Circle of Life's Homebrew Playtest: Sandman and Soldier

[Circle of Life]

Rocksmasher and Milliner waken to find themselves laying on individual stone slabs, suspended some two feet in the air by unseen forces. Despite being made of stone, the slabs seem to accommodate their bodies perfectly, shifting with fluid grace to create depressions whenever one of the two moves even the slightest.

Oh good, you're awake. I was afraid I was going to have to shock you again! You're much more receptive than most who come through here...

The voice comes from seemingly nowhere, as does the room's light, an ambient glow that casts no shadows. Voices and light must come from somewhere, of course, but that knowledge doesn't do much to help you discern such things.

Looking around, you notice two tables laid out some twenty feet away, on either side of a plain-looking metal door. On one table sits a vast array of books and scrolls, and on the other, seven circular pendants, each of a different metal, and each with a gray gem set into its center.

Aside from the tables and the floating stone slabs, the room is entirely unremarkable, some forty feet to a side and twenty feet tall.

You have all your equipment handy and readied. The test begins in three... two...one... go.

[Kallisti]

Mr. Milliner

"They haven't laid out tea-things, whoever they are. I find that immensely rude. Ah, well. Shall we be off?"

The tiny man swings his legs over the side of the slab, stands up, and wanders over to the table with the pendants.

(OOC: Guess who lacks any effect that resembles Detect Magic or Identify?)

[playswithfire]

Rocksmasher

Rocksmasher snorts, both from just having woken up and in amusement at the man's statement. They also forgot the door. Rising from his stone slab, he briefly contemplates his hammer and the nearest wall, but then moves over to the table with books, running one hand along them looking for anything that might be helpful, while the other keeps his hammer ready.

OOC: Yeah, I got nothing for finding magic either. Hence trying the books. Rocksmasher reads common, gol-kaa, and dwarven.

[Circle of Life]

The books seem to be compiled works of differing authors, with more information between them than the entire Encyclopedia Britannica set. While the works seem to have a general focus on strange creatures, several cover such pleasant subjects as preserving rotting flesh, dealing with mold and fungus infestations, and how to distill drinking water from the remains of congealed ooze. (The books function as a comprehensive Masterwork Knowledge Tool, and allow you to make knowledge checks untrained. The works are useless individually however, and the collection isn't exactly portable to those without a mule's back.)

The amulets are each crafted from a different metal, ranging from bronze to gold to something with the blueish tinge of adamantine about it. Each is engraved with a different stylized design, some swirling like waves upon a sea, some harshly angled, like lightning or crude runes. Each amulet has a clear gray gemstone set into its center, which flickers with a faint inner light.

Did I not mention the door between the two tables? ...*re-reads first post* ... yeah, there's a door there. :smalltongue:

[Kallisti]

Mr. Milliner

"Well, these are pretty, anyhow."

Milliner selects one of the amulets with the wave-swirling patterns and drops it around his neck.

[playswithfire]

Walking over to Milliner's table and gesturing with a thumb pointed over his shoulder at the one with the books Books look like they might be useful, but I don't have a good way to carry them. If we run into half the things they talk about, we're in trouble, though. Rocksmasher looks back and forth among the remaining amulets, then shrugs, gathers up the rest and ties them all loosely to his belt. These are easy to carry at least. Want to see what's behind door number one? as he points his greathammer and the door he just noticed.

[Kallisti]

Mr. Milliner

"Absolutely, sirrah. Couldn't have put it better myself. Well, yes I could, but that's entirely beside the point."

With what he probably fondly imagines is an urbane smile, Mr. Milliner opens the door and, assuming nothing immediately leaps out at them, bows and gestures for Rocksmasher to precede him.

[Circle of Life]

Nothing of interest happens when Milliner puts on the amulet, though he does feel slightly... blingier.

The door opens to reveal a sterile white corridor running in three directions (for our sake, we will call them east, west, and south). The three branches seem to run on and on into eternity, yet despite there being tiles at regular intervals along each, you find it impossible to calculate distance to any effect along the halls.

[playswithfire]

Rocksmasher

Rocksmasher follows Milliner out the door, peers down each direction and, arbitrarily, turns to the right and attempts, with his greathammer, to scratch an arrow on the wall next to the door, so he will have a record of which ways they've been.

OOC: I'm assuming right is West, yes?

[Circle of Life]

You manage to scratch an arrow into the wall, though nobody has ever claimed to be an artist with a greathammer. Are you heading off that way, or just testing to see if the walls can be damaged?

[playswithfire]

OOC: Heading down that way, sorry I didn't make it clear.

Rocksmasher

After making the arrow, rocksmasher begins walking down the hallway in the direction he marked, greathammer ready to meet any challenge.

[Circle of Life]

After an indeterminable amount of time - it seemed like no more than a dozen steps, yet when you think back, you recall taking a thousand, two thousand... or was it a hundred? - you find yourself at another intersection, this one split to the north and south. Looking back to the east, you see the hall run on into eternity, with no sign of the door you came from.

To the north, the hall runs a short distance before ending in a metal door with a large diamond set into its face, surrounded by a circular array of glowing runes. To the south, it runs a similar distance before ending with a door with an amethyst of equal size, also outlined with an array of runes. Neither door has any visible means of opening them.

[Kallisti]

Mr. Milliner

Mr. Milliner takes the amulet from around his neck, examines it, and thinks back on the other pendants on the table. Now, did any of these have diamonds or amethysts? Similar colors? Similar rune patterns? Or is this entirely the wrong train of thought? How would I know which train is the right train?

"Oh dear. I believe we may miss our train!"

No, that's not it at all.

[playswithfire]

Rocksmasher

Shifting the greathammer so he holds it with only his left hand, Rocksmasher removes the pendants he'd taken from where he'd looped them on his belt and holds them up where both he and Milliner can look at them. What's a train?

[Circle of Life]

Two of the pendants tingle slightly in your grasp, like iron filings on the verge of being drawn to a lodestone. The gemstones remain a nondescript gray, and the etchings in the metal don't seem to bear any particular resemblance to the runic markings on the two doors. However, you do notice that the etching on one of the pendants, carved in the pattern of six-pointed stars, seems to glow faintly, as if somehow managing to catch more of the ambient light than is normal. The other pendant manages the reverse, the swirling etching seeming to hold more shadows than should be possible.

[Kallisti]

Mr. Milliner

"Who's training which now? I think perhaps these amulets are the key to the doors--the light for the diamond and the dark for the amethyst, yes?" Milliner takes the shadowed amulet and hands the lit one to Rocksmasher. "Let's train these on their respective doors and hope there's no explosion. Should be a sight!"

[playswithfire]

Rocksmasher

Rocksmasher takes the light amulet back from Milliner, ties the rest, other than the dark one Milliner still holds, back to his belt, then nods Makes sense to me and turns starts walking towards the diamond door, muttering though, honestly, it's a bit of a surprise that you did make sense.

OOC: sorry for erratic posting times. Took a mini-vacation this weekend.

[Kallisti]

Mr. Milliner

Hefting the dark amulet, Milliner approaches the amethyst door, carefully keeping pace with Rocksmasher so that the amulets will reach their respective doors at roughly the same time.

[Circle of Life]

As you stop in front of the doors, the amulets snap up to slap against the gems inlaid in the steel. A deep rumbling sounds throughout the hallway, and a moment later the doors melt into the wall, revealing that the hall continues for another few feet in either direction before turning west again.

Ever heard the adage "Don't split the party"? It never ends well, especially in a two-man playtest. :smalltongue:

[playswithfire]

Rocksmasher

Well, I guess that worked. He backs away from his door, pulling the amulet off of it, to see if Milliner's door stays open without his without his being so. If it does, he walks over to Milliner's door, ties his pendant back to his belt, readies his greathammer and gestures for Milliner to follow as he enters the dark door and proceeds down the hall.

[Circle of Life]

As the doors finish melting into the walls, the pendants fall free into your grasps. The doors stay open despite Rocksmasher leaving his, with no sign of closing again.

After the bend in the hall, it runs for some twenty feet before ending in a blank wall, with a large circle of runes scribed with white chalk on the floor of the hall, a dozen rubies arranged just so in the intricate array.

[Kallisti]

Mr. Milliner

"Fascinating. I wonder what it does?" Milliner moves in for a closer look.

[playswithfire]

Rocksmasher

Beats me, but let's see if these can help us out again. He holds up the pendants, checking to see if the runes on the pendants match anything on the floor.

[Circle of Life]

The array on the floor seems to be rather more generic than the others you encountered, what with the lack of glowing and all. It's intricate beyond mundane understanding, but otherwise has no immediately obvious markings that could be used to determine its use. The pendants don't react in any appreciable way, just swinging back and forth in Rocksmasher's grasp.

Spellcraft or Knowledge: Arcana may be able to tell you more about the runic arrays you come across.

[Kallisti]

Mr. Milliner

"This is obviously a delicate and potentially dangerous bit of magic. Disturbing it would be immensely foolish."

"...I'm going to poke it."

Use Magic Device: [roll0] to see if I can make it do something interesting.

[Circle of Life]

Is Milliner touching the rune circle at any point (I know you said you were going to poke it, but it doesn't hurt to check) or just shouting random command words or such?

[Kallisti]

Is Milliner touching the rune circle at any point (I know you said you were going to poke it, but it doesn't hurt to check) or just shouting random command words or such?

If shouting random command words doesn't do anything, then I'll touch it.

[Circle of Life]

After hollering at the circle for a solid minute, Milliner finally gives in and pokes the outer rim of the runic array. He promptly disappears.

Milliner:You appear in a long, shadowed hallway running on into the distance further than you can see. Behind you is only a blank wall. Some forty feet ahead, the hall splits to the east and west.

The walls of this place give off extreme levels of heat, causing you to squint and your breath to come in ragged pants, despite being here for only a moment. You're subject to the extreme heat environmental dangers (namely, 1d6 damage per minute without a save, and an escalating fort save every five minutes or 1d4 nonlethal damage). Unlike the normal extreme heat danger, you aren't at risk of scalding to death in your armor.

[playswithfire]

Rocksmasher

Rocksmasher contemplates the symbols and then at the inactive pendants in his hand. Well, so much for the easy answer. He listens to Milliner's odd gibberish and then places a palm to his forehead when Milliner disappears and says to himself. Well, it's not like I'm going to figure this out on my own. He ties the pendants back to his belt and, with a sign and resigned look, touches the runes in the same spot as Milliner.

OOC: here's to not splitting the party

[Circle of Life]

Rocksmasher appears beside Milliner in the shadowed hallway. Feel free to open the spoiler above.

[playswithfire]

Rocksmasher

After mumbling I'm going to poke it. in a mocking voice and contemplating smacking Milliner in the back of the head, Rocksmasher accepts the situation, says jovially Hot enough for you? and begins moving down the hallway. He stops at the intersection and looks down both branches.

[Kallisti]

Mr. Milliner

"Hot enough? I daresay! We could make tea. Or be broiled and die in an excruciating fashion. Both, even.

I've a trick that will protect us from the heat, but it won't last, so let's be off. Time waits for no man! Well, yes he does, but that's entirely beside the point."

Milliner strides up to the intersection and upends his teacup, spilling a stream of sand onto the floor in the shape of an arrow pointing up the left fork, then begins to follow that fork.

"Don't step in that, by the by, that's slumber-sand."

Using my Teacup of Slumber to draw the arrow. It has an infinite amount of sand in it and there's no mention of the sand disappearing when removed from the cup, although despite Milliner's warning the sand is perfectly harmless on its own, it just serves as a focus for my Sandman's Slumber ability.

Also, I am counting down the rounds from my arrival. Once it's my 9th round here I'll use Snow, Rain, or Gloom of Night on myself. It'll cost 6 ticks, and for one minute per level it grants me resistance 15 to most elemental damage. Which should make me immune to the heat danger, right? Once it's Rocksmasher's 9th round here I'll do the same for him.

[Circle of Life]

Considering that the mesmer is essentially an enhanced endure elements, yes, it makes both of you immune to the effects of this place. Just as well too, since heatstroke isn't fun.

At the split, the right branch runs for some sixty feet before turning to run parallel to the main hall again.

The left fork, which Milliner follows, continues in that direction for a short while before turning parallel to the main hall once more. It runs on for quite a while, but Milliner's forethought prevents anything unfortunate from happening during your exploration. After several minutes of walking, you come to a closed metal door, which glows white with heat, clearly hotter than the rest of this place that you've seen. Unlike the other doors you've come across so far, this one has an obvious method of opening it: a depression in one side of the door, recessed enough to hook several fingers in and slide the door open.

[Kallisti]

Mr. Milliner

"The trick I did won't last too much longer; may as well make use of it while we can, eh?"

He slides his fingers into the recesses, counting on his magic to protect him, and opens the door.

My trick only lasts one minute per level--so eight minutes per casting. I'll renew it once it's on its last round, of course. It costs me six ticks per casting, so twelve ticks for the both of us, and I get fifty-six ticks per day, as I recall.

[playswithfire]

Rocksmasher

Rocksmasher readies his great hammer as Milliner opens the door and does his best to mentally prepare for what might be on the other side.

[Circle of Life]

Milliner's flesh sizzles as it touches the door, his fingers warming uncomfortably, though the magic of his mesmer prevents any real damage.

Sliding open the door reveals a vast sea of fire, roiling and leaping about like a wind-whipped ocean. Closer inspection shows a metal floor just beneath the liquid fire, glowing white hot. Some distance away, an enormous rectangular platform floats atop the sea of fire, the underside glowing with heat but the top looking blessedly cool. Atop the platform stands a huge draconic skeleton, limbs propped up by poles and wires in an imitation of a takeoff wingbeat, neck and head stretched toward the heavens, powerful tail pressed against the platform to provide greater lift.

Map:{table=head]_|A_|B_|C_|D_|E_|F_|G_|H_|I_|J_|K_|L_|M_|N_|O_|P_
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The entry door is just outside N-12. Every square that isn't marked is the sea of fire, though it appears no hotter than the door Milliner just touched.

[playswithfire]

Rocksmasher

Well, that isn't at all ominous or irritating. Turning to Milliner, he says, in a more constructive tone, Couple questions: Can your trick handle that sea like it did the door? How much longer does it last? And how much do you weigh? If your trick is about to run out, if it might not handle that sea, or it's hard to keep up on both of us, I can probably carry you across and deal with the pain better, but I'll take whatever advantage I can. Then again, for all I know, you can just fly over there.

OOC: Sort of wishing I'd took Fling Ally, but who knew this would be necessary. Based on Milliner's actions, Rocksmasher's ready to pick him up over one shoulder (or not) and Jump [roll0] (stupid armor) as far as he can and walk the rest of the way from near N13 to L8 (Goliaths make standing long as if they were running long jumps) unless Milliner has a better idea

[Kallisti]

(OOC: Those are good questions. I never decided on a weight for Milliner, but he's tiny so we'll say 125 pounds, listed as the low end of the typical weight for humans. He does have a suit of full plate armor and a tower shield, but both of them are Called--the idea is that he wanders around unarmored, calls the armor to him when we think I'll need it soon, and takes it off if he needs to be the sneaky. Since I never donned or doffed my armor, it'll still be however it was when we started the game--Circle of Life said our equipment was 'handy and readied', I'm not certain whether that means I was wearing my armor or not.

Snow, Rain or Gloom of Night lasts one minute per level and I'm counting it down, but I don't know how long we were walking, so I don't know how much time is left. Even if it runs out I can renew it, though, I've only cast it once so far.)

[Circle of Life]

You can be wearing your armor or not, as you like. Especially as it is Called, it's completely up to you.

The heat of the fire sea, while extreme, seems no greater than that of the door Milliner just opened.

You've been walking for a little over six minutes, so you have ~18 rounds of the mesmer remaining.

[Kallisti]

Mr. Milliner

"In order: probably, just under two minutes but I can renew it if I must, and not very much. If you're thinking what I'm thinking you're thinking, it will work. I think."

[playswithfire]

Rocksmasher
All right. Here goes nothing. Sling Milliner over one shoulder, he leaps into the fiery sea and trudges to the platform, setting Milliner atop it and thwn climbing up himself.

OOC: should only take two rounds

[Circle of Life]

Wading through the sea of fire singes your flesh uncomfortably, like pressing a palm to the side of a tea kettle that has only just begun to cool. Nevertheless, you reach the platform without issue, climbing up to find the top blessedly cool. The platform seems to radiate a slight chill that, when combined with the flames nearby, lowers the temperature of the air in the area from ungodly to just barely tolerable.

[playswithfire]

Rocksmasher

Looking around to see if there's anything else of interest, if he doesn't spot anything, Rocksmasher walks over to get a better look at the dragon.

[Circle of Life]

I apologize for the delays here. Life has been kicking my butt pretty soundly for the past week or so, but I'll do my best to keep this going, including an update tonight if time allows. Thanks for your patience.

[Circle of Life]

A closer inspection of the draconic skeleton reveals that each and every one of the bones is engraved with intricate runic markings over every inch of the ivory surfaces. The runes radiate an inner heat, pulsing with a faint orange light every few seconds. The metal poles are also engraved, though these neither pulse nor seem to have an inner heat.

Visual inspection only, above. If you go about it some other way, let me know.

[Kallisti]

Mr. Milliner

Milliner begins to examine the runes, muttering common command phrases, incantations, and occasionally creative curses.

Use Magic Device, since that worked so well last time. [roll0].

[Circle of Life]

The runes don't respond to any of the commands or invectives, continuing to pulse at regular intervals. Milliner feels his protection from heat slowly begin to fade at he mutters at the runes, not yet gone but nearing expiration. The platform itself remains cool enough to exist upon for the time being, but the surrounding sea of fire remains a clear danger should the protection falter at the wrong time.

[Kallisti]

Mr. Milliner

Seeing no other course of action, Mr. Milliner turns his ministrations to the draconic skeleton itself.

Scientific Test #1: Poke it.