"I don't think we should touch that, actually. That room looks like somewhere I'd rather not end up, and if these gems work like the one that sent us here, they might just teleport us into that room. Perhaps we should come back here later when we know more about this place." the priest states before Harak has the chance to touch the gems, not stopping him if he still wishes to. "Malissin, can I see that explosive sphere you managed to save from that last trap? Perhaps we could use it as sort of a bait to get Esylia to come towards us. She could think we sprung one of her traps, when in reality we are setting one for her."

Harak pauses at Kahan's wise words.  Then he touches the globe to see if anything happens.  If nothing happens, he still removes the first gem, saying, "Stand back" and wincing as he does so.

Flint backs away from Harak in case he explodes or something and comments "Perhaps, rather than removing the crystal, you might try twisting one to see if the numbers change"

"Kahan, I wonder if we can set this device to those numbers (Allevian Ocean Atoll - 743698224966) and see what happens...."

Harak goes to the globe device and inspects it.  The gems do not move or rotate in any way.  They are inset in a roughly octagon shape.  However, they can be easily removed, just like the gems in the lower Time Ark.

As Harak goes to remove the leftmost gem, he finds that it sinks in a little like a button.  The scene in the globe flashes for a moment to one of the winch rooms (rooms 33).  Then Harak removes the gem and the globe goes dark.  When he removes the gem, the numbers in the transfinite repeater immediately go to:  000000000000.

"I didn't realize you were so adept at making traps, but here. Please be careful not to break it."

He pauses, thinking.

"Perhaps we could lure her into a dark room, one where we cannot see her vile gaze. Cloaked in darkness I could sneak up and slam the crown on her head, turning enemy into ally, hopefully. If this crown turned a noble leader into a mad king, perhaps it will do the opposite?"

"Honestly, I just want to see how it works, and perhaps figure out where it came from. The trap idea was more of an idea that I was just voicing for approval, not something I was going to do. I'd more than likely blow myself up." Kahan corrects, taking the ball and carefully turning it over in his hands, trying to figure out how it worked. "I still do not believe that the crown would work so... instantaneously as we would like. When King Krusark put the crown on, he didn't immediately turn into an elf-hating abomination, if memory serves correct. It is likely a slow process that would barely benefit us in the short-term." he explained, shrugging. "If you still wish to try, then be my guest, but know this. We only have one vial of stone to flesh left, and if it comes down to it, I would rather use it on one of my companions than on a foolish elf who followed us here, also luring a lich after us. So do be careful." he added very bluntly, eyes never peeling from the orb as he inspected it.

OOC: Too bad Grizz is dead.  You'll recall he had a nonweapon specialty in creating traps based on his fisherman experience.

The orb essentially has a finger-width column that can be pushed in or out.  Your best guess is that by pushing it in, it "sets" the orb to explode on impact.  But it can be pushed back in to "unset" it.  Regardless, you are pretty sure it is volatile even in the "unset" state and not something you want to be playing "hot potato" with.

Borimer talks in low tones to avoid attracting unwanted attention.  "Luring her into a trap's a good idea if the crown wouldn't work, and a dark room sounds like the right place to do it. I can fight in the dark almost as good as in the day, so maybe I would make good bait.  If we set off the sphere and I cry out in pain, then she may come to investigate if she thinks everyone else has left my corpse behind. I surprise her, and then everyone else jumps in to finish it."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:34, Thu 11 Oct 2012.

Your characters would have noticed that she does seem to be carrying some sort of independent light source for herself.

"The more I think about it, the more I remember something around her neck, a lighted gem of some sort.  Darkness might not work unless we disable it first."
Borimer considers the situation and shakes his head.  "Well, how about blinding her when she first attacks, regardless of the light conditions?  Maybe one of you spellcasters could blind her with a spell...?"

"You guys and that dumb crown....it'd simpler to just stuff a bag over her head and then kill her.  Why complicate things?"

Flint turns to the door to the north in room 30.  "Mal could you check this door for me please?  It's probably just another winch room, but it's worth a look at least."

Malissin will proceed as instructed, checking the door for traps and then slowly and carefully peeking through the door by averting his gaze towards the floor and then scanning (slowly) upwards.

"Maybe, just maybe, it would be nice to resolve this without resorting to more violence. If there is a peaceful resolution to be had I think it would be decent to at least consider it. If you do not believe the crown will work and will put us in danger, so be i."

"Have to admit, I'm liking Flint's idea about baggin' and killin'. No more turning men into rocks, no more exploding glass balls, and we can get out of this place for good."

Laying a hand on Mal's shoulder, Flint comments "I understand your concern, but she's killed many of our friends either direectly or through her actions just since we came here.  Syrissa, Edmure, Naj, Grizz and many more have fallen just for us to get this far.  Even if we figure out how all this" Flint motions to the ark device "works and we manage to escape to somplace else, what's to stop her coming after us and creating new trouble wherever we go?  In addition, Kahan is right...the crown would take far too long to work against her, so we have to do something more direct."

"I do not know about you, Malissin, but I know when I am given the choice of either destroying an evil being and letting it live, I always choose destruction as long as it does not harm any innocent beings. Esylia is a corrupt, insane, evil monster who needs to be put to death. Even if the crown works, you would have to tie me up so that I would not kill her myself." Kahan replies, obviously getting a little upset about the whole idea of not killing the gorgon. "I can cast a darkness spell which should nullify all lights within it. The question is if Esylia's light source is magical enough to overcome my spell, which it might be."

Harak replaces the gemstone, waits to see what happens, and then presses on the second gemstone.

He listens to the conversations of the others and says, "Evil or not, we fight in self defense.  Not only does she seek to destroy us, does she not carry the gems we need for the Time Ark?  Won't we be destroyed with the world if we don't get them from her one way or another?"  He returns his face to its silent brooding under the cowl.

Harak replaces the gem, and the numbers slowly rotate back to the number 528373567447.  The globe again shows the demons in the central room.

Harak pushes on the second gemstone, and as he pushes it, the globe shows him another of the winch rooms.

Opening the door to the north (after finding no traps) shows that it is indeed another winch room (33f).  The two numbers showing on the wall are 47.

"Let's try something" Flint walks up to the winch and trys turning it.  Ideally he wants to turn it until the number in this room reads 66.  He then returns to [OOC: room 30] to check what the resulting change is on the 'venue ark'.

Harak begins touching all the gems to see what pictures show up in the globe.

Borimer patiently keeps watch while keener minds wrestle with the secret of the Ark.

Flint begins turning the winch, and the last set of numbers begins changing in both the winch room and the globe room (30).

Meanwhile, Harak touches the gems.  The six gems on the left, when pressed, turn the picture in the globe to various winch rooms.  The one closest to the wheels/numbers (6th gem) shows the room with Flint in it, showing Flint turning the winch.  The sounds of Flint straining as he turns the winch can also be heard through the globe.

The right side gems, when pushed, show you the various crystal focus rooms.

When Harak pushes the fourth gem of the crystal focus rooms, you see a sight that makes you freeze in place.  A serpentine tail, and a head full of snakes on a woman's body are moving across the room from one door to another.  She seems large, at least 7 feet tall, plus the stabilizing tail behind her.

Mal shudders at the sight and points towards the pictures.

"Does anyone recognize that room? If we can't tell which room from which then perhaps we should start marking them so we can quickly find her. If this is the only crystal ball room then we should secure it. Knowing where she is and preventing her from doing the same seems vital to survival."

He pauses, looking carefully at the viewing screen again.

"Does anyone know if her gaze will work through here?"

OOC: What Mal is really worried about is whether that room is 32f and this means that the gorgon is working her way back to take them from behind. If so, he'll rush to put the exploding globe trap on 29 -> 30 doorway, altering the trigger from the original trap, something like "if the original trap is disarmed, then this trap is triggered" kind of thing if possible.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:31, Mon 15 Oct 2012.

Borimer struggles to pull anything from recent memory, but this alien place had played tricks on his mind in the past and so his memories were suspect.

"Marking them is a good idea, but our time seems to be running short."

Kahan looks into the globe to see if they can, from their vantage point, watch the door Esylia seems to be heading towards. "Did we even pass a crystal focus room on this floor?" he inquires.

OOC: Sorry, guys, the fault is mine for not being more descriptive.  I was heading out on a business trip (just got back) and wanted to make sure I got another post in.

As to the Crystal Focus rooms, you can tell which gem goes to which rooms to some extent as follows (pushing gems left to right):

Crystal Focus Rooms:

Gem1:  Room 32a (You can tell this because it is pointing up from the ground)
Gem2:  Room 32b (You can tell because it only has two doors in the room)
Gem3:  (Unknown, probably unexplored.)
Gem4:  Room 32d (You can tell by the three doors, as well as the carnage left from the battle with the undead)
Gem5:  (Unknown, probably unexplored.)
Gem6:  Room 32f (You can tell because it comes out of the ceiling)

Winch Rooms

Gem1:  Room 33a (You can tell because it has the short hallway to the secret door)
Gem2:  Room 33b (you can tell by the single door opposite the winch)
Gem3:  Room 33c (You can tell by the broken chest)
Gem4:  Unknown, not explored
Gem5:  Unknown, not explored
Gem6:  Room 33f (You can tell because Flint was in there.)

OOC:  I will urge you to refrain from metagaming to the extent possible, though your characters can probably figure out what the other gems go to.

Esylia was going through the crystal focus room in room 32d, the one with the carnage from the undead.  It appears that she was moving from the room with the infinite teleportals (let's just call it the "elevator room" to make it simple) and through the south door.