Group - OOC

[Cmdr Maxwell]

Went from a weird headspace to life getting weird lol. Just learnt late on Thursday I've got my dream position after applying and getting it without needing an interview, which is a culmination of several years effort since I joined my current company. As you can imagine, I'm ecstatic And also kind of forgot about the forum lol

[Charon]

Gratz (again). :)

[Grodech]

Getting it without an interview is rare. Congrats!

[Cmdr Maxwell]

Thanks

[Charon]

Just gathering some thoughts.

Room 1, hexagonal. Statue made of marble, hexagonal plinth. Axe in one hand, other raised. Accoutrements coloured but not metallic.
Chandelier, bronze, six loops. Orbs of unknown material. Sconces also bronze. Gold seams run from chandelier serving as ribs to the dome and ringing the pillars. Design could be decorative or functional, ie Medieval tesla coil.
Images - RHS - multiple dwarves in regal clothing mid-celebration.
LHS - Multiple dwarves engaged in scholarly pursuits or possibly governmental work.
Central - Mountain in background. City in foreground. Buildings limned with gold. Painting was scratched, possibly on purpose and has actual metallic gold in the paint.
Both exit doors made of bronze with no obvious openings or markings to distinguish. RHS door is stuck.
Two onyx gems, potentially dwarf sensors.

Found - Copper coin (6 sided, offering to Dumathoin?). Axe on reverse, common mintage or related to statue in some way? For reference, Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin in a roughly 88% to 12% ratio.

Early thoughts. Potential tesla-coil esque nature of the design could be part of the trap mechanism. The buildings limned with gold could be figurative, a metaphor for the city's riches or could be a literal clue if there is some metallurgic puzzle element to the rooms/trap mechanism.

Room 2, hexagonal. No statue, hexagonal plinth.
Two exit doors, one bronze, melted, on LHS. RHS, marble cracked.
Images. One, some form of battle.
Fittings and fixtures melted but appear to be bronze chandeliers/sconces with glass orbs. Gold also mentioned in later post? DM to clarify.
One expended onyx gem, potentially sensor or source of trap.

Query. Why marble door?

------------------------

DM, please clarify whether melted metals from chandelier/sconces are bronze, gold, or both. Ie, are we looking at bronze chandelier with the same golden rib seams?

[Cmdr Maxwell]

The melted wall and pillar sconces are bronze, the same bronze that you've been seeing throughout on other sconces. The chandelier in room 2 (as you call it) is bronze and gold (the overall pattern being lost due to the damage). The one in the room 1 was solely bronze with the gold trim that ran up the pillars terminating at the base.

The part that contained with the Onyx gem was solely gold.

[Charon]

Ok, so notable detail. More gold this time round. Hmm.

I think we need to see a third room before we can really start to unpick this. We have a choice of bronze or marble door. We have no active gem this time? So we'd have to force it open. The logical choice is the cracked marble, being the path of least resistance. The lower amount of bronze also leads me to the marble door as the next step. I do not have any tools such as a crowbar to help force it though I do have Bulls strength if we require the assist. Perhaps get Dunbar to give it a good once over first, in case we missed anything.

I do also have an Alarm spell. What do you think to Thaddeus backtracking a little to place this at the entrance so we know if anyone else enters? I'm thinking mental alarm, which gives us 1 mile of distance. Lasts 8 hours so should cover our entire sojourn.

[Cmdr Maxwell]

Just to be clear, the Onyx crystal for the marble door is still active (as Dunbar's detect magic picked it up), it's the physical structure of the marble door that has an issue (i.e. the large crack due to thermal damage). You could try activating the crystal, but given the damage it's hard to say what will happen.

The other bronze door is also damaged, but more melted than cracked. The ringed handle was within the blast radius, and is therefore deformed. You'll need to give it a closer look for more information.

[Grodech]

I do also have an Alarm spell. What do you think to Thaddeus backtracking a little to place this at the entrance so we know if anyone else enters? I'm thinking mental alarm, which gives us 1 mile of distance. Lasts 8 hours so should cover our entire sojourn.

Not sure what you're thinking we need an alarm spell for, unless we've been down here long enough to warrant a rest.

[Charon]

I'm thinking Thaddeus wants to poke around those diamonds some more but might be able to play it up as worry that this man and his cat already got in here poking around and got themselves killed. How much do we want someone else coming in to look for him behind us and potentially causing more problems. We don't know if this dead guy was working alone, after all. I for one would be interested to know if anyone else enters this place.

I am also wondering if having one of the diamonds might prove useful should we need a more expensive offering to Dumathoin in the future.

[Grodech]

Dunbar would point out the dead body is all the more reason not to fuck with trying to take things from this place. If he want's to get alerted if someone else enters, that's fine by Dunbar, but we have no idea how long this guy has been here (unless I missed something).

[Charon]

I mean, Thaddeus ain't gonna tell Dunbar he's gonna poke the diamonds. ¬¬ I was gonna have a good poke around with Detect Magic first. XD
I dunno, what do you think? Too dangerous?

[Grodech]

Dunbar already did detect magic in that room, and I don't think they were magic (I'd have to go back and read). He did already tell Thaddeus that they should probably be left alone.

[Cmdr Maxwell]

The diamonds for the eyes are not magical.

[Cmdr Maxwell]

Apologies for lack of posting this week. Started my new role which has been mentally taxing, and I haven't kept up enough steam for posting. Currently working on next post, will be up tomorrow.

[Charon]

Just as a curiosity. Did Thaddeus pass the save he made? RAW, you usually know if you pass a save, even if you don't know why. I bring it up only cos if we both passed, we'd likely discuss the funny feeling we had in the chamber. I'm guessing Dunbar felt something but if Thaddeus failed he'd be oblivious.

[Cmdr Maxwell]

For what it's worth, you didn't pass the save but only just.

The effect in question is meant to be more subtler than normal, given a certain characteristic about it. You're probably picking up what I'm putting down here, right? ;D

I waited a bit before describing what was going on mentally, hence why I didn't specify anything further based on the outcome of your roll. If you had passed, I would have (just like I've done with Dunbar).

The effect in question should become apparent any minute now...

[Charon]

That's ok. If he failed then he ain't gonna be bringing it up.

[Grodech]

Ask and ye shall receive. Note it's not to scale because paint is horrible - and not my art skills >.>

Spoiler

The parallel lines are doors you have not gone through.

The secondary lines along the walls are the doors we haven't explored yet, correct?

[Cmdr Maxwell]

Correct, those are doors you have not gone through.

Just a reminder on those:
Bronze door in "kaboom room" was melted.
Marble door in "entrance room" was blocked by something on the other side.

[Charon]

Ya ok, that was my suspicion. If we carry on we should emerge on the other side of the stuck marble door?
I say we continue on this path, then we can always return to the central room and explore the northern door which I suspect may provide us with a way to check out the other side of melty door.

[Grodech]

Sounds like a plan.

[Cmdr Maxwell]

Apologies for lack of posting this last week, work was absolutely nuts as we approached financial year end. I've got another major deadline on Thursday of next week, but after that work should simmer down until June.

[Cmdr Maxwell]

Please roll me a flat d20 each in this thread to break the tie. You both rolled 14 and also have +1 DEX so I need a new tiebreaker. Whoever rolls highest goes first, as FML these ghouls did not roll well (nat 1 and a 3)

[Charon]

Tiebreaker

[19] = 19
1d20:  [

] = 19