Three Goddesses (IC)

[Hazzardevil]

Before following the party down the corridor. Eliza quickly speaks to teh statue.

Which God or Godess do you belong to?

As long as it doesn't belong to any of our 3 godesses Rliza then kicks teh statue as hard as she can.

That is what you get for messing with our group and demanding gold from our gods chosen.


She then walks down.

[crowe]

Leanne casts Superior Resistance on Lil and Szer (+6 resistance bonus to all saves, 24 hour duration) and Mass Conviction (+4 moral bonus to saves, 150min duration)on the whole party.

[MikelaC1]

]Searching the passage for traps or other weirdness. Arcane Sight is still active, so she automatically sees all magic auras. Blindsense is also active.
Search: [roll0]
Spellcraft: [roll1]

There are no traps, and no magic auras in the corridor

Melinda was last out of the room. "You have useful information? You?" She shot the statue a glare. "Ha! Prove it," she challenged. Looking ahead, Melinda knew she was useless against a locked door, but she might still be able to wheedle something out of the statue if it had anything real to offer. "Show me you can perceive anything beyond this room. Show me where one of the other teams is."

Once all of the party is out of the room, the statue de-animates and goes silent

As the party exits the room, Arcaneus casts Decoy Image to project an image of the party walking ten feet further up the hallway, hoping to flush out any possible ambushes.

Nothing attempts to ambush the decoy party

Elisa

She smiled in a strained way as the riddle revealed itself 'A fine start... One can't help but wonder where all that money went.'

As Elisa rushes down the corridor with the others she sets her defences in place.

With them in place she places an invisible hand upon the doorknob. She cautioned the others to step back as she sent out her other senses, seeking any intelligence behind the door.

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Using telepathy to sense any minds inside. Assuming none she opens the door.

Persist greater invis.
Hand of Divinity (Arcaneus)
Bear’s Endurance, Mass (Everyone)

Self buffs: Visage of the deity (Good)
Greater invisibility
Anticipate teleport
Mirror Image
Superior Resistance

There are no minds in the room beyond, and the door opens easily

Standing a little behind the others, Lia unobtrusively casts a gamut of protective spells and then walks alongside Melinda as the other woman leaves her parting comments with the annoying idol.

[DC40 Spot check to notice Lia casting (Sleight of hand skill mastery)]

Spells & Effects

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Effects active

• Disguise (w/ help from Lil): [roll0] (mundane disguise - same as previous night)

Spells active

• Detect thoughts (DC27) [< 15 min]
• Freedom of movement [150 min]
• Glibness [150 min]
• Locate creature (Captain of the Rohdan team) [150 min]
• Magic Aura (on every piece of magical equipment) [14 days - cast previous day]
• Misdirection (aura detected as if she was mirror) [15 hours]
• See invisibility [150 min]

Spells remaining: 6|8/6/7/6/7/7/4

No thoughts beyond, the locate creature does not reveal the location of the Rohdan team captain, you see nothing invisible.

Before following the party down the corridor. Eliza quickly speaks to teh statue.

Which God or Godess do you belong to?

As long as it doesn't belong to any of our 3 godesses Rliza then kicks teh statue as hard as she can.

That is what you get for messing with our group and demanding gold from our gods chosen.


She then walks down.

See above for questions to the statue.

[MikelaC1]

As the door opens to the next room, you see one of the Cups in the room. Your joy is quickly tempered, the Cup is sitting on a black pedestal and there is shimmering field of some type that completely surrounds it. Just below the top of the pedestal is a small hole.

On the other side of the room is a table. From where you stand, you can see a set of weighing scales, and 8 small balls. With a second look, you see that the balls are all the same size as the hole in the pedestal. Sitting on the scale is a rolled up scroll.

There is also a door leading out of the room.

[Telasi]

Taleira walks over to the scroll and unrolls it on the table so the others can see what it says. "What have we here, then? A puzzle, I suppose."

[MikelaC1]

One of these balls weighs more than all the others, but only just by a little. You must use this scale to determine which one it is, and then insert that ball into the pedestal.
But there is a catch, you may only use the scale twice.

[Telasi]

"Let's see, eight balls, two uses of the scale. If we put all eight in the first time, we half the number of possible balls. After that, we can half the number again, but that leaves us making a choice between two balls. Anybody have a better idea?" Taleira looks to the rest of the party, waiting to get their input before doing anything with the scales.

OOC: This plan assumes it's a balance type scale. That is the most logical option for the setting, but it's not absolutely clear.

[Toliudar]

Dot steps up and examines the scroll carefully.

"I might, actually. If we put three of the balls on each side of the scale the first time, that may tell us exactly what we need to know."

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This is more clearly outlined OOC.

[Telasi]

"Aye, that would work more surely." Tali nods approvingly, happy for Dot's quick reasoning.

[Telasi]

Taleira goes through with Dot's plan to sort out the which ball is heaviest. If nothing happens to her after using the scales, she carries the ball over to the pedestal, stopping just shy of the energy field. "Here goes nothing." She takes a deep breath to brace herself, then reaches out and drops the ball into the hole.

[Kalirren]

Still mentally congratulating herself for not having given the statue any of her money, Melinda entered the room just in time to hear Dot's solution. She liked having Dot around for situations like this. A twitch in the corner of Melinda's eye betrayed an instinctive unease at having her friend's idea so conveniently appropriated by one of the Nocticulans, but she decided against making a fuss over it right then and there. It would have been too damaging to the unity of the group, and there were still 9 more Cups to find. "Huh, if there are 4 teams and the other teams have all found one by now, then this competition will be over in a very short time," she instead commented.

[MikelaC1]

Taleira follows Dot's plan, and with 2 weighings, selects the ball she thinks is the heaviest. She walks over to the pedestal, as she approaches it, she sees a low hum coming from the field. She takes a deep breath and places the ball in the hole. There is a tense moment that lasts less than a second as the party waits breathlessly for an explosion, and then the hum from the field stops suddenly and then the field disappears. The Cup can be easily claimed.

[Telasi]

Breathing a small sigh of relief, Taleira lifts the Cup from its pedestal and offers it to Dot. "That was your plan. Credit where credit is due, after all."

[Kalirren]

"Beautiful," exclaimed Melinda. The bardess took a few steps forward. "Dot, if you'll let me, I can try casting a scrying abjuration on it," she offered. "It may not work, but if it does, it'll make whoever is carrying the Cup less of a target."

[Ryuuk]

Lystara

Watching on, Lystara smiles as the 1st cup is obtained. "Alright, that worked well. Good job you two." While they discuss it's safe keeping, she heads towards the next door and starts looking it over. As she searches, she calls back, "Hmm, before you ward it, could you tell me if the cup is magical?"

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Search: (1d20+10)[14]

If everyone wants to keep going, she'll only search once before opening. Otherwise (or if warding the cup takes a bit) she'll take 20 on the search for a total of 30 before opening the door.

[Telasi]

"I'll see." Taleira checks with a Detect Magic.

[MikelaC1]

Taleira's detection reveals a level of magic so powerful that it has to be the Cup. Lystara's search of the door reveals nothing of note.

[Telasi]

"It's magical, and quite powerful." Since she's already cast the detect spell, Taleira maintains concentration so it'll last.

[Ryuuk]

Lystara

"Hmm, that's a shame... thank you Taleira" Turning back to the door, Lystara takes a deep breath and goes for the knob. "Well, shall we continue?"

She'll wait for Melinda to cast her spell, if she so wishes. Once any additional wards are placed on the Cup, Lystara opens the next unexplored door.

[lostsole31]

LILDORRINENE

"Excellent work, to both and all," says Lildorrinene. She will help search the room and the door.

At this point, considering her powerful protections, Lildorrinene offers to be in the front one or two ranks.

[Kalirren]

Melinda rubs the rim of the Cup with the tip of her finger to make it ring like a prayer bowl, and once the ringing has filled the room she then passes her hand over it. The ringing seems to muffle itself rapidly, fading into space. "There," she hands the Cup to Dot, "It should be more difficult to scry on this. Too bad it still -looks- magical. I can't mask its aura. Someone else might?"

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Melinda has cast obscure object, but this thing could still use a Nystul's magic aura.

[Toliudar]

Dot shrugs.

"I have no more claim to the cup than any of us. We're in this together. My guess is that the cups are already proof against divinations - or else they'd be too easy for those with such magics to find. Put it in your pack, and let's get going."

Opening the door, Dot begins slowly working her way forward, searching as she went.

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Search: (1d20+27)[35]

[Telasi]

Taleira shrugs and slips the cup into her bag. "Suit yourself." She trails after the others down the corridor, sliding into the rearguard position.

[Simba]

Szer Elem

With a nod and a grin, Szer congratulates Dot on her great idea. Then she takes her place in the group once more, ready for combat.

[Kalirren]

First Dalcar, now this. This pattern of competitiveness from the Nocticulans really only made Lil and Lia more worrisome to Melinda. She could just see the sort of arguments now. "Our champions were so much more accomplished than yours," a mock-Dalcar crowed. "5 competitors eliminated before the game even started." It would only get worse from there. Zanthia would make some argument about how she'd organized the whole thing, and Melinda figured that what tricks Cassandra might choose to employ were quite possibly beyond her young imagination.

Not only crafty, but merciful the Gods were to make everyone forget their experiences here. She knew Zanthia would never forgive her if she were to learn somehow that the group had ended up falling into a grand competition with itself, even if they did come out of the dungeon with all 10 Cups. Goddess forbid that any one of the 15 of them would come out before the others did, with or without a Cup. What disaster that would be...no one would even remember what actually happened! And how the accusations would fly!

With a growing sense of urgency Melinda realized that if she wanted to achieve what she desired, she would have to play her hand carefully and well. Easier said than done, especially when her hand was, so far, empty of her own achievements in this group...

[Stormwind]

Taleira shrugs and slips the cup into her bag. "Suit yourself." She trails after the others down the corridor, sliding into the rearguard position.

Lia notes Taleira slipping the cup into her bag and a short time later, she attempts to slip it out, intending to discretely disguise it's aura as best as she can.

[DC40 spot check to notice Lia's attempt to appropriate the cup - Sleight of hand skill mastery]
[Sense motive(to check if anyone notices): (1d20+19)[29] (take 10 with skill mastery)]

Spells & Effects

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Effects active

• Disguise (w/ help from Lil): (1d20+24)[43] (mundane disguise - same as previous night)

Spells active

• Detect thoughts (DC27) [< 15 min]
• Bear's Endurance [< 15 min | Elisa]
• Freedom of movement [150 min]
• Glibness [150 min]
• Locate creature (Captain of the Rohdan team) [150 min]
• Magic Aura (on every piece of magical equipment) [14 days - cast previous day]
• Mass Conviction (+4 moral bonus to saves) [150 min | Leanne]
• Misdirection (aura detected as if she was mirror) [15 hours]
• Resistance to Acid/Sonic [150 min | Dot]
• See invisibility [150 min]

Spells remaining: 6|8/6/7/6/7/7/4

[MikelaC1]

The corridor goes 30 ft north, and then makes a T. Written on the far wall is:

One path is the best
One choice furthers your quest
One route leads to the nest

One path is the least
One choice makes you the feast
One route leads to the beast

[Ryuuk]

Lystara

Reading the sign, Lystara pauses, smiles and shrugs. "West is best of the quest while East is least and to the beast?"

"It could be a trick I suppose, but..." She concentrates, trying to read each path for traces of Evil.

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Detect Evil, first to the West, then to the East

[Kalirren]

"That's what I was about to suggest," joked Melinda. "I was trying to think of a suitable invocation off of the riddle. 'One path leads to the west, one path leads to the east. Which path leads to the nest, and which path leads to the beast?'" She jerked a thumb out towards the left. "Shall we?"

[Telasi]

Taleira Ulharvyth

"I'm confident we can deal with any threat if you're wrong. To the west, then."