Once the party had their light sources figured out, they made their way down the darkened hall.
The hallway continued, more or less in the same direction, for over a hundred feet before turning.
When it did, a trio of new hallways opened up. The left most had a strange mosaic tiled upon the floor, the center-most went north for a stretch before ending with another iron doorway, and the rightmost terminated with a stone staircase that seemingly ascended up to another level.
Ichep follows Yaudara, lighting a candle he got from his backpack using an incantation that creates Light to illuminate the way in front. The humour in lighting a candle not with fire but magic was lost entirely on him, too often had he used it this way.
Ichep is intrigued by the mosaic tiles and cannot help his curiosity. He squeezes by Yaudaura to investigate while keeping an eye out for obvious traps. He will not step on the mosaic tiles but will peek around the corner into the hallway if possible.
Toadstool just does some brain math and mutters in a single breath: "Three ways, three ways, three... where the evil comes from, we don't know, but we must, we must. We are close to top, so stairs take us to the top, but top is not where they came from..."
Collects himself, takes a swig from his waterskin and focuses: "I think the mosaic has significance to our path. Please be careful."
He tails the party and his torch is like a chandelier for everyone else, because it shines from basically the ceiling. His internal monologue is even more chaotic. Mostly about impure magic and how these magic users are friends and could help him as well. This internal struggle can be seen in his twitching expressions
"The mosaic path could be a good one to follow," Yaudara offers, "but this staircase looks to ascend to the surface. If we follow that, we may unmask some evildoers within the town itself. Which way should we go?"
'Ahhhh' went Balen's internal monologue originally when the door didn't work. But when Yaudara's simple trick (literally opening the door) worked, he wanted to bash his head against the wall. Instead he just tensely sulked until Ichep's poke brought him out of it. "Y-yeah yeah... I'm fine." He didn't know what to say, but he felt the gesture itself was sweet. He didn't expect that type of kindness from someone who labeled themselves the Judge of the Dead, so it was... nice. "Thank you," He said flatly.
The changeling was still a bit shaky as he moved away and took the shield from the dead kuo-toa (gotta look the part, amirite?) and followed the group into the hallways. His newly-finned feet made sloppy wet floppy noises (he never wore shoes for some reason, which, yes, is very weird for someone who thinks of himself as a salesman) as he trailed the group in the middle, contemplating on the shadows from the two lights sources.
He was stuck in his head for the most part. Everything about him was tense, and he hated the fishy-form he was in but refused to change it. He stuck his hand out to trace the walls of the hallways as they walked, both to look and just to feel something. He felt like he was slowly losing it, and it was not a good look for him. He sighed, trying to get to his happy place, imagining the salty waves splash down on his face. It felt good, well, enough to keep him sane.
As the party made their way down the torchlit hallway, the rogue knelt down beside an intricate mosaic that stretched across the corridor, its tiles forming a mesmerizing pattern of twisting pathways and intricate designs.
With a furrowed fish-like brow, the changeling studied the mosaic intently, tracing the intricate lines and symbols with a practiced eye. As Balen examined the intricate details, a faint glimmer of recognition flickered in his mind, not unlike the pieces of a puzzle falling into place.
Suddenly, the rogue's sharp gaze fell upon a series of subtle clues hidden within the mosaic itself — a series of subtly misaligned tiles, a sequence of patterns arranged in a cryptic sequence, and a faint indentation in the floor that hinted at a hidden mechanism within the wall.
OOC — The mosaic tiles set into the floor of this hall show a miniature, maze-like path set within the 10' wide hall. The 'maze' path starts at each end and winds through the hallway, and ends at the middle of the hallway, along the right side ... the maze ends at a very tiny stone door cunningly designed to blend into the wall. The door is about the size of a small cupboard perhaps.
He squinted hard at the tiles, taking note of the off pattern in some of them. "You were right," he nodded halfheartedly at Toadstool. "There's something wrong about these tiles. I think there's... like a maze here. It goes from there..." Balen pointed ahead and traced it back towards the wall, "...And then there's another one from over here where we are. Then it goes into that same wall over here." He pointed at the wall triumphantly with a swing of his cloak "Righttttt here!"
He trotted over to where the paths met and got down on his knees to scope out the end of the trial. "Ah just as I suspected." He said in a mockingly doctor-ish voice, "The diagnosis? It looks like... a very small door!" He jumped up rather quickly, cracked his knuckles, made a strange fish-y gargling noise, and finally pointed his finger at Yaudara and then Ichep, "All right, shorties. Guess it's our time."
"...Just gotta figure this out though." He goes down to squat on the floor again and then rubs his hands rather haphazardly around the different tiles, trying to figure out how to open up the door, "I might just have to kick it."
As Yaudara, the most armored member of the party and one of the best at spotting traps, watched the orc, who had already accidentally triggered one trap so far, shamble by him, he found himself wishing another would trigger, then quickly turned away and made the sign of Torm. "Forgive me," he muttered, then turned back, ready for whatever may come.
(OOC: Since Yaudara was in the neighborhood and has 13 Passive Perception, he may notice something as well. If there's something to notice.)
'Oh --- it worked?!' Balen was caught by surprise by how well that worked. Honestly he kind of still did have the urge to kick it, but oh well. He really had thought this door was one they were going to have to crawl though. He stared intently at the sword in the space. He knew better than to just touch it, but, boy, it sure was tempting. "Hey pals, what you all think?" He looked back at the group inquisitively before looking again for another clue. He wanted to make a joke to almost touch it then reel his hand back just in time, but, again, he thought that was pretty stupid.
((oops sorry I thought I needed to do it every turn))
Faen follows the others, thoroughly delighted in the his new companions. He is especially fond of the revelation of Balen can shapeshift, which of course reminds him of the Feywild; he thought there was something fey-like about this roguish person. His fanciful thoughts though make him zone out a bit in the middle of the dark hall (about 20ft down the hall that's South from the hexagonal room).
He catches himself however, shaking his head in frustration at himself. He loves adventure, but also knows that if he's to actually to survive on the road, he's got to make himself focus. He calls down the hall, "Sorry, everyone, I'm coming." He hurries himself, humming to himself as a stim as a means to keep himself focused and in the moment, the walls going by as black-and-gray hues in his Elvish dark vision.
He's coming up to the group, their fiery torch and the pale glow of the magically-lit candle being especially bright to his keen eyes. It's as he's coming up to them that he sees Balen press open the small, strange door. The half-elf wonders what this all could mean...what is the meaning of this maze pattern in the tiles, and what's hidden inside that compartment?
He kneels down, cocking his head to one side as he tries to get a good look. "Quite the strange door. Far too small for our late fish-friends. What could it be?"
Edit: Going to continue to make Faen up to date, since I missed part of the thread.
Faen can see the blade, his eyes catching the glint of the silver in the others' lights. He wonders if it's magic, and his curiosity gets the best of him. "Definitely think we should take it," Faen says, nodding a bit to Balen, "If you want me to try, I'll grab it for us. I wonder if it's magic of some sort?"
He sings a soft incantation and, in front of them all, appears a floating spectral hand. The hand glows softly green (mage hand).
Assuming no one objects, Faen is going to grab the blade with his mage hand and take a look at it while not directly touching it. Arcana or Investigation, per DMs discretion and if it's possible. Roll: nat 20 +3 = 23 for either skill.
Toadstool just stands amazed by the cunning of Balen and the discovery in general: "Turns out not only the forest has secrets! Hope this blade will help to sever the roots of this corruption. Should we move forward, I have a gut feeling we should."
Faen and Yaudara inspect the blade an find no supernatural, spiritual, or magical anomalies. Apart from having a silvered blade ... it is a mundane short sword.
The party recovered the short sword and continued to the next section of hallway. It traveled more or less in the same direction, but this hallway was quite quite a bit longer. It ended at an archway.
Curiously, the mosaic tiles continued, but the pattern in this section of hall was wider, larger, and more spread out. In the very center of the hallway, just as in the last stretch, the tile maze terminated at a section of wall that appeared to conceal a stone door ... but this one was no cupboard ... it was full sized. There was a similar indentation in the stonework next to this concealed door.
OOC — You all received advantage on your perception & investigation due to seeing a continuation of the previous puzzle. This was a +5 to your passive perception and you all notice the mosaic, tile labyrinth and how it indicates a section of wall.
Ichep peaks at the blade illuminated by the magical light of his candle. „Silver, oh? Certain creatures from other planes are weak to it. Although... I seemed to have forgotten which.“ He scratched his head in frustration. (Arcana: 3+5=8 ;-;)
„Sure. Let's not linger too long“, Ichep agreed a bit low-spirited.
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Once the party had their light sources figured out, they made their way down the darkened hall.
The hallway continued, more or less in the same direction, for over a hundred feet before turning.
When it did, a trio of new hallways opened up. The left most had a strange mosaic tiled upon the floor, the center-most went north for a stretch before ending with another iron doorway, and the rightmost terminated with a stone staircase that seemingly ascended up to another level.
Ichep follows Yaudara, lighting a candle he got from his backpack using an incantation that creates Light to illuminate the way in front. The humour in lighting a candle not with fire but magic was lost entirely on him, too often had he used it this way.
Ichep is intrigued by the mosaic tiles and cannot help his curiosity. He squeezes by Yaudaura to investigate while keeping an eye out for obvious traps. He will not step on the mosaic tiles but will peek around the corner into the hallway if possible.
Toadstool just does some brain math and mutters in a single breath: "Three ways, three ways, three... where the evil comes from, we don't know, but we must, we must. We are close to top, so stairs take us to the top, but top is not where they came from..."
Collects himself, takes a swig from his waterskin and focuses: "I think the mosaic has significance to our path. Please be careful."
He tails the party and his torch is like a chandelier for everyone else, because it shines from basically the ceiling. His internal monologue is even more chaotic. Mostly about impure magic and how these magic users are friends and could help him as well. This internal struggle can be seen in his twitching expressions
"The mosaic path could be a good one to follow," Yaudara offers, "but this staircase looks to ascend to the surface. If we follow that, we may unmask some evildoers within the town itself. Which way should we go?"
To get rid of a weed, you go for the root, not the buds. But where is the root for this evil? Up or down? I have a feling that down.
Toadstool sudenly speaks very clearly. It seems that "nature talk" makes him calm.
"Sounds good." Yaudara will proceed to the mosaic-tiled pathway, looking out for potential traps after their incident in the summoning room.
'Ahhhh' went Balen's internal monologue originally when the door didn't work. But when Yaudara's simple trick (literally opening the door) worked, he wanted to bash his head against the wall. Instead he just tensely sulked until Ichep's poke brought him out of it. "Y-yeah yeah... I'm fine." He didn't know what to say, but he felt the gesture itself was sweet. He didn't expect that type of kindness from someone who labeled themselves the Judge of the Dead, so it was... nice. "Thank you," He said flatly.
The changeling was still a bit shaky as he moved away and took the shield from the dead kuo-toa (gotta look the part, amirite?) and followed the group into the hallways. His newly-finned feet made sloppy wet floppy noises (he never wore shoes for some reason, which, yes, is very weird for someone who thinks of himself as a salesman) as he trailed the group in the middle, contemplating on the shadows from the two lights sources.
He was stuck in his head for the most part. Everything about him was tense, and he hated the fishy-form he was in but refused to change it. He stuck his hand out to trace the walls of the hallways as they walked, both to look and just to feel something. He felt like he was slowly losing it, and it was not a good look for him. He sighed, trying to get to his happy place, imagining the salty waves splash down on his face. It felt good, well, enough to keep him sane.
"Where we headed?"
((Wisdom: Perception 19 + 4 = 23 Intelligence: Investigation: 9 + 3 = 12))
<---- me irl slow reader, even slower writer easily jumpy thanks for being patient
DM: Drakkenheim Mind and Matter + Blood Secrets + What's in the Here and Now;
Player: Dragonlance
As the party made their way down the torchlit hallway, the rogue knelt down beside an intricate mosaic that stretched across the corridor, its tiles forming a mesmerizing pattern of twisting pathways and intricate designs.
With a furrowed fish-like brow, the changeling studied the mosaic intently, tracing the intricate lines and symbols with a practiced eye. As Balen examined the intricate details, a faint glimmer of recognition flickered in his mind, not unlike the pieces of a puzzle falling into place.
Suddenly, the rogue's sharp gaze fell upon a series of subtle clues hidden within the mosaic itself — a series of subtly misaligned tiles, a sequence of patterns arranged in a cryptic sequence, and a faint indentation in the floor that hinted at a hidden mechanism within the wall.
OOC — The mosaic tiles set into the floor of this hall show a miniature, maze-like path set within the 10' wide hall. The 'maze' path starts at each end and winds through the hallway, and ends at the middle of the hallway, along the right side ... the maze ends at a very tiny stone door cunningly designed to blend into the wall. The door is about the size of a small cupboard perhaps.
He squinted hard at the tiles, taking note of the off pattern in some of them. "You were right," he nodded halfheartedly at Toadstool. "There's something wrong about these tiles. I think there's... like a maze here. It goes from there..." Balen pointed ahead and traced it back towards the wall, "...And then there's another one from over here where we are. Then it goes into that same wall over here." He pointed at the wall triumphantly with a swing of his cloak "Righttttt here!"
He trotted over to where the paths met and got down on his knees to scope out the end of the trial. "Ah just as I suspected." He said in a mockingly doctor-ish voice, "The diagnosis? It looks like... a very small door!" He jumped up rather quickly, cracked his knuckles, made a strange fish-y gargling noise, and finally pointed his finger at Yaudara and then Ichep, "All right, shorties. Guess it's our time."
"...Just gotta figure this out though." He goes down to squat on the floor again and then rubs his hands rather haphazardly around the different tiles, trying to figure out how to open up the door, "I might just have to kick it."
(Wisdom: Perception: 1 + 4 = 5 whhyyyyyyyy Intelligence: Investigation: 19 + 3 = 22 ... okay interesting))
<---- me irl slow reader, even slower writer easily jumpy thanks for being patient
DM: Drakkenheim Mind and Matter + Blood Secrets + What's in the Here and Now;
Player: Dragonlance
As Yaudara, the most armored member of the party and one of the best at spotting traps, watched the orc, who had already accidentally triggered one trap so far, shamble by him, he found himself wishing another would trigger, then quickly turned away and made the sign of Torm. "Forgive me," he muttered, then turned back, ready for whatever may come.
(OOC: Since Yaudara was in the neighborhood and has 13 Passive Perception, he may notice something as well. If there's something to notice.)
Balen placed his hand upon the indentation in the stone next to the small concealed door and pressed it.
It sank into the wall with a satisfying click and the tiny stone door popped open!
There was a short sword inside the small cupboard like space, its silvered blade gleaming in the torchlight.
OOC — No need to reroll the Perception or the Investigation attempts.
'Oh --- it worked?!' Balen was caught by surprise by how well that worked. Honestly he kind of still did have the urge to kick it, but oh well. He really had thought this door was one they were going to have to crawl though. He stared intently at the sword in the space. He knew better than to just touch it, but, boy, it sure was tempting. "Hey pals, what you all think?" He looked back at the group inquisitively before looking again for another clue. He wanted to make a joke to almost touch it then reel his hand back just in time, but, again, he thought that was pretty stupid.
((oops sorry I thought I needed to do it every turn))
<---- me irl slow reader, even slower writer easily jumpy thanks for being patient
DM: Drakkenheim Mind and Matter + Blood Secrets + What's in the Here and Now;
Player: Dragonlance
Faen follows the others, thoroughly delighted in the his new companions. He is especially fond of the revelation of Balen can shapeshift, which of course reminds him of the Feywild; he thought there was something fey-like about this roguish person. His fanciful thoughts though make him zone out a bit in the middle of the dark hall (about 20ft down the hall that's South from the hexagonal room).
He catches himself however, shaking his head in frustration at himself. He loves adventure, but also knows that if he's to actually to survive on the road, he's got to make himself focus. He calls down the hall, "Sorry, everyone, I'm coming." He hurries himself, humming to himself as a stim as a means to keep himself focused and in the moment, the walls going by as black-and-gray hues in his Elvish dark vision.
He's coming up to the group, their fiery torch and the pale glow of the magically-lit candle being especially bright to his keen eyes. It's as he's coming up to them that he sees Balen press open the small, strange door. The half-elf wonders what this all could mean...what is the meaning of this maze pattern in the tiles, and what's hidden inside that compartment?
He kneels down, cocking his head to one side as he tries to get a good look. "Quite the strange door. Far too small for our late fish-friends. What could it be?"
Edit: Going to continue to make Faen up to date, since I missed part of the thread.
Faen can see the blade, his eyes catching the glint of the silver in the others' lights. He wonders if it's magic, and his curiosity gets the best of him. "Definitely think we should take it," Faen says, nodding a bit to Balen, "If you want me to try, I'll grab it for us. I wonder if it's magic of some sort?"
He sings a soft incantation and, in front of them all, appears a floating spectral hand. The hand glows softly green (mage hand).
Assuming no one objects, Faen is going to grab the blade with his mage hand and take a look at it while not directly touching it.
Arcana or Investigation, per DMs discretion and if it's possible. Roll: nat 20 +3 = 23 for either skill.
As Yaudara watches this happen, he'll close his eyes and pray. "Torm, reveal the nature of this blade. Show us its worth."
He'll use Divine Sense.
Toadstool just stands amazed by the cunning of Balen and the discovery in general: "Turns out not only the forest has secrets! Hope this blade will help to sever the roots of this corruption. Should we move forward, I have a gut feeling we should."
Faen and Yaudara inspect the blade an find no supernatural, spiritual, or magical anomalies. Apart from having a silvered blade ... it is a mundane short sword.
The party recovered the short sword and continued to the next section of hallway. It traveled more or less in the same direction, but this hallway was quite quite a bit longer. It ended at an archway.
Curiously, the mosaic tiles continued, but the pattern in this section of hall was wider, larger, and more spread out. In the very center of the hallway, just as in the last stretch, the tile maze terminated at a section of wall that appeared to conceal a stone door ... but this one was no cupboard ... it was full sized. There was a similar indentation in the stonework next to this concealed door.
OOC — You all received advantage on your perception & investigation due to seeing a continuation of the previous puzzle. This was a +5 to your passive perception and you all notice the mosaic, tile labyrinth and how it indicates a section of wall.
Ichep peaks at the blade illuminated by the magical light of his candle. „Silver, oh? Certain creatures from other planes are weak to it. Although... I seemed to have forgotten which.“ He scratched his head in frustration. (Arcana: 3+5=8 ;-;)
„Sure. Let's not linger too long“, Ichep agreed a bit low-spirited.