012: Up-Up-Down-Down-Left-Right-Left-Right-B-A

[Merc]

[19:51] <Pavel> <@Kotono> Kev sees the same distortion as Pavel did. In addition, he notices there's a switch built into the back of the gate doors, right in reach if he merely looks to the back side of it. Easy to miss, though.
[19:51] <Pavel> * Kevamros reaches over and hits the switch.
[19:51] <Pavel> * @Luther stops going up the stairs and goes, "Ah. Well, next time it helps if you point the illusion, not just that there are some, please."
[19:51] <Pavel> <@Kotono> The switch is hit. The floor outside of the carpet vanishes, revealing sunken rivers of boiling lava. Fortunately, the carpet is intact and supports the party's weight without falling.
[19:51] <Pavel> <Kevamros> "Well. Fortunate footing."
[19:51] <Pavel> * Pavel blinks, then smiles. "Oho, this is nice."


[19:52] <Kotono> Ahead the carpet-path leads higher up. On the sides are those lava pits, in case you want to get toasty.
[19:55] * Pavel holds his hands over the edge of the carpet, warming himself. "This is lovely! All the comforts of home!"
[19:56] <Luther> "Take it with you then."
[19:59] <Pavel> "I would, BUT IT'S TOO BIG!" He shouts, the abruptly turns away from the edge. "Let's see about this place then, shall we?" He heads over to test the stairs. OOC: If I disbelieve them, do I go through them?
[19:59] <Kotono> OOC: A quick test says no.
[20:00] <Pavel> "These are a very good illusion." He says, jumping up and down on one of the stairs.
[20:02] <Pavel> Pavel begins to climb them!
[20:02] <Kotono> The stairs are jumped on. The carpet is quite solid and able to handle his jumping antics.
[20:04] <Luther> "We might as well start going up if the stairs are safe, at least where the carpet is."
[20:05] * Pavel is climbing the stairs one at a time, as he is only two feet tall. "This is TEDIOUS!"
[20:06] <Kotono> With that, the party climbs on up the stairs. It leads up to a hallway decorated with burning white torches. Faces shimmer in the white flames, silently crying out in distress.  15ft ahead is a semi-transparent barrier, blocking the way ahead. In the center of the barriers are three oversized switches. Each is along level and set in dead middle, pointing straight ahead.
[20:08] <Kotono> The switches are in front of the barrier.
[20:09] * Luther sadly cannot detect magic right now to try and analyze the barrier and switches and the flames. "You any good with magic and analyzing it?" he asks the new guy.
[20:11] * Pavel casts Detect Magic and examines the flames! "Indeed!"
[20:12] <Kotono> There's magic, stunningly. OOC: Spellcraft.
[20:12] <Luther> Meanwhile, Kevamros robotically examines the levers, and tries to decipher their effect based on his knowledge of dungeoneering.
[20:12] <Luther> roll d20+12 K:Dungeon
[20:13] <Luther> ooc: foiled the robot by lacking robot.
[20:13] <Pavel> roll 1d20+18 SC
[20:15] <Serith> Pavel roll for Serith < 35 > [d20=17]
[20:15] <Luther> roll d20+12 K:Dungeon
[20:15] <Serith> Luther roll for Serith < 32 > [d20=20]
[20:16] <Kotono> Aaah. The levels are a puzzle - they all need to be pointing in the same up or down direction. When you move a level up or down, any adjacent to it also move in the same direction.
[20:21] <Kotono> The fire's also magic. Just generated by it, nothing special there.
[20:21] <Kotono> The faces in the flames are just an illusion, Pavel can tell.
[20:22] * Pavel looks vaguely disappointed by the fire's lack of specialness. He heads over to the levers. "What's this about then?"
[20:26] <Luther> Kevamros explains with robotic flourish. "They are a puzzle. Move one up, the adjacent does too. They all need to point up or down. Presumably, we just shift either the middle one up or down then, since that will move the left and right one in the same direction."
[20:27] <Pavel> "Let's give it a shot."
[20:27] <Pavel> "You've got better reach than me, on you go."
[20:32] * Luther summons a zombie to pull the lever after motioning Kevamros to step back.
[20:33] <Kotono> OOC: Which one and in which direction?
[20:33] <Pavel> "Oh, you can control undead?"
[20:33] <Luther> Zombie pulls the middle lever up.
[20:33] <Luther> "Yes."
[20:33] <Pavel> "Delightful."
[20:33] <Luther> "Indeed."
[20:37] <Kotono> The middle lever is pulled. The lever on the left and right also move up moments later. When all three are up, there's a soft click and the barrier vanishes - only to reappear 5ft ahead. This time there are five switches, a row of three with another one above the first and third switches in the row of three. All are pointing up, except for the one in the middle, which points down.
[20:41] <Luther> Kevamros pulls the second lever down, expecting to see the first one go down and the third to stay down. If that is the case, he'll then pull it back up. If not, he'll reanalyze at that point.
[20:42] <Kotono> OOC: Second in the middle?
[20:42] <Luther> ooc: No, first in the bottom. I was going left to right when numbering
[20:42] <Luther> ooc: So it'd be bottom left
[20:45] <Kotono> The second switch is pulled. They shift, turning to...

OOC:

[20:46] <Luther> "Hrm... do we stick to making them point upwards, or go with the easy change of making them all point down by flipping the bottom right one next?" Kevamros asks.
[20:47] <Luther> "Well, pointing up worked well last time," Luther notes. "Of course, this is a slaad's puzzle, so who knows that staying consistent means anything. Or both directions could be safe."
[20:48] <Pavel> "Does it matter?"
[20:48] <Luther> "Well, just to be safe, I'll pull the top left one so they all go up." Kevamros says with a shrug and pulls it up.
[20:50] <Kotono> The switch is pulled! The switches are now up and the barrier fades. Ahead is the hallway, moving on. But ti the side is a little barrier that covers an alcove. Within the alcove is a treasure chest. Nine switches in a square are on the front of this barrier. The barrier doesn't block the hall anymore and you can easily go past it and on instead if you wish.

OOC:

[20:51] <Pavel> "Ohohoho, cheeky puzzler he is. Let's have a look here."
[20:55] <Pavel> "Lessee, try the top and bottom levers in the middle column."
[20:55] <Kotono> The levers are pulled. Sure enough, the combination has them all pointing down. The field around the treasure chest is gone.
[20:56] <Pavel> "Ha!"
[20:57] <Pavel> roll 1d20+18 search for traps?
[20:57] <Serith> Pavel roll for Serith < 19 > [d20=1]
[20:57] <Pavel> OOC: Yay!
[20:58] <Kotono> There are no traps.
[20:58] * Pavel has Luther's zombie open the chest as it is CLEARLY perfectly safe. He's just overcautious.
[20:58] <Kotono> The chest opens. Within is...OOC: Loot.
[21:00] * Pavel stuffs everything into the bag of holding, attaching it to his belt. For safe-keeping.
[21:05] <Luther> "Well isn't that convinient?"
[21:09] <Pavel> "Indeed."
[21:09] <Luther> "Alright, let' move on."
[21:09] * Luther commands the zombie to take the lead.
[21:09] <Luther> In case of, y'know, traps and stuff.
[21:10] <Kotono> The party goes on. Ahead the hallway stops - a sheer pit plummeting into oblivion. It's 30ft across. In the middle swings a rope, as if begging you to leap to it, grab it and swing on over to the other side. On the other side of the chasm is a decorated pentagram, glowing softly with red light.
[21:11] <Luther> "Take a look at the pentagram's magic again?"
[21:11] * Luther meanwhile looks for other options across besides the rope. At least this time there's no gold following them from behind!
[21:15] <Kotono> Luther doesn't see any other way across, unless one can fly.
[21:16] * Luther searches for any hidden panels then!
[21:16] <Kotono> OC: Search.
[21:17] <Luther> roll d20+1
[21:17] <Serith> Luther roll for Serith < 2 > [d20=1]
[21:17] <Luther> "Kevamros, help me search for any hidden panels."
[21:17] <Luther> roll d20+10 Kev Search
[21:17] <Serith> Luther roll for Serith < 14 > [d20=4]
[21:18] <Kotono> No hidden panels or the like are found.
[21:19] * Pavel peers about. OOC: DM should still be up.
[21:19] <Kotono> OOC: Spellcraft.
[21:20] <Pavel> roll 1d20+18 SC
[21:20] <Serith> Pavel roll for Serith < 32 > [d20=14]
[21:22] <Kotono> The pentagram is a teleportation circle. Step in it and you'll go somewhere else.
[21:22] <Pavel> "It's a teleportation circle. Active. Don't step on it."
[21:24] <Luther> "Does it go someplace horrible?" Luther asks curiously. "We don't exactly have any other ways to go right now."
[21:24] <Luther> "Outside of resting and then backtracking and hope the slaad has changed the terrain. He does that sometimes."
[21:25] * Pavel shrugs stubby shoulders.
[21:26] <Pavel> "No idea where it goes, I just know what it does. We can go trough if you want, so long as there are no other ways."
[21:27] <Luther> "Can you detect any with your magic? I saw no other paths or hidden panels, nor did Kevamros."
[21:27] <Luther> Kevamros nods his agreement.
[21:27] * Pavel looks about some more.
[21:29] <Kotono> OOC: Search.
[21:29] <Pavel> roll 1d20+18
[21:29] <Serith> Pavel roll for Serith < 29 > [d20=11]
[21:31] <Kotono> Pavel doesn't find any hidden panels or the like.
[21:32] <Pavel> "Looks like this is it. ONWARD!"
[21:33] <Luther> "Okay, any spells to get us across? I'm not exactly built for jumping, and that looks like a pretty long fall."
[21:33] <Luther> "Zombies and Skeletons are terrible minions for this particular task, too."
[21:34] <Pavel> "TELEPORT!"
[21:36] <Luther> "Alright, I'll leave it to you then."
[21:46] <Pavel> OOC: How wide is this area?
[21:47] <Luther> ooc: 30ft across
[21:49] * Pavel summons a giant eagle!
[21:50] * Pavel instructs the eagle to carry each of them across the chasm. He of course volunteers to go first.
[21:52] * Luther volunteers next, leaving Kevamros to watch their rear and go last.