<The very top room was tier 1, and I never updated the name of the thread.>

Once the door to the stairs is opened again, the group sees that they wind down in a counter-clockwise direction.  At the bottom there is a closed door, much like the others you have encountered so far, and lacking any obvious locking mechanism.

After bravely leading the party down Albricht studies the door. He calls back through the group. "A door no doubt. Vsaati this is for you. I have some ideas, but thought you would like to test your skills first."

Vsaati eyes the dwarf just a bit side eyed. "You want me to knock? If you've got ideas I'd appreciate being informed before I stick my finger on a needle or burn my hand on acid.  If you're wanting to be clever, by all means, go ahead."

The dwarf opens the door.

In reply to Albricht Burghammer (msg # 4):

Elboc readied his bow to full draw and waits for the enemy to show himself , if any.

Albricht opens the door to reveal a passage much like the others above, which continues directly away from the door (south) for about 30 feet, then turns to the left (east).  In the vague distance, in no particularly discernible direction, he faintly hears the sound of stone scraping on stone, which continues for several seconds, then stops.  The air here is still exceedingly dry.

We going to stand and stare down the corridor?or move on?

"Sounds like a plan to me.  If only I had my mead making supplies we could truly have the nectar of the gods.", Sherborne says with a wink.

Silverglade draws his sword and walks down the corridor. "Let's see what's down here," he says.

Silverglade comes to the corner and looks around it.  He sees that the passage after the turn runs ahead (east) for about 50 feet, then turns to the left (north).  He can now hear the intermittent stone-on-stone grinding that Albricht had heard earlier, and then it stops after just a couple of seconds.

<How loud is the noise? Does it sound near?>
This message was last edited by the player at 11:12, Fri 23 Oct 2015.

<It's hard to say, but it isn't loud.  It sounds like it is quite deep, but has stopped just after you pause to give it any thought.>

Plathstream heads down to the next turn and pokes his head around the corner.

"I have a spiral kind of feeling. As if being drawn toward something. Plathstream you are doing a great job keep going. The sound we hear is no doubt our destination."

With a glance over his shoulder, Silverglade follows Plathstream.

If you are being drawn towards something, there must be rocks down there for you to look at.

Past the corner to the left (north), Plathstream sees a door 60 feet down the corridor.  It is at the end of the corridor, with no other doors in sight.  Halfway to the corner, however, Plathstream notes the outline of a secret door in the left (north) wall, between the two corners.

"A door at last. The perfect ending for any pyramid corridor." He leans on his Warhammer and appears to listen. "Well that sound seems to have stopped."

Silverglade looks around for a way to open the secret door.

In short order, Silverglade finds a section of the wall that presses in slightly, causing the secret door to begin to move.

Albricht is once again caught by surprise and double-takes.
"What is it with you elves and doors where they are not supposed to be? A personality thing? Course I did spot that one but thought it best left til last. There's a perfectly good door down there." He points to the end of the corridor.

In reply to Albricht Burghammer (msg # 21):

  Of course you left it, you were testing the ability of the Elves to find the hidden mechanisms , were you not? I mean, you are obviously wanting to make sure we know what we are doing in that regard, correct?

Plathstream stops and puts his hand on the wall. "Here. We should investigate this."



Plathstream nods appreciatively and shares his congratulations in elven with his fellow elf.



Plathstream laughs a silvery laugh. "But of course. Age and experience will teach one these things, friend dwarf as, you no doubt know. Come, mystery awaits. Do lead the way, Albricht."

Roak rolls his eyes and taps his foot impatiently.

  If you are in that much of a hurry friend Hobbit, you may lead the way, we will watch your back to make sure you are safe. Smiling  slightly to let all know it is a jest, he quickly moves to mime a protective stance behind Roak.

"Well if the end result of long life is being able to find secret doors that really houldn't be there in the first place, I for one am happy with my lot. Not exactly the goal us dwarves hope to achieve." Albricht shrugs and moves to stand ready to enter the surprising door. "We dwarves are of Moradin's bones. Forged from mountains. Holding up the sky so the rest of you don't bump your head."

Roak huffs. "Move already, Albricht!"

"Maybe the Gods could allow you to pick up this pyramid so we can see what is underneath it", Sherborne adds with a shrug and a wink.

"Sand, sand and more sand is my guess. No such need for strength in the arm from the gods when strength in the mind has already been given." Albricht taps his own head with a strong finger.

"I shall fearlessly lead again it seems." The dwarf peers through the now un-secret door. If he sees no danger he will step through and become the vanguard he was born to be.

Albricht finds that he has opened a secret door on the west end of the southern wall in a 30 foot by 30 foot room.  There is a closed door in the center of the north wall.  This room contains several boxes and barrels, with a group of four large, three foot long beetles breaking into them.

Sherborne readies his hammer and moves to attack the beetles.

---

OOC Are they named John, Paul, George, and Ringo?

Plathstream pulls out his sword and prepares himself.

Roak hisses his displeasure at these foul creatures and pulls out his shortbow...

In reply to Roak The Quick (msg # 33):

  Seeing Roak take his crossbow and ready a bolt, Elboc says, Roak, I don't think a bolt or an arrow will do much damage to these creatures, maybe a hammer or sword.

Roak snorts. <blue>"I'm still sore from the shot I took from the cultists. No way you're getting me into melee with those."</b>

<OK.  Players have surprise.  Some of you have already stated actions.  Let's get everyone chiming in before we start rolling for attacks.>

Silverglade gracefully nocks an arrow and takes aim.

《OOC》 if there room, Elboc Draws sword  and moves to the front, if not it would be bow, GM please advise.

OOC: LOL. Priceless and inspirational Mr Sherborne.


"Beetles! Geez it's like some magical mystery tour in here. Help! I need a little help from my friends all together now in here like yesterday." Albricht rolls unnecessarily to the side allowing others to enter into the room. "Been a long and winding road to get here an' ain't nowhere man nor monster's gonna stop me from feeling fine. Get back you beetles, where do you all come from? From me to you ain't no way we can work this out unless my hammer can come together with a carapace like when I was sixty four. Let it be me to lead with a Dwarven twist and shout in Moradin's name for victory this day!" The dwarf runs into battle.

  Running forward into the gaping maw of the demon creatures, Elboc  takes position next to the vocal Dwarf. Albricht,  stop trying to talk them to death  and swing that thing you call a weapon.
  Taking a stance  to give those in the rear the wall of defense  from which to fire, he waits.

<Elboc:  there is enough room to get into the fight with your sword.>

<Give me attack rolls, the AC that you would hit with that roll, and damage done if the hit is a good one.>

Hit AC 4 for 3 hp.

Sherborne swings at a beetle but misses rather badly exclaiming "Help!".

---

10:59, Today: Sherborne rolled 5 using 1d20+1.  Attack on Ringo.

 Elboc swing! 11:23, Today: Elboc Ice Eyes rolled 3 using 1d20+2

.  I wish i could  my friend!
 He dances to the side and tries to say out of thw beasts maw.

Silverglade takes aim at John, somehow sensing that he should be shot first. However, his aim is off.

22:24, Today: Silverglade rolled 7 using 1d20.  Attack roll (bow). That hits an AC of 11 or worse

Albricht's 5D assault has a slow start.

OOC: Hit AC 8 for 6 dam

<All hits have gone wide of their marks so far.  Waiting for the others to chime in before starting the first regular round of combat.>

"It's been a hard day's night...should have stuck to being a paperback writer..."

Lanliss swings his trusty blade at the beaetles.

OOC: Hits AC0 for 7hp damage.

14:07, Today: Lanliss rolled 19 using 1d20+2.  attack roll, sword.
14:08, Today: Lanliss rolled 7 using 1d8+2.  dmg.

Lanliss manages to almost cut one of the giant insects in two, although it's still moving.

<We're still waiting on Roak and Vsaati.>
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:17, Mon 02 Nov 2015.

Roak shoots...

AC 3 for 4 hp with shortbow.
11:43, Today: Roak The Quick rolled 4 using 1d6+1.  Damage.
11:43, Today: Roak The Quick rolled 16 using 1d20+1.  Bow on bug.

Roak's arrow almost catches under one of the carapace plates on the beetle, but then the arrow snaps and the shards go wide.

<As soon as Vsaati posts, the PCs will have initiative in the first normal round of combat.>

<07:23, Today: Dungeon Master, on behalf of Vsaati, rolled 4 using 1d20+3.  Attack Roll (Sling).>

Vsaati launches a sling stone, which goes wide.

<07:25, Today: Dungeon Master rolled 5 using 1d6.  Monsters' Initiative.

07:25, Today: Dungeon Master rolled 6 using 1d6.  Players' Initiative.>

Player Characters have initiative.  Please let me know what you're doing, with attack and damage rolls together, if you're attacking.>
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:27, Thu 05 Nov 2015.

With battle commenced Lanliss took another swipe at the beetle he had already injured. This time though he was distracted by Vsaati's awful sling shot ricocheting past his pointy ear, and he almost chopped the other ear off into the bargain.

15:28, Today: Lanliss rolled 3 using 1d20+2.

Sherborne continues his attack on Ringo.  "Gonna have to work like a dog to damage one of these."

---

11:07, Today: Sherborne rolled 5 using 1d6+1.  Damage on Ringo.

11:06, Today: Sherborne rolled 15 using 1d20+1.  Attack on Ringo.  Hits AC 3

Plathstream wordlessly brings his blade around and brings it down precisely on a hopefully soft spot on one of the beetles' carapaces...

Targeting John if he is unhurt, or Paul if John is hurt. Hit AC 3 for 10 hp damage!
14:52, Today: Plathstream rolled 10 using 1d10+1.  Damage.
14:52, Today: Plathstream rolled 16 using 1d20+1.  attack on beetle.

Roak curses colorfully, notches another arrow and buries it this time...

Hit AC -1 for 6 damage.
14:55, Today: Roak The Quick rolled 6 using 1d6+1.  Damage on George.
14:55, Today: Roak The Quick rolled 20 using 1d20+1.  Shoot at George.

 Elboc tries again!!!

16:10, Today: Elboc Ice Eyes rolled 8 using 1d20+2.  attack!!!!

(Hitting ac 11)

"AAARRRGGGHHH!" The dwarf unleashes something and hits a beetle as well with his hammer.


OOC: Hit AC:0 for 4 dam

10:39, Today: Albricht Burghammer rolled 4 using 1d6+2.  dam.
10:38, Today: Albricht Burghammer rolled 21 using 1d20+2.  att.

Shots go wide or slide off of chitinous exoskeletons, except for Roak and Albricht, who manage to kill be beetle formerly know as George.

<Waiting for Silverglade and Vsaati.>

Silverglade whips out his sword and shield and strides forward. Unfortunately, his swipe at Paul isn't the greatest piece of swordsmanship ever seen.

09:03, Today: Silverglade rolled 1 using 1d20.  Attack (sword).

<07:29, Today: Dungeon Master, on behalf of Vsaati, rolled 15 using 1d20+3.  Attack Roll (Sling).
07:30, Today: Dungeon Master, on behalf of Vsaati, rolled 2 using 1d4+1.  Weapon Damage.>

Vsaati's stone manages to finish off the one previously injured beetle.

<07:34, Today: Dungeon Master rolled 13 using 1d20.  Attack by Giant Beetle.>

One beetle attacks Silverglade but misses.

<07:34, Today: Dungeon Master rolled 20 using 1d20.  Attack by Giant Beetle.
07:37, Today: Dungeon Master rolled 1 using 1d6.  Bite Damage.>

The other beetle squirts an oily substance at Albricht, which hits him and immediately raises painful blisters wherever it touches.  It then leaps onto him, biting, but only so deeply.

<Albricht will be at -2 on all to-hit rolls until I say otherwise.>

<We're now into the second combat round.  Let me know what you're doing.>

Sherborne continues to attack Ringo but catches air.

---

13:33, Today: Sherborne rolled 6 using 1d20+1.  Attack on Ringo.

Ducking stray sling stones and the wild swings of his companions Lanliss tries once more. As it happens, he appears to be copying their technique.


21:14, Today: Lanliss rolled 8 using 1d20+2.  attack roll, sword.

Elboc tries in an heroic fashion to dislodge the beast from the Dwarf (although differentiating between the two was a bit difficult), and..

13:55, Today: Elboc Ice Eyes rolled 8 using 1d20+2.  Attack!!

Silverglade keeps up his display of inept swordplay, hitting nothing but air (and barely managing to even hit that).

10:04, Today: Silverglade rolled 1 using 1d20.  Attack (sword).
That's two rolls of 1 in a row :(

<OOC>. Stand clear of Silverglade! He's about to make a devastating blow!!!!!

<11:08, Today: Dungeon Master, on behalf of Albricht Burghammer, rolled 10 using 1d20+2.  Attack Roll.>

Albricht adds his wild swing to the party's group of ineffective swings.

<We're still waiting on Roak, Plathstream, and Vsaati this round.>

Plathstream, discouraged by the beetles' impressive armor and its negation of his last powerful strike, is unable to land an effective blow.

15:18, Today: Plathstream rolled 4 using 1d20+1.  attack on beetle.

Roak, meanwhile, after a solid shot a moment before, watches this latest arrow skid off the hard carapace of the wounded beetle.

After nice hit last round, miss this round.
15:18, Today: Roak The Quick rolled 10 using 1d20+1.  Arrow on beetle.

<19:21, Today: Dungeon Master, on behalf of Vsaati, rolled 8 using 1d20+3.  Attack Roll (Sling).>

Vsaati sends another sling stone wide of its mark.

<19:23, Today: Dungeon Master rolled 18 using 1d20.  Attack by Giant Beetle.
19:26, Today: Dungeon Master rolled 4 using 1d6.  Bite Damage.>

One beetle both bites Silverglade and squirts an oily substance on him which raises painful blisters wherever it touches.

<Silverglade will be at -2 on all to-hit rolls until I say otherwise.>

<19:22, Today: Dungeon Master rolled 7 using 1d20.  Attack by Giant Beetle.>

The beetle's second attempt to bite Albricht fails.

<Player characters, it's your turn again.>

In reply to Dungeon Master (msg # 71):

19:45, Today: Elboc Ice Eyes rolled 4 using 1d20+2.  Attack!!!


 but, not really......

Sherborne continues to attack on Ringo.  "These things are so hard to hit it's like a Rocky Raccoon."

---

21:38, Today: Sherborne rolled 18 using 1d20+1.  Attack on Ringo. Hits AC 0
21:39, Today: Sherborne rolled 3 using 1d6+1.  Damage.

Sherborne's attack makes solid contact, even where it could have done more damage.

"BOOYAH!" shouts Lanliss, in the Elven tradition, as his sword hacks a great lump off one of the insects.

"HASTA LA VISTA, BEETLEY!"


11:30, Today: Lanliss rolled 18 using 1d20+2.  attack roll, sword.
11:30, Today: Lanliss rolled 6 using 1d8+2.  dmg.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:32, Tue 10 Nov 2015.

Plathstream tries to help take out the other one, but he still cannot harm it.

Pretty clear miss.
08:55, Today: Plathstream rolled 6 using 1d20+1.  Swing at beetle.

Roak keeps shooting as well, getting closer (though likely not close enough).

Only hit AC 4 for 3 hp.
08:56, Today: Roak The Quick rolled 3 using 1d6+1 with rolls of 2.  Damage (if that hits).
08:55, Today: Roak The Quick rolled 15 using 1d20+1 with rolls of 14.  Shoot at beetle.

Lanliss finishes off the beetle that Sherborne had already injured.  Only one remains.

Being covered in the oily substance appears to spur on Silverglade, who finally finds his mark and get his revenge on George.

22:29, Today: Silverglade rolled 17 using 1d20.  Attack (sword). +1 from Str and -2 from oil, so hits AC 3.
22:32, Today: Silverglade rolled 5 using 1d8+1.  Damage (sword).
This message was last edited by the player at 22:34, Tue 10 Nov 2015.

Silverglade's sword bites quite deeply into an exposed part of the beetle in question, but doesn't quite kill it.

<07:40, Today: Dungeon Master, on behalf of Albricht Burghammer, rolled 2 using 1d20.  Attack Roll. (Includes his normal +2, and then the -2 from the oil)>

Albricht's swing goes wide, no doubt due to distraction from the irritation and pain of the oil on him.


<07:42, Today: Dungeon Master, on behalf of Vsaati, rolled 7 using 1d20+3.  Attack Roll (Sling).>

Vsaati sends another sling stone wide of its mark, perhaps due to the problems of getting a clear shot through the melee.

<07:43, Today: Dungeon Master rolled 2 using 1d20.  Attack by Giant Beetle.>

The one remaining beetle bites at Plathstream, slips in some of the oil sprayed by its deceased compatriots, misses him, and sends a gout of oil at the west wall as it stumbles, missing everyone.

<Player characters, it's your turn again.>

Plathstream finally gets a good angle on the tough beetle and lands a solid blow. His sword is covered in goo from the bug.

Hit AC 2 for 4 hp.
10:47, Today: Plathstream rolled 4 using 1d10+1.  Damage.
10:47, Today: Plathstream rolled 17 using 1d20+1.  Attack on beetle.

Roak keeps shooting, but can't quite hit the beetle.

10:47, Today: Roak The Quick rolled 8 using 1d20+1 with rolls of 7.  Shooting at Beetle.

Elboc swings with a desperate  attack, wishing to help his compatriats...
08:14, Today: Elboc Ice Eyes rolled 3 using 1d6+2.  damage
08:08, Today: Elboc Ice Eyes rolled 18 using 1d20+2.  attack????

Silverglade returns to fluffing his blows.

22:19, Today: Silverglade rolled 10 using 1d20.  Attack (sword).

At the end, Elboc and Plathstream strike simultaneously, finishing the last of the four beetles.

In reply to Dungeon Master (msg # 86):

  That was a terrible display of swordsmanship my friends, I do apologize.I wonder if I should not remain in the rear and use the proper weapon for a Drow. I shall remain there and perform properly. Elboc sheaths his sword after cleaning it, removing his bow from its case, he strings it and readies it for use.

Plathstream winces at the thought of a drow walking behind him, but chokes this down and nods. He then searches the room, particularly the perimeter.

In the middle of the north wall is a door, which is closed.  As Plathstream searches around the room, he spots a quarterstaff in the southeast corner, leaned up against the wall.

He points it out to the others.

"Do not worry about it, Elboc! The worse the swordplay of a Drow, the better for all of us! Perhaps Plathstream will offer you that staff in place of your sword, and change your luck?"

Taunts are much easier given when one has proven oneself with one's action, thinks Lanliss with a fair degree of smugness.

Maybe next time i shall stand behind you and cheer you in your combat skill. Elboc says with very real humor in his vice.

Should we not move on? Let us continued  to move before we are set upon.

"Yes, I believe that is wise", Sherborne adds shrugging suggestively toward the door.

Silverglade nods silently, but looks around the room quickly first in case anything has been missed.

Plathstream grabs the staff and waves it at the others. "Are there none of you who could make use of this? Or at least carry it?"

"Well, while the Gods would allow me to use such weapon, it would require some training and practice I believe", Sherborne says as he muses over the staff.

Plathstream hands it to Sherborne. "Hold it for now, friend, while we move along. Where to next?"

Took, being the impatient sort, leads the group back out to the hallway and continues down it.

As was previously scouted, the corridor continues on for another 30 feet past the secret door, then turns left (north), and runs for another 60 feet before ending in a closed door.  As the group looks around the corner into this longer section of the hall, the grinding noise that had been heard earlier starts up again, and seems to be coming from beyond the closed door.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:55, Fri 20 Nov 2015.

Silverglade draws his sword. "Is that machinery?" he asks of Albricht, figuring that the dwarf would be the most likely to know.

  Only one way to find out friend. Elboc walks towards the door, ready for anything. You coming Albricht?

"Ma-what? What nonsense are you speaking here, Silverglade?"

As Silverglade listens more closely, he finds that it does sound a bit like machinery, but it would take a very large machine to make this kind of sound.

"Oi! Ouch! Oich!" fussed the dwarf as he gingerly made his way forward. The welts from the fire beetle squirtings were painful and made movement uncomfortable. He waddled forward in a bowlegged manner. "Make way, thank me later, yes, make way and - truly - the lot of you should heed my warnings a little more stringently. I might not always be there to take the brunt of such horrendous, and painful, attacks! Coming through!"

As Albricht made his way towards the door beyond which could be heard the grinding noises, he paused momentarily to answer Lanliss. "Muh-sheen-ree..." Slow. Technical terms were often beyond the grasp of elves after all, though the dwarf was impressed yet again by the intellectual capacity of Silverglade. "Us dwarves have methods far advanced, developed during the centuries your race languished in forests trying to listen to trees... which makes no sense if you ask me. Deep in the earth we craft metals and give them life through the wonders of steam, oil-hydraulics and so forth... Stay with me lad, I'm coming to the real meat of this lesson..." Albricht saw several sets of eyes begin to glaze over at his explications. He began to doubt his metaphor, remembering that elves tended to avoid meat, but it was too late to backtrack now so instead he sagely continued on with the rambling lecture.

"... and so forth. I've several patents of my own pending right now as a matter of fact, on the edge of bleeding, I think the saying goes... they ought to be arriving any day now. Where was I? Ah yes, leverage! You see, if there's one thing I know almost as much about as finding water, it's... OICH!" Albricht flinched in pain as someone (accidentally?) poked him in one of his boils.

"Hold that thought a moment while I listen at this door..." The dwarf, very gingerly, put his blistered ear to the door, closing his eyes and listening to the sounds beyond. "...there are supposed to be warning signs posted, required protective gear and so forth..." he muttered to himself as he listened.

In reply to Albricht Burghammer (msg # 105):

  Listening intently to the Dwarf ramble on...... well, truth be told he wasn't, but he was finding a small crack in the rock wall interesting, more interesting than the Dwarf prattling on about the trees and glades of green that The Drow's 'cousins" found interesting. He did however find Albricht's idea and knowledge of the soil compositions and the iron found in the ground to be more interesting to him. so,.. he listened, for as long as he could before someone might have stuck him with a stick and the Dwarf went back to listening to the sounds on the other side of the door muttering to himself.

Albricht listens for a moment or so, with the distinct impression that there is something sliding/grinding, stone-on-stone, beyond the door.  This only lasts for a moment, and then it stops again, ending with a muted - but still audible - boom.

Roak clears his throat. "So...what's going on in there? Any theories?"

The desert dwarf finally stood and reached up a gnarled hand to stroke his wiry white whiskers, they being one of the few places on his body that weren't sensitive to the lingering effects of the beetle-juice.

"Hmmmmmm... Yes, I think I do have a theory, quite a good one in fact! It's my belief that there is something yonder, beyond this door, that is sliding against another such something! Likely it be stone or some other sort of rough surface, and heavy! Quite probably very heavy, but perhaps not. I distinctly hear a WHUMP near the end of the cycle that I further theorize must be some surface coming into sudden contact with another that is less yielding... while I reserve the distinct possibility that there may be other and various occurences, mechanisms and so forth..."

He placed his hands on his hips and looked around at his companions for their accolades. As far as theories went, it was as good as many he'd heard! If his back hadn't been so sensitive right now, he might just pat himself upon it.

"Ahem... Hence!"

As was his custom he proceeded to open the door and stand to the side to allow his contemporaries to observe the evidence of his well placed and exhaustively considered theory.

Plathstream peered beyond the door to see what lay there, his sword in hand...

 Looking around the others, Elboc makes sure he is not in anyone else's line of fir in case they see something he did not.

The rest of the party looks through the doorway to find a completely blank stone wall on the other side of it.

Sherborne raises an eyebrow briefly at this development in mild amusement.  "Hmmm, well, if this wall was actually a door, maybe that would account for the grinding and the final 'whump' when it closed?"  Sherborne shakes his head a little wondering at it.

Silverglade step forward. "I think this might take a elf's eyes," he says, looking for any indication of a secret entrance.

Plathstream shakes his head. "I suspect something else. We should go back in the hallway and look for a pressure plate. I think a stone block was moved to block the entrance."

  Not a bad idea, Silverglade, I'll look for any movement when we walk back a bit.  With the group or a couple of of them walk back to see about tripping the plate, or anything else, Elboc is looking for any imperfections in the floor or wall seams.

One fairly obvious thing that becomes evident once the party gets over the shock of finding a blank stone wall behind the door is that there is a symbol inscribed in the side of the door that would face the wall.

A moment later, Elboc spots what appears to be a hand-sized pressure plate on the wall, to the right of the door.

Albricht, who was still standing to the side after opening the door for the others to see for themselves exactly what he'd predicted, took a closer look at the inscription. "Ah! Here it is, some sand-headed fool put it on the wrong side! Hmmmm..."


OOC: checking out the inscription, but still staying to the side in case the wall presses through the doorway for some reason.

<OOC:  You can see the symbol, which has been posted as the game map for group 0.>

  Here! Next to the door, a plate to push with a hand, it may lock the moving wall inlace. Any way to check it?

"Curious..." A gnarled hand, tanned by the blasting sun of the desert and weathered by a couple of centuries of stinging sandstorms, traced the inscription as the dwarf committed it to memory.

"I'll stand out of the way here and watch and listen while you push the plate. Not sure what good it'll do, but carry on..."

Silverglade sighs. He draws his sword and prepares to push it against the plate. Anyone who wants to hide, now's your chance.

Roak moves back behind Albricht.

Plathstream, though, stays nearby.

I am ready, you may proceed. Elboc readies an arrow and stand to the side.

Sherborne readies his hammer and picks a prudent location near the door to react to what is revealed.

Vsaati stops the group, just for a moment, offering to check to see if she can find a trap on or around the pressure plate in the wall.

She moves forward through the bristling throng of weapons and spends several minutes examining the plate in minute detail, even going so far as to press - gently - on several parts of the plate and the wall around it.  Finally, satisfied, she turns back to the group and indicates that there doesn't seem to be a trap of any sort on it, although it obviously does attach to some mechanism behind the plate, and it's not entirely clear what will happen when it is pressed.

Finished, she returns to the rear of the group and readies a ranged weapon.

Albricht watched as his comrades in arms, veritably bristling with arms, readied themselves for some mechanical boogeyman beyond this apparent wall. As further inspection of the pressure plate was going on, he rubbed his white whiskers and worried his gums with his tongue, obviously seeking after some elusive thought...

"An idea... Let us assume that pressing this plate will open, in some fashion, the barrier we face in front of us. Pay attention Roak, this might be important, hhrrumph!" The Dwarf grunted that commonly used expression in emphasis. "What might happen if you all go charging in there to squash more beetles and it shuts behind you? Who will press the plate then? I could, that is if I were not to lead you all into battle myself, as my expertise in hand-to-hand melee might well be needed. Should we not place something solid in the path here to give us an exit in the case something goes badly?"

Albricht tugged at the whiskers now as his droopy earlobes began to wiggle. He was really getting going! "Now you elf lads have been very good so far at spotting hidden doorways. Even when I've not pointed them out to you, but the question is... why was that door put there? Unless it is a means by which we might bypass some devious design at this point!"

"I suggest one of you lads to fetch us something solid and stout to jam in here and hold the portal open enough, at least enough, for this halfling here to slip through should we find ourselves in unfortunate circumstances..."

He arched one bushy white eyebrow and crossed his arms as if prepared to wait a decade if needed.

Roak snorts, but tries to think of anything suitable he has seen...

Silverglade shrugs. He has nothing to prop the door open with.

  Could we spike it open? I have , as well as others I'm sure, spikes. Could we not let the Hobbit to spike it to where it will not close behind us? Looking to Roak for acknowledgment or denial?

As the others considered the wisdom which Albricht had just meted to them, the bushy white eyebrows suddenly relaxed, and then raised in a high arch. The old dwarf turned back toward the door to examine the rune once more, cocking his head so far to his left that it looked as if the bones might just have instantly turned to mush. He fidgeted and fumbled, trying to be able to look at the rune sideways, which must have been somewhat amusing to observe.

He finally puffed out his cheeks and then blew out the air with a noisy, "FFfhhewwwaaahh!" Another brief moment of scrambling in his backpack allowed him to produce one of the aforementioned spikes. He then dropped to a knee and began to inscribe the rune in the dust on the floor.

"Look here! I say, should have thought of this sooner. I've become convinced of something... now then, if you look at this rune sideways, it looks an awful lot like a map! Consider..."

Albricht drew the symbol rotated a quarter turn to the right. "Does this not look like a stairway on the left, the hallway we just walked through to get to this door in the center, and what I now believe to be a moving passageway just beyond?"

The little fellow was rather excited about his discovery, of which he now looked to be as convinced of as if the sun were to rise in the morning!

Silverglade looks confused. "So do we press the plate?" he asks?

"If we need something to wedge a plate or door open, a mouthy dwarf is always a good start - solid and immobile. Now someone press the damned plate."

Lanliss stands well back, preferably around a corner, perhaps even with his fingers in his pointy ears.

Silverglade presses his sword point against the plate then leans his weight onto it.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:58, Wed 02 Dec 2015.

Silverglade finds that the plate depresses only slightly, a barely-audible click following, and the wall beyond the door begins to slide to the right.  After several seconds of this, a long hallway swings into view, running directly north to another closed door 50 feet away.

The gnarled dwarf's head dipped a little as he looked at each of his companions with a very expectant look upon his face.

"Hah! By the Bones! Just as I said it would be lads!"

Before anyone could step foot into the new passageway, Albricht raised a hand. "But a moment..." he said, considering. His hand went to scratch at his chin whiskers thoughtfully. "Press it again..."

Silverglade stands back and makes room for Albricht to press the plate himself.

The smugness slipped from the dwarf's face, and with much clearing of the throat and wiggling of the fingers, Albricht stepped up and placed his hand on the plate, hesitating only a moment before pressing it with a typical dwarven, "Hhhrrumph!"

After a click and a momentary pause...

Nothing happens.

Sherborne stands to the side putting his hand over his mouth and curls his lips in trying to hide a grin in reaction to this exchange.

Oooooohhhh....  exciting, do it again......


 He smiles at Sherborne when he sees him stifling the smile and possibly a laugh.

Albricht's hooded head cocked to one side as he waited for something to happen. When it did not, he rounded on his dark-elf heckler and replied, "Not necessary. You see, its function has been found, just as I had told you. Only followed through with the second attempt for the sake of scientific integrity..." The last part sounded like he was speaking with a mouthful of glass shards and was largely undecipherable.

He looked up with a mixture of confusion and annoyance. "Well, why are you all just standing around smirking at each other. I've solved this riddle for you, carry on lads!" Albricht stepped aside to allow the others to enter the newly revealed hallway. "Hhrrrumphh!"

Sherborne shrugs a bit, readies his hammer and steps into the hallway to see what there is to see and if anything happens upon stepping through the door.

In reply to Sherborne (msg # 144):

Elboc  steps into line behind Sherborne with bow pulled and ready to go, with a clear shot over his shoulder. He is ready for anythi g tha steps up with aggressive intent.

As he enters, Sherborne notices a group of eight symbols next to the door, one of which is the symbol that was next to the door outside this hallway.  Each of the symbols is on a separate piece of stone, all of them the same size, and all in a row.

"More symbols here", Sherborne points out to the rest of the group.  "One of which just made our...acquaintance."  He steps back a bit to allow others a look.

Plathstream examines them to see if they make sense to him.

Plathstream examines the symbols and finds that they are not familiar to him.

Plathstream tries to take one of the pieces off the wall, seeing if it is like a tile that can be removed.

"Shards and embers lad!" Albricht exclaimed as he watched Plathstream begin to tamper with the symbols. "A moment! A moment! Hrrumph!"

The dwarf delicately crossed over the threshold, even though his two larger companions were already in the hallway, and began to squint at the markings on the wall while muttering, "Hmmm... of course... yes... curious..."

OOC: Just adding in a looksee at the symbols...

Plathstream turns to Albricht coldly. "Watch who you call "lad," lad. I am certain that I am your senior." He then turns and resumes his examination.

"Hrrumph!" Albricht grunted.

"Highly unlikely... he don't look a day over two centuries! I've taken naps longer than that..." He muttered to himself as he squinted to make out the symbols with further ponderings and scratchings of whiskers.

"It's a very ancient dragon glyph," Silverglade informs the others. "It refers to the coming of spring and warm updraughts for flying." I truth, he has no idea what the symbol is, but feels the need to look important in front of the others.

Plathstream smiles. "Interesting." He still tries to pull one of the items off the wall to test it.

Silverglade is unable to pull the symbols off of the wall, but they shift just a bit as if they might press in.

  With a raised eyebrow, Elboc gives his 'cousin' a glancing look, Heh, it seems the forest Elves have more experience than we believed, reading Dragon is quite an accomplishment. Find many Dragon treasures in the forest? Looking sideways at the Dwarf to see if he heard mention of "treasures", hoping to see a rise out of the stout, if diminutive fellow.
 Smiling he walks past the group into room and takes up station with his bow and arrow trained into the room in case something else comes at them in secret.

The scruffy-faced dwarf rubbed his chin as he cast sidelong glances at the two elves. "Dragonish... Hmmm... Yes, that was my first impression as well..." And then, almost exactly on cue, Albricht's whiskers bristled outward at the mention of the word treasure, making his face look something like a sun-bleached washerwoman's brush.

"Well come on in the rest of ya, don't be left behind... there's treas... further exploration to be completed..." said the white bristled dwarf. "Carry on then, let's see what's at the end of this hall!"

 Chuckling at the Dwarfs bombastic way he thinks he's covering his train of thought, It's alright master Dwarf, treasure is better than exploration, exploration doesn't buy supplies and food. Although, there are many things that the treasure FOUND during exploration DOES buy.

Roak clears his throat. "Looks like fancy-pants Plathstream there has found something out. We're supposed to push those symbols in, probably in order. Albricht, you're smart and stuff--why don't you try pushing them in?"

A bushy white eyebrow spiked and a brief look of surprise crossed the dwarf's face. He looked around at his companions as if the answer to that question were obvious. "Well... Hrrumph! Plenty of reasons! Yes my furry-footed friend... REASONS!" Albricht had thrust his face forward, beyond the threshold of comfortable inter-personal distance, very near to Roak.

He then seemed to gather some composure. "Look here, before we go pushing buttons and moving things around, why not explore the corridors as they present themselves? We can always come back and try something new. Hearken to the fact young halfling, that dwarves aren't the only folk who can devise architectural wonders - though we're without argument the best at it - so I suspect there is both reason and method to the layout of this pyramid. Our best chance of surviving long enough to find the water I know is below us, is to be both reasonable and methodical! Hhrrrumph!"

"Now before we start poking buttons, be a good lad and scamper down this hall a bit and see what lies that-a-way won't ya?"

Roak walks up to Albricht's mid-section and pokes the dwarf in the belly. "You want to look down there so bad? Look there yerself, big-britches."

"Should I be a little scared that the Dwarf actually made a little bit of sense to me?", Sherborne adds with a raised eyebrow.

Albricht sighed.

Hefting his warhammer, he began shuffling down the corridor to the north, muttering to himself.

"...good help...Bah!...impossible to find these days...mouthy halflings and smarty elves...likely they'll all die of thirst...fortunate for them I'm along on this outing...probably be me that saves them all..."

The old dwarf approached the door at the end of the hallway carefully. His grumbling lessened as he looked about, customarily inspecting the portal for mischief. He also kept one wandering eye out for any more of those strange symbols...

~~~~

OOC: If things check out and he doesn't find anything "interesting", Albricht will open the door to the north and take a peeksie...

 Raising his eyebrows in response to Sherborne's comment, he looks sideways at him and says, A little bit, he did make a little bit of sense, and yes, we should be more than a little scared at that.

Sherborne nods in agreement and adds a muffled grin in response to Elboc.

Albricht finds another set of the same symbols that were found when first entering the corridor.  They are also placed on the wall, all lined up, and appear to be something that you could press in, individually.

Albricht scratched his head in bewilderment of his own logic. Somewhere down the passage it had gotten misplaced, due - no doubt - to his mutterings. With a shrug of his shoulders, as if relenting that the fled thought was lost, he reached up a gnarled finger and pushed the button bearing the same symbol which had led them into this hallway...

"Hmmm...."

OOC: Pushing the first (top on the Game Map view) symbol that looks like a sideways "T" hooked to a spring...

To the startlement of all, the stone beyond the doorway (through which they were looking into the hallway) begins to slide to the right again.  Albricht watches the door in front of him slide away to the right as well.  As he watches, three more closed doors come into view from the left of the end of the hall, then slide out of view to the right, after which the open door with his traveling companions slides into view in front of him.  The grinding sound is much louder here and stops when the doors (or the hallway) stop moving.

Plathstream tests a theory--he steps into the now-revealed hallway and stands for a moment to see if anything happens...

Nope.

Silverglade hefts his sword. "Which way shall we go then?" he asks.

Plathstream points down this hallway. "I shall listen at doors and walk the hall lest anyone object."

When his companions came back into view, Albricht snorted, or perhaps chuckled, (the sounds produced through dwarven bronchial passages being very similar) and he gave the elves a wink.

"Did I not tell you this appears to be a rotating hallway?"

He was smiling and stepped out of the way to allow Plathstream to pass by and go about his exploration of the door at the end of the hallway.

Plathstream does the stereotypically elvish thing and ignores the dwarf as he moves to investigate.

There is a distinctly odd feeling that Plathstream gets as he traverses the corridor.  The door at the other end is still closed, and the symbols on their pressure plates next to each exit from the corridor appear to be identical.  Still, there's something that just doesn't feel right about the hall, although it might be the fact that is rotates and is not, in fact, as stable and solid as the stonework would otherwise suggest.

Even with that, he finds nothing else of note between the two doors.

Plathstream comes back and reports this to the others.

Silverglade goes to the door at the end of the corridor and tries to open it.

The door opens easily and Silverglade sees a corridor that continues north for about 70 feet, then ends in a "T" intersection, going to the left (west) and right (east).  The fifth of the eight symbols is on the wall next to the door.

Albricht poked his head around Silverglade after he opened the door, looking down the corridor. He sniffed the air as if searching for something, as he'd done several times earlier in their explorations. He claimed to be able to find water, claimed to know there was water below them, a claim that was not to be argued. "Hhhrummmph..." he grunted. "Let's see where it leads..."

He carefully tromped his way forward to the intersection, keeping his eye out for anything "curious". He peered either way into the gloom as he waited for his companions to join him.

Silverglade keeps pace with Albricht, an arrow nocked to his bow in readiness.

To the left (west) Albricht can see that the passage goes for another 40 feet, then turns to the left (south).  To the right of him, the passage goes for another 30 feet, then turns right (south).

Sherborne keeps his hammer ready and follows them down the hall.

Plathstream follows behind Silverglade and Albricht.

Roak brings up the rear, keeping his eyes open for threats from the rear.

<Vsaati - who has still not checked in, and for whom we have yet to get a replacement - follows Roak.>

In reply to Dungeon Master (msg # 186):

Elboc will bring up the rear. following the group.

The dwarf grunted as he turned to note his companions had been able to keep up. He made some pretense of choosing their next direction, when in reality he hadn't a clue as to which way they might proceed. Finally, with a decisive snort, he turned to the right and proceeded cautiously, as he had done before, to the east, poking his head around the corner to look south when he came to it.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 23:10, Tue 22 Dec 2015.

Albricht turns the corner to find that the passageway goes another ten feet to the right (south), and ends in a closed door.  No sounds seem to be coming from beyond the door, and it appears slightly more battered than the others you have found so far, but not by much.

Plathrstream walks the hallway's length, seeing if anything odd or hidden jumps out at him.

The dwarf approached the door, checking it over carefully, mumbling something into his wiry whiskers as he pointed at the marks of... erm... batterment... batterd-ness... yes, it was mumbled and nearly impossible to hear. He turned an nodded to Plathstream tilting his head in the direction of whatever might lie beyond as he opened the door and gestured for the big man to pass ahead of him. "After you..."

Albricht opens the door onto a room that is about 30 feet left-to-right (east-west) and 40 feet long (north-south), with the door opening in the east portion of the north wall.  This room looks like a ruined chape..  It has been looted and deliberately wrecked. The stone altar has been smashed, and no ceremonial equipment can be seen.  The work "Zargon" has been scrawled on one wall in large letters.

The elf steps in and starts working around the perimeter of the room, starting to the right of the door and working his way around the room in a counter-clockwise fashion, searching as he goes.

Plathstream works his way around the room, finding a section of the floor (marked with the dashed line on the game map) that appears to swing down when weight is placed on it.

Sherborne starts looking around the altar carefully to see if he can determine who this temple was dedicated to and who might have smashed it up.  He then continues to look around the rest of the temple looking for similar clues.

Plathstream points out this swinging floor to the others. "Worth investigating," he says.

He tries to determine the borders of it, moving around the area of the swinging floor, and then continue his examination on the rest of the room.

As all of the ceremonial implements are missing and the faces of the altar have been smashed, Sherborne is unable to determine anything beyond the fact that this was an altar.

Plathstream finds that the portion of the floor that swings is 10 feet by 20 feet, and hinges where it connects to the east wall.

In reply to Dungeon Master (msg # 197):

Do you think its a trap, or a secret door going down stairs ? Investigating with tge others, Elboc stalks about the eoom, looking for anythingthe others may have missed, although he doubts it.

Albricht raised his bushy eyebrows in surprise. Nothing nasty had beset them! The chamber they had entered however, did not instill much comfort in him. He carefully side-shuffled around the altar, keeping one wild-eye upon it suspiciously as he accompanied the elves on the far side of the room.

"Ah yes, noticed this from over there myself..." He looked around the area, as if considering something obvious, but in reality trying to figure out just exactly what the others were looking at. He stepped into the center of the area they were skirting in order to perhaps get a better angle... just as Elboc slurred something about a trapped staircase.

OOC: Albricht steps onto the hidden stairway!

Silverglade sees if he can budge the stone altar towards the trapped area.

While Silverglade is trying to move the stone altar, which refuses to budge under his hands, Albricht finds the floor beneath him swinging fairly slowly down.  It comes to rest on something below, leaving a passable ramp into a lower room.  In the dim light, Albricht can make out paintings on the walls, but will have to enter the room to see what they are.

In reply to Dungeon Master (msg # 201):

Looking down the hole to spy any creature awaiting them, Elboc aims as he leans over, and then looks at the Dwarf. Okay, no stairs, but a ramp, well, we seem to have found a more interesting path to take. Looking at the walkway down the ramp, he is looking to note any recent passage.

As the floor beneath him began to shift downward, alternating looks of alarm and curiosity filled the face of the waterseeker. He might have tried to retreat, but his feet seemed to have been nailed to the floor and they refused to move. Only when the ramp settled did they seem to relent, and as Albricht looked into the gloom around him, he grunted a puff of disgust before carefully creeping forward.

"I've found some sort of a ramp!" Albricht whispered excitedly. One of his hands was frantically waving for the others to follow. As seemed to be his custom now with each new area the party entered, his nose sniffed and snuffed, seeking the hint of water.

Albricht carefully stepped off the ramp, testing the floor with the tip of his toe in case there be some surprise beneath it. Intrigued by the paintings, he moved just close enough to make them out, but was wary of some unseen occupant in the shadows.

Roak peeks over the edge. "How do we know that thing won't swing back up and trap us on that level?"

In reply to Roak The Quick (msg # 204):

Uhhhh... again,.... Spike....it....

Silverglade will hammer a couple of spikes into the ramp to keep it from rising back up.

Painted on the walls of this room are court scenes of a king and queen being entertained by a dwarven jester.  As small coffin lies in a niche in the east wall, and in each corner of the room is a large brass jar.  The room is 30 feet by 30 feet, with a door in the middle of the right (north) wall as you enter.

The dwarf nodded at Silverglade's efforts. "Good work elf, I meant to mention doing that by the way." He shot a guilty sideways glance toward Elboc, but he didn't think the darkelf noticed it.

Albricht walked around the room, examining the artwork before moving on to peek into the brass jars, careful not to touch them.

Plathstream does a circuit around this room as well, feeling the walls and looking for anything of interest.

Albricht finds the brass jars to be, insofar as he can tell, exactly what they seem.  Each is about three feet tall, and about 10 to 12 inches across, with a brass lid on top.

Plathstream finds no hidden or secret doors, and the only door that exits this room appears to be the one to the north.

In reply to Dungeon Master (msg # 210):

Mayhaps the Dwarf jester did not make them laugh, and he was split on two and placed in the short vessels? Looking at the Dwarf in the same sideways glance, just to let the Dwarf know he did see the look earlier.

"Let's find out," says Silverglade, as he opens one of the brass jars.

Albricht's gulp was audible. He took a few steps back from the jars in case anything Jester-ish might spill out of them.

Silverglade opens one of the jars to find...

that it is empty.

In reply to Dungeon Master (msg # 214):

  Looking into the jar with Silverglade, Elboc cannot help himself after noticing the Dwarfs reaction.... Well, I find it hard to believe myself Master Dwarf, but mayhaps the jester was,.... skinny? and they stuffed him into the jar....whole? Smiling, he moves to the other jar and begins to move as though he was opening it, Perhaps you would like to see ? He looks at the other Elves in the vacinity with a sideways smile, in jest of course.
 Returning his arrow to the quiver, he sets his bow to the side of the jar as he opens it. Everyone, please prepare yourselves, the Jester's ghost may be unsettled after such a lengthy stay in such tight quarters, he may be very angry. Chuckling, he removes the lid.

Elboc removes the lid to find a similarly empty container.

In reply to Dungeon Master (msg # 216):

huh...?? maybe he was funnier than I am giving him credit for??   Laughing, he replaces the lid to the jar, retrieves his bow and moves on with the others searching the room.

"Bah!" grumped Albricht. He suspected he was the butt of some joke, but wasn't quite sure what it was or how offensive it was intended. Elves had bizarre senses of humor. The dwarf tried to recover something of his dignity by slowly approaching the jars. "A dwarven jester? Hrrrumph! That'd be not unlike a goblin philosopher!"

Albricht strayed near the small coffin, pausing briefly before muttering over his shoulder in Elboc's direction. "Likely it was just a plump hobb-ling. Those little vermin always seem to have some joke or trick, always at the expense of more sensible folk, such as myself..."

Silverglade moves over to the coffin too. "Give me a hand, will you Albricht?" he asks as he starts pushing on the lid to open it.

Sherborne readies his hammer and moves over to the coffin ready to respond should anything come out of it that needs smiting.

Chuckling at the bristles on the Dwarfs neck, Elboc tries to get his attention to let him know he meant it in jest, no malice.

Albricht cleared his throat uncomfortably as he cast an embarrassing look at Roak. "Erm... that is... Aye Silverglade! I'll lend my aid, being a dwarf and so forth... ahem... should have that open forthwith and henceforth, uh... and forth-forth... ahem..." He muttered more to himself as he hustled toward the coffin to help the elf get it open.

As Silverglade and Albricht work to get the lid off of the coffin, a garishly painted wooden head springs out of the coffin.  It is painted to look like the dwarven jester from the images on the walls, and small bells on its hat jingle as it suddenly appears, then bobs back and forth on the spring to which it is attached.  Once the initial shock of the appearance of this passes, a small brass coffer can be seen inside the coffin, off in one corner.

Roak cackles, evidently enjoying the joke.

"GRAN-NAK FREKNAZ!" Albricht exclaimed in his native tongue as the jester's last joke was played. He brandished his warhammer and took several quick swipes with it as adrenaline surged through his gnarled body. The bobbing head seemed to be deceptively agile and somehow dodged all of the startled dwarf's wild attacks. Finally he got control of himself again and stepped back a few paces, huffing from the exertion while glancing accusations at his companions.

"Whew! A bit of practice is all... Gotta stay sharp and so forth. Quick reactions are a necessity for a Water Finder such as myself!" He wiped a thumb across his nose and then poked his warhammer menacingly at the sproinging head. "Bah! Missed on purpose, respect for the dead and such..."

The fright seemed to fly though as he spied the small coffer.

Any sign of traps? Silverglade asks Vsaati, indicating the coffer.

Vsaati moves forward and looks into the coffin carefully, without touching anything, moving around it to get a better look from several angles, moving the torch to reduce shadows, and eventually touches several spots with a long, metal implement that she produces from her pack.

She finally declares, "It doesn't seem to be trapped."

As Albricht watched her search, however, he became aware that the bottom to the coffin was a false one, with something beneath it.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:23, Thu 31 Dec 2015.

Suddenly, the dwarf's whiskers began to twitch and stand out. Some of his companions had seen such strange phenomenon before in their desert-heat-addled friend. The dwarf shifted from one foot to another as if he might have need to relieve himself as he anxiously awaited the 'all-clear' from Vsaati. Taking a crossbow quarrel from the quiver behind his hip, he poked at the bottom of the coffin.

"Looks like the Jester may have left behind another trick!" Albricht said to his companions. "This is a false bottom or my whiskers are made of lettuce! ...whatever that is..."

Plathstream calmly removes the false bottom.

Plathstream works the false bottom inside the coffin free to find a space about 12 inches deep, and apparently completely empty.

In reply to Dungeon Master (msg # 230):

  I am not sure of your fellow Jester's humor, friend Master Dwarf. But to leave an empty hidey-hole is not fair sport. Looking inside the false bottom, Elboc take a searching glance into the empty space.

Elboc finds nothing additional in the newly-revealed space, although there are some light dents and scratches there.

The dwarf alternated between scratching his head and scratching his whiskers, which seemed to have relaxed from standing at attention... but not for long. Elbowing his elven companions out of the way, he reached in to open the brass coffer while eying the bouncing Jester head with a mixture of contempt and distrust.

In reply to Dungeon Master (msg # 232):

<< IC >>Looking at the dents and scratches, does they appear to have been made by step/iron items, or animal scratches.?

 grunting when his ribs are elbowed... ugh. what are you doing now friend Dwarf? Can we not work together here? Stepping back out of the Dwarf's way, he allowes him to do his search unhindered.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:32, Mon 04 Jan 2016.

"Perhaps someone got here before us, this is an odd situation", Sherborne interjects.

Elboc is unable to determine what made the dents and scratches, as they are too few and too faint, but they don't seem to come from an animal source.

Albricht easily opens the brass coffer, to find it completely full of ash.

In reply to Dungeon Master (msg # 236):

This seems to be turning into a fruitless search, Mayhaps we continue on with the hopes of finding something worthwhile down further?

Roak rolls his eyes. "Thank you, captain obvious. Yes, let's move on before we turn into ash ourselves."

Plathstream pats the halfling on the head. "Patience, friend Roak. We had to be thorough. I concur, though--let's move on."

Roak turns red and looks like he's going to say something pointed but he sees the elf's greatsword and seems to think better of it.

Albricht's sense of curiosity seemed to help him overcome both his aversion to disturbing the Jester's resting place and his trepidation that there might be some further joke. With a defeated puff of his cheeks, his tell-tale whiskers seemed to relax as he admitted there must be no treasure here after all... "Packrats must've packed it all off!" he grumbled under his breath.

The dwarf nodded in agreement at Roak's remark. "He looks a little dehydrated..." he said offhandedly with a gesture toward the coffer. He replaced the lid and carefully reset the Jester's trap for the next poor fool who might one day be trapped down here. Somewhere beneath that gruff eccentricity there was at least some sense of humor.

"And if we don't find some soon ourselves, yer right Roak, we might look much the same..."

He grabbed up his gear and tromped over to the door. With one last glance over his shoulder to the Jester who'd gotten the better of them all, he snorted, "...hobb-lings... Hrrrumph!" With that the dwarf kicked open the door grumpily and stomped through.

 At the comment, Elboc turns slowly and looks at the Hobbit with a not-too-friendly gaze.



Yes, little one, let's continue, shall we? before harm descends on your, and our, heads. We never know what hazards hide in the caverns below, it is a good thing we are , all....friends, here. Is it not? He motions the Hobbit forward to take the lead. We must be thorough, truth in the statement will save lives, or lose them if we do not search everything we see. But, let us continue.

<I'm moving this to a new thread, since we're on a new level now.>

<Moving back here from the lower tier thread.  We're on the Group 2 map.>

The party moves back up the ramp from the lower level, out the door to the north, and back to the T intersection.  The strange corridor is to the south, and a passage that you have yet to explore is to the west.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:56, Tue 23 Aug 2016.

Vsaati keeps an eye out, making sure nothing sneaks up on them.

Albricht slumped along in a foul temper. He seemed to be put out that they were once again heading upward... away from the liquid more precious than molten gold to his particular band of dwarves. He ambled along until they came to the rotating hallway with the strange symbols. He waited for his companions to catch up and then produced a gnarled finger and selected the second symbol on the list, having already attempted the first during one of their previous excursions...

OOC: Pressing the one that looks sort of like a backwards fancy number 3...

Plathstream waits to see what fiery death awaits the dwarf for pressing things, but if the dwarf's pressings have any effect, he'll lead the way down whatever way is revealed. Otherwise he leads the party to the west corridor.

<Albricht: do you intend to be inside of or outside of the central hallway when you press on the second symbol?>

<Uh... /looks stumped. I don't remember which one I pushed last time! LOL, I thought it was the first one... Let's say he stands outside the hall, just in case. I'm not sure what's up with it yet.>

From outside the central hallway, Albricht presses the second symbol down.  The passage before the party passes past them toward the right, grinding and moving for some time, then comes to a stop.  There is a blank wall in front of Albricht and the rest of the group.

Vsaati searches the new wall for secret doors.

"Precisely. Expected that. Just making sure the thing still worked." His words didn't exactly match up with the unsure angle of his cocked, sun-bleached eyebrow.

"Now then... If I push this one..." he muttered as he pushed the first button. (top one that looks like a "T" with a backwards "5" hooked to it.

Vsaati's search of the wall comes up with no secret doors.

Albricht presses the first symbol in the series and the wall again begins to pass by the doorway, moving from left to right.  Eventually it comes to a stop, showing the hallway to the south with a door at its far end.

Plathstream smiles. "That's more like it."

He then leads the party down the hallway to the door at the far end.

As usual, Vsaati keeps an eye on the rear, making sure no monsters sneak up from behind.

Plathstream and Vsaati pass by the second group of symbols, just inside the door to the inner hallway, then pass by as the travel south to the closed door at the far end of the hallway.  Yet another of the sets of symbols is on the wall next to that door as well.

Sherborne remains ready with his hammer staying alert.

When they reached the second set of buttons, Albricht stopped them.

"We been here before. Everyone stand inside the hall this time. Let's see where it opens up."

As soon as they were all in, he selected and pushed the second button once more. (backwards fancy "3")

With the group entirely inside the central hall, Albricht presses the second button.  The hall immediately begins to rotate.  It only moves a short distance, and then stops as another closed door slides into view.

The dwarf licked his dry lips with a tongue resembling a piece of weathered leather. He wiggled his fingers, cracked his knuckles and then... pointed toward the newly discovered door. "Vsaati, would you mind... uh... you know..."

Vsaati searches the door for traps, then listens at the door.  (Should I roll?)

<Nope.  I do the rolls when looking for traps, searching for secret doors, hiding in shadows, and listening.>

Vsaati's search does not come up with any traps, and she hears nothing immediately beyond the door.

Without further ado, Plathstream opens the door!

The door opens to show a short hallway that angles forward to the right.  Shortly down the hall there is a side passage to the left, and the hall terminates a few feet beyond that in what appears to be a blank wall.  There is an eight-foot-tall bronze statue of a winged child with two snakes twined around its body at the end of the hall.  It holds a wand in one hand and a handful of coins in the other.  The statue looks firmly connected to the wall.

<Group 2 map updated, and copied to the main game map.>
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:10, Sun 28 Aug 2016.

Vsaati goes to the statue and searches it (and the surrounding area) for traps.

After a bit of a search, Vsaati comes to the conclusion that the statue's wand is both a trap and a trigger for a secret door, depending on how it is manipulated.

She immediately warns the party.  Can she tell what type of trap is involved?

Yes.  It's a poison gas trap, not entirely unlike the one she found at the top of the pyramid.

Vsaati warns the party to keep away, then attempts to disarm the trap.

Vsaati is unable to disarm the trap, but manages to avoid setting it off.

Albricht scratched at his scruffy whiskers, bleached white by centuries of exposure to the harsh desert sun, as he watched Vsaati at her work. When it became apparent that the trap was not likely to be disarmed, he came up with a suggestion.

"Why don't we step back into the hallway, trip the trap, and push a button? When the hallway moves, we should avoid whatever nastiness follows. Do any of ye have some string?"

"Well, I have some rope, so maybe we could work out a way to set off the trap.", Sherborne muses making the rope available.

Plathstream likes the idea. "I like the idea of attaching a rope and discharging the trap from a distance."

"Er... you guys know this is another poison gas trap, right?"
This message was last edited by the player at 19:30, Mon 29 Aug 2016.

"Wait... nevermind.  Yes, from a distance is good.  We might want to try breathing through some rags, also, if we have any."

Plathstream considers this. "We should perhaps use the hoods of these robes to that effect, or perhaps remove the robes and block our mouths and noses with them."

Albricht set about creating a wonderfully complex dwarf-knot from Sherborne's rope. By the time he'd finished, the thing was a work of art both in intricacy and efficiency. "There. That ought to do the trick!" he exclaimed, brandishing the rope and knot like a royal chef presenting a queen's dessert!

"There ye be lass," the dwarf said to Vsaati, "loop it about just so, and we'll move back into the hall. Plathstream, you give it a tug, and I'll mash a button! The only thing we won't know is how long to wait... Sherborne, have you a canary in that pouch of yours?"

Vsaati ties it on, then beats her feet.

<Is Vsaati setting it up to pull to the left or to the right?>

Left.

Plathstream looks for a place for the party to run to and hide while the gas dissipates.

Plathstream notes that if Albricht's hypothesis is correct, and that pressing one of the buttons will move the party past this doorway while they are in the central hall, then the central hall is probably the best place to be.  Otherwise, being in the passage to the south and ready to go through the door at its end (which leads to a room previously discovered) will probably be the best place to be.

<Let me know where the party members all are when you do this.>

Silverglade stands in the centre of the central hall.

Vsaati follows suit.

The desert-baked dwarf scratched at his beard. His gnarled finger hovered over the control panel as he considered which button to push.


<Finger cocked and ready to fire...>

"This is the method you're using to determine which button to push?  Gods save us..."

Sherborne stands near Vsaati and Silver.

<Is everybody ready?>

<Yep, when the rope is tugged, Albricht will push the bottom button, the one looking sort of like a C-clamp with the handle on backwards.>

Plathstream is ready to pull the rope!

"Pull it!" agrees Silverglade.

"Let's do it."

And the rope is pulled!

Albricht hesitated just for a curious moment, and then mashed the button!

As the rope is pulled, the statue begins moving backward, away from the party, pushing the wall behind it back.  This is obscured almost immediately, as the hallway begins to rotate the opposite way from which it had previously turned, with the doorway sliding away to the right.  First one closed door is passed, and as a second slides into view, the hallway stops.  There is a closed door in front of the group, and the rope that Plathstream had pulled has been sheared off by the movement of the hallway.

Sherborne gathers up what is left of the rope for later use.

Plathstream calmly steps up to the new door and listens to it.

If Plathstream hears nothing, Vsaati will also listen at the door (after searching for traps.

OoC: do we smell any gas?

Sherborne finds that he has a coil of rope that is about 30 feet in length.

Plathstream listens at the door, but hears nothing, and neither does Vsaati.  Her search for traps yields no result either.

Silverglade will open the door, unless there are any objections.

Plathstream stands aside, weapon in hand, as Silverglade opens the door.

Roak mutters something about this freaky pyramid dungeon and waits with the others, bow in hand.

Silverglade opens the door to reveal a passage that angles forward to the right at 45 degrees, traveling for about 60 feet before it makes a 90 degree turn to the left.

Plathstream follows the hallway, tapping the hallway ahead of him with his big sword as he does...

While following, Vsaati keeps an eye to the rear, wary of monsters who might be sneaking up.

Plathstream comes to the corner, looks carefully around it, and finds that it passage continues that way for about another 30 feet, then ends at a closed door.  The door appears to be made of iron, and has three lightning bolts engraved on it.

"Lightning bolts," muses Silverglade. "I think this is definitely one for our resident thief to check."

Plathstream nods and escorts Vsaati toward the door, staying about 15' away from the door as she does.

Albricht was uncharacteristically quiet. He seemed to be puzzling about the rotating hallway and the trap which just sheared the rope. His mutterings seemed to include questionable mathematical formulae and obscure technical references. Shuffle, snort, scratch Hrrrumph!

Vsaati searches the door, and tries very hard not to get electrocuted.

As Vsaati approaches within 10 feet of the door, it begins to crackle with blue discharges of energy.  Further careful examination shows that she can approach to within inches of the door without being shocked, but also that the door is locked.  Vsaati is unable to find a way to disarm the fairly obvious trap on the door.

Plathstream looks at the door carefully. "Does anyone have a dagger they can throw at the door, a metal dagger? Perhaps if we do so, we can discharge it from here. Roak can throw it for us, as he's clever with ranged weapons."

Roak waves everyone back around the corner and, once everyone else is out of line of sight from the door, standing 30' away right by the corner, Roak throws one of his daggers at the door, jumping back around the corner as he does...
This message was last edited by the player at 19:44, Tue 06 Sept 2016.

Roak's dagger strikes the door in a furious shower of blue sparks and a very loud popping and sizzling sound, with the door glowing blue a split second before the dagger hit it.

The slightly smoking dagger clatters to the ground.

Plathstream approaches the door slowly, seeing if it is still popping & crackling or if it appears to be disarmed.

"Hopefully it weakened it a little even if it didn't completely discharge it", Sherborne adds skeptically.

Silverglade keeps a look out behind the party.

As Plathstream approaches within 10 feet of the door, the party notes that the door begins to glow blue with electrical energy again.

"Let's do it again."

"Can't people simply put locks on doors? This is ever so trying..."

Out of his comfort zone Lanliss still attempts to put on a brave face.

"Well, I do have these iron spikes we could toss at it though I don't know that it will do any good."  Sherborne produces 12 iron spikes from his pack.

Albricht shuffled over, his worn desert sandals scuffing the dust and sand which seemed to permeate any and all places in the sun-baked lands. He eyed the door thoughtfully, scratched at his wiry whiskers with one gnarled hand and rested the other on the head of his warhammer.

OOC: Does it look like the door could be... ahem... "persuaded" to open, say with a warhammer? Perhaps Albricht will take one for the team...

Silverglade looks around for any way of turning off the trap. Presumably whoever built this had a way to use the door.

Roak takes three of Sherborne's spikes and lobs them in sequence at the door, waiting five seconds between each spike throw.

Plathstream watches, intrigued.

Albricht's assessment of the door is that it appears to be made of near-solid iron, and is well-mounted into the wall around it.  Something as small as a warhammer will be unlikely to move it.

Silverglade searches, but finds no hidden catches, pressure plates, or levers with which to move the door.

Each of the iron spikes thrown by Roak strikes the door amid a brilliant shower of blue electrical sparks, before clanging to the floor below (smoking just a bit).

Roak gets an idea. "Anyone got a flask? I want to throw some water at it."
This message was last edited by the player at 21:21, Fri 09 Sept 2016.

Silverglade lends his water flask to Roak. "Has anybody got a wooden pole?" he asks in turn.

Vsaati keeps her distance... and watches out for monsters.

Annoyed at the rest of the party, Roak throws up his hand. "Look, I'm not wasting a perfectly good flask of oil on the door. If nobody's got something to do with my oil, someone poke it with a pole."

Plathstream takes the pole, goes within 10' and pokes the door, seeing if he can push it open.

"Well, maybe that will start a fire if nothing else.  I am not so sure burning oil would do anything against that door though."

The old dwarf snorted when he finally came to the conclusion that his hammer wouldn't be able to be of use in battering down the door.

"Mayhap there be a trigger in another portion of the pyramid... but I agree that water might work, though we would highly foolish to waste precious water on trying to disable a door trap..."

Plathstream feels a strong electrical shock through the pole, but not enough to injure him.  As before, the door begins to glow with blue energy as he approaches, and there is a shower of blue sparks as the pole touches the door.

Silverglade pours some water from his bottle into his hands, then hurls in at the door.

Vsaati rolls her eyes.

The water vaporizes as it hits the doors, amidst snaps and pops of electricity.

Albricht peeked out from behind the eye-rolling Vsaati, and upon seeing the wasteful action of Silverglade, he rolled his as well... albeit each eye in opposite directions...

"Defeated by a door. Won't be the first time lads, and won't be the last..."

"Fell sorcery," says Silverglade, shaking his head. "Shall we go back? Perhaps one of the buttons on the control panel would turn this off."

"Yeah, not getting anywhere with this right now." Sherborne agrees as he carefully picks up his three spikes.

Plathstream nodded. "My very thoughts, Silverglade, my very thoughts. Let's try."

They move back to the buttons and, once everyone is on the far side of the rotating section, they have Albricht push another one.

Albricht scratched at his beard, trying to remember which buttons he'd already pushed. "Erm... that is... ahem..." He breathed his selection cantrip...

"Greenie-meanie-die-real-slow...
Kick-a-goblin-with-me-toe...
If-he-hollers-stomp-his head...
Gut-the-maggot-if-he-ain't-dead..."

...and came up with a result.

He unceremoniously poked at one of the center buttons. (The fourth one that looks like a headless running dude with a crooked arm)
This message was last edited by the player at 05:55, Fri 16 Sept 2016.

With the entire party back in the central hall, Albricht presses the fourth button.  The wall begins to slide to the right again, passes a closed door, and then stops at another closed door.

Plathstream approaches and listens at this door.

As soon as possible, Vsaati checks the new door for traps.  If she doesn't find any, she'll listen.

Both moving carefully and calming the party to cut down on background noise, Plathstream and Vsaati listen at the closed door.  Neither is able to detect anything audible from beyond it.

Silverglade puts his hand on the door's handle. "Ready?" he asks.

Plathstream nods. "Yes. Open it."

Roak pulls out his bow and arrow and waits as well...

Silverglade draws in his breath, then pulls the door open.

Silverglade opens the door to find a hallway about 60 feet long, with a closed door at its far end.  Near the party are two 10 foot tall statues of women fighters.  The fighters wear masks with the face of the female statue on top of the pyramid.  The two statues stand with spears outstretched to form an arch.  The only way down the corridor appears to be in single file, under the crossed spears.

"I don't trust these ladies.  Right now, I wish we had a goblin captive we could push in front of us."

"Yes, this looks ominous to say the least."  Sherborne starts poking around in the entrance and the area near the statues without actually going between them looking for a lever, mechanism, or anything else that might give a clue as to the statues' purpose.

Albricht eyed the tall statues and Hrrrumphed... Not that he was intimidated at all by the very large women, dwarves were very secure in their diminutive stature, but he also felt reluctant to go prancing among them.

"I'll uh... I'll stay here and and erm... make sure the buttons don't get bumped. Go ahead lads, they seem inviting enough..."

Plathstream steps forward slowly, stopping every few feet. He will walk underneath the spears if he is unmolested up to that point. If the statues move at all, he will spring backwards.

Sherborne is unable to find a mechanism of any sort that appears to be linked to the statues.

Plathstream slowly inches forward, eventually passing the two statues, although only just barely, before noticing a pressure plate in the floor beyond them.

Plathstream bends down and looks at the pressure plate...

Can one tip-toe around the pressure plate?