Leisha beams.  "Oh, good!  That's a bit of progress, at least. So, if you don't get the diamond, you feel compelled to murder over it, and you don't like that.  That's good.  What happens if you do get the diamond?"

Brindle nods silent agreement with Leisha - that is a very good question and he is looking forward to finally hearing a straight answer!

Stepping back from the searing heat, Aurion beckons to Wrukaog. "Perhaps, Master Orc, you could stand ready to chop on the door should Leisha come to grief in there."

The door almost smirks.

"If I do get my diamond back, then nobody dies ... and Hargrove down there will be very discomfited indeed.  I imagine he will cast insults and threats my way, rail and shout.  Generally enjoy himself really.  It'd be a great shame to deprive him of that."

Tesseryn returns to the charred door, sword drawn and ready to assist should Leisha find herself in trouble.

"I wouldn't give you the satisfaction, you knotty-planked, unbraced slammer !" the door ripostes, angrily.

"So," Leisha concludes, "The most important thing to you about having the diamond is that Hargrove doesn't.  Hargrove - it is your turn now, as promised.  What is the importance of the jewel to you?  What would you do with it if you had it?"

"Why, I'd keep it safely away from Sydni's clutches," the door staunchly vows.  "It is mine, after all."

"Perhaps we should cut the diamond in half and give them half each?" Brindle suggests, innocently.

"Perhaps the Jewel Leisha holds is 'The Mind of Balance' that Omphalos spoke of." Aurion muses quietly. "It is placed equally between two very balanced personalities. I wonder what would happen if she were to move with it towards either end? "
This message was lightly edited by the player at 00:21, Sat 02 June 2018.

Tesseryn's eyebrows shoot up, surprised that he had not thought of that.  "Then our strength should be arrayed equally at either end.  I shall return to where Brindle watches and offer what aid I can.  Wrukaog, would you assist me again with the passage?"  He clanks back toward the circular passage.

Leisha nods.  "I thought as much.  The most important thing to you, then, is likewise that Sydni not have it.  Now, as tempting as Brindle's suggestion is, or - if we don't have the means to evenly split a diamond easily at hand - something similar like suggesting that, then, neither of you should have it, whether it be destroyed or simply given to a mutually agreed third party..."  She looks up and down the hallway.

"What would either of you do if you didn't have this diamond to quarrel over?  Hargrove, it's your turn to answer first."

"Certainly not," the door replies icily.  "You're treating us like squabbling children ... I don't think you appreciate just how important this is !"

"Hear, hear !" Sydni puts in.  "First sensible thing you've said in ... well, forever really."

"What do you normally do when you're not trying to steal diamonds from their rightful owner ?" he asks Leisha innocently.

Tesseryn hustlles along around the bend, keenly aware that he's missing parts of the parley.  Ah!  Brindle will fill him in when he reaches his end.  His own (impressive) diplomacy skill did not avail him one whit, but the young lady certainly seems to have a way with doors ...

Brindle is quite glad to see Tesseryn back again and cheerfully fills him in on the details of the conversation.

"I don't really understand what either of them sees in it," he admits at the end. "I'm not sure it's worth the trouble it has caused."

"Certainly not what?" Leisha asks, frowning, as Hargrove's answer doesn't seem to match up with her question.  Then Sydni joins him, and she nods.  "Oh, yes, I do see.  No, I don't particularly want it."  Carefully making sure to retain its distance between the two doors, she sets the diamond back on the ground.  "My downfall is curiosity, not greed.  Is that better?"

"Truly, Hargrove, Sydni, I give you my word - I want to understand, and to find a way to help.  Removing the object of contention in some manner is a classic and often successful means of ending a feud.  As far as I can determine so far, you both feel ownership over the diamond, a claim that is, for some reason, important to you, particularly as a matter of asserting your claim over the other's.  You both have piles of coin that you care nothing for, so it's clear that greed isn't your motivator, either.  Neither of you seem to have any interest in it beyond having it so the other does not, which - and I'm sorry, Hargrove, but it is a bit childish.  Mind you, there's nothing wrong with being a bit childish, but if there's more to it than that, then teach me."

"If there isn't, we may indeed have no choice but to leave you at your impasse, but as I was getting to, that may not be a bad thing.  I'm beginning to suspect this has grown out of boredom, with the diamond an irrelevant focus to a rivalry that you both need just to have something to think about, and I'm not sure how I could help there.  As gladly as I would promise to come and visit you, given our own circumstances I'm afraid that's not a promise I can honestly make, although I may try anyway."  She looks up, thoughtfully.  "I don't know.  Does your being include your hinges?  If either or both of you wanted, we could probably move you somewhere more interesting."

Oh bravo!  Tesseryn stifles the exclamation before it reaches his lips. This line of negotiation sounds promising.  He silently berates himself for leaping straight to the diplomacy of the axe.

Quietly he quizzes Brindle Aurion speculated that the jewel is actually The Mind of Balance mentioned by Omphalos.  Can you tell if the jewel is enchanted?"

Aurion can tell if the diamond is enchanted. He casts Detect Magic and concentrates, but not getting so close to the door as to get burnt. He wonders if Leisha already knows the answer to this question ... Beyond that he's thinking of a glass of wine and warm bed somewhere in the village.

"It sounds like Aurion is taking care of that," Brindle advises Tesseryn just as quietly when he hears the familiar incantation of the spell that Aurion is casting. "Did you detect an evil presence earlier? Was that Sydni?"

OOC: Oomphalos's mention of the Mind of Balance is at msg #517 on page 21 in The Dark Tower - the Village of Mitra's Fist. He said, "The last of the Soul Gems is the Mind of Balance. It is neither good nor evil.  It is said that with this gem one may literally buy eternal life, though I do not know what that means."

"Indeed Brindle, I pronounced Sydni evil in msg 130.  I shall await Aurion's verdict on the jewel."

Neither door seems to leap at the opportunity to be taken down and moved somewhere else, and the diamond is forgotten as the pair digest this for a moment.

"Madam," Hargrove sounds icily curt, "I shall have to ask you to keep your hands off my hinges.  I am perfectly happy where I am !  Every door has his place, after all."

"Just try and touch me and we'll see how interesting I can make life for you !" Sydni is rather less polite, the anger in his voice most evident.

Tesseryn joins Brindle at the northern end of the corridor, whispering quietly in the Halfling's ear as the pair discuss the Mind of Balance.

Meanwhile, Aurion casts his spells of detection ...

"Hmmm. There is plenty of magic happening in the passage," Aurion informs Wrukaog "but I can't tell if the diamond is part of it. I'll have to go closer. Can you please assist me to the other side again master Orc? In fact you may as well come too... this 'balance' thing is their problem not ours."
This message was last edited by the player at 06:21, Mon 04 June 2018.

"Oh, that's a shame.  I could imagine Hargrove hung in a splendid cathedral, and Sydni propped up in a dank dungeon somewhere."  Tesseryn waits to see what Leisha will try next.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:37, Mon 04 June 2018.

While Leisha ponders and Tesseryn exercises his imagination, Wrukaog assists Aurion and Cogwitz, as well as the silver statue of Mitra, to navigate the circular hall to join Brindle and the Paladin at Hargrove's end of the corridor.

As Aurion advances, bent on putting himself between Leisha and the diamond that he might get a clearer reading from his spell, the doors continue to utter insults, though now it seems that both of them are aiming their ire at you.

"Here's another thief !" Syndi is by far the ruder of the two.

"Well, I wouldn't go that far," Hargrove mutters reluctantly, perhaps moved by the temptation of the cathedral, "but it certainly doesn't look good.  You sir !" he addresses the Elf.  "Might I inquire as to your intentions !"

"He's after m.. the diamond !" his fellow asserts.  "Though I suppose he'll only deny it !  Keep a sharp eye on that one !"

OOC: Map of the proceedings updated ...