You each gain 5000 experience points.

Please update your character sheet accordingly, adding an XP bonus if applicable.


After seeing Fingas and Battrus go running past them in screaming terror to the flight before apparently falling to some miserable demise, the party decides to explore to the west before venturing south.

But first, Shae peeks south, seeing only the empty, ruined halls of the old inner temple.  A path leads east before ending in a dead end from a cave in, although it also has a branch off to the south before the cave in.  The main corridor to the south has two halls branching off to the east before it descends some stairs.  It is from down the stairs somewhere that you heard the last words of Fingas and Battrus -- the Hatt and the Batt.

Going to the west, you find that the hallway abruptly cuts off.  A sheer drop goes straight down as far as you can see into an abyss of blackness.  The far side is nothing but a sheer wall too, meaning that this temple carved into the mountain never extended past this chasm.  A rope is tethered to an iron rod pounded deep in the ground here, but it is so old that the rope would fall apart at the touch and the rod is covered with rust.  The rope itself is 100 feet long.

Shae will look over the edge to see if anything is below, using infravision and the light sources held by the party.  She will also pull up the rope to check its ends, approximate age, and anything else out of the ordinary.

Lukas offers, " I can climb down and find out what below, but shouldn't we check out everything up here first?"   Lukas heads out in front of the group checking for possible troubles that might not be that agreeable to the rest of the group.  He will check out the path to the left first and then any additional pathways to be found.

OOC: It look like if we head straight ahead there are some stairs that go down.

"We should identify what it was that scared the other two so much that they ran down a cliff before we to further." Kahan states, looking around to see what approximate route they would have taken.

Lukas does a little snooping through the halls, up to going south to the top of the stairs.

He sees the following:

Two eastern passages end in dead ends from cave ins back in ancient days.

There is a closed door leading east and a closed door leading south along the side of two of the halls.

At the bottom of the stairs, a corridor runs east and west.

Shae sees nothing along the far side of the chasm except for a solid wall going up and down as far as she can see.  Infravision does nothing to expand her vision.



Shae pulls up the rope.  The end of the rope is sheared off smoothly, as though cut with a blade.  But the rope itself is ancient, has been here for many years, and barely holds together even at the touch.  It would not hold any weight.

"I agree with Lukas, let's check out what's up here first."

Shae says, "Let's try that door over in the eastern area first."

She will open the eastern door where the hall makes a square, first examining it to make sure there is nothing odd about the door itself.

"Agreed.  This ravine seems to run the length of this level and it's likely we'll end up down there soon enough." Tahldar says in reply to the suggestion to remain on their current level.

Nodding to Shae's suggestion, he remains a good distance away from the eastern door with the Gnomes in tow.

Lukas will lend a hand with checking out the door to see if it is free of troubles

Kahan follows behind, mace at the ready to swing should something evil emerge.

Didit refrained from suggesting exploring the ravine on her own, last time it had been unpleasant enough and had ended up needing assistance, so she didn't bring it. She also followed along, alert.

As everyone approaches the door Leogold keeps his voice low and says, "There is a good chance that whatever scared those two away is still somewhere around here, let me see if I can hear anything behind the door."

OOC: Leo will detect noise  while the door is being inspected.

Having previously just looked briefly down the corridors, you now approach the door to have a look at it.

The door itself is an ancient stone door that is long and tall, a full 15 feet tall at its top.  You brush off some of the old dust and look closer at the door.  The ancient stone has a bas relief carving of a winding dragon moving toward a glowing orb of some sort.



The door does not have any door handles or apparent hinges.  An inspection does not reveal any traps on the door.  However, the orb in the center of the door (about 6 feet off the ground) appears to not be carved out of solid stone and perhaps could be pushed in.

Nothing can be heard beyond the ancient door, which does not appear to have been opened in a long time.

Shae will try to push the--button?  Doorbell?  Whatever the orb might be.

Borimer stands behind Shae ready to deal with whatever may come through the door.

Lukas attention is drawn to the dragons on the door, studying them in further detail.

Tahldar pulls out his spellbook, looking at spells for a potential one to cast at the door.

Meanwhile, Shae pushes the orb.  It does not budge.  A strength greater than her own is apparently needed to budge it after so long being in the same place.

Tahldar closes his book and ponders what to do.  "Seeing as Borimer is the strongest, if he were to use some type of pole arm, he may be able to push the orb and be far enough away to not be affected by whatever trap it may spring.  If it does at all, but likely will."

"Maybe if we lubricante the thing. I think I know something that could work." Didit beagn performming something, hoping to help.
cast Grease

Didit casts grease on the orb, ensuring it gets into the cracks.

Amount of pressure to push in orb just decreased from 300 lbs to 150 lbs.

EDIT: The "grease" spell will last for 12 rounds.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:34, Mon 22 Sept 2014.

Borimer looks around for anything that he can use to push the button.

making sure everyone is a good distance from borimer before pushing the button, assuming something is found that can reach it.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:53, Wed 24 Sept 2014.

Leogold pulls a dagger out from somewhere under his clothes and prepares himself for Borimer to attempt the door.

Borimer is able to push the button orb using a great deal of force (about 150 pounds worth).

The button orb pushes in, and when its center gets past the stone outer face, it rolls away automatically.  As it does this, the door begins to open of its own accord.  It does not slide or drop, but instead it rises diagonally up and to the left in short and slow 1 foot increments, moving and stopping, moving and stopping.

Stale air pours out at you from the interior, which has been closed off to the outside world for a long, long time.  It is completely dark inside.  In fact, it is so dark that no light seems to penetrate it.

As soon as the door rises nearly all the way to the upper left corner, it stops with a thud, and you begin to hear a faint and very slow ticking sound, as if something from within the wall is very slowly ticking at about once per every three seconds.

"I believe we only have a short time before the door closes again.  We need to act quickly." Tahldar says to the group.

"A simple light spell should temporarily negate the darkness.  At least while it lasts." he says before casting the spell into the room beyond.

OOC:  Tahldar will cast the 0 level spell light.  It will last for 9 turns and has a 20' radius.  The spell description says if it is cast directly against darkness it will negate it as long as the light spell remains in effect.  I assume if we bring another source of light in the 20' radius it will then work.  He will cast the spell so that it will cover as much of the room and entryway as he can.

Tahldar casts the light spell, but nothing seems to change within the dark chamber.  In fact, from the darkness, you begin to feel a sense of fear, panic, and despair like a tangible thing in the air seeping out.  Whatever spell was cast in there, it was very powerful--and obviously has endured for eons.

But the light spell does illuminate something not previously seen.  On the floor at the threshold, in the spot which was previously directly beneath the bottom of the door, you see words inscribed in the stone.  The door itself was down about six inches into the stone floor in a lip carved into the floor, and reading the words is like reading the words at the bottom of a dried up river.

The words read in an ancient scribed hand that are most likely a hybrid of Ancient Allevian:

"The First Test of the Faithful"
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:20, Wed 24 Sept 2014.

Didit was thinking and hearing the ticking sound from inside along with the text rang a bell " The first one... There's no time to lose! We must hurry, we cannot hesitate!" she began running straight into the room getting lost in the darkness.

Lukas hurries in through the door and starts looking around wanting to know what all the fuss is about

Leo looks around to the others and shrugs, "A leap of faith I guess." Then jogs through the doorway into the darkness.

Borimer shakes his head, muttering to himself.  "Faith be damned-"  He steps inside, his grin swallowed by the darkness.  "Here's hoping we're lucky."  His hand grasps the Godslayer's hilt...

I reread the post and it sounds like borimer is griping at leo, sorry m8 :)
This message was last edited by the player at 04:09, Wed 24 Sept 2014.

Tahldar addresses the Gnomes and says "I do not know if it would be wise for you to follow.  I will leave that decision up to you."

Sighing at the decision, Tahldar tentatively reaches his arm into the darkness to see if it is safe, and if so, slides a foot forward to test for any unseen pits, and if none are to be found he pokes his head in for a look, and again if all is still well he finally steps in fully.

The gnomes back away, afraid.  They will not enter.

When you enter, something strange happens.  The golden cube lights up as you cross the threshhold.  The intertwined runes and designs on one side of the cube light up to form a recognizable word.

That word is "DARKNESS."

Once crossing the threshold, the cube lights up a 10'x10' square area around you.  The light is dim, and it is still very dark in the room.  However, a directed beam of light--like a cylindrical conduit--connects from the golden box to something in the center of the room, and from that thing to the far north side, giving you a dim but at least some vision of an exit passageway on the far side.

That thing in the center of the room is an ornate altar with a dragon twisting around it.  The mouth of the dragon faces up, is open, and holds in its jaws a pinkish gem about the size of a person's open hand.  It is through the gem that the light flows.  The gem is a huge, cut jewel, its facets flashing with a fiery light from the light of the cube you hold.

The exit at the far end ("north") is a single arched exit.

The floors here are made of hexagonal flagstones (as indicated in the map).  Each stone is polished marble but is covered in ancient dust from disuse over the eons.

You currently stand in the two bottom hexagonal flagstones.  Please indicate which way you will move from here in the darkness--northeast, northwest, east, west, southeast, southwest, and indicate if you start in left or right hex.  Each hex is approximately 5 feet wide.

The person holding the cube will bring the 10 feet radius of light (although again, it is a very dim light) with him.  Those stepping outside the radius will be walking into complete and absolute darkness.

Shae will go straight north to the pedestal and examine the jewel and the altar more closely, including whether the jewel can be taken from the dragon's mouth.  But she will not actually touch it.

Borimer watches Shae's brash maneuver with appreciation even as he readies to deal with whatever she might set in motion.

Lukas frowns at the other gnomes.  He will follow along with the others remaining in the light.

"I think the box should be brought closer to the gem to see if it does anything.  For some reason I think the box is supposed to hold it and maybe it will open if brought in close contact with the gem or altar." Tahldar says as he watches Shae approach the dragon adorned altar.

"Shall we move after her?" he asks the others.

"The box and the gem do seem to be interacting together. I would also like to see what happens when they get closer, and was thinking we might see what else is in this room by walking the box around the alter."

Leo kneels down to inspect the hexagonal stones, blowing off some of the dust. If nothing seems out of the ordinary he will follow Shae's path to the altar.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:05, Thu 25 Sept 2014.

"Yes, you should go take a look Tahldar" said Shapfren getting closer

Borimer follows the others while taking care to watch for any trouble that may be following them all.

"It's a plan then!  Leogold you can check the floor in front of us as we go."  Tahldar states plainly.

OOC:  Since the box only provides a 10' radius of light then we'll huddle behind Leogold as we approach the altar.

Shae says, as she steps to the altar, "I think our time here is very limited.  We should be careful, but I also don't want to be stuck in here when that door behind us closes.  I think we move quickly in and out.  That ticking sound to my elf ears sounds like a clock ticking down, a countdown.  Let's be careful but quick."

"I thought you hadn't heard that." commented Didit "Now I'm surprised. Even then we have no way of knowing how many ticks we have to spare so it is as good as not hearing at all. Remember you've got to have faith for this test"

"I suspect that there will be no going back." Kahan states, following behind the others, pulling out a length of rope and handing it forward. "Everyone make sure you get a good grip on this rope, and we can use it as a lead in case the light should get too dim. As far as this test is concerned, most ancient trials I have run into are typically one way only, so forward is the best direction to go."

Shae moves forward (taking the rope from Kahan first).  She doesn't get far before she falls as though directly through the floor.  Her weight drags everyone forward who has the rope, causing some rope burns.  You hear a splash about 15 feet below...followed by the scream of pain.



Shae has fallen into a pit of acid below the apparently illusory stone.  (The illusion are the shaded hexes in the map.)

Borimer quickly hauls her back up with everyone's help.  (8 hp dmg.)

However she is now burning from the acid that soaks her body from the waist down.  (It will need to be rinsed off or otherwise acted upon.)

Borimer takes his water skin and pours it over Shae's head and shoulders.

Lukas uses his water skin as well to pour on Shae legs.  "We could use some wings right about now."

Helping the others pull, Kahan mulls over the best solution to remove the acid from Shae's skin. Wasting water is not the best solution, but it looked like the only option they had at their disposal. He waits to see if any more water will be needed, and will use some of his own of need be. "I guess the rope was a good idea." he jokes a little, trying to figure out if jumping over the gap would be possible (and safe) using the rope to see where the tiles become solid. He then uses a binding kit on Shae's legs.

Shapfren helped to bring Shae up and offered some of her own water then spoke "I know a flying spell. But I can only cast it twice and it would be a waste. We don't need it. Borimer hold this end of the rope and don't let go of it or you won't find it." she gave her own rope to Borimer and then began walking towards the illussory path "hesitation and safety measures are signs of lack of faith."

Borimer takes the rope and wraps it once around his waist before holding it tight during Shapfren's attempt to pass the test of faith.

Leo pushes himself in front before Shapfren can move forward while saying, "Time is of the essence, this might give us a better idea of which stones are safe."

He pulls his hand out of a pocket and releases a handful of marbles across the visible path, making sure to take note of which stones the marbles hit and which ones fell through. Leo will then help lead Shapfren across the path.

Since you know the path going north has illusory flagstones, you will need to indicate if you are going east or west.

It takes more time than you would have liked, and the internal ticking of the door continues, but you manage to wash Shae down and rinse off the acid. She suffers only 2 more points of acid damage.

Shae thanks everyone for helping get the acid off.  "I've always been a bit impulsive," she explains, "and I always knew it would come back to bite me.  Someone else take the lead for now.  This stings worse than syliphian tree sap."

"Lead the way Leogold.  I suggest we go west to see if we can find a way round this pit."

OOC: Go west with Leogold using marbles to test for illusions and I assume also checking for traps.

Marbles will be fast.  Checking traps takes time.  So how fast do you want to go?

Leogold will throw the marbles west and listen if the marbles roll across the floor or if they immediately fall through, then will continue west if he thinks the floor is solid.

Lukas will use his scabbard to mark the edge of the pit and head east, with his other hand he will use his short sword to lightly tap the way before him to make sure the way is safe saying to the other, "Just in case that way is no good"

You move around the room testing the floor and finding where a solid path lies.  As you walk the glow on the brass box follows, its beam of light shining directly to the jewel in the center and then being cast directly north into the far chamber.

You identify the following path in the map.  The white area is the real tiled ground, while the shaded areas are the illusions leading to the acid pit about 15 feet below.

You now stand at the north side of the room.  The beam of light shines directly north into that room, but you can see nothing in the room.  It is as though a wall of darkness blocks you from seeing past.

The other problem you see is that there does not seem to be a solid path to the jewel in the center of the room.  All you have found so far is the illusionary floor as you circle it clockwise.

The ticking continues, and even as you watch, the stone door drops back into place, locking you inside while the gnomes wait outside.

how far is the distance from solid tiles to the jewel in the center of the room? jumping distance...?

"This is enough" Didit exploded, she took her mandoline out and performed a quick -and slightly furious- song "Give me the box and tie it to a rope, I just cast fly on myself, so even if what I do is wrong you can be sure I will be safe. Now give me the box so I can go and show you how it is done"

It would be about a 10 foot jump.  Keep in mind that the hex that the jewel is on is almost completely covered by the strange dragon altar it rests upon, so if the floor in front of it is illusory, you would have to grab onto the altar to avoid falling.

Tahldar reaches to hand the box to Shapfren and says "I don't believe there will be a need for any rope, nor is there time to tie it.  If you fly spell works, and I think it will, you should be able to approach the altar and the jewel safely."

"Good luck." he adds simply to his companion.

"Plus," Shae says, "How much faith does it show if you actually tie a rope to yourself?  If anything, that shows you don't have faith enough to do it without a rope."

While the others went around the west side, Lukas went around the east side looking for a clear path.  He finds one that leads to the center jewel pedestal.  And he actually finds that there is a 5 foot path of tiles surrounding the pedestal that is real.

Um guys I think I found another way.

"Shapfren, save the spell.  Let's follow Lukas's path.  Tahldar says with some urgency in his voice.

You follow around to the eastern side and get around the platform surrounding the jewel.

Borimer quietly considers simply grabbing the all-mighty jewel and hoping for the best.  Yet he refrains, realizing the last thing he had was any faith in old words from long-dead prophets.  "Anyone feeling lucky...?"

Lukas will walk up to the gem and examine it checking to see what secures it and figuring how easy it would be to remove the gem.

Once Lukas is finished with his examination, Tahldar takes the golden box back from Shapfren and holds it close to the gem.

The altar is about waist high.  It has a stone carved dragon wrapping around it.  The dragon's head curves inward to the center of the altar, facing up.  The jewel is set before four prongs, which are the four long front teeth of the stone dragon.  The bottom of the jewel rests slightly inside the dragon's mouth on its tongue.

The jewel is very large, about the size of a person's fist, and has been intricately cut into many facets.  It is pink and growing brightly from the light that flows from the brass box to the jewel and then to the northern wall of darkness leading to the next room.

Inspecting it shows that the dragon is solid, and is a solid part of the stone.  Therefore, it does not move.  The teeth do not move either.  It is impossible to see the point of the teeth or tongue due to the bright light.  You would have to reach into the mouth to check it closely.  The only thing that does not appear to be one solid carving is the point where the tongue goes down into the mouth straight down.  It is possible that the tongue might move up or down.

Tahldar touches the box to the gem, but it does not seem to have any effect.

"Hmm..." Tahldar mutters with some consternation.  "I for one think it would be foolish to put one's hand in the dragons mouth to retrieve the gem.  It's highly likely you'll come back with a stump or some other calamity will befall you.  But maybe I have another way." he adds as he weaves a spell.

OOC:  I will try the 0 level spell mage hand to telekinetically lift the gem from the mouth.  The spell can lift up to 5lbs.

Tahldar casts a spell, and the large gem lifts out of the maw of the stone carved dragon with ease.  When the jewel floats up, something else happens.

You hear a slow grinding sound from the walls above and around you.  The stone ceiling was about 20 feet up, but now it is slowing lowering at the rate of 1 foot every 6 seconds.

In other words, in two minutes, the ceiling and the floor will come together like a giant crusher--with you being the "crushees."

You also hear the sound of a stone slab falling into place and see that the northern entrance is now blocked by a stone door that was not there previously.

Kahan will look for the closest edge of real tiles and will lay down, peeking his head through the fake tiles to see if there is anything other than acid below. If he cannot see due to the darkness, he will ask for Tahldar or someone else to hold the gem below the tiles.

It is dark below the illusory floor, but the gem provides some light that glitters off the sickly greenish acid below.  Unfortunately, the acid appears to completely cover the ground like a pool, and there do not appear to be any points rising above the acid.

"Put it Back and see if the roof stops"  Lukas looked about trying to find some sort of usable exit.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:43, Mon 13 Oct 2014.

16 feet...15 feet...

Leo looks into the statues mouth where the gem was held, seeing if he could fiddle with the the tongue or whatever triggered the trap to stop it.

Borimer searches for anything that may be put between the ceiling and floor to at least slow the descent.

anything that he can use, even if he has to break apart something like the altar and use parts of it as a spacer. it's a long shot but...

Lukas looked down the throat of the dragon statue,  "Call it a hunch, the gem needs to be pushed down the throat of the dragon"  He held out his had for the gem to shove it down the dragon's throat

"Thaldar, try to see if the gem opens the box!"

There are currently no exits.

There is no hole or crevice down the dragon's maw.  The dragon wraps around the altar and faces straight up in the center of the altar.  The head itself is a little smaller than a human's head, though with long jaws.  The jaw is very slightly spread apart so that the jewel can fit neatly between its four elongated front teeth and on top of the tongue.  There is no indication that anything in the solidly carved dragon can move except for the tongue, which may move slightly up or down and is about the thickness of a person's finger.

Lukas is holding out his hand for the gem...

Shapfren is asking Tahldar to see if the gem opens the box...

Borimer looks around for anything that could be put between the ceiling and the floor, but there is nothing other than what you carry.

Leo is fiddling with the tongue.  It does appear that the tongue can move slightly up or down when pressure is applied.  Not a lot of pressure is needed, as it appears sensitive.

14...13...12...

The ceiling is now just more than 10 feet above the floor and closing in fast.  The ceiling is made of solid stone covering the entire room with no openings, crevices or other spots where you could avoid being crushed.

OOC: I hope I answered all the questions.  The open mouth of the dragon is perfectly aligned to fit the jewel in it between the four "teeth prongs" and on top of the "tongue platform."

If possible, Borimer uses his agility to climb atop the dragon and then his strength to slow the descent of the ceiling with his hands.

any chance for a bend bars/lift gate check...? :)

Shae says, "Lukas had a good idea.  Why don't you try putting the gem back in its spot?"  She looks discomfitting at the approaching ceiling and gets ready to hang over the edge of the illusory floor to avoid getting crushed.

OOC: I'm assuming Tahldar has the gem.  In my last post about it, Tahldar had cast telekinesis on it and lifted it mentally from its spot, so it was actually floating in the air.  I will assume he grabbed it.

Tahldar considers Lukas's suggestion to put the gem back, but as he starts to do as he was asked he changes his mind.  Suspecting whoever designed this room would be talented enough to prevent the ceiling trap from stopping if the gem is set back on the dragon tongue, he stays his hand.  Too he thinks they likely will need this gem in some way if they are to defeat the dragon that lay ahead of them.

But there is little left to try, except for one thing...

Tahldar hails from the Grey Elf race, who are well known for their intelligence and magely skills.  Tahldar himself has started to come into his own since joining this band of adventurers and has just recently mastered a new, and quite powerful spell.

Tossing the box and gem to Lukas, he begins to weave his hands as he begins an incantation he hopes will turn the tide in their favor...

This message was last edited by the player at 00:33, Wed 15 Oct 2014.

Lucas quickly put the box on the ground and then put the gem back in the dragon's mouth like it was before.  "ok roof you can stop moving now" He said hopefully

Kahan casts a spell.

Kahan and Tahldar begin casting as Borimer begins climbing on top of the dragon to see if he is strong enough to hold back the ceiling.

Tahldar holds the gem.  It is not clear if he gives it to Lukas or if Lukas takes it from him to put it back in its place.  Tahldar will need to clarify if he lets Lukas do this before that action can be resolved.

Kahan seems to withdraw into himself...

OOC: Kahan's spell essentially slows down time for himself to give him some time to try to solve the problem...so be patient on the resolution of everyone else's actions.  Everyone can post one complete round of actions while Kahan is withdrawn.  Tahldar is casting and Borimer is climbing.

Tahldar has already begun casting when Lukas takes the gem and box. 

Borimer is climbing while Kahan is withdrawn. 

Tahldar finishes his spell, and a spherical wall of force appears on the western side of the room.  Borimer balances atop the dragon pedestal and reaches up to push against the wall.  But he almost loses his balance when his hands seem to go through the ceiling and press against the air.  Likewise, Tahldar's spherical wall of force appears to go directly through the ceiling as it descends past the top of the spherical wall.

As Lukas replaces the gem, the ceiling stops and begins to move back up.  Only now, you realize that the "illusion" of a ceiling is actually retracting back up.

The door to the north is also opening again, although the door to the south (where you came in) is still closed.  There is still a wall of blackness hiding whatever is on the far side of the northern door.

Realizing along with the others that there is no apparent danger, Kahan chuckles a little before moving along the solid tiles to the wall of darkness. "Try removing the gem again and I will try to go through the door; it, too, might be an illusion." states the priest.

Kahan removes the gem, and the ceiling begins to come down slowly again.

Kahan moves to the wall of darkness and steps through...disappearing.  As he steps through, words illuminate on the stone above and below the arches:

ILLUSION IS DARKNESS
LIGHT IS DARKNESS

Then Kahan is gone, and the words slowly fade into the stone again too.

Tahldar follows Kahan...

Shae also follows them through before the illusionary ceiling can get down to her level.

Lukas, gave a shrug and followed the others through the arch.  "Great, we can't be trusting our eyes" He had his sword and scabbard out before him testing the way, he had no intention of taking an acid bath.

Leo follows into the darkness.

Didit follows suit.

Everyone moves through the darkness to follow after Kahan.

The wall of darkness is about 1 foot thick.  You step into a blinding light on the far side.  Inside, the wall of darkness creates a circular room that is very disconcerting in appearance.  The room is 30 feet in diameter--or at least, the part of the room encompassed by the wall of darkness is that wide.  Due to the wall of darkness, it appears that there are no walls, but rather that the room ends and darkness begins, like the room is set out in the middle of a night sky with no stars.

The gem's light flows directly into another pedestal on the far side of the room.

A thousand beams of white light, each about the thickness of a finger, flow into the room from the wall of darkness at all angles.  They are all of directed to an item on top of the pedestal.  The lights are so bright that you cannot see clearly, and your eyes hurt after only a few seconds of keeping them open.  You close them and open them but still cannot clearly see what lies on the pedestal, though it appears to be some kind of gem like the one you hold.  Your vision in the room, even with squinted eyes, is only clear for a few feet in front of you, and is blurry beyond that.

In other words, you came from complete darkness to a room where you are almost blinded by the intense light.

Borimer lets out his breath and opens his eyes after walking through the darkness. "Damn," he mutters when the light nearly blinds him.  With his handless arm giving scarce cover for his eyes, Borimer attempts to make it to the "gem" on the pedestal.  He taps the ground in front of himself with his scabbard to test for terrible acid pits.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:54, Tue 21 Oct 2014.

Kahan closes his eyes and follows after Borimer, using his mace as a walking stick of sorts, testing the ground before he steps.

Lukas pulled the hood of his cloak down low to shield his eyes, "I need to get some darker lenses for me goggles".  He allowed the needed time for his eyes to adjust before headding any further.

"I think if you remove the gem on the pedestal it will allow the points of light to touch and trigger another trap." Tahldar says to Borimer as he makes his way through the room.

"If something is carefully slid into the gems place then it shouldn't happen." he adds as he shields his eyes from the brightness.

Then a thought occurs to him.  "What if we are supposed to put the gem from the dark room pedestal on the light?  And the light gem on the dark?"

"Are they about the same size?"

Borimer steps forward.  The floor seems solid, with no illusions.  The beams of light, on the other hand...

As Borimer steps about 8 feet toward the pedestal and the converging beams of light, he suddenly feels intense heat in his right arm.  He looks over, only to find that the muscle has been cut clean through by a beam of light that has cut through it like a razord sharp wire right to the bone.  The pain is excrutiating as he takes a step back.  (12 hp dmg.)  There is no blood, as the wound has cauterized.

Clearly, not all the beams of light hurt you, since many of them are hitting your back and front even from the doorway area.  But there are apparently a few mixed in that are dangerous.

It's hard to tell for sure, but the gems are roughly the same size.  The one you hold is finely faceted and carved, whereas the one on the pedestal is more like a raw, uncut gem.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:02, Wed 22 Oct 2014.

"I'd use the box on the Bright one, if you plan on trying to move it."  Lukas made no attempt to do it himself

This message was deleted by the player at 10:37, Thu 23 Oct 2014.

Borimer curses again, but in his native tongue and it doesn't sound polite.  He stops walking when Tahldar counsels against removing the gem just yet.

Speaking to the group Tahldar says "Does anyone know any fog based spells?  A good bit of mist in here will probably tell us which beams are light, and which ones will hurt us.  I don't know any unfortunately."

"I could cast another mage hand to pick up the new gem, but I can almost guarantee another trap will be triggered so I'm hesitant to do so."

"I've seen wizards create thick spider webs from their hands, maybe these could tell us where the true light is as well? I'm probably strong enough to tear through any webs that remain."

"True, but I think the webs would immediately burn and tell us little as to which beams are the ones that will hurt us.  Not to mention we'd all get burned." Tahldar replies to Borimer as he considers the suggestion.

"We could always use a sword or some other item to test if the beams are hot before trying to walk through them. It would take a lot of time, but... I wonder..." Kahan mutters, reaching into his backpack and pulling out a mirror. He walks forward to the approximate area where Borimer's arm was cut and attempts to use the mirror to reflect the beam.

As Kahan walks forward with the mirror, the sharp-razored light hits it at one point and burns a hole right through the mirror.  Kahan withdraws it, seeing the line of the burn and the warping of the mirror around it.

The problem is that, with the thousands of beams of light all around, the moment he looks back, he cannot be sure which beam of light is the one that is deadly, and which ones are the harmless ones.  He only knows the general vicinity.

"I'm thinking that we need to move all of the light to the other room. Since the diamond here is raw and the one we have is cut by exchanging them we could get something. I don't know Taldar's spell to manipulate things, but I can create an arcane servant who could move one of the diamonds. I could command it to place the good diamond while Taldar removes the raw one."

Shae thinks a moment and says, "Since the lights are all focused on that gem, I think we could shimmy close to the ground and avoid being cut.  If all the lights are pointed slightly up, there is probably a narrow tunnel or pocket of sorts below the lights.  That would be another way to take the gem.  But the question is, how do we remove the gem without getting burned?  We could get close and throw something at it or push it with something, I guess."

Shae will start crawling forward slowly to see if she can avoid the burning rays.

"Tie this rope around you and I can probably pull you back quicker than you can shimmy if the light starts cutting you,"  Borimer offers. "Although if I understand what Shapfren is saying, we wouldn't have to shimmy at all..?"
This message was last edited by the player at 20:38, Thu 23 Oct 2014.

Shae says, "Maybe I don't understand the spell all that well, but when we took the gem, the door between these rooms closed.  How would we get the gem from that room to this room?"

"We would exchange them. Placing the gem we broguht from the other room in the same spot as the one we will be taking"

Shae says, "Yes, I understand that.  The problem is that the moment you take the one in the dark room out of the dragon's mouth, the door between these two rooms will immediately slam shut.  That means you can never get that gem into this room under the current circumstances.  So how can you exchange them?"

We brought the gem with us. The door was an illussion

Kahan holds the gem from the darkness room out to Shae. "The door was an illusory wall of darkness that was easily walked through. I have another idea before we try getting ourselves killed..." the priest states, holding the gem out in front of himself as he approaches the burning light beams again. Maybe the gem could absorb them, or refract them in some way?

"Wait!, let my arcane servant do it! If it is hurt I can just make another one, but we only have one of you"

"I have been through worse than this and lived to tell the tale. Before coming here we escaped from an erupting volcano being followed by an ancient death knight and demons from the plane of the dead, only to end up fighting for our lives in the middle of a war between dwarves and orcs. This little puzzle is paltry compared to that." the priest chuckles.

Kahan moves forward, trying to get a refraction from the harmful beam of light.  Unfortunately, it does not go well.  He watches as his pinky finger is sliced off and falls to the floor.  (8 hp dmg.)  He withdraws the gem.  Although there was some refraction, it did not appear to do anything to stop the harmful ray from hurting him.

Shae is able to successfully crawl under the beams, since they do all point directly at the gem, creating a type of lightbeam free zone like a pyramid above and below the pedestal.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:57, Thu 23 Oct 2014.

Here is a rough map of the room.  There are a thousand beams of light projecting toward the rough gem.  The yellow line is in the general vicinity of where you found the one that cut like razor wire.

"I suggest using Shapfren's unseen servant, or my mage hand spell, to take the darkness gem and nudge it in place of the light gem.  With the intent of having the light gem fall on the floor so we can take a look at it and see if putting the dark gem in place of the light does anything.  If not then we use our spells to retrieve the dark gem then leave.  That is if no trap is triggered along the way."

Borimer nods even as he hopes there are no other traps besides the lights.  "Sounds good to me."

Kahan yelps in pain as his finger is lopped off, reaching down and picking it up. "I just don't understand the inscription above the door. 'Illusion is darkness, light is darkness'. That makes it sound like light is an illusion, bit clearly this light is not. Shapfren, could you use your servant to go past the outer wall of darkness that the light disappears into? Maybe there is something there we can't see."

Leo calls out to Shae, "Be careful over there, since you're right by the pedestal I bet there are many more beams you have to worry about! Maybe I could try shooting the gem off with my blow gun before you potentially lose a hand."
He starts taking out his blow gun and needles.

"The servant cannot talk and maybe not even see as we do. "

"Leogold, save your darts.  I don't think they'll be able to touch the gem without being burnt up by the beams before they even get there."

"Shapfren, try your unseen servant.  Take the dark gem and put in place of the light one.  If it does nothing then we can simply retrieve it."

Thinking Kahan's question on the meaning of the inscription he adds "It could be that the light is considered darkness since it is making it very hard to see.  And the illusion is darkness could mean the gem is an illusion or maybe the walls?  In any event I still think trying Shapfren's unseen servant is worth a try.  But in the meantime I think a perimeter check of the room would be a good idea."

OOC:  Tahldar will get down on his hands and knees to stay under the beams.  He will start to make his way round the perimeter of the room crawling as he goes.  Hw will prod the ground in front of him for traps and reach out to the wall for anything that may be hidden.

The area free of beams  is the area closest to the pedestal.  As you go further out to the perimeter, there are beams even low to the ground.  They are just pointed up at the pedestal.  In other words, the beams of light create a sort of "light tent" under which you can avoid the lights if you go closer to the center of the room, but it is impossible to avoid them if you are crawling around the perimeter.

OOC:  Tahldar will not do a perimeter check as he doesn't want to get hit by a beam.  He will wait to see the outcome of Shapfren's spell, if she casts it.

Shapfren said "arcane servant," but I think she is referring to "unseen servant."
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:34, Fri 24 Oct 2014.

Here are the closest images/diagrams I could find to illustrate:

Here's how the convergent beams go from the floor to ceiling surrounding the room to the convergence point on the gem.  Imagine this going around in a circle around the room (though it's not a perfect cirle, in that the gem is more on the far side of the room, not the center).



This is kinda-sorta the way I think your characters would perceive it (best I could find picture-wise):


This message was last edited by the GM at 19:45, Fri 24 Oct 2014.

Shae will wait at the bottom of the pedestal to see what the arcane servant from Shap can do before she tries anything else.

Lukas gives a sigh, "I'll locate the harmful beams"

Lucas got out his sword and slowly moved it to have it come in contact and then break the beams.  He figured it was better then loosing some body part.  He will not directly look at the bright spot wanting to protect his eyes from the direct glare.

OOC: Let me know which ones make the sword spark

Shae says, "I wonder if the harmful beams will hurt the golden box.  That might be better than your sword."

OOC: I note that Shapfren currently holds the golden box, as it was handed to her by Tahldar in the previous room.  And Kahan currently holds the faceted gem from the other room.

Everyone is standing somewhat toward the entry door (assuming Kahan took a step back after having his finger lopped off), except that Shae is crouching down directly beneath the altar on the far side of the room.

Leo has his blowgun out, offering to shoot the gem from the pedestal.

Shapfren was talking about using an unseen servant spell to have something try to take the gem and exchange it with the other gem.

Lucas is planning to move forward with his sword in front of him to "scout" for harmful beams as he makes his way to the gem.

Shae suggested using the golden box instead of his sword.

So that's where we are, and I wasn't sure whether to proceed with Lucas going forward or not, given all the other chatter.  Obviously, the harmful beams all converge on the gem that's on the pedestal.  Let me know your final actions by tomorrow or I will just proceed with Lucas' idea.

"So far the only thing that hasn't been fried by the beams has been the gem from the dark room, and the gem that rests there now.  I would suggest not risking your sword in the beam as I suspect it won't last even a second without having a hole blasted through it." Tahldar says to Lukas.

"As well, I wouldn't put the box in the beams way either.  It may be that it works in conjunction with one or more of the gems, but we just haven't figured out how yet.  I would hate to see it turned to slag."

"Let's try the servant spell, and if the dark gem does nothing in regards to the beams we can have the servant return the dark gem back to us and we can just leave I guess."

"I'm thinking that perhaps it would be a better idea if you try your mage hand Tahldar, the place looks too dangerous, and maybe not safe enough for the servant. Try to move the gem so it takes the place of the other"

Tahldar shrugs and attempts to nudge the dark room gem in place of the light room gem with his mage hand spell.

OOC:  If nothing happens when the dark room gem is put in the light gems place he will take the dark room gem back.

Lukas held up on his test with the sword

Tahldar uses his mage hand spell, and the roughly carved gem comes off its post and towards Tahldar.  (Because the spell can only be applied to one object, it obviously cannot be used to put the other gem there.)

The gem gets into Tahldar's hands, but before it even does this, the entire room spins about 5 feet counterclockwise and diagonally down about 5 feet, as if on rollers that have suddenly been loosed.

The room continues to turn counterclockwise...

Even though the room is turning counterclockwise, the lights in the room are not moving.  This means that you are currently moving into different light beams as you rotate around the room.

Right now, you (the largest portion of your group) are probably less than 5 feet away from the harmful beam that you discovered...and getting closer.

(It was at about shoulder height and pointing slightly down toward the gem, as you recall from where it injured Borimer.  It would probably be at about 6 feet in height at the border of the circle of darkness.)

This also means that the door/exit is no longer directly behind you, since the circular floor is moving/spinning/falling but the walls apparently are not.

In reply to DM Heath (msg # 142):

is the door or part of it still accessible at all even though its not directly behind us? can borimer push anyone up through it while there's still time, or try to wedge his ancient artifact sword into the space to stop the turning, etc?

You cannot see where the door is since it is behind the circular darkness "wall," but you can probably assume it is not there now since your floor has moved and continued to move away from where it was (is?).

Shae stays where she is near the pedestal and away from the lights.  Are the lights still concentrated on one area where the gem used to be?

Kahan moves back to be with the rest of the group and ducks when the light beam seems to be coming for their heads.

The light beams are everywhere.  They are all coming at your heads.

"Kahan give me the light gem now!" Tahldar says as he reaches his hand out.

OOC:  Tahldar will try to put the gem from the light room on the pedestal that he just took the dark gem from with another mage hand spell.

Is he standing still as he casts the spell with the room rotating him into new beams of light every second?

It will take two rounds (12 seconds) to both cast the spell (1 round) and place the gem in the pedestal (1 round).  In that time, the room will have rotated about 15 feet.  (With about a 94 foot circumference, that is about a 1/6 rotation.)

Kahan will kneel down and give Tahldar the gem from the darkness room once he has done the same.

Didit just dropped to the ground in fear, hoping Tahldar managed to succeed with the plan.

Leo lays flat, staying away from the beams the best he can.

Borimer tries to become flat on the ground to avoid the beam.

"Follow me!" Tahldar says tersely as he jumps backwards into the wall in hopes of exiting the room.

OOC:  Tahldar is betting that the door to leave is the exact same place as it was before the spinning occurred.  He suspects it is the lights that are actually moving and not the room itself.  Which is possible since the walls are obscured with darkness.  If one were to spin the beams it might make it seem that the room itself is moving as you would not have the walls to use as a point of reference.  He will attempt to move out of the room via the door as quickly as possible.

Also for clarity, I believe Heath is saying it would take Tahldar 12 seconds to cast his spell and place the gem on the pedestal, during this time the room would spin another 15'.  Seeing that the beams are 5' away we'd travel through 10' of beams during this time.  There's no way I'd get the spell off before being shredded.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:14, Fri 31 Oct 2014.

Tahldar jumps back into the darkness and hits a stone wall.  He steps back, a bit embarrassed by his mistaken assumption.


I'm not sure everyone understands the beams and what just happened:

1) You physically felt the floor of the room move diagonally and down, even though visually it appears like the beams are moving.

2) There is not just one beam. There are thousands of beams coming from all angles -- the floor, mid-height, and ceiling.  There are so many beams that you are practically blinded by them.

3) This means that simply laying flat on the ground will not protect you from "all" beams, only the ones that are above you.  If there are no dangerous beams down low, then you will be all right.  However, if there are any low beams that are dangerous, you will be sliced in half--or maybe just have your feet sliced off.

4) However, that said, there is a tent-like area in the center (not near the blackness around you) where you can stay under the beams, since the room is moving, not the beams.

5) Also, as the pedestal is rotating with the room, the place where the gem was set is no longer in the focus of the beams, meaning that your fingers wouldn't get sliced off if you touched the spot for the gem now.

6) Also, as the pedestal rotates with the room, it will, of course block off a narrow area of light beams behind it.

Lukas simply remained standing still and tooks the time to adjust his goggles.  He examined the beams.

Borimer waits for everyone to find a spot in the quasi-safe space before he takes his own and waits.

Kahan will stay kneeling and move toward the center of the room, careful to stay low enough that he should hopefully be able to avoid certain death.

Tahldar will scramble to the pedestal to try to keep out of the beams way.

Everyone scrambles to the point underneath the pedestal except Lukas.  The pedestal, of course, is moving with the room, while the beams light are coming from the nonmoving walls.  (EDIT: Therefore, from your perspective, it looks like the lights are moving, but you can feel the floor moving.)

Lukas stops for a second, concentrating. 

Then he pulls out his sword and holds it so the moving beams of light hit it.  After not too long a beam of light hits his sword at about knee level and begins cutting into it.

OOC: Lukas can simply walk backward on the floor to keep the lights at the same distance from him (moving with the lights), can try to hop over the burning light, or can join the others in the center of the floor...or perhaps something else?
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:08, Mon 03 Nov 2014.

The room continues turning counterclockwise, and Lukas encounters yet another harmful beam, this one about waist high.  At this point, the room drops another 5 feet on a diagonal downturn.  As it does so, you are realizing that new beams of light must be pouring in from the side walls as you drop because they do not seem to discontinue as the floor drops.  (In other words, even though the floor is lowering, there is no "ceiling" of lights, so new lights must come through the darkness as the floor descends to their level.) That, or the beams above are pointing more down the further you drop.

So here is the updated map with what you discovered.  The "height" of the harmful beams might be different, or there may be more harmful beams now that the room has descended a total of 10 feet and rotated about halfway.

The party, except Lukas, is slowly rotating around next to the pedestal.  Lukas is between the two beams in the upper northeastern corner.

Shapfren has the golden box and Tahldar has both gems.



This message was last edited by the GM at 22:31, Mon 03 Nov 2014.

Didit grew increasingly scared. "Quick, Tahldar, put the other game in place before one of us loses a limb!"

Agreeing with Shapfren, Tahldar puts the light gem back atop the pedestal in hopes of stopping the room from continuing to spin.

Tahldar places the light gem in the slot, but the room still continues to turn.  It has no discernible effect.  So far, he can replace it safely because the pedestal is not at the foci of the light beams.

"Try the one from the dark room." Kahan suggests. It can't possibly make things any worse...

Tahldar quickly rotates through placing the light gem, then the dark one, and then the golden cube atop the pedestal to see if any of the three objects stop the room from spinning.

OOC:  If none of the objects stop the room he will remove them from the pedestal.

The room continues to turn just as before.  Putting gems (or the box) in the pedestal does not change that.  (I am assuming you are all staying in the protective cover of the low, center area and the area blocked by the pedestal to avoid any light beams that might be dangerous.)  Also, like the other room, this pedestal has a dragon mouth going up in which the gem can rest.  The box does not really fit.

The room is still rotating, and the pedestal will be back in its initial position with all the beams of light concentrating on where the gem was in moments...  If your hand is there when it gets to that point, it will be sliced off.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:28, Tue 04 Nov 2014.

"Maybe we should wait until the room stops spinning and then see what the gems do, if anything?"  Borimer tries crouching even lower, his knees getting a bit sore.

"Agreed!" Tahldar shouts in agreement with Borimer as he tries to keep away from the slicing beams.

Kahan nods, instinctually reaching for his shield before stopping himself, knowing that at this point, it probably wouldn't help anyway.

Lukas gives ground checking in the opposite direction for harmful beams.

OOC: As of the last posts, Tahldar tried to put all the items in the pedestal to see if it will stop spinning, and none of them worked.  He said he would remove all items if the room did not spinning.

OOC2: Lukas is checking around the room, walking counterclockwise slowly by checking the beams with his sword and avoiding them.  When the beams hit the sword, it does not deflect them, but they leave a singed black mark on the sword.  Kahan has lost a finger to the beams, and he and the rest of the group are crouching in safety below the canvas of lights.

Lukas finds another harmful beam that seems to come straight horizontal (on the map) but is angled down so that it is at about his head height from where he stands.

The others are not harmed as they crouch near the moving pedestal and floor as it rotates.

The room completes a rotation and stops momentarily.  There is no gem or object in the dragon's mouth at this time, and a moment later you hear a distant mechanical clicking from beyond the wall of darkness.  Then the room slides down and begins a second rotation as it continues downward.

There is one difference this time.  You recall that Shae had fallen through the illusory floor about 15 feet into what was essentially a pool of acid that covered the floor of the previous room.

This room has now fallen more than 15 feet, and you see five streams of acid pouring onto the floor from the "southern" side of the room.  The streams look like they are coming through thin pipes about 2 inches in diameter from the far room.

Right now the streams are pouring at floor level, but as the floor drops and rotates more, the streams come from higher and higher.  They will be about 8 feet off the ground when the room makes a half rotation, and will be arcing into the center area of the room where most of the party now huddles.  It will also be pooling around your feet as the room slowly fills with acid.

The good news, if there is any, is that the beams of light do not continue below the line of the pouring acid, so they will not be your major concern after another minute or two.

Lukas ducked under the head height beam and stopped after clearing the harmful beam to study where it was hitting the wall.  "Humm.. interesting it scorches my blade but is doing little to the wall"

He did take note of the acid that was now pouring onto the flooring that they were all standing on.  "Now that could be a problem"  He started looking around for a way to scale the walls if and when needed.

There are no "walls" per se.  There is a circle of darkness that is about a foot thick.  It is an unnatural darkness likely created by some powerful spell.  It is completely offset by the blinding light beams that flash through the circular wall of darkness and make all the room (except the wall of darkness) blindingly bright. Unless he uses his hands or something to feel past the darkness, he doesn't have any idea what is on the other side or what the "walls" are like.

You do notice that there is only light scorching when the pedestal itself passes through the lower harmful beam.  Now that you are close to it, you can sort of see the pedestal through the blinding light.  The pedestal appears to be made of some sort of green stone, almost like jade.  It is otherwise nearly identical to the dragon pedestal in the other room.

Kahan began looking around as well, wondering if perhaps there was a door that they simply couldn't see along the wall somewhere. If it was safe to do so without getting burned, the priest stood up and began feeling along the edges of the walls for a door or crevice or anything at all useful.

Shae will do the same, feeling around on the northern wall away from the pouring acid.

Tahldar begins to hurriedly search the pedestal to see if there is something hidden on the altar they have missed.

OOC:  Tahldar will search for secret door on the pedestal.  Maybe there is a lever or a way to trigger something like an open door or to stop our spinning.  He will also use the pedestal as a shield to keep himself from the acid streams, and if need be try to sit on top of it to keep his feet from the soon to be pooling acid on the floor.

The floor continues to revolve and drop, revolve and drop...

The walls appear very smooth when you touch them through the wall of darkness, like glassy obsidian.  Shae finds through touch that there is a groove in the wall about six inches across.  It is likely this groove upon which the room is moving up or down.

Those searching by feel also find that there are numerous very tiny holes in the wall, which are likely what the light beams are shining through.  They are smaller that the width of a finger.

There is no secret door or anything on the pedestal.  It has the same tongue sticking up which will go slightly down when something is placed on it.

And though it is easy to avoid the spouts of greenish acid pouring into the room, the fact that it is pooling on the floor will likely to prove a difficult--and painful--experience.

One thing you notice as the room turns, now that it is falling below the ceiling of light beams, is that there are six light beams which, unlike the others, do not disappear up.  Instead, they remain pointed at the same spot where the amulet had been on the "northern" side of the room--or, to state it better, they seem to follow the spot where the amulet would always be if the floor were not going down, like spotlights staying on one spot and moving down as the floor goes down.

too late to cast a fly spell?

You can cast one.  It just occurs after my last post.

Lukas looked at the pedestal, "The harmful beam causes little to no damage to crystal gem like surfaces.  Is there one spot that they would intersect?"  Lukas look up from his vantage point trying to find a central area that the beams crossed each other.  "There"  he pointed to the area where the 6 beams crossed.  We need get the gem there somehow.  Lukas moved with purpose to the pedestal and started climbing the pedestal.

The pedestal will rotate to the spot the beams point when it completes each revolution.  At that point, the 6 beams will always intersect where the gem is at if it is in the dragon's mouth.

Tahldar will place the dark gem in the pedestal and wait for it to rotate back into position again.

Borimer tries to gauge how many of them he could hold while balancing on the dragon, including small folks on his shoulders and anyone else he can carry in his arms.  "This should be fun..."

OOC: If Borimer tried to do that, then when the dragon returned to its original position and all the harmful beams were focused in the area right near the top of the dragon (where the gem goes), then he would likely get his feet cut off.

So was it cast? could I cast it to avoid risking drowning on the acid?

You can cast a fly spell, yes.  I haven't posted the next round yet.  I was out of town on business, and I wanted everyone to get a chance to post their next move.

Borimer judiciously decides to stay off of the ancient statue.

Lukas ever handy blade moved about to help make sure he knew where the harmful beams were and that he avoided them.

OOC:  It looks like I just need posts from Shae and Kahan.  The next round will complete the full revolution of the floor to its initial position with the pedestal at the north end, as the acid continues to pour in.

I will also, for the first time ever in my 34 years of playing this game, have to take footwear into account in deciding what happens next. :)

Kahan tries to figure out if there is any sort of arc or higher ground to the flooring of the odd circular room. If not, he will try to stay out of the way of the incoming acid.

Shae curls up into herself and uses her once a day change shape ability to turn into a bird and fly up toward the ceiling, careful to avoid hitting any harmful light beams.

The room rotates as the finely cut gem is placed into the dragon's maw focal point by Tahldar.

Shapfren then begins casing a spell as Borimer tilts his head to size up the possibility of safely climbing up the dragon's maw, and then discards that idea.

Shae bows her head, folds in her arms and begins changing right in front of you, turning into the bird that saved you just a few days ago when you were trapped at the bottom of the room of crystals--but which seems now like an eternity ago.  She flaps her wings and goes up to stay out of the pouring acid.  However, one of the light beams clips her wing, resulting in a painful squawk from her, though she continues to rise.  (9 hp dmg.)

Shapfren casts a fly spell and rises slightly above the floor, staying clear of the harmful beams.

Lukas continues to use his blade to make sure he is not hit by any harmful beams.

By the time the room rotates completely around, the floor is covered with two inches of acid, which stings those on the ground, though footwear provides a little protection to some:

Borimer takes 7 hp acid damage.
Kahan takes 3 hp acid damage.
Tahldar takes 9 hp acid damage.
Lukas takes 8 hp acid damage.
Leogold takes 11 hp acid damage.
Shapfren and Shae stay clear of the acid.

When the room makes a full revolution, the harmful beams pointed at that focal point scatter into a thousand beams pointing straight up.  The room suddenly stops rotating and you hear a distant cranking of gears and chains behind the obsidian walls that lie just beyond the wall of darkness.  The room begins rising straight up.  However, the pedestal with the dragon actually falls straight down, and its stone foundation falls down to cover the hole where the pedestal had been.  The instant this happens, all the lights go out, leaving you in total darkness.

But luckily, as the room rises, the acid is also draining from the room.  You are left with burnt feet, damaged footwear, and a need to wash off the remaining acid quickly so it will stop burning you.

As if to answer that question, you hear a clunking sound deep beyond the walls, and the room is suddenly bathed in water falling from above like rain.  The only thing giving you light is the golden cube.  The word DARKNESS is still lit up.

When the room rises all the way, you touch the south darkness area and discover that you can once again pass through to the room with the illusory floor and ceiling.  Looking south past there, you see that the southern stone door has opened again, and the gnomes are there looking in with frightened faces.

"Well that was fun." the priest states with a chuckle, shaking off his boots and checking them for acid damage. After he is sure they are alright, or at the very least that he won't be burned by anymore acid, he moves out of the light room and into the dark room, wondering if they should now put the light gem where the dark one was.

Shae returns to her elvish form and stands beside Kahan.  "If we return the gem, then what have we gained by this experience?  If we leave with the gem, then perhaps it has some higher purpose.  Still," she says with a shrug, "I guess it wouldn't hurt to try it out, but maybe someone should leave the far end of the room first, just in case something happens."

"Everyone please exit.  I will stay and keep close to the altar.  Once you all have left I will poke the gem out of it's hiding place then use a spell to join you." Tahldar says as he touches his painful feet and tosses away the remnants of his boots.

OOC:  Once the party is back with the Gnomes I will use mage hand to poke the gem out of it's resting place on the altar.  Then pick it up and cast dimension door to join the rest of the party outside the dragon door that we entered.  I have a range of 270 yards with the spell so range I don't think will be an issue.

Just to be clear here, there are two gems:

Multi-faceted gem:  This gem was found in the "dark" room, is finely cut, and went down with the pedestal as the pedestal rose to its normal position--though technically it stayed where it was while the room rose above it.  It is now 20-30 feet below you under the floor and the stone covering, presumably set in the dragon's maw where you left it.

Raw gem:  This gem was found in the "light" room.  You exchanged the multi-faceted gem for it and now have it in your possession.

Dragon's Maw Pedestal:  The pedestal in the dark room is currently empty.  The pedestal in the light room is 20-30 feet below the granite ground at the level of the acid.

I am not sure if you are placing the raw gem in the dragon's maw in the dark room, or if Tahldar is somehow trying to get back down below the granite floor to the acid level to retrieve the multi-faceted gem.

OOC:  Sorry, disregard my post.  I did not realize the altar went down and is not in sight.  I will exit along with everyone else.

Everyone leaves and rejoins the gnomes.  (If you want to return for any reason, you can, since the stone door remains open.)

Giving out XP (this will be more than some other times because it's been awhile since I gave out XP):

Please update your character sheets accordingly and let me know if you level up.  Also, if you get an XP bonus based on attributes, that needs to be added in addition to these amounts.

Here is a rundown of the rooms you just went through:

Room 1: this room was based on darkness and illusion to block your vision--illusory floor and ceiling, and darkness except for the gem.

Room 2: This room was based on lightness and obscurity to block your vision--the spell of darkness, and the lights piercing the room.

The idea was to switch out the two gems by getting the first one and replacing the second.  However, the second could not be moved by hand without searing off your hands or fingers, and if something is thrown at it or it is somehow moved off the pedestal otherwise, the room starts spinning, putting you in danger of being cut by the "lasers."  Yet that is the only way that you could realistically take out one gem and put in another.

As it spins, the first revolution was the time to put the other gem in the pedestal, and then it would rise harmlessly up.  If you don't figure it out by the first revolution, then it continues down to the acid level, where you have one more revolution to put the right gem in and will get a little burnt.  Had you continued for a third revolution, the room would have been full of acid up to the bottom level of the pedestal, and it would have disappeared down, leaving you to fend for yourself and start from scratch if you can get out.  As with the other room, the ceiling was illusory and was not really coming down with the room itself, so you could have flown or maybe climbed up to escape, if necessary.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:33, Thu 13 Nov 2014.