Hmmm... so, no help from feeling. But that response at least indicates it is rounded walls, not another teleporter. *L*

The second part I am a bit confused on- she would not be counting the coins or counting and distance in the mists, but upon return to a clear room/area. Does this mean she cannot do so when out of the mist as well? Or that she just cannot transfer coins as we travel?

And finally, if the above cannot work at all, then she was going to suggest tying all our ropes together and sending two or three people with one end of it, so we could at least see if the misted area we took is longer or shorter than that distance. But if that counts as a clever stratagem that also will not work, then I do not really see any options other than...

1) Going back and pulling levers to see if they clear the mist. She does not favor this though, since the Augury suggested otherwise, but if that is what the majority wants, she will not argue it.

2) Randomly taking corridors we have not taken before, marking them as we go so that we know where we have gone before- this would be her preference, since we can at least eliminate places we have been, and might find more lose treasure. In this case, Tomba can pick the particular exits we take- since he was the first to note we had gone in circles, he might also have insight on the direction.

An old man? I thought a gaffer was anyone who sliced up fish with a gaff! :)
(And happy early birthday!)

Tomba would be for randomly taking corridors as its as much thought as he's capable of putting into finding their way through, and it'll probably work.

I’m inclined to agree with Tomba’s idea, although I believe that marking the areas we have visited and the exits we took is an extremely sound method. I think that experimenting with different routes will be the best way to find one that works, though it naturally risks us finding something unpleasant within the interconnected chambers.

Looking at it from (what I presume to be) the viewpoint of the pyramid’s architects, these mist filled corridors were intended to confound and discourage would-be grave robbers from pressing further in their attempts to plunder the tomb. But there must be a combination of “correct steps”, a particular route through selected rooms, that will ultimately lead deeper into the pyramid. But trial and error may be the only way to discover it.

It sounds like you have more faith than l'Atreq.


It's probably not profitable to try to resolve this. Instead I will provide a mild spoiler: the misted areas are about the same size as the mist-free areas.

Marking exits with chalk should work.

Rusk's logic is sound.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:49, Wed 27 Mar.

Since joining the Warrior Maidens, she gives religion a greater consideration than she did beforehand. But more importantly, we used the augury spell several times in the Lost City, and possibly in the other desert building as well, and when it gave us a sign, it did not lead us astray. So there is no reason for V to go against it now when it has been effective so far. ^_^

As we are just going with the random unchecked exit, I do not think we need to pause at every mist room for responses. Just continue out another unmarked exit, and so on until we find something else.

I'm reading this as the proposed way to navigate this maze but I still need an exit to be chosen. 1 and 4 have not been tried from 2S.


I don't think these are answerable questions, l'Atreq.

Whenever we enter a room, exit it from the first unmarked exit immediately to the left of where we came in.
If all other exits already taken, backtrack via number to the last prior room with an unmarked exit.
This message was last updated by the player at 03:49, Fri 29 Mar.

I'm reading this as something bad is going to happen in either 1 or 4, or something good, depending on whether you're a half fill or half empty sort of person I suppose.  I wonder if the order in which they are tried really makes any difference.  Queue 'Twilight Zone' music please.

Here, since we emerged from 2, and 3 has already been checked, we would go to the next one on our left, which would be 4.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:49, Fri 29 Mar.

Bold move Vixl.  4 said in English (or American depending on your bent) sounds like death in Chinese, or so I'm told, not that, that, really means anything, but it might. :o)

While I cannot say anything on that for certain, I think whoever told you that is a bit mixed up. in English, it does not sound like that.

Four is unlucky in Japan (and China, and several other countries) because the word for four and for death are homophones (pronounced shi in Japan)

So like in America where some older buildings do not have a 13th floor, hospitals in Japan do not usually have a 4th floor, and you don’t give people gifts of four things.

Here’s a bit more if you are interested.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetraphobia
This message was last edited by the player at 05:02, Fri 29 Mar.

The word four in English sounds like the word for death in Mandarin.  A homophone as you point out.  Perhaps I should have been more specific than just saying Chinese but it was only intended as a lighthearted throw away comment.

That could be. They have several words for death. I cannot find any of them that would be pronounced as a homophone with the English word “four” though. (Mandarin does use si- similar to the Japanese shi, and running into the same problems.) But I am not Chinese, so there could well be a homonym with English. It would be an odd coincidence if they had a homonym with the word for death and the word for four in Mandarin and another word for death in Mandarin that was also a homonym for the word four in English though. Stranger things have happened though!

Here was an interesting article about several of the different words. Very interesting to see the different variations, and changes!

https://www.chinlingo.com/articles/600844/

At any rate, language in general is something I find fascinating, and weird.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:09, Fri 29 Mar.

Well it turns out your explanation is above my pay grade.  I enjoy trying to express a character in ADND terms on rpol, though I don't have your language passion.  Nothing wrong with that, we all have our kinks.  Your command of English is undoubtedly greater than mine, I'm only one wrung up from a Neanderthal, but I do currently live with a natural Mandarin speaker, and we were only just discussing this yesterday when I asked for four of something and was given five.  The explanation given was simple, which is the only reason why I have any conviction for what I have written.

Having said that I did follow the link and peruse the list.  I found it more overwhelming than anything, but I'm glad it spins your wheels. :o)

Wow, language lessons! I did like the Twilight Zone reference though, loved the show, Rod Serling was cool! I speak average English only.

Oh, very nice. Well, if you live with them, you can ask them directly about the si/four conundrum/coincidence.

I doubt my English is greater than yours- I play with a dictionary and a thesaurus bookmarked, partly so I make sure I'm even using the correct word (and even then, I've been known to ask if I'm using it correctly), and party to understand some of what the DM writes. He's the definite language expert here!

As for the list, fortunately, as noted, quite a few are archaic or no longer in use, so that definitely makes it more approachable!

But getting off this tangent and back to the game, you have a good point to consider on something-
'I wonder if the order in which they are tried really makes any difference.'

I really, really hope not. The potential permutations are frightening to consider. I'm not a math person, but I suspect we would be dead before we could try them all out. So if the random thing does not bear fruit, then the next step would probably be to stop, rest and rememorize- with l'Atreq memorizing four Augury spells- and then following the path directed. And then stopping to rest and rememorize again, doing the same, until we find something, or run out of food and perish (Tarrahn can create water, so that gives us some time before that happens.)

That can be your guiding principal but I won't treat it as an algorithm.


Let us show despair the fourth door.

It would probably not be ... profitable ... to proceed to the fourth round of this linguistic deathmatch between Rodney Dangerfield and his  opponent.

You could always reconsider your rejection of the Lady-in-Waiting demarcation strategy to avoid these superstitious pitfalls.

Any time I have looked at this map for this area, I have boggled at the prospect of running it.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:13, Fri 29 Mar.

Someone check my combinations of lever positions

0000
0001
0010
0100
1000
1100
1010
1001
0110
0101
0011
1110
1101
1011
0111
1111
This message was last edited by the player at 18:06, Sat 30 Mar.

Yes, that's the general idea of a maze.

You've already made some progress in terms of learning how to navigate it. You would have no trouble returning to the lever room were that your intention. By the same token, you would also have no trouble expanding your exploration of the maze.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:41, Sat 30 Mar.

See what I mean? ;)

Orum, there would be 16 combinations (2x2x2x2), so that looks correct (unless halfway is another lever setting, then there are 81).

Happy Easter!!!

In reply to Vixl (msg # 721):
My dear Vixl, I do declare you say the darndest things.

In reply to The Lord of Divine Words (msg # 723):

Fitting!

I would think about your current predicament in terms of the various probabilities involved.