Re: Floors B25-B22 - Inner Temple, Central Column
The negotiation group departs, along with Garnet Cog. Only Xurizu, Dashu and Kilani remain in the Central Column. For whatever reason Kilani seems quiet or perhaps overwhelmed by the surroundings, or situation about her, and has not yet responded to anything or anyone since accepting the powerbow from Nanaret.
Orichalcum, moonsilver and starmetal panels
Together Dashu and Xurizu continue to examine the three fourth floor panels more thoroughly, Xurizu utilizing his sharp senses while Dashu uses his attention to detail to determine more about them.
Besides the caveat they already know (that activating the levers MAY alert the Gatekeeper to Celestial presence), the first thing they notice is that the panels have been used very rarely. The last time it was accessed could have been at least 200 years ago. Yet their construction shows them to be millenia old. It's very likely that, in order to create whatever block there is on the Gatekeeper's memory, the Dragon-blooded still had to force Celestials via the collar to access these controls.
This further strengthens their theory that the panels are indeed a form of Celestial override bypassing permissions. Parameters may have been significantly altered through this 'superuser' mode, or a subordinate AI introduced as a 'filter' on data entered and processed. If the latter, attempting to activate the levers may force the subordinate to materialize.
Xurizu might recall a bit more, examining the mechanisms of the panel and comparing it to similar constructions he has seen during his years working for Sienna. [Private to Ledaal Xurizu: Xurizu was under the influence of his mistress, so he only remembers it in fragments. Himself, and two others, a Solar and a Sidereal controlled by Sienna's colleagues Zerabia and Misa (respectively) were brought to a Wood District control room. The walls were curved, organic, formed from roots of green jade, glowing with power lines resembling streaks of sap, or capillaries. As he and the other two Celestials poured their essence into the machine, the lines flared from green to a scintillating iridescent, flashing in all colors of the rainbow, hypnotizing and beautiful. Xurizu realized in that moment he were looking into a vision of pure chaos, beautiful yet utterly disordered: true knowledge lay there in the midst of that madness, and he would learn from it, no matter the cost.
OOC: BTW, the chaos effect you see there is actually because the Wood District's Gatekeeper is Wyld-mad, this is not actually common to all Gatekeepers. Though Xurizu might not know that for sure. :P]
White jade panel
This panel is much more straightforward than the Celestial-access ones. As stated, it is simply a cover for whatever is underneath.
Once again, Xurizu's keen eyes manage to find a trap rigged to trigger should someone attempt to tamper with its seal. If triggered it will deliver a significantly painful shock of lightning to whomever is unfortunate enough to touch it, but more importantly it is hooked up to a security system, which may alert sentinels to the area. [Private to Ledaal Xurizu; Peleps Dashu: This needs an Dex+Larceny roll to get past. Difficulty is 4. Just prying it open anyway needs a feat of strength, as above (don't forget you can teamwork on this) or Dex+appropriate Craft diff 2. Actually, since neither of you have Craft, you could also use Larceny now that I think about it. So, two rolls Dex+Larceny, one Diff 4 (disarm), the other Diff 2 (open). -1 external penalty to each of you lack proper tools.
BTW: Dashu should already have a communicator, though it possibly makes sense to let Kilani speak while you're busy with the panels. *if* she posts... :P]
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:19, Fri 04 Dec 2009.