had come from. It takes Milo walking straight into a wall and bumping his head on it to find the staircase has disappeared. A wall had replaced the staircase, painted in such a way that still shows a staircase. If not for the physical sensation of hitting a wall, Milo would not be able to tell if their entrance had disappeared.
As they move to rejoin the other, the other door at the end of the hallway remains closed, but they become the first witnesses to the carving on the ceiling changing in real time. The third angel on the ceiling moves fluidly akin to a real person, raising one of her hands upward and the other downward as she gives a low bow.
Hunteros pulls the book and dagger from the dead man, and the dead man remains unmoving. He thumbs the book and can easily tell that this is the life journal of someone, most probably the person holding it. The date on the first page is from three weeks ago, but the date on the last page is from fifty years after the first entry. The progression of dates in the journal is too consistent with fifty years of life lived to say that it is merely a typo by the writer. Something is not right in this place.
Wadi says "Hey, everyone come here I think I found something. He shows every and explains the mirror and lenses and the work light. "I wonder if we align these in a such a way they will make a door open. What do you all think?"
Milo returns to the room. "It is worth a shot. We can't leave here anymore it seems. Also, those statues are still moving, One just bowed. It looked lifelike as it did it, which is a bit concerning."
Wadi looks at the pedestal but finds no certain way to directly move the mirrors and lenses as the entire pedestal is covered by a thin layer of glass. Hesitantly, he touches the black cube and pushes. The sudden sting from the cube immediately makes him draw his hand back, but the cube and the cylinder sink downward, uncovering a blue light source.
The light scatters around the room, casting blue markings all over the walls, superimposing the existing marks. Both the new marks from the lights and the existing marks on the walls now spell various words in common. At a glance, there could be more than one thousand words on the wall, but a string of words around the middle height of the wall appears to be a clue and spells: 'I bid you welcome to the first floor. An alert mind leads to a forewarned decision. What would make an angel weep?'
On the floor and the ceiling, the light casts pictures instead of words or markings. On the floor, there are five pictures: two lovers in an embrace, a family of five, a bountiful harvest, a pregnant woman, and a smiling newborn baby. On the ceiling, another five pictures can be seen: a war-torn battlefield, a burning city, a fawn pierced by an arrow, a woman kneeling deeply and holding a baby, and a king executing a man.
Reading the journal, Hunteros discovers that the two men were also commissioned to conquer the monument but never returned. Their names are Paxton Prince and Khalis Thornbeam. The journal was written by Khalis over the course of fifty years. It would take too long to carefully read each entry, but Hunteros finds a section talking about the other room. Both Khalis and Paxton suspect a secret passage in the other room that would be activated after engaging the pedestal in some way. Unfortunately, apart from showing some lights, both Paxton and Khalis never really know what to do with the riddle.
Walking out to see the markings hunteros scowls. Hes seen this same thing too many times. A trigger happens in his mind and he snarls. Before using his breathweapon (fire beam) in the air. He stalks off unable to look at the wall filled with his trauma.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I AM HOMICIDE I AM THE EMBODIMENT OF FIRE I AM STRENGTH AND POWER PRAISE LORD JEFF THE EVIL ROOOOOOOMMMBBBAAAAA
I AM PURE HATE! MY NAME IS BURDURXA SHADEMAKER! TREMBLE IN FEAR AT ITS MENTION!!!! PM ME THE WORD TOMATO OR I WILL SLAP YOUR FIRST BORN CHILD!!
Milo reads the text and looks around at the images. "Why don't we ask one?" and he goes out to the corridor and speaks towards the angle statue that appears to be crying "Why do you weep?"
The carvings in the corridor don't offer a reply, but another angel moves. That is the fourth one. She performs a half pirouette before she freezes in that pose, settling back into looking like a simple stone carving.
Myrla returns from examining the other room, "It really seems that there is no other exit from these chambers, the second door on the corridor appears to be leading to the final resting place of these other two..." She stops when she enters and sees the light show. "I see you found a way to activate this thing. And it is a riddle?" She reads the message and scans for more before settling her view on the images. After some consideration, she states, "I can't say I've seen a fawn, but all of the rest. My vote is for the kneeling woman whose baby died. I don't know about angels but for me that would be the saddest."
Inge knows she is unlikely to be of any help with puzzles. Nevertheless, she ventures:
"I don't know about angels weeping, but the ones on the floor seems happy and the ones on the ceiling seem sad. So do we do something with the sad ones, or the happy ones? Maybe shine a light on them? Or maybe the flying ladies would weep if someone bit into an onion..."
Inge trails off, realizing how ridiculous she sounds, even to herself, and her stomach grumbles at the mention of an onion.
She grins ruefully, and spins her glaive a bit in a gesture like a shrug, wondering if it is normal for fifty years to have passed when she does not think it could have been more than five years... must be magic...
"Hum... right," wonders Myrla after Inge finished, "How do we provide our answer anyway?" She looks more carefully at the floor and at the ceiling where the images appear and tries to see if there are any buttons or tiles that could be pressed (Perception: 10). "Perhaps we need to find the words on the wall? But which words? Someone has an idea?"
Inge is unnerved by the statues changing position as Milo reports, so much so that she peeks out to confirm. The animals she hunted, mammals and birds, never behaved like that. Reptiles, she supposes, and insects might - staying completely still for unnaturally long periods before suddenly striking.
She is a little put off by Hunteros charging ahead into the next room before the group had figured out the first one, yet she supposes no harm done. But what is the black cube and who are these people? Previous would-be conquerors? Residents of wherever the monuments once came from?
Assuming the dragonborn will share what he finds, Inge instead walks carefully near the pedestal and black cube, looking for any markings, runes, or places to press or pull. "I wonder if those people in the other room died trying to figure out this puzzle," she muses.
She turns to Wadi, her childhood friend, and one of the few people that Inge ever has to look up to meet eyes with, being 6'5" herself.
"Ever seen anything like this?"
Inge's Perception to look for any distinguishing features on the pedestal and black cube: 20 (dirty)
Mud(Paladin2):Frandal's Scourge/Inge(Barbarian1):Krayveneer's After the Fall/Seri(Cleric1/Sorcerer1):Uhtred's Windward Isles/Shin(Wizard2):Dimir_MTG's Surviving
Dyson/Eleo(Cleric3):Vos' Beyond the Veil/Soren(Druid4):Bartjeebus' Ravenloft/Nivi(Rogue3):Raiketsu's CoS/Lyra(Warlock2/Bard2):BlameItOnWinter's Will of the Ancients
Joren(Fighter5):NotDrizzt's Simple Request/Quyen(Adept1):Constance's Nentir Vale/Rel(Warlock2):Uhtred's Phandelver/Xarian(Fighter1/Wizard1):ShieldHero's Drakkenheim
I think some of us are mistaking perception for investigation
I AM HOMICIDE I AM THE EMBODIMENT OF FIRE I AM STRENGTH AND POWER PRAISE LORD JEFF THE EVIL ROOOOOOOMMMBBBAAAAA
I AM PURE HATE! MY NAME IS BURDURXA SHADEMAKER! TREMBLE IN FEAR AT ITS MENTION!!!! PM ME THE WORD TOMATO OR I WILL SLAP YOUR FIRST BORN CHILD!!
MY VENOM SYMBIOTE: FFFFUUUUUURRRRRRRRYYYYYYYY
OOC: two things. My preference would be to stop with the endless OOC comments IC. This will be my last one here. And no I am not mistaking Perception for Investigation, thank you. Inge is not trying to figure out how the cube or pedestal work. She is looking for markings. Perception.
Mud(Paladin2):Frandal's Scourge/Inge(Barbarian1):Krayveneer's After the Fall/Seri(Cleric1/Sorcerer1):Uhtred's Windward Isles/Shin(Wizard2):Dimir_MTG's Surviving
Dyson/Eleo(Cleric3):Vos' Beyond the Veil/Soren(Druid4):Bartjeebus' Ravenloft/Nivi(Rogue3):Raiketsu's CoS/Lyra(Warlock2/Bard2):BlameItOnWinter's Will of the Ancients
Joren(Fighter5):NotDrizzt's Simple Request/Quyen(Adept1):Constance's Nentir Vale/Rel(Warlock2):Uhtred's Phandelver/Xarian(Fighter1/Wizard1):ShieldHero's Drakkenheim
whatevs its not worth arguing over.
I AM HOMICIDE I AM THE EMBODIMENT OF FIRE I AM STRENGTH AND POWER PRAISE LORD JEFF THE EVIL ROOOOOOOMMMBBBAAAAA
I AM PURE HATE! MY NAME IS BURDURXA SHADEMAKER! TREMBLE IN FEAR AT ITS MENTION!!!! PM ME THE WORD TOMATO OR I WILL SLAP YOUR FIRST BORN CHILD!!
MY VENOM SYMBIOTE: FFFFUUUUUURRRRRRRRYYYYYYYY
While investigating the wall, Myrla turned swiftly when she heard the noise from Hunteros opening the door by brute force. Alarmed, she jumps to attention near the ranger with shield and rapier ready in the blink of an eye, only to find dead men. "What a creepy place. Let's hope that this is not our fate. They clearly died here peacefully. Perhaps we worry too much about traps," she says and inspects the food. If it is any good, she'll call out, "Hunteros found you a bite, Inge!" Instinctively she tries to judge if the corridor communicates with this chamber through the second door that they saw outside, or if there are any other exits. "It almost looks like this is intended to be a room for resting safely. Perhaps these monuments are build in a purpose. To confront them with tests and let them rest in between. These ones didn't seem to have come very far. And - on a more disturbing note - they haven't been able to leave. Anyone of you tried to leave this monument? I have the feeling we are trapped here until we either press through or perish."
|| Tryncaryn - Halfling Monk/Wizard - Dragon of Icespire Peak || Berry - Fairy Barbarian - Deathworld: Lost Mine of Phandelver || Taya - Mysterious Fighter - Echoes of Empire || Myrla Stardust - Wood Elf Rogue - After the Fall ||
Wadi turns to Inge and and back to the statues. (16 on the roll)
He thinks back and might recall something about it...
D&D since 1984
He will also start to carefully look around for more writings or triggers.
D&D since 1984
After hearing Myrla, Milo will go and see if there is an exit where they came from.
After joining more my signature got out of hand so I am now a proud member of the extended signature club!! :)
After looking at it a little bit closer, the pedestal seems to be made of a stone frame encased with a thin layer of glass. Inside, there are mirrors and lenses along the four sides that can be used to reflect or emit light, but no light sources are integrated into it. The black cube is connected to a long cylinder standing in the middle of the pedestal and seems to be movable. To Wadi, this resembles the mechanism used in lighthouses to cover and uncover the beacon, and his guess is proven correct when a tiny marking can be spotted near the black cube, a giant script meaning 'light'.
Milo and Myrla move toward the staircase where they had come from. It takes Milo walking straight into a wall and bumping his head on it to find the staircase has disappeared. A wall had replaced the staircase, painted in such a way that still shows a staircase. If not for the physical sensation of hitting a wall, Milo would not be able to tell if their entrance had disappeared.
As they move to rejoin the other, the other door at the end of the hallway remains closed, but they become the first witnesses to the carving on the ceiling changing in real time. The third angel on the ceiling moves fluidly akin to a real person, raising one of her hands upward and the other downward as she gives a low bow.
Hunteros pulls the book and dagger from the dead man, and the dead man remains unmoving. He thumbs the book and can easily tell that this is the life journal of someone, most probably the person holding it. The date on the first page is from three weeks ago, but the date on the last page is from fifty years after the first entry. The progression of dates in the journal is too consistent with fifty years of life lived to say that it is merely a typo by the writer. Something is not right in this place.
Wadi says "Hey, everyone come here I think I found something. He shows every and explains the mirror and lenses and the work light. "I wonder if we align these in a such a way they will make a door open. What do you all think?"
D&D since 1984
Milo returns to the room. "It is worth a shot. We can't leave here anymore it seems. Also, those statues are still moving, One just bowed. It looked lifelike as it did it, which is a bit concerning."
After joining more my signature got out of hand so I am now a proud member of the extended signature club!! :)
Wadi will try to align then to let the light pass thru
D&D since 1984
I read through the journal to see if there is any hints there.
I AM HOMICIDE I AM THE EMBODIMENT OF FIRE I AM STRENGTH AND POWER PRAISE LORD JEFF THE EVIL ROOOOOOOMMMBBBAAAAA
I AM PURE HATE! MY NAME IS BURDURXA SHADEMAKER! TREMBLE IN FEAR AT ITS MENTION!!!! PM ME THE WORD TOMATO OR I WILL SLAP YOUR FIRST BORN CHILD!!
MY VENOM SYMBIOTE: FFFFUUUUUURRRRRRRRYYYYYYYY
Wadi looks at the pedestal but finds no certain way to directly move the mirrors and lenses as the entire pedestal is covered by a thin layer of glass. Hesitantly, he touches the black cube and pushes. The sudden sting from the cube immediately makes him draw his hand back, but the cube and the cylinder sink downward, uncovering a blue light source.
The light scatters around the room, casting blue markings all over the walls, superimposing the existing marks. Both the new marks from the lights and the existing marks on the walls now spell various words in common. At a glance, there could be more than one thousand words on the wall, but a string of words around the middle height of the wall appears to be a clue and spells: 'I bid you welcome to the first floor. An alert mind leads to a forewarned decision. What would make an angel weep?'
On the floor and the ceiling, the light casts pictures instead of words or markings. On the floor, there are five pictures: two lovers in an embrace, a family of five, a bountiful harvest, a pregnant woman, and a smiling newborn baby. On the ceiling, another five pictures can be seen: a war-torn battlefield, a burning city, a fawn pierced by an arrow, a woman kneeling deeply and holding a baby, and a king executing a man.
Reading the journal, Hunteros discovers that the two men were also commissioned to conquer the monument but never returned. Their names are Paxton Prince and Khalis Thornbeam. The journal was written by Khalis over the course of fifty years. It would take too long to carefully read each entry, but Hunteros finds a section talking about the other room. Both Khalis and Paxton suspect a secret passage in the other room that would be activated after engaging the pedestal in some way. Unfortunately, apart from showing some lights, both Paxton and Khalis never really know what to do with the riddle.
Walking out to see the markings hunteros scowls. Hes seen this same thing too many times. A trigger happens in his mind and he snarls. Before using his breathweapon (fire beam) in the air. He stalks off unable to look at the wall filled with his trauma.
I AM HOMICIDE I AM THE EMBODIMENT OF FIRE I AM STRENGTH AND POWER PRAISE LORD JEFF THE EVIL ROOOOOOOMMMBBBAAAAA
I AM PURE HATE! MY NAME IS BURDURXA SHADEMAKER! TREMBLE IN FEAR AT ITS MENTION!!!! PM ME THE WORD TOMATO OR I WILL SLAP YOUR FIRST BORN CHILD!!
MY VENOM SYMBIOTE: FFFFUUUUUURRRRRRRRYYYYYYYY
Milo reads the text and looks around at the images. "Why don't we ask one?" and he goes out to the corridor and speaks towards the angle statue that appears to be crying "Why do you weep?"
After joining more my signature got out of hand so I am now a proud member of the extended signature club!! :)
The carvings in the corridor don't offer a reply, but another angel moves. That is the fourth one. She performs a half pirouette before she freezes in that pose, settling back into looking like a simple stone carving.
Myrla returns from examining the other room, "It really seems that there is no other exit from these chambers, the second door on the corridor appears to be leading to the final resting place of these other two..." She stops when she enters and sees the light show. "I see you found a way to activate this thing. And it is a riddle?" She reads the message and scans for more before settling her view on the images. After some consideration, she states, "I can't say I've seen a fawn, but all of the rest. My vote is for the kneeling woman whose baby died. I don't know about angels but for me that would be the saddest."
|| Tryncaryn - Halfling Monk/Wizard - Dragon of Icespire Peak || Berry - Fairy Barbarian - Deathworld: Lost Mine of Phandelver || Taya - Mysterious Fighter - Echoes of Empire || Myrla Stardust - Wood Elf Rogue - After the Fall ||
Inge knows she is unlikely to be of any help with puzzles. Nevertheless, she ventures:
"I don't know about angels weeping, but the ones on the floor seems happy and the ones on the ceiling seem sad. So do we do something with the sad ones, or the happy ones? Maybe shine a light on them? Or maybe the flying ladies would weep if someone bit into an onion..."
Inge trails off, realizing how ridiculous she sounds, even to herself, and her stomach grumbles at the mention of an onion.
She grins ruefully, and spins her glaive a bit in a gesture like a shrug, wondering if it is normal for fifty years to have passed when she does not think it could have been more than five years... must be magic...
Mud(Paladin2):Frandal's Scourge/Inge(Barbarian1):Krayveneer's After the Fall/Seri(Cleric1/Sorcerer1):Uhtred's Windward Isles/Shin(Wizard2):Dimir_MTG's Surviving
Dyson/Eleo(Cleric3):Vos' Beyond the Veil/Soren(Druid4):Bartjeebus' Ravenloft/Nivi(Rogue3):Raiketsu's CoS/Lyra(Warlock2/Bard2):BlameItOnWinter's Will of the Ancients
Joren(Fighter5):NotDrizzt's Simple Request/Quyen(Adept1):Constance's Nentir Vale/Rel(Warlock2):Uhtred's Phandelver/Xarian(Fighter1/Wizard1):ShieldHero's Drakkenheim
"Hum... right," wonders Myrla after Inge finished, "How do we provide our answer anyway?" She looks more carefully at the floor and at the ceiling where the images appear and tries to see if there are any buttons or tiles that could be pressed (Perception: 10). "Perhaps we need to find the words on the wall? But which words? Someone has an idea?"
|| Tryncaryn - Halfling Monk/Wizard - Dragon of Icespire Peak || Berry - Fairy Barbarian - Deathworld: Lost Mine of Phandelver || Taya - Mysterious Fighter - Echoes of Empire || Myrla Stardust - Wood Elf Rogue - After the Fall ||