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"There's not much to identify by, a psionic trap could just as well be a crystalas it could be a line of chalk inbued with psionic energy, just look for irregularities on the stone. It's more difficult than it sounds because we are talking about illithind traps after all." Velik says, "before a trap activates, it usually makes a buzzing noise so keep an ear out."
Terrox sees little that could be considered a trap, however, a glyph of some kind is just inside the openning to this particular tunnel. It looks almost like a dragonmark.
Davian takes a postition close enough to point to protect the party, without taking an active leadership point. He'd rely on the party experts for leading them through the mind-flayer's labyrinth. Ever the bard, he begins "humming" a catchy jazz-like tune, soft enough to not echo, but loud enough to be heard by Terrox. The smooth, laid-back vocal representation of ambiguous instrumentality also would aid Terrox's attempts to search and scout for the party. While concentrating on maintaining his song, he also tries "scouting" himself, focusing his energy in honing his sight to again sense evil before him.
Spoiler
Using Bardic Music to inspire a +2 Competance bonus on Terrox's search checks.
Detect Evil-ing until further notice
For an idea of what he's trying to sing, it's something similar to this song. Or the Pink Panther, if you'd prefer a more common anachronistic song.
Just posting to say that if Seri where to see this Dragonmark-like glyph, especially if its of a dark red color, she'll want to inspect it almost immedietly.
__________________ Saul in Black Rock / Seri in Arcane Destiny / Jussio in Red Hand of Doom
Halting for a moment, Terrox signals to the rest of the party to stop in their tracks. He heads forward to investigate the glyph he has seen, checking all around him for any signs of anything more sinister.
If the coast is clear, he will beckon people over.
---
Taking considerable time to spot and search anything (I have Trapfinding, also). Taking 20 on both, Spot: 27, Search: 31 (with song).
He will also look at the Dragonmark and see if he can identify it, also.
Knowledge: Religion - (1d20+7)[20]
Knowledge: Arcana - (1d20+9)[11]
Terrox
Nothing can be seen, however, the dragonmark-like symbol gives you a bad feeling. You can identify it as an aberrant dragonmark, as you have seen it before on one of your teammates. It is an exact replica of Seri's own dragonmark, down to the last line.
Seri steps into the chamber, stopping abruptly as soon as she lays eyes on the mark. For once, she seems truly confused, truly puzzled at something. She stares at it blankly for a few seconds before kneeling down close to it and dropping her axe at her side. She takes off her right glove and extends her hand in front of her, the strange, gnarled birthmark facing her from the back of her hand and the glyph.
"This... I..."
She places her hand on the glyph.
__________________ Saul in Black Rock / Seri in Arcane Destiny / Jussio in Red Hand of Doom
"I suggest you remove your hand from that Glyph before you explain what exactly your intentions are. This dragonmark of yours cannot signify anything of good if it is found purposely etched on the walls of an illithids lair. Seriousness spreading across his face, Terrox moves to grasp Seri's arm and moves it away from the Glyph on the wall. "Who are you? I'm tired of being stuck with people who hide dark secrets from me."
"Calm yourself. If anyone here were of ill intent, I would know it," Davian said at the end of his song. "We have greater issues to worry about than to fight amongst ourselves" With that, he resumed looking around, scanning for the forces of evil ad perpetuam.
"I disagree," he replies, a hint of disdain in his voice, "What is more dangerous than the possibility of traitors amongst the people whom you call friends? We can hide, run, evade the illithids without fighting, but a knife in your back is hardly something you can avoid."
He lets go of Seri's arm, but not without making his point clear. "You were evasive before when I asked you about your dreadful fascination and sheer excitement to be in this place when the rest of us are weary, but now I'm far from asking. I think all of us deserve some explination, don't you?"
Spoiler
Just want to clarify that I'm not looking for any inter-party fighting or anything like that. I just figure that a stressful situation calls for a bit of stress-caused paranoia Besides, we get to know each other a little better...
Last edited by AngelOmnipotent : 11-17-2009 at 07:50 PM.
The awe quickly drains from Seri's expression; it's replaced with a deep resentment and a cold, spiteful gaze. Her hand clenched, she pulls her arm away from Terrox and sorrow starts creeping over him. "Of course... how dare I bear this mark? I should have hacked my arm off as soon as I realized it was 'evil', shouldn't I?" Her voice grows louder as she speaks. "You want to know what it signifies? That my home is amongst the races of the Gray Crag. Secrets? Maybe you'd like to see first hand just what a Droaam Witch can do..." Her eyes cross Terrox's in unblinking defiance.
As the others react, she takes a step back leaving her hatchet at Terrox's feet. "This is the only other place I've ever seen my mark, but I guess it makes sense. To an illithid, the mind is just another target, right? My mark does the same, it can give others a glimpse of madness or make them see things as I see them." She turns back to the glyph "Look, I don't care if there's a trap, or a curse, or if it'll do the same to me that I've done to others. I'm going to find out what that mark means."
Spoiler
Knowledge Arcane: (1d20+7)[13]
Also, all the above is strictly from an in character point of view, no hard feelings or anything.
Edit
No hard feeling either i just wish I'd have finished this post before you posted again. Hmm, would you mind if I have you make some saves
__________________ Saul in Black Rock / Seri in Arcane Destiny / Jussio in Red Hand of Doom
Hardly moved by the speech, Terrox somehow manages to crack a small smile. "Well, wasn't too hard now was it? Maybe next time you'll think of being honest to those who seek to watch your back rather than shroud yourself in mystery."
His knowledge of Dragonmarks being limited to mainstream hearsay, the pattern itself means nothing to him, but his curiosity is flared by what it may possibly do. "As much as I'm sure you're desperate to find out what it means, I'm not sure touching it would be a good idea. It could be some kind of silent alarm, reaching out to the minds of the Illithids if the mark does indeed do what you say it does." He strokes his chin, the smile falling from his face into deep thought. "Surviving this place will certainly give you more opportunity to discover the origins of your mark rather than running into something that will kill you, or worse, strip you of your mind and have you as a thrall. I trust you agree with this?"
Seri's eyes narrow as Terrox goes on. At his question, she simply continues to meet his gaze and raises her left hand. As she snaps her fingers there is a great flash of light as a bolt of lightning comes down from the ceiling and strikes ground a few inches from his feet. It causes no harm, simply a loud noise and bright light a few inches from his face. "There's no need for pompous words, if you don't see my reasons then you must have lived a truly blessed life. That bolt was just me being honest, I thought I should let you know that I wouldn't need a knife... The reason it wasn't closer is simply because I agree with your last words. The rest though, this place is in ruins, there's an ultrthid on the loose and we've already released one of their experiments. If there were any illithids left here, I'm sure they would already know of us from when the orb was cracked, from its 'silent alarm'."
__________________ Saul in Black Rock / Seri in Arcane Destiny / Jussio in Red Hand of Doom
"This is getting us nowhere fast," Velik comments dryly before turning to Seri, "I may be able to help with your mark. The aberrant dragonmarks are a symbol of Kyber, they often mean an aberration in your family tree. It is also used as an anchor for certain enchantments that can cause any number of emotion based traps. Although which one this is i cannot tell."
Well, strife, paranoia, and anger all come to mind as emotional traps. If someone here known how to be rid of this trap, then I suggest it be done. Otherwise, we have no choice but to continue on, and risk whatever cruel tricks the Illithids have in mind.
All Terrox does is keep smiling. He admires Seri's courage to stand up for what she believes in, and while he keeps quiet about it, he also turns his attention more to the symbol.
"Okay, emotion-based trap. Obviously anger doesn't trigger it or we'd be in a lot of trouble right now," He somehow manages to let loose a light-hearted chuckle. "You know what this mark does more than anyone else here Seri, so what would most likely trigger it?"
Last edited by AngelOmnipotent : 11-18-2009 at 05:29 AM.
Her gaze softened to mere annoyance, Seri sighs and turns to the glyph. "If the trigger is an emotional state, then I can't be of much help. I first manifested it as an infant, I've had it my whole life and I've used it whenever I've felt I had to. It may have appeared through hunger, fear, sadness, or whatever a capricious newborn may feel."
"If it changes emotional states though, then it can only do one of two things if triggered. It can make you trust its wielder as if you'd known them your entire life, or it can fracture a mind, causing panic, strife and confusion."
Spoiler
As in, triggering it seems like it would cause a Charm Person or Confusion effect, if it has the same powers as Seri's mark.
__________________ Saul in Black Rock / Seri in Arcane Destiny / Jussio in Red Hand of Doom
"That seems more likely, given where we are." Terrox studies it for a while before turning to the party. "I can attempt to disable this if you wish, but if there is a means to bypassing it then I believe it would be a better course of action."
"I agree with Volanth, we don't know if any illithid are still alive, or of anything else has taken root. I'd rather not have them know our current location." Velik comments.
Last edited by EdroGrimshell : Yesterday at 06:11 PM.
Seri's hand bare hand goes to er face, "So you want to just leave it here?" She turns to the glyph, then back to the party, then back to the glyph. The thought of having seen her mark somewhere else and leaving it untouched and unexamined seemed mad.
"This is just one of the many chambers when can go through... There are surly other routes, yes... But at least let me try something with it, let me try to get some clue from it. There's only two things that could happen to me if it effects me. I may loose my faculties for a few seconds, but as long as I'm unarmed I should be harmless. The other though... the mark may make me its thrall, but if it's like mine then the effect should be weak, easy to overcome. There would be no way of knowing though... One of you must be a caster though, please, make me your thrall if there is any doubt, I'd rather submit to one of you for a while then just leave it here untouched..."
Spoiler
Hopefully, another Charm Person would overwrite the mark's Charm Person. If anyone agrees, she'll do the following actions:
First she asks everyone else to leave the chamber, so that there aren't any risks.
Then she'll see if it reacts to her mark in any way:
1 use of Quickened Lesser Confusion on the glyph, from her Mark
1 use of Charm Person on the glyph, from her Mark
Bring her mark close to the glyph, touching it if nothing happens
If all of this proves fruitless, she'll do the following out of anger:
Hit it with a Lightning Strike from the Focalor Vestige
Give it one well placed hack with her Axe
She'll look around the room one last time, hoping to find anything else related to her mark, then simply accept a charm person from anyone in the party f there was any sign of her actions triggering the mark against her.
__________________ Saul in Black Rock / Seri in Arcane Destiny / Jussio in Red Hand of Doom
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Besides, we get to know each other a little better...
