Southern Comfort IC

[mattie_p]

Grath takes off his holy symbol and offers it to Bethlen.

"Grath not have infinite rocks, but holy symbol dangles like a toy on a string. Try this."

[Marlowe]

The holy symbol of Kord flashes as it crosses the interzone (floor level, from your perspective), but then hangs toward the "pits" closest-to-the-party "wall" as you push it across.

Cherry bounds forward from the back, over the edge, and, snarling briefly in confusion, flips to land on the nearest side of the pit. (or "floor". Or "roof" if we're still thinking in terms of how we came in). She stands with her tongue longing out and panting, staring at Bethlen and Grath from across the switch in downwardness.

[mattie_p]

"Grath still does not like these walls. But keep going forward."

[Linguz]

Dardiana goes forward, staying on the 'ceiling' and putting her foot on the new hole's 'ceiling'. "Guess not. Then let's continue. Before the bad man does stuff." She looked up at them from her perspective.

[stanleyindraven]

"I don't think it is the man's ability we need worry about. This place seems beyond his ability. This play may well have better ability in thwarting us than him," Horbin says, lowly as he realizes their voices carry amongst the stonework.

[Marlowe]

"Good dog. And good thinking, Tiger." She hands back the holy symbol. "Well, apparently the torches aren't illusions" She steps over the abyss, and stands on the "floor" next to Cherry, from most of the parties perspective standing on the nearest side of the pit, looking up from a 45 degree angle. She folds her arms gunbuster style, as she's done a few times before.

"Now, if we have some fine rope, and some weighty, compact, useless object, we should AAAAH-"

And a split second before she said "AAAAH", all the torches went out, leaving complete darkness.

Yes, even for the ones with darkvision.

[stanleyindraven]

"And where is Blind-Fighting when you need it?" Horbin's voice rings out in the darkness.
"I mean, great, this should make it fun."
Horbin will try to move his back to the nearest wall, without trampling anyone.

[Marlowe]

And then the torches come back on.

Bethlen falls from out of the ceiling and lands heavily on her side side next to Gregor. Her eyes are wide open and her pupils are tiny spots, there's sweat running down her face, and she's shivering. "Yes, I hear you." She says, a little too loud, as though she can't hear herself. "I hear you and it hurts. What? Green....Saffron and arsenic....The colour of the sky......A celestial body between here and the Primary....The ability to split someone's head with a short-hafted weapon without getting splatter on your clothes.....A size of needle normally used for hemming....A type of cocoa-based dessert.....A reference to an obscure Imperial drama of the Early Unreasonable period"

She continues to sprout non-sequiters, with pauses in between, as she pulls herself onto her knees with jerky, automatic motions. Her muscles are tensed, her back is arched, she has her right hand crossed over her chest. Her left hand, clenched into a fist, is sparking and smoking.

[u-b]

While Gregor originally intended to keep some distance from the rest of the party, like 60 feet or more, depending on visibility, moving almost exactly over their thacks, he had to close in to get back that stupid dog which for some doggy reason went forward all of a sudden and at precisely that moment things started happening... then apparently stopped happening, but not quite. Gregor freezes.

[Linguz]

Dardiana shuts up, wishes she had that invocation that let her see in magical darkness, and heard.

But then the lights came back on. She made her way by the wall to Bethlen. She crouched down and put a hand on her shoulder. "Beth, what happened?" At least, that was the gist. She tried to say it in a nicer way.

[stanleyindraven]

"I would say this place plays on the evil in one's heart, but the guy we're looking for would have had the same fate," Horbin says as he looks at Thorwald.

[Marlowe]

Bethlen's monologue continues "...A sexual act performed between two close friends that leaves them both feeling silly afterward... a Unionist delicacy....a act of contrition for...Yes I shall tell them. Yes. Yes, Sir"

She stands up. In an automative fashion that is nothing like her usual body language.

"From the Local Genius, to the Party currently entering this area with citizen accompaniment. Intruder is located in residencial level B. Command functions by This Entity have been cut by Heartland Control, Personal mode voice, The Lieutenant of Midnight. Motive and objective unknown by This Entity. Most Command functions dispelled. No Control. Repeated, This Entity has no control. Active defensive Agents have been restricted to Manufactury levels, marked by green light. Active Defensive agents are NOT under control and are working under default full-blown Abberancy War protocols up to and including including Mindrape and Personalised Nightmare Scenario. I repeat. I do Repeat. Do not NOT go near green light.

"Message ends. Postscript: Escape is already impossible. Good luck, Ladies and Gentlemen. Please remove this damage from me and let me die"

Bethlen staggers, "What did I just say.... and then she falls over.

[Linguz]

Dardiana lays her down on the 'floor'. She checks her pulse as she speaks, "That speech's not a good sign..."

Spoiler

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Checking pulse, this still works in D&D, right?

[stanleyindraven]

"Someone check her. It sounds like there was a magical enchantment on her that basically gave us a warning. So most of the defenses are broken and if we steer clear of the green light we should be fairly okay," Horbin says.

[u-b]

"That's a good sign. An excellent sigh, actually. Since this entity does not like the guy and will not act against us, we have a perfect chance of succeding. Not sure about getting back alive, but at the very least we'll get the guy. Yes, keep FAR away from green light, find residencial level B and make sure you don't go anywhere without footprints and don't touch anything without finger-prints to avoid whatever might be of passive measures. That sounds fair."

Gregor dismounts.

"Sit. All of you. Wait here."

Then moves ahead, careful to check for gravity and follow existing tracks as closely as possible.

[mattie_p]

Grath waits, as Gregor asked him to do.

He steps over to Bethlen, and calls over Thorwald to check her out. "Thorwald, help."

Without knowing what to look for, he briefly examines Bethlen for injury or illness.

Heal check(untrained): (1d20-1)[18]

[RaggedAngel]

Delphi finally works up the nerve to walk onto the 'safe' side of the pit, but she begins looking around for any signs of tampering before she does, continuing that pattern once she's inside. "Be careful, now. I know how to find and disarm traps, so unless you're better at that than me you should all probably stay behind me. There aren't many traps in the forest, but this is a different story."

Spoiler

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She'll usually take 10 on Search for a 17.

[Marlowe]

Bethlen's pulse and heart are racing, her breathing is very strong and deep, she's as limp as a rag.

After a couple of seconds, her eyes flicker open."What--What did I say? Can't remember. Too LOUD. It didn't" Breath. She pushes herself up into a sitting position with some effort.

"It didn't make me say anything strange? Did it? Some of these, they make you recite your full name, address, customary titles, ancestry, progeny, group affiliation, and/or entire sexual history" Breath. "Guess which routine Lotus got once. Go on. Guess. We were stuck for hours"

Gregor and Delphi, exploring around the "corner", discover that this place is extremely clean. The bricks look as though they're regularly washed and swept.

There are, however, a few scraps of long-rotted clothing. A red-rusted ring from an obsolete mail shirt. A yellowed humanoid incisor. If this is a trail, it leads up the corridor toward the corner to the right.

Going up the corridor to the intersection, it's discovered that the side-corridors are dark, lacking torches. On the wall of the left-hand one are inscribed, in a stark, minimalist style of lettering ((Think Augsburger Initial)) the words "Don't go this way", along with a helpful arrow pointing into the darkness. On right are the words "Or this way", with an arrow pointing in the opposite direction.

If you pass the intersection and look back, you'll find these words are reversed when coming the other way.

Delphi finds a brick in the wall that clicks when she touches it, and jumps away as it falls open, revealing it to be the door of a small compartment. In the compartment is an apple and two cheese sandwiches.

[Linguz]

"You told us everything. Plain and simply everything." Dardiana sits down in front of her and waits for the two scouts to return. "Is there something you were scared of it having you tell us?"

[u-b]

Gregor nods - "Look. Don't touch." - then puts away the bow and goes back, marking his path with chalk.

"There seems to be quite a labyrinth and Delphi already found what could pass for a "trap", so, let's go, but follow my steps."

By the way, Gregor takes some time to examine the torches.

[Marlowe]

Bethlen draws her knees (which are trembling) up towards her torso, as though preparing to stand up. And laughs. "I certainly hope I didn't tell you everything. That would take a while. And be boring. Incredibly boring. And be personally embarrassing, if done unwittingly. However, your Halfling is probably correct. This is a Labyrinth, not a Maze. And will somebody frelling tell me what I said?".

She tries to stand up, and her knees give way.

[mattie_p]

"Something about staying away from green lights and following footprints to level B. Residential level B. Passive defenses are still active. Grath didn't really understand what was said."

[u-b]

"Some entity that controls the place no longer controls the place. Does not like he guy and wants us to get him. Residential level B. And we are to stay well away from green light - either this entity lies or it would be VERY deadly. I'm not going to check."

[Marlowe]

Gregor:

Spoiler

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The torches appear to be rather permanent installations. It vaguely occurs to you that "everburning torch" isn't an major item, and that the spell to make it is not especially powerful.

Not compared to the gravitational effect, at any rate. Or to ripping Bethlen away from you and discarding her with a message.

[AshesOfOld]

Thorwald stands hesitantly at the scene of Bethlen's hardships. At Grath's request to help her, he leans back and scratches his beard.
Only when the green lights are mentioned, does he reply.

"Was it just me, or did she say don't not go near the green light? You know, double negative?"

Spoiler

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Knowledge religion: The Lieutenant of Midnight (1d20+4)[19]

[u-b]

"You know what... these torches are not just any normal torches. They are cold, and neither smell nor smoke like normal totches. I'll keep mine in case of some magic shut-off, but the thing is, one of the corridors is not illuminated. I wonder if that guy took some torches from there or brought some torches in here. Any way, we'll continue to scout ahead, follow as you are ready."

Gregor goes back to Delphi to continue forward, marking his way with chalk. As long as there is only one non-green illuminated corridor with some kind of "tracks", going that way.

[Linguz]

Dardiana gets up and helps Bethlen stand. "From a warning to things like 'A sexual act performed between two close friends that leaves them both feeling silly afterward'. The only way to describe it is everything." With Bethlen helped, she followed the chalk path of Gregor. "But nothing explicitly about your life. But you did tell us to remove this damage from you and let you die. And that the entity has no control."

[mattie_p]

Grath follows along. "Grath thought the part about removing damage and letting die was the message Bethlen got, not Bethlen speaking."

[Linguz]

"Probably. But she asked what she said. She said that part."

[RaggedAngel]

Delphi shakes her head, profoundly confused. "I really, really do not like this place. We are so unprepared for magic and power like this that I don't know any words to express it. Why are we going down here? Do we have a death wish or something?"