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.