The Cube (IC)

[hexonxonx]

Hotaru hears or sees nothing beyond the stairwell.

[Taffimai]

Linon

"It looks like we will have to wait a while longer to sate our curiosity. On the other hand, this gives us the time we need to devise something to keep this door open before John tires of being a doorstop. Loretta, you must have built wooden structures before, and Mister Whistkingstone, Ru, the two of you possess a great deal of knowledge, what suggestions do you have?"

((OOC: Assuming here that Hynerst's 22 on Knowledge (Architecture) was sufficient to give him insight as to how to best tackle this, and that he would say so))

"Thank you, Mister Whistkingstone, that sounds like an excellent plan. So I put this log down like this, and then another one next to it... how about this one, would that be big enough?"

She carries out Hynersts instructions as well as she can until some kind of structure is in place that everybody is happy with. As she grasps her mace and shield, she looks down her muddy front. Just like Loretta, she is all but covered in mud now. Grinning, she turns towards Hynerst and spreads her arms to show off the dirt.

"I'm not usually one to come back on my word, Mister Whistkingstone, but I'm afraid that carrying you across the mud now would be quite counterproductive."

Still grinning, she looks up at the stairs.

"Well, then, shall we? John, how about you lead the way this time?"

[Otakutaylor]

Loretta

Shaking a bit of mud from her fingers so she could better wipe her face and eyes, Loretta laughs.

"Heh, what we wouldn't do for a gnomish door brake." Loretta jests. Reaching for her pack she pulls out a small throwing hammer. "Guess if all else fails, we can settle for the dwarven one, wedge a hammer in it. Not like the doors can completely close with a big metal hammer stuck between them."

[Halna LeGavilk]

John

"Well, then, shall we? John, how about you lead the way this time?"

John smiles and unsheathes his sword and puts up his shield. He points his sword down the stairwell, and says, "Gladly, milady. Tally-ho!"

As John descends into the stair, he keep his shield up, moves slow, and crouches low, preparing for any traps. He also looks and listens for anything.

Spoiler

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Using Darkvision
(1d20+2)[3] Spot
(1d20+2)[4] Listen

[Taffimai]

Linon

Linon follows John, making sure to look in all directions and listening for any sign of danger. As soon as she reaches the spot beyond which she couldn't see before, she starts detecting evil again.

Spoiler

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Listen - (1d20+5)[2](7) and Spot - (1d20+5)[16](21)

[webgem]

Jarek

Jarek follows after, doing his best to keep in range for the spell, he readies his crossbow and looks about. (OOC does somebody have a light out? is it okay if I have one out, because I'm the only one without lowlight or darkvision, and I don't want to spoil any surprise we might have, I have an everburning torch, probably not in actual torch form though, I was imagining more of a amulet I could put around my neck, anyways my post is the same either way just I can see if there is light, not if there isn't ) He attempts to peer about and listen carefully.

Spoiler

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(1d20+3)[14] listen
(1d20+3)[18] spot

[hexonxonx]

The stairway occupies squares A5, A4, B5, B4 (make sure you are using the "standard chess coordinates; this places the stairway on the lefthand side of the room right against the wall. The stairway takes you all up ten feet. You see that the walls are intricately decorated. Every inch of the walls depicts a graphic scene. It's almost like reading a story in a language none of you understand. (But you could Decipher Script DC 20 to figure it out) On the first wall (Where the door emerges from): Adventurers decked out in armor raid what seems to be a genie's fortress deep under the earth. On the second wall: They slay a huge and particularly fat genie with their swords. On the third wall: They haul off sacks full of treasure of all varieties: gold, silver, rubies, sapphires, diamonds and intricately woven tapestries of mithril thread. On the fourth wall: They are all prone, lying flat with their exposed faces and hands swarming with what appears to be some kind of flying insects. They appear to be in mortal agony.

The floors at the bottoms of the north, east and south walls (not the western wall you are closest to) are piled with what appears to be gold and jewels.

On the floor in squares F6, G7 and E2 are empty suits of plate mail armor surrounded by piles of gold.

The floor is a dull metallic color.

The door out is on the wall south of squares D1 and E1.

Linon does detect evil everywhere in the room. Do you want to continue focusing on it, knowing you could get stunned by it if it is particularly powerful?

[hexonxonx]

By the way, the door to room 3 is closed.

[Bender]

Hynerst

Coming up last, Hynerst is intrigued by the decorations. He mumbles: "Our fellows fell… we climbed a staircase, so these floors are at an elevation. They are probably trapped and make anyone treading on them fall down ...all the gold is gone... The treasures we see might be illusions ...but we dare not retrieve it... Are they only afraid of the traps, or is there something else?"

Spoiler

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I really should have taken ranks in decipher script, he's supposed to be good at it, anyway, an intelligence check instead? intelligence for deciphering - (1d20+4)[16]
Are there any knowledge checks I can make for recognising anything in the decorations? You can make them if there are more...
knowledge history - (1d20+8)[23]
knowledge planes on genies and their fortress - (1d20+12)[19]
Oh, and in case Hynersts detect magic is still on (lasts for 5 minutes), he also checks out the treasures and the suits of armour

[Taffimai]

Linon

Linon reaches forth and lays her hand on John's upper arm to make sure she has his attention.

"I sense evil in this room. It is all around us..."

She turns back to the others and says "I'm going to try and find out where exactly it's coming from."

((OOC: now that she has warned the others, she concentrates on it to see how bad it is. If she gets stunned, there are enough people here with detect spells to know what that means))

[Grrth]

Hynerst

Coming up last, Hynerst is intrigued by the decorations. He mumbles: "Our fellows fell… we climbed a staircase, so these floors are at an elevation. They are probably trapped and make anyone treading on them fall down ...all the gold is gone... The treasures we see might be illusions ...but we dare not retrieve it... Are they only afraid of the traps, or is there something else?"

Spoiler

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I really should have taken ranks in decipher script, he's supposed to be good at it, anyway, an intelligence check instead? (1d20+7)[1](8)
Are there any knowledge checks I can make for recognising anything in the decorations? You can make them if there are more...
(1d20+10)[9](19)
[roll2]
Oh, and in case Hynersts detect magic is still on (lasts for 5 minutes), he also checks out the treasures and the suits of armour

Hotaru:

Would knowledge (history): (1d20+7)[1](8)
or knowledge (arcana): (1d20+10)[9](19)
help Hynerst puzzle out the walls?

Ru will try that if he can, otherwise stand by (I believe he's bringing up the rear), and try to stay alert for attack. Those empty suits of armor look enough like the wall pictures that it seems like a warning!

[hexonxonx]

Linon: You discover 15 Moderate Evil Presences distributed evenly across the room, in every place except the 10 foot square occupied by the stairwell. It is not evil enough to stun you.

Hynerst: You discover a Strong aura across the entire floor. Make a Spellcraft roll if you want to determine the type of magic associated with it.

History check: These are the djinn of Irim, an ancient city protected by Earth Elemental magic. Their secret defenses involved manipulation of the magnetic properties of all types of metal.

[hexonxonx]

The armor and the gold is apparently non-magical. That, or the aura of the magical fields is overpowering whatever magical properties they have.

[Bender]

Hynerst

He concentrates on the aura's

Spoiler

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spellcraft - (1d20+14)[32]

[Halna LeGavilk]

John

John stands at the bottom of the stairwell, shield raised and ready for attacks.

[Taffimai]

Linon

"Two, four, seven, eight, twelve, fourteen, fifteen..."

Silently, Linon counts the evil presences, then turns towards the others again.

"There are fifteen evil... things... in this room. It's not the treasure or the suits of armour, they are spread out throughout the room, but I have no idea whether they are invisible creatures or something else. They're not particularly powerful, but still, something here is making me nervous...

It's the room! It just doesn't add up. If the floor is trapped to make you fall down, how come that armour is still lying on top of it? I can understand that if the gold is an illusion, it would reappear as the trap resets, but not the armour. It makes no sense to create a trap and then leave big warning signs."

((OOC: wouldn't John be standing at the top of the stairs, since he went up first? Am I picturing this room the wrong way?))

[webgem]

Jarek

"They're evil, and maybe invisible? Anybody mind if I take a pot shot with my crossbow...can you give me specific directions Linon?"

Jarek raises his crossbow, and prepares to shoot.

[Taffimai]

Linon

"There is one right over there, about eight feet in that direction." Linon points out the closest entity. "I'm not entirely sure shooting at it before Mister Whistkingstone and Ru are done studying the walls would be a good idea, though. There might be a better way to destroy these things."

[Grrth]

Hotaru:

Ru scratched his head. "I dunno, Hynerst, all I can figure is that this has something to do with the djinn of Irim. That's an ancient city protected by Earth Elemental magic. Their secret defenses involved manipulation of the magnetic properties of all types of metal."

He looked out over the room. "I thought this was supposed to be some evil queen's lair or something. What has that to do with djinns?"

[hexonxonx]

Hynerst determines the auras are of the Transmutation subtype.

[Halna LeGavilk]

John

Linon

"Two, four, seven, eight, twelve, fourteen, fifteen..."

Silently, Linon counts the evil presences, then turns towards the others again.

"There are fifteen evil... things... in this room. It's not the treasure or the suits of armour, they are spread out throughout the room, but I have no idea whether they are invisible creatures or something else. They're not particularly powerful, but still, something here is making me nervous...

It's the room! It just doesn't add up. If the floor is trapped to make you fall down, how come that armour is still lying on top of it? I can understand that if the gold is an illusion, it would reappear as the trap resets, but not the armour. It makes no sense to create a trap and then leave big warning signs."

((OOC: wouldn't John be standing at the top of the stairs, since he went up first? Am I picturing this room the wrong way?))

John waves his sword slowly in the air of the room. "What if the floor itself is an illusion?. You step onto it, fall right through because nothing is there, and die? The gold isn't real, and maybe the armor isn't either. It could all be an illusion, and only one path on the 'floor' is real? And on the path, the evil things attack you, trying to knock you off."

OOC:Ghostbuster!
I'm not sure, but John stands closest to the room.

[webgem]

Jarek

Jarek pulls his longspear out of his pack, and starts to poke at the floors if nobody stops him.

[Bender]

Hynerst

Hynerst speaks in short, quick burst, clearly nervous and oddly excited.
"I recognise the djinn of Irim as well. Maybe the story is a warning and an analogy. The floor has strong magic on it, more powerful than simple illusions, which is good, because I don't like illusions. It is transmutation magic, the power of change. The floor might drop down in places, grow teeth, absorb the gold, or the spell could even be projected on us or something else when triggered."
He stops to take a deep breath
"The paintings might hint to a possible effect of the transmutation, the treasure they took might have transmuted to angry insects, which is not good. Although I can't detect any magic on the treasures, it might be weaker and overwhelmed by the floor's stronger aura."
Sadly, he continues "I could try to dispel it, but I'm sorry, the power of my magic has a large chance of failing against this, as the Lady of Glau-kton must have been much more powerful. And even on success the magic might return."

[Taffimai]

Linon

When Linon sees Jarek take his longspear, she steps aside to give him free access to the room and floor.

"Good thinking, Jarek, you can test John's theory"

[B]"Their secret defenses involved manipulation of the magnetic properties of all types of metal""

"What does that mean, Ru, "the magnetic properties of all types of metal"? I don't see any types of special metal in these pictures..."

((OOC: I meant to ask before, but are those evil presences moving or not? And to which extend are we allowed to metagame? I have thought of another possible way this room might work, but I doubt Linon would come up with that. Can I make a suggestion to our two smarties?
Edit - nvm, I thought of something))

[hexonxonx]

The head of Jarek's longspear is sucked to the ground by some unseen force, and it's difficult (though not impossible) to pull it free from the floor. The floor itself seems very solid, as if it indeed made of some type of metal.

[Grrth]

Hotaru:

"Ah-ha!" cried Ru suddenly. "I got it! Magnets!" He chuckled. "Really, very clever."

[Bender]

Hynerst

Hynerst slowly bends down to study the floor with his hand, then he takes out a copper, a silver and a gold to test the reactions of the different materials.

Spoiler

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knowledge architecture floor material - (1d20+10)[22]
Is this setting anything like the real world where gold, silver and copper wouldn't be attracted by magnets? If so, would Hynerst know?
edit: does he know anything about how magic can make something magnetic? (knowledge arcana +15)

He speaks softly, more to himself than to the others, while studying the floor.
"If they somehow made the floor magically magnetic, that might also explain the transmutation aura's"

[hexonxonx]

The floor looks simply to be cold iron. The gold, silver and copper are all equally attracted to the floor, as strongly as the steel head of the spear.

[Taffimai]

Linon

"So what you two are saying is that our armour is going to stick to the floor so we won't be able do defend ourselves properly when those evil things attack us, am I right?

Well, do you know of anything we could use to block it with? You know, the way lead blocks detection? Perhaps if we throw enough mud on the floor, we'll be able to walk across it normally... Oh, and Jarek, try some other spots on the floor, too. John's idea might still be valid."

[webgem]

Jarek

Jarek pokes about a couple different areas. "So should I try to shoot them, seems to make sense if we might be weighed down by armor."